European Startups Funded recently - Newnex Weekly

Newnex's round-up of Startups Funded recently

3 October 2023

Interesting news before we get started with startups:

Industry Ventures raises $1.7 billion for secondaries across 2 funds

HCVC's new $75m hardtech fund backing technologies for the physical world

Mintago, UK-based financial wellbeing startup, has secured $4.75 million in a Series A funding round. The primary investor in this equity investment round was BlackLion Ventures, contributing $3.75 million. Other participants included Love Ventures and Cur8 Capital. The capital infusion will be utilized to drive additional improvements to the platform's offerings and support the company's expansion across the United Kingdom.

Ekolution, a buildtech company headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, has secured approximately €12.64 million in funding from Longrun Capital, a prominent climate initiative backed by the Ljungberg family.

Biomaterials startup traceless materials, headquartered in Hamburg, has announced the successful completion of a €36.6 million Series A funding round. This substantial funding round was co-led by United Bankers, a private equity firm from Helsinki, and Swen Capital Partners, a Paris-based private equity firm. The round also saw participation from GLS Bank and Hamburger Sparkasse, as well as existing investors including Planet A Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), and b.value.

Notify Therapeutics, headquartered in Copenhagen and known for its pioneering female fertility treatment, has recently raised €5 million in a new funding round. Lundbeckfonden BioCapital and +ND Capital have joined forces to invest in this Danish company.

Zurich-based energy investment platform Pexapark successfully secured €20 million in a Series C funding round. The funding was spearheaded by Telstra Ventures and also received backing from Swisscom Ventures and the A&G Energy Transition Tech Fund. This investment is earmarked for both expanding the company's market presence and advancing the development of its PPA transaction advisory services.

Machine Discovery, a software company leveraging machine learning technology to expedite compute-intensive optimization and simulation tasks, has successfully raised £4.5 million in funding. BGF, one of the United Kingdom's major investment firms, and East Innovate took the lead in this investment round. Additionally, it received support from Foresight WAE Technology Funds, UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), managed independently by Future Planet Capital (Ventures) Ltd, and Oxford Technology.

Paris-based KYC solution provider Ondorse has secured €3.8 million in a Seed funding round. The €3.8 million Seed funding round was spearheaded by Eurazeo and ISAI, both of which were previous Pre-Seed investors, and included participation from angel investors associated with companies like Stripe, iBanfirst, and Qonto.

Finematter, a jewellery marketplace, has announced the successful second close of its Seed round, bringing the total funds raised to €2.6 million. This Seed round includes investments from a range of angel investors, including notable individuals such as Heini Zachariassen (Vivino), Christine de Wendel (Zalando/Sunday), Jeppe Rindom (Pleo), Dino Patti (Playdead/Jumpship), Peder Michael Pruzan-Jørgensen (Pandora's Sustainability board), and the continued participation of existing shareholder Heartcore Capital. Notably, 46 percent of the investors in this round are female.

NUMA Group, a digital hospitality platform headquartered in Berlin, has disclosed that it secured $59 million in growth equity capital during a Series C funding round. Verlinvest took the lead in this funding round, with additional participation from Cape Capital and existing shareholders such as Headline, Cherry Ventures, DN Capital, and Soravia.

Metergrid, a startup based in Stuttgart that is committed to delivering green electricity to tenants, has revealed that it secured €2.7 million in a seed funding round. This funding round was spearheaded by tech investment firm 468 Capital, and it also saw participation from Mätch VC, the Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company, and German footballer Mario Götze, all contributing to the early-stage financing.

NexGen Cloud, a UK-based sustainable Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider and a distinguished member of the NVIDIA Partner Network, has announced its intention to invest $1 billion in the creation of one of Europe's pioneering AI Supercloud deployments. The company has already allocated $576 million for hardware orders with its suppliers. This significant investment is aimed at fostering the development and expansion of AI-driven enterprises in Europe.

Neara, an infrastructure modeling platform harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to create comprehensive 3D network models for engineering-grade simulations and analytics, has announced a €9.3 million extension in its capital raise. The funding round was led by Prosus Ventures and received support from Neara's existing investors, Skip Capital and Square Peg. This extension increases Neara's total Series B funding to €22.5 million.

The Franco-Belgian proptech Izix has recently secured €3 million in equity funding from investors including Noia Capital, La Région Bruxelloise, and Franco-Belgian business angels. Izix has developed a solution that optimizes the utilization of parking lots in office buildings and promotes the transition to sustainable mobility and flexible office arrangements.

MantiSpectra, a deep-tech company based in Eindhoven and a spinoff of the Eindhoven University of Technology, has announced that it secured €4 million in a funding round. The funding round was spearheaded by Innovation Industries and PhotonVentures. Notably, MantiSpectra's funding announcement comes shortly after it won the Gerard & Anton Awards, which recognize the top ten most promising startups in the Brainport Eindhoven region.

Accenta a French company specializing in providing decarbonization solutions for buildings, has disclosed that it has secured €108 million in funding. The company intends to utilize this capital to solidify its position as a leader in the field of decarbonizing building heating and cooling systems. The funding was supported by EREN Groupe, which acquired a stake in Accenta in 2019 and has subsequently assumed operational control of the company. Additionally, the Siloé Infrastructures Fund, managed by Crédit Mutuel Impact, participated in this fundraising effort.

Rayon, a collaborative design tool for the architecture, engineering, and construction industries (AEC), has announced that it raised €4 million in Seed funding. Strategic angel investors in this round include Norman Foster (architect and founding partner of Foster + Partners), Rasmus Andersson (early design employee at Spotify and Figma), Adam Wiggins (co-founder of cloud platform Heroku), David Basulto (founder and CEO of ArchDaily), and David Apple (early employee at TypeForm and Notion).

London-based startup Morphoses has achieved success in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round, securing €2.1 million in investments. Uni.Fund II VC took the lead as the primary investor in this round, with additional support coming from various angel investors. Some of the notable angel investors involved include Thanos Papangelis, Andreas Stavropoulos, Vasilis Bacolitsas, Laurent Marquis, Giannis Theodoropoulos, Lisa Katsouraki, Haris Pylarinos, Charles Delingpole, Dimitris Glezos, and many others.

French biotech firm SeaBeLife has secured an additional €1.2 million in seed funding to support the ongoing development of its drug candidates for acute liver disease and eye disorders, as well as to facilitate team expansion. The extension of the Seed round was led by the iXLife fund and saw participation from existing angel investor networks, including Breizh Angels, Angels Santé, WeLike, and Badge.

TravelLocal , a holiday booking and planning company, has revealed that it raised €9.7 million in a Series B funding round. TravelLocal operates as a B2C platform with a focus on tailor-made, mid-haul travel experiences. This funding round was led by Puma Private Equity and included participation from several investors, such as Active Partners and Gresham House Ventures.

Paris-based AYRO, a company specializing in wind propulsion system engineering and control software, has announced that it raised €19.2 million in a Series B funding round. This funding round was spearheaded by Blue Ocean, managed by SWEN Capital Partners, bringing AYRO's total funding to over €30 million. The round also attracted investments from existing investors Ocean Act of France 2030 initiatives and brought in new investors like AmInvest, Colam Impact, Normandie Participations, Normandie Littoral, and FCPI Capital Innovant n°2, managed by SWEN Capital Partners.

Resourcify, a waste management and recycling platform based in Hamburg, has disclosed that it secured €14 million in a Series A funding round. The round was spearheaded by Vorwerk Ventures and included participation from Revent, Ananda Impact Ventures, Speedinvest, BonVenture, and WEPA Ventures.

London-based fintech startup Apron, which streamlines invoice payments for small businesses, has successfully raised $15 million in a funding round. This round was led by Index Ventures, a notable supporter of Revolut, and included participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and Visionaries Club.

Framer, a professional no-code website builder for designers based in Amsterdam, has revealed that it secured $27 million in a Series C funding round. Meritech Capital led this funding round, with participation from existing investors such as Accel and Atomico.

Swiss-based Eturnity, a B2B SaaS company specializing in software solutions for solar, heating, and e-mobility systems, has disclosed that it secured approximately €8.2 million in a Series A funding round. Junction Growth Investors and Alantra led this funding round. Eturnity intends to utilize the funding to accelerate its growth strategy and expand the availability of its software solutions across Europe, thereby aiding businesses in their transition to renewable energy sources.

Kwayga.com, based in Ireland and known as a supplier sourcing engine for supermarkets, has revealed that it raised €1 million in a funding round led by the Redesdale Food and Beverage Fund. This funding will support the company's expansion efforts in the UK and Europe, enabling it to continue offering its customers the quickest and most efficient means of finding suppliers.

Greenwood Power, based in Brunn am Gebirge, Austria, and known as a prominent innovator in non-conventional transformers, has disclosed that it secured €5.1 million in growth funding. This investment was provided by Austrian venture capital firm eQventure and the Lower Austrian VC fund tecnet equity.

PandasAI, a German startup working on a conversational AI assistant for data analysis, has secured $1.1 million in a Pre-Seed funding round. The Pre-Seed round was backed by Luxembourg's Runa Capital, London-based Episode1, and Vento, the Italian branch of the Agnelli family's holding company, Exor Ventures.

Flawless, a distributed startup specializing in operations observability and incident management, has recently secured $2.2 million in a Seed funding round. This investment is aimed at supporting the company's global expansion initiatives. The round was led by 42CAP and featured participation from existing investor Picus Capital, as well as new investors Dreamcraft Ventures and Oktogon Ventures.

Chainable, a Netherlands-based circular kitchen company, recently secured €1.4 million in funding from impact investors Fair Capital Impact Fund and ifund.. The concept of circular kitchens has gained popularity in response to the unsustainable nature of traditional kitchens, which often generate substantial waste, particularly from materials like chipboard or medium-density fibreboard (MDF). Chainable's innovative approach aims to address this issue by offering a circular kitchen concept that minimizes environmental impact and waste, contributing to a more sustainable future for kitchen design and manufacturing.

Nord Security, the company renowned for its VPN service NordVPN and headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, has raised $100 million in external funding. The investment was led by Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm based in New York. Additionally, existing investors Novator Ventures and Burda Principal Investments decided to increase their investments in Nord Security, showing confidence in the company's growth and potential. Existing angel backers of the company include Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen (CEO, Supercell), Wolt CEO Miki Kuusi (CEO, Wolt), and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg.

London-based Perenna , has recently secured an additional $52 million in equity investment funding to support the expansion of its long-term fixed-rate mortgage offerings on its fintech platform. The round was led by strategic investor Silverstripe Investment Management and featured participation from existing investors.

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