European Startups funded recently - Newnex Fortnight

20 February 2024

Newnex tracked $859+ million in funding rounds over the past two weeks in European Venture Capital.

London-based startup AudioStack is making waves with a £2.5 million pre-Series A funding round, led by Quadri Ventures. AudioStack specializes in proprietary technology that utilizes a suite of AI-powered media creation tools. These tools include script generation, text-to-speech, speech-to-speech, generative music, and dynamic versioning, positioning AudioStack at the forefront of innovative audio technology.

BOX ID, a logistics software provider based in Munich, has successfully raised €3.5M in a recent funding round aimed at expanding its Internet of Things (IoT)-based supply chain visibility offerings. KPN Ventures led the investment, with participation from existing seed investors HTGF, Bayern Kapital, and Wille Finance, as well as contributions from business angels associated with the BayStartUP Network.

Naboo, a French startup, has created an innovative platform enabling companies to effortlessly book entire seminars with a single click, offering a transparent and straightforward pricing structure, Securing €7.5 million in funding from investors such as ISAI, Kima Ventures, Better Angle, and longstanding partners CapHorn and Maif Avenir.

Transforming the landscape of customer shopping interactions, the Polish startup ZeroQs is pioneering smart shopping carts as a viable alternative to self-service checkouts. Recently, the company secured €457k (PLN 2 million) in funding from the Polish venture capital fund Freya Capital in a follow-on investment.

Netherlands-based Channable, a provider of e-commerce feed management and PPC automation solutions for digital marketers, brands, and online retailers, has revealed a successful Series B funding round, raising over €55M. Partech led the funding round, with participation from existing investor Peak.

Deftpower, a Netherlands-based company situated in Arnhem and specializing in an AI-supported Software as a Service (SaaS) platform for electric vehicle (EV) charging, has successfully secured €2.5 million in funding from the EU EIC Accelerator, a prestigious program for promising energy startups. Additionally, 4impact Capital, along with existing investors such as Proeza Capital, Twickelborg, Cosmic Cat, Rethink Ventures, and Koolen Industries, also participated in this funding round.

Orexa, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company based in Herpen, the Netherlands, has disclosed securing €870K in funding from both new and existing investors. This announcement follows a funding round last year in which the company raised €485K.

Estonia-based startup Starship Technologies, which specializes in autonomous last-mile delivery vehicles, has recently secured $90 million in funding from London-based VC firms Plural and Iconical. This substantial capital injection will be strategically utilized to expand Starship Technologies' global presence and facilitate the launch of its cutting-edge wireless charging technology.

Oslo-based OTee, a developer of industrial automation software, has successfully raised €1.25 million in its latest funding round. The round was led by Norwegian venture capital fund RunwayFBU and Estonia's Superangel. Existing investor Antler participated in the round, along with new investor StartupLab and a group of angel investors including Gunnar Evensen, Trond Riiber Knudsen, Snorre Larsen, and Olav Slupphaug.

Heura Foods, a Spanish foodtech startup specializing in plant-based meat, is making significant strides in the news. The Barcelona-based company has successfully closed a €40 million Series B funding round, marking one of the largest plant-based funding rounds this year. The latest investment came from Upfield, the largest plant-based manufacturer, and Unovis Asset Management, along with participation from notable entities such as the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF VC) and New Tree Impact, a prominent food tech fund.

Reveel, a Finnish startup specializing in interactive digital guidebooks for travel destinations, has recently declared a successful funding round, securing $650k.The funding was led by Finnish venture capital firm Inventure VC. Various business angels from the country also participated in the funding round.

Saleor, the composable e-commerce platform, has successfully concluded an $8 million Seed extension round. Saleor distinguishes itself as an open-source, GraphQL-first e-commerce platform catering to high-volume companies, offering a modern stack and a user-friendly dashboard. The funding round was led by Target Global, with participation from investors including Kevin Mahaffey, Cherry Ventures, Zalando, and TQ Ventures.

Estonian core banking provider Tuum has secured €25 million in a Series B financing round. The funding, led by CommerzVentures, a specialized VC fund, included participation from Speedinvest, an early-stage European VC, and existing investors.

Amsterdam-based startup Hivello, focused on expanding the helium digital network by supplying Helium hotspots, has successfully secured $2.5 million in pre-seed funding to enhance accessibility for building Web3 applications. The funding was conducted in two closes, with the first in December 2023, raising $1 million, and the second, concluding at the end of January, bringing an additional $1.5 million. Investors in the rounds included Blockchain Founders Fund, Side Door Ventures, IDG, Bing Ventures, Genesis Block, NxGen, Blockchange, MH Ventures, Candaq Cypher Capital, Primal Capital, Contango Digital Assets, and others.

Paris-based startup Guided Energy, which specializes in optimizing electric vehicle (EV) fleet management, has secured $5.2 million in an investment round co-led by Sequoia and Dynamo Ventures. The startup aims to onboard new clients and expand its current roster, which already includes companies such as Sixt and Addison Lee.

Paris-based accounting platform Pennylane has successfully raised €40 million in a Series C funding round, achieving a valuation of €1 billion. The all-equity round was led by UK investor DST Global, with participation from US venture capital giant Sequoia Capital, both of which have been historical backers of the company.

The UK-based text-to-video startup Colossyan, originally founded in Hungary, has raised $22 million in a funding round led by Lakestar. Additional participation in the funding round came from Launchub, Day One Capital, and Emerge Education.

Paris-based grocery shopping and menu recommendation app Jow has disclosed a $13 million Series A extension funding round led by Northzone. This extension follows a previously announced but uncategorized Series A round, where investors such as Eurazeo, Stride, Headline, and DST Global injected $20 million into the startup.

Lifestyle monitoring company Lilli has successfully raised £8.2 million in Series A led by West Hill Capital. The funds will be utilized to support Lilli's growth trajectory and its mission of assisting individuals in living safely and independently in their homes for an extended period.

Cambridge-based startup Zetta Genomics, specializing in genomics, has expanded its seed round with a £1.8 million investment. The new capital comes from We Venture Capital, the innovation VC arm of diagnostics leader Werfen. The funding will be utilized to further develop Zetta Genomics' genomic data analysis platform, XetaBase.

Stockholm-based Xensam, a provider of AI-powered Software Assessment Management, has raised $40 million in a growth round of funding. Expedition Growth Capital, a London-based software-focused growth equity firm, led the investment.

Stockholm-born MANTLE, a company specializing in clean and clinical skincare, has raised £2.4 million in a recent funding round. The funding round was led by London-based venture capital firm Venrex.

Karlsruhe-based Daedalus has secured $21 million in Series A funding to develop autonomous factories focused on manufacturing precision parts for various applications, including medical devices, rollercoaster wheels, and rocket engines. The company aims to automate the entire manufacturing process, from quoting (assessing raw materials, labor, and margins for specific items) to delivery, addressing supply chain bottlenecks faced by manufacturers. The funding round was led by US firm NGP Capital, with additional participation from existing investors including Addition and Khosla Ventures.

Dutch deeptech startup CarbonX, based in Delft, has raised €10 million in funding to address the increasing demand for locally sourced critical raw materials for the battery industry. The funding round was led by Innovation Industries, InnovationQuarter, and the European women-led VC Borski Fund.

Navro, previously known as Paytrix and based in London, a fintech firm with a focus on simplifying global payments for international businesses, has secured $14 million in an internal investment round led by Bain Capital and Unusual Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from Motive Partners and existing investors Fin Capital. Additionally, Navro has obtained dual Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licenses from the Central Bank of Ireland and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK.

Eindhoven-based startup LionVolt, specializing in solid-state lithium-ion batteries, has revealed securing €15 million in equity investment over the past few months. The round was led by deep tech venture capital firm Innovation Industries and joined by Brabant-focused startup fund Brabantse Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij (Brabant Development Agency, BOM) and renowned investor Sake Bosch.

Cirplus, Europe's largest digital procurement platform for recycled plastics, has announced securing a seven-figure funding round. This funding is particularly significant in the context of the circular economy, as the plastics recycling market faces challenges such as high costs and sometimes inadequate quality compared to virgin material. The lead investors in this funding round include igus GmbH, a global leader in manufacturing energy chain systems and plain bearings made from low-wear high-performance plastics, and WEPA Ventures, a venture capital company supported by the European family-owned WEPA Group.

Holdbar, a Danish experience management software company founded just a year ago, has raised $3.5 million in funding. The funding round was supported by investors including Seed Capital, Firstminute Capital, Christoph Deckert, Steve Fredette (the founder of Toast), and others.

Causa, a UK-based startup offering a causal AI platform for development teams, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Pre-Seed funding round. The company's main product, CausaDB, is a cloud-native platform designed to simplify the process of building, managing, and deploying causal AI. The funding round was led by Twin Path Ventures, a VC specializing in AI, with participation from angel investors.

Stockholm-based Myrspoven, a company specializing in innovative solutions for energy optimization in buildings using AI, has raised €5.4 million in a recent funding round. The investment was led by various investors, including 4impact capital, Vantaa Energy, and AMAVI Capital.

London-based RegTech company docStribute has raised £820,000 in a pre-Series A funding round from financial service angels. The funds will be used to further advance docStribute's mission of transforming customer communication in the financial services sector.

Amsterdam-based Avantium, specializing in sustainable chemistry technologies, has raised €70 million through a capital increase. This includes a €50.5 million fully underwritten rights offering and a €19.5 million institutional upsize offering.

London-based startup Stability AI has clarified that the majority of its last funding round, initially reported as nearly $50 million by Bloomberg, involved a "compute for equity" arrangement with Intel. In this deal, Stability committed to using a significant portion of the funding to purchase access to Intel's hardware resources. The investment round also included smaller investors and a minority part that did not entail hardware purchase commitments. As part of the agreement, Stability will gain access to Intel's compute resources through a new AI-optimized supercomputer that the two companies are co-developing.

Ezra, a company focused on cancer detection, has raised $21 million in new funding. The funding round was co-led by Healthier Capital, a VC firm led by Amir Dan Rubin (former CEO of Amazon’s One Medical), and FirstMark Capital. Other participants included Allianz Life Ventures, the Schwarzman family, Lord David Prior (former Chairman of England’s National Health Service), Gaingels, Republic, and Mana Ventures. Existing investors such as Credo Ventures, Seedcamp, LDV Capital, Accomplice, Founders Future, Vlad Tenev, Anne Wojcicki, and Esther Dyson also participated in the round.

Healthtech generative AI startup TORTUS has raised $4.2 million in seed funding, with Khosla Ventures leading the investment round. TORTUS aims to address the challenges faced by doctors, nurses, and hospital staff in the healthcare system, particularly the burden of administrative tasks. The seed round also included participation from Entrepreneur First, former NHS Chair Lord David Prior, and other investors.

Belfast-based biotech company Amply has confirmed raising over £1.4 million in grant funding. The investment, provided in two tranches, includes £835,000 from Innovate UK and Innosuisse for the development of a new RNAi therapy for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, and £602,000 from Innovate UK for the development of a new nebulized antimicrobial product for MDR-TB. Existing backers of Amply include co-fund NI (managed by Clarendon Fund Managers and supported by Invest NI and the British Business Bank), QUBIS, the Helix Way Partnership, Techstars, and angel investors from members of the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN).

Paris-based startup Groover has successfully raised $8 million in a Series A funding round. The funding round was led by OneRagtime, Trind, Techmind, and MozzaAngels, with the participation of existing investors including Partech, Bpifrance's Tech & Touch fund, Verve Ventures, and Frenchfounders.

Copenhagen-based logistics startup, Portchain, has announced a successful $5 million investment round led by Angular Ventures. This latest round brings Portchain's total funding to $10 million, including previous investments from MX Ventures and various shipping executives who served as angel investors.

Oxford-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology company, Velocys, has completed its transition to a private company, securing $40 million in growth capital from a consortium of investors. The consortium includes Carbon Direct Capital, Lightrock, GenZero, and Kibo Investments.

London-based AI-powered waste analytics platform, Greyparrot, has secured an additional $12.8 million from Bollegraaf, the world's largest builder of recycling plants, in a strategic partnership to revolutionize global waste management. This collaboration involves the transfer of Bollegraaf's AI vision business to Greyparrot.

Amsterdam-based FINOM, a digital banking solution catering to SMEs and entrepreneurs, has successfully raised €50 million in a Series B funding round. General Catalyst and Northzone led the funding round, with participation from existing investors such as Cogito Capital, Entrée Capital, FJLabs, s16vc, and Target Global.

Helsinki-based tech-enabled hospitality operator, Bob W, has successfully raised €40 million in a Series B funding round. The funding was led by Evli Growth Partners and saw participation from a group of growth capital investors and notable European entrepreneurs. This includes Taavet+Sten (the investment firm of Wise's founder Taavet Hinrikus and Sten Tamkivi), Flashpoint, and Supercell's co-founder Mikko Kodisoja, along with existing investors.

Delft-based FOTONIQ, a provider of greenhouse spray coating PAR+, has secured an undisclosed investment in a funding round led by Navus Ventures and Icos Capital. Existing investors, including Phase2.earth and EG Wernink, also participated in the funding round. The company is backed by experienced Dutch VC firms and Family Offices, such as SHAPE Capital and Timeless Investments.

London-based D2C e-commerce company Spacegoods, specializing in mushrooms and nootropics, has secured £2.5 million in a seed funding round led by Five Seasons Ventures.

Zylon, a new venture emerging from the creators of PrivateGPT, has successfully raised $3.2 million in a pre-seed funding round. The funds will be utilized to further develop the platform's generative AI tailored for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The funding round was led by Felicis, with participation from LifeX Ventures and Zypsy, along with angel investors including Travis McPeak, Kirill Tashilov, and Hans-Christian Zappel.

Fever, a Stockholm-based energy platform, has secured €10 million in a seed funding round led by General Catalyst, with the participation of Norrsken VC. Fever aims to assist large utility companies in trading their energy resources through tech solutions, enhancing their competitiveness in balancing energy on the grid.

Newcastle-based Newcells Biotech has secured a £2.35 million investment from the North East Venture Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia Ventures, along with contributions from Mercia's own funds and Northstar Ventures. Newcells Biotech specializes in developing in vitro cell-based assays for drug and chemical discovery and development, contributing to the advancement of non-animal testing methods, particularly following recent changes to FDA guidance.

Helsinki-based Vapaus, a provider of mobility benefits for employees, has secured a €15 million debt facility from Norion Bank. The funding will be used to expand its market presence in Finland and extend its operations into Sweden.

Berlin-based deep-tech startup SimplyBlock, focused on developing low-latency, high-performance storage software, has raised $2.75 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by 42CAP, with participation from Antler and Begin Capital, as well as contributions from angel investors including Johan Svensson, the founder of Neo4j.

Cambridge Mechatronics Limited (CML), a global leader in the design and control of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators, has successfully closed an oversubscribed funding round, totalling over €37 million. The funding round was led by Atlantic Bridge, with co-leads from Intel Capital and Supernova, along with participation from the Sony Innovation Fund.

Go Autonomous, an AI-powered platform transforming B2B commerce by converting unstructured transactional data into actionable information, has closed a €10 million Series A funding round. Octopus Ventures and Ridge Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investors EIFO and 42Cap. This investment will support Go Autonomous in advancing its position as a disruptor in the B2B digital commerce sector.

Italy-based Daze, a provider of EV charging solutions, has raised €15 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by CDP Venture Capital SGR, with participation from the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), Founders Future, 035investimenti, Prana Venture Partners, and Simest SpA FVC. The funds will be used to support the expansion of Daze's business and contribute to the acceleration of the energy transition.

Phycom, a microalgae ingredient producer based in Veenendaal, the Netherlands, has secured €1.75 million in a recent funding round led by ROM Utrecht Region and a private investor. This announcement follows the company's €9 million funding round in September 2022, which included investors such as Corbion, Phase2.earth, Invest-NL, and Invest International.

Dutch medtech startup Amazec Photonics has raised €1.5 million in a seed funding round. The company plans to use the capital to further develop its diagnostic devices suitable for clinical trials. PhotonDelta and undisclosed private investors participated in the €1.5 million seed round.

Oslo-based startup Midio, focused on backend development through a visual programming interface, has raised $660,000 in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Sondo Capital and included participation from CTO Roundtable Invest, Tiny.vc, The Nordic Web Ventures, and angel investors from Norwegian tech companies such as Oda, Sanity, Ardoq, Enode, Scrimba, and Tise.

Una Health, a Berlin-based company providing an innovative approach to metabolic dysfunction management, has closed a $2.5 million seed round. The funding round was led by PeakBridge's seed fund, FoodSparks, and FoodLabs, with participation from investors including Frank Westermann (founder of mySugr) and Claire Novorol (founder of ada Health).

London-based startup Koalaa, known for its world-first soft prosthetic arms designed to enhance independence for individuals with limb differences, has successfully closed a funding round of €1.1 million. The round was led by existing investor British Design Fund, with an additional £200,000 secured from the Imperial College Enterprise Fund II (ICEF), which supports startup companies closely connected to the university.

Amsterdam-based Monumental, a robotic startup addressing labor, cost, and sustainability challenges in the global construction industry, has revealed itself after two and a half years of operating in stealth mode. The company also announced the successful closure of a $25 million funding round, co-led by Plural and Hummingbird. Additional participation in the round came from investors including Northzone, Foundamental, and NP-Hard Ventures.

Pacifico Biolabs, a German biotech startup, has raised $3.3 million in an oversubscribed pre-Seed funding round. Led by Simon Capital and FoodLabs, with participation from Exceptional Ventures and Sprout & About Ventures, the funds will be used to scale Pacifico Biolabs' fermentation technology aimed at replacing animal and plant-based foods, starting with the seafood sector. The investors are optimistic about the startup's potential to build a sustainable business focused on the next generation.

Flower Labs , headquartered in Hamburg, has successfully raised $20 million in a Series A funding round aimed at accelerating the widespread adoption of federated and decentralized AI. The funding was spearheaded by Felicis, with notable participation from investors like First Spark Ventures, Factorial Capital, Beta Works, Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, and Mozilla Ventures. Additionally, angel investors, including Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue and GitHub co-founder Scott Chacon, have also joined in the funding round.

Silencio Network, a Munich-based startup developing a network of decentralized sensors to combat noise pollution, has raised $1 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Borderless Capital, with participation from Moonrock Capital, Master Ventures, and other investors. The funding will likely be used to further develop and expand Silencio Network's noise pollution monitoring solution.

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