European Startups funded recently - Newnex Weekly

21 November 2023

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Newnex tracked $632m funding rounds this past week in European Venture Capital.

London-based Fnality, a pioneer in developing wholesale payment systems based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), has announced the successful completion of a €89 million Series B funding round. This funding was led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas, with the participation of DTCC, Euroclear, Nomura, and WisdomTree. Noteworthy additional investments came from Series A investors Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, ING, Lloyds Banking Group, Nasdaq Ventures, State Street, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and UBS.

Cambridge-headquartered nanomedicine firm ViaNautis has secured $25 million in its Series A funding round. The funding was spearheaded by 4BIO Capital, BGF (known for supporting Kooth and Machine Discovery), and UCB Ventures, with contributions from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Eli Lilly and Company, and existing investors such as Origin Capital, Meltwind, and O2H.

Solvimon, a platform provider for billing based in Utrecht, has disclosed a seed funding of €9 million. Northzone and chosen business angels contributed to the funding. The seed round will be utilized to grow the team and expedite its go-to-market strategy.

French logistics tech startup Stockoss has secured $4.3 million in seed funding, with Pi Labs, a London-based VC that recently supported Responsibly and Kamma, leading the round. Other participants in the funding round include Global Brain, 50Partners, Hartwood, and Kima Ventures.

Paris-based fintech company Defacto, specializing in embedded B2B lending solutions, has raised an additional €10 million in a Series A funding round extension. Citi Ventures, a new investor, joined existing backers Northzone, Headline, and Global Founders Capital.

Le Fourgon, a French startup focused on returnables, has revealed a Series A funding of €10 million.The funding comes from key investors Id4 and Teampact, along with La Poste Ventures fund—initiated by La Poste and managed by XAnge—and several business angels.

French legal AI firm Jimini AI has successfully concluded a €1.9 million seed funding round to expedite its expansion. Established in 2023 through Entrepreneur First, which is its initial investor, Jimini AI is presently introducing its solution in closed beta within various prominent European pilot firms. Polytechnique Ventures took the lead in the fundraising, joined by J12 Ventures, Galion.exe, Evolem, Zebox Ventures, and Better Angle. Jimini AI also benefits from the expertise of around fifteen well-known investors, including Thomas Wolf (Hugging Face), Pierre Aïdan and Timothée Rambaud (Legalstart), Didier Kuhn, Rémi Aubert (AB Tasty), and the founding team of Leeway.

Aikido Security, a Ghent-based company specializing in developer-friendly software security solutions, has disclosed a $ 5.4 million funding in its Seed round. The Seed round, totaling €5 million, was co-led by Notion Capital and Connect Ventures. In addition to this, Inovia Capital’s Precede Fund and angel investor Christina Cacioppo, CEO of Vanta, also participated in the funding.

Dutch revenue-based finance marketplace Levenue has secured €8 million in a Series A funding round and completed the acquisition of Belgian fintech Cake. The Series A funding round, supporting Levenue's operations in 12 European countries, was led by Truffle Capital, with participation from Freshmen Fund.

Resistomap, a startup focused on monitoring antibiotic resistance, has revealed a successful $ 2.2 million seed funding round. The funding was spearheaded by European VC firm Ananda Impact Venture, with participation from Gaingel and support from a Business Finland R&D grant.

London-based Bloom, a coaching app to democratize access to coaching, has officially launched in the UK and the US after completing a seed funding round that secured $10 million. The mobile-first app had previously received funding from investors, including Octopus Ventures and MMC Ventures.

Naïf, a B-corp located in South Holland that produces skin-friendly care products for babies and parents, has disclosed securing €23 million from the European impact investor Future Business Partnership (FBP).

BASH, an Amsterdam-based startup specializing in party discovery through its app, has announced the successful raising of €750,000 in a recent funding round. The investment was contributed by existing backers, including Sjuul Berden (founder of United Wardrobe) and Leon Ramakers (former director of Mojo). Additionally, new investors such as Quinten Selhorst (founder of Felyx), Bastiaan de Rakt (founder of Enjins, Deeploy), Neil Currie, and Gijsbert de Regt (founders of eVision), along with Geert-Jan Smits (founder of Flinders), have joined the round.

Financial services organization Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) has pledged to invest up to €175 million in Amsterdam's SkyNRG through the Macquarie GIG Energy Transition Solutions (MGETS) Fund. This investment is aimed at supporting the expansion of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). MAM's Green Investments team will spearhead a new investment initiative to support SkyNRG's growth and its ambition to become a significant producer of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF).

Glox Therapeutics, headquartered in Glasgow, has successfully raised £4.3 million in a seed funding round. The funding round was spearheaded by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) and Scottish Enterprise.

Berlin-based AI company IQONIC.AI (formerly known as SQIN) has disclosed the successful closure of a seven-figure seed financing round. The funding round was backed by investors including Brandenburg Kapital, YZR Capital, and Arve Capital, as well as the continued participation of existing investors such as Accel, APX (an early-stage investor supported by Axel Springer and Porsche), Thomas Hayo, Michael Schummert, and Jens Apermann.

Factory tech startup Sensoteq, based in Belfast, has secured £3.1 million in funding, with Pockit-backing Maven Capital Partners leading the round. The funding includes a £600,000 investment from TechStart Ventures.

French cybersecurity startup Qevlar AI has raised €4.5 million in seed funding, with EQT Ventures, known for its recent investment in Kota, leading the round. The funding round also witnessed participation from notable figures in the tech and AI industry, including Olivier Pomel (CEO of Datadog), Mehdi Ghissassi (Director of Product at Google DeepMind), Florian Douetteau (CEO of Dataiku), Edouard Viot (VP Product of GitGuardian), and Tarik Dadi (CEO of Qantev). The fresh funds will help Qevlar AI to continue to grow its team and further invest in the product to continue to be one step ahead of cybercrime.

Turin-based climatetech startup CarpeCarbon has secured €1.7 million in a Pre-Seed funding round. The funding, totaling €1.765 million, was contributed by CDP Venture Capital's Tech4Planet initiative and 360 Capital. Other investors in the round include the Club Degli Investitori network and the PiemonteNext co-investment fund.

Barcelona-based hosptech startup Last.app, founded by former Glovo team members Eric and Ivan Nikolic, has successfully raised €5 million in a recent financing round. Led by Nauta Capital and featuring participation from existing investors All Iron and Bynd, the restaurant management platform plans to utilize the growth capital for ongoing product development, team expansion, and strategic entries into new markets.

Crisp, the Amsterdam-based grocery app that prioritizes seasonal and local food, has concluded a funding round of €35 million. The funding was provided by a mix of existing and new investors, including prominent Dutch entrepreneurs and family funds. Key supporters in this round include notable market operators such as Adriaan Mol (Mollie, Messagebird), John Caspers (Adyen), Sanne Manders (Flexport), Thomas Plantenga (Vinted), and experienced retail executives like Sander van der Laan (Ahold, Action, Douglas). Family offices such as Bookmakers Investments, Timeless Investments, and Strikwerda Investments are also among the backers, along with venture capital firms Keen Ventures and Target Global, which are participating once again in this round.

Efenco, a Tallinn-based startup that transitioned from deeptech to cleantech, has secured €4.5 million to advance its "fire on turbocharge" technology. The funding includes €1.3 million led by Ivo Remmelg for EstBAN Syndicate and €3.2 million in grant funding from the European Innovation Council and Estonia's Archimedes Foundation.

Biotech company VectorY Therapeutics, headquartered in Amsterdam, has revealed the successful completion of a €129 million Series A funding round. The round was co-led by EQT Life Sciences and the Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund. The financing saw participation from both new and existing investors, including MRL Ventures Fund (a corporate venture arm of Merck & Co., Inc.), Rahway, NJ USA, Insight Partners, ALS Investment Fund, Forbion Ventures, BioGeneration Ventures (BGV), and another established investor.

Artisan, an AI startup, has disclosed a $2.3 million fundraising effort to develop the inaugural human-like digital workers. The company is set to join the Y Combinators Winter 2024 batch commencing in January. Contributors to the Pre-Seed round include Bayhouse Capital and Oliver Jung.

Payment processing technology startup Silverflow, headquartered in Amsterdam, has secured €15 million in a recent funding round. The funding was led by Global Paytech Ventures and saw participation from Picus Capital, Coatue, Crane Venture Partners, Inkef, along with contributions from several angel investors.

RespiQ, a Dutch healthtech startup founded by two female entrepreneurs, has been granted €4 million from the European Innovation Council (EIC), which recently invested in Efenco and Hardt Hyperloop. Over the next three and a half years, RespiQ will receive the grant in collaboration with an esteemed international consortium, which includes renowned academic institutions and medical research organizations such as the King's Centre for Lung Health, the School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences at King's College London, the National eHealth Living Lab within the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), the Norwegian research organization Sintef, and the Portuguese technical consulting and research company, uRoboptics.

Vienna-based Atlas, a 3D generative AI platform, has emerged from stealth mode with $6 million in funding. The funding comprises two rounds – a $4.5 million round led by 6th Man Ventures (6MV) and a $1.5 million round led by Collab+Currency. Other participants in the investment round include a16z Scouting Fund via Shrapnel, Contango, Gaingels, GFR Fund, New Renaissance Ventures, Square Enix, and Wagmi Ventures. Additional participants consist of Flamingo DAO, Founders Inc., Landvault, Monaverse, Neon DAO, and Slope Fund. Strategic advisors and angel investors supporting Atlas include Timmu Tõke (CEO & Co-Founder, Ready Player Me), Abel Mathew (Former CEO & Co-Founder, Backtrace, Former CTO Sauce Labs), and Geoff Renaud (CMO & Co-Founder, Invisible North).

Munich-based startup Proxima Fusion, dedicated to the development of emission-free fusion power plants, has successfully raised €7.5 million in an extension to its pre-seed funding round. The round was led by deep tech investors Plural Platform and UVC Partners, with additional participation from new investors such as Visionaries Tomorrow, Hummingbird Collective, Achleitner Ventures, Bosch Holding, FlixFounders fund, and a group of angel investors.

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