Despite the prevailing pandemic, the last month of the year 2020 was really generous in terms of the number of financing rounds as well as the value of funding secured. In December, the money present on the market in Central & Eastern Europe exceeded €250M due to the significant investment in Estonian Bolt and Polish Brainly. Among the top areas that attracted investors’ attention are education, fintech and analytics.
Let’s have a look into our TOP December funding rounds in CEE!
Bolt
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Launch date: 2013
Funding Round: Series D €150M
Funding Source: D1 Capital Partners, Darsana Capital Partners
Total funding received: €592.2M
Estonia-based, Bolt is a leading mobility platform providing ride-hailing, micromobility, and food delivery services. Since the beginning of its journey, Bolt has attracted more than 50M customers in over 40 countries setting the company’s value to over $1B. The company has recently secured €150M in the December series D round and the proceeds will be spent on enhancing the safety and quality of the products and further expansion on European and African markets. Among the investors participating in the round are D1 Capital Partners and Darsana Capital Partners.
Brainly
Location: Krakow, Poland
Launch date: 2009
Funding Round: Series D €80M
Funding Source: General Catalyst, Learn Capital, Manta Ray Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital
Total funding received: €120M
Polish Brainly, founded in 2009, is an online learning platform where students can get help with their homework or any other queries. Brainly is opposed to the regular school curriculum by catering to the individual needs of every single student. The company operates in more than 35 countries and has reached over 200M unique users who got their over 50M questions answered every single month. The startup has recently secured €80M in a series D round and the obtained financing will be allocated for the development of the product in India, Brazil and Indonesia. The funding round led by Learn Capital was accompanied by General Catalyst, Manta Ray Ventures, Prosus Ventures, and Runa Capital.
Eneba
Location: Kaunas, Lithuania
Launch date: 2018
Funding Round: Series A €6.55M
Funding Source: FJ Labs, InReach Ventures, Mantas Mikuckas, Practica Capital
Total funding received: €9.1M
Kaunas-based Eneba is a startup building the marketplace for gamers. Its goal is to grant fast and secure access to digital editions of games to all the players around the world. Eneba is using machine learning and fingerprinting technology to make the process of buying the game easier than ever before - it makes “one-click buy” possible. Their efforts have been noticed and they have recently secured a series A round in the amount of €6.55M that was led by Practica Ventures and among others was supported by InReach Ventures, FJ Labs, and Vinted co-founder Mantas Mikuckas. The proceeds will be used for further marketplace development.
SMEO
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Launch date: 2016
Funding Round: €4M (series undisclosed)
Funding Source: Finch Capital, Precapital
Total funding received: €4M
Polish SMEO, founded in 2016, is a startup offering factoring services for small and medium-sized businesses. SMEO makes use of an automated scoring system built through machine learning allowing users to factor the invoices of up to €125K in even less than 15 minutes and fully online. Such services unlocking business-critical capital are especially important in current crisis times like the COVID pandemic. The latest round in the amount of €4M was led by Finch Capital and Precapital. Funds provided by the mentioned investors will be allocated to further solution development and expansion in other international markets.
Amberlo
Location: Kaunas, Lithuania
Launch date: 2017
Funding Round: Seed (amount undisclosed)
Funding Source: Iron Wolf Capital, 70Ventures, Next Road Ventures, Corvus Ventures, business angels
Total funding received: undisclosed
Kaunas-based, Amberlo was founded in 2017 and provides law firms with legal software. Amberlo takes care of every-day tasks allowing lawyers to focus on what matters most. The startup offers CRM, project management, team calendar, time and expense tracking, automated billing, and document management. Users get a 360-degree view of their clients, projects, and team members, which results in time optimization, planning and task execution improvements. Amberlo has recently closed the seed round from Iron Wolf Capital, 70Ventures, Next Road Ventures, Corvus Ventures and various business angels. Secured funds will help the company in the further expansion of the solution.
Modularbank
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Launch date: 2018
Funding Round: Seed €4M
Funding Source: BlackFin Capital Partners, Karma Ventures, Ott Kaukver, Plug & Play, Siena Capital
Total funding received: €4M
Tallinn-based Modularbank is a fintech company disrupting the banking sector. Every single institution knows how important it is to quickly respond to all the changes in customer needs. The startup solved this problem by offering a next-generation banking experience for retail and business banking, financial services providers, retailers, utilities and telemedicine providers. Modularbank allows companies to simplify and accelerate rolling-out financial services to their customers. Fintech has recently secured a seed round in the amount of €4M from BlackFin Capital Partners, Karma Ventures, Ott Kaukver, Plug & Play and Siena Capital. The proceeds will be used for boosting the expansion and further development of the solution.
TrustMate
Location: Wroclaw, Poland
Launch date: 2018
Funding Round: Seed €550K
Funding Source: Next Road Ventures, business angels
Total funding received: €1,3M
Founded in mid-2018, Polish TrustMate is a SaaS tool allowing customers to collect and manage customers’ reviews online, increase web traffic, attract more clients and increase conversion. After becoming the market leader in Poland, TrustMate is starting to scale the solution in other CEE countries with an aim of being a regional leader in a short period. Recently secured funds in the amount of €550K as the follow-on seed round led by Next Road Ventures and accompanied by various business angels will be allocated to the further expansion and development of the technology.
Ondato
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Launch date: 2016
Funding Round: Seed €1.63M
Funding Source: OTB Ventures, Startup Wise Guys
Total funding received: €2.1M
Lithuanian Ondato provides a complete know-your-customers solution for the verification of people and legal entities. The startup is using AI and Big Data technology to prevent frauds and minimize data breaches and risks of data being invalid. Among the features offered by the company are photo recognition, video identification, data monitoring, risk scoring, due diligence and case management. Ondato has secured €1.63M in a seed round from well-recognized investors like OTB Ventures and Startup Wise Guys. The proceeds will be allocated to further expansion to the UK, Germany, Spain and France.
Rendin
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Launch date: 2019
Funding Round: Seed €1.2M
Funding Source: Tera Ventures, TrueSight Ventures, Iron Wolf Capital, Startup Wise Guys, Atomico
Total funding received: €1.2M
Founded in 2019, Estonian Rendin is a proptech startup improving the home rental experience. The company’s services can be divided into 3 main categories. Firstly, they make tenants’ background checks and prepare automated agreements for rental agents. Secondly, landlords receive protection and guaranteed rent payments. Thirdly, tenants are relieved from damage liability and receive legal advice. Rendin has recently secured the seed round in the amount of €1.2M from investors like Tera Ventures, Iron Wolf Capital, TrueSight Ventures, Atomico and Startup Wise Guys. The raised amount will be spent on expanding the core team in Estonia and launching the platform in Poland.
Smartlook
Location: Brno, Czech Republic
Launch date: 2016
Funding Round: Series A €2.9M
Funding Source: Airbridge Equity Partners
Total funding received: €3.1M
Czech Smartlook is a behavior analytics company that helps companies with understanding what their customers are doing and are looking for while using websites and mobile apps. Among the available features, there are visitor recordings, automatic event tracking, conversion funnels, cohorts and heatmaps for websites. Smartlook has recently secured €2.9M from Airbridge Equity Partners and the amount will be allocated to accelerate the business development, launching new products and expanding the team handling the company’s business.
Sources: Vestbee VC & startup community, startup press releases, web & social media monitoring, Crunchbase
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