August has been filled with interesting events happening in the CEE and European startup ecosystem. To prepare for the start of the new month and the new season - let’s have a look at the roundup of the most notable startup industry news from the last one! New VC funds and investments showed up on the scene, from Flashpoint, Tapestry VC, Contrarian Ventures and Inovo, to name just a few. There were also sizeable funding rounds that closed in August, in industries such as digital health, e-commerce, IT and fintech. And as a cherry on top, there are some startup open calls from last month, with applications still open.
So without further ado, here is an overview of the CEE VC and startup ecosystem news from August!
New VC Funds
- UK’s Flashpoint closes up its third $102M fund to invest in B2B software companies. The fund will primarily focus on founders from Emerging Europe raising their series A round.
- Tapestry VC raises a combined $50M for its early-stage and follow-on funds. The firm will back software, fintech, and “breakthrough technologies” throughout Europe and the US.
- Berlin-based impact VC Green Generation Fund debuts with €100M fund. The firm will primarily focus on seed-stage food/green tech across the US and Europe.
- Lithuanian climatetech/energy VC Contrarian Ventures launches its next €100M fund. The firm will focus on seed stage companies across Europe.
- London-based quantum VC 2xN wraps up a $120M fund to invest in quantum computing startups across the US and Europe. The firm will put $3M to $5M to back pre-seed to series A startups.
- Gorilla Capital launches its third €50M early-stage fund. The firm will back startups across Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and the Baltic states.
- Polish VC Inovo closes up its third €100M fund to continue backing CEE-based seed startups. The firm will invest €500k to €4M in a single ticket and would consider startups from any sector or industry.
CEE Startup Funding Rounds & Acquisitions
- Poland’s biggest membership management platform Patronite sells 40% of its shares to a local media/e-commerce group Wirtualna Polska. The size of the transaction is valued at 12,6M PLN.
- RedStone raises a $7M seed round by Lemniscap, Coinbase Ventures, Arweave, and Blockchain Capital to develop its cross-chain Oracles and modular Smart Contract platform.
- Estonian cancer testing startup Antegenes picks up €2.3M in funding to bring the solution to more European countries. The round was brought about by a €500k grant from EIT Health, €200k from Norway Grants Green ICT, and a combined €1.6M from people like Pipedrive’s co-founder Timo Rein, Pipedrive’s first investor Peep Vain and other angel investors.
- Polish healthcare booking giant DocPlanner acquires Brasilian clinic/hospital management startup Feegow. The purchase was made to complement the company’s existing systems, and the transaction size remains undisclosed.
- Blik’s co-founders raise building a KYC/AML startup Gatenox raises a $2.5M seed round. The investment was made by C3 VC, A100x Ventures, as well as Aleph Zero’s co-founders Matthew Niemerg and Antoni Zolciak.
- Ukrainian KYC startup Electronic KYC picks up a €250 000k check to invest in product development. The round was led by Czysta3.VC.
- Swedish video gaming group Aonic fully acquires Lithuanian gaming startup TutoTOONS. The size of the purchase remains undisclosed.
- Sofia-based job matching platform nPloy picks up €2M in funding to expand across broader SEE. The round was co-funded by Morningside Hill and Blue Ocean Ventures.
- Romanian e-commerce giant evoMAG grabs €2M for product development and international/offline expansion. The investment was made by Catalyst Romania.
- Estonian recruitment SaaS RecruitLab raises €1.9M to grow the team and company’s operations across UK/Europe. The round was led by Change Ventures and followed by StartupIst VC, Fund Fellow Founders, and the BADideas.fund.
- Romanian crowdinvesting platform SeedBlink acquires its Dutch competitor Symbid to capture the Western European market. The size of the transaction remains undisclosed.
- A cross-game metaverse avatar platform Ready Player Me, raises $56M for the company’s continued growth. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and followed by a number of prominent names like Roblox’s CEO David Baszucki, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan and others.
- Polish payment system BLIK acquires a 100% stake in mobile payments startup VIAMO. The purchase will serve the goal of furthering BLIK’s international expansion.
- Ukrainian decentralized loan/deposit provider Everlend gets $2.6M post-seed for product development and market expansion. The round was financed by GSR, Serum Foundation, Everstake Capital, Portico VC, and a number of business angels.
Startup Calls
- The startup competition for women and women-impact startup She Loves Tech gathers applications for its 8th edition. The winners of the challenge will receive up to $125k in direct funding, mentorship, media coverage and relevant connections. The program is open for post-MVP startups that have raised less than $5M in funding and have at least one female founder or a majority of their use base in female consumers. The applications are open till the 12th of September.
- Google announces the first nominees for its Ukraine startup program and continues gathering applications for it. The applications are open for companies founded before the 24th of February 2022 and those having some signs of initial traction. The applications are open till the 20th of September.
- EIT Water Scarcity Initiative hosts a series of fundraising lectures for aspiring water-related businesses. The training course will be conducted by a group of internationally recognized experts and cost a symbolic 95 Euro while covering all aspects of the fundraising process. The registration is open on a first come, first serve basis.
- The EIT Digital Challenge 2022 looks for European/UK deep tech startups. The winners of the program will have a chance to pitch their product in front of a large investor audience and go through accepted to the 12-month-long accelerator. The applications are open till the 19th of September.
- Ukrainian IT Arena starts gathering applications for its 2022 Startup Competition. The finalists of the challenge will receive up to $20k in cash prizes, as well as a chance of being noticed by the region’s leading investors. To be eligible for participation, the applicants should be operating for no more than 2 years, have less than $500k in funding, and have at least a demo of their product. The applications are open till the 11th of September.
Related Posts:
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, August 20 - 26, 2022 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, August 13 - 19, 2022 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, August 6 - 12, 2022 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
