Notable funding rounds across the EU:
- Pennylane, a Parisian fintech startup, has announced the raise of €40 million in a Series C round from existing investors Sequoia Capital and DST Global, becoming France’s newest unicorn.
- Barcelona plant-based foodtech company Heura Foods has closed its Series B, securing €40 million. The investors include Upfield, Unovis Asset Management, alongside the foodtech fund, European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF VC), and New Tree Impact.
- Software asset management platform, Xensam, has secured $40 million for AI product development and expansion in the US and Europe.
- Led by former OpenAI technical lead Jones Schneider, German Daedalus has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by NGP Capital, with participation from Addition and Khosla Ventures.
- Paris-based grocery shopping app, Jow, has secured $13 million in a Series A extension round led by Northzone to support its US market entry.
- The UK lifestyle monitoring company Lilli has raised £8.2 million in Series A financing led by West Hill Capital.
- French corporate seminar booking platform Naboo has raised €7.5 million from ISAI, Kima Ventures, Better Angle, CapHorn.
- Berlin-based DUDE CHEM has closed a €6.5 million seed round co-led by Vorwerk Ventures and b2venture, with participation from Frontline, Borski Fund, Auxxo, and Push Ventures.
- Guided Energy, a Parisian startup focusing on the optimization of EV fleet management, has raised $5.2 million in an investment round co-led by Sequoia and Dynamo Ventures.
New venture funds:
- 3TS Capital Partners, a European technology-focused growth capital investor, announced the final closing of Fund IV with €111 million. 3TS’ investment strategy identifies key investment areas across ICT and tech-enabled service sectors, and the fund typically leads investment rounds of €5-€20 million.
- London-based VC firm, Episode 1, announced the closure of its third fund at £76 million. Ticket sizes are expected to range from £250,000 to £3 million, with the firm focusing on AI, TechBio, open-source, software infrastructure, healthtech, and marketplaces startups.
CEE startup funding rounds & acquisitions:
- Estonian-founded robotics startup Starship Technologies has raised $90 million in a round co-led by Plural and Iconical.
- Tuum, a core banking provider, has closed a €25 million Series B round led by CommerzVentures, with participation from Speedinvest alongside existing investors.
- Hungarian-founded text-to-video startup Colossyan has closed a $22 million Series A funding roundled by Lakestar, with participation from LaunchHub, Day One Capital, and Emerge Education.
- Romanian-founded healthtech Ezra that develops a solution for early cancer detection has received $21 million in a round led by Healthier Capital.
- Sofia-based digital ID and qualified trust service provider Evrotrust has secured a €3.3 million funding led by Silverline Capital.
- Polish e-commerce platform Saleorhas closed a $8 million seed extension round led by Target Global. Kevin Mahaffey, Cherry Ventures, Zalando, and TQ Ventures also joined.
- Lithuanian fintech Axiology has raised a €2 million funding co-led by Coinvest Capital and Baltic Sandbox Ventures, as Vestbee was informed.
- Vilnius-based edtech startup Leya AI, which develops real-time speaking AI Tutor, has raised €1 million round from V-Sharp Venture Studio, Inventure, BADideas.fund, and several angel investors.
- Qneiform, a Budapest-based provider of AI-based talent acquisition platform, has raised €750,000 from Slimmer AI, Dutch Founders Fund (DFF), and Keen Venture Partners.
- Zagreb-based urban autonomous mobility developer P3 Mobility has closed a Series A investment round, raising a total amount of €100 million from private investors.
Startup calls:
- Sofia-based fund Eleven Ventures has launched the application for the second edition of its three-month Eleven Alpha program. It is dedicated to European startups at a pre-seed stage that could have only an idea and an MVP, or even few paying clients. Fintech, healthtech, future of work, and sustainable food are among the Eleven Ventures strength, but Eleven Alpha is also open to startups in all domains. The program comes with a deal of €300,000 for 10%. Startups can apply for Eleven Alpha until March 7, 2024.
- Slovenian Labena Ventures has announced an open call for its three-month acceleration program, targeting CEE startups and creative teams in the biotech, pharma, healthtech, foodtech, and sustainability verticals. Participants will have the opportunity to access an extensive network of Labena Ventures partners, mentorship, and resources. The program is equity-free, with the best-ranked projects receiving grants of up to €15,000. Startups can apply by April 5, 2024
Related Posts:
VC & Startup weekly news from CEE, January 20-26, 2024 (by Lisa Palchynska, Vestbee)
VC & Startup weekly news from CEE, January 13-19, 2024 (by Lisa Palchynska, Vestbee)
VC & Startup weekly news from CEE, January 6-12, 2024 (by Lisa Palchynska, Vestbee)
