New VC Funds
- Google Ventures announces a close of its next, $500M fund. The firm will focus on European and North American early-stage startups.
- German VC Planet A raises a €160M fund. The firm will back European climate tech innovation.
- Czech climate VC Inven Capital obtains an additional €50M for its fund from EIB. The firm will continue investing across Europe/Israel with tickets ranging from €2M to €30M.
CEE Startup Funding Rounds & Acquisitions
- Belarusian-found supplier intelligence platform Craft raises a $32M series B to invest in its further growth. The round was led by BAM Elevate and joined by Greycroft, Uncork Capital, High Alpha, ServiceNow Ventures, Point Field Partners, as well as people like Frederic Kerrest - a co-founder of Okta, Stacey Epstein who's a CMO of Freshworks, and a CEO of LaunchDarkly Edith Harbaugh.
- Polish electronics rental marketplace Plenti raises a €5M seed round to expand across Poland and spread its partnership program to more electronics producers/vendors. The round was led by 4growth VC and joined by Montis Capital and NCBR Investment Fund.
- Polish clothes e-commerce Answear.com acquires streetwear and footwear brands Sneakerstudio and PRM. The size of the transaction is reported to be around 18.5M PLN.
- Hungarian fraud prevention platform SEON buys out a local AML/KYC compliance platform Complytron to acquire the company's data/algorithms and its team. The official transaction size remains undisclosed, yet it's rumoured to be around €2.5M.
- Japanese video service provider PLAY Inc obtains majority stake in Larvian cloud playout/channel management platform Veset. The size of the transaction remains undisclosed.
- Estonian biotech developing alternative oils ÄIO raises €1M to kickstart large-scale production and obtain food permits across the EU. The round was led by Nordic Foodtech VC and Enterprise Estonia.
- Polish software house NeuroSYS obtains a 3M PLN grant to develop an AR training system for factory workers. The grant was obtained through NCBR.
- Czech bikes marketplace Outfindo gets €700k to further develop the platform and expand its presence abroad. The round was co-funded by Jaro Capital and Richard Valtr, the founder of Mews.
- Croatian microcomputer producer Vidi X raises €600k in funding for further product development and business expansion. The round was led by Feelsgood.
- Estonian wound care medtech Nanordica Medical gets €375k in a seed round to continue its trials and certification. The round was made possible with the help of Erki Mölder, Heidi Kakko, and Martin Goroško.
Startup Calls & Events
- Mercedes-Benz funds a beVisioneers Fellowship to support climate-centred innovation. The program offers one-on-one coaching, access to industry experts and opportunities to win project grants. The program is open to people aged 16-28 coming from Denmark, Germany, Hungary, India, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, or the United Kingdom.
- Mastercard Massiv open innovation program invites Baltic/Nordic seed to series A startups with high social/environmental impact. Those invited to join will have a chance of going through a series of workshops and have a chance of partnering with large corporates like Mastercard. The applications for the program are open till the 19th of February.
- Wolves Summit launches a 4-week accelerator V4 RegionUp InnoBooster. The program is open to post-MVP startups from Ukraine and V4 (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) developing solutions in the areas of education, ER, mental health, energy (production & storage), clean re-building, and environmental restoration. The applications close on the 19th of March.
- Impact Arena co-run by Sebastian Kulczyk's InCredibles and Puls Biznesu searches for social/environmental impact startups to join in its pitch contest. The winners of the challenge will have a chance of presenting their solutions in front of a huge audience and get invited to InCredibles mentoring program. The applications for the event close on the 16th of February.
- Poland-based EY Demo Day invites startups to pitch sales/marketing technology to the C-level executives of various companies and corporations and EY's clients. The applications are open till the 17th of February.
- The City of Tallinn launches Test in Tallinn initiative for innovative companies. The program is open to mobility, energy efficiency and renewable energy startups developing technologies that might be useful on the streets of the city. The applications for the initiative are reviewed and accepted continuously.
Related Posts:
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, January 28 - February 3, 2023 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, January 21 - 27, 2023 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, January 14 - 20, 2023 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
