Notable funding rounds across the EU:
- Spanish business travel platform TravelPerk has closed an additional $104 million investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Kinnevik and Felix Capital are also among the investors.
- German portable battery systems provider Instagrid has closed a Series C funding round of $95 million. The round was by Teachers' Venture Growth. Existing investors Energy Impact Partners, SET Ventures, blueworld group, and Hightech Gründerfonds, also participated.
- Copenhagen-based EV startup Monta has secured €80 million in Series B funding. The round was co-led by Chicago-based Energize Capital, GreenPoint Partners, and Denmark’s state-backed Export and Investment Fund.
- German mycelium biotech company Infinite Roots has announced the closing of its $58 million Series B round led by Dr Hans Riegel Holding, with support from the EIC Fund. Existing investors Clay Capital, FoodLabs, Redalpine, Simon Capital and Happiness Capital participated.
- Morressier, Berlin-based developer of tools for research integrity, has raised $16.5M investment led by Molten Ventures. Existing investors Redalpine, Owl Ventures, and Cherry Ventures also joined the round.
- Berlin-based digital packaging marketplace Packmatic has raised €15 million in a Series A round. EQT Ventures led the funding with participation from HV Capital, xDeck, and several angel investors.
- Precision medicine software platform Sano Genetics has raised an $11.4 million round led by Plural. MMC Ventures, Episode 1 Ventures, and Seedcamp also participated.
- German carbon credit platform CEEZER has closed a €10.3 million Series A round led by HV Capital. Existing investors Norrsken VC, Picus Capital, and Carbon Removal Partners also joined the round.
- Ozone API that develops open API platform for banks has raised an £8.5 million investment from growth equity investor Gresham House Ventures.
- Danish energytech startup Reel has secured a €5M seed investment led by Transition, with participation from existing shareholders UVC Partners, The Footprint Firm, and a group of energy specialists and founders.
New venture funds:
- Venture capital firm Plural has secured its second fund, amounting to €400 million. The new fund will continue the strategy it has chosen from the beginning, in June 2022, — each of the partner makes two investments into early-stage European companies per year, with checks ranging from €1-15 million. In 2023, HelixNano founder and scientist Carina Namih joined Plural, making it a fund of five partners, including the founding team of Wise’s Taavet Hinrikus, Ian Hogarth, the founder of Songkick, Sten Tamkivi, and Khaled Helioui.
- Estonia-based 2C Ventures has launched its initial fund, with a target size of €50 million. The fund will support early-stage startups in the Baltic and Nordic countries, focusing primarily on the Estonian market, that develop renewable energy, waste reduction, water management, circular economy, and other cleantech solutions. Depending on the company’s stage, the initial investment ticket’s size will range from €250,000 to €1 million.
CEE startup funding rounds & acquisitions:
- Voice technology research company ElevenLabs has completed an $80 million Series B funding round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Nat Friedman, former CEO at GitHub, and Daniel Gross, a former machine learning director at Apple. Following the investment, the startup is becoming a unicorn with a valuation of $1.1 billion.
- Czech provider of DevOps observability solutions Better Stack has raised an additional $10 million in funding led from KAYA. Aaron Levie, CEO at Box, and Kulpreet Singh, ex-UiPath, joined the round as angel investors.
- Czech online psychotherapy platform, Hedepy, announced a new €1.75 million funding round. The current funding came from existing investor Nation 1, a Czech early-stage VC, and angel investor Leoš Navrátil. New investors include the platform’s current corporate client, AspectWorks Group, and the Hungarian fund Impact Ventures, which led the fresh round.
- Medical facility and patient care management system eGabinet has raised almost €550,000 from business angels. The fresh funds will be used to expand the platform's functionality and provide solutions tailored to the needs of the medical system.
- AskToSell has raised a €100,000 pre-seed funding to automate sales for small and medium-sized business deals. The round was backed by Startup Wise Guys and Specialist VC.
- Polish app for sport and wellness service providers, ForActive, has raised seed investment to accelerate further growth. The list of investors includes Konrad Howard, Mariusz Adamski, Maciej Skarul, and Mateusz Zawistowski from the US ff Venture Capital, Michal Olszewski and Artur Banach from Polish Movens Capital, and Vital Laptenok, CEO at Ukrainian Flyer One Ventures.
Startup calls:
- FU-TOURISM project announces acceleration programs for startups and scaleups in tourism. During the program, 10 SMEs from Spain, Greece, Croatia, Belgium, Austria, and Poland will be selected in a transparent and open way to receive a 5-month support and a grant of €20,000. In addition, the Scaling Up program will select 42 SME consortia (7 per country) to receive a grant of €30,000 and corresponding business support.
About FU-TOURISM
Funded with €4 million by the COSME program and with a duration of 36 months (2023-2026), the European project FU-TOURISM seeks to establish a solid ecosystem that will provide a lasting impact on the tourism sector, promoting its resilience to future challenges and aligning with the objectives of the EU’s European Green Pact.
Related Posts:
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)
VC & Startup Weekly News 16 December, 2023 - 5 January, 2024 (by Sofia Drobychevskaya, Editor, Vestbee)
