New Venture Funds:
- Luxembourg-based private equity firm CVC Capital Partners announces the successful close of its buyout fund, Fund IX, at €26B. The fund focuses on corporate private equity investments primarily in Europe and North America, with a longer holding period of around 6 to 15 years. .
- France-based Eurazeo closes €400M Smart City fund focused on early-stage to Series-C sustainable city technologies from Europe and Asia.
- The Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA) will launch a new EU Structural Fund-backed support program worth over €73M for Latvian SMEs. The program aims to provide financial assistance for innovation, business incubation, and export support, benefiting around 1,500 companies, including those with new ideas.
- Geneva-based Giano Capital launched a €50M secondary market fund for late-stage European tech companies, targeting 15 companies with ticket sizes from €2M to €25M.
- Greek VC Uni.Fund raises €50M for European university spinouts and startups. Targets 20-25 seed-stage investments, €200k to €1.5M tickets, with a focus on research and non-university startups.
- Polish MCI Management secures €32M financing from Raiffeisen Bank International, enhancing investment capacity and liquidity for MCI Capital Group.
Startup Funding Rounds & Acquisitions:
- Lithuanian solar tech startup PVcase raises $100M in Series B, with Highland Europe, Energize, and Elephant co-leading the round, bringing the total funding to over $123M.
- Ukrainian-founded edtech Preply secures $70M investment from Horizon Capital, Reach Capital, and Hoxton Ventures to expand into AI-powered language learning.
- Czech startup Phrase secures €12M in venture debt from CIBC Innovation Banking to develop AI-driven language technology for efficient translations and localization.
- Lithuanian logtech startup GoRamp raises €3M in a late seed round led by Hungarian Lead Ventures to expand in European and the US with its SaaS logistics solution.
- Hungarian e-commerce startup Prefixbox raises €2M in Series A funding led by Euroventures to enhance shopping experience with conversational AI.
- Polish satellite manufacturer Thorium Space secures €900k from Smartlink Partners, a new VC fund co-founded by Polish entrepreneurs, supporting SaaS, AI, and greentech companies.
- Polish startup Codejet raises €250k led by Terra Seed fund and gains 1,8k users in a month, revolutionizing front-end development and saving developers' time.
- Estonian energy storage startup Skeleton Technologies raises new undisclosed funding from Marubeni Corporation to build a production factory for its quick-charging ultracapacitors.
- Ukrainian startup Adsme receives pre-seed funding from local investors to expand its AI-driven advertising prediction technology.
- Estonian Piletilevi Group acquires 80% of GoOut.net, Czech ticket marketplace, expanding its ticket sales presence in the Czech Republic. The deal amount remains undisclosed.
- Sixt acquires Latvia's Renti Plus car subscription service, adding over 100 cars to its fleet and meeting rising demand for car subscriptions in the country.
Startup Calls:
- Spotlight 2023, the leading startup competition in Eastern Europe, accepts applications till the end of July. The competition offers matchmaking sessions, mentoring, and pitch on stage to win the grand investment prize of €500k. The program is dedicated to early-stage tech startups in Eastern Europe with some traction, less than 5 years old, and less than €500K fundraised.
- EMERGE CHALLENGE invites startup founders to pitch their products and get a chance to win up to $250k investment from Constellation VC. The EMERGE conference has been connecting tech entrepreneurs, influencers, corporations, and investors from the CEE, Balkans and Central Asia region. Event will take place on October 2-3 in Istanbul. The application deadline is 31 July.
- The FoodTech Startup Competition, organized by Croatian-based Maistra Hospitality Group in collaboration with Infobip, Kaufland, and Peppermint Agency, invites European seed and pre-seed stage startups focused on sustainability and digitization challenges in the Food and Hospitality Industry. Registration is open until July 31, 2023.
- RedZone invites early-stage startups in Europe focused on advanced materials to apply for its acceleration program. Receive financial support of up to€ 80k and collaborate with SAES to develop breakthrough ideas in smart packaging, cosmetic solutions, carbon capture materials, sensing & functional materials, and advanced membranes. The application is still open (no indicated deadline)
- Calling for MediaTech startups to Join the Global MediaTech Pitch Day. Finalists get a chance to win €10K, raise up to €1M, and join a media-specific accelerator program. Event took place on September 28 in Potsdam, Germany. Apply by August 8
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VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, July 8 - 14, 2023 (by Sofia Drobychevskaya, Editor, Vestbee)
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VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, May 27 - June 2, 2023 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
