Notable funding rounds across Europe:
- Finnish space startup ICEYE has raised €94 million in growth funding led by Finnish sovereign wealth fund Solidium Oy.
- Danish fintech Flatpay, which provides payment software for SMBs, has raised a €45 million Series B round. The round was led by Dawn Capital.
- Swiss cleantech company, Bcomp, has closed a $40 million Series C round led by EGS Beteiligungen AG. Polish investment fund RKKVC, together with Verve Ventures and Zürcher Kantonalbank, also joined.
- German fintech startup finmid has raised €35 million in early-stage equity funding from Blossom Capital, Earlybird VC, and N26 founder Max Tayenthal.
- Techbio company Qureight has closed €8 million Series A round led by Hargreave Hale AIM VCT. XTX Ventures, Guinness Ventures, and existing investors aso joined.
- Ghent-based Bioengineering startup Amphistar has raised €6 million from European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF), Qbic III, and Flanders Future Tech Fund (FFTF) to derive surfactants from waste.
- German climatetech software company Cozero has raised €6.5 million in a Series A funding round. Kvanted Ventures and EnBW New Ventures led the investment.
- UK-based crypto startup NEBRA has closed its $4.5 million round in a combined pre-seed and seed round led by Nascent and Bankless.
- UK-based HealthSage has raised €3 million seed investment to enhance and scale its open generative AI platform. Peak led the round.
CEE startup funding rounds & acquisitions:
- Sofia-based Bianor has raised €6.8 million to accelerate its development through mergers and acquisitions in the region. The round was backed by BlackPeak Capital.
- Vilnius-based Saltz has secured a €3 million seed round led by Lifeline Ventures, with participation from Change Ventures, Illusian Family Office, and business angels.
- Prague-based Apify has secured around $3 million in a funding round from a new investor J&T Ventures, with participation from a previous one, Reflex Capital.
- Serbian collaborative research platform Collabwriting has closed a €1.1 million seed funding round led by Poland’s venture capital fund SMOK Ventures. Credo Ventures, Underline Ventures, Startup Wise Guys, participated.
- Lithuanian CTO2B has raised €1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Practica Capital, with participation from FIRSTPICK and several angel investors.
- Riga-based B2B fintech company inGain has raised €650,000 in funding from Trind Ventures, Fiedler Capital, and Latvian Business Angels Network.
New venture capital funds and VCs’ news:
- Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, raised $7.2 billion for its newest set of funds to invest across several tech sectors globally.
- Private equity firm Maxburg Capital Management has closed Maxburg Capital Fund IV. This brings Maxburg's total capital raised to over €1 billion.
- Warsaw-based investment firm bValue has closed its third fund, bValue Growth (BVG), at €90 million to support technological companies in Poland and across CEE.
- Rosberg Ventures has launched a VC fund of funds with a target of $75 million. It has already secured a first close at $30 million.
- Dutch deeptech VC PhotonVentures has completed its second fundraising round, raising over €15 million. This brings the fund’s total to the targeted €75 million.
- Czech Depo Ventures and Tensor Ventures have announced their joint exit — the funds sold their shares in American-Israeli AI chip startup, Neuronix AI, to US tech giant Microchip Technology.
Startup calls & Events:
- SERIES AI accelerator
Seedrs, Europe’s private investing platform, has partnered with Microsoft to launch SERIES AI. Accelerator is suitable for early stage startups from any sector looking to incorporate and already incorporating AI into their business. All applicants will be invited to participate in the accelerator, but only six finalists will — to pitch in front of top-tier VCs and investors on June 17 in Microsoft’s Reactor Space in Paddington. The startups can apply here.
- Startups of the month by Vestbee
Startups of the month is a monthly articles series where we highlight ten tech projects from various sectors originating in the CEE countries that caught our attention. If you would like to introduce your startup to Vestbee and participate in the selection to be featured in the next edition, please fill out the application by May 10.
