Thought of the week
European unicorns are gaining momentum!
In April 2018, we had 29 companies that became unicorns in Europe since 2014. In September 2020, we had 73 unicorns in Europe. At the time of writing this piece, we had 92 unicorns in Europe. Since then Alan and Starling Bank have become unicorns, so we are now at 94!
The number of unicorns in Europe is growing at a very rapid pace, which goes to show that the European tech scene is maturing and global champions are emerging!
Who are they and what sector do they operate in?
While these companies operate in numerous sectors, the major trends have been: Fintech, Software and E-commerce/Marketplace. Unsurprisingly, these sectors are easier to scale than transportation or healthcare which tend to be capex heavy or bound by country-specific regulations which can make expansion challenging.
Geographical split
The UK has historically been home to the most unicorns in Europe as it was “the place to be” for fast-growing start-ups. But over the past years, other places in Europe, such as Germany and France, have seen their start-up and tech scene really take off.
Investor landscape
Intelligence
Infarm, the Berlin-based vertical farming provider is considering an IPO via SPAC. The German vertical farming start-up has hired Goldman Sachs to help with talks on the possibility of going public through a merger with a so-called blank check company as it seeks funds for expansion. Most recently, Sky News reported that Infarm plans to raise an additional $250m.
The former Tengelmann Ventures team, who consists of Christian Winter, Jan Sessenhausen and Wilken Engelbracht, is starting a new VC called Cusp Capital. The first closing of the new fund is almost €200m, with a target of €300m. This means that Cusp Capital will be one of the largest GermanVCs right from the start. Tengelmann Ventures has invested in start-ups and grown-ups such as Zalando, Delivery Hero, Uber, Klarna and Westwing.
L Catterton, an American-French private equity company, is about to invest in the young Amazon shop buyer SellerX. 83North, Cherry Ventures, Felix Capital, Zalando founder David Schneider and the former Amazon UK boss Christopher North are investing €26m in the young company.
Jake Siewert is stepping down as communications chief at Goldman Sachs, in order to join his old boss, Tim Geithner, at Warburg Pincus.
Start-up of the week
Product
Despite the fact that spreadsheets are crucial to normal business operations, there are multiple use cases for sales teams, finances teams, etc., all of which are very different. Causal hopes to address these with a more data-driven, collaborative approach.
Founded in 2019 by Taimur Abdaal and Lukas Köbis, Causal is “aiming to replace Excel” by starting with the spreadsheet’s foundation: formulas”. Causal says its formulas “read like plain English” such “as Profit = Revenue – Costs” and also claims it typically takes “100x fewer formulas” in Causal to build exactly the same model in Excel.
Location
London, UK
Raised
Total funding is $5.5m including a follow-up Seed round of $4.2m this week
Investors
Accel, Coatue, Passion Capital, Verissimo Ventures and various Angels
Revenue model
Subscription model with different tiering depending on the functionalities and size of the team
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Funding rounds
Dach
Lingoda, the Berlin-based on-demand online language school with live instructions and Zoom classrooms, raised $68m in funding led by Summit Partners. Read more.
Seven Senders, the Berlin-based delivery platform for parcel shipping, raised a $40m Series C led by Digital+ Partners, with participation from b-to-v Partners. Read more.
Tink, the Berlin-based smarthome/IoT comparison and shopping platform has raised a €40m Series D led by Cadence Growth Capital, Rocket Internet, and ProSieben’s SevenVentures. Read more.
InsureQ, the Munich-based digital insurance platform for SMEs and freelancers, raised a $6m extension of its Seed round led by Nauta Capital with existing investors Flash Ventures and GFC also participating. Read more.
France
Alan, the Paris-based health insurer, raised $220m at a $1.7bn valuation led by Coatue, including also Dragoneer, Exor and existing investors Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital and Temasek. Read more.
BlaBlaCar, the Paris-based long-distance carpooling and bus marketplace, raised $115m led by existing investor VNV Capital, including Otiva and FMZ Ventures. Read more.
Ornikar, the Paris-based specialist in driver training and road awareness, raised a $120m series C, led by KKR Growth. Existing investors Idinvest, BPI, Elaia, Brighteye and H14 also contributed to Ornikar’s latest fundraise. Read more.
UK & Ireland
Payhawk, the London-based corporate payments and expense management start-up, raised a $20m Series A led by QED Investors with participation from existing investor Earlybird Digital East. Read more.
Starling Bank, the London-based neo-bank, raised a c.$380m Series D led by Fidelity Management, following a £50m investment by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity. The post-money valuation sits at $1.9bn. Read more.
Zilch, the London-based Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) start-up, raised a $80m series B led by Gauss Ventures and M&F Fund. Read more.
Causal, the London-based start-up aiming to replace Excel for business operations, raised a $4.2m Seed round led by Accel. Existing investors Coatue, Passion Capital, Verissimo Ventures also participated. Read more.
Blockchain.com, the London-based crypto-exchange, has raised a further $100m from Baillie Gilford less than one month after raising $300m at a $5.2bn valuation. Read more.
Proximie, the London-based company which uses augmented reality to allow surgeons to advise on operations remotely around the globe, raised a $38m Series B led by F-Prime Capital and includes participation from Questa Capital, Eight Roads, Maverick Ventures, Global Ventures, BECO Capital and Cedar Mundi Ventures. Read more.
Beelivery, the London-based grocery delivery start-up which offers 15-60 minutes grocery delivery, raised a c.$6m Series A from GreenBank Capital and UKTV Ventures. Read more.
HalalBooking, the London-based Halal-friendly holiday platform, raised a $5m series B from undisclosed investors at a valuation of c.$75m. Read more.
Benelux
Dott, the Amsterdam-based e-scooter and micromobility start-up, raised a $85m Series B co-led by Sofina and Estari, with participation from EQT Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Expon Capital, Felix Capital, FJ Labs, Invest-NL, McRock Capital, Quadia, and various angel investors. Read more.
Deliverect, the Gent-based provider of food order management software, raised a $65m series C co-led by DST Global and Redpoint Ventures, also including investment by OMERS, Newion and Smartfin. Read more.
Others
FintechOS, the Bucharest-based low-code platform for banks and insurers, raised a €51m Series B. Draper Esprit led, and was joined by insiders Earlybird, Gapminder Ventures, Launchub and OTB Ventures. Read more.
Interesting SPACs
Fifth Wall Acquisition III, a prop-tech SPAC formed by Fifth Wall, filed for a $250m IPO. Read more.
Golden Path Acquisition, a SPAC targeting a business connected to Asian markets, filed for a $50mIPO. Read more.
Stillwater Growth I, tech SPAC led by Mark Bradley (DBO Partners), filed for a $300m IPO. Read more. Read more.
Investors
LocalGlobe and Latitude raised two new funds - $150m and $220m. Read more.
Pale Blue Dot announced a second closing of their fund at $100m. Read more.
The Games Fund is a $50m fund to invest in gaming across Eastern Europe. Read more.
Brightlands Venture Partners closes a €45m sustainability and health fund. Read more.
Tera Ventures announced the closing of a €43m seed-stage fund. Read more.
IPR VC announced €65m for IPR.VC Fund II. Read more.
FoodSparks will invest in €30m pan-European seed and early-stage agrifood-tech start-ups. Read more.
Icebreaker, the Helsinki-based VC, has closed its fund II at €100m and raised a separate €20m to continue investments in existing portfolio companies. Read more.
Thoma Bravo is targeting $3bn for its debut growth equity fund. Read more.
IK Investment Partners raised €1.2bn for its third small-cap buyout fund. Read more.
Good reads
Google Earth introduced timelapse going back as far as 40 years!
Bob Lefsetz is skeptical on the new wave of paid content (Substack etc.)
The complete history and strategy of Meituan
Great podcast about Meituan, the juggernaut Chinese "super-app" which dominates China's services economy, offering consumers everything from food delivery, restaurant reviews, travel booking, bike-sharing, movie ticketing, and countless other entertainment and lifestyle services all at the touch of a button.
Another of the online schools for learning the Russian language is the school https://golearnrussian.com/free-russian-lessons/ the site has free Russian lessons and you can take a test for knowledge of the level of Russian. And also on the school blog, there are a lot of useful articles for learning the language and Russian culture!)
in fact, among online schools, I would single out a school like http://englishpapa.com/ and not only because it is currently gaining momentum in the European market in the field of education, but also because it has the coolest teachers who work both in Western Europe and in Eastern Europe, and it will be great for future students to study there, if only because it pays enough attention to the process of language practice, and this is no less important in open labor markets, and most importantly, it has where to grow