Funding Rounds
Dach
Flink, the Berlin-based developer of mobile supermarket application designed to provide on-demand groceries, raised €53m of seed funding in a deal led by Target Global, putting the company's pre-money valuation at €85.97m. Cherry Ventures, Northzone Ventures, TriplePoint Capital, and Cristina Stenbeck also participated in the round. Read more.
Volocopter, the Munich-based startup that has been building and testing electric VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircrafts, raised a €200m Series D. The investment comes from BlackRock, Atlantia, Avala Capital, Tokyo Century, NTT and insiders Geely, Daimler, DB Schenker, Intel Capital, btov Partners, Team Europe and Klocke Holding. Read more.
Next.e.Go Mob, the Aachen-based Manufacturer of electric vehicles received €30m of development capital from Moore Strategic Ventures, Mr. John Snow, Mr. Alejandro Agag, Mr. Edward Norton and other undisclosed investors. Read more.
Oxygen, the Zug-based (Switzerland) provider of blockchain-based services intended to prime brokerage services that have traditionally been limited to investment banks and hedge funds to everyone, free of centralized control, raised $40m of venture funding led by Alameda Research. Genesis Capital (Atlanta), Multicoin Capital and CSM also participated in the round. Read more.
Carvolution, the Bannwil-based (Switzerland) car subscription company offering an alternative to purchase and leasing, raised a CHF15m Series C. The round was led by Francisco Fernandez, founder of the Avaloq Group, as well as Ringier Digital Ventures. Read more.
KONUX, the Munich-based AI scaleup, transforming railway operations for a sustainable future, raised a €65.7m Series C, led by German investor Sanno Capital. Other investors joining the round include DIVC, New Enterprise Associates, Dick Kramlich and Deutsche Invest Capital Partners. Read more.
N26, the Berlin-based neobank, raised $36m from existing investor Earlybird, as well as the Swarovski family. Read more.
France
Maze, the Paris-based developer of quantitative analytics tools intended to turn prototypes into actionable insights, raised a $15m Series A led by Emergence Capital. Jay Simons and existing investors Amplify Partners, Partech and Seedcamp also participated in the funding round. Read more.
Sorare, the Paris-based blockchain collectible and fantasy football platform, raised a €40m Series A. The round, which brought total funding to €48m, was led by Benchmark, with participation from Accel and angels Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Vaynermedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk, football players Antoine Griezmann and Rio Ferdinand. Read more.
Vestiaire Collective, the Paris-based online marketplace for pre-owned luxury and fashion items, raised a €178m financing round backed by Kering and Tiger Global Management. Existing shareholders including Vestiaire Collective’s CEO, Max Bittner, Bpifrance, Condé Nast,Eurazeo Group, Fidelity International, Korelya Capital, Luxury Tech Fund and Vitruvian Partners also reinvested. Read more.
Mansa, the Paris-based platform allowing freelancers and gig workers to borrow money with fair pricing and a genuine user experience, raised a $18m Series A out of which c.$7m of equity from British fund Anthemis Group, Founders Future and angel investors. Read more.
TokTokDoc, the Strasbourg-based developer of a telemedicine software solution, raised a $6m Series A led by Banque des Territoires, Macif and the Swen Capital Partners fund, as well as historical shareholders Crédit Mutuel Arkea and the Vivalto group. Read more.
UK & Ireland
Hopin, the London-based virtual events platform is looking to raise roughly $400m at a pre-money valuation of $5bn for its Series C. The two names out in front, likely part of a joint ticket, are thought to be Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst. The company raised $125m at a $2.125bn valuation late last year for its Series B. Read more.
Amito, the Reading-based data centre owner and operator secured a significant minority investment deal worth £38.7m including follow-on funding from Harwood Private Equity. Read more.
Cutover, the London-based enterprise-wide work orchestration and observability platform that enables human and machine collaboration, raised a $35m Series B. Eldridge led the round, with participation from existing investors Index Ventures, Sussex Place Ventures and Contour Ventures. Read more.
Humaans, the London-based developer of an employee on-boarding and management platform, raised a $5m Seed round from Y Combinator, Mattias Ljungman’s Moonfire, Frontline Ventures and former head of Stripe Issuing, Lachy Groom. Read more.
Perfect Ward, the London-based quality inspection platform designed to support the health and social sectors, raised a $5.5m Series A from Octopus Investments. Read more.
Qogita, the London-based Wholesale B2B platform aiming to drastically increase market efficiency and supply chain margins, raised a $3m Seed round from Bessemer Venture Partners and Local Globe.
BCB Group, the London-based provider of business accounts and trading services for cryptocurrencies, raised a $4.5m round co-led by North Island Ventures and Blockchain.com Ventures, with participation from Pantera, L1 Digital and Pack Capital. Read more.
TreeCard, the London-based yet-to-launch fintech offering a spending card made out of wood and the promise to fund reforesting via the interchange fees generated, raised a $5.1m Seed round, led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Seedcamp and Episode 1. Read more.
Nordics
Memmo, the Stockholm-based startup allowing users to pay celebrities for personalized video messages, raised a $10m Series A led by Left Lane Capital and angel investors. Read more.
Subaio, the Copenhagen-based provider of a solution that lets you manage your paid subscriptions, raised a c.$5m Series A from Global PayTech Ventures. Read more.
Others
Wallapop, the Barcelona-based virtual marketplace that lets people resell their used items, or sell items like crafts that they make themselves, raised €157m round at a valuation of €690m. The funding is being led by Korelya Capital, with Accel, Insight Partners, 14W, GP Bullhound and Northzone, all previous backers of Wallapop, also participating. Read more.
Idealista, the Madrid-based online real estate classifieds platform provider, raised €250m of development capital from Apax Partners. The transaction values the company at €1.47bn. Read more.
Dream Games, the Istanbul-based mobile gaming startup raised $50m in new funding, despite having only launched its first game this week. Index Ventures led the Series A round. The round also saw contributions from Balderton Capital and Markers Fund, and boosted Dream Games' lifetime funding to $57.5m. Read more.
Rohlik, the Prague-based online supermarket for groceries, raised €190m of development capital from Partech, J&T Banka, Quadrille Capital, Enern, Index Ventures, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and R2G. Read more.
Crisp, the Amsterdam-based developer of SaaS platform designed to make food supply chain more efficient, raised a $12.79m Series A in a deal led by FirstMark Capital. Spring Capital and Swell Partners along with other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. Read more.
Delfast, the Kiev-based provider of online delivery services intended to deliver electric bicycles in 1 hour after ordering on the site, closed the first round of its crowdfunding campaign on Fundable, raising $3.4m from local and foreign investors. Read more.
CGTrader, the Vilnius-based operator of an online marketplace intended to buy, sell, and create professional 3D content, raised a $9.5m Series B led by Evli Growth Partners. LVV Group, Karma Ventures and Mikael Hed also participated in the round. Read more.
Happy Volcano, the Brussel-based operator of a game developing studio intended to make interactive games for all age groups, raised a €1.8m Series A from Hiro Capital. Read more.
Rewire, the Amsterdam-based cross-border online banking FinTech startup, raised a $20m Series B and a “significant” line of credit. The round was led by OurCrowd, and included new key investors Renegade Partners, Glilot Capital Partners and AME Cloud Ventures. Current investors include Viola Fintech, BNP Paribas via Opera Tech Ventures, Moneta Capital, and private angel investors. Read more.
Bipi, the Madrid-based car subscription startup offering consumers a hassle-free alternative to car ownership, raised a c.$7m extension from Italian venture capital firm P101. Read more.
Intelligence
Atom Bank, the Blyth-based mobile-only bank announced a planned £40m fundraising from its existing shareholders, as it gears up for an IPO. The bank expects its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending business to have grown to more than £700m by March 2021.
Paul Murphy of Northzone Ventures is in talks to join Lightspeed Venture Partners as a London-based partner.
Greece
Over the last few years, the Greek startup scene has been growing stronger, attracting investments and giving birth to success stories. Without a doubt, Greece has what it takes to deserve a solid place on the startup radar:
Startup Of The Week
Product
Freetrade is a commission-free trading platform, similar to RobinHood in the US and Trade Republic in Germany
It is currently live in the UK with a massive user growth in the UK - 500,000 users in Feb-21 vs 100,000 a year ago
Launch planned in France for the coming months
Location
London, UK
Raised
c.$37m raised to date
Investors
Freetrade investors include Draper Esprit, Daintree.VC and a fair amount of individual investors due to its numerous Crowdcube campaigns
Revenue Model
Subscription-based “Plus” accounts
Subscription-based ISA accounts
Interchange fee on transactions including stocks labelled in other currencies than GBP
Investors
Ignacio Blasco joined H.I.G. Capital as a Madrid-based managing director in its direct lending group. He previously was with Houlihan Lokey. Read more.
Oak HC/FT promoted Billy Deitch to partner and added Tess Munsie (ex-General Atlantic) as a senior associate and Chelsea Chan (TA Associates) as an associate.
Bessemer Venture Partners raised nearly $2.5bn for its eleventh flagship fund and $825m for its second growth-stage fund. Read more.
Serena, a French VC firm, raised more than €300m for its third fund. Read more.
Newly established venture capital firm Skylake Capital has held a first close for its debut fund, an early-stage vehicle with a $100m target. Read more.
Rainmaking launches Motion Ventures to boost innovation in the maritime industry. Read more.
Sofinnova Partners, a European life sciences VC firm, raised €445m for a new crossover fund. Read more.
Sequoia closes Fourth Seed Fund, at $195M. Read more.
Thought Of The Week
These 5 countries sold the most electric cars last year:
#5 - Finland / 18% of all new cars were plug-ins - that means hybrid or all electric
#4 - Netherlands / A quarter of new cars were plug-ins
#3 - Sweden / Electric vehicles racked up a third of new sales
#2 Iceland / Plug-ins made up a whooping 45% of the Icelandic market - the climate-conscious nation is already 99% powered by renewables. It’s small size make running out of electric charges less of an issue
#1 Norway / 75% of new sales were plug-ins. Norway offers generous tax incentives to electric vehicle owners. 54% of total sales were fully battery-powered making Norway the first country where all-electrics outsell petrol, diesel and hybrid cars combined
Globally, plug-in cars made up 4.2% of vehicle sales. Cities including Paris and Amsterdam will ban non-electric cars from 2030.