EU-Startups | Limelight on EU-startups

Online train ticket platform Capitaine Train raises €2.5M

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

The French startup Capitaine Train recently secured €2.5 Million funding from Index Ventures and CM-CIC Capital Privé. Founded in 2009, Capitaine Train is probably Europe’s most innovative online train ticket booking platform. The Paris-based company sells tickets to many European destinations with a focus on delivering great user experience and exceptional customer service.

Capitaine Train is the only booking site that distributes all of the offers of the two major railway companies in Europe: SNCF and Deutsche Bahn. In addition Continue reading →

Posted in France-Startups, Funding | Tagged Capitaine Train, CM-CIC, Index Ventures, Paris, train tickets | Leave a comment

French travel website Planetveo raises €15 million

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

Planetveo, a Paris-based online travel agency specialised in tailormade holiday packages, just secured a joint investment of €15 million from Gimv and Iris Capital.

The Planetveo group was founded in 2007 and offers tailor-made long-haul holiday packages to Asia, Africa, the Pacific region and America. Thanks to an offering that combines genuine discovery and novel encounters with local cultures, the young company Continue reading →

Posted in France-Startups, Funding | Tagged Gimv, Iris Capital, Paris, Planetveo, tailormade holiday | Leave a comment

Carpooling.com reached 1 million downloads of its mobile apps

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

Carpooling.com, one of the world’s leading ridesharing marketplaces, today announced that it has reached 1 million downloads of its mobile apps. The Munich-based company has recently also released new apps with more payment features. Carpooling.com, which has about 4.7 million registered users, introduced its first iPhone and Android apps in 2011, adding online booking on mobile in 2012. Continue reading →

Posted in Germany-Startups | Tagged carpooling, Carpooling.com, milestone, mobile apps, Munich, ridesharing | Leave a comment

Polish startup UsabilityTools secures funding

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

UsabilityTools, a conversion testing and usability optimization platform operating in the SaaS model, has just secured fresh capital from SpeedUp Innovation and Xevin Investments. SpeedUp Innovation has acquired 16% of the shares and another 16% has been acquired by Xevin Investments (for an undisclosed sum). Additional 8% went to Cube Group – a subsidiary of Xevin Investment. UsabilityTools, which is based in Poznań (Poland), now intends to address international markets and Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Poland-Startups | Tagged Poznań, SpeedUp, usability testing, UsabilityTools, Xevin | Leave a comment

Game monetisation: Stryking closes 1st external funding round

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

The Berlin-based startup Stryking Entertainment, which focuses on innovative marketing and monetization tools for free-to-play games, has recently gained the Angel VC Fund True Global Ventures as an investor. With the newly raised capital (a six-digit sum), Stryking, which was founded in 2012, will speed up the development and market launch of its own technical framework. This will provide developers and publishers of free-to-play games with completely new e-commerce functionalities and opportunities to integrate brand partners directly into the game. Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Germany-Startups | Tagged Berlin, game monetisation, Stryking, True Global Ventures | Leave a comment

Investing in Spanish entrepreneurs (video)

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

IBL Studios, a New York based communications agency, has just released a promotional video to support Spanish entrepreneurs. Although the music is a little bit too dramatic, I really like the message of the video. I wish there was a similar one for Europe as a whole…

Posted in Spain-Startups | Tagged IBL Studios, Spanish entrepreneurs, video | Leave a comment

The favorite books of Evan Williams and Lars Hinrichs

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

Books have the power to transform lives and businesses. With our section “The favorite books of…” we inform you once in a while about the favorite books of some of the most successful Internet entrepreneurs. Today we’re looking at the bookshelf of Evan Williams and Lars Hinrichs:

Evan Williams (Co-Founder of Twitter / Blogger): He gave “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay a 5 star rating on goodreads and stated: “I read this book when I was young, hungry, and impressionable. I found it quite inspiring. Not sure how it would strike me today, but giving it five stars, based on the impact it had on me at the time.” Another book he gave 5 stars is The Halo Effect. Williams said “If you read business books, you should read this business book. You’ll read all others with a Continue reading →

Posted in Know-How, Other Stuff | Tagged Evan Williams, favorite books, Lars Hinrichs, the Tipping point | Leave a comment

Dutch startup SEOshop secures $1.5 million

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

A €1,1 million series A funding by HENQ allows Dutch online store company SEOshop, one of the fastest expanding E-commerce platforms in the Netherlands, to conquer the European market. SEOshop offers clients ready- and custom-made online stores at low costs, making it market leader in the Benelux in just a few years time.

Ruud Stelder (CEO) and Dennis Cuijpers (CTO) founded the company in 2008 which nowadays employs 37 young professionals. By now SEOshop serves Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Netherland-Startups | Tagged Amsterdam, HENQ, online shopping, SEO, SEOshop, Series A | Leave a comment

Milestone: Babbel apps crack the 10 million downloads mark

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Thomas Ohr

The language learning startup Babbel today announced it has achieved a record of 10 million downloads of its mobile applications. The apps of the Berlin-based company are available in over 190 countries. English is the most popular language learned with the Babbel app, followed by Spanish and French. Babbel users have the option to learn languages flexibly and Continue reading →