There were a number of interesting deals in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at the end of 2014. CEE has a lot of cheap and skilled talent; overlooked by big investors, the region offers many good early and late stage investment opportunities, and much cheaper valuations compared to the US.
GoodData, a cloud-based big data analytics firm founded in the Czech Republic, now based in San Francisco, raised $25.7 million in a round led by Intel Capital, with participation also from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Tenaya Capital, TOTVS, Next World Capital, Windcrest, and Pharus Capital. This was a Series E round for the company, which has raised $101.2 million to date, and the company is reportedly eyeing up an IPO in 2016. GoodData is a cloud-based business intelligence platform providing data management solutions for businesses. Many of its developers are based in Brno, in the Czech republic.
Prezi, the Hungary-based company recently announced a massive round of funding totalling $57 million, as well as some impressive user and engagement milestones. Prezi designs and creates ‘zooming’ presentation software, which is a cloud-based presentation and storytelling tool for sharing ideas on a virtual canvas. The fresh cash comes from Spectrum Equity, a 20-year old growth capital firm based in the United States, although we should note that prior backer Accel Partners also chipped in for the round. Prezi has 50 million users worldwide, and all in all, 160 million ‘Prezis’ have been created to date. Prezi is proof that successful companies can be born in small countries. To find out more, check out this recent interview with Prezi’s founder.
In Slovenia, the ambitious regional fund Silicon Gardens, which was set up in May 2014, announced its first set of 5 investments. One startup per month makes it probably the most active fund focused on the SEE region. Our favourite first additions to Silicon Gardens’ portfolio are: Sqwiz (a new way for small businesses active on Facebook to build and maintain their website); the Wayra London incubator; Flaviar (an app for discovering, tasting and buying fine spirits); and Povio (a startup re-envisioning photo sharing, which was incubated at Y Combinator).
Socialbakers, a six-year old Prague-based company that has raised $34 million in funding to date, announced it was considering the possibility of going public in 2015 (Update – May 2023: The startup seems to be no longer in business under this website, and we therefore deactivated the original link). Socialbakers provides professional analytics, exclusive benchmarks, ad and content tools, and free data-driven stats for all smarter social marketers. It has grown to over 300 employees in 13 offices all over the world. With more than 2,500 clients ranging from small firms to international giants, the company is gearing up towards conquering the US market.
In Lithuania, Vinted, an e-commerce platform for individual users to sell or swap clothes they wear, landed a fresh round of funding. Coming in at €20 million, this Series B with Insight Venture Partners means that the company is probably becoming the highest valued Baltic startup, at €100 million post valuation. Accel also participated pro rata in this round, with Vinted having raised another $6.5 million from Accel Partners previously. So, how does Vinted work? Users take a picture of their clothes, choose a price, and get themselves listed on Vinted’s feed. After a payment goes through, the seller prints out a shipping label, and attaches it to the package. Payment is then sent to the seller after the buyer confirms everything is fine. Vinted has three million users.
Ukrainian companies are certainly finding success with crowdfunding campaigns. After just one day of fundraising, eCozy, a Ukrainian energy-saving hardware producer, raised almost half of its $30K goal on Indiegogo. In 2013, another crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter, helped Ukraine’s hardware product iblazr, a flash that works with a smartphone, raise over $150K. Petcube, a solution to keep an eye on one’s dog while at work, got $250K in funding. Looksery, a mobile app designed by Odesa natives that does real-time facial tracking, followed suit raising more than $46K on Kickstarter.
SBT Venture Capital, which was founded by Russian bank Sberbank, has invested $5 million in fintech service Advanced Merchant Payments (AMP) (Update – May 2023: The startup seems to be no longer in business under this website, and we therefore deactivated the original link). AMP’s platform allows banks to offer unsecured short-term loans to small businesses, using data analysis to decide whether to offer loans to businesses without a credit history. It was founded in 2009 and is based in Hong Kong, with offices in Singapore and the Philippines.
Fiedler Capital, a CEE-based VC, and Oxygen, a UK-based accelerator are combined good deal for many CEE startups. The 13-week accelerator programme kicks off in spring 2015, based in Birmingham. Ten startups from across the CEE/Baltics will be selected and receive €21K in investment in return for 8% equity. Applications close on 8 February 2015. Meanwhile, the Oxygen and Fiedler teams are planning to hit the road on a 14-day CEE and Baltic tour in January to help seek out the best startups in the region.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!
[…] which makes them probably the highest valued Baltic startup, at €100 million post valuation. (see Pavel’s post from January) In total, this startup has attracted EUR 25 million in […]