The European startup ecosystem is full of interesting and exciting news, twists and turns. At EU-Startups, our aim is to keep you informed on everything that’s going on and share the inspiring entrepreneurial spirit this continent has to offer. From big funding announcements, duocorns picking up pace, to new partnerships and and conscious collaborations – there’s never a dull day!
So, with this in mind, we decided to pull together all the big milestones that we saw this week into one place. It’s impossible for us to cover every announcement with an article, but perhaps this is one way we can continue to share as much as possible about up-and-coming innovators and ideas. Let us know what you think!
Launches
- British Business Bank – the UK government’s economic development bank on a mission to drive sustainable growth backed a new £50 million fund for UK start-ups. The aim is to close a growing funding gap at the pre-seed stage.
- Open banking network and payments platform Plaid released a new product – Variable Recurring Payments, to enable people in the UK to make recurring transfers between their accounts in the future, with one authorisation via open banking.
- Fairown, a green fintech company, announces the launch of its platform in Poland, marking the expansion into Central Europe
- Bitcoin-only investing app, Relai, has launched instant euro payments for investors and savers to trade bitcoin superfast and 24/7
- Namastay announced the global launch of its “one-click to your room” direct booking technology
- DRUID and Infermedica joined forces to launch a new conversational healthcare project with Romanian private medical network Regina Maria
- Macmarts, Ireland’s leading provider of enterprise cloud applications, launched into the Irish and European markets with its core product SpendBooks
Acquisitions and Collaborations
- White label digital bank Crassula and Salt Edge aligned their efforts to help more businesses including banks, EMIs, and fintechs to embed open banking services into existing products
- Energy transition and flexibility expert, Recoy, announced a strategic partnership with EV charging market leader Heliox, to help build energy independence for businesses
- PepsiCo Europe has announced that its technology venturing arm, PepsiCo Labs, is working with six start-ups across Europe piloting breakthrough technologies to unlock sustainability solutions across the supply chain – more and more corporate/startup collaboration initiatives are springing up!
- Ireland’s leading mobility app FREE NOW partnered with the world’s largest micro-mobility provider TIER Mobility to launch FREE NOW’s first integration of e-bikes in Ireland. TIER’s e-bikes will be available to book through the FREE NOW app alongside taxis from later this week
- DRUID and Infermedica joined forces to launch a new conversational healthcare project with Romanian private medical network Regina Maria
- Aventus, offering a layer-2 blockchain protocol for Ethereum transactions announced a partnership with a national airline and pilot scheme, based at Heathrow Airport, to resolve airline cargo management operational inefficiencies using its new blockchain technology product, Aventus Aviation.
Other Milestones
- Healthtech is big business in Catalonia! Investment in health startups in Catalonia has now already surpassed the total secured in 2021, with €296 million in total invested
- Jisp reported that they have now saved shoppers over £265k – Since its launch in September 2021, Scan & Save has achieved 366,724 scans, 226,831 vouchers issued, and 202,420 redemptions
- Muse Finance – a bespoke SME finance provider – shared that it has finalised the appointment of its advisory board, which will support Muse with strategic advice for its growth. The advisory board members now bring over 150 years of collective expertise in commercial finance, financial services, law and operations working at premier global institutions
- Goparity opened an equity crowdfunding open to the community and smashed its €1.2 million target in just one hour
- Lithuanian startup InRento was crowned the best Investment Tech of the Year in Europe for its buy-to-let platform
- SME lending platform Swishfund is now using °neo, Five Degrees’ cloud-native core banking platform, with the aim of delivering a seamless lending experience to its customers
- Poker experts at Jeffbet have shared some expert tips on how to read a poker face – both on and off the table, and they reckon it’s something that business leaders ought to know
- The Berlin-based greentech start-up Swobbee became a new member of the Swappable Batteries Motorcycle Consortium (SBMC)
- CodeClan has created an index on the best cities in the world to pursue a career in tech. Gathering data on the top 100 cities listed in Mercer’s Quality of Living ranking and identifying some of the most important factors when it comes to pursuing a career in tech – they’ve found some hubs for those wanting to make it in the tech world. In Europe, the top cities include Zurich and Bern, whilst London is surprisingly towards the bottom of the list
- European plant-based meat brand Heura is continuing its incredible growth, reporting:
- Almost doubling the company’s turnover from H1 2021, closing H1 2022 at €14.7 million
- Entering 1,500 new retail stores, including Ocado in the UK
- Featuring in an additional 3,000 restaurants worldwide through strategic catering partnerships
- Growing to 165 employees across UK, France, Italy and Spain
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