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 conscious collaborations – there’s never a dull day!
This week, the female-led investment firm taking on the Nordics, the growth of impact investors, new plant-based meat hits the market, and, the innovations making women’s health more accessible. Oh, and there are lots of new partnerships and collaborative activities going on to make positive steps forward for our planet.
Launches and expansions
- BackingMinds, the first-ever European venture capital firm founded solely by women, shared plans to expand across the Nordics, as they triple the investment team and double down on Denmark and the Nordics.
- Swedish investment community, Nyfikna Investerare, expanded internationally and opened up for syndicate investments towards multiple early-stage Swedish startups
- Onomondo is to launch one of the first commercially viable, fully software-based SIMs. The SoftSIM can be downloaded directly from the cloud onto chipsets already found in devices.
- Juicy Marbles unveiled a new addition to the fastest-growing plant-based category – whole cuts – with the world’s largest piece of plant muscle: The Whole-Cut Loin.
- Spendesk launched its industry-first set of Invoice Automation features, bringing secure, one-click, end-to-end supplier payments to its 7-in-1 spend management solution. The new features relieve small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) from the burden of invoicing by streamlining the process
- WaterBear Network, a free streaming platform dedicated to the future of our planet, launched a three-part mini-series with Ecologi titled 1.5 Degrees of Confusion. The series is narrated by British Television presenter Ade Adepitan and highlights possible solutions that will help the world stay below the 1.5 degrees global warming set out in the Paris Agreement.
- Swiss AI firm NNAISENSE announced the launch of Adaptive Rational Core (ARC), the world’s first Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) solution for industrial manufacturing, logistics and smart cities.
- Blickfeld, the Munich-based manufacturer of breakthrough LiDAR sensor solutions, revealed a pioneering smart LiDAR device; Qb2. Qb2 enables the capturing and processing of data on a single device.
- Located between Berlin and London, Informed launched a new digital news platform to make curated, high-quality journalism accessible to everyone. The informed app offers a selection of premium articles from a growing list of the world’s leading, most reliable publications, including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Economist, and many more.
- Aegiq, a startup developing solutions to enable wide-scale adoption of quantum technologies, launched the world’s first compact true single-photon generator, iSPS. It unlocks new horizons for use cases in next-generation quantum networks, applications in metrology, such as microscopy, and quantum computing
- A new early-stage VC fund called FIRSTPICK was launched in Vilnius, Lithuania. The fund will aim to tackle the lack of early-stage investments in the region and will focus on bringing startups to seed stages. Together with accelerator and pre-accelerator programs, FIRSTPICK will invest €20 million. It has also launched a token program, which will turn community partners helping fund startups into owners.
Acquisitions and Partnerships
- Finom, the fast-growing mobile-first financial management platform for SMEs and freelancers, has acquired Kapaga, a UK-based cross-border payment service facilitating international trade for SMEs.
- Ubotica Technologies™, a provider of smarts for smart satellites, and Open Cosmos, a space mission and data provider, signed an agreement to deliver CogniSat-6, the first AI-centric CubeSat mission to include autonomous capabilities.
- TripActions made its fourth acquisition in the EU in 18 months, snapping up Spanish meeting & events company, Atlanta Events & Corporate Travel Consultants
- Vira Health, the company behind the Stella menopause support app, acquired online HRT prescriber Alva. The acquisition enables Vira Health to launch Stella +, the first online menopause clinic for workplaces. Stella + offers the complete menopause care pathway for employees, including drug-based therapies and non-hormonal options.
- IPLytics was acquired by RELX Group
- LHV, a banking services provider to over 200 fintech and crypto companies, signed a partnership with Lightyear, the European investment platform founded by two early Wise employees.
- Swan partnered up with Tellow. After embedding banking features using Swan’s platform, Small businesses and freelancers using Tellow can now open an account with an IBAN, and order a Mastercard debit card. This enables Tellow to automate even more for their end users and make bookkeeping significantly easier.
- Maiken Foods AS Group (Oslo, Norway) and 350PPM Biotech (Hamburg, Germany) signed an agreement to build the world’s first onshore fish farm that will not release carbon dioxide or ammonia into the environment and will be entirely powered by solar energy.
- Algorithmiq, a Helsinki-based quantum computing startup, has signed a partnership with IBM with the view to achieving useful quantum advantage within life sciences.
Milestones and Insights
- Matutto has joined the latest cohort of Techstarts London, taking on $120k of pre-seed funding to build a platform that helps expats manage their move to a new country.
- Diversity X, a UK-based early-stage investor has announced its appointment as an Appointed Representative of Frank Investments Limited, a firm which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Diversity X invests in exceptional Underestimated Founders building companies solving real-world problems in climate, health, education, or the future of work that will directly benefit and improve the lives of millions of people across the planet.
- HumanForest, a truly sustainable micro-mobility platform, has become an accredited B Corp after one year of operation. It scored 98.5 points in the process.
- limehome, a technology-based provider and operator of fully digitised design serviced apartments in Europe, picked up €45 million
- Biotic raised a €2 million seed round to commodify biodegradable plastic materials
- Period Pack founders Lova Svensson and Amanda Mattsson are on a mission to make sanitary protection for girls more accessible – just like pen and paper in schools. They just received the Growth Rings in Silver for the global award Young Founder of the Year and the Founders Awards Gala held in Stockholm
- Vini Mini, offering an easy, healthy & safe way to give allergens to babies to prevent food allergies, won the Impact Start-up Competition of the EIT Food Venture Summit in Lisbon in the category Healthier Lives through Food
- RoomRaccoon founder, Nadja Buckenberger, has been selected to participate in the ScaleNL Accelerator program to fastrack US expansion plans
- Automedi, a plastic waste sustainability startup, was recently named ‘City Solution of the Year’
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