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, a new charity foundation is launched to support tech for good, partnerships are tackling online hate in esports and Atomico’s State of European Tech was released.
Launches and Expansions
- Grover, one of the world’s leading subscription providers for consumer tech, launched their own mobile service, Grover Connect, in partnership with Gigs.
- thirdweb launched GamingKit, a kit designed specifically for Web3 gaming developers, in partnership with Coinbase. With over 3.2 billion gamers worldwide, GamingKit will provide developers with tools which will significantly improve the user experience for players, and give players true ownership over their in-game assets ultimately allowing gamers to financially benefit from their hours of gameplay.
- NatureMetrics, the global nature intelligence technology company, announced the launch of a powerful nature performance monitoring service, putting meaningful and robust nature insights into the hands of business decision-makers across the globe.
- Berlin-based early-stage investor SquareOne is launching a new €100 million fund that will invest in B2B Enterprise Software / SaaS startups in Europe. SquareOne intends to be the first institutional investor in the respective company. Focus topics include enterprise software, climate tech, open source and supply chain/procurement.
- Circular economy startup Fairown which enables a circular economy and reduces waste by helping manufacturers, merchants, and consumers become sustainable expanded to Poland.
- ZUZWA announced the release of its 2023 collection, A New Dawn, created by Mina Tadros, son of the brand’s founder Makram Tadros.
- Cavalry Ventures, Berlin-based early-stage VC firm, launched its third fund in the amount €160 million. This capital will enable Cavalry to invest in 30+ European early-stage software businesses over the coming years.
- Scaleway has just released IAM (Identity and Access Management), which means cloud users can define who has access to what, and how, in just a few clicks.
- Qatalog released an AI-powered software builder. In approximately 40 seconds, it can build powerful software products, customized to the needs of any business from just a brief description. It will trigger a generational shift in software. Everyone will expect their software to adapt to their needs, meaning all software will become custom software.
- Michael Falck, Mikko Kärkkäinen, and Johanna Småros, the three co-founders of Finnish tech unicorn RELEX Solutions, together with one of RELEX’s first employees, Marko Nikula, have announced a new €100M charity foundation called the “RELEX Foundation for a Better Future.”
- TA-DAAN, content e-commerce provider, launched its first equity crowdfunding campaign on Mamacrowd, with a target of €800k. With the raised funding, TA-DAAN aims to accelerate e-commerce growth, integrate its online presence with physical pop-up stores and strengthen its network of artisans.
Acquisitions and Collaborations
- Smart Reslin, the company producing resilin protein through genetic engineering in order to bring the material to the market as a quality raw material, joined forces with Acies Bio, a leading European microbial biotechnology company that develops new bioproducts and sustainable production processes, from ideation to commercially-ready technologies, to found a joint company, Resilin Pro.
- JetLearn acquired a Palo Alto hackathon company to bring the “Silicon Valley experience” to an audience of young learners around the globe. Working with more than 10,000 students in 46 countries, JetLearn used its new acquisition to deliver a highly successful Web3 hackathon with hundreds of participants from dozens of countries just a few days ago.
- Traceability and supply chain transparency platform TrusTrace teamed up with Swedish fashion label Kappahl. Together, they aim to make Kappahl’s ethical and sustainability-driven goals a reality.
- Partnering with Hubs for custom part production, EV charging company LEKTRI.CO developed a range of revolutionary EV chargers to cut energy costs and make EV charging more accessible
- FMC, a leading global agricultural science corporation signed a multi-year agreement with Micropep, an international leader in micropeptide technology to develop environmentally friendly solutions to control targeted weeds that are resistant to multiple herbicides and significantly reduce yields in major crops. The collaboration will accelerate the ongoing development of natural weed control products based on short protein molecules naturally produced by plant cells.
- VROMO, a leading delivery management system for restaurants, has integrated its software with Stuart, Europe’s premier on-demand delivery fleet (part of the DPDgroup), to help improve delivery capabilities for restaurants across the UK.
- Real-time gaming moderation solution provider Bodyguard.ai partnered up with Swiss esports organisation Team BDS, which aims to lay down a major marker in the battle against online hate in eSports.Through the partnership with Bodyguard.ai, Team BDS is taking a strong stance against all forms of toxicity by becoming the very first eSports team to invest in an automated moderation solution for the wellness of its players, fans and partners.
- Reality+ has partnered with OTZ Sports, to launch Own The Zone, an officially licensed FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Web3 game that gives fans a chance to win limited-edition digital collectables and real-world prizes. The game is powered by the carbon-negative Hedera network and the Hedera Token Service (HTS).
Other Milestones
- Atomico, the European Venture Capital firm, shared its annual State of European Tech report – the 8th edition of the most comprehensive and authoritative data source on European tech. Topline data points this year include:
- Despite a strong start to the year, tech investment is projected to hit around $85bn – short of last year’s record +$100bn – but still the second-highest amount ever invested in the European tech ecosystem.
- Purpose and self-reliance are winning out as priorities, as 77% of survey respondents remain confident in the future of European technology. Globally, Europe now accounts for the largest share of all investment into early-stage purpose-driven tech.
- The proportion of funding for women-only teams dropped to just 1%
- eBay announced it’ll be providing small business grants
- Membrane Finance, a fintech company working with blockchain and cryptocurrency, obtained the license to build the first-ever regulated EUR-based stablecoin. They’ve also raised a seed round of 2M€ from Maki.vc to bring the stablecoin, called EUROe, to market.
- Advertisement - 
