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, climate insights from Arbonics on the importance of investing in forest creation, new funds launched to back early-stage innovation, and the climate tech partnerships and launches building a greener Europe.
Launches and Expansions
- ekko launched a new incentives platform to meet the growing demands of ever-more ESG-conscious employees. The solution gives employees a recycled plastic debit card and an app that calculates the carbon footprint of every purchase in real-time with nudges on how to shop more sustainably. The card plants trees and saves plastic from entering our oceans as it’s used, and every tap is carbon offset.
- Market Logic Software made its product DeepSights available. It’s an AI Assistant trained to answer business questions about market research and intelligence.
- Bullnet Capital reached the first closing of its Innvierte Sciencetech Bullnet Capital IV Fund, with a total of €40 million raised. The fund has a target size of €80 million, which would make it the largest deep tech-focused fund in Spain. With this first closing, the firm has already made its first investments in emerging companies such as Katoid, Quside, and Leapwave.
- B2B payments company Mondu launched in the UK. The startup is now operating in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
- And Rising launched Academy to upskill internal marketing teams. The Academy will help scale-ups to develop marketing as an ‘owned competency’, driving up their valuations. It will also work alongside founders to upskill teams to go faster and focus investment on unlocking growth.
- Work wellness startup GetZeN launched to market, bringing a mental health and wellbeing platform to organisations across the UK. The startup’s platform blends tech with human insight to create impactful programmes.
- Flatio, a monthly housing platform for digital nomads and remote workers, launched its digital nomad programme, the “Nomad Inspectors Club”. The new initiative will allow selected influencers to review properties listed on Flatio in return for complimentary stays. Landlords will also get the chance to receive a new “Nomad-Verified” badge, which means their property meets the needs of digital nomads.
- Gigapay launched a new European community for creators that provides impartial assistance by creating an environment for collaborative work, facilitating meetings for potential partnerships, and organizing exclusive events for its members to network and socialize.
- Amdaris launched a global partner ecosystem which will serve as a resource for customers who want to build and scale their products, alongside those who wish to go to market faster without major upfront investment.
- Tonic App launched a new virtual assistant called Dr. Tonic that supports medical doctors in their day-to-day tasks.
- The Swedish app gofrendly launched in the UK, offering a new way for women to make friends and connect. So far, the platform has facilitated nearly 11 million direct messages, 4,000 coffee dates, 2,000 friend groups, and 70 trips away.
- Emblem announced the first close of its flagship fund at €50 million. The fund will back pre-seed and seed-stage startups in France, Denmark and Sweden.
Acquisitions and Partnerships
- QMware, a provider of hybrid quantum computing, is going to integrate components of the NVIDIA quantum-classical computing stack into its Hybrid Quantum Computing Cloud.
- Klippa and Rutter shared their plans to partner up to help companies automate and streamline their accounting workflows and integrations. The partnership provides an opportunity for businesses to build products in areas such as expense management, accounts payable automation, accounts receivable automation, and so on.
- Mirai Flights is joining Fortu Wealth to offer charter services and borderless private banking solutions.
- AES and Swobbee revealed that they will be expanding their cooperation. In addition to the AES eBike Battery 2.0, which has already been integrated into the Swobbee system, the AES PowerPack Plus and AES SuperPack batteries will soon also be able to be swapped at the Swobbee’s battery swapping stations.
- Coincover announced a new partnership with BitGo which will enable clients to benefit from wallet access failure by holding recovery data with a trusted third party.
Milestones and Insights
- It’s reported by Arbonics that more than 14 million hectares of land across Europe (about the same size as Portugal and the Netherlands) could be used to plant forests – which would have the potential to sequester over 90M tonnes of CO2 per year, on average and balancing the emissions of up to 15 million Europeans every year.
- Refurbed’s partnership with Reforest Nation, a tree-planting initiative, has resulted in over 7,000 native trees planted in Ireland over the past year. Refurbed plants a tree for every device sold in order to offset any carbon waste produced in the process.
- HumanForest has published the first edition of its annual sustainability report measuring the impact of its service on the environment and communities. It also outlines the company’s framework for further action and improvement across three main pillars: planet, people and communities.