🌟 QUICK INTRO
Hello and welcome back.
What a week. The geopolitical landscape has been wild, but the great thing to come out of Davos was the confirmation that EU-INC is going ahead.
There was a new unicorn from Ukraine and a lot of new funds announced.
Let’s get into it.
On a personal note, follow me on X for thoughts/opinions/news on European Tech here.
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💰 BIG ROUNDS
Dutch hospitality operating system Mews raised €$300m in a Series D round led by EQT Growth, valuing the company at €2.1bn. Read more here.
German digital health startup Oviva raised €200m in a Series D round to expand its AI-enabled, fully reimbursed obesity and chronic care programmes. Read more here.
Paris-based financial operating system startup Pennylane raised €175m in a funding round led by TCV and Blackstone Growth at a $4.25bn valuation. Read more here.
Ukrainian-founded language learning edtech Preply raised $150m in a Series D round led by WestCap, reaching unicorn status with a $1.2bn valuation. Read more here.
UK-based workplace finance platform Stream raised $90m in a Series D funding round led by Sofina. Read more here.
Swiss satellite manufacturer SWISSto12 secured €73m in backing from European Space Agency member states. Read more here.
German biotech startup Exciva raised €51m in a Series B round co-led by Gimv and EQT Life Sciences. Read more here.
Spanish Fracttal raised $35m in a funding round led by Riverwood Capital. Read more here.
French insurtech Stoïk raised €20m in a Series C round co-led by Impala and Opera Tech Ventures. Read more here.
UK-based startup Elyos AI raised $13m in a Series A round led by Blackbird Ventures to build AI agents for trades and field services. Read more here.
German startup GeneralMind raised a $12m pre-seed led by Lakestar. Read more here.
💸 SMALLER BUT INTERESTING ROUNDS
Budapest-based heavy-duty drone manufacturer ABZ Innovation raised €7m led by Vsquared Ventures to scale production, accelerate product development, and expand globally as a European alternative to Chinese drone suppliers. Read more here.
Stockholm-based AI startup Stilla emerged from stealth with $5m in a pre-seed round led by General Catalyst to build a shared intelligence layer that helps teams coordinate work between humans and AI agents. Read more here.
UK-based deeptech startup Anzen Industries raised $2.2m in a Pre-seed round led by LocalGlobe and Creator Fund to develop its cell-free biomanufacturing technology for producing complex chemicals more efficiently. Read more here.
🇪🇺 THR SCALING EUROPE SHOW
This week I published interviews with:
🚀 Andreas Klinger: Founder of PROTOTYPE announcing his new fund. Check it out here.
🚀 Bar Winkler: Co-founder and CEO of Wonderful on how they raised a $100m Series A. Check it out here.
🚀 Chaz Englander: Co-Founder and CEO At Model ML on selling two companies and raising almost $100m for his third. Check it out here.
The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here.
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📰 BIG NEWS
EU-INC
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the EU will create "a new truly European company structure”.
The announcement represents a major milestone for EU–INC, a policy movement backed by over 22,000 signatories including Europe's leading founders, investors, and the broader startup community.
No further timelines or details have been provided but overall this is amazing news for the European ecosystem. Read more here.
Ledger
French Crypto company Ledger is reportedly lining up a $4bn IPO.
The company, founded in 2014, creates hardware crypto wallets and was last valued at $1.5bn in 2023.
According to the Financial Times it is now working with bankers to line up a $4bn IPO in New York.
It follows a string of successful US crypto IPOs, including Circle and Gemini, although this would be the first European Crypto to list there.
The company is doing over $100m a year in revenue. Read more here.
💰 M&A
UK-based mortgage platform Acre Platforms was acquired by ClearScore, marking its first move into mortgages as it expands beyond credit scoring into home lending. Read more here.
HR software tool Boundless was acquired by Payoneer to deepen Payoneer’s global workforce management capabilities in Europe. Read more here.
Coller Capital is set to be acquired by EQT, with the deal aimed at strengthening EQT’s position in private capital secondary markets. Read more here.
💶 FUND NEWS
German PROTOTYPE Capital launched Fund III to back early-stage robotics, automation and industrial tech startups across Europe. I interviewed Solo-GP Andreas Klinger here.
Nik Storonsky’s QuantumLight is in talks with LPs on a second fund after closing its first fund less than a year ago. Read more here.
German Ananda Impact Ventures secured a €73m first close for its fifth Core Impact Fund to back early-stage European startups developing technology-driven solutions to social and environmental challenges. Read more here.
Spanish talent investor company Demium announced its rebranding to Mission and launched a new fund with a €35m target to invest in pre-seed startups in Spain. Read more here.
Swiss Vi Partners announced the first close of its latest fund, targeting €161m. Read more here.
UK-based firm IQ Capital secured a £50m commitment from the British Business Bank for its new Fund V to continue backing UK deeptech startups. Read more here.
Plural is reportedly raising its third fund, and targeting €1bn for it. Read more here.
🔎 IN OTHER NEWS
Revolut hit 13 million users in the UK - meaning 1 in every 4 adults has an account.
ElevenLabs collaborated with grammy winning artists to co-create an album together.
TrueLayer launched Pay by Bank in Finland.
Yann LeCun’s new AI startup in talks to raise funding from NVIDIA.
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Thank you.
Seb