• Founded in 2012, Stebby provides a software service platform for companies to manage their employee wellness benefits and helps employees access these benefits conveniently. Stebby has 180 000 users and 48 employees across the Baltics. In 2020, Stebby entered Latvia and Lithuania.
• In 2022, Livonia Partners, a pan-Baltic private equity investment firm, invested in Stebby. The firm is currently investing from €157 million Fund II, Livonia team works across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In addition to Stebby, other recent investments in Estonia include Bestair, Wildix, and Telema.

Stebby is a great example of Livonia supporting established management teams in buying companies. It has been a strong growth story and the employee wellness benefits market is still in its infancy in the Baltics, so we were thrilled for Up Group’s interest and vision,

Maarja Pärs, Investment Director at Livonia Partners, commented.

About Up Group

• Up Group is an independent international group that connects individuals, businesses and regions to develop management, transaction and relationship platforms that contribute to well-being and performance. The company designs integrated solutions (vouchers, cards, mobile applications, web platform) for different aspect of people’s daily lives: meals, gifts, culture, leisure, holidays, personal services,training, education, health, social assistance business expenses.
• Up has over 3 400 employees, generates €759 million revenues yearly and operates in over 23 countries.

Transaction details were not disclosed, but its known that the current management will continue to lead Stebby together with the new partner.

About Mistral AI

• The company was co-founded by former employees of Meta and Google’s DeepMind, Arthur Mensch, Charles Gorintin, Guillaume Lample. They develop AI models intended to compete with the latest innovations such as OpenAI’s GPT-4, Anthropic’s Claude 3, and Meta’s Llama 3.
• Mistral AI has released pre-trained and finely-tuned open-source models, such as Mistral 7B, Mistral 8x7B, and Mistral 8x22B, under the Apache 2.0 license, which allows unrestricted use and reproduction, except for attribution. Its most advanced models, like Mistral Large, are proprietary developments designed for transformation into API-accessible products.
• Companies can access Mistral Large via an API, with fees based on usage volume. Mistral AI also offers a free chatbot named Le Chat. Additionally, Mistral AI has partnership agreements with Microsoft Azure, a minority shareholder in the company.

Investment details

American VC fund General Catalyst led the fresh Series B round. Previously, it has already invested in the startup. According to the Financial Times, Mistral AI has raised €468 million in equity capital and €132 million in debt (approximately $500 million and $140 million, respectively). The long list of investors also included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, and Salesforce Ventures.

Other investors include Belfius, Bertelsmann Investment, BNP Paribas, Bpifrance (through the Digital Venture fund), Cisco, Eurazeo, Headline, venture fund Hanwha Asset Management, IBM, Korelya Capital, Latitude, Millennium New Horizons, Sanabil Investments, ServiceNow, and SV Angel.

After this round of financing, the value of Mistral AI reached $6 billion.

About Decade Energy

• Decade Energy was co-founded by Carl-Magnus Norden, Alexandre Cleret, Alejandro Ortega, and Mariela Atanasova. It provides a Truck-as-a-Service solution for logistics companies in electrifying their fleets and upgrading their charging and electrical infrastructure. The startup claims that it simplifies the electrification process by integrating and managing these systems for customers enhancing operational and environmental efficiency for logistics providers.
• Headquartered in Paris, the company has a pan-European network and presence to service its international customers. Its first three core markets are France, Germany, and Sweden. Its integrated smart charging and energy management software reduces the overall energy and the cost of electricity consumed.

Investment details

• The fresh seed funding was co-led by Ananda Impact Ventures, a Munich-based venture capital fund with a pan-European investment remit, managing capital of €200 million in four Core Impact Funds.
• Contrarian Ventures, a Vilnius-based seed-stage venture company focused on investment in climate tech startups from Europe and Israel, is also one of the lead investors. Earlier in May, the fund invested in Ember during its $14 million Series A funding round.

Decade Energy addresses the large and rapidly growing market of distribution traffic electrification that needs innovative solutions and technology providers like Decade Energy if we are to meet our climate targets. The team’s focus on and experience of servicing the segment that will be the first to be disrupted, is one of many strengths that influenced our decision to partner with the company,

Tomas Kemtys, Partner at Contrarian Ventures, said.

The startup will use the investment to accelerate the decarbonization of logistics fleets via simplifying the transition to electric vehicles (EV) and making them cost-competitive compared to diesel.

• Founded in 2016, Buildrz develops a SaaS-based real estate development platform, a one-stop tool for property developers and architects to perform generative design in order to optimize buildable surfaces on any given plots.
• Based on the database of urban plans, Buildrz evaluates land use change, net zero artificialization, views and daylighting, as well as economic value of the projects, enabling customers to identify and qualify sites that offer the best economic opportunities. Currently, Buildz serves around 50 customers across France.

We’re very excited to join forces with Buildrz, and will be working together to bring out new tools that allow reducing cost and carbon emissions of projects starting from the pre-design stage, in France and globally,

Panu Pasanen, founder & CEO of One Click LCA, says.

• One Click is a tech company decarbonizing construction and manufacturing with its automated life-cycle assessment to calculate and reduce the environmental impacts of building, infrastructure, and renovation projects. It also enables manufacturers to generate and publish third-party verified EPDs, and allows assessment of circularity, life-cycle cost, with plans for biodiversity.
• The company’s solution is used in over 170 countries and includes a global database with more than 200,000 LCA datasets. One Click LCA was founded in 2001, and has a team of over 180 people. In November 2023, One Click LCA announced €40 million growth equity from PSG Equity and InfraVia Capital Partners.

Finnish One Click LCA raises €40M of growth investment from PSG and InfraVia

• Together with Buildrz, One Click will bring an integrated feasibility study and cost and carbon analysis powered by a generative AI to its users. The first joint solutions are targeted for the end of the year, and they will be made available to the customers through One Click. Also, an integration of the existing tools is planned.

The amount of the deal was undisclosed. It will help One Click to expand globally, with an enhanced presence in France.

About Groover

• Groover was founded in 2018 in Paris by Dorian Perron, Rafael Cohen, and Romain Palmieri. The company develops a platform that connects independent artists with the best curators, radio stations, and labels seeking emerging talents.
• The platform guarantees that music curators and professionals will listen to the author’s track, respond with feedback, and share the tracks they like. Since its launch, Groover has attracted nearly 350 000 independent artists from over 180 countries, generating over 4 million personalized reviews.

Who are the investors?

• Trind Ventures is one of the lead investors in Groover. It is an Estonian seed-stage venture fund focusing on European software startups with a consumer or community component. Since the launch in 2022, the fund managed to invest in over a dozen European companies.

Romain and his passionate team are solving one of the major pain points for artists and are doing so in a very smart and scalable way. The industry is changing as seen from our three other music related companies. Groover is well positioned to continue growing into an important piece of the puzzle of the new music industry architecture. We are thankful to the Groover founders and team for allowing us to be part of the journey with them!

Taavi Lepmets, Partner at Trind Ventures, commented.

• The round was also co-lead by OneRagtime, Techmind, and MozzaAngels. Groover was also backed by historical backers, Partech, Bpifrance’s Tech & Touch fund, Verve Ventures, and Frenchfounders.

What’s next for Groover?

With the fresh capital, Groover plans to integrate two additional services to the platform, New Groover Club membership service and Groover Obsessions, as well as strengthen its position in North America, Europe, and Latin America.

• Founded in 2014 by Pierre Khoury, Lucien Besse, Brice Hua, David Barre, and Thibaut Morlot Shippeo helps supply chains leverage transportation to deliver exceptional customer service. Its real-time transport visibility platform provides shippers, carriers, and 4PLs instant tracking of every delivery, and enables proactive communication with end customers.
• Shippeo claims it tracks over 28 million shipments per year across 92 countries. Among its clients are such global brands as Coca-Cola HBC, Carrefour, Renault Group, Schneider Electric, Total, Faurecia, Saint-Gobain, and Eckes Granini.
• It is the fifth and largest direct investment of the corporate fund Orlen VC, owned by PKN Orlen. ORLEN VC supports technology companies in sectors such as petrochemicals, power generation, circular economy, modern retail business, software, and IOT at early stages of growth or expansion, engaged in developing cutting-edge products or services fitting in with the ORLEN2030 strategy.
• The PKN Orlen Group manages refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania, conducts retail operations in Central Europe, mining operations in Poland, Norway, Canada, and Pakistan, as well as energy production, including renewable energy sources, and natural gas distribution. As part of building a multi-energy concern, the company finalized the acquisitions of Energa, Grupa Lotos, and PGNiG. Its consolidated sales revenues reached PLN 131.5 billion in 2021.
• The amount of investment is not disclosed. It is known that the funds will help to further develop Shippeo’s platform.

• Founded in 2020 by Zuzanna Stamirowska, a Polish researcher who did her PhD in France, Pathway develops the programming framework which handles streaming data updates. The company claims that its product allows developers to create a Python-based programming framework that transforms table-like data in real time.
• The solution can help supply chain businesses analyze their delivery processes, banks to detect anti-fraud behavior, marketers to check real-time sentiment on social media, product managers to track customer behavior patterns.
• Among Pathway’s clients are German rail DB Schenker and the French postal operator La Poste.
• The round was co-led by Inovo Venture Partners and Market One Capital. Previously, AIN.Capital recognized both funds as the most active Polish VCs. In August 2022, Inovo raised €100 million third fund for CEE startups, and Market One Capital announced its first €80 million fund in October 2022.
• The fresh investment will be used to accelerate the product development. 

Founded in 2018 by CEO Stanislas Coppin, CGO Barthélémy Kiss, CCO Yannis Mangematin, and CTO Christian Navelot, Powder is building the video infrastructure of social gaming, sourcing content from all gaming platforms. Powder lets gamers import game clips recorded on mobile (iOS, Android), PC, and consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch). Gamers can then edit their game clips using the Powder video editor, which aims at democratizing gaming video editing by making it mobile-first and easy to use. 

This round brings total funding to $18 million, after a pre-seed round of $400K in August 2018, a seed round of $1.5 million in March 2019, and then a $1.3 million extension last May.

“With this series A, we intend to increase the pace at which we are building the video infrastructure of social gaming,” says Stanislas. “Our goal is to create bridges with gaming organizations across the globe, starting with helping game publishers gain and retain audiences organically.”

Founded in 2019 by Jérémy Attuil, Pierre Dutaret, and Pierre-Antoine Glandier, Libeo is a fintech that simplifies the management and payment of supplier invoices for VSEs and SMEs. The startup allows companies to record their invoices, simply pay their suppliers without having to provide their Iban, and monitor their day-to-day finance. 

The company will use this new funding to accelerate the expansion of its B2B platform in Europe. Libeo will also have to strengthen its team and plans to triple its workforce to reach around 100 employees by the end of the year.

1. Meero

Founded: In 2016 by Jeremy Teper and Guillaume Lestrade
Valuation: $1.1 billion

Meero is a global marketplace for photographers, providing them with the opportunities to create beautiful images for brands worldwide. Offering them regular engagements, inspiring content, and monthly meetups, Meero unites them through the largest community of creatives around the world.

2. Alan

Founded: In 2016 by Charles Gorintin and Jean Charles Samuelian
Valuation: $970 million

Alan is the first digital health insurance company in Europe. The company revolutionizes health insurance by focusing on user experience with excellent price-quality ratio health plans.

3. Doctolib 

Founded: In 2013 by Stanislas Niox-Chateau, Steve Abou Rjeily, Ivan Schneider, and Jessy Bernal
Valuation: $1.2 billion

Doctolib is an online and mobile platform where customers can book medical appointments with healthcare professionals, who pay a monthly subscription fee to be hosted on the site.

4. Ynsect 

Founded: In 2011 by Antoine Hubert, Jean-Gabriel Levon, Fabrice Berro, and Alexis Angot
Valuation: $689 million

Ynsect is the world leader in the breeding of insects and their transformation into premium ingredients for animal and plant nutrition. Ynsect offers an organic, long-term sustainable solution to accelerating the consumption of protein and plants. 

5. Ogury

Founded: In 2014 by Jean Canzoneri and Thomas Pasquet
Valuation: $220-331 million

Ogury is a global leader in mobile brand advertising. French startup Ogury is headquartered in the UK but its services are used by 1500 brands worldwide.

6. Pennylane

Founded: In 2020 by Arthur Waller, Quentin de Metz, Tancrede Besnard, Edouard Mascré, Alexandre Roquoplo, Thierry Deo and Felix Blossier
Valuation: $19-29 million

Pennylane is the leader in financial management in France. Centralizing all the data that was fragmented in the past, this platform improves financial visibility and enables business managers to get a real-time view of their financial data and make the right decisions.

7. Leavy

Founded: In 2018 by Aziza Chaouachi, Yassine Ben Romdhane and Mario Moinet 
Valuation: $61-92 million

Leavy.co is the first travel community and marketplace, making travel affordable. Its community platform allows members to begin their getaway with 100% guaranteed cash, by sharing their space with visiting members, or by taking care of the homes listed and showing their city to guests. 

8. ManoMano

Founded: In 2013 by Philippe de Chanville and Christian Raisson
Valuation: $606-910 million

ManoMano is an online marketplace for DIY, home improvement, and gardening products. It is a community of home and DIY lovers that enables them to exchange tips and advice on their projects.

9. Lydia

Founded: In 2013 by Antoine Porte and Cyril Chiche
Valuation: $379-569 million

Lydia is a fast-growing mobile financial services platform with over 4 million users. The app allows people to pay each other quickly and easily.

10.  BackMarket

Founded: In 2014 by Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Quentin Le Brouster, Vianney Vaute
Valuation: $534-800 million

Back Market is the first online marketplace dedicated exclusively to refurbished electronic devices.

Founded in 2017 by Romain Rousselet and Glenn Allogho Boundzanga, Supli is a digital platform connecting restaurateurs and food suppliers. Supli allows you to order online easily from suppliers and analyze expenses, improve budget management and optimize profitability.

The investment will allow Supli to strengthen its position on the French market, and continue to support suppliers and restaurateurs in the face of market instabilities. To date, the company supports more than 200 food wholesalers across France.

InPost, $3.3B

On January 27, InPost became Europe’s biggest IPO since 2018. The startup’s shareholders Advent International, Templeton Strategic Emerging Markets Fund, and PZU Fundusz have sold 175 million existing shares at 16 euros each, totally raising €2.8 billion ($3.3B).

Started in 1999 by Rafał Brzoska, InPost today offers logistics services and creates a network of automated parcel lockers, self-service parcel dispatch and collection points, open 24/7.

Delivery Hero, $1.4B

Berlin-based Delivery Hero has raised around €1.2 ($1.4) billion by issuing new shares. 

Established in 2011, Delivery Hero is the world’s leading delivery platform, operating its service in more than 40 countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa and processing over 120 million orders on average per month. 

sennder, $160M

German tech startup sennder has raised a $160 million Series D funding from existing investors Accel, Lakestar, HV Capital, Project A, and Scania.

Founded in 2015 by CEO David Nothacker, Julius Köhler and Nicolaus Schefenacker, sennder is a digital road freight forwarder, linking large commercial shippers with small and mid-sized freight carriers. 

Personio, $125M

The Germany-based startup Personio has received $125 million in a Series D funding round at a valuation of $1.7 billion. The round was co-led by existing investor Index Ventures and new one Meritech Capital. Previous backers Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Global Founders Capital and Picus also participated.

Founded in 2015 in Munich, Personio offers cloud-based HR management and recruiting solutions and software for startups, and small- and medium-sized enterprises. 

Jedox, over $100M

Jedox, an international provider of Enterprise Performance Management software, has raised more than $100 million in a round led by global venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners with participation from previous backers Iris Capital, eCAPITAL, and Wecken & Cie.

Jedox was founded in 2002 and headed by CEO Florian Winterstein, who joined the company in 2018. Jedox solutions help companies to optimize business processes across all stages of growth – from transitioning existing financial processes to the cloud to leveraging AI and advanced analytics for more accurate, agile planning. 

iziwork, $42.5 million

Iziwork, the digital marketplace for temporary work, has raised $42.5 million in Series A round. The round was led by Cathay Innovation and Large Venture.

Founded in 2018 by Nitsan Seniak and Mehdi Tahri, iziwork digitizes temporary recruitment through its platform. The platform relies on technological innovation to radically improve access and work experience.

Ondato, $2 million

Ondato, the digital and biometric authentication startup, has raised $2 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by OTB Ventures – a venture capital fund investing in technology with unique IP in the CEE region.

Founded in 2016 by CEO Liudas Kanapienis, Ondato provides complete compliance management solutions starting from both photo and live video identity verification, data monitoring, screening, due diligence, risk scoring, and case management all in one place. 

Surgify Medical Oy, $1.7 million

Espoo-based Surgify Medical Oy, a healthcare technology startup, has raised $1.7 million in funding. The round was led by Finnish venture capital investor Innovestor Ventures, Swedish investor Peter Lindell, and well-known Finnish angel investor and healthcare entrepreneur Leena Niemistö.

Founded in 2017 by Shahab Haeri, Visa Sippola, Juho Carpén, and Jukka Kreander, Surgify Medical Oy is developing an internationally recognized surgical drill that aims to make bone surgery safer. The product is a safety tip that is connected to existing surgical drills.

Rendin, $1.4 million

Estonian Rendin, a long-term home renting service, has closed a $1.4 million seed investment round. The round was led by Tera Ventures, Iron Wolf Capital, Truesight Ventures, Atomico’s Angel Programme, and Startup Wise Guys. 

Launched in 2020 by Alain Aun, Maiko Saluorg, and Alar Mäerand, Rendin is a home rental agreement platform that makes the whole process of home renting more comfortable for users. Rendin creates a community of landlords and tenants ready to trust each other, value integrity, and fair play.

Hyperhuman, $607K

Bucharest-based Hyperhuman, a startup that turns workout videos into personal fitness content, has raised $607K in its first financing round. The round was led by Early Game Ventures with participation from Sparking Capital and Simple Capital.

Founded in 2020 by Bogdan Presdusca, Dan Nica, and David Teodorescu, Hyperhuman is building an AI-powered platform that detects how fitness content is produced, personalized, and monetized. Using its proprietary video AI technology, the product extracts key insights and metadata from video workouts and turns them into reusable blocks of content.

Founded in 2021 by Henri Capoul, Guillaume Luscan, and Jérémy Gotteland, Cajoo provides grocery home delivery services. The company offers a wide range of everyday products delivered in less than 15 minutes at the same prices, or even cheaper than those in local supermarkets.
 
Fundraising will allow the company to grow its team with talents in multiple areas such as tech, operations, marketing, or customer support. The company’s ambition is to grow very quickly by offering its service throughout Paris within a few months.

Founded in January 2020 by Pierre-Etienne and Guillaume d’Ayguesvives, moka.care is a complete solution allowing your employees to take care of their mental health through one-on-one sessions, group workshops, and online programs with its team of selected psychologists, certified coaches, and licensed therapists. What moka.care can help with: work life, parenting and familiar relationships, emotions and affective life, self-esteem, and life challenges. 

The investment will help the startup to improve its product and hire more people. Today, moka.care is working with a team of 40+ practitioners (psychologists, coaches and therapists), speaking French, English, German. Moreover, 5000+ employees already have access to moka.care in their company.

Founded in 2018 by Olivier Le Bas, Daniel Nathan and Juan Jose Mostazo, Homa Games is a leading mobile entertainment company specializing in publishing, purchasing, and monetizing mobile games. The company is aimed to help mobile game developers grow their apps from scratch to millions of users.

The raised money will help the company to improve its factory for developing hyper-casual mobile games. To date, the company has published more than 30 games. Also, Homa Games took first place in the American store GooglePlay with the latest IP-game in hyper-casual mode together with Hasbro, Crunchbase writes.

Founded in 2015 by Guillaume-Olivier Doré, Elwin is a fintech software publisher that digitizes and simplifies the advice and sale of financial products to individuals. Elwin allows financial advisers to save time on administrative tasks, in compliance with regulations. 

This fundraising will help the company to develop its solution. Elwin is now entering the phase of deploying its solutions to its customers. 1215, a network of Wealth Management Advisors, Asset Manager A Plus Finance, and a life insurer, representing a total of nearly 1,000 users, have chosen Elwin to digitize their customer journey.

Founded in 2005 by Jean-Samuel Najnudel and Renaud Charvet, Ringover is a SaaS software publisher and European telecom operator. The company has made available to companies a powerful, 100% cloud communication solution that integrates an advanced phone system, texting, videoconferencing, and group messaging.

The new funding will allow the company to accelerate its growth and expand its platform into new markets such as Spain, the US, and the UK. According to the company, 10,000 start-ups and SMEs have chosen them as their solution for simplifying their business telephony and boosting productivity amongst their customer service and sales teams.

Founded in 2016 by Sofiane Benabdallah and Anton Fert, Tchek is a startup that uses Artificial Intelligence for car inspection. Its inspection system analyses any vehicle photo in order to generate a diagnosis of impacted parts and localized damage, in almost real-time and at any time.

This fundraising will enable the company to meet the strong demand for its solutions by strengthening its R&D teams and will take advantage of this first round to continue its growth in rental, logistics and OEM, and the second-hand market.

Founded in 2018 by Leduc and CTO Édouard d’Archimbaud, Kili Technology provides a data labeling tool for image, video, and text annotation to speed up training sets. The company’s collaborative platform enables employees to make the data labeling process more efficient.

The raised money will help the company to expand its platform internationally. To date, Kili has attracted large customers in Europe, China, and the U.S. across a variety of industries.

Founded in 2017 by Louis Chatriot and Guillaume Desloges, Alma allows merchants to increase their sales by offering their customers to pay in installments. The company is aimed to help SMEs with all their financial matters: cash, loans, insurance.

Thanks to the fundraising, the company will continue to invest and be able to boost the sales of (many) more merchants. Also, Alma wants to strengthen its presence in the French market and abroad.

Founded in 2014 by Florian Aubry, Pierre Rinaldi, Sylvain Forté, SESAMm is an innovative company specializing in big data and artificial intelligence for investment. Its team builds analytics and investment signals by analyzing billions of web articles and messages using natural language processing and machine learning.

The raised money will accelerate SESAMm’s global growth, allowing it to acquire talent and expand operations in Europe, Asia, and North America. Also, the company wants to use the funds to develop AI-enabled research tools and dashboards for corporate customers, as well as continuing R&D investment in its Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing tools.

Founded in 2017 by CEO João Cardoso, Lovys is the digital, all-in-one, and flexible insurance provider in France. The company offers online insurance products for homes (fire protection, water damage, burglary, civil liability), cars (there are three insurance options, from basic to all risks pack), pets (insurance against illnesses, accidents, and preventive care), and smartphones (cracked screen, liquid damage, burglary&theft, electric damage, etc).

The raised money will help Lovys to expand internationally and grow its team. To date, the company has 20,000 policyholders, and they want to hit 100,000 within a year.

Founded in August 2017 by Christophe Dandois and Noureddine Bekrar, Leocare designs, distributes, and manages innovative home, auto, motorcycle, and smartphone insurance products for its customers. It is 100% mobile and offers the possibility of insuring simply and without obligation. 

The raised money will help the company to accelerate its growth. To date, Leocare has around 20,000 customers, and the startup is planning to gain 1 million customers in France and other parts of Europe by 2025.

Founded in 2016 by Côme Fouques, Pablo Larvor, Adrien Plat and Romain Koenig, Indy is the accounting solution designed for the self-employed. It allows freelancers to easily keep their accounts and complete their tax declarations in a few clicks.

The raised money will allow the company to adapt its solution to more tax regimes, to develop new functionalities to better support the self-employed, and to set out to conquer the market. Indy is planning to recruit 100 new talents in 2021. To date, Indy now has 40,000 clients and more than 100 employees based in Lyon.

Founded in 2014 by Brice Hua, David Barre,Jean-Bastien Dussart, Lucien Besse, Pierre Khoury, and Thibaut Morlot, Shippeo gives market-leading companies instant access to predictive and real-time information of every delivery. Its machine-learning algorithm accurately calculates arrival times allowing companies to quickly anticipate problems, proactively alert customers, and efficiently manage exceptions.

Shippeo will use the investment to strengthen its market-leading position and continue delivering on product innovation. Despite the impact of Covid-19, Shippeo has more than doubled its subscription revenues year on year, while successfully increasing its customer base in 2020 with major industrial brands and logistics providers.

Ÿnsect, $224 million

Ÿnsect has received $372 million from Astanor Ventures, LA-based Upfront Ventures, Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition, existing investor Happiness Capital, Supernova Invest and Armat Group.

Ÿnsect is the world leader in the breeding of insects and their transformation into premium ingredients for animal and plant nutrition. Ÿnsect offers an organic, long-term sustainable solution to accelerating the consumption of protein and plants.

InnovaFeed, $167 million

InnovaFeed, a biotech company, has received $167 million from existing investors Creadev and Temasek. The fundraising is bringing the total financing of InnovaFeed to $238 million. 

InnovaFeed is a biotech company that produces a new source of protein from insect rearing for animal feed and aquaculture in particular. The company is aimed to generate local economic dynamics and have a global impact on the environment. 

Sendinblue, $160

Sendinblue, the leading all-in-one digital marketing platform, has raised $160 million in a Series B round. The round was led by Bridgepoint, Bpifrance, BlackRock with participation from existing investor Partech.

Sendinblue is the only all-in-one digital marketing platform empowering B2B and B2C businesses, e-commerce sellers, and agencies to build customer relationships through end to end digital marketing campaigns, transactional messaging, and marketing automation. 

Lydia, $86 million

Lydia, a mobile financial services platform, has raised an additional $86 million in Series B round. The round was led by the global venture capital firm Accel. 

Lydia is a fast-growing mobile financial services platform with over 4 Million users.

Luko, $60 million

Luko, the fastest-growing French insurtech leader, has raised  $60 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by EQT Ventures with participation from existing investors such as Accel, Funders Fund, and Speedinvest. 

Luko is an insurance company that provides a device that focuses on home security and reduces electricity bills. 

SparingVision, $52.6 million

SparingVision, a genomic medicine company focused on ocular diseases, has raised $52.6 million in its first funding round. The round was led by 4BIO Capital, UPMC Enterprises, Jeito Capital, and Ysios Capital with participation from the existing investors Bpifrance and Foundation Fighting Blindness.

SparingVision is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative therapies for the treatment of blinding inherited retinal diseases. 

Livestorm, $30 million

Paris-based Livestorm, a video communication platform, has raised $30 million in a Series B round. The round was led by Aglaé Ventures and Bpifrance Digital Venture, with participation from Raise Ventures and IDInvest. 

Livestorm is the only video platform that works in the browser from any device you choose. Livestorm is used both for one-on-one meetings and for large virtual events with more than 1,000 participants.

Founded in 2016  by Julien Seitz, Théophile Mohr Durdez, and Clément Bars, Volta Medical is developing AI software solutions to assist cardiac electrophysiologists in the operating room. Volta is aimed to improve cardiac arrhythmia management by developing state-of-the-art, data-driven medical devices based on large databases of procedural data with the highest standards of data protection. Its first product, VX1, assists cardiologists in the real-time identification of specific abnormal electrograms, known as dispersed electrograms.

The new capital will allow the company to establish its revolutionary FDA-cleared and CE marked VX1 AI software solution as a new standard of care, pursue further R&D activities and start to roll out commercial activities across the US and Europe, the company writes. 

Founded in 2005 by Yves Eonnet and Hervé Manceron, TagPay provides financial institutions with a next-gen “Core Banking System.” TagPay’s next-generation Core Banking System is a cloud-native based solution that enables financial institutions to imagine, configure, and integrate new products or user experiences through an open, flexible, and scalable architecture. TagPay offers a banking environment that meets the highest security standards.

With this funding the company will go further to accelerate its growth in the European market. TagPay is aimed to extend its customer base to around fifty financial players, to manage bank accounts for over 30 million end-customers while adapting to the local specificities of different markets. To date, TagPay is established in 3 continents: Africa, LATAM, and Europe. 

Founded in 2020 by Arthur Waller, Alexandre Roquoplo, Felix Blossier, and Edouard Mascré, the Pennylane platform allows SME managers to effectively manage their businesses and make the right decisions by giving them access to all their financial data in real-time and in one place.

The new funding round will help the company recruit more than 100 talents on permanent contracts in 2021, strengthen and develop its solution, and find additional services through new partnerships.

Founded in 2018 by Nitsan Seniak and Mehdi Tahri, iziwork digitizes temporary recruitment through its platform. The platform relies on technological innovation to radically improve access and work experience. It offers temporary workers simple and instant access to a wide range of assignments, but also personalized support throughout the assignments.

The raised money will enable the company to accelerate its development in France and internationally. Into account, iziwork is the digital leader in temporary work in France with more than 500,000 registered iziworkers, and more than 20,000 positions filled on the app.

Founded in 2018 by Sébastien Garcin, Jean Philippe Poisson, and Marc Aurèle Foucard, Yzr is developing a data standardization automation solution with two software tools: a data standardization tool and a reference design and maintenance tool. The company is aimed to make businesses thrive through data sharing, enabling effortless and masterful data normalization first. 

The raised money will be used to consolidate its position in France and expand in the United States by the end of 2021, with the hope that they can help cement Europe’s position as a leader in the standardization of data.

Bolt, $183M

Estonian developer of a transportation platform Bolt announced its largest round of funding worth $183 million. The investment was led by global investment firm D1 Capital Partners and the New York-based hedge fund Darsana Capital Partners.

Founded in 2013 by CEO Markus Villig, Bolt provides ride-hailing, micromobility, and food delivery services. To date, Bolt is available in more than 35 countries and in over 150 cities.

Spryker, $130M

Business software maker Spryker has raised over $130 million in a Series C financing round, led by Silicon Valley-based TCV. Existing investors One Peak from London and Project A Ventures from Berlin also participated in the round.

Spryker is a provider of a commerce technology platform for global enterprises. It enables companies to build transactional business models in B2B, B2C, and marketplaces. 

Lydia, $86M

Paris-based Lydia has raised an additional $86 million in a Series B round. The round was led by Accel, the global venture capital firm. The total Series B funding round now sits at $131M.

Founded in 2013 by Antoine Porte and Cyril Chiche, Lydia is a fast-growing mobile financial services platform with over 4 Million users and a 30% market share among French millennials, who use its brand as a verb.

Brainly, $80M

Edtech Brainly has raised $80 million in a Series D round, bringing its total funding up to $150 million. Previous investors Learn Capital, Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, MantaRay and General Catalyst Partners participated in the round.

Founded in 2009 by CEO Michał Borkowski, Lukasz Haluch, and Tomasz Kraus, Brainly develops online education technology platforms for virtual learning, where students and their parents engage with each other, as well as with teachers and experts, for advice and help with homework questions. 

Isar Aerospace, €75M

Space startup from Munich Isar Aerospace has raised €75 million in a Series B funding round led by Swiss VC firm Lakestar with participation from existing investors Earlybird, Vsquared Ventures, Airbus Ventures, former SpaceX Vice President Bulent Altan, and new ones HV Capital, Ann-Kristin, and Paul Achleitner.

Established in 2018 by Josef Fleischmann, Markus Brandl and Daniel Metzler, Isar Aerospace is developing a “Spectrum” satellite launcher that is significantly smaller and thus less expensive than existing on the market. 

Luko, $60M

French insurtech Luko has secured $60 million in a Series B funding round led by EQT Ventures with participation from existing investors such as Accel, Funders Fund, and Speedinvest. 

Founded in 2016 by CEO Raphaël Vullierme and CTO Benoit Bourdel, Luko is an insurance company that provides a AI-powered device that focuses on home security and reduces electricity bills. 

Solactive, €50M

Fintech Solactive has closed a €50 million investment round from the US-based global alternative investment firm Summit Partners.

Solactive, or Structured Solutions as it was then known, was founded in 2007 by CEO Steffen Scheuble. It provides tailor-made index solutions for ETFs and other index-linked investments across equity, fixed income, and multi-asset class strategies worldwide. 

Gorillas, $44M

Grocery delivery startup Gorillas has closed a $44 million Series A round led by the New York-based hedge fund Coatue.

Founded in May 2020 by Kağan Sümer and Jörg Kattner, Gorillas is an on demand grocery delivery provider. Having a “Faster than you” slogan, it declares its ability to bring all customers’ grocery needs, from fresh fruits to home care products, to their door within 10 minutes of ordering. 

ultimate.ai, $20M

Customer service automation platform ultimate.ai has raised $20M in a Series A round. The round was led by OMERS Ventures with participation from Felicis Ventures and existing investors HV Capital and Maki.VC.

ultimate.ai develops an AI-solution that automates up to 80% of support interactions, freeing agents from repetitive requests. The startup is aimed to empower brands to drive better customer experiences through automation.

Eneba, $8M

Lithuanian Eneba has raised $8 million in a fresh round led by Practica Capital and InReach Ventures with participation from FJ Labs and a group of angel investors including Mantas Mikuckas, COO of Vinted.

Eneba provides a marketplace for gamers to safely purchase everything they need for the world’s most popular games.

Founded in 2018 by Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort, Sorare is a global fantasy football game where managers can trade official digital cards. The company is aimed to unlock people’s football fandom online. Since opening its beta in December 2019, Sorare’s game has attracted 55,000+ users with a monthly card sales volume of over $1.4 million in November 2020.

Sorare’s current total addressable market is at the intersection of fantasy football and sports cards and memorabilia that is respectively estimated at $5.4B and $18.6B globally. After having acquired more than 50,000 users in 2020, Sorare is expecting to see these numbers more than triple next year.

Gerard Piqué said: “I see a huge potential in the sports gaming segment in a digital economy where the attention of audiences is the single most important unit of currency. I’m looking forward to helping Sorare expand their partnerships with football leagues, clubs, and players worldwide to build the best fantasy experience that exists.”

Founded in 2013 by Antoine Porte and Cyril Chiche, Lydia is a fast-growing mobile financial services platform with over 4 Million users and a 30% market share among French Millennials, who use its brand as a verb. It is the most successful French B2C fintech having raised over $160 million in funding from investors such as Tencent, XAnge, New Alpha, Groupe Duval, and Founders Future.

The new funding will be used to accelerate Lydia’s product road map to capture the shift in consumer preferences towards mobile-first apps with simple yet powerful digital banking and financial health capabilities. The company will also use the money to expand its geographic footprint. Into account, Lydia added more users in 2020 than any year in its history, crossing the major threshold of 4 million users in early Q4.

“The uncertainties of 2020 have provoked the younger, mobile generation to look for even more control and real-time visibility of the financial situation,” said Cyril Chiche, co-founder and CEO at Lydia.“This investment will enable us to respond to our customers’ needs faster and move into new markets.”

Founded in 2019 by CEO Grace Mehrabe and CTO Arthur Caillaud, Outmind is the intelligent search engine that allows you to do textual searches within all your tools, and immediately finds any email, document, or item relevant to you. When the results are insufficient, Outmind will contact the right person for you who can provide you with the information you are looking for. Outmind is available directly in your browser.

The raised money will contribute company to continue the development of Outmind’s technology, to support its commercial development in Europe, and to strengthen its team by doubling the number of employees. Outmind just joined the Future 40, the 40 most promising companies among 1200 of Station F, EU-Startups writes.

Founded in 2003 by Philippe Berna, Kayentis is a global provider of digital data capture technologies for sponsors, sites, and patients in clinical trials, focuses on bringing simplicity, efficiency, and integrity to the collection of clinical trial data. Kayentis within the last ten years has specialized in electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (eCOA) solutions for phase II/III research in a broad range of therapeutic areas.

The new funding will take Kayentis beyond eCOA with more options designed to enhance the patient experience and support clinical trial digitalization. To date, Kayentis has conducted digital data collection for over 220 clinical trials in 79 countries, employing 120 different languages. Headquartered in France, Kayentis also has operations in Boston and in Tokyo.

“This new funding is testimony to the trust our shareholders hold in Kayentis’ potential. It shows their confidence in our abilities to fully satisfy the demands for digital data integrity and expertise in the growing clinical trials market,” said Guillaume Juge, CEO of Kayentis. “Our roadmap is geared towards providing more innovation and operational capacity to support the trend towards virtual, decentralized and remote trials, where patient-facing digital technologies are increasingly playing an important role; these provisions are pivotal in helping our clients bring important therapies to market.”

Founded in 2016 by CEO Raphaël Vullierme and CTO Benoit Bourdel, Luko is an insurance company that provides a device that focuses on home security and reduces electricity bills. It features an AI-powered sensor designed for monitoring and preventing home accidents. Luko is aimed to move insurance from a claims-based model to prevention with its proprietary technology. 

Raphaël Vullierme, CEO and co-founder of Luko: “We have always been convinced that in order to protect European households, we must go beyond the vision of a simple insurance contract. With Luko, we are building an ecosystem of services to protect, maintain, and initiate the sustainable housing of tomorrow, which will allow everyone to live at home with peace of mind. This virtuous model has already conquered more than 100,000 French people and we are proud to work now with the teams of EQT Ventures to continue to defend and deploy this vision in Europe.”

This new fundraising will make it possible to launch new insurance and assistance services, strengthen investments in the protection of the home on the technological side, open new countries in Europe and strengthen the team with recruitment of more than fifty employees in 2021. To date, the startup has raised about $90 million from investors, Crunchbase writes.

Founded in 2018 by Alain Blancquart & Denis Bastiment, MyDataModels makes Artificial Intelligence accessible via its innovative TADA platform. Using predictive analytics based on advanced Machine Learning technology, TADA turns even small data sets into the accurate, actionable analysis, which enables companies of all sizes to make data-based decisions and optimize their businesses. 

The new financing will enable MyDataModels to expand into new international markets, strengthen its workforce, and make it easier for corporations and SMEs across the continent to make strategic, data-based decisions. To date, MyDataModels supports major French companies in the health and industrial sectors, but will now expand its offering to corporations and SMEs across Europe and beyond.

“We are excited to democratize access to Artificial Intelligence for companies of all sizes. This new round of financing will enable us to strengthen our position with major corporations in France, and offer our platform to both large corporations and small and medium-sized companies across Europe. We are looking forward to working alongside Speedinvest, who will support us in our 2 commercial development in France and internationally.” says Alain Blancquart, CEO of MyDataModels.

Founded in 2019 by Romain Niccoli and Eléonore Crespo, Pigment’s platform allows users to take control over their business data – presenting an intuitive, full-spectrum view of the company that allows users to play with multiple future scenarios in real-time through charts, simulations, and continuous modeling. The company is trying to overhaul the painful experience of using error-prone spreadsheets and inflexible software to forecast the future of businesses.

The raised money will scale up operations and engineering teams ahead of a full public launch next year. Pigment wants to help companies save time and money and avoid mistakes that hinder many organizations by using a more visual approach that allows users to work with different parameters and make important predictions.

Founded in 2018 by Thibaud Febvre and Thibault Castagne, Vianova is a data platform that helps cities better integrate and manage connected, electric, and autonomous transport solutions in the urban space, enabling better use of city infrastructure and promoting safer and more sustainable mobility. 

This new capital will allow the company to expand its presence in Europe and enter into new markets. Vianova has quickly become a reliable data transfer platform that facilitates the exchange of mobility data between 10 cities and 20 mobility operators across Europe. The platform already includes more than two million trips a month, among city partners including Brussels, Helsinki, Zurich, and Stockholm. 

“The rapid development of urban mobility is challenging cities in the way they organize public space,” commented Thibault Castagne, co-founder & CEO of Vianova. “Mobility operators also understand the major role that cities can play in their development and success. Over the past few months, our work to bring these two worlds closer together has been extremely exciting, and we are delighted to be joined by RATP Capital Innovation and Contrarian Ventures in this journey.”

Founded in 2006 by Jean-Baptiste Bouzige, François Poitrine, Paul Seguineau, and Quentin Michard, Ekimetrics provides industrialized corporate data science solutions to meet its clients’ most pressing business needs. Specifically, it uses data to maximize companies’ return on investment on marketing expenses and optimize sales, the customer experience, and the entire operational model.

The raised funds will be used to fuel Ekimetrics’ international growth, enhance its technological assets, and help to set a new standard for the sector worldwide. To date, the company has a presence in Paris, London, New York, and Hong Kong and now has one of the largest independent teams in Europe, comprising over 240 data scientists.

Jean-Baptiste Bouzige, founder and CEO of Ekimetrics said:

“This investment will allow us to go even further and faster in affirming our unique positioning at the intersection of business and data science.”

BlaBlaCar was founded in 2006 by CEO Frédéric Mazzella, CTO Francis Nappez, and COO Nicolas Brusson. Currently, BlaBlaCar operates in Benelux, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Brazil, Slovakia, Czech, and the United Kingdom.

How the idea came about

Frédéric Mazzella, CEO of BlaBlaCar, had never missed a Christmas at home and was determined that 2003 wouldn’t be that year. With no seats available on the train, he asked his sister to pick him up from Paris. As they were driving, he noticed that a lot of cars were going in the same direction and they were either half-empty or with only the driver.

After searching online, he discovered a handful of listings on various forums with people offering to share a ride. It was at a very low scale and so unorganized that finding someone who was doing the same trip at the same time was next to impossible. Fred understood that this could be massive. In each empty car seat, he saw a gap in the market and was convinced that other people would benefit from such an affordable, convenient, and friendly transport solution.

How does BlaBlaCar work

The BlaBlaCar service is a platform for carpooling, where drivers and passengers agree on a trip in advance: the driver offers free seats in his car, and passengers planning to go in the same direction book them. The passenger indicates the desired point of departure and destination, after which the service displays suitable offers from drivers.

After the trip, users leave public reviews about each other. The administration of the service controls the cost of a trip (on average, a passenger pays no more than one-third of the cost of fuel for a particular trip). 

The service is monetized due to the commission that is charged from passengers in some countries. In each country, BlaBlaCar first gains a large number of users, then transfers the community to an online booking system, integrates the platform with local payment systems, and begins monetization.

What else does BlaBlaCar offer

BlaBlaCar has launched several new services over the past couple of years. The company acquired Ouibus and renamed it BlaBlaBus. The service operates in France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. BlaBlaCar plans to continue growing its BlaBlaBus network across Europe. 

In addition, the company operates a car-sharing marketplace for daily commuting between your home and workplace called BlaBlaLines.

Also, BlaBlaCar is partnering with Voi, a European e-scooter service. BlaBla Ride scooters will help French cities and their citizens have access to safe and sustainable mobility at a time when it is more crucial than ever. Both companies remain separate legal entities.

Due to the Covid-19, the BlaBlaCar launches a community app BlaBlaHelp to support each other with grocery shopping during COVID-19. The service is free of charge. The community already counts 2000 BlaBlaHelpers, power users who support other BlaBlaCar members with the use of the service via a dedicated chatbox. They do so in their free time and on a voluntary basis to help develop a global carpooling community, BlaBlaCar writes. 

Into account, BlaBlaCar doubles the occupancy rate of cars whilst operating a carbon-saving network. In total, 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 were saved by BlaBlaCar carpoolers in 2018, thanks to the relative efficiency of filled cars versus alternative modes of transport, Zero Empty Seats reports.  

The company employs approximately 500 employees of 35 nationalities around the world, about two-thirds of the staff work in France.

BlaBlaCar in figures

• 90 million members
• 22 countries
• 25 million travelers per quarter
• More than 1.7 billion saved by members since BlaBlaCar’s creation
• 263 kilometers is the average distance of a BlaBlaCar trip
• 30 billion kilometers shared by the community since BlaBlaCar’s creation

AIN.TECH conducted a series of interviews with the most active French VC funds. It is aimed to give the startups full information about the ecosystem of the country, as well as to make it easier for them to find the appropriate fund for further cooperation.

This time we prepared a short article about Innovacom VC fund.

When was the fund launched?

In 1988

What is your investment focus?

We invest in companies presenting real innovations of technical breakthrough.

What is the average investment amount? 

Between €1 million and €5 million

How many transactions does the fund make per year?

Around 10. Innovacom manages several funds and raises funds every year.

Does the fund invest only in French startups or in foreign projects too?

We invest in companies from France and the European Union

What does the fund offers besides investing?

Managerial support and a network of experts.

AIN.TECH conducted a series of interviews with the most active French VC funds. It is aimed to give the startups full information about the ecosystem of the country, as well as to make it easier for them to find the appropriate fund for further cooperation.

This time we prepared a short article about Kima Ventures VC fund.

When was the fund launched? 

In 2010 by Xavier Niel.

What is your investment focus?

 We support startups that have a strong tech DNA, we are agnostic in terms of sector, we position ourselves on pre-seed & seed rounds between €500K and €2.5M. We want to support teams that have an extraordinary learning and execution curve.

What is the average investment amount? 

Single ticket of €150K, no reinvestment

How many transactions does the fund make per year?

100

Does the fund invest only in French startups or in foreign projects too?

Startups whose founders are French, whether in France or abroad.

What does the fund offers besides investing?

We give an access to the largest and most powerful network of French tech entrepreneurs: our portfolio, leveraged by various tools developed in-house, Access to selected services and partner offers, Immediate availability of the Kima team and support on all subjects they can meet, Access to our BA network and funds for Series A.

The 3% tax on revenue from digital services earned in France by companies with revenues of more than 25 million euros there and 750 million euros worldwide was introduced last year. Earlier this year, France suspended tax collection, which will hit companies such as Facebook and Amazon, while the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) continued talks on revising international tax rules.

The Ministry of Finance has long stated that it will collect the tax in December, as planned if the talks fail by then, and this happened when almost 140 member states agreed to continue negotiations until mid-2021. Finally, negotiations have stalled because the Trump administration did not want to sign a multilateral agreement.

His administration, which withdrew from talks with the OECD in June, has vowed revenge if France moves forward with the tax, and it can reject appropriate tariffs on $1.3 billion worth of French goods, including bags and cosmetics, as soon as January 6, CNN Business reports.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Mayr said earlier this week that he hoped to persuade Biden to join the OECD process again to reach an agreement. 

According to Yahoo!finance, Facebook’s position “is to ensure compliance with all tax laws in the jurisdictions where we operate.” Amazon has received a reminder from the French authorities to pay the tax and will comply with it, according to a person familiar with the matter in the online store.

Paris has said it will lift the tax as soon as an OECD agreement is reached to update the rules on cross-border taxation for the age of e-commerce, where large Internet companies can reserve profits in low-tax countries, no matter where their customers are.

Founded in 2017 by CEO Josselin Priour, PowerUp offers the latest technological advances in the management of lithium-ion batteries, resulting from research conducted by CEA-Liten. PowerUp allows to monitor the real state-of-health of batteries during their entire service life and thus have the information required to do predictive maintenance. These solutions are aimed to optimize the performance and lifetime of lithium-ion batteries in order to enhance the reliability and competitiveness of future energy storage systems.

The raised money will help speed up its growth by recruiting 25 new employees in engineering and marketing & sales within the next two years and strengthen its leadership position in the French market, and then expand its business in Europe and North America.

Josselin Priour, CEO and founder of PowerUp, said: “With this fundraising round, PowerUp is entering a new era. In 2021, we will be embarking on a phase of increased production, and this capital will support our growth. In addition to securing our leadership position in France, we aim to grow our business in Europe and North America. Behind this growth lies a real need: more than ever before, we need to increase the lifetime of our batteries to ensure greener energy production.”

TIER, $250M

The German micro-mobility company TIER has completed a $250 million Series C investment round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Existing investors Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital, White Star Capital, Novator, and RTP Global also joined the round. Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg is also among the TIER investors. 

Launched in 2018 by the CEO Lawrence Leuschner, Julian Blessin, and Matthias Laug, TIER provides electric scooter ride-sharing services that mission is “to change mobility for good”.

InnovaFeed, $167M

InnovaFeed, a biotech company, has received $167 million from existing investors Creadev – an evergreen investment company operating worldwide, and Temasek – a global investment company headquartered in Singapore.

Founded in 2016 by Aude Guo, Bastien Oggeri, Clement Ray, and Guillaume Gras, InnovaFeed is a biotech company that produces a new source of protein from insect rearing for animal feed and aquaculture in particular.

SME Finance, $95M

Vilnius-based SME Finance has received $95 million in funding from the European Investment Bank. It is the largest investment awarded by EIB to a fintech lender.

Founded in 2016 by Audrius Milukas, SME Finance is the largest non-banking alternative financing company in the Baltics. SME finance helps businesses to grow by providing non-standard factoring solutions to small medium-sized enterprises.

Skeleton Technologies, $48.5M

Tallinn-based Skeleton Technologies has raised $48.5 million in Series D round. The round was led by existing investors such as EIT InnoEnergy, FirstFloor Capital, MM Grupp, and Harju Elekter with participation from leading European industrial investors and a group of entrepreneurs.

Founded in 2009 by Chairman Oliver Ahlberg and CEO Taavi Madiberk, Skeleton Technologies is the global technology leader in ultracapacitor energy storage in automotive, transportation, grid, and industrial applications. The company is aimed to decrease emissions and fuel consumption, improve power quality, and to power electrification to fight climate change.

IQM Quantum Computers, $45M

Espoo-based IQM Quantum Computers, the European leader in building superconducting quantum computers, has raised $45 million in Series A funding. The round was led by MIG Fonds with participation from all existing investors including Tesi, OpenOcean, Maki.vc, Vito Ventures, Matadero QED, and some new investors such as Vsquared, Salvia GmbH, Santo Venture Capital GmbH, and Tencent.

Founded in 2018 by CEO Jan Goetz, COO Juha Vartiainen, CTO Kuan Yen Tan, and Chief scientist Mikko Möttönen, IQM delivers on-premises quantum computers for research laboratories and supercomputing centers and provides complete access to its hardware. For industrial customers, IQM delivers quantum advantage through a unique application-specific co-design approach. 

Razor, $30M

German startup Razor has closed a new $30 million Series A round. $12 million will be contributed by the existing investors including Alexander Kudlich, founder of 468 Capital, Florian Leibert, founder of Mesosphere, Presight Capital, Global Founders Capital, and Redalpine VC funds, another $18 million – came through debt financing from Claret Capital.

Razor Group is a consumer holding that acquires and scales merchants’ brand stores that sell on Amazon. It was founded in August 2020 by Tushar Ahluwalia and Jonas Diezun, Headquartered in Berlin, Razor already has offices in London and New Delhi, and employs 35 people.

Tourlane, $20M

Berlin-based traveltech startup Tourlane has raised an additional €16.8 million as an extension of Series C funding round, closing it at €56 million. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, DN Capital, and HV Capital, as well as both founders, also joined the round.

Founded in 2016 by Julian Stiefel and Julian Weselek, Tourlane develops a planning and booking platform for multi-day tours, offering customized experiences and expert travel consulting. 

KINEXON, $18M

Munich-based hardware and software developer KINEXON has got an $18M venture debt loan from European Investment Bank. The transaction is supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments.

KINEXON’s expertise is in sensor network development, edge computing, and real-time process automation. Its real-time localization technological solutions are used in production and logistics, as well as in professional sports enabling in-depth performance analytics, injury prevention, and fan engagement.

Vivid Money, $18M

German fintech Vivid Money has closed a €15 million Series A funding round that pushed its valuation to €100 million. Leading investor is the US Ribbit Capital VC fund.

Vivid Money is a challenger bank that develops financial platform and mobile banking app that helps customers save and invest their money. It was launched by Alexander Emeshev and Artem Yamanov, previously worked as executives for Russian Tinkoff Bank, in June 2020.

BOOKR Kids, $2.4

BOOKR Kids, the leading digital publishing company of interactive books in Central and Eastern Europe, has raised $2.4 million in new funding and another $2.4 million in convertible notes. The round was led by Bonitas, a private venture capital fund.

Founded in 2015 by Dorka Horváth and Dani Karányi, BOOKR Kids is a unique reading-based edutainment tool, designed to engage and delight the youngest learners in reading. The company offers a digital format of classical and modern stories with animation, narration, text highlighting, and special educational games.

Founded in 2016 by Aude Guo, Bastien Oggeri, Clement Ray, and Guillaume Gras, InnovaFeed is a biotech company that produces a new source of protein from insect rearing for animal feed and aquaculture in particular. The company is aimed to generate local economic dynamics and have a global impact on the environment. InnovaFeed has developed a new source of high-quality insect protein, derived from the black soldier fly to support animal agriculture.

This fundraising will contribute to the future development projects of InnovaFeed in France, but also internationally, with the construction of new sites planned in South-East Asia, and more imminently in the US. 

The company has announced the launch of the Nesle site, the world’s largest insect protein production site, and its partnership with ADM (Archer-Daniels-Midland Company), an agro-industry leader. The company is aimed to deploy its industrial model on the largest American agricultural site in Decatur (Illinois). Construction will begin in 2021 and targets a capacity of 60,000 tons of insect protein per year.

Founded in 2019 by CEO Tarik Dadi and CTO Hadrien de March, QantEv develops artificial intelligence for insurance operations. From network to case management, its technology provides critical insights to ops teams. QantEv makes a difference by helping insurers deliver higher quality services with more affordable premiums to hundreds of thousands of members around the world.

The raised money will accelerate QantEv’s ability to develop its health claims AI platform and its expansion into new markets, help more insurers enhance their operations globally, and offer the best care to their members. 

Tarik Dadi, CEO, and co-founder of QantEv, said: “Our mission at QantEv is to bring AI & optimization breakthroughs to real-world problems and by doing so, help the industry in its data & digital transformation. We’re achieving that every day, as our technology enables health insurers to deliver the best quality of care while reducing the cost of care. This new investment from Elaia Partners, who have a standout track record in investing in deep tech enterprise software companies, shows informed investors believe in our unprecedented technology and our ability to create value for new clients and new areas to operate in.”

About Elaia Partners: Elaia is a European top-tier VC firm with a strong tech DNA. We back tech disruptors with global ambition from early-stage to growth development. For the past 18 years, our commitment has been to deliver high performance with values. 

Founded in 2016 by Gilles Bertaux, Robin Lambert, Vincent Garreau, and Tom Forlini, Livestorm is the only video platform that works in the browser from any device you choose. Livestorm is used both for one-on-one meetings and for large virtual events with more than 1,000 participants. The company`s software includes end-to-end features for planning, promoting, executing, and measuring ROIs for video conferencing and events.

The raised funds will be used to develop new features and functionalities to support larger companies. Also, Livestorm plans to expand into North America. To date, Livestorm has been the best solution for rapidly changing industries such as state and local government, healthcare, education, and more. More than 3,500 companies of all sizes now rely on Livestorm.