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☆ These are the 32 most exciting European fintech startups to watch in 2024, according to venture capitalists
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

This is Business Insider's annual list of the hottest fintech startups in Europe. After years of standing as the bloc's most in-demand sector, investment in fintech has slumped considerably. In 2022, fintech made up 17% — or $13.9 billion — of the $82 billion that had been invested into European startups, according to Atomico. That number dropped last year when around $4.5 billion was invested — the equivalent of a tenth of the total $45 billion poured into the ecosystem. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, fintech Organizations: Service, Business Locations: Europe, fintech

☆ Here's the 16-slide pitch deck addiction care startup Pelago used to raise $58 million
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Healthtech startup Pelago just grabbed a fresh round of funding to power its own push. The Series C was an upround for Pelago, said Dr. Yusuf Sherwani, cofounder and CEO. Sherwani said the Series C round may be Pelago's last capital raise before it hopes to IPO. With the Series C funding, Pelago plans to launch a program in the second quarter of the year to refer members who don't complete substance use disorder treatment to inpatient facilities. Check out the 16-slide pitch deck Pelago used to raise a $58 million Series C.

Persons: —, Atomico, Yusuf Sherwani, Sherwani, Pelago, Phillips, we've Organizations: Service, Octopus Ventures, Business, Mental Health Services Administration, Healthcare, Centers for Disease Control, MetLife, GE Appliances, Pelago Locations: Pelago

☆ Unfabled wants to close the gender health gap. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck it used to raise $1.6 million from Morgan Stanley.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

London-based Unfabled, which launched in 2021, has developed a data-driven health platform for women. A key issue that Samano wanted to tackle was the wide gender health gap in the UK, which currently has the largest health gap between genders in the G20, and the twelfth largest globally, a study by men's health platform Manual found. "Another major cause of the gender health gap is the lack of sex-aggregated data, which creates a lack of insight and understanding across women's health," Samano told Business Insider. "Alongside our consumer platform, our data science is helping to fill in a lot of the blanks that currently exist in women's health." With the fresh funding, Unfabled will grow its consumer offerings, and also double down on its data-driven recommendations for women's health.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Hannah Samano, Samano Organizations: Business, Exceptional Ventures Locations: London

☆ Salary data revealed: Here's how much 16 top US and European AI startups like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face are paying staffers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | Tasmin Lockwood | Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

AI talent is very much in demand, with some staffers from the likes of Stripe, Amazon, and Google making the switch to smaller upstarts. AI companies are using some of those funds to shell out on sizable salary packages to attract talent, according to data obtained by Business Insider. While salary transparency remains a problem in both Europe and the US, the latter has taken more steps to make salary data visible to employees and candidates. With considerable research prowess, Europe has become a hotbed for producing AI talent. Business Insider has pulled together salary data from some of the most in-demand AI companies that have published H1B salary data, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Midjourney.

Persons: Sam Altman, queued, chunky, DeepMind's, Mustafa Suleyman Organizations: Google, Business, Mistral, Companies Locations: Europe, Atomico

☆ Founders of Wise and Skype raise $436 million to build tech giants in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The founders of Wise, Skype and Songkick have raised 400 million euros ($436.4 million) for a new fund to back technology startups in Europe. Plural Fund II, the firm's second to date, arrives just 18 months after the firm raised its last fund, a 250 million-euro vehicle. Only 8% of VCs in Europe are former founders, he says, much lower than the 60% in the United States. So, if we look at the track record, and our ability to get the deals done, I think that all seems to say that this is really missing in Europe," Hinrikus added. Plural raised the funds from a mix of limited partners, including British and American university endowments, U.S. foundations and insurers, strategic family offices in Europe and the United States.

Persons: Wise, Taavet Hinrikus, fintech, Ian Hogarth, Sten Tamkivi, Khaled Helioui, Hinrikus, they're, we've, Carina Namih Organizations: Skype, Balderton, Bigpoint, CNBC Locations: Europe, VCs, United States, American

☆ Climate tech in 2023: More grants, experienced founders, and new laws help sector to standout year
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-29 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

While much of Europe's startup ecosystem has been hobbled by the rocky macroeconomic environment and soaring interest rates, climate tech has continued to lure funds from venture capitalists. Many climate tech companies work with hardware, meaning debt financing is also an attractive non-dilutive option for working capital between funding rounds. Global private market equity and grant funding for climate tech startups is actually down – it slid 40% to $65 billion in the 12 months ending September 30, according to PwC. Some smaller climate tech companies have made cuts, including vertical farming company InFarm, which retreated from Europe and was declared bankrupt in the Netherlands. Generally, however, layoffs have been a boon for climate as big tech talent has moved into or launched climate tech startups.

Persons: —, Siobhan Brewster, Atomico, Brewster, Piotr Bukanski, Mike Schroepfer, Greg Sandoval, retrofits, Barcelona's, Balderton Capital's Magda Lukaszewicz, Stuart Ferguson, Schroepfer, Warner, Aenu's Brewster Organizations: Service, Business, Venture, Energy, Beringea, Gigascale, Sustainable Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Global, Ada Ventures Locations: London, Europe's, Ukraine, United States, Europe, Silicon, Netherlands

STOCKHOLM, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Total capital invested into European tech startups is projected to fall to $45 billion this year, down 55% from 2021, when investment volumes surpassed $100 billion for the first time, according to a report from venture capital firm Atomico. The decline was mostly due to later-stage companies delaying fundraising, as well as a slower pace of deployment by investors, the report said. In 2022, capital invested in Europe was $82 billion. Over the five-year period between 2018 and 2022, a total of 257 European tech companies reached a billion-dollar valuation, including more than 150 in 2021 and 2022, according to Atomico. However, Europe's funding rounds will still be 18% higher compared with 2020, a year before the tech investment boom of 2021.

Persons: Tom Wehmeier, Wehmeier, Atomico, Supantha Mukherjee, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, Atomico, Europe, United States, China, Stockholm

☆ Europe tech investment set to reach $45 billion in 2023, Atomico says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailEurope tech investment set to reach $45 billion in 2023, Atomico saysTom Wehmeier, head of data insights at Atomico, discusses the company's "State of European Tech" report on CNBC's Squawk Box Europe.

Persons: Atomico, Tom Wehmeier Organizations: European Tech

☆ European tech funding halves to $45 billion, back to pre-Covid levels — but AI is a bright spot
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Venture capital investment into Europe's tech industry plunged by half in 2023 as investors continued to reel from the effects of high interest rates, according to data from venture capital firm Atomico. Atomico's "State of European Tech" report, published Tuesday, showed that overall funding for European venture-backed companies is projected to decline 45% in 2023 from a year ago. Total venture funding for European tech companies will reach $45 billion this year, Atomico expects. That's down from $82 billion in 2022, which is itself down from $100 billion the previous year. "There has been this reset after an overheated and unsustainable period of growth in 2021 and early 2022," Wehmeier told CNBC.

Persons: Atomico, Tom Wehmeier, Wehmeier Organizations: European Tech, CNBC Locations: Atomico, Europe

☆ Finnish startup Varjo launches new $3,990 mixed-reality headset to take on Apple, Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Finnish mixed-reality startup Varjo on Monday launched its latest headset, the XR-4, a product it hopes to sell to large enterprise firms. The headset, which starts at a price of $3,990, is similar to those from Meta , Microsoft and Apple . Unlike consumer offerings from companies such as Meta, Varjo's headset is intended for enterprise use cases. For example, a pilot working for a major defense contractor could use it to train in a virtual reality simulation. The XR-4 headset has two 4K displays and a 50% wider field of view compared with previous-generation devices.

Persons: Patrick Wyatt, Apple's, Varjo Organizations: Monday, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, CNBC, Vision, Volvo Locations: Helsinki, Atomico

☆ Web Summit CEO apologises for comments on Israeli conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Web Summit Chief Executive and founder Paddy Cosgrave on Tuesday apologised for comments he made on the Israeli-Hamas conflict that prompted some technology companies and investors to withdraw plans to attend its conference in Portugal next month. Web Summit, one of the world's largest tech conferences, will take place in Lisbon from Nov. 13-16, with attendees from companies such as Meta (META.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) to investors such as Atomico. "War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are," wrote Cosgrave, who was born in Ireland. Among executives to have cancelled their participation at Web Summit are AI21 Labs' Ori Goshen; Tome's Keith Peiris; Sequoia Capital partner Ravi Gupta; Yinon Costica, co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity unicorn Wiz; and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan, according to LinkedIn and X posts. Philippe Botteri, CEO of tech investor Accel, said in a LinkedIn post on Monday he would no longer speak at Web Summit.

Persons: Paddy Cosgrave, Cosgrave, I’m, Leo Varadkar's, Israel, Cosgrove, Goshen, Tome's Keith Peiris, Ravi Gupta, Yinon Costica, Y, Garry Tan, Philippe Botteri, Portugal Dor Shapira, Steven Scheer, Supantha Mukherjee, Josephine Mason, Alison Williams, Mark Potter Organizations: Web, Microsoft, Palestinian, Hamas, Irish, AI21 Labs, Sequoia Capital, Thomson Locations: Portugal, Lisbon, Gaza, Israel, Ireland, Jerusalem, Stockholm, London

☆ Corti, a health tech startup using AI to improve patient consultations, just raised $60 million with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A health tech startup using AI to make patient care more accurate and efficient just secured a $60 million Series B round co-led by Prosus Ventures and Atomico. Copenhagen-based Corti, founded in 2016, has developed an AI assistant that analyzes patient consultations in real-time and reduces administrative work. Its widget sits on a doctor or nurse's computer, records conversations, and analyses them in real-time to support the medical practitioner's decision-making. Cleve said healthcare had become "very fragmented" and that there was pressure from "personnel deficits everywhere" with burnout becoming endemic. It will also keep investing in research and development, improving medical practitioners' workflows, and generative AI.

Persons: Corti, Andreas Cleve, Cleve, EIFO Organizations: Prosus Ventures, Atomico Locations: Copenhagen, Europe, Danish

☆ UK, Singapore partner to boost economic growth, strengthen security
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Atomico (UK) Partners LLP FollowSept 8 (Reuters) - The British government has signed a partnership with Singapore to grow its economy and enhance shared security, Downing Street said on Friday, adding it was the UK's first treaty since leaving the European Union. They said the partnership will give Singaporean companies more confidence to invest in Britain and vice-versa, while also creating jobs. The British government added that the partnership will strengthen security cooperation, science and technology innovation, and research and development, including countering cyber threats, through a partnership between Singapore's Digital and Intelligence Service and Britain. "This new agreement with Singapore will take us even further in delivering our priorities and ensure that, as we map the future of the world economy, we are doing so alongside our closest partners," Rishi Sunak said. Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Downing, Rishi Sunak, Lee Hsien Loong, Rishabh, Josie Kao Organizations: Atomico, Partners, British, European Union . British, Singapore's Digital, Intelligence Service, Britain, Thomson Locations: Singapore, India, Britain, New Delhi, Bengaluru

☆ Norwegian AI startup Strise helps banks tackle financial crime. It just raised a $10.8 million Series A round with this 8-slide pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Norwegian AI startup Strise has raised $10.8 million in Series A funding. Strise will use the funding to expand its operations to the UK, where it plans to open an office. Strise, an AI startup that helps businesses deal with anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance issues, has raised $10.8 million in funding. Strise's Series A funding round was led by Atomico, with participation from existing investors including Maki.vc plus angels like Camilla Giesecke, COO at Klarna, and Riya Grover, CEO at Sequence. Check out Strise's Series A pitch deck below:

Persons: Orrick, It's, Marit Rødevand, Rødevand, Atomico, Camilla Giesecke, Riya Grover Locations: Oslo, Norwegian

☆ Opna helps corporates invest in carbon removal. It just raised $6.5 million with this 11-slide pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Opna, a startup that helps carbon removal projects get funded, just raised $6.5 million. Opna, which helps corporations invest in carbon removal or reduction projects, has just secured $6.5 million from European venture capital firm Atomico. The London-based startup, founded in 2022 as Salt, helps corporations find, fund, and monitor carbon removal projects. Carbon removal projects generate carbon credits, one of which represents one ton of Co2 removed from or prevented from entering the atmosphere. This led to market hesitation and a subsequent move to fund carbon removal projects directly via forward-purchasing and long-term off-take agreements.

Persons: Shilpika Gautam, Gautam, Opna, Tiny Organizations: Stripe's Frontier Fund Locations: London, India, Gaumukh, Atomico

☆ Britain to host world's first AI safety summit at home of World War II codebreakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Bletchley Park is the home of the World War Two Codebreakers, who in 1941 helped break the secret code used by the German government to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front. The U.K. government will host the world's first artificial intelligence safety summit in Bletchley Park, the home of the codebreakers who cracked the code that ended World War II. The renowned Bletchley Park building was the home of the World War II Codebreakers, who in 1941 helped break the secret Enigma Code used by the German government to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front. The U.K. tech sector has been flagging of late, following drops in venture capital investment. The U.S. is by far the world leader when it comes to AI, with massive firms ploughing resources into the technology.

Persons: —, Rishi Sunak, OpenAI, Bard, Alan Turing, Turing, Sunak, Bejiing Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Baidu Locations: Bletchley, Bletchley Park, Britain, China, The U.S, EU

We asked investors at European venture capital funds to pick out rising stars in the industry. Venture capital is in a state of flux right now. Insider has set out to identify some of the rising stars in Europe's venture capital ecosystem who are taking on that challenge. It is London-dominated, with the UK capital once again taking the most VC funding in Europe last year. Read on to see 2023's rising stars of venture capital in Europe, in no particular order.

Persons: Read Organizations: Venture Locations: London, Berlin, Paris, Europe, Stockholm

☆ People are having babies later and fertility rates are down. Venture capitalists see an opportunity in these 10 reproductive tech startups.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Fertility rates are declining, with those trying for children often needing access to reproductive tech. Insider spoke to seven VCs who named the top startups innovating reproductive and fertility services. "While it is difficult to pin just one number to the size of Europe's reproductive and fertility tech sector, there has definitely been significant growth across the market," said Sasha Astafyeva, partner at Atomico. In 2021, investors poured a record $3.76 billion into reproductive tech startups globally, per Pitchbook data. Insider asked seven VCs about the reproductive and fertility technology startups set to take off.

Persons: Camila Caso, Sasha Astafyeva, Peter Thiel, —, Roe, Wade, Caso Organizations: World Health Organization, Founders Locations: Mexico, Atomico, Europe, Asia

☆ Nearly half of startups backed by some of the UK and Europe's top VC funds have zero women on the board, trailing bigger firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Almost half of startups backed by top UK and European VC firms lack female board members, data shows. It means startups trail the 350 biggest listed UK firms, which hit 40% female board representation. Startups, though often promising to disrupt the status quo, are well behind larger firms when it comes to female leadership. Nearly half of startups currently backed by top UK and European venture capital firms lack any women on the board, new figures show. The data comes from 16 VC firms in the UK and Europe and covers 450 companies in their portfolios.

Persons: ESG_VC, Henry Philipson, Philipson, Michelle You, there's Organizations: European, Molten Ventures, Beringea, MMC, British Private Equity, Venture Capital Association, Investors Locations: Highland, Europe

☆ A Nvidia-backed platform that turns text into A.I.-generated avatars boosts valuation to $1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In this article NVDA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTAn animated avatar generated by the AI video platform Synthesia. To do that, Synthesia has created animated avatars which look and sound like humans, but are generated by AI. Synthesia is a form of generative AI, similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The company doesn't disclose its sales or revenue metrics, though it says it "consistently driven triple digit growth," with over 12 million videos produced on the platform to date. Synthesia plans to ramp up investment into its technology, with a particular focus on advancing its AI research and making Synthesia avatars capable of performing more tasks.

Persons: Synthesia, Slack, Kleiner Perkins, Morgan Stanley, Victor Riparbelli, Matthias Niessner, Steffen Tjerrild, Lourdes Agapito, Philippe Botteri, Riparbelli, Nvidia isn't, it's, They're, Felix Capital, Atomico, they're, David Beckham, Beckham Organizations: Nvidia, CNBC, Accel, Facebook, Spotify, GV, FirstMark, MMC, YouTube, Netflix, Business, Iconiq, Felix, Meritech Locations: London, A.I

☆ Alphabet-backed U.K. payment firm GoCardless to cut 15% of headcount
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Alphabet -backed British fintech unicorn GoCardless has said it will reduce its global headcount by 15%, slashing 135 roles in a bid to cut costs. A separate 15 roles will be transferred from Britain to Latvian capital Riga. The payments firm most recently raised $312 million in a Series G funding round in February, earning a $2.1 billion valuation. Its backers include Alphabet's venture capital investment arm GV, BlackRock and Permira. Takeuchi hinted at the firm's renewed focus on profitability to CNBC in comments at the Money 20/20 conference last week.

Persons: GoCardless, Hiroki Takeuchi, Permira, Takeuchi, CNBC's Ryan Browne, — CNBC's Ryan Browne Organizations: GV, CNBC Locations: British, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Latvian, Riga, London, BlackRock

☆ Early-stage investor Black Seed wants to help create the Black Silicon Valley. It just raised $6.25 million to do just that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

London-based Black Seed has raised $6.25 million to back early-stage Black founders. The fund wants to create a "Black Silicon Valley" in London by investing in seed-stage startups. Black Seed, a VC fund dedicated to backing Black founders in the UK, has raised $6.25 million to invest in early-stage tech. Based out of Brixton, south London, Black Seed is the brainchild of Cyril Lutterodt and Karl Lokko. Black Seed has indicated that intends to raise the full amount.

Persons: Cyril Lutterodt, Karl Lokko, Lutterodt, We've, Lokko, hasn't, Black, haven't Organizations: Molten Ventures, Ventures, University of Texas, WestRiver Locations: London, Brixton, Manchester, Europe, Atomico, Black, Soho, Mayfair

☆ Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz to open first office outside of the US in London as it bets on the UK to become leader in crypto regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is set to open its first office outside of the US in London. The Silicon Valley giant is betting on the UK to become a leader in crypto regulation. Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is set to open its first office outside of the US in London as it bets on the British government to become a leader in crypto regulation. Meanwhile, venture capital funding to crypto companies has collapsed over the past year. Andreessen general partner Chris Dixon said that crypto was still in its "early innings" and that technology takes "decades to develop," in a blog post announcing the London office.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon, Sriram Krishnan, Binance, Rishi Sunak, Dixon, Sunak, there's Organizations: Venture, Twitter, Facebook, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, School from, Catalyst, Bessemer, Lightspeed Venture Partners Locations: London, Europe, School from London, Silicon, Sequoia

So what's hot in fintech right now? One area fintech companies are getting excited by is an improvement to online checkout tools. Callan Carvey, global head of operations at Cleo, said the firm's AI connects to a customer's bank account to get a better understanding of their financial behavior. "A job that typically would take around one or two weeks can now be completed in 30 minutes, right. Several fintech executives CNBC interviewed spoke of how they're not interested in launching products tailored to crypto as the demand from their customers isn't there.

Persons: MacKenzie Sigalos, hasn't, they've, Starling, Richard Davies, Davies, Niklas Guske, —, B2C fintechs, David Singleton, Guske, dazzled, Cleo, Callan Carvey, Carvey, Teo Blidarus, Taktile's, Hiroki Takeuchi, Takeuchi, Changpeng Zhao, they're, Jack Zhang, Zhang, Prajit Nanu, cryptocurrencies, Banks, Nanu Organizations: Bank, fintechs, CNBC, Business, Allica Bank, B2B, Tiger, Schroders Capital, Atom Bank, Schroders, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, U.S, cryptocurrencies Locations: Amsterdam, MacKenzie Sigalos AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, British, Atomico, U.S

☆ European startup funding to drop a further 39% this year as tech rout continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Investment into European tech startups is set to fall another 39% this year, according to data from venture capital firm Atomico, as the pain in global tech continues. Funding for Europe's venture-backed startups is forecast to decline from $83 billion in 2022 to $51 billion in 2023, Atomico said. The report is a scaled down, mid-year update from the London-headquartered fund, which has backed companies including Stripe, Klarna and Graphcore. Once richly-valued technology companies have seen their shares come under pressure from global factors, including Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and tighter monetary policy. That's prompted investors to reassess their positions on lossmaking tech companies, whose values typically rest on the expectation of future cash flows.

Persons: Atomico Organizations: Investment, Technology, Federal Reserve Locations: Atomico, U.S, Europe, London, Ukraine

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