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☆ SoftBank leads TravelPerk's $104 million fundraising, in a bet that AI will reshape corporate travel
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

TravelPerkBarcelona-based startup TravelPerk, which helps automate corporate travel and expenses, has raised $104 million in fresh funding from Japanese tech investing giant SoftBank and a flood of other names, to invest in artificial intelligence development and new products. SoftBank invested $70 million in TravelPerk's latest round, which the company said was an extension of its "D-1" funding round. The fundraising round shows SoftBank is placing a major bet on a company driving disruption in corporate travel through new technologies, such as AI — which has seen significant buzz since the November 2022 launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Whereas many travel agents operate on low single digits gross margins, Meir says that TravelPerk's profit margin stood at 60% last year. TravelPerk competes with American Express, BCD Travel, SAP Concur and Navan in the corporate travel management space.

Persons: Avi Meir, TravelPerk, Felix, SoftBank, that's, Meir, Roy Hefer Organizations: SoftBank Vision, Felix Capital, American, CNBC, American Express, SAP Locations: TravelPerk Barcelona, Navan, U.S

☆ Kinnu helps users improve their long-term memory and their rate of learning. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck it used to raise $6.5 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Learning platform startup Kinnu has raised $6.5 million from LocalGlobe and Cavalry Ventures. Kinnu aims to help users improve in areas like long-term memory and the rate at which they learn. A startup using generative AI to build a learning app to help people improve in areas like long-term memory and the rate at which they learn has raised $6.5 million in fresh funds. London-based Kinnu bills itself as a gamified learning platform for those who want to learn generalist knowledge. The platform is currently popular among adult generalist learners, "who love learning for the sake of learning," Kahler told Insider.

Persons: Chris Kahler, chatbots, Kahler, Kinnu, Tom Hulme, Guy Podjarny, Rene Rechtman Organizations: Cavalry Ventures, UK, Spark, Google Ventures, Moonbug Entertainment Locations: LocalGlobe, London

☆ Smaller valuations and a lack of ego helped Spain's startup scene avoid some of Europe's shocking collapse in VC funding, investors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Spain's startup scene has evaded some of the collapse in VC funding that has rocked Europe in 2023. Smaller check sizes and a lack of "ego" has somewhat protected the ecosystem, investors say. Smaller valuations, check sizes, and a distinct lack of ego helped Spain's startup scene evade some of the shocking collapse in venture capital funding that has rocked Europe so far this year. Smaller rounds give Spain's startups an edge in the downturnWhat correction was felt was eased by the fact there is less "ego" in Spain's ecosystem, according to Max Bray, an investor at early-stage firm K Fund. As well as the birth of local growth funds, investors see corporations playing a role in closing the funding gap.

Persons: SoftBank, Catalyst, Pablo Pedrejón, Max Bray, Dalia Silberstein, Pedro Arribas Gridilla, Juliette Simonin, Margarita Albors, Tasmin Lockwood, Bray, Marc Sabas, Fund's Bray, Wallbox cofounders Enric Asunción, Eduard Castañeda, Glovo, Wallbox, Oscar Pierre, Ship2B's Sabas, Danae Vara, Danae Vara Ship2B, hasn't, Sabas, CVCs, There's, Félix Ortega, K Fund's Bray, Sérgio Massano Organizations: Accel, Pedrejón, Venture, Fund, Esade Center, Social, Foundation, Spanish, K Fund, Investors, Danae Vara Ship2B Ventures, Investment, Corporations, Barcelona Activa, Telefónica, BBVA, Proeduca Locations: Europe, Spain, Madrid, France, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Seaya, Bray, Vara, Barcelona, Silicon, London

☆ Y Combinator-backed headless commerce startup Vue Storefront just raised $20 million with this 14-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Y Combinator-backed Vue Storefront has developed a frontend system for e-commerce sites. Vue Storefront, a Y Combinator-backed startup that aims to improve customers' experiences with e-commerce sites, just raised $20 million in fresh funds. The Polish company, founded in 2020, has built a plug-and-play frontend system for marketplace sites. This is what customers see and interact with, rather than the behind-the-scenes backend system, and is known as "headless commerce". Vue Storefront is rooted in open-source development, having spun out from a design agency.

☆ Spain's startup scene has gone from a desert crossing to a $4 billion burgeoning industry. Now, it plans to cut red tape to birth a new batch of unicorns.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Spanish startups lured a record $4.1 billion from investors in 2021, according to PitchBook. The government hopes its new Startup Law will help birth an array of new unicorns. In 2016, Lucas Carné sold his fashion marketplace startup Privalia for around 500 million euros (around $495 million) in a landmark deal for the Spanish tech ecosystem. Privalia's sale to its enlarged French counterpart Ventee-Privee – since rebranded as VeePee – illustrated just how far the Spanish startup scene had changed in the space of 10 years. Spanish startups secured a record $4.1 billion in 2021 – more than double that of 2020 –, according to PitchBook data.

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