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☆ French verification startup Ondorse just raised $4 million in a seed round led by Deezer investor Eurazeo with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

French verification startup Ondorse has raised $4 million in seed funding from Deezer and Onfido investor Eurazeo. The Paris-based company, founded in 2022, has built an array of tools to help businesses manage their know-your-customer (KYC) workflows. Ondorse effectively leverages the proficiencies of businesses in the compliance space to provide a clearer and quicker view of its processes. Ondorse has raised $4 million in seed funding just nine months after its $2.5 million pre-seed round which was also led by French fund Eurazeo with participation from tech fund ISAI. "We feel we have the right expertise to build this product given the changing regulatory landscape," Boelle said.

Persons: Eurazeo, Ondorse, Alan, I've, Aymeric Boelle, Boelle Locations: Deezer, Paris, Europe, France

☆ German chauffeur services company Blacklane just raised $36 million in fresh funds with this 10-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

German chauffeur services company Blacklane has raised $36 million in a Series F funding round. The Berlin-based firm, founded in 2011, was originally set up to simplify business travel through the creation of a marketplace for chauffeurs. "We could have continued to grow organically with our cash flow but we want to grow faster," he said. Blacklane has brought in the funding as part of a second close of its previously announced Series F round. The fresh funds will go towards deepening the company's existing network of products, particularly in North America, as well as in Dubai where the business has ambitions to offer premium mobility services to users in the city for functions beyond traditional chauffeur services like airport transfer.

Persons: Blacklane, Jens Wohltorf Organizations: chauffeurs, Mercedes Benz Mobility, Gargash Group Locations: Berlin, Dubai, North America

☆ Series, a fintech helping enterprises automate back-office functions, just raised $25 million in fresh funds with this Notion memo
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Series, a fintech startup that aims to simplify finance and operations management for enterprises, has raised $25 million in fresh funds. The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2021, enables enterprises to handle a vast array of business departments from a single platform. Series' platform allows companies to manage areas including payments operations, business-to-business payments, payroll, HR, and treasury management. Series has raised $25 million across pre-seed and seed funding which it did using a pitch memo in Notion, an increasingly common form of attracting investor attention. Series most recent funding round closed earlier this year and the fresh capital has gone towards hiring as it looks to grow out its 30-strong team.

Persons: Brexton Pham, Kleiner Perkins, Rob Lowe Organizations: Hustle, One Ventures, Caffeinated, Wischoff Ventures Locations: San Francisco, HOF Capital

☆ Mintago helps employers provide better financial support to their staffers. It just raised $4.75 million with this 11-slide pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A startup that helps employees manage their financial wellbeing has raised $4.75 million in fresh funds. Mintago also provides financial education programs, online savings tools, plus access to financial advisors and debt counselors. The startup works with businesses like Oddbox, Chilly's, Olio, and Superscript and is regulated by the FCA. Mintago's funding round was led by BlackLion Ventures alongside Love Ventures and Cur8 Capital. The company started the process of raising capital in November 2022, emphasizing its thesis around the combination of fintech and wellbeing, Cao said.

Persons: Mintago, Chieu Cao, Cao Organizations: FCA, BlackLion Ventures, Love Ventures, Cur8 Locations: London

☆ German Airbnb competitor Numa Group raises $59 million in round led by Oatly-backer Verlinvest
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

German accommodation booking platform Numa Group has raised $59 million in fresh funds. Oatly and Vita Coco investor Verlinvest led the Series C round. Numa plans to use the new capital to fund its European expansion. German Airbnb competitor Numa Group has raised $59 million in a round led by Oatly and Vita Coco investor Verlinvest. Numa lists over 4,500 rooms and apartments across 28 European cities, such as Madrid, Berlin, and Rome, on its platform.

Persons: Vita Coco, Verlinvest, Numa Organizations: Oatly Locations: Berlin, Madrid, Rome

☆ Silicon Valley fund Bessemer Venture Partners expands European investment team with hire of ex-SoftBank VP
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Silicon Valley fund Bessemer Venture Partners has expanded its European investment team with the hire of former SoftBank vice president Justina Chung. Chung has joined Bessemer's London office, which is led by partner Alex Ferrara who opened the fund's European operations in 2020. Bessemer made its first European investment in 2004 and has continued to back startups in the region, including German fintechs Upvest and Mambu as well as British neobank Zopa. Chung was a vice president at SoftBank's Vision Fund, where she served on the boards of temp staffing agency Jobandtalent and second-hand designer fashion marketplace Vestiaire Collective. "It's clear that great founders begin their journey here, in Tallinn or Stockholm, London, Paris or Berlin," Chung, who is now a vice president at Bessemer, told Insider.

Persons: Justina Chung, Chung, Alex Ferrara, Bessemer, Jobandtalent, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Bessemer Venture Partners, LinkedIn, Bessemer's London, SoftBank's Vision, Sorare, SoftBank, Credit Suisse, Bessemer, US Locations: San Francisco, Tallinn, Stockholm, London, Paris, Berlin, Europe, Mistral

☆ Cybersecurity startup Legit Security just raised $40 million in a Series B round led by CRV with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cybersecurity startup Legit Security has raised $40 million in a round led by Airtable and DoorDash-backer CRV. The Palo Alto-based company has developed a platform that enables companies to spot vulnerabilities in their software supply chain. The startup provides companies with visibility over the delivery of software applications from initial code onwards. The $40 million Series B was led by CRV with participation from existing investors Cyberstarts, Bessemer Venture Partners, and TCV. Legit said developers were increasingly using AI-generated code but that they also introduced a "rapidly expanding class of new security threats."

Persons: Airtable, CRV, Kraft Heinz, Roni Fuchs, " Fuchs, Fuchs Organizations: Google, New York Stock Exchange, Fortune, CRV, Bessemer Venture Partners

☆ 'No one can blame you for backing Sequoia': It's a rough time to be raising as a solo venture capitalist in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Europe, often a few years behind when it comes to startup trends, is also starting to produce its own solo GPs. After a record-breaking 2021, bigger VC funds in Europe have generally found it more challenging to raise their next funds. Lots of fund managers speak to everyone and waste lots of time going over unqualified leads," she said. In short, knowing who to pitch for investment is crucial when looking to raise funds. One advantage for solo funds in Europe is that smaller funds — often $15 million to $20 million — are easier to return than larger funds, said David Cruz e Silva, an angel investor and LP in smaller VC funds through EU.VC.

Persons: Gloria Baeuerlein's, Robin, Robin Capital, Sarah Drinkwater's, Harry Stebbings, Annelie Ajami, there's, VCs, Ramzi Rafih, Rafih, Carolina Huaranca, Joe Schorge, Masha Butler, Sam Altman's, Butler, David Cruz e Silva, Ajami Organizations: Ventures, London, KKR, Silver, Close, Sequoia, Day One Ventures Locations: America, Sand, Europe, profligacy, Dubai, Carolina, San Francisco, Swiss, London, EU.VC

☆ Getir emerged as a tentative winner in Europe's pandemic-fueled rapid-delivery sector. But it still faces sizable threats.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In March 2022, Nazım Salur invited thousands of Getir employees to a Zoom meeting to celebrate its newfound "decacorn" status. However, as soaring inflation and rising interest rates began to hobble the tech sector, investors became far less forgiving of businesses that had oriented themselves more toward growth than sustainability. In December 2021, The Guardian reported that Getir had offered customers a deal where they could get £15 off if they spent £16. About 21 rapid-delivery startups were operating across Europe in 2021, with Getir joined by the German outfits Gorillas and Flink, as well as the British startup Zapp. Getir tentatively emerged as the winner in the rapid-delivery sector when it bought its main competitor, Gorillas , in a heavily discounted deal for $1.2 billion in December.

Persons: Nazım Salur, Nazım, Getir, Blok, London's, Alexi Rosenfeld, they've, Adam Neumann, Michael Moritz Organizations: Tiger Global, Mubadala, Financial Times, Getir, TechCrunch, Guardian, DST Global, Gorillas, Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, Google, PayPal Locations: Spanish, Berlin, Turkey, Turkish, Germany, Netherlands, Istanbul, Turkey's, Europe, British, Abu Dhabi

☆ Here's the 14-slide pitch deck Deft, an AI-powered search engine for e-commerce, used to raise $1.8 million in a round backed by Jason Calacanis
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Deft, an AI-powered search engine startup for e-commerce, has emerged from stealth with a $1.8 million funding round. "Google and Amazon continue to push the most relevant searches down so they can make more money and marketers have figured out how to bump up results using SEO," Zach Hudson, Deft cofounder and CEO, told Insider. The rise of AI following the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT 3 last year led to increased pressure to launch for Deft, Hudson added. Deft is emerging from stealth with its product after raising $1.8 million in funding at the beginning of 2022. The company's funding round comes from Hustle Fund, Frontier VC, Vitalize, Long Ecommerce Ventures, 43 Ventures, Launch, and angel investor Jason Calacanis alongside a variety of founders.

Persons: Alex Gunnarson, Zach Hudson, Hudson, Long, Jason Calacanis, I've Organizations: Google, Hustle Fund, Frontier, Long Ecommerce Ventures, Ventures

☆ HyperJar, a British fintech that offers digital wallets to users, just raised $24 million in funding with this 15-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

HyperJar, a fintech startup that offers digital wallets and B2B spending tech, has raised $24 million in funding. Founded in 2016, HyperJar is best known for its digital wallets and spending tech via its app, where users can track their finances, put money into savings pots, and earn rewards. "For the first time, we can really proactively market and grow our B2C offering which is HyperJar but also we have a very successful platform which can be made much more successful," Rob Rooney, HyperJar CEO, told Insider in an interview. "The critical part is building out that and our operating system which is an enterprise version for B2B purposes." The startup's funding comes from Susquehanna Private Equity Investments and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan.

Persons: HyperJar, Rob Rooney, Rooney Organizations: North America, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, Healthcare, Ontario Locations: Europe, North

☆ Treasury management startup Fipto just raised $16 million in a round led by Serena Williams-backed Serena Ventures with this 13-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

French treasury management startup Fipto has raised $16 million in a seed round led by Serena Williams' venture capital fund. Paris-based Fipto uses blockchain technology to help speed up payments in both fiat and digital currencies for businesses. Treasury management is about managing and planning for an organization's financial needs, often by putting available cash to work elsewhere but international payments can often take time to settle - adding complexity to the role. Founded in 2022, Fipto's seed funding round was led by Serena Ventures and Motier Ventures. The company started raising funding late year and closed the round in April with Fipto benefitting from increased investor interest in the treasury management sector, Mollard added.

Persons: Serena Williams, Patrick Mollard, Mollard, Fipto Organizations: Treasury, Serena Ventures, Motier Ventures Locations: Paris, Europe

☆ Emata, a startup offering loans to farmers in East Africa, just raised $2.4 million with this 14-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Emata, a Ugandan startup that provides loans to farmers in East Africa, has raised $2.4 million in funding. It's also fundamentally unfair as farmers need capital to grow but a lot of money goes to people with connections, not the best farmers." Kampala-based Emata wants to be tech first in its offering and uses WhatsApp as a loan origination platform, given its popularity in a region where cell data is at a premium. The company claims it grew 7x in 2022 and could point to strong metrics when dealing with investors having already dispersed over $1 million in loans. Funding will go towards expanding the company's tech offering and looking into new verticals.

Persons: Bram van den Bosch, It's, Klarna, Niklas Adalberth's Norrsken, Draper Richards, Marcus Boström, van den Bosch, Emata Organizations: African Renaissance Partners, Zephyr Acorn, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Locations: Ugandan, East Africa, Uganda, Kampala

☆ Swan, a French embedded-finance startup, just raised $39.2 million using this 15-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Paris-based Swan has raised $39.2 million in Series B funding from Lakestar. Founded in 2019, the company offers banking-as-a-service and embedded finance products via an API. The startup will use its new funding to expand into new European markets. Swan, a banking-as-a-service fintech startup, has raised $39.2 million in new funding, which it plans to invest into its expansion into new European markets. Paris-based Swan provides a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) and embedded finance platform allowing companies to offer banking services to their customers.

Persons: Swan Organizations: Carrefour Locations: Paris, Lakestar

☆ Open Cosmos, a UK space tech startup that launches satellites for data collection, raised $50 million using this 13-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Open Cosmos, a UK space tech startup, has raised $50 million in fresh funding. Founded in 2015, Open Cosmos had only raised $7 million previously. Open Cosmos, a UK space tech startup that designs and launches satellites for data collection, has raised $50 million. Open Cosmos then shares this information to provide users with "actionable data" around the energy transition and natural resource monitoring. "We're quite an unusual space company, yes we do satellites but it's also about the data," Open Cosmos founder and CEO Rafel Jorda Siquier told Insider.

Persons: Rafel Jorda Siquier, We've, OpenCosmos, Wise, Taavet Hinrikus, Kheng Nam Lee, Siquier Organizations: Cosmos, Partners, Accenture Ventures, Banco Santander InnoEnergy Climate Tech Fund, Wille Finance, Claret Capital Partners, GGV Capital Locations: Harwell , United Kingdom, South America

☆ 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

☆ Big startups are a bust so prestige investors are fighting for deals into tiny European companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Funding to European startups across the board dropped by almost 60% to $23 billion in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase data. ElevenLabs, a London-based artificial intelligence startup founded by Google and Palantir alumni, pulled in $18 million at a $100 million valuation a year after it was founded. Mistral, another European startup set up by ex-Facebook and DeepMind staffers, raised $113 million a month after it was founded. AI has been of particular interest to investors with similar hype surrounding a deal for London-based text-to-voice startup ElevenLabs. Industry stakeholders believe that teams springing from already successful companies to set up their own startups will be very attractive with some predicting startups founded between 2022 and 2024 primed to be very in demand in the future.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, David Schreiber, Duco van, Pivot, Marc, Antoine Lacroix, Romain Libeau, Sifted, Filip Dames, Dames Organizations: Google, Mistral, Facebook, Ventures, Cocoa, Club, Cherry Ventures, Sequoia, Industry Locations: Europe, London, Paris, Berlin

☆ Embedded finance, FinOps, and treasury management are grabbing VC attention right now despite a collapse in fintech funding, investors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Global VC fintech funding has been cut in half to $23 billion so far this year, per S&P data. Fintech startups focused on solving business issues have remained somewhat resilient. Globally venture capital funding to fintech companies dropped 49% year-on-year to $23 billion in the first half of 2023, according to S&P data. Within that, investment in consumer-facing fintech startups, such as banking and trading apps, has endured an even more torrid year, sliding by 73.8% to $1.9 billion in Q2. Insider spoke to four fintech investors who identified the areas within B2B fintech that are capturing their attention right now.

Persons: Khalil Hefaf, fintech, Hefaf, Uber, Banks, Alix Brunet, Europe's, Weavr, Griffin cofounders Allen Rohner, David Jarvis Griffin, Dan Chaplin, Kaushik Subramanian, Payrails cofounders Emre Talay, Orkhan Abudullayev, Nicolas Thouzeau Payrails, Chaplin Organizations: Target, Mass Mutual Ventures, Griffin, Dawn Capital, Treasury, Payrails, EQT Ventures, London, UBS Locations: Europe, digitize, London, Germany, Payrails

☆ Marqo, a startup using AI and machine learning to improve search, just raised $5.2 million with this 14-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Vector search startup Marqo has raised $5.2 million in seed funding from Blackbird Ventures. "There's a huge opportunity to improve search," Tom Hamer, Marqo's cofounder and CEO said. Marqo, a startup that helps e-commerce businesses and marketplaces improve their search functionality, has raised $5.2 million. Its vector search uses machine learning (ML) and AI to capture the meaning and context of data such as text and images, transforming it into a numeric representation that can then be queried by users through an API. While vector search models have been around for a while, improved AI technology has made the sector more accessible.

Persons: Tom Hamer, Marqo's, Marqo, Hamer, Cohere's, Ivan Zhang, Aidan Gomez Organizations: Blackbird Ventures, Amazon, Fund Locations: London, Melbourne, Canadian

☆ Sequoia-backed insurance tech startup SureIn just raised $4.4 million in seed funding with this 13-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

German insurance tech startup SureIn just raised $4.4 million in a seed funding round. We got an exclusive look at the 13-slide pitch deck it used to raise the fresh funds. German insurance tech startup SureIn has raised $4.4 million in fresh funds. The wider insurance tech market has been difficult for the past year with VC funding to the sector falling dramatically to 2018 levels so far this year. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck SureIn used the raise the fresh funds below:

Persons: I've, Daniel Dierkes, Dierkes, Robin Capital Organizations: Robin Locations: Sequoia's, Berlin

☆ How $7.75 billion Hopin went from pandemic darling to selling off its flagship business for $50 million and handing back some investor cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Callum Burroughs | Tasmin Lockwood | Michael Cogley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Virtual-events startup Hopin was a pandemic winner when it hit a $7.8 billion valuation in 2021. Now its CEO is stepping down, it's selling off parts of its business, and is set to hand back investor cash. But as vaccinations arrived and the travel restrictions eased, demand for Hopin's platform waned. "The pandemic was an extraordinary time to be investing," one London-based tech investor who had not backed Hopin said. Armed with more than $1 billion in investor cash, Boufarhat opted to make acquisitions.

Persons: Johnny Boufarhat, Boufarhat, Andreessen Horowitz, Catalyst, Slack, Hopin, Johnny ", Hopin Boufarhat, outsized, Streamyard, Badri Rajasekar, Klarna Organizations: Tiger, UPS, RingCentral, University of Manchester, Financial Times, Venture, Founders, Microsoft, Private Locations: London, Australia, Lebanese, US, Dubai, Papua New Guinea, Switzerland, Hopin

☆ Deepset, an AI startup that helps companies build apps with LLMs, just raised $30 million with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Deepset, a German AI startup that offers LLM developer tools, has raised $30 million. The company wants to expand its Haystack product and grow its presence in the US. German AI startup Deepset has raised $30 million in a round led by Revolut investor Balderton Capital. Deepset's capital raise comes as AI startups account for a higher proportion of venture capital dealmaking. AI startups raised $25 billion in the opening half of the year against a backdrop of falling VC investment, Crunchbase data shows.

Persons: Milos Rusic, Rusic Organizations: Balderton Capital, Airbus, Siemens, Balderton, GV, Harpoon Ventures Locations: London, Berlin

☆ Dropoff in venture capital funding triggers uptick in pre-emptive deals with investors desperate to back the hottest startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capital funding was cut in half in the first six months of 2023, according to Crunchbase. The dropoff has triggered an uptick in pre-empted deals, where investors back the most exciting startups. Payrails, Cello, and ElevenLabs are among the startups to close pre-emptive deals this year. Venture capital funding to startups has continued to collapse in 2023. The slowdown has led to something of an uptick in pre-empted funding rounds, where investors come forward with deal terms to exciting early-stage businesses before they even begin fundraising.

Persons: VCs, Tom Mendoza Organizations: Venture, Crunchbase, Energy, EQT Ventures Locations: London, Berlin

☆ Hopin, last valued at $7.8 billion, has sold its flagship virtual events business with founder set to step down as CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Hopin, last valued at $7.8 billion, said on Wednesday it has sold its virtual events business. Hopin founder Johnny Boufarhat is also set to depart his role as CEO next month. Hopin, one of Europe's fastest-growing startups in history, has sold its main events business for an undisclosed fee, the company announced on Wednesday. But a slowdown in demand for virtual events as the world reopened mixed with a broader downturn in tech has hobbled the company's growth. Now, Hopin said it has sold its main events business – Events and Sessions – to RingCentral, a publically-listed cloud communications provider.

Persons: Hopin, RingCentral, Johnny Boufarhat, Andreessen Horowitz, Badri Rajasekar, Boufarhat, StreamYard Organizations: Tiger Global, Catalyst, Financial Times, Sunday Times Locations: Hopin

☆ These are the 19 hottest insurance tech startups to watch in 2023, according to VCs
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Insurance tech in Europe had its second-best-ever year in 2022, raising $2.2 billion, per Dealroom. Venture capitalists remain bullish on the insurance tech, or insurtech, sector, banking that the risk-averse industry can be disrupted. The second generation of insurtech startups is emerging across pet insurance, climate risk, and newer areas such as freight and automated vehicles. Insider asked Europe's venture capitalists to pick out some of the insurance tech startups they expected to thrive in 2023. Here are 19 European insurance tech startups to watch in 2023:This article was originally published on May 23 and most recently updated on June 5.

Persons: Root Organizations: Insurance, Venture Locations: Europe

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