Intel updates (351)

• believe what investors do, not what they say
• how capitalism works, the French edition
• revenue-finance business numbers

• is GDPR working?
• understanding how social networks work
• Musk city in Europe

• the quiet European publishing empire
• should Apple buy Klarna?
• marketing versus product strategy for VCs
• putting the money where the mouth is

• a quick reality check for startups
• more signs of a bear market
• Americans going to London

• numbers are looking better than the investors sentiment
• an overlooked niche but juicy European vertical
• yet another European country discovers that startups are cool

• more investors than ever in Europe
• the VC model at scale
• are social networks monetizable?

• more key data on smaller markets for European startups
• Klarna's valuation is at 2020 levels
• 26 million series A deals are back, baby

• update on smaller markets for European startups
• the BNPL war
• is paying for VC intel worth it?

• doing marketing is not a bad thing
• how do you know when the markets are turning
• optimise for your startup not for your investors business model

• Dutch decentralized marketplace for AI algorithms raises series A
• Romanian developers of a browser-based platform to prototype game systems also closed series A
• what does it mean for a startup to be defensible

• doing lists of important investors
• startup valuation as a market signal
• great strategy in the online grocery business

• reasons to be positive
• trouble for big business
• art and fashion going strong into NFTs

• NFT startups in Europe
• the market is going down
• Dutch can't handle business

• dealing with VC adversity is doing a good job
• marketing is how VCs are doing scale
• investors say Europe has more attractive valuations

• revenue-based financing is an old product for a new type of customer
• hot startups are raising
• NATO will do VC investments.

• the Euro VC market in Q1
• leveraging tech to adjacent markets for growth search
• the French way of outcompeting US and China

• the Russian investors from Europe
• the up and coming European BNPL startups
• is a highly overpriced deal the best startup Europe can produce?

• how much should founders pay themselves
• the undervalued beast from Europe
• French investing more in education, already paid off

• the American investors in Europe
• Facebook got serious about European politics
• the Dutch delisted from Nasdaq

• Are legal actions and fines enough for American monopolies?
• The hottest 160 early stage startups from Europe
• Doing ads for annoying people can get you $1 billion.
• Are salaries in European tech companies low?

• Why is Spotify in denial?
• Euro politicians will take a probation year as VCs.
• The metaverse is in safe hands.

• are we at the start of a massive correction or we're in a transitory phase?
• can the French get rid of the socialist VC model?
• Russian business people only discuss war in their kitchens.

• do European investors have a money problem?
• how much do the German VCs make?
• are you even an investor if you don't do reverse pitching?

• do tiny shakes make for a bear market?
• tourists investors to get a blow
• no good tech company should ever list in London

• the most interesting deals from the Xmas holidays
• 30 French angel investors profiled
• investors use media to build hype cycles

• Europe's startup ecosystem is good and dandy
• the delivery business in Europe is consolidating
• American VCs cannot hire European workforce

• Seedrs and Crowdcube's valuations, one year after their intended merger
• the impact made by a chief impact officer
• founders gaming the VCs

• how Tiger Global turned the industry upside down
• Europe's quitters
• world's portfolio structure

• is Wolt worth really 8 billion?
• is London the right place for doing business?
• N9 is launching a new product

• Klarna's puzzle pieces
• the VC business that is not a VC business anymore
• the grocery delivery business 2.0

• does being rich or a successful investor means you are a deep thinker
• the intangible skills of an entrepreneur
• investors should be like penguins

• how many conclusions can you draw from a banal table
• why are Eastern Europeans doing unicorns?
• NFTs as promotional giveaways

• cool Euro NFT project closes after a day
• the huge $ gap between two interconnected industries from Europe
• startup people working for politicians

• Swedes got confused by an IPO announcement
• 1000X VC return in Europe deserves more than a twitter mention
• the VCs circle of trust

• Will Klarna bite the bullet and IPO?
• Ireland is home to GDPR infractions in Europe
• the job of consultants explained in kids words.

• is London at the end of the tech investment boom cycle? 
• BNPL has become all the rage  
• forget about knowing how to code, become financial literate

• where is the investment market going
• best place to start a business
• open banking in Europe

• the DNA as a secret weapon
• England's edge remains the English language
• who lobbies the EU institutions

• what you should know about the Euro batch from YC this summer
• talent is hard to find in Europe, will this lead to acqui-hiring?
• the best VC in the world launched officially a seed fund

Here's what we have this Sunday:

• who are the late stage deal makers in Europe
• the European unicorn nobody talks about
• is the metaverse the future or an ego thing?

This Sunday:
- Europe's most interesting deals this summer
- Europeans are famous for knowing how to live, not how to do business.
- learnings from Messi's transfer in France

This Sunday:
- is China a threat to Europe?
- cash or equity advisory?
- what will kill On Deck anyways?

This week:

- active angels in Europe
- the difference between an angel and a super angel
- Europe's long tail

The Sunday CET this week:

- the list with 140 VCs most active in Europe this year
- the equity crowdsourcing market is consolidating, is this a good thing?
- is the European expansion worth the time, effort and investment for American companies?

Tink was acquired by Visa for 2.2 billion. Would they have been capable of executing and become a 40-50 billion company with huge upside like Klarna is now, for example, or is this the type of business that rather gets acquired for strategic reasons?

It looks like we have that answer.

- Klarna became a Google reseller, is there more to it?
- how many ways are there for creating unicorns
- a 22 year old kid is changing an industry
- are voice apps a feature or a product?

This week we talk about vision-driven projects from Sweden, quantum deals and the latest VC marketing initiatives launched in Europe.

Today we cover the details of an investment deal that I haven’t seen on the usual Euro media channels and which will probably be written about extensively in the following days.

Today we’ll talk Euro M&A, VC innovation and copying other people’s ideas.

This week we’ll talk about white spaces in the Euro VC market, have a quick look at how a Swedish VC hit two birds with one stone and about the next hot segment that investors will look for in Europe.

We’ve also picked some of the more interesting deals from this week’s dealflow.

Euro VCs seem to have finally started to adopt best practices at doing their job (a software arms race going on as we speak) and we see more and more examples of players not being afraid of doing things differently and taking more risks - in an industry of followers, no less.

We dig into it.

Why is all of a sudden early stage interesting for investors in Europe?

For once, it is more profitable - finding and backing startups at the earliest moment with the upside of becoming a multi billion dollar business is a really good business. It *is* the business.

Second reason is that series A/B round is getting really crowded in Europe.

We look into it.

Here's what we talk about this week:
- What’s the value of a media asset without a tech ad system?
- Is content a marketing expense or a revenue driver?
- Klarna confirmed he’s going after Amazon’s marketplace.

• promising Norwegian and Irish early stage
• fresh energy in the VC community as new funds pop out
• seed investors building more American bridges

• the Nordics produce yet another promising tech biz
• British AI gets hefty series A
• liquidity events

• the growth potential for a 20 years old hobb
• yearly stage for frontier AI
• growth money for quantum projects

• the slow dealflow pace gets slower
• premium payers in Europe this year
• job moves and exits

• is an AI startup suitable for prediction markets?
• 40X revenues - aye or nay?
• (a lot more) AI made in Spain

• $6M/$20M are the seed/series A European median rounds for the first part of 2025 + a lot more
• TCV has new London lead
• exits for Creandum, Dawn, Index and Insight Ventures

• Sequoia's first Euro defence startup gets a quick up-mark
• trading platform Midas compares to Robinhood - but are they really alike
• early stage money for in-space testing, mining exploration alt tech, dual use un-manned vehicles, AI-flavoured startups

• active investors in the Nordics this summer
• small time exits across Europe
• more early stage money in Sweden

• selected defence deals of generalist investors
• Russians in London doing audio AI
• Swedes pushing the path to the 500 million potential

• active investors in Europe last month
• more defence money push for a $1B sales target
• $2B squeezed out of a bidding war

• pre-seed bet on Swedish AI crew
• Speedinvest cleaning up house
• Insight's at it again, this time on Czech AI infra
• Project Europe startups
• YC summer batch

• is Lovable a buy?
• new Swedish fund targeting Euro defence
• German and Danish exits

• is the market for private debt rails lucrative?
• T2D3 against a beautiful AI case
• British rocket adds gas

• Lovable at 20B - aye or nay?
• mono-culture as a (non) signal of a global op
• revenue numbers

• solve for liquidity by unlocking the late stage equity market
• active angels in Europe this year
• people taking a break from London VC

• defence can be a nice juicy VC business
• growth deals out of Norway
• Swedish building an Oura-like ring in Berlin

• a look the first part of the year
• Speedinvest got a new chairman
• people moves at Balderton, Dawn, Seedcamp, Mubadala etc

• the odds of an AI analytics to become category-defining biz
• more pre-seed bets out of Spain and Germany
• the most expensive A in the Nordics this year
• Khosla does seed in France

• the active dealers of June (slow pace!)
• Sequoia China has a new name and a new London head
• EQT Ventures is shuffling their top, renews focus on the US

• building CoreWeave for Europe
• more seed for the space biz in Germany
• also seed for AI British targeting defence
• sizeable A coming from Sweden

• fresh blood in IVP's London office
• tier one European seed fund closes their fourth
• two more targeting Central Eastern Europe as well
• liquidity for Blossom and Frontline
• largest ten investors in Europe by vertical

• up-marking the winners
• GPT for engineering startups priced at $1B
• expensive As and Bs.

• Owl and Headline making key hires in London
• two Brits unite to target non-London deals
• roll-out moves in Spain

• stablecoins are hot and we've got Euro investors fuelling the fire
• how do you make money from stellarators?
• some expensive growth rounds - As and Bs - in fintech
• Spanish AI contender close to unicorn status

• the most active investors last month
• Iconiq strengthens its London office
• family office launches AI fund
• 1B exit in UK

• Sequoia's steal
• the fund returner
• all eyes on defence VC

• two interesting vertical startups growing out of Europe - beautiful business models.
• equity raise for bitcoin treasury position in Sweden
• German conviction for a 100x better performance product
• next-gen
ERP goes beyond PMF out of Spain.

• close look at pockets of value in the energy chain
• Nordic-funded, US-managed
• GC adds another Euro gem in the portfolio

• preventative health moves out of Sweden
• expensive seed for serial founders in France
• gaming signals from Turkey

• flurry of growth transactions and interesting assets priced at a premium
• current state of the European growth market
• Americans keep moving to Europe

• gaming bets are paying off
• eyewear technology in Europe
• Europeans at YC this spring
• slow dealflow pace

• strategic spinoff moves and key VC hirings
• when will preventative health explode in Europe
• cool Euro kids raise in the US

• stabs at the car insurance industry
• VCs break-ups
• HongSan's did another German deal.

• tier one investors signal that crypto is hot again
• Swedes going after defence startups in London
• down rounds, Stripe for the emerging markets and quiet quitting SAAS

• is medical coding lucrative?
• series A extension for pre-launch product
• (multiple) early stage startups doing flavours of AI insurance
• active dealers in Europe last month

• the money in satellite data
• expensive AI agents seed deals
• VC marketing done right

• the money in Euro data centers
• unit space economics
• fresh powder and other moves

• Daniel Ek's starts building a holding
• VC doing PE like plays
• Estonian growth deals, more early stage funding for vertical AIs, exits

• early stage for defence startups, vertical drones, Gen Z payments, Ai biotech
• Helsing's revenue
• active dealers last months

• social networks made in Europe
• space, the new investment frontier
• AI app layers betting

• science-based utility thesis
• the French investors doing AI
• Europeans at YC
• religious app goes viral, gets American funding

• AI agents as marginal business
• Goldman's London office
• January's top deals

• early stage for AI agents, native vertical LLM, stealth, and (some) nice traction at the seed stage.
• active dealers last month, dealflow still on a downward trend yoy
• exits, secondaries, new gigs and Europeans in USA.

• largest A round for Spain
• push for growth deals
• Euro early stage zeitgeist via YC startups

So I am in Taiwan, mid-celebration the New Lunar Year, in a Taipei joint having a few with a startup fellow. Discussion inevitably slips towards the newly dropped DeepSeek model and its associated development costs, which, to say the least, opened the Americans eyes to the pre-conception that good tech can only emerge from Silicon Valley.

That convo triggered a topic idea - namely how much money running the local European AI hero Mistral actually takes and what its revenue side looks like. Is that a compelling case for investors further betting on the company?

I worked out some assumptions and numbers below.

• a16z closes down London office
• Greylock poaches partner from Accel in London
• Daniel Ek's second unicorn set for $260M worth of expansion
• Stride VC officially dried out

• late stage fintech push
• expensive series As
• $1b+ valuations and exits
• American deals

Other than AI, liquidity events, or lack thereof, were a frequent discussion topic in the investors circles in 2024. It was mostly talk rather than action - it shouldn't be a surprise that it was an abysmal year in this respect in Europe, with very few, if any, notable returns that would make investors brag about.

Probably the more notable ones in Europe this year involved Stripe and Revolut - some of Europe's more promising IPO assets in the next years - both doing secondary share sales at a $65 billion, and $45 billion respectively, valuation. Granted, they were made mainly done for early employees rather than professional investors.

It is also worth mentioning Mastercard's dealings in Sweden this year, as it acquired ​Recorded Future​ for $2.65 billion as well as ​Minna​ for $80 million - the Americans are fairly familiar with the local market via a minor stake in ​Doconomy​ and a 2023 acquisition of ​Baffin Bay​.

Also interesting moves - family-owned Puig from Spain went public on the local market at a $2.8 billion tag, Flix of Germany sold a major package for 1 billion to EQT and a local holding, Kinnevik sold a significant stake in Tele2 of Sweden for $1.26 billion, Tier raised for acquiring Dott to generate combined revenues of $250 million, along a bunch of health/pharma deals made by the likes of Novo (Cardior - $1.1bn), Merck (EyeBio - $1.3bn), or AstraZeneca (Amolyt - $1.05bn)

Besides the highlights, there was a fair number of deals on the long tail of the Euro VC ecosystem, both secondary and exits - I had a closer look at what happened and listed 50-ish of the more interesting ones, grouped by investors, in a cheat sheet below.

• more pre-seed for AI agents
• Turkish gaming bets
• record Euro series A for Ozempic alt

Considering the tech evolution from the past 24 months, where is the market going, what does it look like in five years and how does it calibrate to the VC industry? And not only from a perspective of asset class emergence against all sorts of themes but also from an execution perspective, i.e. how do you equip your shop by using AI in a smart way in order to tackle the map plan and align it to KPIs and values.

I spent quite a bit digging into where the AI-enabled tech is at the moment, what you can do and is yet to be done in multiple directions, all with a business model hat. Ended up with a few directional tools and product ideas which I discuss below. It's exciting!

• travel SAAS getting hot - early stage *and* late stage investment deals
• 20vc building a French culture
• fresh powder and end of the year promotions
• Europeans behind American unicorns *and* VC funds.

• early stage for AI agents
• later stage for fintech
• Swedes jumping on a new consumer trend
• fresh powder and end of the year promotions

• Euro fintech consolidation moves
• American talent poaching
• Europeans in US raise from tier 1 funds
• more exit tax adoption across Europe
• Singapore notes

• early stage for industrial tech, health, pure software plays, AI-video, AI-documentation etc
• cross border moves
• LP predictions for next year

• many moves at the edge of the market - new funds, secondary deals, exits, non AI growth deals
• same goes for the early stage deals, notably with Kleiner Perkin's first European investment startup this year.

• early deals for military drones, (rare!) gaming, robots, ChatGPT competitors, a bunch of vertical AI and embedded finance
• heat pump market going down
• the later stage activity starts having a pulse
• Sequoia's scouts, Index's expensive early stage AI betting etc

• early deals for vertical B2B marketplaces, more AI agents, next gen ticketing, precision farming and embbeded finance
• the VC spending keeps deflating at steady pace
• active investors in October

• early deals in the Nordics and Germany
• more money available for energy business
• intel bits

• early stage ads marketplaces, vertical AI and multiple energy-related startup investments
• (small time) liquidity events
• late stage conviction betting

• German startup pulls out from YC
• energy and AI takes the lion share + two expensive seed deals
• SAAS multiples

• Sequoia China setting up shop in London
• the Danish have a new early stage deeptech fund
• early stage deals: vertical AI, smart nuclear, alt FAANG, longevity biotech, quantum, virtual power plants etc

• many smart robots deals
• AI workers hype is getting more substance
• September's deal flow is still down, 30% off last year

• sizeable loans to complement equity-backed growth startups
• more AI hedge bets at early stageg
• ood ol' 10 million series As are back

• early stage funding for quite a few startups building autonomous AI employees
• late stage picking up
• new investors gigs and fresh powder available

• Swedish SAAS asset bought at 5.5X revenues now sold at 7.6X, overall 3.3 return on investment.
• Danish payment tech out for sale at 6X
• VC M&A, divestitures, exits and, of course, interesting early stage startup deals.

• active investors last month
• Swedes milking out 30% late stage returns in three years
• ex-Eurazeo CEO to launch a new vertical fund

• Chinese investors' big bet on Swiss robotics
• more Swiss and German fresh powder for growth in Europe
• Swedish investor to move overseas

• pre-seed deals for consumer health, B2B marketplaces and AI for sports, marketing and gaming
• late stage round extensions
• German VC restructuring ops

• early stage for vertical AI, crypto and distro platforms
• growth money for neobanks and energy marketplaces
• Balderton's gotten fresh powder

• Nordic gaming still emerging and getting funded
• more expensive seeds for AI
• interesting remote startups with tier 1 backing
• July's numbers show super weak Euro dealflow

• early stage deals backed by Accel, Exor, Peak and Left Lane Capital
• late stage deals done by Balderton, Ribbit, Coefficient Cap and First Mark Capital

• hefty seed for chips running AI models
• remittance app in a Morgan Stanley strategic equity deal
• VC promotions in London

• stealth techbio, applied AI and no--code tools, all early stage
• expensive Dutch and Nordic series As
• Bessemer doing late stage, French deploying, 20vc hiring, Stride exiting and more

• more early stage deals for vertical AI, energy and alt food
• out-of stealth startups coming out
• growth and extensions for cyber tech, transportation marketplaces, and enterprise SAAS
• Index's new funds

• seed deals for two Swedish startups each building a consumer marketplace for therapists.
• more early stage for vertical AI - architecture, ecommerce automation, energy pricing, health, manufacturing
• senior hirings at tier 1 VCs

• tier 1 American investors backing pre-product startup in Norway
• early stage deals done by Stride, Eurazeo, JamJar and LocalGlobe
• late stage for industrial ops in DACH

• early stage funding for legal, defense, wearables, AI, deep tech and marketplace startups
• rumoured deals done by hot startups
• investors strategic moves

• deeptech early stage deals
• fresh powder
• local exits

• defence deals popping out
• AI is the word du jour on whatever early stage deal is closed
• more fresh powder available to Europe

• debt as early stage complements
• Americans bullish in Euro climate deals
• expensive fintech emerging out of Romania

• later stage deals popping out
• super growth backed by hefty A round
• extensions, scout works, deals at the edges

• AI early stage flurry continues
• expensive deals are being closed
• more fresh powder for Europe

• more stealth early stage transactions
• active dealers last month
• second seed Eastern European VC emerging out of Romania

• stealth pre-seed deals
• extensions and crypto transactions
• American investors doing key hiring in London

• VC shop scaling down as CVC after failing to raise new fund
• fresh secondaries funds popping out
• French backers of an expensive AI seed deal

• expensive early stage crypto deals
• global grocery startup scales down to one country, its home
• startup founder gets convicted for lying to investors

• loans as a mean to sell SAAS
• YC alumni closing deals
• Americans betting on French consumer apps

• Euro dealflow pace slows down, reaches Covid pace
• interesting early stage angles
• new investment funds announcements

• Sorare-like with a twist, semiconductors for edge devices, niched neobanks with huge TAMs and a bunch of vertical AI - all in early stage financing raising.
• early stage deals done by USV, GC, Accel, Sequoia, Lakestar, Index

• same stage same AI play priced at 10X delta
• more vertical AI early stage popping out
• exits and American moves.

• new trend emerging out of Sweden
• Turkey on the VC radar
• active investors last month

• interesting growth deals
• more early stage doing vertical AI
• largest PE ever out of Sweden

• a flurry of Nordic early stage deals
• secondary VC transactions
• largest VC fund raised out of Romania

• more big bets on Europe's AI
• early stage Nordics on an energetic spree
• a few expensive seed and series A rounds

• more pre-seed on vertical AI startups
• French later stage startup going after Visma's lunch.
• strategic dealings in the VC world

• gaming studios funding is back
• what it takes to be the next Airbus
• good enterprise B2B SAAS business

• a flurry of Danish and Dutch early stage deals
• an American early stage investor with 6 Dutch AI startups in portfolio
• the best Silicon Valley investors

• late stage bets
• vertical AI and industrial cases
• EV chargers market dynamics

• hot Euro startups building robot-enabled business
• growth rounds with tech-enabled industrial startups
• more new jobs for investors across Europe

• American investors leaving London
• more M&As and exits
• new year, new gigs

• the more active investors for the quarter
• all guns on AI -> more early stage AI startups backing
• exits and strategic secondary transactions

• expensive seed and series A deals keep popping out
• the investor which backed competing startups this week
• Sweden has a new emerging investor
• two VCs announced startup accelerators

• AI seeds across the continent
• more growth rounds and strategic captable additions
• Euro startups at YC

• fintech closing series A at lower valuation than at seed
• later stage financing deals for clean tech manufacturers in the Nordics
• growth deals for D2C e-commerce as well
• more top series A transactions are being done

• Germany's gotten 1 billion for VC funds
• high profile investors early flip in the UK
• more early stage vertical AI deals

• late stage deals
• open banking aggregation
• more secondary funds popping out

• expensive series A and quick series B upmark in the Nordics
• a16z's first deal out of the London office
• Index is catching up on AI deals in France.
• fresh money, secondaries, market aggregation and contractions.

• profitable seed rounds, series A on pivots
• PE look alike series A deals
• hedge funds venturing into seed

• expensive seed deals: neo-insurance, applied AI in recruiting, computer vision, e-commerce
• angel fund as a side gig
• everybody does seed, nobody does growth

• seed for world's smallest gas sensor
• growth money for heat pump share grabbing
• sustainable luxury, embedded tech, the usual AI and energy tech bets

• Nordics closing in debt deals
• German exit on an American almost-unicorn
• VCs buying startups as testbeds for other ventures

• early stage AI deals at the edge of Europe
• (two Swedish) funds building assets on the side of their biz
• Europe's largest fund closed this year

• climate tech emerging from Iceland
• the French version of Palantir raised 100 million
• Sequoia at its fourth early stage British deal

• electric boat startups in the Nordics
• many series A extension rounds
• folks move on to new investor jobs

• funds deployed to psychedelic-focused projects
• late stage transactions
• new 100 million London-based VC popping out

• early stage deals on AI, energy and fintech
• more bridge rounds closed as well
• the fall brings new people moves

• the Nordics came back from holidays and started dealing
• promising British AI startups pre-seeded by American investors
• active investors last month

• what happens when a Romanian and a Spanish bootstrap an AI company
• growth deals in Germany
• digging into stealth deals
• the Arabs have a new investment boss in London

• more AI early stage deals
• IVP opens London office
• late stage opportunistic deals

• interesting AI deals both early and growth stage
• Romanian series B for, you guessed it, an AI startup
• Omers pulled out of Europe

• folks moving on from the VC business
• investors taking valuation haircuts
• secondary plays planned for the last part of the year

• state of the Gen AI ecosystem ​in France​.
• Americans deploying money at a deal a month pace in Europe (still!)
• Sequoia lays staff off and returns money to investors

• Light edition this week as summer holidays fully kicked in in Europe.

• a few Euro billion deals and their implications
• the most active investors in H1 2023
• active summer for Tencent

• yet another Nordic unicorn made in Iceland
• the largest private AI lab in the making in Europe comes from the Nordics too
• startups taking big valuation haircuts

• more powder for early stage deals
• American AI startups with offices in London
• companies recalibrating their Euro ops

• a look into Mistral's investment memo
• Cocoa VC's portfolio
• big tech going after AI-based startups

• The Swedes bet big on heat pumps
• Europe has finally an over-expensive AI startup
• May numbers keep going downwards.

• preseeding for cloud challengers, Linkedin for students and AI
• Balderton does alt food again
• startups up-marked in growth deals this year
• profile of one of the more active angels in Europe

• early stages backing for nuclear devices, drones and AI SAAS
• another week, another VC shop bleeding partners
• secondary transactions and who dealt last month
• Chinese AIs are up to venture task

• AI seeds for 3D models, BI, construction, Whatsapp, Slack
• more pre-seed and seed funds popping out
• fresh American funds/VC hires on Euro grounds

• residual expensive seed deals from last year popping out
• multiple micro funds announcements all over Europe
• British CEOs flock to US for better pay

• early money for photonic quantum, climate, stealth startups
• AI-based deals: financial data, pet insurance, music writing, research
• hires, exits and strategic moves
• profiles of two Nordic pre-seed funds

• early money for vertical no code tools devel, neobanks, ghost kitchens, marketplaces
• AI-based startups: financial data, pet insurance, music writing, research
• Sequoia of climate tech from London
• Swedish investors on a biz development tour

• early stage funding for AI-based startups: workforce predictor, content--to-code converter, code review, "the European ChatGPT alternative"
• a wave of series A rounds ranging from 10 to 35 millions
• laying offs, shutting downs, scouting deals and exits

• early stage bets made by Lakestar and Headline
• seeds on marketplaces, quantum/deeptech, gaming, and AI-based tools (of course)
• British VC resigns abruptly

• funding for web3 tools: Stripe-like payment platform, CRM
• AI-focused early stage: incident management, gaming, diabetes
• Nordic investors in American deals
• British VC expands Euro reach

• a wave of funding for Nordic electric boats. A British electric bus in there too.
• more AI-focused early stage: engineering, health, AML, consumer finance, audio
• profiles of the leading Nordic VCs

• Q1 data shows deployments $20 billion short compared to Q1 last year
• early stage money for applied-AI projects - computer vision, voice conversation intelligence, webapps, smart packaging
• growth deals for commodities markets, web3, EV infra, synthetic data
• more powder - solo VCs and vertically focused vehicles i.e. dementia, FoF, fintech, quantum, university spin-outs, immigrants, women.

• early stage money for applied-AI projects - people coach, patents, financial assets, customer intel, health data
• B2B BNPL from Norway pre-seeded by Sequoia closes series A
• more emerging investment vehicles deploying very early stage across the continent

• pre-seed for quantum, finance chatbots, and (more) carbon credits market developers
• growth funding for 2 (two) German vending machines startups
• Daniel EK and Taavet Hinrikus involved in a superconductor startup

• SVB UK saga closing details
• hefty seeds for an aggregator of cyber startups and for a fantasy soccer game, series A for web3, Netflix for beauty and sleep wearables
• regular seed rounds closed by energy startups (a lot of those lately), B2B marketplaces and vertical SAAS
• more American hires in London, PE exits and generative AI-focused newly raised funds

• seeds for women-focused startups, B2B marketplaces, forecasting SAAS, fermentation tech
• politicians turned investors, celebrities raising funds
• VCs cutting funds in half

• seeds for carbon insurance (2!), AI-powered waste analytics, post-container automation SAAS, conversational chatbots
• LP cutting off its VC funding
• new VC fund in the Nordics

• early stage checks for startups doing health, no-code, vertical AI and manufacturing.
• expensive deals closed by a Swiss semiconductor startup (seed) and a Bulgarian cargo drone airline (pre-series A)
• investor profile: an AI-based startups assorted portfolio

• $25 million was donated for building plastic pollution technology
• new early stage funds popping out
• more Americans relocated to deal with Euro business

• series A deals are getting closed, timidly.
• Daniel Ek's new gig competing with a Romanian startup backed by Euro investors
• American investors relocated for Euro business

• another 1 billion fund ready to be deployed in Europe
• the 260 million angel fund that doesn't want to be a VC
• French HNWI buys into an American VC

• vertical deals are being closed at early stages
• fresh powder poppin' outta new funds closing
• Euro VCs active in the US

• blockchain deals are still closing
• VCs team moves entering into the new year
• digging through two series A portfolios from 2022

• digging through seed investors 2022 portfolios
• intereting energy deals
• 2022's M&A residuals

• calendar management tools
• productivity and collaboration software solutions
• tools solving for issues up and down the tech stack

• interesting early stage startup transactions announced in the last quarter of the year
• what was important in the European investment ecosystem during the holidays
• active investors in Q4

• post-summer flurry of growth rounds
• 2 (two) sellers of digital relocation services raised growth money
• serial founders getting new startups off the grounds

• plant-based food producer raises solid series B
• seed for vertical SAAS: health, food, e-commerce and payment
• two French bike manufacturers grab angel funding

• down rounds are being closed
• multiple bets made on energy and finance marketplaces
• Euro VCs dealing outside Europe

• consumer finance app went out of stealth with a $30 million seed round
• German developer of an electronic OS also closed a hefty seed
• more early stage money thrown at Turkish game studios.

• vertical health tech developers raising money for scaling
• German crypto wallet developers in series A led by American VCs
• web3 email client, GameFi and NFT minting platform developers were all seeded.

• exits via SPAC are back
• Github for hardware in the works for 5 years was seeded by Swedes.
• warehouse robots, smart bio and alternative food were pre-seeded.

• zero-emission planes and automobiles producers in growth deals
• early bets on a spatial browser, crypto marketplace, bonds and escrow trading platform
• multiple pre and seed investors popping out in the open

• vertical insurance startups raising growth money
• more seed for alternative e-bikes manufacturers
• early bets on coloured carbon fibre, alternative cool system and decentralised social metaverse.

• $5 million series As are back
• Deutsche Bank does BNPL
• debt funds with fresh powder available

• vertical blockchain startups with and without traction to get funded
• YC alums closed seed rounds
• quantum computer, no code-tools and carbon tracking developers, all in early stage backing.

• multiple seed rounds closed at $10+ million, one explicitly PR-ed as unsolicited
• web3 deals still alive and kicking in Europe
• fintechs, profitable ESGs, nano satellites producers all in early stage round.

• more growth money for BNPL ops, with different vertical models
• Italian crypto marketplace and British manufacturer of warehouse robots in decent series A rounds
• software for space missions, tokenized cohort-based learning and digital collectibles marketplace - all with early stage seed funding.

• $70 million series A ftw
• WeWork for events and a metaverse event startups, both from France, raised venture capital
• $1.6 billion extra money available to Euro startups just in

• multiple series A deals at 2021 valuations
• more liquidity events at later stage
• (more) web3, smart fashion tech and fintech in early deals

• the cybersecurity unicorn emergence
• 4 (four) NFT-enabled software tools raised venture capital
• 1.5 billion worth of more fresh powder

• crypto trading platform straight to 70 million series A
• 2 (two) alternative food producers were seeded
• most valuable Euro startup takes a 30% valuation haircut

• Europe has a brand new €1 billion impact fund
• 2 (two) HR SAAS developers raised growth funding
• 3 (three) marketplace builders were funded.
• no-SQL software developers were seeded by American VCs

• automation SAAS emerging from Romania closes series A
• NFT indexer, DIY metaverse and community token manager for Tiktokers all raised early stage funding
• B2B neobank providing carbon footprint cashbacks based on forex deals was pre-seeded

• multiples vertical SAAS startups popped out at very early stages
• 2 (two) employees benefits providers raised seed
• 2 (two) EV charging points marketplaces were also seeded

• 3 (three) climate change focused startups involved in growth rounds
• 2 (two) vertical neo-banks also raised capital
• a few interesting crypto startups also announced funding deals

• bootstrapped vertical data analytics provider in a $200 million growth round.
• 2 (two) digital companions for mothers-to-be were pre-seeded.
• open source for sharing anything 3D raised seed money.
• early stage VCs are cashing out

• hot Italian SAAS in a $44 million series A raised locally
• fashion developer for the metaverse also secures series A
• and yet another series A closed by an operator of a VR streaming platform
• mental fight club, negotiation chatbots and single-photon detectors for quantum computing were all pre-seeded

• $8 billion extra spent vs last year's Q1 backed by a surge of few hundred deals and extra investors at the table
• 70+ mega deals (100M+) vs 43 last year
• Q1 saw $13bn+ of extra powder and the Euro market is evolving in spite of the Ukraine war and public market turmoil
• Tiger and Insight dominate the late stage, Speedinvest, Seedcamp and Kima top the early stage + don't forget about YC

• multiple extension deals for accommodating late stage investment plays
• more vertical marketplaces popping out at early stage
• GitHub for hardware, online coding school and NFT play-to-earn-game were all seeded.

• two bootstrapped SAAS raised growth money
• alternative spreadsheet developer closed 20 million series A
• two cool space startups raised seed funding

• two B2B marketplace operators raised growth funding
• a French and a British developer of background checking tools were both seeded
• two pre-product metaverse builders got seeded

• consumer hardware producer yet to develop any products raised late stage capital
• revenue-based products seller and FBA aggregator, both from Spain, also closed growth deals
• social network for religious people secured series B 3 months after series A
• seeds for manufacturer of farming and green technologies for space, CO2 convertor into organic food, express delivery providers and MLOps SAAS developer

• a marketplace for EV charging points gets seeded by high profile investors
• plastic-free cosmetics sold DTC, manufacturer of carbon capture tech and alternative diary producer all raised series A
• yet another web3 art marketplace popped out
• the big picture numbers from February

• instore payments, white label SAAS for banks and digital loan providers among the seeded startups this week
• e-skin for robots, AI for quantum and neuro AI-based bot also were funded
• a bunch of Euro YC alumni raised as well

• London-based fintechs hitting later stage deals
• hyper growing consumer marketplace raised seed and series A in 6 weeks
• more seed push for web3 startups

• near-space vehicle manufacturer and AI-based robots controllers raised growth money
• D2C pharma aggregator secured series A
• multi-lingual vertical search engine and an open source one used by 100k developers were both seeded

• Blackstone led a $4 million seed deal.
• $7M ARR SAAS raised a $35 million series A from a tier 1 American VC
• producers of fusion energy tech and cooling tech for data centres both raised growth money.
• stealth startup building (yet another) metaverse was seeded.

• $23 million seed for a preventive care provider from France.
• $20 million series A for a marketplace for tech jobs out of London.
• quantum tech, fiat-to-crypto aggregator and seaweed femtech manufacturer all (pre)seeded

• $55 million seed funding round for a gaming company.
• French plant-based bacon producer in a $28M series A including actress Natalie Portman.
• German no-code software developer in a $13.5 million series A led by top tier US VC.
• 15 new funds and $2.5 billion in fresh new money just in.

• three AI-based insurance startups from France raised
• two re-commerce startups from Britain secured funding - one seed, the other series A
• only one anti-dating app w/ 1 million users was seeded to expand in the US

• Americans bought their way into the D2C over-the-counter pharma deliveries
• more non-dilutive financial providers raise growth money.
• rent-to-own furniture startup gets seeded.

• seed and series A deals closed at $10 million+ altogether. Do those label deals really matter anymore?
• dark kitchen op doing 45 restaurant brands out of 3 kitchens raised $1 million.
• two German EV car manufacturers get (pre)seeded.

• mobile app providing a space for connecting with God raised $40 million series A
• AngelList for Europe, fractional luxury investment platform and revenue-based financial providers all raised.
• developers of frameworks for DevOps from Spain and France were both preseeded.

• is Sifted really worth 20 million?
• European angel investors joined Y Combinator as full partners.
• a bunch of alternative food producers from across the continent raised funding.

• health-focused FBA aggregator in a $50 million funding deal
• Scottish startup closes $20 million at seed.
• American high tech profiles active in Europe

• software developer of macro defence solutions raised $100+ million
• BNPL active in ASIA and MENA raised $38 million
• on-demand business school for startup people gets seeded.

• operator of an investment platform dealing 500 million a year raised $125 million
• producer of vertical farming solutions raises $57 million
• operator of a marketplace for pharma competitive intel closes $14 million series A
• insurtech platform for gig workers raised $10 million more, makes earlier investors unhappy.

• a review of 20+ scouts involved in 70+ deals in Europe this year
• series A deals at $10+ million are the new normal in Europe
• 2X mental health providers, a geospatial SAAS developer and a new online grocery deliverer all raised seed.

• who invested the most in Europe this year
• French SAAS raises $20 million after 7 years of bootstrapping
• Spanish operator of a Farmer-to-Consumer marketplace raises $17 million series A
• Italian space startup raised $1.7 million

• YC alum from Poland raised $17.4 million series A
• $15 million for a Berlin-based provider of D2C delivery for pharma products
• B2B BNPL startup raises $14 million pre-launch.

Tech Tapas #1 features 4 startups from 4 different countries:

• a consumer payment service from Denmark
• a neo insuretech startup from Switzerland
• a vertical search engine focused on research from Norway
• a VR-based meditation service out of Iceland

Tech Tapas #1 features investors from 9 countries active at seed and series A stages across Europe.

• France has two startups providing consumer financial services for second home acquisitions that just raised
• Spanish SAAS for event management raises series A led by an American VC.
• This year's grocery investment frenzy seems to have found a replacement.

• Austrian bootstrapped software company raises $100 million solely from Insight Partners
• two early stage Spanish marketplaces secure seed funding from international investors
• German startup selling EV charging access against a monthly flat rate via a mobile app goes out of stealth and secures $4 million in angel funding.

• a second calendar SAAS gets pre-seeded in two months
• intriguing space manufacturer raises (just) $2 million
• two B2B industrial marketplaces raised seed funding

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

Weezy is the last VC darling looking for a buyer, and put the ARR number on the table in order to lure potential suitors.

How much they can actually get and an overview of the latest from the grocery front.

Monzo and Curve are the last British startups that announced adding BNPL products to their portfolio. Goldman spent 2.2 billions for purchasing a BNPL biz, joining the likes of Apple and Amazon. The BNPL market has become an arms race similar to the grocery wars from Europe earlier this year.

Are we at the end of the tech booming cycle in the UK? Investors are unhappy, Boris wants to make liquidity events more difficult than they should be, taxes are not founders friendly and, on top of that, the Silicon Roundabout is closing down.

• what is the next-gen L'Oréal
• the tight connection between Swedes and Russians
• Europe can produce cool startups as well

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

Venture capital firms are usually competing by outdoing their peers in the same activities in an incremental way. But they never did things their competitors aren't doing. Now, that we have a hyper competitive environment, where is the market going and what are some structural problems ahead.

• e-bikes producer raises growth funding in a round led by Chinese
• grocery delivery buys itself more time with 40 million raised from a strategic investor
• software developer of tools for AI & NLP, raises 6 million at 120 post.

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

• British no-code SAAS framework developer raised 10 mil series A from American investors
• German electric scooter manufacturer raised equity from French VCs
• 2 preseed rounds for former employees of high profile investors gone founders

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

- Ireland (4!), Romania and Cyprus represent but no presence from Sweden and Norway
- two grocery startups with an edge
- all 3 Spanish startups funded pre-YC
- most funded raised $5M, oldest is from 2015.

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

• operator of a luxury watches marketplace raised $100M+
• e-sport event organiser raised growth funding
• marketplaces for long tail influencers + booking artists and models were both seeded

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

This week in Europe:
- producer of plant-based meat substitutes raised growth funding
- Linkedin killer, B2B voice-based SAAS and software developer for age monitoring were seeded
- breakdown of the most active VCs and angels in Europe in July (almost 1000 in total)

Euro updates:

- $5 billion were made available for Euro startups
- a data-driven real estate broker led by a Turkish entrepreneur raised $65 million
- operator of a digital platform for people over 50s raised $9 million
- (yet another) grocery delivery startup, with a twist, raised $1M while part of YC

Euro updates:
- a D2C insurance selling via a gamified app raised $70 million
- an online personal shopping service provider raised traction money
- two carbon tracker startups got pre-seeded
- an online grocery retailer delivering all products in reusable packaging was pre-seeded too
- 2021 YC alumni that still didn't raise money.

European updates:
- a bootstrapped SAAS startup raised $70 million
- a merchant of insurance products for crypto investors raised traction money
- a real estate ads marketplace secured funding to pivot into buy-to-let assets
- a SAAS logistics aimed to help e-commerce, raised pre-product
- standard terms sheets, bad term sheets
- Softbank kept busy in Europe.

This week's update features:
- good ol' SAAS startups, D2C FMCG startups and Europe's largest robotics marketplace
- Softbank's forrays into Europe's grocery big players
- investors' moral compass

This week features a baby products marketplace, a VR experience provider, fractional trade platforms and carbon capture device producers.

- American celebrities invested in a pre-launch European startup this week. Who are they, why they did it and what other Euro startups raised money from celebrities.
- Early stage profiles: one in stealth, D2Cs and a software-based market aggregator
- A curation of the most interesting fundraising deals from this week
- 9 new investment funds announcements.

There's three types of seed investors + we have a detailed look at the family offices from Sweden.

Euro startups accelerated by YC keep raising money, Goldman has quietly become one of more active growth finance providers and, believe it or not, there's still high profile investors not involved with grocery startups from Europe. Yet.

Half of the European deals made by Softbank in the first five months of the year are from the Nordics. We made a quick overview of them + the usual weekly intel.

The intel for this week is about a serial entrepreneur from Germany who has invested in more than 20 early stage software startups in the past years and about a startup building a modern email client out of Europe.

This update covers intel about the most active investors and the largest fundraising deals from Europe from April 2021 + active investors and interesting early stage startups from the past week.

- What are tech startups that raised funding from non-French investors last year
- the European payment startup funded by family offices aiming to become an alternative to the American systems
- a neobank based in Germany, registered in Cyprus, with backoffice in Russia and American investors.

we have a look at the European geographical portfolios of two American investors + 8 fresh funds announced to deploy money in Europe's startups + a batch of early stage interesting startups

a review of interesting Euro startups which were backed by American investors at very early stages + active investors and new funds announcements from the past week + a list of interesting early stage startups that were funded in the past month

• down rounds, growth rounds, bridge rounds
• bankruptcies and strategic M&As
• deals getting back to 'normal' valuation levels

• round extensions and more series B
• strategic exits and debt financing transactions
• early stage bets on robots, B2B marketplaces, vertical AI tech and smart optical sensors

• series B rounds are being closed
• pre-seed bets made on marketplaces, pure software plays and wearables
• post-holiday job announcements

• more Swedish investors active in Denmark
• food delivery doing double digits million in sales raises funding
• quantum computing, synthetic data and mobile payment developers were all pre-seeded.

• YC alum raised seed post winter program
• also seed for behaviour analytics tools applied to crypto
• secondary deals

• crypto startup in a $50 million round
• Swedish semiconductor producer in a growth round for a new factory
• Danish doing M&As

• scaleups doing emergency rounds
• protein analytics startup gets seeded
• hefty amount deployed for carbon removal facilities

• Softbank puts another pin on the Nordic ecosystem
• new retail investment platform in a hefty $25 million series A
• scaleups going the PE rather than VC path

• alternative energy companies in growth funding rounds
• more financing bridges w/ debt and/or equity rounds secured by scaleups
• M&As and bankruptcies

• strategic investors getting their hands on Nordic scaleups
• old school VCs still betting on new gaming studios
• fintech startups still a thing in the region

• enterprise SAAS went out of stealth with a $15 million series A
• 2 (two) pre-seed deals backed by American investors
• SAAS startup doing automated penetration tests was pre-seeded by Sequoia via its scouts

• pre-revenue web3 startup in a hefty series A
• 2 (two) energy tech innovators secured funds for scaling
• 2 (two) food waste startups raised seed money

• VCs crowding more Swedish fintech asset builders
• vertical tech developer active in 80 countries raises growth funding
• 2 (two) corporate metaverse developers raised seed rounds.

• 2 (two) cyber security startups raised VC money
• €1 billion exit for a Swedish D2C
• private investors find value de-listing assets from local exchanges
• yet another new VC house emerging from Sweden

• yet another Nordic electric battery manufacturer raises growth strategic investment
• alternative protein producer raised series A led by Swiss investors
• pan Nordic neo-bank struggling to close M&A deals amid a new fundraising effort.

• 2 (two) vertical brand aggregators raised growth money from local investors
• D2C insurance for pet owners secured series A led by British VC
• 2 (two) climate-focused platforms were seeded
• Nordic web3 in a $150M fundraise

• blockchain developers raises series A at a pre-crisis valuation
• producer of decarbonisation tech secures strategic investors
• financial service marketplace for gig workers gets growth money from non-Nordic investors

• bank for crypto ready to scale raised funding from outside the Nordics
• stealth sound tech developers backed by American angels and a French VC
• 2 (two) revenue intelligence startups raised seed funding

• growth round closed by a SAAS developer of e-commerce compliant tools
• also growth money for a robotics startup used by 9 of the top 10 largest clients in their market
• 2 (two) furniture retailers were funded as well.

• Swedish SAAS bootstrappers find their right venture fit at $50 million
• D2C Danish in a growth round backed by the French
• 5 year old healthcare providers go outside Norway with German money
• Kinnevik takes portfolio haircut

• online grocery startup raises one more round for a geo expansion push
• the startup building the DHL of deep space was pre-seeded
• Lightspeed Ventures closed its first Nordic investment deal

• the Swedish investors nobody talks about.
• the Norwegians that sold a consumer finance op for $160 million.
• bittorrent developers, B2B energy mketplace aggregators and SAAS doing €75k MRR all raised growth money.

• 3 (three!) mobile payment developers announced raising capital.
• electric batteries recycling manufacturer also secured proper funding.
• two established B2B marketplace operators were acquired.

• SAAS developer for deployment automation w/ 120 customers raised growth funding
• D2C fashion provider did an American equity deal
• Chinese clone raises series A led by non-Nordic investors

• forest as an asset class
• more marketplaces emerging from Norway
• Swedes doing a PE business without the PE

• private equity doing late stage deals
• fintechs raising even more growth funding
• Nordic angels get involved in a golfing app

• producer of small self-driving robotic delivery vehicles raised growth funding.
• SAAS marketplace allowing investors to back web 3 deals was pre-seeded.
• RPA developer for logistics was also pre-seeded.

• two alternative food producers to raise seed funding
• new challenger bank gets bridge funding
• new no-code devel startup was preseeded by German investors.

• the Danish and the Finnish hitting late stages levels
• consumer crypto, freight marketplace and alternative print tech seeded
• the most important investors of the Nordics

• cloud native, open source identity platform raises 8 million seed
• marketplace for furniture rentals raises growth money
• a review of 50+ of the hottest early stage startups from the region

• the lil' web3 startup from Norway on the unicorn path
• more Swedish fintech got funded
• Finnish pre-seeding quantum algos, industrial marketplaces and pricing automation tools

• AI-based meta search engine and a responsible AI developer - both raised.
• two gaming studios and a blockchain-based marketplace were all pre-seeded..
• Swedish consumer fintech built out of London raised angel funding pre-launch.
• Tiger led two Nordic deals this week

• Danish neo-bank raises $11.5 million.
• Swedish financial impact service provider adds Citi and IKEA in the captable.
• ETF marketplace for index-based crypto assets gets seeded by British VCs.
• Nordic startups at YC this winter.

• two early stage metaverse developers raised a total of $60+ million.
• two crypto markets operators also raised almost $20 million in total.
• early stage vertical blockchain-based marketplace was pre-seeded.

• YC alumni providing outsourced creative projects at scale to enterprise teams in Silicon Valley raised growth funding.
• B2B marketplace for recycling EV batteries was seeded.
• NFT marketplace at the intersection of photo and art was pre-seeded.

• Danish and Finnish fintech unicorn wannabes raise growth funding.
• EQT gets into the captable of a local electric boat manufacturer.
• manufacturer of all-natural chewing gums acquired after four years of work.

• two startups selling debt products to other startups - one from Denmark and the other from Sweden - were pre-seeded.
• two AI-based text-focused SAAS - one Finnish and one Danish - raised seed funding.
• vertical fintech SAAS - real estate, revenue mgmt and cross border banking - also raised.

• Danish podcast platform operator raised series B six months after series A.
• two Swedish *and* a Finnish e-commerce SAAS providers raised growth funding.
• developer of materials tech used for cheaper cultured meat production was seeded.
• Swedish company bought by Booking.com for $1.8bn+, 6X its 2015 value.
• 3 funds (one brand new) raised fresh money to deploy in the Nordic ecosystem.

• Latvian unicorn wannabe operated out of US, raises series A closed at $30 million
• Finnish company raised $15 million to build a mobile metaverse
• yet another Swedish producer of meat alternative products gets funded
• fine Nordic nuances of cultural differences

• Swedish food waste company raises $27.8M for Euro expansion
• Estonian provider of subscription management solutions backed by German investors
• Swedish mobile consumer aggregator of urban parking deals gets seeded by local media-for-equity provider.
• Finnish food delivery business gets acquired in a $7 billion deal.

• Klarna's 10 M&A deals from the past 12 months
• will a husband and wife translate their local mket share from Sweden in Europe?
• Estonians raised funding to go where the competition is fiercest
• Danish startup made by Irish woman taking a stab at online groceries business.

• the next Oatly story rewritten out of Stockholm
• the $50 million Swedish startup that raised seed money
• the interesting Nordic startup part of YC this summer also raised seed.

• a five year old startup joins the Nordic unicorn club at 100X ARR
• automated RPA developer in a standard $5M deal seeded by Brits
• serial founder building an open source identity platform pre-seeded it w/ $2.5M

• another Swedish pension fund leading a growth investment deal
• Swedish fintech growing 80% a week ups the ante by raising more funding
• and yet another Swedish building an electric car marketplace raised seed.

• Norwegian fabless IoT company raised equity from the EIC Fund
• Swedish provider of digital insurance for pet owners raised seed from a British VC
• B2B pharma marketplace operator also closed a seed round
• Nordic investor in a 4X return in 2 years

• hyped manufacturer raises growth money from a pension fund
• fintech Swedish on track to be unicorn, raised growth $ as well
• Peloton contender raises seed in order compete in the US.

• marketplace for therapy gets hot in the US, raises growth money
• hot Swedish fintech handling backend ops for strategic customers also grows
• alternative tuna producer gets seeded by Swedes and Germans
• SAAS video platform for the niche creator gets preseeded by Germans.

• startup building a bank for crypto business gets pre-seeded
• low cost rechargeable battery technology manufacturer also raised
• Swedish YC alum secures seed money

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

• unicorn trajectory path in a niched vertical
• chewing gum is a hidden emerging Nordic space
• Swedish e-sport entrepreneur give it another go 

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

• 30X return in 16 months made in Sweden
• dark kitchens and energy trading are a thing
• Swedes got high on the grocery delivery drug

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

• Nordic startups at Y Combinator
• no-code SAAS raises one of the largest series A in DK at $62 million
• B2B marketplace for buying carbon removal + on-demand tailored-made clothing provider got pre-seeded.

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

• Norway has a new unicorn backed by Americans.
• developer of a SAAS for more inclusive branding language used in 35 countries was seeded.
• next-gen Oatly startup raised angel funding.

This is customized intel for Nordic 9 customers. Become one now!

Highlights from this week: 
- medical device company treating depression raised $9 million from US and Swiss investors
- customer sentiment analysis SAAS developer raised $5 million
- startup developing space software (mission control) was pre-seeded

This week in the Nordics:

- scooter company raises $700 million to get into grocery delivery
- consumer BNPL marketplace aggregator got seeded
- subscription-based e-bikes startup raised an angel round

This Nordic Friday:
- customer service SAAS closed a $100M+ deal in 2 months
- pre-product metaverse-sounding startup was pre-seeded
- fashionable e-bikes, microinsurance sellers and energy monitoring SAAS

Nordic dealflow intel:

- digital wealth platform w/ 32k customers raised $7M
- SAAS for social media management raised $1.5M
- dark kitchen startup raised seed money

This week in the Nordics:

- Swedish electric airplanes startup becomes a global business
- Danish startup marketplace raises $5M+ from 'strategic angel investors'
- Danish wine marketplace gets seeded
- Norwegian YC alumni raises funding from American investors

This is what was important in the Nordics this week:
- textile tech raises money for growth
- car subscription is the Nordic hot
- 9-months old fintech in a $20M+ investment deal
- early stage marketplaces, dark store operators and plant-based producers

Quieter week in the Nordics, typical post-midsummer - everybody has mostly gone away either at the summer cabin or in Spain.

And this, of course, is reflected in the dealflow activity - most of the announced deals we process were closed a few weeks ago.

However, a quick look at the books of June shows a particularly spectacular month in the Nordics as the $4.4 billion spent for buying assets from the local private market this month alone is higher than what was spent in any of the previous full years, with the exception of 2020.

Also - Norway! It's been the hidden gem of Scandinavia, and this first 2021 half unveiled quite a few interesting startups ready to scale and raising accordingly, see also some of the below announcements.

More on that in the coming weeks after things will have settled. Let's look at this week's highlights.

It's midsommar in the Nordics, meaning that business wise it was a short week this one, with a 2.2 billion highlight of an yet another American company acquiring yet another Swedish fintech, and a few deals made by ambitious Nordic founders shooting for the moon straight from the US.

Good investment vibes from the Nordics this week, where we're enjoying a combination of some hot summer days and some Swedish political turmoil.

Other than that, we've had a $2 billion valuation (it seems we've been hearing from Nordic unicorns every week lately), a pre-launch seed round for an icecream robot and a Danish developer of "Wordpress for robots".

We're half way of 2021 already and it looks like money access is the last problem to have for the Nordic companies looking to grow by selling equity.

there were 3 SPAC vehicles announced in the Nordics in the past 10 days + interesting deals from the region

Looks like this week we finally got to a closer-to-normal deal announcement level in the Nordics - here's what caught our attention.

This week marked the announcement of two of the largest VC deals in their respective geographies - Norway and Finland. It's not very often you see triple digits numbers deals for minority stakes in the local private market, and 2021 seems to be quite heated as the money is aplenty.

We produced a report profiling 25 VCs from the new wave of European investors and 4 of them are from the Nordics + the usual weekly intel updates

We produced a report listing 100 early stage investors from Europe - at pre-seed and seed level. 15 of them are from the Nordic countries + the Nordic data for April

Comparing deals and investors involved in the Nordic heatlcare sector + as April is coming to an end, we're quick to reach $1 billion in money invested in the Nordics for the month.

• private equity crossing into late stage unicorn deals
• two revenue-based sellers raised serious growth money + market overview
• more BNPL growth funding and embedded tools emerging at the early stage

• the BNPL market pricing an upside premium + 10 Euro contenders
• multiple early stage fintech deals showcasing web3
• early stage funding push for embedded finance solutions

• Web3 dealflow is richer than you'd imagine.
• Traditional banking is attacked from all product angles.
• Multiple B2B marketplaces popping up while the French crowd the early stage insurance space