Sunday CET (53)Notes and commentaries about what matters in the European space - concise, no non-sense insights, interesting stories and implications for founders, investors, employees from tech companies or government representatives.
Published every Sunday morning by Dragos Novac and emailed to investors, founders and decisions makers from 50+ countries who want to understand the ecosystem from Europe.
why was Zenly closed down?
• believe what investors do, not what they say
• how capitalism works, the French edition
• revenue-finance business numbers
is GDPR working?
• is GDPR working?
• understanding how social networks work
• Musk city in Europe
do VCs need product strategy?
• the quiet European publishing empire
• should Apple buy Klarna?
• marketing versus product strategy for VCs
• putting the money where the mouth is
startups reality checks
• a quick reality check for startups
• more signs of a bear market
• Americans going to London
deal data doesn't lie
• numbers are looking better than the investors sentiment
• an overlooked niche but juicy European vertical
• yet another European country discovers that startups are cool
the VC model at scale
• more investors than ever in Europe
• the VC model at scale
• are social networks monetizable?
the market uncertainty
• more key data on smaller markets for European startups
• Klarna's valuation is at 2020 levels
• 26 million series A deals are back, baby
smaller markets startups
• update on smaller markets for European startups
• the BNPL war
• is paying for VC intel worth it?
is marketing a useless exercise?
• 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
defensible intel
• 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
the list with important investors
• doing lists of important investors
• startup valuation as a market signal
• great strategy in the online grocery business
reasons to be positive
• reasons to be positive
• trouble for big business
• art and fashion going strong into NFTs
NFT in Europe
• NFT startups in Europe
• the market is going down
• Dutch can't handle business
situational VC
• dealing with VC adversity is doing a good job
• marketing is how VCs are doing scale
• investors say Europe has more attractive valuations
NATO as a VC
• revenue-based financing is an old product for a new type of customer
• hot startups are raising
• NATO will do VC investments.
the data from last quarter
• 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 in Europe
• the Russian investors from Europe
• the up and coming European BNPL startups
• is a highly overpriced deal the best startup Europe can produce?
the undervalued beast from Europe
• how much should founders pay themselves
• the undervalued beast from Europe
• French investing more in education, already paid off
The most active American investors in Europe
• the American investors in Europe
• Facebook got serious about European politics
• the Dutch delisted from Nasdaq
$1 billion for annoying people with ads
• 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?
• Why is Spotify in denial?
• Euro politicians will take a probation year as VCs.
• The metaverse is in safe hands.
are we in a transitory moment?
• 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.
how much do the German VCs make?
• 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?
no good tech company should ever list in London
• do tiny shakes make for a bear market?
• tourists investors to get a blow
• no good tech company should ever list in London
2021 Xmas deals
• the most interesting deals from the Xmas holidays
• 30 French angel investors profiled
• investors use media to build hype cycles
risk taking vs risk minimisers
• Europe's startup ecosystem is good and dandy
• the delivery business in Europe is consolidating
• American VCs cannot hire European workforce
how to quantify impact
• Seedrs and Crowdcube's valuations, one year after their intended merger
• the impact made by a chief impact officer
• founders gaming the VCs
Tiger's model
• how Tiger Global turned the industry upside down
• Europe's quitters
• world's portfolio structure
is Wolt worth 8 billion?
• is Wolt worth really 8 billion?
• is London the right place for doing business?
• N9 is launching a new product
the moving picture
• Klarna's puzzle pieces
• the VC business that is not a VC business anymore
• the grocery delivery business 2.0
investors as penguins
• does being rich or a successful investor means you are a deep thinker
• the intangible skills of an entrepreneur
• investors should be like penguins
the tech and the tapas
• how many conclusions can you draw from a banal table
• why are Eastern Europeans doing unicorns?
• NFTs as promotional giveaways
the dollar gap
• cool Euro NFT project closes after a day
• the huge $ gap between two interconnected industries from Europe
• startup people working for politicians
the circle of trust
• Swedes got confused by an IPO announcement
• 1000X VC return in Europe deserves more than a twitter mention
• the VCs circle of trust
sunny side up
• Will Klarna bite the bullet and IPO?
• Ireland is home to GDPR infractions in Europe
• the job of consultants explained in kids words.
is BNPL is the new grocery delivery?
• 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 this going?
• where is the investment market going
• best place to start a business
• open banking in Europe
the diversity situation
• the DNA as a secret weapon
• England's edge remains the English language
• who lobbies the EU institutions
Euro startups at YC this summer
• 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
The European unicorn nobody talks about
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?
deals galore
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
is China a threat to Europe?
This Sunday:
- is China a threat to Europe?
- cash or equity advisory?
- what will kill On Deck anyways?
active angels in Europe
This week:
- active angels in Europe
- the difference between an angel and a super angel
- Europe's long tail
The 140
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 in an easy way out
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.
will Google buy Klarna?
- 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?
mix and match as a strategy
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.
seed is the new drug
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.
the new wave of Euro VC
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.
the next big thing
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.
your product is great, I just copied it
Today we’ll talk Euro M&A, VC innovation and copying other people’s ideas.
the hottest consumer app is from 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.
vision-driven stuff out of Sweden
This week we talk about vision-driven projects from Sweden, quantum deals and the latest VC marketing initiatives launched in Europe.
Euro Intel (0)Data-based intel from the European startup ecosystem written professionally in an easy to understand format - tactical bits and industry-wide trends, curated deals, active investors and relevant early stage transactions.
Published every Monday morning and emailed to the Nordic 9 customers - investors, founders and decision makers willing to stay updated with the strategic moves from Europe.
Nordic Intel (68)Nordic-focused curation of what's important in the region, with an emphasis on local and international investors activity, competitive analysis and early stage startups usually not covered by the mainstream media.
Published every Friday afternoon and emailed to the Nordic 9 customers - investors, founders and decision makers who have a keen interest in the Nordic region.
down rounds, growth rounds, bridge rounds
• down rounds, growth rounds, bridge rounds
• bankruptcies and strategic M&As
• deals getting back to 'normal' valuation levels
B2B marketplaces and vertical AI tech
• 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
• series B rounds are being closed
• pre-seed bets made on marketplaces, pure software plays and wearables
• post-holiday job announcements
quantum computing and synthetic data pre-seeding
• 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.
small time deals
• YC alum raised seed post winter program
• also seed for behaviour analytics tools applied to crypto
• secondary deals
crypto and semiconductors
• crypto startup in a $50 million round
• Swedish semiconductor producer in a growth round for a new factory
• Danish doing M&As
protein analytics and carbon removal
• scaleups doing emergency rounds
• protein analytics startup gets seeded
• hefty amount deployed for carbon removal facilities
Softbank in the Nordics
• 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
summer dealings
• 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 onto Nordic scaleups
• 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
Sequoia scouts doing Nordic work
• 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
all in on web3
• 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
corporate metaverse builders
• 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.
value in de-listing assets
• 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
market struggles
• 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.
Nordic web3 in a $150 million deal
• 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
pre-crisis valuation deals
• 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
intelligence revenue SAAS
• 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
follow-on and exit deals
• 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.
the $50 million venture fit
• 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
Lightspeed's first venture deal in the Nordics
• 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 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.
the Nordic mobile payment apps are hot
• 3 (three!) mobile payment developers announced raising capital.
• electric batteries recycling manufacturer also secured proper funding.
• two established B2B marketplace operators were acquired.
clones made in the Nordics
• 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
how much does a forest cost
• forest as an asset class
• more marketplaces emerging from Norway
• Swedes doing a PE business without the PE
private equity leading the Nordic growth
• private equity doing late stage deals
• fintechs raising even more growth funding
• Nordic angels get involved in a golfing app
self driving robots, web3 marketplace and RPA
• 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.
alternative food producers in the Nordics
• 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 Nordic investors you should know about
• 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
the hottest early stage startups from 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
• 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, fintech, web3 and Tiger
• 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
fintech, crypto and YC
• 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.
more web3 builders from the Nordics
• 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.
early stage (NFT) marketplaces from the Nordics
• 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.
Nordic fintech unicorns wannabes
• 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.
non dilutive startup financing takes off
• 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.
the Swedish fintech situation
• 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.
the mobile metaverse out of the Nordics
• 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
going outside the Nordics
• 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.
ambitious Nordic founders
• 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.
Swedish success stories
• 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.
100X ARR unicorns
• 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
80% a week
• 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.
record number of Nordic deals
• 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
Nordic unicorns on track
• 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.
Nordic business as (un)usual
• 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.
the Nordic bank for crypto ✔️
• 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!
next Nordic unicorn-breeding vertical
• 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 in 16 months made in Sweden
• 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
• 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!
next-gen Oatly
• 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!
mission control SAAS, depression and sentiment analysis tools
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
scooters, e-bikes and grocery delivery
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
easy like Nordic summer part 2
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
easy like Nordic summer
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
The as is 2021 situation
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
textile tech, car subscription and carbon tracking
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
Nordic summer blues
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.
a $2.2 billion worth of a short week
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.
Nordic ice cream robotics
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".
Swedish healthcare ftw
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.
more growth than seed
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
secondaries ftw
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
largest VC deals in Finland *and* Norway
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.
Nordic early stage ftw
Looks like this week we finally got to a closer-to-normal deal announcement level in the Nordics - here's what caught our attention.
Nordic SPACs
there were 3 SPAC vehicles announced in the Nordics in the past 10 days + interesting deals from the region
from 1 to 10 billion in 4 years
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.
Fintech Intel (3)Deep vertical deal curation and whatever else we find interesting aiming to provide a big picture idea about who does what in the financial service startup ecosystem. Succinct, to the point, data-based and professionally written in an easy to understand format.
Published every first week of the month and emailed to the Nordic 9 customers - investors, founders and decision makers willing to stay updated with the strategic moves from Europe.
4 the revenue-based financing in Europe
• 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
4 the BNPL market players in Europe
• 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
4 web3 in Euro fintech
• 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