• 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

 

 

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Interesting deals

Nordics

🇸🇪 Intended Future, developing data-driven analysis and customized AI algorithms that help engineers evaluate the perceived quality of products and future product design, was pre-seeded by Chalmers Ventures.

🇸🇪 Kiano, D2C producer of plant-based superfood mixes, protein powers and meal replacement powders, sold a major package in the company to Nicoya, a local food investor.

🇩🇰 Wayfare, developing an end-to-end data integration platform, built for data-driven enterprises and regulated industries, raised a pre-seed round from PreSEED Ventures.

🇱🇻 FIS, developing a customisable no-code lending solution for lenders, fintechs and banks, raised $300k from Expansion Capital.

🇸🇪 Pigello, selling a CRM system for the real estate industry, raised $1.2 million from local investors.

🇳🇴 Pascal Technologies, manufacturing high-speed small boats and passenger ferries, raised $5 million from investors led by US-based Ocean Zero.

That is the third Nordic electric boat producer startup to announce raising capital in the past month:

• 🇸🇪 Candela raised $20 million from the same Ocean Zero, joined by EQT Ventures.
• 🇸🇪 X Shore raised almost $30 million in a bridge round with local bank SEB.

Also worth noting, Ocean Zero is an American VC fund co founded by Chris Anderson (TED Talks founder and author of the long tail theory) for backing startups involved in decarbonizing transportation. In Europe, it also backed Ayro from France, a shipping wind power company which designs wind propulsion systems. 

🇩🇰 Teton, building a computer vision-based contactless patient monitoring systems, raised $5.3 million post seed led by Plural VC.

🇸🇪 Verified, providing digital signing, identification and system support for processes linked to anti-money laundering, raised $33 million first money infrom Verdane. Verified has 3000 customers in 4 Nordic countries.

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DACH 

🇩🇪 Fabrikatör, startup founded by Turkish guys in Berlin developing a virtual logistics manager for ecommerce ops, raised $700k preseed from Backbone Ventures, APX and German angels.

🇨🇭 Impossible Materials, manufacturing plant-based cellulose white pigment and opacifier solutions, raised $3.7 million seed from investors led by Mission Possible Capital.

🇩🇪 Magnotherm, manufacturers of a smart refrigerator, raised a $5.4 million seed round backed by Extantia Capital, BMH Hessen, Lauda and Revent.

🇩🇪 GaeaStar, developing a clay alternative to single-use plastic containers, raised $6.5 million seed from Morningside Technology Ventures, At Inc. Ventures, Dart Labs Ventures, Sand Hill Angels, VSC Ventures and Climate Capital Ventures.

🇩🇪 Finanzguru, developing an AI based financial assistant with 1.5 million registered users, raised $14 million in a round led by SCOR Ventures and PayPal Ventures.

🇩🇪 4screen, developers of a in-car driver interaction platform, raised $23 million series A round led by S4S Ventures and Continental Corporate Venture Capital.

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The UK

🇬🇧 greenworkx, providing an educational platform for green skills backed by a job marketplace for a net-zero workforce, raised $750k preseed from investors led by Mangrove Capital.

🇬🇧 Ember, building and operating a small fleet of electric buses across the UK, raised $2.3 million seed in a round co-led by Pale Blue Dot and Contrarian Ventures. 

🇬🇧 Rodeo, developing a marketplace for gigs and analytics for delivery driving, raised $5 million seed from LocalGlobe, Seedcamp and Form Ventures.

🇬🇧 Push Security, a cyber security SAAS developer pushing suggestions to employees when it spots them using apps in potentially risky ways, raised $15 million series A led by GV, joined by Decibel and high profile angel investors.

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Other geographies 

🇫🇷 Underdog, startup collecting, refurbishing and reselling household appliances, raised $4 million seed from daphni, Founders Future, Tivoli Capital and Leia Capital.

🇫🇷 eXplain, B2B market intelligence provider collecting and analyzing datasets used to help companies identify and understand local events, local stakeholders, local opinions and local regulation, raised $6.6 million from Arjo, Holnest and Odyssée Venture.

🇳🇱 Seenons, developing a waste technoogy platform connecting waste with the right processor, raised $11 million series A backed by Invest-NL, CapitalT, Tablomonto, Swiss Post and Shamrock Ventures. 

🇵🇱 ElevenLabs, Polish startup run from London by ex-Googlers and developing an AI-based text-to-audio conversion tool, raised $18 million series A led by Nat Friedman and Andreessen Horowitz. 

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Please note that this is just a selection of interesting early stage transactions, all deals (many more!) are available here. Pro tip: use advanced trackers to learn about new deals by industry, country, stage or a specific set of investors.

 

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Investors

On the move

🇸🇪 Helen Agering joins Spintop Ventures as partner after a two years operational stint at local software startup Kognity.

🇩🇪 Ulrich Schmitt has been promoted to partner at HTGF, after 6 years working with the company.

Powder

🇺🇸 KKR raised $8 billion for its sixth European private equity fund.

🇫🇷 Wormser Frères, a family-owned private bank, launched a second Venture Loan fund with a €40 million closing target and aiming to back French companies with minimum €1 million gross margin.

🇸🇪 Utfallsfonden announced a $34 million first closing for its debut fund to be deployed in impact startups active in Sweden.

🇳🇱 Future Food Fund, a food and agri venture capital fund, announced the first close of its second fund at €20 million. 

Also notable

🇬🇧 Details on H Tree Capital, a new fund launched by Rob Kniaz, the American ex-founding partner at Hoxton Ventures from London, and focused on the intersection of deep tech and biotech in Europe. TL;DR: stlll work in progress out of Hoxton's backoffice.

🇫🇷 Mirova and 🇳🇴 Katapult invested in a $5 million series A round raised by Boston-based Carbonwave, startup upcycling seaweed bloom into ultra-regenerative, plant-based, advanced biomaterials.

🇩🇰 Nordic Secondary Fund acquired more shares in Varjo in a seconday transaction. Varjo, producer of AR/VR devices out of Finland, was founded in 2015 and raised $140 million from the likes of Atomico and EQT Ventures.

🇬🇧 GoHenry, providing banking services for kids, was acquired in an all equity deal by US-based Acorns. GoHenry has raised about $100 million from Revaia, Citigroup, Concept Ventures and Edison Partners. (I played with Henry's financials a few months ago)

🇬🇧 The Financial Times acquired a majority stake in Endpoints News, an American biotech and health industry news site with 160k subscribers.

🇨🇭 Nestlé acquired 49.95% of the shares in YFood, a German operator of a meal replacement brand. YFood was founded in 2017 and had raised some $20 million from VCs including Felix Capital, Five Seasons and Freigeist Capital.

🇬🇧 Tandem Bank, a London-based digital bank owned by Pollen Street Capital, acquired the one year old, bootstrapped money-sharing app Loop Money.

🇬🇧 Hunter Point Capital acquired a passive minority stake in Inflexion, a London-based mid-market private equity firm investing across the UK and Europe.

🇫🇷 L'Oréal acquired Aesop, an Australian skin care brand, from Brazil's Natura Cosmetics for $2.5 billion, its biggest acquisition ever.

 

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Investors profile

🇸🇪 Creandum

• founded in 2003 by Staffan Helgesson, Stefan Lindeberg, Martin Hauge and Fredrik Cassel. Helgesson and Cassel are still with the firm.
• it invests from a €448 million fund closed in 2021 (its sixth), usually late seed or series A and sharing the risk with at least one early stage venture company, in startups with market traction but which did not raise series A.
• Creandum has gotten European visibility and ambition after Spotify’s exit, where it was the first institutional together with Northzone.
• they are generalist investors with no thesis or industry specialization, backed by a team of 17 people in Stockholm (HQ), Berlin and London.
• co-investors: Index, Northzone, Point Nine Cap, Balderton, Project A
• 37 deals in the past 15 months, including 14 new startups from Europe added to the portfolio:

🇸🇪 Ark Capital - seller of non-dilutive loans as complement to venture capital.
🇨🇿 Better Stack - SAAS observability tool combining monitoring, logging, incident management, status pages into a single platform.
🇩🇰 Bucket - analytics product used to track feature-level customer engagement.
🇱🇹 Cast AI - AI-driven cloud optimization platform that slashes cloud cost, optimizes DevOps, and automates disaster prevention.
🇳🇴 Enode - APIs that connect EVs, solar, batteries and heating to energy providers.
🇩🇪 Leapsome - performance management & employee engagement
🇸🇪 Mason - productivity app for data analytics that learns from every query
🇩🇰 Monta - marketplace platform for EV owners to share charge points with friends, family, or neighbors on the street.
🇬🇧 Packfleet - SAAS logistics solutions for eCommerce businesses.
🇩🇪 Procuros - logistics dashboard SAAS that enables fully digital processing of quotation, order, and invoice documents with all customers.
🇩🇪 Project Eaden - alternative food producer.
🇬🇧 Scarlet - healthcare SAAS used for monitoring and compliance
🇬🇧 Tesseract - energy reseller startup
🇳🇱 TimberHub - digital marketplace for timber trading.

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🇳🇴 Northzone

• founded in Norway in 1996 by Bjørn Stray and Tellef Thorleifsson, none of them with the firm, Bjørn ocasionally advising. The veteran employee and de facto leader is Pär-Jörgen Pärson, partner since 2004, based in Stockholm, the general quarter of the company for a long time. 
• Northzone moved its HQ from Stockholm to London a few years ago, and have a New York office as well, with a team of 34 people. 
• it has a multistage approach deploying from a €1 billion fund closed in 2022 (the tenth), with no thesis or specific industry focus
• Northzone was one of the two investors backing Spotify in its first institutional round of funding in the summer of 2008. The other was Creandum.
• co-investors: Creandum, Industrifonden, Accel, GFC, Cherry Ventures, Balderton, Index.
• 30 deals in the past 15 months, including 11 new startups from Europe and 3 from the US added to the portfolio.

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🇩🇪 Automaited - workflow automation SAAS doing hyperautomated repetitive tasks with the help of artificial intelligence.
🇫🇷 Dalma - insurance company selling medical insurance services for pets.
🇫🇷 Defacto - embedded lending API that gives small businesses access to instant, flexible financing.
🇬🇧 Heygo - digital media company providing online travel tours.
🇺🇸 Hidden Door - social roleplaying powered by narrative AI
🇩🇪 Holidu - search engine for vacation rentals.
🇪🇸 Idoven - on demand cardiology services.
🇪🇪 Katana - ERP solution for manufacturing & inventory operations. 
🇬🇧 Ravio - a real-time compensation benchmarking platform purpose-built for the tech industry.
🇫🇷 Stonly - generic onboarding SAAS
🇺🇸 Sunscreen - search engine w/ advanced privacy 
🇳🇴 Tana - stealth software management tool.
🇺🇸 Troop - fintech platform that connects activist investors to advance shareholder resolutions targeting publicly traded companies.
🇮🇪 Yonder - new gen insurance and retirement provider

 

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