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

 

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Deals

Early stage

🇸🇪 ​Talendary​, developing a B2B recruitment SAAS using AI, raised a pre-seed funding round with local angels. 

🇸🇪 ​Motorica​, developing a generative AI tool for motion synthesis, was also pre-seeded in a deal closed last summer.

🇩🇰 ​Proprty​, developing a SAAS platform using AI for the automation of a Property Condition Assessment (PCA) and Maintenance planning, also raised pre-seed money.

🇫🇷 ​Rounded​, building an AI orchestration platform that lets anyone build an AI voice agent, raised $600k from angel investors.

🇳🇴 ​Seen​, developer of a SAAS platform for data-driven video analytics, raised $1 million in a bridge round with Velocity Capital.

🇩🇪 ​Venta​, developing an AI agent used for sales outreach, raised $2 million seed.

• part of Y Combinator two summers ago, and pivoted recently to an agent business.

🇧🇪 ​Hyperfox​, developing an AI-driven order processing platform for logistics and ecommerce, raised $2.3 million seedwith Volta Ventures, JK Invest, LRM and Birdhouse Ventures. 

 

Later stage

🇬🇧 ​Beams​, operating a home renovation marketplace, raised $9 million series A round led by ETF Partners, with participation from Giant Ventures, firstminute capital and Borusan Ventures.

• pre-seeded by Giant Ventures in 2023, upon formation - ​founder​ also works for the VC as a venture partner.
• in 2024, added first minute and Borusan to the captable via a $4 million seed deal.
• yet to be profitable but "close to breakeven" - since launch, they have been involved in £4 million worth of projects, are currently active on 130 renovations and have completed 25.
• the renovation market is worth £380 billion in Europe and £5.5 billion in London alone.

🇬🇧 ​nsave​, building a banking service that provides Swiss saving accounts for the middle-class in distressed economies, raised an $18 million Series A investment led by TQ Ventures with participation from Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, ACE Ventures, and Proton Foundation.

• went to YC in summer of 2022, post which Sequoia led the seed round, extended last year.

🇹🇷 ​Grand Games​, a gaming studio development, raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Balderton, joined by insiders Bek Ventures and Laton Ventures.

• VCs aiming for repeating the Dream Games success, a Turkish gaming startup acquired by Zynga in June 2020 for $1.8 billion. 
• that deal was financed by Earlybird's team - now spun off into Bek Ventures.
• this current deal is also notably a markup for them, the Turkish VC have pre-seeded the startup with 3 million early last year. 
• fourth gaming startup backed by non-Turkish investors betting on the local gaming scene not being a one time wonder - Balderton (having also ​invested​ in Agave and Dream) and Index Ventures (​invested​ in Dream and Bigger). Out of those three startup names, Dream Games is the more advanced as it was priced at $2.75 billion by late stage investors at peak market in 2022.

🇮🇪 ​NomuPay​, selling a payments and payouts platform used in Southeast Asia, Europe and Turkey, raised $37 million in a series B deal co-led by Endeit Capital with Uneti Ventures, joined by Finch Capital and Outpost Ventures.

• the company was founded via a purchase of select WireCard assets back in 2021.
• raised an additional $53.6 million from Finch Capital and Outpost Ventures in 2023, when it also acquired a British payment processor.
• now running profitably at a $20 million ARR, produced by handling business for 1600 merchants, mostly based in ASEAN countries.
• also worth noting - Uneti Ventures chipped in money for equity after they had been brought in as due dill consultants - it is ​an investment vehicle​ operated by a group of ex-Adyen people

🇸🇪 ​Qvantum​, manufacturer of next gen heat pumps, raised $100 million series C led by IMAS Foundation.

• in 2023, Europe had approximately 24 million heat pumps installed and annual sales of around 3 million heat pumps - the EU target is reaching a market of 60 million installed pumps by 2030.
• the Swedes kicked off a local production facility that should make about 50 000 heat pumps per year.

🇬🇧 ​Verdiva Bio​, developing an Ozempic-like alternative, raised $410 million in a series A co-led by Forbion and General Atlantic.

• one of the largest series A rounds in Europe's history, larger than the entire funding total for metabolism and weight management companies in Europe in 2024, per Dealroom.
• going after Ozempic's market as it is developing treatments for people living with obesity.
• seasoned founding team, formerly of Boehringer Ingelheim and Novo Nordisk, building on an asset for which it acquired global development and commercialization rights outside of greater China and South Korea from Sciwind Biosciences in 2024.

 

Investors

On the move

🇸🇪 ​Oscar Engqvist​ was promoted to a principal position at General Atlantic after having spent almost four years in the London office.

🇫🇷 ​Ethan Imboden​ was promoted to a partner position at Tuesday Capital after spending one year in the Paris office.

• Tuesday Capital is a US-based venture seed company founded by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch founder fame - ​Euro portfolio​.

🇬🇧 ​Sven Kili​ was promoted to a partner position at Saisei Ventures, after having worked as an advisor with the company for 18 months.

 

Powder

🇪🇸 White Summit Capital secured ​€350 million​ in commitments for an infrastructure fund focused on decarbonisation.

🇧🇪 Smartfin closed a third growth fund at a ​€250 million​ hard cap.

🇫🇷 Flexstone Partners also closed a secondary fund at ​€200 million​.

🇧🇪 Capricorn Partners announced a first ​€51 million​ close for a second fund focused on health-tech startups in Benelux.

🇫🇮 Superhero Capital launched a fourth fund targeting ​€50 million​.

🇬🇧 Defiant made a first ​$30 million​ close for a $70 million debut fund doing late seed and series A deals in Europe.

• remember the investors becoming software companies with a VC model ​thesis​? Those guys seem to fit the bill, as they have also announced two native products, ​one​ for sourcing and ​the other​ for portco's benchmarking.

 

Also notable

🇬🇧 Blossom Capital, Ten Eleven Ventures and Eurazeo exited from Cato Security, a British developer of an agentless, cloud-native forensics solution, acquired by Darktrace for an ​undisclosed amount​.

• the Brits have raised $10 million A series back in 2021, followed by the B at $20 million in 2023.
• ICYMI, Darktrace was acquired by Thoma Bravo for ​$5.3 billion​ last year.

🇺🇸 Iconiq Capital hired former president of Datadog, ​Amit Agarwal​, as a general partner.

 

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