August, the second month of Q3 2021, was very abundant in terms of funding presented within the VC ecosystem in CEE. The disclosed funding in the region exceeded an impressive amount of €640M, however, it was mainly the result of a huge investment in one of the leaders of the mobility market - Estonian Bolt, whose Series E round reached €600M. Among the top areas that attracted investors’ attention were Health Care, Mobility, SaaS, Cyber Security, Finance and AI.
Now, let’s have a look into TOP August startup funding rounds in CEE!
Bolt
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Launch date: 2013
Funding Round: Series E €600M
Funding Source: D1 Capital Partners, G Squared, Ghisallo Partners, Naya Capital, Sequoia Capital, Tekne Capital
Total funding received: €1.1B
Estonia-based, Bolt is a transportation platform providing ride-hailing, micromobility, and food delivery services. The company creates an ecosystem that connects cars and motorcycles renting, scooter sharing, or food delivery from restaurants. Startup has recently raised €600M at €4B+ valuation to increase its reach in the competitive grocery delivery market. The round was led by world-famous Sequoia Capital and accompanied by other well-known investors like D1 Capital Partners, G Squared, Ghisallo Partners, Naya Capital and Tekne Capital.
Aether Biomedical
Location: Poznan, Poland
Launch date: 2017
Funding Round: Seed €3M
Funding Source: Chiratae Ventures, Joyance Partners, Story Ventures, Sunfish Partners
Total funding received: €4.3M
Poland-based Aether Biomedical, founded in 2017, is a medical robotics startup with the goal of making bionics accessible for everybody. The company is focused on building Zeus - a low-cost, high efficacy bionic limb for upper limb amputees. Aether Biomedical has recently secured a Seed round in the amount of €3M led by Story Ventures and accompanied by Chiratae Ventures, Joyance Partners, and Sunfish Partners. The funds will be allocated to further technology development and also expansion in the US market.
Cardiomatics
Location: Cracow, Poland
Launch date: 2017
Funding Round: Seed €2.7M
Funding Source: Innovation Nest, Kaya, Nina Capital, Nova Capital Management
Total funding received: €3.5M
Polish Cardiomatics is a startup that brings AI to cardiac diagnosis and treatment. Its tool enables cardiologists to optimize their workflow to treat more patients and allows general practitioners to examine patients without the need to refer them to specialistic hospitals. The startup has recently secured a seed round in the amount of €2.7M led by Kaya. Among other participating investors were Innovation Nest, Nina Capital, and Nova Capital Management (The seed round includes a $1M non-equity grant from the Polish National Centre of Research and Development). Raised funds will be allocated to accelerating the solution development.
SKY ENGINE AI
Location: Warsaw, Poland / London, UK
Launch date: 2018
Funding Round: Seed €1M
Funding Source: Movens Capital, High-Tech Gründerfonds
Total funding received: undisclosed
Polish-UK SKY ENGINE AI, founded in 2018, is a developer platform advancing artificial intelligence. The startup among many features enables building optimal, customised AI models from scratch and training them in Virtual Reality. SKY ENGINE AI has recently secured €1M in a seed round led by Polish Movens Capital and German High-Tech Gründerfonds. Secured funds will help a startup with accelerating its growth and product innovation to maintain its strong position in the Machine Learning industry.
Trickest
Location: Belgrade, Serbia
Launch date: 2018
Funding Round: Seed €1.4M
Funding Source: Credo Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, Daniel Dines and Marius Tirca (CEO and CTO of UiPath)
Total funding received: €1.4M
Founded in 2020, Serbian Trickest, is a cyber-security startup building a workflow automation platform for bug bounty hunters, penetration testers, and enterprise security teams. Recently secured funds during a seed round in the amount of €1.4M led by Credo Ventures and accompanied by Earlybird Digital East Fund and business angels (CEO and CTO of UiPath - Daniel Dines and Marius Tirca), will be used to accelerate hiring and support the company’s early access launch.
Remato
Location: Tartu, Estonia
Launch date: 2018
Funding Round: Seed €1.4M
Funding Source: Lemonade Stand, Passion Capital, Spring Capital, Superangel
Total funding received: €2M
Estonian Remato, founded in 2018, is a construction tech startup that digitizes the construction sector (mainly the SMBs). Among other things, the startup enables field contractors to easily plan projects, manage the assets & monitor their usage and track work schedule and time consumption. Remato has recently been supported by London-based Passion Capital with the support of other VC investors like Spring Capital, Superangel and Kaamos Group. The secured funds will be allocated for developing the platform and further expansion of Remato’s activities in UK market.
Spaceit
Location: Tartu, Estonia
Launch date: 2015
Funding Round: Pre-seed €1M
Funding Source: Icebreaker.vc
Total funding received: €1.1M
Estonia-based Spaceit is an aerospace startup developing a platform for satellite operations, ground station services, and cybersecurity. Among offered services are a cloud-based Mission Control System (MCS) - a set of tools and activities to operate satellites, ground stations allowing for communication with spacecraft, and other supportive tools & services. The recently secured funding from a pre-seed round in the amount of €1M led by Icebreaker.vc will be allocated to further development of the platform.
Staffly
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Launch date: 2019
Funding Round: Undisclosed €220K
Funding Source: Czysta3.vc
Total funding received: €220K
Warsaw-based Staffly, founded in 2019, is an HR tech startup developing an application for employers and employees in high-rotation industries such as logistics, gastronomy, hotel industry, trade, and production. The startup is working on an innovative technology called psychometric testing of candidates to solve the problem of mismatch between employees and the workplace. Staffly has recently closed the venture round in the amount of €220K from Czysta3.vc and secured funds will be used for further solution development.
Frontu (formerly Tasker)
Location: Kaunas, Lithuania
Launch date: 2019
Funding Round: Seed (extension) €550K
Funding Source: iTo, LT Capital, Open Circle Capital
Total funding received: €2.1M
Frontu is a Lithuanian field service management software provider. The startup is working on a digital solution for field service companies that enables them to save time and resources, optimize business processes, and improve employee’s well-being. Frontu has recently secured a seed extension round in the amount of €550K from LT Capital, Open Circle Capital and iTo Group, which will be spent on expansion, increasing innovation and boosting the growth of the company.
Montonio Finance
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Launch date: 2018
Funding Round: Seed €2.5M
Funding Source: 365.fintech, ff Venture Capital, Tera Ventures
Total funding received: €3M
Founded in 2018, Estonian startup Montonio Finance is a one-stop-shop for online businesses. The company is developing a financing solution that lets the customer buy the product now & pay later and compare offers from multiple lenders in real-time. On the other hand, Montonio provides merchants with open banking payment solution that can cut up costs. Recently, the startup has secured a seed round in the amount of €2.5M led by Tera Ventures and accompanied by 365.fintech, ff Venture Capital, and various business angels including Bolt’s CEO, Wise’s former Head of Operations, and many others. Acquired financing will boost the expansion in European markets.
Sources: Vestbee VC & startup community, startup press releases, web & social media monitoring, Crunchbase
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