New VC Funds
- EIB spearheads a new, €3.75Bn fund-of-funds to back EU's late-stage firms. The so-called European Tech Champions Initiative will invest in 10-15 VCs that participate in funding rounds amounting to €50M+ in commitments.
- Bain Capital Tech Opportunities finalizes a close of its second, $2.4Bn fund to invest in later-stage opportunities. The firm will especially focus on companies building within cybersecurity, healthcare IT, and/or fintech.
- Spanish health and biotech VC Asabys Partners hit the first €100M close of its €200M fund. The firm will invest throughout Europe, Israel, and the US, putting €2M to €5M in each of their bets.
- Estonian VC and accelerator Startup Wise Guys make the first, €25M closing of its €45M fund. The firm will back early-stage startups across B2B SaaS, Fintech, cybersecurity, XR, and sustainability spaces throughout CEE, Italy, Spain, and Africa.
- London-based Counteract announces the first £15M close of its £35M debut fund. The firm will fund carbon removal innovations across the globe.
- Lithuanian game dev veterans kickstart a Gamedev Fund to back PC/console games. The firm will put from €100K to €500K into a European studio with a playable demo.
CEE Startup Funding Rounds & Acquisitions
- Bulgarian drone airline for cargo deliveries Dronamics raises a $40M pre-series A to fund startups' global expansion. The round was joined by Founders Factory, Speedinvest, Eleven Capital, SeedBlink and the Strategic Development Fund.
- Estonian unmanned military vehicle producer Milrem Robotics sells out a majority stake to UAE's defence tech group EDGE. The size of the transaction remains undisclosed.
- Ukrainian AI/ML VC Roosh Ventures takes part in funding a $6.5M Series A of web3 loyalty platform Cub3. Aside from Roosh, the round was also joined by BITKRAFT Ventures, Fabric Ventures, CMT Digital, Compa Capital, Geometry Labs, Picks and Shovels, Red Beard Ventures and Sfermion.
- Czech period-proof underwear startup Snuggs raises 115M Kč round to support the company's further business growth. The round was joined by Wood & Company financial group, Nation 1 and the family office of the Bata family.
- Estonian crypto exchange Coinmetro acquires a fundraising platform, Ignium.io, to expand Coinmetro's offerings. The size of the transaction is reported to be around €4M.
- Polish EV charging network NOXO Energy raises a combined 17M PLN of equity and debt capital to expand the business. The funding was provided by JR Holding.
- Estonian micromobility group Kõu Mobility Group acquires local e-bike maker Ampler. The size of the transaction remains undisclosed.
- Ukrainian on-chain auction automation startup Kolibrio closes a $2M seed round to invest in product development and marketing activities. The round saw participation from Jump Crypto, Delta Blockchain Fund, Everstake Capital and several angel investors.
- Latvian product development platform Trace.Space gets $1.5M in pre-seed funding to grow its team and launch the first working MVP. The round was led by Fiedler Capital and joined by Change Ventures, Nebular, Tiny VC, Foreword VC, and Charlie Songhurst.
- CosmoEye closes a 3.9M PLN funding round to reinvest in the company's further business expansion. The round was led by Arkley brinc.
- Polish game asset processing platform Black Rose Projects raises a 3.6M PLN to finalize the development of its platform. The round was led by NCBiR.
- Polish insurtech platform Sandis nabs 700K PLN in funding to expand throughout Asia and South America. The round was made possible with the help of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.
- Carlson ASI EVIG Alfa announces 3 new investments in Polish startups: AI_Seller, which is a conversion/sales optimization e-commerce platform, Connect4Kids - a spine health service for kids/teens and True Moves, a producer of a watch strap helping digitize classical watches.
- Estonian invoicing platform for African SMBs, Dillali closes a bridge round to expand the business. The round was joined by Raw Ventures, Lemonade Stand, and DF Syndicate.
Startup Calls & Events
- Rubik Garage Accelerator 2023 invites CEE/SE startups to join its equity-free program. The program is open for post-MVP stage startups and will provide a 3-month-long program to reach crucial milestones like raising a new investment round or getting your first €2K of MRR and/or foreign expansion onto a new market. The applications will be accepted till the 5th of March.
- European-wide acceleration program for industrial-tech startups, Stage2 is open for post-MVP startups and will provide a 6-month-long program. The applications are open till the 26th of February.
- Eu-Startups and Silicon Castles are seeking Web3 and VR/AR/Metaverse startups to compete in a pitch competition. The Top 10 finalists will obtain a free ticket for the EU-Startups Summit, and the winner will obtain a free entry to the Startup Executive Academy by Silicon Castles. The applications for the competition will be accepted till the 25th of February.
Related Posts:
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, February 4 - 10, 2023 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, January 28 - February 3, 2023 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
VC & Startup Weekly News From CEE, January 21 - 27, 2023 (by Ilya Mikhalchyk-Kananenka, Community Builder, Vestbee)
