European venture capital funding is skyrocketing and has reached a milestone in the most recent quarter. As per a new study by Dealroom, European startups (excluding Israel) have raised €8.7 billion, which is a 44% increase as compared to the same period last year. However, it did not surpass the funding raised by the European startups in the second quarter of the year, which is a record high of €9.3 billion.
Among the investment raised by European startups, a majority has been obtained by companies in the UK, Germany, and France. And, the overall funding raised by the companies this year so far is already all set surpass the €28 billion raised back in 2018 and we have a quarter left.
Having said that, here we list the 10 largest rounds in Europe in Q3 2019 as sourced from Dealroom.
Babylon Health – London – €495M
Founders: Ali Parsa
Total Funding: €577 million
Valuation: $2 billion
Founded year: 2013
Babylon is a London-based digital health service provider, which combines Artificial Intelligence with the medical expertise of humans. Babylon delivers complete access to healthcare including personalised health assessments, treatment advice and face-to-face appointments with a doctor 24/7. The company was founded with the mission to make affordable healthcare accessible for everyone.
Babylon raised €495 million Series C funding round in August this year. The company saw new strategic investors participating in the funding round including PIF, which is one of the largest sovereign funds in the world, ERGO Fund of global reinsurer Munich Re, and existing shareholders including Vostok New Ventures and Kinnevik AB.
FlixBus – Munich – €500M
Founders: André Schwammlein, Daniel Krauss, Jochen Engert
Total Ffunding: €500 million
Valuation: $2 billion
Founded year: 2013
FlixBus is a leading platform for long-term bus service in Europe spanning across 26 countries. It is a budget and green travel with high-quality standards. These buses provide onboard entertainment, Wi-Fi, power outlets at every seat and space to keep two pieces of luggage for each passenger. Being a part of FlixMobility, FlixBus focuses on environment-friendly and sustainable travel.
In July 2019, FlixBus raised a funding around €500 million in a Series F round, bringing valuation of more than $2 billion. The funding round was led by private equity houses TCV and Permira along with existing investors, including Holtzbrinck Ventures and European Investment Bank. Notably, it was Germany’s biggest tech funding round to date.
Klarna – Stockholm – €410M
Founders: Niklas Adalberth, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Victor Jacobsson
Total Funding: €791 million
Valuation: $5.5 billion
Founded year: 2005
Klarna based in Sweden is an e-commerce payment solution provider meant for merchants and shoppers. It was founded with the aim to make it simpler and easier for people to shop online. Now, Klarna is one of the largest fintech firms in Europe serving over 60 million users across 14 countries. It offers direct payments, pay after delivery options and instalment plans in a smooth one-click purchase experience.
In August, Klarna, raised $460 million (approx €410 million) in an equity funding round. The funding round was led by Silicon Valley-based Dragoneer Investment Group along with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, HMI Capital, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. This investment makes Klarna becomes the largest private Fintech in Europe.
BioNTech – Mainz – €295M
Founders: Christoph Huber, Ugur Sahin
Total Funding: €600 million
Valuation: $2.5 billion
Founded year: 2008
BioNTech is one of the largest privately-held biopharmaceutical companies in Europe pioneering the development of individualised therapies for cancer and other major diseases. This German biotech startup combines all building blocks of immunotherapy ranging from diagnosis to drug development under one roof.
In July, BioNTech raised $325 million (nearly €295 million) in Series B funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company with participation from both new and existing investors, including Redmile Group, Invus, MiraeAsset Financial Group, Platinum Asset Management, Jebsen Capital, Steam Athena Capital, BVCF Management and the Struengmann Family Office.
CMR Surgical – Cambridge – €218M
Founders: Luke Hares, Mark Slack, Martin Frost
Total Funding: €351 million
Valuation: $1 billion
Founded year: 2014
CMR Surgical focuses on making minimal access surgery available for everyone. It is a medical device company, which aims to bring a paradigm shift in the robot-assisted surgery industry. One of the products launched by CMR Surgical is Versius and it is a next-generation tool aimed to fit seamlessly into the operating rooms and work with surgeons provide better healthcare services.
Last month, CMR Surgical secured £195 million (nearly €218 million) funding, which is Europe’s largest private financing round in the medtech sector. The funding came from existing investors such as LGT, Escala Capital Investments, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Watrium, and Zhejiang Silk Road Fund and new US investors with deep sector knowledge.
Signavio – Berlin – €157M
Founders: Gero Decker, Mathias Weske, Nicolas Peters, Torben Schreiter, Willi Tscheschner
Total Funding: €208 million
Valuation: $400 million
Founded year: 2009
Signavio is a leading provider of business transformation solutions based in Berlin. The company’s Business Transformation Suite lets customers effective mine, model, monitor, manage, and maintain their business processes. Signavio’s intelligent decision-making tools address operational excellence, digital transformation, and customer-centricity that take place at the heart of organisations. As of now, the company’s software is used by over one million users across industries and geographies including Deloitte, Bosch, SAP, and more. It has nine offices across the world and is expanding its presence in select countries.
Back in July this year, Signavio announced that it raised $177 million (nearly €157 million) investment led by Apax Digital along with participation from DTCP. The existing investor Summit Partners will retain an equity stake in the company.
N26 – Berlin – €154M
Founders: Maximilian Tayenthal, Valentin Stalf
Total Funding: €621 million
Valuation: $3.5 billion
Founded year: 2013
N26 is Europe’s most valuable fintech giant offering current accounts and seamless banking services. The company offers overdraft and premium current accounts to its customers and lets them manage their accounts across any device. What’s more interesting is that N26 lets customers open an account via a video chat with IDnow, its identity verification partner. Notably, customers hold a total sum of €1 billion in N26 accounts and it has carried a transaction volume of €20 billion as of earlier this year.
In July, N26 announced a $170 million (nearly €154 million) extension to its Series D funding of $470 million raised in January this year. This makes N26 the highest valued German startup. The investment comes from some of the world’s most established investors including Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Tencent, Allianz X, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, and Greyhound Capital.
Acronis – Schaffhausen – €133M
Founders: Jack Zubarev, Oleg Melnikov, Serguei Beloussov, Stanislav Protassov
Total Funding: €144 million
Valuation: $1 billion
Founded year: 2003
Acronis is a Swiss cybersecurity unicorn, which solves safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security obstacles with secure and efficient backup, security, disaster recovery, and enterprise file sync and share solutions working in hybrid cloud environments. Acronis protects all data, applications, and systems including physical, virtual, cloud, and mobile workloads with its award-winning active protection technology based on Artificial Intelligence, data authentication based on blockchain, and unique hybrid-cloud architecture.
A couple of weeks back, Acronis became a unicorn after raising $147 million (nearly €133 million) from Goldman Sachs.
AM-Pharma – Bunnik – €116M
Founders: Martin Hessing
Total Funding: €170 million
Valuation: €464 million – €696 million
Founded year: 2000
AM-Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and commercialisation of therapeutics for human use in the Netherlands. The company focuses on the pre-clinical and clinical development of novel therapeutics to treat both inflammatory and infectious ailments. AM-Pharma develops products based on endogenous proteins and protein-derived peptides and molecules that naturally occur in the human body.
AM-Pharma pocketed €116 million funding led by new investors LSP and Andera Partners, and includes founding investor Forbion along with existing investors, including Ysios Capital, Kurma Partners, ID Invest Partners, BB Pureos Bioventures and Gilde Healthcare.
Wifirst – Pessac – €115M
Founders: Aurélien Géron, Marc Taieb
Total Funding: €115 million
Valuation: €460 million – €690 million
Founded year: 2002
Wifirst is a French leader in managed WiFi on Hospitality & Résidences markets. The telecom operator is committed to continuous innovation by offering a network capable of absorbing the spectacular rise in Internet usage. It also offers high value-added services and ensures to make WiFi the technical base for the digital transformation of its customers.
Wifirst secured €115 million funding from Amundi Private Equity Funds, BPI France and Socadif Capital in September. These investors have acquired a 55% stake in France-based startup from the Bolloré Group.
Main image picture credits: FlixBus
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