It is one of the poster child’s of the Dutch startup scene: Blendle, the Spotify for journalism. Now, they have raised a new funding round with Nikkei, the publishing powerhouse famous for the Nikkei Index and owning the Financial Times, and the Dutch, pension fund backed VC fund Inkef Capital. One of the founders, Marten Blankesteijn, leaves the company after 6,5 years. What does this mean for the future of the promising startup?
Million-euro range?
Although the size of the round hasn’t been announced, it is safe to assume it is in the million-euro range. However, rumors were spreading that Blendle had a tough time raising a follow-up round after they made a big splash with the €3M that New York Times and Axel Springer put together. Not disclosing the size of the next round, usually means bad news: it’s either a “down round” (raised against a lower valuation as the previous one) or a relatively small amount. Or worse: both.