Europe is bouncing back to normalcy as the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 is gradually easing a bit. In an attempt to revive the lost economy, the tech startups and other businesses are kicking back to normal and are striving hard to go back to the pre-COVID era. As a result, several tech startups in Europe have made headlines in recent times. Some have launched new products and services and some others have received funding to expand their business and take the same to the next level.
Here is a roundup of what happened this week in the European tech startup arena brought to you by Silicon Canals, your most authentic source of European tech news with an edge.
Dutch leading fintech gets funding from prominent Dutch VC
Dutch fintech startup Floryn, formerly known as InvoiceFinance, got €9 million from Endeit Capital recently, also supported by existing shareholders Peak Capital. The Dutch startup, based in Den Bosch, finances loans of up to €2 million for small and medium-sized companies. Floryn will use part of the investment to recruit additional staff for product development. The rest of the amount will be used to fuel its national, and international expansion as demand for business loans in Europe has witnessed a surge of 98%.
Founded in 2016 by Sven van der Biezen (CEO), Marijn van Aerle (CTO) and Gion van den Bogaert (CFRO), the Netherlands-based company has raised €6 million in equity in 2017 from Peak Capital (known for Catawiki and OneFit) and Kalo Bagijn, co-founder of BinckBank and Brand New Day. In 2019, €60 million in financing was provided by NIBC and private investors, and currently, the company employs around 50 people.
London-based AI startup secures funding to tackle growing waste crisis
London-based Greyparrot that uses computer vision AI to scale efficient processing of recycling has secured £1.825 million (nearly €2.03 million) seed funding led by early-stage industrial tech investor Speedinvest along with participation from UK-based early-stage B2B investor, Force Over Mass.
The UK startup has trained a slew of machine learning models to identify various types of waste including glass, paper, newspaper, cardboard, cans and several types of plastic. This makes sorting recycling process more efficient and it applies automation and digitisation to the waste management industry. Greyparrot will use the fresh investment to further develop its product and expand into the global markets.
Claris launches its first open platform for developers
Claris, an Apple subsidiary announced the launch of FileMaker 19, its first open platform for developers to rapidly build sophisticated custom apps that leverage direct JavaScript integrations, AI via Apple’s Core ML, drag-and-drop add-ons, and more. With FileMaker 19, developers can be more productive and businesses can leverage its global community of developer resources to solve complex digital issues.
FileMaker 19 is fast, smart and extensible. It lets developers create in a snap with plug-and-play add-ons, use readily available JavaScript libraries, build smarter apps and more. Its additional features include the ability to create apps directly in the cloud and host where you want including both Windows and Mac.
SumUp expands e-commerce product lineup to support businesses
UK-based payments service SumUp has launched an online payment tool to help businesses adapt to the social distancing norms. The latest solution of SumUp is a part of the company’s ongoing push into the online retail industry as a part of its drive to provide a complete toolkit for merchants. With this new addition lets merchants showcase their products remotely enabling the making of taking of all payments for their businesses.
The SumUp online store is a SaaS product and comes with a subscription pricing and multi-tiered model. It also lets SMEs quickly set up and design their own online stores sans any previous knowledge of web design or technology.
Cloud-based voice platform gets funded
Paris-based Aircall, a cloud-based voice platform that helps businesses and teams to connect globally recently secured $65 million (nearly €58.6 million) Series C funding led by DTCP along with participation from new investors Adam Street and Swisscom along with existing UK-based existing investors Draper Esprit, Balderton Capital, eFounders, and NextWorld. This is the largest funding round secured by the French company till date taking its overall funding amount to $100 million (nearly €90.1 million).
Aircall will use this investment to expand into new markets across the world, double its customer base in Europe, enhance its leading tech capabilities and hire 100 new staff by the end of this year.
Former Bird UK chief joins Voi
The UK government is all set to accelerate trials of e-scooter rentals to reduce crowding on public modes of transportation and adhere to social distancing norms. In this attempt, Sweden-based Voi Technology has hired Richard Corbett, the former head of e-scooter giant Bird UK to head its Ireland, Benelux, and UK operations.
Corbett has helped the rival brand launch e-scooter rentals in the Netherlands. At Voi, Corbett will be responsible for leading the push into the UK market, where it expects to witness at least 50,000 rides per day in 2020 in London.
Stripe expands to five European countries
Europe has some of the largest and fastest-growing online economies in the world. This growth has been driven further by the accelerated shift towards online during the COVID-19 crisis. Adyen’s arch-rival lets more European entrepreneurs and businesses accept payments online from anywhere in the world within a few minutes. Already, Stripe exists in 39 countries, of which 29 are in Europe.
Now, the US fintech is coming to more European countries to make payment acceptance and money movement faster and simpler for everyone. With this expansion, online companies in Czech Republic, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, and Bulgaria can gain access to Stripe’s product stack to launch, operate and scale their business globally.
SaaS/enterprise tech VC firm increases investment
European SaaS/enterprise tech VC firm, Notion VC, has increased investment in new companies by 89% in the last 12 months. This way, it increases assets under management to $0.5 billion. Besides this, the VC firm also promoted Itxaso del Palacio to Partner. And, she will be responsible for B2B SaaS investments across Europe.
Palacio is a part of Notion since 2018 and has led investments into Yulife, Mya, and Forest Admin. This promotion comes at a time when Notion secured £125 million fourth venture fund in October last year and its recent hires roping in industry veteran Andy Leaver joining the firm. Notion has invested in more than 60 B2B tech startups since its debut in 2009 including companies such as GoCardless, Dixa, Paddle, Mews, CurrencyCloud, Unbabel, and Tradeshift.
Digital dentistry platform from Berlin secures funding
PlusDental, a Berlin-based digital dentistry platform has secured €32 million Series C funding from international investors. The investment was led by Hong Kong-based Ping An Global Voyager Fund, which joins it as a new investor. The others that have invested in the healthtech company include Christian Wegner, the founder of Re-commerce platform Momox, Lakestar, and HV Holtzbrinck.
Specialising in digital dentistry and aesthetic orthodontic treatments with clear aligners,. PlusDental will use this fresh Investment to develop its proprietary digital dentistry platform and continue expansion of business in Germany and Europe.
MaaS Global teams up with Finnish fintech startup
Maas Global, a leading Mobility as a Service provider has teamed up with Enfuce, the largest fintech startup in Finland to launch a card payment offering in the former’s all-inclusive mobility app, Whim. This partnership lets MaaS Global issue Mastercard prepaid cards securely and expand its offering to new markets.
Notably, MaaS Global revolutionises urban mobility by gathering all public and private transport services in convenient, travelling subscriptions. In partnership with Enfuce, MaaS Global accessed a flexible and fully scalable payment infrastructure solution. Enfuce’s close guidance will let MaaS Global offer Whim customers a reliable, efficient and most of all easy payment experience.
EZ Factory secures growth boost
EZ Factory, a supplier of mobile apps used in production environments has secured €720k growth boost. With this investment, the company is expected to break even by the end of this year. Notably, the Eindhoven-based tech startup develops innovative and user-friendly apps to support operational teams in factories. These tools let them work more efficiently and improve the process continuously.
They developed EZ-GO, a digital application that facilitates autonomous maintenance, work instructions, inspections, and audits. This makes factories safer and more efficient, allows operators to suggest improvements and makes results available in a real-time dashboard.
Main image picture credits: Floryn
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