European startups raised $85B in funding this year, according to the VC firm Atomico's annual State of European Tech report. Overall funding rounds in Europe dropped by $15B compared to 2021. However, 2021 may well have been an outlier year following COVID-19 lockdowns. The report also cites the war in Ukraine, economic uncertainty, and an "unfriendly regulatory environment" as reasons for the drop in funds. More: - European IPOs plunged by 30% compared to 2021.
- There were just three IPOs this year compared to 86 last year.
- Unicorn valuations are down. In 2022, 31 startups garnered a $1B+ valuation compared to 105 in 2021.
- European startups broke records in H1 2022, with 133 startups raising $100M or more in a single round.
- This trend slowed tremendously in H2, with just 37 $100M or more rounds.
- Overall, 87% of VC funding in Europe went to all-male-founded teams, while just 1.4% went to all-minority-founded startups and just 1% to all-female-founded ones.
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Fintech startup Plaid reduced its workforce by 20% (260 employees). CEO Zach Perret said the company's revenue growth "did not materialize as quickly as expected" due to the "economic slowdown." Perret said Plaid's cost growth outpaced its revenue growth without providing specific numbers. More: - Plaid raised $425M at a $13.4B valuation in April 2021.
- Visa scrapped plans to acquire Plaid for $5.4B in January 2021 after the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit.
- The layoffs will impact multiple divisions, including engineering.
- In March, CTO Jean-Denis Greze noted Plaid's engineering team increased by 17.5x between 2018-2022 to 350.
- Impacted employees will get at least 16 weeks of severance and a cash payment to cover six months of healthcare premiums.
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Indian venture firm Blume Ventures received $250M in capital commitments towards its fourth fund against an initial target of $200M. Blume is targeting seed-stage investments in edtech, fintech, health, commerce, consumer internet, robotics, artificial intelligence, SaaS, and enterprise software domains. More: - Blume has over $600M in assets under management.
- It has backed 30-35 companies to date, most notable of which are courier startup Dunzo, social media platform Koo, and health tech startup HealthifyMe.
- The fund is the firm’s largest to date and more than twice the size of the firm’s third $102M fund, which closed in 2018.
- The company expects to back 35 startups with the capital secured.
- The larger fund size will allow the firm to write larger checks and earmark a portion of the fund for follow-on investments.
Zoom out: - Last year, Indian startups nabbed a record-setting $39B in venture funding.
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Qatalog launched a 2.0 version of its platform today that leverages generative AI to develop customized applications for organizations according to the input parameters provided. The platform can assemble a “made-to-measure” software by giving the platform information about the organization’s industry, size, and structure. More: - The British startup emerged from stealth in October 2020 with a $15M Series A round led by Atomico.
- Qatalog’s initial aim was to unify SaaS tools in organizations.
- Since then, the company has developed a generative AI engine, called QatalogAI, as part of its efforts to make a structured, scalable, and unified Work Hub.
- The firm intends to further develop its platform by adding task automation and intelligent recommendations feature over the next 12 months.
- Tariq Rauf, a former global product lead at Amazon, founded the firm in 2019.
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Setpoint, a startup that builds software to close loans faster, raised $43M in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Setpoint focuses on any asset-backed lending and says its revenue grew 13x YoY through the third quarter of 2022. More: - The startup developed software that "makes loan transactions instant, automated, and error-free."
- Setpoint ensures document verification and automates interest calculations.
- Proptechs are already using the software, with Opendoor and Offerpad as Setpoints' main clients.
- Setpoint initially supported real estate lending and is now facilitating asset-backed loans as well as providing credit to proptechs.
- So far, as a lender, Setpoint has loaned or guaranteed over $2 billion in capital to companies such as Homeward, Opendoor, Flyhomes, and Houwzer.
- Stonecroft, 75andSunny, Fifth Wall, 645 Ventures, NextView Ventures, LiveOak Venture Partners, Vesta Ventures, and ATX Venture Partners participated in the company's latest round of funding.
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Treble Technologies raised €5.5M ($5.7) Seed to scale its "proprietary technology for sound simulation and spatial audio in virtual environments." The Iceland-based startup raised another €2.5M from the European Innovation Council. More: - Nordic VC Frumtak Ventures led the round with participation from NOVA and several Angel investors.
- The startup's cloud-based platform can help architects predict how sound will move their buildings and make metaverse and other virtual worlds feel more immersive via realistic acoustics.
- Architects can hear how sounds will affect their spaces by exploring them in virtual reality (VR).
- The company plans to scale its network and infrastructure before its public beta launch in H1 2023.
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- Former Amazon CEO of worldwide consumer business Dave Clark is amongst the dozen former Amazon directors and executives who have joined logistics startup Flexport.
- The State of Louisiana contributed $5M to Tulane University Innovation Institute’s startup fund. The $10M fund program will support women- and minority-led startups in the state.
- Data transformation startup Coalesce.io bolstered its executive team with three new hires. Stewart Bryson, John Gontarz, and Wade Tibke join the firm as its head of customer experience, head of solutions architecture, and senior vice president of marketing, respectively.
- XFactor emerged from stealth with a go-to-market and annual operations planning platform. The firm nabbed $10M in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
- GTY Technologies acquired Seattle-based startup DemandStar for an undisclosed sum. The latter provides a public sector bidding marketplace and has raised $2M in seed funding in 2020.
- Auto financing startup Carputty intends to double its workforce and expand its customer base to 50 states after securing a $12.3M Series A round co-led by Fontinalis Partners and TTV Capital.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Jigney Pathak is a Business Researcher at Inside who loves technology, finance & sports. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a finance specialization & has previously worked at Salesforce.
Courtney Rawlings is an Inside Research Analyst living in Los Angeles, California. She has returned to her hometown of LA after spending several years working at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History.
Martin Ruiz-Cantu has an MS in Global Business and Finance from Georgetown University. He previously worked for HSBC and the World Bank.
| | | | Editor | Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike. | |
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