This week, Atomico’s 2023 State of European Tech report came out and highlighted the challenges faced by investors and founders in securing funding, reflecting a drop in investment levels comparable to those observed in 2021 and 2022. The report also emphasised the persistently inadequate funding for underrepresented founders. Despite these challenges, early-stage funding has maintained relative resilience throughout 2023, and Europe is witnessing a surge in the emergence of new founders, overtaking the US, in this regard.
The State of European Tech report also predicted that by the end of 2023, $45 billion will have been injected into European startups, marking a significant decline from the peak of $100 billion in 2021. Notably, Europe stands out as the only region where these numbers have increased, experiencing an 18% rise from 2020 levels. In contrast, the anticipated funding for the United States in 2023, totalling $120 billion, reflects a 1% decrease from 2020. Projections for China and the rest of the world indicate expected declines of 7% and 8%, respectively.
Amidst globally, a general trend of reduced funding rounds across various sectors, the landscape remains dynamic with noteworthy investments that demand attention. While funding levels may have experienced a dip, they are substantial enough to warrant acknowledgment. In light of this, we present a comprehensive roundup of the most significant funding rounds that should not be overlooked. These investments showcase the resilience and adaptability of businesses in navigating current economic conditions and signify pivotal developments within the funding ecosystem.
Tech funding rounds of November 2023
First up on this list is Scalestack, an NYC-based AI-powered data enrichment, prioritisation, and activation platform for RevOps. It snapped $1 million in its first funding round. The investment came from Ripple Ventures, Forum Ventures, Flyer One Ventures, Founders Network Fund, and others. The company intends to use the funds to expand its offerings and grow its reach in the market.
Moving on, there is Manchester, UK-based SeeChange Technologies specialising in retail-focused visual AI. It raised £8 million in seed funding led by TriplePoint, with participation from new investors – Runa Capital and True Capital, and original investor Crane Venture Partners. The funds will be used to expand commercial deployment and strengthen its commercial and support teams.
Next, we have the London-headquartered wealthtech platform Prosper plans to revolutionise how we save and invest. The new startup snapped £3.2 million angel round from founders of Monzo, Capital One, World First, Tandem, Azimo, Embark, Comply Advantage, and Connect, MMC, and Portfolio Ventures. With the fundraise, Prosper plans to build the Wise of wealthtech.
From the US, there is an NYC-based medical imaging technology company, Medmo announced a $9 million funding led by Lerer Hippeau, alongside existing investors Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), C2 Ventures, and Stone IsraVentures. An array of notable angel investors participated, including Elliot Cohen, Simon Bolz, and Dr. Simon Lorenz. The additional financing will be used to further accelerate the company’s rapid expansion and platform development.
Next on the list is a young startup, which is the brainchild of a 22-year-old founder. UK-based Artisan AI founded by Jaspar Carmichael-Jack and Rupert Dodkins raised $2.3 million to build the first human-like digital workers. Artisan AI will take part in the Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 batch starting in January. Other participants in the pre-seed round include Bayhouse Capital and Oliver Jung.
Moving on, Belgian startup VaultSpeed, an automated data transformation company, secured $15.9 million in Series A funding. This round was led by Octopus Ventures, with additional participation from Fortino Capital, PMV, and BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity. VaultSpeed intends to use the proceeds to expand its strong international presence with a particular focus on the UK and US markets and to further develop its platform automation capabilities.
Lynx, an AI-powered fraud prevention scale-up that detects fraud and financial crimes snapped £15 million in Series A funding led by Forgepoint Capital. It will use the investment to further develop an integrated anti-money laundering, cybersecurity, and fraud prevention platform.
Next, we have Virdee founded by Branigan Mulcahy and Nadav Cornberg. The Texas-headquartered startup specialising in guest experience technology and check-in automation for the hospitality sector raised $12.4 million in oversubscribed Series A funding. The round was led by Moneta Ventures.
Another US-based startup here is CoverSelf, a unified platform for healthcare claims and payment integrity to reduce claims inaccuracies and waste secured $3.4 million as a part of its seed round. It came from BEENEXT, 3One4 Capital, and new investor Z21 ventures, among others. The fresh capital will be used to grow operations, build generative AI capabilities, and increase headcount in sales and marketing as the business scales.
Moving on, there is Last.app, a Spanish business operating system for restaurants. It secured a €5 million funding round led by Nauta Capital with participation from All Iron and Bynd. Founded in 2019 by Iván and Eric Nikolic, it plans to use the funds to power restaurants across Europe.
In the AI segment, there is German AI startup Retorio, which grabbed €9 million for the expansion of its personalised AI coaching. New investors in the round include SquareOne, Porsche Ventures, and Storm Ventures.
One more startup from Texas is Dotwork, which provides flexible ways of working without sacrificing the ability to connect the dots from strategy to execution. It raised a $12 million Series A investment from Crane Capital Group.
Moving on to Europe yet again, there is Vienna-based Refurbed. The young startup closed a $57 million investment led by existing investors Evli, C4, and Speedinvest, with significant participation from All Iron and several new backers. Refurbed will continue to drive its mission to become the leading platform for sustainable products and services to empower consumers to purchase refurbished technology in a more accessible, risk-free, and sustainable manner.
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