Technology industry M&A deals Spring 2022
Here is a summary of some of the key investments in Europe during Q1 2022:
Internet and Games
London-based Proptech investment service IMMO has closed $75m (£57.5m) with Oak HC/FT in a Series B funding round. IMMO announced that it will use the fund for the purchase of 10,000 homes across Europe, together with recruitment and other operations.
Led by an American venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund 2, gaming technology company Improbable has secured $150m (£115m) funding. The company works with developers, entertainment companies, government and the academic world and aims to create metaverse network and ecosystem through virtual worlds.
Oorbit, an Interactive entertainment metaverse company, closed its seed round fund at $5m (£3.8m), which was led by Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban, Pixelynx (deadmau5) and HOF Capital.
Sona, a shift worker platform, has gained $6.8m (£5.1m) in its seed round. Google’s Gradient Ventures led this funding. It will be used to hire talent, aiming to increase its engineering and product development capacity.
A Manchester-based platform for reducing carbon footprints, Sourceful, has raised $20m (£15.2m) in its Series A round. Index Ventures led this investment, in addition to funding from Coatue and Eka Ventures.
Staffordshire-based ecommerce platform Moot has secured $18m (£13.8m) from Espresso Capital. The fund goes toward its online sales unification service. Moot unifies all the e-commerce channels that brands have and allow them to manage them in a single platform.
London-based ecommerce company The Mothership raised £16.7m funding from private investors, namely TCU Trading founder James Lovett and Jonathan Quin, founder of payments business World First. The fund allows the company to further expand digital merchants’ networks.
Workplace mental health startup Oliva has secured a fundraise of £4.84m in a seed funding round. Based in London, Oliva help employees to cope with mental health problems around work, such as burnout, low self-esteem and anxiety.
At the Series E round, Turkish delivery service Getir has announced its $768m (£585m) funding led by Mubadala Investment Company. The capital will be a fuel to beat the other players in the very competitive market.
Video game giant Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, has announced its fundraising of $2 billion, led by Sony. The company races into building metaverse by using the fund.
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Software
London-based Tru.id, a startup providing digital authentication, closed $4.8m (£3.6m) in a seed funding round, which comes from Sorenson Ventures. This fund follows a £3m investment by Episode 1, MMC Ventures and NHN Ventures this February. Tru.ID makes use of mobile network’s cryptography technology to replace passwords with an API authentication.
Vaarst, a marine robotics company based in Bristol, closed a series B funding round at $20m (£15.2m), led by Legal & General Capital and Equinor. The company stated that it will use the investment for computer vision and data management technology. It also plans to expand into different cities including Austin, Texas and Tokyo, Japan and improve its overall presence across Europe.
Parcelly, a logistics tech platform from London raised a Series A funding round of $6.7m (£5m). Led by Scania Growth Capital, the funding will help the company expand into the European continent and US. It also has a plan to increase the number of employees to triple over the course of six months. The service aims to make use of underutilised spaces which ecommerce services can use for storage or distribution hubs.
Avnio – a sales automation service based in London, has gained a capital of £3m in a seed round led by a venture capital firm Felicis Ventures. Integrated in the Salesforce platform, the software automates manual tasks in sales function of organizations, through artificial intelligence.
Omnipresent, a remote hiring and onboarding software provider, has gained £90.7m ($120m) at its Series B funding round. Swedish investment firm Kinnevik and Tencent of China have led the round, together with Uncorrelated Ventures from San Francisco.
Breedr – a company that helps farmers to keep records about animals and sell them as products on the trading platform, has closed its funding round at £12m, which was led by Investbridge Capital as a part of its AgTech Fund.
Procurement software company Contingent has secured a $8.2m (£6.25m) funding led by Octopus Ventures. Used by organizations such as Monzo or the UK government, it aims to help businesses to follow regulations and mitigate third-party risks regarding procurement and supply chain management.
Amplience, a London-based software company providing no-coding omnichannel platforms for B2B and B2C businesses, secured a $100m (£76.5m) Series D funding round coming from Fairview Equity Partners, Sixth Street and previous investor Octopus Ventures.
Bodyguard.ai, a French startup using AI model to moderate excessive opinions on social medias, raised €9m for expanding globally. The investment came mainly from Keen Venture Partners and Ring Capital.
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Fintech
London-based financial support app Wagestream has announced the raise of £135m in a Series C round led by Smash Capital. The app enables frontline workers to control their finances by saving money, getting advice from coaches and investing their wages into stocks directly.
Capital on Tap – London-based business credit cards service with spending controls and reporting functions, has completed a $200m (£153.6m) funding round led by HSBC, together with Värde Partners. The new fund goes to the expansion of its SME funding service in the US.
Stenn – a digital financing platform based in London has announced that it finished a $50m (£38.4m) equity funding round from Centerbridge, an US-based private equity firm. Stenn is known for its invoice financing service targeting SMEs, by analysing their credit and fraud risks.
Digital wealth management service MoneyBox raised £35m for its Series D funding. Led by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, the capital will be used for planning and investing on products focused on longer term wealth generation.
Jaguar Land Rover’s investment fund InMotion Ventures and several other firms such as VentureFriends have participated in a seed round funding of £27m for Motoring fintech Carmoola. The London-based car finance app allows users to instantly check the amount of money they can borrow for new cars, without any broker commission. The startup is backed by other firms and angel investors, namely Dan Cobley, the former UK and Ireland MD of Google.
Credit card provider Yonder has closed a £20m seed round, led by Northzone and LocalGlobe. The London-based startup provides credit card access to expats and those with relatively smaller credit files. The capital will help grow the whole team and add rewards and features to the service.
Financial modelling software startup Causal, which describes itself as ‘spreadsheet killer’, closed a Series A funding at £15m, which was co-led by Coatue and Accel. The new fund will be put towards expansion of the entire team.
Lendable, a loans service based in London, has secured £210m in its latest funding round, led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. Lendable gives out loans within hours using AI technology, together with automation in underwriting. The new fund will help creating new products and further expansion.
In a seed-stage funding, Kolleno, a London-based credit control service for SMEs, raised £4m, led by Eurazeo and Stride.VC. Kolleno’s service helps solve late payment issues among the business.
Thirdfort, a platform providing ID verification services to help prevent money laundering and fraud, secured £15m in a Series A funding round, which was led by Breega and Element Ventures. The founders of ComplyAdvantage, Tessian, Fenergo, R3, Funding Circle and Fidel also participated in the round.
SteadyPay, a payment platform for gig/freelance workers, has closed a $5m (£4m) funding round led by Digital Horizon. The app shows average income by month, suggesting to top up when the figure falls off from it.