VC and PE Deals Summer 2021
Here is a summary of some of the key venture capital and private equity investments in the software, internet, fintech and broader technology sectors during the summer of 2021.
Internet
Munich-based FlixMobility, best known in Europe for its tech friendly bus service network, FlixBus and train service FlixTrain picked up a record $650 million in Series G funding. The investment round was led by Canyon Partners along with participation from existing investors such as General Atlantic, Permira and TCV.
Glasgow-based foodtech startup ENOUGH – a pioneer in high-scale sustainable protein production secured €42 million in Series B funding led by Nutreco.
GoStudent – a Vienna-based edtech scaleup offering a digital learning platform for online education and the future of tutoring picked up €205 million in Series C funding round led by investor DST Global.
Oxford-based Oxwash – a laundry tech startup, raised £2.08 million in a seed funding round. The investment came from the former Pinterest and Beyond Meat backers, Future Positive Capital, Clean Ventures and Conduit-Ascension EIS Impact Fund.
London-based Caura, a vehicle management platform founded by former Apple exec Dr Sai Lakshmi, has secured $4.2 million. TwinFocus Capital Partners led the seed round.
Google and Toyota backed mobility technology company WhereIsMyTransport raised £10.3 million. The funding infusion is led by Naspers Foundry, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, and SBI Investment.
London-based Fresha – a global beauty and wellness software platform pocketed $100 million in Series C funding round. The investment round was led by General Atlantic.
Lick – a direct-to-consumer online home brand that aims to position itself as sustainable as well, announced a $22 million Series A investment. The round was led by OMERS Ventures.
Getir — a Turkish online grocery delivery startup backed by the venture capitalist Michael Moritz — launched its rapid delivery service in London in Feb 2021 and announced its Series D funding round. It raised $550 million from existing investors including Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital.
Fnatic, a high-performance esports brand headquartered in London picked up $17 million funding led by one of the largest conglomerates in Japan, Marubeni.
Car-on-demand service Virtuo raised $60 million in Series C funding led by AXA Venture Partners.
Holidu – a German search engine for holiday rentals secured £32 million Series D funding to fuel its expansion plans. The investment round was led by 83North.
Lyst, a London-based premium fashion search platform, has secured $85 million in funding from Draper Esprit and other investors including Fidelity International, Novator Capital, Giano Capital, and C4 Venture.
Based out of London, Slerp – an e-commerce solution for hospitality, empowering premium brands to sell what they want, how they want online, raised $10 million funding in Seed and Series A rounds. The rounds have been led by Eight Roads Ventures.
Software
London-based AI edtech startup CENTURY Tech, which builds AI technologies to improve education and transform learning in schools worldwide, secured $6.5 million in funding. Two-thirds of the investment came from new investors, including MIT Solve’s philanthropic venture fund Solve Innovation Future.
Aircall, a French startup that helps businesses meet objectives by integrating its cloud-based solution into leading software such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk and Slack, has picked up $120 million in Series D funding. The investment round was led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Ireland-based Scurri – cloud-based software provider that connects and optimises the e-commerce ordering, shipping, and delivery processes picked up €9 million in Series A funding. The investment round was led by Gresham House Ventures.
Community SaaS platform Zapnito raised £3.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Octopus Ventures.
Copenhagen-based startup Guest Experience Management (GXM) platform Superb raised €12 million in Series A funding round, led by Kinnevik.
German startup Cognigy – an omnichannel customer and employee service automation business pocketed $44 million in Series B funding. The investment round was led by Insight Partners alongside DN Capital.
Vilnius-based Interactio, a remote interpretation platform that provides participation for multilingual online and onsite meetings scored $30 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Eight Roads Ventures.
Security startup Tessian, which uses AI to fight social engineering, raised $65 million led by March Capital.
London-based startup Cervest raised £22.1 million funding to expand its AI-powered climate intelligence platform. The latest funding round was led by Draper Esprit.
Cybersecurity problem-solving platform Panaseer secured $26.5 million in series B funding. The financing round was led by AllegisCyber Capital.
Cognite, a global leader in industrial software innovation, has signed an investment round of $150 million with leading global growth equity firm TCV.
Fintech and Funds
Ramp, a London-based company that aims to open up digital assets to more businesses and users, has secured $10.1 million funding in a Seed Round led by NfX with Galaxy Digital.
London-headquartered white-label platform for retail finance, Divido has recently raised a $30 million Series B funding round. The round was led by global banks HSBC and ING.
London-based Cushon – a fintech workplace savings business that helps people get comfortable saving and investing through the workplace raised £26 million. This investment round comprises a £6 million equity raise from Augmentum Fintech that has backed leading startups like Tide and Habito. Also a further £20 million in credit facility committed from AshGrove Capital.
London-based international payments platform Paysend has secured $125 million in a Series B funding round. The latest investment was led by London-based VC One Peak.
Algbra – next-generation sustainable and value-focused fintech platform headquartered in London raised £3.75 million in funding. The investment round was led by SFC Capital.
Danish payroll automation startup Pento picked $15.6 million in a Series A funding round. The investment round was led by US venture capital firm General Catalyst.
Laybuy – a fintech company that provides buy now, pay later services secured £24.7 million from new and existing institutional investors.
Fintech business Stake – a commission-free trading app that lets Brits access the US markets picked $30 million from US-based Tiger Global and partners of London-based DST Global.
TA Associates, a global growth private equity firm, has completed its fundraising for TA XIV of $12.5 billion.
Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capital firms first to launch a dedicated crypto unit and one of the earliest investors in Coinbase, has announced a new $2.2 billion Crypto Fund III.
Etsy has acquired Depop, the second-hand fashion app, for $1.6bn, as the handmade goods marketplace expands its portfolio to younger consumers.