Mike Butcher
Editor At Large
The Latest from Mike Butcher
Payment orchestration platform Gr4vy pulls in another $15M in a Series A extension
Retailers often build their own “orchestration” platforms for payment processing and routing, but these can be complex to maintain. Spreedly and modo play in this space, and, last year, new startu
Germany’s SoSafe raises $73M Series B led by Highland to address human error in cyber
As we’ve learned in the last few years, ‘human error’-led cyber security breaches are the ones companies often find it hardest to guard against. Surveys suggest some 85% of attacks can be traced
HeyCharge’s underground charging solution raises $4.7M Seed led by BMW i Ventures
EV charging continues to be a high-growth business, for obvious reasons. Since 2007, one of the largest players has been ChargePoint, the floated US company which with a widespread EV charging network
Omnichannel customer messaging platform Superchat raises $15.6M round led by Blossom
While last year’s WhatsApp outage is still sending shivers down the spine of its 2 billion users, the same is also true for the millions of businesses now using it to connect with their customers. A
Masters, an app for training with celeb athletes, closes a $2.7M seed funding round
It’s now 2022 and there are many, many apps out there that allow you to do cardio or build muscle by taking classes inside smartphone apps. We are all familiar with the success of platforms like Pel
Fast-charge EV battery maker StoreDot pulls in $80M led led by Vietnam’s VinFast
StoreDot, the Israeli next-generation battery technology startup touting an “extreme fast charging” (XFC) battery for electric vehicles, has secured the first close of its latest funding round led
GoStudent raises $340M Series D funding round as it pushes into international markets
Fresh from raising a $244 million Series C (that valued the company at $1.7 billion) back in June, K12 online tutoring marketplace GoStudent has now raised a $340 million Series D round led by new inv
Purple Dot, a waitlist and preorder platform for the fashion industry, raises $4M
Because of the unpredictable nature of the fashion industry, fashion brands often have to “guestimate” demand for their products, and if they get that demand wrong, they have to deal with
New European deep tech-focused fund Outsized Ventures hits first €60M close of inaugural fund
So-called “Deep Tech” venture capital has been experiencing a wave of interest in the couple last years, with several new funds launching. Many are focused on the European market, which ha
Sage acquires remaining stake in retail management platform Brightpearl for $340M
Enterprise software giant Sage has acquired the remaining stake in Brightpearl, originally a U.K.-based startup in cloud retail management, for $340 million. Brightpearl provides a SaaS-based retail o
‘Pfeffel’ artist satirizes Boris Johnson with parody NFTs, sending 52% of proceeds to charity
As crazy as the NFT market has become, there’s been an increasing range of other things to do with NFTs other than pimp images of apes and punks — even if they have become enormously valuable.
Fintech startup LiveFlow raises $3.5M seed to automate financial data flows
Fintech startup LiveFlow has raised a $3.5 million seed round, led by Moonfire Ventures with backing from Y Combinator, Seedcamp and WndrCo. Also participating was Victor Jacobsson, co-founder of Klar
Woola raises €2.5M seed led by Future Ventures to replace bubble wrap with wool
Some 55 billion parcels are shipped in bubble wrap every year. Plastic bubble wrap is reliant on fossil fuels and 98% of plastic packaging is single-use. You can imagine the adverse environmental impa
Voi scooters raises $115M Series D round as it preps to enter new cities — and for an IPO
The European e-scooter market is currently the main battleground for companies playing in the micromobility space, taking advantage as they are of Europe’s relatively compact cities and the desire o
Real-time soil-testing agtech startup Stenon raises $20M Series A funding round
Stenon, an agtech company that has a real-time soil-sensing solution, has raised a $20 million Series A funding round from Founders Fund, David Friedberg’s The Production Board and existing investor
Could Supernova be an ‘ethical alternative’ to the social media giants?
Supernova is a new app that has now gone live on the Apple and Android app stores, billing itself as a new “ethical alternative” to Instagram and Facebook, where most of the ad revenues go to char
Sweep raises a $22M to aim at large corporates scrambling to deal with carbon
Enterprise SaaS for measuring company carbon emission is hot. Only recently Planetly was acquired by OneTrust for an undisclosed amount. And there are plenty of other startups in the space such as Pla
German revenue-based financing platform Re:cap raises $111.5M Seed round
Re:cap, a non-dilutive funding platform in a similar vein to Pipe.com and Capchase but based in Europe, has closed a Seed financing round of $111.5 million, in a mix of growth capital and liquidity fo
UBQ Materials’ plastic replacement product attracts $170M from impact investor TPG Rise
UBQ Materials, which claims it has developed a plastic-like material made from 100% unsorted household waste, has raised a $170 million funding round led by TPG Rise, TPG’s global impact investing p
Global climate tech investment triples, but cash for tech directly cutting emissions lags
Investment from VC and PE into climate tech is booming, reaching $87.5 bilion over H2 2020 and H1 2021, with in excess of $60 billion in the first half of 2021 alone, according to a new report from PW