IT総合 Two years since Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s startups soldier on
This weekend marks exactly two years since Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine. Despite overwhel...
Mike Butcher
IT総合 IT総合 $13M and 3 years later, Superlist hopes to become a Decacorn. But will it?
The former founder of a To Do lists app which sold for as much as $200 million, comes back, 9 years later, with yet anot...
IT総合 AI-powered Estonian QA startup Klaus acquired by Zendesk
Klaus – an Estonian-born startup which emerged in 2019 to aid customer services agents – has been acquired by global cus...
IT総合 As Iran-backed groups attack Red Sea ships, investors are backing startups assisting global cargo
Multiple shocks to global supply chains brought about first by the pandemic and more recently by Iran-backed Houthis tar...
IT総合 Open Source ‘headless commerce’ builder Saleor closes $8M round led by Target Global and Zalando
Saleor — a Poland and U.S.-based startup that develops an open-source headless’ e-commerce platform that developers then...
IT総合 As Podcastle raises $13.5M, its founder credits AI-driven growth in Armenia’s ‘Mini-Silicon Valley’
Podcastle, a podcasting platform that has boosted its product with various generative AI-driven features, has raised $13...
IT総合 MessageBird rebrands as Bird, and slashes prices by 90% on SMS to take on Twilio
No, don’t think Bird Scooters. Think Bird, formerly MessageBird. For the Amsterdam-based unicorn is now re-branding as s...
IT総合 Signalling more consolidation may come, smart-bus startup Zeelo acquires Kura, a smaller player
A small UK startup which combined a school bus service with a software platform to safeguard pupils has been acquired by...
IT総合 Amid a fairly flat European market, Giant Ventures raises $250M to invest transatlantically
Giant Ventures, a UK-based VC that has made a habit of investing on both sides of the Atlantic, is launching two new fun...
IT総合 SMOK VC’s second fund is another signal that Poland’s tech scene is hitting its stride
In 2007 I was running late for my speech at the Polish Stock Exchange, but the cool reception I received there suggested...
IT総合 As one raises $11.2M to hit the US, carbon startups pin hopes on future regulation to boost their fortunes
We last covered carbon credits startup Ceezer in late 2022 when it raised a €4.2 million ($4.5m) seed round. Then, as ...
IT総合 Web Summit CEO jumps ship to head up NPR after just three months
Technology can sometimes move at the speed of light. And so, too, can technology executives. In a shock move, Web Summit...
IT総合 The demands of regulated industries helped this startup raise $8M for its conversational AI approach
As conversational AI begins to take over the world, chatbots are being given a new lease of life. However, there are cle...
IT総合 An increasing consumer appetite for sustainable packaging is powering a new wave of startups
With the packaging market being valued at as much as €1 trillion globally it’s become a ripe field for startups to engag...
IT総合 Can Recraft’s foundational model for graphic design swerve the AI controversy?
Controversy continues to surround the world of AI-generated imagery, and even as AI-generated images used in elections b...
IT総合 A dual-use ‘Slack+location+payments’ startup raises Seed to serve humanitarian, military scenarios
When Helsing raised a $223 million Series B round, the tech world saw it as continued confirmation that Defence was unqu...
IT総合 How simplifying the production of customized merchandise led this Lisbon startup to raise $19M
The advent of the Internet combined with the ability to customise items such as clothing long ago created a revolution i...
IT総合 In the fight against Methane, a key GHG, Valley investors have hit upon an unusual target: Cow burps
What do iconic Valley investors Zachary Bogue and Chris Sacca have in common? They are both trying to stop cows from bur...
IT総合 Qogita — a wholesale marketplace for retailers — raises $86M Series B to compete with Ankorstore in Europe
Qogita – a two-sided ecommerce wholesale marketplace aimed at retailers largely in the health and beauty sectors &...
IT総合 Machine learning is set to speed up the detection of contamination in food factories
The factories that process our food and beverages (newsflash: no, it doesn’t come straight from a farm) have to be kept ...
IT総合 A spectral device using Generative AI could detect bad microbes in food factories in real time
The factories which process our food and beverages (newsflash: no, it doesn’t come straight from a farm) have to be kept...
IT総合 Regulatory approval for this subscription solar UK startup could mean more are to come
With the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorising what’s believed to be the first time a company can provide s...
IT総合 Revenue-based financing heats-up in the Middle East as Flow48 attracts $25M in funding
We’ve seen how non-dilutive, revenue-based financing has risen up the priority ranks for companies as the era of ZIRP — ...
IT総合 Tech-enabled warehousing startup Huboo raises another $36.6M amid continued e-commerce growth
When consumers switched to home deliveries and “digitized” their lifestyles during the pandemic, it led to a surge in e-...
IT総合 As pet owners turn to mobile insurance apps, Lassie raises $25M Series B led by Balderton
We last wrote about Lassie, a pet health app and insurance provider, when it closed an €11 million Series A round in 202...
IT総合 Refections on Web Summit: Out of the frying pan, and out of the fire?
“What controversy?” said the journalist from a global mainstream television outlet to me at the Web Summit Media Dinner,...
IT総合 DoorFeed raises another €7M for its platform allowing large-scale investors to hoover-up family homes
Institutional real estate investors have historically struggled to buy up tonnes of family homes (the so-called ‘Single ...
IT総合 Uber-for-parcels startups Relay raises $10M Seed round to scale in the UK
Incumbents in the parcel deliveries space usually have fixed daily routes from suburban depots. But since most parcels a...
IT総合 European investors grab the popcorn for the new ‘series’ of OpenAI, but are fearful of the fallout
With the OpenAI saga playing out across the pond, the European tech community has been waiting for the latest updates as...
IT総合 UK-based Ooodles raises $12M to scale up its device-leasing services
While refurbished device marketplaces like Back Market have raised substantial amounts in funding (Back Market reached a...