Mike Butcher
Editor At Large
The Latest from Mike Butcher
Equities platform Midas raises $45M Series A as fintech retains its sparkle in Turkey
Midas, a fintech startup that allows people in Turkey to invest in U.S. and Turkish equities, says it has raised $45 million in a funding round led by Portage of Canada. The startup is aimed at Turkey
Langdock raises $3M with General Catalyst to help companies avoid vendor lock-in with LLMs
Plenty of large corporations want to join the AI revolution, but many feel it’s too early to be locked into one foundational model. That means there’s a market for a layer between companies an
Lawhive raises $12M to expand its legal tech AI platform for small firms
Lawhive has raised £9.5 million ($11.9 million) in a seed round to offer AI-driven services to ‘main street’ law firms.
Turkish startup ikas attracts $20M for its e-commerce platform designed for small businesses
E-commerce's field remains vast and fertile, and further evidence of this has surfaced in the form of one of the largest fundraises by a startup in Turkey.
Proxima Fusion raises $21M to build on its ‘stellarator’ approach to nuclear fusion
Munich-based Proxima has raised €20 million ($21.7M) in a seed round to begin building its first generation of fusion power plants.
TransferGo raises $10M to expand its remittance business in Asia, doubling valuation
TransferGo, the U.K.-based fintech best known as a consumer platform for global remittances, has raised a $10 million growth funding round from Taiwan-based investor Taiwania Capital, with a view to e
Paddy Cosgrave returns as Web Summit CEO after resigning over Israel/Gaza controversy
Paddy Cosgrave, the co-founder of the Web Summit tech conference, is returning to his role as CEO after resigning in October over controversial statements he made about the Israel/Gaza war last year o
Against games industry doldrums, Bitkraft Ventures raises $275M to back studios and platforms
Bitkraft Ventures — a games investor based out of Denver, Colorado, but with European founders — is raising its third fund, coming in at $275 million. The fund will make seed and Series A investme
A new games-focused VC in Turkey shows the industry there continues to gain steam
Turkey has gained a well-earned reputation as being a veritable cauldron of mobile games startups, leading to the rise of VCs dedicated to the sector. The latest to join this coterie is Laton Ventures
Buy now, pay later on a Porsche? Zaver now has $30M to make it a reality
We last checked in on Zaver, a Swedish B2C buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) provider in Europe, when it raised a $5 million funding round in 2021. The company has now closed a $10 million extension to its Ser
New study of unicorn founders finds most are ‘underdogs,’ and female founders are rising
A new study that zeros-in on the founders of so-called “unicorns” — companies worth over a billion dollars — has found most have “underdog” founders who are often drawn from th
Boeing CEO to leave company by year-end after a wave of safety incidents
Boeing’s chief executive Dave Calhoun will leave the plane-maker by the end of 2024, according to the company. The company has been rocked by controversy after a cabin panel blowout on one of it
1991 Ventures in London joins the growing list of VCs aimed at Ukrainian startups
U.K.-based limited partners Venrex and Samos Investments are this week backing the launch of a new VC primarily aimed at investing in startups led by Ukrainians inside and outside the war-torn count
World Fund closes first €300M climate tech fund, seeking to follow on and back hardware
After three years of efforts, World Fund has finally closed a €300 million first fund, €50 million short of its target in 2021, but still a considerable number given a background of war and econom
Healthcare platform Anima brings Salesforce-like capabilities to clinics, raises $12M
Globally, healthcare IT systems are groaning under the weight of legacy platforms. Thankfully, there’s a new wave of startups entering the arena: U.K. startup Anima is a “care enablement&#
Cure51 raises a €15M seed round aiming to crack the code on cancer survival
Rather than grimly assembling data about cancer deaths to predict outcomes in treatment, the founders of Cure51 had another idea.
Inclusivity-focused VC Ada Ventures pulls in $80M for second fund
U.K.-based Ada Ventures is an unusual VC. Instead of just talking about SaaS or AI, it hunts down founders addressing inclusivity and diversity. Instead of confusing LPs with this methodology, it’s
‘Banking-as-a-Service’ startup Griffin raises $24M as it attains full banking license
Founded by former Silicon Valley engineers, UK-based Griffin Bank, has now raised $24 million (£19 million) in a fresh, extended Series A, funding round.
LLMs are poised to make lumbering business intelligence tools easier and faster to use
UK startup Fluent has closed a $7.5M seed round to apply LLMs to business databases, making them far easier to interrogate.
This Swedish startup wants to reduce the cost, and controversy, around stem cell production
With the news that “mini organs” have been grown for the first time using human stem cells, this futuristic area of bio-medicine is clearly accelerating by leaps and bounds. However, harvesting st