Mike Butcher
Editor At Large
The Latest from Mike Butcher
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 2022. Its growth had been spurred by the boom in pet ownership during the pandemi
Reflections 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, earlier this month in Lisbon. For all the heat and light, the gnashing of t
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 tons of family homes (the so-called “Single Family rental sector”) so they can turn us all into rental slaves and
Uber-for-parcels startup 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 are fairly lightweight, this is a bit of a hammer to crack a nut. So it makes sen
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 if a new series of “Succession” was about to drop. Indeed, events h
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 $5.7B valuation last year after a D round) and Raylo in the UK provides leases
Lidl owner and Bosch Ventures co-lead $500M Series B into German AI startup Aleph Alpha
German AI startup Aleph Alpha has raised a Series B funding round of $500 million from a consortium of seven new investors, as well as existing investors from previous rounds. Founded in 2019, Aleph A
Lab-grown leather scales up as Gozen raises $3.3M from Happiness Capital, SOSV and others
Whether we like it or not, the leather industry significantly contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global waste generation. The current methods used to fulfil the increasing demand for le
Oxolo bags €13M for generative AI-driven video platform which can optimize engagement on the fly
Much has been made of AI-powered videos that can either make a real person speak different words or other languages, or generate a synthetic person that can speak on-demand. A few years ago former foo
Hoxton Ventures shoots for the big time, luring Bryan Gartner from Khosla Ventures
Everyone more or less agrees that 2023 is going to be effectively written off in VC-land. The feeding frenzy of the last few years has left everyone with more than a little indigestion: valuations hav
General Catalyst and European early-stage fund La Famiglia ‘join forces’ to invest in European startups
In a move that will help cement the incursion of U.S.-based VCs into the European ecosystem, General Catalyst and La Famiglia have announced they are, in their words, “joining forces.” That’
Palestine’s growing tech industry has been literally blown apart by the war between Israel and Hamas
Gaza, despite being one of the most economically challenged regions in the world, has ironically always been a tech hub — not only for Palestine and Palestinians, but also for the world: Interna
Tradeshift co-founder accused of sexual assault by company, allegations he denies
Tradeshift, a late-stage fintech startup that has raised over $1 billion in venture and debt, has dismissed its co-founder Christian Lanng, citing “serious allegations of sexual assault and harassme
AI revolutionizing MRI scans — a Munich startup banked $32M to scan eggs, and says humans are next
Germany, France and Italy are among the countries which last year enacted laws to stop the practice of culling male day-old chicks, because, as they do not lay eggs, they are considered surplus to req
‘Be optimistic and innovate’ — The legacy of Cowboy founder and e-bike pioneer Karim Slaoui, who has passed away
Cowboy, the e-bike startup that creates innovative electric bikes for city riders, has announced that Karim Slaoui, co-founder (pictured above, right), has passed away. Karim stepped down from the bo
Generative AI removing background noise from recordings is just one of the new tools for podcasters
Yes, there are clear concerns about AI’s potential for auto-generating disinformation. But as a tool for creatives to better create, AI is having its moment. And the AI-driven tools designed to assi
Open banking led to a fintech boom — as Brite raises $60M, account-to-account payment grows
The move toward open banking payments, especially in the EU, effectively kicked-off the fintech boom. Open banking standards meant that fintech startups could create wallets and effectively become ban
Two large equity funds launched this week. What gives?
Two large equity funds came out of the gate this week. So, what gives? Earlier this year we covered how Liquidity Group, a growth-stage debt financier, raised $40 million and launched a $250 million d
New research: Vast majority of VC-backed UK startups do *nothing* on climate emissions
Some 76% of the top 500 VC-backed U.K. startups have done nothing to either measure or offset their carbon emissions, according to new research shared exclusively with TechCrunch. In total, these comp
Defense AI startup Helsing breaks the record for European AI, raising a $223M Series B
Helsing, a “Defense AI” startup backed by Spotify founder Daniel Ek which had previously raised €102.5 million, has today pulled in another €209 million ($223 million) in a Series B fu