Mike Butcher
Editor At Large
The Latest from Mike Butcher
Burnt Finance raises $8M led by Animoca Brands, launches DeFi-oriented NFT marketplace
Burnt Finance is a crypto startup which, as a stunt, burnt a Banksy artwork and but then the NFT they’d minted for it for $400,000, double what it cost on the ‘normal’ open art market. B
InFlow, a science-based app for ADHD, raises $2.3M Seed led by Hoxton Ventures
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms can include anxiety, chronic boredom, impulsiveness, trouble concentrating, controlling anger, and even depression. But ADHD sufferers can face
UK class action lodged against Meta seeks $3.1B for breach of competition law
A competition legal expert, backed by a powerful litigation fund, is set to mount a multibillion-dollar class action suit against Facebook/Meta for breach of competition law on the basis that it abuse
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 plays in this space, and, last year, new startup Gr4vy
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 cybersecurity breaches are the ones companies often find hardest to guard against. Surveys suggest some 85% of attacks can be tr
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 U.S. company with a widespread EV charging network. Bu
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