Mike Butcher
Editor At Large
The Latest from Mike Butcher
White-label SaaS shipping startup Outvio closes $3M round led by Change Ventures
Outvio offers online stores of any size a post-purchase shipping setup, which seeks to replicate an Amazon-style experience where customers can also return packages.
Cheltenham’s GCHQ to get a massive, cyber-oriented tech startup campus right next door
The development is projected to add 12,000 new jobs, 2 million square feet of offices and 3,700 new homes.
European Investment Fund puts $30M in Fabric Ventures’ new $130M digital assets fund
It is the first European Investment Fund-backed fund mandated to invest in digital assets and blockchain technology.
Connected car insurance startup Flock raises $17M Series A led by Chamath Palihapitiya
'Modern fleets need an equally modern insurance company that moves as fast as they do,' CEO Ed Leon Klinger said. 'Commercial motor insurance is a $160 billion market, crying out for disruption.'
Personalized menopause platform Vira Health raises £1.5M from LocalGlobe, MMC Ventures
A new trend is emerging in the world of startups and, to many, it couldn’t have come too soon. Why are there so few women in senior roles? Women going through menopause are commonly known to drop ou
Customer engagement platform Dixa raises $105M Series C led by General Atlantic
European customer engagement platform Dixa has raised a Series C funding round of $105 million, led by growth equity investor General Atlantic. Existing investors Notion Capital, Project A and Seed Ca
Patchwork Health raises £3.5M to fix the staff scheduling disaster inside stressed hospitals
The tyranny of the Excel spreadsheet continues, especially in rostering staff. Nowhere is this more acutely felt in today’s COVID-pressured hospital wards, which are now depleted not just by the dis
Colvin raises €45M Series C led by Eurazeo to disrupt the cosy flowers industry
Something very interesting is going on with supply chains and has been for a while. But it’s clear the pandemic has accelerated the trend. Tech startups are once again cutting out the middle man, bu
Blossom Capital lures Alex Lim from Silicon Valley to join the European tech boom
Alex Lim, a British-born VC based in the Bay Area who invested in Hopin, UiPath, Discord, and many other unicorns has decided to up stakes and leave Sand Hill Road behind for Blossom Capital in London
German startup Aleph Alpha raises $27M Series A round to build ‘Europe’s OpenAI’
With Microsoft now being an investor in OpenAI the field is more open for new insurgents into the open-source AI arena. Now a German company hopes to take on the next AI mantle and produce something a
Peppy, a B2B health platform for menopause, fertility, raises $10M Series A led by Felix Capital
When it comes to health issues like menopause, fertility, pregnancy, and even early parenthood, the data tells us that people typically turn to search engines and social media for advice to ask about
UK’s Mindtech raises $3.25M from In-Q-Tel, among others, to train CCTV cameras on synthetic humans
Imagine a world where no one’s privacy is breached, no faces are scanned into a gargantuan database and no privacy laws are broken. This is a world that is fast approaching. Could companies simp
Untitled Ventures joins the scramble for Russian & Eastern European startups with a $118M warchest
Sorry Mr. Putin, but there’s a race on for Russian and Eastern European founders. And right now, those awful capitalists in the corrupt West are starting to out-gun the opposition! But seriously…
B2B social management platform Oktopost raises $20M growth round with Expedition
With the pandemic forcing people online, social media use exploded, for obvious reasons. And with that, the opportunity to reach audiences and push messaging. More brand-oriented platforms such as Spr
Pink Floyd drummer invests in Disciple Media, a platform aimed at the creator economy
Much has been made of the rise of the “creator economy” in the last year. With the pandemic biting, millions flooded online, looking for a way to make money or promote themselves. The podcasting w
Employee mental health platform Oliva raises $2.2M pre-seed round led by Moonfire Ventures
Just as many other employee services have gone digital, so too is mental health. In the consumer space there are growing startups like Equoo, but the race is now on for the employee. And since telemed
Percent raises $5M, aiming to become the ‘Stripe for donations’ to good causes
What with the planet collapsing and democracy under constant attack from all quarters — you know, just the usual — one or two members of the global population have, idly or not, wondered i
Brokrete wants to be the ‘Shopify of construction’, raises $3M seed led by Xploration Capital
With the pandemic affecting every aspect of life and industry, it’s no surprise that digitization is coming to construction fast. Construction suppliers are increasingly under the same pressure
Powered by local stores, JOKR joins the 15-min grocery race with a $170M Series A
“We are true believers in the fact that the world needs a new Amazon, a better one, a more sustainable one, one that appreciates local areas and products.” It’s quite one thing to claim you are