Mike Butcher
Editor At Large
The Latest from Mike Butcher
‘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
German revenue-based financing platform Re:cap raises $111.5M Seed round
Re:cap, a non-dilutive funding platform in a similar vein to Pipe.com and Capchase but based in Europe, has closed a Seed financing round of $111.5 million, in a mix of growth capital and liquidity fo
UBQ Materials’ plastic replacement product attracts $170M from impact investor TPG Rise
UBQ Materials, which claims it has developed a plastic-like material made from 100% unsorted household waste, has raised a $170 million funding round led by TPG Rise, TPG’s global impact investing p
Global climate tech investment triples, but cash for tech directly cutting emissions lags
Investment from VC and PE into climate tech is booming, reaching $87.5 bilion over H2 2020 and H1 2021, with in excess of $60 billion in the first half of 2021 alone, according to a new report from PW
Quo.com raises $7.2M seed round led by SignalFire to broaden access to mortgages
Almost three million Americans a year are denied a mortgage. Most don’t even know where to start or understand what would qualify them. The system has become complex and confusing, causing peopl
‘PayPal for crypto’ wannabe Ramp raises $52.7M Series A round led by Balderton Capital
In the same way that PayPal and Stripe radically changed online payments by allowing any online service to embed payments, the race is on to have the same impact on crypto assets. To this end, players
Educate Online, which allows remote learning at international schools, raises $4M Seed
It was only earlier this week that we learned StudyFree — which connects students with international educational opportunities — had raised a $3 million seed round. But there’s more to this than
Cube RM raises $8M round, led by Runa, to create global government tenders platform
There are millions of tenders and public sector contracts published every year by governments globally. The value of all this is estimated to be about $5 billion, and is expected to reach $9 billion b
Fast groceries startup Grovy hopes Eastern Europe and sustainability will set it apart
Yet another “quick commerce” 15-minute groceries startup is hoping to make a name for itself in this space, adding to the myriad companies currently crowding out this market. But Grovy is
VentureFriends raises $112M fund aimed at Southern Europe, Middle East and LatAm
Southern Europe has sometimes been seen as a little bit of a backwater in terms of venture capital funding. However, that has gradually started to change in recent years. Earlier this year Marathon Ve
Unique closes $6M seed for its AI-driven video calls platform aimed at sales teams
Unique, a video calls platform that uses AI to teach sales teams how to improve their pitches, has closed a $6 million seed round from a bunch of angel investors. These include Philipp Stauffer (U.S b
StudyFree, an international student scholarships and grants platform, raises $3M seed
StudyFree — which connects students with international educational opportunities via a community-driven B2C SaaS model — has raised a $3 million seed investment round led by I2BF Global Ventures,
Earnr is a new finance and tax app aimed at UK ‘side-hustle’ businesses
Earnr is a new finance and tax service aimed at the U.K. creator economy and people doing “side-hustle” businesses. It’s now secured £650,000 to launch an app aimed at “solopreneu
Rent the Runway-style UK fashion rental marketplace HURR raises $5.4M round led by Octopus
HURR — a “Rent the Runway” style U.K. fashion rental marketplace — has raised $5.4 million in a seed funding round led by European VC firm Octopus Ventures. Also participating was Asce