-
German dating app Lovoo is acquired for $70M by The Meet Group
You’ve probably never heard of Lovoo but in German-speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) it’s the number one dating app in terms of app store downloads. It’s also in the top 3 in Southern Europe (such as Italy, Spain, France). It’s now being swept off its feet (ok, acquired) by The Meet Group, which owns other dating properties. The price is a romantic… Read More
-
Le Collectionist raises $10M to expand luxury travel platform and offices globally
There are many solutions when a traveler wants to rent a property: websites like Airbnb, local agents, hotels, private properties to name the obvious. When it comes to luxury properties, the options become a tad more rarified. Luxury travel estimated to be worth between $25 billion and $30 billion per year. So far only OneFineStay and LuxuryRetreats come the closest in delivering it online… Read More
-
8fit, a health and fitness app that offers tailored workout and meal plans, closes $7M Series A
8fit, a popular health and fitness app that offers tailored workouts and meals plan, has raised $7 million in Series A funding. Backing the round are VCs Creandum and Eight Roads Ventures. It brings total funding for the Berlin-based startup to $10 million. Read More
-
iZettle raises $36M from Europe, earmarked for AI and other new tech
iZettle, the startup based out of Sweden that competes against the likes of Square and PayPal to provide card transaction services from smartphones and tablets, is adding a little more money to its coffers today, specifically to ramp up in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. Read More
-
Funnel raises $10M led by Balderton Capital to help companies analyse online marketing spend
Funnel, a startup headquartered in Stockholm that sells a SaaS to help companies analyse the effectiveness of online marketing spend across multiple channels, has raised $10 million in Series A funding. London VC Balderton Capital led the round, with participation from existing investors including Industrifonden and Zobito. Read More
-
GoCardless, a fintech that makes recurring payments easy for subscription businesses, raises $22.5M
Well, GoCardless co-founder and CEO Hiroki Takeuchi knows how to work a non-denial denial. When I interviewed him a few weeks ago for an extensive profile piece we ran yesterday, he wouldn’t be drawn on if the hot London fintech was raising a new round. Today, the company is announcing $22.5 million in new funding. Read More
-
Younited Credit raises $47.8 million for its crowdlending platform
French startup Younited Credit is building the biggest crowdlending platform in continental Europe. The company just raised $47.8 million (€40 million) to launch in new countries, work on new product features and more. Younited Credit is currently live in France, Spain and Italy as a consumer-facing product. Consumers can borrow anything between $1,200 and $48,000 (€1,000 and… Read More
-
Goodbye, photo studios. Hello, colormass virtual photoshoots
Berlin-based colormass, one of the startups presenting today at TechCrunch Disrupt as part of the Battlefield, has developed a platform that lets you recreate an IKEA-style experience for your own merchandise: highly realistic, but digitally manipulated 3D facsimiles. Read More
-
GoCardless CEO: ‘I still feel like I’m the same person’
It has nearly been a year since GoCardless co-founder and CEO Hiroki Takeuchi was involved in a serious road accident that left him paralysed below his chest, and unable to walk again. Based on multiple interviews, including with Takeuchi himself, we tell the story of his journey back to startup life and the many challenges faced along the way. Read More
-
Meet the startups that just pitched at EF’s 8th Demo Day in London
Entrepreneur First (EF), the company builder and “talent first” investor, has just held Demo Day for its eighth London cohort, seeing 14 newly-formed startups pitch their wares onstage to investors, press and other actors in the European tech scene. What’s particularly interesting about EF is that it backs individuals “pre-team, pre-idea” — meaning that, as… Read More
-
Europe says ‘all options on table’ for taxing tech giants
The European Commission is preparing a list of legal options on how to make digital multinationals such as Amazon, Facebook and Google pay more tax, Reuters reports. Read More
-
BlaBlaCar expands its BlaBlaLines service to Paris area
BlaBlaCar is currently trying to reinvent itself. And it starts with BlaBlaLines, a new ride-sharing service for daily commutes. The company first tested out the new service around Reims and Toulouse. It is now live in the Paris area. BlaBlaCar was first all about long-distance ride sharing. If you’re driving from Paris to London, you can list your ride on BlaBlaCar and get connected… Read More
-
Alan launches mobile app for its health insurance service of the future
French startup Alan is trying the impossible by reinventing health insurance and life insurance. The company just launched its mobile app on iOS and Android. You can now send a bill, say that you’re at the hospital and contact Alan directly from the app. This alone is a big change compared to usual health insurance. For instance, when you’re spending the night at the hospital… Read More
-
Brent Hoberman launches new $85M pan-European seed fund, firstminute capital
Back in June Brent Hoberman, who famously founded and floated Lastminute.com, unveiled his new investment vehicle . The first $60m close for ‘firstminute Capital’ was announced then with Atomico being the cornerstone investor. The fund was also backed by 28 unicorns founders. In the end, it turned out to be oversubscribed and they can now announce a second close for the fund. This… Read More
-
Quick-charging battery startup StoreDot gets $60M on $500M valuation led by Daimler
As we continue to see a proliferation of wireless connected devices make their way into the mainstream consumer electronics market, there has been growing attention on a key issue that will be central to making all these devices work: efficient power supplies, and specifically practical battery systems. Today, one of the startups that’s hoping to lead the conversation on how this… Read More
-
Samsung launches $300M autonomous driving fund, puts $90M into TTTech
Not to be outpaced in the connected car market by other tech giants, today the world’s largest smartphone maker, Samsung, announced two major pieces of news to take its automotive strategy up a gear. It has launched the Samsung Automotive Innovation Fund, a $300 million fund to back startups and other interesting bets in the automotive market. And as a first investment out of that… Read More
Message Us