Natalie Novakova
UKRAINE
🌿Greencubator Academy Opens Enrollment for Eco-startups
Ukraine’s Greencubator Academy opened enrollment for their free course for startups aspiring to create environmentally friendly businesses. Participants can develop their ideas, craft business plans, and gain access to a network of partners and investors upon completion, fostering Ukraine’s clean tech talent and offering expert guidance and resources for entrepreneurial success.
[Source: TechUkraine]🔥Huge Thing Launched Pre-acceleration Program for Women
Huge Thing is launching a recruitment drive for its Female Startup pre-accelerator, offering ten finalists a $10,000 equity-free grant to kickstart their businesses, with applications open until May 31st, 2024. The program, aimed at supporting female entrepreneurs in Poland and Ukraine at the idea or pre-seed stage, will provide comprehensive knowledge, expert support, and tools to build and scale startups over two months, culminating in a Demo Day where participants can pitch their ideas to a jury. [Source: ain.capital]
Military Manufacturer Enters the International Market
Ukrainian military radio manufacturer Himera Radios has expanded globally through a partnership with American defense technology company Reticulate Micro, signing a distribution agreement for the US and key global government customers. As reported by AIN Capital, the co-founder Misha Rudominski anticipates significant revenues in the long term, with plans to initially focus on the Defense Forces of Ukraine before expanding into other sectors like police, ambulances, and firefighters. [Source: ain.capital]
📮Nova Post Opened Office in Czech Republic
Nova Post has expanded its presence in the Czech Republic by opening its fourth branch office in Liberec, marking its third city of operation. With an investment of approximately $426,000 (€400,000) already made in the Czech branch, the company plans further expansion to cities like Pilsen, Ostrava, and Ceske Budejovice, alongside increasing the number of parcel delivery points. [Source: ain.capital]
THE BALTICS
🌱SmartCap Green Fund Increased Investment Amount Per Startup
Estonian SmartCap Green Fund expanded its investment range to up to $5.3 million (€5 million) per startup, shifting focus from early-stage startups to later-stage companies. The fund is targeting the energy, agriculture, and transportation sectors in Estonia. [Source: BalticVC]
🧫 Estonian BioTech Company Raised $480K in Pre-seed Round
Tartu-based biotech firm Vectiopep, founded in 2022, secured around $480,000 (€450,000) in a pre-seed funding, led by EstBAN, Finnish VC Superhero’s venture partner Ivo Remmelg, health tech investor Dag Nurm, and UniTartu Ventures. Vectiopep’s innovative mRNA technology aims to instruct the immune system on how to combat cancer cells directly within the patient’s body, with a focus on deep tech investments in life sciences, processing, and computing from UniTartu Ventures. [Source: BalticVC]
🚘 Estonian Electric Car Developer Struggles to Raise Additional Funding
SeaNest OÜ, the Estonian startup behind Nobe Cars, faces potential closure with its website shut down and only one remaining employee amidst financial struggles and unresolved investor disagreements. Despite media attention and public interest, SeaNest struggled to secure additional investments, leading to ongoing financial difficulties reflected in its 2022 report, showing around $632,000 (€593,000) in sales revenue but a loss of $161,000 (€151,000) and current assets of approximately $60,800 (€57,000). [Source: BalticVC]
🚀 Lithuanian Startup CTO2B Raised $1.06M in Pre-seed Round
CTO2B, a Vilnius-based startup founded in 2019, secured around $1.06 million (€1 million) in a pre-seed round from Practica Capital, Firstpick, and Baltic business angels to further develop its platform automating DevOps tasks for fintech and SaaS companies. With plans to expand into new markets, the investment will fuel CTO2B’s growth as it continues to support clients in fintech services through its intelligent automation infrastructure. [Source: BalticVC]
🍎 Lithuanian Food Marketplace Received $3.2M in Seed Funding
Saltz.app, a Lithuanian food marketplace launched in 2022, has secured around $3.2 million (€3 million) in seed funding led by Lifeline Ventures, Change Ventures, and Illusian Family Office, enabling its expansion across five European countries. With support from angel investors, including Vinted and Wolt co-founders, Saltz.app connects farms and suppliers with restaurant chefs, streamlining the sourcing process and offering various products from various countries. [Source: BalticVC]
✈️ Estonian AI Copilot Company Raised $501K from Baltic Investors
Salesforge, an AI copilot for sales teams based in Tallinn, secured around $501,000 (€470,000) in funding from BADideas Fund, Spring Capital, Fiedler Capital, and business angel Zawadzinski. Founded in 2023, Salesforge’s technology enables personalized email crafting at scale by merging buyer and seller data, while its Mailforge product simplifies infrastructure management. The investment will fuel the company’s growth, enhancing autonomous capabilities with CRM integrations, as it serves over 800 customers across the US and EMEA regions. [Source: BalticVC]
🌐 Latvian FinTech inGain Received $693K from Investors
inGain, a Latvian fintech firm founded in 2011, raised around $693,000 (€650,000) from investors, including Trind Ventures, Fiedler Capital, LatBAN, and several business angels to further develop its no-code SaaS loan management system, enabling traditional and fintech lenders to launch and scale their financial products across various industries. With the fresh investment, inGain aims to finalize a self-service platform, allowing businesses to provide consumers with various financing options, including secured and unsecured loans, subscriptions, and rent-to-own offerings. [Source: BalticVC]
💼 Latvian AI-based Career Assistant Platform Raised $165K, Close to Its Target
Latvia-based startup Orbit8 raised around $165,000 (€155,000) toward its $213,000 (€200,000) goal, supported by Buildit Accelerator and Latvian business angels via ASP Asset Management AIFP and CR Capital. Founded in 2023, Orbit8’s AI-powered career assistant helps individuals make informed career choices, targeting parents, universities, and companies. The company plans to enhance user interaction and expand globally with the investment. [Source: BalticVC]
💵 Lithuanian FinTech Startup Secured $1.06M in Pre-seed Round
Vilnius-based fintech startup Softloans secured around $1.06 million (€1 million) in pre-seed investment led by Firstpick, with contributions from strategic business angels. Founded in 2022, Softloans offers a revenue-based embedded lending solution for digital service platforms, enabling seamless integration with customers’ data sources, client scoring, funding offers, and automated loan monitoring and collection. With the new investment, it plans to expand its services to companies using POS terminals and enter new markets. [Source: BalticVC]
KAZAKHSTAN
🇯🇵 Introdex Startup Attracted Investment and Entered Japanese Market
Introdex, founded in 2023, raised $460,000 in pre-seed funding from Antler, MOST Ventures, and international angels. Their platform utilizes AI to help sales managers establish connections with decision-makers, expanding its reach from Singapore to Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Japan, where warm introductions are crucial for business success. [Source: Digital Business]
CZECH REPUBLIC
💶 Data Startup Apify Secured $2.9M in Investment
Prague-based web data extraction platform Apify raised around $2.9 million (€2.8 million) in funding led by J&T Ventures, with participation from Reflex Capital, to fuel marketing efforts, product development, and platform expansion. Founded in 2015, Apify’s web scraping solution automates workflows and scales cloud-based execution, boasting clients like Siemens and Microsoft. Apify plans to use the funding to boost marketing, develop products, and grow its developer community. [Source: ain.capital]
🇨🇿 Czech VC Firms Exit US-Israeli Chip Startup
Depo Ventures and Tensor Ventures have exited Neuronix AI Labs, an AI chip developer acquired by Microchip Technology, boasting patents and over two decades of industry experience, aiming to reduce costs and power consumption in computer vision AI applications. Founded in 2020, Neuronix offers solutions to increase hardware computing capacity for advancements in AI, with the strategic involvement of Depo and Tensor Ventures’ strategic involvement contributed to its success, culminating in Microchip Technology’s acquisition of the startup for an undisclosed amount. [Source: ain.capital]
BULGARIA
💰Software Developer Bianor Received $7.2M in Capital
Bulgarian software development company Bianor raised over $10.6 million (€10 million) in funding led by BlackPeak Capital, supporting its growth and expansion efforts, marking its second capital raise in less than a year. Bianor provides specialized software services to telecom, tech, and media enterprises across Europe and North America, focusing on data streaming, machine learning, AI, cloud transition, and digital transformation. With the recent backing, the company plans to accelerate growth through mergers and acquisitions in the region while expanding its customer base in the US, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the UK. [Source: ain.capital]
POLAND
🤝MCI Capital Acquired a Controlling Stake in Profitroom Startup
MCI has acquired a controlling stake of over 65% in Profitroom, a Poznan-based provider of hotel reservation solutions, for approximately $46.9 million (€44 million). Founded in 2008, Profitroom offers automated reservation processing and sales channel management for hotels, aiming to become a global leader in the sector with the support of MCI’s investment. [Source: ain.capital]
📈Growth Equity bValue Closed its $96M Fund
bValue, a Polish growth equity firm, has closed its new $96 million (€90 million) Growth Fund, backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), focusing on investments in scaleups from Poland and the CEE region. Managing Partner Maciek Balsewicz highlighted their aim to invest in companies seeking full exit within 3-5 years, prioritizing profitable growth without further outside financing, with bValue already managing a $106 million (€100 million) growth equity fund and an early-stage fund of $21 million (€20 million), having made 36 investments and exited 12 companies. [Source: ain.capital]
🇨🇭RKKVC Joined $40M Series C Round of a Swiss CleanTech
Swiss firm Bcomp secured $40 million in Series C funding led by EGS Beteiligungen AG, with additional investments from Verve Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and Polish RKKVC. The company’s flax-based composites, adopted by OEMs like BMW and Volvo, are hailed for enabling carbon neutrality without compromising performance. The funding will facilitate Bcomp’s expansion into new markets and the development of sustainable solutions for sectors such as rail, buses, aviation, and consumer goods. [Source: ain.capital]
SERBIA
📄 Collabwriting Startup Raised $1.1M to Expand its Platform
Belgrade-based Collabwriting, a collaborative research platform developer, has secured $1.1 million (€1.1 million) in funding, led by SMOK Ventures and backed by a syndicate of investors. Founded in December 2021, the company’s platform facilitates knowledge collection, organization, and collaboration, serving diverse professions like law, consultancy, and R&D, with over 1,700 weekly active users. The investment will fuel the development of Collabwriting for Teams, team expansion, user base growth, and integration of new AI features. [Source: ain.capital]
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