In Part One of this series, Victor Basta, CEO, DAI Magister gives a masterclass in preparing for a successful funding round during an economic downturn and what companies can learn from trends in the African ecosystem.

Founders and entrepreneurs have to have a determination and resilience that often distinguishes them from those that are paid employees. It is not only that they have to find a gap in the market that they feel they can exploit, but they also have to have the confidence to back themselves to do that.

Settly, a HR platform for employee relocation, has raised €6 million from the French evergreen impact fund “2050” and Mediahuis Ventures, the Belgian venture capital fund of international publisher Mediahuis. It is Settly's first investment round after having single-handedly grown to over 50 employees in 7 European countries since its inception in 2019.

Nothing, the London-based consumer technology brand, announces a $96 million fundraising round led by Highland Europe, with participation from existing investors GV (Google Ventures), EQT Ventures and C Capital, alongside house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia.

A raft of start-ups working at the interface between climate change and human health have received financial backing and commercial support from global healthcare provider Bupa, to focus on the link between the environment and health.

bp ventures has invested €7.5 million in the Service4Charger GmbH, a Berlin-based provider for the planning, installation, operation and maintenance of EV charging infrastructure.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the launch of the AWS Global Fintech Accelerator programme.

Upfront Diagnostics, a healthcare company focused on discovering novel biomarkers that can be applied to medical diagnosis, has announced a seed funding round of £1.6 million. The investment was led by APEX Ventures’ Medical Fund, following grant funding from SBRI Healthcare in partnership with Stroke Association, for Upfront Diagnostic’s patented blood-based diagnostic LVOne.

Dexory has secured $19 million in Series A funding led by European VC firm Atomico, with participation from existing investors Lakestar, Kindred, Capnamic, and Maersk Growth, the investment arm of the global logistics and container shipping company, Maersk. As part of this investment Atomico Partner Ben Blume will join Dexory’s board of directors.

Algorithmiq, a scaleup developing quantum algorithms to solve the most complex issues in life sciences, has raised $15 million. The Series A round was led by Inventure VC, one of the most experienced Nordic venture funds.

Getting funding to scale a business in 2023 is certainly more of a challenge than it has been in more recent years. This does not mean that it is not possible.

Over 90% of mid-sized UK businesses are facing challenges accessing funding and financing amidst the wave of interest hikes by the Bank of England, according to research from BDO.

IQ Capital, the London-based deep tech venture capital firm, continues to strengthen its senior team with the promotion of two new partners. Archie Muirhead and Alex Wilson join existing general partners Kerry Baldwin, Max Bautin, Simon Hirtzel and Ed Stacey. 

DREST announces that it raised £15M of funding to continue the genre defining development of its new product proposition, DREST Game 2.0.

Valuing any business can be a complicated and often inexact procedure, but arriving at a valuation for an early-stage business is so much more difficult. 

The venture capital funding winter has gripped the Fintech startup ecosystem for a year now. But as temperatures in Europe rise, a new season is around the corner for commercially sound businesses too. 

As the UK’s biggest bank for business, NatWest understands that SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy and that the company has a responsibility to help them build back better.

The goal of this blog is to help business owners who are starting their own businesses understand how to calculate profits and losses in a new business. This understanding will help them make sound decisions about what to do with their new business, and it will also save them time and money in the long run.

European cybertech startup Filigran, founded in France in October 2022, has raised €5 million in seed funding that will be used to accelerate product development and drive international growth.

When considering raising equity finance, most early-stage businesses would often have to turn to angel investors or crowdfunding as was explained in last week’s article.