Startup Monday: Latest tech trends & news happening in the global startup ecosystem (Issue 70- September 10)

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Top startups news to follow this week:

1. Climate tech is a hot investment in 2022 — next five years could be even hotter

Despite whispers of a downturn?earlier this year, investors continue to express confidence in climate tech. Though numbers are down compared with 2021, a year that many agree is an outlier in the VC world, they’re on track to beat 2020 as the second hottest year for investment.

What’s more, deal counts and values were up in the second quarter of this year compared with the first, suggesting that the slowdown has more or less skipped climate tech.

Though deal count is down nearly 19% compared with last year, it was up 15.4% in the second quarter, according to a PitchBook analysis. Total market deal value, down year over year, was up significantly in Q2, and the average value per deal has held steady at $23.6 million, more than triple what it was five years ago.

In some ways, those modest numbers could be interpreted as a slight cooldown. But the sector is probably just taking a breather given its near-term potential. Just five years from now, PitchBook estimates the climate tech market will near $1.4 trillion, representing a compound annual growth rate of 8.8%.

With that kind of growth coming down the pike, there are a lot of different bets to place in the climate tech sector, but a few stand out for their early-stage potential and favorable tailwinds. Read more here

2. Jobbatical raises €11.6M as worker migration goes paperless

Jobbatical?— which specializes in relocating workers and whose business has seen an uplift in the post-pandemic work environments as so many workers become “digital nomads” — has raised an €11.6 million funding round, led by Nordic VC Inventure. Additional investors included Union Square Ventures, Swiss Post Ventures, Karma VC, Metaplanet, Devotion Ventures, and angel investors Kristel Kruustük, Indrek Prants, Andres Kull, and former head of Airbnb Experiences Joe Zadeh. As the world becomes fully paperless in terms of migration, Jobbatical is well placed to take advantage of a world previously dominated by the likes of Deloitte and others.

Jobbatical manages employee relocations, in particular for high-growth tech and fintech companies like N26, TravelPerk and Personio.

Around 1 in 30 people move internationally annually.

The company says it’s experienced 8x ARR growth in the past 12 months and 19x MRR growth in Germany, while also getting to cash flow and EBITDA positive, it claims.

Joe Zadeh, angel investor and former head of Airbnb Experiences, said in a statement: “When my family was relocating internationally the process was confusing and required several months of administrative hurdles. When I learned about Jobbatical, I was compelled by their progress on making the whole process extremely simple. This will be great for companies since crossing country borders brings in new perspectives and gives employees far more flexibility.”

Founded by Estonian entrepreneurs and siblings Karoli and Ronald Hindriks, and Ankur Agarwal, Jobbatical pivoted from recruitment toward streamlining employee relocation and immigration processes.

3. Stack banks $2.7M to teach teens, parents about crypto

For the price of a cup of coffee, your teen can learn how to invest in cryptocurrency.

Today,?Stack?released what CEO Will Rush says is “the first crypto education and trading app for teens and their parents.”

The subscription-based app costs $3 per month per user and is available for?Android. It was designed with Gen Z in mind, a generation that will grow up with the blockchain and most likely own some kind of digital assets, Rush told TechCrunch.

The co-founded the company with CTO Natalie Young and CCO Angela Mascarenas in 2021. The founding team has an eclectic background that includes teen fintech app?Copper?and securities for Rush, while Mascarenas helped digitize the cookie ordering system for the Girl Scouts and Young was a T-Mobile engineer.

4. Whampoa To Wield $100M for Web3

The investment arm of one of Singapore’s largest multi-family offices is expected to set aside $100 million for the investment and incubation of Web3 startups,?Reuters reported?Thursday.

Whampoa Group’s digital asset investment business, Whampoa Digital, is expected to pour money into the sector via a venture fund targeting equity and tokens of products or services.

Whampoa’s fund, which intends to scale up its investment in the space, is expected to commence next quarter, in roughly one to three months time, CEO of Whampoa Group said in the report.?

The group said it also plans to raise $50 million for a crypto-related hedge fund, according to?separate reports. Despite crypto’s poor performance this year, executives of the group said they believe investment in Web3 technology stood to offer significant long-term growth potential.

Amid bearish market sentiment and depreciating crypto prices, large allocations of institutional capital?continue to flow into crypto’s Web3 sector, and this isn’t Whampoa’s first foray.

The firm supported Binance’s?$500 million fund?— also slated for Web3 investments — in June.?

Venture capital giant?Andreessen Horowitz, meanwhile, launched the industry’s largest fund totaling $4.5 billion in a move widely considered to provide a significant boost to those building software and applications.

Founded by the daughter of Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Whampoa is a privately held investment group focusing on high-growth, future-forward investments, according to its?LinkedIn page.

The group’s investment portfolio comprises roughly 200 companies which it has established over the last ten years.

5. Bessemer Venture Partners closes $3.85 billion for early-stage investments

Bessemer Venture Partners, a global venture capital firm, announced on Thursday the close of $3.85 billion for its twelfth flagship fund, BVP XII.

BVP XII will enhance the firm’s primary focus on seed and early-stage investments in companies spanning enterprise, deep tech, fintech, consumer, and healthcare. The firm takes a global approach to its investments with teams located in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, Boston, London, Tel Aviv, Beijing, and Bangalore. BVP’s Tel Aviv office is headed by Adam Fisher.

"This is an important announcement for the Israeli Innovation ecosystem as Bessemer has historically invested 15 percent of our core BVP fund in Israeli startups," explained Fisher, a partner in Bessemer's Tel Aviv office. "This new fund allows us to continue backing entrepreneurs at scale, bolstering our established focus on early-stage investments in Israel and the world."

6. Arch builds bridge to new class of medicines, leading $50M investment in the AI-enabled Vilya

Arch Venture Partners is?bankrolling?a biotech that could render high-throughput screening obsolete. The biotech, Vilya, starts life with a $50 million, Arch-led series A round and technology to design a new class of medicines.

Vilya grew out of work led by David Baker, Ph.D., at the Institute of Protein Design to use computational design to expand the chemical space. Armed with the technology, the Seattle-based biotech plans to design novel artificial molecules with customized biologic-like properties that can hit difficult-to-drug therapeutic targets in a broad set of indications.

According to Vilya, the molecular structures will range in size between small molecules and antibodies and have desirable druglike properties such as the ability to cross biological membranes and disrupt protein-protein interactions.

“Over the last few decades, drug developers have struggled to find natural molecules for most drug targets. Vilya’s ability to precisely design membrane permeable molecules with high structural accuracy opens the door to a new class of medicines that combine the advantages of traditional small molecule drugs and larger protein-based therapeutics,” Baker said in a statement.

7. Glasswing Ventures takes off with $158M second fund

Four years after raising its $112 million debut fund,?Glasswing Ventures, a firm focused on seed and pre-seed startups powered by artificial intelligence, has closed a $158 million vehicle.

Raising the second fund was easier than the first, but also different, according to Rudina Seseri, the firm's founder and managing partner. "We no longer have to evangelize that AI is going to be transformative," she said.

Since its founding in 2016, Glasswing has developed its brand and backed dozens of startups, many of which went on to raise subsequent rounds. However, the Boston-based firm had to compete with other VCs for limited partners' attention and capital.

Despite the competitive fundraising environment, 95% of Glasswing's LPs re-upped to its second fund, Seseri said.

Glasswing's strategy for its second vehicle will be largely the same as for its first. The firm will continue to invest in startups based on the East Coast, writing checks of $2 million in exchange for 20% of the startup. Besides Seseri, the firm is managed by Rick Grinnell and Sarah Fay.

8. Barcelona-based traveltech company Exoticca takes off with €20 million

As travel continues to hit the headlines,?Exoticca?has just closed a €20 million investment deal. The Barcelona-based startup is now planning to jet set its growth plans by hitting up the Americas.?

The travel and tourism industry has had a busy summer and it’s not over just yet! After a couple of months of travel mayhem as travellers took back to the skies and seas in search of some adventure, relaxation and time away from home, the industry is enjoying continued growth. The travel space has also undergone some interesting developments over the past couple of years with the use of tech to enhance consumer experience being a stand-out trend.?

Born in one of Europe’s tourism capitals, Barcelona, Exoticca is a next-generation tour operator specializing in multi-day tour packages – and it’s just bagged new funding.?

Exoticca has announced the close of a venture debt financing round of €20 million. The round was led by Claret Capital Partners and Sabadell Venture Capital.

It adds to a?€25.2 million raise in 2021, which saw participation from 14W, Mangrove CapitalPartners, Aldea Ventures and more. With this new investment, the young company has raised €66 million.?

Despite the global lockdown that hit a lot of traveltech startups, Exoticca has enjoyed sustained growth over the years – with an average compounded growth rate of over 100% since 205. The firm expects to close 2022 with €120 million in revenue.

9. Finnish startup Onego Bio picks up €4.5 million to accelerate the development of chicken-less egg product

Biotech startup?Onego Bio?has just raised an additional €4.5 million to accelerate the development of its animal-free egg white. Based in Finland, the team is on a mission to address a major global challenge of our time – sustainably feeding a growing population.?

As the world’s population grows and the climate crisis continues to make its impact felt, one thing has become abundantly clear – we need new ways to sustainably feed the world’s population. From food production to distribution and preparation, the way we source and enjoy food is changing monumentality and biotech innovation is helping cook up new approaches to food.

Onego Bio, a biotech spin-off from VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, is working to produce animal-free egg white with precision fermentation, offering a sustainable alternative to the world’s most popular protein.?

Onego Bio has just announced an additional €4.5 million of funding granted by Business Finland. It comes on the back of a?€10 million?raise in February of this year, which was led by Agronomics and Maki VC.?

Business Finland’s new investment makes it possible to increase the project’s resourcing and speed up its implementation, which improves its business expectations and positive social and environmental effects.?

According to Business Finland, the company’s solution rises to the major global challenges and development trends in food production. It has significant international business potential and promotes sustainable food production, food security and the fight against climate change. The funded project also promotes the commercialization of public research findings into a global competitive advantage and has a significant positive impact on the development of the company’s business.??

Maija Itkonen, CEO and co-founder of Onego Bio:?“Since our founding in February 2022, our team has been working hard to launch remarkable development projects, recruiting talented new team members, as well as generating business plans and commercial scenarios. With the help of this amazing additional funding, we can focus on even more complex and ambitious R&D areas and keep our risk appetite and performance requirements high”

10. Berlin-based Latana lands €36 million to empower better brand tracking and customer insights

Martech startup?Latana?has just raised €36 million for its AI-powered brand tracking and customer insights platform. Based in Berlin, the company is on a mission to equip marketers with better tools and insights and is embarking on big, global ambitions.

For marketing teams, having insight into consumers and how they perceive a brand is vital to making decisions, creating campaigns and justifying operations. But, just how can marketers accurately track consumers’ perceptions? Great marketing teams rely on quantitative, data-driven tools and results, but, for those specializing in branding, the tech hasn’t caught up yet.?

That is, until now. Latana, a startup headquartered in Berlin, has developed an AI-Powered brand tracking and consumer insights platform which is promising to provide companies with consumer data and key insights to help track brand and campaign performance.

Latana has announced it’s raised a €36 million Series B equity and debt financing to scale its SaaS offering – consolidating its position as a market leader in brand tracking.?

Since its launch in 2019, Latana has positioned itself as a response to a pressing need for companies to better understand their audiences and brand perception. This new funding was led by Oxx, a specialist growth-stage SaaS investor, with participation from Balderton Capital and Kreos – marking confidence in the company’s product and development.?

Have a great news to share? or Feedback? Email?at [email protected] .

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