Budapest Letters #31
π Hi All! Great to have you back. Sorry for missing last week with a fresh edition but flu and COVID hit our family hard. Thankfully, nothing major, we are all fine know. Still, full disclosure, I simply could not find time (or the energy) to write a new piece. Sorry.
This was me, mind you, all past week:
Nonetheless, to make up for this lost week, I prepared a lenghtier Budapest Letters for today which I hope you will enjoy. By the way, this is still my newsletter covering startup and small business stories from the CEE region, or interesting developments that might have something to do with this part of Europe. So fasten your seat belts and lets roll!
PS: Like always, as a grateful sidenote, big shout out to our new subscribers, good to have you here, and I hope you will stay. If so, and like what you read, subscribe + share π
Cheers, Aron
π’ TL;DR
Top stories this week: βοΈ Bolt, a transportation / food delivery super app from the Baltics, ticks off a monster investment round βοΈ Cognism, Juro and EmailTree raises π΅π΅π΅ βοΈ iERP breaths fresh air into the business forecasting scene with an AI-driven solution βοΈ While πΊπΈ VCs, and many of their European counterparts, are actively funding Web3 and crypto projects, Chinese VC firms seems to favor more tangible and down-to-earth propositions
π₯ Story of the Week
Despite being relatively age old news as per the current media cylcle, considering it dropped ca. 2 weeks ago, I simply cannot miss out on mentioning Boltβs (πͺπͺ) massive, β¬628M new funding round that rocketed the ride-hailing / grocery delivery / e-scooter hiring super startupβs valuation to a whopping β¬7.4B.
Sure, I know, this is not extraordinary given the fact that VCs across the globe adore food delivery startups. One just have to look at recent raises of e.g. Rohlik, Wolt, Jokr, Taster, Flink, Swaggy, HungryPanda and Gopuff. Crazy sums, I tell you.
But what is noteworthy about Markus Villigβs (Founder, CEO) company is that it merges two trendy verticals with food delivery and transportation, hence it offers a more intriguing business model vs all of its single focused competitors.
True, both are hard segments to be at, especially now, but if your funding round is lead by Sequoia and Fidelity Management, well, you are surely on to something.
Show Me Da πΆ
π Cognism, a sales intelligence provider from π¬π§ with a co-founder from ππ· and strong engineering presence in π²π°, received ca. β¬77.3M, led by Viking Global (πΊπΈ) and Blue Cloud Ventures (πΊπΈ). The startup, that operates an AI-driven sales acceleration platform that helps companies in prospecting and finding/delivering new revenue, will use the fresh funding to expand across Europe.Β Β
π Juro, a legaltech startup from π¬π§/π±π», bagged ca. β¬20.3M, led by Eigth Roads (πΊπΈ), with participation from existing investors. The company, that offers a universal contract automation platform enabling legal counsel and contracts management, will use the money for its US / European expansion and product development.
π EmailTree, a customer service automation startup from π·π΄, nabbed β¬2.5M. The startup, that increases customer service department productivity by providing AI-driven automated written responses, will use the fresh funding to boost its sales and marketing activities, and also to fine-tune its product.
π¨ Startup Alert
This weekβs alert is on iERP, a business forecasting startup from πΈπ°, which recently managed to raise a β¬520k seed round from Zero Gravity (πΈπ°), CB Investment Management (πΈπ°) and Cognitum (π΅π±). The company, that offers its clients an easy-to-use digital platform that provides real-time predictions on customersβ behavior (+ sales forecasting and late payment predictions), will use the fresh money to strengthen its team, boost its product offering and expand to new markets.
But for a slightly deeper look into what iERP provides, here is a teaser:
π§ Food
Rui Ma, a well respected investor and tech journalist focusing on π¨π³, posted this interesting feedback she got from top local VC funds a few days backβ¦
As you see, no mentions of Web3, NFTs or blockchain projects that revolutionizes certain industries and giving back control to THE ORDINARY PEOPLE π
Uplifting, of sorts. I donβt now about you but I am close to reaching max levels of information flow re: Crypto, Web3, Metaverse, DAOs, NFTs and the lot.
Somedays, and please feel free to read hear most days currently, I feelβ¦
It is just too much. Reading any US/European tech and biz sites for 5 minutes, listening to VCs or doing a friendly scroll through Twitter, Web3 and DAOs are overrunning you, without mercy. This is what is buzzing, barely anything else.
Do not get me wrong, all of this is relevant, forward looking and cool. I myself are interested in it to a certain degree - at least as far as my investments require it.
But seeing what the top Chinese VCs are focusing on, including fields that have real and serious political implications (i.e. chips), I cannot help but think that they are onto something that is here and now. Whereas we are pushing things that are either in the distant future (e.g. fully operating and accepted DAOs on a wide scale) or that are only increasing consumerism further (e.g. Metaverse).
Of course, I am exaggerating. We in the West also fund ground-breaking energy, robotics, health, biotech startups and innovations, even chips, I hope. Still, I feel that there could be a danger that China edges us out in certain fields.
And this might hurt us. Maybe not tomorrow. Or maybe it would not even hurt too bad. Nonetheless, it could easily cause harm that could otherwise be avoided by focusing a tiny bit more on chips and less on overpriced .JPGs.
Just a hunch.