Budapest Letters #47
π€ Programming note: Budapest Letters will be off next week. Back on 27 June.
ππ» Hi All! Great to have you back. This is Budapest Letters, 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. Hope you will enjoy it!
Before we jump into edition #47, big shout out to our new subscribers, good to have you here. And one more thing before we roll, if you like what you read, subscribe + share ππ»
Cheers, Aron
π’ TL;DR
Top stories this week: βπ» Vestbee published its Q1 2022 report on the performance of CEE startups and the figures are β€οΈβπ₯ βπ» Flip.ro, Hunch and MYX raised πΆ βπ» Czechiaβs Dio aims to digitalize how churchgoers interact with their local parishes βπ» ff.next published a whitepaper on youth banking
π₯ Story of the Week
Vestbee, a platform that connects CEE startups and investors, published its Q1 2022 report on how the region performed in terms of attracting money. Number of investment rounds, main VC players, top startups and so on. Interesting stuff.
For me, the following insights stood out:
233 rounds were closed during Q1 2022;
Total funding reached β¬1.6B (vs. β¬1B in Q4 2021);
Biggest investment (β¬628M, Series F) was netted by Bolt (πͺπͺ);
π΅π± (98 pcs), πͺπͺ (36 pcs and π·π΄ (16 pcs) delivered the most rounds;
πͺπͺ (β¬920M+), π΅π± (β¬250M+) and π¨πΏ (β¬160M+) bagged the most money.
In sum, CEE startups in Q1 been likeβ¦
Let us hope that despite all the turmoil (i.e. Ukrainan war, inflation, US stock market tanking that also affects startup finances), performance will remaine πͺπ»
PS: If you would like to deep-dive into the Vestbee report, here you can do so.
Show Me Da πΆ
ππ» Flip.ro, a refurbished electronics startup from π·π΄, received β¬6.5M from eMag Ventures, the investment arm of regional e-commerce heavyweight eMag; whom, by the way, also happens to be a key minority owner (42%) in the company. The startup, that operates a marketplace for reconditioned smartphones at affordable prices, will use the fresh funding to scale internationally (CEE, for starters).
ππ» Hunch, an ads automation platform from π·πΈ, bagged β¬4M led by Catalyst Romania, with participation from several other investors, including Euroventures (ππΊ), South Central Ventures (ππ·) and crowdfunding platform SeedBlink (π·π΄). The company, that provides an ads automation platform for business with many relevant features for better consumer targeting, will use the newly raised sum to expand globally (Europe and the US are in focus) and boost its sales team.
ππ» MYX robotics, an AI and data analytics startup from π§π¬, nabbed β¬3.5M led by Connect 44 (π¨π), with participation from local VC New Vision 3, an existing investor. The startup, that offers AI-driven data analytics solutions for (mostly) business clients within telecoms, will use the fresh raise to grow internationally.
ππ» Additional investment news that you should know about:
Zerofy, a carbon emissions tracker startup from πͺπͺ, raised ca. β¬1.1M led by US VC fund Union Labs: more on this via Tech.eu
BitDegree, a blockhain-based edtech startup from π±πΉ, snatched ca. β¬950k from Japanese/Singaporean VC fund Mistletoe: more on this via Tech.eu
Lightspeed Technologies, an augmented reality startup from π±π», bagged β¬750k led by local VC Ardelta: more on this via AIN.capital
Timbeter, a greentech startup from πͺπͺ, netted β¬500k led by FII Institute, a Saudi think thank cum investment fund: more on this via EU-Startups
Kardi AI, a healthtech startup from π¨πΏ, received β¬350k led by Bulgarian VC firm BrightCap Ventures: more on this via The Recursive
Simpl.rent, a proptech-fintech startup from π΅π±, raised ca. β¬330k led by local VC fund Black Pearls VC: more on this via AIN.capital
π₯ to all founders and teams on the fresh raises!
π¨ Startup Alert
This weekβs alert is on Dio, a faithtech startup from π¨πΏ, that offers an app for local parishes and churchgoers to interact more actively, let it be for exchanging notices, making personal confessions or giving donations. Both the idea and the execution seems cool, and very much relevant, since churches and activities / process related to faith expression are not exactly known for innovation. But this, it seems, might change thanks to the founders (VojtΔch Ε anca, Jan RΕ―ΕΎiΔka) of Dio.
The core offer of the startup - for now - is as follows:
Direct and confidential discussions with a priest;
Local parish notices and updates for churchgoers;
Contributions and donations for the parish of choice.
β¦so roughly the digital version of all 101 activities of churchgoing.
Considering that attendance in churches and the number of people who identify as religious is steadily decreasing for decades, at least in Europe, clearly indicates that there is a problem to be solved. And Dio could easily have the needed answer.
PS: Nation 1, a local VC fund, certainly believes in Team Dio as it has just given β¬140k to the startup as a pre-seed investment for expansion and tech fine-tuning. Congrats!
π§ Food
ff.next, a fintech design & development agency from ππΊ, published a page-turner whitepaper on youth banking (i.e. habits, attitudes, feelings) - check here.
The company, that since its inception is focusing on this specific segment, are behind several well known solutions on the Hungarian banking and insurance market (e.g. Cristo, SpendInvest) and beyond (e.g. Collectius in Singapore). But they are the ones who are also the co-founders of Strive, a UK-based crypto edtech startup, that just received β¬100k from Demium, a European startup accelerator.
Talented team with ambitious founders who deliver the good stuff. Probably this is the easiest way to sunmmarize ff.next and this whitepaper fits the mould.
Selected takeaways that I found interesting:
Young people today are disappointed with traditional banks and financial institutions - but in some cases, even with digital challenger banks;
Younger generations save better & plan their budgets more responsibly than their older contemporaries with the help of digital tools;
An entire generation of young people is growing up cashless.
But trust me, there is much more π where this came from π Go check!
See you back here on 27 June!