Budapest Letters #52
ππ» Hi All! Great to have you back after a fairly long hiatus. But the silence is over. The startup I am helping to build is launched (Heroik - site in Hungarian, sorry), my kiddo started kindergarten and the vacation season is over so I am fairly confident that I can now balance my schedule much better. Sure, every once in a while it can still happen that I will miss an edition on a week-by-week basis, but I will try my best not to go AWOL π
So that is it, let us roll. 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, as you did in the past!
Before we jump into edition #52, 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» Prague-based Presto Ventures invests in Tajikistan, a rare move - not only - from a CEE VC fund βπ» 3Commas (πͺπͺ), Monese (πͺπͺ), Woltair (π¨πΏ) and Xund ( π¦πΉ / ππΊ ) raises πΆ βπ» Latviaβs LANDE aims to bring crowdfunding to the agri business sector βπ» Siftedβs CEE reporter, Zosia Wanat, investages where CEE founders and startups should be based in order to succeed
π₯ Story of the Week
Roman NovΓ‘Δek, the founder of Presto Ventures from π¨πΏ, is not your average CEE venture capitalist. He is not looking for new investment in his native country only, that he is familiar with and understands well, but also outside of it.
Of course, in itself this is neither unusal, nowadays many local funds invest outside of their own geographies but the thing with NovΓ‘Δek and Presto is that investment for this specific Prague-based VC firm means not just the wider CEE region, like for almost all others, but also - drum roll, please - Central Asiaβ¦
Their $1.1M co-investment into Zypl.ai, a fintech startup from Tajikistan, is a unique approach with a well deserved capital U. For years and years western VC firms seldomly moved outside their own familiar geographies. Thanks to COVID though, this is changing. Rapidly. Just look at US / UK venture firms. But mainland Europeans, as usual, follow suit slower. Although not Presto Ventures, their decision is bold, by all standards. Heck, only Sturgeon Capital comes into my mind who moved into Central Asia and they are doing good, really good.
So keep it going Presto Ventures! ππ»
Show Me Da πΆ
ππ» 3Commas, an investment startup from πͺπͺ, received ca. β¬37.7M led by Target Global (π©πͺ), with participation from other investors, including Alameda Research and Jump Capital. The startup, that operates an automated crypto trading and portfolio management platform, will use the fresh funding to scale globally.
ππ» Monese, a fintech startup originally from πͺπͺ, bagged ca. β¬35.7M from HSBC Ventures (π¬π§), the venture arm of one of best known global banks in the world. The company, that provides a popular mobile-only, multi-currency account for private individuals clients, will start a strategic cooperation with HSBC. And I am curious how will it go, especially in light of Loot or Simple. These marriages are rocky.
ππ» Woltair, a cleantech startup from π¨πΏ, nabbed β¬16.3M led by Arctern Ventures (π¨π¦), with participation from other investors, among them Kaya VC, a local VC firm, and Movens Capital, a Polish venture fund. The startup, that operates a digital platform that helps with solar panel and heat pump installation, will use the fresh raise to strengthen its team and establish itself in more πͺπΊ markets.
ππ» Xund, a healttech startup from π¦πΉ with two ππΊ co-founders, snatched β¬6M co-led by MMC Ventures (π¬π§) and MassMutual Ventures (πΊπΈ). The startup, that provides AI-driven symptom and risk assessment capabilities for healthcare companies, will use the fresh raise to scale faster, mostly in Europe and the United States.
ππ» Additional investment news that you should know about:
Klaus, a customer insights platform from πͺπͺ, raised β¬12M led by German VC fund Acton Capital: more on this via Tech.eu
myTU, a mobile banking startup from π±πΉ, bagged β¬5M from a well rounded group of angel investors: more on this via AIN.capital
Foodsi, a foodtech startup from π΅π±, snatched ca. β¬1.2M led by local VC fund CofunderZone: more on this via My Company Polska
Surveily, an industrial surveillance startup from π΅π±, received β¬1M led by Black Pearls VC, a local VC fund; more on this via MamStartup
Parol, a medtech startup from π·π΄, netted β¬450k led by local VC firm Mavers Ventures: more on this via The Recursive
Germany-based Point Nine Capital (β¬180M), Latvia-based Livonia Partners (β¬157M) and Estonia-based Trind VC (β¬55M) all announced new venture funds that will be used to support European founders and startups, among many from CEE, I suppose, as all are rooted or heavily involved in the region.
π₯ to all founders and teams on the fresh raises!
π¨ Startup Alert
This weekβs alert is on LANDE, a crowdfunding platform startup from π±π», that just received β¬550k from the Latvian Business Angels Network, Seedrs and BADideas.fund, a local VC firm, to fuel its expansion into new EU markets.
You might say now, for sure, why a crowdfunding platform is alert relevant in 2022, there are lots of them, even in the CEE region. But for me, why LANDE is different and noteworthy is its razor focus on the agriculture segment. This sector, as far as I am concerned, is seldomly targeted by such platforms.
According to the company, fully operational in the Baltics, the platform issued over β¬4.5M in loans since its establishment (working together with ca. 300 famers), with β¬3M disbursed in 2022, alone. The startup expects to achieve the financing volume of β¬15M in 2023, so plans for a very aggressive growth rate.
π§ Food
Zosia Wanat, the Warsaw-based CEE correspondent for Sifted, an FT-backed online magazine focusing on European startups, wrote an interesting article. In it, Zosia deep-dives into to the topic of where CEE founders should be based. Can they make it big from within the region? Or they need to move to be truly successful on a global scale? As you would accept, there is no clear formula.
Some founders and startups in certain verticals can make without moving their HQ to abroad, but some others need to. Still, the article is insightful. Go for it!