Budapest Letters #57
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 #57, 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» OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a conversational chatbot service that might replace Google search βπ» Turbine, Giraffe360, AltoVita and Supernova raised πΆ βπ» Lithuaniaβs Walk150 aims to help people become healthier βπ» Automotive giant Stellantis announced the acquisition of aiMotive
π₯ Story of the Week
Not sure about your last week folks but my mine, whenever I had some free time, was spent on checking out articles and tests on AI-driven chatbot ChatGPT.
And man, the results and the whole stuff is justβ¦
Brilliant. Scary. Groundbreaking. You name it, it is exactly that. For me, this could be a new milestone in tech that we had not seen for years or decades even.
In short, ChatGPT is a conversational chatbot built by OpenAI (above you saw CEO Sam Altmanβs launch tweet), an AI research and deployment company whose mission, according to itself, βis to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanityβ. Let us hope it really is, because this is major, it will make waves.
Show Me Da πΆ
ππ» Turbine, a biotech startup from ππΊ, bagged β¬20M co-led by Mercia (π¬π§) and MSD GHI Fund (πΊπΈ), the venture arm of pharma giant Merck & Co. The company, that develops a cell behavior simulation platform, will use the fresh funding to fine-tune and boost its cutting-edge technology to target DNA damage repair.
Note: Hungarian VC firm Day One Capital also participated (Huzza)!
ππ» Giraffe360, a proptech startup from π±π», nabbed ca. β¬15M led by Founders Fund (πΊπΈ), backer of SpaceX and Spotify, with participation from existing investors, including LAUNCHub Ventures (π§π¬) and Change Ventures (πͺπͺ). The company, that provides a virtual tour camera service for real estate agents, will use the fresh raise to expand its team / presence, and also to accelerate product development.
ππ» AltoVita, a proptech startup from π¬π§ with a co-founder (Karolina Saviova) from π¨πΏ, received ca. β¬9M co-led by Novum Capital (π¨π) and Fifth Wall (πΊπΈ). The startup, that provides a corporate accomodation platform for users (i.e. 1M+ housing options worldwide for business travellers), will use the money to expand.
ππ» Supernova, a design startup from π¨πΏ, received ca. β¬4.5M led by Wing VC (πΊπΈ), with participation from other investors, including Kaya VC, a local firm. The startup, that is developing design platform that helps product teams build faster, will use the money to accelerate platform development and grow its team.
π₯ to all founders and teams on the fresh raises!
π¨ Startup Alert
This weekβs alert is on Walk15, a fitness startup from π±πΉ, that provides users with a step counting app and various other amenities that point to a healthier living.
The company was co-founded in 2019 by Edgaras Ε½ukauskas, Vlada MusvydaitΔ-VilΔiauskΔ, Oleg Zheleznyi and Vytautas ViΕ‘inski. Besides step counting, the startup also offers discounts on healthy choices in exchange of fufilled steps. But here what is noteworthy is that these choice are not only focused on the boring regulars, like energy drinks or bars, but train tickets and car-sharing. Smart.
Walk15 currently works together with 1k+ companies and serves 420k users.
PS: Oh yeah, and they just bagged β¬400k from Business Angels Fund II, a local angel investment fund, and various other existing investors. So the future seems bright!
π§ Food
Stellantis (π«π·), one of the biggest carmakers in the global automotive trade (think Peugeot, Fiat, Opel and several other brands) announced the acquisiton of aiMotive, a Hungarian autonomous driving startup. Big news for my home country, will not hide it from you, but also for the CEE region as a whole.
The final price of the deal is not disclosed, still it is important that a startup hailing from this part of Europe will now become one of the central pieces of Stellantisβs Dare Forward 2030 strategy, that aims to make the carmaker a leader in the field of sustainable mobility until the end of this decade. Ambitious.
The Hungarian startup, with its HQ in Budapest, has international offices in Germany, the United States and Japan, and employes more than two hundred people. But from now on, it will operate as a subsidiary of Stellantis, and it will be part of the self-management and AI teams of the French conglomerate. However, according to the official announcement, the independence of their operations and their startup mentality will continue to be ensured; this is futher underlined by the fact that founder-CEO LΓ‘szlΓ³ Kishonti will remain on-board. In addition, the team will also be able to sell most of its products to external business partners.
Huge stuff, all the way.