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Venture Capital in Europe, the latest deals

Stefano Bernardi — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:00:29 +0000

Investinor, Alliance Venture, founders and staff have invested NOK 16.2m in Norwegian software provider bMenu.
Newfund and three private investors have provided French eCRM specialist CRM Mobile Corp (TCMC) with growth capital funding.
Following a six-year association with the venture investor as an advisor, life sciences specialist and entrepreneur Dr Kevin Johnson has joined Index Ventures as a Partner.
Danish venture capital firm SEED Capital has invested DKK 7.6m in biotech company Reapplix.

Reapplix has developed the LeucoPatch, a treatment for foot ulcers. The treatment is designed for diabetic sufferers, who often suffer extensive foot ulcers that heal poorly. European studies have shown that more than a fifth of ulcers in diabetic patients result in amputation.

A clinical study at the Centre for Wound Healing at Bispebjerg Hospital found that 13 out of 16 patients with chronic ulcers (including five diabetics) were completely healed after using LeucoPatch.

“In Denmark we [spend] in total nearly DKr 3bn annually on wound care, and amputations can easily cost up to DKr 1m per patient,” said Bo Jesper Hansen, chariman of Reapplix.

Three former executives of Belgian investor KBC Private Equity have spun out to form new small-cap, later-stage outfit Think2Act Partners, according to local press reports.
Doughty Hanson has acquired UK-based Equity Trust in a €350m secondary buyout from Candover Partners and other institutional shareholders.
GIMV has invested €15m to back the management buyout of French e-commerce company Onedirect.
Prime Technology Ventures has sold its 43% stake in web analytics specialist Nedstat to comScore, in a deal that values the company at $36.7m (€28.6m).
A pool of institutional and angel investors has provided UK medical equipment company Microvisk with a £2.5m round of funding.
Balderton Capital has led a €3m series-A funding round for Irish telecommunications specialist Socowave.
Eden Ventures has made five new investments in UK early-stage technology companies, with amounts ranging in size from £100,000 to £1m. (TechCrunch Article).
Internet focused fund ISAI has backed the French online marketplace InstantLuxe.com with €650,000 of funding.
Advent Venture Partners and No 8 Ventures have invested £1m in software company OpenCloud, as part of a £5m funding round.
21 Investimenti, the Franco-Italian mid-market later stage investor, has sold Italian oil and gas engineering firm Valbart to listed US business Flowserve.
Investinor and existing investors ProVenture Seed and Energy Capital Management have invested NOK 40m in Norwegian software solutions provider Verdande Technology AS.
123Venture and a pool of private investors have injected €2.8m into French technology company Unowhy.
Ysios Capital Partners and Caixa Capital Risc have invested €5m in medical technology research company Sabirmedical.
The Bank of Ireland has led a €1.8m round of funding for Dublin software start-up InishTech via its Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund.
Chopin Invest has bought a portfolio of minority stakes from Seventure Partners, for an undisclosed amount. Companies that were affected by the deal include Netasq, Opti-Time, Quescom, Scaleo Chip and W4.
Intel Capital, MCI Management and Ondra Tomek have acquired Netretail Holding, a holding company and operator of the online shopping site mall.cz, from its previous investor, 3TS Capital Partners in a deal valued at €11m. As part of the transaction, Intel Capital and MCI Management invested €5m each, while Ondra Tomek, founder of Czech web portal NetCentrum, contributed €1m. The funding was used to expand business in the region of Central and Eastern Europe.
Forbion Capital Partners, YSIOS Capital Partners, Industrifonden and HealthCap have held a second closing of a series-A financing round, raising SEK 124m for drug developer Cardoz AB.
Venture capital firm Wellington Partners has agreed to sell Munich-based software company Aloqa GmbH to mobile phone giant Motorola for an undisclosed sum.
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and DN Capital have teamed up to provide a first round of funding for baby care specialty website windeln.de, which is scheduled to launch this month.
Forbion Capital Partners closed its FCF II fund in July, having raised €136m.
Catapult Venture Managers has injected £600,000 in UK mobile application and platform provider Yospace Enterprises Ltd.
High-Tech Gründerfonds has invested in German software developer ConWeaver GmbH.
Viking Venture has led a consortium of investors consisting of Alliance Venture, Salvesen og Thams and Glør Iks in a NOK 16m funding round for MemfoACT.
ALMI Invest and Wingefors Invest have provided SEK 2m for I Read new media AB, which provides digital journals through Paperton.com.
17Capital announced the final close of its first fund, 17Capital Fund, which raised €88m.
Nexit Ventures and existing investors, including Sofinnova Partners, have injected €17m into Finnish mobile advertising provider Blyk.
Two-man technology team The Bakery, which has worked on animated film blockbusters including Shrek and Madagascar, has secured a $2.3m investment for its software group.

Flash: New early stage tech fund in northern Europe

Stefano Bernardi — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:44:11 +0000

The guys over at Arctic Startup just reported about a new €46.5m venture capital fund in the nordics and baltics (with a cool .vc domain). You can read their full post for more details.

Recent VC deals in Europe

Stefano Bernardi — Wed, 05 May 2010 08:00:25 +0000

Austrian venture capital house GCP gamma capital partners has sold online trading platform FatFoogoo to NASDAQ-listed e-commerce group Digital River. The exit values FatFoogoo at $10m and GCP has further agreed an earnout provision.
GrandCentrix GmbH, a Cologne, Germany-based start up which develops a “Smartphone Analytics” technology, has received an undisclosed investment from High-Tech Gründerfonds.The company develops and provides a Platform as a Service (PaaS) which allows suppliers of interactive mobile value added services to achieve a comprehensive consolidation of mobile user identities.
EnjoyVenture has led a second round of financing for amedo Smart Tracking Solutions GmbH.
I-Source has led a €3m first round of financing in Compario, an e-commerce company, along side XAnge Private Equity.
MMC Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in mobile telecommunications software designer Creativity Software in return for a significant minority stake.
Belgian provider of payment solutions Clear2Pay has acquired Jware Technologies, an internationally operating software technology provider of eCommerce and mobile payment solutions.
Qualitas Private Equity has increased its stake in social networking site Tuenti Technologies to 30%.

Flash: FreshTL raises £300k from YFM Private Equity

Stefano Bernardi — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:53:58 +0000

YFM Private Equity has invested £300,000 in UK software vendor, FreshTL.

The financing is part of a £600,000 co-investment deal with Greener House Investments, and marks YFM’s first investment from the North West Interim Venture Capital Fund.
FreshTL has created a crowd computing platform that is a combination of software from IBM and Bricsys – a Belgian software vendor.

Latest Venture Capital investments in Europe

Stefano Bernardi — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:03:38 +0000

High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in C2Call

High-Tech Gründerfonds has invested in VoIP company C2Call GmbH, alongside two angel investors

IBB backs MyBrands

IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, alongside Grey Corporate Investments and two business angels sourced through the European Founders Fund, have provided a first round of financing for online designer outlet MyBrands

Tecnet leads €2m round for nxtControl

Tecnet Equity, the investment fund of the federal state of Lower Austria, has led a EUR 2m investment round for software company nxtControl GmbH, taking a 38% stake in the company

CDC and CapDecisif pour €2.5m into Caiman

CDC Entreprises and CapDecisif have participated in an investment round for media support company Groupe Caiman, raising EUR 2.5m

Fizzback raises £1.6m for its Series B round

London-based Fizzback raised £1.6M (€1.7M) in a second round of funding led by Nauta Capital and primary backer Advent Venture Partners

European Venture Capital news of the week

Stefano Bernardi — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:00:33 +0000

Last week was absolutely astonishing regarding venture capital deals in Europe. I was overwhelmed by the amount of news I got. Here are the most important, even though I left out many deals that weren’t digital, web or mobile.

I’m curious to see some stats about the VC industry in this last part of 2009, I have a felling it’s really booming.

PPM Oost invests in Can-iT

Governmanet-backed venture investor PPM Oost has invested an undisclosed sum into internet firm Can-iT, acquiring a 16% stake in the business

Icso backs EUR 4m AT Internet investment

Icso Private Equity and l’IRDI have provided software business AT Internet with an investment of over EUR 4m

Maven Capital invests £2m into Documetric

Maven Capital Partners, via its Capital for Enterprise Fund, has invested £2m into Documetric, a provider of business-to-business services

YFM Venture Finance invests £400,000 into Lattice Voice

YFM Venture Finance, via its PIF and YHEF vehicles, has invested £406,000 into telecoms software company Lattice Voice Technologies

Emertec supports Insiteo

Emertec, alongside a group of business angels, has provided a first round of funding for Insiteo, an indoor geo-location company, valued at several million euros

Chalmers leads a SEK 2.3m funding round for Aluwave

Chalmer Innovation Seed Fund has alongside Innovationsbron and existing backers participated in a SEK 2.3 millions round for Aluwave

Wellington leads $16m Livebookings funding

Pan-European venture capital firm Wellington Partners has led a $16m funding round for online restaurant marketing and reservations service Livebookings, along existing investors

NextStage makes EUR 1m Expertissim investment

NextStage has invested EUR 1m in Expertissim, an online art retail platform

Neuhaus Partners and T-Venture invest in WWG

German venture investor Neuhaus Partners and T-Venture, the venture capital company of Deutsche Telekom, have joined existing investors Holtzbrinck Ventures and High-Tech Grunderfonds, in a series A round of funding for online games portal Worldwidegames GmbH (WWG)

Auriga leads EUR 3.2m Cytoo financing

Augriga Partners has led a second round of financing for technology company Cytoo, raising EUR 3.2 millions

Advent, AGF and Atlas return for EUR 15m Dailymotion investment (TechCrunch post)

Advent Venture Partners, AGF Private Equity, Atlas Venture and Partech International have returned for a EUR 15m third round of funding in Dailymotion, alongside a new investor

XAnge provide KissKissBankBank with EUR 750k

XAnge Private Equity has provided KissKissBankBank, an internet platform, with EUR 750,000 in seed financing

Mercia et al. invest £400,000 into Allinea Software

Mercia Technology Seed Fund and Midven, via its Advantage Growth Fund, have co-led a £400,000 seed funding round for specialist software developer Allinea Software

MCP backs Microgame in a 8 figures deal

International private equity fund Monitor Clipper Partners (MCP) has backed online game operator Microgame, in a deal thought to be valued in the tens of millions of Euros

Amadeus Capital invests in Linkdex

Amadeus Capital Partners, via its Amadeus Seed Fund and Amadeus III vehicle, has invested EUR650,000 into software company Linkdex

BrainsToVentures invests in Linguee

Investors from BrainsToVentures have, together with its in-house fund, provided a second round of financing for online translation search engine provider Linguee GmbH

Seventure invests EUR 1.6m into TalentSoft (TechCrunch post)

Seventure Partners has provided software company TalentSoft with an investment of EUR 1.6m

Recent european venture capital deals

Stefano Bernardi — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:54:56 +0000

Germany: Earlybird has led a first round of financing for software company azeti Networks GmbH, alongside NRW Bank.
Press release.
France: Ventech and Auriga Partners have invested EUR 2m into software company BonitaSoft.
Announcement.
UK: Foresight Venture Partners and Octopus Group, via its Titan VCT fund, have invested, alongside private investors, in online CV and career profile provider iProfile, in a funding round worth more than £1.5m.
Germany: A consortium of investors including Crédit Agricole Private Equity, Corporate Finance Partners CFP and Founders Investments GmbH & Co KGaA have invested an undisclosed amount into e-sports company Turtle Entertainment GmbH.
France: Private equity firm Gimv has backed online furniture retailer Made in Design in a first institutional financing round worth EUR 4.5m.
Press Release.

Facebook Lite available for every english-speaking user

Stefano Bernardi — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:05:42 +0000

The Next Web just reported that Facebook Lite is now available also for non US users. Facebook announced today that, after receiving loads of requests after yesterday’s US release, it rolled out all the new features to all English speaking Facebook users, fortunately I had mine set in English, and I must say I’m in love with it.

Check out if it works for you http://lite.facebook.com

For some screenshots and more infos, check out yesterday’s post on Techcrunch.

If you need some invitations, please post it in the comments.

European Venture Capital news of the day

Stefano Bernardi — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:16:23 +0000

Ariadne Capital has launched the Ariadne Capital Entrepeneurs (ACE) Fund, a new vehicle aimed at investing in technology start-ups (Techcrunch Europe post)
DuMont Venture and seed investor Tiburon Partners have led an undisclosed seven figure funding round for online video technology company stream5, alongside KfW and business angel Klaus Wecken (Press release)
IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft invested in Affinitas, operator of the online dating portal edarling, in a second closing of the business’ first funding round

Flash: Warburg Pincus acquires 8.8% of embedded computing company Kontron

Stefano Bernardi — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:30:29 +0000

Warburg Pincus, a US-based private equity firm, has acquired an 8.8% stake in Munchen-based Kontron AG, a designer and manufacturer of embedded computer systems.

The deal is valued at €38.6 millions.