TheStartup.eu

• 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.

PROfoundersCapital, the new VC fund of Michael Birch and Brent Hoberman who launched at the europas in july, made its first investment.

TweetDeck will receive £1.2 Millions in funding. The money will be used to find revenue streams while completing their product. The company was founded by former computer developer Iain Dodsworth in summer of 2008 and it is now thought that around 10% to 15% of all tweets are sent via the application. The business, which now employs six people, received its first funding injection this year — for $184,000 from a group of investors, including Betaworks in the United States.

Sean Seton-Rogers, general partner of PROfounders, said to the times: “A lot of funds are focused on making sure that the companies they have already invested in survive, they are internally focused, but we are ready to build this legacy. We are open for business and looking for deals.”

The UK looks to make its european leadership stronger, after the launch of PROfounders Capital earlier this month, yesterday news broke about a new £50m fund.

Tim Levene, the son of Lloyd’s of London chairman Lord Levene, has been backed by Lord Rothschild and RIT Capital Partners.

The investments will be targeted on growth and development businesses and will be in the £3m-£15m range. Levene only plans on investing in businesses that could benefit from his experience and insights.

Tim Levene has an interesting background: in 1997, after leaving Bain & Company, he launched the Fresh ‘n’ Smooth juice bars selling the company a few years later. In 1999 he founded Flutter, a betting website, later acquired by Betfair in 2001.

Richard Matthews will be the other partner of the fund.

H-Farm is one of the most interesting projects in the italian and european startup scene. As the name suggests, it is a real farm located in the middle of the venetian country near Treviso where people every day are trying to redefine the traditional incubation process.

Founded in 2005 by Riccardo Donadon and Maurizio Rossi, H-Farm has now more than 15 startups, and some very successful ones too: Zooppa is the best example.

The company already has offices in Treviso, Seattle and Mumbay. The Old Truman Brewery complex located around Brick Lane, very close to the financial district, will host their new Uk office. This addition will help them create that international incubator they are aspiring to.

Here is how Riccardo Donadon, founding partner, explains it to us: “H-Farm objective is to build an international incubation platform that can take advantage of the different economic opportunities and move ideas and business around the world with minimal effort.
With this in mind, the new UK offices are a necessary step that will allow us to offer our startups a unique european visibility and market presence.”

All their services can now be enjoyed by UK-startups, we are talking about capital resources and a full range of of services and logistics to enable rapid growth. Of course the classic incubation services are offered too: office space and facilities, support for marketing, financial advice, human resources, legal, accounting and business development. On top of that they add strategy advice, branding and corporate structure. Read their mini press release.

Mobile payment and banking company Monitise announced yesterday a huge deal with credit cards giant Visa.

The Uk -based company has created the world’s first mobile banking networks, which allow customers of multiple banks and mobile operators to perform banking and payment transactions directly from their mobile handset.

The deal is comprised of a strategic and development partnership and is valued at £5.1 Millions. Visa International will own 14.4% of the enlarged issued share capital of Monitise. Visa will also be granted a seat on the advisory board, with the power to nominate a representative on the main board.

“With the ever expanding growth in handsets coupled with increasing sophistication of mobile networks, mobile payments and services present significant opportunity for Visa as we continue to develop new ways to bring the benefits of Visa electronic payments to more people in more places.” said Tim Attinger, Head of Global Product Innovation, Visa Inc. ”In aligning with Monitise, we expect to expand the delivery of Visa mobile services to consumers around the globe, enabling them to seamlessly use their mobile phones to purchase goods and services, make payments, receive valuable information and offers, and transfer money between accounts, in a safe and secure manner.”

The £5.1m raised, together with existing cash reserves of about £10m will provide Monitise with total cash of approximately £15m immediately following completion. That’s a lot of money in this economy, I think we will hear a lot more from them as they are also looking for more strategic partnerships in every continent.

Alastair Lukies, Chief Executive Officer, Monitise commented: ”Visa is the world’s most trusted, inclusive and innovative payments network. This alliance validates our unwavering commitment to building truly accessible, inclusive and reliable services over the past seven years. It is a landmark announcement in the mobile payment space and we are excited to collaborate with the world’s foremost payments company to accelerate the convergence of payments services and mobile devices.”

“We are also proud to welcome Tim Attinger to our Advisory Board; his deep payments and mobile expertise will make him a valued member to our key contributing body.” Lukies concluded.

The guys over at Smarta have got a nice interview with Lukies.

Some major venture capital activity today around Europe.

• Austria: Mobil Data gets €2.3 Millions

Wiener Wachstumsfonds and tecnet equity have invested more than EUR 2m into mobile working company mobil data, with part of the funding being used to acquire sector rival Tempore Zeiterfassungssysteme.


• France: Systancia gest €1.5 Millions

A Plus Finance has invested EUR 1.5m into Systancia, a server based computing company.


• UK: CMS SupaTrak raises third round of funding

YFM Group, via the South West Ventures Fund, has further invested in vehicle tracking and mobile working solutions company CMS SupaTrak in a third round of funding.