Mike Butcher
TechCrunch
United Kingdom
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Recent articles by Mike:
Rolling updates on Beirut, a city and a tech community devastated –
It was only relatively recently, in October 2018, that TechCrunch held Startup Battlefield MENA to unpack startups in the Middle East and North Africa. When TechCrunch went looking for a city in the region to host the event in, it quickly became clear that Beirut was the one for us. Vibrant, full of creative entrepreneurs, […] → Read More
Hear Cloudflare and PlanGrid’s amazing journey from founding to exit at Disrupt 2020 –
How and when should startup founders think about the “exit”? It’s the perennial question in tech entrepreneurialism, but the how’s and when’s are questions to which there are a multitude of answers. For one thing, new founders often forget that the terms of the exit may not eventually be entirely in their control. There’s the […] → Read More
The Great TechCrunch Survey of Europe’s VCs – Be featured in our survey –
TechCrunch is embarking on a major new project to survey the venture capital investors of Europe. Over the next few weeks, we will be ‘zeroing-in’ on Europe’s major cities, from A-Z, Amsterdam to Zurich, and many points in-between. It’s part of a broader series of surveys we’re doing to help founders find the right investors. Our survey […] → Read More
With Robinhood’s UK launch delayed, eToro to bring out UK debit card following acquisition –
Investment app eToro is to launch a debit card, following its acquisition of Marq Millions Ltd, the UK based e-money business. Marq Millions will now trade as eToro Money and will be the issuer for eToro’s card. The acquisition was for an undisclosed amount, and the Marq Millions management team stays on. The card will […] → Read More
Russia’s BestDoctor attracts international investors for its $4.5M round –
The private medical insurance market is expanding year on year by over 5%, and that includes in Russia where the insurance market – which grew by 4% in 2019 – has reached a value of almost $22 billion. So it’s not that surprising that Russian insurtech startup BestDoctor has now closed its third round of […] → Read More
Eco-friendly laundry goods subscription service smol raises £8M from Balderton –
Smol is a startup that delivers eco-friendly laundry capsules and dishwasher tablets on subscription through letterboxes, which undercut the price of the leading brands, to people’s homes. It’s now raised £8 million in a Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital with participation from JamJar Investments. The funding will see smol push into new […] → Read More
Former Soundcloud founders launch e-bike subscription service, backed by Blueyard –
You’ve heard of e-bike and e-scooter rentals startups spreading across cities. But today three veterans of the startup world will launch what appears to be a brand new take on the “e-revolution” sweeping cities in the wake of the global pandemic: subscription e-bikes, or, if you will, ‘EaaS’ or ‘E-bikes-as-a-Service”. The previous founders of Soundcloud […] → Read More
Startup launches innovative new product that pays Amazon marketplace sellers daily –
Third-party sellers are the dominant driver of sales on Amazon’s marketplace, accounting for 58% of its total (and growing). We know that the pandemic, ironically, has been good for Amazon, which has reported net sales in Q1 up by 26% year-over-year, given that much of the world has reverted to ordering online. However, the payment […] → Read More
Meditation app Meditopia secures $15M Series A co-led by Creandum and Highland –
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact us in ways that stretch well beyond our physical health, and one side effect of that in tech world has been a surge of attention for apps that address mental health and help with mindfulness. According to a recent report from app store intelligence firm Sensor Tower, the world’s […] → Read More
Review: Handsome and nippy, new VanMoof e-bikes could be the shape of cities to come –
Perhaps more significantly, I had a particular task in mind for it. In the current COVID-19 pandemic much has been made of cities being transformed into proverbial deserts, as traffic and pedestrians disappeared. Now, with many cities coming out of lockdown, governments have advised their citizens to go back to work, desperate to get their […] → Read More
14 VCs discuss COVID-19 and London’s future as a tech hub –
The UK has created 63 tech unicorns in the past decade (according to Dealroom), and it almost goes without saying that the vast majority of those companies were based out of London, the country’s largest tech hub. Famously, London’s DeepMind, an AI startup, was acquired by Google in 2014 for $500 million, but it has […] → Read More
Berlin’s Cavalry Ventures closes €80M, backed by DACH founders and EIF –
Cavalry Ventures, the Berlin-based early-stage venture fund which was the lead inceptor into BRYTER, has closed its second fund of €80M, more than 3.5x the size of its maiden fund. Geared somewhat like a large Angel syndicate, Cavalry’s LPs tend to be active founders and other LPs in early-stage funds in the DACH region, and […] → Read More
Growth capital investor Kennet raises $250M fund, backed by Edmond de Rothschild –
Venture capital is “not the only fruit” for entrepreneurs, as the often quieter ‘Growth Capital’ can also see great returns for entrepreneurs who prefer to retain a lot of ownership and control but are also willing to bootstrap over a longer period in order to reach revenues and profits. With the COVID-19 pandemic pushing millions […] → Read More
Dfinity demo’s its TikTok clone, opens up its ‘Internet Computer’ to outside developers –
Dfinity appeared in 2018, amid the flurry of investments in the blockchain space, It raised $102 million in funding at a $2 billion valuation in a round jointly led by Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, along with other investors including KR1. I must admit that at the time it appeared to all intents and purposes as if it would […] → Read More
Exclusive: Survey finds startups drifting away from offices, post COVID-19 –
Early-stage startups are confident of re-opening their offices in the wake of the COVID-19 within the next 6 months. But: there will be changes. An exclusive survey compiled by Founders Forum, with TechCrunch, found 63% of those surveyed said they would only re-open in either 1-3 months or 3-6 months – even if the government […] → Read More
Here are the winners of The Europas Awards 2020 – Even a pandemic can’t stop these startups –
Last year The Europas Awards for European Tech Startups was held at a sunny garden party next to a historic museum in London. Last night, because of the global Coronavirus pandemic, it was held over Zoom. But the enthusiasm and success of Europe’s tech startup industry still shone through the list of finalists and winners. […] → Read More
European quantum computing startup takes its funding to €32M with fresh raise –
IQM Finland Oy (IQM), a European startup which makes hardware for quantum computers, has raised a €15M equity investment round from the EIC Accelerator program for the development of quantum computers. This is in addition to a raise of €3.3M from the Business Finland government agency. This takes the company’s funding to over €32M. The […] → Read More
Data startup Axiom secures $4M from Crane Venture Partners, emerges from stealth –
Axiom, a startup that helps companies deal with their internal data, has secured a new $4m seed round led by UK-based Crane Venture Partners, with participation from LocalGlobe, Fly VC and Mango Capital. Notable angel investors include former Xamarin founder and current GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Heroku co-founder Adam Wiggins. The company is also […] → Read More
Halal fintech startup Wahed closes $25M led by Saudi Aramco’s investment arm –
New York-based fintech startup Wahed (meaning ‘One’ in Arabic) describes itself as a digital Islamic investment platform and as the world’s first ‘halal robo adviser’. It’s now closed a $25 million investment round led by Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Ventures (also known as Wa’ed Ventures), a venture capital investment arm of oil giant Saudi Aramco. Existing investors […] → Read More
Sourcing software provider Keelvar raises $18M from Elephant and Mosaic –
It was perhaps not until the COVID-19 pandemic hit the planet that most of us had ever heard or uttered the phrase “supply chain”. But in a global economy that had become drunk and lazy on ‘just in time ordering’ and similar, the threat to supply chains of things like, oh, food, from that pesky […] → Read More