Mike Butcher
TechCrunch
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Mike:
A year on from Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian startups show astounding resilience
Today marks exactly one year since Russia’s illegal, unprovoked, and brutal of Ukraine. This week, a majority of the members of the United Nations reiterated its demand that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine and called for a cessation of hostilities”. It would be fair […] → Read More
Autonomous cargo drone airline Dronamics reveals it’s raised $40M, pre-Series A
Autonomous aircraft have long been thought of as having the most potential, though not in the realm of glitzy people-carrying drones so much as the more sedate world of cargo. It’s here where the economic savings could be most significant. Large, long-range drones built specifically for cargo have the potential to be faster, cheaper and […] → Read More
Micro-EV subscription startup Dance pulls in another €12M from existing investors
Micro-EV subscription startup Dance, which launched in 2020, has raised an additional €12 million in an equity and debt round led by existing investors HV Capital, Eurazeo and BlueYard. Dance was launched out of Berlin by former Soundloud and Jimdo founders, but since last year is now also available in Paris, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna. […] → Read More
This UK startup has come up with a unique way to verify small businesses on WhatsApp
It would appear that OpenAI’s Chat GPT allying with Bing will not going to be the only threat to Google’s search business model in the future. With its release of WhatsApp Business app (WAB), Meta are effectively building a sort of rival search engine to Google to keep us all inside the app. While this […] → Read More
Planet A Ventures comes out of the door with a €160M European, science-backed climate fund
These days climate investing is hot – if you will pardon the awful pun – but the days of just raising a fund and calling it “climate focused” are well and truly over. The market is sorting out the “wheat from the chaff” and if a VC fund can’t prove that it can back-up its […] → Read More
Post Series-B, anti-fraud platform SEON acquires AML startup Complytron for a rumoured €2.5M
Budapest-based SEON, — an anti-fraud platform which looks at a customer’s ‘digital footprint’ to weed out false accounts and thus prevent fraudulent transactions — has acquired compliance and AML specialist firm, Complytron, also based out of Budapest. → Read More
As the bee population declines, this startup secures $8M to apply AI and EVs to pollination
Given our general reliance on something called “food” you’d think the issue of pollination – and its general decline – might be higher up the world’s agenda. Over 80% of crops require insect pollination, but growers can no longer rely on the dwindling wild bee population. But it’s a complex problem. Pollinating crops with honey […] → Read More
Portugal’s Coverflex raises a €15M Series A to make employee benefits more flexible and engaging
Portugal's Coverflex raises a €15M Series A to make employee benefits more flexible and engaging. It’s now pulled in a €15 million Series A led by Paris-based CVC SCOR Ventures. → Read More
Addressable raises $7.5M to match crypto wallets to Twitter accounts. But how?
Addressable has now raised a $7.5 million seed round from Viola Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Mensch Capital Partners and North Island Ventures. → Read More
Tech Nation looks for new home as UK Gov hands tech ecosystem contract to Barclays
After over ten years in operation, Tech Nation, the UK’s government-sanctioned ecosystem builder for UK tech startups and growth tech companies is to cease operations after losing its grant funding to a programme run by Barclays Bank Eagle Labs. The team behind the non-profit, which derived the bulk of its funding from the UK government, […] → Read More
European banks struggle with AI, while US banks lead the field, according to a new index
Evident, a benchmarking and intelligence company, claims its inaugural Index can rank the 23 largest banks in North America and Europe on their competence in AI. Evident is being backed by $3 million in funding from VCs and angel investors, including Venrex Investment Management → Read More
European banks struggle with AI, while US banks lead the field, according to a new index
Evident, a benchmarking and intelligence company, claims its inaugural Index can rank the 23 largest banks in North America and Europe on their competence in AI. Evident is being backed by $3 million in funding from VCs and angel investors, including Venrex Investment Management → Read More
This startup hopes to take on Canva, raising a $11.6M Series A for its design platform
Kittl raises an €10.8 million ($11.6 million) Series A for its design platform which it claims allow people to “easily turn ideas into graphic products”. → Read More
BMW continues its love affair with EVs, backing this Bulgarian startup’s $13M A-round
Electric vehicle charging management systems are usually end-to-end solutions for managing EV charging operations, billing, energy, drivers, and even fleets. This means EV charging service providers can optimize the monetization of their operations. A number of players have proliferated over the last few years. Driivz from Israel has raised $23.1M in VC funding to date […] → Read More
A new kind of PE fund plans to roll up German startups into potential unicorns and bigger exits
German private equity investor FLEX Capital (based out of Berlin) says it has now closed its second fund of €300 million with the aim of effectively rolling-up medium-sized German- speaking tech companies and giving these merged entities greater global scale. This is an unusual use of PE funds, and puts FLEX into a slightly different category to the average PE outfit. → Read More
German teens went crazy for this ‘compliments’ app, and now VCs are backing its next phase
Teen social app has raised a $2.63m (€2.5m) pre-seed funding round led by Accel. Also participating was 20VC. Additional investors including Supercell Co-Founder and CEO Ilkka Paananen, Behance founder Scott Belsky, football star Mario Götze, Kevin Weil (Scribble Ventures) and musician Alex Pall (The Chainsmokers). → Read More
Our obsession with pets means startups aimed at Vets are booming, as Digitail shows
We covered Digitail, a startup which grew out of Romania, automates the admin for veterinarians, back in 2021 at their seed round. → Read More
Peppy secures a $45M Series B to expand its B2B2C health services platform to the US
There are some mega-trends playing out across developed-world workforces that startups are picking up on. There’s the digitisation of healthcare, the ‘platforming’ of employee services, and the macro effects of older employees, combined with the cost of living crisis for new parents. Founded in London in 2018, Peppy offer services around menopause, fertility, pregnancy and […] → Read More
With Bling, the fintech startup revolution spreads even to pocket money
Bling, a startup founded by a 20-year-old, that offers a finance platform aimed specifically at families, which is designed so that parents can do financial planning for their children, from pocket money to first investments has raised a €3.5M Seed round of financing from Peak and others. → Read More
Despite the Crypto Winter and other scandals, blockchains seem here to stay in the sports betting market
New York-based Frontrunner, a decentralized sports prediction market, has now raised a $4.75M funding round by Susquehanna Private Equity Investments LLP. → Read More