Startup Monday Issue #30: Latest tech trends and news happening in the global startup ecosystem!
Venture Capitals / Blockchain / AI / Crypto / Startups in Europe
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Venture Capitals
Scrum Ventures is known for its accelerator programs focused on sports, food, and smart-city tech, launch a new incubator program that will help startups form business partnerships with a Japanese corporations. Read more
Massachusetts biopharma firms raised a record $5.8 billion in venture capital last year. Read more
Pioneer Square Labs has raised $100 million for its second venture fund, a key milestone for the 5-year-old Seattle firm that runs both a startup studio and a venture capital fund. Read more
Turntide Technologies, a Silicon Valley venture that’s retooling electric motors for the 21st century, says it has completed an $80 million funding round that was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the clean-tech fund created by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Read more
Presight Capital has closed its $350 million second fund only a year and a half after it announced an $80 million first fund. Read more
M Ventures has announced the launch of a €100 million fund to support 3D printing’s most promising start-ups. By joining forces with serial investors KGAL, AM Ventures’ majority shareholders and EOS owners the Langer family, are now able to offer the first-ever VC fund that’s dedicated to industrial 3D printing. KGAL’s input brings the total raised to 50% of AM Ventures’ target, and from spring 2022, the capital will be reinvested in start-ups that are developing their own hardware, software, materials or applications. Read More
Biotechnology / MedTech
Global White Biotechnology Market to Reach $581 Billion by 2027. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for White Biotechnology estimated at US$319.9 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$581 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 8.9% over the analysis period 2020–2027. Biofuels, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 9.9% CAGR and reach US$233 Billion by the end of the analysis period. Read more
Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: LIXT), a clinical-stage drug discovery company developing pharmacologically active drugs for use in cancer treatment, today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements for the purchase and sale of 1,133,102 shares of Lixte’s common stock, at a purchase price of $3.70 per share, in a registered direct offering. The closing of the offering is expected to occur on or about March 2, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Read more
3 Medtech Trends That Will Outlive the Pandemic by NASDAQ Read more
Cisco launches health digitisation programme in Japan. Working alongside Japanese companies, Cisco will help innovate in areas such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, data analytics and edge computing to help businesses improve productivity, accelerate innovation, provide better customer experiences, and improve their overall competitiveness. Read more
Artificial Intelligence
The researcher IDC expects global spending on AI hardware and software to exceed $300 billion in 2024, doubling from what was spent in 2020. This is a top trend to be invested in through the next decade. Here are the three companies worth buying in March with a hand in the development of the AI economy are NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), and Stitch Fix (NASDAQ:SFIX).
The technology, named Eva, dynamically used recent testing results collected at the Greek border to detect and limit the importation of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases among arriving international passengers between August and November 2020, which helped contain the number of cases and deaths in the country. Read more
Blockchain/Crypto
Crypto.com has launched a venture arm and has set aside $200 million to invest in promising cryptocurrency startups, as it seeks to expand its partnerships with entrepreneurs in the crypto and blockchain industry.Read more
The NBA has established a blockchain advisory group to explore potential uses of the emerging technology. Dubbed the “Blockchain Advisory Subcommittee,” the six-member group includes billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis and Brooklyn Nets owner Joseph Tsai. The group was established amid the breakout success of Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot, a digital marketplace that allows fans to buy and sell game highlights and collectibles utilizing its Flow blockchain platform. The digital assets likened to trading cards, have already generated more than $230 million in sales, according to Dapper Labs.
The NBA has established a blockchain advisory group to explore potential uses of the
The global market for Blockchain Technology is projected to reach US$30.7 billion by the year 2027, trailing a post-COVID-19 CAGR of 43% over the analysis period 2020 through 2027. At a time when the global economic climate is spinning out of control, the blockchain technology market is expected to face severe short-term challenges in the year 2020.
Startups in Europe
Rohlik, a Czech startup that has built an online grocery ordering and delivery business combining your usual grocery fare — which it procures itself wholesale, or offers in concert with established businesses like Marks & Spencer — with items sourced from local small businesses, has picked up €190 million ($230 million at today’s rates)
European gaming studios Happy Volcano and Snowprint nab €6.8 million in funding.
Mastercard ex-chief plans to invest $100m+ fund into Europe’s payment startups. As a result, the fund could help drive another generation of world-class European payment startups. To this point, Europe already boasts several top payment companies, including Checkout.com and Klarna, as well as Adyen, which went public in 2018, and in which Perez was an early investor.
Google for Startups opens applications for $2 Million European fund for Black founded tech startups. The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund will provide up to $100,000 in non-dilutive cash awards to selected European startups in the Google for Startups network paired with up to $220,000 per startup in Google Ad Grants and Cloud credits
Startups Around The Globe
Read the article about The Rise and Rise of AR in Israel: Why AR is Thriving in The Startup Nation. Despite the looming presence of COVID-19, Israeli startups have raised record levels of funding and played a pivotal role in the development of transformative technology — particularly in when it comes to augmented reality and mixed reality.
Singapore-based growth equity investment firm Asia Partners announced the final close of its inaugural fund Asia Partners I LP at US$384 million in commitments. Asia Partners aims to bridge the gap between early-stage venture capital and the public capital markets. Its investment size in startups range from US$20 million to US$100 million, which is often described as the series C or D rounds of funding.
SiCepat, an end-to-end logistics startup in Indonesia, announced today it has raised a $170 million Series B funding round. Founded in 2014 to provide last-mile deliveries for small merchants, the company has since expanded to serve large e-commerce platforms, too. Its services now also cover warehousing and fulfillment, middle-mile logistics and online distribution.
Payfazz and Xfers, two startups that want to increase financial inclusion in Southeast Asia, announced today they have joined forces to create a new holding entity called Fazz Financial Group. As part of the deal, Payfazz, an agent-based financial services network in Indonesia, invested $30 million into payments infrastructure provider Xfers.
Taiwan’s AppWorks a venture capital (VC) company that invests in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, has raised $114 million for its third fund that is expected to have a total corpus of $150 million.
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