Emerging Europe’s technology and innovation scene is thriving: new money and new ideas are coming onto the market all the time. To keep you up to date with the latest investments, innovations, events and accelerators, each week Emerging Europe brings you a round-up of the region’s tech, investment and start-up news.
Lithuania’s climate tech investment marketplace HeavyFinance raises three million euros
HeavyFinance, a climate tech investment marketplace for the agricultural industry, has raised three million euros during its seed funding round, led by VC firm Practica Capital.
HeavyFinance is tackling the climate crisis by providing financing and loan schemes for companies in the sustainable agriculture sphere, with the goal of removing 1 gigaton of CO2 emissions by 2050.
The investment will help the company continue its European expansion, currently operating in Poland, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria, with ambitious plans to nearly double its current headcount of 33 staff over the next 12 months.
HeavyFinance will also use the funding to accelerate the switch from conventional farming to regenerative practices, to enrol 200,000 hectares of regenerative farmland as part of a carbon farming initiative, and create direct access for businesses looking to offset their carbon footprint.
“Operating in additional markets and expanding our investor suite is an important step in the company’s growth and the development of new products and schemes, alongside bringing in industry experts to support our journey will be a priority over the coming months,“ says Laimonas Noreika, founder of HeavyFinance.
“Tackling climate change must be a united effort, and with almost a third of global greenhouse emissions coming from agricultural products, HeavyFinance is here to lead the charge in the agricultural sector. Food growth plays a vital part in the climate battle as a prominent global issue, and connecting investors with farmers and agricultural specialists through our finance platform can help accelerate the adoption of regenerative soil management practices to reduce carbon emissions output throughout Europe.”
HeavyFinance’s financing supports soil health and maintenance in order to reduce emissions from machinery fossil fuel combustion, remove CO2 from the atmosphere through the biogeochemical pressures of plants, reduce N2O pollution from excessive fertiliser application, improve biodiversity, and help farms become resilient to the effects of climate change such as draughts and high temperatures.
The company has built an underlying infrastructure to score the borrowing capabilities of farmers and agricultural operators to facilitate transactions and administer loans more effectively.
In Poland, Warsaw-based Saas start-up Epinote lands 1.4 million euros
Warsaw-based Epinote has closed a 1.4 million euros pre-seed round to develop its platform which offers a ‘plug and play’ workforce to handle repetitive tasks like data entry and CRM management.
The round was led by by Movens Capital, Kogito Ventures and Next Road Ventures.
Epinote blends tech and on-demand staffing to make firms more efficient.
“With the falling valuations, shift towards profitability, and lack of skilled employees, companies struggle with filling tasks that are necessary, but mundane and repetitive,” says Mateusz Wikło, CEO and co-founder of Epinote.
“Traditional solutions, like hiring a classic BPO or a pack of summer interns, seem expensive and ineffective. On the other hand, AI is still just a tool that requires human oversight. Epinote offers the best of both worlds. We use software to increase our productivity and provide an easily deployable team of Associates, who can actually help and bring value and we have already proven this model works. With the support of our investors we can offer even higher efficiency and serve even more companies across the globe.”
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