Emerging Europe’s start-up 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, movers and shakers, each Monday Emerging Europe brings you a round-up of the region’s start-ups which recently closed financing rounds, sealed partnerships, or dropped new innovations.
MiLaboratories: Latvian healthtech start-up raises 2.3 million US dollars to analyse genomics data
Latvia-based MiLaboratories – creators of MiXCR, a software suite which analyses genomics data to build a complete picture of immune response at the DNA level – has raised 2.3 million US dollars in a seed funding round.
The investment round was led by Amsterdam’s Acrobator Ventures and Vienna-based Speedinvest. The raised capital will help MiLaboratories further improve its software as it attempts to outperform its global competitors – most notably Adaptive Biotechnologies, the US-based giant in the field.
MiLaboratories develops solutions for investigators and clinicians to probe adaptive immunity in health and disease via immune repertoire analysis, starting from experiment planning, preparation of samples and sequencing to data processing and extracting clinically relevant features and diagnostic patterns.
The MiXCR software has been used in the discovery of Covid-19 vaccines, and it is also effective in helping to treat cancer, antibodies and autoimmune diseases.
In a conversation with Tech.eu, the CEO of MiLaboratories Stanislav Poslavsky explained the role the company’s software has played in the development of Covid-19 vaccines. “MiXCR was used to measure the effect of vaccines on the immune system, measure the amplitude, type and duration of the immune response, and identify the specific immune response generated against the target substances. It was used in preclinical and phase one R&D processes.”
As is the case with other cutting-edge software these days, the MiXCR platform is AI-driven, and it also uses cloud calculation to analyse and process massive genomic data sets. On top of its impressive computing powers, the software delivers the results in a visually-friendly format, and does it all at an industry-leading speed of around 1TB of genomic data processed in an hour on a regular MacBook Pro.
Nethansa: Polish start-up brings in four million euros to automate processes for e-commerce players
Poland’s SaaS-based start-up Nethansa has raised four million euros in a recent funding round with a view to driving the company’s international expansion and product development.
The round was led by the Warsaw Equity Group and with Movens VC as a contributor. The newly-gained capital will help Nethansa enter the Swedish and Danish markets.
The Nethansa platform is marketed as an all-in-one solution to boost sales and drive profits on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Kaufland by allowing users to make informed, data-based decisions.
The platform uses the powers of AI to analyse any given pool of competitors and set product prices so as to make them attractive for buyers but still profitable for sellers, a trick which helps to win the coveted Buy Box on Amazon (responsible for 82 per cent of all Amazon sales).
It also forecasts sales numbers so that sellers never run out of stock, suggesting what products to order and when to do it. Furthermore, the tool simplifies order management with an efficient order-tracking system and makes it easy to integrate and automate different stages of sales and logistics processes.
The Nethansa platform is available to its end customers in six languages, and it is already used by more than 100 companies in Europe where it is active on 8 different Amazon markets. According to the company’s CEO, Sascha Stockem, in the long run Nethansa aims to expand to markets all across the continent.
“The funding we have received in the A round will help us in our European expansion. We are currently working in Poland and Germany. Now, we are looking to enter the markets in the Scandinavian countries and eventually serve entire Europe,” Stockem said.
Codemap: Start-up from Croatia raises 250,000 US dollars to develop its no-code talent platform
Zagreb-based start-up Codemap has recently closed a pre-seed funding round at 250,000 US dollars as it aims to expand the functionality of its talent platform for no-code, low-code and automation.
The new capital will be used to accelerate the growth of the company, allowing Codemap to develop new features, attract more customers and make several key hires.
The investment round was led by SQ Capital but also saw the participation of Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Bugatti Rimac, who will be joining Codemap as a strategic advisor.
By giving companies access to a global pool of no-code, low-code and automation talent, the Croatian platform helps businesses develop scalable software solutions. All experts and teams on Codemap are pre-vetted and verified by proven no-code professionals and software engineers, and they can be hired remotely and on-demand.
The platform can be of great use for software projects especially if time is of the essence. As per the company’s website, the solutions offered by Codemap make it possible for software to be built up to 10 times faster and launched from scratch in mere weeks.
Speaking of speed, Codemap itself has also been growing at a dizzying rate – and so has the market it operates in.
The platform quadrupled its business results and customer base last year, with the aggregate value of all projects on Codemap’s website ballooning to over six million US dollars. As for the no-code/low-code market at large, it is estimated to grow from the current value of 16.1 billion US dollars to 85.8 billion in 2027.
Bound: Czech start-up freshly launches to connect founders with the right venture capitalists
Czech start-up Bound has freshly launched in order to enable founders to greatly shorten their process of researching and choosing a VC partner by offering them access to a free database of venture capital companies paired with a library of verified and anonymised reviews from other founders.
Dubbed the Robinhood of fundraising, Bound reduces the time needed to connect founders with funders from months to just hours. In doing so, the company also brings the much-needed transparency to the VC market.
Furthermore, by granting founders access to an extensive library of VC reviews, Bound helps founders avoid irrelevant or bad VCs as well as potential bad fits for their start-ups. Other than VC ratings mapped out against 16 categories, the review portal provides information on the area of focus and track record of every VC.
Pavel Sima, the founder of the Czech start-up, says that as he was getting his own first-hand experience of navigating the VC world, he understood the need for a major change in the field.
“Entrepreneurs are at a huge disadvantage when trying to find a VC partner, and this imbalance is hurting both founders and investors,” Sima says.
“Right now, VC firms hold all the cards – and that leads to bad relationships, bad deals, and failed start-ups. They have more of everything: more money, experience, lawyers, and, most importantly, more time. Founders, especially first-time entrepreneurs, have none of these; they don’t know how to go looking for investors, let alone how to find ones that will support their start-up and take them to IPO. It’s a process that takes months, at a time when they have a thousand other urgent priorities.”
However, by offering unparalleled equality and transparency, Bound works both ways and paves way for better outcomes for all parties involved. Venture capital firms can easily find best fits for their funds and ensure their investments deliver better returns at lower costs.
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