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 closed financing rounds or dropped new innovations over the previous seven days.
Latvia’s Printify closes 50 million US dollars Series A round
Print-on-demand company Printify last month closed a Series A funding round, raising a total of 50 million US dollars. The latest investment round was joined by a number of experienced angel investors and founders from the Baltics to Silicon Valley, bringing in their expertise and sharing knowledge for further expansion. Printify will use the majority of the investment to grow its team and develop the marketplace globally.
The Latvian start-up has in six years has grown into a thriving e-commerce platform that empowers over two million creators across the globe to build their own drop-shipping businesses independently with as little investment and risk as possible. It is also one of the first start-up companies in the Baltics to grant stock options to employees who contribute to achieving its business goals. After closing the latest funding round, one-fifth of the total investment was split between Printify employees who sold their shares in the company.
“The Series A investment round is just the beginning for us, and it goes to show that Printify’s growth potential is unlimited,” says James Berdigans, founder and CEO of Printify. “We are proud to have built trust in some of the world’s leading investors and we will use their expertise and knowledge to continue the global expansion and grow our team. I truly believe that the real success of the company lies in giving our employees an opportunity to start a business of their own using their shares. I would like to therefore encourage other entrepreneurs to also use it in their favour and build a startup business that has a full potential to become the next big success story.”
Expansion for Romanian IoT start-up Bob Concierge, signs Mr. Jeff partnership
Romanian IoT start-up Bob Concierge, which has developed an intelligent system of automated devices that provide and sell products and services within residential buildings, has supplemented its offer with laundry and dry cleaning services by signing a partnership with Spanish franchise Mr. Jeff.
Tenants connected to the Bob Concierge network will benefit from the cleaning services, without having to leave the building or meet with a courier. Thus, in the special cleaning compartments, Bob Concierge customers can leave their laundry and receive it back cleaned and ironed in less than 72 hours.
Bob Concierge recently received a new investment of six million euros from American fund NCH Capital. With this new round, total investment in the Romanian start-up exceed 11 million euros.
The company aims to use the funds to continue to innovate and scale up the business, in order to become the major marketplace for residential services in Romania and in the European region. Bob Concierge wants to build a network of 5,000 devices in Romania and 50,000 devices in Europe in the coming years.
Bob Concierge brings to residential apartment buildings automatic mini-shops, with food and drinks, complimented by the online platform Uncle Bob, with essential products and a range of home services which can be ordered for optimal convenience. The company’s devices also feature delivery compartments, in which couriers can drop off or pick up a package, and dedicated dry cleaning compartments, in which users can leave their laundry, for the cleaning companies to pick up.
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