February was a better month for Europe’s early-stage startups than January.
VCs invested €474m spread across 336 pre-seed and seed rounds last month — compared to the €418m raised by startups in January, according to Dealroom data.
February’s funding was up 12% on February 2023, when investors dished out €423m to 273 seed and pre-seed startups. It’s worth noting that, because of a reporting lag, this year’s numbers are likely to climb a bit further.
UK regained the seed crown in Europe for early-stage raises and France followed in second. Germany made it to the third spot — our usual top 3.
British seed-stage startups pulled in €136m from VCs in February, up from the €77m raised in January, while French startups saw an inflow of €72m, up from January’s €30m. German startups raised €53m, down from January’s €87m.
Sector-wise, healthtech remained on top for funding with €137m raised, while enterprise software startups followed in second with €49m worth of deals. Third spot went to fintech startups, which pulled in €48m.
Here are 12 seed rounds that caught Sifted’s eye.
Healthtech
AI models and co-pilots in health are gaining prominence. Paris-based biotech Bioptimus, bagged February’s largest round of €31.8m from Headline, Hummingbird Ventures, Bpifrance, Sofinnova Partners, among others. Bioptimus is building what it calls the first universal AI foundation model in biology, to propel progress in biomedical innovation. UK based Tortus, a startup which has built an AI co-pilot for doctors, bagged $4.2m from Khosla Ventures and Entrepreneur First.
Copenhagen-based Orbis Medicines, a startup focused on drug discovery for orally taken drugs, bagged February’s second-largest deal: €26m from Forbion Capital Partners and Novo Holdings.
British startup Isomab, which is developing antibody treatments for serious and life-threatening diseases with an initial focus on peripheral ischaemia, raised £7.5m from Broadview Ventures, with additional support from SCVC and MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund.
Climate tech
It wasn’t a dull month for everyone’s favorite climate tech and there were a handful of deals that caught our attention.
Fever Energy, a Sweden-based energy management platform, raised €10m from General Catalyst Partners, La Famiglia and Norrsken VC. The startup has built an API software platform to empower energy asset installers and operators to run and monetize their own virtual power plants.
Germany-based Cyclize meanwhile bagged a €5m round led by UVC Partners, with participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Aurum Impact and UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators. The startup uses plasma technology to turn plastic waste into industrial chemicals used to create new products.
Cambridge-based Monumo raised £10.5m from LQD VC and angels. The startup's patented technology is used in the redesign of electric motors, initially targeting EVs. Paris-based Guided Energy, which has developed an EV fleet management optimisation solution, raised $5.2m in a round co-led by Sequoia and Dynamo Ventures, with participation from various angels.
Fintech
Is Fintech back? Some interesting deals caught our eye last month.
There was a $9m deal for UK-based Flow, a startup establishing a marketplace connecting entrepreneurs with finance experts. Blumberg Capital spearheaded the investment round, accompanied by a consortium of investors including Parade Ventures, Differential Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Special Ventures, 14 Peaks Capital, and Cooley LLP.
Berlin-based Monite, an embedded invoicing and payables automation startup, bagged €5.6m in a round led by Valar Ventures and Third Prime Capital.
Regtech and Cybersecurity
February was a good month for Danish startups as Copenhagen-based Spektr, which has developed a no-code platform for advanced automation for compliance teams, collected €5m from investors Northzone, Seedcamp and PreSeed Ventures.
Manchester-based ESProfiler, meanwhile, bagged a €3.2m round led by Nauta Capital. The startup has built a platform that is helping companies optimise their cybersecurity spending by running a continuous analysis of security tools and their performance.
