As investors have tightened their purse strings across all stages, startups and scaleups tightened their belts in 2022 and 2023. They have cut staff and other costs to preserve cash and delay having to go fundraise again.
But nearly two years into the current tech slowdown, some of those companies likely will have to tap capital markets again soon, especially if they haven’t yet reached profitability.
Sifted used data from Dealroom to analyse unicorn companies (those with valuations of $1bn and above) that haven’t raised since 2021 and are candidates for a potential raise soon.
We only considered companies that have raised over $50m and have at least 50 employees.
As a caveat, companies don’t always announce funding rounds right away, and some startups have recently been waiting longer to announce their raises — if at all. Meanwhile, some of those companies — like Danish fintech Pleo, which recently hired a new chief financial officer, and British digital bank OakNorth — may be nearer to the public markets than another VC funding round. And some companies may have found their footing and been able to generate profits without needing a consistent venture capital infusion.
We highlight some of the most interesting companies that could be looking to entice VCs in the coming months below.
Hotmart
The Brazilian-born startup, headquartered in Amsterdam, provides entrepreneurs with a platform and tools to create online courses. The company reportedly hired bankers ahead of a public offering in 2021, but it never materialised. Things got rockier for the company after 2021: Hotmart had layoffs in late 2022, and now has around 1,500 employees, according to its site. The company declined to comment to Sifted.
HQ: Amsterdam
Founded: 2011
Sector: Marketplace
Last raise: $130m raise in April 2021
Investors: TCV, Alkeon Capital, GIC, General Atlantic
N26
It's been over two years since the German neobank raised one of Europe’s biggest ever rounds in its $900m Series E in 2021, and it has since seen its growth hamstrung by regulatory problems and executive churn.
Across 2022, losses mounted at N26, and the scaleup laid off 4% of staff in a bid to cut costs in April last year. Speaking to Sifted in November, the company said it expected losses to halve to €100m by the end of 2023 and hit profitability on a monthly basis by the second half of 2024.
N26 tells Sifted it is not currently fundraising. It will launch new investment products allowing consumers to invest in stocks in 2024, alongside expanding its everyday banking product, the company says.
HQ: Berlin
Founded: 2013
Sector: Fintech
Last raise: $900m Series E, Oct 2021
Investors: Earlybird, Coatue Management, Tencent, Horizon Ventures
Monzo
Reports surfaced in October last year that the UK neobank was in talks to sell a £300m+ stake that would value the company at £3.5bn. If that deal closes, it’ll likely be the last round before a flotation.
The company posted a pre-tax loss of £116m in the 12 months leading up to February 2023 — a slim improvement on the £119m loss the year before — and more than doubled revenues to £355m. Monzo told Sifted in October last year that it was on track to hit profitability across 2023.
Last year also saw the neobank double down on a second attempt to crack the US market as it hired a new country CEO in the market.
Monzo declined to comment on its plans to fundraise in 2024.
HQ: London
Founded: 2015
Sector: Fintech
Last raise: $600m, Dec 2021
Investors: Tencent, Coatue Management, Passion Capital, Accel, General Catalyst Partners
MessageBird
Launched by payments unicorn Mollie founder Adriaan Mol and CEO Robert Vis in 2011, MessageBird provides software to help companies manage communications channels.
The Dutch startup laid off a third of its staff in November 2022 as it looked to cut costs as the downturn washed over European tech. CEO Vis said at the time that the company was profitable in 2022.
The company saw its headcount head north in 2023 though, and between June and November 2023, MessageBird increased its employee count from 479 to 540, according to data platform Synaptic.
MessageBird did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
HQ: Amsterdam
Founded: 2011
Sector: SaaS
Last raise: $800m Series C, Apr 2021
Investors: Accel, Tiger Global Management, Eurazeo, Y Combinator, BlackRock, Atomico
ManyPets
ManyPets is a pet insurance startup and the most well-funded pet tech company in Europe, according to Dealroom data. After seeing rapid growth during Covid, ManyPets paused expansion in the US and pulled out of the Swedish market in May 2023 in the face of rising customer acquisition costs.
Its losses rose in the 12 months up to March 2023 to £42m, according to its latest financial accounts — up from £32m the year before — and revenue fell from £42m to £33m.
ManyPets CEO Luisa Barile — who took over from founder Steven Mendel in 2023 — tells Sifted that as insurance businesses set their prices in advance of the following 12 months, its annual accounts were impacted by high inflation.
“The business has taken a number of actions to address this situation, including putting in place a new leadership team for the UK business, and is making stable progress towards profitability,” she says. “We do not expect to need another fundraise in the foreseeable future.”
HQ: London
Founded: 2012
Sector: Pet tech
Last raise: $350m Series D, Jun 2021
Investors: EQT Group, Octopus Ventures, Munich Re Ventures, CommerzVentures
Motorway
Motorway is a used car marketplace for owners to sell their vehicles to dealers and has raised $272m since launching in 2017, according to Dealroom.
Its revenues more than doubled to £41m in 2022 — rising from £20m the year before — with losses also rising from £13m to £44m.
Motorway tells Sifted it does not have any plans to raise in the near future, but did say in October that the company had access to finance if needed to “cover ongoing operations and future developments”.
HQ: London
Founded: 2017
Sector: Car marketplace
Last raise: $190m Series C, Nov 2021
Investors: Index Ventures, BMW i Ventures, LocalGlobe
Mambu
The Tiger Global-backed startup, which provides a cloud banking platform for fintechs and banks, saw a C-suite shakeup in mid-2023 when cofounder and former CEO Eugene Danilkis announced his departure — and was replaced by Mambu’s chief technology officer Fernando Zandona as interim CEO (Danilkis remains a board member).
The company, which was last valued at around $5.4bn, per Dealroom, is not raising funding right now, a spokesperson told Sifted, adding that Mambu is “well-funded”. However, Mambu conducted layoffs in 2023, the company confirmed, with a spokesperson adding that they “review our plans and structure on an ongoing basis,” and they reduced staff “to better reflect our business goals.” Post-layoffs, the company now has about 650 employees, the spokesperson told Sifted. Mambu declined to comment on its profitability.
HQ: Amsterdam
Founded: 2011
Sector: Fintech
Last raise: €235m in December 2021
Investors: EQT, Tiger Global Management, Bessemer Venture Partners
Meero
The on-demand photography platform has seen its headcount fall since 2022, according to data provider Synaptic. The startup has faced multiple shake ups in recent years, including layoffs and its CEO Thomas Rebaud stepping down at the end of 2022, as well as a business pivot to focus more on software. Meero was also among the French startups featured on gossipy Instagram page @Balancetastartup, which posted anonymous — and scathing — employee reviews. Meero didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
HQ: Paris
Founded: 2016
Sector: Software
Last raise: $230m in June 2019
Investors: Avenir Growth Capital, Eurazeo, GFC
Lydia
The French banking app, which lets users pay, save and bank, has seen its headcount grow of late, with now over 400 employees, per data provider Synaptic. The company has aspired to be Europe’s “superapp” for financial services — battling the likes of Revolut.
HQ: Paris
Founded: 2013
Sector: Fintech
Last raise: $100m in December 2021
Investors: Accel, Tencent, Dragoneer Investment Group
For the rest of the companies that could be in the market to raise soon, below is a longer list from Dealroom, using the aforementioned criteria.
