Mike Butcher
TechCrunch
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Mike:
Defense AI startup Helsing breaks the record for European AI, raising a $223M Series B
Helsing, a "Defense AI" startup backed by Spotify founder Daniel Ek which had previously raised €102.5 million, has today pulled in another €209 million → Read More
UK deep tech gets another boost with new $100M SCVC fund out of Bristol
Europe has far too few VCs created by former founders, or “operators” as the industry often likes to call them. Yes, Atomico has Niklas Zennström. → Read More
Instant bank payments startup Ivy secured $7.7M in Seed round led by Creandum
Ivy, an API for instant bank payments, has secured €7 million ($7.7 million) in a seed investment round led by European VC Creandum. Payment and transaction fees can rack-up because of card networks, gateways and wallets that are all involved in today’s online transactions. Ivy’s solution is to allow merchants to accept instant bank payments […] → Read More
Raft, which services freight forwarders, closes $30M Series B led by Eight Roads VC
During the pandemic, the digitisation of the freight industry took off like a rocket, and stayed that way. To date, Forto has raised almost $600 million, Nuvocargo $75 million, Zencargo $66 million, and Freightify $14.5 million. All are associated with streamlining/digitising freight logistics in some way. This meant, of course that freight forwarders and customs […] → Read More
VanMoof, the e-bike darling, skids off track: Sales paused, execs depart
VanMoof has by its own admission, stopped taking orders, and filed paperwork, revealed in January, of its need to raise money to stave off bankruptcy. → Read More
VanMoof, the e-bike darling, skids off track: sales paused, execs depart
Dutch e-bike startup VanMoof sped into the mobility world with more than $200 million from a list of big-name investors and an ambitious, trendy spin on two-wheeled electric travel: sleek e-bikes designed end-to-end. The battery was beautifully hidden from view, the bike was controlled by an integrated app and the whole package was priced at […] → Read More
Notion hits €300M for its fifth fund, but is unimpressed by big rounds into Generative AI startups
When it first appeared on the scene around ten years ago, Notion Capital was poised to take advantage of the oft-repeated phrase, “Software is eating the world.” In particular, it was aiming at what was then called the enterprise SaaS space. Several years on, and it’s capitalised on that thesis, investing in in more than […] → Read More
Lina Zakarauskaite is elevated from principal to partner at London’s Stride VC
London-based VC Stride has appointed Lina Zakarauskaite, formerly a principal at the firm, as its newest partner. The move follows the departure of partner Cleo Sham a month ago to pursue new ventures. Zakarauskaite joined Stride in October 2021. Prior to that she was head of Growth at travel firm Secret Escapes. She has led […] → Read More
European VCs & tech firms sign open letter warning against over-regulation of AI in draft EU laws
Executives from 150 businesses highlighted the risks of tight regulation, saying the rules could threaten the ability of European companies to compete in AI. → Read More
SoulCycle to offer trainer-guided virtual work sessions with the FLOWN startup
FLOWN is a startup that took the idea of the sort of ‘virtual co-working’ some of us during the pandemic just have some company during lockdowns, and created a model of guided “deep work” sessions with actual coaches. Billing itself as a ‘Twitch for work’, the platform says it works best with remote-workers, of which […] → Read More
Robin Haak launches Robin Capital, the latest fund to join the Solo GP trend in Europe
If you were a Solo Venture Capitalist — or Solo GP as they have come to be known — during the 2020-2021 boom, you might be in trouble now, especially as valuations from that era have often tanked. However, while the Solo GP model has been around in the US for some years, this model […] → Read More
Supercritical, a carbon removal marketplace aimed at tech firms, raises $13M Series A led by Lightspeed
Supercritical aggregates business demand for cutting-edge carbon removal technologies. → Read More
New European+LatAm VC fund Boost Capital Partners takes aim at startups with games-level UX
Boost Capital Partners is the name of a new European + LatAm VC fund which aims to focus on startups with a focus on user experience. The London-based VC has hit its first close of $35 million, with a target of $40 million. It’s been founded by Alvaro Alvarez del Rio, who has backed around […] → Read More
Musk woos ad giants in Paris to fix Twitter’s woes
In a steaming-hot, packed, VivaTech hall in Paris today, Twitter owner Elon Musk waxed lyrical on his various accomplishments, but demured over some of the bigger questions hanging over his various companies. After walking on stage and joking that he might be a “hologram or an android”, Musk also quipped that Twitter was “expensive” and […] → Read More
Psychedelics startup NUE Life Health rolls out free version of its ketamine therapy tracking app
NUE Life Health is a U.S.-based telemedicine startup that combines psychedelic-assisted therapies and a health tracking app. Previously, the app was only offered as part of its own internal service. However, the startup is now opening up its “Nue app” and its “Nue score” available for free to any patient undergoing ketamine therapy, not just […] → Read More
Slack’s Cal Henderson and Sir Richard Branson back firstminute Capital’s third fund
Despite some typically British (or, more accurately, English) doom-mongering about the UK’s VC ecosystem lately, there’s no denying it’s capability for re-invention. Witness Moonfire’s recent new $115 million fund, IQ Capital’s $200 million fund, and Seedcamp’s new $180 million fund. And there is fresh good news on the horizon in the shape of firstminute capital’s new […] → Read More
London lures a16z’s first international office with ‘predictable’ crypto regs
US VC giant Andreessen Horowitz — which has about $35bn in assets under management — is to open its first (yes, the first) international office in London, led by one of the firm’s general partners, Sriram Krishnan. The office will focus on supporting the development of Crypto, blockchain technologies and associated Web3 startups. a16z has […] → Read More
As deep tech and AI explodes, European deep tech VC IQ Capital closes new $200M fund
The London and Cambridge, U.K.-based deep tech VC has closed its fourth Venture Fund, while also launching its second $200 million Growth Fund. → Read More
New New York-meets-Warsaw VC fund brings in Japan partner to hunt for European startups
The VC which backed such a startups as Socure (raised $741.9M) and Cornerstone OnDemand (now NASDAQ:CSOD) is launching a new fund to support startups in Central Europe. To date the new “ff Red & White” fund from ff Venture Capital has closed €32 million so far, with a final target of €60 million later this […] → Read More
Climate startup CUR8 raises $6.5M from GV for its market-making platform for carbon removals
The IPCC, has said the world needs to remove 10 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by 2050 in order to avoid a climate cataclysm. And, yes, there are now multiple methods for carbon removal today such as planting more trees (afforestation), sucking CO2 out of the sky (direct air capture), and […] → Read More