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Here are some European start-ups to keep an eye out for in the digital transformation space, shaking up everything from payments to music and construction.
The term digital transformation may be thrown around a lot these days, but it is something that has seen huge growth since the onset of the pandemic.
Companies of all shapes and sizes are turning to tech to streamline operations and disrupt various aspects of business. This was discussed in the latest episode of Silicon Republic’s podcast, For Tech’s Sake.
So here’s a look at some start-up innovators from around Europe that are helping businesses solve key problems using technology, and attracting investor attention along the way.
Disperse
This company is bringing digital transformation to the construction sector. Using artificial intelligence, Disperse has developed a platform that enables construction project managers to get things done with actionable insights in a digestible format. This is done through capturing imagery and using computer vision to spot issues as soon as they occur.
Founded in 2015, the London-based start-up raised $16m last month in a round led by 2150 with participation from Northzone and Kindred Capital.
Happeo
The founders of intranet software company Happeo believe employees are spending too much time trying to navigate increasingly serpentine channels of communication while working from home. Founded originally as Universe in 2016, Happeo is now an all-in-one platform that aims to “connect growing teams with the knowledge, news and tools they need to do their best work”.
The start-up is based in Helsinki and raised $26m in Series B funding in July, led by Endeit Capital, Smartfin and Evli Growth Partners.
Kadmos
Kadmos was founded last year by MIT graduates Justus Schmueser and Sasha Makarovych.
Based in Berlin, Kadmos is on a mission to make salary payments to migrant workers fast and simple for companies. It has developed an end-to-end platform that enables employers to reduce the cost and difficulty of making cross-border salary payments. Kadmos raised €29m in a Series A funding round in July, led by Blossom Capital.
Medusa
Pitching itself as an open-source alternative to Shopify, this Danish start-up wants to be the leading e-commerce platform for JavaScript developers. Medusa was founded last year by Sebastian Rindom, Nicklas Gellner and Oliver Juhl to give merchants the tools to stand out and optimise their operations in an increasingly competitive e-commerce space.
Within a year of its founding, Medusa has created a community of more than 2,000 developers and has started more than 10,000 projects. It raised nearly €8m in July.
Overtune
Anyone who has seen the film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga will know that the Icelanders love their music. Overtune is a Reykjavik-based music-focused start-up that has created an app to allow anyone with a smartphone and a basic level of music proficiency to arrange beats, record vocals and share their content through social media.
Investors include Charles Huang, one of the founders of music gaming franchise Guitar Hero, and Nick Gatfield, the former CEO and chair of Sony Music UK. They were joined by Gabriel Jagger (Mick Jagger’s son) in backing a $2m seed funding round for Overtune earlier this year.
Pigment
Pigment is a SaaS start-up that is bringing digital transformation to medium and large businesses using its planning platform.
Founded by Eléonore Crespo and Romain Niccoli and based in Paris, the company provides business executives – such as chief financial and revenue officers – with visually intensive reports, plans and forecasts so that they can make better and faster decisions. It raised $65m in a Series B round recently led by IVP and Meritech Capital.
Regate
Another French SaaS start-up, Regate is on a mission to help SMEs automate their account management and monitor financial activity through a one-stop shop platform. Launched in 2019, Regate helps finance and accounts teams across more than 10,000 clients save time by automating various processes, gathering financial data and improving collaboration.
Last month, Paris-based Regate bagged $20m in a Series A funding round led Valar Ventures and with participation from 360 Capital, Financière Saint James and AG2R La Mondiale.
RPA Supervisor
Based in Bergen, Norway, RPA Supervisor describes itself as an intelligent automation management platform for the digital workforce. The start-up helps businesses accelerate digital transformation by streamlining the operation of all major robotic process automation (RPA) tasks. This means that businesses can spend less time on mundane and repetitive tasks such as scheduling, managing and fixing – and more time on delivering value to customers.
RPA Supervisor raised $20m in a Series A funding round led by Dawn Capital in July. Its growing list of customers includes Sysco Foods, Virgin Media O2, Medscheme and Newell Brands.
Satispay
Italian fintech unicorn Satispay has developed an independent payment network to bypass established players – such as banks and credit companies. Based in Milan, the company promises lower transactions fees and better budget control simply using a customer’s phone number and IBAN.
Last month, it raised €320m in a Series D round led by Addition, with backing from Greyhound Capital, Coatue, Lightrock, Block and Tencent. This valued Satispay at more than €1bn.
Seatti
Seatti, another German start-up, has created a flexible workspace software platform to help those in hybrid or remote roles. It lets employees book shared desks, rooms and parking spaces in offices as well as plan their remote working locations, while giving employers data to optimise their hybrid set-ups.
The platform went live in May last year and has deep integrations with the Microsoft ecosystem. Clients include Osram, Sixt, Sartorius, Mazars and FlixBus. Seatti raised €3m in a seed funding round led by Acton Capital and Partech in July.
Toqio
Toqio fashions itself as a fintech that helps others start their own fintech products. Using its SaaS platform, anyone can create and launch their own fully branded banking or finance product as an app or on the web – with a promised concept-to-market time of just weeks.
Founded in 2019 by Eduardo Martinez Garcia and Michael Galvin, Toqio is dually based in London and Madrid. It has more than 50 customers including Crealsa, Paysme and MovePay. The start-up raised €20m in a Series A funding round last month led by AlbionVC, with Aldea Ventures and existing investors Seaya, Speedinvest and SIX FinTech Ventures.
Workvivo
Ranked as one of Ireland’s top start-ups to watch by LinkedIn, this Cork-based start-up is on a mission to humanise the workplace with its communications platform. Founded in 2017 by John Goulding and Joe Lennon, Workvivo is designed based on the way people interact outside of the workplace. Employees can share, post, comment, podcast or livestream on the communications hub, to replicate a social experience.
A €20.8m Series B funding round in June more than tripled the company’s valuation.
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