Every week we highlight new funding successes from companies bringing about change in their industries.  We amplify the voice of companies delivering on tech innovation whilst also utilizing remote work, or being clear on the importance of D&I to their brand. All ingredients that talent.ai focus on when selecting the best of the last 7 days. 

We see these journeys as an inspiration, offering insights to other founders, startups and innovators looking to evolve their stories into something extraordinary.  We know the hard work behind these accomplishments and always seek to recognise and applaud those involved from leadership and founders and their entire teams. 

Congratulations to all the founders and teams! 

Seed 

Nillion

CEO & Co-Founder – Alex Page

CMO & Co-Founder – Andrew Yeoh 

Nillion is a web3 deep tech infrastructure project to create a decentralized network for non-finance purposes and data use. The company is at an early stage at the moment but has gathered quite a buzz. 

Switzerland-based Nillion is creating this decentralized infrastructure with a non-blockchain foundation, which CMO Andre Yeoh says “Allows for very fast computations of secured data and storage of that data that you can’t do with the blockchain”

The company just secured a $20 Million seed round to further develop the project, and it looks like it will be an interesting start to its scale-up journey! 

Series A 

Cover Manager 

CEO & Co-Founder – José Antonio Pérez Moral 

CTO & Co-Founder – Carlos Pérez Fernández

Cover manager is developing software for creating, managing, automating and optimizing restaurant reservations. The software is an end-to-end solution for hospitality bookings looking to cover online and offline needs in one platform. 

Sevilla-based Cover Manger secured an important €52 Million Series A round led by GP Bullhound. The investment is an important closing of the year and it will be put to use to boost international reach and Cover Manager’s leadership in Spain. 

Cover Manger had already begun to expand to countries with huge markets for booking digitalization like Italy, Portugal and Latin America. We would definitely save a seat at this table!

Series B

Aztec

CEO & Co-Founder – Zachary Williamson 

Head of Product & Co-Founder – Joe Andrews

Aztec is creating an Ethereum innovation company that develops a trading protocol allowing private transactions in the public blockchain. The company’s mission is to “Take the original promise of Ethereum–a decentralized and verifiable world computer–and expand its capability immensely by making it fully encrypted.” 

London-based Aztec just raised a significant end-of-year funding round of $100 Million to bring its total funding to $119.1 Million at Series A. A strong show of force and trust from investors. 

This round was led by a16z crypto and will go towards the development of next-level encryption architecture, this will allow users to have a verified blockchain channel without sharing information. Aztec is positioned to have an impressive growth journey in 2023 marked by innovation. 

Sana

CEO & Co-Founder – Joel Hellermark

Co-Founder – Anna Nordell-Westling

Sana Labs is a developer and innovator of learning technology and applications using Artificial Intelligence. The company uses machine learning and AI to provide personalized and in-depth organisational insights and learning. 

Stockholms-based Sana Labs received backing from Menlo Ventures last week in the form of a $34 Million Series B round. The funding will lead to more expansion as the company develops its current headquarters plus London and New York teams. 

Sana’s an end-to-end platform that gathers and organizes internal data to enhance learning and helps companies share knowledge. A lesson in exciting growth journeys is on the schedule with Sana Labs. 

Fashion Cloud

Co-Founders – David Schaap & Alies ter Kuile

Fashion Cloud is a B2B digital platform that connects retailers and brands within the fashion industry. The company founded in 2015 is positioning itself as an all-in-one solution for orders and data exchange between sectors in fashions. 

Hamburg-based Fashion Cloud allows users to share product content, information, sustainability commitment and place orders. The company secured a Series B round of funding led by Verdane for €25 Million, to continue its international expectation and platform development. 

Fashion Cloud is already working with over 20.000 retailers and is set to continue being a hot trend in the fashion industry! 

Acin

CEO – Paul Ford 

CTO – Graeme Wynn

Acin is the leading risk control data network that protects financial institutions from non-financial risk. Using advanced data analytics Acin allows banks to digitize their non-finance and operational threats analysis.  

London-based Acin sign a $24 Million Series b funding round and an important show of trust led by leading a considerable number of leading banks. Investors include Citi, JP Morgan and Paribas, a significant roster to have when you are innovating in fintech. 

Acin already has the trust of important banks, an innovative product that’s needed and plans for expanding its growth. We would be banking on their success next year. 

Series C

PragmatIC Semiconductor 

CEO – Scott White

CTO – Richard Price 

PragmatIC is a leader in the innovation and production of low-cost flexible electronics. The company has received a lot of attention thanks to the potential of their one-of-a-kind and flexible integrated circuits as a replacement for traditional silicon chips. 

Cambridge-headquartered PragmatIC’s innovative electronics have caught the eye of investors with an end-of-year Series C round funding of $35 million, bringing its total funding to an impressive $125 million. 

The funding will lead to a boost in its production line numbers with a goal to increase capacity by more than 5 times. Taking into account recent chip shortages and the need for more options PragmatIC has placed itself in a perfect niche for non-stop growth.