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

Quasar Labs

CEO & Co-founder – Valentin Pletnev

CTO & Co-Founder – Abhishek Kumar

Quasar Labs is a platform that allows users to create and join Vaults, a powerful tool simplifying asset management and increasing crypto productivity using Defi and IBC technology. The company is proud to have been born completely online and believes in giving all individuals access to financial freedom.

Their latest funding round was led by Shima Capital with the participation of other returning investors and raised $5.4 Million for the Barcelona-based company. The funds will be geared toward creating advanced interchain DeFi and growing their team.

DeFi is an area that remains fragmented so developing early and fast can be the key to hitting it big within this niche. Quasar has already made incredible leaps and is poised to scale up the ranks quickly!

Series A

Mondu

CEO & Co-founder – Philipp Povel

CEO & Co-Founder – Malte Huffmann

CTO & Co-Founder – Gil Danziger

Modu is a platform that offers the most popular B2B payment solutions including flexible payment methods and more. Helping businesses offer customers more and better payment options to drive sales and boost satisfaction.

Berlin-based Mondu was founded in 2021 and has already raised a remarkable $89.9 Million, with its latest funding round happening last week. The company secured an €11.9 M Series A round from Valar Ventures and FinTech Collective to continue its impressive growth journey.

the company will use this new influx of cash to advance product development, including new B2B payment products, and accelerate its market growth. We can’t wait to see how this funding pays out for them in 2023!

Ottopia

CEO & Co-founder – Amit Rosenzweig

Ottopia is an autonomous driving vehicles software developer, specializing in commercial fleets and offering a unique mass deployment assistance system to help companies manage their fleets.

Tel Aviv-based Ottopia started the year with a good boost as it raised a $14.5 M Series A round of $14.5 million in its Series A funding round with participation from ComfortDelGro, AI Alliance Fund, and other investors. Ottopia says this is the highest Series A investment for any teleoperation company.

Autonomous driving is becoming more popular and implementation requires software to advance quickly. Ottopia is hitting the accelerator as a leader in the field in what could be a highly lucrative niche!

Algama

CEO & Co-founder – Alvyn Severien

Co-founder – Gaëtan Gohin

Algama is a food tech company creating different foods from algae, making sustainable and delicious products to feed the world. The company has an ambitious goal of feeding 10 Billion people by 2050.

French Algama was founded in 2013 and has been consistently one of the leaders in microalgae-based food, a developer of tech, methods and new products. The company’s latest Series A round raised €13 Million from the Thai Union Corporate Venture Fund and other investors.

The funds will be used to development of new products, accelerate the commercialization and building of a new 10,000 square metres bio-refinery in Liege, Belgium. Algae has become one of the most interesting bases for plant alternatives and consumption has been on a steady rise in the last few years. This might be a winning dish!

Series B

Creative Fabrica

CEO & Co-founder – Roemie Hillenaar

CTO & Co-Founder

Creative Fabrica is a niche platform marketplace for crafters that offer fonts, graphics, design and other premium content made for them. The platform has a cloud service as well, which allows it to be a design editing, storing and management platform all at once, where crafters can purchase a subscription.

Amsterdam-based Creative Fabrica just announced a significant $61 Million Series B funding round. Participating investors include We are thrilled to have Alven, TriplePoint Capital and LionTree join the investment team and we appreciate the continued support from Felix Capital, Peak and FJ Labs.

What a way to start the year, the funding will continue to help evolve and grow the content on the platform, there are also plans to invest in generative AI and add more talent to the Creative Fabrica team.

Hack The Box

CEO & Co-founder – Haris Pylarinos

Hack the Box is a gamified cybersecurity learning platform that provides upskilling, certification and talent assessment in shaking and other security areas. The company has created hacking and learning labs, cybersecurity games and competitions, plus an academy among several products.

The Kent-based company received an additional show of confidence last week securing a $55 Million Series B funding round led by Carlyle. A momentous investment in a market that’s been hit by caution. The funds will allow Hack the Box to keep its foot on the gas.

The company expects to keep its focus on its “gamer-first” offering while enhancing the growth of its go-to-market function, plus an international eye as it hopes to grow across Europe, the US and APAC.

Series C

Oxbotica

CEO – Gavin Jackson

CTO & Founder – Paul Newman

Oxbotica is an autonomous vehicle software global leader with a vision of Universal Autonomy™ which is in its founder Paul Newman’s own words “providing safe and sustainable autonomy that is independent of workplace and vehicle type”.

Part of the increasingly exciting Oxford tech hub Oxbotica raised one of the highest rounds of the month with a $140 Million Series C funding round from Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, ENEOS Innovation Partners, BGF, Halma, and other partners.

The new funds will go to deploying its Universal Autonomy™ system across different markers, and expansion in North America, EMEA and APAC. Oxbotica is a force in the Oxford ecosystem and could soon be a powerful global player!