Impress, Cognas, Prelude, and Workflow

🚀 Welcome to another edition of the Who Got Funded newsletter.

I'm Onofre—product manager by day, entrepreneur by night, based in Aarhus (Denmark). Each week, I spend 3-4 hours reading startup news and summarizing the most exciting European funding rounds in this newsletter.

As always, thank you so much for reading!

Estimated reading time: ⌛️ 5 min 50 sec.

SERIES B AND LATER
Barcelona-based Impress secures over €110 million to expand orthodontic services across Europe

🇪🇸 Barcelona-based Impress, an orthodontic startup specializing in invisible aligners, has raised over €110 million to expand its network of orthodontic clinics.

Impress was founded in 2019 by three key founders:

• Dr. Khaled Kasem, a renowned orthodontist.

• Diliara Lupenko, a serial entrepreneur.

• Vladimir Lupenko, also a serial entrepreneur.

The vision of this startup is to transform orthodontic care by combining traditional methods with innovative technology, making medically complex treatments affordable while prioritizing patient experience and technological advancement.

In August 2024, this scaleup announced the acquisition of DrSmile, marking the start of its inorganic growth stage through strategic acquisitions.

Nowadays, Impress serves over 250,000 patients annually, making it Europe’s largest chain of invisible aligners. In 2023, Impress was already present in 160 cities across eight countries. What a great example of fast growth!

👉️ Read more about this deal here.

+ Series B (and later) funding stories:

🇪🇸 Barcelona-based SeQura secures €410 million to expand payment solutions into the US, UK, and Germany.

🇬🇧 London-based Tessl raises €117 million to develop AI that writes and maintains code.

🇮🇹 Milan-based Satispay secures €60 million to expand its mobile payments and employee benefits platform.

🇬🇧 London-based 11x raises €47.4 million to scale its AI-powered digital workforce platform.

🇫🇷 Lyon-based Agicap raises €45 milllion aiming to redefine treasury management for midmarket businesses.

🇫🇷 Toulouse-based OpenAirlines secures nearly €45 million to accelerate sustainable aviation solutions.

🇩🇪 Berlin-based Tourlane secures €25 million to enhance AI-enabled travel experiences.

🇳🇱 Amsterdam-based Sympower raises €21.3 million to foster renewable energy integration.

🇬🇧 London-based big xyt secures €10 million to expand AI-driven financial markets analytics globally.

SERIES A
London-based Cogna raises over €14 million to boost productivity with AI-driven precision software

🇬🇧 London-based Cogna, a startup providing “precision software solutions,” has raised €14.2 million in a Series A funding round.

If you don’t mind, let’s start by clarifying what “precision software solutions” means. Precision software solutions are “custom-designed software tools created to address specific challenges within a company”. To me, that sounds a lot like consulting.

However, in this case, this startup is leveraging AI to automate the IT consultancy process. Their platform enables non-technical teams to articulate specific productivity challenges and generate tailored solutions without requiring software development expertise.

It seems that this startup is already successfully providing software to major enterprises like Cadent Gas and Network Plus, which is a very positive signal. 🚀 

👉️ Read more about this deal here.

+ Series A funding stories:

🇩🇪 Berlin-based KUGU secures €8.5 million to advance decarbonisation in real estate.

SEED
Paris-based Prelude raises €7.6 million to expand fraud-resistant SMS verification services

🇫🇷 Paris-based Prelude, a startup providing fraud-resistant SMS verification solutions, has secured €7.6 million in seed funding.

Founded in 2022, this startup reduces SMS verification costs by acting as an independent broker to find cost-effective routing options. According to the press release, up to 30% of budgets can be lost to fraud—a common issue among phone verification services.

Prelude’s technology serves over 100 million users in 230 regions and is trusted by large clients in industries like social services, finance, travel, retail, and food tech. One of these clients is Sunday, a global restaurant payment platform. Impressive! 📱 

👉️ Read more about this deal here.

+ Seed funding stories:

🇩🇪 Munich-based tozero raises €11 million to expand recycled lithium production.

🇪🇸 Barcelona-based Monster League Studios secures over €3.7 million for Web3 gaming expansion.

🇪🇸 Barcelona-based Biorce secures €3.5 million aiming to transform clinical trials through AI.

🇩🇰 Copenhagen-based NitroVolt secures €3.5 million to realise green ammonia production.

🇳🇱 The Hague-based Bubty raises €3 million to expand global freelancer compliance solution.

🇳🇴 Oslo-based Deckmatch secures €2.9 million to drive AI-powered deal flow analysis.

🇬🇧 London-based Ooodles secures €2.5 million to expand flexible tech leasing for Irish SMEs.

🇧🇪 Ghent-based Zymofix secures €2 million to expand microbial solutions for sustainable agriculture.

🇩🇪 Saarbrücken-based MONA AI secures €2 million aiming to revolutionise recruitment

🇸🇪 Stockholm-based DREM secures €1 million to expand heat pump technology.

PRE-SEED
London-based Workflow raises €2.8 million to make creative work faster using AI

🇬🇧 London-based Workflow, a platform designed to address the specific challenges faced by creatives, announced it has raised over €2.8 million in pre-seed funding.

By leveraging AI, this startup is capable of scanning creative work and offering constructive feedback, covering aspects such as brand consistency, accessibility, design best practices, and even spelling and grammar.

As I understand it, it’s something like Grammarly but for checking your designs. Nice!

According to the press release, creative output is expected to increase 4.5 times by 2030. Additionally, the creative industries are major employers globally, with over 50 million people working on this industry.

It looks like the “cake” for productivity software for designers is expanding, creating opportunities for significant business growth. 🚀 

👉️ Read more about this deal here.

+ Pre-seed funding stories:

🇩🇪 Munich-based feld.energy raises €1.7 million to drive agricultural photovoltaics in Germany.

🇩🇪 Berlin-based Connecty AI raises over €1.6 million aiming to solve enterprise data’s three-dimensional problem.

🇩🇪 Munich-based Hula Earth raises €1.6 million aiming to scale biodiversity monitoring for global industries.