Nearfield Instruments, Again, VARM, and Hey Savi

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

My name is Onofre, and I'm an entrepreneur living in Aarhus, Denmark. Each week, I dedicate 3 to 4 hours of my free time to reading startup news, which I then summarize in this newsletter.

I hope you enjoy this content. Thank you so much for reading.

Estimated reading time: ⌛️  5 min 20 sec.

SERIES B AND LATER
Semiconductor manufacturer Nearfield Instruments raises €135 million to accelerate the growth of its novel quality control process

🇳🇱 Rotterdam-based startup Nearfield Instruments announced that it has closed a €135 million Series C funding round led by Walden Catalyst Ventures (US), Temasek (Singapore), and M&G Investments (UK).

This startup has developed a novel product called Quadra 3D Metrology that helps chipmakers assess the quality of the chips they’re manufacturing, increasing production yields and enhancing their capacity to build powerful chips for AI use cases.

As you probably know, semiconductors are the backbone of modern electronics. It’s a huge industry and plays a key role in geopolitics. That’s why I am highlighting this funding round this week.

👉️ You can read more about this deal here.

More Series B (and later) interesting stories:

🇺🇸 Austin-based Saronic raises €160 million for military drone boats.

🇮🇱 CytoReason raises €73.4 million, including from NVIDIA and Pfizer, to scale its AI disease models.

🇬🇧 The "Shopify" of digital health, Huma, raises €73.4 million to enhance and expand its modular platform for healthcare providers.

🇩🇪 Berlin-based Grover secures €50 million to make rental commerce lead the circular economy.

🇵🇹 Lisbon-based Indie Campers raises €35 million to reinforce its leadership as global RV rental platform.

🇩🇪 One Data raises €32 million Series B extension for AI-powered data management.

🇳🇴 Oslo-based Heimdall Power nabs €22.9 million Series B to optimise utilities with “Magic Balls”.

SERIES A
Copenhagen-based Again raises €39.4 million to build full-scale decarbonisation plants

🇩🇰 Again, a carbon utilisation company capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) and turning it into valuable chemicals, has raised €39.4 million in a Series A round co-led by Google Ventures and HV Capital.

This startup is providing the means to decarbonise the petrochemical industry, producing green chemicals at low costs, while reducing carbon emissions.

The petrochemical industry contributes around 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2, or 4% of direct global greenhouse gas emissions annually, making it part of the third-largest emitting industry behind iron/steel and cement. Interesting!

👉️ You can read more about this deal here.

More Series A interesting stories:

🇬🇧 London-based climate tech 44.01 (yes, the startup is named 44.01, after the molecular mass of CO2) raises €33.9 million to eliminate CO2 by turning it into rock.

🇧🇪 Ghent-based LegalFly bags €15 million to expand product in power corporate legal teams.

🇪🇸 Mallorca-based startup Essentialist, a provider of luxury travel services, has raised €9.1 million.

🇬🇧 Manchester-based CultureAI raises €9.1 million to evolve the way organisations manage human cyber risk.

🇩🇪 Berlin-based Doinstruct raises €7.6 million to address frontline-worker skills shortages.

🇪🇸 Barcelona-based Nearby Computing gets €6.5 million to expand edge computing for the industrial sector.

🇬🇧 London-based Instinct Digital raises €6 million to become the benchmark in investor reporting.

🇬🇧 London-based Wamo snaps €4.5 million to expand digital business accounts for underserved SMEs.

SEED
Berlin-based VARM gets €5.7 million to bridge the skills gap in insulation efforts

🇩🇪 Berlin-based VARM, a pioneering insulation startup, has announced it has secured €5.7 million in seed funding.

Let’s start with the basics: What is the insulation industry?

The insulation industry manufactures and sells materials that help keep buildings warm in winter and cool in summer. This not only saves energy but also makes homes more comfortable.

According to the funding press release, professionally insulating a single-family home can save up to 50% in energy consumption. However, only 1% of buildings are renovated to become more efficient each year. This seems mind-blowing.

👉️ You can read more about this deal here.

More Seed interesting stories:

🇫🇷 Paris-based Syntetica raises €4.2 million to scale nylon recycling for the global clothing market.

🇫🇷 Paris-based Presti snaps €3.2 million seed for product photography made by AI.

🇨🇿 Czech home-improvement platform Adam raises €3 million to expand beyond Europe.

🇸🇪 Stockholm-based no-code app builder Lemonado raises €1.2 million for global expansion.

PRE-SEED
London-based fashion tech Hey Savi bags €2.6 million for AI-powered search and recommendation platform

🇬🇧 Hey Savi, a UK fashion search and recommendation platform, has raised €2.6 million in one of the largest pre-seed rounds for an all-female-founded startup in the UK.

The mission of this startup is to redefine how fashion lovers search and shop online by leveraging AI, customer data, and fashion data. I truly think this is a very compelling mission.

It seems clear to me that AI will enable the hyperpersonalization of customer experiences, creating business opportunities in this space.

This startup is founded by Victoria Peppiatt, Angela Vinci, and Sarah Daniel, all of whom have experience managing companies.

👉️ You can read more about this deal here.

More pre-Seed interesting stories:

🇺🇸 Truvius, a crypto investment platform offering active and passive products, has raised €2.9 million in a pre-seed funding.