Who Got Funded? Week 4, 2024

Good morning, startup friends! ☀️

I wish you an excellent week. Let's dive into the most intriguing startup funding stories from past week 🚀 .

Estimated reading time: 4 min 42 sec

PRE-SEED
London-based Metris Energy bags €2.3 million pre-seed to ‘power up’ the UK’s solar economy

Metris Energy, an AI-powered solar energy platform for commercial property owners, has raised €2.3 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Octopus Ventures and Aenu VC to revolutionise how property owners assess, install, and monetise solar energy within their portfolios.

In my opinion, Metris Energy is exploring an intersection that seems very interesting: AI and solar energy.

In my opinion, the key question here is: Is it possible to automate the multifaceted process of solar adoption, from financial projections to technical requirements, all the way up to tenant energy contract agreements?

It seems they've got quite a challenge on their hands. You can learn more about this deal here.

More pre-seed interesting stories:

• Bagel Network, a decentralized ML data network, closes $3.1 million pre-seed round led by CoinFund. You can learn more about this deal here.

• Digital identity and passkey startup Dapple raises $2.3 million in pre-seed round. You can read more about this deal here.

• Aarhus-based Coana secures $1.6 million pre-seed funding to transform open source vulnerability management through advanced program analysis. You can learn more about this deal here.

SEED
Berlin-based Deeploi raises €5.9 million seed funding to turn IT pain into peace

Deeploi, a Berlin-based developer of an Information Technology (IT) management platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), raised €6 milllion in seed funding from Atomico and Cherry Ventures.

Founded by Julian Lübke and Philipp Hoffman in 2023, Deeploi offers efficient IT solutions to businesses. With its management platform and dedicated team, Deeploi handles all client IT needs, streamlining processes such as onboarding and offboarding, device management, cybersecurity, and compliance.

Since Deeploi’s €3 million pre-seed round in March 2023, the business has grown rapidly, acquiring 30+ customers and scaling to over 20 employees across two offices. It looks like they have a promising business!

You can learn more about this deal here.

More seed interesting stories:

• Israel-based zero-knowledge technology startup Ingonyama raised $21 million in seed funding. You can learn more about this deal here.

• Digs announces $7 million seed round to power its collaborative homebuilding software. You can learn more about this deal here.

• Masa Network raises $5.4 million in seed round to build the “decentralized Google” for the world’s personal data. You can learn more about this deal here.

SERIES A
Spellbook raises $20 Million in series A funding, plans new AI capabilities, platform expansion

Toronto-based Spellbook raised a $20 million Series A round led by Inovia Capital. The round comes less than a year after Spellbook closed on a $10.9 million investment and announced it was rebranding from Rally Legal to Spellbook.

In the month that followed, the company also announced a global educational program for law school students and faculty, and launched a generative AI-powered contract analysis solution named Spellbook Reviews.

Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research (March 2023) estimates that legal employees are the second most exposed group to AI technologies, with a potential 44% exposure to automations.

It signifies that a large number of startups are likely to emerge in this space.

You can learn more about this deal here.

More Series A interesting stories:

• Axiom secures $20 million Series A round led by Paradigm and Standard Crypto. You can learn more about this deal.

• Motif Neurotech lands $18.7 million Series A round to fund depression-treating device. You can learn more about this deal here.

• Doppel secures $14 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. You can learn more about this deal here.

SERIES B AND LATER
Loyalty startup Bilt Rewards hits $3.1 billion valuation after $200 million mega-round

Bilt Rewards, a platform that allows consumers to earn rewards on rent and daily neighborhood spend, has raised $200 million at a $3.1 billion valuation, the company announced.

General Catalyst led the financing, which more than doubles the New York-based company’s valuation compared to its $150 million October 2022 raise.

I believe this is an interesting and uncommon startup story. The fundraising and valuation increase are impressive, especially considering the market conditions where the trend of mega-rounds is clearly decreasing.

Furthermore, this company was founded just three years ago! The speed of its growth is certainly unbelievable. And above all, it achieved EBITDA positivity in 2023. This certainly seems like a great business.

You can read more about this deal here.

More Series B (and later) interesting stories:

• Copenhagen-based startup Monta raises €80 million to boost EV ecosystem. You can read more about this deal here.

• London-based ElevenLabs bags €73 million Series B to strengthen its position as a voice AI leader. You can learn more about this deal here.

• Not Canva, not Adobe… Kittl's approach to graphic design attracts $36 million investment. You can read more about this deal here.

• This german startup has raised $58 million to replace your morning fry-up with mushroom mycelium. You can learn more about this deal here.