Startup Monday: Latest tech trends & news happening in the global startup ecosystem (Issue 143- October 26)
Welcome to Startup Monday, my weekly newsletter that recaps the week in the global startup ecosystem. To have this newsletter emailed to you, you can sign up here.
Top startup news to follow this week:
1. General Catalyst raises $8B in fresh funds to back startups globally
U.S. venture capital giant General Catalyst has announced a fresh $8 billion in funds as it looks to ramp up its investments in multi-sector early-stage startups globally, with a specific focus on the U.S., Europe, and India.
The capital constitutes around $4.5 billion for its “core VC funds,” which spans seed and growth equity funding, while $1.5 billion is earmarked for its so-called “creation strategy,” which is focused on helping repeat or “proven” founders build new companies. An additional $2 billion is for “separately managed accounts” — which are typically special investment vehicles created for a single institutional investor.
“As a global investment company that seeks to partner with the world’s most ambitious entrepreneurs to drive transformation, resilience, and applied AI, we believe this capital will turbocharge our investment theses across AI, defense and intelligence, climate and energy, industrials, healthcare and fintech,” General Catalyst CEO and managing director Hemant Taneja (pictured above), wrote in a blog post today.
Founded in 2000, General Catalyst has backed some of the biggest U.S. technology startups, including Airbnb, Instacart, Snap, Kayak, Stripe, and HubSpot, though it has backed numerous international companies, too, such as Deliveroo in Europe. More recently, General Catalyst has pursued global growth through merging with local entities, including La Famiglia in Europe last year and, more recently, Venture Highway in India.
General Catalyst now has more than $30 billion in assets under management.
2. 360 Capital raises €30 million for first close of new early-stage digital transition fund
360 Capital , an Italian-French VC with over €500 million under management, announced the first closing at €30 million of 360 Digitaly, the new fund dedicated to seed and early-stage investments in startups active in the digital transition. This fund represents a new chapter in 360 Capital’s strategy, and was created with the aim of supporting and accelerating the growth of companies and entrepreneurs in the transformation of sectors and markets that are still analog or fragmented. The project was managed in all its phases by Lucrezia Lucotti, 29, Partner of 360 Capital, supported by Investor Celeste Mastria.
The Fund starts with an endowment of over €30 million, subscribed by CDP Venture Capital on behalf of the Digital Transition Fund — PNRR, which uses resources allocated by the EU through the NextGeneration EU initiative and aims to stimulate the growth of an innovation ecosystem in the sectors of digital transition. The first closing was made at €30 million and 360 Capital plans to continue the collection to increase the size of the fund and welcome new investors.
To date, five investments have already been made: Guidoio (a fully digital driving school service), Jampy (sustainable products for pet wellness), Zefi AI (SaaS to enhance qualitative feedback within companies), Talentware (SaaS for talent management and mapping of company skills) and Soource (procurement SaaS for profiling and pre-qualification of suppliers).
360 Digitaly’s latest investment was in Soource, an artificial intelligence-based platform that, through automated email flows and a powerful search engine connected to a database containing millions of highly profiled companies, optimizes and streamlines the supplier selection process. Soource was founded in Bolzano by Maicol Verzotto and Nazareno Mario Ciccarello.
The vision of the project — This new fund is part of the strategy of 360 Capital, one of the main players in Italian and French venture capital, which intends to accelerate the creation of companies led by Italian talent, promoting diversity and inclusion, with strong support for heterogeneous and young teams.
Lucrezia Lucotti, Partner of 360 Capital, commented: “360 Digitaly represents a bet on a new generation of entrepreneurs in our country. We want to reduce the innovation gap compared to other European ecosystems by stimulating the creation of companies capable of contributing to the economic and technological growth of our country. In Italy, when we talk about entrepreneurial talent, we often refer to the brain drain or the lack of opportunities, but we believe that this trend is reversing and that Italy can become the right country to launch startups in the coming years.”
3. HRZ Han River Launches $100 Million Venture Fund to Fuel Korea Graph Tech Startups
“My experience at Coupang taught me the importance of Silicon Valley-Korea Graph partnerships and how to build companies that leverage the best of both ecosystems for higher success”
HRZ, established in 2022, channels the Korea Graph’s entrepreneurialism, international aspirations, and resilience to back exceptional founders who are innovating and building global-scale companies. With a team led by top-tier, institutional venture investors from Silicon Valley and experienced ex-founders who have built and supported internationally-recognized companies, HRZ aspires to be a leading VC that leverages Silicon Valley disciplines with venture opportunities from the Korea Graph.
Their team includes Founder and Managing Partner Chris Koh, who co-founded Coupang, South Korea’s first and largest online marketplace and one of its most notable unicorn startups, and Co-Founder and General Partner Jin Ho Hur, a pioneer in Korea’s early internet economy as a serial entrepreneur and former Chairperson of the Korea Internet Association. HRZ’s team presents a combination of operational history, deep networks, and investment acumen that is unrivaled in terms of its opportunity set.
“My experience at Coupang taught me the importance of Silicon Valley-Korea Graph partnerships and how to build companies that leverage the best of both ecosystems for higher success,” says Chris Koh. “The HRZ team brings a unique set of skills that maximize these opportunities, and we are looking forward to supporting visionary entrepreneurs that not only push the boundaries of what’s possible but also drive positive societal impact.”
The Korea Graph and Market Opportunity
The Korea Graph has witnessed significant growth over the past few decades, with strong tailwinds from institutional government support, increased market opportunities, and concentrated sectors of innovation resulting in a notable rise in startup activity and funding. The Korea Graph leads in smart manufacturing, EV batteries, semiconductor manufacturing, high-tech ship building, robotics, and entertainment technology, which provides the technological backbone for entrepreneurial talent.
Jin Ho Hur, General Partner at HRZ, noted, “Korea’s urban density, advanced infrastructure, and hyper-connectivity results in a market that often serves as a precursor to trends in innovation throughout the rest of the world. Coupled with incredible engineering, AI, and consumer technology talent, this makes Korea a highly attractive yet under-indexed opportunity for investments. HRZ supports ambitious founders who take advantage of this unique environment to build world-class companies.”
Focus on AI and Consumer Tech Opportunities
HRZ’s investment strategy focuses on AI and consumer sectors within the Korea Graph. These include AI technology and its vertical applications to areas such as finance, healthcare, and robotics, as well as new consumer industries, specifically in gaming, cultural content, and entertainment. The fund backs startups that are poised to be category-defining leaders in these fields, with aspirations to create global-scale and impact. HRZ supports its portfolio companies by leveraging deep connections and opportunities both in Silicon Valley and throughout the Asia-Pacific.
HRZ Han River (“HRZ”), based in Menlo Park, California, is an early-stage venture capital firm that empowers visionary founders to build groundbreaking, global companies in the consumer and AI sectors. HRZ serves as a bridge between Silicon Valley and the Korea Graph, the firm’s focus area that targets the talent, technology, and market trends that originate or intersect Korea but impact the world.
4. YC startup Pharos lands a $5M seed led by Felicis to bring AI to hospital quality reporting
Medical and administrative staff are increasingly overwhelmed with piles of paperwork they have to fill out every day.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of startups, are seeing opportunities to make those bureaucratic processes less burdensome with the help of generative AI. These companies are building AI medical scribes , platforms for , and products for automatically pre-authorizing health insurance payments from patients’ electronic medical records (EMRs.) extracting medical coding
But Pharos, a company that was a part of Y Combinator’s summer 2024 cohort, is applying AI to tackle another somewhat under-the-radar administrative function for hospitals: quality reporting to external clinical registries.
However, reporting to the registries is extremely time-consuming. Nurses and other staff must manually sift through each patient’s electronic health record to extract the precise data required for each registry. “A single case can take up to eight hours” to report, said Ryan Isono, a partner at Felicis, “It’s a big problem, but one that you only know about if you’re deep in the industry.”
Indeed, Pharos was co-founded by Felix Brann and Matthew Jones, who had some exposure to the challenges of reporting data to medical registries from their prior work at Vital, a startup that develops software for emergency rooms. They recognized that AI can take unstructured data from EMRs and automatically populate forms required by registries. As they went through YC earlier this year, they added another co-founder — Alex Clarke, a medical doctor who also holds a PhD in artificial intelligence from Imperial College London.
5. Investments in generative AI startups topped $3.9B in Q3 2024
Not everyone is convinced of generative AI’s return on investment. But many investors are, judging by the latest figures from funding tracker PitchBook.
Some of the biggest winners in Q3 were coding assistant ($320 million in August), enterprise search provider ($260 million in September), and business analytics firm ($130 million in July). China’s raised $300 million in August, and , a Japanese startup focused on scientific discovery, closed a $214 million tranche last month. Moonshot AI
But VCs are effectively placing bets that generative AI will gain a foothold in large and profitable industries and that its long-tail growth won’t be impacted by the challenges it faces today.
“Large customers are rolling out production systems that take advantage of startup tooling and open source models,” Brendan Burke, senior analyst of emerging tech at PitchBook, told TechCrunch in an interview. “The latest wave of models shows that new generations of models are possible and may excel in scientific fields, data retrieval, and code execution.”
6. Valencia-based Matteco secures €15 million to drive down green hydrogen costs
Founded in 2023 to address the high costs of renewable hydrogen production, Matteco has developed a unique line of platinum-free materials (PGMs) for electrolysers. These innovative catalysts, catalytic coatings, and electrodes are crucial for producing renewable hydrogen via alkaline electrolysis and Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) technology. Matteco’s technology offers enhanced performance by reducing energy consumption, enabling higher current densities, and providing superior stability and durability-key elements to improving green hydrogen’s economic viability.
Gonzalo Abellán, co-founder and CTO said: “Our patented technology, built on more than 10 years of R&D, has a significant impact on the competitiveness of green hydrogen production.” He notes that these advanced materials address a major industry challenge: lowering the operational and capital costs required for green hydrogen to become a viable alternative to fossil fuels.
Scaling production to meet global demand
The €15 million funding will support the imminent opening of a 10,000 sqm production facility in Paterna, Valencia, which will enable Matteco to produce enough electrodes for 1 gigawatt (GW) of electrolysis annually. This facility will help Matteco meet the growing demand for high-performance materials among electrolyser manufacturers globally, with customers already in Europe, North America, and Asia.
Iker Marcaide, co-founder and CEO of Matteco, stated, “We look forward to this new phase of growth and scaling up with partners who strongly believe in impact investing so that together we can harness the potential of materials innovation to solve the environmental challenges we face.”
This funding round not only underscores the high growth potential of Matteco in the renewable hydrogen market but also validates its commitment to sustainable impact. The company plans to expand its workforce from 30 to 100 employees by 2025, supporting further innovation in clean technology and decarbonization solutions.
7. Ghent-based MobilityPlus secures €40 million to drive EV charging growth in Belgium and France
MobilityPlus, a Ghent-based provider of EV charging solutions, has raised €40 million in a growth financing round. The funding, led by Suma Capital through its Climate Impact Fund III with additional backing from existing investor Concentra, will fuel MobilityPlus’s expansion in Belgium and France, targeting B2B clients and real estate markets.
Founded in 2016, MobilityPlus has built a strong presence in smart charging infrastructure with its all-in-one platform that simplifies the EV charging experience. The company currently manages over 15,000 charging points in Belgium and France and has access to an additional 550,000 charging stations across Europe via roaming agreements.
Ruperto Unzué and Jérôme Petitjean, Partners at Suma Capital, remarked on the partnership, saying, “The company has an impressive track record of innovative charging solutions, sustainable growth, and a solid customer base. We are excited to support their further expansion to decarbonise transport and mobility.”
Jean-Francois Cheyns, founder and co-CEO of MobilityPlus, added, “This capital injection is essential to further expand our technological lead and improve our smart charging solutions. We continue to focus on improving the user experience through the development of innovative technologies and advanced energy management systems. This allows companies to reduce their charging costs while complying with increasingly stringent regulations, strengthening our position in the B2B market and increasing our impact on sustainable mobility.”
Transforming the Charging Experience
MobilityPlus has designed the MobilityPlus eXperience platform to meet evolving client needs with a comprehensive suite of services, including real-time data insights, 24/7 support, and intelligent energy management. This shift has allowed MobilityPlus to support businesses in meeting carbon reduction goals while ensuring seamless EV charging experiences for employees and customers.
Kris Pensaert, co-CEO of MobilityPlus, highlighted the company’s growth ambitions: “In a rapidly evolving market, standing still is not an option — and organic growth alone will not be enough. Our customers want to focus on their core business and rely on MobilityPlus for a seamless, worry-free charging experience. They are looking for more than just charging solutions; they need a partner that provides comprehensive support, from engineering, infrastructure, and real-time data insights to intelligent energy management. That’s why we transformed our offering into the all-in-one MobilityPlus eXperience.”
The fresh funds will also enhance MobilityPlus’s Charging-as-a-Service (CaaS) model, which allows companies to deploy EV charging solutions without upfront costs.
8. Medtech Alimetry gases up with $18M for a wearable to help diagnose gastric disorders
The noninvasive wearable consists of a flexible electrode array that’s applied to the patient’s stomach where it’s able to pick up electrical activity produced by their gut. Cloud-based analysis — including the use of artificial intelligence to help extract signal from digestive noise — turns the captured data into useful clinical biomarkers to support patient diagnosis.
“It’s much like the heart; the gut runs on a natural electricity, and that electricity causes it to move,” explains co-founder and CEO Dr. Greg O’Grady. “Those electrical rhythms and currents are really weak. They’re about 100 times weaker than the heart, which makes it really difficult to detect them.
“People have known about them for a long time, but no one’s been able to get at it reliably for clinical use — unlike the heart, which is obviously very mature and a huge industry now — and so the secret to cracking it has been taking a really high-resolution approach. And it’s only really been recently, through advances in stretchable electronics, wearables, and in AI, that we have really cracked the code to make this possible.”
To use the device, a patient attends a clinic where Alimetry’s device is applied and a benchmark recording of their gut activity is taken. They remain in situ while they consume a light meal still wearing the device, allowing data to be captured as their stomach works. The patient also logs any symptoms they experience in Alimetry’s app during the test.
The entire session (from benchmark to active gut recording) lasts a few hours, after which the device is removed, and Alimetry’s analysis of the data is sent to their doctor as a downloadable report to support diagnosis.
9. Lithuanian unicorn Vinted raises €340 million, reaches €5 billion valuation
Major investors, including Hedosophia, Baillie Gifford, Invus Opportunities, FJ Labs, Manhattan Venture Partners, and Moore Strategic Ventures, joined the round alongside longstanding backers EQT, Accel, and Insight Partners.
Vinted plans to use the funds to expand into new markets and broaden its offerings beyond fashion. The platform, which allows users to buy and sell second-hand items with Vinted earning commission fees, has experienced rapid growth and profitability. Last year, Vinted reported a revenue increase of 61% to 596 million euros and achieved its first annual profit of 18 million euros, a substantial turnaround from a €20 million loss in the prior year.
The platform’s gross merchandise value (GMV) has tripled since its last funding round, and it currently operates in 22 countries, with recent expansions into Finland, Greece, and Croatia.
Alongside its expansion, Vinted has introduced new services, including a verification feature for designer and luxury items to reduce counterfeit risks in ten countries, as well as “Vinted Go,” a shipping service offering locker solutions to improve logistics in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
In response to the growing popularity of sustainable shopping, Vinted has diversified into new categories like electronics to remain competitive in the second-hand market. “Consumers increasingly see second-hand as a mainstay in their wardrobes, driven by sustainability and flexibility,” noted Andy Doyle, partner at TPG. Vinted CEO Thomas Plantenga added that the company is committed to making “second-hand the first choice, worldwide.”
Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc served as financial advisor and placement agent for the transaction, with legal support from Taylor Wessing and Cooley.
10. Finix raises $75M to take on Stripe as a payment processor
In an interview with TechCrunch, CEO and founder Richie Serna says becoming a payment processor was “hugely transformational” for the business, and a main driver of its $75 million fundraise, which it announced on Thursday.
Four years later, Serna says that moment helped put Finix on the map, and hasn’t had a lasting effect on the business. In fact, Serna says fintech companies like Stripe, Finix, and Adyen all have lots of room to grow in the payments space.
“One thing that we kind of try to correct, in terms of the narrative, is this idea that Stripe owns the entire market. We live in Silicon Valley. Everybody sort of believes that,” said Serna. “And so Stripe only actually owns 6% of the US market, and less than 2% worldwide. So payments is still relatively fragmented, and probably about 91% of payments today still goes through systems that were built back in the ’80s and the ‘90s,” he noted.
So why would someone choose Finix over Stripe, and how are they different?
When Serna founded Finix, he didn’t see it as a payments business, but instead as a “payments infrastructure” company. Now that’s changing.
In some ways, these companies are more similar today than when Sequoia abandoned its investment in Finix for being too competitive with Stripe. Both process payments for businesses, require little to no coding to get set up, and operate in Canada and the United States.
However, Serna says Finix is specifically building products for businesses with both in-store and online footprints that don’t have the developers to build out those experiences. He says there are tens of millions of these companies in America. To this end, Finix offers more options for physical payments, integrating with several different payment devices.