In this episode of United Kingdom Tech - Weekly Deals Roundup: United Kingdom Tech saw 14 companies including Blend Network, IMMO, Wagestream raised over $392 million from investors such as Cyrus Ardalan, Oak HC/FT, and BlackRock, among others.
Welcome back to United Kingdom Tech Weekly Deals Roundup, a weekly podcast by Tracxn for key startup deals in the United Kingdom from last week.
In this edition, we will cover funding rounds of Blend Network, IMMO, Wagestream, and more. In exits, we will cover the acquisition of Bibblio by EX.CO among others.
Starting with our deep dive into funding rounds, tech companies in the United Kingdom raised over $392 million of funding across 14 funding rounds during this week.
In a major funding round event, London-based FinTech startup, Blend Network, raised over $156 million in a Series B funding round led by Cyrus Ardalan, Nico Paraskevas, and Jean-Philippe Blochet. Blend Network is a P2P marketplace for commercial mortgage loans. Borrowers can avail of financing options by providing collateral assets as security. Blend Network connects borrowers with multiple individual and institutional investors. Users must add the required details and apply for the loan. Once approved, the funds are transferred to the registered bank account. Founded in 2016 by an ex-Morgan Stanley employee, Blend Network has raised $183 million till date.
London-based FinTech startup, IMMO, raised $75 million in a Series B funding round led by Oak HC/FT with participation from Moore Capital Management, Talis Capital, and FinTech Collective. IMMO is a real estate investment platform for residential properties. The platform leverages machine learning technology and allows investors to source, monetize, and manage single-family properties in a dispersed portfolio. Founded in 2017, IMMO has raised over $91 million till date.
FinTech startup, Wagestream, raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by BlackRock. Wagestream is an employer-enabled savings and investment platform. Wagestream allows businesses to assist employees and set aside funds as savings, provide access tools for developing financial plans and goals, manage budget expenses & spending details, and provide resources for new users. It provides an app-based platform that can be accessed on iOS and Android devices. Founded in 2018, London-based Wagestream has raised $122 million till date.
Stenn, a FinTech startup, raised $50 million in a PE funding round led by Centerbridge Partners. Stenn provides an online platform for invoice financing. Stenn advances funds to the supplier at the time of shipment while the buyer receives longer payment terms. Businesses can upload the invoices & register via the platform. Funds are transferred to the user's registered bank account. Founded in 2003, London-based Stenn has raised $50 million till date.
This was all from the funding updates, moving on to the exits. United Kingdom Tech observed 4 exits during the week of 17 Apr 2022.
London-based EdTech startup, Bibblio, was acquired by EX.CO. Bibblio provides a recommendation as a service API plugin for publishers, ed-tech platforms, institutions, and archives for letting users discover content. Bibblio automatically analyses each item in the catalog, maps their connections, and suggests the best-related content for each. Bibblio's enrichment engine matches similar data together by a smart algorithm that picks up different presentation styles of the same data type. Founded in 2013, Bibblio has raised close to $5 million till date from Neon, Invictus Capital Partners, Emerge Education, and others.
Auto Tech startup, FiveAI, was acquired by Bosch. Five AI provides a complete software stack for autonomous vehicles. They are creating an autonomous driver system that would not require high precision and high detail navigation 3D maps. Five AI are planning to achieve this by using a combination of sensors, deep learning-based computer vision systems, and motion planning systems to enable the car to drive autonomously. Founded in 2015 by University of Cambridge alumni and University of Warwick alumni, Bristol-based FiveAI has raised $77 million till date from Direct Line Group, Amadeus Capital, Sistema Venture Capital, and others.
This was all for today, we will be back next Monday with more updates. You can subscribe to our podcast on Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Apple Podcast to stay updated. If you have any feedback, please reachout to us at podcast@tracxn.com. Thank you for tuning in today, see you next week.