German publishing giant Axel Springer has increased its stake in the UK-based digital real estate platform Purplebricks to 26.6 percent by acquiring €49 million worth of stock “from various founding shareholders” at £1 per share. At the time of writing, Purplebricks was trading at £1.082 per share. Launched in 2014, Purplebricks bills itself as a […]
German travel startup Tourlane has landed $47 million in a funding round led by Sequoia and Spark Capital, with participation from DN Capital and HV Holtzbrinck Ventures. As it usually happens, the startup plans to use the funding to expand internationally, hire more people, and further develop its product. Founded in 2016, Tourlane is a […]
Germany’s Ciara, a digital assistant for sales representatives, has raised “millions” in funding from Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners (UVC Partners), with participation from the founders of Interhyp Marcus Wolsdorf and Robert Haselsteiner, as well as entrepreneurs Christian Mangstl and Felix Haas. Ciara, which appears to have just come out of stealth, works as a real-time […]
This week, Natalie Novick and Andrii Degeler talk about SoftBank’s confirmed and alleged deals in Germany, European car sharing companies and luxurious experiences connected to some of them, best and worst practices of writing ICO white papers, whether it’s time to start boycotting the money coming from Saudi Arabia, and more.
In a second major funding deal within one week, the Japanese behemoth SoftBank has just poured $500 million in Berlin-based travel startup GetYourGuide. The deal values the startup at €1.6 billion, according to a report by Deutsche Startups. GetYourGuide has told TechCrunch, however, that the report is “inaccurate” without offering a further explanation. SoftBank hasn’t […]
German digital payments company Wirecard has secured a colossal €900 million in funding from Softbank’s Vision Fund. Structured as a convertible bond, the deal may result in Softbank owning 5.6 percent of Wirecard’s stock after five years. The funding from and the partnership with Softbank will supposedly help Wirecard to expand in Japan and South […]
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced that it will lend €100 million to Dutch and German small and medium enterprises through the Funding Circle peer-to-peer business loans platform. The bank expects this investment to support more than 2,000 startups and small businesses, based on the average loan amount of €40,000 to €70,000. This is […]