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Italian fintech WithLess closes a €3 million round led by Primo Ventures #WithLess, a Bergamo-based #fintech startup specializing in software management solutions for financial teams, has just closed a €3 million funding round. Founded by Gianluca Treu and Thomas Alisi, WithLess leverages artificial intelligence to optimize costs and structure procurement processes, helping companies prevent losses in both time and money. The investment round was led by #Primo Ventures, with participation from Zest Group, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo through the accelerator Magic Mind, Apside (a joint venture between Zest and Intesa Sanpaolo), and other investors. This significant funding will enable WithLess to enhance its AI-driven platform and expand its reach in the market. Already trusted by Italian tech companies like MotorK, Qomodo, Smartpricing.it, Talent Garden, and Unobravo, WithLess connects to corporate systems to map software usage, track costs, and provide CFOs with a comprehensive dashboard for monitoring software purchases and employee utilization. The platform helps businesses simplify administrative management, save over 30% on software costs, and restructure procurement processes. The article on StartupItalia in the first comment.

Qodo, formerly known as CodiumAI, recently raised $40 million in Series A funding led by Susa Ventures and Square Peg, bringing its total funding to $50 million. Founded by Itamar Friedman, Qodo focuses on quality-first code generation and testing, differentiating itself from typical AI code generation tools by integrating testing and quality assurance throughout the software development lifecycle. Since launching out of stealth 18 months ago, over 1 million developers have utilized Qodo’s solutions, with several Fortune 100 companies adopting its enterprise platform. The company plans to extend its offerings to include user interface testing, aiming to cover various aspects of software quality to enhance code reliability and reduce bugs. Learn More: https://lnkd.in/gvCDxJSi INVESTORS: Susa Ventures, Square Peg, Firestreak Ventures, ICON Continuity Fund, TLV Partners & Vine Ventures ROUND: Series A AMOUNT: $40,000,000 HQ: #TelAviv #Israel #VentureCapital #Qodo #SusaVentures #SquarePeg #FirestreakVentures #ICONContinuityFund #TLVPartners #VineVentures #ItamarFriedman #TradedVC

The US startup ecosystem continues to lead globally, maintaining its top position three times ahead of its closest competitor. In Q1 2024, VC-backed companies raised a total of $38.2 billion, showing a slight increase from Q4 2023. Notably, nearly 20% of these funds were allocated to AI-related companies. #StartupEcosystem #VentureCapital #AI #Funding

🇪🇺 What happened last week in the European startup ecosystem? 🚀 🔍 Here are some of the most interesting rounds: 🇩🇪 LiveEO raises €25 million to leverage satellite data to make industries more sustainable Investors: MMC Ventures, Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures, Helen Ventures, Matterwave Ventures, Motu Ventures , Segenia Capital, Hannover Digital Investments GmbH and other notable investors. Founders: Daniel Seidel, Sven Przywarra 🇧🇪 Donna raised €1.5M to enhance its AI assistant for sales reps. Investors: Pitchdrive | Early-stage VC 🚀, Everywhere Ventures, Fortino Capital, Syndicate One, welovefounders and notable angels Founders: Nicolas Christiaen, Jonas Deprez, Xander Berkein, Lander T’Kindt and StarApps 🇩🇪 LillianCare secures €1.5 million in extension round to establish hybrid primary care in underserved regions. Investors: Nina Capital, Ship2B Ventures (through the BSocial Impact Fund, supported by the European Investment Fund (EIF), Banco Sabadell and AXIS Founders: Linus Drop and Markus Liesmann 📥 Source: EU-Startups

Desia raises a $3.3 million pre-seed led by Dig Ventures #Desia, a London-based #fintech startup specializing in AI applications for financial services, has raised a $3.3 million pre-seed funding round led by Dig Ventures. Founded by Raffaele Terrone—co-founder of Italy's first unicorn, Scalapay—alongside Alessandro Amaro (formerly of Advent International) and Mehmet Öner Y.çin, Desia aims to transform the financial investment industry by automating data analysis and enhancing productivity for investment professionals. Desia addresses a critical inefficiency in the financial sector: the manual and time-consuming process of sifting through vast amounts of unstructured data. By leveraging AI, Desia's system of intelligence extracts knowledge and data about potential investments, automating analysis and saving significant time and resources. This allows investment professionals to make more informed decisions efficiently. The funding round saw participation from notable investors, including 2100 Ventures, Vento by Exor Ventures, Octopus Ventures, Foreword Ventures, Plug and Play Tech Center, and Launchbay Capital. Prominent angel investors also joined the round, such as Niccolo Maisto (Founder of FaceIT), Mark Ransford (Senior Advisor at CVC Capital Partners), and Massimo della Ragione (former Partner at Goldman Sachs). Ross Mason, Founding Partner at Dig Ventures, expressed confidence in Desia's approach, drawing parallels to his experience with MuleSoft in targeting market inefficiencies. He believes Desia's AI-powered automation promises substantial advancements in productivity for finance professionals. A huge congrats to Raffaele and all his team, huge achievement guys! The announce on #Desia website in the first comment.

#fundingalert 💼Company: Parloa 💰Funding: €61.7 Million ⚡Round: Series B  👥Investors: ALTIMETER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC, EQT Ventures, Newion, Senovo, Mosaic Ventures and La Famiglia Parloa is a leading AI company for the automation of customer service. It’s platform unites humans and AI in one team to take companies’ service quality to a new level through AI-based customer service, natural-sounding conversations, and outstanding service experiences on the phone and all communication channels. The funding brings Parloa’s total capital raised to-date to $98 million, following its $21 million Series A funding round led by EQT Ventures in 2023. Malte Kosub, Doreen Huber Read more -https://lnkd.in/gf4msxx6 To share your startup story write us on - contact@startuprise.co.uk #Parloa #AIcompany #Funding #fundingnews #news #startuprise

Digital Irish Venture Fund: A New Era for Irish Startups The launch of the Digital Irish Venture Fund, led by Marty Loughlin, marks a significant step for Irish startups, offering much needed support for scaling into the US market. Here’s why initiatives like this are critical to the success of Irish ventures: 📌 Transatlantic Growth: Bridging Irish startups with the North American market. 📌 Strategic Investment: Focus on tech-driven, AI, and data sectors. 📌 Global Network: Access to a powerful network of investors and industry leaders. Exciting times ahead for Irish innovation! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ejNmd8TR #VentureCapital #Startups #AI #B2B #GlobalScale #P2Finance #DigitalIrishFund #P2

🚀 Microsoft's Game-Changing Impact on European Startups 🚀 Great to see Microsoft's recognition as an Innovation leader! Through strategic investments, co-development projects, and robust support programs, Microsoft is actively empowering the European startup scene. Three Key Takeaways: 1) Massive AI Investments: Microsoft is a major player in European tech funding, especially in AI, participating in four rounds worth $1.4 billion, including mega funding rounds for AI unicorns like Wayve and Mistral AI. Greatly supporting the total value of VC rounds with Big Tech investment to $3.1 billion in H1 2024, a more than 5x increase from 2023. 2) Holistic Startup Support: Beyond financial investment, Microsoft offers free access to technology, dedicated support teams, mentorship programs, and networking opportunities through initiatives like Microsoft for Startups. Despite this, "around 43% of founders surveyed were not aware of Big Tech programs, platforms, tools, or events designed to support them, while less than 10% had experienced these initiatives first hand (pg18). " 3) Focus on Social Impact: Microsoft is also investing in startups focused on social responsibility. Our programs like Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund provide education, grants, tools, and access to experts, enabling these organisations to focus on their product and impact. This support is crucial for startups addressing global challenges such as climate change and responsible AI 🌍💡. > https://lnkd.in/e2ruY7sq Access the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eP_mVPGt #FoundersForum #Innovation #TechNews #AI #Startups

Promising signs for Italy's tech scene as Desia raise $3.3m. Desia is an AI-led intelligence platform for investment professionals! 🚀 Great report by Tom Matsuda on Sifted below: 'One of the cofounders of Italy’s first unicorn Scalapay has raised $3.3m for his new startup Desia, an AI-led intelligence platform for investment professionals. The round was led by Dig Ventures and featured participation from 2100 Ventures, Exor Ventures, and Octopus Ventures. Raffaele Terrone, formerly the CFO at buy now, pay later company Scalapay, founded Desia alongside Alessandro Amaro and Mehmet Öner Y., former employees of private equity giant Advent International.' A question to my network - what role do you think AI-led platforms will play in shaping the future of the Italian market? See the article in the comments below 😄 #ai #fundraise #investments

#interestingdata Adoption of NVCA Model Docs for 🇺🇸 Series A 📈🌟 I am a huge believer in standardization for venture investing, as it has massive advantages: 1️. Reduction of time, cost and friction for each transaction 2. Leveling the playing field for founders and investors + new and old shareholders 3. Drives market maturity and liquidity 4. Drives best practices and stamps out bad behavior 🇪🇺 and the Nordics are trending in the same positive direction, yet have a way to go + too much fragmentation between countries. Kudos to StartupTools and Startuplab for driving standardization in the Nordics and Norway Norwegian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (NVCA) See source in comments #venturecapital #startups