Berlin, Germany-based Taxfix raised $220M in Series D funding led by Teachers’ Venture Growth. The company provides a tax filing smartphone application. Taxfix entered the unicorn club with a valuation of over $1B. Incoming funds will be used to add more products to its portfolio, boost platform growth, and expand its team to over 500 employees. More: - Previous investors Index Ventures, Valar Ventures, Creandum, and Redalpine participated in the funding round.
- Since its founding in 2016, the startup has raised over $330M in capital.
- It raised $65M through its Index Ventures-led Series C financing round in 2020.
- Taxfix claims to have refunded over $1B in taxes to users on its mobile platform.
- The company currently provides services in Germany, Spain, and Italy.
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Mass transit solution provider Swvl Holdings Corp is set to acquire Zeelo, a U.K.-based smart bus platform. The deal value is estimated to be $100M, per sources close to TechCrunch. Swvl is set to expand its presence into the U.K., South Africa, and the U.S. as a direct result of the acquisition, which is expected to conclude by the following month. In addition, the deal will also help Swvl boost its B2B offerings, forge new partnerships, and license its platform to third-party fleet operators. More: - Swvl was listed at the Nasdaq, bearing the ticker name SWVL, earlier this year via a SPAC deal.
- The company was valued at $850M.
- It acquired Volt Lines recently to expand operations into Turkey.
- Other Swvl acquisitions include Viapool, Shotl, and door2door.
- Zeelo, founded in 2014, has raised a total of $19.6M to date, with the last funding round being a $12M Series A investment led by ETF Partners.
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AI-driven content personalization software Movable Ink secured $55M from a Series D funding round led by Silver Lake. The company received a pre-money valuation of $1.3B. Incoming funds will be used to expand its AI-driven product portfolio and hire employees. More: - Contour Ventures Partners, Intel Capital, and others backed the financing.
- It acquired AI-powered content engine platform Coherent Path in February.
- Movable Ink has raised over $97M in total funding to date.
- The company aims to bring its employee count to over 700 by 2023, up from the current workforce count of 500.
- Movable Ink recently reported annual recurring revenue of $100M.
- JetBlue, Hilton, Uber, and Bloomingdale's are a few of its notable clients.
- The startup is now expanding its reach across Europe, beginning with Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Nordics, and Benelux region.
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New York-based home insulation, smart technology, and heat pump provider Sealed raised $29.5M in additional Series B financing, bringing the total raised in this round to $45.5M. Fifth Wall Climate Tech led the funding. The company’s aim is to reduce energy waste and electrify homes at an affordable cost. More: - Other funding round participants include FootPrint Coalition, CityRock Venture Partners, Cyrus Capital, and Keyframe Capital.
- Including the current funding, the firm has raised over $62.5M in funding to date.
- The company reported a sales growth of 350% between 2020 and 2021, buoyed by increased sales across the New York State, Connecticut, New Jersey, and the Philadelphia metro areas.
- Incoming funds will accelerate national expansion.
- Sealed claims to reduce energy usage by up to 50% by using the right insulation and eliminating fossil fuel-based heating equipment.
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 A message from LAIKA If you’re trying to close deals, SOC 2 is probably a thorn in your side. What is it, and who cares? Your business needs SOC 2. But building compliance from scratch is complicated, time-consuming, and the cost can be crippling. Laika has you covered. Uncomplicate SOC 2 with our guide for growth-minded founders. In the guide by Laika you’ll learn: - What is SOC 2 compliance and why it matters for your startup
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San Francisco-based Smallstep Labs Inc. secured $26M in funding. The financing consists of a $7M seed round led by Boldstart Ventures and $19M of Series A funding led by StepStone Group. The company intends to use the proceeds to back its community, boost R&D, and accelerate product development. More: - Smallstep provides an open-source solution for automated certificate management, critical for zero trust technology.
- It was founded in 2016 by Mike Malone and launched its open-source software a few years ago.
- Accel Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and Upside Partnership participated in the funding round.
- The company also intends to double its workforce in the coming year, up from its current count of 17 employees.
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New York-based rewards-as-a-service API platform Kard raised $23M in Series A financing. Kard provides an API to create customized reward programs for traditional banks, neo banks, and fintech. It launched its rewards API in 2020. With the new funds, the company intends to launch new reward-based products and triple its workforce. More: - The firm has partnered with Varo and other leading U.S. neobanks.
- Its platform serves over 10 million customers.
- Kard claims to process over 50 million transactions per month.
- Clients have witnessed a 37% increase in total customer spending since the deployment of the rewards program.
- The funding round was led by Tiger Global with participation from Fin Capital, s12f, and UnderscoreVC.
- Underscore led the seed funding round for Kard.
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- Boston-based growth equity investment firm Stride Consumer Partners received $420M in capital commitments toward its debut fund. The fund was oversubscribed and closed higher than the initial target of $300M. The fund has already closed three investments, namely Skinfix, Chomps, and Truewerk.
- Brand engagement platform Mavrck raised $135M from sole investor Summit Partners. The startup will use the funds to pay for its acquisition of social media management, link in bio, and analytics platform Later.
- Genetic medicines manufacturer Kelonia Therapeutics raised $50M in capital. Alta Partners, Horizons Ventures, Venrock, and other investors backed the Boston-based biotech firm’s Series A financing.
- San Francisco-based sustainability insights platform Higg secured $50M in financing. The Series B round was co-led by Silversmith Capital Partners and Galvanize Climate Solutions.
- Poland-based payroll technology provider Symmetrical.ai raised $18.5M in Series A financing. Tiger Global led the funding with participation from Global Founders Capital, Finch Capital, Partech, and others.
- Synthesis.ai received $17M in Series A funding led by 468 Capital with participation from Sorenson Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures, Bee Partners, and others. The San Francisco-based company leverages synthetic data to build computer vision models.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
Connecteam is the all-In-One Employee Management Software. Time Tracking, Shift Scheduling, Communication, and Much More. | |
Laika is a unified compliance platform that automates workflows for audits, infosec monitoring, and vendor due diligence in a single, collaborative space. | |
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