Sifted - Aleph Alpha secondaries

Good morning there,

Last week, we had a rendezvous with France’s fastest-growing companies. This week, we pick the 75 fastest-growing companies in the Nordics and Benelux regions. Danish corporate card issuer and unicorn Pleo, Stockholm enterprise software company Sana and Belgian e-bike manufacturer Cowboy are a few names that made the cut. I’ve got more on that below.

Elsewhere today: 

• How to hire generalists 
• Data & analytics startups: early-stage market map
• 20VC-backed crypto wallet Deblock raises £13.3m amid crypto’s new boom

— Éanna Kelly, contributing editor

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😬 Vegan meal kit startup Allplants has moved to appoint administrators — a step typically taken when a company is insolvent or about to become insolvent. The UK-based company filed the legal document on Monday, according to court records accessed via Caseboard.

• In Allplant's latest company filings, published in August, founder Jonathan Petrides described the seven months to March 2023 as "undoubtedly" the most difficult period in the startup's history following Covid-driven boomtimes for meal delivery companies.
• The company’s cap table includes Molten Ventures, Felix Capital, Octopus Ventures, TriplePoint Capital, professional footballer Chris Smalling and former professional footballer Kieran Gibbs.

💰 Deblock, a UK-based crypto wallet built by former Revolut and Ledger execs, has raised an additional £13.3m in seed funding according to Companies House filings this month. 

• Another filing in October indicated Headline, Hoxton, 20VC and Chalfen were lead investors in the round. Sifted previously reported the startup had quietly raised €12m last year.
• The company was founded in August 2022 by Revolut’s former head of crypto Jean Meyer, head of payments Aaron Beck and Ledger’s ex-head of engineering Mario Eguiliuz. Later that year, the startup poached Adriana Restrepo, the chief operating officer of Revolut’s European banking operations, as its fourth founder. Deblock CEO Jean Meyer declined to comment on the funding round.

🤝 Deutsche Bank has joined the cap table of German AI company Aleph Alpha as part of a secondary transaction which saw seed and Series A investors 468 Capital, Lakestar and OSS Capital sell shares in the company. 

• Existing investors Schwarz Group, Earlybird and Burda Principal Investments increased their stakes as part of the deal, Aleph Alpha said in a statement. The company declined to comment on how many shares were sold.

75 fastest-growing Nordics and Benelux startups

Slush week feels like a good time to drop our ranking of the fastest-growing Nordic (and, for good measure, Benelux) companies. 

Denmark’s Kompasbank, which provides loans and other services to SMEs, tops the list. Founded by Michael Hurup Andersen in 2021, the company boasts a walloping 1149.73% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue over the period 2021 to 2023. 

The second fastest-growing company on the list is Klimate, a Copenhagen-based carbon asset management platform (645.36% CAGR). Third is Stockholm’s Flower (+497.61%), founded by John Diklev in 2020, which helps clients that run battery energy storage infrastructure — such as companies running electric car fleets, owners of home batteries, data centres and solar and battery parks — to feed their stored power into the grid when demand is high. In October, the company closed a €45m Series A round led by VC firm Northzone.

It’s a diverse list: some founders earn a living providing background music to restaurants and other businesses (who knew that was a thing?). One company is upcycling waste orange peels, while another will let you do a buy now, pay later purchase on a Porsche (and other essential items). 

As winter closes in, discover the company that can hook you up with a “hygge officer” to make your home extra-comfy (this is a Nordics ranking after all). Oh, and there’s a founder on our list who has already raised $138m at the grand old age of 28 (Sifted earmarked him as a “Gen Z founder to watch” in 2020 — our version of Forbes 30 under 30 but hopefully without the same unfortunate probability of jail time for the chosen founders). 

We have one final Sifted leaderboard in 2024 — a countdown of the top 250 fastest-growing companies, Europe-wide. Kompasbank’s CAGR seems hard to beat…. and yet, one company has done it. More to be revealed in the Sifted 250 on December 5. Sign up to Sifted Pro for early access.

Discover the top 75 Nordics & Benelux companies here.

— Éanna Kelly, contributing editor

🙌 “Our current work system has been built for specialists. You have a specific task, you’re in charge of that task and when you leave, your replacement will have done that exact task before somewhere else. It’s a remnant of the Industrial Revolution,” Milly Tamati, the founder of Generalist World, a platform that helps startups hire and retain generalist talent, told Anisah Osman Britton in Sifted’s Startup Life newsletter. 

• But there’s a catch: “The issue is growing companies need talent that can work cross-functionally, piece things together, make decisions, pivot and jump in wherever needed,” Milly added. In other words, they need generalists. 
• So how do you hire them? Milly shares her top tips here.

• Every company makes data — but not every company is data-driven.
• Data & analytics (D&A) startups can fix this, providing expertise on data gathering, structuring, storing, sharing, protecting and deployment. 
• Our latest briefing has 59 early-stage D&A names to watch in Europe, from pre-seed to Series A. See who makes the grade.
• We also pick four rising stars — one of which is Munich-based PandasAI, which helps companies comb their data using natural language. So, for example, using PandasAI tooling, you could ask your system, “How many paying subscribers do we have?” — and get an answer. 

Pro subscribers have access to Sifted’s full back catalogue of sector briefings. Interested in subscribing? Find out more here.

Looking for Eastern Europe & Baltics’ top startups?

We’ve ranked the 30 fastest-growing companies across the region in 2024, showcasing a dynamic, diverse, and talented ecosystem with a lot to offer. Who’s leading the charge?

Lisbon-based Tekever, which develops and operates unmanned aerial systems like drones, raised €70m in funding. The Nato Innovation Fund and Baillie Gifford led the round were joined by investors including National Security Strategic Investment Fund, Crescent Cove Advisors, Iberis Semper and Cedrus Capital.

Berlin-based Koro, an omnichannel platform for snacks, raised €35m in Series C funding. Coefficient Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Five Seasons Ventures, HV Capital, Partech, Haub Legacy and SevenVentures.

Paris-based Arenametrix, a data & analytics platform for event organisers, raised €8m in funding from investors including Reflexion Capital and Newfund.

Hyvinkää, Finland-based Keto Software, a strategic portfolio management platform which uses AI tools, raised €6.4m in equity and €2m in debt funding. Emerald Technology Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Greencode Ventures, Sinituote and Trauma Holding.

Stockholm-based Kodiak Hub, a supplier relationship management platform for global procurement and sourcing teams, raised €6m in funding. Oxx led the round.

Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium-based BiocSol, which specialises in sustainable crop protection, raised €5.2m in seed funding. Agri Investment Fund and Vives Inter-University Fund led the round and were joined by investors including Invest.BW and IMBC Spinnova SA.

Düsseldorf, Germany-based Ubitium, which is aiming to launch an ‘open-source semiconductor’, raised $3.7m in seed funding. Runa Capital, Inflection and KBC Focus Fund led the round. 

Helsinki-based Taito.ai, an employee performance management platform, raised $2.7m in seed funding. Accel led the round and was joined by investors including Eléonore Crespo (Pigment cofounder), Robert Gentz (Zalando cofounder), Miki Kuusi (Wolt founder) and Ilkka Paananen (Supercell cofounder).

Montpellier, France-based PimpUp, an online platform that aims to provide farm-to-home grocery delivery, raised €1.7m in funding from investors including Denis Fayolle (La Fourchette cofounder), Marc Batty (Dataiku cofounder) and Thomas Arnaudo (900.care cofounder).

Carrara, Italy-based Eye2Drive, which develops silicon-based optical sensors, raised €1.5m in funding. RoboIT led the round and was joined by investors including Motor Valley Accelerator, Pariter Robotics and Toscana Next.

Glasgow, UK-based Glox Therapeutics, which develops precision antibiotic therapies based on naturally occurring bacteriocins, raised £1m in grant funding from PACE.

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