3000 green jobs, Adobe & Figma's sad breakup, Luko worth €4, and many more...
What's Up Tech? #162
Welcome to our 162nd newsletter, written with 🖤 by Gabriel Million-Brodaz, and Justine Pelisson.
We hope you are having wonderful end-of-year holidays with your loved ones and are properly celebrating the end of this 2023 year! 🎄🎉🎁
Fundraisings from last week with Octopus Energy, TOPdesk, Sweetch Energy, and Partech Ventures
News from last week with Adobe’s failed Figma takeover and the €4 offer from Allianz to Luko
Internships & Job offers of the week
Enjoy the read! 🌞
⚡️Octopus Energy raised €800M in landmark funding to propel green energy growth (🇬🇧)
Octopus Energy, the London-based energy supplier, has just secured £630M ($800M) from shareholders, valuing the company at $8bn! After having just acquired Shell Energy, it is now the UK’s largest power supplier and has already announced that it would aim to create 3,000 green jobs by 2024. ⚡️
Founded in 2015, Octopus Energy competes with major players and has significantly grown with strategic acquisitions, including Bulb Energy. This latest fundraising aims to accelerate global clean energy growth, at the heart of Octopus’ value proposition. ☘️
Octopus Energy Raises $800m and Aims to Create 3,000 Green Jobs in UK
📠 TOPdesk raised €200M to expand global reach and enhance IT services desk solutions (🇩🇪)
Dutch service management provider TOPdesk secured €200M in a fresh funding round. This infusion of external capital marks a tremendous milestone as it is the company’s first dilution round, propelled by its 10 million active SaaS users, whose IT service desk experiences have been undeniably simplified.🧑💻
CVC is a global private markets manager with €177M assets under management (AUM) invested globally. CVC Growth specializes in growth-stage tech businesses. According to Sebastian Künne, Senior MD at CVC, these funds will be allocated to “[bring] this market leader to many more customers and new geographies around the world.” 🌎
Dutch Service Management Provider TOPdesk Raises €200M from CVC Growth Funds
🌊 Sweetch Energy secured €25M to power osmotic energy revolution and global expansion (🇫🇷)
Sweetch Energy, a Rennes-based osmotic energy specialist, just raised €25M in Series A funding. (Osmotic energy is generated by harnessing the pressure difference between saltwater and freshwater to drive a turbine, converting the energy into electricity). The funds will fuel the finalization of its INOD® technology demonstrator, expand R&D, deploy industrial assembly lines, and support global expansion. 🔋
The company, backed by investors like EDF and CNR, aims to achieve carbon neutrality through its innovative osmotic energy solution. With a total funding of nearly €40M, Sweetch Energy is poised for significant growth in Europe and North America. 🚀
Sweetch Energy Secures €25M to Accelerate the Global Deployment of Osmotic Energy
💸 Partech unveiled a €360M venture fund for mission-critical Tech
Partech, a global investment platform for tech and digital companies, just launched a €360M fund, Partech Venture, to “back mission-critical software, data, and fintech powering the digital transformation of Enterprises and SMBs in Europe”. 🌐
The fund's first investment, €13M in Italian startup Smartpricing, offers revenue management software for hotels, utilizing machine learning models and a proprietary algorithm to process diverse data, optimizing pricing strategies. 🏩
The diverse investor cohort includes Allianz France, BNP Paribas, Bpifrance, Edenred, and more. Partech Venture aims to lead investments in 22-24 Series A/B stage European companies with €1-€10M recurring revenue, fostering the digital transformation of enterprises. 📈
🔁 Adobe and Figma abandon $20bn merger bid
After a 15-month long regulatory battle, Adobe and Figma agreed to terminate the proposed $20bn merger, as Adobe failed to satisfy European regulators that the acquisition wouldn’t harm future competition.❌
UK and EU regulators signaled major red flags last month, with the European Commission stating that the merger could “significantly reduce competition in the global markets”, provisionally assessing that a merger would “likely harm innovation for software used by the vast majority of UK digital designers.” 🔎
Adobe was arguing companies weren’t competitors since its closest product to Figma was Adobe XD, a money-losing business line. This week marked a sharp termination to the merger proposal as both companies declared they stopped seeking to move forward with it. 📉
Adobe Shelves $20 bln Figma Deal after Hitting Regulatory Roadblocks
⚖️ Allianz bids a nominal €4 for Luko, previously valued at €200M (🇫🇷)
Allianz is offering only 4 euros to acquire Insurtech Luko, who used to be valued at over 200 million euros. 🫨
Luko, facing financial challenges, saw an initial 14 million euros offer from Allianz tragically reduced… Allianz views Luko as a strategic opportunity to accelerate its growth in France. Luko, once eyed by Admiral Group, is now navigating judicial restructuring. The irony lies in Allianz, criticized by Luko's co-founder, emerging as its only bidder.😅
The court's decision on restructuring is pending, shaping the fate of this insurtech saga. 🧐
Internships
VC Analyst - EDF Pulse Ventures (Paris)
VC Intern - Reimann Investors (Munich)
Jobs
Investment Analyst - SET Ventures (Hamburg)
Partner - Breega (London)
👉 If you’d like to discover more offers, you can check our job board just here or fill this form to submit a new one.
You can also read more about baby vc on our website and follow our updates on LinkedIn, or directly reach out to us at hello@baby-vc.co! 🤝
Have a wonderful week (the last of 2023!) and see you next Tuesday, for our first Newsletter of 2024! 🪄🪩
The whole baby vc crew 🖤