Centric Software®, the foremost leader in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), just announced the acquisition of aifora™, a cutting-edge AI-powered solution for optimizing prices and inventory. Centric Software offers a range of pioneering enterprise solutions for planning, designing, developing, sourcing, pricing, and selling various products, spanning from apparel, fashion, and home goods to footwear, sporting equipment, consumer electronics, cosmetics, food & beverage, and luxury items. These solutions are designed to drive strategic and operational digital transformation initiatives.

 

Our role

Trustventure advised aifora’s Management Team on the preparation and execution of the Exit process with active support in Due Diligence, Q&A and SPA-Negotiation within the transaction. As an integral part of the deal team, we orchestrated the comprehensive due diligence process that scrutinized financial records, legal documents, and operational structures, and managed the exchange between Aifora and Centric Software’s buy-side Dealteam, aggregating information and analyses from different stakeholders and ensuring a smooth and efficient process altogether. 

 

About aifora

Established in 2018 in Düsseldorf, Germany, by Thomas Jesewski and David Krings, aifora stands out as a top-tier predictive pricing retail automation platform, leveraging AI to empower brands and retailers in achieving consistent growth and enhanced profitability. This is achieved through data-centric approaches to pricing, inventory management, and allocation practices.

 

Benefits of the acquisition

 

Image by centricsoftware

Aligned with Centric Software, aifora’s solutions are rooted in extensive industry expertise and best practices. It seamlessly complements Centric’s suite of offerings, which includes the flagship Centric PLMTM, Centric PlanningTM, Centric PricingTM, and the innovative visual collaboration platform, Centric Visual BoardsTM. By integrating aifora into its existing solutions, Centric Software is poised to deliver significant enhancements in revenue, product margins, and inventory management capabilities for brands and retailers.

“Centric Software and aifora both deeply understand the needs of brands and retailers, and we highly attuned to the challenges faced by the industry,” says Thomas Jesewski, CEO and Co-Founder of aifora. “With Centric solutions and aifora combined, brands and retailers will have access to an unprecedented suite of powerful tools to make informed decisions, leverage actionable insights and improve profitability.”

“We would like to warmly welcome aifora to the Centric family as we combine forces to meet the needs of consumer goods companies,“ says Chris Groves, CEO of Centric Software. “Together, we will drive innovation and continue to lead the way in delivering cutting-edge solutions. aifora and Centric share the same innovation vision and the same customer-focused culture.  We look forward to innovating together and integrating our solutions to continue to delight and add exceptional value to our customers.”

Following a rise in June, VC investments have once again decreased in July

Number and amounts of announced funding rounds over the past 6 months*

* All data from crunchbase, as of August 1, 2023

IT startups take the second place for the most popular investment industry

  • During the month of July, 362 financing rounds were announced.
  • The total amount invested in the announced financing rounds was $4.8bn.
  • Once again, most investments were made in Software companies, amounting to 99 investments, followed by Information Technology (53). Similar to last month, investments in Artificial Intelligence companies make up the third place (33).

Top 10 industries of financed startups according to the number of conducted investments

image_july (7)

Bpifrance is the most active investor of July; no Series D round was conducted

Investors with the highest number of investments in July

Number and total volume of financing rounds per stage

Largest round of July was a Venture Round of $1.8bn

In July, most investment rounds were Seed Rounds (~38%). Despite that, a volume of over $3.3 billion was invested in 106 Venture Rounds.

London is the Europeans Venture Capital industry hotspot, with more than 2x investments than Paris

  • Not only were the most investments conducted in the UK (#94), but the highest volume was also invested there during July ($2.9bn).
  • When ranking by investment volume instead of the number of conducted investments, Amsterdam takes second place. The Netherlands ranks second by volume ($360.9mn)
    while Germany has the second most investments
    (#47).

In the spotlight: nexfibre raised $1.8bn in July in a venture funding round

Company

Industry

Internet/Software

Founded in

2022, London

One-Sentence-Pitch

Nexfibre is a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband company that delivers high-speed internet service connections to homes and businesses.

Financing round

Money raised

$1.8bn (£1.4bn)

Type of financing round

Venture

Comment/Quote

Nexfibre announced a newly raised Venture funding round on July 17th. The company is a joint venture between InfraVia and Liberty Global/ Telefónica, who are also the leading investors for this round.

Investors

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Since the peak in March, the number of VC investments continues to decrease since April until June

Number and amounts of announced funding rounds over the past 6 months*

* (1) All data from crunchbase, as of July 3rd, 2023

AI and Health Care startups share 3. place for most popular investment industry

  • During the month of June, 441 financing rounds were announced.
  • The total amount invested in the announced financing rounds decreased slightly to $3.3bn.
  • Last month, less than 100 investments were made in Software companies, which still take the lead. In June they were followed by investments in information technology (65), AI and Health Care (each 45) startups.

Top 10 industries of financed startups according to the number of conducted investments

Image_june (7)

Bpifrance is the most active investor of june; no series D round was conducted

Investors with the highest number of investments in June

Number and total volume of financing rounds per stage

Largest round of June was a Series D Round of $469.4mn

In June, most investments rounds were Seed Rounds (~41.7%). Despite that, a volume of over $941mn was invested in only 19 Series B Rounds, driven by the largest round of $469.4mn.

London, UK, is once again the European startup hotspot of the month with 76 investments and $734mn invested capital

  • Not only were the most investments conducted in the UK (#114), but the highest volume was also invested there during June ($881.7mn).
  • While Berlin takes the third place in the city ranking, based on the number of investments, Hamburg takes the third place based on invested volume with $470.6mn invested capital, driven by the 1KOMMA5° Series B Round.

In the spotlight: 1Komma5° raised $469.4mn in June in a series B funding round

Company

Image_june (4)

Industry

Renewable Energy/Climate Tech

Founded in

2021, Hamburg

One-Sentence-Pitch

1Komma5°is an electricity company offering solar panels, wall box chargers,  heat pumps and a smart energy management tool.

Financing round

Money raised

€430.0mn ($469.4mn)

Company valuation

> €1.0bn

Type of financing round

Series B

Comment/Quote

1KOMMA5° has raised €430mn in funding, comprised of €215mn in equity and €215mn in buyback options, less than two years after its foundation. With this round, the startup is therefore joining the club of tech unicorns. (techstartups.com)

Investors

Additional highlight: mistral ai raises €105.0, just weeks after being founded

Company

Image_june (12)

Industry

Artificial Intelligence

Founded in

2023, Paris

One-Sentence-Pitch

Mistral AI is a platform that currently still assembles a team to develop generative AI models, planning to launch a large language model in early 2024.

Financing round

Money raised

€105.0mn ($113.4mn)

Company valuation

€135.0mn (Pre-Money)

Type of financing round

Seed

Comment/Quote

Mistral AI raised a Seed Round of €105.0mn, just one month after being founded by three former Meta and Google AI researchers in Paris. A total of 15 VC firms and business angels invested in the company. (reuters.com)

Investors

Falls Sie mehr über Risikokapitalfinanzierung erfahren möchten, sollten Sie unseren umfassenden Ratgeber zu diesem Thema lesen: Risikokapitalfinanzierung: Ein Leitfaden für Anfänger

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Since the peak in March, the number of VC investments continues to decrease again in April and May

Number and amounts of announced funding rounds over the past 6 months*

*All data from crunchbase, as of June 6th, 2023

IT startups take 2. place for most popular investment industry

  • During the month of May, 429 financing rounds were announced.
  • The total amount invested in the announced financing rounds stayed at $3.4bn from from April.
  • Once again, most investments were made in Software companies, amounting to 108 investments, followed by information technology (64). In May, investments in health care companies once again make up the third place (58).

Top 10 industries of financed startups according to the number of conducted investments

Image_may (8)

Antler is the most active investor of May; 178 seed rounds were conducted

Investors with the highest number of investments in May

Number and total volume of financing rounds per stage

Largest round of May was a Series D Round of $250.0mn

In May, most investments rounds were Seed Rounds (~42%). Despite that, over a volume of over $1 billion was invested in 96 Venture Rounds.

London, UK, is once again the European startup hotspot of the month

  • Not only were the most investments conducted in the UK (#98), but the highest volume was also invested there during May ($969.5mn).
  • When ranking by investment volume instead of number of conducted investments, Berlin takes the second place. The total of Germany ranking second by volume ($598.0) and number of investments (#63).

In the spotlight: Builder.Ai raised $250.0mn in may in a series d funding round

Company

Image_may (5)
Industry

Artificial Intelligence/Software

Founded in

2016, London

One-Sentence-Pitch

Builder.ai offers a no-code AI-powered app development platform designed to build and operate software projects.

Financing round

Money raised

$250.0mn

Type of financing round

Series D

Comment/Quote

Builder.ai announced a newly raised a Series D funding round on May 23rd. Jungle Ventures and Insight Partners invested in the company before, while ICONIQ Capital and Quatar Investment Authority represent new investors.

Investors

Falls Sie mehr über Risikokapitalfinanzierung erfahren möchten, sollten Sie unseren umfassenden Ratgeber zu diesem Thema lesen: Risikokapitalfinanzierung: Ein Leitfaden für Anfänger

Trustventure berät junge Unternehmen zu Herausforderung im Finanzbereich und bietet CFO-As-A-Service-Leistungen an. Die Expertise in Fragen zur Unternehmensfinanzierung, Planung und zum Controlling schafft Transparenz und Sicherheit für Sie und Ihre Investoren. Melden Sie sich gerne über unser Kontaktformular oder schreiben Sie uns direkt an office@trustventure.de.

After a short increase of VC investment rounds in March, their number declined again in April.

Number and amounts of announced funding rounds over the past 6 months*

* All data from crunchbase, as of May 2nd, 2023

Software startups are once again the most popular investments

  • During the month of April, 435 financing rounds were announced.
  • The total amount invested in the announced financing rounds decreased to $3.0bn from $4.4bn in March.
  • Once again, most investments were made in Software companies, amounting to 99 investments, followed by information technology (68). In April, investments in health care companies make up the third place (42).

Top 10 industries of financed startups according to the number of conducted investments

Image_april (7)

Y Combinator is the most active investor of April; 178 seed rounds were conducted

Investors with the highest number of investments in April

Number and total volume of financing rounds per stage

Largest round of April was a Series D Round of $175.5mn

In April, most investments rounds were Seed Rounds (~41%). Despite that, the largest volume of invested money was in 87 Venture Rounds ($819.9mn).

London is the European Venture Capital industry hotspot, with more than 2x investments than Paris

  • Not only were the most investments conducted in the UK (#120), but the highest volume was also invested there during April ($932.2mn).
  • France takes the second place in the country ranking for the number of investments (#61) as well as for the invested volume ($648.2).

In the spotlight: Ynsect raised $175.5mn in April in their 12th conducted funding round

Company

Industry

Agriculture/Biotechnology

Founded in

2011, Paris

One-Sentence-Pitch

Ynsect provides products and services that operate in the agro-food and environmental biotech industries.

Financing round

Money raised

$175.5mn / €160mn

Type of financing round

Series D

Comment/Quote

(The company) is shifting away from animal feed (…) to high-margin pet food and food ingredients to boost profit amid soaring energy, raw materials and debt costs. (…) It’s seeking to follow an “asset-light,” less capital-intensive business model with a combination of joint ventures and licensing agreements.

Bloomberg.com

Investors

Falls Sie mehr über Risikokapitalfinanzierung erfahren möchten, sollten Sie unseren umfassenden Ratgeber zu diesem Thema lesen: Risikokapitalfinanzierung: Ein Leitfaden für Anfänger

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After 6 month of decline, monthly VC investments in Europe increased for the first time again in March

Number and amounts of announced funding rounds over the past 6 months*

* All data from crunchbase, as of April 3rd, 2023

Software startups are once again the most popular investments

  • During the month of March, 482 financing rounds were announced.
  • Parallel to the number of announced investments, the total amount invested also increased to $3.4bn from $3.2bn in February.
  • Once again, most investments were made in Software companies, amounting to 120 investments, followed by information technology (77). In March, investments in AI companies make up the third place (50).

Top 10 industries of financed startups according to the number of conducted investments

Image_mar (7)

The HTFG is the most active investor of march; 190 seed rounds were conducted

Investors with the highest number of investments in March

Number and total volume of financing rounds per stage

Largest round was a Series B Round of $109.3mn

In March, most investments (~39%) rounds were Seed Rounds. Despite that, the largest volume of invested money was in 105 Venture Rounds ($1,139.6mn).

London, UK, is once again the European startup hotspot of the month

  • Not only were the most investments conducted in the UK (#107), but the highest volume was also invested there during March ($434.9mn).
  • Switzerland (32 investments, $307.1mn) and Spain
    (31 investments, $170.9mn) place on fourth and fifth place for the ranking of most active VC countries of Europe.

In the spotlight: Noema Pharma raised $109.3mn in march with the help of 7 investors.

Company

Industry

Biotechnology/Medical

Founded in

2019, Basel

One-Sentence-Pitch

Noema Pharma is a biotech company that develops therapies to address disabling symptoms in conditions of the brain and nervous system.

Financing round

Money raised

$109.3mn (CHF103.0mn)

Type of financing round

Series B

Comment/Quote

After a Series A round of $60mn (CHF54mn) at the end of 2020, Noema Pharma was able to raise a Series B round with the support of 4 existing and 3 new investors. The funds will be mainly used for further clinical testing. (noemapharma.com)

Investors

Falls Sie mehr über Risikokapitalfinanzierung erfahren möchten, sollten Sie unseren umfassenden Ratgeber zu diesem Thema lesen: Risikokapitalfinanzierung: Ein Leitfaden für Anfänger

Trustventure berät junge Unternehmen zu Herausforderung im Finanzbereich und bietet CFO-As-A-Service-Leistungen an. Die Expertise in Fragen zur Unternehmensfinanzierung, Planung und zum Controlling schafft Transparenz und Sicherheit für Sie und Ihre Investoren. Melden Sie sich gerne über unser Kontaktformular oder schreiben Sie uns direkt an office@trustventure.de.

In 2023, European VC investments continue to decline for now half a year with 410 investments in February.

Number and amounts of announced funding rounds over the past 6 months*

* All data from crunchbase, as of March 6th, 2023

Software startups are once again the most popular investments

  • During the month of February, 410 financing rounds were announced.
  • The total amount invested in the announced financing rounds decreased to $2.7bn from $3.4bn in January.
  • Once again, most investments were made in Software companies, amounting to 106 investments, followed by information technology (61). In February, investments in AI companies make up the third place (41).

Top 10 industries of financed startups according to the number of conducted investments

Image_feb (9)

Antler is the most active investor of February; 164 seed rounds were conducted

Investors with the highest number of investments in February

Number and total volume of financing rounds per stage

Largest round was a Series B Round of $135.0mn

In February, most investments rounds were Seed Rounds. Despite that, the largest volume of invested money was in 56 Series A Rounds ($712.1mn).

London, UK, is once again the European startup hotspot of the month

  • Not only were the most investments conducted in the UK (#117), but the highest volume was also invested there during February ($964.6mn).
  • When ranking by invested volume instead of number of investments, Copenhagen ($144.7) takes the third place for cities and Denmark ($193.7) fourth place for countries.

In the spotlight: hemab raised $135mn in February with the help of 9 investors

Company

Industry

Biotech/Pharmaceutical

Founded in

2017, Copenhagen

One-Sentence-Pitch

Hemab is a clinical-stage biotech company developing prophylactic therapeutics for serious, underserved bleeding and thrombotic disorders.

Financing round

Money raised

$135mn

Company valuation

Series B

Type of financing round

Series B

Comment/Quote

The financing will support Hemab’s scientific and corporate growth plans through 2025, including completion of two Phase 1/2 clinical studies, initiation of pivotal studies and future pipeline evolution. (BioSpace.com)

Investors

Falls Sie mehr über Risikokapitalfinanzierung erfahren möchten, sollten Sie unseren umfassenden Ratgeber zu diesem Thema lesen: Risikokapitalfinanzierung: Ein Leitfaden für Anfänger

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2023 starts with 430 VC investments in January, showing a slight decline in the number of investments.

Number and amounts of announced funding rounds over the past 6 months*

* All data as of February 9th, 2023

Software startups are once again the most popular investment

  • During the month of January, 430 financing rounds were announced.
  • The total amount invested in the announced financing rounds decreased to $3.4bn from $3.6bn in December.
  • Once again, most investments were made in Software companies, amounting to 99 investments, followed by information technology (54). In January , investments in health care companies make up the third place  (48).

Top 10 industries of financed startups according to the number of conducted investments

image 2

BPIFRANCE is the most active investor of January; 40% of the month’s rounds were seed rounds.

Investors with the highest number of investments in January

Number and total volume of financing rounds per stage

Largest round was a Series D Round of $230.8mn

In January, most investments rounds were Seed rounds. Despite that, the largest volume of invested money was in Venture Rounds ($1,170mn). Only 1 large Series D round was conducted.

London, UK, is once again the European startup hotspot of the month

  • Not only were the most investments conducted in the UK (#107), but the highest volume was also invested there during January ($1,158.6mn).
  • Second most active country to raise venture capital is
    France (54 investments, $683.3mn) and then Germany
    (48 investments, $541.7mn).

In the spotlight: Enpal raised $230.8MN in January with the help of 6 investors.

Company

Industry

Renewable (Solar) Energy

Founded in

2017, Berlin

One-Sentence-Pitch

Enpal is a photovoltaics leasing firm that provides solar power systems for homeowners.

Financing round

Money raised

€215mn ($230.8mn)

Company valuation

€2bn (pre-money)

Type of financing round

Series D

Comment/Quote

Enpal raised €215mn ($231mn) in their 13th funding round.  Since 2017, Enpal raised a total of €1.7bn with the help of 30 investors. During the latest Series D round, the company was valued at €2bn.

Bloomberg.com

Investors

Falls Sie mehr über Risikokapitalfinanzierung erfahren möchten, sollten Sie unseren umfassenden Ratgeber zu diesem Thema lesen: Risikokapitalfinanzierung: Ein Leitfaden für Anfänger

Trustventure berät junge Unternehmen zu Herausforderung im Finanzbereich und bietet CFO-As-A-Service-Leistungen an. Die Expertise in Fragen zur Unternehmensfinanzierung, Planung und zum Controlling schafft Transparenz und Sicherheit für Sie und Ihre Investoren. Melden Sie sich gerne über unser Kontaktformular oder schreiben Sie uns direkt an office@trustventure.de.