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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

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

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 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

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.