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Tech rounds above $100M: The top-funded companies in April 2021

During the ongoing pandemic crisis, funding announcements from startups are a beacon of hope. The European and UK tech sectors have already shown tremendous growth in recent times despite challenges such as lockdown and restrictions due to COVID-19.

Notably, many tech companies in Europe, including Messagebird, Exscientia, Blockchain.com, and BUX have already witnessed mega funding rounds of $100 million or above. Want to know which other companies raised the maximum funding in Europe and the UK in April 2021? Here’s a round-up of some winning tech startups that got funded and deserve your attention.

TravelPerk
Image credits: TravelPerk

TravelPerk raised £115M

Founder/s: Avi Meir, Javier Suarez, Ron Levin

Founded year: 2015

Total funding: £236M

Barcelona-based TravelPerk provides a SaaS corporate travel management and booking platform. It enables businesses to plan, book and manage their business travel. Employees can book flight tickets and reserve hotel rooms based on company policies. It facilitates the creation of travel policies, online payments, travel expenses management and reporting.

On Thursday, the business trip booking platform TravelPerk bagged $160 million (nearly £115 million) Series D funding. The company announced that it intends to use the funds to accelerate global growth and focus on the US and Europe. Also, it will focus on growing its 500-person team.

The round is a mix of equity and debt funding and was led by London-based growth equity firm Greyhound Capital and saw participation from existing investors including DST, Kinnevik, Target Global, Felix Capital, Spark Capital, Heartcore, LocalGlobe, 14W and Amplo.

Caresyntax
Image credits: Caresyntax

Caresyntax bagged £72M

Founder/s: Dennis Kogan, Björn von Siemens

Founded year: 2013

Total funding: £150M

Caresyntax is a technology and services platform that improves surgical outcomes. With IoT technology, it is a surgical analytics and integration solution that helps hospitals and ambulatory surgical centres identify and manage risk, automate workflows, enhance knowledge sharing and reduce surgical variability. It claims to save an average time of 7 minutes of procedure time and reduce the average rate of complication by 10%.

Recently, the digital surgery platform secured $100 million (nearly £72 million) Series C funding in a round led by PFM Health Sciences LP. Also, new investors such as Optum Ventures, Intel Capital, Lauxera Capital Partners, Vesalius Biocapital III, Arno Capital and Rezayat Investments, and existing investors IPF Partners, the Relyens Group and Surgical.AI participated in the round.

The funding will be used to accelerate Caresyntax’s growth, conduct research and development for its AI technology, expand its platform, and grow its team.

Ornikar
Image credits: Ornikar

Ornikar secured £87M

Founder/s: Benjamin Gaignault, Alexandre Chartier, Flavien Le Rendu

Founded year: 2013

Total funding: £135M

Paris-based online, get-your-license-faster platform Ornikar provides blended courses for driving lessons in the country. Online course content includes road rules, a driving map, a codebook, and more. Also, it provides offline driving lessons in select cities and registration for the driving exams. Ornikar works on the subscription-based pricing model.

The de-facto online driver education platform in France raised €100 million (nearly £87 million) Series C funding was led by KKR along with participation from BPI, Elaia, Brighteye Ventures, and H14 in its effort to become the global leader in road safety.

Following its expansion into Spain and the launch of Ornikar Assurance, its auto insurance offering, Ornikar will use the investment to accelerate its international development, develop new learning resources and expand its range of driver services.

BlaBlaCar
Image credits: BlaBlaCar

BlaBlaCar grabbed £83M

Founder/s: Frédéric Mazzella, Nicolas Brusson, Francis Nappez

Founded year: 2006

Total funding: £444M

French startup BlaBlaCar is a car-sharing website that connects drivers with empty seats with passengers to offset long-distance travel costs. The company uses technology to fill empty seats on the road, thereby making travel more affordable, sociable, and convenient. Its environment-friendly mobility network is touted to save millions of CO2 and establish several millions of human connections every year.

Last week, BlaBlaCar pocketed $115 million (nearly £83 million) in a round led by existing investor VNV Global and new investors Otiva J/F AB, an investment company created by Jonas Nordlander and Filip Engelbert, founders of Avito, and FMZ Ventures, a new growth fund dedicated to Experience Economy and marketplace ecosystems created by Michael Zeisser.

BlaBlaCar announced that it will be used to accelerate its expansion strategy as the platform witnessed double-digit growth in its markets outside of Europe.

Polestar
Image credits: Polestar

Polestar raised £396M

CEO: Thomas Ingenlath

Founded year: 2017

Total funding: £396M

Polestar is an independent Swedish premium electric performance car brand founded by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding. produces two electric performance cars. The Polestar 1 is a low-volume electric performance hybrid GT, which is the longest of any hybrid car in the world. The Polestar 2 electric is the company’s first fully electric, high-volume car.

The Volvo Car Group’s standalone electric performance brand Polestar grabbed $550 million (nearly £396 million) in its first external funding round. The round was led by Chongqing Chengxing Equity Investment Fund Partnership, Zibo Financial Holding, and Zibo Hightech Industrial Investment. Also, SK Inc., the South Korean global conglomerate, and other investors also participated in the round. In 2021, Polestar is in plans to expand into eight new markets across Europe and Asia Pacific.

The post Tech rounds above $100M: The top-funded companies in April 2021 appeared first on UKTN (UK Tech News).

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