Startup Universal

28/04/2021

A number of new “Silicon Valleys” have been declared around Latin America that point to a bright future for innovation in the region.

09/12/2020

Check out one of our latest startup ecosystem guides, highlighting the up and coming Latvian ecosystem.

Startup Universal provides local insights covering global startups with 35+ detailed country guides and news for 100+ countries. The Latvian Startup Association team partnered with Startup Universal to create a country guide for Latvia with insights about Latvian history, culture, startup scene, and more. Read the full guide below. 👇

https://startupuniversal.com/country/latvia/

15/09/2020

GuruQ, an Indian startup, aims to create the same classroom engagement in their online classes as an in-person experience.
https://yourstory.com/2020/09/edtech-startup-guruq-disrupt-online-tutoring-sector

Haryana-based edtech startup GuruQ is providing online tutoring for pre-primary to higher secondary and competitive exam students.

11/09/2020

Curio, an audio platform for journals and newspapers, has received funding to begin expanding outside of London.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/09/london-based-curio-raises-e7-6-million-to-expand-its-curated-audio-platform/

Curio, the premium audio platform with a curated library of expert journalism, has closed a approx. €7.6 million Series A round led by Earlybird. Draper Esprit, Cherry Ventures, and Horizons Ventures also took part in the investment. Before the Series A, Curio raised around €1.6 million, led by ...

09/09/2020

Peaks, a Dutch fintech, will be one of the first micro-investing apps available in four major European countries.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/09/dutch-micro-investing-app-peaks-expands-to-spain-and-france/

Following success in the Netherlands and Germany, Dutch fintech startup Peaks continues its expansion, launching now in Spain and later this year in France. This will make Peaks one of the first micro-investing apps available in four European countries. While many investment apps focus on active

05/09/2020

LiveEO, a Berlin-based startup, is working to allow businesses to monitor their critical infrastructure from space.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/09/berlin-based-space-startup-liveeo-secures-six-figure-sum-to-make-earth-observation-a-standard-enterprise-service/

The German space startup LiveEO has closed its second fundraising round, a six-figure sum, from DvH Ventures, one of the leading early-stage investors in Europe, as well as Finanzcheck founder Andreas Kupke, bringing its total raised to €2.5 million. Founded in 2016, LiveEO is a new space compan

03/09/2020

Despite challenges presented by Covid-19, IOMED, a Barcelona based medtech startup, is expanding across Europe.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/09/barcelona-based-medtech-iomed-raises-2-million-to-expand-across-spain-germany-and-the-uk/

Today IOMED, a company that specializes in transforming Electronic Health Records (EHR) into structured data for clinical research, has closed a round of €2 million, led by the venture capital fund Adara Ventures. Existing investors in the company, such as EASO Ventures (Spain) and Speedinvest (Au...

03/09/2020

Bangladesh is a startup haven, yet is it being left out of Asia's startup growth story. Read more about this emerging startup ecosystem.
https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-bangladesh-left-asias-growth-story

Bangladesh hasn’t gotten much investor attention despite its growing startup scene.

22/08/2020

Why are women so underrepresented among startup founders? Learn more in this post from Startup Lithuania.
https://www.startuplithuania.com/news/why-arent-there-more-female-founded-startups/

The number of female-founded startups still lags far behind men. According to “PitchBook”, only 17% of global startups in 2018 were created by women. They also receive significantly less venture capital funding. It is estimated that women in Lithuania have established only every fourth startup. ...

20/08/2020

How will LatAm markets support startup growth in a post-covid world?
https://startupuniversal.com/how-will-key-latin-american-markets-support-startup-growth-in-a-post-covid-era/

Many Latin American startups lost funding opportunities and are not sufficiently supported by government initiatives in the midst of COVID-19. Despite this, the start-up community remains resilient…

19/08/2020

Tired of doing your own laundry? Makwa, an Egyptian startup, helps users book laundry services more conveniently.
https://www.techinafrica.com/egypt-laundry-startup-makwa-raises-a-six-figure-investment/

Makwa was founded in 2018 by Aly Eteiba to help Cairo users find it more convenient to book their laundry services from ironing, washing, and dry cleaning through its mobile application.

18/08/2020

Got bugs? Insect farming startups are the new wave coming to Europe.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/08/would-you-eat-this-why-now-is-the-time-for-insect-farming-startups/

To many of us in Europe, the idea of insect farming might sound a little left field. In our daily lives, most insects are tolerated at best - and there’s little more to it. But it might be high time to rethink the role of insects. The coronavirus pandemic, alongside global food security issues an

17/08/2020

Sehteq, a Dubai startup, is raising capital and raising the bar for health insurance in the UAE as one of the top three providers.
https://www.wamda.com/2020/08/sehteq-raises-20-million

Dubai-based health insurance tech startup Sehteq, has secured a $20 million investment from its anchor investor 971 Capital. Launched in...

07/08/2020

Playtomic, a Madrid based startup, is dominating the SportTech industry despite the pandemic.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/08/we-have-to-be-united-in-the-sportstech-industry-interview-with-playtomics-co-ceo-and-co-founder-pedro-claveria/

SportsTech has had an interesting past few months. With home exercise technologies booming for obvious social distancing reasons, there remains a question mark over how the ‘outdoor’ sports startups have been fairing. Playtomic, Europe’s largest racket sports booking app, already caught our ey...

06/08/2020

TradeDepot plans to connect 40,000 microretailers to create the largest retail distribution Network in Africa
https://disrupt-africa.com/2020/07/nigerias-tradedepot-piloting-in-2-african-cities-as-it-plans-a-retail-revolution/

Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup TradeDepot is conducting pilots in two cities outside of the country as it works to streamline Africa’s fragmented informal retail sector.

04/08/2020

Though Peru's startup ecosystem is relatively new and underground, here are 10 startups to keep an eye on.
https://latamlist.com/10-startups-transforming-perus-startup-ecosystem/

Peru's ecosystem holds a lot of potential for new and innovative startups in Latin America. Here are 10 startups from Peru to watch out for in 2020.

04/08/2020

My Real Trip, a leading South Korean startup, just secured major funding from both international and domestic investors.
https://www.koreatechdesk.com/korean-travel-startup-my-real-trip-gets-fresh-investment-of-36-million-amidst-pandemic-slug/

It is cheerful news for the travel industry amidst the massive slowdown that has happened because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Korean travel startup My Real Trip gets a new investment from domestic and international investors. My Real Trip is South Korea’s leading online travel platform. It has recei...

31/07/2020

altFINS, a Slovakian startup, has raised over €1 million in seed-funding to expand globally.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/07/slovak-fintech-platform-altfins-secures-e1-million-seed-funding-for-global-expansion/

Today altFINS, a platform enabling investors and traders to screen, analyze and trade digital assets, raised over €1 million in seed-funding led by CB Investment Management. altFINS will use this fresh capital to further expand its platform’s capabilities and scalability, allowing even more priv...

30/07/2020

South Africa needs a Startup Act to empower entrepreneurs and address its key developmental issues.
https://disrupt-africa.com/2020/07/heres-why-sa-needs-its-own-startup-act/

A co-created and tailor-made South African Startup Act would be a powerful tool for empowering entrepreneurs and addressing key developmental issues, although case studies from other African countries show that it will require prolonged and widespread engagement with various stakeholders.

30/07/2020

Alegra, a Colombian fintech, has expanded their cloud-based accounting software to Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
https://www.techinafrica.com/colombian-fintech-startup-alegra-expands-to-africa/

TechInAfrica – Colombia-based company Alegra has tapped into its first global expansion ever, with Africa as the first stop. The fintech startup chooses Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa to launch its cloud-based accounting software tailor-made

28/07/2020

Female Founders, a startup support organization, is bringing on their next batch of startups to close the funding gender gap.
https://tech.eu/features/32703/female-founders/

Founded in 2016 in Vienna, Female Founders is an organisation tasked with addressing an acute problem in the European startup ecosystem. The amount of funding – and cheque sizes – for female-led startups has long trailed behind those for male-led startups. This gap has been narrowing in recent y...

28/07/2020

Lumen Venture, an Italian venture capital firm, has launched a €25 million fund to invest in promising tech startups.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/07/italian-vc-lumen-ventures-launches-a-e25-million-fund-for-innovative-tech-startups/

Rome and London-based Lumen Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, has launched its approx. €25 million maiden fund. After obtaining authorization from the Bank of Italy as the first Simple Investment Company (SiS) in Italy, Lumen Ventures begins its adventure of investing in tech SMEs and...

23/07/2020

Belarus is one of Eastern Europe's emerging startup ecosystems. Learn more about the country's top 5 success stories.
https://startupuniversal.com/five-belarusian-startups-that-brought-their-founders-millions/

Get acquainted with the ever-developing IT sector of the Republic of Belarus and learn which of this country’s startups have what it takes to succeed.

23/07/2020

Hear from Felix Ohswald, CEO of GoStudent, about why the Edtech industry has a bright future ahead.
https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/07/i-see-a-bright-future-for-edtech-interview-with-gostudents-ceo-felix-ohswald/

Over the past few months due to the pandemic crisis, the demand for digital learning has rapidly increased, shedding light on the growing dynamism in the edtech sector. With a vision to build “a global digital school”, edtech startup GoStudent promises to connect students with the best teachers ...

21/07/2020

An Israeli start-up, Taranis, is raising $30 million to bring cutting edge technology to agricultural businesses in Asia.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-21/former-israeli-spy-s-startup-gets-funding-to-upend-asia-farming

An Israeli startup is raising $30 million from Singaporean venture capital firms and other investors to bring cutting-edge technology to agricultural businesses in Asia.

20/07/2020

Why NEON, a fintech, is investing in Brazil brokerage firms and why the current environment is optimal
https://www.contxto.com/en/brazil/neon-magliano-investment-service/

Neon bought Magliano, a securities broker, to develop an investment feature for its low-income app users.

18/07/2020

Prominent banks like J.P. Morgan are investing in LatAm's surging fintech industry. The latest investment: Brazil's FitBank.
https://www.contxto.com/en/brazil/j-p-morgan-invests-fitech-fitbank/

J.P. Morgan did not disclose the amount it invested. Brazilian Fitbank will use the funds to scale within Latin America.

17/07/2020

Delhi-based fintech startup Rural Invest is trying to tackle the urban-rural divide through a digital wealth management solution
https://yourstory.com/socialstory/2020/07/delhi-startup-rural-ndia-investment-mutual-fund-sip

Fintech startup Rural Invest equips people from rural India to save for the future by channelising money into mutual funds through SIPs.

16/07/2020

Very excited to announce we are now live on Product Hunt! Check out our page and let us know what you think https://www.producthunt.com/posts/startup-universal

Global startup insights by top local investors & founders in emerging markets. Access ecosystem data and opportunities using Startup Universal’s detailed country guides, database of local resources, and curated articles.

15/07/2020

Korea is known for being early adopters of innovative technology, however they face a challenge of scaling globally. Read more about how Korea's startup ecosystem is rising in this article written in collaboration with Kr-ASIA
https://kr-asia.com/startup-country-guide-south-korea.

The Korean startup ecosystem has been on the rise ever since major global companies started to support startups in its ecosystem space.