The pandemic tested the resiliency of the global supply chain across nearly every industry. This stress test forced companies and industries to evaluate their supply chain risk and operations to mitigate the possibility of continued disruptions. None more so than the healthcare industry, which faced shortages of PPE and critical equipment at the early onset of the pandemic. Vamstar is a global procurement and sourcing platform for the healthcare industry that automates the manual processes needed in order for buyers and suppliers to transact. The platform also provides real-time visibility into the healthcare supply chain for healthcare institutions to minimize the risk of future shortages. Digitizing the procurement process introduces transparency and efficiencies allowing buyers truly achieve value-based healthcare and unlocking new sales opportunities for suppliers with both parties now able to transact confidently. By leveraging machine learning and natural language processing, Vamstar is able to connect the correct parties to the most relevant opportunities, eliminating the arduous manual procurement process. London TechWatch caught up with Vamstar CEO and Cofounder Praful Mehta to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $11.4M, and much, much more…
Venture Capital
Codat Raises $100M to Empower Financial Institutions and Fintech Innovators to Deliver Better Capabilities and Customer Experience by Integrating Small Business Data Seamlessly
Open Banking has represented a monumental shift that is going to define the future of fintech. It allows banking institutions to provide better customer service and support to their customers and improve retention by embedding themselves into a customer’s banking workflows. For third parties like developers, it enables them to penetrate the walled garden that legacy banking institutions have historically enjoyed, allowing them to incorporate data to create innovative solutions across the financial spectrum whether it be for accounting, lending, or other use cases. The possibilities are endless. Most of the attention in the open finance paradigm has been focused on consumer and retail banking solutions. Codat is focused on the needs of small business and small business data, enabling fintech companies and banking institutions to develop specific solutions to serve their SMBS customers through its networked data APIs. The platform can connect with and integrate data from the most popular financial, SaaS, accounting, and commerce platforms like Netsuite, Quickbooks, Xero, Paypal, Stripe Shopify, Clover, WooCommerce, and Sage to name a few, making it a truly universal platform. As established banking providers and neobanks are all looking to expand their banking ecosystems and extend their reach horizontally, Codat represents the solution to do so without having to worry about individualized integrations and custom buildouts, especially considering that small businesses on average use 75 apps and these apps rarely communicate with one another natively. Codat’s interoperability capabilities drive its 200+ customers like Brex, Plaid, and Pie to offer more capabilities to customers and an improved, seamless experience through a growing number of integrations. London TechWatch caught up with Codat CEO and Cofounder Peter Lord to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $170M, and much, much more…
Glisser Raises $4.9M for its Hybrid Events Platform That’s Both Customizable and Scalable
73% of event planners believe hybrid events will continue to be more common in the feature even as we return to in-person activity. However, 88% still valued the face-to-face aspect of in-person conferences and meetings. 50% believe that all events will have a virtual aspect in the future. Glisser is a hybrid virtual and in-person events platform that’s focused on driving audience engagement. While most platforms have focused on broadcast capabilities for their virtual users, Glisser offers a host of features like live two-way sharing, voting, and gamification elements that are able to be customizable for specific use cases. For in-person attendees, Glisser is integrated with popular CRMs so that event organizers can track, measure, and understand the activity of their live audiences in the same way that they would for a virtual user. The core platform is embeddable onto any website, can be branded, and has handled events at scale with up to 450K simultaneous users. In aggregate, Glisser has handled over 5K events comprising 2.5M attendees. London TechWatch caught up with Glisser CEO Michael Piddock to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $5.9M, and much, much more…
Symmetrical.ai Raises $18.5M for its Global Payroll Platform That’s Disrupting the Industry with APIs
While the pandemic initially was rooted in isolation, the rapid adoption of technology to support remote workforces led to the increasing availability of an unprecedented global talent pool. While accessing this new pool has brought benefits to employers, managing payroll and other HR functions has now become more complex. Symmetrical.ai has built a global payroll platform that handles the end-to-end payroll process for employers and employees with automation and sophistication. The company is focused on seamless integration through its modular-based system that uses APIs to connect with existing technology stacks. Designed to meet the needs of a modern workforce, Symmetrical handles onboarding, employee management, on-demand payments as employees earn, gig workers, temporary workers, as well as standard employees. The company has navigated the compliance landscape across the countries it operates in to ensure clients are protected against ever-changing laws and Symmetrical can serve as the employer of record on behalf of clients. London TechWatch caught up with Symmetrical.ai Cofounder and CEO Piotr Smolen to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, his vision to bring payroll into a function that requires only two API calls, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $26.4M, and much, much more
Fidel API Raises Another $65M for its Payment Data Infrastructure Platform
Companies like Klarna, Venmo, and Afterpay all have made modernized the payment landscape by providing consumer convenience. However, in the backend they have built massive troves of consumer purchase data that they are able to package, serving as a valuable lifeline for merchants that enables them to promote sales promotions, target, segment, and more. The ability to collect and democratize purchase information instantly at the point of purchase unlocks a world of new opportunities and this is exactly what Fidel API focuses on. At its core, it’s a payment data infrastructure that layers on top of existing payment stacks with APIs that allow developers to build timely and contextual experiences in real-time for an expanding collection of use cases. Some applications of the company’s platform include powering digital receipts, loyalty and rewards programs, insurance claims, expense management, and also personal financial management apps. With the advent of open banking and consumers granting permissions to their transactions opens us a world where consumers are willing to give up their once highly coveted data in order to receive both functional and hedonistic benefits. Fidel API’s core technology is being used across the globe, servicing millions of cardholders and hundreds of thousands of merchants. London TechWatch caught up with Fidel API VP of Strategy Patrick Nealon to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $86M, and much, much more…
Lavanda Raises Another $7.25M for its Property Management Platform for Flexible and Short-Term Rentals
With the pandemic ushering in flexible work from home options where location is no longer critical, the popularity of short-terms has exploded. Property managers and landlords have scrambled to accommodate this new dynamic. Lavanda is a property management platform that is built specifically to address the needs of flexible, short-term, and medium-term rentals. The all-in-one solution automates inventory management, marketing, distribution, and design, allowing property operators to reduce vacancies, diversify their revenue streams, and increase demand. Renters are able to receive tailored solutions that match their needs without the onus of a long-term lease. Short-term rentals are estimated to be 30% more profitable for owners and investors than traditional leases. Leading real estate companies like Greystar, Blackstone, Hines, Nuveen, and Aldar are all Lavanda clients. London TechWatch caught up with Lavanda CEO Fred Lerche-Lerchenborg to learn more about the inspiration for the business including an interesting pivot story from laundry, the company’s strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Finch Capital and Starwood Capital.
Vitesse PSP Raises $26M for its Cross-Border Payments Platform
Despite the pandemic, large corporations continued to deliver high transaction volumes when looking at cross-border payments. By tapping into a globally distributed payment network, payment technology providers are able to provide their customers to have faster, more cost-effective payment solutions. Vitesse PSP is a payment, liquidity, and treasury management platform that provides cross-border payments at a fraction of existing costs and rapidly with enhanced transparency and control. The platform works for use in corporate, financial services, e-commerce but the company has built significant traction in the insurance industry where it’s working with 70% of the insurers within Lloyd’s of London Market. The company charges a fee per transaction as well as a monthly treasury management fee for access to the platform that allows the digitisation of insurance payments, an area that’s been largely dominated by disparate workflows. London TechWatch caught up with Vitesse PSP CEO Phillip McGriskin to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Prime Ventures, Hannover Digital Investments, and Octopus Ventures.
Sylvera Raises $32.6M for its Carbon Intelligence Platform that Allows Corporations to Offset with Confidence
Carbon offsets are used by corporations to decrease their environmental impact by purchasing “carbon credits” or investments in emission reduction projects that compensate for the emissions that the company creates elsewhere. This allows corporations to achieve their emissions and sustainability goals without disrupting their operations. However, finding suitable and reliable projects in the carbon offset market can be challenging as the claims of impact are not necessarily accurate, especially when self-reported. Sylvera is a provider of independent, up-to-date assessments of carbon projects. The platform uses machine learning coupled with proprietary data to provide actionable intelligence on the carbon market that corporations can use to evaluate their strategy and carbon offset investments. As the United Nations’ SDG has set defined metrics to hit by 2030 and 2050, corporations are increasingly interested in reducing their footprints and this market is expected to grow to $100B by 2030. London TechWatch caught up with Sylvera CEO and Cofounder Dr. Allister Furey to learn more about the dynamics of the carbon offset market, the need for Sylvera’s offering, the company’s strategic plans, recent round of funding from investors that include Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and LocalGlobe.
Excerp Raises $5M to Launch its Digital Media Platform Focused on Online Written Content
The 1% rule of internet culture dictates that 1% of users of a site add content while the other 99% consume that content. Also, as much of the world shifted to digital during, content consumption on digital platforms increased exponentially as readers looked for sources of information, research, productivity, and entertainment. These trends have led to a meteoric rise in video and visual content (Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) Excerp is a digital media platform focused on online written content. The yet-to-launch platform, founded by three Goldman alums, seeks to provide content creators with the infrastructure and technology tools to create, curate, and distribute their content to mass audiences. While details on the product are sparse, it appears to be a blend of WordPress, Medium, and Substack with embedded marketing, distribution, and content creation tools. London TechWatch caught up with Excerp Cofounder Majid Sebti to learn more about the company’s founding, future strategic plans, and recent round of funding led by Edward Eisler.
Cord Raises $17.5M for its Platform that Makes Any SaaS Application Collaborative With Just a Single Line of Code
The first instance of multiplayer mode for non-entertainment use can be traced all the way back to 1968 when Douglas Engelbart of Stanford demoed collaborative document editing, teleconferencing, and manipulation of on-screen elements in what has been dubbed “The Mother of All Demos”. In the 50+ years since these features have become commonplace but not truly collaborative across the average 80+ SaaS applications that an organization uses. Cord brings the true power of collaboration to SaaS applications with a single line of JavaScript. With this single line of code, SaaS application providers can instantly make their applications more collaborative by introducing features like chat, presence, annotations, integrations with task managers and Slack, screen recordings, audio messages, live cobrowsing, and video chat. Building these features internally would not only be costly but also require significant development resources. London TechWatch caught up with Cord CEO and Cofounder Nimrod Priell to learn more about how the founding team’s time at Facebook led to the inspiration for the business, the company’s strategic plans, recent round of funding from investors that include Index Ventures, Elad Gil, Jeff Morris Jr., Charlie Songhurst, Guy Podjarny, and Matt Robinson.