Resources and Opportunities

Umob, a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platform headquartered in Rotterdam, said on Thursday that it had received €6 million from several investors. The Dutch business claims it will put the money to work, furthering its goal of making alternate forms of transportation popular and available to a larger audience while extending its global reach.

“We are investing in connecting all mobility providers to our platform, many of which operate internationally,” says Raymon Pouwels, co-founder of Umob. As a result, our platform is ready to provide our service on a global scale, and we are accessible to travelers. We want to expand the platform to five other nations in the next five years, starting with Belgium in 2019.”

The news comes after a €2 million fundraising campaign in 2022 for the platform’s debut.

What you should know about umob

Raymon Pouwels and Bibi Jorissen founded the MaaS platform Umob, which unites all mobility providers through thorough integrations into a single app and prioritizes the passenger. Umob introduced its app in August 2023, unifying all Dutch travel alternatives on one platform.

With complete integration, customers can book, plan, and pay for their travels all inside the same app, eliminating the need to utilize several provider-specific applications.

The platform offers a simple substitute for owning a car to reduce traffic, congestion, pollution, and the number of parked automobiles. The MaaS app has incorporated all shared transportation in addition to taxis and public transportation.

According to Raymon Pouwels, co-founder of Umob, “There must always be a vehicle at your disposal within a three-minute walk to make shared mobility a good alternative to private transportation, which is a frequent source of pollution, the cause of increasing traffic jams, and more and more full parking lots. A transportation provider cannot do this independently due to legislative considerations. With all providers in one app, you always have a transit alternative within walking distance, which is where a MaaS app shines.

Umob seeks to support communities implementing shared mobility while offering a complete and accessible mobility platform.

By working together, the Dutch firm hopes to enhance the popularity of shared mobility. This will involve locating the best mobility hub sites, mediating provider relationships, and exchanging data.

“Offering a large and diverse range of services is only one aspect important to the success of shared transport,” explains Bibi Jorissen, co-founder of Umob. Parking places, hotspots, and annoyances are practical components that are at least as significant. Thanks to the anonymized data and knowledge we get from all carriers and travel movements, we are an important stakeholder in towns, providers, and businesses. We must work together to make sure we are properly defining future transportation.

The Berlin-based company Habyt, which provides flexible housing alternatives, recently announced that it has completed a Series C round of fundraising in which it collected €40 million. Korelya Capital and Deutsche Invest headed the round. In addition to Exor Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst, existing shareholders of Habyt, such as P101 and ITALIA 500-Azimut, participated in the investment round.

According to Habyt, it plans to utilize the cash to continue its worldwide development, solidify its rising market position, and strengthen its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities. The company claims it will soon roll out new technological enhancements to its platform, making the entire home transaction even smoother.

“Despite a drop in series C rounds across the board this year,” says Luca Bovone, founder and CEO of Habyt, “we have seen exponential growth and raised a significant series C with support from existing and new investors.” “We raised a significant series C with support from existing and new investors,” he continues.

At the beginning of this year, Habyt completed the acquisition of Common Living, a significant participant in the market for shared living in North America. In 2022, Habyt completed the acquisition of Hamlet, a co-living platform in Singapore. This strategic move comes as a result of the transaction.

This year, Habyt expanded its company to include managing 30,000 housing units in more than 50 cities on three continents. In addition to that, it predicts an increase in net revenue of 40 percent. The young company announced that it had achieved profitability in most of its primary markets. It aims to become profitable at the group level by the beginning of the following year.

Contributing to the resolution of the housing crisis

Finding adequate accommodation, whether short- or long-term, may be difficult for young people worldwide. There is a substantial gap between the demand for and availability of homes. At the same time, interest rates on mortgages are rising, making it more difficult for people in this age bracket to acquire quality homes.

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By employing digital technology to standardize the housing process, Habyt hopes to improve the renting experience for occupants of rented properties. The new company does away with stages not essential to getting accommodation, such as the cumbersome paperwork. Travelers, locals, and professionals all have the opportunity to take advantage of its versatile living possibilities.

Renters have the option of choosing between communal and private living spaces based on their individual preferences and the constraints of their budget. Because we want your move to be as stress-free as possible, every Habyt unit comes completely equipped.

To get the ball rolling, a prospective renter must fill out an online application to reserve the housing they want. The sales staff at Habyt will contact the applicant to finalize the reservation details.

After that, the renter is responsible for signing all required paperwork and selecting a move-in date for themselves. Habit will provide instructions for the move-in procedure. All of these tasks may be completed over the Internet.

Global presence in strategically important markets

Investors who took part in the Series C financing effort for Habyt have expressed their confidence that the company can maintain its rapid expansion thanks to the novel solutions it develops.

“Habyt is solving the ever-growing global problem of access to housing with a digital-first solution appealing to young local families and mobile professionals alike,” says Franco Danesi, partner at Korelya Capital, who joins Habyt’s board of directors. “Habyt is offering real estate developers and investors an innovative and compelling product,” says Danesi. “Habyt is offering a digital-first solution appealing to young local families and mobile professionals alike.”

“What truly excites me is Habyt’s unparalleled global footprint and significant presence in the US, Europe, and Asia,” says Danesi.

Armin Weiland, managing director of Deutsche Invest and another board member of Habyt, highlights the company’s capacity for growth despite the current “challenging” environment.

“With the current momentum and remarkable net revenue increase, a trajectory to profitability in 2024 is the next clear big goal with an ongoing focus on unit economics and the profitability of each asset,” adds Weiland. “This is the next clear big goal with an ongoing focus on unit economics and the profitability of each asset.”

Tractionboard, an interactive platform with headquarters in Amsterdam that assists entrepreneurs and investors in managing every part of fundraising, declared on Monday that it had completed a pre-seed investment round.

In addition to funding, the business has disclosed that it has entered the Amsterdam-based Techstars + ABN AMRO Future of Finance Accelerator.

Arohi Jain, co-founder of Tractionboard, says, “We are pleased to have been picked from more than 450 candidates to join this wonderful worldwide network of startups and entrepreneurs.

Tractionboard was invented

CEO Arohi Jain and CCO Oscar Scoppa first met at a Utrecht startup studio. Oscar had left his job to start his firm, while Arohi had shut down her former company to start a new software venture.

Through emails, phone conversations, and meetings, Arohi spent several months informing potential investors about the development of her firm. This consumed much of her time and prevented her from expanding the business. She chose to use a crowdfunding site to raise money to get around this challenge, and she spent over ten months cultivating connections with investors before ultimately receiving VC investment.

While studying entrepreneurship, Oscar observed that many startup founders failed to secure finance and create long-term business development. Oscar and Arohi developed the concept for TractionBoard after a casual discussion.

They aimed to develop a system to improve investor relationships through data-driven strategies, shorten the fundraising process, and eventually increase startup founder efficiency.

Tractionboard: A single location for all fundraising endeavors

The interactive platform Tractionboard helps businesses and investors handle every step of fundraising.

The website helps businesses handle the enormous chores of collecting money by connecting them with possible investors, keeping them routinely updated on their progress, introducing them to investors, and more.

As business owners, we know how challenging it can be to secure money. Through Tractionboard, we assist the right companies in receiving investments at the appropriate moment.

The biotech business Automata Technologies, located in London, revealed that it has raised $40 million (about €38.2 million) in a new investment round. Automata Technologies provides robotic automation solutions to life sciences labs.

Following the success of its $50M Series B investment in January 2022, Automata received $40M in funding. The firm has increased its commercialization efforts thanks to this finance, particularly in Europe, the UK, and the US.

Since its latest fundraising round, Automata claims to have grown significantly, with a 150% increase in income and a 12-fold increase in active system hours.

Financial backers of Automata

A.P. Moller Holding, the parent firm of the A.P. Moller Group, joined Dimension in leading the investment. Additionally, current investors Octopus Ventures, Hummingbird, Isomer Capital, Possible Ventures, and Aldea Ventures made contributions.

The contemporary lab is a data factory, needing precise coordination across various lab instruments while juggling many protocol runs, according to Nan Li, co-founder and managing partner of Dimension. Because of this, the sector requires a lab automation system that emphasizes speed, dependability, adaptability, repeatability, and scale.

“Automata’s modular hardware and software LINQ system delivers just that, and we’re thrilled to partner with them to build a category-defining business in this space,” Li furthers.

A.P. Moller Holding’s Chetan Mehta, Head of Growth Equity, continues, “Automata’s solutions help increase throughput, lower cost, and accelerate innovation, allowing its customers to focus on pushing further into cutting-edge medical and life science research.”

Automata seeks to use automation to maximize human potential.

Automata claims it can help scientific organizations overcome problems, including lack of lab space, quick and flexible experimentation requirements, and difficulty hiring and maintaining qualified personnel.

The company’s LINQ automation platform is made to be used by hospitals, pharmaceuticals, biotech, and CRO laboratories, and research organizations.

It offers dynamic protocol creation and supports high throughput processes and laboratories needing frequent workflow modifications.

The LINQ platform from Automata helps labs optimize operations and improve productivity in response to changing scientific requirements by offering adaptive automation solutions.

NHS Trusts like The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, academic institutions like The Francis Crick Institute, testing laboratories like HSL, CDMOs, and CROs, as well as pharmaceutical and biotech firms like AstraZeneca and bit. Bio is one of Automata’s clients.

What gave rise to Automata?

Architects from Zaha Hadid’s research lab, Mostafa ElSayed and Suryansh Chandra (who left the company in March 2020), first investigated robots for use in architectural engineering. They believed that contemporary automation, not only in their industry but in many others, was overly complicated and inhibited creativity.

They established Automata to enable innovation through simpler automation, bringing together a team of industry specialists to make a real impact. They did this by using their skills in computational research and design.

A Brief Overview of Automata Technologies

Automata, founded in 2015, specializes in streamlining automation in the health sciences industry. With its technologies, scientists can quickly innovate, diagnose, and find new things at a large scale, which frees up more time for analysis and faster turnaround times.

NHS pathology laboratories have used Automata’s technology to alleviate diagnostic backlogs and greatly increase lab capacity, with some labs running 40 automated stations around the clock.

For clients such as NHS Trusts, academic institutions, Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs), and pharmaceutical corporations, the company claims its Lab Automation platform empowers scientists, speeds the translation of findings, and improves efficiency.

With software for workflow management, proprietary hardware enabling modular configurations and high throughputs, extensive data accessibility throughout experiments, and an OEM-agnostic approach for seamless integration with various labs and equipment, Automata’s LINQ automation platform provides a comprehensive solution for labs.

This platform gives scientists more control, boosts productivity, and encourages flexible lab automation.

At the moment, Automata has operations in Boston, USA, as well as London, UK.

Utilization of capital

The additional funding will enable Automata to grow its workforce and strengthen its US, UK, and EMEA footprint. The firm also seeks to concentrate on chances in the international life sciences sector to strengthen its brand awareness and market presence.

According to the company’s founder and CEO, Mostafa Elsayed, the last two years have been extremely exciting at Automata: “We’ve seen LINQ increase the scale of customer workflows and meaningfully increase their ability to generate high-quality data, accelerating their pace of discovery and experimentation.”

A genuine confirmation of the promise and capabilities of our lab automation platform and the work the team has accomplished is the achievement of fundraising with intriguing and experienced investors in a rather hard financing climate.

“The increase allows us to maintain our attention on our current and planned deployments and continue to create solutions that revolutionize how scientists engage with their facilities. The most significant benefit is that it will hasten our users’ current effect on people’s lives worldwide, continues Elsayed.