In our December list of great startups there are some newbies like Bling, Virgio and Revel; established players like Evo Security, Kuona, Sana, Aztec; and one unicorn — Beamery. Startups have received massive financial funding for further product development, bringing their philosophy to life. Blockchain and AI capabilities make it possible to provide new technical solutions and empower various sectors.
Fintech, Education
Bling
Country: Germany
Founded: 2021
Bling aims to provide financial education for families, especially the younger generation. In these times of turbulence, it’s more crucial than ever to be financially savvy and money-wise. For this purpose, Bling has developed a mobile app that combines educational content with a payment service. Each kid gets a Bling card and a chance to learn financial responsibility, for example by setting up a savings pot and earning money via doing errands and chores. This can start as early as age 7. As the child gets older, more functionality becomes available. Parents also can study educational content, get recommendations, and set limits and controls on their children’s payments. Together, they can do financial planning.
The card is administered by Bling’s banking partner, while the account is protected by the Deposit Protection Fund (FGDR). At the moment, the company states that it has more than 10,000 children as app users. The team is planning to capture the European market, attract more families and create a network. Recently they have raised €3.5 million as a Seed funding round.
Artificial Intelligence, Human Resources
Beamery
Country: UK
Founded: 2014
Beamery is an AI-based talent lifecycle management platform, an innovative solution for HR departments. Managers can easily pull up data on what skills and capabilities the company has at its disposal and make better decisions in every stage of the talent lifecycle. With intelligence data, they can build more agile workforce plans; attract and retain workers; improve skills and redistribute the workforce. An ethical AI algorithm helps reduce the influence of bias and find the right internal or external candidate to match each role. The platform also offers recommendations on training and promotional opportunities. Beamery helps clients stay compliant with global personal data and privacy standards.
The company raised $50 million in a series D funding round to gain the status of unicorn. Among its clients are globally-known brands such as BBC, Uber, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson. Investment will go to enhance the platform, add new tech capabilities and increase global sales. Beamery aims to provide equal access to all for work, career growth and skills development, and, especially important, to support diversity and inclusion.
Artificial Intelligence, SaaS
Kuona
Country: Mexico
Founded: 2017
Kuona offers an AI-based platform for brands and retailers that enables them to manage and optimize prices, promotions, orders, and inventory. Thanks to a data-driven algorithm, the platform predicts demand through simulations and tracks customer behavior. Integration with the company’s data takes place in real-time. As a result, companies can get evidence as to what’s working and what’s not, improve ROI on their promotional activities, and maintain and increase sales. Another product, “Perfect Order,” generates an ideal sales order, which increases sales, reduces the number of returns, and avoids absence of stock at points of sale.
The company is active in Mexico, the USA, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. Among their well-known clients are Coca-Cola and OXXO convenience stores. Recently it raised $6 million in a Seed funding round. Investments allow Kuona to keep growing and developing its platform, helping companies stay efficient and profitable. It plans to expand into the European market.
Fashion, E-commerce
Virgio
Country: India
Founded: 2022
Virgio is a fashion tech startup aiming at Gen Z and late millennials and building a “global fashion brand” from the South Asian market. It has a mobile app for purchasing trendy apparel. The company’s approach is based on trend analyses using social media platforms and demand predictions. This data is applied to the supply chain to make fashion items available to everyone and help manufacturers eliminate excess inventory. Virgio seeks to speed up the processes of design, production and purchases to solve the problem of fast-changing fashion preferences — and as a result to create an ecosystem of designers and manufacturers to provide a unique shopping experience.
Recently the company raised $37 million in a series A funding round. Investments will go to technology development and expanding the team. Virgio is looking forward to connecting factories into one technological network that will allow designers to quickly create prototypes, receive consumer feedback and expand production. It also hopes to play a role in solving the issue of fashion waste and implementing sustainable practices.
Artificial Intelligence, Education
Sana
Country: Sweden
Founded: 2016
Sana Labs has developed an AI-based platform that unites three components: knowledge management, enterprise search and e-learning. Its AI engine connects to various apps used in the workplace for capturing and storing information, and communicating, such as Salesforce, email, Notion, GitHub, Slack, Trello, Asana and others. All the data from these apps goes to the platform, where the information is organized, verified, maintained and automatically updated. Based on this data, organization managers and the Sana platform itself can build e-learning modules for onboarding, training or professional development. The learning content can be in interactive sessions, webinars, polls and more. All results are saved in the knowledge base for future reference.
Sana is designed for continuous usage. According to the company’s statistics, the platform is utilized in more than 100 organizations. Recently it has raised $34 million in a series B funding round. The company plans to further focus on the user experience and scale the potential for AI.
Blockchain
Aztec
Country: UK
Founded: 2017
Aztec provides a privacy layer for Web3, being a kind of an encrypted version of Ethereum. The Aztec Connect ecosystem integrates with the leading Ethereum DeFi protocols, including Aave, Curve, Lido, Element, Set Protocol, Compound, and Liquity. Encrypted blockchains allow protocol transparency while providing privacy for users, so people do not need to show their identity when making transactions. Such an approach can facilitate the use of personal consumer finance.
Recently the company raised $100 million in a series B funding round. The company plans to hire more engineers and expand globally. In the long term, the company hopes to build a system that will enable people to transact and coordinate following the encryption level of the mass blockchain implementation. Aztec’s main goal is to make blockchain encrypted and change the traditional financial services industry.
Revel
Country: USA
Founded: 2022
Revel is a social platform designed to collect, trade and mint personal media. Users can create their own NFTs and collect media from other creators. Photos and videos can become collectibles and be converted into assets stored in the blockchain. The platform is a combination: part social network, part marketplace and part social game. The gameplay concept is based on the principles of economics, such as supply, demand and inflation. Anyone can mint their first collection, but only those who are collected can mint more.
The company works with influencers such as Cyrus Dobre, Natalie Friedman, and Mira Szalama. Due to its high-quality content and novelty, Revel took top position in the Product Hunt ranking. Recently the company has raised $7.8 million in a Seed funding round. The investment will be used to expand the app’s functionality, empower social features and incorporate AI algorithms.
Cybersecurity, SaaS
Evo Security
Country: USA
Founded: 2018
Evo Security is a cybersecurity company that offers an identity and access management security solution. The platform is intended for protection of MSPs and their clients (SMB and enterprises) with a single scalable, multi-tenant solution. Among its security capabilities are multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, privileged access management, technician elevated access, secrets management and unified directory services.
Evo Security has partnered with ConnectWise, a software company providing cloud-based and on-premises IT automation solutions. This partnership makes it possible to provide secure and streamlined access to devices and applications and to protect clients’ critical assets from incidents as well as address compliance requirements. Also, the company has raised $3.9 million as an additional funding round.
