According to Sifted data, €258m has been deployed into Europe’s digital marketing and creative tools startups so far this year, as of September 18.
AI is helping to automate manual tasks previously done by marketing and design teams, including asset production, social media management and budget optimisation. According to fundraising Spanish startup Neety’s pitch deck (see below), marketing and sales teams spend 72% of their time on repetitive tasks, including manual data entry, email follow ups and admin. Photoroom and Kittl both took advantage of the GenAI momentum earlier in the year, raising $43m and $36m Series Bs in Q1, respectively led by Balderton Capital and Aglaé, and IVP.
France is leading the pack, with 30% (€81.5m) of total funding in the sector, followed by the UK with 25% (€65m) and Germany with 17% (€44m).
Of the 81 deals done this year, 74 have come at early stage (up to and including Series A), with an average cheque size of €2.9m. France-based customer data platform Imagino’s £25m Series A round led by Cathay Innovation is the largest early-stage deal to date.
Relevant resources:
- Everything you need to know about Europe’s digital marketing sector
- 2024 digital marketing funding rounds (downloadable)
Here are the early-stage digital marketing startups that told Sifted that they’re currently fundraising (with pitch decks where available):
1/ Cassandra
Location: Milan, Italy
Founded: 2023
Total funding: €300k
Last round: €300k pre-seed in June 2023
Investors: Vento Ventures
Now fundraising: €2m seed to close between October 2024 and January 2025
Pitch deck
Cassandra’s platform helps brands optimise their marketing spend to maximise return on investment. Every two weeks, its software tells companies how much to invest on each campaign and predicts the impact on conversions. It is profitable, with ARR of €720k.
2/ Refive
Location: Berlin, Germany
Founded: 2020
Total funding: €600k
Last round: €240k in 2023
Investors: Mustard Seed + Partners, maze impact, Apex Black, Julius Göllner and Henry Nilert
Now fundraising: $2m seed to close in Q4 2024
Refive enables retail marketers to use digital receipts and other in-store touchpoints to collect customer data in order to drive retention, increase purchase frequency and grow basket sizes.
3/ Abyssale
Location: Paris, France
Founded: 2020
Total funding: €2.1m
Last round: €1.5m seed in March 2023
Investors: Kima Ventures, Founders Future, Aglaé Ventures and Bpifrance
Now fundraising: Series A (size undisclosed) to close in Q2 2025
Abyssale’s platform automates the production of marketing assets for designers, allowing campaigns to be launched faster.
4/ Hookle
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Founded: 2017
Total funding: €700k
Last round: €250k convertible in December 2021
Investors: Kiuas
Now fundraising: €3m seed
Pitch deck
Hookle has developed an AI-powered social media assistant that helps small businesses manage and improve their brand marketing via an app.
5/ Boost.Express
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Founded: 2024
Total funding: Bootstrapped
Investors: Kiuas
Now fundraising: $600k seed
Pitch deck
Boost.Express’s software enables event marketers and sponsors to collaborate on and launch co-branded ad campaigns to target audiences.
6/ Neety
Location: San Sebastian, Spain
Founded: 2023
Total funding: €77k
Last round: €25k accelerator funding in January 2024
Investors: BIC Gipuzkoa and EKINN
Now fundraising: $150k angel investment
Pitch deck
Neety has identified that marketing and sales teams spend 72% of their time on repetitive tasks, including manual data entry, email follow ups and admin. Its automation agent integrates many of the applications used on a daily basis by these teams, replacing the need for human input. It is currently taking part in Valencia-based accelerator Lanzadera’s year-long programme, which started this month.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/early-stage-marketing-startups-fundraising/
