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London-based venture capital (VC) firms have come out on top for their ability to spot and invest in technology unicorns at an early stage across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In an industry often dominated by the US, London-headquartered VC firm LocalGlobe has been identified as the VC backing the most startups at the seed or Series A stage that went on to achieve valuations of $1bn or more.
That’s according to data compiled by startup intelligence company Dealroom, which said using this metric instead of total investment size can make it possible to compare firms on a “level playing field”.
LocalGlobe, which has invested in the likes of fintech giant Wise and insurtech Zego, came out on top at the seed stage, as well as for seed and Series A combined.
Meanwhile, London-based Seedcamp was identified as the second-best at spotting unicorns at the seed stage of investment.
London-based Balderton Capital also featured on the top unicorn hunter list.
US-based VCs Accel and Index Ventures were the first and second most successful at backing future unicorns at the Series A stage.
The data is based on last year’s record levels of VC investment. The firms in Dealroom’s top 10 unicorn investors made a combined 406 investments at the early stage last year.
In 2021, VCs invested $138.6bn in tech companies across EMEA – more than double the amount in 2020.
Separate research has previously shown that last year London tech startups raised a record $25.5bn (£18.55bn), making it the fourth-highest city for VC investment globally.
Italy's Zegna is aiming for revenue above 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in the medium term, up from the 1.29 billion euros posted last year, the fashion group said on Tuesday at its first Capital Markets Day since its debut on Wall Street in late 2021.
The family-owned group is targeting an adjusted operating profit margin of at least 15% in the mid-term from a level of around 10% achieved in 2021.
The group, which controls Italy's luxury menswear brand Zegna and U.S. label Thom Browne, expects a rise in store productivity to drive the growth in revenues, that should "more than offset" the increasing marketing investments planned to support the brands' expansion.
Keeping its focus on sustainability, a long-standing commitment for the group, Zegna unveiled its ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) strategy that will be overseen by the group's board and tied to executive bonuses.
The group, based in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, has been a forerunner with regards to environmental protection, with policies including the creation of natural oasis close to its headquarters and the use of recycled materials in its collections.
Among its goals it plans to only use renewable sources of electricity in Europe and the U.S. by 2024, and for all of the group's operations by 2027.
By 2026, it expects over half of its main raw materials to be fully traceable, and for this to rise to exceed 95% by 2030.
Starting from next year, Zegna will also plant 10,000 trees in every city where it's going to open or relocate its shops, in a plan to reconnect to its reforestation project, started off by its founder in the early 1900s.
Zegna made its debut on the New York stock exchange in December after a merger with Investindustrial Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Italian private equity firm Investindustrial and chaired by former UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti.
Men’s fashion website Mr Porter has launched Tee Store x Mr Porter Health In Mind, to “drive awareness for men’s mental health and wellbeing”, the Yoox Net-A-Porter-owned luxury e-tail brand said.
The capsule collection is made up of 104 exclusive pieces created and produced by 18 leading contemporary and designer brands, who were tasked with creating pieces to reflect the project’s brief.
Available globally, the collection takes in graphic T-shirts, hoodies, hats and socks in a palette of “joyful colours and streetwear silhouettes” from brands including Acne Studios, Gallery Dept, Museum of Peace & Quiet, Polite Worldwide, and Sorry In Advance. New brands to Mr Porter also include Emotionally Unavailable, Fortnite Premium, and Stockholm Surfboard Club.
Net profits of each piece sold during the first two weeks are being donated to ‘Mr Porter Health In Mind Fund’, powered by charity Movember, “supporting men’s mental and physical health initiatives to help men lead happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives”.
The collection and initiative is powered by “Mr Porter’s values of community, inclusivity and discoverability, providing its global customer base with exclusive product from both established and new, up-and-coming brands”, it said.
Themes including happiness, friendship and pastimes pertinent to the collection, “showcased through inspirational graphics, novelty designs, slogans and archival prints”.
The capsule’s launch is also being supported by a community-focused campaign, “promoting a positive message and awareness of men’s mental health, capturing organic day-to-day exchanges of self-expression and conversations between men”, brought to life across Mr Porter’s social and editorial platforms.
“Following the success of the past Tee Store collections, the brands this year have created something truly special, giving our customers the ability to discover and own exclusive pieces from the world’s top contemporary brands, while expressing mental health through their designs,” said Daniel Todd, senior buyer for Mr Porter.
JD Sports has revealed sales were up 5% in the current financial year to date, a performance it said was "a positive reflection of both the strength and breadth of the group's brand relationships and category offer".
The positive growth in the first 14 weeks of its year to 7 May was achieved amid a global shortfall in the supply of key footwear styles, the sports and fashion company said.
JD said it expected supply of product to improve as the year progresses and it had maintained forecast that headline profit before tax and exceptional items for the year end 28 January 2023 would at least be equal to that for the year ended 29 January 2022 (£940 million).
However the group said that while it was reassured by its latest trading performance, which was in line with expectations, it was "conscious of the headwinds that prevail at this time including the general global macro-economic and geopolitical situation."
The group has delayed the announcement of its year end results to the end of January 2022 while it unpicks the situation regarding the Competition and Market Authority's decision to force it to sell off Footasylum, which it had acquired in 2019 for £90 million. It said it expected to reveal the result by early June but a firm date would be announced in due course.
Luxury British leather goods brand Mulberry has today launched ‘Lily Zero’, its first carbon neutral bag collection, with 12 styles added to its iconic ‘Lily’ collection, which has become one of the brand’s signature silhouettes.
The collection is carbon neutral all the way from field to shop floor and is in line with Mulberry's commitment to
become Net Zero by 2035, and build on the commitments set out in the brand’s ‘Made to Last’ manifesto which was revealed last year for the brand’s 50th anniversary.
The “soft and supple day-to-evening chain bags” come in a variety of sizes, colours and styles, including the original ‘Lily’ silhouette and ‘Top Handle’, all featuring the brand’s unique “postman’s lock” hardware, and all created in Mulberry’s carbon neutral Somerset factories.
The bags have been crafted using carbon neutral leather from a tannery in Germany, which measures, reduces and offsets its carbon emissions. The carbon neutral leather is also now being used on all of Mulberry’s heavy grain styles, which make up 26% of its AW22 collection.
Mulberry CEO, Thierry Andretta, said: “I’m very proud to launch ‘Lily Zero’, Mulberry’s first carbon neutral range, which represents another step on our sustainability journey, towards increased transparency and our goal of Net Zero by 2035.
“The ‘Lily Zero’ demonstrates what we can achieve together through working closely with our long-term partners. This reinforces Mulberry’s commitment to a sustainable future, outlined in our ambitious Made to Last manifesto published last year during our fiftieth anniversary.”
A ‘Life Cycle Assessment’ has also been undertaken to analyse the full carbon emissions of the range including components, transport, and packaging, all of which have been additionally offset with the World Land Trust, Mulberry’s carbon offsetting partner.
Alongside the new range, the new ‘Lily Zero’ campaign looks to the future, imagined as a futuristic landscape enhanced through an Instagram AR filter. The filter opens a portal which allows the user to fully immerse themselves in a surreal environment, as well as virtually try on the new ‘Lily’.
Exploring the origins of leather’s place in fashion history and its role in a sustainable future, Mulberry launched a ‘Made to Last’ podcast on 5 May 2022, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, hosted by fashion journalist Susie Lau. Bringing to life areas of the manifesto by the same name, the series takes the listener on a journey over three episodes, speaking to a range of people including television presenter Miquita Oliver, fashion designer Nicholas Daley, fashion historian Judith Watt and Rob Percival, writer and head of food policy at the Soil Association.
Additionally, following Mulberry’s commitment to transparency, the brand is releasing its first sustainability report, sharing its progress from the past year, which will be available to download from the Mulberry website this month.
The report highlights include the increase of leather sourced from environmentally-accredited tanneries to 88%, on track to reach 100% by 2023, and details on the Mulberry Exchange, which has repaired and refurbished over 10,000 products in its Lifetime Service Centre. It has also found new owners for thousands of pre-loved Mulberry bags.
The ‘Lily Zero’ collection is now available in stores globally and from the Mulberry website, with prices starting at £950.
Women make up 50% of the population, yet the world around them is often designed for men. Whether it’s medical technology, transportation or consumer gadgets, women are too frequently an afterthought. But with femtech – or female technology – the focus is 100% on creating tech-enabled products and services designed specifically for women.
Femtech startups in the UK and across the world are developing innovative ways to improve women’s health in areas such as the menopause, biometric tracking, IVF, breastfeeding and mental wellbeing.
Investors are increasingly backing femtech startups, too. According to Dealroom data, UK based femtech startups raised $125m (£101m) in 2019, rising to $121m (£97.9m) in 2021 – albeit with a sharp drop to $29.3m (£23.7m) in 2020.
While the US accounts for the lion’s share of femtech startups, the UK comes second in a market predicted to be worth in excess of $75.1bn (£60.7bn) by 2025.
With all that in mind, here are five UK femtech startups to keep an eye on.
Vira Health
Founders: Andrea Berchowitz and Dr Rebecca Love
Year founded: 2020
Total funding: $14m (£11.2m)
London-based Vira Health focuses on women’s healthcare and improving the gathering and use of female data in healthcare.
Its first product is a menopause subscription app called Stella, which guides women through menopause with tailored treatments based on the user’s symptoms.
Last month Vira Health raised £9m in a funding round to add new features to its menopause app, including telehealth and prescriptions.
Forth
Founders: Sarah Bolt and Chris Baines
Year founded: 2014
Total funding: $2.3m (£1.8m)
Located in Chepstow, Wales, Forth is a biometric tracking platform that enables people to live healthier. It tracks over 50 internal biomarkers, this data is then transformed into graphics and shown to the user through an online dashboard
In November last year Forth had an investment of £1.6m, to launch its Female Hormone Mapping product, giving women more insight into their hormone fluctuations.
Gaia
Founder: Nader AlSalim
Year founded: 2019
Total funding: $23m (£18.5m)
Insurance company Gaia offers financing on IVF treatments. The startup uses technology to guess the probability of success with IVF.
If the IVF treatment does not work, then the person only has to pay a percentage of the total costs. When the treatment works it can be paid for in monthly instalments. Gaia also provides counsellor sessions, medical embryologist access and member support.
Based in London, Gaia recently closed $20m in a Series A round led by Atomico and will use the capital to expand its operations.
Elvie
Founder: Tania Boler
Year founded: 2013
Total funding: $144m (£116m)
Elvie is a London-headquartered firm that manufacturers technology hardware for women. The first product by the company was the Elvie Trainer, an app-connected Kegal trainer. Followed by the Elvie Pump a quiet, wireless electric pump.
Last September it closed £70m in its Series C funding round to continue diversifying its product range.
Clementine
Founder: Kim Palmer
Year founded: 2017
Total funding: $1.3m (£1m)
Clementine is a mental health app for women that uses hypnotherapy to lower stress levels and build confidence. In the subscription-based app there are sleep sessions, confidence courses, anti-anxiety courses and mantras.
The app was created after founder Kim Palmer suffered with panic attacks during pregnancy.
Earlier in the year, Clementine partnered with singer and songwriter Becky Hill to encourage young people on a journey to self-care.
Headquartered in London, Clementine raised $1.3m (£1m) in its seed funding round in October 2020.
Manchester-based beauty platform Beauty Bay has appointed bankers from Threadstone Capital to look at its options and could choose to put itself up for sale, a report said on Tuesday. That would be a big strategy change for the 20-year-old business that only last year had been planning an IPO instead.
Founded by brothers Arron and David Grabbie, Sky News cited City sources saying Beauty Bay was “examining a full or partial sale to new investors”, although the option of it expanding by acquisition is also on the table.
An insider also said current trading was better than in the immediate pre-pandemic period but that it hasn’t been immune to inflationary headwinds.
The company is believed to be debt-free and is likely to have fully ruled out plans for a stock exchange listing.
It’s not known how much it would be valued at but it clearly has advisors who know how to get maximum value for a business. The news report also said it has taken on Threadstone because of the work it did in the same advisory role for Cult Beauty last year wen it was sold to THG.
Beauty Bay — which is known for selling sometimes-hard-to-find brands — hasn’t commented on the report.
In the fast-paced tech startup world, burnout is a pernicious problem. Demanding hours and workload can have damaging effects on employees’ mental health, making them feel emotionally and physically drained. Often, employees aren’t aware of the early signs that burnout is taking a toll on their mental health.
Burnout was recently recognised by the World Health Organisation as “a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”.
A study from Asana found that in the UK, 81% of tech workers said they experience burnout at least once a month.
An unmotivated and drained workforce is a big problem for companies trying to scale up.
It’s also a problem for companies that want to retain their best employees. For some workers, burnout has been a contributing factor in leaving their job as part of the ‘Great Resignation’.
For Mental Health Awareness Week 2022, UKTN spoke to tech leaders to find out what’s causing burnout – and what companies can do to prevent staff from burning out.
Balancing work and life can be a difficult task in an industry that requires rapid innovation so constantly.
The ability to balance one’s personal and professional life is itself a vital career skill, but it can’t just be the responsibility of employees to work out how to do it.
Hugh Scantlebury, founder and CEO of cloud-based accounting software firm Aqilla, tells UKTN that even “small actions” such as ensuring employees take breaks throughout the day can make a difference.
Team leaders can also conduct “regular and informal check-ins to give employees an opportunity to address any concerns” before they morph into something more serious.
“All these things can play a part in reducing stress and avoiding burnout,” Scantlebury says.
Managers should monitor their team’s workload, and make it clear they are not expected to work over their allocated hours.
While small, everyday actions such as check-ins can establish a more motivated and less stressed workforce, sometimes staff will be going through something bigger.
It’s here that having specialised mental health initiatives can make all the difference.
“Therapy can be expensive and inaccessible, meaning many people choose to avoid working on their mental wellbeing,” says Ashley Lourens, head of wellbeing at mental health startup Plumm.
“If you offer support through work, however, employees will be much more likely to engage with the full range of wellbeing services on offer.”
Lourens suggests making the use of an “accredited expert” available to employees who would otherwise either not be able to, or not have the motivation to.
“If an employee does develop burnout or another mental health condition, having a therapist available means they can immediately speak to someone they are comfortable with, working to combat symptoms before they spiral into something more,” Laurens says.
While the pandemic contributed to the high levels of stress felt by employees, it also gave employees greater flexibility for working arrangements.
The hybrid work from home (WFH) system for most companies was first put in place out of necessity. As the stay-at-home orders started to lift, some firms lifted the work from home policy, while many others kept it as part of a hybrid model.
WFH services have advanced significantly since the pandemic, and while some workers prefer working in an office, plenty prefer the chance to do their job at home. Adopting a flexible hybrid model can allow firms to play to the strengths and preferences of staff.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all option that is guaranteed to suit all of a company’s workforce. But by providing a choice and being flexible to employee needs, companies can ensure staff are working in the way that best suits them.
One of the most common contributing factors to mental health problems is loneliness – so much so that it is the theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week.
Promoting a sense of team and taking steps to make sure everyone feels involved can help prevent this.
Inclusive team-building events and socials can create a sense of belonging. This can be trickier to do among distributed workforces, which is why some companies have regular drop-in days.
“Tech companies now have a duty of care in helping to reduce loneliness and mental ill-health,” said Anna Rasmussen, founder and CEO of management software company OpenBlend.
“Central to success is instilling a team culture whereby the members of that team feel supported by one another. Doing so gives people a much-needed community to bounce ideas off, celebrate highs with, and solve problems with.”
Payments provider Paddle has raised $200m (£162.2m) in a Series D funding round at a valuation of $1.4bn, making it the UK’s latest fintech unicorn.
The London-headquartered company will use the extra capital to continue the growth of the platform, which provides payment infrastructure for software as a service (SaaS) businesses.
Its services include payment routing, tax collection, compliance, invoicing, subscription management, renewals, reporting, and fraud protection.
“Unfortunately, many SaaS companies still find their growth hindered by the operational challenges that arise when scaling; from handling subscriptions management or tax compliance to localising payment options in every market,” said Christian Owens, CEO and co-founder, Paddle
According to Gartner the SaaS market is expected to be worth $692bn (£561bn) in 2025.
Paddle’s Series D round was led by KKR, with the addition of previous investors FTV Capital, 83North, Notion Capital, Kindred Capital. Debt financing came from Silicon Valley Bank.
Founded in 2012, Paddle is used by over 3,000 software companies and has a total investment to date of $293m (£237m).
Paddle has worked with SaaS companies such as Resume.io, MtionVFX and Tailwind Labs.
The investment follows on from its Series C round in November 2020, which raised £52m and was led by FTV Capital.
Recently Paddle has increased its headcount from 140 to 275 in its London and New York offices.
KKR made its investment through its growth equity fund, Next Generation Technology Growth Fund II.
“By simplifying the payments stack, Paddle enables faster, more sustainable growth for SaaS businesses. Christian and the team have done a phenomenal job building a category-defining business in this space, and we are excited to be supporting them as they embark on the next phase of growth,” said Patrick Devine, director, KKR.
Paddle follows in the footsteps of GoCardless in becoming a UK fintech unicorn and follows a record year for UK fintech investment.
Competitors to Paddle include embedded finance platform Weavr, whose co-founder and CEO recently spoke to UKTN about not competing directly with banking as a service firms.
Estée Lauder, the cosmetics brand owned by the eponymous American group, is launching the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders (ELEL) fund. This charitable fund aims to challenge gender stereotypes and empower women in the workplace by helping them develop and strengthen their leadership skills.
"The 75-year legacy of the Estée Lauder brand shows what one visionary woman can achieve. Through the work of the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund and its program partners, we will champion women to contribute and lead in their workplaces and communities," said Stéphane de La Faverie, president of The Estée Lauder Companies.
Estée Lauder has made an initial investment of $1 million in ELEL to support international organizations that strive to bolster these emerging leaders. Its first partner is Vital Voices, a global nonprofit organization that helps women accomplish their dreams for social change.
"At Vital Voices, we recognize that women lead differently, and that distinction is exactly what our world needs. Our partnership with the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund will identify emerging leaders with a bold vision for positive change and provide them with the skills, network and resources they need to make that vision a reality," said Alyse Nelson, president and CEO of Vital Voices.
Vital Voices and ELEL will co-launch a seven-week long online and offline customized leadership development program in July. Applications for the first and second cohorts are now open on the Vital Voices website.
In the third quarter of its 2022 fiscal year closed on March 31, the Estée Lauder Group, who additionally owns cosmetics brands such as M.A.C and Clinique, recorded sales of $4.25 billion (4.02 billion euros), up 10% from the previous year