News from the startup world week 39

Malin Posern becomes partner at Project A UK. Partnership of vialytics and Lobbe. Spoontainable is sold to Stroodles. Frankfurt Spring registration open. Flawless secures $2.2 million in seed funding.

Project A appoints Malin Posern as partner and managing director UK.

Project A has announced the appointment of Malin Posern as Partner and Managing Director for the UK, with the aim of strengthening its operational model in the UK and Nordics. Malin will lead Project A's growing London office and focus on early stage investments in the region. Project A is committed to expanding its operational VC model across Europe in collaboration with its Berlin hub. With her extensive experience in the UK and Nordics, Malin will strengthen Project A's presence supporting startups in the UK and Nordics. The move underscores Project A's commitment to the European ecosystem and its goal to nurture the next generation of startups in the region, based on its impressive track record of investing in local companies.

Flawless secures $2.2 million in seed funding

Flawless, the data-driven business process management platform, has secured $2.2 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by 42CAP, with participation from Picus Capital, Dreamcraft Ventures, and Oktogon Ventures. Flawless has evolved in a year from an operations monitoring solution to a platform that helps companies manage complex business processes by enabling data integration, custom dashboards, and automated monitoring. Customers, including e-commerce and marketplace companies, report efficiency gains from using the platform.

Additionally, Flawless welcomes Wolfgang Wörner, former founder of Sixfold, as a new co-founder. The funding round is backed by investors experienced in building successful B2B SaaS companies, and the company plans to use these funds to further its product development and global expansion.

New partnership of vialytics and Lobbe

Stuttgart, Germany-based software company vialytics has formed a strategic partnership with Lobbe, an environmental and waste management group based in Iserlohn, Germany, to drive digitization in cities and municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia and parts of Hesse. As part of this partnership, Lobbe disposal vehicles regularly capture image data of the road surface using vialytics' AI-based road management system. This data serves as the basis for managing infrastructure and road inventory, accelerating route control and enabling city and municipal customers to automatically receive digital overviews of their road infrastructure. This innovative approach promises to save time and resources for municipalities and demonstrates how artificial intelligence can support management. vialytics is a leading road management system already used in over 300 municipalities in seven countries, while Lobbe is one of the leading environmental and waste management companies in Germany.

Joachim Schreiner becomes CRO at Parloa

Joachim Schreiner, former Germany head of Salesforce, will become Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Berlin-based AI company Parloa on October 1, 2023. In his new role, he will be responsible for global revenue strategy and lead customer-facing teams. Parloa is a market leader in the use of conversational AI in customer service, enabling companies to automate customer calls and chats and efficiently handle inquiries. Schreiner brings more than 35 years of experience in the technology industry and was instrumental in successfully building Salesforce's German business. He sees Parloa as an opportunity to help shape the future of communications and support the company in its ambitious growth plans and international scaling. Parloa CEO Malte Kosub is looking forward to Schreiner's expertise and emphasizes his passion for customer service improvements through software solutions.

Frankfurt Spring 23 - registration open until 8.10.

Since 2015, the Marketing Club Frankfurt has presented the coveted "Frankfurter Sprungfeder" award to promising start-ups that are on their way to becoming established brands. The award winners stand out not only for their innovative business ideas, but also for their successful marketing strategies. Once again this year, prizes worth a total of more than 100,000 euros are up for grabs, including media services and coaching. Interested startups have until October 8, 2023 to apply, and the pitch event will take place on November 6. More information is available at https://frankfurtersprungfeder.de/.

Spoontainable to be sold to Stroodles

German startup Spoontainable, which specializes in sustainable alternatives to disposable tableware, has been sold to UK-based Stroodles Eco-Tableware. Founders Amelie Vermeer and Julia Piechotta will remain with the company as advisory board members. Spoontainable has successfully developed edible cutlery alternatives from rescued cocoa and oat shells over the past five years and distributed them in more than 15 countries. The new owner, Stroodles, already offers sustainable tableware alternatives, and this strategic move opens up opportunities for market expansion and synergy in process optimization. Customers will continue to be able to purchase products from Spoontainable, and the product range will be expanded. The founders are retiring from operations to advance sustainability efforts in the foodservice industry worldwide.