The Venture Codex

Led · Series A · Jul 2024

D-ICE Engineering, founded in 2015 in Nantes, builds systems and scientific software to reduce emissions, improve safety at sea, and support offshore energy production. Its flagship platform OCEANiCS combines multi-physics modeling, piloting, weather routing and energy optimization in a single platform. The company’s multidisciplinary team of more than 30 engineers and PhDs has deployed its solutions on numerous vessels, with OCEANiCS emerging as a new industry reference. After an initial fundraising in 2023, D-ICE is focused on accelerating commercialization and international expansion of its proven, high-impact solutions. The company emphasizes reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions while contributing to ocean biodiversity protection and regeneration.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2023

nPloy is a Bulgarian HR tech company, founded in 2019, that provides a mobile app which matches jobseekers and employers via swipe-based interactions and algorithmic filtering. Users set their requirements and the platform shows only positions or candidates suitable for their experience and preferences. The app includes social features such as discussion clubs and event sections for workshops and seminars to engage users around professional interests. nPloy expanded into the Romanian market after a €2M round last year and reports strong growth expectations there. The company recently received a €1.8M follow-on investment to continue product and tech development. Management expects substantial candidate-base growth (over 300% in Bulgaria and tenfold in Romania) and plans further market expansion and technological innovations. nPloy, founded in 2018 and based in Sofia, offers a recruitment platform that directly matches and connects candidates and employers using a dating-app model. Its AI algorithm matches talent with companies based on mutual expectations and requirements, replacing standard pre-screening. The product allows companies to apply to candidates, and when there is mutual interest a chat opens and a video interview can be scheduled. The platform reports over 85,000 users and more than 500 employer customers, including BIC, SAP, Lidl and Postbank. nPloy raised €2 million to streamline its product and support international growth. The company plans to expand into Central and Eastern Europe and aims to be active in about 10 more countries by the end of 2023.

Led · Series B · Sep 2023

AYRO designs, manufactures and markets OceanWings®, a fully automated rigid wingsail solution for cargo ships and yachts, to cut fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions. The company’s latest OceanWings® generation is a major step up in scale (40 meters high / 363 m2) and maturity, proven with prototypes and demonstrators such as the Energy Observer. In July AYRO installed four OceanWings® 363 on the Canopée, a vessel dedicated to transporting Ariane 6 components, enabling a reported ~30% reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions on its route. AYRO was founded in 2018 by Marc Van Peteghem and leverages wingsail design expertise from VPLP and America’s Cup technology. The company is positioning to scale its wind-propulsion solution and become a global leader in maritime decarbonization. Financially, AYRO closed a €19.2M Series B round, bringing total funding to over €30M.

Led · Equity · Oct 2021

OptoScale develops underwater sensor and optics units that use edge computing and AI to measure fish mass (accurate within 3%) and provide real-time welfare insights such as disease detection and lice counting. The units are easy to install in pens, stream data locally (reducing reliance on high-speed internet) and can assess up to 200,000 fish per day versus the 50–100 typically possible with manual methods. The company leases its hardware and sells a software subscription under a hardware-as-a-service model, aiming to minimize customer operational burden. OptoScale was founded in 2015 and is Trondheim-based; it already operates in Norway, Canada and the UK. The startup raised $4.1M in its first venture round and says it will use the funding to expand into new markets—prioritizing Australia, Chile and Iceland—and to hire staff. It currently has a 20-strong workforce and plans to double headcount over the next two to three years, targeting 2,000 units in operation by 2027.

Led · Series A · Jun 2020

MIKAJAKI has developed EyeLib, a fully automated station that delivers full reports including optical prescription parameters and objective diagnostics for most vision‑threatening eye conditions using ophthalmic diagnostic devices, robotics and artificial intelligence. The platform includes patient profiling to enable customized follow-up and specialist referrals. MIKAJAKI says EyeLib will reshape the clinical pipeline to make eye clinics and health institutions more efficient and to save time and money for patients, doctors, opticals, researchers, pharmaceutical suppliers and insurers. The company is based at Fongit in Geneva and has contracts with over ten large European ophthalmic centers and ophthalmic device manufacturers. It has announced a partnership with Pallas Kliniken, a network of more than 16 locations and 120 doctors that treats over 150,000 patients annually. MIKAJAKI raised new funding to accelerate regulatory work toward CE certification.