The Venture Codex

Participated · Series G · Oct 2024

Blacklane offers premium chauffeur services including Airport Transfers, City-to-City commutes, in-city mobility and Chauffeur-by-the-hour, available pre-booked or on demand. Led by CEO Dr. Jens Wohltorf, the company operates in more than 50 countries with about 400 employees and thousands of chauffeur partners. Its platform serves both business and leisure customers with a network of professional chauffeurs. Blacklane plans to expand operations in its largest market, the U.S., while sharpening its focus on the Middle East and maintaining its European business. In Saudi Arabia the company will launch in several key cities, deploy a fleet of electric vehicles and create local jobs. The firm will also provide training for female and male chauffeurs through its Chauffeur Academies. Blacklane operates a premium chauffeur service with a focus on quality and sustainability, offsetting the carbon footprint of all rides since its 2011 inception. The company reported strong growth, with revenue rising four-fold in 2022 versus the prior year, and it currently employs around 300 people. Blacklane is investing in new service offerings and plans to expand its employee base in Germany and internationally. The firm has explicit sustainability targets: 15% of rides in electric vehicles by the end of 2023 and 50% by 2025. As part of its growth push, Blacklane is integrating its service into partner apps and leveraging strategic partnerships to scale. Blacklane offers chauffeur services for travelers across more than 50 countries, including on-demand city rides, hourly bookings, inter-city commutes, and airport transfers. The company is led by CEO and founder Jens Wohltorf. It recently received a Series F investment described as a double-digit million-dollar round; the precise amount was not disclosed. Blacklane plans to use the funds to accelerate its fleet’s transition to electric vehicles and to develop a retained charging network. The company frames this investment as part of its path to achieving net-zero operations. No other financial metrics or past funding details were provided in the article. Blacklane operates a black‑car chauffeur service and airport-ride business across cities including Berlin, London, Dubai, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Singapore and 16 other cities. Its core product is chauffeur-driven rides; it recently added a sub-30-minute "chauffeur hailing" option in 22 cities and changed pricing to be more competitive on shorter trips. The company reported monthly revenues dropped 99% after the COVID-19 pandemic and showed a net loss of about $18 million in 2018. Blacklane has raised around $100 million to date, including roughly $45 million in 2018. It is using its latest financing to expand sustainable travel initiatives (including a majority stake in Jaguar‑hatched electric service Havn) and to broaden more flexible riding options. The company said the funding will help fast-track innovation while avoiding layoffs as travel recovers. Blacklane operates a platform for high-end limo and professional car services, focusing on airport and medium-length journeys. Its footprint covers 250 cities and 500 airports across 50 countries, and it plans to expand to over 300 cities with major growth targeted in the Middle East and Africa. Typical rides average 35 kilometres and take 45–60 minutes; the company reports driver capacity utilization of 60–80%, versus about 20% for traditional limo services, which it says improves unit economics. Blacklane acquired concierge service Solve at the end of last year and is expanding into concierge offerings while piloting electric vehicles and exploring autonomous-vehicle opportunities. CEO Jens Wohltorf said the company has "very healthy margin and unit economics" and could be profitable but is reinvesting profits into growth. Founded in 2011, Blacklane has raised over $80 million to date.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2014

Azimo is a money-transfer fintech headquartered in London with the majority of its staff based in Kraków, Poland (130 of 160 employees). It offers low-cost international payments to 200+ countries and territories and claims 2 million registered customers. The company has raised $50 million of equity to date from investors including Rakuten, eVentures, Greycroft and Frog Capital and reported it was profitable in August. Azimo plans to use new capital to accelerate R&D and scale its proprietary payments platform, including hiring engineering and product talent. Management also intends to increase marketing spend to scale faster across Europe. In response to Brexit it has secured an e-money licence in the Netherlands to continue trading in Europe. Azimo offers mobile- and web-based money transfer services that focus on speed, low fees and emerging-market corridors. The company launched Azimo Business to serve SMEs across the U.K. and Europe, enabling payments to 189 countries. Azimo says its business pricing undercuts banks by 50% or more and aims to deliver faster transfers and a smoother UX via its apps and web platform. Business users must pass KYC and KYB checks to meet anti-money‑laundering regulatory requirements; Azimo has built technology and processes to scale those checks while minimizing false positives. While running in beta, Azimo Business customers on average sent six times more money than Azimo’s consumer customers. Popular sending countries include the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and France; top receiving countries include Poland, China, Singapore, Pakistan, Hong Kong and South Africa. Azimo provides digital remittance services focused on migrant workers sending money home, supporting endpoints in 190 countries and 80 currencies. The company says roughly 500 million people have transferred money through its app since its 2012 founding. It has been an early mover in social and messaging integrations and plans to expand further into Asia, building on existing services to the Philippines and Thailand. Azimo aims to undercut offline rivals by offering transaction fees below 2%, versus typical offline fees of 5–8%. The business is popular in Europe and is experimenting with integrations into messaging platforms to drive growth. CEO and co-founder Michael Kent said the company’s valuation has increased since its prior round and that it is likely to raise a larger round next year. Azimo is a London-based mobile-first remittance service that provides all-digital money transfers across roughly 200 countries and supports about 80 currencies. Founded in 2012, the company focuses on migrant customers in Europe and emerging markets, with popular corridors including Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. Its product targets smaller remittances—the average transaction size is about $700, typically representing 25–50% of a customer’s take-home pay—and Facebook-based transfers account for roughly 25% of transactions. The company reports a five-fold growth rate (specific values not disclosed) and emphasizes lower costs and economies of scale from its digital network. Azimo has raised $31M to date and was valued at just under $100M according to sources. Management plans to use new funding to build out operations across Europe and deepen engagement with migrant communities. Azimo offers an online and mobile remittance service that lets users transfer money internationally to bank accounts, local cash pickup points, or as mobile-wallet top-up credit. Launched in August 2012 and headquartered in the UK, the company supports transfers from numerous European countries to 192 destinations worldwide. It charges between 1% and 2% per transaction, positioning itself as significantly cheaper than incumbents like Western Union, PayPal, and banks. Azimo reports fastest recipient growth in Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate European expansion and to target key markets in North America and Asia. Its distribution channels include the web, native mobile apps, and Facebook integration.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2014

Outfittery operates a curated shopping service that selects and delivers men's clothing. The company was founded in 2012 by Anna Alex and Julia Boesch and claims 400,000 clients across eight countries. It says the new funding will be used to expand in Europe and to improve customer experience. Outfittery faces competitors including Modomoto, which has been acquiring smaller players, and UK rival Thread. The startup has completed five fundraising rounds and has raised $59.81M in total from 12 investors. Management frames the service as simplifying choice for male shoppers and continues to pursue geographic growth. Outfittery is a Berlin-based startup offering a curated shopping service for men’s clothing. After signing up customers answer questions about style and size and receive a follow-up call from a company style expert. Users are then sent individually picked outfits, typically on a quarterly basis, and pay only for what they keep while returning the rest. The model is closely comparable to U.S.-based Trunk Club. Outfittery is focused on expanding across European markets and currently operates in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark. It claims a customer base of more than 200,000 men and recently added $20 million in new funding to support its continental expansion; the company had raised roughly $14.5 million (€13m) about a year earlier. Outfittery operates a curated online shopping experience for men’s clothing, using personal shoppers to assemble customized outfits sent to customers who only pay for what they keep. The service is powered by a team of around 100 employees, including 50 female “style experts.” The company claims more than 100,000 customers and sources clothing from roughly 150 high-quality fashion brands. Outfittery was founded in 2012 by Anna Alex and Julia Bosch and is based in Berlin. It currently serves customers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and plans further international expansion into other European markets. The company intends to use new investment to expand its own men’s fashion line and continue offering new curated outfits to members. Outfittery, launched in early 2012 by Anna Alex and Julia Bösch, operates a web menswear fashion service that provides a personal style expert for each customer. Customers answer questions about their style and size, after which Outfittery assembles and ships complete outfits. The service does not charge extra for styling advice and allows customers to return unwanted clothing boxes for free. Reports indicate the company raised a mid-seven-figure euro funding round, though the exact amount was not disclosed. Backers named in the round include Mangrove Capital Partners, RI Digital Ventures and the Investitionsbank Berlin, alongside existing investors High‑Tech Gründerfonds and Holtzbrinck Ventures. The company intends to use the funding to expand internationally.