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Timefold Secures €6 Million to expand Planning AI platform
Timefold, a Belgian AI software startup specializing in planning optimization, has successfully raised €6 million in a seed funding round led by Lakestar, one of Europe’s top venture capital firms. Returning investor Smartfin also participated in the round. This funding will accelerate the development and commercialization of Timefold’s groundbreaking PlanningAI technology, designed to optimize complex scheduling and routing challenges faced by large-scale enterprises.
The round follows a €2 million pre-seed funding secured in March 2023, led by Smartfin, which fueled the initial development and market introduction of Timefold’s platform. The company’s software, based on the open-source OptaPlanner project, aims to solve inefficiencies in large-scale planning for industries such as logistics, transportation, field services, and workforce management.
Timefold’s platform is already trusted by several Fortune 500 companies, including Deutsche Bahn, Palantir, NEC, ADP, and Advantage Solutions. The new funding will enable Timefold to further scale its offerings, focusing on building out its platform and further developing planningAI models for other mission-critical applications.
♻️ German start-up CleanHub lands €6.4M for digitalized plastic waste recovery tech
Germany-based start-up CleanHub has raised €6.4 million (US$~7 million) for its plastic waste recovery technology, which uses QR code-based track and trace technology to aid businesses in recovering and sorting ocean-bound packaging trash. This can guard against greenwashing and earn businesses plastics credits. The funding was led by Integra Partners, Lakestar and from new investors, Silence VC, 468 Capital and Übermorgen Ventures.
BotsAndUs secures $13M in Seed financing led by Lakestar for its warehouse data intelligence platform with autonomous robots
BotsAndUs, a cutting-edge intelligence and robotics company has secured $13m in seed funding to expand its logistics-disrupting solution globally. Lakestar leads the round, with participation from Maersk Growth, Kindred Capital, and Capnamic.
BotsAndUs already won key customers across various industries. In addition to Maersk and Huboo, BotsAndUs works with Menzies Aviation, the air cargo company that services more than 200 airport locations, – including at Europe’s largest airport, London Heathrow. The company recently entered into a partnership with Maersk – the global integrator of container logistics, to collaborate with Maersk’s warehousing and contract logistics division, initially in one of their warehouses, exploring automating inventory management and acceptance processes, and with time to improve customers’ visibility and access to inventory across facilities. With the fresh capital, BotsAndUs is targeting markets including Germany, France, Nordics, USA, and Canada and driving product development.