EMEA Daily: Ankorstore Becomes Latest French Unicorn, Delivery Hero Sells $150M Share in Rappi

In today’s top Europe, Middle East and Africa news, French wholesale marketplace Ankorstore gets unicorn status and Germany’s Delivery Hero sells its $150 million share in Rappi.

Plus, McDonald’s pilots a loyalty scheme in the U.K., Standard Chartered is set to close about half of its branches in Nigeria and digital banking arrives in Turkey with new regulations.

Ankorstore Unicorn Status Increases Buzz Around France and Europe VC Ecosystems

Barely two weeks into 2022 and the French startup market is buzzing with venture-backed excitement. Paris-based marketplace Ankorstore announced Monday (Jan. 10) that it has raised a 250 million euro ($283 million) Series C funding round with a 1.75 billion euro valuation, giving France its second unicorn of 2022.

Led by U.S. venture capital firms Bond and Tiger Global, the round brings the firm’s total fundraising to 365 million euros ($412.8 million) since it was founded in November 2019.

Delivery Hero Sells $150M Share in Rappi

German food delivery giant Delivery Hero has sold a $150 million share of its ownership in Latin American delivery company Rappi, representing most of the investment it had made in the company, Reuters reported Monday (Jan. 10).

Delivery Hero is retaining about 8% of Rappi, which is valued at $400 million, and will instead focus on other investments with the money it makes from selling its Rappi shares over time.

Global HealthTech Sector Continues to Grab Investor Interest In 2022

Pandemic-induced extended lockdowns have forced people to seek alternative ways to access health services, triggering a boom in the use of technology and innovation in healthcare provision worldwide. As a direct result, investments in global health technology startups have skyrocketed since the onset of the pandemic, increasing 280% from 2016 levels to hit $51.3 billion in 2021.

UK Rewards Programs Increase as McDonald’s Pilots Loyalty Scheme

Loyalty and reward schemes are very popular with United Kingdom customers, and McDonald’s is the latest company to cash in on the growing trend.

Starting Monday (Jan. 10), the quick-service restaurant (QSR) giant will be piloting its MyMcDonald’s Rewards program in 10 restaurants across the North of England. The company plans to roll out the scheme to an additional 65 restaurants by the end of the month, and hopes to launch the program nationwide by the end of the year.

German Payments Startup Denario Raises $1.5M to Automate B2B Payments for SMBs

Berlin-based payments processor startup Denario has raised 1.3 million euros ($1.5 million) in a financing round, the company announced on Monday (Jan. 10). The German venture capital firm 468 Capital led the round, with participation from Presight Capital and MPGI.

Denario said the latest investment will be used to advance its automated software that allows businesses to do their financial processing without using traditional banking or financial administration tools.

Standard Chartered Emphasizing Digital With Nigerian Branch Closures

Standard Chartered will close about half of its Nigerian branches as the company emphasizes digital banking, Bloomberg reported Monday (Jan. 10), starting with some office closures in December and leaving the London lender with 13 branches when it’s done. That number is down from 25 across the west African country, according to a document seen by the news service.

Marks and Spencer Back on Top in UK Retail Race

Marks and Spencer has returned to its perch atop the U.K. retail landscape, in the process pushing its value to more than upstart fast-fashion retailer Boohoo and online rival Asos combined, two years after Boohoo found itself at the top of the heap for what turned out to be a short stay.

Marks and Spencer has upgraded its profit forecasts twice in the past year. Clive Black, an analyst at house broker Shore Capital, told the Financial Times that it may do so again when it updates investors this week.

Adding AI to the Construction Industry, Munich’s Conxai Raises $3M

Noting that the construction industry is one of the “least digitalized” industries, Munich-based Conxai has raised 2.7 million euros ($3 million) to harness artificial intelligence (AI) for the sector.

This is a part of its wider mission to help the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry use AI to capture piles of underutilized data and transform it into trillions of dollars in economic value.

Foodics Acquires POSRocket to Boost Payment, Supply Management

Saudi Arabia’s restaurant tech company Foodics on Monday (Jan. 10) acquired Middle East and Africa-based restaurant cloud technology platform POSRocket.

This acquisition will allow Foodics to consolidate the market and take a leadership position in Egypt, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. The deal also sets Foodics up to more mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity and international expansion, according to a Monday (Jan. 10) press release.

Digital Banking has Arrived in Turkey With New Regulations

New rules that govern digital banks in Turkey went into effect on Jan. 1, Mondaq.com reported. The regulations were designed as the long-awaited concept of branchless banking is becoming a new generation of banking in the country.

The Regulation on the Operation Principles of Digital Banks and Service Model Banking by the Banking Regulatory and Supervisory Authority was developed to determine the principles of branchless banking and service banking.

Deliveroo’s Restaurant Efforts Could Spell Trouble for Merchants on the Platform

U.K.-based food delivery company Deliveroo is entering the restaurant space, avowing that its goals are limited to this one location — but if the company’s ghost kitchen efforts are any indication, there could be more down the line.

Bank of England Probes Cloud Titans Over Banking Risks

The Bank of England’s (BoE) Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) wants to access more of the data from the top three companies that dominate cloud computing — Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud — as more financial services companies transfer their data to third-party services, Financial Times (FT) reported on Monday (Jan. 10).

Saudi’s Social Trading Platform Dawul Raises $5M

Dawul, the social trading platform, has raised $5 million led by RAED Ventures with participation from Impact46, Seedra Ventures, Derayah Venture and Sukna Ventures, the Saudi Arabia-based company announced Sunday (Jan. 9).

Established in 2020, the company was launched to assist novice investors seek automated ways to accomplish trades or follow professional traders, their portfolios and investment strategies.