July 6, 20:31

Skello raises €200 million to expand AI-powered workforce management in Europe

Skello, an artificial intelligence-based platform that helps businesses manage frontline employees, has secured investments of $200 million from the firm Bridgepoint. These funds are intended to accelerate the company's growth across Europe.

Financial Performance and Investors

The company achieved profitability in 2025 and is projected to exceed $50 million in annual recurring revenue in 2026. Existing investors, Partech and XAnge, participated in the round, reinvesting alongside the founding team.

Skello, headquartered in Paris, stated that the received funds will be directed towards developing future products, increasing geographical reach, and conducting selective acquisitions. The founders and management of Skello increased their stake in the company, which is unusual for rounds of this scale, given the strong financial results.

AI Platform Functionality

Skello's software is focused on frontline staff, who constitute the majority of workers in Europe. Many companies still create shift schedules manually or using outdated Excel spreadsheets. The Skello program allows managers to create schedules based on forecasts such as revenue, historical data, and available resources. Furthermore, employees can view schedules, request shift swaps, and clock in and out via a mobile application.

The most likely hiring areas include engineering, product development, and sales in Paris, Lille, and Barcelona. The company believes that acquiring smaller competitors is a key element of consolidation in the fragmented European workforce management market. The company emphasizes that it is raising capital not to cover daily expenses, but to strengthen its position from a profitable standpoint. The co-founders noted that the investment supports European expansion, AI investment, and long-term consolidation plans.

Demand for digital workforce management tools is growing as companies seek to modernize their frontline operations. Clients require tools that integrate scheduling, compliance, payroll, and workforce analytics into a single solution, which is what Skello offers. Bridgepoint views the European market as 'highly fragmented,' presenting significant opportunities for organic growth and acquisitions for established companies. Jean-Baptiste Salvin noted Skello's market leadership, calling it a 'fast-growing and well-differentiated business.'

business-standard.comJuly 6, 14:02

Sterlite Technologies raises ₹150 billion through QIP to fund growth

Sterlite Technologies Ltd, a broadband access technology company, announced on Monday that it has raised an amount of ₹150 billion through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP).

Objectives of the Fundraise

The main goals for using these funds are to reduce the company's debt burden and ensure financing for the next stage of its development. As part of the placement, 2.57 billion shares were allocated to qualified institutional buyers, totaling ₹150 billion.

Financial Changes

After the completion of the placement, the equity capital of Sterlite Technologies increased to ₹102.78 billion, which includes 51.39 billion shares.

Placement Participants

Both domestic and international investors participated in the QIP process. The company specified that participants included Motilal Oswal, Nomura, HSBC, Bank of India, Oxbow, Think Investments, Bandhan, and Manulife.

Capital Utilization Plan

According to the statement, the raised funds will primarily be directed towards significantly reducing the company's debt load, which will substantially strengthen its financial position. Furthermore, the capital will serve as a solid foundation to support the next phase of STL's growth.

Management Comments

STL Managing Director, Ankit Agarwal, expressed gratitude to the investors for their continuous support. He noted that attracting this capital demonstrates investor confidence in STL's vision and execution. These funds will be used to strengthen the balance sheet, advance the next stage of growth, and accelerate the mission to change the lives of billions by connecting the world.

ventureburn.comJuly 2, 21:12

LinqAlpha raises $22 million in Series A round to develop AI market analytics

LinqAlpha has successfully raised $22 million in a Series A funding round. These funds are earmarked to accelerate the growth of its artificial intelligence platform designed for institutional investors.

Investments and Partners

The round was supported by investors such as AVP, Atinum Investment, and GFT Ventures. Additionally, several strategic financial institutions and venture platforms from Europe, Asia, and the United States participated. The New York-based company develops what it calls the Alpha Intelligence Layer for global public markets.

Platform Functionality

The platform assists investment specialists in processing complex market information using specialized AI agents. With this new funding, LinqAlpha's total raised capital has increased to approximately $28.6 million.

History and Founders' Team

LinqAlpha was founded in 2022 by Jacob Choi, Subin Pang, Jin Kim, and Hodjun Choi. The founding team combines financial expertise with research in artificial intelligence. Among the founders are former Goldman Sachs analysts and MIT computer science graduates.

Application of AI Agents in Research

As public markets become increasingly interconnected, investors are forced to simultaneously track earnings reports, policy changes, supply chain events, credit markets, and social media signals. LinqAlpha believes that traditional analysis methods cannot keep up with such a growing volume of data. The platform allows investment teams to use AI agents trained on their own research history instead of relying on general language models. These agents then link new market events to previous investment ideas to generate relevant insights. One of the founders noted that the competitive advantage lies in identifying market-influencing signals even before they become widely known.

Client Base Expansion and Plans

Currently, the platform is used by over 70 financial institutions. Clients include research, trading, and sales teams at major investment banks. On the buying side, clients include Causeway Capital Management LLC and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC. The company initially started in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later operated between South Korea and the United States before establishing its headquarters in New York. During this period, the business also underwent two rebrandings before adopting the name LinqAlpha.

The new funding will allow the company to expand its international staff. Management also plans to strengthen integration with market and alternative datasets. Additional investments will be directed towards implementing equity, macroeconomics, credit, and multi-asset investment strategies.

AI Competitive Landscape

LinqAlpha is entering the competitive market of AI research platforms. Demand continues to grow as investment firms seek faster analysis without compromising their proprietary insights. According to Manish Agarwal, General Partner at AVP, many AI products focus on automating routine tasks or accelerating information retrieval. He believes that LinqAlpha helps investors find differentiated investment ideas through context-aware intelligence.

Competition remains significant, as large AI service providers have attracted significantly more funding in recent years. Nevertheless, LinqAlpha asserts that its specialized approach better meets the needs of institutional investors who seek bespoke analysis rather than standard AI outputs. Industry forecasts also point to continued expansion in financial AI, with growing adoption among banks, insurance companies, and asset managers expected to attract further investment in companies developing specialized corporate AI platforms. LinqAlpha's long-term success will likely depend on demonstrating measurable value to institutional clients operating in increasingly complex global markets.

business-standard.comJune 28, 11:27

Fintech company Progcap plans to raise $45 million in equity capital in fiscal year 2028

Fintech company Progcap intends to raise up to $45 million through a private placement of shares in the next fiscal year to support the expansion of SME lending operations. Co-founder of Progcap, Himanshu Chandra, told PTI that they plan a capital raising round through equity dilution. The amount could be between $40 and $45 million, depending on the company's valuation. The company, which obtained an NBFC license in 2022, demonstrates high growth in SME lending, especially among wholesalers and retailers. Progcap focuses on providing loans to retailers and wholesalers across 10 sectors and serves over 30,000 borrowers in 500 cities, including Tier II, III, and IV cities. Furthermore, the ProgShakti initiative has enabled the provision of over 10,000 crore rupees in loans to women entrepreneurs, with women constituting 17 percent of the company's total portfolio.