It has been more than ten years since the world faced the looming threat of a prolonged recession, and it has been several decades since any investor or entrepreneur had to grapple with persistently high inflation. The past year, therefore, was one of the most challenging years in recent memory for the venture capital ecosystems on either side of the Atlantic.

And yet, these moments of turbulence continue to remind us at Beringea about the enduring resilience, adaptability, and creativity of entrepreneurs. We believe it is our duty as an investor to help these inspirational people build great businesses, in good times or in bad.

Reflecting on 2022, the entrepreneurs backed by Beringea have continued to show their ability to drive successful outcomes, from exits to significant funding rounds, while the businesses that newly joined our U.K. and U.S. portfolios have shown a similar resilience in closing major investments in a turbulent economy.

We’re proud to share the significant milestones met in 2022 across our U.K. and U.S. portfolios:

Joining the portfolio in 2022

In spite of the wider market turbulence, our investment teams in the U.K. and the U.S. found opportunities to back an impressive cohort of companies with the resilience and innovation required to thrive during any potential downturn.

New additions to our U.K. and U.S. portfolios in 2022 included:

• Genomenon: In March, Beringea U.S. led a $20 million Series B round in Genomenon, an artificial intelligence-driven genomics company, to fuel continued growth in pharmaceutical and clinical diagnostic markets.
• Rush ReCommerce: Beringea U.S. led a $12.9 million Series A funding round in Rush ReCommerce, a recommerce software and service provider, in July.
• CGHero: Beringea U.K. led a $5.2 million investment in this platform for sourcing and managing CGI and VFX talent.
• YardLink: This marketplace, used by builders and construction firms to source and rent equipment, secured a $17.5 million Series A funding round led by Beringea U.K.
• WiredScore: Beringea U.K. led a $15 million Series B investment round for this company setting the global standard for technology in the built world.
• Chattermill: This platform for analyzing millions of online interactions between a company and its customers secured a $26 million Series B funding round led by Beringea U.K.
• Lucky Saint: Beringea U.K. led a £10 million investment into this brewer of a superior alcohol-free lager.
• Gorilla: Beringea U.K. led a €6 million Series A funding round for this cloud-based data processing platform for energy and utility companies.
  

Late in 2022, Beringea U.K. added three new companies to its portfolio which we have yet to announce, so watch this space!

Continuing to deliver stellar exits, including:

• Blis is the advertising technology company that uses location and demographic data to define digital audiences, without relying on personal data. Beringea U.K. initially backed the business in 2008, before investing alongside Beringea’s U.S. funds in 2012. Beringea U.K. and Beringea U.S. completed an exit from Blis following a buyout by LDC.
• Zoovu, the AI-powered discovery platform for e-commerce, which joined the Beringea U.K. portfolio in 2017, successfully raised $169 million Series C led by FTV Capital. As part of the round, Beringea U.K. completed a partial exit from the company. The new funds raised by Zoovu will be used to build out the company's go-to-market strategy and its team in the U.S. market.

Portfolio highlights: Landmark funding rounds, our inaugural CEO retreat and the latest from the Beringea Scale-Up Academy

A number of companies across our U.K. and U.S. portfolios secured substantial follow-on rounds that we were pleased to support, including:

• dscout raised $70 million in its Series C
• Delphinus secured a $30 million Series D
• Papier closed a $50 million Series C
• CreativeX raised a $25 million Series B
  

Beringea hosted its first-ever Beringea Portfolio CEO Retreat in September. We were joined by more than 30 CEOs and founders across our UK and U.S. portfolios for a 24-hour getaway at Soho Farmhouse. Sponsored by Stripe, Zendesk, and Finatal, the retreat provided a space for the Beringea portfolio CEOs to share the personal challenges that they face as leaders today. Hearing from experienced investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs, attendees considered how to build resilience throughout their businesses, and adapt to the challenging economic picture unfolding in 2022.

The turbulence of 2022 ensured a lively roster of topics for the Beringea Scale-Up Academy. We hosted twelve sessions alongside leading industry experts on topics ranging from harnessing the power of influencers to pricing in an inflationary environment. Management teams from across the UK, Europe and the U.S. joined us to discover, debate and share thoughts on these subjects, and as in previous years, this forum has proven highly effective at unlocking and sharing the invaluable collective knowledge of the Beringea portfolio.

News from Beringea HQ

• In 2022, we were pleased to welcome new investment team members Ben Bernstein, Piotr Bukanski, and Jodie Miller and celebrated the promotions of Bill Blake to Partner, Eyal Malinger to Partner, Maria Wagner to Partner, and Vanessa Evanson-Goddard to Partner and General Counsel.
• We’re delighted to continue our leadership of the internationally-acclaimed ESG_VC, which has grown into a community of more than 175 VC firms across the UK, U.S., and Europe. Together, we work to help early-stage companies measure and improve their ESG performance. This has generated valuable data and benchmarks for the industry; our annual report from 2022, which we published in partnership with the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, shares lots of those great insights!

For information, please visit beringea.com. If you would like to know more about our U.S. investment activities, please email info@beringea.com and contact us at info@beringea.co.uk for our U.K. investment team.

In the United States of America, Beringea operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor, Beringea, LLC. This communication is intended solely to provide information regarding Beringea’s potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies and does not constitute an offer of investment management or investment advisory services by Beringea or any of its affiliates.