MariaDB, based in Redwood City, California, and Helsinki, is the company behind the enterprise open source database used by over 75% of Fortune 500 organizations.

The $25M funding round will be used to accelerate MariaDB’s customizable and cloud-vendor agnostic database-as-a-service, labelled MariaDB SkySQL, to more quickly support the growing demands for cloud databases.

“MariaDB has become a household name in the IT industry,” said Per Roman, Co-founder and Managing Partner at GP Bullhound. ”We have been particularly interested in its focus on bringing the flexibility, security and stability of MariaDB to the cloud. That’s why we’re excited to invest in MariaDB as we see enormous opportunities for their SkySQL product.”

GP Bullhound joins the round as the only new investor, proving its role as a value-added partner with capabilities to support MariaDB through its lifecycle.

GP Bullhound is investing from GP Bullhound Fund V that recently had its first close of €125M focusing on growth-stage businesses in the software industry. The fund follows the successful strategy of its predecessor funds that have invested in companies such as Slack, Klarna, Unity, RavenPack and Believe.

Enquiries
For enquiries, please contact:
Per Roman, Managing Partner, per@gpbullhound.com
Joakim Dal, Partner, joakim.dal@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com.

Using Playtomic, players can reserve courts, find other players with similar skill levels, and join a social sports community dedicated to learning. With Playtomic, sports clubs can also optimise the use of their facilities and step into the digital age.

This capital injection gives the company additional financial muscle to grow, through both acquisitions and product development.

Pedro Clavería, Playtomic’s Co-CEO, commented: “We are honoured by the confidence that our main owners show us by continuing to invest in Playtomic. My team is now working with high intensity and evaluating exciting acquisitions both inside and outside Europe. Padel is and remains a very popular sport all over the world, and we now have the opportunity to help all sportspersons get the most out of this sport.”

Per Roman, Managing Partner of GP Bullhound, said: “We are proud to continue supporting the extraordinary entrepreneurs that are Pedro Clavería, Pablo Carro and Felix Ruiz. We are pleased to stand behind them and provide support through our capital as well as our global network and knowledge, to help Playtomic continue in its expansion, on its mission to take over the world of sports bookings.”

Henrik Persson Ekdahl, Partner at Optimizer Invest, added: “We see enormous potential in Playtomic and are convinced that exciting times await the company. Although Covid-19 puts many social sports activities on pause right now, we know how great the need will be to play racket sports once this is over. We now make sure to support the company with both capital and network, so that Playtomic can be at the top of its game when it’s time to play matches again.”

GP Bullhound is investing in Playtomic through GP Bullhound Fund IV SCSp, which focuses on growth stage business in the software, digital media, marketplaces and fintech sectors. Recent investments include Revolut, Slack, Klarna, Unity, RavenPack and Believe.

Enquiries
For enquiries, please contact: Per Roman, Managing Partner per.roman@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com.

Monocl is currently working with some of the largest companies in the industry including Pfizer, Novartis, Takeda, AstraZeneca and ThermoFisher Scientific. External stakeholders are critical in all phases of development of drugs and products. Monocl enables industry professionals to target and engage opinion leaders, physicians and scientists in a completely new way that streamlines development cycles, increases efficiency and boosts profitably.

The funding will be used to expand Monocl’s US presence, including opening the US Headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. The investment will also be used to grow and expand sales, marketing, customer success and product development teams in targeted markets.

Björn Carlsson, CEO and co-founder of Monocl commented: “We are excited to bring GP Bullhound onboard. This investment round was not planned, but the timing of it is perfect in light of our US expansion and with my relocation to the US this August. Their experience and demonstrated track record will be of great value for us in our continued pursuit to profile and connect all stakeholders in life sciences through software.”

Joakim Dal, Partner at GP Bullhound, said: “Since we first spoke to Björn last year, Monocl has been on our minds. Monocl is able to translate a process that would take two to three weeks into minutes while at the same time providing up-to-date access to data.”

GP Bullhound Fund IV, which makes the investment in Monocl, last week held its final close at 113 million EUR. Its strategy is to invest in some of the best technology companies and technology entrepreneurs. Recent investments include Slack, Klarna, Tradeshift, Glovo and LendInvest.

Enquiries
For enquiries, please contact:
Joakim Dal, Partner, at joakim.dal@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com, or follow on Twitter @GPBullhound.

The report published today by technology advisory and investment firm GP Bullhound, Autotech: The Mother of All Tech Battles, reveals M&A activity in autotech across Europe, Asia and North America has steadily increased in the last few years, reaching a record 166 transactions in 2018, up from 140 the previous year.

The new report also reveals that technology giants such as Google, Intel, Tesla and Uber are challenging established automotive firms when it comes to innovation in autonomous driving, connected cars, electric vehicles, and shared mobility solutions.

With Tesla on track to outsell both BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the US and several global automakers issuing recent profit warnings, the automotive industry is facing unprecedented disruption from emerging and established technology firms keen for a slice of the action.

How can Europe’s autotech firms achieve scale in order to compete with the biggest players in the industry? Which established and emerging companies are currently disrupting the sector? Who might win, or lose, in the battle between global tech giants and the traditional automobile manufacturers?

Enquiries
For any enquiry, please contact:
Sven Raeymaekers, Partner, at sven.raeymaekers@gpbullhound.com
Guillaume Bonneton, Partner, at guillaume.bonneton@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com, or follow on Twitter @GPBullhound

From the moment that Karl Benz built the first petrol-powered internal combustion engine automobile in Mannheim in 1885, Das Auto has transformed global economies, shaped entire societies and tested the limits of engineering time and time again. But more than 100 years after the petrol powered car passed go for the first time, stress fractures are starting to appear.

The multi-trillion-dollar industry is facing unprecedented change across a number of fronts and over the next 10-15 years, four trends are set to converge and potentially change the industry forever: Electrification, autonomous driving, shared mobility, and connected experiences. In this new world, car makers are confronted with a myriad of challenges and the automotive industry is facing unprecedented disruption from emerging and established technology firms keen for a slice of the action.

The report highlights Spotify’s exceptional growth in premium subscriptions and continuing expansion into emerging markets.

As well as drawing on current data on revenue, subscriptions, and operational expenditure, we have created detailed projection of Spotify’s growth in earnings, users, and advertising revenues.

Disclaimer: GP Bullhound Sidecar III is an investor in Spotify. GP Bullhound is not or has not been engaged as an advisor to or received compensation from Spotify.

Since the dawn of eCommerce and online payments, credit cards have been the dominating payment type used by consumers around the globe. What we are seeing now is a shift toward alternative payment services, where the credit card networks in some cases are sidestepped and excluded from the transaction. As a result of this, alternative payments as a group are forecast to account for close to 60% of the total online transaction value by 2017 – up from 43% in 2012.

Our research covers the main technologies and aims to give a comprehensive overview of this diverse landscape. We will also present our views on key trends and themes in the industry and what implications this might hold for the future.