Caixa Capital Risc, the venture capital arm of Criteria Caixa, announces today that it has led Zinklar’s €5.5M ($5.7M) Series A funding round, alongside new investors including EASO Ventures, Full Global Investments and CDTI Innvierte. UK-based Beacon Capital also joined this round.
Founded in 2016 by Jordi Ferrer and Borja Ormaechea, Zinklar is a consumer research SaaS platform that connects brands to consumers. Zinklar’s insights automation platform provides critical information about consumer needs and preferences to improve businesses’ decision-making. Its intuitive interface taps into 140 million consumers in over 80 markets and offers in-depth understanding to develop meaningful segmentations, launch new products and services successfully, drive more effective advertising campaigns and grow brand value, among other uses.
Caixa Capital Risc is the lead investor with a €1.7m ($1.8M) ticket, following on from its 2017 investment which helped Zinklar accelerate its expansion, strengthen its commercial strategy and transform its product into a robust, scalable platform. A significant amount of this ticket comes from Criteria Venture Tech, a new Caixa Capital Risc investment fund. Zinklar has previously raised a total of €2.1M ($2.2M) in pre-seed, seed and bridge pre-Series A funding from Caixa Capital Risc, Inveready and Sabadell VC.
The Criteria Venture Tech fund, managed by Caixa Capital Risc, aims to invest in the most disruptive technology companies on the B2B market to improve efficiency and business performance. With a focus on Spanish and Portuguese companies, it offers initial tickets of €500,000 to €2M, ($523k – $2.1M) with the ability to follow-on up to €5M ($5.2M).
This funding will enable Zinklar to further enhance its software platform with more sophisticated analytical capabilities and automated solutions, grow the team and expand into key global markets, in particular the US. The company is targeting industries such as packaged goods, health, banking and telecoms. Major clients include Reckitt, Puig, Hershey’s, Panasonic, CaixaBank, The Body Shop, Bayer, Disney and AT&T.
“By leading this Series A funding, Caixa Capital Risc is thrilled to strengthen its four-year long relationship with Zinklar, with substantial investment from our new Criteria Venture Tech fund,” said Xavier Alvarez, managing director of Tech investments at Caixa Capital Risc. “Zinklar is a valued disruptive company endorsed by multinational clients from very diverse sectors. We strongly believe in its unique market research platform and in the management team’s vision to build a global leader in the consumer insights industry.”
This investment in Zinklar is aligned with the goals of Caixa Capital Risc to act as a long-term VC partner, investing in and supporting, from an early stage, the most innovative tech companies in Europe, with a focus on Spain and Portugal. Backed by the biggest Spanish holding company, Criteria Caixa, since 2007 Caixa Capital Risc’s tech department has invested in tech startups with strong innovation capabilities in cutting-edge B2B, SaaS and deeptech markets, including cybersecurity, and in emerging technologies such as edge computing, artificial intelligence, Big Data and fintech. Last investments include Barbara IoT, KIT-AR, Amelia and Build-38
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