HTGF inks Smoope deal

The capital injection has been earmarked for new hires, setting up marketing and sales teams and for technical development.

Co-founder Eleftherios Hatziioannou was the first social media manager at Mercedes-Benz and has worked with several other brands on their digital presence.

HTGF invested from its second fund, a €304m vehicle. It typically provides start-ups with seed financing of €500,000 to take an idea from prototype to market launch, with the option to inject a further €2m growth capital in follow-on financing.

Company
Founded in October 2013 by Halil Mandal and Eleftherios Hatziioannou, Smoope (Smooth Operator) has developed a B2C messaging app. Employees work on a web app that can be used from any connected device, including laptops, tablets and smartphones, and can be integrated into existing business infrastructure, such as CRM tools.

More than 100 companies have signed up for the public beta version so far, which integrates secure technologies. The Stuttgart-headquartered company currently has four full-time employees.

People
Michael Wieser led the deal for HTGF.

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• Topics
• DACH
• Early-stage
• Technology
• Germany
• High-Tech Gründerfonds