Glossary & definition­s

Here’s a guide to what we mean by different terms that you might come across on Dealroom globally.

Entities

Funded company

A company which has known backing from PEs, VCs, angels, grants, or is affiliated with an accelerator or university.

Startup

“A startup is a company designed to grow fast.” Paul Graham

The question of what a startup is, is a complex one. For a detailed approach, take a look at this article we wrote: What is a Startup?

In practical terms, at Dealroom, we qualify startups based on the following characteristics:

1. Rapidly scaling/scalable: as a result of #1, this means that the company can achieve high growth by leveraging its platform.
2. Founded after 1990
3. Innovative by design: the product and/or business model are innovative. In most cases, the company is tech-enabled: proprietary tech/software or business processes heavily enabled by tech.

In other words, a startup is a venture-backable company.

Scaleup

A scaleup in its growing phase (growing revenue and over 51 employees)

Corporate

A company that has reached the mature stage of its life cycle, through its development, expansion, or acquisition of other companies.

Investor

An entity or individual investing capital in companies (including investment funds (angel funds, VC. PE), Family offices, CVC, Corporates, Angels).

Service Provider

A company providing services to other companies on a project basis

People

Include angel investors, founders, and users.

Universities

Educational institutions.

Governments and Non-Profits

Government agencies and non-profit organisations.

New Funds

According to Investopedia: “An investment fund is a supply of capital belonging to numerous investors used to collectively purchase securities while each investor retains ownership and control of his own shares”.
At Dealroom, we keep track of some of the different types of funds: venture capital, private equity, growth equity, life sciences, renewables, and corporate. An illustrative example is the following:

Client Focus

B2B (Business)

Companies whose customers are mainly or only other businesses

B2C (Consumer)

Companies whose customers are mainly or only individual consumers

Business Model

eCommerce & Marketplace

A place connecting a buyer(s) and seller(s) where goods or services are bought, sold or exchanged

Manufacturing

The making of goods by hand or by machine that upon completion the business sells to a customer

SaaS

Software-as-a-Service, a method of software delivery and licensing in which software is accessed online via a subscription, rather than bought and installed on individual computers

Income Stream

Advertising

Monetary income that individuals and businesses earn from displaying paid advertisements on their websites, social media channels, or other platforms surrounding their internet-based content

Commission

Refers to fees earned in making a sale or closing a deal

Subscription

A periodic (monthly, quarterly or yearly) fee paid by the customer to access a service or product.
Websites with a pricing page are usually subscription-based.
Ex: SaaS businesses, membership fee.

Investor types 

Accelerators

Fixed-term, cohort-based programs that include seed investment, connections, sales, mentorship, educational components, and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day to accelerate growth.
Example: Y Combinator

Angels

Individuals who provide capital for a business start-up.
Example: Marc Benioff

Corporates

Large companies investing in startups, sometimes via a Corporate Venture Fund (CVC).
Example: Amazon.com

Venture capital (VC)

These are investment funds that manage the money of investors who seek private equity stakes in startups and small- to medium-sized enterprises with strong growth potential.
Example: LocalGlobe 

Private equity

Private equity funds more closely resemble venture capital firms in that they invest directly in companies, primarily by purchasing private companies, although they sometimes seek to acquire a controlling interest in publicly traded companies through stock purchases.
Example: KKR 

Family office

They are private wealth management advisory firms that serve ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) investors.
Example: Talis Capital

Government and non-profit

Example: European Investment Bank 

Advisor

It refers to investment banks and financial advisory firms that invest into startups.

Investment rounds types

Disclaimer: The following ranges are used to standardize rounds based on the funding amount. This approach is adopted in custom reports. As a result, the company’s self-reported round type could differ from the one entered using this standardization.

Industries and sub-industries

Energy

Startups working towards transitioning to sustainable energy, making our energy consumption greener and more efficient, and solutions for recycling and handling waste.
From energy-efficient buildings to AI-powered smart meters to enterprise-grade solutions for solar and wind power, renewable energies and storage are a few examples.

Fashion

Technology that enables a fashion experience when you wear it or interact with it

Fintech

Fintech is the intersection between finance and technology. The following categorization is constantly evolving to keep up with the sector evolution. ABN AMRO Ventures, our main partner for Fintech and a leading Fintech CVC also contributed to this taxonomy. This taxonomy is also reflected on the fintech platform.

The fintech industry in Dealroom is broken down into the 8 sub-industries below:

Food

FoodTech is an ecosystem made of all the agrifood entrepreneurs and startups (from production to distribution) innovating on the products, distribution, marketing or business model.

Gaming

Startups involved in the development, marketing, and monetisation of games (video games, online games, board games…)

Health

Health Tech, or digital health, uses technology (databases, applications, mobiles, wearables) to improve the delivery, payment, and/or consumption of care, with the ability to increase the development and commercialisation of medicinal products

Transportation

Startups developing solutions, software, tools and machines used to solve problems or improve conditions with respect to the movement of people and goods

Insurance

What is Insuretech?

Insurance is a complex industry, therefore it’s recommended to view The State of European Insurtech which gives a good overview of Insurtech.

Insurtech is the intersection between insurance and technology. Insurance as an industry touches many other sectors mobility and real estate (car and home insurance), health (health insurance) etc, for a basic overview see Insurance ecosystems. This does not mean that every startup in telemedicine which works with an insurance company or a generic enterprise software solution used also by insurers are considered insurtech. Insurtech need to have a predominant part of their business strictly related to insurance, also just offering insurance as part of a marketplace does not make them insurtechs.

A good example is the distinction between Alan and players such as Kry. Both offer telemedicine services, but Alan does that coming from health insurance and adds those services as add ons and expansion of their offer, while Kry is a telemedicine provider which partners with insurers. Alan is, therefore, an insurtech and tagged under insurance in fintech, while Kry is not. For startups related to insurance but that are not insurtech there is a tag “Insurtech related”, this is only indicative and used mainly to highlight startups that have already disclosed partnerships with the insurance/insurtech industry.

The insurance value chain is complex and the industry has its own jargon. The basic insurance value chain is shown in the image below.
Reinsurers, like SwissRe, have the role of transferring risk from the insurers, they are basically the insurers of the insurers. Insurers are the ones who carry the risk and are therefore referred also as carriers.

Insurtech division by value chain:

The main processes involved in insurance are reinsurance, product & pricing, underwriting, distribution & brokerage, claim management.

• Reinsurance: these startups focus on optimizing reinsurance processes or acting as a bridge between reinsurers and insurers/insurtechs. For instance, acting as risk transfer marketplaces. Examples: Nayms, RYSKEX.

• For an overview of startups working on product & pricing, underwriting and claim management visit this landscape. These startups offer SaaS to insurance companies to improve these key processes.

• Insurtech product and price: these startups help insurance companies optimize the definition of their products and their pricing, often enhancing the role of actuaries in the insurance industry. Examples: Akur8, Quantemplate.

• Insurtech underwriting: underwriting is the process in which the insurance companies evaluates the risk profiles of the customer and decide if to establish a contract with him and which is the level of risk of the client. The process is highly data-driven and requires also to detect potential frauds. Examples: Concirrus, Cytora.

• Insurtech claim: the claim is a process that goes from the notification of a loss from the client to the analysis of its validity and entity of the damage and its internal workflow processing. Startups in this field offer either workflow management solutions for the claims handling or solutions based on IoT, computer vision, satellite imagery etc to assess the claim remotely and automatically. Example: Omni:us, Tractable.

• Insurtech distribution and brokerage: startups with this tag offer either solutions to improve the distribution process to insurers, or act as marketplaces, comparator websites and brokers selling policies themselves. Example: Xempus, Gocompare, Clark
  A very important trend in distribution is Embedded insurance, more in this landscape.

• MGA: Managing General Agent or Managing General Underwriter (MGA/MGU) are startups that do not have an insurance carrier license, so are not insurers, but establish partnerships with insurers/insurtechs who are licensed and give them the permission to carry the risk. So MGAs act in front of the customer as full insurers while not being it. Example: Bought by Many, Luko, Inshur.
  This is a rather difficult distinction to make, also startups often transition from being just distributors to acting as MGAs and then as full insurers as discussed in the upcoming insurtech report. This landscape elaborates this transition more in-depth.

• Challenger insurance: challenger insurance refers to the insurtech startups which have a license and are so independent to create products and underwrite risk for clients. Example: Lemonade, Alan, Root insurance.

• Full stack insurance: refers to insurtech who as the challengers have a license and cover the whole value chain but do not sell directly to customers or businesses but provide insurance as a service (IaaS) and white-label solutions to other players which then offer the insurance service. Example: Element Insurance, Qover.

Insurtech division by sector:

Insurance is primarily divided into two branches: Life and Health (L&H) and Product and Casualty (P&C).

L&H insurance (LandH insurance) is composed of Health and Life and Annuity (L&A).

• Health insurance: insurance segment which covers medical expenses and increasingly includes additional services such as digital platforms (telemedicine and other services) and digital health engaging and rewarding for a healthy lifestyle. Example: Alan, Dacadoo, YAS.life

• Life insurance: insurance segment which provides a financial payout in case of death, or critical illness in some cases, to allow beloved to sustain living expenses in case of tragedies. Sometimes mixed with pension insurance and savings products. Example: Bestow, Xempus, DeadHappy

• Pension insurance: insurance segment which provides savings products with a certain guaranteed return. Example: Vantik, Brand New Day
  More about life and pension insurance in this landscape.

P&C insurance (PandC insurance) covers losses in the form of damages to assets. It is composed of several segments usually divided into Commercial lines (B2B) such as: general commercial insurance (liability etc), cyber insurance, property insurance and Personal Lines (B2C) such as car insurance, house insurance, pet insurance, product insurance.

• House and property insurance: insurance segment which covers damages to properties such as private houses and commercial buildings, including solutions for underwriting and claims management such as mobile, drone or satellite image capture and analytics. It includes also insurance of objects inside the house, rental insurance and title insurance. A more granular subdivision can be found in this landscape. Example: Luko, Urban Jungle, Hippo insurance, Hover, Cape analytics

• Climate risk: indicates insurance services related to weather and climate events such as wildfires, floods, hurricanes, often referred to as Catastrophe insurance. It includes also farming insurance which can be filtered with the food industry. Example: Floodflash, Wetterheld, Pula advisor, Understory

• Parametric insurance: refers to insurance products where the premium and payout is automatically calculated based on index parameters, when the parameters reach a certain level (such as water depth or wind speed) it triggers the payments. The claim process is therefore automatic and transparent. It has been mostly been applied to the Catastrophe industry, but other applications include cyber&business continuity, cargo transport etc. More in this landscape. Example: Floodflash, Exante, Parsyl, Previsico

• Car insurance: insurance segments for car vehicles, includes also telematics solutions for insurance
  Example: Prima.it, Snapsheet, Concirrus, Marshmallow, By miles, Root insurance,
  Vehicle insurance: adjacent sectors to car insurance such as Ridesharing and food delivery (Example: Zego), truck insurance (Example: HVDI), bike insurance (Example: Laka), drone insurance (Example: flock)

• Product insurance: insurance segments covering product warranties, strongly related to e-commerce and retail. Example: Simplesurance, Extend

• Cyber insurance: insurance that covers damages from cyber attacks, mostly for businesses. It sees many cybersecurity specialists establishing partnerships with insurtech/insurers. Example: Coalition, Kovrr, Cybersmart. It includes also solutions for crypto assets and other digital assets. Example: Nayms, Coincover.

• Commercial insurance: includes insurance covers such as General Liability, Workers’ Compensation, Professional Liability, Commercial Auto, Tools & Equipment for businesses (especially SMEs, freelancers, contractors, entrepreneurs). Example: Next insurance, Pie Insurance, InsureQ, Tapoly

• Travel insurance: it is composed of either products more related to P&C lines such as flight delay and luggage damages/loss and related to L&H such as medical coverage during travel abroad. Example: Battleface, Koala insurance

• Pet insurance: insurance products for pet ownership, can include veterinarian and health coverage as well as liability insurance. Example: BoughtbyMany, Pawlicy Advisor

Real Estate

Real Estate tech or PropTech (property technology) is the use of information technology to help individuals and companies research, buy, sell and manage real estate.

Marketing

Marketing technology (also known as MarTech) describes any number of systems and tools that help marketers better engage with potential and existing customers.

Media

Media technology is any hardware, software, or tool that is used to compose, create, produce, deliver and manage media including audio, video, images, information, interactive media, video games, virtual reality, and augmented reality environments.

Other Industries

Jobs Recruitment

Startups developing solutions, services & software designed to improve the recruitment process within a business or for individuals seeking a job.

Home Living

Startups developing products and services improving the comfort of homes. It includes home automation or domotics, smart home tech, garden tech, connected devices to be used inside the home.

Telecom

Startups developing solutions aiming at disrupting the telecommunications industry: startups offering mobile plans, internet subscriptions, better communication services.

Education

Startups developing solutions, software and tools designed to enhance teacher-led learning in classrooms and improve students’ education outcomes.

Enterprise Software

Startups developing computer software designed to satisfy the needs of an organisation rather than individual users.

Robotics

Startups dealing with the design, construction, operation, and use of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.

Dating

Startups developing apps, solutions and technology for the dating industry (Tinder, online dating, facilitating people to meet with a potential partner).

Event Tech

Startups developing solutions and technologies helping you plan, manage and organise data when putting on an event (conference, wedding, party, etc).

Semiconductors

Startups developing innovative semiconductors (chips), working on processors, chips for sensors, chips for the automotive sector, AI chips, IoT chips, data centre chips.

Wellness Beauty

Startups providing consumers with products and services designed to improve mental and physical wellbeing

Startups using technology to make better shampoos, makeup accessories, perfume and beauty products in general.

Kids

Startups developing products, solutions and tech for children or to help parents with their children

Music

Startups developing products, solutions and tech-related to music, streaming music, musical instruments, musical equipment, discovering music, music apps, music creation.

Hosting

Startups developing solutions for housing, serving, and maintaining files and data online or offline.

Technologies

• Deep Tech (check out our Deep Tech report for a more detailed definition)
• Artificial Intelligence
  • Machine learning
  • Computer vision
  • Natural Language Processing
• 3D
• IoT
• NanoTech
• Blockchain
• Hardware
• Mobile App
• Big Data
• Augmented Reality
• Virtual Reality
• Autonomous & Sensor Tech
• Connected Device
• Recognition Technology
• Quantum Technology

Tags

The 200 most used tags on Dealroom are:

Outside tech: tag used to identify traditional companies, for example: https://app.dealroom.co/companies/alegria (beer producer)

Impact startups

What is an impact startup?

For the Impact & Innovation database, we consider an impact startup to be a company that is addressing one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)[1]. So far we have manually classified over +14,000 startups using this framework.

How do you label impact startups?

We employed a set of keywords to filter dealroom’s startups for affinity with the SDGs[2]. Then, we reviewed startups’ public disclosed information, such as business model, mission statement, and case studies to assess their SDGs focus.

Is climate tech part of your taxonomy?

We share PwC’s definition of climate tech as “a broad set of sectors which tackle the challenge of decarbonizing the global economy”[3]. As a result, climate tech companies can be found using the “climate tech” tag, for example, check this query.
In dealroom, companies tackling any of the following SDGs: clean water and sanitation (#6), affordable and clean energy (#7), responsible consumption and production (#12), climate action (#13) life below water (#14), life on land (#15) would also qualify as a “climate tech” startup. As a result, the ” climate tech” tag is attributed automatically to those companies.

How do you tackle greenwashing?

We are aware of the constraints of the above-mentioned approach. In fact, there are clear limitations on the quantity and quality of publicly available information of often small and private companies. Therefore, this impact categorization is an ongoing process and a company’s taxonomy might be subject to change.

What do Core and Side mean?

Additionally, we differentiate between impact startups that have impact at the ‘core’ of their business model and the ones that have it as a ‘side’ or peripheral focus[4]. The aim of this distinction is to make it easier for the user to identify and distinguish between companies that are purely mission-driven e.g. The Ocean Cleanup and others, like Tier Mobility, that creates positive externalities in an indirect way. Core-focused companies are not necessarily creating more impact compared to side-focus companies. This would depend on a variety of factors, such as their market sizes and reach.

Can a company tackle multiple SDGs at the same time?

Yes, a company can address more than one SDG at the same time e.g. Affordable and Clean Energy (#7) and Industry, Innovation and infrastructure (#9).

Is impact the same as tech for good, social impact and purpose-driven tech?

Purpose-driven startups, responsible tech, social impact, tech for good are other terms[5] that are also used to describe the space where a company is aiming to create a positive impact beyond just financial returns.

What about Environmental Social Governance (ESG) criteria?

Environmental Social Governance (ESG) criteria are a set of non-financial standards used to evaluate companies according to metrics like CO2 emissions, employee relations, and conflicts of interest.[6] Impact startups go a step further compared to ESG companies, not only they do not operate in industries like tobacco, weapons but they try to create a positive impact on the planet and its people.

What is an Impact VC?

Here, Impact VCs have been selected through a mix of criteria that include: the self-reported mission statement of the investor; an investor having a dedicated fund for impact or diversity; the investor having a specific focus on underrepresented founders. However, as impact investments now make up a significant proportion of all investments, the line between impact and non-impact VCs is blurring. Impact VCs now frequently co-invest with established VC funds, making more capital and expertise available to impact startups than ever before.

[1] https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
[2] All the keywords are listed in the appendix.
[3] See p6, https://pwc.to/3kjlb07
[4] A similar approach was employed in the 2019 State of European Tech
[5] For example, see https://www.slush.org/entrepreneurship-redefined/purpose-driven-change/
[6] For a more comprehensive overview see: https://www.investopedia.com/financial-advisor/esg-sri-impact-investing-explaining-difference-clients/

Filters by Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)

No Poverty #1

• Description: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Extreme poverty, unbanked, disaster prevention, microlending

Zero Hunger #2

• Description: End hunger, achieve food security, and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Food security, vertical farming, poor nutrition, permaculture

Good Health and Well-being #3

• Description: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Prenatal care, road safety, telemedicine, contraception, antimicrobial resistance, elderly care

Quality Education #4

• Description: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Universal primary education, equal education

Gender Equality #5

• Description: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: AI measuring bias, reproductive rights, female health, non-binary

Clean Water and Sanitation #6

• Description: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Safe water, wastewater treatment, water-saving, desalination

Affordable and Clean Energy #7

• Description: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Solar energy, wind energy, tidal power, hydrogen, off-grid

Decent work and economic growth #8

• Description: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Gender pay gap, equal pay, inclusive employment, fair trade

Industry, Innovation and infrastructure #9

• Description: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Sustainable industrialization, universal access to technology, inclusive industrialization

Reduced inequalities #10

• Description: Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Safe migration, refugees integration, racial discrimination

Sustainable Cities and communities #11

• Description: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Air quality measurement, urban waste reduction, affordable housing

Responsible consumption and Production #12

• Description: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Food waste, sustainable fashion, circular, sustainable materials

Climate Action #13

• Description: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Carbon capture, carbon offset, climate tech, alternative protein

Life below Water #14

• Description: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Marine conservation, seafood substitutes, overfishing, plastic pollution

Life on Land #15

• Description: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Forestry, biodiversity, wildfires

Peace, justice and strong institutions #16

• Description: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: Govtech, digital democracy, corruption prevention

Partnerships #17

• Description: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
• Selected dealroom’s keywords: SDG partnership, impact partnership

Additional terminology

Unicorn

Companies founded since 1990 that reached USD $1 billion valuation. Also includes companies that have since dropped below the $1B mark after going public.

Sometimes represented as EUR 800M, which is a rounded version of USD 1B.

You can read here the detailed Unicorn Taxonomy in Dealroom.

Future unicorn

Fast-growing companies with valuations between USD $250M-$1B

Sometimes represented as EUR 200-800M, which is a rounded version of USD 250-1B.

Some queries, like the ones present in European Startups, are tailored towards more ‘recent’ future unicorns. In fact, the ‘last funding year minimum’ filter is also applied on top of the valuation range. They also exclude acquired and public owned companies.

Zebra

“These are companies that, instead of seeking to blitz-scale their way to market dominance, fuelled by multiple venture capital fundraising rounds, prioritise profitability. Zebras also tend to be focused on equitable ownership and building sustainable businesses, and they seek to create a positive social impact, for example by providing solutions for underserved markets or prioritising employee happiness” (Source).

Founder ranking

We have created an algorithm to determine the propensity for success of startup and scaleup founders. You can apply these filters in the Advanced filters section of the Startups & scaleups tab or the New startups tab.

• Exceptional founders and Strong founders have a proven track record for success – they may have founded another successful startup, held a high position and/or have a strong educational background.
• Promising founders often have a strong educational background as well as work experience at a notable company.

Funding rounds

Excludes Grant rounds and rounds for companies with an “outside tech” model

Exit

An exit occurs when an investor decides to liquidate their stake in a company. In Dealroom, Exits are a subset of all transactions, grouped in a specific Exits tab. Buyouts, M&A, secondary rounds, and IPOs are treated as exits.

Ecosystem value

Sum of the valuations of all startups in the ecosystem. Using estimated valuations based on most recent VC rounds, public markets and publically disclosed valuations.

Snowball effect/ Startup Mafia/ Founder Factories

Early tech ecosystem success not only creates value and belief for a community but breeds a generation of operators who know how to start and scale successful businesses, who have the right network and at times the exit capital to start their next venture. It starts a snowball effect of success. Most famously in the US, the founder and first-hire alumni of the “PayPal Mafia” went on to found Tesla, LinkedIn, Palantir, SpaceX, Square, Slide, Kiva, YouTube, Yelp, and Yammer. Others would go on to invest in countless West Coast success stories, including PayPal founder Peter Thiel, who invested in Facebook when it still had a ‘the’. These are the European Startup Mafias. The training grounds that became the founder factories fuelling the European startup ecosystem. Check this landscape for some examples.