1. Wolo, long-term rental startup, raises 1.5M€ 🏠🚀

Wolo is the rising star in the long-term rental universe and has just closed a 1.5 million euro investment round. The operation, led by Inderhabs, Farside Ventures, GVC Gaesco, and Relats, serves to take Wolo to the next milestone and consolidate its position in the real estate market 🔑.

Its CEO, Oriol Sanleandro, explains that this capital injection is a vote of confidence in the company's growth and results, which aims to exceed 100,000 managed rentals in the next 5 years 📆.

With a business figure that has doubled in the last year, and in a sector where others barely survive, Wolo flexes its muscles 💪🏼 promising maximum security and top-notch customer experience 🥇.

The company aspires to establish itself as a leader in long-term rentals with 2,000 formalized rentals in the last two years and maintaining a default rate that is close to 0% Boom! 🤯

👉🏻 Here you can read the news about the investment round for Wolo 💰.

👉🏻 Here to learn about Wolo, if you are thinking of renting out or renting a home or just out of curiosity 👀.

👉🏻 If you are thinking of launching a digital project 🚀 we can help you define your business model and develop it with the best User Experience and Technology. [Schedule an appointment with our experts here]📅 and one of our advisors 📲 will contact you to discuss your project.

2. Uber becomes a profitable company with earnings of 1,887M$ in 2023 🚗💸

After years adrift in the sea of losses, Uber announces that 2023 has been the year of change, with earnings that have raised alarms on Wall Street (the good alarms, the ones that sound like a Las Vegas casino 🎰). We are talking about 1,887 million dollars in net profit 🥳.

The recipe for success has been a 17% growth, raising its revenues to 37,281 million dollars; in addition, they do so sustainably as they have managed to string together three consecutive quarters of operating profit, something we have not seen since their IPO in 2019. 📈

The key has been robust and profitable growth, backed by an increase in global consumer activity 👛 and a larger and more committed consumer base than ever.

During the past year in this PreWeekend Digest, we have been discussing Uber's new lines of business and the changes introduced, such as the ability to order a ride on Uber through the phone ☎️ to bridge the gap with non-digitalized older profiles 🧓🏼, rides for teenagers 👱🏼‍♀️ with parental control, or how the global subscription with Uber One has been enhanced

🔔 by duplicating the pie of car trips and food delivery 🍟, maximizing each user's profitability.

Dara Khosrowshahi, its CEO, has said that they are more excited than ever about the pace of innovation and the great opportunities that lie ahead 😀; and rightly so, because in addition to celebrating the achievement, they have promised to return capital to the shareholders very soon 🏦👏.

👉🏻 Here to read the news about Uber's results and the profitability achieved in 2023 🔔.

👉🏻 Here is the article with some of the strategic changes introduced last year 👏🏼.

3. OpenAI enters Silicon Valley's elite with annual income of 2,000M$ 🤴🏻🌉.

OpenAI, the parent company behind ChatGPT, breaks through its growth ceiling and enters the big league with annual revenues exceeding 2,000 million dollars.

In this technological race 🚀, where only a few like Google and Meta had gone so far in their first ten years, OpenAI stands on the podium thanks to the generative AI revolution.

With 92% of Fortune 500 companies using its services, star products like ChatGPT and GPT-4 are redefining the tech landscape 🤖.

Despite the spectacular forecasts, OpenAI faces challenges from different fronts (and there are many):

🔎 Google: continues cautiously, but launches Gemini Ultra, its most powerful AI model.

📲 Meta: a direct competitor in the field of artificial intelligence, with generative on one hand and what they call General Intelligence on the other.

📦 Amazon: with significant investments in AI startups such as Anthropic.

🔭 xAI: Elon Musk's AI company with products like Grok.

☺️ Anthropic: an AI startup with investments from Google and Amazon.

🇫🇷 Mistral: the French company highlighted at the Davos Forum.

• *🇩🇪 Aleph Alpha**: a German company with investments from prominent figures in Europe.

🏢 Cohere: another interesting option in the enterprise-focused AI sector.

Can OpenAI stay at the top? For now, it leads, keeps growing, and has popularized the technology, but it is clearly not alone in this race to no. 1.

👉🏻 Here you can read the news about the annual income of OpenAI and its challenges for 2024.

4. Clone, the Foodtech revolution that brings the concept of Host Kitchens 🍳🤗.

Are you a lover of food and technology? We are, and a lot. Clone, the European Foodtech startup co-founded by Clément Benoît and Alexandre Haggai, has decided that it is time to brighten the Spanish market with its innovative proposal💡. Their specialty? Merging fine dining with high technology to transform the restaurant business, allowing restaurants to increase sales and profitability from the comfort of their kitchens👨‍🍳.

Clone is not just another guest in the delivery world, it is an actor that brings its own online brand and collaborates with chefs and influencers to create dishes that come out of restaurant kitchens, but marketed with another brand 100% focused on the delivery segment 🚪🛵.

With operations already underway in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Alicante, and more cities on its radar, Clone promises to expand the flavor of its success, already validated in France, the Netherlands, and Belgium🇪🇺.

Since its creation in 2021, this startup has raised more than 105 million euros in funding, collaborated with more than 1,000 partners and created 30 of its own brands. The result? A 700% 🆙 growth in just nine months, positioning it as one of the most vibrant startups in Europe 🙌🏼.

👉🏻 Learn more about Clone's landing in Spain here 🥘✨.

👉🏻 Here to see how Clone approaches this innovative change for the restaurant industry, offering more profitability without compromising the brand 🍽️👩🏻‍🍳.

5. IDFinance shakes up Fintech with 150M$ in funding to boost its Plazo app 📲💳.

ID Finance, the Barcelona-based Fintech with operations in Spain 🥘 and Mexico 🌮, has closed a financing round of 150 million dollars (approximately 139.75 million euros), led by i80 Group.

This financing, the largest in the company's history, will be used to expand Plazo, its financial wellness app. The operation reflects recognition 🤝🏼 of the achievements to date by ID Finance, which recorded consolidated revenues of 180M€ in 2023, with a year-on-year growth of 13% 📊.

With two main products, it is the Plazo app that will take the bulk of the investment to multiply its capabilities 👨🏻‍💻 and offer much more to the user. After starting as a platform for online approved microloans, they moved on to developing the Plazo app, focused on deferred payments and customer financing 💳.

IDFinance's plans include improving its product by offering new features 📲 and expanding its credit capacity, thereby being able to open up to new markets and broader, more inclusive user segments 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧.

One of the most powerful rounds seen in recent times in the national Fintech landscape. Congratulations! 🥂

👉🏻 Here to read the news about the 150M$ financing 👓.

👉🏻 Here to learn about IDFinance and its Plazo and MoneyMan products 🙋🏼‍♀️.

The week summarized in 5 key points about Startups and digital businesses that you should read before disconnecting (or not 🤓) this weekend: Wolo, Uber Profitable, AI momentum, Clone FoodTech, and Flip.