Zurich-based Qendra has secured €162,000 (CHF 150,000) in funding from Venture Kick to advance the development of its control systems for quantum computing experiments. Founded by Martin Stadler (CEO), Ferdinand Felder (COO), and Chidzahi Mabritto (Deputy CTO), the company builds on technology developed at ETH Zurich within the Trapped Ion Quantum Information group. The team combines expertise in quantum physics, engineering, and system design to deliver advanced control solutions for quantum laboratories. Quantum computing is widely expected to impact areas such as drug discovery, logistics, and climate modelling. However, leading hardware approaches, including trapped-ion and neutral-atom platforms, depend on intricate experimental environments that are difficult to manage. These systems require precise coordination of lasers, cameras, and other components, often relying on highly specialised solutions that limit scalability and operational reliability. Qendra addresses this challenge by developing a dedicated control system that connects classical hardware with quantum operations. Its platform is designed to synchronise and manage multiple experimental components, from signal generation to overall system orchestration. By enabling faster setup times and maintaining high precision, the technology aims to improve experimental efficiency and support the scaling of quantum computing infrastructure. Commenting on the funding, co-founder Martin Stadler noted that Venture Kick played a key role in supporting the transition from academic research to a commercially oriented startup, helping to define the company’s business model, go-to-market strategy, and development roadmap. The funding will enable Qendra to implement its intellectual property strategy to ensure long-term operational freedom, while also supporting customer conversion and expansion plans in the coming years.

Spacetech investor Seraphim Space is looking to raise up to £350m, it said today, as it seeks to tap into the current fervour around the spacetech sector. The London-listed investment trust heralded the raise as “one of the most significant equity raises by a UK‑listed investment trust” and “one of the very few sizeable fundraisings in the listed growth and technology space”. Its plans come ahead of the expected bumper IPO of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and growing excitement around the spacetech sector. The investment trust, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 and is managed by Seraphim Space, said: “Spacetech is the backbone of the next wave of global megatrends, offering a compelling investment opportunity. The spacetech market is now at a critical inflection point. Recent developments have caused a significant cost reduction in access to space, with lower satellite and launch costs – there are few parts of the global economy that will be unaffected by space.” The investor will look to raise the funds by issuing a new set of shares, which will allow it to raise funds without diluting the value of shares of existing shareholders. Seraphim Space has invested in 45 Spacetech companies, including nine unicorns, 5 IPOs and one trade sale. Seraphim Space said it intends to invest in companies that have come through its accelerator programme or venture fund, existing portfolio startups, and new spacetech startups. Earlier this year, Seraphim Space exceeded $100m at the close of its latest fund. Image: NASA on Unsplash.

Today, research released by global VC firm Antler highlights that a new generation of founders is reshaping European tech — younger, more mobile, and thriving under the pressure of the AI era. Drawn from a study of its European portfolio of more than 400 startups, the data characterises founders as defined by international mobility, early high performance, and a relentless drive to build faster than ever before. Across 30 cities worldwide — including New York, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Bangalore, Singapore, Seoul, and Sydney — Antler helps founders remove barriers to building by connecting them with world-class peers, validating their business models, and providing initial capital. To date, Antler has backed more than 1,500 startups globally, including Airalo, Peec.AI, Reebelo, Wrtn and Benjamin. According to the VC firm, startups founded in the last year in Antler’s European portfolio are reaching first revenue three times faster and generating up to ten times more revenue in their first year than startups founded just three years ago. Check out an earlier interview with Antler Partner Christoph Klink to learn about Antler’s approach to supporting founders. ​ Meet the Velocity Generation Antler describes the new founders as “strikingly mobile.” 96 per cent of founders in the study are building their startups in a city or country different from the one in which they were born. According to Klink, the old model, in which a government or city could cultivate a startup cluster by investing in local universities and hoping graduates would stay, is under pressure. “Munich is a good example of an ecosystem that has managed to maintain that, with the majority of its innovative power being built around Technical University Munich. But the best founders today are asking the question: where can I build fastest, access the best co-founders, and be around people who are operating at the same level as me?" He contends that the ecosystems that answer that question most convincingly will win. “London is doing well on this. Berlin is doing well. Stockholm is doing well. I actually think this is good news for Europe as founders consider quality of life, safety and culture alongside talent and capital density. Initiatives like EU-INC have the potential of building these bridges faster than ever.” Founders are younger and top their peers in accolades, from sports to gaming According to Antler's research, founders are also younger than ever. The average age of a founder of a European AI rocketship — companies founded since 2020 that have already achieved unicorn status —is now 28, compared to 32 for European unicorns more broadly. ​ Before they built startups, many of these founders were already competing at the highest level. Seventy-two per cent of the founders in Antler’s study were in the top 1 per cent of their peers growing up, whether in sports, academic performance or online gaming. Founders in the study had competed nationally and internationally in sports including sailing, gymnastics, golf, and rugby, and had ranked in the global top 100 in games such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Gran Turismo. ​ When asked what motivates them to build, 55 per cent cited being the best at what they do as their primary driver. Seventy-one per cent said that proving doubters wrong was fuelling their daily execution speed. Notably, 60 per cent said financial reward was not a motivation at all. Europe is now producing unicorns at near–Silicon Valley speeds The gap is narrowing between European founders and those who build stateside. Klink attributes this to a number of factors converging. AI dramatically lowered the cost of building and accelerated the path to revenue by compressing feedback loops that used to take years into weeks or months. At the same time, a generation of founders who had watched (and worked for) Spotify, Klarna and Zalando prove it was possible in Europe came of age — and raised the ambition ceiling. And the talent pool genuinely improved. “We are seeing founders with deep technical backgrounds, international experience, and in many cases prior startup experience, starting earlier and moving faster. Lovable and ElevenLabs are inspiring the current generation the way Spotify inspired the previous generation. To scale that quickly, one needs to combine great market timing with very strong execution. The era of execution that we covered in research recently is very real.” ​ Over half can’t live without Claude According to Antler, the Velocity Generation is harnessing AI to build at a pace that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Ninety-three per cent have used AI tools to complete specialist tasks that would previously have required outsourced expertise, putting capabilities ranging from software development to legal drafting directly in founders’ hands. When asked to name the one AI tool they couldn’t live without, 52 per cent of founders chose Claude or Claude Code — more than three times the share who cited ChatGPT (16 per cent). This puts high-quality coding capability in the hands of both non-technical and technical founders, dramatically expanding what small teams can ship. According to Klink, three years ago, a non-technical founder who wanted to build a software product needed to either find a technical co-founder or raise enough money to hire engineers. “Today, that same founder uses Claude Code and starts shipping the first products within weeks.” At the same time, technical founders build much more in less time using tools like Claude Code. He contends that the stack is no longer something you build around a team — it is something one person can operate across the full breadth of a company (add Claude Co-Work and Design, and you have a lot of ground covered). “What is interesting about the Claude number specifically is that it points to quality. Founders are not just looking for something fast, they are looking for something they can trust with consequential work and actually become a lot more productive right away.“ Antler has tracked around 50 tools that create real value for founders today, and unsurprisingly, AI-powered tools vastly outperform conventional SaaS tools from a few years ago. Supercharging agility The results of an AI-first approach to building and entrepreneurship are evident in how founders work. Klink explained: “AI has reduced the barrier to entry for building startups, and competition is fiercer than ever. Which is why speed is so important — founders need to build defensibility fast to gain market share and beat competition.” That said, I was curious about platform risk if so much of a company's capability sits on top of tools like Claude Code — especially at a time when a lot of Europe is trying to divest from US big tech like OpenAI, Google, and Meta. But according to Klink, this is not a new phenomenon: “Every generation of founders has built on top of platforms they do not control — AWS, Stripe, the App Store. The question is never whether you have platform dependency; it is whether what you’ve built is defensible. Founders are building moats from the quality of their data, customer relationships and domain expertise.” He contends this is further reflected in the different players innovating at a very high pace, each offering migration services to people who want to swap around. “That race is far from over, and people who stay agile will win.” Don’t confuse velocity with vision According to Antler’s research, today’s founders operate in an always-on mode. Seventy-nine per cent respond to messages from critical stakeholders within an hour; 16 per cent aim to respond within five minutes. More than two-thirds monitor growth metrics daily, with a quarter tracking continuously in real time. One in ten founders say the average time between an initial idea and first live user test can be counted in hours – staggering when you think about it — and 43 per cent say they can ship new features in days. That said, Klink has a more measured view of speed, contending that it’s not a strategy, but a capability. “And if all you are doing is shipping faster than the next person, eventually someone ships faster than you.” Instead, the founders building durable businesses are using speed to gain insight and, as a result, find what is genuinely hard to replicate, whether that is a proprietary dataset, a distribution advantage, or a domain so specialised that it takes years to develop real expertise “The risk is real for founders who confuse velocity with vision. The best ones understand the difference. Looking at the newest generation of European unicorns, I notice a high degree of technical sophistication, so I believe that both can be combined.” Further, this new era of speed comes at a personal cost. Forty-seven per cent of founders describe the pace as addictive and say they are thriving in this environment - but 14 per cent say they find it stressful. Forty-three per cent have not taken a holiday in the past 12 months. A quarter have reduced time spent on family life (25 per cent) and their own physical health (24 per cent). Some reported missing significant personal milestones - birthdays, weddings - to maintain the pace of building. ​ Klink admits that founders have always been obsessed with the companies they are building. But AI is taking that to new levels, enabling founders to ship faster, be more responsive, and make quick decisions based on data available immediately. “Harvesting the potential of this new era of execution also means that founders have to prioritise their time even more ruthlessly. The best find ways to consistently perform at the highest level in a sustainable way.” ​ The team at Antler talks about time management and burnout more than they used to, and thinks the industry is genuinely evolving in this regard. ​ “The practical things matter - making sure founders are not fundraising constantly, structuring capital in a way that gives them runway to focus, and being honest when the pace they are keeping is not sustainable. That said, you have to strike the right balance when discussing founders' mental health. “These are adults who have intentionally chosen a path that is famously difficult. Building a startup is hard and demands a huge amount of time, blood, sweat, and tears. We can’t sugar-coat that.“ But working 24/7 for years isn’t sustainable. “Founders who burn out make worse decisions. The companies that last are built by people who find a way to perform at a high level consistently, not those who sprint until they break.” Antler tries to take inspiration from sports, with Klink admitting, “You wouldn’t tell Roger Federer to stop practising at the peak of his career. Athletes push themselves to their absolute limit, but they also take downtime seriously and build time off into their training routine. Founders need to do the same.” ​ Overall, Antler’s data suggests that AI has created a genuine window — a moment when the advantages that used to accrue to Silicon Valley by default — proximity to capital and deep engineering talent — matter less than they did. According to Klink, “European founders have used that window well and adopted a very strong and execution focused mindset.” However, late-stage capital is still thinner in Europe with a more complex regulatory environment. Further, Klink contends that the culture around failure, while improving, is still more risk-averse than in the US. “So I would say: the velocity data is real, and the momentum is real, but we should not mistake a tailwind for a permanent structural shift. The work of building a truly competitive European ecosystem is not finished. We remain very bullish about backing more great founders on the journey of making this shift structural.” Looking ahead, Klink predicts that the next generation will make this one look slow. “The founders starting companies in 2028 or 2029 will have grown up building with AI as a native capability  — not a tool they learned to adopt, but the only way they have ever worked." What does this do to the shape of companies, he asks: “If a team of five can do what a team of fifty did, what does a mature, scaled company look like? We are currently not seeing that companies stop hiring; they just hire differently. That means that companies should become a lot more productive and produce greater output.” The survey was conducted in March 2026. 120 founders responded to each survey. Respondents are building tech startups from Pre-Seed to Series A across the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.

German robotics startup Sereact has raised $110m in a Series B funding round, with the funding used to develop and scale its latest AI model and US expansion, it announced today. The round was led by San Francisco and Berlin-based VC Headline, with Bullhound Capital, Felix Capital, and Daphni also investing. Returning investors Air Street Capital, Creandum, and Point Nine also participated. It follows its €25m ($29m) Series A funding in January last year, which was led by Creandum. It has raised more than $140m in total.   The Stuttgart-based company, which employs around 100 people. develops AI-powered robotics tech that is deployed across various industries and use cases for customers in the US and Europe. Its AI software equips robots with general-purpose visual and manipulation capabilities, enabling them to perceive their environment and devise intelligent strategies to perform a wide range of physical tasks.   The bulk of the new funding will be used to develop its latest AI model, Cortex 2, which is launching today. The model trains a robot on different physical behaviours, helping it pick the one most likely to succeed.   Ralf Guide, co-founder and CEO, said: "It takes Cortex out of the picking bin and into work where contact matters - assembly under tension, kitting, placement where every millimetre counts. We don't build robots. We don't sell services. We ship one thing: the model that runs on any robot. Single arm, dual arm, humanoid, fixed cell - same brain across all of it.” The funding will also be used for US expansion, the 2021-founded startup said, with a new office in Boston, where it plans to staff up across engineering, commercial and other areas. Sereact's customers include BMW, Daimler Truck, Bol and Active Ants, and the real-world deployment of its products creates a real-time data flywheel from which Sereact systems learn to continually improve far beyond systems trained primarily on synthetic data, it added.

Threat intelligence company QuoIntelligence today announced the close of a €7.3 million Series A financing round.   QuoIntelligence is building the Unified Risk Intelligence standard for European mid-market organisations,  delivering finished threat intelligence that arrives already analysed, already contextualised, and ready to act on, with no in-house team required to operate it.  NIS2 and DORA together mandate proactive, preemptive cyber risk management and supply chain oversight across more than 160,000 European organisations – creating structural demand for continuous, forward-looking intelligence.  However, most companies have no in-house function, and building one requires a significant six-figure investment in talent alone – before accounting for the time to operationalise it.  At the same time, European procurement frameworks are increasingly requiring that highly sensitive data remain within EU jurisdictions, thus disqualifying non-EU vendors that have historically dominated the market.   QuoIntelligence provides finished intelligence, produced by European technology, stored in German soil, delivered within hours of onboarding, requiring no internal team to operate.   Founded in Frankfurt in 2020, the company serves organisations across Europe in the finance, government, manufacturing, retail, and transportation sectors.   Its analyst-first model combines Mercury, an AI-powered threat intelligence platform, with a team of European analysts who review, curate, and contextualise every intelligence output in the client’s language and sector. KARLA, the company’s conversational AI analyst, makes that intelligence accessible at every level of an organisation – from the board to the security analyst. European sovereignty is not just a differentiator for QuoIntelligence – it is a structural fact. The company is incorporated under German law, operates two additional entities in Spain and Italy, and stores all intelligence data under EU jurisdiction – regardless of where its clients are located.  QuoIntelligence is one of the few providers able to satisfy those requirements while matching the intelligence depth previously available only from US, Russian, or Israeli vendors. The round is led by Elevator Ventures, the venture capital arm of Raiffeisen Bank International, and co-led by BMH Beteiligungs Managementgesellschaft Hessen (BMH), with participation from returning investor eCAPITAL ENTREPRENEURIAL PARTNERS, and further support from Mercurius Private Equity. Marco Riccardi, CEO and Founder, QuoIntelligence, contends that  world-class threat intelligence has always been described as something only large teams can produce.   “We built QuoIntelligence to prove that wrong: our vision is Unified Risk Intelligence - cyber threats, physical risks, and geopolitical signals converging into decisions, not just alerts, for any organisation, within hours of onboarding, under European law. NIS2 and DORA have turned what was a competitive advantage for our customers into a regulatory baseline for every mid-market  company in Europe.” Magdalena Chalas, Senior Investment Manager, Elevator Ventures, shared:  “By  empowering organisations across Europe to proactively address evolving cyber threats,  QuoIntelligence plays a crucial role in reinforcing Europe’s independence and security in the digital  age.”According to Dirk Seewald, Managing Partner, eCAPITAL ENTREPRENEURIAL PARTNERS, cyber threat intelligence is moving from a specialist function into core risk management.  “Our follow-on investment reflects a conviction we had from day one and that QuoIntelligence has since validated:  it can deliver relevant, tailored intelligence to Europe’s mid-market firms in regulated sectors without  requiring them to build an in-house function.” Funding will be deployed across go-to-market expansion, product development, and team growth.

Last week, we tracked more than 65 tech funding deals worth over €632 million, and over 5 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

AI hardware startup Atech has raised a Pre-Seed round with participation from Nordic Makers, Emblem, Lovable, Sequoia Scout Fund (Sequoia), and Andreessen Horowitz Scout Fund (A16z).  Founded by Vladimir Baran (CCO), Tomas Erik Harmer (CEO), and David Stålmarck (CTO), Atech is building a platform that makes hardware development accessible to everyone, removing one of tech’s highest barriers to entry.  Building a hardware prototype has traditionally required years of specialised expertise or significant investment in engineering talent. That barrier has kept countless ideas on paper and locked hardware innovation behind a small group of specialists.  While software development has been democratised over the past decade, hardware has remained stubbornly difficult to access. Atech is closing that gap, making physical creation as intuitive and flexible as building a web app.  Atech introduces ‘vibe-engineering’ for hardware. Just as modern AI tools have made software creation accessible to non-developers, Atech lets users describe a hardware concept in natural language and receive a working prototype in minutes, with all underlying technical complexity handled by the platform.  According to Tomas Harmer, CEO of Atech: "Software has an entire stack of tools that lets a teenager build an app in a weekend, hardware doesn’t, and we’re still working at the first level of abstraction. Atech is building the missing layers, so creating in the physical world can feel as fast and joyful as writing code."  ”I am seeing the same patterns Lovable had, but for hardware. I'm really excited to see Atech’s journey. The team is one of a kind,"  shared Anton Osika, CEO of Lovable. The rise of Physical AI — intelligent systems that sense, interact with, and act upon the real world –- is accelerating demand for hardware expertise at every level.  As this shift unfolds, the ability to build and control physical systems will become a foundational skill, not a niche one.  Atech believes hardware should be as programmable, adaptable, and user-driven as software. The company is building the tools to make that a reality.  Lead image: David Stålmarck (CTO), Tomas Erik Harmer (CEO, and Vladimir Baran (CCO), co-founders of Atech.

A coalition of major European investors, corporations and high-growth startups today published an open letter to European policymakers and leaders, calling for a commitment to make Europe the world’s first “electro-continent” – an economy where over 50 per cent of final energy consumption runs on clean, domestically produced electricity by 2040. The letter, coordinated by Norrsken (inc Norrsken Foundation and Norrsken Evolve) and backed by the Corporate Leaders Group Europe (CLG Europe), H&M, Oatly, Einride, Flower, Trawa, and others, argues that Europe’s chronic vulnerability to energy price shocks must end. The signatories are urging EU leaders to set a robust target: electricity's share of final energy consumption must reach 50 per cent by 2040, giving regulators, investors, and member states a shared destination to build toward.  I spoke to David Frykman, Founding General Partner of Norrsken VC, to learn more.  Three shocks, one lesson: Europe’s energy model is no longer viable The open letter arrives as Europe weathers its third fossil fuel price shock since 2022. Russia’s weaponisation of gas pipelines, the Red Sea shipping disruptions, and now the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have each triggered spikes in European energy costs. In the first 30 days of the Iran conflict, the EU paid an additional €14 billion in fossil fuel imports. Between 2021 and 2024, energy crises cost Europe an estimated €930 billion in crisis premiums above normal prices.  According to Frykman, in the first 30 days of the Iran conflict alone, the additional cost of fossil fuel imports could have financed two large-scale nuclear reactors. The crisis premium Europe paid between 2021 and 2024 could have financed more than the EU's entire existing nuclear fleet.  “The cost of inaction arrives with every crisis, and it is getting higher."  Between 2021 and 2025, Europe paid over €1 trillion in what could be described as an “energy crisis premium” — largely due to fossil fuel imports. According to Frykman, this has reinforced external dependencies. That’s ultimately the core issue this initiative is trying to address. He offers a strong wake-up call, asserting:  “Europe runs on fuel it does not own, shipped through waters it does not control. Three energy shocks in four years should settle the argument. The region can no longer rely on burning expensive imports.   The only cheap energy Europe can produce at scale, on its own soil, is clean electricity. It is time to end the fossil fuel chokehold on Europe's economy, once and for all. Europe must become the world's first electro-continent.”  What does the “Electro Union” actually mean in practice? At its core, the proposal sets a clear target: by 2040, 50 per cent of Europe’s economy should run on clean electricity — roughly double today’s level. Today, that figure is closer to 25 per cent. According to Frykman, in practical terms, this is about doubling electrification across industries — from transport to heavy industry — using existing technologies. Technically, Europe could electrify up to 90 per cent of its economy “using existing technologies." "The capital, talent, and market demand are already there. China did not become the world's first electro-state by accident. It set a direction and delivered. Europe needs the same clarity of purpose – a commitment that gives investors, entrepreneurs, regulators, and member states a shared destination to build toward, accelerating permitting reform, grid investment, and cross-border energy integration. That is what making the EU the Electro Union means." Why now? I wondered why this push is happening now, after decades of energy shocks? Europe has experienced multiple energy shocks over decades, yet dependency on imported fossil fuels persists. Frykman admits that this is something many people are asking.  “What’s different now is a convergence of factors. First, there’s growing public fatigue: energy shocks are no longer abstract — they’re visible in household bills, inflation, and interest rates." Second, the economics have shifted.  “In many cases, building new clean energy capacity is now cheaper than continuing to rely on fossil fuels.” And third, there’s a competitiveness issue. The European industry pays roughly twice as much for energy as its US counterparts do. "That creates a structural disadvantage, particularly in an era where energy-intensive sectors like AI and data infrastructure are becoming central.” Europe’s energy transition faces a political, not technological, constraint From an investor’s perspective, Frykman asserts that predictability is key, and Europe has been inconsistent.  “Regulatory environments vary widely between countries, and permitting timelines can range from one to ten years, sometimes with projects being revoked late in the process. Despite that, the underlying thesis is straightforward: capital flows to the most efficient solutions. Increasingly, that means wind, solar, and other forms of clean energy.” He contends that what’s often missing is political alignment, sharing: “There are cases where fully funded, shovel-ready renewable projects have been blocked at the policy level.” So the issue isn’t necessarily a lack of innovation or investment appetite — it’s that regulatory and political barriers are slowing deployment. Sweden halted plans for 13 offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea — projects that together could have added tens of gigawatts of new electricity capacity. This is because the Swedish military argued that large clusters of offshore turbines would interfere with radar and surveillance systems, making it harder to detect aircraft or missiles and reducing response times in a conflict scenario.  According to WindEurope, these projects combined could have doubled Sweden’s current electricity generation capacity, and their cancellation threatens the country’s industrial competitiveness and its broader energy security goals.  Frykman contends, “Ultimately, much of this comes down to political decision-making. If policymakers allow the market to function — allocating capital to where it can be used most efficiently — then the system is far more likely to deliver the outcomes needed.” A new wave of energy startups is rising in Europe — against structural headwinds Despite these constraints, Europe is producing a new generation of energy startups attempting to reshape the system. Europe is home to a number of energy unicorns (and soonicorns) like Verkor, focused on low-carbon battery gigafactories and German energy unicorn 1KOMMA5°, which aims to turn homes into self-sufficient, electrified energy systems. However, in October 2025, 1KOMMA5° filed a complaint with the European Commission against Germany’s plan to subsidise up to 20 GW of new gas-fired power plants, arguing the policy constitutes unlawful state aid that distorts competition and raises costs for the energy transition.  The company said the proposed subsidies and capacity payments unfairly favour centralised fossil-fuel infrastructure over cheaper, decentralised solutions like virtual power plants, potentially crowding out cleantech innovation and increasing electricity prices for consumers. But Europe is also home to cautionary examples, such as Northvolt, which highlights how difficult it is to scale gigafactories. For Frykman, there’s an important distinction between types of investment. “Deploying proven technologies — like wind, solar, or battery storage projects — is relatively low risk and largely execution-driven.” But building entirely new industrial ecosystems at scale is a different challenge. “Competing globally, particularly with countries that have significant state backing, requires coordinated support. For projects of that magnitude, public and private alignment becomes critical. That said, these large-scale industrial bets represent a small portion of the overall investment needed — the majority can be driven by the market.” Can Europe surge ahead or just catch up?  Frykman draws a clear distinction between Europe’s position in traditional and clean energy — while the continent remains structurally disadvantaged in fossil fuels, that same constraint could become a catalyst for leadership in renewables, if it can align policy, cost, and infrastructure with rising demand. Frykman explained that in terms of conventional energy, Europe is clearly behind, partly due to higher energy costs. But in clean energy, the picture is more balanced. He contends: “Europe has the potential to lead, particularly because it lacks the same level of domestic fossil fuel resources as countries like the US. That constraint effectively forces a faster shift toward renewables. And importantly, clean energy is now the most cost-effective option for new capacity. That creates a structural advantage if Europe moves decisively.” But there is a competitiveness gap  As AI drives exponential demand for compute, Europe’s energy costs are no longer just an economic issue — they are a structural competitiveness risk. The letter warns that Europe’s energy cost disadvantage is undermining its industrial base and its ability to compete in the AI era. According to the IEA, industrial electricity prices in the EU are roughly twice those in the United States and about 50 per cent higher than in China.  As the AI race accelerates – with global data centre electricity consumption projected to more than double by 2030, according to the IEA – the cost of power is becoming the decisive factor in where the next generation of major companies are built.  Frykman contends that without a clear strategy, this becomes a “competitiveness problem.” “The logical path forward is to pair data centre expansion with new, domestically produced clean energy. But enabling that at scale requires policy support alongside market forces.” The problem is no longer economic The coalition points to the economics as already resolved: solar costs have dropped over 90 per cent in the past decade, and over 90 per cent of new renewable projects are now cheaper than the fossil fuel alternative. Wind and solar generated more EU electricity than fossil fuels for the first time in 2025.  Further, Frykman contends that while there’s been a lot of attention around next-generation nuclear technologies in Europe and the US, in some regions — particularly China — these technologies are already operational at scale. “In the West, development is ongoing, but attention tends to move in cycles. Just because something drops out of the spotlight doesn’t mean progress has stopped. Nuclear is likely to complement renewables.” However, he contends that Europe cannot run on homegrown clean electricity if its economy is still wired to burn fossil fuels.  “Around 90 per cent of it can be electrified with technology that already exists. Less than a quarter runs on electricity today. And that number has barely moved in over a decade. This needs to change for Europe to end its dependence on expensive imports”, said Frykman.  Signatories   The open letter is signed by:  Norrsken VC  Norrsken Evolve  Norrsken Foundation  Corporate Leaders Group Europe  H&M  Oatly  Einride  Terralayr  Flower  Fever  trawa

This week, we tracked more than 65 tech funding deals worth over €632 million and over 5 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. Either way, let's get you up to speed. ? Notable and big funding rounds ?? Verda raises $117M to scale AI cloud infrastructure built on clean Nordic power ?? Cloudsmith raises $72M Series C to secure the AI-era software supply chain ?? Arm subsidiary invests £50M into Raspberry Pi ?? AI scale-up BLP Digital secures $50M from Goldman Sachs ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ??  Aleph Alpha to be acquired by Cohere ??  Legora snaps up Stockholm legal research startup Qura ?? €500 million Acquisition: SAGA Diagnostics acquired by Foundation Medicine, a subsidiary of Roche ?? doValue has acquired coeo Group for €354.3M ? Interesting moves from investors ? EU–Ukraine launches €160M defence innovation programme to unlock €400M in financing ? Balderton adds serial entrepreneur Phil Chambers to its partnership ?  London’s Passion Capital closes €46 million fourth Seed fund targeting AI and FinTech startups ?️ In other (important) news ❤️‍? Hello Inside pushes metabolic health into mainstream care with BARMER deal ?  Aikido launches Endpoint to secure AI-native developer workflows ?? What Happened on the First Day of the Tech.eu Summit London 2026? ??  What Happened on the Second Day of the Tech.eu Summit London 2026? ?? Nox Mobility raises €2M pre-seed to rethink Europe’s night trains ??  Wenite secures €1.8M to power the future of data-driven HR ??  Quillon raises $1.5M for audit-grade AI in accounting ?? QMatter secures $1.2M to tackle quantum scaling challenges ?? Zynt raises $500,000 pre-seed to drive signal-based B2B sales

German AI startup Aleph Alpha is to be acquired by Canadian AI lab Cohere, creating a business that will position itself as a sovereign alternative to US AI labs. Cohere, founded in 2019 and valued at $7bn in 2025, builds AI models focused on the enterprise market. Germany's Aleph Alpha, founded in 2019, was originally one of the few European LLM (Large Language Model) startups, but has since pivoted from building LLMs to helping businesses and governments use AI. The new combined entity will look to position itself as a sovereign alternative to US AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, that will offer AI services to European businesses and government agencies that want control of their data and infrastructure. The new combined entity is valued at around $20bn, as has been reported. Financial details of the deal, which has not closed, have not been disclosed. The deal will see Schwarz Group, which owns supermarket chain Lidl and is a major Aleph Alpha shareholder, invest $600 million into Cohere's upcoming funding round, the companies said, according to Reuters. "We are bringing Aleph Alpha into Cohere, and we are going to merge the two entities," Cohere CFO Francois Chadwick told Reuters. "We are going to commit to working with European infrastructure ... and maintain the sovereignty requirements that are being addressed in Europe." Cohere's shareholders are set to receive around 90 per of the shares in the combined company, whilst Aleph Alpha's shareholders will receive around 10 per cent, according to German media. The deal has been endorsed by both the German and Canadian governments.  Aleph Alpha co-CEO Ilhan Scheer said: “Aleph Alpha is in a unique position in Europe, We develop specialised large language models for Europe without compromising on sovereignty, transparency and regulatory compliance.  “By living this responsibility, we serve as a trusted and strategic partner to public sector and enterprise customers in Europe.  “Together with Cohere, we are building a real counterweight for organisations that refuse to outsource control over their AI to a single provider or jurisdiction, giving European institutions and enterprises access to powerful, yet controllable AI they can truly own.” Aidan Gomez, Co-founder and CEO, Cohere said: “Combining the strengths of Cohere and Aleph Alpha accelerates our global expansion and advances our mission to deliver sovereign AI to nations around the world. “Organisations globally are demanding uncompromising control over their AI stack. This transatlantic partnership unlocks the massive scale, robust infrastructure, and world-class R&D talent required to meet that demand.  “Built on the bedrock of shared Canadian and German values—where privacy, security, and responsible innovation are paramount—we are uniquely positioned to be the world's trusted AI partner. "Together, we will give enterprises and governments across Canada, Europe, and the world the technology to move from exploration to rapid, secure implementation, with the absolute certainty that their data remains their own.”

This week, the European Commission and Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence launched a new cooperation initiative focused on investing in innovative and breakthrough technologies. Unveiled during the EU–Ukraine business summit in Brussels, the initiative is an important step toward strengthening Ukraine's stability, developing the defence-industrial complex, and bolstering the state's defence capabilities.  The agreement establishes a comprehensive €160 million financial programme. This includes a €140 million EU guarantee and a further €21 million in EU investment grants. Together, these instruments are expected to unlock up to €400 million in bank financing to support both capital investment and operating costs. The program aims to support strategic sectors of the Ukrainian economy, with a particular focus on industries developing innovative and advanced dual-use technologies. These include, inter alia, air, land, and sea drones; electronic protection devices; space technology; communications; navigation; and critical components.  Crucially, the initiative is also expected to create new opportunities for startups and scaleups operating at the intersection of defence and deep tech. By de-risking early-stage investment and unlocking access to larger pools of capital, the programme could help emerging companies move more quickly from prototype to deployment, particularly in areas such as autonomous systems, AI-enabled battlefield intelligence, and resilient communications. According to Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine for European Integration, Serhiy Boyev: "We are launching systematic cooperation with the European Commission in the field of investing in defence innovations. Our efforts are aimed at supporting technologies that have already proven effective on the battlefield and determining the advantage in modern warfare." “Today, dual-use technologies play an important role in both defence and industrial development. Therefore, such support contributes to specific Ukrainian capabilities: stronger production, greater technological capabilities, and the development of solutions needed by defence. In a broader sense, it is also a contribution to the security of the whole of Europe," the adviser to the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Hanna Hvozdyar, noted.  The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine will coordinate the program. The National Development Institution (NUR) will serve as the program's executor.

Helsinki-based AI infrastructure company Verda (formerly DataCrunch ) has raised $117 million in new funding. The round comprises equity funding led by Lifeline Ventures with participation from byFounders, Tesi, Varma, and other investors, alongside debt financing from a group of Nordic financial institutions. Founded in 2020, Verda is building AI cloud infrastructure that allows developers and organisations to access high-performance compute on demand and at scale without the friction of traditional cloud procurement.  The company handles everything from physical servers and data centres to the tools and services teams use to build AI. Its data centres in Finland run on 100 per cent renewable energy, leveraging the Nordics' natural advantages in clean electricity and cooling efficiency. According to Ruben Bryon, founder and CEO of Verda: "We're building the next generation of AI cloud infrastructure for pioneering teams across the globe. This funding allows us to double down on development and accelerate our expansion across Europe, the US and Asia. We're seeing very strong momentum, and we're excited for what's ahead."  Verda's operations are already cash-flow positive, with revenue run rate doubling to over $60M in the first quarter of 2026. The company is one of a select group of NVIDIA Preferred Partners globally, and it works with household names such as Nokia, 1X, ExpressVPN, and Freepik, among others. "A big part of our success comes from being vertically integrated, handling everything from physical infrastructure to the application layer. We have a dedicated AI Lab team that works directly with customers and uses those insights to drive our product decisions. We're proud of what we've built so far, but we know we're only just getting started," Bryon concludes.   The new funding will be used to accelerate the development of Verda's AI cloud infrastructure and international expansion. The company plans to hire over 100 people and launch in new markets this year, including the UK and the US, to meet growing demand.

Quillon, an AI platform for technical accounting and financial reporting, today announced the close of $1.5 million in pre-seed funding and its rebrand from Acclara AI. The round was led by 42CAP, with participation from angel investors affiliated with NVIDIA and Roblox, who backed the company ahead of the institutional round. Founded in 2023 by Nikolay Dakov, Ivaylo Stefanov, and Atanas Dobrev, Quillon is built in Sofia, with operations in San Francisco, and focuses on technical accounting - a specialised area that involves interpreting complex accounting standards and preparing detailed memos designed to withstand scrutiny from auditors and, in some cases, the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This analysis underpins critical financial decisions, including mergers, debt restructurings, and revenue recognition, where errors can lead to restatements, regulatory inquiries, and material financial impact. While many accountants have begun using general-purpose AI tools to manage increasing workloads, such tools often lack auditability. They may generate unverifiable or incorrect citations and fail to provide a clear connection between conclusions and underlying accounting standards. Quillon addresses this gap through a platform built on a proprietary knowledge graph of accounting standards, integrated with EDGAR. It enables users to navigate accounting questions step by step, linking each conclusion directly to source material, while combining research, contract analysis, peer benchmarking, and memo drafting in a single workflow. The system allows accountants to review, edit, and validate each stage, maintaining human oversight while increasing efficiency, with every output traceable to its originating source. "For two years we've watched technical accountants try to use general-purpose AI to keep up with a workload that's outpaced hiring," said Nikolay Dakov, co-founder and CEO of Quillon. They couldn't - because no auditor will defend output that the AI cannot cite. We built Quillon to close that gap: a workspace where the AI does the analysis, the accountant drives at every step, and every claim traces back to the exact paragraph in the standards. The platform initially focuses on technical accounting memos, which inform nearly all financial reporting decisions within public companies. The company plans to expand into broader financial reporting workflows, including quarterly and annual disclosures. The funding will be used to expand Quillon’s engineering and go-to-market capabilities, supporting its transition from a research-oriented product to a platform that produces finalised deliverables and performs end-to-end accounting workflows.

Balderton today announces the appointment of Phil Chambers as Partner, where he will focus on early-stage investments. Chambers joins the firm after a 20+ year career as a founder, operator and angel investor in the European technology ecosystem, including roles in London, Hamburg and Copenhagen. Most recently, he served as CEO of Orbex, the Scottish space launch company. Prior to Orbex, Chambers co-founded and served as CEO of Peakon, a Balderton portfolio company focused on employee engagement, which he led through rapid international expansion from its Danish home into the UK, Germany, the US, and APAC before its $700 million acquisition by Workday in 2021. He was then GM at Workday for two and a half years, where he grew Peakon’s global footprint to hundreds of millions in ARR.  After falling in love with computers and technology as a child, Chambers studied computer science at the University of Manchester and worked at startups, including Gumtree in the UK and the local reviews company Qype, based in Hamburg, Germany. He then became CTO at Podio, a work management company based in Copenhagen that was acquired by Citrix, where he later led the GoToMeeting product line in Santa Barbara. This experience inspired him to co-found Peakon, a product that revolutionised the employee listening market and made continuous listening a standard practice in many companies.   Alongside his operating career, Chambers has been one of Europe’s most active angel investors, backing more than 100 startups. At Balderton, Phil will draw from his own experience to support founders as they start and scale their businesses in Europe. Bernard Liautaud, Managing Partner at Balderton, said: “I have had the pleasure of knowing Phil for almost a decade now, first working with him as a board member of Peakon, where I saw him grow the company from virtually nothing to a $700 million acquisition by Workday. We then stayed close during his tenure at Workday, and his Orbex years. I could not be more excited to welcome Phil to the Balderton partnership.” Phil Chambers added: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining the Balderton team: an incredible group of people, working with the most impressive companies in Europe, and a fund at the top of its game.”

Cleantech company TheStorage, which develops industrial thermal energy storage solutions, has closed a €3.6 million seed funding round. The round was led by Voima Ventures, with participation from existing investors Superhero Capital and 2C Ventures, alongside new investor Momentum. The company is focused on addressing one of the most emissions-intensive and challenging areas to decarbonise: industrial heat production. Its thermal energy storage technology stores energy in sand, enabling industrial companies to electrify heat processes, integrate renewable energy sources, and optimise energy use based on electricity market prices. This approach can significantly reduce both energy costs and emissions compared to fossil-based systems. Currently, the majority of industrial heat is still generated using fossil fuels, while the increasing availability of renewable energy and volatility in fossil fuel markets are driving demand for more flexible and cost-effective alternatives. By storing energy and releasing it when needed, TheStorage’s system helps overcome the intermittency of renewables and supports a more stable and economically viable transition to low-carbon energy. The new funding gives us real momentum in commercialising our technology. Interest in thermal energy storage is growing enormously across industry, and our goal is to be the number one choice for companies looking for efficient solutions to manage their energy costs and support their sustainability targets, said Timo Siukkola, CEO and co-founder of TheStorage. In addition to reducing costs and emissions, the technology enables industrial operators to respond to fluctuations in electricity prices and participate in grid balancing markets, creating potential new revenue streams while contributing to grid stability. The solution is designed to deliver high efficiency in heat transfer and integrate seamlessly into existing industrial processes without compromising performance. With the new funding, the company plans to accelerate commercialisation, expand its team, and further develop its technology, aiming to scale its solution globally as industries seek practical pathways to reduce emissions and energy costs.

Berlin-based climatetech startup VREY has closed a €3.3 million seed funding round led by Rubio Impact Ventures, with participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Kopa Ventures. The company enables property owners to deploy solar systems in multi-family buildings and supply the generated electricity directly to tenants, without taking on the role or regulatory burden of an energy supplier. Nearly half of Europeans live in buildings with shared roofs, yet solar adoption in this segment remains low. In Germany, fewer than 2 per cent of multi-family rental units use on-site solar, largely due to regulatory complexity that requires property owners to act as energy suppliers. A recent regulatory change in Germany introduces a new framework, “Gemeinschaftliche Gebäudeversorgung”, which removes this requirement and enables a simpler structure for shared solar deployment. VREY’s platform is designed to operationalise this framework and make it accessible at scale. As a certified smart metering operator and billing partner, VREY provides an integrated solution for tenant electricity models and “Gemeinschaftliche Gebäudeversorgung.” Its platform measures each tenant’s share of solar output and manages billing directly, eliminating the need for property owners to assume supplier responsibilities while allowing tenants to benefit without switching providers. The company currently manages a three-digit number of projects across all 16 German federal states. Its customer base includes private landlords, housing cooperatives, project developers, and large real estate companies. For system installation, VREY collaborates with partners selected by its customers. In addition to solar distribution, the platform supports the integration of batteries, heat pumps, and EV charging infrastructure. VREY positions its solution as an “EnergyOS” for multi-family buildings, providing a central layer for measuring, billing, and managing energy flows. The majority of property owners want to future-proof their buildings, but until now, practical solutions were missing. With VREY, we make solar in multi-family buildings simple and economically viable for the first time, says Julius Pahmeier, co-founder and Managing Director of VREY. With the newly secured funding, VREY plans to expand its team of around 20 employees and further develop its platform. The company aims to strengthen its position in the multi-family building segment and unlock additional energy use cases for property owners.

Starling Bank has no plans to enter the “massively overserved” US retail banking market, but will focus its US expansion on its business-to-business offering instead, says its chief financial officer.   The UK challenger bank is looking to establish itself in the US, to diversify and grow its revenues, and is looking at buying a US bank to secure a national US banking licence.   Speaking to the Banker, Starling CFO Declan Ferguson said the challenger bank had no plans to expand Starling’s retail offering in the US, which he described as a “massively overserved” market. Ferguson said: “The opportunity for a UK retail bank to be successful there is limited . . . I can’t see what the unique selling point is." Ferguson said that Starling, which has nearly five million retail customers, would not be applying for a US banking licence but would undertake a “more modest acquisition”. It hopes to establish itself in the US within the next two years, the CFO said.   Instead of launching its retail bank stateside, Starling is focusing its efforts on exporting its B2B offering Engine.   Starling launched Engine as a subsidiary in 2022, as the challenger bank U-turned on its global strategy.   Engine sells itself as a “cloud native, complete banking platform”. Clients can leverage its software to build and enhance services such as digital onboarding and savings accounts.   Engine has set up a Delaware subsidiary and has appointed former McKinsey partner Jody Bhagat, to head up its multi-million-dollar US assault from its New York office.   Last year, Engine, which employs around 300 people, landed its biggest client to date, Tangerine Bank, which is a subsidiary of Canada’s Scotiabank. Earlier this year, Monzo said it was exiting the US market while British rival Revolut has applied for a US national bank licence.

Swedish legal tech unicorn Legora has made its second acquisition in two months, snapping up a Swedish startup specialising in legal research, which has built a search engine for lawyers. Legora has acquired Qura, a 10-strong team which was founded in 2023, for an undisclosed amount. Legora is a much-hyped AI platform for lawyers which supports lawyers in researching, reviewing and drafting legal work. Legora is competing against US rival Harvey as they look to disrupt the legal market.   Stockholm-based Qura has built a search engine, which leverages AI to scan legal documents, pull together scores of legal sources, and produce quick summaries or more detailed analyses of legal questions.   Legora says Qura’s search engine goes beyond traditional AI retrieval methods, saying its product “enables precise, reliable legal reasoning, rather than surface-level search”. This is a capability that Legora does not currently have, Legora says.   Last year, Qura raised €2.1m in a round led by Cherry Ventures. Qura is working with law firms, which have previously relied only on traditional publishers, and its product is now running across 27 countries. The deal will see the Qura’s team join Legora’s existing legal research organisation, with a remit to expand internationally, including the US. Max Junestrand, CEO & co-founder Legora, said: “Legal research will be a cornerstone of the legal AI stack, and Qura has built one of the most impressive foundations in the world.   “We evaluated legal research startups globally, and Qura stood out by a wide margin. Their ability to combine deep legal understanding with truly AI-native infrastructure is exceptional."   Last month, Legora made its first acquisition, buying Canadian legal AI startup Walter, as it looks to expand its presence in North America. The acquisition for an undisclosed sum came in the same week Legora announced its $550m Series D funding round, at a $5.5bn valuation.

The 2025 fintech funding landscape in Europe reflects a highly active yet concentrated market, shaped by a mix of venture capital, growth equity, and large-scale debt financing. Geographically, the UK clearly dominates. With over €6.1 billion raised, it accounts for more than half of all fintech funding in 2025. This leadership extends beyond total capital to deal activity, with the UK also hosting the highest number of transactions. Germany and France form a second tier, with roughly €1.5 billion and €1 billion respectively, while countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland follow at a considerable distance. Markets like Spain and Türkiye show strong deal activity but significantly smaller average ticket sizes, pointing to a more early-stage ecosystem.  A defining feature of the market is the prominent role of debt financing. Although fewer in number, debt deals account for nearly a third of total funding, often structured as large credit facilities, warehouse financing, or asset-backed arrangements. This reflects the maturity of many fintech business models (particularly in lending, payments, and embedded finance), where access to capital is critical for scaling. While Series A and Series B rounds remain active, they represent a smaller share of overall funding. Taken together, the fintech sector is both dynamic and evolving. Early-stage activity remains strong across Europe, but capital is concentrated in a limited number of markets and driven primarily by later-stage and debt-led financings (for more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 - The BigPicture). Here are ten fintech companies that raised the most in 2025. Amount raised in 2025: £1.5B Propel Finance offers fast and flexible financing solutions across assets, vehicles, embedded finance, and green initiatives, enabling businesses to access essential equipment and technology. By combining digital tools with personalised support, it helps companies fund key investments and optimise cash flow. The company secured £1.5 billion to expand its lending capacity and further strengthen its support for SME growth. Amount raised in 2025: £500M Capital on Tap offers flexible credit solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, including business credit cards and financing products designed to improve cash flow, support expansion, and simplify access to working capital. The company secured a £500 million funding package through its third asset-backed securitisation, backed by receivables from its business credit card portfolio. Amount raised in 2025: €505M Bees & Bears provides a digital embedded finance platform that enables installers and vendors to offer flexible, real-time financing for renewable energy solutions such as solar panels, batteries, and heat pumps, supporting the wider adoption of sustainable technologies. In 2025, the company secured €505 million in funding, including a €500 million financing framework with a listed European bank and €5 million in seed capital. The funding will support operational scaling, expansion into commercial and industrial segments, entry into additional European markets, team growth, and the financing of renewable energy installations. Amount raised in 2025: €400M Younited is a European fintech and regulated credit institution that provides instant consumer credit and payment solutions through a fully digital platform. Leveraging advanced technology and APIs, it enables seamless access to loans and financing both directly and via partners in retail, banking, and telecom. Operating across multiple European markets, the company focuses on delivering simple, transparent, and fast credit experiences while promoting financial well-being. In 2025, Younited secured €400 million warehouse financing from Citi to expand consumer credit in Europe. Amount raised in 2025: £300M Carmoola is a UK-based financial technology company offering a fully digital car finance platform that enables users to budget, secure approval, and pay for vehicles through a mobile app. By leveraging open banking data and proprietary credit technology, it provides instant financing decisions, flexible repayment options, and a seamless purchasing experience without traditional paperwork or intermediaries. The platform is designed to make car ownership more accessible, transparent, and efficient for consumers. Carmoola has secured a £300 million private asset-backed securities facility to expand its car finance offering, bringing total funding to over £540 million. Amount raised in 2025: £300M Wagestream (now rebranded as Stream) is a financial well-being platform that partners with employers to give employees flexible access to earned wages alongside tools for budgeting, saving, borrowing, and financial planning. Delivered via a mobile app, it helps workers manage their income in real time, reduce financial stress, and improve overall financial resilience. It also supports employers in enhancing employee engagement, retention, and productivity through improved financial well-being. Wagestream secured £300 million in debt financing in 2025 to expand its alternative to high-interest loans. Amount raised in 2025: £250M Abound is a UK-based fintech company that provides consumer lending solutions powered by artificial intelligence and open banking technology. Its platform enables faster, more accurate credit decisions by analysing real-time financial data rather than relying solely on traditional credit scores, allowing more people to access fair and affordable loans. In addition to direct lending, the company offers its technology to financial institutions, supporting smarter, lower-risk lending and improving overall credit assessment across the industry. In 2025, Abound secured £250 million in financing from Deutsche Bank, increasing its total lending capacity to £1.6 billion. Amount raised in 2025: €207.7M Finom offers an integrated financial platform for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and SMEs, combining business accounts, payments, invoicing, and expense management within a mobile-first solution. Designed to streamline business finances, it blends banking-style services with modern technology, enabling companies across Europe to manage their operations efficiently and securely. In 2025, the company raised €207.7 million across two funding rounds to support strategic acquisitions, expand its customer base and product offering, and drive broader growth initiatives, including hiring and increased use of AI. Amount raised in 2025: £150M 365 Finance is a UK-based fintech that provides fast, flexible funding solutions for small and medium-sized businesses through revenue-based financing and merchant cash advances. Its platform enables companies to access capital quickly without fixed repayments, with repayments linked to card sales, helping businesses manage cash flow and fund growth. The company positions itself as an alternative to traditional bank lending, offering unsecured finance with streamlined application and approval processes. 365 Finance has secured a £150 million debt facility to support more than £300 million in annual originations, sustain its strong growth trajectory, and expand lending to Irish SMEs through a dedicated euro line. Amount raised in 2025: €170M Froda is a Stockholm-based fintech and licensed credit institution that provides digital financing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 2015, the company offers business loans, savings products, and an embedded finance platform that allows banks, fintechs, and partners to integrate lending directly into their services. By leveraging data, machine learning, and fully automated processes, Froda enables fast, transparent, and tailored credit decisions, aiming to improve access to financing and support business growth across multiple European markets. Froda has raised around €170 million over two rounds to drive European expansion.

Universal artifact management platform Cloudsmith has raised $72 million in Series C financing led by TCV with participation from Insight Partners, along with investments from other existing investors.  The additional funding positions Cloudsmith for massive growth to power the era of AI-driven software development. As AI coding agents generate code at unprecedented velocity and volume, the software artifacts and dependencies they produce introduce an expanding threat surface that is now a board-level concern. Enterprises must manage ever-larger software supply chains, which span open source libraries, internal packages, and third-party dependencies, all while facing growing regulatory pressure to prove that AI-generated software is secure by design. Cloudsmith gives engineering teams the infrastructure to manage, secure, and govern every package across every format and environment. Built cloud-native from the ground up, Cloudsmith provides the visibility and supply chain controls that modern enterprises need to ship with confidence.  The additional investment, one year after Cloudsmith’s Series B, follows a period of strong year-over-year growth, as enterprises seek modern infrastructure that keeps pace with the speed and scale of AI-generated software. Increasing numbers of existing customers, including Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, are replacing legacy tools and upgrading to Cloudsmith's cloud-native platform. At the same time, enterprises that adopt AI-coding agents are turning to Cloudsmith to provide the guardrails and governance their software supply chains require.  According to Glenn Weinstein, CEO of Cloudsmith, we’re never going back to hand-crafted software. AI agents generate so much software, so fast, it's nearly impossible for humans to carefully review it all.  "Cloudsmith has the scale and the broad view across the open-source ecosystem to protect enterprises against the new kinds of threats that AI-driven development introduces.” “Having led Cloudsmith’s Series B and now its Series C, TCV is proud to deepen our partnership with a company we see as defining artifact management for the AI era. As AI shapes the software supply chain, we believe Cloudsmith is uniquely positioned to become a platform enterprises rely on for compliance, control, and security at global scale,” said Morgan Gerlak, Partner at TCV. “In an era increasingly defined by AI-driven development, securing the software supply chain is critical. As a cloud-native offering, Cloudsmith is well-positioned to do this – providing the scale and reliability needed to help power enterprise and AI-driven builds and mitigate emerging risks. We believe in Cloudsmith’s vision to secure the software supply chain by serving as a curated, AI-ready solution for enterprises of all sizes,”  said Thomas Krane, Managing Director at Insight Partners. Cloudsmith will use the funding to accelerate product development and expand its go-to-market capabilities.