This week, the Oscars celebrated some of last year’s most outstanding achievements in cinema. In the meantime, the tools behind filmmaking are undergoing a profound transformation. Media and filmtech startups have fundamentally changed how films are storyboarded, edited, soundtracked, and enhanced with special effects. AI is also reshaping how speech is generated and reproduced,  as well as how media is produced and consumed, transforming nearly every stage of the filmmaking pipeline. This shift is underpinned by a growing ecosystem of accelerators and innovation programmes focused on media and film technology via nitiatives such as IDA Hub, Cannes Next, and The TechMedia Hub Potsdam, alongside Berlinale EFM Startups, and Digital Catapul.  Major media companies such as Netflix and Disney also deliver dedicated programmes to explore emerging technologies shaping the future of storytelling. Here are some of the startups to have on your radar:  EpicFrames (Estonia) EpicFrames is building what it calls the workflow layer for AI filmmaking. While generative AI models have advanced rapidly, creators working in film, advertising, and branded content still rely on fragmented workflows across multiple tools to produce structured visual narratives.   EpicFrames allows creators to plan scenes, iterate visuals, and organise assets within a workflow that mirrors real filmmaking. Filmster Network (UK) Filmster Network is building a collaborative digital platform to help independent filmmakers plan, produce, and manage film projects.  Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Reading, the company aims to function as an “operating system for modern filmmaking,” giving creators tools to assemble crews, manage schedules and budgets, and coordinate production workflows without relying on traditional studio infrastructure. It also integrates production-management features such as script breakdowns, crew coordination, scheduling, and knowledge sharing across projects, helping independent filmmakers operate with efficiencies typically available only to large studios. Greenigma (Germany) Greenigma is a Berlin-based company that provides certified Green Consultants who work with film, television, advertising, and other cultural productions to integrate sustainable practices throughout the production lifecycle—from early script development to post-production reporting. Greenigma’s consultants support productions with practical measures such as energy and waste management, sustainable mobility planning, responsible catering and accommodation, and resource-efficient logistics.  The team develops sustainability plans aligned with ISO 14001 standards, tracks emissions during filming, and produces final environmental reports that can be submitted to funding bodies or used to measure a project’s carbon footprint.  Gretico (Spain) Gretico is a media-technology company building tools that allow films and live events to be streamed and projected directly in cinemas or temporary screening venues without the traditional distribution infrastructure.  It makes it easier to set up theatrical screenings anywhere, especially in places without permanent cinemas.  Speekz (Lithuania) Speekz is a new app that lets you listen and record synchronised audio commentary while watching movies, TV series, and eventually live sports, turning passive viewing into a shared interactive experience.  It’s a modern, social twist on the DVD-era director’s commentary — or TV programmes like Googlebox — except the commentary can come from anyone: your favourite comedian, a celebrity, or your best friend. Speekz secured $175K in funding after appearing on a local version of Shark Tank. Long-term, the company aims to build the world’s largest digital marketplace for commentary with a platform where anyone can earn by simply sitting on their couch watching TV and yapping into their iPhone.  team4set (Poland) team4set is a digital platform designed to help filmmakers find and assemble production crews.  It operates as a networking and hiring marketplace for the film industry, allowing users to create profiles that showcase their skills, experience, and portfolios. Producers and directors can search for collaborators such as cinematographers, editors, sound engineers, makeup artists or production assistants, making it easier to build teams for film projects. The platform is particularly aimed at students and early-career filmmakers who may struggle to access industry networks. 

This week, the Oscars celebrated some of last year’s most outstanding achievements in cinema. In the meantime, the tools behind filmmaking are undergoing a profound transformation. Media and filmtech startups have fundamentally changed how films are storyboarded, edited, soundtracked, and enhanced with special effects. AI is also reshaping how speech is generated and reproduced,  as well as how media is produced and consumed, transforming nearly every stage of the filmmaking pipeline. This shift is underpinned by a growing ecosystem of accelerators and innovation programmes focused on media and film technology via nitiatives such as IDA Hub, Cannes Next, and The TechMedia Hub Potsdam, alongside Berlinale EFM Startups, and Digital Catapul.  Major media companies such as Netflix and Disney also deliver dedicated programmes to explore emerging technologies shaping the future of storytelling. Here are some of the startups to have on your radar:  EpicFrames (Estonia) EpicFrames is building what it calls the workflow layer for AI filmmaking. While generative AI models have advanced rapidly, creators working in film, advertising, and branded content still rely on fragmented workflows across multiple tools to produce structured visual narratives.   EpicFrames allows creators to plan scenes, iterate visuals, and organise assets within a workflow that mirrors real filmmaking. Filmster Network (UK) Filmster Network is building a collaborative digital platform to help independent filmmakers plan, produce, and manage film projects.  Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Reading, the company aims to function as an “operating system for modern filmmaking,” giving creators tools to assemble crews, manage schedules and budgets, and coordinate production workflows without relying on traditional studio infrastructure. It also integrates production-management features such as script breakdowns, crew coordination, scheduling, and knowledge sharing across projects, helping independent filmmakers operate with efficiencies typically available only to large studios. Greenigma (Germany) Greenigma is a Berlin-based company that provides certified Green Consultants who work with film, television, advertising, and other cultural productions to integrate sustainable practices throughout the production lifecycle—from early script development to post-production reporting. Greenigma’s consultants support productions with practical measures such as energy and waste management, sustainable mobility planning, responsible catering and accommodation, and resource-efficient logistics.  The team develops sustainability plans aligned with ISO 14001 standards, tracks emissions during filming, and produces final environmental reports that can be submitted to funding bodies or used to measure a project’s carbon footprint.  Gretico (Spain) Gretico is a media-technology company building tools that allow films and live events to be streamed and projected directly in cinemas or temporary screening venues without the traditional distribution infrastructure.  It makes it easier to set up theatrical screenings anywhere, especially in places without permanent cinemas.  Speekz (Lithuania) Speekz is a new app that lets you listen and record synchronised audio commentary while watching movies, TV series, and eventually live sports, turning passive viewing into a shared interactive experience.  It’s a modern, social twist on the DVD-era director’s commentary — or TV programmes like Googlebox — except the commentary can come from anyone: your favourite comedian, a celebrity, or your best friend. Speekz secured $175K in funding after appearing on a local version of Shark Tank. Long-term, the company aims to build the world’s largest digital marketplace for commentary with a platform where anyone can earn by simply sitting on their couch watching TV and yapping into their iPhone.  team4set (Poland) team4set is a digital platform designed to help filmmakers find and assemble production crews.  It operates as a networking and hiring marketplace for the film industry, allowing users to create profiles that showcase their skills, experience, and portfolios. Producers and directors can search for collaborators such as cinematographers, editors, sound engineers, makeup artists or production assistants, making it easier to build teams for film projects. The platform is particularly aimed at students and early-career filmmakers who may struggle to access industry networks. 

Zopa Bank, the UK savings and lending digital bank, has reported its third consecutive year of profit, as it says take-up of its new current account proposition has eclipsed expectations. The London-based bank reported pre-tax profits of £44.9m 2025, up from £31.6m in 2024, driven by its borrowing and savings products.   The SoftBank-backed digital bank said more than 85 per cent of its staff were using AI tools in their everyday work, with a growing number of custom-internal GPTs speeding up tasks.   In June last year, Zopa announced the launch of Biscuit, its current account product, looking to take on challenger banks like Revolut and Starling as well as traditional banks like Barclays and HSBC. Unicorn Zopa, founded in 2004, did not disclose specific customer numbers for the free-to-open current account but said take-up had “exceeded our expectations”.   A Zopa spokesperson said it had onboarded hundreds of thousands of Biscuit customers, and was 40 per cent ahead of plan.    Zopa said its customer numbers grew to 1.7 million in 2025 across savings, lending and everyday banking, onboarding more than half a million gross new customers during the year.    Over the period, the bank’s deposit base grew 17 per cent to £6.4 billion, while gross loans upped 23 per cent to £3.8bn.    But Zopa said it has set aside £7.9m in provision relating to the car finance mis-selling scandal.   Jaidev Janardana, CEO at Zopa Bank said: “2025 was another landmark year for Zopa as we expanded into everyday banking. We grew our customer base to 1.7 million, supported by strong growth across all products and from our expansion into current accounts and Investments. "Our performance drove 24 per cent revenue growth, with Zopa doubling its profit before tax despite a challenging UK economic environment.   “Unlike much of the industry, we continue to place significant emphasis on rewarding loyalty, and the deepening of customer relationships has been the strongest indicator of our progress towards establishing the Home of Money, a place that makes customers feel at home with their finances.”

Zopa Bank, the UK savings and lending digital bank, has reported its third consecutive year of profit, as it says take-up of its new current account proposition has eclipsed expectations. The London-based bank reported pre-tax profits of £44.9m 2025, up from £31.6m in 2024, driven by its borrowing and savings products.   The SoftBank-backed digital bank said more than 85 per cent of its staff were using AI tools in their everyday work, with a growing number of custom-internal GPTs speeding up tasks.   In June last year, Zopa announced the launch of Biscuit, its current account product, looking to take on challenger banks like Revolut and Starling as well as traditional banks like Barclays and HSBC. Unicorn Zopa, founded in 2004, did not disclose specific customer numbers for the free-to-open current account but said take-up had “exceeded our expectations”.   A Zopa spokesperson said it had onboarded hundreds of thousands of Biscuit customers, and was 40 per cent ahead of plan.    Zopa said its customer numbers grew to 1.7 million in 2025 across savings, lending and everyday banking, onboarding more than half a million gross new customers during the year.    Over the period, the bank’s deposit base grew 17 per cent to £6.4 billion, while gross loans upped 23 per cent to £3.8bn.    But Zopa said it has set aside £7.9m in provision relating to the car finance mis-selling scandal.   Jaidev Janardana, CEO at Zopa Bank said: “2025 was another landmark year for Zopa as we expanded into everyday banking. We grew our customer base to 1.7 million, supported by strong growth across all products and from our expansion into current accounts and Investments. "Our performance drove 24 per cent revenue growth, with Zopa doubling its profit before tax despite a challenging UK economic environment.   “Unlike much of the industry, we continue to place significant emphasis on rewarding loyalty, and the deepening of customer relationships has been the strongest indicator of our progress towards establishing the Home of Money, a place that makes customers feel at home with their finances.”

Spanish tech companies raised €3.1 billion in 2025, highlighting a broad and increasingly mature ecosystem. Large late-stage rounds remained strong, alongside a deep base of early and growth-stage funding across sectors. Funding was concentrated at the top, with the ten largest deals accounting for around 39 per cent of capital, and the top twenty about 57 per cent. AI, deeptech and frontier infrastructure stood out, including quantum, applied AI, cloud, semiconductors, robotics and security, signalling a shift toward more technical, defensible businesses. Healthtech and biotech also emerged as key pillars. Enterprise software and fintech provided consistent activity, while climate and energy gained momentum through investments in cleantech and low-carbon technologies. Consumer platforms remained active across travel, education, real estate and commerce. The mix of debt and alternative financing alongside equity also pointed to a more mature market. Overall, Spain’s tech ecosystem is becoming more diversified and technically advanced, with capital spread across multiple sectors and increasing late-stage capacity (for more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 – The Big Picture). Here are the 10 companies that raised the most in 2025. Amount raised in 2025: €256M Multiverse Computing is a quantum AI software company that develops advanced artificial intelligence and quantum-inspired technologies to solve complex problems across industries. The company builds software that applies quantum and quantum-inspired algorithms to areas such as finance, manufacturing, energy, logistics, and cybersecurity. Its technology focuses on improving the efficiency and performance of artificial intelligence systems. In 2025, Multiverse Computing raised €256 million over two rounds to accelerate the widespread adoption of LLMs to address the massive costs that currently prohibit their rollout. Amount raised in 2025: $200M TravelPerk is a global business travel and expense management platform that helps companies plan, book, and manage work trips in one place. The platform integrates travel booking, expense tracking, and reporting tools, enabling organisations to streamline their corporate travel processes and reduce administrative work. In 2025, TravelPerk raised $200 million in a Series E round to accelerate growth, expand its presence in the US, and invest in product development, technology, and AI to build a leading travel and expense management platform. Amount raised in 2025: €137M Xoople is a data and AI company that develops Earth intelligence technology by combining geospatial data with artificial intelligence to analyse and understand changes on the Earth’s surface. Founded in 2019, the company provides AI-ready Earth data that organisations can integrate into their enterprise workflows for analysis and operational decision-making. Through its platform, EarthAI, Xoople processes large volumes of satellite and geospatial data to automatically monitor, detect, and predict changes across the planet. The company’s mission is to provide a consistent, global source of Earth data that helps organisations better understand physical changes on the planet and make faster, more informed decisions about real-world challenges. In 2025, Xoople secured €137 million across two funding rounds to develop next-generation Earth intelligence technologies. Amount raised in 2025: $135M SpliceBio is a biotechnology company developing next-generation gene therapies using its proprietary Protein Splicing platform. The company’s technology enables the delivery of large genes that are difficult to treat with traditional gene therapy approaches, helping address genetic diseases caused by mutations in large genes. The company’s platform is based on technology developed at Princeton University and leverages decades of research in protein engineering and intein biology to enable new therapeutic approaches for diseases that currently lack effective treatments. SpliceBio closed a $135 million Series B funding round in 2025 to support the clinical development of its flagship program. Amount raised in 2025: $120M Factorial is an HR technology company that develops cloud-based software designed to help businesses manage people, processes, and operations more efficiently. Founded in 2016, the company provides an all-in-one platform that automates human resources tasks such as time tracking, payroll, absence management, document handling, recruitment, and performance evaluation. The platform centralises HR and operational data in a single system, allowing companies, particularly small and mid-sized businesses, to streamline administrative work, gain visibility into their workforce, and make data-driven decisions. Factorial secured $120 million in 2025 to boost sales and marketing. Amount raised in 2025: €100M Lingokids is an educational technology company that develops a play-based learning platform for children aged 2 to 8. The company offers a mobile app that combines games, videos, songs, and interactive activities to help children build academic knowledge and essential life skills in a safe, ad-free environment. Lingokids is designed to help children learn at their own pace while giving parents tools to track progress and manage their child’s digital learning environment. In 2025, Lingokids raised over €100 million to accelerate its global expansion. Amount raised in 2025: €92M Job&Talent is a workforce platform that connects companies with workers through a technology-driven marketplace for flexible and temporary jobs. The company uses data and AI to match candidates with employers, streamline hiring, and manage large workforces through its digital platform. The platform enables businesses to recruit, schedule, and manage workers while providing individuals with access to job opportunities, contracts, and work management tools through a mobile app. By combining recruitment, workforce management, and analytics, Job&Talent aims to simplify hiring processes and improve productivity for companies while offering workers more flexible employment opportunities. In 2025, Job&Talent raised €92 million in a Series F round to expand its workforce management platform. Amount raised in 2025: €90M Proeduca is an online higher-education group that provides university and professional education through digital learning platforms. The company specialises in delivering fully online academic programs and professional training to students around the world. The group operates several educational institutions, as well as other specialised schools and international partnerships. Through these institutions, PROEDUCA offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional programs designed to combine flexible online learning with academic rigour and industry-relevant skills. Proeduca secured €90 million in 2025 to boost the development of online education in Spain. Amount raised in 2025: $100M Fever is a global technology platform for discovering and booking live entertainment and cultural experiences. The company operates a digital marketplace and mobile app that helps users find events such as concerts, immersive exhibitions, sports, theatre performances, and festivals in cities around the world. Through its proprietary technology, Fever provides personalised recommendations and curated experiences while also offering ticketing, marketing, and data tools that help venues, promoters, and creators reach new audiences and manage events more effectively. In 2025, Fever closed a $100 million funding round, further strengthening its position in the entertainment sector. Amount raised in 2025: €70.1M Playtomic is a sports technology company that develops a digital platform connecting racket-sports players and clubs. The company offers a mobile app and software tools that allow users to find partners, book courts, join matches, and manage sports activities such as padel and tennis. Through its marketplace and SaaS solutions for clubs, Playtomic helps sports venues manage reservations, payments, and customer relationships while enabling players to organise games and connect with local sports communities. In 2025, Playtomic secured €70.1 million in two funding rounds to support its expansion in the US and Europe.

Spanish tech companies raised €3.1 billion in 2025, highlighting a broad and increasingly mature ecosystem. Large late-stage rounds remained strong, alongside a deep base of early and growth-stage funding across sectors. Funding was concentrated at the top, with the ten largest deals accounting for around 39 per cent of capital, and the top twenty about 57 per cent. AI, deeptech and frontier infrastructure stood out, including quantum, applied AI, cloud, semiconductors, robotics and security, signalling a shift toward more technical, defensible businesses. Healthtech and biotech also emerged as key pillars. Enterprise software and fintech provided consistent activity, while climate and energy gained momentum through investments in cleantech and low-carbon technologies. Consumer platforms remained active across travel, education, real estate and commerce. The mix of debt and alternative financing alongside equity also pointed to a more mature market. Overall, Spain’s tech ecosystem is becoming more diversified and technically advanced, with capital spread across multiple sectors and increasing late-stage capacity (for more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 – The Big Picture). Here are the 10 companies that raised the most in 2025. Amount raised in 2025: €256M Multiverse Computing is a quantum AI software company that develops advanced artificial intelligence and quantum-inspired technologies to solve complex problems across industries. The company builds software that applies quantum and quantum-inspired algorithms to areas such as finance, manufacturing, energy, logistics, and cybersecurity. Its technology focuses on improving the efficiency and performance of artificial intelligence systems. In 2025, Multiverse Computing raised €256 million over two rounds to accelerate the widespread adoption of LLMs to address the massive costs that currently prohibit their rollout. Amount raised in 2025: $200M TravelPerk is a global business travel and expense management platform that helps companies plan, book, and manage work trips in one place. The platform integrates travel booking, expense tracking, and reporting tools, enabling organisations to streamline their corporate travel processes and reduce administrative work. In 2025, TravelPerk raised $200 million in a Series E round to accelerate growth, expand its presence in the US, and invest in product development, technology, and AI to build a leading travel and expense management platform. Amount raised in 2025: €137M Xoople is a data and AI company that develops Earth intelligence technology by combining geospatial data with artificial intelligence to analyse and understand changes on the Earth’s surface. Founded in 2019, the company provides AI-ready Earth data that organisations can integrate into their enterprise workflows for analysis and operational decision-making. Through its platform, EarthAI, Xoople processes large volumes of satellite and geospatial data to automatically monitor, detect, and predict changes across the planet. The company’s mission is to provide a consistent, global source of Earth data that helps organisations better understand physical changes on the planet and make faster, more informed decisions about real-world challenges. In 2025, Xoople secured €137 million across two funding rounds to develop next-generation Earth intelligence technologies. Amount raised in 2025: $135M SpliceBio is a biotechnology company developing next-generation gene therapies using its proprietary Protein Splicing platform. The company’s technology enables the delivery of large genes that are difficult to treat with traditional gene therapy approaches, helping address genetic diseases caused by mutations in large genes. The company’s platform is based on technology developed at Princeton University and leverages decades of research in protein engineering and intein biology to enable new therapeutic approaches for diseases that currently lack effective treatments. SpliceBio closed a $135 million Series B funding round in 2025 to support the clinical development of its flagship program. Amount raised in 2025: $120M Factorial is an HR technology company that develops cloud-based software designed to help businesses manage people, processes, and operations more efficiently. Founded in 2016, the company provides an all-in-one platform that automates human resources tasks such as time tracking, payroll, absence management, document handling, recruitment, and performance evaluation. The platform centralises HR and operational data in a single system, allowing companies, particularly small and mid-sized businesses, to streamline administrative work, gain visibility into their workforce, and make data-driven decisions. Factorial secured $120 million in 2025 to boost sales and marketing. Amount raised in 2025: €100M Lingokids is an educational technology company that develops a play-based learning platform for children aged 2 to 8. The company offers a mobile app that combines games, videos, songs, and interactive activities to help children build academic knowledge and essential life skills in a safe, ad-free environment. Lingokids is designed to help children learn at their own pace while giving parents tools to track progress and manage their child’s digital learning environment. In 2025, Lingokids raised over €100 million to accelerate its global expansion. Amount raised in 2025: €92M Job&Talent is a workforce platform that connects companies with workers through a technology-driven marketplace for flexible and temporary jobs. The company uses data and AI to match candidates with employers, streamline hiring, and manage large workforces through its digital platform. The platform enables businesses to recruit, schedule, and manage workers while providing individuals with access to job opportunities, contracts, and work management tools through a mobile app. By combining recruitment, workforce management, and analytics, Job&Talent aims to simplify hiring processes and improve productivity for companies while offering workers more flexible employment opportunities. In 2025, Job&Talent raised €92 million in a Series F round to expand its workforce management platform. Amount raised in 2025: €90M Proeduca is an online higher-education group that provides university and professional education through digital learning platforms. The company specialises in delivering fully online academic programs and professional training to students around the world. The group operates several educational institutions, as well as other specialised schools and international partnerships. Through these institutions, PROEDUCA offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional programs designed to combine flexible online learning with academic rigour and industry-relevant skills. Proeduca secured €90 million in 2025 to boost the development of online education in Spain. Amount raised in 2025: $100M Fever is a global technology platform for discovering and booking live entertainment and cultural experiences. The company operates a digital marketplace and mobile app that helps users find events such as concerts, immersive exhibitions, sports, theatre performances, and festivals in cities around the world. Through its proprietary technology, Fever provides personalised recommendations and curated experiences while also offering ticketing, marketing, and data tools that help venues, promoters, and creators reach new audiences and manage events more effectively. In 2025, Fever closed a $100 million funding round, further strengthening its position in the entertainment sector. Amount raised in 2025: €70.1M Playtomic is a sports technology company that develops a digital platform connecting racket-sports players and clubs. The company offers a mobile app and software tools that allow users to find partners, book courts, join matches, and manage sports activities such as padel and tennis. Through its marketplace and SaaS solutions for clubs, Playtomic helps sports venues manage reservations, payments, and customer relationships while enabling players to organise games and connect with local sports communities. In 2025, Playtomic secured €70.1 million in two funding rounds to support its expansion in the US and Europe.

Berlin-based Bounti has raised €4 million in a funding round led by Ventech, with participation from IBB Ventures, Robin Capital, Common Magic, and several business angels. While much of the technology has been deployed in knowledge-based work, sectors such as hospitality, retail, and services continue to face challenges, including labour shortages, high staff turnover, and operational inefficiencies. Bounti addresses these issues with an AI-powered platform designed for frontline teams in multi-location businesses. Rather than focusing on analytics alone, the platform identifies operational issues, analyses their root causes, and triggers concrete actions such as targeted training, task assignment, and performance tracking. Imagine a system that automatically shows you where problems arise across your locations — and how they directly impact revenue and performance. The AI doesn’t stop at insights. It initiates action, said Deniz Bayraktaroglu, founder of Bounti. The platform is used by companies across sectors, including hospitality and retail, where it supports onboarding, standardisation, and internal communication for frontline employees. By focusing on usability and real-time operational support, Bounti aims to improve execution across distributed teams, helping organisations maintain consistency and performance at scale. Bounti will use new funding to further develop the platform and expand its deployment across frontline-focused industries.

Berlin-based Bounti has raised €4 million in a funding round led by Ventech, with participation from IBB Ventures, Robin Capital, Common Magic, and several business angels. While much of the technology has been deployed in knowledge-based work, sectors such as hospitality, retail, and services continue to face challenges, including labour shortages, high staff turnover, and operational inefficiencies. Bounti addresses these issues with an AI-powered platform designed for frontline teams in multi-location businesses. Rather than focusing on analytics alone, the platform identifies operational issues, analyses their root causes, and triggers concrete actions such as targeted training, task assignment, and performance tracking. Imagine a system that automatically shows you where problems arise across your locations — and how they directly impact revenue and performance. The AI doesn’t stop at insights. It initiates action, said Deniz Bayraktaroglu, founder of Bounti. The platform is used by companies across sectors, including hospitality and retail, where it supports onboarding, standardisation, and internal communication for frontline employees. By focusing on usability and real-time operational support, Bounti aims to improve execution across distributed teams, helping organisations maintain consistency and performance at scale. Bounti will use new funding to further develop the platform and expand its deployment across frontline-focused industries.

Ghent-based Ringtime, an AI agent platform for managing inbound and outbound conversations, has raised €1.8 million in a seed round led by Volta Ventures, with participation from Syndicate One, JK Invest, New School VC and Allusion. The company is focused on addressing structural labour shortages across sectors such as retail, logistics and hospitality, where many roles remain unfilled. Traditional recruitment processes for blue-collar workers often rely on repetitive outreach and manual screening, while existing tools are not well adapted to the communication preferences, languages, and availability of these candidates. Ringtime’s platform automates the recruitment process end-to-end, using AI to determine the most effective way to reach candidates, including preferred channels, timing, and language. It then manages conversations, screening, and matching through a single orchestration layer. Ringtime is evolving into a complete, intelligent solution for connecting technical candidates to the right job across sectors, languages and geographies. We’re building the infrastructure that brings supply and demand together faster than the market can do on its own, said Diederik Syoen, co-founder of Ringtime. Founded in 2025, the company is already generating revenue and working with clients such as Trixxo Jobs, Synergie Jobs and House of HR. In addition to recruitment, Ringtime is also used in sectors such as real estate and technical installations, where managing high volumes of communication is critical. The funding will be used to expand the team, scale marketing efforts, and strengthen the company’s position in the recruitment sector, with plans to expand into additional European markets.

Ghent-based Ringtime, an AI agent platform for managing inbound and outbound conversations, has raised €1.8 million in a seed round led by Volta Ventures, with participation from Syndicate One, JK Invest, New School VC and Allusion. The company is focused on addressing structural labour shortages across sectors such as retail, logistics and hospitality, where many roles remain unfilled. Traditional recruitment processes for blue-collar workers often rely on repetitive outreach and manual screening, while existing tools are not well adapted to the communication preferences, languages, and availability of these candidates. Ringtime’s platform automates the recruitment process end-to-end, using AI to determine the most effective way to reach candidates, including preferred channels, timing, and language. It then manages conversations, screening, and matching through a single orchestration layer. Ringtime is evolving into a complete, intelligent solution for connecting technical candidates to the right job across sectors, languages and geographies. We’re building the infrastructure that brings supply and demand together faster than the market can do on its own, said Diederik Syoen, co-founder of Ringtime. Founded in 2025, the company is already generating revenue and working with clients such as Trixxo Jobs, Synergie Jobs and House of HR. In addition to recruitment, Ringtime is also used in sectors such as real estate and technical installations, where managing high volumes of communication is critical. The funding will be used to expand the team, scale marketing efforts, and strengthen the company’s position in the recruitment sector, with plans to expand into additional European markets.

Amsterdam-based Reson8, a speech technology company developing hyper-customised automatic speech recognition (ASR), has raised €5 million in a pre-seed round led by Balderton Capital, with participation from NP Hard. The company aims to address limitations in existing speech recognition systems, where performance often declines across European languages, dialects, and domain-specific terminology. Instead of relying on generic models, Reson8 is building acoustically precise systems that can be adapted in real time using contextual data such as documents, websites, and calendars. Its approach uses lightweight, modular adapters to tailor recognition to specific conversations without increasing latency. Founded by Thomas Kluiters, Raoul Ritter, and Jarno Verhagen, the team brings experience in high-performance systems, AI, and speech technology. The company is focused on developing models that adapt to how language is used in real-world settings, particularly in professional environments where accuracy is critical. Reson8’s technology is designed for applications in sectors such as healthcare, legal, and customer support, where specialised vocabulary and fast-paced communication can challenge traditional systems. By prioritising precision and adaptability, the platform aims to reduce errors in transcription and improve usability across different use cases. Generic speech models break the moment you leave English, and customers increasingly want control over where their data lives. We believe Europe can build its own speech infrastructure that is customisable, accurate, and operated locally, said Raoul Ritter, co-founder of Reson8. In contrast to providers reliant on US-based infrastructure, Reson8 is building and operating its own European infrastructure, offering greater control over data residency and compliance with regional requirements. At launch, the platform will support more than 20 European languages. The funding will be used to expand the company’s infrastructure footprint in Europe, continue development of its speech models and inference stack, and grow the team.

Amsterdam-based Reson8, a speech technology company developing hyper-customised automatic speech recognition (ASR), has raised €5 million in a pre-seed round led by Balderton Capital, with participation from NP Hard. The company aims to address limitations in existing speech recognition systems, where performance often declines across European languages, dialects, and domain-specific terminology. Instead of relying on generic models, Reson8 is building acoustically precise systems that can be adapted in real time using contextual data such as documents, websites, and calendars. Its approach uses lightweight, modular adapters to tailor recognition to specific conversations without increasing latency. Founded by Thomas Kluiters, Raoul Ritter, and Jarno Verhagen, the team brings experience in high-performance systems, AI, and speech technology. The company is focused on developing models that adapt to how language is used in real-world settings, particularly in professional environments where accuracy is critical. Reson8’s technology is designed for applications in sectors such as healthcare, legal, and customer support, where specialised vocabulary and fast-paced communication can challenge traditional systems. By prioritising precision and adaptability, the platform aims to reduce errors in transcription and improve usability across different use cases. Generic speech models break the moment you leave English, and customers increasingly want control over where their data lives. We believe Europe can build its own speech infrastructure that is customisable, accurate, and operated locally, said Raoul Ritter, co-founder of Reson8. In contrast to providers reliant on US-based infrastructure, Reson8 is building and operating its own European infrastructure, offering greater control over data residency and compliance with regional requirements. At launch, the platform will support more than 20 European languages. The funding will be used to expand the company’s infrastructure footprint in Europe, continue development of its speech models and inference stack, and grow the team.

Paris-based Parallel, a startup developing AI agents for hospitals, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Index Ventures, with participation from Frst, Y Combinator, Hexa, and several angel investors. The funding follows a $3.5 million seed round less than a year earlier, with the company’s technology already deployed across multiple public and private hospitals. Hospitals continue to rely on complex administrative workflows spread across legacy systems, requiring staff to manually navigate software, input data, and complete repetitive tasks across areas such as coding, billing, and admissions. These processes consume significant resources and reduce the time available for patient care. Parallel addresses this challenge with AI agents that operate directly within existing hospital software. Rather than requiring deep integrations or system replacements, the platform functions as an AI layer that learns to use software similarly to a human, enabling deployment in a matter of weeks. Because our technology runs on top of legacy systems rather than requiring deep integration, our agents can automate a wide range of administrative tasks in healthcare. That means less time and resources spent on cumbersome, manual processes, said Paul Lafforgue, co-founder and CEO of Parallel. The company’s initial focus is medical coding, a key workflow that translates clinical data into standardised codes for reimbursement and reporting. By improving accuracy and optimisation, Parallel aims to help hospitals capture appropriate revenue. The company plans to expand its AI agents into additional administrative functions, including billing and admissions. With administrative costs accounting for a significant share of healthcare spending and demand for care increasing, Parallel is positioning its technology as a way to improve efficiency in resource-constrained systems. The new funding will support the expansion of Parallel’s coding solutions, international growth, and the development of additional AI agents to automate hospital workflows, alongside team expansion.

Paris-based Parallel, a startup developing AI agents for hospitals, has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Index Ventures, with participation from Frst, Y Combinator, Hexa, and several angel investors. The funding follows a $3.5 million seed round less than a year earlier, with the company’s technology already deployed across multiple public and private hospitals. Hospitals continue to rely on complex administrative workflows spread across legacy systems, requiring staff to manually navigate software, input data, and complete repetitive tasks across areas such as coding, billing, and admissions. These processes consume significant resources and reduce the time available for patient care. Parallel addresses this challenge with AI agents that operate directly within existing hospital software. Rather than requiring deep integrations or system replacements, the platform functions as an AI layer that learns to use software similarly to a human, enabling deployment in a matter of weeks. Because our technology runs on top of legacy systems rather than requiring deep integration, our agents can automate a wide range of administrative tasks in healthcare. That means less time and resources spent on cumbersome, manual processes, said Paul Lafforgue, co-founder and CEO of Parallel. The company’s initial focus is medical coding, a key workflow that translates clinical data into standardised codes for reimbursement and reporting. By improving accuracy and optimisation, Parallel aims to help hospitals capture appropriate revenue. The company plans to expand its AI agents into additional administrative functions, including billing and admissions. With administrative costs accounting for a significant share of healthcare spending and demand for care increasing, Parallel is positioning its technology as a way to improve efficiency in resource-constrained systems. The new funding will support the expansion of Parallel’s coding solutions, international growth, and the development of additional AI agents to automate hospital workflows, alongside team expansion.

Barcelona-based startup Health Lean Analytics (HLA) has raised €2.1 million funding, encompassing a €1.4 million seed financing round by several family offices— including Inderhabs, Namarel and Braincats — as well as a loan granted by the Spanish National Innovation Company (ENISA), a public entity under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. HLA specialises in automating data collection in hospital environments to reduce errors, free up clinical staff time, and improve the quality, safety, and sustainability of patient care. The company develops solutions based on data automation, IoT, advanced analytics and AI, with a particular focus on the surgical suite, one of the most complex and critical environments within a hospital. It enables the passive, automatic capture of clinical and operational data in real time, without manual intervention from healthcare staff, ensuring complete, reliable, and traceable information. In addition, its solutions integrate directly with existing hospital systems, unifying key data on patients, surgical materials, medications, operating room usage, and equipment and resource management. Rather than simply displaying information, the platform interprets patterns, anticipates deviations and recommends concrete actions tailored to the needs of each role within the hospital. This enables reductions in operational and material costs, optimisation of surgical capacity, improvements in safety and quality of care, as well as freeing up clinical time and enhancing the experience of healthcare professionals. This milestone has been made possible by the entry of Novanta as an advanced technology and strategic partner. Novanta’s advanced manufacturing and medical technology expertise, and their access to the US marketplace will enable HLA to address this new phase of growth and validate its technology in a highly demanding environment. Novanta will have representation on HLA’s Board of Directors.  “The incorporation of Novanta as an advanced technology partner validates our technological and strategic strength and provides us with the resources and expertise needed to accelerate our R&D innovation,” says Mauro Batesteza, co-founder and co-CEO.   “With this support, we will be able to initiate commercial deployment in the United States, a key market, and demonstrate how our technology transforms hospital management by increasing efficiency, safety and quality of patient care..”  John Lesica, Co-Chief Operating Officer of Novanta, states, "HLA has built a compelling AI and data analytics platform that transforms complex hospital operations into real-time, actionable intelligence. What excites us at Novanta is the convergence: our RFID and sensing technologies capture the data that powers HLA's AI engine. Together, we're closing the loop between physical hospital workflows and intelligent decision-making — a combination with the potential to fundamentally change how hospitals operate, starting with one of their most critical environments: the operating room."  The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s international expansion, with the United States as the first strategic market and a commercial deployment planned over the next 12 months, and to further strengthen its R&D capabilities.

Paris-based Homaio has raised €3.6 million in a funding round led by RAISE Ventures, with participation from Groupe Eren, business angels, and existing investors XAnge and Redstone, bringing its total funding to over €5 million. Founded in 2023, Homaio is an investment platform that provides retail investors with access to emissions allowance markets, which have traditionally been limited to institutional participants. These markets play a central role in climate policy and industrial transformation, particularly in Europe. The company structures financial products backed by carbon allowances, offering a simplified and regulated way to access the market. Since launch, the platform has attracted users across more than 30 countries and manages several million euros in assets. Valentin Lautier, founder of Homaio, said the energy transition is driven by capital allocation, with the company aiming to enable private investors to access the markets shaping this shift. Initially focused on European carbon allowances, Homaio is expanding its platform to cover a broader range of markets linked to the energy transition, including international emissions systems and energy sectors tied to industrial decarbonisation. The funding will support product development and the expansion of its offering beyond carbon allowances, with the goal of directing more private capital toward energy and industrial transition markets.

It’s great news for the European startup ecosystem, as today the European Commission presented its proposal for EU Inc., a new single set of corporate rules that will serve as the cornerstone and starting point for the EU's 28th regime. The announcement represents a major milestone for EU–INC, a policy movement backed by over 22,000 signatories, including Europe's leading founders, investors, and the broader startup community.     EU Inc. is an optional, digital-by-default European corporate framework. It will make it easier for businesses to start, operate and grow across the EU – incentivising them to stay in Europe, and encouraging those who once looked elsewhere to return. Today, for far too many entrepreneurs and innovative companies, expanding across EU borders means navigating a fragmented corporate legal landscape. European innovative companies are faced with 27 national legal systems and more than 60 company legal forms. This complexity can delay the setting-up of a company for weeks or even months, slowing growth, raising costs and discouraging scale.   EU Inc. is at the heart of the Commission's response to these challenges: coming in the form of a regulation, it will provide a single harmonised set of corporate rules that companies can choose instead of navigating multiple national regimes, unlocking the true potential of the Single Market. The Draghi Report highlighted the urgent need to focus on improving the EU's competitiveness, including by making it easier for innovative companies to scale up in Europe. Announced in the Commission's political guidelines for 2024 – 2029 and President von der Leyen's SOTEU speech , the EU Inc. proposal aims to reduce fragmentation, boost EU competitiveness, and respond to the needs of innovative companies. Create a company within 48 hours, from anywhere in the European Union, fully online President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Europe has the talent, the ideas and the ambition to become the best place for innovators. Yet today, European entrepreneurs who want to scale up face 27 legal systems and more than 60 national company forms. With EU Inc., we are making it drastically easier to start and grow a business all across Europe. Any entrepreneur will be able to create a company within 48 hours, from anywhere in the European Union, and fully online. This crucial step is just the beginning. Our goal is clear: one Europe – one market – by 2028.” Given its key importance for the EU's prosperity, the Commission calls on the European Parliament and the Council to reach an agreement on the EU Inc. proposal by the end of 2026. Main features of EU inc. include: Faster registration: Entrepreneurs, founders, and companies will be able to found an EU Inc. company within 48 hours, for less than €100, with no minimum share capital requirement. Simpler procedures: EU Inc. companies will only need to submit their company information once, via an EU-level interface connecting national business registers together. In a second step, the Commission will establish a new central EU register. EU Inc. companies will obtain their tax identification and VAT numbers without having to resubmit paperwork.   Fully digital operations: Corporate processes will be digital by default throughout a company's lifecycle. Helping founders restart faster and cheaper: EU Inc. companies will have access to fully digital liquidation procedures. Innovative startups will have access to simplified insolvency procedures to facilitate the winding down of operations. This enables founders to try and test innovative ideas and start again if needed. Better conditions to attract investment: Today's proposal will remove in-person formalities, provide digital procedures for financing operations, and simplify the transfer of shares. There will be no more mandatory involvement of intermediaries for share transfers, and liquidation procedures.The proposal will also allow Member States to give EU Inc. companies access to the stock exchange .Better means to attract talents: EU Inc. companies will be able to set up EU-wide employee stock option plans. The stock option will only be taxed on the income generated once it is sold. This is a crucial factor in ensuring attractiveness, particularly for innovative startups. Full access to the Single Market: EU Inc. companies will be free to choose the Member State in which they incorporate. The proposal includes a blacklist of prohibited practices to ensure that EU Inc. companies are treated the same way as any other national companies. Strong safeguards against abuse: National employment and social laws are not affected by the proposal. They will apply to EU Inc. the same way they apply to any other business under national company law. The applicable safeguards of the Member State of registration will apply in full to the EU Inc. company, including when it comes to rules regarding co-determination.   Flexibility of shares: EU Inc. companies will have the flexibility to create different classes of shares with varying economic or voting rights. This can, for example, help founders protect their business against hostile takeovers. In addition, the Commission is adopting today a Communication outlining the ongoing and future initiatives to complete the 28th Regime in other policy areas. The Communication proposes maximum digitalisation of interactions between companies and public authorities, for example with the European Business Wallet. The Communication also calls on Member States to consider setting up specialised judicial chambers or courts with the authority to handle disputes on EU Inc. company law, allowing for an effective, efficient and uniform application of the EU Inc. rules. The Commission will further explore the possibility of allowing 100% cross-border telework for innovative startups and scale-ups across the Union with the forthcoming Fair Labour Mobility Package. The Communication also announces measures for access to capital for startups and scaleups, building on the measures of the Savings and Investment Union, a potential revision of investment rules of pension fund, and the upcoming review of the European Venture Capital Funds. On taxation, the Commission has proposed a Head Office Tax (HOT) system that would allow small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to apply the tax rules of their home country. In addition, the Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT) initiative aims to establish a single legislative framework for corporate taxation in the EU. The upcoming Omnibus simplification package on direct taxation is expected to remove additional administrative burdens of the EU businesses. Finally, the Commission is adopting today a Recommendation on definitions of innovative enterprises, innovative startups and innovative scaleups. The Recommendation will ensure a coherent approach across the EU to ensure better monitoring of EU policies on businesses, providing certainty for companies, investors and decision-makers in the process. “We could’ve taken on US competitors with far less friction” For Jeppe Rindom, CEO and Co-Founder of Pleo, EU-Inc represents a significant step toward reducing fragmentation and enabling true pan-European scale for startups and fintechs. "The proposition emerged from a broader realisation that Europe has been weak on innovation, and that European countries are individually small on the global stage. Combine this with recent geopolitical and economic events, the urgency for Europe to become more independent and self-sufficient has only intensified. Operating across Europe has been costly and time-consuming, with expansion today requiring different partners, structures and processes in each market — much of which is still analogue. For companies like Pleo, a proposal like EU-Inc could have enabled faster expansion, lower costs and greater ambition, with the fragmentation of planning growth across borders removed. We could’ve scaled faster, and taken on US competitors, with far less friction." He admits that while it won’t solve every challenge — such as currencies, infrastructure and cultural differences -—EU-Inc meaningfully lowers legal and operational barriers, and signals a shift in Europe’s mindset toward innovation and competitiveness. "There will undoubtedly be necessary evolutions that take this further, moving Europe toward acting as a unified market on the global stage. But what we’re seeing announced today is a first step - and a hugely significant one." Keep our builders in Europe Julian Teicke from the newly formed BAD1, a community-led campaign founded by local founders, startup builders, investors, and ecosystem players with the goal of making Berlin the most builder-friendly tech city in Europe within the next 12 to 24 months, hopes the initiative complies with its original goals, stating: "At BAD1, we’re fighting to kill friction for founders. This proposal is a step forward, but slapping a single login screen over 27 fragmented legal systems isn’t the EU Inc. we were promised. We need real, borderless infrastructure to keep our best builders in Europe." Unions warn EU Inc. could allow companies to bypass national labour rules The decision isn't popular with everyone. In response, Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa, a European Labour federation representing 7 million service workers, said:   "The European Commission originally floated EU Inc. to help startups scale more easily across Europe while protecting labour standards. But the dangerous proposal published today opens a window for circumventing national regulatory frameworks.   With companies allowed to cherry-pick countries with lower standards, it risks undermining our European social model, our industrial relations and quality jobs." European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, however, shared:  "The EU Inc proposal will in every way respect existing social standards and labour law, and this includes all employees’ rights to participate in companies’ boards. This proposal includes strong safeguards to ensure that such rules are applied.” We'll be updating this piece with more responses to the news.

Rivia, the Zurich-based data engine for clinical trial intelligence, today announced a $15 million Series A led by Earlybird, with participation from Defiant and existing investors Speedinvest, Amino Collective, and Nina Capital. Over the past three years, the company built what it calls the first reusable intelligence layer for clinical trials. Its data engine integrates thousands of heterogeneous data files in real time, applies trial-specific scientific logic using its proprietary library of reusable configurations, and feeds harmonised data directly into operational review workflows. This enables more proactive decision-making. On this foundation, Rivia is launching a new suite of embedded AI agents. Its first agent, Spark, instantly converts natural language into publication-grade clinical visualisations. Next-generation agents are being deployed in proactive data quality monitoring and oversight workflows, enabling earlier detection of deviations, intelligent prioritisation, and structured, auditable action. I spoke to Erik Scalfaro, CEO and Co-Founder of Rivia to learn more. Tightening regulation and shrinking margins The raise comes at a critical moment for drug development. Regulatory scrutiny is intensifying, with new FDA guidance requiring clinical trial operators to manage risks and compliance proactively. The updated framework explicitly embraces innovation in trial design, conduct, and technology. At the same time, the economics of drug development are under pressure. Industry returns have declined from 11 per cent a decade ago to roughly 3  per cent today, with the number of therapies that successfully reach the market remaining stubbornly low. Yet, the operational reality has not evolved. Why clinical trial infrastructure is broken Despite advances in biotech, clinical trial data infrastructure remains deeply fragmented. Many clinical trial operators continue to rely on spreadsheets and fragmented systems — a problem rooted in how the industry is structured. Clinical trial data sits across multiple vendors that lack standardised integrations. APIs are still rare, and source systems are designed for secure storage, validation, and compliance — not interoperability. According to Scalfaro, “Teams end up downloading files from multiple systems and stitching them together in spreadsheets, or hiring programmers to build bespoke pipelines for each study.” These pipelines can take months to build and are typically layered on generic analytics tools never designed for clinical trials. Clinical trials have evolved — the infrastructure hasn’t According to Scalfaro, clinical trials have changed faster than the infrastructure that runs them. Data volume has increased more than 400 per cent over the past decade.  “Incumbent Systems like Veeva and Medidata were designed primarily to capture data for regulatory compliance, they solved the problem of their time, not to integrate and analyse data across dozens of vendors in real time. Their architecture reflects that origin, and their business model depends on being a single central system across their product offering (Medidata has +60 products). That creates a natural disincentive to be truly vendor-agnostic or multi-source.” However, modern trials now generate data from speciality labs, patient diaries, imaging, genomics, wearables and operational systems.  As a result the “all-in-one” solution by a single vendor doesn’t fit those growing specialised needs. The result, according to Scalfaro, is a fragmented stack where sponsors still stitch data together through manual patchwork.  “Fixing that would require rebuilding the underlying infrastructure, which is why the gap between data growth and trial infrastructure has widened.”  And then as trials become more multimodal and data-heavy, the problem is compounding — but the underlying systems haven’t evolved. “Incumbent systems were not architected or incentivised to solve this integration problem ” he shared. The result is an industry stuck between two imperfect options: Generic dashboards on raw data Custom statistical programming rebuilt for every trial According to Scalfaro, “What has been missing is infrastructure that models the trial logic itself so data from all sources can be integrated and interpreted consistently at speed.” That’s the gap Rivia is aiming to fill. Why Rivia built its data engine first AI Rivia’s approach — building a data engine before deploying AI agents — was deliberate. Scalfaro argues it’s the only way to capture the complexity and specificity of clinical trials in a meaningful way. “It’s the only sequence that allows us to comprehensively capture the unique specifics of each trial needed to contextualise results.” At the core is a unified data layer — the “scaffolding” — which structures fragmented inputs into a coherent system. This enables the creation of vertical workflows tailored to trial activities, before introducing AI on top. Scalfaro explained:  “Without that structure first, AI would simply operate on poorly organised data and produce unreliable results.” Lower costs, faster insights — and better outcomes for patients And today, that vertical sequence of data engine-to-agents gives Rivia a structural advantage.  “We’ve seen biotechs run global trials on Rivia and deliver measurable results, from preventing issues that would’ve cost millions to gaining earlier clarity on which patients benefit most. With every new trial, our ontology library compounds, making our system more powerful over time, shared Scalfaro. Lower trial costs and faster insights mean therapies can reach the market sooner and more clinical programmes can be funded. “In the near term, the direct economic benefit is captured mainly by drug developers (biotechs and pharma companies), since clinical trials are their largest cost centre. CROs benefit as well through more efficient operations and less manual data work. In practice, it is a positive-sum outcome across the ecosystem. “ AI and the shift toward adaptive clinical trial design Scalfaro believes that in the long run, AI could redesign how trials themselves are structured, sharing that several newer approaches, such as decentralised and adaptive trial designs, have emerged in the past few years.   "They can bring major benefits, but only if the operational complexity can be managed efficiently, which is where AI could massively help.   As data infrastructure improves, AI can detect patterns earlier and identify which patient groups respond best. This could lead to trials that are more targeted and adjusted as evidence emerges.“ However, he notes that clinical development requires strong scientific rigour, meaning adoption will take time as regulators build confidence. Ultimately, Rivia’s ambition is clear: reduce clinical trial costs by up to 50 per cent by replacing manual processes with scalable agentic systems. According to Scalfaro, a large share of cost and delay comes not from the science itself, but from the difficulty of generating and validating underlying data. Improving trial infrastructure is therefore one of the most impactful ways to accelerate medical innovation. “At Rivia, we are building that foundation — and as demand grows, we will significantly expand the team over the next year across Zurich and Boston.” According to Christian Nagel, Partner and Co-Founder at Earlybird, clinical trials are among the most complex and costly workflows in healthcare, yet much of the infrastructure remains fragmented and manual.  “Rivia has built a true intelligence layer for clinical operations, unifying data and embedding agents directly into high-impact workflows.  We believe this approach has the potential to fundamentally improve trial execution, reducing costs while increasing speed and data integrity. We’re excited to support Erik and the team as they scale this new agentic foundation for global drug development.” “When we first backed Erik and Tiago, they took on the hardest challenge first — building the data and infrastructure engine to power the world’s most complex clinical trials. They’ve delivered and more, becoming mission-critical to their customers. We’re excited to keep backing them as they layer agentic intelligence on that foundation and build the platform no clinical trial can run without,” comments Andrea Zitna, Lead Partner for Health & Bio at Speedinvest. Lead image:  Rivia Founders Erik Scalfaro and Tiago Kieliger. Photo: uncredited. 

VerbaFlo, a conversational AI platform for real estate, has raised $7 million in a seed round led by Pi Labs, with participation from Haatch, Navigate Ventures, Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh’s venture arm, and a group of family offices. The round brings the company’s total funding to approximately $9 million. Founded in 2024, VerbaFlo enables real estate owners and operators to automate leasing, operations, and resident engagement through AI-driven communication. Unlike traditional chatbot solutions, VerbaFlo provides a purpose-built AI communications layer for real estate. The platform deploys specialised AI agents across functions such as leasing, marketing, operations, and maintenance, integrating directly with existing systems to manage conversations, automate workflows, and streamline customer interactions across multiple channels. By centralising communication across email, web chat, messaging apps, and phone, the platform enables real-time, multilingual engagement at scale. This approach is designed to improve response times, increase conversion rates, and reduce operational workload for property operators. Real estate is one of the largest industries in the world, yet much of its revenue still depends on fragmented communication across channels. We built VerbaFlo to address this by creating a purpose-built vertical AI platform for residential real estate that integrates with existing systems and automates conversations across the resident lifecycle, said Sayantan Biswas, founder and CEO of VerbaFlo. The platform currently supports more than 200,000 units globally, with continued growth across the UK and Europe, recent expansion into the United States, and further rollout planned in additional international markets. The company plans to use the new funding to expand its presence in the United States and other international markets, further develop its product, and scale its global team.

Stockholm-based Noru, a startup building an AI-native platform for regulatory compliance, has raised €560,000 (SEK6 million) in a pre-seed round led by Ampli Ventures. The round also included participation from Andreessen Horowitz Scout Fund, SSE Business Lab, the angel network DHS, and several Nordic entrepreneurs and investors, as well as Mark Strande, CISO at Miro, who joins as an angel investor and advisor. Founded six months ago by Bip Thelin (previously co-founder of Kivra) and Therese Ruth (founder of Hemma), Noru is developing what it describes as an “agentic compliance” approach to managing regulatory requirements. The platform connects directly to company systems and embeds compliance into workflows through APIs, replacing manual processes with automated, continuous monitoring. As regulatory requirements such as ISO certifications, SOC standards, and emerging frameworks like the EU AI Act become increasingly necessary for enterprise sales, Noru aims to integrate compliance directly into development and operational processes. Compliance should be an enabler, not a barrier. With Noru, companies can integrate regulatory compliance directly into their development workflows and operational processes with the support of AI. said Bip Thelin, co-founder and CEO of Noru. The company has already onboarded around twenty paying customers during its pilot phase and supported them in achieving multiple security certifications. Noru plans to use the funding to expand its customer base and hire across engineering and marketing.