SatVu, a UK-based thermal intelligence company that uses space-based data to analyse operational activity and infrastructure performance, has closed a £30 million funding round, bringing its total equity funding to £60 million. The round includes a strategic investment from the NATO Innovation Fund, alongside the British Business Bank, Space Frontiers Fund II (managed by SPARX Asset Management), and Presto Tech Horizons. Existing investors also participated, including Molten Ventures, Adara Ventures, Ridgeline Ventures, NOA, Lockheed Martin, Seraphim Space Fund, and Stellar Ventures. As governments and allied institutions place increasing emphasis on resilience, readiness, and independent intelligence capabilities, demand is growing for reliable and persistent sources of operational insight. Traditional observation methods can limit visibility into activity across critical infrastructure and complex environments, particularly when continuous monitoring is required. SatVu develops high-resolution thermal Earth observation technology designed to address these challenges. The company provides thermal intelligence data from space for government and defence customers, capturing activity both day and night at 3.5-metre resolution. Its technology supports defence, security, and critical infrastructure monitoring, including activity around buildings and strategic assets, helping organisations assess operational changes and readiness where independent insight is essential. Beyond defence applications, SatVu’s data also supports industrial and climate-related monitoring, including observations of blast furnaces, cement production, data centres, oil and gas operations, and energy generation such as solar farms. Anthony Baker, co-founder and CEO of SatVu, said the company was established to provide governments with intelligence that is not available through other sources. He explained that high-resolution thermal imagery from space can reveal activity that is otherwise difficult to detect, including heat signatures linked to operations around buildings and critical infrastructure, helping governments assess activity, operational readiness, and changes relevant to defence and security decision-making. To expand its capabilities, SatVu plans to launch two satellites in 2026, with three additional satellites already under contract as part of its transition toward a multi-satellite constellation. While a single satellite can observe any point on Earth, a constellation increases revisit frequency, enabling more continuous monitoring of activity and operational patterns over time. The funding will support the deployment of this high-resolution thermal constellation and accelerate the company’s transition from a single-satellite demonstration to scalable commercial operations.

Turkish deep-tech fund 212 NexT, focused on advanced materials and industrial technologies, has participated in Aepnus’ pre-Series A funding round. Founded by Lukas Hackl and Bilen Akuzum and headquartered in the US, with additional operations in Canada and Germany, Aepnus is developing a modular alternative to conventional energy-intensive production methods. The company’s technology is designed to enable lower-carbon manufacturing while reducing hazardous by-products such as chlorine gas, with applications across the chemicals industry, heavy manufacturing, and critical mineral processing. Dr Bilen Aküzüm, co-founder and CTO of Aepnus, said the company is developing a new electrochemical production model aimed at enabling the localised manufacturing of essential industrial chemicals that are challenging to produce using conventional methods. Explaining the company’s focus, Aküzüm said: Today, Turkey alone spends more than $150 million annually on caustic soda imports. Our approach strengthens supply security by enabling safe, on-site and lower-carbon production of these critical inputs. The platform we are developing offers a more economical and scalable pathway for producing caustic soda and sulfuric acid – chemicals widely used across battery manufacturing, paper, textiles, heavy industry and in the processing of critical metals. With 212 NexT’s support, we are focused on accelerating global commercialisation. Commenting on the investment, Çağlar Urcan, Managing Partner at 212 NexT, said that Aepnus is addressing structural challenges in the production of essential chemicals such as caustic soda, which are increasingly affected by supply constraints and cost volatility. The company’s modular, chlorine-free electrochemical process offers a commercially viable and more sustainable alternative to conventional production methods. By enabling competitive on-site manufacturing while eliminating hazardous chlorine gas by-products, Aepnus combines clear economic value with industrial scalability.This positioning is particularly compelling given the industrial depth of our investor base, including Akkök Group, a significant Turkish player in the chlor-alkali and speciality chemicals value chain. Emphasising Aepnus’ strategic relevance for Turkey, Urcan added that localising advanced production technologies for key chemicals such as caustic soda and sulfuric acid could strengthen supply security, support industrial competitiveness, and contribute to green transformation goals. He also said that 212 NexT focuses on technologies with strong technical foundations, industrial-scale potential, and long-term strategic value, noting that Aepnus aligns with this investment approach. The investment will support further development and global scaling of the company’s platform, including team expansion, progress across multiple markets, and the strengthening of industrial partnerships.

The British Business Bank is investing up to £45m in a VC fund which makes seed-stage investments in consumer brand startups and B2B tech that supports them. The UK state-backed bank is investing the funds in Redrice Ventures, saying it will help promising startups scale, commercialise research and attract follow-on investment.  It is investing in Redrice’s £75m Fund II. The BBB previously backed Redrice’s Fund 1 in 2021 with a £36m investment. The BBB calls its investment a "cornerstone commitment", designed to help the fund reach its close and attract other investors. London-based Redrice, founded in 2018, primarily invests across media, sport and health and wellness. The BBB's investment forms part of its Enterprise Capital Funds programme, which aims to increase the supply of equity capital to early-stage UK companies with long-term growth potential. The programme has backed 51 funds to date, representing more than £3bn of finance, the BBB said.   Christine Hockley, managing director & co-head of funds, British Business Bank, said: “The creative industries are central to the UK’s growth mission, employing 2.4 million people and contributing £124bn of Gross Value Added to the economy. As a cornerstone investor we hope to crowd in capital to provide additional finance options for companies looking to scale. This will ultimately create more jobs in an already-thriving sector and support the UK to reach its full commercial potential.”

London-based Klaris, an AI-driven medtech startup focused on automating regulatory compliance for medical device companies, has closed a $1 million pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Meridian Health Ventures, a specialist fund backed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital, University College London Hospitals, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Existing investor Antler also participated, alongside Vento Ventures, Milan-based private investment firm Alecla7, and a group of MedTech and regulatory-focused angel investors. The medical device market is projected to exceed $1.1 trillion by 2034, while regulatory requirements continue to present significant challenges for companies bringing products to market. According to FDA analysis, a large share of 510(k) submissions include quality deficiencies, and many are rejected at the first submission stage. In Europe, increasing regulatory demands linked to MDR and IVDR requirements have also led manufacturers to report reduced research and development activity, alongside a decline in the number of devices available on the EU market. To address these regulatory challenges, Klaris develops AI-powered software designed to support compliance for medical device manufacturers. Its platform automates compliance and consistency checks across technical documentation, helping teams identify gaps, maintain alignment with regulatory requirements, and prepare for submissions and audits. By combining AI-driven analysis with expert-validated regulatory frameworks, the company aims to replace traditionally manual documentation processes with a more streamlined approach, improving traceability, data security, and efficiency throughout the product lifecycle. The company was founded by Francesco Corazza and Mihai-Sorin Dobre, combining experience in medical technology, regulatory processes, and AI systems. With the new funding, Klaris will scale its engineering and product teams and accelerate commercial expansion into the wider EU market, following initial traction in the UK and Italy.

Paket Mutfak, a cloud kitchen software startup, has raised $3.8 million to support its ongoing expansion. The round included additional investment from existing backers such as Nokta Yatırım Holding, Ünlü & Co, and Fırat İşbecer, alongside new investors including Ali Sabancı, Sip & Bite GSYF, Robert Baler, and Corsini Global. The latest funding brings the company’s total capital raised to $12.3 million. As food delivery continues to grow while service quality remains uneven across the industry, Paket Mutfak focuses on an operations-driven model designed around the delivery experience. The company operates a multi-brand system aimed at delivering consistent quality and efficiency at scale. Paket Mutfak currently runs 16 brands across 16 locations in Istanbul and manages millions of annual orders through major food delivery platforms using its proprietary operational infrastructure, positioning itself as a scalable, delivery-focused platform. Commenting on the company’s approach, Tali Şalhon, co-founder and CEO of Paket Mutfak, said that one of the biggest problems in the takeaway industry is the inability to maintain quality standards: We are solving this problem by focusing on operational excellence. We are constantly improving our systems to offer our customers the same high quality with every order. Eytan Nahmiyas, co-founder and CSO of Paket Mutfak, said the company plans to develop its own application to gain greater control over the customer experience. By building a platform that enables us to oversee the entire process, from order placement to post-delivery, we aim to offer an experience that sets us apart in the sector. In the coming period, we will focus on strengthening our technological infrastructure and turning this vision into reality. The newly raised capital will be used to strengthen Paket Mutfak’s technology infrastructure, enhance customer experience, and support the development of its own ordering application alongside delivery-focused technology solutions. The funding will also support the expansion of its brand and location network, as well as improvements to supply chain flexibility.

Sendance, a startup developing sensor technology for collecting data from medical devices and assistive equipment, has raised new funding as part of its ongoing third investment round. The investment, structured as a convertible loan, was provided by Garage Angels, with Electron Capital Partners having participated earlier during the seed round. To date, the company has raised a total of €2.6 million to support the development of digital health products. Founded in 2021 and based in Linz, Sendance develops flexible, multi-functional sensor systems for wearable devices. The company has created a patented technology platform that enables manufacturers of products such as orthopaedic insoles, prosthetics, and exoskeletons to collect health-related data and support improved mobility outcomes. Its technology combines a patented sensor grid with a cloud platform, allowing manufacturers to integrate pressure, force, temperature, and motion sensing into medical, sports, and research wearables. The system supports the full product development cycle, from design and prototyping to production, enabling customers to collect and analyse real-time data to improve product performance and user outcomes. Sendance’s solutions are already used by customers internationally, and the first products featuring “sendance inside” technology are entering the market. As stated by the company, the current investment will support further development of the sensor and data platform and help expand its adoption among manufacturers looking to add data-driven capabilities to physical devices and develop new approaches to health and mobility data.

Intuos, a startup developing an integrated platform to improve aircraft fleet efficiency, safety, and compliance, has closed a €720,000 investment round. The round was led by a group of investors, including Argo, a TravelTech accelerator created through a CDP Venture Capital initiative in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Tourism and managed by Zest and Venisia, together with Techstars, Ventive, and several club deals and business angels. Founded by Carolina Gianardi and Vito Tedeschi, Intuos is addressing what it describes as a growing challenge in non-commercial aviation, where traditional software is increasingly unable to manage rising operational complexity and the integrated coordination of training, operations, and fleet management. According to the founders, non-commercial aviation requires stronger structured control across operational workflows, and the company’s platform was developed to close gaps between in-flight activity and operational oversight. The Intuos platform is built around two core components. The Manager digitises aeronautical operations, covering activities ranging from flight planning to fleet maintenance while centralising processes within a single integrated platform for flying clubs, flight schools, and commercial operators. The InFlight Data Monitoring solution combines proprietary IoT devices with real-time telemetry and engine performance data, enabling continuous monitoring, pilot performance analysis, and anomaly detection without the need for manual data uploads. Together, these components connect in-flight performance with operational management, creating a unified and scalable technology cycle supported by two patents, one of which has been extended internationally. The founders said that the platform integrates hardware and software within a single system to improve data consistency, reduce redundancy, and support safer and more efficient operations. The capital raised will support the completion of key technological developments and the company’s initial exploration of the US market, building on its expansion in Europe and South Africa.

The Austrian creator of the popular open-source AI assistant OpenClaw is joining US frontier lab OpenAI, in a move some see as a blow to the European tech ecosystem.   OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman announced on X last night that “genius” software developer Peter Steinberger is joining the company to “drive the next generation of personal agents”.   Altman said: “OpenClaw will live in a foundation as an open source project that OpenAI will continue to support. The future is going to be extremely multi-agent and it’s important to us to support open source as part of that.”   In a separate X post, Steinberger posted: “I’m joining OpenAI to bring agents to everyone. OpenClaw is becoming a foundation: open, independent and just getting started.”   He also wrote a blog post explaining his decision, saying he spent last week in San Francisco talking with the major labs. OpenClaw, previously called Clawdbot, then Moltbot, has become a viral sensation over the past few weeks as an “AI that actually does things”, from responding to emails, checking in flights and carrying out research. The OpenClaw tech was created in Europe.   Responding to the news, some commentators see Steinberger’s exit to a US firm as a blow to the European tech ecosystem.   Posting on LinkedIn, one tech commentator said: ”As happy as I am for him as a fellow Austrian, I can't help but wonder if there was a counter offer from a European tech company.”   Another commentator said: “It‘s a real pity that every promising idea/startup gets immediately swallowed by US big tech.”   A third person posted: "Europe isn't losing to OpenAI. Europe is losing to its own bureaucracy. When Zuck, Sam, and Satya call personally while European leadership is still 'aligning on a process,' the outcome is a foregone conclusion.” Many who posted on social media congratulated Steinberger on the move. Image: Peter Steinberger

Nul, a UK-based healthtech startup developing a supported alcohol reduction platform that combines clinical care and prescription medication, has raised $1 million in seed funding. The round was led by dmg ventures and BYVP, with participation from a group of angel investors. Alcohol use disorder and harmful drinking affect millions of people globally, while treatment options have seen limited innovation in recent decades. Nul aims to address this gap with medication- and therapy-supported reduction models designed for individuals who want to reduce their alcohol consumption without requiring immediate or complete abstinence. Founded by Matus Maar, Nul is building a telehealth platform that integrates clinical care, prescription medication, digital treatment pathways, and behavioural support. The company’s programme is based on naltrexone, a medication used to reduce alcohol cravings by targeting reward pathways. Delivered through a fully remote subscription service, the programme includes virtual consultations, ongoing clinical support, and structured digital guidance based on The Sinclair Method. Commenting on the company’s mission, Matus Maar, founder and CEO of Nul, said that alcohol reduction remains one of the largest areas in healthcare that has seen relatively limited modernisation. Telehealth and online pharmacy platforms have transformed categories like weight loss and mental health, yet alcohol has been left behind despite the scale of the problem. Nul is about making evidence-based treatment accessible, discreet and compatible with real life. Nul launched a UK test phase in summer 2025 and has onboarded more than 120 paying customers, reaching an annualised revenue run rate of over £300,000 within its first months, driven largely by organic demand and word-of-mouth. The seed funding will support the company’s full UK commercial launch, expansion of its clinical and product teams, scaling of customer acquisition, and preparation for future international expansion, including the US market. Alongside the seed round, Nul plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Republic Europe, allowing retail investors to participate in the round and support the company’s next phase of growth.

The Fourth Law (TFL), a Kyiv-based defence technology company, has secured a new funding round backed by Axon, a US public safety technology group. TFL develops AI and robotics solutions for defence and public safety, with a focus on autonomy technologies. The company builds an autonomy-focused software stack that includes simulation and analytical tools, autonomous applications, and fleet management systems. Designed to operate across multiple platforms, the technology can be integrated into quadcopters, fixed-wing UAVs, missiles, and ground or maritime drones. The system functions independently of satellite navigation (GNSS), allowing operation in GPS-denied environments, and may also have applications beyond defence, including logistics, manufacturing, and construction. TFL’s flagship products include the Lupynis-10-TFL-1 UAV and the TFL-1 autonomy module, which are used by more than 50 Ukrainian military units across multiple frontline areas. According to the company, its first-level autonomy technology increases FPV drone mission success rates by two to four times while adding around 10 per cent to unit costs. The company’s latest product, TFL-AntiShahed, is a module for interceptor drones that uses on-edge AI to detect and identify strike drones such as the Shahed and Geran more quickly than manual observation. TFL’s autonomy technology is designed for integration across platforms. In addition to its own Lupynis-10 UAV, the company’s AI modules have been integrated with dozens of third-party UAV manufacturers. The modules can be installed on external airframes, used with different ground stations, and operate across various connectivity architectures. As stated by Yaroslav Azhnyuk, founder and chief executive of The Fourth Law, the funding will support research and development of new autonomy capabilities intended to help protect cities and critical infrastructure from Shahed-type attacks.  

Last week, we tracked more than 65 tech funding deals worth over €3.4 billion, and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

The CEOs of two prominent Swedish AI startups have rejected suggestions that well-funded US frontier AI labs are threats to their business models.  Max Junestrand, CEO and co-founder of AI legaltech startup Legora, and Lukas Saari, CEO and co-founder AI healthtech startup Tandem Health, said the rise in popularity of chatbots such as Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini galvanised interest in their startups, but they were not a threat. Their views follow Claude chatbot maker Anthropic recently launching a legal plug-in to Claude, which specialises in legal tasks to "review documents, flag risks and track compliance". The tool aims to save firms time and money in legal costs. The plug-in launch, which is expected to be followed by similar type launches by OpenAI and Google, sent the share price of several large legal data firms tumbling.  Meanwhile, in January this year, ChatGPT maker OpenAI launched a new ChatGPT feature in the US, ChatGPT Health, which can analyse people’s medical records.   Some experts believe that OpenAI and Anthropic, which are looking to drive up paying customers to help fund their billions of dollars needed to power their growth plans, could cannibalise sales of startups built on their tech with rival offerings. Junestrand wrote a post on LinkedIn about the Claude plug-in launch, outlining its differences to Legora, which is built on top of LLMs.  Explaining more at the Techarena conference in Sweden, Junestrand said: “One of the frustrations that we’ve had is that the models have been really good at say coding, but they haven’t actually been that good on complex legal tasks.  “To give you an example, if you need to draft a share purchase agreement and just throw that into Claude, it is not going to turn out so good.”  He called Claude a “pocket lawyer”, which was used by individuals for one-off tasks, whereas Legora was a broad infrastructure used by over 400 legal firms.  He said: “We keep track of hundreds of millions of documents, we store them, we build knowledge graphs between them, we collect and ingest all the world’s legal data.”  Asked if he was worried about AI frontier labs launching a direct rival product, he said: “We don’t feel very threatened by the model providers. But I do think they serve as a very good spark and idea engine.”  He highlighted the importance of having industry-specific chatbots, using the example of Microsoft Copilot, saying it could have dominated in office use. But he said that “even if it’s really good, it’s very hard to be good for a finance professional, a tax professional, a legal professional”.  Legora, founded in 2023 and valued at $1.8 billion, is said to be raising funds that would triple its valuation to $6 billion, four months after its last financing round.  Asked whether this is true, Junestrand said: ”There are always a lot of rumours about these things. But that is something I cannot comment on.”  Comparing Legora to Sequoia-backed US rival Harvey, he said: “We started in Stockholm with a €50,000 angel cheque versus competition that had over $20 million from Sequoia and OpenAI.” He said Legora was winning a high per cent of deals it was competing for. Meanwhile, Saari said it is “not something that I worry about” when asked about a frontier AI lab launching a rival product to Tandem Health. Tandem Health, powered by LLMs, offers clinicians an AI co-pilot that generates medical notes during patient consultations. Saari said: “We are active in a field where you require so deep vertical integration that horizontal generalist solutions will never make the cut.   "And where you need to tailor the workflow so much to the users, you need to integrate with their systems, you need to follow local guidelines and so on.”  He pointed to the launch of ChatGPT Health, which he said now generates 230m users asking health-related questions every week, as an indicator of broader interest in health chatbots.  He said: “This is something that shows the demand for this type of product. "And we are here offering what is the safe option for doing this, where we are actually protecting like data sovereignty and processing it in Europe. And also anchoring it in the right clinical guidelines.”  Tandem’s co-pilot has evolved from solving the niche use case of medical note taking, expanding to a full medical assistant, which now includes referral notes and patient communications before, during and after patient visits.  In July last year, Tandem raised $50 million in a Series A round after a $10m seed round in 2024. On future funding, Saari said Tandem would “quite likely” to raise new funds this year. He said: “Capital is a means to go faster and be more ambitious. I very much optimise for speed. As soon as capital starts being a constraining factor, that is when we will fundraise again." Tandem, which employs around 130 people, is purely focused on the European market, with the UK, where NHS clinicians use it, its biggest market in terms of user numbers.  He said: "The UK is the most mature market in Europe for these types of solutions.  “In some of the other European countries, when we do our demo to the users, this will be the first time they have ever seen something like this.”  On the agenda for 2026, Saari said he wants to “make sure that all of the large care providers are choosing us as their long-term AI partner. And how we can parallel with this the build out of the product to be a complete AI medical assistant". Image: Nano Banana Pro

Munich-based construction robotics startup Sitegeist has raised €4 million in a pre-seed funding round co-led by b2venture and OpenOcean, with participation from UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators and several angel investors, including Verena Pausder, Lea-Sophie Cramer, Alexander Schwörer, and additional strategic backers from the construction and robotics sectors. Across Europe, ageing bridges, tunnels, parking facilities, and public buildings require major renovation. In Germany alone, the repair backlog amounts to hundreds of billions of euros, with similar challenges seen in North America and other regions. Labour shortages and the physically demanding nature of concrete repair make projects costly, hard to staff, and difficult to scale. Concrete renovation is particularly complex and capacity-constrained. Removing deteriorated concrete using high-pressure water or abrasive blasting requires precision and close supervision to avoid damaging steel reinforcement. Because the process is largely manual and site-specific, construction companies often face low efficiency, rising safety demands, and significant project backlogs. Sitegeist aims to address these challenges with modular automated robots designed for unstructured construction environments. Unlike conventional automation systems that rely on pre-existing 3D models or standardised site conditions, the company’s robotic systems are built to operate directly on existing structures. Using advanced sensing, AI-based decision support, and adaptive control, they can handle complex geometries and varying material conditions without prior digitisation, enabling deployment on active renovation sites. Building on this approach, Dr Lena-Marie Pätzmann, co-founder and CEO of Sitegeist, said that infrastructure renovation, particularly concrete repair, is facing a major bottleneck. She explained that deteriorated concrete is still removed through labour-intensive methods that are difficult to scale, and that Sitegeist is addressing this challenge by developing specialised, modular automated robots capable of performing renovation tasks directly on existing structures. The company works closely with concrete renovation firms on-site and is developing a modular platform intended to expand across the renovation value chain over time. Looking forward, Sitegeist plans to collaborate with additional test sites, co-development partners, and new talent to further validate and refine its robotic systems. The new funding will support team expansion and accelerate the deployment of Sitegeist’s automated, AI-enabled robots on real-world construction sites, helping concrete renovation companies address ongoing capacity constraints.

This week, we tracked more than 65 tech funding deals worth over €3.4 billion and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. Alongside the week’s top funding rounds, we’ve highlighted key industry developments, as well as notable trends in European venture activity, investor moves and emerging sectors shaping the current funding landscape. 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 ?? Nscale has secured a $1.4M Delayed Draw Term Loan backed by GPUs ?? Satellite operator Eutelsat secures €975M for LEO expansion ?? 25-year-old founder’s Olix nabs $220M for photonic AI inference chips to take on Nvidia ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ?? London-headquartered tech firm Reward has been acquired in a $230M deal ?? Admiral Group has acquired London insurtech Flock for £80M ?? Uber acquires Getir’s Turkish delivery business ?? Dcycle acquires ESG-X to scale sustainability data management in Europe ? Interesting moves from investors ? Elaia’s Digital Venture Fund V reaches €120M at first close ? Zilch co-founder raises $20M for latest venture ? ET Capital closes £270K fund to challenge traditional VC winner-picking. What about diversity? ? Antler launches always-on Nordic residency and $100M+ fund to accelerate startup investment ?️ In other (important) news ? From industrial depth to strategic growth: the German tech ecosystem ?? Bending Spoons is offering €1.5 million in tech scholarships with its new fellowship program ?? Poland’s VC market leans heavily on seed-stage funding ? Why is a $700M startup “testing” its AI in the Balkans? ? Recommended reads and listens ?? Mistral boss calls for European unity in AI race, as pledges €1.2B Swedish data centre investment ? MuseCool is using audio AI to fix the biggest problem in music education ?? Ukraine’s wartime VR therapy is scaling beyond trauma care ? Startup Nation Switzerland: Agenda for more innovation and growth ? European tech startups to watch  ?? xWatts closes £1.6M to expand AI-powered energy management solutions ?? Vesiro raises €1.6M to optimise elasticsearch and lower server energy use ?? AI-native proptech startup MARC has raised a $1M by a group of angel investors ?? Nocomed raises €650,000 in seed funding to address healthcareʼs biggest emissions blind spot

Zurich-based startup ScyAI has closed a €2 million pre-seed funding round led by AENU and co-led by PT1. The round also includes participation from unicorn founders David Helgason (Unity), Maex Ament and Philip Stehlik (Taulia, Centrifuge) through Anti Ordinary Ventures, as well as Bela Lainck, Robert Levenhagen, Christoph Aufmhof and Stefanie Gerhart through the angel investor alliance better ventures. For manufacturers, energy producers and other organisations with large physical asset portfolios, climate risk has become an increasingly important operational challenge. Industry data indicates that natural catastrophes continue to generate significant economic losses, with a substantial share remaining uninsured. One reason for this protection gap is that insurance pricing is often based on broad industry categories and regional averages rather than company-specific risk profiles. Without detailed information on factors such as facility construction, mitigation measures or asset separation, underwriters may apply more conservative pricing. As a result, companies with strong risk management practices may face higher costs or retain more risk than intended due to limited visibility into potential coverage gaps. In response to these challenges, ScyAI has developed a platform that creates quantified, auditable risk profiles by combining operational data with external hazard models. This allows organisations to demonstrate their specific risk characteristics using metrics aligned with those used by underwriters. According to the company, early users of the platform have reported reductions in insurance premiums alongside improved coverage terms. ScyAI’s solution is aimed at organisations with significant physical infrastructure and is designed to help address both affordability and coverage adequacy, which contribute to the existing protection gap. Bernhard Rannegger, founder and CEO of ScyAI, said that physical risks are becoming a central operational and financial issue for companies. He added that the company’s goal is to help organisations make these risks measurable and easier to understand, enabling risk and insurance teams to make more informed decisions.

simmetry.ai, a synthetic data company working across agriculture, food and industrial sectors, has secured €330,000 from NBank, the investment and development bank of the German state of Lower Saxony. The funding was provided through the High-Tech Incubator (HTI) accelerator programme. simmetry.ai was founded in 2024 as a spin-off from the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) by Kai von Szadkowski (CEO), Anton Elmiger (CTO) and Prof. Dr. Stefan Stiene. The company develops a simulation platform that generates photorealistic, fully annotated synthetic data across multiple sensor modalities for training computer vision models. Its current focus includes agriculture, food and industrial computer vision applications. The platform supports tasks such as semantic segmentation, object detection, 3D pose estimation and regression. It is aimed at computer vision engineers and AI developers working in areas such as robotics, autonomous machinery, quality inspection and other environments that rely on visual perception under complex and changing conditions. simmetry.ai aims to address what it describes as a key data bottleneck in AI development. According to the company, a significant portion of effort in building AI models is spent on data collection and preparation, particularly in industries where capturing diverse real-world scenarios is costly or difficult. Its synthetic data approach is intended to augment real-world datasets and improve model robustness by generating photorealistic images across controlled conditions, environments and edge cases. The technology is being applied to use cases including precision weed control, quality inspection in food production, and AI-based monitoring in industrial environments. Commenting on the company’s focus, Anton Elmiger, said that agriculture was chosen as an initial sector due to its technical complexity and potential impact. He explained that improving crop monitoring and management requires reliable computer vision systems, which are often limited by a lack of diverse training data. With new funding, the company plans to develop a scalable platform that enables AI developers to generate photorealistic, fully annotated training data tailored to specific use cases, with the aim of reducing the time and cost required to build robust computer vision models in data-constrained environments.

In 2025, European tech companies raised approximately €72 billion in total funding. Germany secured €11.5 billion across 539 deals, accounting for around 16 per cent of the total capital invested and ranking second among European countries by total amount raised. Within Germany, the tech ecosystem was shaped less by overall deal volume and more by the size and concentration of capital flowing into a limited number of core sectors. The year was marked by several large financing rounds, particularly in energy, climate, mobility and artificial intelligence, giving the market a notably infrastructure-focused profile. Energy attracted the highest level of investment at around €2.1 billion, followed by fintech at approximately €1.5 billion, artificial intelligence at €1.3 billion, transportation and mobility at €1.2 billion, and cleantech at €1.1 billion. This distribution highlighted Germany’s continued strength in capital-intensive, industrial and real-economy innovation. Overall, 2025 reflected a scale-driven and high-conviction investment environment, with funding concentrated in technologies considered strategically important for long-term economic transformation and infrastructure development (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: €1B FINN is an automotive subscription platform that offers flexible, all-inclusive car subscriptions as an alternative to traditional ownership and leasing. The service allows customers to access a range of vehicles with insurance, maintenance and other costs bundled into a single monthly fee, without long-term commitments, and delivers cars directly to users’ locations. In 2025, FINN secured €1 billion ABS financing for fleet expansion. Amount raised in 2025: €810M Enpal is a renewable energy company that provides solar power solutions for homeowners, including photovoltaic systems, battery storage, heat pumps and energy management services. The company offers flexible options to rent or buy integrated clean energy systems, covering planning, installation and maintenance, with the aim of making solar energy more accessible and supporting the transition to decentralised, sustainable power. In 2025, Enpal raised €810 million across two funding rounds to support making solar panels and heat pumps more affordable for households across Europe. Amount raised in 2025: €600M Helsing is a defence technology company that develops AI-enabled systems and autonomous solutions to support military decision-making and security operations. Its technology integrates artificial intelligence with existing hardware and software to produce advanced battlefield insights and autonomous systems, including AI platforms for data analysis and autonomous vehicles across air, land and sea domains. In 2025, Helsing raised €600 million, more than doubling its valuation to €12 billion. Amount raised in 2025: €600M IONITY is an electric vehicle (EV) charging network that builds and operates high-power charging stations along major highways and transport routes. Founded as a joint venture by several automotive manufacturers, IONITY aims to support long-distance EV travel by providing reliable, fast charging infrastructure across Europe. Its stations offer high-capacity chargers compatible with a range of electric vehicles, helping to accelerate EV adoption and reduce barriers to sustainable mobility. Ionity has secured €600 million in financing from nine European commercial banks in 2025, to accelerate expansion, with plans to exceed 13,000 charging points by 2030 and broaden its network across Europe. Amount raised in 2025: €505M Bees & Bears is an online marketplace that connects consumers with a wide range of natural, sustainable food and lifestyle products from independent brands. The platform focuses on ethically sourced, eco-friendly goods and aims to make it easier for customers to discover and shop high-quality items that align with environmentally conscious values. In 2025, Bees & Bears 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 deployment of renewable energy systems such as solar, heat pumps and battery storage. Amount raised in 2025: €400M Green Flexibility is an energy company that develops, builds and operates large-scale battery storage systems to support grid stability and accelerate the integration of renewable energy. The company focuses on strengthening energy infrastructure by providing flexible storage capacity that helps balance supply and demand within the power grid. Green Flexibility has secured over €400 million in funding in 2025 to expand its battery storage capacity and support growing demand for grid stability and energy system flexibility. Amount raised in 2025: €340M Quantum Systems designs and manufactures unmanned aerial systems (UAS), including long-endurance drones for commercial, governmental and defence applications. Its aircraft combine vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities with fixed-wing efficiency, enabling flexible, high-performance operations for survey, mapping, inspection and monitoring tasks across industries. In 2025, Quantum Systems raised €340 million across two rounds (a €160 million Series C in May and a €180 million Series C extension in November) to accelerate development of its AI, software and hardware platforms, supported by its multi-domain mission software, MOSAIC UXS. Amount raised in 2025: €308M Tubulis is a company focused on developing next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other targeted cancer therapies. Using its proprietary biological engineering platform, the company aims to create precision therapeutics that improve treatment effectiveness while reducing side effects. Tubulis raised €308 million in a Series C round in 2025 to advance the clinical development of its lead candidate, TUB-040. Amount raised in 2025: $300M Black Forest Labs is a software company that builds tools to help organisations create, deploy, and monitor large-scale artificial intelligence applications. Its platform focuses on improving AI observability and reliability, enabling teams to track performance, detect issues, and manage models throughout their lifecycle. In 2025, Black Forest Labs closed a $300 million Series B round at a $3.25 billion post-money valuation to accelerate research and development. Amount raised in 2025: €240M AMBOSS is a medical knowledge and clinical decision support platform designed for healthcare professionals and students. It combines a comprehensive medical library with integrated clinical tools and analytics to help users study, review, and apply medical knowledge efficiently, supporting clinical decision-making and exam preparation. In 2025, AMBOSS secured €240 million to strengthen medical knowledge and support healthcare professionals.

Warsaw-based Demoboost, a platform that enables B2B software companies to deliver scalable, data-driven product demos, has raised €2.8 million in funding to support further product development and international expansion. The round was co-led by Digital Ocean Ventures and Rafał Brzoska’s family office RIO, with participation from B-Value. As B2B software sales cycles lengthen and conversion rates decline, companies are looking for ways to improve sales efficiency. Industry benchmarks indicate that only a minority of sales-qualified leads convert, leading to significant time and resources being spent on opportunities that do not generate revenue. A key challenge is the gap between buyer expectations and traditional sales processes. Many buyers seek greater flexibility and responsiveness, yet often encounter structured and rigid sales journeys. This can result in longer sales cycles, lower win rates, and increased pressure on presales teams that spend considerable time preparing repetitive demo materials. Demoboost addresses these challenges by helping B2B software companies standardise and scale their demo processes. Its platform enables sales, presales, and revenue teams to create, personalise, and share product demos that buyers can explore independently at an early stage or use during live sales interactions. These range from guided product tours to more complex, interactive sessions. AI-supported tools allow teams to reuse and adapt demo environments efficiently, reducing manual preparation and turnaround times. In addition to streamlining demo creation, the platform treats demos as a source of behavioural insight. It tracks how stakeholders interact with content, including what is viewed, shared, or revisited, generating data that can inform sales strategy. This approach turns demos into an ongoing source of revenue intelligence, helping teams prioritise opportunities, allocate resources more effectively, and improve conversion performance across the funnel. Demoboost plans to use the new funding to support continued investment in AI-driven demo creation and revenue intelligence capabilities, alongside team expansion across key functions.

London-based Bracket, an FX, treasury, and cash management platform for mid-market businesses, has raised $7 million in seed funding. The round was led by Macquarie Group’s Commodities and Global Markets business and Blackfinch Ventures, with participation from existing investor Failup Ventures. Demand for modern treasury infrastructure has grown among mid-market companies, many of which continue to rely on spreadsheets and manual processes to manage FX exposure, cash visibility, and bank connectivity. These limitations have increased the need for more integrated and automated solutions. Founded in 2024 by FX and treasury industry leaders Alex Charles, Pierre Anderson, and Martin Lee, Bracket was established to address these challenges. The company’s AI-enabled platform centralises bank accounts, automates FX workflows, and provides real-time treasury insights, reducing reliance on manual processes that still dominate many finance teams’ operations. In addition to serving corporate clients directly, Bracket has developed a bank distribution model, licensing its platform to global banks and financial institutions to help them deliver modern treasury tools to their mid-market customers. Commenting on the funding, Pierre Anderson, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Bracket, said that mid-market companies are often expected to meet the same standards as large corporates without access to equivalent tools, leaving many dependent on outdated systems. He explained that Bracket’s platform automates treasury operations using AI and provides finance teams with real-time visibility and control over bank data within a single system. The new investment will support further product development and Bracket’s next phase of growth, including plans to open offices in Europe and Australia and expand its workforce over the coming year.

Paris-based Rivage has closed a €2.6 million pre-seed funding round to support the rollout of its payroll software across accounting firms. The round includes Partech, alongside business angel investors from the technology and accounting sectors, including the founders of Skello, Hexa, Quarksup, and Teledec. More than half of employees in France rely on accounting firms or outsourcing providers for payroll and social security declarations. As a result, payroll software plays a central role in a large market that remains largely dominated by legacy systems, many of which are not fully aligned with the ongoing digital transformation of firms and their small and medium-sized business clients. In response to these challenges, Rivage is developing an open, interoperable payroll software platform designed to increase the productivity of payroll managers and position payroll data as a tool for broader HR advisory services. The solution is already being deployed across eight partner firms. Founded in July 2025 by Ayoub Saidane, Hector Vergeron, Paul Lemoine, and Tancrède d’Hauteville (CEO), Rivage aims to offer a modern, scalable alternative focused on interoperability. The platform is designed to adapt to evolving regulatory requirements at scale while reducing the administrative burden on payroll managers through the automation of complex and time-consuming tasks. In a segment that has seen limited technological innovation, the company positions itself within a market where advances in AI are creating new opportunities to improve efficiency for firms. Commenting on the challenges facing the sector, Tancrède d’Hauteville said: Between the increasing complexity of regulatory frameworks, the accelerating digitalisation of VSBs/SMBs and the suffocating monopoly imposed by legacy solutions, payroll has become a major pain point for firms. From the outset, we built Rivage with our accounting partners, to enable them to break out of this dependence, to gain long-term productivity and to be in line with their customers’ demands. The funding will support two main priorities: continued development of the platform to improve the efficiency and reliability of each stage of the payroll cycle, including HRIS integrations, simplified advanced configuration, and enhanced auditability of payroll and DSN calculations; and the expansion of collective agreement coverage, with plans to broaden the number supported by the platform by the end of the year.