Cybersecurity startup Cytix has raised $7 million in Series A funding to accelerate the rollout of its change risk management platform and expand adoption among enterprise and regulated organisations. The round was led by Northern Gritstone, with participation from existing investors Auriga Cyber Ventures and NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, managed by PXN Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II. Cytix is addressing security challenges created by the growing pace of software development, as AI-assisted coding, agentic workflows and continuous delivery increase the volume and frequency of software changes. The company argues that traditional security approaches, which largely focus on identifying vulnerabilities, provide limited visibility into the business risk associated with individual changes. According to research cited by Cytix, 62 per cent of security leaders believe security risk within their organisations is shifting from a latent issue to an immediate one, while 38 per cent strongly agree that their organisation is prepared for the volume of AI-generated code entering its environment. Software is changing. AI-assisted development means change now happens at machine speed. Meanwhile, very few security leaders have control over, or understanding of, those changes from a risk perspective. Right now, existing tools can tell you what vulnerabilities you have, but can’t tell you about the risk. We launched Cytix’ change risk management platform to get control of that risk, said Ben Armstrong, CEO of Cytix. Cytix's platform is designed to help organisations assess the security implications of software changes as they occur. It continuously monitors software changes and updates, analyses the risks they introduce, determines the appropriate security response and validates how those risks have been addressed. It also creates evidence showing how individual changes were handled, supporting regulatory and compliance requirements. The platform operates between a customer's software development lifecycle, where changes are made, and its risk, security and compliance functions. By providing a central control point for software changes, Cytix aims to give security teams visibility into what has changed, the associated business risk and the actions taken in response. The Series A funding will support the rollout of the platform as Cytix targets enterprise customers and organisations operating in regulated industries where software change governance is a compliance requirement. Customers can access the platform directly from Cytix or through its managed service partnerships with NCC Group and KPMG.

Helsinki-based STRGY AI has raised €1 million in angel funding to support the commercial growth and further development of StrategyOS, its AI-powered strategy execution platform. The round was backed by private investors from the UK, Norway, Switzerland and Finland, alongside equity participation from Innovestor’s Angel CoFund and non-dilutive support from Business Finland. STRGY AI has developed StrategyOS to help organisations translate strategic plans into measurable day-to-day actions. The platform gives leadership teams a continuous view of how work across an organisation aligns with strategic priorities, replacing static plans and periodic reporting with ongoing monitoring of execution. StrategyOS is designed for Chiefs of Staff, Heads of Strategy and COOs at mid-market organisations. It connects operational activity with strategic objectives, identifies when execution begins to move away from agreed priorities, automates reporting for leadership and boards, and tracks progress towards company goals. Most companies have a strategy. Very few have a way to know, day to day, whether their teams are actually executing on it. That’s the gap we built StrategyOS to close - giving leadership teams an always-on view of execution, instead of finding out weeks or months later that priorities have drifted, said Samuli Bäck, co-founder and CEO of STRGY AI. The platform is already being used by early customers across consumer brands and private equity-backed companies, while additional enterprise deployments are underway. With the new funding, the company plans to expand its commercial team, strengthen relationships with enterprise customers and continue investing in product development. STRGY AI is also preparing additional product launches later this year.

Helsinki-based STRGY AI has raised €1 million in angel funding to support the commercial growth and further development of StrategyOS, its AI-powered strategy execution platform. The round was backed by private investors from the UK, Norway, Switzerland and Finland, alongside equity participation from Innovestor’s Angel CoFund and non-dilutive support from Business Finland. STRGY AI has developed StrategyOS to help organisations translate strategic plans into measurable day-to-day actions. The platform gives leadership teams a continuous view of how work across an organisation aligns with strategic priorities, replacing static plans and periodic reporting with ongoing monitoring of execution. StrategyOS is designed for Chiefs of Staff, Heads of Strategy and COOs at mid-market organisations. It connects operational activity with strategic objectives, identifies when execution begins to move away from agreed priorities, automates reporting for leadership and boards, and tracks progress towards company goals. Most companies have a strategy. Very few have a way to know, day to day, whether their teams are actually executing on it. That’s the gap we built StrategyOS to close - giving leadership teams an always-on view of execution, instead of finding out weeks or months later that priorities have drifted, said Samuli Bäck, co-founder and CEO of STRGY AI. The platform is already being used by early customers across consumer brands and private equity-backed companies, while additional enterprise deployments are underway. With the new funding, the company plans to expand its commercial team, strengthen relationships with enterprise customers and continue investing in product development. STRGY AI is also preparing additional product launches later this year.

Technology company Again has acquired industrial biotechnology company Genomatica (Geno), bringing together their capabilities in bioprocess engineering, computational biotechnology and industrial-scale manufacturing. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Again develops multi-feedstock production pathways for manufacturing industrial products from different raw materials. The acquisition extends its capabilities across the development process, from pathway discovery and molecule design to scale-up and commercial manufacturing. A central part of the transaction is Genomatica’s AI and computational biotechnology platform, alongside its patent portfolio and data spanning experimental research, structural analysis, scale-up processes and development outcomes. Again plans to integrate these assets into its computational platform to improve its modelling capabilities and shorten the development cycle for new production pathways and products. Genomatica has focused on developing biotechnology processes for producing chemicals and materials from renewable feedstocks, complementing Again’s work on feedstock-independent technologies and industrial scale-up. Together, the companies will have capabilities spanning pathway discovery, process development and industrial-scale production. AI is revolutionizing biology, but algorithms are only as good as their ability to translate into real-world, commercial-scale execution. Geno pioneered AI and computational biotechnology for molecule discovery and design. By integrating that with our scale-up platform and novel feedstock technologies, we are building the world’s leading biomanufacturing platform, unlocking novel products and supply-chains that industries critically need, said Max Kufner, CEO of Again. The combined company plans to operate through several commercial models, including licensing its technology, co-developing production pathways with industrial partners and manufacturing products through existing and planned production assets.

Technology company Again has acquired industrial biotechnology company Genomatica (Geno), bringing together their capabilities in bioprocess engineering, computational biotechnology and industrial-scale manufacturing. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Again develops multi-feedstock production pathways for manufacturing industrial products from different raw materials. The acquisition extends its capabilities across the development process, from pathway discovery and molecule design to scale-up and commercial manufacturing. A central part of the transaction is Genomatica’s AI and computational biotechnology platform, alongside its patent portfolio and data spanning experimental research, structural analysis, scale-up processes and development outcomes. Again plans to integrate these assets into its computational platform to improve its modelling capabilities and shorten the development cycle for new production pathways and products. Genomatica has focused on developing biotechnology processes for producing chemicals and materials from renewable feedstocks, complementing Again’s work on feedstock-independent technologies and industrial scale-up. Together, the companies will have capabilities spanning pathway discovery, process development and industrial-scale production. AI is revolutionizing biology, but algorithms are only as good as their ability to translate into real-world, commercial-scale execution. Geno pioneered AI and computational biotechnology for molecule discovery and design. By integrating that with our scale-up platform and novel feedstock technologies, we are building the world’s leading biomanufacturing platform, unlocking novel products and supply-chains that industries critically need, said Max Kufner, CEO of Again. The combined company plans to operate through several commercial models, including licensing its technology, co-developing production pathways with industrial partners and manufacturing products through existing and planned production assets.

Some Ukrainians have told the creators of the game Hollow Home that they will buy the game but may never be able to play it.  It's an understandable response to a game that turns one of the darkest chapters of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine into an experience seen through the eyes of a 14-year-old civilian. Telling war through the eyes of civilians Created by Twigames, Hollow Home tells the story of the war not through the eyes of fighting soldiers but through the experience of civilians caught in it. While its characters are fictional, the game draws on the realities of Russia’s war against Ukraine and presents the conflict through a child’s perspective. Twigames is an independent game development studio based in Kyiv, Ukraine, founded in 2015. The Kyiv-based team of 20 develops its own games and provides outsourced/co-development services for other game companies. Its work spans PC, consoles, mobile, and VR/AR, with services including programming, game design, and 2D/3D art. Twigames CEO and co-founder Valeriy Minenko has been developing games for more than 15 years. In the game, players follow Maksym, a 14-year-old whose ordinary childhood is abruptly upended as Russian forces attack his city.  It focuses on the human consequences of war through dialogue, exploration and branching quests.  Players meet residents, develop practical skills such as cooking, crafting and first aid, and make difficult choices about survival and helping others with limited time and resources. Image: Hollow Home. As the story progresses, neighbourhoods are destroyed or occupied, people disappear, and the city gradually becomes a shadow of its former self.  Notably, the designers don't use AI in any format in this project.  “Everything here is handmade – code, models, hand-painted textures,” shared Minenko.  A game born from the first months of invasion When the full-scale invasion started, most of the team decided to leave Kyiv for a while.  Minenko recalled: “We lived in two different locations. Part of the team stayed with my family and me in a house in the Carpathian Mountains for the next two months. We lived and worked together and talked a lot about what was happening. Things were happening that you couldn’t previously have imagined were possible.” Image: The Twigames team at work. At the time, he recalls a feeling that because the things happening in Ukraine were so horrible, perhaps people elsewhere in the world didn’t believe they were possible or didn’t see what was happening.  “We had the idea that we should tell people more about the war and draw more attention to it so they would help. Everybody in Ukraine was trying to do that.” One of the most dramatic stories of the beginning of the invasion was the siege and occupation of Mariupol which resulted in at least tens of thousands dead, homes and critical infrastructure decimated as well as systematic attacks on energy, water, food distribution, and healthcare infrastructure, with findings that Russian forces used starvation as a tactic by targeting objects indispensable to civilian survival as well as other war crimes. “We could not stay away from the story, and one evening, during our evening after-dinner conversation in the living room, we came up with an idea of the Hollow Home game,” said Minenko. The team started discussions, developed the concept, prepared a pitch deck and made some sketches. They returned to Kyiv in May 2022 and started developing the game, and little by little the project grew.  Immediately after announcing their plan for the game, the team received a lot of support from the Ukrainian community and other game developers who offered their support. For Hollow Home, the team gathered over 600 pages of data from open and verified sources, including official Telegram channels, publications of Mariupol journalists, and public social media. Several people sent the team their diaries that they kept during the occupation. These sources provided thousands of accounts from witnesses who were in Mariupol during the siege. Ukrainian composer Danylo Dunets, originally from Mariupol, who composes music for films, TV and games under the moniker IHuman, reached out and ended up creating the game’s soundtrack.  Sales from his album HATRED are donated to fund the defence forces of Ukraine. A game that isn’t about fun When you’re dealing with a subject like war, I wondered how you decide what to include and what to leave out.  Minenko admits it's a tricky question. “The story is dramatic and tragic, and it can remind people, particularly in Ukraine, of very difficult experiences. Our project is relatively well known in Ukraine, and one of the comments I often see from Ukrainians is something like, “I’m just not able to play it.”  Sometimes people say, “I’ll buy it, but I won’t play it.” The team has tried to maintain a balance. The game doesn’t include on-screen violence or people dying.  “It’s more about how war affects the lives of civilians. Hopefully, it will make some people think about that. But, on the other hand, it is a project with a difficult story, and I understand that not everyone will want to play it. People often play games to have fun or to escape. This game isn’t really about fun.” When war becomes part of the game Hollow Home is part of a growing body of Ukrainian games reflecting the realities of Russia’s full-scale invasion, spanning fictional depictions of combat and civilian life to tools developed from real-world military experience. Other titles include Glory to the Heroes, a tactical military shooter; UWAR, centred on modern battlefield scenarios; and Death From Above, an arcade-style game built around drone warfare. There’s also Ukrainian Fight Drone Simulator (UFDS), a training simulator developed in Ukraine alongside active FPV drone operators and used to prepare Ukrainian combat drone pilots before they operate real hardware. Its Steam release is a civilian version of the professional training tool, allowing people to play and learn from technology that originated in a military rather than entertainment-first environment. Industry recognition even before release During development, Hollow Home received several awards, including: Games Gathering 2024 — Best Conference Game and Game Star (Winner) Nordic Game 2024 — Pitch Battle (Winner) Indie Cup Ukraine 2023 — Most Promising Game and Critics' Choice (Winner) According to Minenko, Hollow Home is one of the biggest projects the studio has ever undertaken, made particularly challenging by its subject matter. He admits that you can develop a game for quite a long time and have no idea whether people will like it until you release it — or perhaps a little earlier, when you show a demo. “Before your game gets to the store and someone starts playing it, it’s hard for you to assess how good it is. You don’t even realise it yourself during development. Contests are one of the things that help keep you believing and motivated.” “We live with greater risks than studios in many other countries, and it’s more difficult for us to work here.” The annual Ukrainian Games Festival returns to Steam from August 17–24, 2026, showcasing Ukrainian games, demos, new releases, and developer announcements. Find out more about Hollow Home and support the game’s development on Kickstarter.

Model ML, the London-founded AI automation startup for financial services founded by two brothers, has received equity investment from HSBC’s asset management arm, it said today. The new funding for an undisclosed amount means that Model ML, which says it has secured accounting giants Deloitte and PwC as clients, has raised more than $100m in total.   Model ML announced a $75m Series A round last year, after emerging from stealth with $12m in funding. HSBC Asset Management made the investment through its flagship VC strategy. Model ML, based in London and New York, said the funding will be used to grow the startup as it looks to bag banking and asset manager clients. The tech behind Model ML, founded by brothers and repeat entrepreneurs Chaz and Arnie Englander, is built for financial services. It works with banks, asset managers and advisory firms, helping to automate complex workflows across research, due diligence, financial analysis and document creation. Its AI model-agnostic approach routes each task to the AI model best suited to the job.   HSBC Asset Management’s VC strategy involves investing in fund of funds as well as making co-investments in high-growth, venture-backed companies. In November last year, Model ML announced a $75m Series A. The round was led by FT Partners, and also included participation from Y Combinator, QED, 13Books, Latitude and LocalGlobe. It came just six months after the company’s Seed raise and only twelve months after its launch. Chaz Englander, CEO and co-founder, Model ML, said: “We're delighted to welcome HSBC Asset Management as an investor. Their backing reflects growing confidence in vertical AI for financial services. Rather than a single model, the differentiator is increasingly the software that can orchestrate multiple models across complex financial workflows. That's exactly what we're building."

Every minute one person in Europe dies from sepsis or septic shock. Sepsis arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multi-organ failure, and death – especially if not recognised early and treated promptly. Sepsis is the final common pathway to death from most infectious diseases worldwide, including viral infections such as SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19. In 2021, there were an estimated 166 million cases of sepsis worldwide, resulting in 21.4 million deaths — nearly one-third of all global deaths. One company looking to address this challenge is Austria-based Efferon, which is developing technology designed to intervene in the inflammatory response that can make sepsis so difficult to treat. Founded in 2016, its blood-purification devices work alongside existing treatments, removing bacterial toxins and excessive inflammatory molecules from the bloodstream to stabilise critically ill patients with sepsis and septic shock. “We are selling time”  Time is critical in sepsis diagnosis and treatment: patients can deteriorate rapidly, while the inflammatory response can continue even after treatment of the underlying infection has begun. Antibiotics and standard therapies have to be used as the first line of defence. Current sepsis care largely focuses on controlling the underlying infection and supporting failing organs, but there is no single treatment that directly addresses the complex, dysregulated immune response driving the condition. Rather than treating the infection itself, Efferon’s technology aims to remove bacterial toxins and excessive inflammatory mediators from the blood while conventional treatment tackles the underlying cause. According to Efferon CEO and co-founder Dima Romashin, Efferon buys time for a patient: “We're helping to interrupt the inflammatory process so that during those first critical days, the patient can be stabilised and the other therapies have time to work.” Efferon currently has two main devices: the first is designed for treating sepsis and septic shock in adult ICU patients, and the second is for treating sepsis and septic shock in paediatric intensive care. Efferon LPS is a single-use blood-purification cartridge primarily designed for critically ill patients, including those with sepsis and septic shock. The easiest way to understand it is as a specialised filter that sits outside the body. Blood is taken from the patient, passed through the cartridge and then returned to them. It can be integrated with equipment already used in intensive care, including renal replacement therapy, ECMO and cardiopulmonary bypass systems. The filter contains specially engineered porous polymer beads that tackle two problems simultaneously: The surface of the beads binds LPS (lipopolysaccharide), also known as endotoxin. LPS is associated with Gram-negative bacteria and can trigger a powerful inflammatory response. The pores inside the beads adsorb excessive inflammatory molecules, including cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-1β, as well as other inflammatory substances. In simple terms: it aims to remove both a trigger of severe inflammation and some of the excessive inflammatory substances produced in response. It's been approved for use in Europe since April 2024.  Efferon NEO uses the same underlying approach as LPS but is specifically designed for neonatal and paediatric patients.  “The distinction matters because children have much smaller circulating blood volumes than adults, meaning extracorporeal treatments need to be designed accordingly rather than simply using an adult-sized cartridge,” explained Romashin.  Efferon sees many cases where premature infants have complications because their internal organs are not yet fully developed, and unfortunately there are many things that can go wrong. “Our smallest champion so far weighed just 1.2 kilograms," shared Romashin. Filtering the flame and the smoke Efferon is not the only company working on haemoadsorption and blood purification. But the company takes a different approach. The first difference is the approach underpinning the technology itself. Romashin compares inflammation to a fire: “When you have a fire, you have two things: the flame itself and the smoke it produces.  In our case, LPS is the flame, while the cytokines released by the immune system in response are the smoke.” There are devices on the market that capture endotoxin, so effectively they target the flame. Others capture cytokines, so they target the smoke.  He contends that both approaches can be effective, “but ours is designed to deal with the flame and the smoke simultaneously." "We target both LPS and the cytokines produced as part of the inflammatory response.  Our studies indicate that doing both at the same time can make the process quicker and more effective. That's the main technological distinction for us.” The overlooked burden of pediatric sepsis In April 2026, NEO received CE MDR certification, becoming what Efferon says is Europe’s first multimodal extracorporeal blood-purification device approved for paediatric use and enabling its use in neonatal and pediatric patients in Europe. Romashin describes the process as “probably the most difficult regulatory procedure in the European Union.” It's difficult to get precise figures for pediatric sepsis because, according to Romashin, the most comprehensive epidemiological reviews of pediatric sepsis explicitly exclude low-income countries, because the data infrastructure to even measure the disease properly doesn't exist there yet.  “We built Efferon because the gap between how serious this disease is and how little attention it receives didn't make sense to us. It still doesn't. The true global burden is almost certainly higher than the 1.2 million pediatric cases a year that get counted.” Building the clinical evidence In treatment trials, there’s a control group receiving all standard therapies, including antibiotics, compared with a group that receives Efferon in addition to standard treatment. The company has undertaken more than 30 clinical studies, including its LASSO study, published in the medical journal Shock, which assessed several clinical endpoints, including recovery from septic shock, length of stay in intensive care, and mortality. The study found that, among survivors, septic shock lasted around 57 hours with Efferon LPS compared with 101 hours in the control group. Treated patients spent less time on mechanical ventilation, required less blood-pressure support and showed improvements in organ and kidney function, alongside reductions in inflammation and bacterial endotoxin levels. “In the adult study, we saw around a threefold reduction in three-day mortality,” Romashin said.  When I spoke to Romashin, he was preparing to present Efferon’s latest research findings at a Sepsis Alliance conference in Washington. The company’s multicentre pediatric study investigated the use of Efferon LPS NEO in children with sepsis and septic shock, with Romashin describing the results as a potential breakthrough for the company. According to Romashin, children can, in some respects, provide a “cleaner” clinical population because they generally have fewer underlying health conditions than adults. “They don't usually have decades of underlying conditions such as diabetes, cholesterol problems and other diseases that can complicate the picture,” he said. “In children, we were also able to demonstrate a statistically significant impact on 28-day mortality. We saw around a fourfold reduction in mortality over that period. I think that's very important data. For us, it's a potential breakthrough.” The long shadow of sepsis Those who survive sepsis can be left with significant long-term health consequences, with the impact particularly profound for patients who have experienced septic shock, the most severe form of the condition. Romashin says Efferon is among a relatively small number of players in this field looking closely at what happens to patients after sepsis  “because we see them through our clinical trials and continue monitoring them afterwards.” He contends: “I sometimes describe it as a nuclear blast for the immune system. The immune system has gone through an extraordinary event, and the consequences don't simply disappear because somebody has survived the immediate crisis or has been discharged from hospital.” Mortality remains high even after discharge, particularly during the months following severe sepsis. “That's an important part of the condition that I don't think receives enough attention.” Why sepsis innovation moves slowly When it comes to innovation in medical treatment for sepsis and broader blood purification processes, Romashin asserts, “Unfortunately, it's not AI. Things don't happen that quickly There are technologies in this field that have existed for decades without becoming the global standard of care. There are also haemoadsorption technologies that have been on the European market for more than a decade and still haven't completed the FDA process in the US.” There is also a wider problem with investment in sepsis. The burden of sepsis is enormous, yet only a tiny fraction of the investment going into some other major diseases comes into sepsis. “Cancer, for example, attracts enormous amounts of venture capital and pharmaceutical investment.  There are established protocols, treatments, drugs, patient organisations and huge amounts of attention around the disease. Sepsis is different. It's not a single disease; it's a condition that can develop incredibly quickly.  Either you stabilise the patient or, unfortunately, they can deteriorate very rapidly. That makes it a difficult area both clinically and commercially,” asserts Romashin. Playing the long game Efferon’s blood-purification technology has been used in more than 25,000 treatments across 44 countries, generating over €1 million in revenue. The company is now focused on increasing adoption and integrating its devices into routine clinical practice. When it comes to adoption, Romashin admits that there’s no silver bullet.  “Getting regulatory approval is one step. Then you need clinical trials, ongoing post-registration studies and clinical adoption.” Efferon’s customers are specialist medical professionals working in intensive care.  “These doctors are extremely well educated because they have to manage an enormous number of interventions. They're dealing with different drugs and therapies, fluid management, continuous renal replacement therapy and many other technologies simultaneously. You can talk to these doctors only in the language of data. That's why we focus on bringing them the clinical evidence and having very frank conversations. It takes time." Clinical trials aren't quick, and they aren't cheap. But according to Romashin, once you're there, and once a doctor becomes familiar with using its devices and incorporates it into their clinical practice, they continue using it. "We're playing a  long game.” Beyond intensive care One of Efferon’s biggest priorities right now is the US. There is a special US pathway called the Humanitarian Device Exemption, which can provide a route to market for devices intended for relatively small patient populations. We're now preparing the documents to apply for that pathway. The company is also targeting China.  By targeting systemic inflammation, a core driver of critical illness, Efferon is expanding beyond intensive care into the broader spectrum of inflammatory diseases The company is also developing a product that could potentially be used to treat post-sepsis, Long Covid and other forms of persistent or low-grade inflammation in an outpatient setting rather than the ICU. It could become available in 2027.

Hamburg-based biotechnology startup AquaNab has secured investment from Nordic Foodtech VC to advance its nanoantibody platform for treating and preventing diseases in aquaculture. The investment marks the Finnish early-stage venture capital firm's first investment outside the Nordic region. Founded in Hamburg by Dr Ruth Tamara Montero, Dr Alejandro Rojas Fernandez and Gunnar Johildarson, AquaNab is developing precision immunotherapies for aquaculture, initially focusing on sea lice, one of the most persistent challenges facing salmon farming. The parasite is estimated to cost the global aquaculture industry around $4 billion annually through treatment expenses, production losses and fish mortality. Existing chemical and mechanical delousing methods can also raise concerns around fish welfare and environmental impact, increasing demand for alternative approaches. To address the problem, the company is developing precision nanoantibodies, called AquaNabs, that can be administered to fish through feed. According to AquaNab, its research has demonstrated that the alpaca-derived nanoantibodies can cross the fish's intestinal barrier and enter the bloodstream, offering a potentially less invasive approach to protecting fish against disease. AquaNab CEO Dr Ruth Tamara Montero said improving animal welfare and fish health remains a major challenge for sustainable aquaculture, highlighting the need for more effective tools to help producers protect their fish: Sea lice is just the start. Right now, producers are stuck choosing between costly, stressful treatments and losses from the parasite itself. We want to give them a way out of that cycle, one that protects their fish, their business, and helps secure the future of food. The company's first product is being developed for Atlantic salmon, while the underlying platform is designed to be adapted to bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases affecting other aquaculture species. The investment from Nordic Foodtech VC will support further development of the technology as AquaNab advances its lead programme towards completing proof of concept, expands collaborations with salmon producers, feed manufacturers and animal health companies, and works towards the commercialisation of its first products.

Hamburg-based biotechnology startup AquaNab has secured investment from Nordic Foodtech VC to advance its nanoantibody platform for treating and preventing diseases in aquaculture. The investment marks the Finnish early-stage venture capital firm's first investment outside the Nordic region. Founded in Hamburg by Dr Ruth Tamara Montero, Dr Alejandro Rojas Fernandez and Gunnar Johildarson, AquaNab is developing precision immunotherapies for aquaculture, initially focusing on sea lice, one of the most persistent challenges facing salmon farming. The parasite is estimated to cost the global aquaculture industry around $4 billion annually through treatment expenses, production losses and fish mortality. Existing chemical and mechanical delousing methods can also raise concerns around fish welfare and environmental impact, increasing demand for alternative approaches. To address the problem, the company is developing precision nanoantibodies, called AquaNabs, that can be administered to fish through feed. According to AquaNab, its research has demonstrated that the alpaca-derived nanoantibodies can cross the fish's intestinal barrier and enter the bloodstream, offering a potentially less invasive approach to protecting fish against disease. AquaNab CEO Dr Ruth Tamara Montero said improving animal welfare and fish health remains a major challenge for sustainable aquaculture, highlighting the need for more effective tools to help producers protect their fish: Sea lice is just the start. Right now, producers are stuck choosing between costly, stressful treatments and losses from the parasite itself. We want to give them a way out of that cycle, one that protects their fish, their business, and helps secure the future of food. The company's first product is being developed for Atlantic salmon, while the underlying platform is designed to be adapted to bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases affecting other aquaculture species. The investment from Nordic Foodtech VC will support further development of the technology as AquaNab advances its lead programme towards completing proof of concept, expands collaborations with salmon producers, feed manufacturers and animal health companies, and works towards the commercialisation of its first products.

Copenhagen-based AI software startup Palette has raised €3 million in pre-seed funding to expand its platform for teams adopting AI across their organisations. The round was led by Ugly Duckling Ventures, with participation from Emblem, Acadian Ventures and a group of angel investors. Founded in 2025 by Brian Kyed, Lars Ettrup, Steffen D. Sommer and Christian Lomholt, Palette is developing an operating system designed to help companies integrate AI agents into workflows across functions including sales, operations and product. As AI adoption expands beyond engineering teams, companies are increasingly incorporating different models and AI tools into their day-to-day operations. Palette's approach is to separate these underlying models from a company's internal context, workflows and knowledge, allowing teams to switch between models and providers while retaining their own organisational data and processes. There will always be a newer model. The responsible way to adopt AI is to make the model swappable and make your company context durable. That's what we're building with Palette, said co-founder Brian Kyed. The company's Palette Desktop application enables teams to work with AI agents such as Claude Code and Codex directly on their files and folders. Users can choose between cloud-based models for factors such as speed, capabilities and cost, or local models where greater control over sensitive information is required. Palette is also developing a broader operating system that includes a company-owned context library, shared AI skills and a connector gateway designed to allow tools to be connected once and used across multiple agents. Palette Desktop is currently available to paying customers, while the broader Palette OS is being used by design partners. The company will use the new funding to expand its sales operations and team while continuing to develop and roll out its platform.

Copenhagen-based AI software startup Palette has raised €3 million in pre-seed funding to expand its platform for teams adopting AI across their organisations. The round was led by Ugly Duckling Ventures, with participation from Emblem, Acadian Ventures and a group of angel investors. Founded in 2025 by Brian Kyed, Lars Ettrup, Steffen D. Sommer and Christian Lomholt, Palette is developing an operating system designed to help companies integrate AI agents into workflows across functions including sales, operations and product. As AI adoption expands beyond engineering teams, companies are increasingly incorporating different models and AI tools into their day-to-day operations. Palette's approach is to separate these underlying models from a company's internal context, workflows and knowledge, allowing teams to switch between models and providers while retaining their own organisational data and processes. There will always be a newer model. The responsible way to adopt AI is to make the model swappable and make your company context durable. That's what we're building with Palette, said co-founder Brian Kyed. The company's Palette Desktop application enables teams to work with AI agents such as Claude Code and Codex directly on their files and folders. Users can choose between cloud-based models for factors such as speed, capabilities and cost, or local models where greater control over sensitive information is required. Palette is also developing a broader operating system that includes a company-owned context library, shared AI skills and a connector gateway designed to allow tools to be connected once and used across multiple agents. Palette Desktop is currently available to paying customers, while the broader Palette OS is being used by design partners. The company will use the new funding to expand its sales operations and team while continuing to develop and roll out its platform.

At the tail end of London’s Bakerloo tube line, heading towards a north-west London suburb called Harlesden, the whirring sound of manufacturing, from rotating electronic motors to cooling fans, can be heard. Here, trading parks, depots and industrial estates are located, necklacing the busy North Circular road, where clotted traffic inches along. Tech startup Isembard (named after the famous civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel) has one of its factories, its first, which opened in January 2025, located here. Isembard’s 33-year-old sole founder is Alex Fitzgerald, a former Army reservist, described by one investor as a person who "lights you up", who already has one startup exit behind him having sold to an investment giant. Factory tour Fitzgerald greets Tech.eu on arrival and then gives us a quick tour of the factory floor, where high-spec machines, using techniques like injection moulding and axis milling, hum and clang. Repairing to an upstairs office, Fitzgerald, who is casually dressed, says Isembard could serve as a blueprint for the ambitions of the UK's new prime minister, Andy Burnham. Or as Fitzgerald puts it, in high-definition: “If you think about this business, it’s a politician’s wet dream.” Factories, entrepreneurship, regional jobs, supporting crucial industries, reindustrialisation, reshoring- Isembard ticks all these boxes, he points out. Fitzgerald has recently been to Number 10, and the message appears to have reached team Burnham, who “might be coming to the factory”. Eighteen months since launch, Isembard is now on a PR offensive, as it looks to rapidly scale its business. Fitzgerald, CEO, says: “I think the biggest thing is getting people to know about us.  “If you think about the total of population of the UK, how many people know you can start your own factory with support and make rocket parts?” What does Isembard do? Isembard is a kind of modern-cum-old fashioned business, marrying the worlds of reindustrialisation and reshoring with software and AI. It develops small high-tech factories which are run on a hybrid model of company-owned and franchised. These factories can quickly and cheaply manufacture precision component parts for a range of critical industries including space, defence and robotics, with its customers including Anduril, Tekever, ARX Robotics and the UK government. For example, a defence company wanting to make a part for an autonomous submarine will send Isembard a design for key parts in a computer file, Isembard will quote a price, then make the part (and potentially assemble) and ship it quickly. The fulcrum of Isembard is a piece of tech called MasonOS, an AI-powered bit of software which brings the whole kit and caboodle- from orders, design, tracking goods and scheduling- under one roof, giving full visibility of the supply chain. Industry ripe for disruption Isembard is disrupting a $1 trillion-a-year component manufacturing industry, which is on the wane as the small, independent family-run incumbents are dying out at a time of rising demand from companies and governments for component parts. Furthermore, UK-headquartered startups like Isembard are à la mode, as they tap into Burnham’s reshoring agenda, returning manufacturing to the UK, which had been outsourced or moved overseas for cost-cutting reasons. Another big tick for Isembard, says Fitzgerald, holding a chunk of metal, is the satisfaction of tangible work, amid an increasing crisis in the meaning of work. Fitzgerald says: “I can go into work in the morning, and there is a block of metal like this worth £100. At the end of the day, it’s worth £1,000, and it’s going onto a rocket that is going into space.” Factories on the increase Isembard, which employs 66 people,now operates 14 factories, seven in the UK, five in the US, one in France and one in Germany, with plans to hit 25 by year-end. Next up is Ukraine, where Isembard is hunting for a general manager, and hopes to help with the country’s reconstruction, following the Russia war. Fitzgerald admits the perception of franchise businesses is “unsexy”, synonymous with “slow-moving businesses", a perception he wants to overturn. Setting up a franchise factory can be done in three months, he says, requiring a couple of CNC machines (a kind of lathe for making metal parts), power, some coolant, four walls, and a few other bits provided by Isembard. First franchisee Isembard’s first franchisee is Shawn Rowcliffe, a 22-year-old former machine operator with defence giant Babcock, who decided to branch out alone. Rowcliffe told the BBC: “I think it was just an opportunity to put my own stamp on things and have a bit of pride in what I do - it's very exciting that I've managed to do this on my own. "I'm a machinist by trade, not a businessman, so I'm learning as I go, but with the right support it's all possible.” Isembard franchisees are a potpourri of personnel, including a restaurant franchisee, a cardiac nurse, an engineer, a military veteran, and an investor.  Their one commonality is “having the ambition to build something on their own but with support”, Fitzgerald says. Challenges Like other startups, a key challenge facing Isembard is scaling geographically rapidly, while maintaining a high-quality of product, experts say. Another challenge will be beefing up MasonOS amid rapid AI advancements. Stephen Millard, partner, Notion Capital, which led Isembard’s seed round, says: “I was sceptical. When you think about a franchise within a startup, you question the validity, but then you say ‘it’s no different from a typical commercial route to market’.” Investors In March this year, Isembard raised a $50m Series A funding round, less than 12 months after its $9m seed round. The round was led by US investor Union Square Ventures, an early backer of Twitter and Coinbase.  New US deeptech investors Tamarack Global and IQ Capital participated along with existing investors Notion Capital and CIV.  Angel investors include Alex Bouaziz, founder and CEO of Deel, and Matt Briers, the former Wise CFO. Was it important to have a US investor lead the round? “Not especially,” Fitzgerald says. He adds: “We get on really well with the Union Square Ventures team. They were one of the first investors in Twitter and Coinbase and Twilio. And their whole thesis is investing in network effect businesses, like our franchise business.” Long hours Fitzgerald, who is married to a lawyer, cranks out the hours, working from 8am up until 10pm, even 11pm, during the week, sometimes six days a week. Ninety per cent of his life is work, he says, with the rest family time and exercise. Tough on your partner? “It is hard,” he admits. He says he’s “probably working ten times harder” on Isembard than his last startup, broadband disruptor Cuckoo. Comparing his two startups, Fitzgerald does not shy from ambition and can sound grandiose. He says: “If the world achieved what it wanted to do with broadband, people would be slightly less annoyed with their broadband provider. If we achieve what we want to achieve with Isembard, the West’s prosperity, security and purpose is solved.” Fitness man An exercise junkie, the former Army reservist looks more like a bodybuilder than a startup builder. Runs and CrossFit every other day are complemented by 30-minute one-to-one power walks with the team around the industrial estate. Currently reading the Odyssey, he describes his interests as “peripatetic”, ranging from tax, geopolitics, science, engineering and economics. Management style He says his management style is “hands on” in some areas, “hands off” in other areas. Likening himself to a pig hunting for truffles, he says: “My most important thing is finding and nurturing great engineers and operators. I think finding when you are scaling is one of the most important things.”  He also takes inspiration from elsewhere, he says, citing a military command called “mission command” (centralised intent, but decentralised decision-making) and a famous Rabbi Hillel quote on taking personal responsibility and acting without delay. Significant amounts of working time are blocked out to do “deep dives” across the business, but he’s not an ivory tower-type leader, preferring to muck in with customer calls and packaging parts for customers. Background Fitzgerald grew up in London (his mum is an NHS doctor) and dad (retired lawyer). He went to the prestigious, fee-paying Westminster School (“I was a bit in my shell”), then studied biochemistry at Nottingham University.  After a spell as an intern journalist at CityAM, he spent three years in the Treasury (working on tax policy and as an economy spokesman). He got the idea for Cuckoo while working at the consultancy Hanbury Strategies, one of whose clients was Bulb Energy. He says: “I thought 'why is nobody building this but for broadband?'” Cuckoo was founded in 2019, grew to a bit less than 100,000 customers and around 100 employees, then sold to Octopus Group in 2022. Was it a difficult decision to sell? Yes, but he says Cuckoo could achieve more as part of a bigger group. The future Millard says that the Fitzgerald “lights you up” and the 33-year-old, with one exit behind him, does carry a halo of confidence. But is Isembard on track and are businesses reshoring to Isembard? Fitzgerald points to customers who previously manufactured parts in India and Poland switching to Isembard. And what are the plans for the rest of 2026?  Along with nailing down the Burnham visit, he says: “The big thing is finding more franchisees in the UK, US, France and Germany.  “Demand is outstripping supply at the moment, so we are having to turn down orders now.”

European tech funding remained resilient in July despite a decline in deal activity. Companies raised €8.6 billion across 267 funding rounds, compared with €8.3 billion across 293 deals in June. This represented a 9 per cent drop in deal volume, while overall investment increased slightly, indicating that capital was concentrated in fewer, larger transactions. Germany led European funding during the month, with companies raising €3.5 billion. Artificial intelligence emerged as the best-funded sector, attracting €1.8 billion and replacing robotics, which topped the rankings in June with €1.3 billion. Exit activity also strengthened, increasing from 39 transactions in June to 51 in July, pointing to a more active exit environment, supported by continued strategic acquisition activity across the European technology ecosystem. Our Cate Lawrence, Senior Journalist at Tech.eu commented on the July numbers within the European tech investment landscape in our monthly report: AI reclaimed the top spot by investment volume, but the month's biggest stories extended well beyond AI. Defence, robotics, quantum computing, cloud infrastructure, fintech and healthcare all attracted significant capital, reflecting Europe's growing strength in technologies that underpin economic resilience, industrial competitiveness and strategic autonomy. For her more detailed review and more in-depth analyses of the European tech ecosystem, including industry and country performance, exit activities, and more, check out our July report. Here are the 10 largest tech deals in Europe from July, accounting for 70 per cent of the month’s total funding. Amount raised: $1.8B Helsing is a defence technology company developing AI software and autonomous systems for military and national security applications. Its technology combines data from drones, radar, satellites and other sensors to improve situational awareness and support operational decision-making, alongside AI-powered aerial and underwater systems. Helsing raised $1.8 billion in Series E funding to accelerate the development and integration of new AI and autonomous defence platforms. Amount raised: $1.2B Quantum Systems develops autonomous systems for defence and security, combining unmanned aerial and ground platforms with AI, sensors and integrated mission-control software. Its technology supports applications including reconnaissance, surveillance, mapping and multi-domain operations. The company secured $1.2 billion in Series D funding, which will support international expansion, acquisitions and increased manufacturing capacity. Amount raised: £670M Nscale provides full-stack AI infrastructure spanning GPU compute, cloud services, data centres, networking, storage and power infrastructure. Its platform is designed to support large-scale AI training, inference and deployment for AI companies and enterprises. Nscale secured a £670 million revolving credit facility, providing additional capital to expand specialised AI data centres and infrastructure across the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Amount raised: $700M Neko Health is a healthtech company focused on preventive healthcare and early detection through technology-enabled health assessments. Its Neko Health Scan uses proprietary sensors, imaging and blood analysis to collect millions of data points covering cardiovascular, metabolic, skin and other health indicators. Neko Health raised $700 million in Series C funding to support its US expansion, open new clinics and continue developing its proprietary hardware and health data platform. Amount raised: $670M Lendable is a fintech company operating a technology-driven consumer lending platform, providing credit products including personal loans, credit cards and auto finance. The company uses digital processes and data-driven underwriting to provide and manage consumer credit. Lendable secured $670 million through an asset-backed securities transaction, its first in the public ABS market, to expand its credit business as it scales operations in the US and Mexico. Amount raised: $468M Proxima Fusion is a fusion energy company developing commercial power plants based on stellarator technology. A spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, it is building on research from the Wendelstein 7-X programme to develop high-temperature superconducting stellarators capable of producing clean, continuous energy. Proxima Fusion raised $468 million to build its Alpha net-energy demonstrator, expand superconducting cable and magnet production, and advance engineering and manufacturing capabilities. Amount raised: $450M CuspAI applies artificial intelligence to the discovery and design of new materials, helping researchers identify materials with specific properties for applications across clean energy, semiconductors, manufacturing, water treatment and carbon capture. Its platform combines generative AI with materials science to accelerate a traditionally lengthy discovery process. The company raised $450 million in Series B funding to expand across the US, Asia-Pacific and Europe and develop its AI Materials Foundry, a global network combining data, laboratories, compute and scientific expertise. Amount raised: £250M iwoca is a fintech lender providing flexible financing to small and medium-sized businesses. Through its digital lending platform, businesses can apply for loans and credit facilities designed to support working capital, cash flow and growth, with technology and data used to streamline credit assessment and lending decisions. iwoca secured a £250 million debt facility from Waterfall Asset Management and a UK bank to increase its lending capacity and provide financing to more UK SMEs. Amount raised: €200M Skello develops AI-powered workforce management software for businesses employing frontline teams. Its platform brings together employee scheduling, administrative processes, compliance and operational management, while its AI tools automate tasks and generate HR insights from workforce data. Skello secured a €200 million investment to strengthen its position in France, accelerate European expansion, broaden its platform and increase investment in AI, supported by new hires and targeted acquisitions. Amount raised: $180M Augustus is a technology-driven clearing bank building infrastructure that gives banks and fintech companies direct access to US dollar accounts and payment rails. Its API-first platform supports operating and FBO accounts, virtual accounts and transactions through SWIFT, ACH, SEPA and stablecoins, underpinned by its proprietary core banking platform, Marble. Augustus raised $180 million in Series B funding to expand direct dollar access for financial institutions and grow its services across Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Revolut today said it had secured a French banking licence, as it looks to beef up its regulatory standards across Western Europe, its fastest-growing region. Europe’s most valuable tech firm said it had received approval for the licence from the French banking regulator, the ACPR, and the European Central Bank. It follows Revolut being hit with restrictions last year from the European Central Bank across the EU over concerns about how it quickly approved new financial products. Revolut, which is undergoing a secondary share sale reportedly valuing it at $115bn, already has a European banking licence, thanks to approval from authorities in Lithuania, allowing it to offer loans in France, Germany, Spain and other markets. But it believes garnering an additional French banking licence is prudent, given it has around 30m customers in Western Europe and is expanding its products and services in the region. It also said that having an additional French banking licence will allow it to offer services tailored to local customers, such as loans. Revolut, which is opening its new Western European HQ in Paris next year, plans to invest more than €1bn in Western Europe alongside hiring over 600 people. Revolut said it will begin switching customers to the new licence, starting with France, then Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain to follow. It said its Lithuanian licence would remain key to other EU markets. Revolut, which also has a UK banking licence and has applied for a US banking licence, said the French banking licence “cements the foundation for Revolut to serve this base at the highest regulatory and operational standard”. Nik Storonsky, founder and CEO of Revolut, commented: “France has become a leading financial hub, supported by a dynamic financial ecosystem and a robust regulatory framework. It is the ideal platform to accelerate Revolut's next phase of growth - bringing us one step closer to our ambition of becoming one of Europe's largest and most trusted banks."

Oslo-based AI startup Visoid has raised $2.5 million in funding to accelerate the development of its AI visualisation platform for architects and support its international growth. The round was led by Skyfall Ventures, with participation from existing investors StartupLab, OBOS and Antler, alongside new investors Farvatn and byFounders Angel Collective. Founded in 2023 by former architect Mark Szoke and serial entrepreneur Joachim Holwech, Visoid develops an AI-powered visualisation platform designed specifically for architectural workflows. The software transforms existing 3D models into high-quality visualisations within minutes while preserving the original design intent, allowing architects to explore different ideas and communicate designs without relying on traditional rendering processes. The company is focusing on the growing use of AI earlier in the architectural design process. Rather than being used solely to produce final images, Visoid enables architects to visualise and evaluate different concepts while designs are still evolving. Unlike general-purpose image generators, the platform works directly with existing architectural models and workflows, allowing users to iterate on designs while maintaining consistency with the underlying project. Our current position gives us a strong foundation to develop Visoid for bigger, design-driven workflows, and the app is already ready for architects worldwide. This new capital lets us hire faster, expand our market position, and invest more in both the team and the product, said Mark Szoke, CEO of Visoid. Visoid will use the new capital to expand its engineering, product and commercial teams, develop additional AI capabilities for architectural workflows, grow its international customer base and deepen partnerships with architecture and design firms.

UK defence technology startup Cambridge Aerospace has raised $300m at a $3.4bn valuation, a significant uplift on its valuation just a few months ago. The Series C funding round in the counter-drone startup was led by US investor DFJ Growth and supported by Lux, Accel, Lakestar, Never Lift, Ora Global and Elad Gil. The new funding in Cambridge Aerospace, which was founded less than two years ago, follows its $200m Series B at a $1.3bn valuation in April this year. Founded in 2024 in Cambridge, UK-headquartered Cambridge Aerospace builds defence technology. Its key products include drone interceptor Skyhammer, missile interceptor Starhammer, which is coming to market next year, and radar system Looking Glass. The startup has bagged several contracts with the UK’s Ministry of Defence, including a multi-million-pound contract to supply Skyhammer to the UK Armed Forces. The startup’s CEO is former MIT researcher Steven Barrett, who is now based at Cambridge University. The startup says it will use the funds to boost its manufacturing capabilities to deliver on existing and new contracts, while continuing to invest in the development of existing products and bringing new products to market. As well as the UK, the company has a presence in Germany, Poland, Norway, Ukraine, and Australia. Barrett said: “By bringing together the best talent in the world with a singular mission to protect Allied skies from threats, we have achieved a huge amount already. The addition of these funds will allow us to continue to scale our manufacturing and our delivery to meet the pace of threats, and the needs of Allied nations.” Defence secretary Wes Streeting said: “This valuation is a great vote of confidence in Britain. Cambridge Aerospace’s Skyhammer is an example of the low-cost interceptor missiles our Armed Forces need to deter adversaries and keep our country safe. It is exactly what our unicorn scheme is designed to create – British start-ups scaling into billion-pound companies, creating skilled jobs, cementing the UK’s position at the forefront of defence innovation.”

Last week, we tracked more than 35 tech funding deals worth over €1 billion and 5 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. ? Our latest monthly report, published last week, shows that European tech startups raised €8.6 billion across 267 funding deals in July, with investment increasing slightly despite a decline in deal activity. Germany led funding with €3.5 billion, while artificial intelligence was the best-funded sector, attracting €1.8 billion. Exit activity also strengthened, with 51 transactions recorded during the month.  Access the full report for additional data and analysis on European tech funding and exit activity in July. ❗ Be sure to check out the Tech.eu Funding Explorer, free and open to everyone, for deeper insights into funding data, investor activity, company profiles, and market trends. Now, let's get you up to speed on everything that happened last week. Have a great week! Funding deals by amount UK: Chip startup Olix raises $312M at $3.3B valuation UK: Volta raises $300M at $2.4B valuation with Nvidia and Dell backing SPAIN: HappyRobot lands $150M Series C to scale agentic AI for enterprise operations GERMANY: NavVis raises $85M in funding CYPRUS: Omilia raises $67M in Series B funding UK: 10x Banking banks £40M in debt and equity raise UK: Mironid raises €39.9M in Series B to advance rare kidney disease treatment NETHERLANDS: Multi-day energy storage startup Ore Energy clinches $43M in new investment round GERMANY: Moss hits unicorn status after closing €30M Series C to expand its Finance AI suite FRANCE: Chargepoly secures €23M to accelerate heavy-duty fleet electrification FINLAND: Aiforia secures €20M EIB financing to advance AI-powered cancer diagnostics UK: AEM secures £16M to accelerate rare earth-free electric motor innovation PORTUGAL: Neuraspace lands €15.6M to expand AI space intelligence platform UK: Legaltech firm Wordsmith secures £10.4M Series B extension UK: Naked Energy secures €10.35M to build UK solar-thermal technology manufacturing facility NETHERLANDS: Vangrid raises $9M seed to build a decentralised spatial intelligence network for the Physical AI era GERMANY: conmeet raises €6M to power construction businesses with AI SWITZERLAND: Exclaim Robotics exits stealth with €4.29M to build robots for AI data centre maintenance SPAIN: FuVeX raises €3M to scale dual-use drone technology across Europe FINLAND: SeeTrue Technologies raises €2.2M to commercialise low-power eye-sensing architecture FINLAND: Legal AI startup Aavalynx raises £1.5M to cut the cost of corporate disputes BELGIUM: Relu raises $1.75M in seed funding ITALY: Aflabox raises €1.35M seed to bring food safety testing into the field UK: Former Dragons’ Den star joins Alfa AI following £1M investment FRANCE: Shiplog raises $1M to build AI customer intelligence for B2B SaaS POLAND: Game studio Funventure secures $1M bridge round for platform development UK: Safehire.ai received £500,000 investment TURKEY: kayIQ.ai, which offers autonomous AI orchestration for quality processes, has received $500,000 in seed funding BULGARIA: Estel Technologies raises €270,000 to modernise tech staffing sales UK: Groundbreaking pet care innovation PetPact scoops £75,000 grant UK: Healthtech start-up Souuthe secures £75,000 grant UK: Reimagine Robotics closes pre-seed funding TURKEY: Ingosa, an AI-powered adtech startup, has received investment from FutureBright UK: Platter lands follow-on funding from Verb Ventures to modernise food supply operations SWEDEN: Monava closes funding round as demand for passive drone detection grows SWEDEN: Friendship-matching app Gofrendly secures rescue funding after bankruptcy threat DENMARK: Factbird receives investment from Verdane UK: YardOps hits £2.5M valuation with Haatch investment UK: Palatine backs insurtech firm Instanda to support growth Exits and M&A activity ITALY: After AOL and Eventbrite, Bending Spoons lands first post-IPO deal with $1.3B Airtable acquisition UK: Mastercard closes acquisition of BVNK UK: AutoRek acquires Grath CZECH REPUBLIC: Apple acquired PlasmaSolve startup to develop durable coatings for its devices FRANCE: Rebuy acquires Zeercle and plans to enter the brick-and-mortar book trade

Edge AI infrastructure company Edgify has raised $9 million in Series A+ funding to accelerate the rollout of its platform for physical retail and expand its technology into other industries. The round was backed by Rank Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners, bringing the company's total funding to $25 million. Edgify develops AI infrastructure that connects and orchestrates models across edge devices such as self-checkouts, cameras, scales and point-of-sale systems. Rather than relying on centralised cloud infrastructure, its platform enables devices to process data and learn locally while sharing insights across a wider network, without sending raw data to the cloud. By turning existing hardware into a coordinated intelligence layer, Edgify aims to reduce cloud infrastructure requirements and latency while keeping customer and operational data within the store. Its hardware-agnostic platform can operate across equipment from different manufacturers, including technology from partners such as Zebra Technologies and Bizerba. The company has initially focused on grocery retail, where its platform is deployed with retailers across the United States and Europe to address loss prevention. Edgify's computer vision technology can recognise, produce and detect behaviours associated with retail losses, including scan avoidance, product switching and items missed in shopping carts, providing real-time assistance to shoppers and store employees. Building on its presence in grocery retail, Edgify is expanding into convenience stores, quick-service restaurants, distribution centres and apparel. Longer term, the company sees applications across transportation, logistics, manufacturing and warehouse operations, where organisations face similar challenges related to legacy hardware, cloud bandwidth and the cost of deploying dedicated on-premise infrastructure. The expansion comes as adoption of edge-based artificial intelligence continues to grow. The global Edge AI market is projected to increase from $36 billion to approximately $386 billion by 2034, while Edgify is initially targeting the $15.8 billion retail computer vision market. We founded Edgify on a simple conviction: intelligence should live where data is created, and devices should learn as one. Retail is just the beginning. The operational friction Edgify has solved in grocery and convenience stores can be replicated in any industry where fleets of devices meet the physical world, said Nadav Israel, CEO and co-founder of Edgify. The new funding will support Edgify's growth as it takes the infrastructure developed for retail into a wider range of industrial environments, connecting currently isolated devices into real-time networks capable of operating independently of the cloud.

This week, we tracked more than 35 tech funding deals worth over €1 billion and 5 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. ❗ Want to explore the data in more detail? The free, open-access Tech.eu Funding Explorer offers deeper insights into funding rounds, investor activity, company profiles and market trends. Either way, let's get you up to speed. ? Notable and big funding rounds ?? UK chip startup Olix raises $312M at $3.3B valuation ?? Volta raises $300M at $2.4B valuation with Nvidia and Dell backing ?? HappyRobot lands $150M Series C to scale agentic AI for enterprise operations ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ?? Apple acquired PlasmaSolve startup to develop durable coatings for its devices ?? Rebuy acquires Zeercle and plans to enter the brick-and-mortar book trade ? Interesting moves from investors ?? After AOL and Eventbrite, Bending Spoons lands first post-IPO deal with $1.3B Airtable acquisition ?Mobilise launches investment arm to scale telecom software companies through strategic partnerships  ? White Star Capital closes $250M Fund IV to back global startups from Series A to B ?️ In other (important) news ? July funding: European startups secure €8.6B as exit activity accelerates ?  Thousands of SMEs tap into MSCA funding ? New York-headquartered AI startup Modal Labs to open London office ? Recommended reads and listens ? When AI starts pretending to be your PR team, it's a problem ?? The UK's top-funded tech companies in H1 2026 ?  As Mediterranean wells run dry, Ahbstra launches machine that makes drinking water from air ? European tech startups to watch  ?? Legal AI startup Aavalynx raises £1.5M to cut the cost of corporate disputes ??  Aflabox raises €1.35M seed to bring food safety testing into the field ?? Shiplog raises $1M to build AI customer intelligence for B2B SaaS ?? Estel Technologies raises €270,000 to modernise tech staffing sales ?? Platter lands follow-on funding from Verb Ventures to modernise food supply operations   ? Recommended reads and listens ? When AI starts pretending to be your PR team, it's a problem ?? The UK's top-funded tech companies in H1 2026 ⚛️  Meet the photonics scaleups building tomorrow's critical technologies ? As Mediterranean wells run dry, Ahbstra launches machine that makes drinking water from air ? European tech startups to watch  ?? Shiplog raises $1M to build AI customer intelligence for B2B SaaS ?? Estel Technologies raises €270,000 to modernise tech staffing sales ?? Platter lands follow-on funding from Verb Ventures to modernise food supply operations