Today, 01C announced the launch of Amara, an AI-powered platform that enables designers, game developers and 3D artists to create and iterate complete 3D environments in seconds using simple text prompts.  London-based 01C was founded by National Film and Television School graduates Ashkan Dabbagh, Rupert Aspden, and James Elkin, and now includes AI researchers and game industry veterans. In June 2025, the company raised €500,000 in funding backed by EWOR, a radically selective fellowship backing the world's top 0.1 per cent founders, built and led by unicorn builders, I spoke to CEO Ashkan Dabbagh to learn more.   Turning hours of asset work into instant environments The platform targets one of the biggest bottlenecks in development: environment creation. Tasks that once required hours of manual asset placement, lighting, and refinement can now be completed in seconds through conversational AI. Built natively for Unreal Engine, Amara ncludes a 3D Mesh Generator — a generative AI system that produces production-ready assets on demand and plugs directly into existing workflows. According to Dabbagh, the company’s key differentiator is its refusal to lock developers into a new ecosystem. While many competing tools require teams to abandon their engines and rebuild inside proprietary platforms, 01C is designed to integrate with existing pipelines. “We’re focused on helping people already using game engines like Unreal work faster,” he says. “We don’t want them to change their tech stack. We want to integrate into their workflows. Long term, we have a bigger roadmap, but this is the first step.” 01C lets users turn photos or text prompts into 3D assets. “You can use it for games, animation, printing — anything,” Dabbagh explains. “The app lets you speak or type to create 3D environments, similar to prompting ChatGPT, except it generates interactive worlds.” “We’re accelerating existing workflows the way Cursor did for coding. Amara empowers creatives to explore countless scene variations in the time it previously took to build one — enabling faster iteration and better final products.” Why native 3D matters more than video While video-based generative systems can produce visually impressive results, Dabbagh argues they fall short in interactive reliability. “You can’t use video consistently with interactive systems,” he explains. In interactive video models, each frame is regenerated in real time, which introduces instability. A user might look away and return to find subtle differences in the scene because the system is recreating pixels rather than maintaining persistent objects. For game development, that lack of permanence is a dealbreaker. According to Dabbagh, every asset in a playable environment needs stable physics and predictable behaviour.  “Game development requires permanence. Every asset needs physics and reliability. You can interact with it without regeneration errors,” he says, adding that current video approaches simply cannot guarantee that level of consistency. He sees interactive video as suitable for lightweight or experimental experiences, but not for large-scale productions.  “Interactive video is fine for small indie experiences or casual fun, but you can’t build something like the next Call of Duty on that foundation. The physics simply doesn’t work.” Lessons from early access Before launching its platform to the public, AMARA was used internally for creating over 10 viral campaigns and featured on projects including for McLaren, eBay, Twix, Starcloud, with over 40 million views. All growth was achieved organically through word of mouth and returning customers. According to Dabbagh, before today's public launch, the team had a slightly different engine version.  Designers liked it, but startups and tech companies didn’t want to operate it themselves — they preferred experienced professionals to use it.  “That showed us we’re not replacing designers. Creative storytelling is still valuable and necessary.” Another takeaway is that no product launches perfectly. Early access is about gathering feedback, understanding real demand, and killing features that don’t matter.  “It helps you discover what problems actually exist, " shared Dabbagh.  Levelling the playing field for smaller studios 01C has applicability across a variety of design environments.  For example, it offers a competitive advantage to smaller indie game studios: “Large studios have resources. Smaller teams want AAA quality but don’t have the budget,” explained Dabbagh.  “If something takes two weeks manually and we reduce it to two days, that’s a massive time and cost improvement. We give small teams the flexibility to produce higher quality work with fewer resources.” This extends to film and television. Dabbagh studied AI at Oxford and has built a career in technical roles at Warner Bros. and Amazon Studios. He also served as a production manager at DNEG, the visual FX firm behind Interstellar and Dune. On film sets, if directors change their minds, it often takes hours or days to rebuild environments. You stop production and reshoot later. “With our tools, directors could change environments live on set. They see something on the volume, don’t like it, and modify it instantly. That level of flexibility wasn’t possible before. It makes production interactive.” “We’re not replacing creators” From here, 01C plans to onboard major B2B clients, prepare for another fundraising round, and triple the company's size. It's also expanding beyond Europe and the US  According to Dabbagh this is an exciting moment for creativity. "There’s a lot of noise around AI, but the important part is enabling people to tell stories faster — not just one-off outputs, but worlds you can return to and evolve episodically. Another key difference between us and some world-generation models is editability. Some tools generate beautiful results but flatten everything into one object. You can’t extract or manipulate individual assets. We generate true objects you can interact with.” Dabbagh believes that creativity should stay human-driven.  “Autonomy should come from the technical execution side, not storytelling.” Long term, the goal is to remove friction. A creator should say what world they want and see it instantly.  “It keeps them in a flow state, " explained Dabbagh.  “I compare it to painting as a child — there’s no barrier between the idea and the paper. Today, every asset interrupts the creative momentum. We want to eliminate that interruption. It’s not replacing creators. It’s changing the type of effort required.”

Fleet, a French scale-up specialising in IT fleet management, equipment, and security for SMEs, announces the entry of ISAI Expansion into its capital through its ISAI Expansion III fund at a €100 million valuation.  After seven years of existence and having been entirely bootstrapped to date, Fleet is opening its capital to external investors for the first time. This primary LBO transaction provides liquidity to the two founders, Sevan Marian and Alexandre Berriche, as well as to employees, while preserving a majority-independent shareholding structure.  I spoke to co-founder and CEO Sevan Marian to learn all about it. From a leasing startup to a global IT operations platform for SMEs Founded in April 2019, Fleet initially developed around a leasing offering that enabled SMEs to spread their IT investments over time.  The company has gradually expanded its positioning to support SMEs with 5 to 500 employees, often with a strong international footprint, built around three core pillars: IT procurement, with deliveries to over 120 countries in under 48 hours, day-to-day IT fleet management, and cybersecurity.  The more complex the hiring process is — remote teams, multiple geographies, cross-border employees—the more valuable Fleet becomes.  “Growth creates operational complexity, and we remove that friction,” explained Marian. An international playbook Fleet delivers in roughly 20 countries spanning India, Asia, and Africa, and operates across Europe and the US — a structure Marian says strengthens its cross-border positioning. “We see more US companies operating in Europe and Indian companies choosing us because we specialise in cross-border setups. Internationalisation has been a major driver.” Alongside its geographic expansion, the company has become more sales-led. “We invested in building the team and improving execution on that side,” he adds. Marian argues the company occupies a unique position in the market. “Fortunately, Fleet doesn’t have direct competitors offering an international solution that combines leasing, financing, purchasing, warranty, insurance, and cybersecurity in one platform. I don’t think there’s another player delivering that full stack across so many geographies.” In 2025, the company recorded growth of over 90 per cent, while maintaining a profitable model and a deliberately lean organisation.  Marian attributes the company’s growth to disciplined execution and a deliberate push into international markets. “It was mainly execution.” “We expanded into multiple geographies and built a playbook for international expansion that works. Now we can replicate it market by market, and that’s given us a growing footprint. We believe we’ve reached strong product-market fit. Every time we open a new market, customers respond very well.We don’t face much direct competition, and our retention is strong — customers stay with us and keep adding equipment and licences.” Bootstrapping is a strategy, not an ideology Marian says the decision to bootstrap versus raise venture capital ultimately comes down to business fundamentals and founder priorities. “Bootstrapping isn’t for everyone, just like venture capital isn’t for everyone", he contends.   “It depends on your business model. You have to ask whether your company can generate the cash flow required to sustain growth.” He argues that venture capital is best suited to companies designed for extreme scale. “VC makes sense when you’re building something that could reach billion-euro scale — typically a highly scalable tech platform with recurring revenue and strong margins.” Bootstrapping, by contrast, follows a different timeline and philosophy. “It’s about strong cash flow, good margins, and long-term value creation. You may not build a billion-euro company in ten years — maybe in forty. It’s a different path, but it’s a great one.” Marian stresses that the choice is not ideological. “I’m also a venture investor myself, so I don’t see VC as bad. The key is deciding what you’re optimising for. If you bootstrap, your model must support operations and growth through working capital and healthy margins. You also need clarity on product-market fit early.” Today, Fleet employs 45 people across Paris and Barcelona, serves nearly 2,000 clients — including Swedish unicorn Lovable, restaurant group Nouvelle Garde and Les Merveilleux de Fred — and operates actively in around ten European countries as well as in the United States.

Menotracker, the AI-powered menopause-tracking app, has launched in partnership with the privacy technology company ConsentKeys consentkeys.com to become the first and only women’s health application that will never store users’ personal data. The Menotracker app transforms perimenopause and menopause symptoms into personalised insights and support.  I spoke to the startup’s CEO, Sonja Rincón, to learn all about it.  “I’m a very angry perimenopausal woman” The company’s origin is deeply personal. The whole idea of the company came about because, according to Rincón,”I’m a very angry perimenopausal woman. That’s honestly the truth.” Rincón has a background in law but felt unfulfilled. In 2024, one of her friends started having hot flashes, and she remembered thinking, “Isn’t she too young for that? So, she started researching. Before that, she’d never heard of perimenopause. Perimenopause is the transition from the fertile years of your 20s and 30s, when the ovaries produce high levels of the female hormones (Estrogen and Progesterone) during each cycle, to menopause, when ovulation and periods stop permanently. Perimenopause lasts on average around five years, but this can greatly vary from woman to woman. The average age of the final period is between the age of 45 and 55 years. However, symptoms of perimenopause can start in the late 30s to early 40s.  The invisible load women carry Perimenopause is accompanied by a wide range of physical, emotional, and cognitive changes. When Rincón began researching it, she discovered that the transition can include as many as 100 possible symptoms, from hot flushes to sleep disturbances, joint pain, brain fog, and weight fluctuations, meaning that alleviating symptoms requires a comprehensive, personalised approach.  Compounding the impact, it often occurs when women are at their peak earning years, while simultaneously managing the pressures of parenting and caring for ageing parents. Rincón shared: “Around the same time, that same friend didn’t get a promotion because her employer said she looked unprofessional and wasn’t taking care of herself. That really upset me.” By then, she realised she’d been in perimenopause herself for years. “I’d been given all kinds of treatments, but nobody connected the dots. It’s a very typical story.” Reduce medical gaslighting with data Menotrack allows users to track symptoms, connect wearables such as smartwatches, and generate reports showing correlations between lifestyle factors and symptoms.  “You have to be the CEO of your own health, asserts Rincón.  “One of my main goals is to reduce medical gaslighting. Advocacy is easier when you’re prepared. Most doctor visits are short. When you walk into a doctor’s office with structured data, it’s harder to dismiss you.” Rincón loves data because it gives you an objective overview.  “I grew up with computers, I’ve always followed tech and AI, I build things with no-code tools — so I assumed something like this must exist. But I couldn’t find anything that truly worked the way I wanted.” While there are many women’s health trackers, most are basic. Rincón explained that typically, “You can log things, but you can’t really use the data to understand your health.  And often, the company benefits more from your data than you do. That didn’t sit right with me.” The startup has a menopause expert advisory panel that helps design the reporting structure so it’s meaningful to both patients and clinicians. Another major goal is diversity in research. “Most menopause research represents white women. We already know medications can behave differently depending on skin colour or genetic background. We need better datasets to understand why symptom patterns vary.” Privacy protection is critical  Menotracker is launching with what may be the most comprehensive privacy protection in femtech - and unlike other free online services, where people are the product, Menotracker’s users are fully protected. Recent high-profile cases have exposed how intimately sensitive health information is routinely exploited: period tracking app Flo Health and its partners Google and Meta recently settled for $56 million after being found liable for sharing users’ menstrual and sexual health data without consent. More alarmingly, prosecutors in several US states have already used period tracking data, search histories, and text messages as evidence in abortion-related criminal cases. Further, in the US, companies can legally collect, store and sell women’s health data to data brokers, who then make it available to advertisers, insurance companies, employers and law enforcement. Period tracking apps are not covered by HIPAA, and data brokers can sell location information about anyone who visits an abortion clinic to anyone with a credit card.  Menotracker’s privacy-first approach addresses systemic vulnerabilities head-on.  By partnering with ConsentKeys' proprietary privacy-first authentication system, users are assigned pseudonymous identities with unique credentials for the platform. Even in the event of a data breach, stolen information would contain only dummy data that cannot be traced to real individuals. Crucially, Menotracker itself cannot access users' true identities, making it technically impossible to sell, share or be compelled to hand over personal health information to third parties. "Women tracking intimate symptoms like incontinence, vaginal dryness, or mental health changes need absolute confidence that their data cannot be accessed by employers, insurance companies, or governments," said Rincón. "This partnership means we've designed our system so that we literally cannot compromise user privacy – because we don't have access to real user information ourselves." According to Kris Constable, Founder of ConsentKeys, the real user information is encrypted and distributed across multiple jurisdictions in a way that would require years of legal process for anyone – including governments – to even attempt to access.  “We've coined the phrase 'privacy is consent' because women deserve the opportunity to choose how their information is being used, something that's rarely offered in the tech world." Developed in partnership with over 200 perimenopausal women and certified menopause specialists, Menotracker captures the full spectrum of menopause symptoms, from hot flushes and night sweats to under-discussed experiences such as word-finding difficulty or a burning mouth sensation. Real verified information  The platform includes medically reviewed content, community support, visual symptom summaries, and doctor-ready reports, all while ensuring complete anonymity.  “There’s so much misinformation online,” asserts Rincón. “Women in perimenopause are a target group for people selling miracle supplements. I want evidence-based information available in one place, free and accessible. Fitness, sleep, nutrition — these things matter enormously. I’ve been experimenting on myself. Following a science-based fitness program improved my brain fog and sleep within months. Women deserve to know these options exist.” Menotracker is building partnerships, mostly in the UK, Canada, and the US.  Rincón describes her home country of Austria as a desert of information about perimenopause and menopause: “Awareness has improved slightly in the last two years, but it’s still minimal.”It’s been much harder in Austria and Germany. There’s not enough pressure yet. Women are still expected to suffer quietly.” The economic case for menopause support Further, untreated perimenopausal symptoms cost economies billions. Deloitte Canada estimated $3.5 billion annually. The UK estimates that around one billion workdays are lost. This isn’t just a health issue — it’s an economic one. Rincón asserts: “Employers don’t act because of charity. They act because it affects productivity and retention. The UK is ahead because policy pressure forced the conversation. We’re working on partnerships with organisations that certify menopause-friendly workplaces. Awareness in the DACH region is still far behind.” Privacy as principle: the investor divide in Femtech When it comes to funding, Rincón says, finding investors isn’t the problem — it’s been more challenging to find investors who align with values.   According to Rincón, “Many asked, 'If you don’t sell data, how do you make money?” That question alone shows the mindset. We could have raised earlier, but I refuse to compromise on privacy. If competitors want to sell women’s data, they can. We won’t. I only want partners who understand that protecting women’s health data is non-negotiable.” In the long term, Rincón wants women everywhere to have access to quality healthcare, regardless of where they live.  “English-speaking markets are our starting point because it’s financially realistic for a startup. But the long-term vision is global. I want transparent information, inclusive research, and technology that helps women understand their bodies without fear. That’s the mission.” The app is available in 177 countries and 41 languages, providing free access to AI-powered symptom analysis and medical-grade educational content.  For Rincón, the goal is simple: technology that helps women understand their bodies without fear — and without being treated as data products.

Last week, we tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth over €710 million, and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

London-based Incard, a financial platform for high-growth digital companies, has raised £10 million in Series A funding led by Smartfin, with participation from Founders Capital, MountFund, and angel investors. Incard was founded to address limitations in traditional business banking, which often requires founders to manage cash flow, invoicing, and spending across multiple disconnected tools. Created by entrepreneurs Theo Cesarini, Soraya Tribouillois, Liam Seskis, and Matteo Martino, the company launched its platform in 2024 to consolidate these functions into a system designed to scale with growing digital businesses. Incard’s financial operating system integrates banking, payments, and financial tools into a unified platform, centralising financial operations, providing real-time cash flow visibility and spend insights, and supporting industry-specific workflows and add-ons. Theo Cesarini, CEO of Incard, said the company has built a control layer for the financial stack of high-growth digital businesses and is now focused on making the platform available to more companies so they can better manage, automate, and optimise their finances. The Incard platform provides access to business banking, corporate cards, and connected bank accounts through a single interface. Companies can extend the platform with tools from the Incard App Store based on their industry and stage of growth, including invoicing, spend management, treasury, working capital, and other financial capabilities. Incard has gained adoption among high-growth digital businesses across the UK and Europe, particularly those with high advertising spend, foreign exchange exposure, and multi-entity structures. With the new funding, Incard plans to expand into additional markets, including Europe and the US, enhance its product offering, and invest further in automation, AI-driven financial workflows, and team growth across engineering, compliance, and product development.

Constructor Capital, the Swiss venture arm of the Constructor Group ecosystem, has closed its first fund at $110 million to invest in seed and Series A startups across deeptech, software, and edtech. The fund follows a science-focused approach to sourcing, due diligence, and company support, drawing on a network of more than 50 universities and a broad base of academic researchers. This enables Constructor Capital to assess complex technical research and support companies with advanced scientific and technological foundations that may be underserved by traditional venture capital. Operating within the broader Constructor Group, Constructor Capital is embedded in a global ecosystem that includes Constructor University, research laboratories, an equity-free accelerator programme, and platforms supporting research and applied innovation. This structure allows the firm to integrate scientific expertise directly into its investment process and support portfolio companies as they transition from laboratory environments to commercial markets. Commenting on the approach, Matthias Winter, Managing Partner at Constructor Capital, said that research institutions are producing technologies with significant future impact that often receive limited attention from venture capital. He added that the fund aims to bridge this gap by supporting companies as they move from lab to market, balancing academic insight with operational execution. The fund’s investment focus spans deeptech, software, and edtech. Constructor Capital plans to lead and co-lead seed and Series A investments, with typical investment sizes ranging from $1 million to $10 million, select investments of up to $15 million, and capital reserved for follow-on rounds. The fund invests globally, including in Europe, the US, the UAE, and Singapore. The portfolio already includes science-led companies operating at the forefront of advanced computing and systems, including QuEra Computing, which develops neutral-atom quantum computers, Lumai, focused on 3D optical computing architectures for more efficient AI inference, as well as AI infrastructure provider GCore, ERP platform Osome, and augmented reality company VitreaLab.

Barcelona-based Biorce, a health AI company focused on clinical trial design and execution, has closed a $52 million Series A round. The financing includes new investment from DST Global Partners, with existing investors Norrsken VC and YZR Capital increasing their participation, alongside Mustard Seed Maze. The round also includes angel investors such as Arthur Mensch, Albert Nieto, Paulo Rosado, and Nik Storonsky. Following the round, Biorce’s total funding has surpassed $60 million. Biorce is developing AI infrastructure to improve how clinical trials are designed and conducted, with its Aika platform at the core. Aika is an AI-native platform designed to reduce clinical trial preparation timelines and limit protocol amendments, supporting faster development of new therapies. In traditional trial models, protocol amendments often pause patient recruitment for an average of six weeks and can add between €500,000 and €1 million in costs per amendment. These challenges are frequently linked to difficulties in clearly substantiating trial design decisions to regulatory authorities such as the FDA and the EMA, which can lead to extended reviews, delays, and additional amendments. Pedro Coelho, CEO of Biorce, commented: Clinical trial delays and inefficiencies cost time, money, and ultimately lives. Our mission is to make trials faster, more reliable, and more accessible, so patients can benefit from new treatments sooner. Built on a dataset of approximately one million clinical trials, Aika is designed to help anticipate risks, reduce errors, and limit the need for protocol changes. The platform supports pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, and contract research organisations in designing trials more efficiently while maintaining scientific standards and patient safety. Aika is already in use across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, neurology, and rare diseases. Its therapy-agnostic design allows Biorce to apply AI across a wide range of clinical programmes and scale its approach to clinical trial design and management. Looking ahead, Biorce plans to expand its workforce and open a development and R&D hub in Austin, Texas, to support its activities in the US. In early 2026, the team intends to further develop Aika’s protocol intelligence capabilities and introduce additional modules, including tools for contract management, negotiation, budget planning, and operational execution, aimed at improving trial efficiency and patient access to new therapies.

This week, we tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth over €710 million and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. Alongside the week’s top funding rounds, we’ve also curated the most important industry stories you need to know. 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 ??  RobCo raises $100M in Series C funding ??  Sokin eyes major expansion with £70M debt funding ??  Funnel secures $80M debt facility ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ?? Sword Health is acquiring the Munich-based health startup Kaia Health for US$285M ??  finanzen.net group snaps up AI investing startup Vickii ??. Scoro acquires Envoice to close the project cost visibility gap ?? Belgium-based team.blue acquires Windsor.ai ? Interesting moves from investors ? 2150 closes €210M Fund II, lifts assets to €500M to back urban and industrial climate tech ?  Voyager Ventures closes $275M Fund II, reaching $475M in AUM ? Footprint Firm closes €76M Article 9 deeptech Fund for the green transition ? b2venture closes €150M Fund V at hard cap to support the next generation of European tech leaders ?️ In other (important) news ? Qilimanjaro launches EduQit, a modular build-your-own quantum computer for education and research ⚖️ Legaltech Luminance unveils its biggest platform upgrade in a decade ??. Estonian Startup Awards 2025 show an AI comeback and DefenceTech momentum ??. Spotify confirms Turkish office opening ? Recommended reads and listens ⚡. Northvolt former CEO: "Emotionally tough" raising funds for new venture +? How Distance Technologies is giving armoured vehicle crews x-ray-like vision ??. More European SPAC IPOs to come, says Einride boss ?? $1M+ raise for construction startup Arctis AI led by former fencing champion Dila Ekrem ??. How Redwerk built a global software business without middle managers or venture capital ?. Reinventing the light switch as Europe’s missing energy interface ? European tech startups to watch  ??  Pallma AI closes $1.6M pre-seed round for AI agent security ??  InsiderCX fuels its AI-powered patient experience platform with €1.5M investment ??  Mos Health secures $1.1M to expand personalised health offerings ??  Opportunity Health raises €334,000 ??. Carne Group secures strategic investment from Permira at a €1.4B valuation

As defence shifts toward data-driven operations, digital terrain models, simulations, and sensor inputs are becoming central to how forces train, plan, and coordinate. Yet the interfaces used to access this information remain largely two-dimensional and siloed. So, how do you accurately perceive and understand what’s happening outside a vehicle —such as a tank — in real time? Mixed-reality visualisation offers a way forward by embedding complex, real-time spatial data directly into the user’s field of view. Distance Technologies is a Finnish startup pioneering glasses-free mixed reality, transforming transparent surfaces into augmented-reality displays. Its technology turns entire panes of glass into headset-free windows for next-generation XR using a computer-generated 3D light field that seamlessly blends with the real world. The approach is designed to enhance user experiences across automotive, aerospace, and defence by delivering immersive 3D visuals without the need for headsets or glasses. I spoke to Distance Technologies CEO Urho Konttori and CMO Jussi Mäkinen to learn all about it. ​ From cars to combat vehicles Founded in 2024, Distance Technologies develops light field-based head-up display technology. According to Mäkinen, the company has developed a waveguide-based system — think of it like a flip-down sun visor on your car. “You can click down a piece of glass and have a head-up display in front of you. If you don't want it, flip it up — no obstruction whatsoever. But if you need it for navigation or situational awareness, just leave it down.” While applicable across a broad range of applications, the company began to focus more heavily on defence in early 2025 after a practical realisation: automotive head-up displays are difficult to integrate into tanks, which typically lack windshields altogether. It now runs field trials roughly every two weeks with different partners.  This includes tests in the UK on the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle platform, collaboration with Patria to develop a unique solution for use in low-visibility battlefield environments such as darkness or smoke, as well as trials with the Finnish Defence Forces. The company is collaborating with US-based Aechelon Technology on a full global 3D map at centimetre-level resolution that aims to enable real-time, in-flight mixed-reality training and defence applications that go beyond traditional ground-based simulators or VR goggles, including immersive cockpit overlays for pilot training, battlefield intelligence, and target analysis. “One of the beauties of this is that it’s fully real-time updatable,” explains Konttori. “We’re extremely excited about utilising the Aechelon data and the real-time portion that could also be valuable in Ukraine. Every field soldier would have access to real-time data on enemy locations — that would be very impactful.” Aechelon is also leading a broader industry collaboration called Project Orbion, alongside Niantic Spatial, ICEYE, BlackSky, and Distance Technologies, to create a continuously refreshed 3D reconstruction system. The consortium deployed the system for the first time at the US Coast Guard Aviation Training Centre. “You can have drone data feeds updating it, or satellite data from providers like ICEYE or BlackSky,” Konttori adds. “It’s essentially a 3D digital twin of the Earth that can be refreshed continuously.” According to Konttori, the team has also showcased its first field-operator HUD behind closed doors: a head-worn system designed to be easily applied across different operational contexts, whether the user is inside or outside the vehicle. “This is easy to apply to a commander who’s outside the tank overseeing the situation, or inside with the hatch closed, enabling you to see through the tank. You also have situational-awareness data — full blue-force tracking, your destinations, targets, what your colleagues are seeing, their positions — all combined into one coherent picture of the battlefield. It applies in the same way for the driver and the gunner. Maybe not the loader — it’s probably better they focus on loading without distraction.” That growing volume of real-time data is also where AI shines. Konttori argues that aligning humans and AI will be a recurring theme across both the automotive and defence sectors. “You start to see not just large battlefield AIs in headquarters, but more and more local AI as well. Each vehicle now has a few kilowatts of electrical power available. Within the next five to ten years, much of that power will be invested in local AI. That will enhance every soldier's capabilities. We want to be the interface for that communication.” ​ Ukraine is redefining battlefield reality Mäkinen asserts that most armies in the world have not faced the battlefield reality of Ukraine: “Most tactics that Western armies are training for are for yesterday. This is independent of our technology, but it's an interesting realisation. When you start discussing with field people, you question: are the challenges you're discussing still reality today? Are helicopters actually a threat to tanks? Should we be focusing on those at all, or is that just the past? It's difficult to get to that point without going to Ukraine.” ​ Konttori cautions that white sandboxing locally is great, “You cannot go to Ukraine unprepared, and you cannot waste anybody's time in there toying around with unready prototypes. It needs to be battlefield-ready.” Check out our interview with the  Defence Innovation Network Finland (DEFINE). Why Distance Technologies  is iterating its way to the battlefield’s next capability I wondered how you measure success when you’re creating capabilities that haven't existed before. Konttori asserts: “How do you succeed when you don't know exactly what success looks like? You can't go ask people 'what would the future look like?' without working on technology yourself. You easily get the 'faster horses' rhetoric — let's do that thing we've been doing for 30 years, just slightly better. That's part of reality, but the interesting thing is: are you able to go into spiral development where you try something, realise 'maybe that's not the way,' adjust course, and start focusing on the bullseye?” In response, the company focuses on faster iteration cycles with field trials, “so we can dare to try things and dare to fail," explained Konttori. “We are learning quickly together with the customer and building it for the customer, not the usual startup Y Combinator dream of 'build it for yourself and assume this is what the customer wants.' That's our immediate goal for the next six months: to build together with the customer.” Edge computing over fragile connectivity Distance Technologies designs its systems with the assumption that connectivity on the battlefield is uneven, unreliable, and often absent. As a result, the company tries to perform as much processing as possible at the edge, within the vehicle itself, rather than relying on constant network access. Jussi Mäkinen explained, that the UK has the Bowman system deployed in around 27,000 vehicles today, which includes relatively decent, reliable communications and blue-force tracking as an integral part.” In aviation, this level of connectivity has existed for decades. But Mäkinen notes that connectivity reality drops off sharply once you move away from aircraft and armoured platforms. “When we go to infantry, they might be lucky if one team has a single radio,” he says. “It’s quite shocking — the ‘future soldier’ is much more of an analogue world. Comms are voice radio comms, even though it’s digital radio; not everyone is fully connected.” That contrast is a key reason Distance Technologies focuses first on vehicles rather than individual soldiers. “Almost all vehicles have decent communication channels,” Mäkinen explains. Vehicles also have power budgets measured in kilowatts, enabling onboard compute and local AI that simply isn’t feasible at the individual soldier level today. Looking ahead, Mäkinen believes the digitisation of the individual soldier will come, but much later than the transformation now underway in vehicles and command systems. “Going to infantry will be a much longer period of change. Maybe in a decade, they’ll all be fully connected. I do see that transition,” he says. Central to that shift, he argues, is scale. Distance has been discussing future battlefield connectivity with Nokia, which has formed a dedicated defence entity and is pushing 5G — and eventually 6G — technologies into military environments. “That would probably allow you to service every single soldier at a decent cost level because of scale,” Mäkinen says. Until that industrial-scale connectivity exists, however, defence systems must be designed to function in a fragmented communications landscape. For Distance Technologies, that means prioritising edge computing, vehicle-based platforms, and interfaces that continue to provide situational awareness even when networks degrade — rather than assuming a fully connected battlefield that, for now, remains more aspiration than reality. ​ From defence to  automotive OEMs Beyond defence-specific applications, Distance Technologies sees strong opportunities in sectors such as aviation and automotive. Konttori notes that it is a huge market and that the company currently has a strong partner helping to push its technology to market. The technology has strong potential in China, with a program requiring that all civil aircraft operating in the country be equipped with HUDs, and discussions of mandating HUDs for all autonomous vehicles. “If you have a self-driving car, you want to keep your eyes on the road,” Konttori explained. “The head-up display communicates what the car is going to do—if it has detected a blockage, for example. If it has not, you probably need to take action yourself.” Licensing the future of automotive HUDs In terms of its business model. Distance Technologies plans to license its technology to Tier One automotive suppliers. “We license and work with Tier One to build the final hardware product, help them certify it, and provide the licenses, patents, and software needed to run it. This is very much computational optics, so the software and compute element are a huge part of the equation. That becomes a license-based revenue model for us,” Konttori said. One challenge and opportunity for Distance Technologies is leveraging the scale of the automotive side. Konttori explains that while you can’t use exactly the same supply chain, you want to be as close to economies of scale as possible. The company is working with a manufacturing partner that has facilities across the USA and Europe, including France, Sweden, Finland, the UK, and Ireland. “The idea is to manufacture as locally as possible to retain national sovereignty, not just regional sovereignty.” ​ Defence buys capabilities, not components Defence, however, is different. In this sector, customers rarely buy components; they buy capabilities. “Even major integrators such as General Dynamics do not want to build every capability in-house if they can avoid it. They prefer to integrate capabilities from multiple providers into a powerful combined system,” explained  Konttori. In this context, Distance Technologies would deliver more than just the HUD: it would also provide the compute platform to run it, the sensors needed for thermal and night-vision capabilities, and the software interfaces into the vehicle’s command communications systems. This shifts the model towards a combined hardware-plus-license offering. Europe lacks the ability to scale defencetech supply chains For Mäkinen, the issue is not just technology maturity but industrial capacity. He contrasts the current European defence supply model with the mass-scale production now visible in other parts of the world. “This is one area where defence in Europe, including the UK, is simply not at industrial scale today,” he says. “It’s much more artisan-level production, or comparable to the aviation industry — very high quality, very high grade, but not industrial scale.” That mismatch, he warns, could become a strategic vulnerability if adversaries can field networked systems and sensors at mass scale and speed. “This will be one of the big challenges for Europe to realise by the end of this decade: we need to start going industrial scale,” Mäkinen says. “If the enemy is on an industrial scale and we are not, we will not be able to catch up in time.” Looking ahead to the next iteration of Distance’s product roadmap, Konttori says the priority is moving from prototypes to early production. “I want to get us to a limited production scale in 2026. It’s easy to think that once you have a design, you can just execute the blueprint and manufacture it. In reality, creating high-quality production always takes time. I do want to reach that stage, but doing it without a customer is very expensive. Business has to come first — if you’re not solvent, you can’t do much.”

The CEO of Swedish autonomous truck startup Einride believes more European startups will follow Einride and go public via a SPAC. Einride is going public on the New York Stock Exchange via a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company), a vehicle which is designed as an alternative route for companies to go public. The SPAC IPO values Einride at $1.8bn. SPAC firms raise capital via an IPO to acquire a private company and take it public. A SPAC listing is seen as attractive to startups as they can fast-track a listing, without the expense, time and hassle of going through a conventional IPO. SPAC IPOs leaped in popularity in 2020, but then fell out of favour, amid falling stock prices and big investor losses. Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said: "There’s definitely more SPACs looking for target companies. I think it will naturally be the case that you will see more European companies going down that path as well. It has been an attractive path for a number of companies." Lorenzo Roversi, managing director UK & Nordics, IonQ, which went public via a SPAC, who also sits on the Einride board, agreed. He said: “There are more and more mentions of SPACs in Europe. It seems to be that some of the deeptech companies are really embracing this.” Examples of European firms going public via a SPAC include Lilium, the German flying taxi startup, which shut down in 2025 and Cazoo, the UK online car retailer. The pair of executives, speaking to Tech.eu at the GoWest VC conference in Gothenburg, also discussed why Einride chose to IPO via a SPAC instead of a traditional listing or carry out further private fundraising. Charli said: “I think the combination of being at an inflection point as we are as a business, having accumulated contracts, getting into the next step of scaling with customers, so we really need to push to scale with those customers, combined with how the US capital markets are and having access to that capital and where we see our peers going in the US public markets, I think for us it makes good sense.” Roversi said: “We are a public market company. We are delivering value already at such a significant level that going through another private round of a Series D doesn’t make sense. The capital requirements we have, the returns we are giving to investors, are at that level.” On the challenges of a SPAC listing, Roversi said: "The added complexity of a SPAC is ensuring you manage not only attracting new investors into the company but manage the expectations of those people who are already invested in the listed entity. “So we want to really minimise those redemptions  The best way to do that is not only to show the initial value of the listing is going to be higher but the growth journey is there.” While redemption rights help incentivise investors by ensuring they have a money-back guarantee, if a large number of shareholders exercise their redemption rights, it can significantly reduce the cash available for the combined entity moving forward. The SPAC merger between Einride and blank-check firm Legato is expected to be completed in the first half of this year. But Roversi said there could be a pushback on the timeline- citing last year’s US government shutdown, which delayed financial market activity. He said: “Obviously, the timeline was impacted a little bit by the government shutdown because we are listing in New York. We were aiming for the first quarter but that may now slip out to September. "A lot of this is dependent upon the backlog the New York Stock Exchange has and where we are with other listing processes. Internally, we are in a really strong position to keep our initial timeline.”

The UK loves to congratulate itself on innovation. We have world-class universities, globally admired research and a spinout ecosystem that, compared to many other countries, does a respectable job of turning ideas into companies. Ministers talk up ‘science superpower’ ambitions, vice-chancellors celebrate exits and investors marvel at the density of talent clustered around our campuses. And yet, when it comes to who actually gets to turn academic research into businesses, the system remains quietly and stubbornly skewed towards men. A sobering verdict A new report published this week by The Entrepreneurs Network, produced in partnership with Barclays, delivers a sobering verdict.  On current trends, female academic entrepreneurs in the UK may not reach parity with their male counterparts in spinning out companies until 2060. That is not a typo. That is an entire generation of innovation left waiting in the wings. At a reception in the Cholmondeley Room and Terrace of the Houses of Lords this week to announce the launch of the latest Female Founders Forum report, there was no shortage of female entrepreneurs. For this male writer who has been to so many male-heavy conferences that they should all have been called Mansplaining conferences, it was refreshing to be in the minority for once. With a much better energy in the (Cholmondeley) room. Spinouts and startups built on university intellectual property are a vital source of long-term economic growth. They dominate in deep tech, life sciences and emerging technologies where the UK has genuine global strengths. Blind to realities faced by women Successive governments have recognised this, pressuring universities to demand less equity, reduce bureaucratic drag and make it easier for academics to commercialise their work. Some progress has followed. But as this report makes clear, it has been too incremental, too uneven and too blind to the realities faced by women trying to navigate the system. In 2023, fewer than 8% of UK spinouts had all-women founding teams, while more than three-quarters were all-male. Mixed teams filled the remaining gap. Those numbers have improved slightly in recent years, partly due to the Government’s Independent Review of University Spin-Out Companies, but the underlying structure remains unchanged. Too many potential founders never even get to the starting line. The report is based on interviews with female academic entrepreneurs and others across the spinout ecosystem, many featured as case studies. Their experiences point to a familiar but still under-acknowledged truth. The barriers women face are not about confidence or ambition. They are about how the system actually operates. Access to capital remains a glaring issue. Investment committees are still disproportionately male, shaping not only who gets funded but which ideas are deemed ‘commercial’. Mentorship is often generic rather than tailored, focused on short-term confidence boosts instead of long-term operational scaling. And time, the most precious resource in academia, is in chronic short supply. As Jennifer Seig, Adviser to The Entrepreneurs Network, puts it: “The barriers many female academic entrepreneurs face are not a lack of confidence or ambition, but the practical realities of how the system operates. Time is constrained, particularly for those carrying the majority of caring or household responsibilities, and stepping away from a traditional academic path continues to carry disproportionate risk.” Caring responsibilties narrow opportunities This ‘time poverty’ is not accidental. Much of the spinout ecosystem is built around evening networking, informal investor access and an assumption of uninterrupted availability.  For founders with caring responsibilities, rarely men, this quietly but effectively narrows what feels possible. The result is fewer spinouts, fewer funded ideas and a narrower innovation pipeline than the UK can afford. The economic cost is significant. Barclays estimates that dismantling the barriers faced by female founders could unlock up to £250 billion for the UK economy.  As Juliet Gouldman, Director at Barclays Business Banking, notes: ‘peer networks, accelerators and supportive communities matter, but systemic change matters more’. And that change requires coordination across universities, financial services and government. One of the report’s most important contributions is its focus on specificity. Rather than treating women founders as a single category, it highlights how barriers differ by discipline and institutional support.  In particular, founders in Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts (SHAPE) subjects face distinct challenges. This is because their intellectual property is often non-patentable and poorly understood by traditional tech transfer structures. To address this, the report sets out a clear slate of policy recommendations. These include improved, gender-disaggregated data collection on spinout equity and leadership; expanding proven programmes and introducing Commercialisation Fellowships that buy academics out of teaching so they can build companies without jeopardising their research careers. Other proposals tackle cultural issues head-on: recognising commercialisation as a promotion metric alongside publications; moving entrepreneurship training to an opt-out model across degrees and redesigning accelerators to eliminate exclusionary networking norms. None of this is radical None of this is radical. All of it is overdue. The central message is simple. The UK does not have a shortage of female academic talent. It has a system that still treats commercial ambition as an optional extra, and a risky one, particularly for women. Until universities, investors and policymakers align incentives with reality, the gender gap will persist. And if current trends continue, we already know how long that will take to fix. The question is whether the UK is content to wait until 2060… or whether it finally decides that innovation, like talent, should not come pre-filtered by gender. As the female entrepreneurs (and this male writer) departed the House of Lords into a distinctly drab Westminster afternoon, it was tempting to look behind at the grandeur of the UK parliament with its numerous male statues and ponder who really is to blame for such an shameful situation.

Carne Group, Europe’s largest independent third-party management company and a provider of fund regulation and governance services, has agreed to sell a significant minority stake to funds advised by Permira at an enterprise valuation of €1.4 billion. As part of the transaction, Vitruvian Partners will exit its minority stake acquired in 2021, alongside several other minority shareholders. Carne’s founder, management team, and employees will retain a majority ownership in the group, with founder and CEO John Donohoe continuing to lead the business. Founded in 2004, Carne provides services across the fund lifecycle, supporting asset managers in areas including risk management, compliance, oversight, and governance. The investment represents a new phase in Carne’s development, with Permira providing capital and industry expertise to support continued growth. Since the investment from Vitruvian in 2021, the group has expanded its operations and strengthened its position across Europe. Commenting on the transaction, John Donohoe said the partnership with Permira marks an important milestone in Carne’s long-term development, aligning with the company’s growth plans as the industry evolves, while allowing it to expand its reach, continue serving clients, and maintain its independence. Permira’s backing is expected to support further investment in Carne’s technology platform, Curator, including product development, commercial capabilities, and advancements in areas such as AI and automation, while enabling the company to scale its services globally in response to growing demand for outsourced solutions.

Mos Health, a Polish-American startup developing an AI-based health platform for personalised protocols and supplements, has raised $1.1 million in a pre-seed round co-led by SMOK Ventures and Movens Capital, with participation from Tomasz Karwatka, Piotr Karwatka, Anna Lankauf, and others. Mos Health is a preventive health and lifestyle wellness company focused on making health solutions practical for everyday use. With only 25 per cent of U.S. adults meeting recommended activity levels and many diets failing due to low adherence, the company aims to address an execution gap by combining personalised guidance with tools that support consistent action. The platform is built around two integrated components. The AI Health Partner app analyses data from sleep, nutrition, lab tests, and wearable devices such as Apple Watch and Oura to generate personalised health protocols. This is complemented by a proprietary line of supplements produced with a U.S.-based manufacturing partner, designed to support implementation of the app’s recommendations. Patrycja Brzozowska, founder and CEO of Mos Health, said the company was created out of her own challenges with maintaining consistency. Generic advice is often not enough, so we are building a system that uses personal data and reduces friction in day-to-day execution, Brzozowska said. Mos Health is launching in the US with a B2B2C model that enables employers to offer personalised health protocols and supplements as part of their employee benefits. Commenting on the US launch, Paweł Chrzan, co-founder of Mos Health, said the market enables faster adoption of innovation by companies and users. The employee benefits model aligns well with our approach, as the workplace is often where sustainable lifestyle changes can be introduced, Chrzan added. The company plans to use the funding to develop its MVP, advance its core technology, and begin initial deployments in the US.

The European Union has allocated €10 million to support the development of digital public services in Ukraine and their alignment with European standards. According to Oleksandr Bornyakov, Acting Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, cooperation with the European Union and the Academy of Electronic Management is a long-standing success story that laid the foundation for our digital sustainability.: “Together, we implemented dozens of critical projects: from the construction of the Trembit data exchange system to the launch of convenient state services in Diia.  Our priority today is not just digitalisation, but full synchronisation with the EU digital space. We are confidently moving towards our strategic goal of the integration of Ukraine into the Single Digital Market of the European Union.” Diia is a single-state portal developed over the last few years that includes over 70 digital services — you can become an entrepreneur in Ukraine in just 2 seconds and found a limited liability company in 30 minutes.  Over 1,000,000 private entrepreneurs and more than 14,000 companies have already used the service. The partnership with the European Union on Ukraine's digital transformation has been ongoing for almost a decade. The funding will support the following key areas: Cross-border services: Support Ukraine’s access to the single market of services, goods, and capital with EU countries. Trembita 2.0: Upgrade the national data exchange system so government registries can communicate faster. Data oversight : Launch a system that will show when officials access citizens’ personal data. Development of CNAP centres (one-stop administrative service centers) Upgrade the Vulyk system to connect and improve more centres. European data standards: Implement new data governance rules aligned with EU standards. Training specialists: Support the Centre for Digital Competencies to train experts in e-services. The project is implemented by the Academy of Electronic Management (Estonia). The Academy of Electronic Management has been working with Ukraine since 2012, supporting the country's digital transformation through reforms, crises, and, now, a full-scale war.  According to Hannes Astok, Executive Director, Academy of Electronic Management, this long-term partnership proves that digital solutions are not only technology, but also trust, sustainability and the state's ability to serve its citizens under all circumstances. “Stable and reliable support from the European Union makes it possible to build sustainable digital systems that meet European standards.“

Spotify has confirmed it will open an office in Turkey, saying the country is a “priority market”, following a spat between the streaming giant and the Turkish government.   Spotify said it will open an office in Istanbul by the end of June, saying “opening an office in Istanbul is not a symbolic move for Spotify, it’s a structural one". It added: "Turkey is a priority market for us, and deepening our presence reflects our long-term commitment to the country’s music ecosystem, its creators, and its culture.”   The Turkish government has previously confirmed the opening of the office. The Swedish streaming giant has also appointed long-term Spotify executive Akshat Harbola to oversee its Turkish operations and said that its Turkish office will scale this year, appointing new staff. Spotify pointed to figures showing that Turkish music was seeing strong growth, with 52m users outside Turkey listening to Turkish-language tracks in 2025, with export streaming up over 160 per cent since 2020. Spotify, which launched in Turkey in 2013, has also pledged to amplify the voices of female and emerging artists in Turkey.   Spotify's commitment to Turkey follows last year's spat between Spotify and the Turkish government, which saw Spotify threaten to pull out of Turkey in a row over playlists that ridiculed president Erdogan’s wife and, in particular, her claimed lavish spending.   The Turkish government accused the streaming platform of hosting “content that targets our religious and national values and insults the beliefs of our society”. It also accused Spotify of not supporting local music. The Turkish government demanded that the Swedish streaming company open a physical office in the country and the competition authority opened an investigation into whether Spotify engaged in anti-competitive practices. However, the spat appeared to have been resolved following a meeting between the Turkish government and Spotify executives. Spotify has previously had an office in Turkey but it is understood to have closed in 2018.

Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech today announced the release of EduQit, a modular quantum computing kit designed to enable hands-on training, experimental learning, and early-stage research using an on-site superconducting quantum computing system.   EduQit enables universities and research institutions to work directly with a physical quantum computing system. This provides hands-on experience with hardware, control systems, operations, and application development.     EduQit addresses a long-standing gap in quantum education: most academic programs rely on theory, simulators, or cloud-based access, which means students miss out on learning directly how quantum systems are built, operated, and maintained. EduQit includes hardware, software, manuals and support from the Qilimanjaro team. This open design allows students and professors to understand the entire process of building and running a quantum computer, as well as to tailor the hardware to each user’s goals.   Professor Bruno Julià Díaz is the coordinator of the interuniversity master’s degree in Quantum Science and Technology and a professor in the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Barcelona. He has worked with Qilimanjaro’s hardware and quantum experts to provide students with hands-on experience. Image: Qilimanjaro’s hardware and quantum experts to provide students with hands-on experience. "Access to modular quantum systems and close interaction with Qilimanjaro’s technical teams have allowed students, particularly at the master’s thesis level, to acquire system-level understanding and practical experience that is rarely accessible within a traditional academic setting,” he said. “This type of hands-on exposure plays a key role in advanced quantum computing education, helping bridge the gap between academic training and the realities of operating and evolving quantum technologies.”    Designed as a deployable and expandable package, EduQit supports laboratory courses, project-based learning, and bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral thesis work. Its modular architecture allows institutions to refine the system over time, reducing technological lock-in. EduQit also provides a platform for comparing qubit modalities, conducting research, and developing and testing enabling technologies.    Optional cloud access to Qilimanjaro’s SpeQtrum platform allows institutions to complement on-site experimentation with remote workflows and perform benchmarks, while preserving direct interaction with the system. This additional access provides researchers with the opportunity to work with a multi-modal quantum hardware design that supports digital, analogue, and hybrid quantum computing paradigms. Qilimanjaro’s multi-modal data centre uses this infrastructure, allowing users to select the compute platform that best fits their use case.    EduQit contributes to long-term institutional and ecosystem development by supporting workforce development and enabling collaboration between academia, industry, and public stakeholders. This also aligns with national and global industry priorities related to advanced skills development, technological sovereignty, and sustainable capability building. Lead image: Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech.

European tech investment reached €72 billion in 2025, making it the second-strongest year of the past three, despite a modest decline from 2024. Deal activity remained stable, with over 3,740 transactions completed, broadly in line with recent years and indicating sustained investor engagement. In 2025, investment became increasingly concentrated in a few major hubs, while deal activity continued to be distributed across the continent. The UK ?? retained its position as the largest market, raising €21.5 billion across 830 deals, followed by Germany ?? (€11.5 billion) and France ?? (€8.7 billion), the latter boosted by several large late-stage rounds. The Netherlands ??, Sweden ??, and Switzerland ?? also held strong positions, while Finland ?? and Italy ?? gained momentum later in the year. Finland’s €2.9 billion came from a relatively small number of deals, suggesting a concentration of larger rounds. Ukraine ??, with €944 million, completed the list of the top ten tech markets (largely driven by a single significant deal in the middle of the year, despite a lower volume of transactions). Quarterly trends revealed shifting dynamics. The third quarter stood out as the most volatile, with major peaks in countries like the UK, France, and Switzerland, and declines in others such as Germany and the Netherlands. In Q4, momentum shifted again as Finland, Italy, and Sweden recorded their strongest performances of the year. Throughout, the UK remained the consistent leader, driven by a particularly dominant third quarter. For more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 –The Big Picture. Today, we’re highlighting the largest deals from each of the top 10 countries that attracted the highest investment in 2025. In the coming weeks, we’ll take a closer look at the biggest funding rounds in each country individually. Amount raised: £2.3B As previously mentioned, CityFibre, a leading provider of full-fibre broadband infrastructure in the UK, secured £2.3 billion in financing to support the ongoing expansion of its gigabit-capable fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. The funding will enable new home and business connections, as well as potential acquisitions of additional fibre network assets. This deal ranks as the largest tech investment in the UK for 2025. Amount raised: €1B Among German tech companies, FINN secured the largest investment in 2025, raising €1 billion to expand its vehicle fleet and support international growth. FINN offers a flexible car subscription service with all-inclusive monthly plans covering insurance, maintenance, taxes, and delivery. The fully digital process allows users to order and receive a vehicle without the need for long-term ownership commitments. Amount raised: €1.7B In France, Mistral AI secured the largest funding round of the year, raising €1.7 billion to accelerate research, expand computing infrastructure, and scale its AI platform globally. The company builds generative AI tools that help organisations develop and deploy language models, AI assistants, and autonomous agents for tasks like search, coding, and automation. The round more than doubled Mistral AI’s valuation to approximately €11.7 billion. Amount raised: €1B In the Netherlands, NXP Semiconductors raised the largest funding round, securing €1 billion to support research, product development, and manufacturing expansion, placing it among the biggest deals in Europe last year. The company develops semiconductor solutions (like microcontrollers, sensors, and connectivity tech) used in automotive, industrial, IoT, and mobile applications, enabling smart, connected systems. Amount raised: €600M In Sweden, EcoDataCenter secured the largest total funding in 2025, raising over €1.05 billion across two rounds. The largest of these, €600 million secured in September, positioned the company at the top among Swedish tech deals last year. EcoDataCenter designs, builds, and operates high-performance data centres focused on sustainability, energy efficiency, and support for AI and cloud workloads, powered by renewable energy and innovative cooling technologies. Amount raised: €258M Energy Vault secured the largest tech funding in Switzerland in 2025, raising a total of €325.8 million across three rounds. Its largest round, €258 million, ranked as the biggest tech deal in the country last year. The company develops sustainable energy storage solutions using gravity- and battery-based systems to efficiently store and dispatch energy. Its technology supports grid stability and enables large-scale decarbonization, advancing the global shift to renewable energy. Amount raised: $200M TravelPerk, a business travel platform that streamlines booking, management, and expense tracking for corporate travel, raised $200 million at a $2.7 billion valuation, securing the largest single tech deal in Spain in 2025. While Multiverse Computing raised a higher total amount across two funding rounds, TravelPerk’s individual raise placed it first among Spanish tech companies by deal size last year. Amount raised: $1B Nokia, a global provider of advanced network infrastructure and digital connectivity solutions, secured a $1 billion equity investment from Nvidia, making it the largest tech deal in Finland in 2025. The strategic partnership aims to integrate AI into telecommunications networks and accelerate data centre development. Amount raised: $710M Bending Spoons, a company that develops, acquires, and scales consumer software products across various digital categories, secured the largest tech deal in Italy in 2025 with a $710 million round. Although the company raised a total of approximately €1.1 billion across two financing rounds (placing it among the top companies by total capital raised), this single deal ranked first in Italy by size. Amount raised: $1B Grammarly, a Ukraine-founded company, secured a $1 billion funding round in 2025, making it one of the year’s largest tech deals. The company offers an AI-powered writing assistant used by individuals and teams to enhance grammar, tone, and overall communication. This deal helped position Ukraine among the top 10 European tech markets by total investment in 2025, despite a relatively low volume of transactions.

Tech firms globally cut more than 100,000 jobs in 2025 as they reengineer for efficiency and rethink layers of management.  Enter international software development company and long-term technology partner Redwerk, a 20-year-old, Kyiv-founded software agency that has scaled globally without investors, middle managers, or flashy marketing.  Redwerk designs, builds, and maintains custom digital products for businesses worldwide.  Founded in 2005, the company develops web, mobile, desktop, and SaaS platforms, working across the full product lifecycle from architecture and UX to engineering, QA, deployment, and ongoing support. Its teams have delivered complex systems across e-government, healthcare, fintech, media, and marketplaces, often modernising legacy infrastructure or building mission-critical platforms from scratch. For startups, Redwerk acts as an extended product and engineering arm. It helps founders turn early ideas into MVPs, scale platforms as user numbers grow, and transition from prototype to enterprise-grade infrastructure.   This includes product discovery, technical validation, cost-efficient team building, and long-term scaling support, allowing startups to move faster without building large in-house teams too early.  Its “build + break + perfect” model, via Redwerk + its sister brand QAWek, has powered platforms for clients such as Universal Music Group, Northeastern University, and even the European Parliament. In a tech environment where bloated orgs are being stripped back, I wanted to understand how Redwerk’s flat, founder-led structure works. I spoke to CEO Konstantin Klyagin to learn more. From BASIC to building a global software firm Klyagin’s interest in computers began in early childhood. He traces his interest in computers back to early childhood. “I first saw a computer when I was six, at my mother’s office, and started playing games,” he recalls.   “Very quickly, I became interested in how these things were made.” By the age of eight, he had already written his first program in BASIC. At 15, he built a free bulletin board system (BBS) that allowed users to communicate over telephone lines, exchange files, and leave messages.  “At one point, it was among the top three systems of its kind in the world.” At 17, he launched CenterICQ. “It began as an ICQ client, but later we added support for other protocols like MSN Messenger, AOL, and Jabber,” he explains. Together with other enthusiasts, he reverse-engineered the protocols, and even established contact with key figures behind them.  “I was even in contact with the founder of the Jabber protocol.” He notes that this technology “is still widely used today underneath many modern messaging systems.” That same year, he also began working professionally. “I started working when I was 17, for outsourcing companies in Ukraine,” he says.  Over time, he observed different management styles and practices and made mental notes of what he would and wouldn’t want to replicate if he ever built his own company. The turning point came at 23, when his open-source work attracted international attention. “I received a request from someone in the Netherlands who had seen my open-source work and wanted me to develop a SaaS product. That became our first client.” He assembled a small team in southern Ukraine — “in a town that is today about 30 kilometres from the frontline” — and later opened a second team in Kyiv. At the time, he was living in Berlin, but wanted to spend more time in Ukraine. Eventually, he moved to Kyiv and lived there for five uninterrupted years before the war.” “That’s how Redwerk started,” he says, “and gradually grew.”  A company without middle managers Klyagin explains Redwerk’s horizontal structure:  “We don’t have heads of departments. We do have functional verticals, but within them people work as equals and collaborate based on projects and tasks, not hierarchy. A developer might say, “On this project, I work with this project manager, and on another project with a different one.”  There is no rigid chain of command; instead, he explained,  “everyone can talk directly to everyone else. Our customers can also communicate directly with engineers if they want to go deep into technical details. We don’t hide people behind layers of management.” The result? Less bureaucracy, faster problem-solving, and increased accountability.  “People are more involved and more responsible for the outcomes,” he shared.  How careers work in a flat organisation I was curious what career progression looks like in a flat structure — in traditional companies, the aim is always to work your way up. However, the job market today is very different from a few years ago. Klyagin contends. “It’s an employer’s market now. Many companies are downsizing, and hiring has slowed.” As a result, at Redwerk, hiring is always driven by real demand.  “We don’t hire in advance and hope work will appear. We manage closely around utilisation. When around 70 per cent or more of our team’s time is billable, that’s healthy. The remaining capacity allows us to onboard new projects. When demand grows, we don’t immediately hire full-time employees. We often start with contractors or part-time contributors, and only move to permanent roles when there is stable, long-term work. This avoids giving people false expectations and helps us stay financially responsible.” In practice, Redwerk’s lean structure makes the team much more flexible and cost-efficient for clients. “We sell what we call managed teams”, shared Klyagin.  Depending on the project, a team may include full-time developers, part-time QA, a part-time designer, and a project manager. “We can scale resources up or down quickly and move people between projects as needed. Because we don’t lock ourselves into rigid organisational structures, we can adapt faster and avoid unnecessary overhead.” For companies considering removing middle management, Klyagin cautions them to think carefully about the cultural impact.  “If their current structure works, they shouldn’t change it just because 'flat' sounds fashionable. Transformation should be gradual. Start with one project or one department as an experiment. If it works, scale it step by step.” Also, scale matters. Klyagin’s experience is with companies of up to around 100 people. He admits that at some point, as organisations grow much larger, you inevitably need layers of management simply to maintain clarity and coordination. Four lessons from 20 years of bootstrapped growth In its 20 years of operation, Redwerk has never received venture capital or other external funding.  “Everything has been financed through revenue. We’ve grown organically from the beginning,” shared Klyagin. Klyagin distils that experience into four core lessons that have shaped how the company operates today: First, profit discipline drives every decision.  “If you can’t afford something, don’t buy it. Don’t rely on debt or outside money. Build reserves and grow responsibly,” he asserts.  Second, in a services business, utilisation is critical. Headcount alone means nothing if people are not working on paid projects. Growth must be tied to real demand. Third, diversification is essential. A diversified customer base across industries and company sizes makes the business far more stable. And finally, never neglect small projects.  “Some of our largest, most valuable long-term clients started with very small engagements.  One fashion company initially came to us to fix a single webpage, and later outsourced their entire digital presence to us. Another client noticed a public QA report we had published as part of our “bug crawl” initiative, hired us, and eventually grew so much that they were acquired by Squarespace. That relationship later turned into work with Squarespace itself. Small beginnings can lead to very big outcomes.”   And, in terms of his own role, Klyagin would definitely consider replacing his own role with AI in the future.  “Anything that gives me more time for my daughter, travel, and learning new languages is welcome,” he asserts.  “I’ve spent decades in software development, and I’m very open to automation, including in management.”

TetraxAI, an AI-powered B2B SaaS platform focused on due diligence and risk management for clean energy infrastructure, has completed a €1.2 million pre-seed funding round led by The Footprint Firm, with participation from Norrsken Evolve and Carbon13. Including non-dilutive funding from NEOTEC, Spain’s national deeptech grant programme funded by the Centre for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI), the company’s total funding to date reaches €1.5 million. Founded in 2024 by Marta Vizcaíno Martín, Arnau Tibau Puig, and Ekaterina Filina, TetraxAI was created to address inefficiencies in traditional clean energy assessment processes using AI-driven technology. TetraxAI develops software designed to modernise assessment and risk analysis for clean energy projects, which are often slow and reliant on fragmented, manual workflows. By combining AI-based document analysis, local regulatory intelligence, and structured project data, the platform helps developers, investors, independent power producers, and asset managers identify and manage risks more efficiently. Tasks that previously took several weeks (such as reviewing large data rooms for utility-scale renewable energy projects) can now be completed in a matter of hours using the platform. According to customer feedback, the quality of the resulting analyses is comparable to, and in some cases exceeds, that of traditional advisory approaches, while being delivered with reduced time and cost. Its flagship product, TetraxVerify, uses AI automation to analyse large volumes of documents in project data rooms, streamlining legal, regulatory, and land-use risk assessments for developers, investors, lawyers, and insurers. Marta Vizcaíno Martín, CEO and co-founder of TetraxAI, said the funding represents an important milestone for the company, bringing in investors with experience in both climate impact and commercial growth. Commenting on the investment, Jakob Wichmann, Co-founder and Partner at The Footprint Firm, said that TetraxAI addresses a key yet frequently underestimated challenge in the energy transition. By dramatically reducing the time, cost, and friction of clean-energy due diligence and risk management, the team is enabling faster capital deployment into clean infrastructure, Wichmann added. The new funding will be used to expand TetraxAI’s machine learning and engineering teams, broaden coverage across European energy markets, and accelerate adoption among developers, investors, and asset managers.

Levellr, the AI insights platform helping brands and game studios understand and monitor Discord, next-generation communities, and user voice data, has secured $2.5 million in a round led by Fuel Ventures. Founded by Tom Gayner and Ben Barbersmith in 2021, Levellr reflects the founders’ experience at YouTube, Octagon and MyCujoo, addressing the community and audience challenges they saw first-hand. As Discord has become one of the most important communities, global brands and games companies need enterprise-grade tools and services to support real-time user insights. Levellr unifies user conversation and engagement signals from the newest generation of social platforms, such as Discord, to provide real-time intelligence on critical events to support product, live ops, game design, community and support teams. As the community increasingly becomes a commercial driver of consumer revenue, Levellr has seen growing demand for its enterprise products, with revenue doubling in back-to-back years. With brands facing rising acquisition costs, fragmented audiences and growing pressure on retention, community is critical. Millions of players now spend more time on Discord than in traditional social networks,  yet for most companies, Discord and other next-generation online community platforms remain a black box.  As a result, companies are missing out on critical audience feedback and insights that create opportunities to improve products, engagement, and commercial performance. Levellr’s platform turns raw, fast-moving community conversations into clear, actionable insight. It listens to player discussions across Discord and other next-generation platforms to provide real-time intelligence on critical events to support product, developer relations, community and support teams. Levellr is already used by leading gaming and consumer companies, including Epic Games, Krafton, Scopely, YouTube, and Google. The raise included investment from industry leaders in the video game sector, including Mark Pincus’ Workplay Ventures (Zynga Founder), Bing Gordon (Duolingo & T2 board member), Frank Gibeau (CEO Zynga), Phil Mansell (former Jagex CEO), Simon Hade (Space Ape founder), Norman Cheuk (ex-Microsoft executive) & Playformant. Bing Gordon (Duolingo & T2 board member), who invested in the round, commented: "I've tracked Levellr’s impressive growth and it's clear they're solving a critical industry gap. Levellr is shifting how teams can bring intelligence from core platforms like Discord into the business through real-time sentiment and relationship analysis. But that's just the start. They're essentially building the CDP layer - the customer data platform - that can amplify value and unlock more revenue for companies with Discord communities and beyond." According to Tom Gayner, co-founder and CEO of Levellr, customers may have clarity on what is happening through product and monetisation data, but they often lack the ‘why’ behind changes in metrics.  “They needed real-time insight from the user voice to help teams make smarter decisions. Before Levellr, teams were manually scrolling platforms like Discord, often undervaluing community signals until a bug or issue had already escalated into user churn. Community reports often lacked sophistication, such as segmentation, cohort analysis, or weighting, so even when customers could see user signals, there was little clarity about whether product teams should act on them." With Levellr, product and support teams can understand the ‘why’ behind product usage shifts and prioritise roadmaps based on real user pain. Live ops and dev rel teams receive real-time intelligence on critical events that threaten revenue and retention, enabling faster action. Community and customer support can filter signals from the noise, removing significant manual work, whilst Marketing teams can keep users in and moving along the funnel with user-level automation.” Mark Pearson, founder of Fuel Ventures, commented: “Levellr is tackling a problem we see time and again across games and consumer businesses — huge amounts of value locked up in community conversations, with no clear way to turn that insight into action. Tom and Ben have built a platform that brings clarity where there has been noise, helping teams make better decisions that directly impact retention and growth. The new funding will support Levellr’s next stage of growth, building data infrastructure that allows customers to unlock deeper user insight, which can then be combined with Leveller’s agentic solutions that can proactively provide insight-based recommendations. These increased data insights and recommendations will enable teams to respond faster, supporting product and marketing goals. Lead image: Levellr. Photo: Tom Trevatt Photography.