The CEO of Locai Labs, Britain’s answer to ChatGPT, James Drayson, says no tech company can guarantee their AI won’t produce explicit images – and accuses Silicon Valley rivals of pretending the problem doesn’t exist. Drayson is the son of former science minister Lord Drayson. He is appearing before MPs and the Human Rights and the Regulation of AI committee on Wednesday as part of their probe into AI regulation and human rights risks. Grok’s new image-editing feature allowed men to manipulate images of women and children - including everyday people and public figures - to remove their clothes and put them in sexualised positions, as well as to create unconsensual images of women being shot and killed. And last year in the US, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III took his own life after allegedly being manipulated by an AI chatbot.  Parliament’s Human Rights Committee is probing the risks and benefits of AI, how it might impact privacy, and discrimination, and whether current UK laws and policies are sufficient or if new legislation is needed to hold AI companies and developers accountable. UK's AI rival outperforming US tech giants Launched last year by founders James and George Drayson, Locai is the UK’s first rival to ChatGPT, and according to the company, is already outperforming US tech giants such as Claude, DeepSeek, and Gemini on key measures. And with the Grok scandal splashed across headlines and parents worried about what AI might expose their children to next, Drayson says Locai Labs is taking a stand. Unlike Silicon Valley rivals, Locai refuses to roll out image generation until it’s truly safe. It has also banned under-18s from accessing its AI chatbot, and is calling for radical transparency across the industry. Drayson urges action and challenges the government to back British innovation. He asserts that industry needs to wake up. "It’s impossible for any AI company to promise their model can’t be tricked into creating harmful content, including explicit images. These systems are clever, but they’re not foolproof. The public deserves honesty. We’re the only AI company openly working to fix these problems, not pretending they don’t exist. If there’s a risk, we’ll say so – and we’ll show our work." According to Drayson, the UK is relying on foreign AI "that doesn’t share our values". "We need our own models, built for Britain, with British laws and ethics at their core. That’s how we protect our rights and our kids. “We believe the UK can lead the world in responsible, values-driven AI, if we choose to. That means tough regulation, open debate, and a commitment to transparency. “AI is here to stay. The challenge is to make it as safe, fair, and trustworthy as possible, so that its rewards far outweigh its risks.”

Last week, we tracked more than 35 tech funding deals worth over €407 million, and 5 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

FluoSphera, a Swiss biotech startup focused on drug safety and efficacy testing, has raised €1.23 million (CHF1.15 million) in funding. The round was led by Soulmates Ventures and a Swiss business angel, with participation from IndieBio New York. Developing a new drug is a lengthy and costly process, and a large proportion of drug candidates do not succeed in clinical trials. One of the main reasons for these failures is that existing preclinical models often do not accurately predict how compounds will behave in the human body. Traditional two-dimensional cell cultures cannot represent interactions between organs, and animal models do not fully reflect human biology, which can result in key toxicities being overlooked and delays in the development of effective treatments. To address these limitations, FluoSphera has developed a multiplexed in vitro platform designed to predict drug responses in a more human-relevant manner. The company’s patented technology allows multiple human tissue models to be combined in a single experiment, with each tissue tracked independently using proprietary fluorescent coding. This enables researchers to observe interactions between different organs and assess both efficacy and potential side effects earlier in the development process, before proceeding to animal or human testing. Dr. Clélia Bourgoint, CEO and co-founder of FluoSphera, said the company is developing a new generation of preclinical tools aimed at accelerating and lowering the cost of bringing medicines to market, while also improving the overall quality of drug discovery. By improving human relevance and reducing reliance on animal models, we help our partners bring safer, more effective treatments to patients faster. The platform is designed to help drug developers reduce development risk, shorten timelines, and lower overall costs, while also supporting alignment with evolving regulatory frameworks that encourage the validation of non-animal testing methods for preclinical research. With the new funding, FluoSphera plans to expand its business development activities with pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations, increase integration of its platform into drug development workflows, and further develop its AI-based image analysis capabilities. The company intends to focus on growth in the United States and Europe, with initial expansion into Asian markets underway.

Today, Nico Rosberg announced that Rosberg Ventures  has just closed its $100 million Fund III, describing it on LinkedIn as “oversubscribed, with unprecedented demand, and capped for performance.” Rosberg Ventures was founded by former Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg after his retirement in 2016, transitioning from racing into technology investing. Rosberg Ventures builds its portfolio primarily through a VC fund-of-funds strategy and over the last year has begun making direct co-investments in standout companies. These include ClickHouse, a real-time data analytics platform used by large tech companies and Ivy the developer of a global API for instant bank payments. Beyond the firm’s direct activity, founder Nico Rosberg also has a track record of personal angel and syndicate investments — historically backing startups such as Jack & Jill AI, Clyx, Fyxer AI, and Black Forest Labs, among others, across software, AI, and enterprise sectors.  On LinkedIn, Rosberg cited a few lessons from Formula 1 that have shaped how the firm thinks about building and investing: Take your chances. Sometimes that means going for the 10% probability opportunities — when the upside is truly transformational. How do you commit when failure is more likely than success? Preparation. You map every downside scenario, stress-test it, and work out how to mitigate or even turn those outcomes into acceptable ones. That’s what gives you the confidence to go all in. In sport, progress often comes from attacking — not playing it safe. "Intuitively deciding on which chances to take, and then sometimes succeeding, will compound very powerfully." According to Rosberg: “Venture is a long game. There’s no chequered flag, no single finish line. But crossing $200M+ in AUM is a milestone that gives us the firepower to keep pushing, keep building, and keep racing forward.”

Zepo Intelligence, the company redefining human-centric security, has closed a $15 million seed funding round, with participation from Kibo Ventures, eCAPITAL, and TIN Capital. Traditional cybersecurity approaches, such as isolated training tools and email filtering, are becoming increasingly ineffective as generative AI accelerates the scale and sophistication of social engineering. According to the World Economic Forum, social engineering attacks have risen by 1,200 per cent since the launch of ChatGPT, contributing to more than $1 trillion in losses in 2024. To address this challenge, Zepo provides a workspace security platform that combines human risk management with real-time threat detection. The platform enables organisations to simulate real-world, AI-driven social engineering attacks (including deepfakes, voice calls, cross-platform messages, and personalized phishing) so they can identify human vulnerabilities and strengthen team readiness through real-time metrics and behaviour-based training. This integrated approach supports continuous protection of employees across multiple digital communication channels through a unified and proactive security framework. Antonio Muñoz, CEO and co-founder of Zepo Intelligence, noted that artificial intelligence has transformed social engineering into one of the most serious challenges facing organisations today. As attackers increasingly rely on generative AI and multi-vector personalised attacks, traditional cybersecurity—focused on isolated training tools and email filters—no longer provides sufficient protection. Zepo addresses this gap by advancing agentic social intelligence for workspace security, The funding will support the expansion of Zepo’s team and the global scaling of its proprietary technology. Following the investment, the company is launching a hiring strategy focused on data engineering and artificial intelligence. According to Enrique Holgado, CPTO and co-founder, AI is central to the platform, and Zepo aims to provide an environment for engineers to develop advanced technologies at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. Supported by fivefold year-over-year revenue growth and adoption by several global enterprises, Zepo plans to expand its workforce and operations across Europe and the United States over the next 18 months. The investment will further advance the company’s efforts to strengthen human risk management on a global scale.

This week, we tracked more than 35 tech funding deals worth over €407 million and 5 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories In addition to this week's top financials, we've also indexed the most important/industry-related news items you need to know about. 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 ?? E-commerce operating startup Swap raises $100M ?? FineHeart raises €35M in Series C first closing and receives €48M in grants ?? With €30M+ Series B, Bactolife prepares shift from R&D to commercial scale ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ??  UK AI firm Faculty to be acquired by consulting giant Accenture ??  Diginex buys Plan A for €55M: What it means for Europe’s carbon accounting scene? ?? BENTELER acquires ioki to expand autonomous mobility in Europe  ?? Taskbase acquires Micromate redefine corporate learning

Today, CES exhibitors and attendees ready themselves for a final draft of traversing booths, dodging bright lights and choosing the most coveted swag (always say NO to the USB sticks, folks).  Meanwhile, Europe’s startups are going to the last mile, showcasing innovative tech in the hope of catching the eye of investors, customers, retailers, and ecosystem partners. If you’re at the show today, here are some more can’t-miss startups:  Chimera Tech (Italy) Chimera Tech brings together AI, engineering, design and strategic thinking to build practical technology solutions for real-world problems. The most interesting is SmartSailor, an AI + IoT platform for smarter boating.  SmartSailor links data from sensors and devices on board — such as batteries, bilge pumps, weather instruments, cameras and navigation instruments — into a unified view. This lets owners see the status of key systems both locally and remotely, even when they’re not on the boat. The platform can detect anomalies and unexpected events — for example, low battery levels, rising bilge water, anchor drift or critical weather changes — and send alerts to the owner’s phone. It tracks energy consumption and onboard performance, turning raw sensor data into clear, actionable information.  Owners can analyse how systems are performing over time and make decisions about power use or maintenance. Further, depending on the hardware installed, users can remotely activate systems — such as lights, pumps or refrigeration — directly from a cloud dashboard.  Coroflow (Ireland) Image: Coro breastfeeding monitoring device. Coroflo has developed Coro, a device designed to help breastfeeding parents accurately measure how much breast milk their baby is getting in real time. It’s intended for use when someone wants more detailed information than traditional signs (like weight gain, wet nappies or feeding cues) can provide.  Coro looks like a nipple shield — a soft silicone shield some parents already use during breastfeeding — but it has a tiny built-in sensor that measures milk flow and volume as the baby feeds.  A corresponding app displays real-time feed information such as how much milk flowed, how quickly, and for how long.  Factorial Robotics (Ukraine) Factorial Robotics has developed Shapid,  a family of autonomous warehouse robots that move goods independently around warehouses, factories, and distribution centres guided by sensors and software. Using onboard sensors such as lidar and QR-code guidance, the robots navigate warehouse floors independently and operate as a goods-to-person system, bringing pallets, parts, or items directly to workers instead of requiring staff to walk long distances to retrieve inventory. Each unit can carry loads of up to around 600 kg and operate for extended periods, while 360-degree sensors support obstacle detection and safe navigation.  Shapid robots communicate wirelessly with each other and a central fleet management system, which coordinates tasks and routes across multiple units. The platform is modular, allowing hardware to be reconfigured or upgraded for different warehouse tasks, and it integrates with existing warehouse software for tracking, routing, and scheduling. Willo (Finland) Willo is building truly wireless power delivery systems — a wireless power technology that aims to replace traditional power cables with over-the-air energy transmission. Inspired by Nikola Tesla’s early ideas about wireless electricity, the startup aims to power a wide range of sectors, including consumer electronics, industrial automation and robotics, smart buildings, healthcare devices, logistics and IoT sensor networks.  Willo’s core tech enables power to be transmitted through the air in all directions — similar to how Wi-Fi transmits data — but with energy instead of signals, allowing devices to receive power without physical cables or strict alignment constraints. Crucial to real-world applicability, Willo’s system is designed to deliver uninterrupted omnidirectional power — meaning multiple devices can be powered simultaneously without needing to be pointed directly at a transmitter, unlike traditional power cables.  GYM 3000 (Croatia) Image: GYM 3000 smart towel. Bringing the quantified self up a notch, GYM 3000 has developed the FitButlr Smart Fitness Towel, a fitness towel embedded with NFC (near-field communication) technology.   It aims to combine comfort, hygiene, and a digital identity in one product.  The towel is cut to fit gym machine seats and has a dual-zone design: one side is for your body and the other is for gym equipment. Each towel has tap-to-connect technology (NFC). You can tap it with your phone to claim it, name it, and link it to your profile, making it personally identifiable.  While let’s face it, the towel is only a “nice-to-have” for serious gym users, the longer-term plan is for it to function as a digital key or interaction device, replacing traditional gym cards or keys, and to connect with an app that tracks workouts. The company is also developing biosensor modules designed to analyse sweat and translate that data into practical training insights. Yneuro (France) Yneuro is redefining digital identity by leveraging unique brainwave patterns — essentially turning your brain’s electrical activity into a biometric key with Neuro ID.  It is developing a device that uses EEG (electroencephalography) sensors to identify a person. EEG sensors capture the brain’s electrical activity through wearable headsets or ear-worn devices, producing raw neural signals. Yneuro’s platform then applies AI and machine-learning models to this data to identify a unique neural signature. That signature is transformed into a cryptographically secure authentication key — effectively replacing traditional passwords with one generated directly from a person’s brain activity. The neural signal is unique and non-duplicable and harder to spoof than fingerprints or facial recognition. Potential use cases include: Secure login to devices and services, Identity verification for financial and government systems, Wearables and future AR/VR human-computer interactions. XIVIX (Belgium) Image: XIVIX, Will robotics make going to the dentist better?  XIVIX is developing an end-to-end digital and robotic workflow for dental restorative care that uses advanced imaging, AI planning, precision manufacturing, and clinician-supervised robotics to improve how crowns, veneers, and other prosthetics are delivered.  3D scanning is used to make a digital twin of your teeth and mouth. Ai then designs a precise fitting crown in advance so it's ready before you even fit in the chair.  During the visit, a six-axis robotic arm, equipped with force sensing and operated under continuous human supervision, helps prepare the tooth and place the pre-made crown with very high accuracy, adjusting in real time to tiny movements, removing the need for jaw clamping or rigid head immobilisation.  The result is that many crowns or bridges can be completed in a single appointment instead of multiple visits, and are more likely to fit the first time with less drilling, fewer adjustments, and less time in the chair.Lead image: Factorial Group's Shapid AGV. 

As manipulated media becomes cheaper, faster, and harder to detect, the cost is increasingly borne by victims — not platforms. Julia Jakimenko is the founder and CEO of Cyberette.ai, a Dutch startup founded in 2024 that builds AI software to detect, analyse, and explain manipulated digital content — including deepfakes, voice cloning, altered images, videos, and text — with a specific focus on fraud and investigation use cases. I spoke to Jakimenko while the team was preparing for this week's CES to learn more.  Prior to Cyberette, Jakimenko worked in data security and compliance in banking. Following trends, she saw the emergence of AI-embedded tools, such as face-swapping and image manipulation. But it became personal when a friend’s face and body were used to create images that were put on dating websites to scam men for money.  She recalls, “She felt horrible and even sent money to one of the victims because she felt responsible. She was not the only one. I saw this happening repeatedly, especially to women.” More than 80 per cent of deepfake explicit images target women, and most remain unresolved, especially sextortion cases. Jakimenko was inspired to act.   Her work gave her an understanding of security workflows and access to technical talent. So Jakimenko built an initial prototype with a former colleague from VU Bank.  “We exhibited it at Web Summit, received strong interest, and afterwards started building based on the leads we received. We later received funding from Rabobank and a grant from Microsoft, which allowed us to continue developing the product.” From there, the company has built a team of AI researchers, data scientists, and security experts, and forged partnerships with leading technical universities. Cyberette enables real-time detection of manipulated media, backed by media forensics insights and content authentication using C2PA standards and watermarking, supporting governments, media organisations, and enterprises.  The startup aims to support investigative teams dealing with deep fakes by providing explainability, provenance, and structured evidence they can actually use. Why do we need another deepfake detection tool? Beyond ‘real or fake’ According to Jakimenko, most existing tools focus on a real-or-fake score with basic explainability, such as highlighting facial artefacts. Cyberette focuses on fraud detection rather than generic deepfake detection.  She explains:   "We analyse how content was altered, why it was altered, and the surrounding context. We provide provenance information — such as manipulation patterns, likely models used, approximate dates, and sometimes IP-level indicators if available.” Explainability as evidence Cyberette’s detection approaches combine multiple techniques to spot manipulated or synthetic media with speed and accuracy. Cyberette uses landmark-based detection to identify inconsistencies in facial geometry, pose, and motion, alongside heatmap-based analysis that highlights altered areas through anomaly scoring.  Sentiment analysis adds another layer by flagging unusual emotional cues such as shifts in tone or hesitation, while real-time detection delivers results in under two seconds for live scenarios. Additional capabilities include watermarking and metadata analysis, as well as broader media forensics and threat intelligence to support deeper investigations. Built for real-time, high-stakes workflows The platform is designed specifically for investigative and monitoring workflows, using in-house AI models built from scratch and optimised for precise, real-time detection tasks. “For investigation use cases, we also explain intent when relevant, for example by analysing inconsistencies between voice, visual signals, and contextual meaning,” explained Jakimenko. Accuracy, latency, and architectural edge Cyberette’s tech advantage lies in its ability to deliver 99.7 per cent accuracy across tested datasets while providing real-time, low-latency results at scale.  According to Jarimenko: “This is the result of our strong backend architecture and lightweight models. Our APIs are designed for real-time detection. Further, Cyberette can run in the cloud or fully on-premise. Many of our customers have strong local infrastructure and GPUs, which allows the system to run efficiently without relying on our cloud." Built for real-time investigation workflows Cyberette’s primary customers are investigation and monitoring teams, including defence threat-monitoring platforms, public sector organisations, and private-sector fraud and investigation units. In the public sector, it strengthens critical communications through live verification, biometric checks, and behavioural analysis for defence, intelligence, and law enforcement. For enterprises, the platform helps prevent fraud by analysing behaviour, integrating with existing security systems, and operating at scale for banks and financial institutions. It also protects licensed content through metadata checks, intelligent watermarking, cross-platform monitoring, and C2PA verification for creators, brands, and talent agencies. Further, Cyberette integrates with video conferencing tools (Teams, Zoom, Google Meet) to ensure secure video conferencing with participant verification and instant manipulation detection, secure identity verification at high volume via biometric analysis and SDKs, and enhanced e-learning platforms with easy-to-use detection tools, practical learning modules, and seamless integration. The platform is engineered to support millions of users and billions of files without performance trade-offs, running efficiently on both GPU and CPU to keep costs low and accessibility high. Built for global deployment, Cyberette is compliance-ready by design, meeting stringent requirements across GDPR, ISO, and PII standards. “We integrate C2PA provenance and authentication tooling, which is supported by organisations like Microsoft and Adobe, and increasingly trusted across the industry. Provenance frameworks are becoming essential as misinformation increases,” shared Jarimenko. In terms of the company roadmap, the company sits between pilot and full commercial rollout:  “We already have paid customers, but we intentionally selected specific customers and industries where the problem is most acute."  Some cases involve small financial losses, but others involve lives — such as kidnapping threats, cyberbullying, sextortion, and abuse cases: “We worked with a forensic team in Colombia and with a government defence organisation in Singapore. We have also had interest from the German and Dutch governments. Last year, the Dutch government said it did not yet see enough cases. I expect that to change.” Deepfakes are getting better — and platforms aren’t stopping them Jarimenko sees no sign of deepfakes abating, instead believing that they will increase and improve in quality:  “We are moving toward a situation where AI-generated outputs are pushed by browsers and platforms as trusted information. This creates confusion and a lack of trust. There is currently little incentive for platforms to stop this. That’s why we focus on teams already dealing with fraud and crime.” Cyberette is going to market in the coming months while raising a Seed round. It plans to expand into behavioural and sentiment analysis where relevant for investigative contexts, and later to explore earlier stages of the manipulation lifecycle. But for now, it is focused on high-impact, high-risk cases.

A Spanish AI voice startup, which says its tech makes minor clinical decisions while on a phone call with patients, has raised $20m in a Series A funding round.Tucuvi was founded by Maria Gonzalez, its CEO, whose mother passed away after a reported hospital administration error.The Series A funding round was led by VC firm Cathay Innovation and Madrid-based Kfund, through its early-growth fund Leadwind, with participation from existing investors Frontline Ventures, Seaya Ventures, and Shilling.Tucuvi has developed what it calls an “AI Care Management platform” designed to automate and orchestrate high-volume care workflows end to end.  The platform is built around AI agents, including LOLA, a voice AI agent that conducts patient phone conversations, executes clinical and care coordination workflows, and escalates to human teams when needed. Tucuvi says it supports more than 50 workflows, ranging from post-surgical follow-ups and transitions of care to chronic care management, pre-operative assessments, screenings, scheduling, or medication management. Tucuvi says its voice AI agents handle “complex real-world patient phone interactions”, while the broader platform manages documentation and integration into existing health system operations.  Gonzalez said: “Healthcare is under immense pressure, and incremental tools are no longer enough. "The only way to continue delivering high-quality care at scale is with AI that healthcare organisations can truly trust - AI that is safe, auditable, and built for real clinical environments. Weʼre proud to already serve more than 60 healthcare organisations and to be expanding rapidly to meet growing demand.ˮ Tucuvi says it is already operating in over 60 health systems in Europe and has completed over 300,000 patient calls. It says it will use the funding to expand across Europe and the US.The startup is understood to have previously raised between $3m and $3.5m. IMAGE: PIXABAY

A UK AI financial crime fighting unicorn has reported a near 50 per cent uplift in revenues, helped by customer wins, while losses halved, according to its latest annual financial figures.The financial figures for Quantexa also reveal new details regarding Quantexa's fundraising last year, which propelled it to a valuation of $2.6bn. The figures for Quantexa Limited show that within its $175m Series F funding round, $114m was made up of new equity, while the rest was raised through a secondary share sale.The UK-headquartered startup, founded in 2016, leverages AI to help organisations understand their data, with its platform connecting up different data points, helping organisations identify trends that might help them detect fraud and assess risk.Quantexa's clients include commercial businesses such as HSBC and Vodafone as well as public sector clients, such as the Cabinet Office’s public sector fraud agency. The filing also shows that Quantexa has ditched offering its “News Intelligence Platform” to new clients. The news platform ingested news articles from thousands of publishers in multiple languages and was billed as “the most efficient, effective and accurate news intelligence solution on the market”.Quantexa said: “Quantexa’s News Intelligence Platform was discontinued to strategically focus on our core platform and adapt to changing market needs, while the platform’s IP and expertise have been fully integrated into our core platform to enhance our unstructured data capabilities. "The News Intelligence Platform represented a small percentage of group revenue relative to Quantexa’s primary decision intelligence platform and data analytics solutions.”Revenues at Quantexa in the year ending March 2025 came in at £126m, up 49 per cent on the previous year, while pre-tax losses were reduced to £25m, from £48m the year before. It said revenues were boosted by new customer wins, along with licence expansion from its existing customers.Losses were attributed to “strategic investments” including increasing the workforce, which grew from 673 to 772, and developing its infrastructure. The accounts show that the highest paid director at Quantexa, which is headed up by CEO and founder Vishal Marria, was paid £788,000, in the period.Quantexa currently operates offices in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France, UAE, USA, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Japan and Malaysia.Quantexa added: "Quantexa's business outlook remains strong, with plans to expand further in core sectors such as banking, government, insurance and telecommunications. "The group also aims to enhance its presence in key North American, EMEA and Asia Pacific markets, including opening new country offices to extend its regional and global reach.”

Medtech BrightHeart, a developer of solutions for prenatal ultrasound, today announced it has raised €11 million Series A financing round.  The round was co-led by Odyssée Venture and GO Capital, with participation from the Mussallem CHD Alliance, Lift Value, IDAHO HealthTech Club via Side Angels, and founding investor Sofinnova Partners, as well as prominent clinicians and angel investors, including Professor Laurent Salomon, former President of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ISUOG), and Sacha Loiseau and John Gridley, serial medtech entrepreneurs. The company has developed an AI software platform that delivers support across the entire ultrasound exam, providing guidance at every step for expert-level fetal heart screening, precise tracking of the full anatomy, and efficient evaluations. Its FDA-cleared medical devices integrate directly into routine ultrasound workflows to deliver best-in-class fetal heart screening, improve exam completeness, save time, and support confident clinical decision-making—without disrupting how clinicians work. BrightHeart’s technology has been clinically validated to dramatically improve CHD detection (>96 per cent) while reducing diagnostic errors and improving efficiency.  This financing will support US commercialisation, expansion across Europe, and relentless product innovation, scaling the B-Right AI Platform to set a new global standard of care in prenatal ultrasound.  The company has achieved five FDA clearances, established partnerships with leading academic centres, and earned two major peer-reviewed publications in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, making BrightHeart the only player in the field with published peer-reviewed clinical evidence.   With a differentiated platform, strong regulatory foundation, a proven ability to transform care delivery, and growing demand for AI-driven solutions, BrightHeart is uniquely positioned to scale globally and redefine the standard of care in prenatal imaging. “This new round of funding empowers us to accelerate BrightHeart’s mission of making AI the new standard of care in prenatal ultrasound. Our goal is to enhance diagnostic accuracy, improve outcomes for families and babies, and streamline clinical workflows for healthcare professionals. We are thrilled to have the support of our investors, who bring not only deep expertise in healthcare innovation but also proven experience in scaling companies globally,” said Cécile Dupont, CEO of BrightHeart and Partner at Sofinnova Partners.  "We are excited to work with our new partners as we enter the next stage of our company's evolution.” BrightHeart’s co-lead investors, Odyssée Venture and GO Capital, both bring extensive experience supporting the international growth of regulated healthcare technologies. “BrightHeart has built a defensible clinical foundation in one of the most complex areas of prenatal imaging,” said Julien ANDRIEUX, partner at Odyssée Venture. “By pairing expert-level screening with tangible workflow benefits and seamless integration, the company is well positioned to become a reference platform in prenatal ultrasound,” added Leïla NICOLAS, partner at GO CAPITAL. The participation of the Mussallem CHD Alliance, a flagship initiative of the Linda and Mike Mussallem Foundation dedicated to helping people born with congenital heart defects survive and thrive, underscores BrightHeart’s role at the forefront of global efforts to transform outcomes for CHD patients and families. “At the Mussallem CHD Alliance, we envision a future where babies born with congenital heart defects have access to early and accurate diagnosis, and BrightHeart’s platform gives us confidence that this future is within reach,” said Orin Herskowitz, President of the Mussallem CHD Alliance.  "By embedding advanced AI directly into ultrasound workflows, BrightHeart is paving the way for expert-level fetal heart screening to become part of routine prenatal care. Expanding access to innovations like this has the power to dramatically improve the diagnostic landscape for CHD patients and their families, addressing a critical, urgent need.” Lead image: top to bottom, left to right: Back row: Olivier Tranzer (Head of Software), Eric Askinazi (Data Scientist), Christophe Gardella (CTO), Malo de Boisredon (Data Scientist) Front row: Rebecca Marocco (Senior Product Manager), Diane Kalogeropoulos (QARA Specialist), Saramony Lebasnier (Director of QARA), Cécile Dupont (CEO).

Lookiero Outfittery Group, a European online personal shopping company, has closed a €17 million funding round with participation from new investors including Ekarpen Private Equity and the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), alongside existing investors Acurio Ventures, Perwyn, Bonsai Partners, and 10x Group. Of the total investment, €7.25 million was contributed by SETT, an entity under Spain’s Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service. Operating across 12 markets, the group combines proprietary technology, including advanced personalisation and recommendation models, with the expertise of an international team of personal shoppers to deliver tailored fashion services. In 2025, the company made progress across several strategic areas, including achieving a positive EBITDA at Lookiero and completing the integration of Lookiero and Outfittery into a unified technological and logistical platform, improving operational efficiency and enabling the development of new AI-driven capabilities. Lookiero Outfittery Group CEO Oier Urrutia said the milestone marks a new phase for the company, with the completed technological and logistical integration enabling more efficient operations and an improved customer experience across Europe. With the new funding, the group will focus on improving profitability through merger-related synergies while introducing AI-driven features to enhance personalisation, demand forecasting, and supply planning, and continuing to emphasise the role of its personal shoppers and stylists.

In December, total funding reached €4.5 billion, only slightly below November’s €4.6 billion. This came despite a decrease in deal activity, with 250 transactions completed (a 7.8 per cent drop compared to the month before). December also saw shifts in both geography and sector focus. Sweden led the month with €893.1 million raised, while software emerged as the top sector with €1.2 billion in funding, underscoring a renewed investor emphasis on technology and software-driven growth heading into the new year. Tech.eu’s Cate Lawrence commented on the December numbers within the European tech investment landscape in our December Tech.eu Pulse, a compact version of the monthly report: December’s data reflects a European tech ecosystem that is selective, more industrial in focus, and looking toward long-term resilience rather than short-term momentum. As 2026 begins, there’s plenty to anticipate — and good reasons for optimism about the year ahead. 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 December report. Here are the 10 largest tech deals in Europe from December, accounting for 48.9 per cent of the month’s total funding. Amount raised: €500M Brevo is an all-in-one customer engagement and CRM platform that helps businesses build lasting customer relationships through email, SMS, automation, chat, and sales tools. Designed for businesses of all sizes, from startups and small-to-medium enterprises to growing e-commerce brands, Brevo offers a comprehensive set of tools, including email and SMS marketing, marketing automation, live chat, transactional messaging, and a built-in CRM that centralises customer data and interactions in a single platform. Its intuitive interface and drag-and-drop editors make campaign creation, customer segmentation, and automated workflows easy, even for non-technical users. Brevo closed a €500 million funding round and reached unicorn status. Amount raised: €500M Elvy is an energy technology company offering subscription-based home energy solutions that simplify access to clean power and lower electricity costs. Through a fixed monthly plan, Elvy installs and manages solar panels, heat pumps, and battery systems, with installation, service, and maintenance included, helping homeowners reduce grid dependence and energy expenses. Elvy secured €500 million in funding from fintech partner Scayl and a banking partner to scale its subscription model and expand installations across Sweden. Amount raised: $330M Lovable is an AI-powered software platform that lets users build full-stack apps and websites simply by describing their ideas in natural language. Founded in Stockholm in 2023, Lovable’s conversational interface and AI engine automate code generation, development, and deployment, making app creation faster and more accessible for developers and non-developers alike. Lovable raised $330 million at a $6.6 billion valuation, led by CapitalG and Menlo Ventures' Anthology fund. Amount raised: $300M Black Forest Labs is a generative AI research and technology company focused on cutting-edge visual intelligence and image generation models. Founded in 2024, the company develops the FLUX family of AI models that produce high-quality, photorealistic visuals from natural language prompts and reference images. Its team aims to create models that prioritise understanding user intent rather than simply executing prompts, providing tools that enable a broad range of users, from large organisations to independent creators, to turn ideas into tangible outcomes. Black Forest Labs has secured $300 million in Series B funding at a $3.25 billion valuation, supporting continued research and development as it works toward building models that integrate visual perception, generation, memory, and reasoning to advance visual intelligence. Amount raised: €200M ICEYE is an aerospace and satellite technology company that designs, builds, and operates the world’s largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, delivering high-resolution Earth observation data in all weather and lighting conditions. ICEYE’s microsatellites support decision-making for governments, businesses, and disaster response with near-real-time radar imagery. Its services are used across sectors, including insurance, security, maritime monitoring, and natural catastrophe insights. ICEYE secured a total of €200 million in funding, valuing the company at €2.4 billion. The capital will be used to expand its SAR satellite constellation, enhance software and data intelligence capabilities, and accelerate the deployment of advanced sensing systems to deliver near real-time Earth observation and intelligence services. Amount raised: $140M Fal.ai is a generative AI platform that makes advanced image, video, audio, and 3D model generation accessible to developers and businesses. It provides a unified API and serverless infrastructure that enables fast, scalable inference of hundreds of generative media models without complex setup. Fal.ai’s platform accelerates real-time creative workflows and lowers barriers to building AI-powered media applications, empowering developers to integrate state-of-the-art generative capabilities into their products and services. Fal.ai raised $140 million in Series D to power the next era of real-time generative media. Amount raised: €100M Exein is a global leader in embedded cybersecurity for the Internet of Things (IoT), developing AI-powered security solutions that protect connected devices at the firmware level. The company’s platform embeds real-time threat detection and response directly into device software, helping manufacturers secure products and stay compliant throughout the device lifecycle. Exein’s technology protects billions of devices across industries such as industrial, automotive, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. Exein secured €100 million following its €70 million Series C in July 2025 to advance its next generation of embedded runtime security technology, including AI protections for on-device AI and large language models, with an initial release planned for RSAC 2026. Amount raised: €100M Mondu is a fintech transforming B2B payments with flexible, modern Buy Now, Pay Later and deferred payment solutions for merchants, marketplaces, and business buyers. Its platform handles credit and fraud risk, payment collection, and reconciliation, enabling sellers to offer net terms and instalment options while getting paid upfront, and helping buyers optimise cash flow and working capital. Mondu secured a €100 million debt facility from J.P. Morgan Payments to scale its offering and support its expansion across Europe. Amount raised: $100M Neural Concept is a Swiss AI technology company transforming engineering and product design with its AI-first Engineering Intelligence platform. Founded in 2018 as a spin-out from EPFL in Lausanne, the company uses deep learning to accelerate simulation, design evaluation, and optimisation, enabling engineers to compress development cycles and explore complex 3D designs faster and more efficiently. Its software integrates with existing CAD and simulation workflows to support real-time predictive insights and scalable AI assistants for industrial product development. Neural Concept raised $100 million in Series C to accelerate product development and expand global go-to-market efforts and strategic partnerships. Amount raised: $100M Shop Circle is a London-based technology company and operator of e-commerce tools that help merchants and brands scale online by acquiring, developing, and growing best-in-class commerce software. It empowers businesses with a suite of AI-enabled applications that streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, automate workflows, and support growth across digital storefronts. Shop Circle has secured a $100 million credit facility and positions itself as Europe’s alternative to traditional venture capital funding.

Belgium-based Alice, an AI platform developed for lawyers and legal teams, has raised €1 million in pre-seed funding to support the development of its end-to-end legal casework solution. The round was led by NewSchool and Seeder Fund, with participation from a group of Belgian angel investors. The adoption of AI in legal practice is increasing, alongside concerns related to accuracy and reliability. Courts in several jurisdictions have encountered legal submissions containing incorrect or fabricated references, often linked to the use of unverified outputs from general-purpose AI tools. In Belgium, judges have intervened in multiple recent cases, including reopening proceedings and applying procedural measures, while similar decisions have emerged internationally. Alice is designed to address these challenges by integrating AI into professional legal workflows, with a focus on verification, traceability, and maintaining human oversight. Launched in June 2025 by practising lawyers Jeroen Villé and Armin Wintein, together with CTO Joren Coulier, Alice develops an AI platform built around legal workflows, emphasising usability, verification, and professional accountability. The platform is already in active use by multiple law firms in Belgium, reflecting early demand for AI tools aligned with legal standards and regulatory requirements. Jeroen Villé, co-founder and CEO of Alice, said: We believe AI can have a lasting role in legal practice only if lawyers can fully trust it and maintain control over their cases. Alice is designed to help legal teams work more efficiently and consistently, without the risks associated with unverified outputs. Alice is structured as a continuous workflow in which each stage informs the next, reflecting the typical progression of legal casework. It supports the full process, from document analysis and legal research to argument development and the preparation of client communications and court-ready materials, within a single, unified environment. With the pre-seed funding, the company plans to accelerate development of its core legal workflow, expand its team and customer support operations, and pursue geographic growth, beginning in Belgium and extending to the Netherlands and France.

Dutch-based medical device company ViCentra, which commercialises the Kaleido insulin patch pump system, has raised an additional $13 million as part of its Series D financing, bringing the total round to $98 million. The funding includes new capital from ROM Utrecht Region and a consortium of Dutch investors, including Venturing Tech, alongside increased support from existing investor Innovation Industries. ViCentra develops and manufactures Kaleido, a compact and discreet alternative to traditional insulin pumps designed to support diabetes management. Kaleido is positioned as the smallest, lightest, and most precise insulin patch pump in its class, delivering automated insulin therapy through integration with Diabeloop’s clinically validated hybrid closed-loop algorithms, DBLG1 and DBLG2. Designed to resemble personal technology rather than a conventional medical device, Kaleido combines functionality with thoughtful industrial design. It is made from premium materials and features customizable aluminium shells in ten color options, giving users flexibility in how and where the pump is worn while supporting everyday therapy management. The new round follows the $85 million raised in September 2025. Commenting on the investment, CEO Tom Arnold said the past year marked a period of significant progress for the company, adding that the funding will support expanded manufacturing and stronger commercial operations and customer support. Our goal for 2026 is clear: convert strong demand into satisfied users through uncompromising quality and performance, and nearly triple our European user base by the end of 2026. With this funding, ViCentra plans to scale manufacturing, strengthen commercial execution in Germany, the Netherlands, and France, and accelerate preparations for bringing its next-generation Kaleido system to the U.S. market, positioning the company for continued growth in the insulin delivery sector.

Industrial data management platform United Manufacturing Hub (UMH) has raised €5 million in funding to accelerate its mission of building the foundational data layer for global manufacturing.  The round was led by KOMPAS VC, with participation from seed + speed Ventures, Sustainable Future Ventures, Archimedes New Ventures, and renowned industry angels, including Jan Oberhauser (Founder & CEO of n8n) and Jeff Hammerbacher (Founder of Cloudera), amongst others. Manufacturers are investing heavily in digital tools and AI-driven automation. But progress stalls because data is trapped in proprietary systems and scattered across machines, processes, and applications.  UMH unifies industrial data into a real-time data hub, called Unified Namespace, replacing fragile point-to-point integrations with a scalable, interoperable structure. The platform connects machines, sensors, and IT systems through standardised interfaces, then cleans and contextualises their data – creating a single source of truth that any application can use without custom integration work.   On top of this foundation, UMH delivers ready-to-use capabilities: operational KPIs, energy and resource tracking, condition monitoring, alerting, and industrial AI applications. Customers typically go from setup to measurable business impact in weeks. Leading industrial organisations from various industries, including HiPP, Edeka, and Böllhoff, are already using UMH to digitise their factories. "Instead of spending months building data infrastructure from scratch, we were up and running in no time," said Lutz Hermanns, Head of PDA & Supply Chain at Böllhoff who leads Böllhoff’s Digital Manufacturing. "We now connect new data sources and build digital use cases in hours instead of weeks." “Every factory runs on decades-old software – Data is trapped in proprietary protocols, siloed by vendors, missing the context that real use cases and AI depend on,"  said Alexander Krüger, CEO & Co-Founder of UMH. "We're building the open-source data infrastructure layer that finally makes industrial data available in the quantity and quality it needs to be – ready for what comes next. This round lets us double down: wider connectivity, greater scale, pool and a product that works for data engineers and shop floor engineers alike." “Industrial AI will only scale once factories have a reliable, shared data foundation - and in manufacturing, that data lives on the factory’s shopfloor. UMH is building this foundation by turning fragmented factory data into accurate, contextualised input for modern analytics and intelligent systems, unlocking a step-change in innovation speed, giving European manufacturers the data backbone they need to compete globally,” said Andreas Winter-Extra, Partner Kompas VC "In areas like ERP, CRM, or HR management, billion-dollar companies have emerged. In digital manufacturing, such a player is still missing. That's exactly our mission: We want to build the world's leading Industrial Data Company," says Niklas Hebborn, Chief Commercial Officer at UMH and former Partner at Freigeist Capital, where he was an early pre-seed investor in UMH.  The fresh capital will be used to strengthen UMH’s open-source platform, accelerate product development, including broader connectivity, advanced data modelling and AI agents.

CertHub raises €6.2M to transform MedTech compliance with AI-driven automation Munich-based medtech manufacturing compliance startup  CertHub,has raised €6.2 million in investment in just two months. Across Europe, medtech companies are facing unprecedented regulatory pressure. 70 per cent of manufacturers report significant struggles with regulatory burden, and implementing new medical regulatory requirements alone is estimated to cost the industry €12 billion. Obtaining market approval for a medical device today takes an average of 5 years and costs companies more than €4 million in compliance and documentation labour — a structural bottleneck slowing innovation across the entire sector. CertHub’s AI-first approach directly addresses this inefficiency: proven customer success have shown that manufacturers save up to 60 per cent on documentation time and cost, creating a €2.4 million saving potential per certification cycle. CertHub’s platform automates key regulatory processes, including technical documentation generation, quality management system documentation, and audit preparation.  By replacing fragmented manual workflows with structured regulatory models and intelligent automation, the platform enables manufacturers to focus on cutting-edge innovation rather than paperwork. Notified Bodies benefit from higher documentation quality, standardised formats, and faster review cycles.   The round was led by Cusp Capital, with participation from D11Z, Calm/Storm, UnternehmerTUM, and nine prominent business angels, including, e.g. Axel Stepken (President and former CEO of TÜV SÜD). “Our mission is to remove the regulatory bottlenecks that hold back medical innovation,” shared Leon Kobinger, co-founder and CEO of CertHub. “With the support of Cusp Capital and our other investors, we can accelerate our vision of making certification faster, more predictable, and accessible for manufacturers and Notified Bodies. Ultimately, this means life-changing medical technologies reach patients sooner.” Dr Carolin Althoff, GP from Cusp Capital, shared: “What convinced us most is the team behind CertHub. CEO Leon Kobinger brings first-hand experience from safety-critical industries like aviation and has led certification processes himself as an auditor.  Combined with strong engineering from CTO Nicolas Gehring, this gives CertHub a rare credibility to modernise digital compliance and enable products to reach the market faster without compromising regulatory rigour.“ With this new funding, CertHub will scale its platform across Europe, extend its integrations with Notified Bodies, and develop jurisdiction packs for markets such as the USA and Brazil. Long-term, CertHub aims to build the first shared compliance infrastructure connecting manufacturers and Notified Bodies — and ultimately create the world’s most valuable dataset on certification outcomes, enabling predictive compliance and data-driven product approvals.

London-headquartered e-commerce operating startup Swap has raised $100m in a Series C funding round.The round was co-led by existing investor Iconiq and DST Global. The Series C follows around nine months after Swap’s Series B round, when it raised $40m led by Iconiq. Swap has now raised $149m in total.Founded in 2022, Swap provides a platform for e-commerce brands to manage their logistics. Instead of brands relying on multiple providers for tasks like cross-border shipping, order tracking, returns, tax, and inventory forecasting, Swap provides them all in one operating system.Sam Atkinson, founder, CEO, Swap, said: "We have built an existing fleet of products that enable any brand to scale globally."Building upon this foundation of global commerce solutions, we will continue to help brands reach their full potential, levelling up on the promise to be the go-to platform for brands to sell anywhere, anticipate intent, and convert more business." Swap, which struck a partnership with Adyen last year, said it will use the funds to bolster its payment capability, investing in digital payments, and targeting new markets. The London-headquartered startup also has offices in the US, Israel and the Netherlands, and is targeting expanding into markets across Europe and North America.Its clients include retailers Manors Golf, Never Fully Dressed and Surplus.Swap has also been integrating artificial intelligence into its platform, in areas such as cross-border tax filing and return processing.

London-based Biographica, an agricultural biotechnology company, has raised £7 million in a funding round led by Faber VC, with participation from SuperSeed, Cardumen Capital, The Helm, EQT Foundation, and Sie Ventures. The round also included existing investors Chalfen Ventures, Entrepreneurs First, Nucleus Capital, Dhyan Ventures, Saras Capital, and Ventures Together. Developing new crop traits such as drought tolerance, disease resistance, or improved nutrition typically takes more than a decade and requires significant investment, with gene identification representing the primary bottleneck. Biographica is addressing this challenge by applying AI-driven discovery methods to support the development of next-generation crop traits. Its AI platform identifies promising genetic targets within weeks, helping guide gene editing and breeding decisions, reducing development timelines by up to five years, and lowering R&D costs. In pilot projects with seed and precision breeding companies, the platform identified validated gene targets up to 12 times faster than conventional approaches and uncovered novel targets not detected by traditional methods. The company is now integrating AI-driven discovery with rapid experimental validation through a “lab-in-the-loop” model, creating a continuous improvement cycle that enables faster and more reliable trait development. We’ve seen AI reshape pharma, turning trial-and-error pipelines into learnable biological systems — and it works. We’re bringing that same discipline to crops, said Cecily Price, CEO of Biographica. The company also announced a new partnership with BASF | Nunhems to support the development of new crop varieties in the agricultural sector. The new funding will support the expansion of Biographica’s data and AI platform, the development of additional crop traits, and the strengthening of partnerships across the seed industry.

Bunq, the Dutch challenger bank which targets tech-savvy customers who live and work in multiple countries, has reapplied for a US banking licence, as it looks to target US metropolitan areas with its banking services. The Dutch neobank, which has more than 20 million users in Europe, has filed for a US banking licence with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which regulates US national banks. Bunq is the latest fintech to try to take advantage of a more welcoming approach to fintechs under the government of president Trump. In 2024, Bunq withdrew its application for a US banking licence, citing problems between the Dutch regulator, the OCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The new filing for a banking licence follows Bunq being granted a US broker-dealer licence last year, which it saw as a step to applying for a US banking licence. Ali Niknam, founder and CEO, Bunq, said: “Our users are building their lives across borders, so they need a bank that is safe, secure and easy to use, wherever they are. We want to give them the freedom to live the way they want, whether they’re heading to America, coming to Europe, or moving between both.” Bunq suggested some of the services it will launch should it be granted a banking licence. It said: “Bunq will launch its services starting in US metropolitan areas with large expat communities; the places where its users live, work, and move the most. "With Bunq, users will also be able to quickly build credit scores—a common challenge for newly-arrived expats—by accessing European financial records, in addition to having the option to open both US and European checking accounts if eligible.” PayPal, Nubank and Coinbase have also recently applied for US banking charters, under a more welcoming regulatory environment for fintechs under the Trump government.