The boss of the VC firm that hit the headlines when it snapped up Yann LeCun and Nick Clegg says it invested around €50m in a co-leading investment in LeCun’s much-hyped world model startup AMI Labs, as part of the startup’s $1bn plus raise announced earlier this year. Hiro Capital's investment- co-led with Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, HV Capital and Jeff Bezos’ Bezos Expeditions-marks the first deployment out of Hiro Capital’s Hiro lll fund, a €500m-plus fund investing in spatial AI, robotics, games, space and defence, which Hiro is still out raising for. New fund On raising funds for the fund, Luke Alvarez, Hiro Capital co-founder and managing general partner, says: “We are in process. We have really good demand from institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds.”  However, Alvarez did not share any names of the investors in Hiro lll, citing client confidentiality.  The fund is investing at a multi-stage level, deploying cheques of between €5m and €50m, targeting the so-called scale-up capital gap in Europe. Clegg, Meta’s former president of global affairs and former UK deputy prime minister, joined Hiro as a general partner, while LeCun, Meta’s former chief AI scientist, joined its advisory board. Hiro’s strategy is to lead or co-lead an investment round but it’s “not religious about it”, Alvarez said. Would Hiro, based in London and Luxembourg, invest in a Large Language Model company, like France's Mistral, or another world model company like AMI Labs? Alvarez said: “We have done one investment in world models. We probably won’t do more of those. We are really interested in applications of those world models, in things like autonomy and robotics. We certainly don’t think there is much opportunity to invest at this point in competitors to Anthropic and OpenAI for language and code foundation models.” Appointment of LeCun Hiro’s appointment of LeCun in December last year to its advisory board appears to be an act of foresight, given Hiro’s investment in AMI Labs just months later. Alvarez said: “With our relationship with Yann, we did get an early heads up that he was leaving Meta and was going to set up this amazing thing. And we thought that is so perfect within our strategy, we absolutely would like an opportunity to invest in that and maybe lead it. And that is what happened.” Hiro has a core investing team of around 10 investors, mostly based in London, with a couple in Europe, which is complemented by Hiro’s advisory board, which also includes former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and British astronaut Tim Peake. The advisors are partly employed to help unearth the most promising companies of tomorrow in their specialist areas. “We get amazing AI entrepreneurs who want to work with us because of Yann,” says Alvarez. Appointment of Clegg Hiro is Clegg’s main gig, says Alvarez, with the former deputy prime minister also sitting on the boards of UK AI startup Nscale and edtech firm Efekta. Alvarez says: “It’s his relationship with Yann, who is an old friend of his, who brought Yann into our orbit and our advisory board. He has been great on intros, great on deal flows, lots of people reach out to him because of his time at Silicon Valley. In due course, he will sit on the board of Hiro Capital’s portfolio firms." Last year, Clegg caused a bit of an uproar when he said a multibillion-dollar tech agreement announced to coincide with Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK represented “sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley”. Clegg said the deals, heralded with great fanfare by the UK government, were “mutton dressed as lamb” and would make the country ever more reliant on US tech. Alvarez says: “I think Nick and the rest of our team are strong believers that Europe needs to build its own globally significant companies.” Investing in founders So what does Hiro look for in today’s founders? He says: “Our fund is predicated on the thesis that we are in the early years of a platform shift in tech. These platform shifts come along every 15 or 20 years. The next big shift is where computing moves off the 2D screen in your pocket or on your desktop and into the world around us. "And where AI moves off of language and into atoms and manufacturing and logistics and movement of people. So we want entrepreneurs who are swimming in the tools of the technology that makes that possible. And want to build really big generational ambitious things that make the world better.” Why should founders choose Hiro? Why should Hiro, founded in 2018, win, given the best startups have many suitors? Alvarez points to the dearth of big funds, like Hiro, in Europe, compared to the US. Allied to that, he says: “Part of the difference with Hiro is we are all founders and entrepreneurs. In a European venture, that kind of founder-led background to funds is quite unusual.” Alvarez, who previously founded and was CEO of Inspired Entertainment, says he has four IPOs under his belt while his co-founder Ian Livingstone, an entrepreneur who helped bring to life Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft and the Warhammer fantasy games, has five unicorn exits to his name. The third co-founder is LoveCrafts co-founder Cherry Freeman. Hiro to date Hiro, founded in 2018, started out backing development studios, esports and other gaming innovations across the UK and Europe. It also has a focus on the metaverse and takes its name from the character Hiro Protagonist in Neil Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash, which came up with the name metaverse. Hiro lll is its third main fund to date. Alvarez says: “Our first two funds are performing in the top quartile to top decile of venture funds of their equivalent vintages.”

Europe is racing to secure the critical raw materials needed for its energy transition, yet remains heavily dependent on imports — particularly from China. At the same time, a growing volume of end-of-life batteries is creating a domestic source of lithium, graphite, and other materials that has, until now, been difficult to recover at scale. Battery recycling startup tozero has launched its first industrial demonstration plant in Germany, marking a step toward turning end-of-life batteries into a domestic supply of critical raw materials at scale. The plant will deliver recycled lithium and graphite to companies across sectors, including construction, ceramics, and lubricants, with further materials and industries to follow. Located in Bavaria at Chemical Park Gendorf, the plant can process more than 1.500t of battery waste every year. From this waste, tozero can produce high-purity lithium carbonate – the equivalent of saving 6,000 electric vehicles' worth of batteries from landfill – and recover graphite and nickel-cobalt mix. Founded in 2022 by Sarah Fleischer, a serial entrepreneur and mechanical engineer, and Dr Ksenija Milicevic Neumann, a leading metallurgy expert, tozero has scaled at pace. In April 2024, nine months after opening its pilot facility, it became the first company in Europe to deliver recycled lithium to commercial customers.  I spoke to Sarah Fleischer, Co-founder and CEO of tozero, to learn more about how the company is not only scaling its own operations, but effectively creating a playbook for an emerging industry.  Europe’s critical materials paradox: reliant on imports, rich in waste Global demand for lithium is set to quadruple by 2030, while in the EU alone, graphite demand is expected to rise by up to 25 times by 2040, driven by EVs, grid-scale storage and industrial electrification.  Yet Europe remains almost entirely reliant on imports – China controls global graphite supplies, and 99 per cent of Europe's lithium comes from abroad.  Ironically, Europe is sitting on a stockpile of the very materials it's scrambling to source from the growing number of end-of-life batteries, largely due to Europe’s growth in EVs  With demand expected to exceed supply by over 33 per cent from 2035, battery recycling is becoming essential — and tozero is aiming to help bridge the gap. “Yes, it works”: how tozero validated its recycling tech with OEMs tozero’s approach to battery recycling is fundamentally different from conventional methods. By deploying a proprietary acid-free, hydrometallurgy process, it focuses on low-temperature, water-based chemical processing rather than burning batteries. Building on this, the company aims to close the battery materials loop and support Europe’s ambition to achieve greater independence in critical raw materials. This aligns with the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, which calls for 25 per cent of supply to come from recycling sources.  tozero's recycling takes place in a single cycle, and the recovered materials are pure enough to feed directly back into manufacturing.  tozero has already demonstrated successful qualification of its recycled lithium and graphite for lithium-ion batteries with leading cathode and anode manufacturers.  Through pilots with OEMs, including BMW, tozero has been able to validate both the flexibility of its recycling process and its ability to meet future regulatory requirements. Fleischer notes that the inbound interest itself was an early signal of market demand: “First of all, they approached us for the pilots, which I think is already a strong statement about the demand for verifying whether this type of recycling actually works.” She explains that tozero’s approach differs fundamentally from conventional recycling methods: “What we’re doing is very novel — it has not been done before.  Conventional battery recycling is based on burning batteries at very high temperatures, around 1,400 degrees. It’s called pyrometallurgy. You can extract nickel and cobalt that way, but lithium and graphite are essentially lost in the process. That’s where we come in.” Working with multiple OEMs — including partners that remain undisclosed due to NDAs — the pilots were designed to answer two core questions: “First: is our process agnostic? Can we handle different battery chemistries? Every OEM has a different battery.  Second: can we recover critical materials like lithium, and can we meet regulatory requirements — for example, the 2031 European Battery Directive, which requires over 80 per cent recovery of critical raw materials?” The results, she says, came earlier than expected: “That’s what we were able to demonstrate. From a very early stage, we could already show recovery rates that meet those future requirements.” Ultimately, the pilots confirmed both the technical robustness and regulatory readiness of the process: “So the key learning is: yes, our process is chemistry-agnostic, and yes, we already comply with future EU recovery regulations — even though they only come into force in 2031.” Turning material science into real-world supply Tozero has achieved significant growth by embracing a lean, agile mindset with a team of just over 30.  “In just under four years, tozero has gone from lab-scale experiments to industrial operations, and we’re consistently proving that recycling isn't just a pilot project – it can be delivered at a level capable of giving Europe a homegrown, circular supply of critical materials its future runs on."  Fleischer sees the team’s ability to move fast and focus on execution as critical: “We don’t just talk — we deliver. We shipped our first lithium carbonate to customers in 2024, starting with hundreds of kilos. Now we’re moving to tonnes with the demonstration plant. That early delivery is critical. This is material science — if you don’t work directly with customers, you can’t improve the product. So our approach is simple: we do it, we learn from customer feedback, and we iterate quickly.” From chemistry to geopolitics: why lithium and graphite recovery matters now As a deep tech company, tozero has focused heavily on understanding the behaviour of lithium and graphite at a chemical level — what they respond to, and what they don’t — as the foundation of its process. “That allows us to extract them efficiently.” Fleischer points in particular to the growing importance of graphite, driven by shifting supply chain dynamics and increasing geopolitical pressure. She argues that while the European Union is still defining what a comprehensive critical raw materials strategy looks like in practice, other regions have long treated this as a strategic priority: “If you look at the US, they defined this decades ago — already in the 1930s — to secure materials essential for industrial growth.” Europe, by contrast, remains heavily dependent on imports for materials tied to energy independence — particularly from China. More than 90 per cent of refined lithium is imported, while graphite supply is even more concentrated, with close to 99 per cent sourced from China. This imbalance is already translating into rising demand across industries: “That’s why we’re seeing a lot of inbound interest from customers. It’s not just the battery industry — you also have glass, ceramics, lubricants, and cement industries that depend on these materials. They can’t substitute them, and their margins are tight.” Ultimately, Fleischer argues, graphite is becoming increasingly strategic not just because of its applications, but because of how concentrated its supply is: “So graphite matters because it’s both critical and highly concentrated in terms of supply.” Beyond sustainability: winning on price Fleischer says this required a fundamental rethink of how to position the business: “ We see ourselves as the miner of tomorrow.” Early on, the company explored charging a premium for its lower-emissions approach, but quickly abandoned the idea: “At the beginning, we thought about charging a green premium — because recycling reduces emissions. But very quickly we realised that no one is willing to pay extra for that. It’s an ideology, but it doesn’t hold in real markets, especially where margins are tight.” Instead, tozero reframed its model around cost advantage: “So we shifted to the idea of a green discount.” She argues that, at a fundamental level, recycling should outperform mining on efficiency: “From a physics perspective, recycling should be cheaper. When you mine, you might extract 0.2 per cent usable material from the earth. In batteries, you have around 4 per cent concentration of materials like lithium. So it’s much more efficient.” This underpins the company’s long-term benchmark: “Our goal is to have a cash cost that is about half that of a Chinese miner. That’s the benchmark.” Competing on global markets means aligning closely with price dynamics set by dominant producers: “If Chinese producers go cheap, we need to be cheaper. If they lose money, we need to remain sustainable. That’s how we position ourselves — as a competitive, alternative source of raw materials.” At the same time, Fleischer emphasises that recycling is not a replacement for mining, but part of a broader supply mix: “We don’t believe recycling will replace mining entirely — demand is growing too fast — but it will become a key complementary source.” Tozero’s approach not only enables the industry to re-use both current and future materials from this stockpile, while reducing the reliance on virgin materials, but it also creates a circular, domestic supply chain that strengthens Europe's competitiveness in the global race for next-generation energy technologies. Building the blueprint for Europe’s battery recycling plants Following its success, the industrial demo plant will now form the blueprint for a full-scale commercial operation planned for 2030, capable of producing thousands of tonnes of lithium carbonate and graphite.  It also lays a foundation for Europe’s ability to secure a sustainable and independent supply of the critical raw materials its growing battery industry needs.  While tozero wants to operate its own plants for now, because it provides more control over optimisation and improvement, tozero is working with partners. In 2025, it signed an MOU with JGC Corporation, one of the largest engineering companies globally.  According to  Fleischer, they’ve built thousands of industrial plants, including for companies like Aramco, so they bring strong expertise.  “There are multiple ways for us to scale — both independently and through partnerships.” "Europe must take more risks.” Building a truly circular battery ecosystem in Europe will require not just technology, but a shift in how risk and capital are deployed, Fleischer argues. She points to a more conservative approach compared to other regions, particularly when it comes to backing emerging players:  "Europe needs to take more risks. In other regions, you see multiple companies being supported at the same time, creating competition and increasing the chances of success. In Europe, we tend to back one company — and if it fails, we stop investing in that area.” Access to capital — especially for industrial-scale projects — remains another key bottleneck: “We also need to improve access to capital, especially for industrial projects. That includes debt financing for CapEx at earlier stages.” There’s also still a tendency for institutions to prioritise large, established companies over smaller, innovative ones. Ultimately, she argues, the issue is not a lack of capital, but how it is deployed: “It’s not that Europe lacks money — it’s that the money is not always deployed in a way that supports breakthrough innovation.” And from here on in, she asserts,  “We’re just getting started — oh, and we’re hiring.”

Deep Science Ventures (DSV), a UK-based deeptech venture creator, and Renaissance Philanthropy, a nonprofit fueling a 21st-century renaissance by increasing the ambition of philanthropists, scientists, and innovators, today announce a venture-creation project designed for systemic intervention in crop resilience. The project is part of DSV and Renaissance Philanthropy’s existing partnership to form the Climate Emergencies Resilience Lab (CERL). Moving beyond traditional genetic modification, the initiative establishes a high-ambition roadmap to address the economic threat of climate-induced crop failures by creating commercially viable, deep-tech spin-outs. By 2050, climate-driven agricultural collapse and malnutrition could cost the world $1.8 trillion and 887 million years of healthy human life. This is not a distant projection; recent droughts and heatwaves have already destroyed up to 50 per cent of harvests across California, Southeast Brazil, and the Horn of Africa, while pre-harvest sprouting alone costs more than $1 billion annually. However, the dominant approach- of engineering crops for permanent genetic resilience is reaching its limits.  Hardwiring heat tolerance into a plant's DNA often results in a "yield penalty" in normal years, while novel traits can take 10+ years to reach the market. As climate extremes grow less predictable, these static, time-consuming solutions are becoming increasingly unviable for global food security. However, a convergence of technology breakthroughs means that it is becoming possible to tune resilience in alignment with climate risks. The DSV and Renaissance Philanthropy partnership has identified three high-growth technical pillars ready for venture creation and institutional backing: Forecasted priming to enhance stress pathways and orchestrate developmental processes, combining short-term weather accuracy with biologicals such as RNA or peptides to tune crops in real time.  Environment-responsive protectants and field-robust symbiotic microbes, enabling stress tolerance to be outsourced and reliably activated under specific conditions. Foundational breeding tools to rapidly expand the available palette of resilience traits, for example, by engineering wild relatives or donor plants to circumvent barriers including crossing, linkage drag and epistasis. The partners seek to identify and embed specialised talent to lead technical and commercial scoping. These individuals will define a specific market or environmental need and work backwards to build the necessary field-ready data packages. Unlike traditional models, this approach does not rely on an initial laboratory breakthrough or a chance discovery.  By intentionally engineering the R&D, regulatory, and IP strategies toward a predetermined outcome, the initiative ensures that innovation is targeted where it can achieve the greatest global economic and nutritional impact. "We are mapping the white space where science meets commercial markets," said Dom Falcao, co-founding Director at Deep Science Ventures.  "This is about creating a de-risked pathway that transforms plant science into investment-ready companies. We are providing the systematic architecture to turn primed resilience into a dominant market category." "Renaissance Philanthropy was built to advance entire fields," said Joshua Elliott, Chief Scientist at Renaissance Philanthropy. "By furthering our partnership with DSV, we are enabling visionary philanthropic capital to act as a bridge for innovations that are too complex for traditional early-stage funding but too critical to ignore. The next generation of agricultural tech must exist in the field, protecting livelihoods and preventing the social unrest caused by food insecurity. We look forward to partnering with collaborators, including scientists, funders and other experts, to realise our goals and encourage them to reach out to us." 

Bioniq, creator of personalised supplements based on blood biomarker analysis, has entered into an agreement for the sale of its assets to global nutrition company Herbalife. Founded in 2019, Bioniq develops personalised supplement formulas using its patented product personalisation engine, an individual’s health background, and a proprietary database of biomarkers. Bioniq’s personalised supplement formulations are designed for a broad range of individuals, from everyday wellness consumers to elite athletes. Bioniq has built one of the largest proprietary datasets in the category, comprising over 6 million data points collected across five continents. Its patented algorithm identifies micronutrient imbalances and delivers precision daily nutrient support, complemented by one-on-one consultations and ongoing health insights. Headquartered in London, Bioniq serves customers in more than 70 markets worldwide, including the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The Company is backed by prominent investors, including HV Capital and Unbound, as well as elite athletes Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Dalot. Since entering the UAE in 2021, Bioniq has expanded rapidly across the Gulf region through partnerships with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and Al Borg Diagnostics in Saudi Arabia. The $55 million purchase price will be paid over five years, including an initial payment of $10 million at closing. In addition, the transaction value includes up to $95 million of contingent payments based on future performance.Vadim Fedotov, Founder of Bioniq, will join Herbalife’s leadership team following the completion of the transaction. Key members of the Bioniq team will also transition to Herbalife. The acquisition will enable Bioniq’s science-driven, personalised supplementation platform to scale globally through Herbalife’s extensive infrastructure, which spans 95 markets, with over 2 million distributors and millions of customers worldwide. Bioniq’s proprietary algorithm, formulation capabilities, and international team will be integrated into Herbalife’s ecosystem, accelerating product innovation, expanding access, and enhancing the customer experience globally. “With a professional athletic career behind me, I created Bioniq to make health measurable, actionable, and accessible,” said Vadim Fedotov, Co-Founder and President of Bioniq.   "Our science-driven approach, proven efficacy, and sustainable business model have positioned us as a leader in personalised nutrition. Joining Herbalife allows us to accelerate our mission and bring personalised health solutions to a global audience at scale.” “The future of health and wellness is increasingly personalised and data-driven,” said Stephan Gratziani, CEO of Herbalife. “By combining Bioniq’s technology with our global infrastructure and Pro2col platform, we are uniquely positioned to deliver personalised nutrition to millions of consumers worldwide.“ “Throughout my career, biometrics and personalised nutrition have been central to helping me perform and compete at the highest level. As a longtime Herbalife and Bioniq user, I’ve experienced firsthand how a tailored approach to nutrition can help optimise performance,” said Cristiano Ronaldo.  “I’m delighted to see Bioniq’s personalised supplements become part of Herbalife’s expanding access to nutritional supplements, helping people take a more informed approach to their health, wellness and performance." The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. As part of the transaction, Herbalife also obtained a call option to acquire Bioniq LAB,  a separate platform focused on small molecules and peptides.  The call option provides Herbalife with strategic flexibility to evaluate potential longer-term opportunities in this area in a disciplined and capital-efficient manner.  Bioniq’s personalised nutritional supplements are expected to be offered later this year through Herbalife independent distributors for customers in select countries in Europe and the United States, with additional markets to follow.  The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. 

We don’t get many press pitches about consumer brands these days, so when I heard about a kitchen knife company that had raised VC funding, my interest was piqued.  Allday Goods is an East London-based kitchenware brand crafting colourful, chef-quality knives. Ex-chef Hugo Worsley started making knives using recycled plastic and a toastie maker in his parents’ shed. Allday Goods transforms plastic destined for landfill into knife handles, collecting, cleaning, shredding, and remoulding it into durable new forms. The brand quickly built a loyal following, with queues forming around the block for London pop-ups and online drops selling out in minutes.  Now, Allday Goods has its sights set on becoming a kitchen staple, a vision that is edging closer to reality with a £765,000 cash injection led by FIGR Ventures. FIGR joins founder Hugo Worsley and existing backer Tom Gozney (Gozney Pizza Ovens) on the board as Allday Goods enters its next phase of growth.   The round also includes Anotherway Ventures, Machroes Holdings (the family office of Lord Mervyn Davies) and a group of angel investors, including reinvestment from Gozney. Allday Goods is already profitable with minimal external investment to date, challenging the status quo in the venture capital space.  With new investment and strategic support secured, Allday Goods now enters its next stage of growth without losing the creative edge that defined it from the beginning. Hugo Worsley, Founder, Allday Goods, commented: “This is a huge moment for us. We’ve built Allday slowly and intentionally over the past few years, so having people we genuinely admire backing the next chapter feels incredibly special.” Allday Goods has collaborated with Ottolenghi, Soho House, Maldon Salt, Kerrygold and Paul Smith, and appeared in The World of Interiors and Esquire. In fact, it was in the pages of Esquire that FIGR’s Portfolio Director Ellie Craig first discovered Allday Goods. Ellie Craig, Portfolio Director, FIGR Ventures, added: “I’ve followed Allday for years. Drops selling out in seconds and a community that can’t stop talking about the brand – this is what a cult following looks like. Hugo and the team have built something with exceptional foundations of sustainability, craft and a unique design language. Now is the moment to take Allday from cult status to a kitchen staple.”

In the UK, 53 per cent of high-growth businesses are based outside London, but they receive only 39 per cent of the funding.  Jenson Brook is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Britain's Got Startups, and is on a mission to change this.    Britain’s Got Startups (BGS) helps early-stage and scaling companies outside London access investment, networks, and visibility by operating as a curated platform and event series that identifies high-potential startups across regions, including the North of England, Scotland, Wales, and the South West. Through structured showcases, BGS surfaces overlooked deal flow and creates more direct pathways to funding. I spoke to Jenson Brook to learn all about it Turning regional fragmentation into opportunity Brook admits that he’s never been particularly academic. After high school, he started an apprenticeship at an accounting firm, which exposed him to private businesses and entrepreneurs early on. He then spent seven years in London, where he built and exited businesses focused on R&D tax relief, grants, and startup funding.  But he recalls that when he moved back to Yorkshire, the contrast was stark.  “The network was far more fragmented. Investors were harder to find, often institutional rather than angel-led, and resources were very different.” The idea for Britain’s Got Startups came from that gap. London has an incredible density of events, investors, and opportunities — so why couldn’t he create something equally strong outside London? It started with a pilot, the Northern Investment Event. Sixteen startups pitched. Off the back of that, people from across the UK — the South West, Wales — started reaching out asking for something similar. He recalled: “We brought in around 20 London investors, and it became clear there’s real demand. What emerged was clear: there are great businesses across the UK that deserve to scale where they’re based — and investors need to see that.” Why businesses outside London aren’t getting the funds Brook attributes the funding disparity to a number of factors. First, over 80 per cent of early-stage investors are based in London. Naturally, they invest close to home:  “They’ve got plenty of deal flow on their doorstep. Second, there’s an expectation that founders should come to London to raise. It’s seen as the hub, and people assume you need to be there.” Third, there’s a lack of education around fundraising pathways outside London. According to Brook, founders outside London often bootstrap more. They build strong businesses, but grow more slowly because they don’t have the same access to capital. “There’s also a broader mindset — many founders believe they need to move to London or the US to succeed. It becomes a self-fulfilling cycle.” UK angel investing thrives — but remains regionally imbalanced The UK has one of the most active angel investing ecosystems globally, but it is heavily driven by government tax incentives through schemes such as the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS),  with around 90 per cent of angel investors using them and most deals structured through these programmes.  However, investment remains geographically concentrated, with a large share still flowing into London and the South East, reinforcing regional funding disparities. Brook attributes this in part to London’s dense network of angels, which doesn’t exist regionally, but also to cultural differences.  “Regionally, people might build and exit a business — and then step back. In London or the US, founders often reinvest and stay active in the ecosystem. We’re starting to see more early-stage VC activity outside London, which is encouraging. But angel investment still lags.” While traditional networks still dominate access to capital, it's starting to change.  “We’re seeing more diverse funds emerge — for example, all-female GP funds — and a broader shift in mindset. But there’s still progress to be made,” shared Brook.  What kinds of startups are being built outside London?  When it comes to the kinds of startups emerging from regional areas, software companies dominate, but what’s interesting is how they’re applied. According to Brook, “Outside London, we often see tech solving problems in traditional legacy industries — engineering, construction, manufacturing — rather than purely digital or AI-first businesses." “It’s a broader mix, often closer to real-world industrial needs, including  consumer businesses solving practical, everyday problems.” Strong regional clusters dominate. Bristol and Leeds have high concentrations of tech talent. Manchester and Liverpool are growing hubs.  And then you’ve got the ‘Golden Triangle’ — Oxford, Cambridge, London — which drives a lot of biotech and life sciences spinouts.  Brook asserts that universities such as Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool have strong pathways for spinouts.  But there are challenges. One of the biggest is equity — universities sometimes take very large stakes, which can make future fundraising difficult. "There’s progress being made — organisations like Startup Coalition are pushing for better structures — but there’s still work to do.” Why regional collaboration is the missing link Another challenge is the lack of coordination across regional startup initiatives. Brook believes that if regions collaborated more and connected better with London and even Europe, it would open up far more opportunities for founders.  "Organisations tend to operate in silos. More collaboration — between regions and with London — would create more opportunities. And the founders are experiencing fatigue. They’re being asked to pitch constantly. One of the key pieces of feedback we’ve had is that they want more meaningful engagement — not just more events. There’s a real opportunity to think beyond ‘this region versus that region’ and instead build a more unified national ecosystem.” The defining trait of regional founders Brook characterises regional startups with one clear pattern — grit.  “Regional founders often work incredibly hard — sometimes harder — because they’re further away from capital and networks. They don’t have the same access, so they push harder. They’re persistent, they follow up relentlessly, and they don’t give up easily. I’ve seen founders fundraise for months without success, only to finally make a breakthrough through a chance connection. That level of persistence really stands out.” £10 million raised — and a growing case for backing regional founders Britain’s Got Startups has helped raise over £10 million for regional businesses in the past couple of years. What surprises many London-based investors is just how strong these companies are. They’re not just university spinouts — they’re also founders building practical, scalable businesses from places like Hull or the North East. “There’s a real opportunity if investors are willing to look beyond London.” Brook wants startups to know that BSG is not just a pitch competition. Rather, it's a program that is constantly iterating based on feedback — improving the experience, refining the format, and focusing on real outcomes. “We’re also introducing founder ambassadors, including people who’ve given us critical feedback, to make sure we keep improving. At its core, this is a passion project. We’re trying to build something that genuinely helps founders — not just another event.” If the UK is to unlock the full potential of its startup ecosystem, the opportunity lies not just in London — but in connecting and backing the talent already building across the country.

Cambridge-based deeptech company Theia Insights has raised $8 million in Series A funding, led by MiddleGame Ventures, with participation from Further Ventures and Unusual Ventures. The round brings the company’s total funding to $14.5 million to date. Theia is addressing a structural limitation in financial markets: the lack of a real-time, accurate representation of the global economy. Most financial institutions rely on static classification systems that assign companies a single industry label, despite businesses increasingly operating across multiple sectors that evolve over time. This fragmentation limits the effectiveness of both human analysis and AI systems, which depend on accurate and consistent data structures to generate meaningful insights. Founded by Dr Ye Tian, Isami Ito, and Dr James Thorne, Theia brings together expertise in AI, financial markets, and enterprise software to build what it describes as a dynamic, AI-driven map of the global economy. Its proprietary technology processes a wide range of corporate data (including regulatory filings, earnings transcripts, and financial disclosures), to create a continuously updated, multidimensional view of company activity. Instead of a single industry label, companies are represented through evolving exposure across multiple sectors and themes. This approach underpins Theia’s suite of products, which includes tools for dynamic industry classification, thematic analysis, and translating investment ideas into data-driven company universes. Together, these systems enable financial institutions to better understand structural trends, support portfolio construction, and improve decision-making across research, analytics, and trading workflows. We must first see the economy clearly, not in fragments but as an interconnected whole. Theia exists to map the unmapped, to make visible the structure of the global economy, said Dr. Ye Tian, Founder and CEO of Theia Insights. The company’s technology is already used by global index providers, asset managers, hedge funds, and banks, supporting a range of applications from research to portfolio construction. As financial markets increasingly adopt AI-driven workflows, Theia positions its platform as a foundational data layer that enables both humans and machines to reason consistently about economic activity. The funding will be used to expand Theia’s platform into new asset classes, beginning with private markets, as well as to further develop its research and engineering capabilities and scale its global commercial presence.

Stockholm-based Galdera Labs has launched with €1.5 million in pre-seed funding to develop an AI-driven platform for financial modelling. The round was led by J12 Ventures, with participation from Antler and angel investors with experience at companies including Klarna, DeepL, Stripe, and Plata. The company is addressing a common challenge faced by finance teams: financial models are often rebuilt from scratch whenever business conditions change, resulting in fragmented workflows and outdated assumptions. This lack of continuity has also limited the impact of AI in finance, as the systems lack the contextual foundation needed to interpret financial data effectively. Founded by Evan Rumpza, Mattia Scolari, and Giovanni Casula, the team previously worked together at Klarna, where they were responsible for financial planning across 26 markets during a period of rapid growth. To manage increasing complexity, they developed an internal system that replaced static planning cycles with continuously updated models, enabling a small team to support large-scale financial operations. Building on that experience, Galdera is developing what it describes as “reasoning infrastructure” for finance. The platform combines a high-performance calculation engine with a semantic memory layer that links financial data to business context, assumptions, and strategic decisions. This approach allows models to remain continuously updated while capturing the reasoning behind changes in financial outcomes. We’ve personally sat with 50 spreadsheets at two in the morning using tools that were supposed to solve the problem but didn’t. Financial modelling cannot rely on disposable models, whether they live in Excel or in a SaaS dashboard. Today, the technology exists for models that compound with the business. That is the infrastructure we are building with Galdera, said Evan Rumpza, co-founder and CEO of Galdera Labs. The platform enables finance teams to query models in natural language and simulate complex scenarios more efficiently, reducing the time required for planning and analysis. With its launch, Galdera is opening its platform to its first customers, focusing on fast-growing organisations with complex operations where traditional financial tools struggle to keep pace. The funding will be used to develop Galdera’s AI-driven financial modelling platform, build out its reasoning infrastructure, and support its initial rollout to early customers.

The 2025 funding landscape in Finland reflects a combination of large late-stage rounds and a broad level of early-stage activity. With approximately €2.9 billion raised, a substantial portion of capital is concentrated in a limited number of equity and Series B–E rounds, indicating ongoing support for more mature companies expanding internationally. At the same time, early-stage activity remains consistent, with multiple seed, pre-seed, and Series A rounds pointing to a steady pipeline of new ventures. Debt financing also represents a relevant share, particularly in capital-intensive or scalable business models. Across sectors, deeptech, AI/software, cleantech, and healthcare account for a large share of deals, reflecting a focus on science-based and industrial innovation. Investment is also directed toward space, quantum, and energy technologies, indicating interest in strategic and infrastructure-related areas. Overall, the market shows a balance between early-stage development and later-stage capital concentration  (for more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 - TheBig Picture). Here are the 10 companies that raised the most in 2025. Amount raised in 2025: $1B Nokia develops network infrastructure, connectivity solutions, and digital technologies that support secure and high-performance communication across fixed, mobile, and cloud networks. Its offerings are used by organisations to address evolving connectivity requirements. In 2025, the company secured a $1 billion equity investment from Nvidia as part of a strategic partnership aimed at integrating AI into telecommunications networks and supporting data centre development. Amount raised in 2025: $900M Oura Health develops the Oura Ring, a wearable device that tracks sleep, activity, heart rate, and other biometric data, providing health and wellness insights through a connected app. The company has raised over $900 million in 2025, resulting in an estimated valuation of about $11 billion. The funding is intended to support further development of AI capabilities, product improvements, global expansion, and additional health-related features. Amount raised in 2025: $320M IQM Quantum Computers is a company that develops superconducting quantum computing systems for research institutions, high-performance computing centres, and enterprises. Founded in 2018, it provides both on-premises and cloud-accessible quantum solutions. The company works on quantum hardware, software, and integrated systems, focusing on scalability and practical applications across fields such as science, energy, and healthcare. IQM raised $320 million in Series B in 2025 to cement Europe’s place in the quantum computing race. Amount raised in 2025: €209.3M ICEYE is a space technology company that develops and operates a constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. Its systems provide high-resolution Earth observation data that can be captured day or night and in all weather conditions. The company delivers satellite imagery and analytics solutions to governments and commercial organisations, supporting applications such as disaster response, environmental monitoring, and security. The company secured €209.3 million in 2025 to expand and scale its space-based intelligence capabilities, particularly for defence and real-time monitoring. Amount raised in 2025: €125M GoByBike is a company that provides bicycle leasing and employee benefit services to employers and their staff. Founded in 2020, it enables organisations to offer company bike programs, allowing employees to acquire bicycles through salary-based payments. The company manages the full process, including financing, administration, and delivery, supporting sustainable commuting and workplace wellbeing. GoByBike has secured a €125 million loan financing arrangement to expand operations and increase its capacity to provide bicycle benefit services. Amount raised in 2025: €100M NestAI is a technology company focused on developing physical AI systems for real-world operations. The company builds autonomous systems and AI-enabled command and control platforms that integrate software, hardware, and data for mission-critical environments. Its technologies are used across areas such as logistics, inspection, security, and defence, with an emphasis on reliability, interoperability, and real-world performance. NestAI secured a €100 million investment to support the establishment of a physical AI laboratory and the development of autonomous vehicles and command-and-control systems for defence applications. Amount raised in 2025: €55M DataCrunch (now operating as Verda) is a cloud infrastructure company that provides GPU-based computing services for artificial intelligence workloads. The company offers on-demand access to high-performance compute clusters, enabling organisations to train, deploy, and scale AI models efficiently. Its platform supports enterprises, researchers, and developers with scalable, cost-effective infrastructure powered by renewable energy and designed for data sovereignty and performance. DataCrunch raised €55 million to boost EU AI sovereignty with green cloud infrastructure. Amount raised in 2025: €45M ReOrbit is a space technology company that designs and manufactures software-defined, interconnected satellites and space systems for secure data transmission and in-orbit processing. Its solutions support both defence and civilian applications, enabling independent control of critical space assets and communications. The company combines hardware, software, and system integration to deliver scalable and sovereign space infrastructure. In 2025, ReOrbit raised a €45 million Series A round to accelerate its growth and expansion. Amount raised in 2025: €44M Hycamite is a cleantech company that develops technology to split methane into low-carbon hydrogen and solid carbon without CO₂ emissions. Founded in 2020, it provides scalable solutions for industrial decarbonization. Its proprietary process produces hydrogen and high-value carbon materials, including battery-grade graphite, supporting applications across energy, chemicals, and manufacturing. In 2025, Hycamite secured €44 million to scale up clean hydrogen and carbon production in Finland. Amount raised in 2025: $36.5M IXI Eyewear is a technology company developing adaptive eyewear with autofocus lenses. Its glasses use integrated eye-tracking technology to automatically adjust focus in real time, providing clear vision at different distances. The company combines optical science, hardware, and design to create a new category of smart eyewear aimed at improving vision in everyday use. IXI raised $36.5 million in 2025 for autofocus glasses that promise sharper, smarter vision.

Giraffe360, an AI-powered real estate marketing technology company, has closed a $10 million Series B funding round led by Cipio Partners. Existing investors, including Founders Fund, which led the company’s Series A, as well as Hoxton Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures, and Change Ventures, also participated in the round. Giraffe360 is focused on transforming how real estate properties are presented and marketed globally. Its platform combines proprietary hardware with AI-powered software, enabling photographers and real estate agents to create a complete media kit from a single property visit, including HDR photography, virtual tours, LiDAR-based 2D and 3D floor plans, video content, property websites, virtual staging, and social media assets. By integrating this workflow into a single system, the platform helps bring properties to market faster, enhances listing quality, and supports agents and photographers in growing their business. This financing allows us to accelerate our vision at a pivotal moment for the industry, as real estate marketing shifts toward AI-powered, immersive, media-rich digital experiences. Giraffe360 is building the infrastructure powering this transition - from data capture to intelligent, automated marketing, said Mikus Opelts, CEO of Giraffe360. The financing will support the continued development of Giraffe360’s AI-powered platform, expansion of its product capabilities, and growth of its operations across existing and new markets.

Spanish space company Arkadia Space has secured €14.5 million in funding from the European Innovation Council Accelerator. The package includes a €2.5 million grant, €6 million in equity from the EIC Fund, and €6 million in private investment. Beyond financial backing, the selection reflects direct institutional support from the European Commission for Arkadia’s green propulsion technology based on hydrogen peroxide, as well as a broader commitment to advancing critical space technologies in Europe. Arkadia is developing a new hypergolic bipropellant propulsion system based on high-concentration hydrogen peroxide and a proprietary green fuel. Designed to replace hydrazine and its derivatives, highly toxic propellants increasingly restricted under European regulation, the technology aims to improve safety, performance, and sustainability in space missions. Its hypergolic nature enables instantaneous ignition upon contact between propellants, eliminating the need for complex ignition systems while increasing reliability and precision for operations such as spacecraft docking and lunar landings. The system is also expected to reduce operational and refuelling costs by more than 60 per cent compared to conventional solutions. EIC support comes at a critical moment for Arkadia. Over the past year, we have demonstrated that our technology meets market requirements and offers a true performance alternative to highly toxic fuels. This recognition confirms that we are on the right path and gives us a tremendous boost to commercialize the technology as early as next year, said Francho García, co-founder and CEO of Arkadia Space. The EIC selection follows the in-orbit validation of DARK, Arkadia’s propulsion system, launched in March 2025 aboard a D-Orbit satellite during a SpaceX mission, marking the first time a hydrogen peroxide-based propulsion system reached space in Europe. The funding will support the commercialisation of Arkadia’s green propulsion technology, further R&D, expansion of its testing infrastructure, and the scaling of its commercial operations.

Amsterdam-based SOUS, an AI-powered growth platform for independent food and beverage businesses, has raised €4 million in seed funding. The round was led by Seed +Speed Ventures, with participation from existing investor PeakBridge, alongside āltitude, Gekko Capital, and a group of experienced angel investors. As restaurant discovery increasingly shifts to digital channels, many operators face fragmented technology ecosystems and growing reliance on third-party platforms that limit data ownership and impose high commissions. To address this, SOUS is building AI agents that operate continuously in the background to support restaurant growth, improving discoverability across digital and AI-driven platforms, converting online traffic into direct sales and engagement, and automating key aspects of marketing, brand presence, and customer communication. Founded by Devon Scoulelis and Thomas Scholte, with William Hurst joining as co-founder and CTO, SOUS positions its platform as an end-to-end growth engine, supporting the full journey from customer discovery to transaction and retention. Running a restaurant means running a digital business. The local entrepreneur doesn't have the budget for a CMO, CFO and CTO. We're building an AI agent that takes over part of that work, so the local pizzeria has the same firepower and tools as large players like Domino's with their many employees and budget, said Thomas Scholte, co-founder and CCO. Through its platform, SOUS enables restaurants to improve digital discovery, sell directly to customers, and unlock additional revenue streams such as takeaway, retail products, experiences, and subscriptions. The platform integrates with existing restaurant tools, including Zenchef, positioning SOUS as a growth layer within the broader restaurant technology stack. Through such partnerships, SOUS helps restaurants increase visibility across search and AI-driven platforms, drive more traffic to booking channels, and convert that demand into confirmed reservations, supporting stronger outcomes for restaurants, guests, and platform providers alike. With the new funding, SOUS plans to expand its product and engineering teams, further develop its AI-powered platform, and continue its international expansion across Europe, starting with Germany.

After more than a year of quietly investing, German-US VC firm futurepresent is emerging from stealth with Fund I totalling $300 million. The firm is being built as a deliberately small partnership with a flexible mandate, arguing that founder relationships matter more than platform scale.  The firm has already invested in 14 portfolio companies with an investment strategy that includes Pre-Seed/Seed and concentrated-growth investments. futurepresent  is backing companies across three areas: AI for the Physical World: the portfolio includes General Intuition https://www.generalintuition.com/, which is building a world model for spatiotemporal reasoning Applied AI in Complex Industries: portfolio includes Skalar, a fully autonomous tax and audit provider, alongside Afori and inca, which are rebuilding different parts of the insurance value chain with AI AI Infrastructure: portfolio includes Isidor, where futurepresent led the Pre-Seed round for vertically integrated data pipelines supporting reinforcement learning and model training, and Slide, where the firm recently participated in the Series B for modern IT infrastructure for  Managed Service Providers in the AI era The team also sees its footprint across the US and Europe as a core advantage, staying close to both markets while linking the two ecosystems for globally minded founders. The partners come to futurepresent after a decade helping build venture funds across both multi-stage and specialist firms, and are now establishing the firm as repeat founders and investors. According to Thomas Lueke, Partner, futurepresent, the best founders choose people and relationships over any platform feature.  “We deliberately architected futurepresent as a small partnership maniacally focused on building relationships with founders.” Johnson Yang, Partner, futurepresent, shared:  “Our intention is that each founder we work with gets to build a genuinely authentic relationship with our whole team, that lasts from the earliest stages through scale.”

Granola, the AI note-taking app, has bagged a $125m funding round, elevating its valuation to $1.5bn, hitting unicorn status, it announced today. The funding round was led by Index Ventures, with participation from Kleiner Perkins with existing investors Lightspeed, Spark and Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross also contributing to the Series C round. The latest funding round increases Granola's valuation from $250m in its $43m funding round announced in May last year. Granola, which launched in 2023, has raised around $188m in total. London-based Granola is a well known AI note-taking app used by companies such as Vanta and Gusto, as well as startups such as Cursor, Lovable, and Mistral AI. It is also very popular with VCs. Chris Pedregal, co-founder and chief executive of Granola, said: “These companies are turning to Granola not only to capture their notes, but also to capture their context. “Conversation transcripts are the richest source of context for what’s happening across your company, and when paired with powerful AI models, they can unlock workflows that wouldn’t have been possible before.” The startup also announced some new features including a public and enterprise API. It said it will use the funding to scale its product amongst other things. Image: Granola

Mandel AI has raised $3.9 million Seed funding to build coordination for global supply chains.  The startup has developed an  AI supply chain coordinator that helps manufacturers manage supplier coordination, detect disruptions, and automate procurement, replacing the spreadsheets and email chains that still run most industrial supply chains today.  The platform sits on top of existing email and ERP systems, using purpose-built AI agents to read supplier communications, extract critical data, reconcile documents such as PO confirmations and invoices, and act autonomously—following up with suppliers, flagging discrepancies, and escalating issues in accordance with company-defined rules. One procurement manager with Mandel agents can now coordinate what used to take an entire team: reading, reconciling, and acting on hundreds of supplier emails per day, 24/7.  The round is backed by Y Combinator, Category Ventures, Ritual Capital, e2vc, and other Silicon Valley investors and angels.  This year, due to supply chain disruptions, businesses will lose over $1.6 trillion, and 62 per cent of manufacturers say unstructured data remains their number one barrier to AI adoption.  Mandel has already processed $1B+ in material spend for clients in aerospace, pharma, industrials, and similar complex manufacturing industries.  The timing is not coincidental. As tariffs and geopolitical volatility force manufacturers to rapidly diversify supplier networks, often adding dozens of new supplier relationships under intense time pressure, the limitations of email-and-spreadsheet coordination have never been more exposed.  Companies that might have managed 20 suppliers are now managing 60, with no new headcount to match.  “Every supply chain system was built to track what happened. None were built to read and act on what’s happening right now,” says Nick Gospodinov, Bulgarian founder and CEO.  “Sales has Gong. Legal has Harvey. Finance has Ramp. We built the AI for the people who keep the world’s supply chains running.”  Mandel AI’s vision is to become the API for global trade communication, enabling self-coordinating supply chains for every manufacturer and distributor in North America and Europe.  Lead image: Freepik.

One of Germany’s most high-profile fintechs in recent years is cutting 20 per cent of its workforce, as it looks to become an “AI-native bank", marking the latest restructure at Solaris. Solaris, which offers white-label banking services and is known as a BaaS (Banking-as-a-Service) provider, is axing around 80 roles across its approximately 400-strong workforce, as it undertakes a major restructuring. The latest round of job cuts follows previous job cuts, a write-down and a rescue funding round by Japan’s SBI Group at Solaris, which has held unicorn status. New CEO Steffen Jentsch is repositioning Berlin-based Solaris from an embedded finance platform into what it’s calling an “AI-native bank”.   This means that it aims to increase automation across its processes and products. It will see AI agents handle operational processes, while humans remain responsible for control and governance, Solaris said.   The fintech said it was developing data- and AI-driven financial services for its partners, including ADAC and Boerse Stuttgart Group. Solaris has got investor support behind its repositioning. Jentsch said: “Ten years ago, Solaris was one of the first companies in Europe to prove that cloud-based banking via APIs works. Today, we are taking the next logical step.    "Together with SBI and in close dialogue with the regulatory authorities, we are developing Solaris into an AI-native bank and creating new growth through the broad use of artificial intelligence in banking.”

Battery optimisation company Entrix today announced two critical milestones. It has raised €43 million in funding and reached 3 GW / 8.5 GWh of contracted battery storage capacity. Of the contracted portfolio, 2 GW will be live and operational during 2026.  Entrix operates a large and growing portfolio of battery storage systems across Europe, with more than 70 systems under management, ranging from standalone projects to co-located solar-plus-battery models.  The company maintains offices and local teams in Germany, Italy, Spain, and Poland, ensuring strong market proximity and regulatory expertise across its core European markets The funding is led by Junction Growth Investors and Korys, alongside BNP Paribas via its Solar Impulse Venture Fund, Allianz, AENU, Enpal, Abacon, and Arvantis Group.  What began in 2021 as a pioneer operating one of Germany's first large-scale battery storage projects has grown into Europe's leading player in battery optimisation.  With 3 GW of contracted flexible capacity, Entrix operates at a scale equivalent to approximately three nuclear power plants or the peak electricity demand of around three million households.  Flexibility as critical infrastructure As renewable penetration accelerates and power markets become increasingly volatile, orchestrating flexibility across markets becomes critical – and increasingly urgent.  Europe's continued exposure to unstable fossil fuel markets has made accelerating the energy transition not only a climate imperative but a strategic one. The need for flexibility is further amplified by the rapid growth of data centres.  Entrix offers an end-to-end solution in five core markets: Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Germany represents Entrix’s largest market by capacity, while Poland represents a fast-evolving flexibility market, supported by capacity mechanisms and structural changes in the generation mix.  Entrix optimises battery storage systems across all relevant electricity markets, including balancing services, day-ahead and intraday trading. Its AI-driven trading and optimisation enables batteries to respond in real time to price signals, grid needs and portfolio strategies – turning technical flexibility into measurable economic value and helping make the energy transition more affordable, greener and more efficient for everyone. According to Steffen Schülzchen, founder and CEO of Entrix, the scale of projects entrusted to the company reflects a structural shift in the energy system: flexibility has become critical infrastructure.  "Our role is to translate technical performance into stable, risk-adjusted revenues for investors while strengthening grid resilience and enabling renewable integration at scale. This milestone underscores the long-term partnerships and operational depth we have built across Europe.”

Italian-based Subbyx, a technology scaleup focused on infrastructure for the subscription economy, has closed a €30 million Series A financing round, bringing its total funding to €50 million across equity and debt. The round was led by Systemiq Capital, with participation from existing investor Azimut, while Flashpoint has provided venture debt to support the expansion of Subbyx’s device portfolio. Founded in 2024, the company builds infrastructure that enables businesses to shift from ownership-based models to access-based subscriptions, allowing technology products to be offered through flexible, recurring models. At the core of its offering is Subbyx Builder, an AI-powered platform that allows merchants and enterprises to convert traditional sales into subscription-based revenue streams, managing the full lifecycle of subscriptions. Our goal is to provide the operating system for the access economy. We have built an infrastructure layer that enables businesses to transition from transactional to subscription-based models, and we are now scaling it to meet growing market demand, said Filippo Rocca, CEO and founder of Subbyx. The new funding will be used to support Subbyx’s international expansion, with Sweden selected as its first market outside Italy. The company is targeting regions with strong adoption of circular economy principles, aligning with its focus on extending product lifecycles and promoting reuse.

Eunice, a London-based company building due diligence infrastructure for regulated markets, has raised $8 million in a combined seed and pre-seed funding round led by Moonfire Ventures and Speedinvest, with participation from Openspace Ventures and several industry founders. The company develops institutional-grade infrastructure designed to standardise how complex investment decisions are assessed, documented and defended, as alternative assets grow in scale and regulatory scrutiny increases. Eunice initially focused on digital assets, where the need for structured, audit-ready due diligence emerged early. The company deployed AI agents to deliver asset-level assessments and contributed to disclosure template development through the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulatory Sandbox. The same infrastructure is now being applied more broadly across alternative assets, where institutional investors such as pension funds, endowments and funds of funds face increasing expectations around governance, transparency and documentation. In these markets, due diligence processes often remain fragmented and manual, with teams required to evaluate complex opportunities while clearly demonstrating how decisions are made. When decision-making in alternative assets is opaque, risk doesn’t disappear - it becomes invisible until it surfaces. We’re building infrastructure that enables institutions to show not only what decisions were made, but how they were reached, in a structured and transparent way, explained Yi Luo, founder and CEO of Eunice. Eunice’s platform replaces these workflows with standardised, auditable frameworks that incorporate human oversight, aiming to make decision-making more transparent and defensible without removing professional judgement. As digital assets mature and private markets continue to expand, both sectors are seeing growing demand for consistent and accountable decision processes. The funding will be used to further develop Eunice’s AI capabilities, expand its coverage across private markets, and scale its commercial operations.

Every day in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, consumption data is automatically collected from hundreds of thousands of residential utility meters. There are no technicians in the field, no paper forms, and no manual labour involved. For most residents, this system is invisible, yet it is fundamental to the city’s modern infrastructure. While many "smart city" projects remain stuck in the pilot phase, Vilnius has achieved full-scale digitisation by looking to Central European engineering. The technology driving this city-wide transformation was designed, engineered, and manufactured by the Czech firm ACRIOS Systems. Their work in Lithuania serves as a case study for the application of "Made in Europe" hardware. This is especially relevant in an era where supply chain resilience and data security are becoming central considerations for municipal authorities. Bridging the gap between vision and reality Smart city technology is often discussed as a horizon: a strategic vision, a pilot programme, or a future state. In Vilnius, however, the conversation is different because remote meter reading at the city scale is a daily operational reality for more than 500,000 residents. ACRIOS Systems secured this contract through an open and competitive tender process. They were selected alongside a field of international technological suppliers, including established global players. This successful implementation may reflect a shifting landscape in the European tech market. It suggests that municipalities and utilities might increasingly consider agile, specialised firms that can deliver field-proven, customisable solutions. Such a shift could potentially enable greater flexibility and faster digitization of critical urban infrastructure. Scaling 10,000 devices in five months The Vilnius project involved an extensive deployment, requiring significant technical and organisational coordination. A total of 10,000 IoT data concentrators were installed across the capital. This creates a network that stands as a major implementation of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. The implementation tempo required the entire infrastructure to be deployed within a five-month window. Each of these 10,000 units is designed to service up to 800 individual meters. To manage this scale, ACRIOS shipped every unit pre-configured. Installation materials were included, customer SIM cards loaded, and specific settings already applied. This foresight saved tens of thousands of minutes of manual configuration that would have otherwise been required in the field. By treating the hardware as a ready-to-use solution rather than just a component, the firm simplified a complex urban rollout into a streamlined industrial process. Interoperability: breaking the legacy patchwork Most European cities carry decades of accumulated utility infrastructure. This includes meters from different manufacturers, different generations, and different communication protocols. This heterogeneity is often a significant obstacle to digitisation and is rarely solved by replacing hardware. ACRIOS Systems built its products to handle this complexity by connecting devices from multiple manufacturers into a unified data layer. Existing infrastructure is integrated rather than discarded. This approach avoids the high costs associated with "rip-and-replace" programmes. In Vilnius, this had a concrete commercial impact. It removed the city's dependence on a single provider and enabled competition among meter vendors. This resulted in measurable operational cost savings for the city. In-house development as a long-term advantage A key structural element of the ACRIOS approach is that the company develops both hardware and firmware internally. This matters beyond the initial installation because remote firmware updates can be pushed to every device in the field. This allows the network to adapt to new technical requirements or evolving security standards without physical intervention. For a deployment of 10,000 units, this can lead to a lower total cost of ownership. The infrastructure can evolve in place. This helps ensure cities are not locked into a static technology stack that requires replacement as standards shift, a scenario that has affected earlier smart city deployments across Europe. A model for European collaboration The project was delivered in partnership with Taiklu, a local partner responsible for platform integration and market knowledge in Lithuania. This combination of a specialised technology provider and a locally embedded partner is a model for delivering complex infrastructure projects in the European Union. "Our strength is the ability to connect different technologies into one functional whole," says Radim Malinowski, CEO of ACRIOS Systems. "We are not just a hardware supplier. We deliver technology that must work in real city and utility environments." "Our goal is to deliver a system that works reliably and provides useful information," adds Lukáš Smetana, Chief Sales Officer at ACRIOS Systems. "Every project starts with a conversation where we understand the operator's needs. Only then do we discuss the specific technology. After years of preparation, it is rewarding to see the project meeting these expectations." Building the future of European infrastructure As European institutions focus more on the provenance of critical infrastructure, hardware designed and built in Europe is increasingly scrutinised. The Vilnius deployment aligns with broader regulatory shifts, such as the Energy Efficiency Directive. This is increasing the need for accurate and accessible consumption data across the continent. Vilnius argues that Central European firms can serve as architects of the systems that define European smart cities. Infrastructure that works is often infrastructure that remains in the background. In the streets of Vilnius, this Czech-engineered technology has been in full operation for two years, establishing itself as a proven functional standard for the city's energy grid. About ACRIOS Systems ACRIOS Systems is a Czech technology company specialising in hardware and software development for smart metering, IoT, and energy management. With an in-house engineering team, the company designs and builds its own hardware and firmware. It delivers interoperable solutions for cities, utilities, and industry across Europe. For more information, visit ACRIOS Systems.