Drone manufacturer ABZ Innovation has closed a €7 million funding round led by Vsquared Ventures, with participation from Day One Capital and Assembly Ventures. The Europe-based company develops heavy-duty drones for agricultural and industrial applications, including spraying, spreading, cleaning, and other specialised tasks. ABZ focuses on robust hardware, high payload capacity, and long-term partner support. Based in Hungary’s growing robotics cluster, ABZ combines cost-competitive drone hardware with a European full-stack autonomy platform, positioning its systems as practical tools for automation. Its drones are deployed in more than 25 countries, with increasing adoption in the US. ABZ designs its systems for demanding operational environments. In agriculture, its spraying and spreading drones enable more precise application of crop protection products and fertilisers, helping reduce chemical and water use while addressing labour shortages in high-value crops. In industrial settings, ABZ’s cleaning drones operate in hazardous environments, such as work at height or on contaminated surfaces, improving safety and reducing operational downtime. According to CEO Karoly Ludvigh, the company aims to reduce human exposure to dangerous and repetitive tasks while improving efficiency for agricultural and industrial operators. Backed by investors experienced in scaling hardware and deep-technology companies, ABZ Innovation plans to use the capital to expand manufacturing, accelerate product development, and grow its presence in key global markets. The company’s objective is to make advanced drone technology more accessible, enabling partners to operate more efficiently, safely, and with fewer resources.

Ukrainian-founded language learning marketplace Preply has raised $150 million Series D funding led by WestCap with support from Índico Capital Partners. This latest round brings Preply’s total funding to approximately $299 million to-date and values the company at $1.2 billion, marking a significant milestone in Preply’s mission to make transformative learning experiences accessible to people around the world. A pioneer in online language learning, Preply’s platform connects more than 100,000 tutors with learners in 180 countries, facilitating one-on-one lessons in more than 90 languages.  Powered by a unique combination of human-led instruction, paired with its AI-supported tutoring co-pilot suite, Preply is redefining how people learn through high-quality, flexible, and tailored learning experiences designed to drive real progress with every lesson. As other learning platforms increasingly turn to automation, Preply remains committed to the power of human connection, using AI to enable and enhance tutor-driven learning and support its tutoring co-pilot suite. Preply’s 2025 Efficiency Study, conducted in partnership with the nonprofit research organisation LeanLab Education, revealed that 96 per cent of learners consider learning with a human tutor and engaging in real conversations as essential to their progress, while 97 per cent said these interactions were key to boosting their confidence. Since opening its hub in Barcelona, Preply has become a cornerstone of the city’s thriving 22@ innovation district. This strategic presence in Southern Europe serves as the primary engine of Preply’s mission to democratise language learning worldwide. Since its Series C raise, Preply has more than tripled its number of bookable tutors and expanded its offering by adding over 40 new languages to the platform. In the last twelve months, the company continued to improve EBITDA and became EBITDA-positive. "We feel extremely fortunate and deeply responsible for shaping how people will learn in the future,” says Preply co-founder and CEO Kirill Bigai. “Today, we connect people with the world’s best tutors, amplified by AI, bringing learning efficiency to a level that was previously unreachable. This investment will help us to continue to innovate at the intersection of human tutoring and AI, creating opportunities everywhere for people to connect, belong, succeed, and ultimately to progress in their lives, no matter where they are in the world.” “Preply is setting a new standard for personalised education at scale, and the opportunities are virtually limitless,” says Allen Mask, Partner at and former senior executive at Airbnb, who is joining the Preply board. “Data shows that learners thrive when real human instruction is supported by technology, and in today’s increasingly connected world, there is a real demand for democratizing access to high-quality learning in a modern and effective way. Preply has the market-leading product, the experienced leadership team, and the vision to shape how people communicate globally.” “Preply’s ability to merge cutting-edge AI with the essential human element of learning is truly unique. We are thrilled to support their journey as they continue to scale from their hub in Barcelona, a city that perfectly mirrors the company’s international and innovative spirit," says Stephan de Moraes, Managing General Partner at Índico Capital Partners. "Their transition into an EBITDA-positive global leader while fostering such a vibrant tech hub in Southern Europe is a testament to the strength of the team and the massive potential of the language learning market." With this capital, Preply plans to advance its AI and data capabilities, expand its product and engineering teams to enhance the platform experience, and accelerate its global growth to reach more learners and tutors worldwide as it reshapes the traditional education system. 

Belgian artist platform Tourmanagement.com has acquired Beatswitch, a software platform used by festivals and event organisers to manage artist advancing. The transaction includes the Beatswitch platform and its customer base, with financial terms not disclosed. The acquisition is intended to reduce manual administration and duplicated workflows across live event production by bringing festival and artist workflows onto a shared software foundation. Following the transaction, Beatswitch will continue to operate as usual, with no immediate changes for existing customers. Beatswitch is used by festivals and event organisers worldwide to coordinate artist advancing activities, including set times, transport, accommodation, hospitality, and technical requirements. Its customers include festivals such as Pukkelpop, Shambhala, Sziget, and Pitch Music & Arts. Tourmanagement.com supports similar workflows from the artist and agency perspective. Operated by Tourmanagement BV and headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, the SaaS platform centralises tour information, scheduling, and show-related communication for artists, crews, agencies, and management companies. As of 2026, the platform serves more than 400 customers and nearly 10,000 users globally. According to Tourmanagement.com founder and CEO Roeland Veugelen, the acquisition addresses a longstanding challenge in the live events industry, where advancing work is often spread across emails, messages, and spreadsheets, leading to duplicated effort and operational risk. Bringing festival and artist workflows together is intended to reduce manual processes, improve coordination, and increase data consistency across teams. Beatswitch founder Thomas Van Orshaegen said the acquisition allows the platform to continue developing within a closely aligned ecosystem. He will remain involved as a member of the Tourmanagement.com and Beatswitch advisory board. Tourmanagement.com said it will assess how the two platforms can gradually align over time, with a focus on customer continuity and continued development of the Beatswitch product.

Berlin-based Cloover has completed a $22 million Series A equity round and secured a $1.2 billion debt facility, bringing total capital commitments to $1.222 billion. The equity round was led by MMC Ventures and QED Investors, with participation from Lowercarbon Capital, BNVT Capital, Bosch Ventures, Centrotec, and Earthshot Ventures. The debt facility, provided by a major European bank, will support customer and installer financing on the platform. Cloover is also backed by a €300 million guarantee from the European Investment Fund, strengthening its financing programs and access to scalable, cost-efficient capital. The size of the commitment reflects the structural challenges facing Europe’s energy transition, which depends on a large base of small and mid-sized installers operating with fragmented systems, manual processes, and limited access to financing. Traditional banking models are often ill-suited to financing residential energy assets at the required speed, contributing to installation delays and higher consumer costs. Cloover addresses these constraints through an end-to-end software platform designed for decentralised energy. The platform integrates workflow management, financing, procurement, and energy optimisation into a single operating environment. AI-enabled automation supports operational efficiency, early risk identification, and data-driven decision-making across the project lifecycle, from customer onboarding to long-term energy management. The platform also includes AI-based financial tools that help installers manage capital flows and improve liquidity. AI-driven credit underwriting evaluates projected energy savings alongside traditional credit factors, while pre-financing of public subsidies allows consumers to access state incentives upfront. Installers can offer financing at the point of sale, which may improve conversion rates, reduce administrative effort, and shorten cash cycles. By connecting manufacturers, installers, households, and investors within a shared platform, Cloover aims to support the scalable and transparent deployment of distributed energy projects, while providing institutional investors with access to a sustainability-aligned infrastructure asset class. Commenting on the announcement, Jodok Betschart, co-founder and CEO, said: With this $1.2 billion commitment, we’re enabling households to become energy independent, without the friction of upfront costs or complex loan applications. Our AI operating system connects stakeholders across the value chain and revolutionises how energy independence becomes the new norm. Cloover reported more than eightfold revenue growth in 2025 while remaining profitable, with sales approaching $100 million. The company projects revenue of approximately $500 million in 2026 and $1 billion in 2027. Following the new financing, Cloover plans to expand into additional European markets, including France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Austria, and to further develop its platform with additional AI-driven automation and financing capabilities.

Aerospace company SWISSto12 has announced securing €73 million in financial support from European Space Agency (ESA) member states through the HummingSat ARTES partnership project. SWISSto12 is a manufacturer of advanced satellite systems and radio frequency (RF) products, enabling a transformational shift in the global satellite communications industry, away from legacy large, purpose-built, expensive and slow-to-deploy solutions towards smaller, faster, cheaper assets that leverage software-defined, reconfigurable payload architectures and agile, multi-orbit capabilities. The global need for SatCom is rising, reflecting a growing demand for always-on broadband internet connectivity for aircraft and ships, secure communications for sovereign governments, internet in remote regions, safety-relevant services, IoT devices and location-based services. Developed in partnership with ESA and scheduled for first launch in 2027, the HummingSat platform is significantly smaller and more cost-efficient than legacy geostationary satellites. It gives customers a flexible, cost-effective platform to expand transponder capacity, enable network flexibility and reconfigurable software-defined payloads, deploy sovereign capabilities and introduce new services with agility. Federating the future of satcom: Inside ESA’s ARTES Partnership Projects programme The Partnership Projects programme line of ESA's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) drives innovation by federating ambitious large-scale, long-term collaborations between ESA, private companies, and satellite operators. The programme establishes ESA as a key partner in developing major satellite communication systems, new value-adding solutions and services, and providing in-orbit validation. It focuses on substantial, industry-shaping initiatives that require significant investment spanning over several years. By closely aligning technological ambition with commercial strategy, ARTES Partnership Projects enable European and Canadian organisations to push the boundaries of satellite communications and strengthen their competitiveness on the global market. The funding will accelerate SWISSto12’s development and industrialisation of HummingSat, as well as scaling up its manufacturing capacity and accelerating new product innovations. These initiatives address increasing global demand for cost-effective, agile and sovereign communications in both government and commercial sectors. The investment will also allow SWISSto12 to further develop its phased-array antenna technologies to be used onboard LEO/MEO/GEO satellite payloads and ground products such as user terminals. This will strengthen its ability to serve a broad set of customer needs, for communications from and to geostationary and non-geostationary orbits. Laurent Jaffart, ESA Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications, said:   “We are proud to continue our support of SWISSto12, particularly in creating cost-effective solutions for satellite systems that answer to the satcom ecosystem’s ever-increasing demands. ESA is committed to elevating Europe’s future in space through our support of industry, and by accelerating next-generation satellite technologies.” According to Emile de Rijk, CEO and Founder of SWISSto12, the recent subscriptions of Member States and Cooperating States at the ESA Ministerial Council to the HummingSat Project. "The latest round of funding from European private investors sends a strong message to the global market that SWISSto12 is at the heart of satellite communications innovation. With our growing suite of agile, cost-effective and highly performant SatCom solutions, we provide a credible answer to some of the most pressing challenges facing the space economy, including the critical issue of enabling satellite sovereignty – something, until now, out of reach for most of the world’s nations.”

Madrid-based Fracttal, a provider of AI-powered maintenance solutions, has closed a $35 million funding round led by Riverwood Capital, with participation from existing investors. The investment is intended to support the company’s continued growth, product development, and global expansion. Fracttal provides AI-powered maintenance management and physical asset software to more than 1,500 customers worldwide. Its flagship platform, Fracttal One, centralises maintenance operations through open integrations with enterprise systems, third-party IoT sensors, and the company’s proprietary IoT hardware portfolio. Together with its Fracttal Sense device line, the platform enables organisations to improve operational efficiency, safety, and sustainability by connecting data, people, and assets across industrial environments. According to CEO and co-founder Christian Struve, Fracttal was founded on the belief that maintenance should shift from reactive processes to proactive, intelligence-driven operations that enhance efficiency and safety. He added: Today, AI is accelerating this shift, and Fracttal is at the forefront with a platform built on predictive and agentic capabilities that transform maintenance into a competitive advantage. Fracttal currently manages more than 20 million registered assets and operates in over 60 countries. Its customer base spans manufacturing and facilities maintenance and includes companies such as Iberostar, Acciona, Veolia, Coca-Cola, and FedEx. The new funding will primarily be used to advance product development, with a focus on AI and agentic capabilities, IoT sensor technologies, and industry-specific functionality. The company also plans to expand its teams across engineering, data science, product, sales, marketing, and customer success, while strengthening its internal structure to support sustainable growth. In parallel, Fracttal intends to pursue selective acquisitions and partnerships to accelerate market expansion and deepen its product offering.

Antidote, a provider of AI-based billing compliance software for global law firms, has raised $5 million in a seed funding round led by Lakestar, with participation from Concept Ventures, The LegalTech Fund, and industry angel investors. The round follows a $2 million pre-seed raise in 2025, bringing total funding to $7 million. Law firms face increasing pressure to comply with complex Outside Counsel Guidelines (OCGs) while often relying on manual, end-of-month billing reviews that can result in write-offs, rejected invoices, and strained client relationships. Current billing practices and OCG non‑compliance lead to 8–12 per cent of billable hours lost to non-compliance write-offs and rejected invoices every year. Antidote addresses these challenges by integrating with existing time-recording and practice management systems to review time entries in real time. The AI-powered platform checks entries against client OCGs and internal firm standards, flags potential issues, and suggests compliant revisions before invoices are submitted. Nicholas d’Adhemar, founder and CEO of Antidote, said the company was created in response to persistent revenue leakage caused by manual billing compliance processes in law firms: We built Antidote to remove billing friction by automating compliance for law firms - removing the manual work and shifting compliance upstream, when the work is done, not when you're trying to send out the bill. Antidote is already used by law firms across the US, UK, and Australia, reflecting demand for a more proactive and automated approach to billing compliance. The new funding will support Antidote’s next phase of growth, with a focus on advancing its AI-powered billing compliance platform and expanding its presence in the US. The company plans to further develop its product capabilities, deepen integrations with legal practice and timekeeping systems, and scale adoption among law firms seeking to reduce billing friction and revenue leakage through real-time, automated compliance.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the EU will create "a new truly European company structure," which she named "EU Inc."   The announcement represents a major milestone for EU–INC, a policy movement backed by over 22,000 signatories including Europe's leading founders, investors, and the broader startup community.     Since October 2024, EU–INC has led a policy campaign for the creation of a pan-European legal entity. In February 2025, the movement delivered comprehensive legal proposals to the Commission and has worked closely with EU institutions and Member State governments to advance this vision.   A statement from EU-Inc today shared: “We look forward to continuing to work alongside the Commission and Member State governments to ensure the new legal entity delivers the maximum impact for startups and for Europe. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to turn Europe into the best place to start and scale startups.”    What is EU Inc? EU Inc is aimed at establishing a single, optional EU-wide legal entity for startups — referred to as the "28th regime" — that sits alongside, not replaces, national company structures. It would include:  A unified legal entity under EU law: simplify cross-border incorporation and operations. Central EU registry: one-stop, fully digital onboarding in English.  Standardised investment documentation: harmonised legal templates to ease pan-European funding. Europe-wide stock option framework: enabling consistent equity for employees across borders. Check out our comprehensive EU-Inc coverage. As detailed in von der Leyen's speech: "We will soon put forward our 28th regime. The ultimate aim is to create a new truly European company structure. We call it EU Inc. We need a single and simple set of rules that will apply seamlessly all over our Union. So that business can operate across Member States much more easily. Our entrepreneurs will be able to register a company in any Member State within 48 hours – fully online. They will enjoy the same capital regime all across the EU. Ultimately, we need a system where companies can do business and raise financing seamlessly across Europe – just as easily as in uniform markets like the US or China. If we get this right – and if we move fast enough – this will not only help EU companies grow. But it will attract investment from across the world." According to Tom Henriksson, General Partner at VC OpenOcean:, “It’s hard not to be excited. The plan for a fully digital, pan-European company form that can be easily created within two days will, if implemented correctly, at long last put startups on equal footing with overseas competitors. It’s hard to overstate the gravity of this. At present, acquiring companies in other member states or attempting to take your business across borders drops founders in the centre of an interminable maze of regulations. In-person meetings with notaries poring over every signature are woefully outdated, especially when inflicted on digital-first companies." The possibility that the 28th regime could, with a stroke of a pen, cut admin time from months for each country to just 48-hours across every member state will have founders punching the air. He cautions that “it’s not a done deal, of course. We’ve yet to see how the rules are formulated, and the eternal problem with these regimes is that member-states are under no obligation to opt-in. "The result may be just another layer of bureaucracy, and founders potentially shouldering compliance costs in the countries that do adopt it, without feeling the benefits. Only time will tell whether adoption is widespread enough to avoid this fate, but there are new reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the future of European innovation today.”

London-based Allocation Strategy, a company developing analytics tools to support asset allocation and investment decisions, has raised £1.6 million in a funding round led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from angel investors and industry experts. Periods of market volatility have exposed limitations in many institutional allocation tools, particularly in linking portfolio decisions with underlying macroeconomic drivers. At the same time, asset allocation has grown more complex as asset classes converge, private and alternative markets expand, geopolitical conditions evolve, and advances in AI reshape investment decision-making. Allocation Strategy was developed to address these challenges by providing a more comprehensive and reliable analytics framework for portfolio construction and risk assessment. The platform supports key asset allocation workflows, including capital market assumptions, portfolio optimization, macro risk analysis, scenario modelling, and model portfolios, helping institutional investors better assess risk and return trade-offs. Pavol Povala, CEO of Allocation Strategy, said the platform is intended to give investment teams a stronger analytical foundation for asset allocation decisions, supporting processes from expected return assumptions through to scenario analysis and portfolio construction. The company was founded by Pavol Povala, Drew Barnden, and Michael Chin, who bring extensive experience in developing and operating asset allocation analytics at scale. The new capital will be used to scale the business, expand research and development, and accelerate the rollout of new solutions for institutional investors.

As Europe’s energy transition accelerates, the financial infrastructure underpinning it remains stuck in the analogue era, with fragmented registries, manual processes, and opaque markets slowing capital flows into renewables and limiting price discovery, liquidity, and scale. In response, Soldera has successfully built the “Stripe for Renewable Energy,” unifying Europe’s 30+ certificate registries into a single interface and MCP. The tech is used by Fortune 500 companies and global asset managers to access more than 4,000 power plants.    Turning Guarantees of Origin into programmable financial assets Simply put, Soldera has developed an AI-powered platform that automates the management and trading of Guarantees of Origin (GOs) in the renewable energy sector. GOs are certificates that verify and monetise renewable electricity production, and traditionally, managing these certificates involves significant administrative work.   Soldera's service automates this entire process significantly reducing the administrative burden for renewable energy producers. The platform also offers features such as spot sales and forward hedging strategies to help producers maximise revenue from their GOs.  Since Soldera raised €25 million last April, the company has gone from strength to strength. I spoke to Stenver Jerkku, Soldera’s CEO, to understand what has driven this momentum. Scaling fast: growth, funding, and market traction Overall, 2025 was a bumper year for the company, which achieved 70x revenue growth, scaling from €150k to €1 million. It has just secured €1.6 million in non-dilutive funding through the EAS Applied Research Grant to double down on its AI infrastructure. According to Jerkku, “It’s been an absolutely wild ride. We’ve had around 30 per cent month-on-month growth, consistently, and we’re now working with roughly 4,000 power plants and more than 500 corporate customers." Creating a meta-layer across Europe’s fragmented registries The company has also gained a new market, with Jerrku explaining: “What really surprised us was inbound interest from large multinationals — including Fortune 500 companies — at a point when our product was still positioned mainly for renewable energy producers. That forced us to step back and ask: why are global corporates coming to a platform originally built for power producers?" The team discovered that the problem that it solved for producers is even more painful on the corporate side. A multinational seeking to source and report renewable electricity across 10, 20, or 40 countries faces completely different registries, rules, and audit requirements in each market. The alternative is to hire large internal teams or rely on brokers and traders, which is costly, opaque, and inefficient. "So we realised we could become a unifying layer — a kind of “meta-infrastructure” on top of national energy attribute certificate registries — and offer turnkey compliance automation for both producers and corporates, " explained Jerkku. “Roughly half of European registries have APIs. The rest still run on fax machines, spreadsheets, PDFs — and in some countries, manually updated Excel files maintained by a single civil servant.” Soldera uses AI to integrate with all of them, whether through APIs, document parsing, or automated reconciliation, and normalises everything into a single platform. This enables direct connections between power producers and corporate buyers and automates the full lifecycle of energy attribute certificates — issuance, transfer, cancellation, audit trails, and reporting. “For corporates, that cuts back-office compliance costs by 25–40 per cent,” shared Jerkku. "For producers, it boosts revenues by 10–15 per cent by removing layers of intermediaries, and reduces administrative overhead by up to 95 per cent, because the process becomes essentially passive." In practice, this means a corporate sustainability team no longer has to understand how the Polish, Spanish, German, and Nordic systems all differ — they just see one interface, one compliance flow, one audit-ready dataset. “Our long-term goal is that EAC management becomes something nobody has to think about anymore. It should be as invisible as cloud billing,” shared Jerkku. ESG politics versus regulatory reality The market Soldera operates in sits at the intersection of energy policy and financial regulation, and I was curious whether geopolitics, with shifting political narratives around ESG — particularly in parts of the US —  was reducing corporate demand.  Jerkku admits he was worried at first, especially with the backlash against ESG in parts of the US: “But once you talk to corporate sustainability teams, you realise how structural this is.  They’re driven by regulations like CSRD, Scope 2 and Scope 3 reporting, supply-chain pressure, and investor disclosure requirements — not political fashion.”  The company sees a rise in  “greenhushing”, where companies do the work but talk about it less publicly.  Yet according to Jerkku, “the actual volume of certificate cancellations and renewable claims is still rising year on year.” Building infrastructure-scale ambition with an AI-native team From here, Solera plans to scale its corporate product to the same level as its producer platform and build out a visible global enterprise customer base. It's also working to turn the virtual registry layer into a truly global system with end-to-end compliance across all major markets. And third, continuing to operate as an AI-native organisation.  “Our ambition is to build a European infrastructure-scale company — potentially a unicorn — with fewer than 30 people, each operating at 10x leverage through automation", shared Jerkku.

Selected overseas tech “trailblazers” working at promising UK startups will be able to claim reimbursement of visa fees as part of a package of measures announced by the UK government today, as it looks to ramp up its appeal as a destination for startups amid simmering tensions between Europe and the US over Greenland. Chancellor Rachel Reeves today pitched Britain as a haven of stability as the government looks to attract the brightest minds in AI, clean energy and life sciences, in a speech in front of businesses and global investors at the World Economic Forum at Davos. The speech comes amid increasingly frosty relations between the US and European countries, including the UK, which follows President Trump's threat of tariffs on countries not backing a US takeover of Greenland. The package of measures includes reimbursement of visa fees for “select trailblazers” in deep tech and those joining the most promising UK firms in priority sectors, the government said. The government said researchers and academics in sectors like AI, quantum computing and semiconductors will benefit from visa fee reimbursements, so they can more easily come to the UK. The UK government did not respond to a request for more details about the reimbursement fees. The government also said new scholarships to study at UK universities will be made available for international maths Olympiad gold medalists. Global firms will also find it quicker to expand in Britain via a new offer to fast-track their sponsor licences, it said. Other measures unveiled by the government include increased resources behind its Global Talent Task Force, which will bring in specialist private sector head-hunting expertise, as the government looks to encourage more top tech talent to relocate to the UK. Reeves said: "In a volatile world, Britain stands out. This government is making sure Britain is home to the stability, talent and capital that businesses and investors want and that drives greater growth. "Some countries give you a platform, but Britain gives you momentum. My message at Davos this week is clear: choose Britain – it’s the best place in the world to invest." Business and trade secretary, Peter Kyle, who is also part of the UK delegation in Davos, said: "We are positioning the UK as the destination of choice for the brightest minds and innovators as we strive to lead the global race for talent. “By attracting leaders in AI, quantum, life sciences, and clean energy, we will drive growth, innovation, and make the UK the premier launchpad for the world’s best entrepreneurs." IMAGE: PEXELS

European food retail is undergoing a structural reset — and it’s creating real pull for startups. AI is moving from experimentation to infrastructure, reshaping everything from demand forecasting and inventory optimisation to personalised offers and pricing, and giving young companies clear entry points into core retail operations. At the same time, sustainability and health have become commercial imperatives. Retailers are actively seeking solutions for waste reduction, low-impact supply chains, smarter packaging, and nutrition-led innovation, supported by digital-first marketing and hybrid store formats. For agrifood startups that can show measurable impact and ROI, Europe’s retail market is competitive — but full of opportunity. However, market entry is challenging for agritech and foodtech startups. Foodtech startups typically begin with pilots: limited volumes, regional trials, or proof-of-concept deployments. Retailers, meanwhile, operate at a massive scale through long sales cycles and expect consistent supply across many stores, as well as predictable pricing and logistics. Food retail runs on notoriously tight margins, which makes buyers cautious about adding operational complexity or increasing unit costs. In response, EITFood has developed Straight2Market (S2M), a program targeting agritech startups. What is Straight to Market? S2M is an acceleration and innovation programme led by EIT Food, designed to fast-track the validation, commercialisation, and market entry of innovative food solutions, directly connecting startups and entrepreneurs with major European retailers. It helps startups understand retailer requirements around scale, pricing and operations, while allowing retailers to explore new, sustainability-driven solutions with reduced risk. The result is a faster, more realistic pathway from innovation to shelf— benefiting both sides of the food value chain. What does the programme offer? For startups and entrepreneurs, S2M offers a practical route to market readiness, combining real-world consumer testing with direct feedback to refine and adapt products, financial support of up to €30,000 to develop or validate an MVP, and the opportunity to run proof-of-concept pilots with leading European retailers. It helps de-risk commercialisation and accelerate progress from prototype to shelf. Retailers, in turn, gain cost-effective access to disruptive innovation focused on sustainability, technology, and supply chain efficiency. ​ Turning open innovation into reality In 2025 alone, the programme supported 15 startups, helping them refine and validate their technologies and products in real retail environments. ​  S2M also engaged four major retailers — Eroski, Migros, Ametller Origen and Sonae — all of whom firmly believe in open innovation and in partnering with entrepreneurs to accelerate change. ​ Each startup received €30,000 to enhance and adapt their solutions, while each participating supermarket benefited from €15,000 to implement the necessary in-store modifications to commercialise the products effectively. ​ Take a look at the participants: Eroski partnered with:   ​ Triwuu is a digital platform that connects consumers directly with local producers, offering fresh, sustainably sourced food through curated boxes of fruits, vegetables, and artisanal products selected for quality and low environmental impact. By reducing intermediaries, the platform improves traceability, supports local economies, and promotes more responsible consumption. ​ Remolonas fights food waste by giving a second life to “imperfect” fruits and vegetables and edible production surpluses through flexible weekly or biweekly subscription boxes of seasonal fresh produce. By redirecting food that would otherwise be discarded, the model helps reduce emissions, resource use, and unnecessary waste across the supply chain.   ​ Image: Remolonas. Iztueta is a family-owned producer of artisanal dairy products, made using fresh milk from its own cows raised in a sustainable farming environment. Its range includes natural yoghurts, ice creams, and farm milk, all crafted with traditional methods and high-quality ingredients that prioritise freshness, provenance, and taste. ​ Barrenetxea is an agricultural cooperative producing traditional Basque vegetables since 1980, with a strong focus on sustainable farming practices and freshness. Its offering centres on seasonal vegetables and greens harvested at peak ripeness and delivered in assorted baskets, many carrying the Eusko Label certification for quality and origin. ​ Migros Up teamed up with:   ​ Yummate is reimagining healthy snacking with vegan, gluten-free, protein-rich products designed for health-conscious consumers. Its flagship offering is baked Chickpea Puffs made from chickpea flour, available in flavours such as vegan cheese, sweet corn, and peanut, combining nutrition with everyday convenience. ​ Image: Yummate. Artisan Candy specialises in gourmet confections crafted with natural ingredients and traditional methods. Its signature product, Sea Salt Caramel Candy, pairs rich, buttery caramel with Fleur de Sel to deliver a refined, premium taste experience. ​ Hubixos crafts functional beverages designed to support energy and overall wellness. Developed by PatiLabs, the brand offers health-oriented drinks enriched with functional ingredients such as vitamins and adaptogens, targeting consumers seeking everyday performance and balance. In addition: Sonae matched with Tetis Biotech, a marine biotechnology company transforming aquaculture by-products into sustainable, high-value functional ingredients. Its snacks include marine collagen and “Seanacks” rich in protein, collagen, and omega-3, all produced through eco-friendly processes that support circular bioeconomy principles. ​ Ametller Origen partnered with Genky Innovations, which develops functional foods inspired by longevity and circularity, using antioxidant-rich ingredients to support healthy ageing. Through its Eternal Foods range, the company upcycles wine industry by-products to deliver resveratrol and more than 30 antioxidants in products designed for everyday wellness. ​ Image: Genky Innovations. According to Izaskun Valle, Business Innovation Project Manager at EITFood, leading the Straight2Market programme throughout 2024 and 2025 has been an incredibly rewarding and transformative experience. ​ “Working closely with retailers and startups has enabled me to drive innovation, foster strategic collaboration, and contribute meaningfully to the growth of the agrifood ecosystem.“ Valle concludes: “Once again, Straight2Market highlights the transformative impact that collaboration can have on shaping the future of food. The programme helps companies test their solutions in real-world facilities to improve their projects before launching them on the market. " By backing these businesses, EIT Food not only drives innovation but also helps strengthen a more connected, resilient,  and sustainable European food system. ​  To learn more about the programme, visit the S2M website to explore how startups and retailers can collaborate to pilot, validate, and scale innovation in real retail environments. Lead image: Freepik.

German robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) provider NEOintralogistics has closed a €3 million seed funding round, led by the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund with participation from Cetus Holding. The need for accessible automation solutions continues to grow. While automation can deliver significant operational cost savings, adoption has been constrained by high upfront investment requirements. As a result, many warehouses worldwide continue to operate manually, with cost barriers limiting automation primarily to large operators. NEOintralogistics aims to address this gap by making warehouse automation more affordable, scalable, and faster to deploy. Its robotic picking system is designed for both brownfield and greenfield warehouses and can be implemented within weeks rather than months or years. Through a pay-per-pick model, automation shifts from a capital expenditure to a flexible, performance-based service. Michael Drodofsky, co-founder of NEOintralogistics, said the company is focused on reducing the cost and complexity that have traditionally limited access to warehouse automation. Our RaaS model removes the need for costly infrastructure or warehouse redesigns, allowing customers to integrate the system into existing shelving and realise efficiency gains more quickly, Drodofsky added. The company’s solution is designed to be more flexible and cost-efficient than traditional automation systems and can significantly reduce reliance on manual labour. NEOintralogistics is already working with industry partners, including Magazino, Jungheinrich, GLS, and BITO. Commenting on the investment, Tim Hos, Associate at APEX Ventures, said NEOintralogistics has developed a scalable approach by replacing high upfront costs and complex integration with a recurring Robotics-as-a-Service model. He noted that this shift improves the underlying economics of intralogistics and supports broader market adoption. The funding will be used to support commercial expansion and customer acquisition, further product development, growth of research and development capabilities, and team expansion, particularly in engineering and operations.

French accounting software platform Pennylane has raised $200m in a funding round, but says it had no immediate need for the fresh funds.   The Series E round was led by growth investor TCV, a new investor, with new investor Blackstone Growth and existing investors, including Sequoia, DST Global and the venture arm of Alphabet, CapitalG, also participating.   The funding round values Pennylane at around $4.25bn, according to a report in Bloomberg, but Tech.eu was not able to verify this.   Founded in 2020, Pennylane is a financial management and accounting platform for startups, SMEs, and their accountants across Europe.   It sells itself as an “all-in-one” accounting and financial management platform that centralises the financial function of businesses and their accountants in one shared workspace, enabling them to work closer together. Arthur Waller, co-founder and CEO of Pennylane, said: “We had no immediate need for funding, but the opportunity to partner with investors like TCV and Blackstone with low dilution was a strategic advantage. This gives us the resources to stay fully independent while accelerating our lead in AI and expanding across Europe. Our mission remains unchanged: being the reference tool for accountants and their clients." Pennylane says it will use the funding to increase its R&D investment, including fine-tuning its product in Germany, where it recently launched, and improving its payment and cash management offering.   Last year, Pennylane raised €75m in a funding round co-led by Sequoia, Alphabet’s CapitalG, and Meritech Capital Partners, while the year before it raised €40 million in a Series C.

Munich-based Orbem, a deeptech company applying artificial intelligence to magnetic resonance imaging to analyse food and biological systems, has closed a €55.5 million Series B financing round. The round was led by Innovation Industries, with participation from Supernova Invest and follow-on investments from existing backers, including General Catalyst, 83North, The Venture Collective, Possible Ventures, and a group of angel investors. Orbem applies artificial intelligence to industrialise magnetic resonance imaging, enabling fast, scalable, and non-invasive analysis of biological materials. Its platform generates actionable insights from biological data to support decision-making across agriculture, food production, and health. The technology provides access to information that was previously unavailable at an industrial scale, such as determining embryo sex in eggs, evaluating seed viability, or assessing produce quality without destructive testing. With proven applications in the poultry industry, Orbem’s solutions help improve efficiency, reduce waste, and increase transparency across biological value chains. Its flagship product, Genus Focus, uses AI-enabled MRI to determine the sex of a poultry egg non-invasively in under one second, providing an alternative to the culling of male chicks, a practice restricted in parts of the European Union. To date, the system has been used to scan more than 170 million eggs, and the company is expanding capacity to meet growing international demand. Building on this foundation, Orbem has introduced Genus Scale, a solution designed to assess egg fertilisation status before incubation. This allows hatcheries to identify non-viable eggs early, reduce inefficiencies, and redirect suitable eggs for food use. The Series B funding will support Orbem’s expansion into the United States, further scaling of its poultry solutions, and entry into the fruit and vegetable sector using non-destructive quality analysis. The company will also continue developing healthcare applications based on large-scale biological data.

The UK government-backed British Business Bank (BBB) is taking a £25m stake in Kraken Technologies, the software entity being spun out of Octopus Energy, marking the bank's biggest ever direct investment into a private firm. Octopus Energy sold a $1bn stake in Kraken last month to a syndicate of investors, paving the way for its demerger from Octopus Energy and a possible stock market flotation in the future.   Octopus Energy founder and chief executive Greg Jackson told the BBC there was "every chance" Kraken would list its shares "in the medium term", with the location of the flotation "between London and the US".   A press release from the Department for Business & Trade, detailing the £25m investment from the economic development bank, mentioned that Kraken, which has 70m customers, “may list in London" following its split from Octopus Energy.   Peter Kyle, the UK business secretary, told the FT that the government investment in Kraken was part of a move to keep it based in the UK.   Kraken leverages AI to automate customer service and billing for energy firms, making it easier to manage customer billing, smart meters and home batteries.  The investment from the BBB in Kraken, valued at $8.65bn last month, follows last year’s reforms to the BBB, which saw its funding capacity upped from £15.6bn to £25.6bn, which means that it can scale up the direct investment arm of the bank.   The BBB is also investing £50 million each into two deep tech funds: Epidarex Capital and IQ Capital. Jackson said: “Over the past decade, we’ve built Kraken from zero into a true powerhouse.    "It now plays in a league of its own and is ready to spin out of Octopus – and with backing from world-class investors like the British Business Bank and Octopus Ventures, it’s poised to grow even faster and cement its position as a UK-founded, UK-funded success story.” Jordan Cummins, UK competitiveness director, Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said: “Cutting red tape and helping businesses scale-up is central to our collective growth mission. "This latest package from government is therefore a good step on the journey to helping the growing firms of today become the global leaders of tomorrow. Maximising the catalytic role of the British Business Bank and making big bets on battery technology are smart moves to keep the UK competitive."

Last week, we tracked more than 80 tech funding deals worth over €1 billion, and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

Berlin-based GeneralMind, an AI-based system focused on automating operational and coordination tasks in supply-chain environments, has closed a $12 million equity financing round. The round was led by Lakestar, Leo Capital, LucidCapital, Heliad, and BOOOM, with additional participation from angel investors including Alexander Kudlich, Jens Urbaniak, and Samir Sood. Many enterprises continue to rely on legacy systems of record, such as ERP platforms, to manage transactions and data. However, operational execution is often handled manually, with teams coordinating work across email, spreadsheets, and other disconnected tools to manage exceptions and handovers within supply chains. While these systems reliably store information, they typically do not support task execution or the unstructured coordination required between functions such as procurement, logistics, finance, and external partners. As a result, email frequently functions as an informal task management layer, leading to manual processes, limited visibility, and higher error rates. GeneralMind is addressing this gap by developing an AI-based system of action for operational execution. Its AI Autopilot is designed to automate repetitive work at supply-chain handover points by executing workflows across email, spreadsheets, and ERP systems. Tasks, often initiated through email, are captured, interpreted, and carried through to completion. This approach is intended for environments with high volumes of recurring tasks, strict deadlines or compliance requirements, and multiple internal and external stakeholders, such as sales operations, procurement, and invoice processing. Inefficiencies resulting from fragmented, inbox-driven workflows can lead to delays, missed actions, and reduced operational performance across supply chains. Commenting on this challenge, Tushar Ahluwalia, founder and CEO of GeneralMind, said that while organisations are often aware of where operational issues arise, they frequently struggle to translate that understanding into effective execution. Drawing on his experience in e-commerce, Ahluwalia added that manual, email- and spreadsheet-based processes and complex coordination between unstructured communication and ERP systems create significant inefficiencies in large organisations, noting that GeneralMind is designed to run these processes end to end through a human-supervised AI autopilot rather than acting as a productivity copilot. The funding was completed within the company’s first months of operation and will be used to support the scaling of GeneralMind’s technology across Europe.

Paris-based Stoïk has completed a €20 million Series C funding round co-led by Impala, which joins as a new investor, and Opera Tech Ventures, an existing investor. Current investors Alven and Andreessen Horowitz also participated in the round. Stoïk is a European insurtech focused on cyber risk coverage for companies with revenues of up to €1 billion. Founded in 2021 by Jules Veyrat, Alexandre Andreini, Nicolas Sayer, and Philippe Mangematin, the company provides an integrated cyber risk protection model that combines insurance with active prevention and response capabilities. The company supports small and medium-sized enterprises before, during, and after cyber incidents, helping them maintain operations, limit financial losses, and recover effectively. Its approach is based on an AI-enabled 360-degree model that integrates cyber insurance, risk prevention and detection, and in-house incident response teams, increasingly supported by proprietary AI agents. Stoïk operates across several European markets, including France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Austria, and Luxembourg. Nearly five years after its launch, the company works with more than 2,000 broker partners, protects over 10,000 businesses, and employs more than 130 specialists across six European countries, reflecting its expanding presence in the European cyber risk market. Commenting on the funding, Jules Veyrat, CEO and co-founder of Stoïk, said the company’s recent performance reflects a disciplined business model and careful financial management. He noted that the round was sized to support the next phase of growth without exceeding operational needs and that the new capital will be used to further scale the company’s existing model and invest in proprietary AI agents that underpin its prevention, detection, and incident response capabilities. The new funding will support continued development of Stoïk’s cybersecurity and insurance offerings, further international expansion with a focus on Central and Southern Europe, and ongoing investment in advanced AI technologies.

Stockholm-based Stilla has emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding to develop an intelligence layer designed to support collaboration between humans and AI within product teams. The round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from a group of angel investors. As organisations accelerate the adoption of AI across workflows, coordination has become an increasing challenge. Information is often distributed across tools and teams, while individual productivity continues to rise. Fragmented context, time-intensive alignment processes, and the parallel use of multiple AI agents can make it difficult for organisations to maintain a shared view of priorities and progress. Stilla is designed to address these challenges by providing an infrastructure layer for collaboration. Rather than operating as an individual AI assistant, the platform connects core workplace tools (including Slack, Linear, GitHub, and Notion) to maintain a continuously updated understanding of what teams are working on, why decisions are made, and how work progresses. By distributing relevant context across teams and AI systems, Stilla aims to support coordinated execution as organisations scale. The company was founded by Siavash Ghorbani and Kaj Drobin, who previously contributed to the development of Shop and Shop Pay at Shopify. Commenting on the shift toward organisations where both people and AI systems contribute to decision-making, Ghorbani said: Without real-time shared context, speed creates chaos. Getting everyone aligned — humans and AI alike — is now the single biggest unlock for companies. Stilla is already in use at companies including Spotify, Ramp, Lovable, and Legora. Anton Osika, CEO of Lovable, described the platform as an early indication of how work may evolve, noting that it captures context automatically and translates it into coordinated action. Legora CEO Max Junestrand added that in AI-driven environments, speed is essential, and said Stilla helps reduce communication overhead by maintaining alignment across teams, likening it to an AI-enabled chief of staff. The company plans to use the capital to further build its core infrastructure, enabling better coordination between human teams and AI agents as organisations scale their use of AI. The funding will also support continued integration with existing workplace systems and the expansion of the platform’s capabilities based on early adoption by product teams.