Paris-based Omniscient, a decision intelligence platform for boards and senior executives, has raised $4.1 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Seedcamp, with participation from Drysdale, Plug and Play, MS&AD, Raise, Anamcara, and xdeck, alongside support from Bpifrance. As corporate reputation continues to represent a significant share of enterprise value, organisations face growing challenges from fragmented data sources, reactive workflows, and the limitations of manual monitoring. Founded by Arnaud d’Estienne and Mehdi Benseghir, both former McKinsey consultants, Omniscient aims to address these challenges by providing a unified intelligence layer for senior leadership. Its AI-driven platform aggregates and contextualises data from a wide range of sources, including media, social platforms, and internal systems, delivering real-time, actionable insights through a single interface. According to d’Estienne, a recurring pattern became evident across numerous engagements during his time at McKinsey. Organisations were sitting on vast amounts of data, but with no reliable way to turn it into decisions at the speed the market demands. The cost of that gap - in missed signals, missed opportunities, damaged reputations, and reactive crisis management - is enormous. Omniscient exists to close it. It gives executive teams the intelligence they need, and frees the operational teams around them to focus on what actually moves the needle, rather than manually chasing information. The C-suite deserves better than yesterday's news. At its core, the platform uses a network of specialised AI agents to analyse areas such as regulatory developments, supply chains, and competitive activity. Outputs are synthesised into concise, real-time briefings, enabling organisations to identify emerging risks and opportunities more efficiently. The system is designed to operate across multiple markets and languages, while continuously improving as it adapts to each organisation’s context. Omniscient is already working with global companies and is expanding its capabilities toward predictive and prescriptive analytics. The funding will be used to support engineering hires, further product development, and the expansion of commercial operations as the company scales its platform.

Generare, a Paris-based biotechnology company focused on generating molecular data for drug development, has raised €20 million in a Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Alven and Daphni, with participation from existing investors including Galion.exe, Teampact Ventures, and VIVES Partners. Drug discovery has historically been constrained to a relatively narrow chemical space, largely due to limited data availability beyond it. At the same time, microbial genomes contain a vast reservoir of molecular diversity developed over billions of years, much of which remains unexplored. Generare is focused on generating and characterising this previously inaccessible data at scale to make it usable for drug development. Founded in 2023 by Guillaume Vandenesch and Vincent Libis, the company is building a large-scale dataset of novel small molecules derived from microbial genomes. By decoding previously unexplored biological data, it aims to expand the chemical space available for drug discovery and address long-standing limitations in access to high-quality molecular data. The company specialises in small molecules, the class of compounds behind many widely used medicines, with each newly identified molecule contributing to an expanding dataset. Its platform combines high-throughput cloning and sequencing technologies to identify, express, and characterise bioactive compounds, generating structured data on their properties and potential therapeutic applications. According to co-founder and CEO Vandenesch, the lack of novel, high-quality molecular data remains a key constraint in drug discovery, limiting the effectiveness of existing approaches and models. Generare reports increasing adoption of its platform among pharmaceutical and research organisations, with newly identified molecules being used in early-stage drug development. The company is focused on scaling its dataset and expanding its capabilities to meet growing demand. The funding will be used to expand the company’s compound library, scale its discovery platform, and grow its multidisciplinary team as it continues to develop its data-driven approach to drug discovery.

Covalo, a Switzerland-based platform for ingredient discovery and data management in the personal care industry, has raised €3.5 million in a funding extension. The round was led by Hi Inov, with participation from existing investors HTGF and seed+speed Ventures. The company addresses challenges in managing ingredient data, which is often fragmented across multiple systems, formats, and stakeholders. Product development typically requires handling large volumes of technical, regulatory, and sustainability information, creating operational complexity for R&D, regulatory, and procurement teams. According to co-founder and co-CEO Yann Chilvers, inefficiencies in how product data is managed and shared contribute to delays and unsuccessful product launches, while limiting the industry’s ability to respond to regulatory changes and evolving market demands. Covalo provides a platform that connects suppliers and brands through structured, standardised data flows, replacing manual processes such as emails, spreadsheets, and PDFs. By integrating directly with suppliers’ product information management systems and brands’ internal workflows, it enables real-time updates and more efficient data exchange across the product lifecycle. The platform is used by a broad network of suppliers and brands across the personal care ecosystem and works with industry organisations to support data integration, regulatory processes, and sustainability initiatives. The funding will support the expansion of Covalo’s data platform and enterprise offering, including the development of AI-based tools for workflow automation, data processing, and regulatory compliance, as the company continues to scale its infrastructure for the personal care industry.

Former managers at Belgian legaltech scale-up Henchman are launching Backbone, an AI platform for real-time quality and compliance management in the food industry, with Seed funding from 100IN.  Backbone consolidates fragmented data, from supplier documents to lab results, giving quality managers the tools to detect risks before they reach production.  A recipe change at a food manufacturer triggers an immediate cascade of quality checks. Regulatory requirements around food safety have intensified sharply in recent years, and compliance now spans the entire organisation, from procurement and R&D to production and business development. Yet most of that oversight still runs on manual processes. In practice, every supplier switch, product launch or incoming raw material delivery means manually cross-referencing certificates and specs, typically across Excel sheets, Word documents and email threads. Without real-time visibility, mismatches can go undetected until a product is already in production or worse, on the shelf. Backbone's founders estimate that poor quality costs the food sector up to 15 per cent of revenue, excluding reputational damages. The culprit is rarely a single critical failure, but an accumulation of small deviations caught too late. The recent wave of baby food incidents has put a sharp edge on what those numbers actually mean in practice. Backbone addresses the problem by centralising and automatically analysing data already within organisations, from supplier documentation and lab results to internal procedures. "The data is usually already there, but scattered across systems or locked in people's heads," says co-founder Louis Opsomer. "We make that information usable for day-to-day decisions." "Many companies still operate reactively, treating certificates as their quality benchmark, but a certificate is just a snapshot," he adds. “Backbone goes well beyond audit: rather than verifying compliance after the fact, it surfaces risks continuously. Besides, the time saved on administration frees quality managers to focus on what actually moves the needle.” The platform is now operational across multiple production sites, and the team is handling inbound interest from both domestic and international prospects. Early customers include Zoutman, Greenway, Azingro and Euromeat. The capital will fund commercial expansion and continued product development. Backbone is also establishing partnerships with international standards bodies, including BRCGS, and technology partners such as Microsoft, with integrations into Copilot among the initiatives under development. "This is a global problem, and the inbound demand confirms that," says Siska Lannoo.  "The food industry is moving towards predictive systems that surface risks before they materialise. We are helping companies make that transition now. In AI, speed is a competitive advantage, but without deep domain expertise, you cannot build something that holds up at scale. That combination is what Backbone brings to the table."

The flagship fund of a UK government-backed initiative addressing the shortage of equity capital for women in the UK who are building businesses has reached a £130m first close of the fund, it said today. The “Women Backing Women” fund is aiming to raise £250m in total to invest in female fund managers to back female-led businesses. The initiative is a key part of the UK government-backed Women Taskforce, aimed at addressing the long-standing challenge of women struggling to secure investment capital. Just 2p of every £1 of equity funding in the UK goes to female-founded businesses. Today, Bootstrap4F, which is managing the fund of funds, said it had reached the £130m first close of its £250m raise, with investment from Barclays, the British Business Bank, M&G and Nationwide. Bootstrap4F said it will now begin investing in fund managers. Stephanie Heller, managing director at Bootstrap4F, said: “Securing £130m in commitments, with Barclays, the British Business Bank, M&G plc and Nationwide, is an exceptional outcome in this market. We have built the infrastructure to deploy capital efficiently, and the funds that have expressed interest so far are both strong and high in quality. We are committed to making every investment count.”  Minister for Investment Lord Stockwood said: "The UK is a thriving business hub, and this £130m investment into the Women Backing Women fund is a major moment in showcasing the power of government and industry in coming together to make a positive difference in our investment environment."

Press aggregation platform Cafeyn Group is acquiring Readly’s non-Nordic operations, marking a significant step forward in its European expansion.  Cafeyn offers unlimited access to over 2,000 national and international titles across multiple formats and devices, while Readly provides a single subscription that gives users access to over 8,000 magazines and newspapers. Following the transaction, Cafeyn will serve more than 2.5 million users and generate combined revenues of nearly €100 million, significantly strengthening its scale and position across Europe. Readly’s Nordic operations remain owned and operated by Bonnier News, while activities outside the Nordic countries (notably in Germany and the United Kingdom) are now joining Cafeyn. The original Readly application will continue to be owned and operated by Bonnier News for the Nordic markets. Laurent Kayser, CEO of Cafeyn, stated:  “This acquisition marks a turning point for Cafeyn. This will allow us to deliver greater value to users, more sustainable revenues for publishers, and to support quality journalism at a time when access to trusted information has never been more important.” Anders Eriksson, CEO of Bonnier News, added:  “This agreement enables both parties to focus on their respective growth strategies. We now look forward to further developing and growing Readly in the Nordic markets, as an important and integrated part of our business.” The integration of Readly’s operations will significantly expand the catalogue available to users, further enhancing the breadth and diversity of content accessible on the platform, while strengthening Cafeyn’s ability to deliver a compelling and comprehensive offering to its audiences.

Today, Moldovan game development studio Paparuda Studio secured an investment of over €210,000 (4 million MDL) to develop its first internationally targeted video game, marking a new step in the country’s transition toward high-value digital industries.   Founded in 2026 by Victor Marchitan, Artiom Snegur, and Alex Culeva, Paparuda Studio represents a new generation of Moldovan developers moving beyond outsourcing to create original intellectual property (IP). The company plans to launch its first commercial game within the next 12–15 months, targeting global distribution platforms.   The studio focuses on the Indie and AA (double-A) segment, combining creative independence with advanced production capabilities. Its first projects centre on cooperative (co-op) gaming experiences, designed to foster social interaction and collaborative gameplay.   The recent investment will support expanding the team from 5 to approximately 15–20 specialists, including programmers, game designers, and 2D/3D artists. Paparuda Studio is also exploring partnerships with internationally recognised publishers such as Devolver Digital and Team17, aiming to secure additional financing and global distribution opportunities.  The company is preparing to release its products on major platforms, including Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo. “For us, game development is not only about creating games, but also about building a community and contributing to the development of a strong local industry. We aim to create products that can compete globally,” said Victor Marchitan, co-founder of Paparuda Studio. The emergence of companies like Paparuda Studio reflects broader developments within Moldova's technology and creative industries. Education and policy frameworks are playing a key role in supporting this growth. Check out our earlier deep dive into the Moldovan tech ecosystem. The Moldova State University (USM) has recently launched a dedicated bachelor’s degree program in Game Design, aimed at training future specialists in programming, 3D art, and animation — critical skills for the industry’s expansion. At the same time, Moldova Innovation Technology Park (MITP) provides a competitive environment through its simplified 7 per cent tax regime, enabling companies to reinvest in product development and talent acquisition. Moldova’s IT and creative industries continue to demonstrate strong growth: In 2025, the sector generated approximately $864 million, accounting for over a quarter of total service exports. Over the past five years, the sector has grown more than threefold. The IT sector represents approximately 5 per cent of total Foreign Direct Investment stock, which reached $6.3 billion in 2025.

Italy’s tech funding landscape in 2025 appears larger and more mature, but also highly concentrated. Total funding of around €2.5 billion is driven by a small number of very large rounds, while most deals remain relatively small, indicating a broad early-stage base but limited late-stage depth. A significant share of funding comes from debt, suggesting that more mature companies are increasingly accessing structured and non-dilutive capital. This reflects an evolving ecosystem in which businesses with stronger fundamentals can access more sophisticated financing beyond traditional venture equity. Investment is led by software, with strong activity across security, fintech, healthcare, robotics, and deeptech, pointing to a shift towards infrastructure, industrial applications, and regulated sectors. Cybersecurity stands out for attracting larger rounds, fintech remains highly active, and healthcare continues to show steady growth. Robotics and deeptech indicate increasing confidence in capital-intensive innovation, while cleantech is still developing through smaller, earlier-stage funding. A broader trend is the integration of AI across sectors, rather than its emergence as a standalone category. Overall, the market is shifting towards B2B, infrastructure, and applied deeptech. A key consideration for the coming period is whether more companies can transition from early-stage funding to larger growth rounds, reducing reliance on a limited number of outsized deals (for more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 - The Big Picture). Here are the 10 companies that raised the most in 2025. Amount raised in 2025: €1.1B Bending Spoons is a technology company that acquires and operates established digital products, focusing on long-term ownership and performance improvement. The company enhances acquired platforms using proprietary technologies and in-house expertise to drive innovation, improve user experience, and strengthen business outcomes. Its portfolio includes widely used consumer and enterprise applications, serving hundreds of millions of users globally. In 2025, the company raised approximately €1.1 billion across two corporate financing rounds to support the continued expansion of its product portfolio. Amount raised in 2025: €350M INWIT is a digital infrastructure company that builds and manages shared telecommunications assets, including mobile towers, distributed antenna systems, and indoor coverage solutions. It enables mobile operators and other clients to deliver reliable connectivity, supporting technologies such as 4G, 5G, and IoT. By expanding and upgrading infrastructure across urban and rural areas, INWIT plays a key role in improving network coverage, capacity, and the overall digitalisation of Italy. INWIT received a €350 million loan from the European Investment Bank in 2025 to support digitalisation and connectivity, including improved mobile coverage in rural areas. Amount raised in 2025: €170M Exein is an embedded cybersecurity company that develops software to secure IoT devices at the firmware level. Its technology enables real-time threat detection, response, and monitoring directly on devices, helping manufacturers and operators protect connected systems without relying on cloud-based security. By integrating security into the device itself, Exein supports compliance with evolving regulations and strengthens resilience across critical infrastructure, industrial systems, and consumer IoT environments. In 2025, Exein raised €170 million across two funding rounds to support product development, acquisitions, and international expansion of its embedded cybersecurity solutions for connected devices. Amount raised in 2025: €83.5M NanoPhoria is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing inhalable therapies for cardiovascular diseases. Its proprietary platform uses non-viral, calcium phosphate nanoparticles to deliver biologics such as peptides and RNA directly to target tissues. By enabling precise, tissue-directed drug delivery via inhalation, NanoPhoria aims to improve treatment effectiveness while reducing systemic side effects, with a focus on conditions such as heart failure. In 2025, NanoPhoria secured €83.5 million in funding to support the preparation of its NP-MP1 drug candidate for human trials. Amount raised in 2025: €70M Generative Bionics is a deeptech company developing intelligent humanoid robot platforms powered by “Physical AI,” combining robotics, artificial intelligence, and design. Its systems are built to operate safely in real-world environments, working alongside humans to support industrial and complex tasks. The company focuses on creating human-centred robots that enhance productivity and address labour shortages, with applications across sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare. In 2025, Generative Bionics secured €70 million in funding to advance the development of physical AI systems, establish a dedicated manufacturing facility, and expand edge AI applications across logistics, healthcare, and manufacturing. Amount raised in 2025: €70M Scalapay is a fintech company offering buy now, pay later (BNPL) payment solutions that allow consumers to split purchases into interest-free instalments. Founded in 2019, the platform enables seamless payments both online and in-store, helping shoppers access flexible payment options while allowing merchants to increase conversion rates and customer engagement. Scalapay operates across multiple European markets, partnering with thousands of retailers to deliver accessible and transparent digital payment experiences. In 2025, Scalapay secured €70 million from the European Investment Bank to support growth, expand its product offering, and strengthen its presence across existing markets. Amount raised in 2025: $60M Hercle is a fintech infrastructure company providing institutional-grade solutions for global money movement across fiat currencies, digital assets, and stablecoins. Its platform enables banks, brokers, fintechs, and payment providers to execute cross-border transactions, trading, and settlement in real time, combining deep liquidity with regulatory-compliant infrastructure. By bridging traditional financial systems with digital asset networks, Hercle supports large-scale, low-latency transfers and treasury operations across multiple currencies and markets. Hercle raised $60 million in 2025 to strengthen its institutional services and expand its international reach. Amount raised in 2025: $40M Caracol is an advanced manufacturing company that develops large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) technologies combining robotics, software, and materials. Its turnkey solutions enable the production of large-scale, complex components across industries such as aerospace, automotive, and energy. By integrating digital design, robotic systems, and on-demand manufacturing services, Caracol aims to improve efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability in industrial production. In 2025, Caracol secured $40 million in Series B funding to scale its robotic additive manufacturing platform and support global expansion and technology development. Amount raised in 2025: €25M Jethro is a technology company that provides software solutions and integration services for the banking, financial services, and public sectors. Its platform supports core banking systems, payments, document management, and digital services, helping organisations modernise operations, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experience. In 2025, Jet HR raised €25 million to enhance its platform and develop new modules aimed at reducing administrative complexity for businesses. Amount raised in 2025: $27M Tulum Energy is a climate-tech company developing methane pyrolysis technology to produce low-carbon hydrogen for industrial applications. Its approach repurposes existing industrial equipment to generate clean hydrogen and solid carbon without direct CO₂ emissions, offering a scalable and cost-effective alternative to traditional production methods. The company focuses on enabling the decarbonisation of heavy industries such as steel, chemicals, and refining by delivering high-volume hydrogen solutions tailored to industrial demand. Tulum Energy secured $27 million in seed funding in 2025, to develop hydrogen production technology based on methane pyrolysis.

As France  and Germany push digital sovereignty up the policy agenda, a more practical question is emerging: who actually owns the data driving Europe’s AI systems?  As models become increasingly commoditised, competitive advantage is shifting to the data layer, thereby raising the stakes around who owns and controls it. In an AI-driven economy, proprietary data — not models — creates an opportunity for competitive advantage.   Analytics startup Countly is a product analytics and customer engagement platform built on an open-source, self-hosted foundation.   The company helps organisations reduce reliance on third-party platforms by enabling them to capture, analyse, and act on their own user data—while maintaining full control over it. It operates on the belief that data privacy and actionable insights are fundamentally interconnected. I spoke to Onur Alp Soner, CEO and co-founder of Countly, to learn more.  The business opportunity Embedding data sovereignty into a company’s commercial strategy can strengthen product differentiation, build regulatory trust, and unlock new partnership opportunities, particularly in sectors where data control is critical, such as healthcare, finance, and public services. Countly’s platform is built on an open-source, self-hosted foundation that helps companies collect and process operational and usage data from their software products, essentially enabling them to understand how users interact with apps and services and improve those experiences.  Soner sees his company as an early mover. Founded in 2013, Countly was built around self-hosted analytics long before data sovereignty became a defining issue in Europe.  According to Soner: “Basically, our main focus is data control and data ownership. We want companies to have complete control over the data they collect — that’s why we’ve existed since day one.” He contends that the conversation has simply evolved in waves. When he founded Countly, he started from a simple idea: if you don’t control your data, you don’t control your systems.  From GDPR to AI: how the data ownership debate evolved Long before AI regulation entered the conversation, Soner was already working with European organisations in finance, telecoms, healthcare, and the public sector that needed to know precisely where their behavioural data lives, who can access it, and how it’s used. “Right now, the spotlight is on AI. Before that, it was GDPR. Even when we started, the issue was that products in the market were collecting your data and giving you free analytics in exchange for using that data for their advertising business. I’m not just talking about Google — there were other competitors too. One of the most prominent was Flurry. That model was fundamental at the time. What’s changed is that different events — whether regulation or growing concerns about US companies using your data — have brought more attention to the importance of ownership. So we started Countly with the idea that businesses should control their own data. We didn’t want a third party using that data for purposes the business doesn’t even know about.” AI is making data ownership economically viable There’s been a long-standing idea that people or companies should own and monetise their data by extracting economic value from data assets, but that model never fully materialised in earlier innovation waves like IoT and website browsing (Gener8 is an interesting outlier).   But AI is now changing the equation, with the data that fuels machine learning systems, as a highly valuable company asset, whether directly (selling data) or indirectly (using data to generate revenue).  However, for Soner, that positioning around data ownership hasn’t always been straightforward. Of the big themes — data monetisation, regulation, and AI — he believes AI is the most promising for helping businesses understand the importance of the data layer and data control. “Before that, it was really hard to market concepts like privacy, data ownership, and data control. It always ended up being framed as a regulation issue. But it’s not just about regulation. Your data is the only truly unique thing about your business.” “Your data is your only moat”: the challenge for startups. However, the challenge is that large players give away so much for free. How do you compete with that? Soner admits that for large companies, it might be easier, but for startups, it’s very difficult to say: ‘We won’t use all these free tools — we’ll stick to our principles.’ That’s a hard stance to maintain.” AI doesn’t create value in isolation. Rather, it amplifies the quality of the data it is trained on. Without control over that data, companies risk outsourcing their long-term competitive advantage. The missing layer in Europe’s AI debate So what are we talking about when we talk about a sovereign data layer? At the heart of Soner’s argument is a simple framework where the AI ecosystem exists as three layers: First, compute: GPUs, infrastructure, and physical machines. Second, models: LLMs like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral. Third, the data layer. “The first two layers get most of the attention. But the data layer is just as important and arguably more so — and it’s not being discussed enough.” He contends that conversations with large companies, this often becomes a regulation issue:  “Because of GDPR, we can’t do this.” But the real question is — why are you sending that data to external tools in the first place? This is operational data that feeds your AI models. It’s what makes AI valuable. AI amplifies whatever you already have — or don’t have — as a business. But because everyone is afraid of missing out on AI, they focus on the exciting parts and ignore the “boring” ones: data control, data cleaning, and organisation-wide tracking strategies. Those are actually the critical conversations.” Making sovereignty sell: from regulation to user value So how do you incentivise companies to prioritise data ownership while still staying competitive? Soner points to Apple as a rare example of successfully turning privacy into a product feature. “They communicate clearly: your data stays on your device. That’s the right approach. It’s not about saying, “We’re a German company, we follow strict regulations.” Customers don’t care about that. They care about what’s in it for them.” So you need to translate data sovereignty into tangible user benefits: “This is how we protect your data. This is how we keep it in our infrastructure. And you still get great functionality.” That’s a much more understandable story.” Europe wants control but runs on foreign tech But can a European company really claim digital sovereignty if it relies on US infrastructure, analytics, or models? Soner admits that even Countly, which is building infrastructure for this purpose, still relies on technologies from US or Chinese companies.  This creates a paradox. He admits: “There’s no way around it. Take databases — almost all major ones are US-based. So the question isn’t whether you use external technology—it’s how you use it. It’s about layering.” Rather than full independence, data sovereignty becomes a deliberate architectural strategy, deciding what stays in-house and what can be outsourced. For example, you can control your data flows, decide what leaves your system and build proprietary datasets. He suggests that while you can use tools like Google Analytics, you should be mindful of what data you are sending and why.  “Maybe you intentionally only use such a tool for high-level metrics, while keeping detailed user data in your own infrastructure. Because data is where long-term competitive advantage comes from. Companies like Instagram, Amazon, Uber, and Airbnb are all data businesses. If you blindly use tools without thinking about your data flows, you lose that advantage.” Make data ownership part of your company culture Soner suggests that even for small companies, if you build data ownership into your story early, it becomes part of your culture. “At Countly, every decision goes through that lens of data ownership. You can’t just say, “Let’s use this SaaS tool” or “Let’s plug in this AI." There’s always a level of mindfulness. That becomes part of how the organisation grows.” Europe can build, but can it keep its companies? Europe’s challenge is not building companies, but keeping them. Looking ahead, I wanted to understand what a truly sovereign European digital infrastructure would look like. Soner explained that in the first instance, Europe needs strong infrastructure: data centres, electricity, and networking. "Everything else depends on that." However, this can not be considered in isolation from European talent.  He asserts that while Europe is already building strong companies, the migration of companies to the US for capital and a broader ecosystem is a bigger issue, admitting, “We almost did the same ourselves." "So the key question becomes: how do you make it attractive for founders to stay? That comes down to funding, incentives, and ecosystem support. If Europe can strengthen that, it can retain talent and companies—and that’s probably the most strategic investment it can make right now.” Stop benchmarking the US and China and start building leverage In terms of competitiveness, Soner asserts that we’re focusing on the wrong thing and that, while the debate often becomes "the US is ahead, China is ahead," the real race right now is about AGI and who gets there first. “Still, that doesn’t mean Europe should wait. We can’t wait for others to define the future,” he says. “We need to build our own systems, support our own companies, and retain our talent. If we do that, it’s perfectly fine to use global technologies—but on our own terms. Control of the data layer — not just the models — will define who captures value in AI.” The real opportunity for Europe lies not in competing on models, but in owning the data layer that underpins them.

Following our previous announcements, we are excited to unveil a new group of confirmed speakers for the Tech.eu Summit London 2026. The event will take place on 21–22 April 2026 at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, featuring senior leaders, founders and investors from some of the most influential organisations driving technology forward across Europe and beyond. This newly confirmed group brings together a diverse mix of perspectives, spanning global financial institutions, deep tech ventures, AI-focused startups and venture capital firms actively investing in the next wave of European technology. Their addition further strengthens a lineup built around practical insight and real-world experience from across the industry. Meet the new speakers Alexandra Edmonds - Mastercard / Vice President of Emerging Fin Tech & Agentic AI, Startup Investments & Partnerships Axel Kalinowski - London Stock Exchange Group / Head of Central and Southern Europe Dave Smallwood - Mollie / Managing Director UK & Ireland Edmond Yang -  Yangmedia / Founder Felix Martinez - Seedcamp / Principal Gian Maria Gramondi - Shop Circle / Co-Founder Greg Lawton - Nodes & Links / Co-Founder & CEO Harshit Krishna - Multiverse Computing / Head of Funding and CorpDev Jean-Michel Deligny - Triple B / Chair of the Investment Committee Louis Mather - Axelera AI / VP Strategy Maud Vinet - Quobly / Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Naseem Moumene - Northzone / Vice President Payton Dobbs - Hoxton Ventures / Partner Sam Ross - Remote / Chief Legal Officer Sanghamitra Karra - Morgan Stanley / Global Co-Head of Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures Sarah Kunst - Cleo Capital / Managing Director Sedinam Simpson - The Tech Bros / Co-Founder Ted Eltringham - Architect AI / CEO & Co-Founder Tero Sarkkinen - Basemark / Founder & CEO Wulfie Bain - OpenAI / International Applied AI Lead for Startups Xavier Collins - WonderStudios / Co-Founder and CEO Ziv Reichert - Phoenix Court / Partner Here are the speakers we have previously announced for the Tech.eu Summit London 2026 What's on the agenda The two-day event will bring into focus the trends and decisions shaping the next phase of European technology. Sessions will span artificial intelligence, fintech, deeptech, climate tech and beyond, with an emphasis on execution, market realities and the strategic choices facing founders and investors in 2026. Through a mix of sessions and discussions, attendees will hear directly from investors, founders and technology executives on the challenges and opportunities defining the current moment, from building and scaling AI-native businesses to navigating regulatory shifts, funding dynamics and the path to sustainable growth. Get your ticket Last Chance tickets are available for a limited time. Secure your place and join one of Europe's leading gatherings for founders, investors and technology professionals. Start networking via the Tech.eu Events App All registered attendees will have access to the Tech.eu Events App, available on both the App Store and Google Play, where they can browse attendee profiles, schedule meetings ahead of the event and stay up to date with the latest announcements and on-site updates. More updates coming soon Further speakers and the complete agenda will be revealed in the coming weeks as we continue to carefully curate a strong and diverse lineup for the Tech.eu Summit London 2026, ensuring a wide range of perspectives from leading founders, investors and technology experts across Europe and beyond. We invite you to London this April for two days dedicated to innovation, knowledge sharing and building valuable relationships. We look forward to seeing you there! Partners Pavilion Partner Gold Partner   Silver Partners   Supporting Partner Community Partners           

Tallinn-based Pickmybrain, a startup developing AI-powered “Digital Brains” for professionals and public figures, has raised $2.1 million in a pre-seed funding round backed by business angels, Raison.app, and other investors. The company is building a platform that enables experts to transform their knowledge into AI-driven digital counterparts, allowing users to access personalised, domain-specific insights at scale. The approach addresses a common challenge faced by professionals and public figures, sharing expertise without the need for continuous content creation or repetitive engagement. Pickmybrain trains AI models on structured, expert-provided content, including interviews, articles, books, and recorded responses. This ensures that each Digital Brain reflects individual perspectives rather than generic data. Experts retain control over the materials used, while the platform also provides tools for those with limited existing content to generate training inputs. The platform combines AI-driven responses with human interaction, handling routine queries automatically while directing more complex or high-value questions to experts through asynchronous one-to-one video. This hybrid model is designed to scale knowledge access while maintaining a level of personal engagement. According to founder Sergei Verbitski, the platform reflects a broader shift toward more personalised AI applications, where models are built around individual expertise rather than general internet data, enabling professionals to scale and monetise their knowledge in new ways. The company positions its approach as part of a broader transition from attention-based, advertising-driven models toward more utility-focused platforms that enable direct value exchange around expertise. The funding will be used to expand the team, enhance the product, and support international growth.

Finnish developer of continuous metals monitoring technology, Sensmet, has received a €1.5m investment from EIT RawMaterials to help secure the supply of critical and strategically important raw materials. Sensmet's breakthrough technology, Micro-Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (µDOES), enables online multi-metal analysis of aqueous samples.  Critically important applications include the continuous monitoring of lithium and other battery metals during production processes and battery metal recycling. By delivering laboratory-grade results in real time, Sensmet helps improve process efficiency, increase metal recovery, ensure consistent product quality, and protect the environment.  Sensmet’s technology is deployed in numerous applications within raw material value chains – including wastewater treatment, battery recycling, lithium production and fertiliser manufacture.  The company will use the funds to scale up and deploy its µDOES online metal analysers to strengthen Europe’s raw materials resilience and competitiveness.  “Our highly innovative technology provides process managers with continuous measurements for key metals within liquid process streams,” explains Sensmet CEO, Dr Toni Laurila. “This enables them, for example, to extract critically important metals much more efficiently than would have been previously possible when relying on laboratory analysis.” EIT RawMaterials’ mission is to secure a sustainable, independent supply of materials for Europe. EIT RawMaterials is a Knowledge and Innovation Community cofunded by the European Commission and one of Europe’s most active innovation ecosystems in the raw materials sector. The organisation supports technologies and industrial solutions that strengthen Europe’s security of supply for critical raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements (REEs), which are essential for batteries, renewable energy systems, and advanced manufacturing. “Our business aligns perfectly with the goals of EIT RawMaterials,” adds Toni Laurila, “so we are honoured to receive this investment, and excited to see how we can use it to scale the µDOES platform and accelerate growth.” 

Monzo is closing its US banking operations after struggling to gain traction in the market, and will instead focus on its core UK and European business. The UK digital bank, famed for its bright coral cards, will stop onboarding new customers and lay off about 50 employees in the US, according to a report in Bloomberg. US customers can continue to use their accounts until June. The move marks a key strategy decision by new CEO Diana Layfield, who replaced TS Anil as CEO last month.   Monzo said: "With a fast-growing customer base of 15 million in the UK and the growth opportunity our European banking licence creates, we're making a deliberate, strategic decision to focus on scaling in our home market and Europe ⁠to step away from the US.”   Monzo first made a play for the US market in 2020 but withdrew its application for a US banking licence in 2021. But it has continued to hold a presence in the US. The challenger bank, which has over 15m customers, has offices in New York and San Francisco, with its US business headed up by US CEO Conor Walsh, a former Cash App executive.   In December last year, Monzo, which already has a UK banking licence, won a European banking licence. The challenger bank has been vocal about its EU expansion plans.   Last month, Monzo rival Revolut said it was making a fresh attempt to secure a US banking licence as it scaled up its ambitions in the US market.

Six months after emerging from stealth and completing its pre-seed funding round, Credibur reports that its platform now supports clients with a total of €2 billion in debt facility volume. The figure represents structured debt portfolios connected to its system, which provides continuous monitoring, independent verification, reporting, and backup servicing. Originally launched with $2.2 million in pre-seed funding led by Redstone, the Berlin-based company introduced a modular, API- and AI-driven infrastructure designed to manage the full lifecycle of credit facilities between non-bank lenders and institutional capital providers. European structured credit markets, including securitisation and private debt, have grown significantly in recent years and now exceed €1.27 trillion, with securitisation volumes increasing markedly between 2023 and 2025, according to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe. This growth has supported the development of new lending strategies, fund structures, and faster capital deployment. At the same time, the increasing scale and complexity of these structures can make oversight more challenging. In many cases, visibility into key aspects such as eligibility, cash flow reconciliation, and covenant compliance remains limited, with issues often identified only through periodic reporting, resulting in less consistent oversight. Positioned as an infrastructure layer between alternative lenders and institutional investors, Credibur provides an operational monitoring and control system for structured debt portfolios, replacing manual workflows with automated data processes. Its platform connects to originators, servicers, and payment systems to reconcile portfolio data with cash flows on an ongoing basis, while automatically assessing eligibility criteria, covenants, and concentration limits, supporting more scalable and data-driven governance across complex debt structures. According to founder and CEO Nicolas Kipp, the growth of non-bank lending has outpaced the development of the operational infrastructure supporting it. The tools haven’t kept up the pace. Lenders across the facility lifecycle still manage complex facilities with outdated software and manual data entry. Reaching over two billion euros in debt facilities on our platform in six months suggests that demand for such a solution already existed, Kipp said. The company works with a growing group of lenders, originators, and fund managers across Europe, the UK, and the US, supporting a range of non-bank lending and structured credit strategies.

Audicin, a Finland-based neurotechnology company developing real-time nervous system regulation tools, has raised $1.9 million in funding. The round includes private investment, follow-on backing from Petteri Lahtela and Virpi Tuomivaara, as well as support from Business Finland through its Deep Tech Accelerator programme. The funding brings the company’s total capital raised to approximately $3 million. The company develops solutions based on brainwave entrainment, auditory engineering, and music neuroscience to support focus, stress recovery, productivity, and sleep. Its technology delivers real-time background listening sessions that adapt to physiological signals, enabling continuous nervous system regulation throughout the day. A core component of the offering is Audicin for Apps, an SDK designed to integrate real-time regulation protocols directly into digital health, performance, and consumer platforms. The SDK operates passively - triggered by biometric data, time of day, or in-app events—and integrates with wearable devices such as Oura, Apple Watch, Garmin, and Whoop, without requiring additional hardware. In parallel, the company is advancing a standalone, offline Sleep Headband designed for use in environments where mobile devices are restricted, including healthcare and defence settings. The device delivers pre-configured recovery programmes based on low-frequency brainwave protocols associated with deep sleep. According to co-founder and CEO Laura Avonius, the company is focused on embedding nervous system support into everyday environments, enabling real-time regulation without requiring dedicated user attention, and expanding into contexts where maintaining recovery and performance is more challenging. Audicin is seeing early commercial traction across sectors, including defence, performance, and wellness, with a growing pipeline of enterprise opportunities and increasing user engagement following recent product updates. The funding will support the commercialisation of Audicin’s core products, including its mobile application, Sleep Headband, and Audicin for Apps, as well as further product development and expansion into new use cases and markets.

Metafuels, a Switzerland-based aviation technology company developing sustainable fuel solutions, has been awarded €1.92 million in grant funding to support the development of its synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF) project in the Port of Rotterdam. The funding was granted to its subsidiary, Metafuels Nederland B.V., by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency under the TSE Industry Studies - Hydrogen & Green Chemistry programme (GroenvermogenNL). The grant will support key development activities for the Turbe project, including front-end engineering and design, permitting, and commercial preparation ahead of a final investment decision. The facility is planned to be located at the Evos terminal in the Port of Rotterdam and represents the first commercial deployment of Metafuels’ proprietary methanol-to-jet technology, aerobrew. The project is designed as a blueprint for future large-scale facilities and is targeting production from 2030, in line with emerging regulatory frameworks such as ReFuelEU Aviation. Its location in Rotterdam provides access to established infrastructure, logistics networks, and industrial expertise, supporting the scale-up of synthetic fuel production in Europe. Metafuels’ approach focuses on converting renewable methanol into drop-in jet fuel compatible with existing aircraft and infrastructure. Compared to conventional sustainable aviation fuel pathways, the methanol-to-jet process offers a more scalable alternative and, when powered by renewable inputs, can significantly reduce lifecycle emissions. The grant will support critical project development activities through to final investment decision (FID), including front-end engineering and design (FEED), permitting and consents, and commercial development.

Finnish IoT cybersecurity company Test of Things has raised €1.2 million in Pre-Seed funding. When a company builds a connected device — whether it's a smart lock, a hospital monitor, or a piece of factory equipment — it has to make sure that device is secure before selling it.  However, cybersecurity testing and compliance documentation are largely manual work performed by highly skilled experts, and thus very expensive. And it doesn’t scale when today’s market is flooded with connected products. "Cybersecurity of products is in everyone's interest," says Marko Kaasila, CEO and co-founder of Test of Things. "But the current way of assuring it — manual, not systematic, and expensive — is unsustainable." Every insecure device that makes it to market is a potential door left unlocked for cyber criminals to exploit— hack your personal data, the operational systems of the factory, or the controls within an office building, even threatening essential critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid. Test of Things is building a platform that automates cybersecurity compliance testing end-to-end. Instead of a team of cybersecurity experts spending weeks manually combing through a device's security, their AI-powered software handles the heavy lifting — running tests continuously, flagging issues early, and generating the compliance documentation that regulators increasingly require. For device manufacturers, this means getting secure products to market faster. For the rest of us, it means the things we invite into our homes and workplaces are a little less likely to be someone else's backdoor. According to Rauli Kaksonen, CTO and co-founder: "This investment will let us focus on building the product further and start helping manufacturers to achieve their customers’ and authorities’ trust with secure products." The €1.2 million round was led by , with backing from industry veterans: Aapo Oksman, Zach Shelby, Neil Costigan, along with ScanABC and Business Finland innovation. According to Sami Ahvenniemi, Partner at Vendep Capital, the market for IoT and OT security and compliance testing is entering a high-growth phase driven by two converging megatrends:  “Firstly, the increasing integration of industrial control systems, IIoT and OT networks into enterprise IT and cloud ecosystems; and secondly, the rising regulatory and operational risk environment around critical infrastructure, manufacturing, energy and utilities. When two successful entrepreneurs with 100 per cent relevant experience put their heads together to build a testing platform, we wanted to jump in right from the start!” The fresh capital will go toward growing the engineering team and accelerating platform development—so that the next generation of connected devices can be shipped with a little more peace of mind.

Afreshed, an Austrian organic fruit-and-vegetable rescue-box company, has acquired the German competitor etepetete. Fresh fruit and vegetables account for 35 per cent. of all avoidable food waste in private households.  Fruit and vegetables that do not meet the required standard sometimes do not make it onto the shelves and are, in some cases, destroyed directly by the farmer.  The afreshed delivery service operates nationwide in Austria and has reached break-even. Thousands of deliveries are made to customers in Germany and Austria every day.  The founders have continuously improved the model, heavily digitised their product and invested in their own logistics infrastructure, which forms the core of the business. afreshed maintains its own delivery fleet in Austria, comprising just under 20 vehicles. afreshed uses specially developed software to plan routes to minimise CO₂ emissions. This ensures that the ‘last mile’ – the journey from the distribution centre to the customer’s front door – is organised efficiently. “The founding philosophy of both companies is essentially the same: saving food and passing it directly on to consumers, all via an optimised supply chain. In recent years, we have each demonstrated the potential of this vision independently. With the acquisition of etepetete, we are now taking the next logical step in our expansion and joining forces to further strengthen this shared mission,” shared Lukas Forsthuber, co-founder of afreshed. He asserts that with etepetete, afreshed has acquired an established competitor that has customers in every German state, particularly in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and Berlin.  With this transaction, afreshed marks the start of its expansion into the German market; to this end, the organic delivery service has closed a funding round in the mid-seven-figure range. According to Bernhard Bocksrucker, co-founder of afreshed, etepetete will be continued as a brand: “The acquisition not only gives us immediate market presence, but also local expertise and an existing customer base on which we can build. This acquisition is intended to be the first of further such moves. Our goal is to become the leading provider of rescued food in German-speaking regions. By bringing both brands together, we will further raise awareness of our food rescue boxes.”  Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien, which invests across the food and consumer goods sectors, among others, is taking a 25.1 per cent stake in afreshed. With Raiffeisen-Holding NÖ-Wien on board, afreshed gains a strong strategic partner that supports its long-term growth strategy: expanding its market leadership in German-speaking countries. The acquisition price has not been disclosed. 

A London-headquartered fintech, which provides financial services businesses with debt market data and analytics, has become a unicorn, following a $170m funding round.   9fin has raised the Series C funding at a $1.3 billion valuation, it said. The round was led by HarbourVest, the private equity investor, with participation from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and earlier investors Redalpine, Highland Europe, Spark Capital, and Seedcamp.   The fintech was valued at around $500m in 2024, when it raised $50m, according to the FT.   9fin’s platform combines data, analytics, and AI in one system, with more than 300 banks, asset managers, law firms, and advisory firms as clients who use its tech for sourcing deals, analysing risk, and monitoring global debt markets.    It said it would use the funds to invest in AI, proprietary data, and international expansion as it scales its platform for global debt markets.   The fintech is headquartered in London, with a Belfast office focused on data operations and engineering, with operations spanning New York, Asia, and Latin America.    Steven Hunter, CEO & co-founder of 9fin, commented: “AI will redefine the credit markets, but only if it’s powered by proprietary data and embedded into how professionals actually work.    “That’s exactly what we’ve built at 9fin. We've scaled our product rapidly across geographies and asset classes to provide clients with unmatched breadth and depth of data in an AI-native platform.   “Our ultimate goal is to be the only platform credit professionals ever need. This capital gets us there even faster.”

Barcelona-based Brickken, a provider of tokenisation infrastructure for financial institutions, has raised €3 million in a pre-Series A funding round. The round included strategic investors from across Europe, including Marco Podini, founder and executive chairman of Dedagroup, who invested in a personal capacity, as well as GRX. The funding follows the company’s seed round, completed a year earlier and reflects continued market traction and investor interest. Brickken provides a platform that enables financial institutions, asset managers, and issuers to tokenise and manage real-world assets, including equity, debt, funds, and physical assets, within a compliant framework. As adoption accelerates, the market for tokenised real-world assets is moving beyond early experimentation towards broader institutional use. Industry estimates indicate rapid growth in recent years, with expectations of significant expansion over the coming decade as traditional financial instruments are increasingly issued and traded on programmable infrastructure. This financing marks a deliberate step toward institutional scale. We are investing in regulatory readiness and operational depth to support financial institutions as tokenised infrastructure becomes an increasingly important part of capital markets, said Edwin Mata, CEO of Brickken. The newly raised capital will be used to establish The Brickken Group and strengthen the company’s regulatory capabilities across key international markets, supporting further expansion of its global operations and infrastructure.