Swedish startup Lovable has launched two new platforms designed to dramatically simplify the process of building and launching AI-powered applications. The company claims the tools will unlock a new generation of non-technical founders and could lead to a hundredfold increase in the number of AI startups created annually. The new offerings, Lovable AI and Lovable Cloud, are being rolled out globally today. Together, they allow users to describe their ideas in natural language and receive fully functional AI applications in return, complete with backend infrastructure, authentication, and billing integration. Lovable AI, the core application development interface, is launching in partnership with Google Cloud and powered by its Gemini models. Lovable users will have free access to the platform for the first week following launch, until 6 October. Alongside it, Lovable Cloud manages all the backend complexity typically associated with AI app development, including database setup, file storage, server infrastructure, and model provisioning. This is expected to remove what Lovable sees as one of the last major technical barriers for would-be founders. “The next generation of breakout founders won't be technical, they'll be healthcare professionals building medical AI tools, educators creating personalised learning platforms, and financial experts developing fintech solutions,” said Anton Osika, co-founder and CEO of Lovable. “My challenge to our community is simple: let’s build the next AI unicorn using Lovable AI before the end of next year.” The AI startup landscape has seen rapid growth over the past three years, particularly in Europe, where two-thirds of newly minted unicorns are now AI-first companies. However, the majority of these businesses have been founded by individuals with technical expertise. According to Lovable, 90 percent of Europe’s AI unicorn founders have technical backgrounds, and all of the fastest-growing AI startups globally were founded by engineers. Lovable is positioning itself as a solution to this imbalance, enabling subject matter experts in non-technical fields to build and launch scalable AI products without writing code. Market interest in no-code and AI-assisted development has surged in recent years. Platforms like Bubble, Glide, and Replit have gained popularity among solo founders and small teams looking to move quickly. Lovable differentiates itself by offering AI-generated real code that can later be extended by developers, allowing startups to scale beyond MVP stage. “We’re proud to increasingly support Lovable with our leading AI platform and a choice of models for developers, which can in turn help more startup teams and founders ideate and build the next great product more quickly than ever,” said Darren Mowry, VP of Global Startups at Google Cloud. Lovable claims its tools have the potential to increase the number of new AI startups being launched globally by a factor of 100 over the next year. In 2024, an estimated 2,000 new AI startups were founded worldwide. If Lovable’s projections hold true, that figure could reach 200,000 in 2026, largely driven by non-technical creators using its platform. Founded in Stockholm and now headquartered between Sweden and San Francisco, Lovable joins a growing cohort of European-born startups expanding into the US market to scale operations and tap into venture capital. With the launch of Lovable AI and Lovable Cloud, the company is tapping into a broader movement to democratise access to AI development tools. As enterprises race to integrate AI into their workflows, the opportunity to build vertical-specific AI startups - led by professionals in healthcare, finance, education, and beyond - is rapidly expanding. Lovable’s bet is that the next unicorns will not be built in the traditional mould of Silicon Valley technical co-founders, but instead by those with deep domain knowledge and a clear vision, supported by tools that automate the technical complexity. Whether or not a unicorn emerges from the platform within the next 12 months, as Osika has challenged, remains to be seen. But Lovable’s entry into the increasingly crowded no-code AI space signals a strong belief that the next wave of startup innovation will be powered less by code, and more by conversation.

Online education platform MyEdSpace has raised $15 million in Series A funding. White Star Capital led the round with participation from Educapital, Emerge, Active Partners and Coalition Capital. Founded in 2022 by Sean Hirons and Kharis Yanakidis, MyEdSpace is an online learning platform offering live, interactive lessons for UK students. Lessons are delivered twice a week by experienced teachers, with all sessions recorded and supported by workbooks, homework, and step-by-step video solutions. Teachers are selected through a rigorous process from the top 1 per cent in the UK. They deliver live lessons to thousands of students simultaneously and have built a social media audience of over 4 million, presenting complex topics in familiar formats. The company’s mission is to make a world-class education accessible to all, using top teachers and technology to deliver engaging learning at scale. Sean Hirons, co-founder of MyEdSpace, said: We set out to combine the best teachers, leading technology, and the power of social media to build a platform that delivers the education that young people want and deserve. Our model makes learning affordable and ends the postcode lottery of achievement. The new funding will support hiring more teachers, adding subjects, and advancing AI-powered learning tools to improve the student experience. The company is now scaling its UK model across the Atlantic, with initial US courses launching in October.

Former Sequoia partner Matt Miller has revealed details of his “unique model” VC firm, which has raised over $400m and has already invested in buzzy startups Lovable and n8n as it targets B2B AI investments. Miller, a high-profile figure in VC, left Sequoia last year after 12 years, saying he wanted to start his own fund, with a focus on the “great founders of Europe”. Called Evantic Capital, the new London-based fund will invest in “AI leaders” in Europe, US and Israel. Miller says that Evantic Capital has recruited 140 founders, builders and investors, which he calls " The Legends", who are advising the firm on its investments. In particular, the legends are made up of founders, CEOs, product & engineering leaders, finance and governance experts, among others, with half based in Europe and Israel and half in the US. In a LinkedIn post, Miller said: “The Legends are a community of some of the most exceptional individuals I’ve met throughout my career: top founders and CEOs, senior executives with GTM experience, product and engineering leaders, corporate and governance experts, and fellow investors. "Together, they are a powerful extension of Evantic’s ability to source, win, and build.” According to Bloomberg, an eighth of the $400m plus funding has come from the legends, who will provide marketing, sales and growth support to the startups they invest in. Explaining the “unique business model”, Miller said that the legends will “share directly in the upside of the companies they support”, giving them up to 50 per cent of the carry (a performance-based fee paid out to those who manage VC funds) from each investment. Miller said: “What makes this model unique is how we align incentives: instead of a symbolic or advisory role, our Legends share directly in the upside of the companies they support.  “We allocate up to 50% of the carry from each investment to the specific Legends who actively contribute to helping the founder and company scale.  “This creates a true partnership model: our Legends are not only motivated by goodwill or networking, but by a real alignment of interests. It ensures that when a founder engages with a Legend, they’re interacting with someone who is deeply invested in helping them succeed, both emotionally and economically.” Describing its investment strategy, Miller said it was focusing on B2B AI, adding “most of our investments will be companies that have demonstrated signs of early product-market fit where we feel there is meaningful upside from our entry price". To date, Evantic Capital has invested in Fireworks, the AI inference provider, Listen Labs, AI research platform, Lovable, the vibe coding startup. n8n, the AI workflow startup, and Nexos, the AI governance platform.

Unive, an AI-driven college and career counselling platform, has raised €410,000 to enhance its platform by pairing AI with expert tutor guidance and to broaden access to affordable application support. The total comprises €350,000 from Firstpick VC and a €60,000 grant from EduChallenger. Unive is an AI-powered college and career counselling platform that supports students throughout the admissions journey and beyond. It combines data-driven AI guidance with input from experienced admissions professionals, helping students identify best-fit schools, refine essays, prepare for interviews, and find scholarships. Unive currently serves applicants to US universities and plans to expand to Western Europe. The mission is to make an increasingly complex and costly process more accessible. As applicant volumes rise around 5 per cent annually and acceptance rates fall, private counselling can range from hundreds of dollars per hour to as much as $750,000 overall. Such high costs leave many talented students without access to adequate support, says Jonas Kavaliauskas, Unive’s Co-founder and CEO. As the cost of private admissions counselling has gone up in recent years, we see a clear need for tools that make the application process both efficient and equitable. Our mission is to level the playing field by making high-quality college and career guidance accessible for all students, regardless of their financial circumstances. Unive extends the traditional counselling model by pairing AI-driven support with expert review. Students use AI to handle most tasks, improving essays and profiles and preparing for interviews, while admissions specialists from institutions such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford provide final checks or additional guidance. The platform emphasises ethical use aligned with college policies, and it supports applicants without doing the work for them. Beyond its student product, Unive is expanding B2B services, partnering with universities to improve recruitment and selection. With new funding, the company will grow its engineering, sales, and marketing teams, enhance AI features, and expand global outreach.

Last week, we tracked more than 80 tech funding deals worth over €2.2 billion, and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

Willo, the Glasgow-based recruitment technology platform, has secured £3 million from Mimecast co-founder Peter Bauer to accelerate tools that help employers automatically verify candidate credentials amid a surge in AI-generated job applications. The investment is Willo’s largest single round, bringing total funding to more than £5.9 million. Over the past 18 months, Bauer has invested more than £3.7 million and will also support Willo’s US growth strategy. Founded by Scottish entrepreneurs Euan Cameron, Andrew Wood, and Hamish Livingston, Willo is a remote-first candidate screening platform used by thousands of employers to streamline hiring through structured, accessible video and audio interviews that reduce bias and speed up talent discovery. The company is launching Willo Verified Profiles, which aggregates third-party data sources to automatically verify identity, education, work history, and skills, addressing the growing challenge of AI-influenced application fraud. Employers tell us they are inundated with AI-generated CVs that are hard to verify and review. That’s making it increasingly difficult for genuine, qualified candidates to stand out, said Euan Cameron, Willo’s co-founder and CEO. He added that the round, secured on strong terms in a challenging market, is a major vote of confidence in Willo’s direction and opportunity. The new funding will support North American expansion and accelerate the rollout of Willo Verified Profiles, a credential-verification feature designed to cut through AI-generated noise in the hiring process.

Lexroom, an Italian startup using generative AI to transform the legal sector, has closed a $19 million Series A round. Founded in 2023 by Paolo Fois, Martina Domenicali, and Andrea Lonza, Lexroom supports lawyers and corporate legal teams in legal research, drafting, and advisory services, with an approach based on high-quality legal sources tailored to different jurisdictions. In the past six months, the startup has tripled its client base and doubled its team, with expansion already underway in Germany and an imminent launch in Spain. “The legal industry is undergoing a revolution,” said Paolo Fois, CEO and co-founder. “With this round, we will accelerate international growth and build the future of the legal profession with AI at its core.” Just six months after a $2 million Seed round led by Entourage, the Italian startup has already doubled its workforce and tripled its customer base. Today it stands among the fastest-growing startups in Italy and Europe. Silicon Valley VC Base10 Partners. The round also saw participation from Spanish VC Acurio Ventures, View Different founded by Diego Piacentini – who will also take on an advisory role at the company – and Riccardo Zacconi, founder of King (Candy Crush), along with other strategic angel investors. The deal also confirmed the support of existing investors such as Entourage, Verve Ventures, and Joe Zadeh.  Following the investment, RexhiDollaku, General Partner at Base10 Partners and a long-time investor, will join Lexroom’s board, marking a new chapter of international growth for the startup. “Lexroom is transforming one of the largest and most tradition-bound industries with a product that lawyers actually love using. Paolo, Martina, and Andrea bring an impressive mix of deep legal expertise and product vision, and in just a short time have shown how AI can meaningfully change the way legal work gets done," said Rexhi Dollaku, General Partner at Base10 Partners. "We’re proud to be partnering with them as they set a new standard for AI in the legal sect Lead image: Lexroom AI. Photo: uncredited.

GoodFit, a London-based AI-driven go-to-market platform, has raised $13 million Series A led by Notion Capital, with participation from Salica Investments, Inovia Capital, Robin Capital, Common Magic, and Andrena Ventures. Founded in 2020 by Harrison Rose (who previously co-founded Paddle) and Aleksander Bury, GoodFit positions itself as an intelligence layer for modern GTM, combining proprietary market data, first-party performance data, and configurable tooling to help commercial leaders identify, prioritise, and engage customers with precision across both human-led and programmatic strategies. The traditional sales approach, in which leaders managed large teams while having limited interaction with the tools in use, is changing. As AI reshapes go-to-market practice, GoodFit aims to give revenue leaders more direct control. The platform provides a unified view to pinpoint target companies, align representatives to high-propensity accounts, build and run end-to-end campaigns, forecast the most effective channel mix for each customer, and continuously optimise customer acquisition costs based on outcomes. According to CEO and co-founder Harrison Rose, high-quality, specific data is essential for these systems. Without it, ICPs remain shallow and outreach becomes generic. As AI assumes more tasks, data becomes the core input for decisions on segments, channels, resource allocation, and real-time CAC optimisation. This Series A represents GoodFit’s first external funding. The capital will be used to expand access to a broader set of companies and to accelerate development of capabilities that enable revenue leaders to achieve GTM outcomes directly with agents.

The robotics industry is undergoing a major transformation — moving away from rigid, task-specific programming toward systems that require general intelligence. Sereact is entering this new era with Cortex, a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model that unifies perception, reasoning, and control within a single framework. As embodied AI transitions from research labs to real-world industrial settings, Cortex demonstrates that foundation models can be deployed reliably across diverse robots and environments, delivering tangible economic and operational benefits at scale. I spoke to the co-founder and CEO of Sereact, Ralf Gulde, to learn more. Cortex aims to do for robots what GPT did for language Significantly, the model isn’t just another robotic control system. It tries to do for robots what GPT did for language: unify perception (vision), reasoning (language), and control (actions) in one model. The model has been trained on the largest real-world robotics dataset, aggregated from over 100 industrial deployments not just simulations, “which makes it far more robust than academic or lab-only models,” shared Gulde. According to Gulde, this scale and diversity of training fuel its generalisation performance and enable robust zero-shot capabilities.  “Instead of relying on task-specific code or per-site retraining, Cortex formulates abstract task representations that can be projected into the operational space of any robot. As a result, standard workflows such as picking or sorting can be executed within hours of deployment." Further, instead of hardcoding tasks (like “pick up this exact part in this exact way”), it learns from demonstrations and generalises to new tasks without reprogramming. This is a big deal, because traditional robots are very rigid. “You can say: 'Sort these items by colour', and the robot figures it out, which removes the need for programmers on the factory floor.” Hardware-agnostic by design Normally, in industrial robotics, each robot needs its own control logic, but not with Cortex, which is hardware-agnostic.  As a result, the same model works on robot arms, mobile manipulators, and humanoids without retraining. It generates abstract task expressions which are translated into robot-specific motion spaces at execution time.  “This allows integration across major industrial robot platforms and with both suction and finger grippers, requiring only minimal adaptation to existing automation infrastructure,” shared Gulde. Image: Cortex architecture. Self-healing and edge-case handling Further, if an unexpected event occurs (e.g., transparent objects, deformable items, obstacles), the system can recover autonomously in real-time, rather than failing and requiring human intervention, which is particularly valuable in factories. There’s also a fleet operation loop — each robot sends anonymised data back to improve the global model for industrial robots. This accelerates collective learning and continuous improvement. Deployment in hours and not weeks Today, integration and calibration often take weeks/months per facility. This is due to its architecture, which generalises from first principles rather than memorised patterns, leading to faster ROI and lower deployment costs. In terms of impact, ROI is measured primarily through shorter deployment cycles, reduced integration effort, and lower error rates in picking and handling. Gulde explained that because Cortex does not require object-specific teach-in, customers avoid time-consuming setup and adaptation: “Customers report measurable improvements in throughput stability and fewer manual interventions. Feedback consistently highlights rapid time-to-value and robustness in real production environments.” Industrial robotics enters a new era Cortex is already deployed in over 100 systems within Mercedes Trucks and BOL, successfully demonstrating zero-shot capabilities across various robotic platforms, including arms, mobile manipulators, and humanoids. At Daimler Truck, the challenge was to automate kitting processes involving a high diversity of objects, including complex geometries and reflective metal parts.  “Cortex enabled autonomous operation with both finger and suction grippers, selecting the most suitable gripper type for each object without object-specific teach-in,” shared Gulde. At bol.com, the goal was to automate one of the most demanding areas of their fulfilment network. According to Torsten Grüninger, Product Manager at Daimler Truck: “With Sereact, we have found a solution that fully integrates both two-finger and suction grippers, enabling perfect gripper/product matching without the need for time-consuming object teach-in.  Sereact's advanced technology can handle objects accurately and operate completely autonomously without human intervention." Cortex does not rely on template-based recognition. Instead, it fuses multimodal sensory input with reasoning to infer object affordances and select suitable actions. What does this mean in practice? Gulde explained that by leveraging knowledge from hundreds of millions of real-world manipulations across 100+ deployments, the model achieves strong generalisation capabilities that transfer to new, unseen scenarios.  This solves a very real-world practice at BOL. Hugo Driesse, Process Engineer at BOL, explained that the company deliberately placed Sereact’s robot “in one of the most complex parts of our operation, with the toughest integrations and handling requirements.” “What impressed us most is that it can handle our full range of more than 500,000 SKUs without cherry-picking. And working with the Sereact team has been excellent, they respond immediately and actively think with us about every step of the integration.”  In terms of scaling, Gulde believes that in the future, the most effective way to scale is through strong partnerships. In 2025, Sereact announced collaborations with tier-1 system integrators such as AWL, Hörmann, Reesink, Kardex, and Körber, enabling Cortex to be deployed within large-scale projects through established channels. However he asserts: “The key technical challenge lies in ensuring robustness across heterogeneous environments and hardware platforms, while the main business challenge is delivering reliable global support and efficient rollouts across regions.” Sereact is a testament to Europe’s strong industrial robotics ecosystem. By adding a real-world-trained AI layer that generalises across robots and tasks, Sereact demonstrates that Europe can not only participate but lead in embodied AI.  As part of its next steps, Sereact aims to scale Cortex across thousands of robots and Lens instances, working closely with its system integration partners. The company is extending deployments to new geographies, including North America, and advancing the model architecture with stronger reasoning, memory, and planning capabilities.  Looking further ahead, future optimisations will move Cortex’s decision-making processes closer to brain-like cognition, with predictive control, working memory, and meta-cognitive modulation. Lead image: Sereact. Photo; uncredited. 

On Friday at the IT Arena conference in Lviv — attended by Tech.eu — the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine announced that it has begun a partnership with ElevenLabs to help integrate voice interfaces into Ukrainian government services.  According to Mykhailo Fedorov, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the future belongs to agentive states: “Ukraine is already moving toward a model where interaction with the government comes down to a single request, or even a voice message.” The partnership will give Ukraine’s government services a humanlike voice and make them more accessible to everyone.  “We have proven our ability to scale innovations, and this cooperation will accelerate the transition to a proactive, agentive state where AI truly simplifies citizens’ lives,” said Fedorov,. Further, for the first time, ElevenLabs’ voice technology has been used to power the digital twin of Mykhailo Fedorov, which operates as a chatbot. The twin can recognise voice messages and respond in the same format. “Together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, we are giving digital services a clear human voice, starting with Minister Fedorov’s digital twin, and later expanding this to Diia and other tools.  Our goal is simple: to make government services in Ukraine faster and more accessible to everyone,” said Mati Staniszewski, co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs.   Governments are experimenting with AI-enabled public interfaces Ukraine’s announcement comes just a week after Albania introduced its own AI “minister” in parliament.  Last week, an AI-generated government “minister” was introduced in the Albanian parliament, with Prime Minister Edi Rama presenting the bot as a means to help the government work more efficiently and with full transparency. This is the first parliamentary speech of "Diella", AI minister of Albania. I am constitutional-, says Diella, lecturing everybody regarding it's legality, questioned immideately after prime minister Rama introduced it(her). In fact, the Constitution of Albania defines pic.twitter.com/mcH4P88eGw — Skerdilajd Zaimi (@PublliusCS_a) September 18, 2025 It’s part of the country’s aim to gain European Union membership by 2030.  ElevenLabs partnership to scale across Ukrainian government services ElevenLabs’ voice technology will also be implemented across other government services. Planned steps include: Integrating AI voice features into the Diia portal and mobile app, allowing citizens to make requests and receive services by voice. Introducing voice functionality into educational platforms, including government education apps and initiatives. Adding voice tools to the Ministry’s internal systems, such as AI assistants for onboarding and HR teams. Laying the infrastructure for technological sovereignty Ukraine is rapidly setting new standards for digital nations of the future. Last month, Ukraine officially launched its first state-level AI infrastructure, dubbed the AI Factory, designed to provide high-performance computing, data storage, software tools, and training ecosystems to underpin AI development across government, industry, and defence domains.   Led by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and integrated with the WINWIN AI Centre of Excellence, this initiative aims to ensure that AI workloads, models, and data remain within Ukraine’s jurisdiction — a critical pillar of its push for technological sovereignty.  Building a national LLM — without state budget funds At the same time, Ukraine is developing a national large language model (LLM), trained on Ukrainian public data, scientific content, and official sources, with plans for open access after a testing phase.  Partnering with Kyivstar, the government has structured oversight via coordination, technical, and ethics boards, to launch a scalable, high-quality model within about nine months — all without drawing on state budget funds. This effort is positioned as essential not only for public services and innovation, but also for defence and national security. 

This week, we tracked more than 80 tech funding deals worth over €2.2 billion, and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. In addition to this week's top financials, we've also indexed the most important/industry-related news items you need to know about. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. Either way, let's get you up to speed. ? Notable and big funding rounds ?? Nscale raises $1.1BN in Series B ?? Signal AI receives $165M investment ??  Auterion, which produces autonomous defense systems, received an investment of $130M ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ?? Arsipa acquires Bloom to deliver an end-to-end digital platform for occupational safety ?? UK’s Connect Earth acquires Swedish ESG reporting platform Datia ?? Ettlingen-based SoftProject is acquiring the French company Blueway ?? Sweden’s Netigate buys Dutch feedback software firm Mopinion ? Interesting moves from investors ? Ventech closes €175M Fund VI — largest in firm’s history ? C4 Ventures launches €100M Fund III to back Europe’s next wave of AI and deep tech startups ? Inside Antler’s "Day Zero" strategy: backing founders before the first round ? Columbus Venture Partners launches its fifth fund and seeks to raise up to $200 million to invest in biotechnology and healthcare ?️ In other (important) news ? Einride breaks barriers with world’s first cabless autonomous border crossing ?? Nvidia to make “strategic” investment in ElevenLabs ? PostScriptum launches NestAI to build Europe’s next tech frontier ? Checkout.com launches employee share buyback at $12bn valuation ? Recommended reads and listens ?? EE Inc before EU Inc: What Estonia can teach Europe about digital sovereignty ⚡ The biggest European energy deals in H1 2025 ? How Oxylabs is powering the ethical data economy ?? Holy Technologies raises €4.3M to build autonomous factory for composites ?? Wexler.ai secures $5.3M to bring real-time fact-checking to litigation ?? The next autonomy revolution: Futurail secures €7.5M to tackle rail inefficiences ? European tech startups to watch ?? Oriane locks in $1.5M to build an AI search engine for the video-first internet ?? Optimeleon secures €1.5M pre-seed ?? Veridox secures £1M to launch AI forensic fraud detection for insurers ?? Monsana raises €500,000 to speed up patient access to clinical trials ?? Defencetech C2GRID raises €300,000 to transform battlefield intelligence ?? ETH Spinoff Soverli awarded €150,000 to reshape smartphone security

PostScriptum – the original cradle for Silo AI, acquired by AMD in 2024 in Europe’s largest AI acquisition – launches a new initiative with NestAI to build next-generation technology.  According to TechEU’s sources, NestAI brings together leading experts to form a next-generation innovation lab. In stealth, the team has expanded to nearly 50 world-class AI scientists and engineers, many holding a PhD and drawing experience from globally renowned organisations.  The NestAI team consists of several engineers with an Intel pedigree, including 20 senior engineers with end-to-end physical AI capability, combining deep AI expertise with a strong hardware and software background. Since then, Nest AI has also added key talent with a background in top AI, tech and defense companies worldwide, including Palantir, Kongsberg, Saab, Xiaomi, Microsoft, Huawei, HP, Intel, Patria, Sensofusion, Nokia, MIT, UC Berkeley and many more.  According to PostScriptum, the initial team members have experience in delivering mission-critical AI devices, robotics and autonomous systems, and enabling mission-ready prototypes within months. PostScriptum says the goal is to double NestAI’s team size within the next six months. Backed by PostScriptum, and aligned with its mission for long-term, balanced growth, NestAI launches as an innovation lab designed to build boldly, with the aim to develop technologies that will shape the future. While the company identifies as a multi-domain lab, its first focus is said to be robotics and unmanned vehicles — applied in logistics, inspection, surveillance, security, and defence.  PostScriptum grows Europe’s AI-native portfolio PostScriptum aims to be a generational AI company that develops digital category leaders with AI at the core. PS is dedicated to supporting, building, and investing in digital companies to help them become AI-first and reach their full potential. In 2024, Foundation PS announced a donation of 13 PS Fellow professorships to leading Finnish universities, forming the initial professorships of the ELLIS Institute Finland. PostScriptum has built a fast-growing portfolio of companies with AI at their core, strengthening the European ecosystem of AI-first and AI-native companies.  To name a few, the Swedish app-building AI platform Lovable has accelerated from early product to broad adoption, achieving record-breaking ARR growth from € 0 to € 100 million in just 8 months. While being under construction, the portfolio also includes companies like: Legal AI company Legora (SWE), End-to-end weather foundation model builder Secondlaw (UK), Tabular foundation model builder Prior Labs (GER), Near-future quantum algorithm developer QMill (FIN), Agentic AI R&D lab Tzafon AI (SWE), Mobile AI agent company Droidrun (GER), AI lab Bottlecap AI (CZE), State-of-the-art AI simulation company AILiveSim (FIN), AI for life sciences company Visium AI (SUI).

AI, automation, and new tech ecosystems are reshaping marketing. But how do you turn hype into value, and where do you find the insights that really matter for the next steps? Tech transformation as the new baseline Technology has become the foundation of every business decision. Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic experiment but a tool that redefines how campaigns are designed, executed and optimized. Automation doesn’t just reduce costs, it frees up time and creativity for teams to focus on strategy. What makes this shift so powerful is speed. Platforms evolve within months, customer expectations within days. For marketers, the challenge is to stay adaptive without losing strategic clarity. Bold moves and clear visions have become survival skills. From data to meaningful experiences It’s easy to drown in dashboards and KPIs. The real value of technology lies in turning data into experiences that matter. Hyper-personalization powered by AI enables brands to deliver the right message at the right moment. But technology alone isn’t enough; relevance depends on how you connect insights with storytelling. Instead of asking how much data you can collect, it’s more effective to ask how you can create customer journeys that feel seamless, helpful and memorable. Courage plays a central role here: testing new formats, experimenting with AI-generated content and rethinking what a digital campaign should look like. Sustainability meets technology Tech innovation also raises the question of responsibility. Cloud infrastructure, streaming and digital advertising all have an environmental footprint. More companies are now adding sustainability metrics to their tech stack. Optimized hosting, efficient data models and greener supply chains are becoming part of the marketing toolbox. The message is clear: technology is not just a performance driver, it is also a cultural signal. Audiences increasingly expect brands to take a stance, not only in what they communicate but also in how they use technology behind the scenes. Learning from past transformations Looking back is less about nostalgia than about decoding patterns. Why did certain innovations succeed while others faded away? Tech history shows that breakthroughs happen when experimentation meets clarity. From the first wave of programmatic advertising to today’s AI-driven platforms, the difference has always been bold execution. The lesson for today is not to chase every shiny tool. Instead, understand how new technology fits your ecosystem and whether it strengthens your long-term positioning. DMEXCO 2025: tech boldness in action DMEXCO 2025 reflected this mindset. With record attendance and strong international participation, the event showed how technology and marketing are converging faster than ever. From generative AI in creative workflows to ethical frameworks for data usage, the discussions proved that boldness in tech is not just about scale but about responsibility and direction. The theme “Be Bold. Move Forward.” captured the spirit of the event. On stage, tech leaders, startups and creative pioneers demonstrated how AI, automation and immersive platforms are already shaping strategies. In workshops and summits, participants explored practical applications, from AI-driven campaign optimization to sustainable MarTech solutions. What stood out most was the mix of visionary talks and actionable insights. Technology was not presented as abstract potential but as a practical toolkit for marketers. The energy on site made it clear: 2025 marked a turning point where experimentation shifted into mainstream practice. Why it matters for you For marketing leaders the message is unmistakable: the next wave of growth will not come from traditional scaling but from intelligent adoption of technology. That requires building teams who can combine creativity with technical literacy, investing in AI where it enhances rather than replaces human input, and embedding sustainability into the digital DNA of the brand. DMEXCO remains the place to connect these dots. It is where you can see how tech ecosystems evolve, exchange with peers on what works in practice and sharpen your own strategy for the years ahead. Boldness and clarity are not just themes of a conference; they are the compass for the future of marketing. For regular insights and updates, sign up for the DMEXCO newsletter.

Finnish startup IXI, developer of the world’s first autofocus eyewear, has announced two strategic moves aimed at accelerating its path to market: the acquisition of a Finnish lens manufacturing facility and a new partnership with Swiss lens maker OptiSwiss. The news was shared at SILMO Paris, one of the optical industry’s major trade events, as IXI gears up to commercialise its liquid crystal-based smart glasses. These glasses, still in development, aim to replace bifocals and varifocals with lenses that automatically adjust focus in real time, improving visual clarity and comfort without manual intervention. “For us, we’re intentionally building our production base in Europe. This is where the deepest expertise in optical precision and design lives, and we’ve brought together the people who know it best. These milestones are important steps on the path toward bringing our technology to the world. Our mission is simple: create eyewear that transforms how people see, without ever compromising on comfort or design,” said Niko Eiden, CEO and co-founder of IXI. IXI has acquired the lens manufacturing and development facility of Finnsusp, a long-standing Finnish optical company based in Turku. The deal brings a fully operational lens factory and experienced optical engineering team under IXI’s control, giving the startup end-to-end oversight of its lens development and quality assurance processes. With the acquisition, Finnsusp will now refocus on its core business of dry eye and contact lens care products, which are exported to more than 35 countries globally. In parallel, IXI has announced a long-term partnership with Basel-based OptiSwiss, one of Europe’s leading independent lens manufacturers. OptiSwiss, which has over 85 years of experience in optical manufacturing, will work with IXI to bring its autofocus lens technology into mass production. “Optiswiss has stood for Swiss quality, precision, and craftsmanship for decades, powered by one of the most advanced production facilities in the heart of Europe. As an independent company, we are driven by innovation and excited to partner with IXI on a truly forward-thinking approach – one that has the potential to reshape the eyewear industry and set new standards for the future,” said Samuel Frei, CEO of OptiSwiss.

Checkout.com, the payments firm, is undergoing an employee share sale at a $12bn valuation, as it says it’s on course to be full-year profitable for the first time. The London-headquartered fintech told its around 2,000 staff today that they would be able to sell some of their shares back to the company, giving them the “opportunity to have liquidity”. Employee share sales are a popular mechanism used by companies to offer liquidity to employees amid the drying up of the IPO market. Checkout.com's $12bn valuation marks an uplift on its 2023 valuation of $9.35bn but is lower than its 2022 valuation of $40bn. Jenny Hadlow, chief operating officer, said: “It is an opportunity for us to give all the employees who made this growth possible an opportunity to have liquidity.” Checkout.com also put out figures regarding the performance of its business, saying it was on track to be full-year profitable for 2025, its first full year of profitability, helped by over 30 per cent year-on-year revenue growth. The revenue growth came from bringing on board new merchants, like eBay and Vinted, increasing volume from existing merchants, new product launches, and geographical expansion, such as recent launches in Canada and Japan. On its bid to be profitable, Hadlow said: “It definitely is something our merchants care about. And it is also an important statement to regulatory and external partners like banks that we work with.” Checkout.com also said it was on course to process more than $300bn in digital payment processing volume this year and was “regularly” doing over $1bn a day. Checkout.com, headed up by Swiss billionaire Guillaume Pousaz, has 19 offices and says it plans to increase headcount by 15 per cent this year. Checkout.com’s global parent company, Checkout Payments Group, does not disclose financial figures.

Malta’s flagship entrepreneurial event is back for its fifth consecutive year, celebrating its 5th anniversary this October. This year marks an important milestone: the festival’s 5th anniversary. What began as a small local gathering has grown into a key event on the European start-up calendar, attracting both international and local participants. The 2025 edition is set to be the most ambitious yet, bringing together founders, investors, and ecosystem players from across Europe and beyond. The highlight of the week will be the main festival days on 23rd and 24th October, when the community gathers for two packed days of content, exhibitions, and networking opportunities. The festival officially launched during the Spring Meet-Up in April, followed by a series of five lead-up events designed to build momentum. Among the special guests headlining the main stage this October are entrepreneur and digital creator Caspar Lee, British racing driver Nicolas Hamilton, and Malta’s own Gerada brothers, who will share their experiences with the start-up community. Building Momentum through Lead-up Events The festival’s roadshow has highlighted key themes shaping today’s entrepreneurial landscape. Empowered to Succeed, an event which celebrated female entrepreneurship with a candid panel discussion where women from different industries shared their victories and challenges. The Resilient Founder, hosted in Gozo, shifted the focus to mental health and well-being, combining an insightful panel with yoga, stretching, and creative painting sessions. Start-Up Ecosystem: Government Collaboration for Growth provided a platform for government agencies to explain how they are supporting start-ups across multiple sectors. The final pre-festival event, held in July, featured an exclusive interview with Daymond John, investor on Shark Tank. John shared his entrepreneurial journey and engaged in a lively Q&A session, while founders and ecosystem players used the occasion to network and explore new partnerships. A Festival Week packed with Opportunities Start-Up Festival Malta 2025 opens with a day dedicated to students, underlining the importance of creativity, innovation, and well-being among young people. The second day will spotlight the Start-Up Awards, recognising outstanding entrepreneurs and start-ups driving impact in Malta’s innovation ecosystem. A highlight of this year’s programme is the return of the Pitch Black Competition. Known for its minimalist, high-intensity format, the contest gives founders just a few minutes to convince a panel of judges. For 2025, a new semi-final round on 22nd October will feature 14 start-ups across pre-seed and seed categories. The top eight finalists will advance to the final on 24th October, where they will compete for significant prize packages. The pre-seed winner will receive support worth over €125,000. The seed winner will walk away with a package valued at more than €350,000. More than 40 mentors will participate, providing founders with feedback, visibility, and valuable connections, while a jury panel of local and internal experts will deliver expert evaluations and facilitate potential introductions to investors. Learn more here. Main Start-up Festival Days: 23rd and 24th October While the festival week offers valuable activities for students and award finalists, the main event takes place on 23rd and 24th October. These two days are the heart of the festival, featuring panel discussions with local and international experts, hands-on workshops, interactive exhibitions, and countless networking opportunities. With a strong focus on connections, the event attracts entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem leaders from Malta and abroad, making it one of the region’s most dynamic entrepreneurial gatherings. The 2025 edition is made possible with the support of Malta Venture Capital, Transport Malta, Residency Malta, and the Malta Tourism Authority. Why Malta Matters Malta has steadily positioned itself as a hub for start-ups in the Mediterranean, offering access to European markets, strong government backing, and a growing base of founders and investors. The Start-Up Festival reflects this evolution: from a modest gathering of local entrepreneurs, it has matured into a platform that bridges Maltese talent with international opportunities. How to Join Whether you are looking to launch, scale globally, or invest in the next big idea, Start-Up Festival Malta 2025 offers the perfect chance to connect under the Maltese sun with innovators and decision-makers. For registrations, updates, schedules, and further information, visit www.startupfestivalmalta.com and follow the festival on social media.

The Arsipa Group has acquired Berlin-based tech startup Bloom, strengthening its position in occupational safety and introducing a digital-native compliance platform in Germany and Austria. Bloom translates complex legal requirements into intuitive software workflows for mid-sized companies. Capabilities include digital health records, mental-health risk assessments, digital first-aid logs, and digital mental-health services. With integrations to more than 50 HR systems, including Personio and SAP, Bloom helps reduce data silos and supports a more connected, efficient software environment. Arsipa operates a nationwide network of safety specialists and company physicians, delivering comprehensive on-site support and cross-industry expertise. This in-person capability complements Bloom’s digital strengths and positions the combined organisation to drive innovation in occupational safety. Arsipa also offers SaaS ERP solutions that streamline medical, safety, and administrative workflows. Integrating Bloom adds a customer-facing layer to the Ginisuite ecosystem, holistically mapping occupational safety and uniting on-site support with administrative simplification and automation. With this acquisition, Bloom and Arsipa plan to deliver an end-to-end platform, from translating legal requirements into software to providing on-site specialist support, by fully integrating their technologies into a seamless, silo-free solution. Bloom will continue to operate as an independent brand led by its founders, Viktoria Lindner and Leonie Ellerbrock. 

Nscale, a less than two-year-old UK data centre startup which is key to Silicon Valley’s plans to build UK AI infrastructure, has raised $1.1bn in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Aker, the Norwegian energy infrastructure group, with participation from several other firms including Nokia and Nvidia. Nscale currently works with Aker, developing OpenAI’s AI data centre in Norway, called Stargate Norway, and its UK equivalent Stargate UK. Nscale said the funding will be used to deploy large-scale AI infrastructure across Europe, North America and the Middle East, helping projects like Stargate Norway and also the UK Stargate project. In total, Nscale has raised nearly $1.3bn including the Series B round. “We are building the AI-native Infrastructure platform of tomorrow,” said Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale. “AI is reshaping industries, economies, and national strategies – but it cannot happen without the physical backbone: the data centres, the GPUs and the software to orchestrate them. "We are building a vertically integrated, AI-engineered foundation designed to power the next generation of technological change, enabling industries and innovators across the globe to achieve what today feels impossible.   “We are creating one of the largest global platforms of its kind – purpose-built to meet surging demand and unlock breakthroughs at unprecedented scale. "This allows Nscale to provide our customers access to scarce, and highly sought after, compute capacity and rapidly accelerate the build-out of secure, compliant and energy-efficient AI infrastructure." Nscale, which pitches itself as a "hyperscaler engineered for AI", was named as a key local AI infrastructure partner for OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia, which announced significant investments into the UK AI ecosystem last week, coinciding with the visit of President Trump.

Today, PostScriptum – the original cradle for Silo AI, acquired by AMD in 2024 in Europe’s largest AI acquisition – launches its build leg with NestAI emerging as Europe’s innovation lab to build next-generation technology.  NestAI brings together some of the world’s leading minds to form a next-generation innovation lab. In just a few months of stealth-mode operations, the team has expanded to nearly 50 world-class AI scientists and engineers, with 20+ PhDs and drawing experience from globally renowned organisations.  In 2025, NestAI recruited a team with an Intel pedigree, consisting of nearly 20 senior engineers with end-to-end physical AI capability, combining deep AI/ML expertise with hardware, firmware, RF/communications, mechanics, and software skills. Since then, Nest AI has added key talent with a background in top AI, tech and defense companies worldwide, including Palantir, Kongsberg, Saab, Xiaomi, Microsoft, Huawei, HP, Intel, Patria, Sensofusion, Nokia, MIT, UC Berkeley and many more. NestAI plans to grow the team to 100 world-class AI scientists and engineers within the coming 6 months.  Forming the NestAI platform team, the initial team members have experience in delivering mission-critical AI devices, robotics and autonomous systems, and enabling mission-ready prototypes within months. Backed by PostScriptum, all activities are aligned with its mission for long-term, balanced growth, while NestAI launches as an innovation lab designed to build boldly, with the aim to develop technologies that will shape the future. While the company identifies as a multi-domain lab, its first focus is robotics and unmanned vehicles — applied in logistics, inspection, surveillance, security, and defence.  PostScriptum grows Europe’s AI-native portfolio PostScriptum aims to be a generational AI company that develops digital category leaders with AI at the core. PS is dedicated to supporting, building, and investing in digital companies to help them become AI-first and reach their full potential. In 2024, Foundation PS announced a donation of 13 PS Fellow professorships to leading Finnish universities, forming the initial professorships of the ELLIS Institute Finland. PostScriptum has built a fast-growing portfolio of companies with AI at their core, strengthening the European ecosystem of AI-first and AI-native companies.  To name a few, the Swedish app-building AI platform Lovable has accelerated from early product to broad adoption, achieving record-breaking ARR growth from 0€ to 100M€ in just 8 months. While being under construction, the portfolio also includes companies like: Legal AI company Legora (SWE), End-to-end weather foundation model builder Secondlaw (UK), Tabular foundation model builder Prior Labs (GER), Near-future quantum algorithm developer QMill (FIN), Agentic AI R&D lab Tzafon AI (SWE), Mobile AI agent company Droidrun (GER), AI lab Bottlecap AI (CZE), State-of-the-art AI simulation company AILiveSim (FIN), AI for life sciences company Visium AI (SUI), and several that will be disclosed later. 

Nscale, a less than two-year-old UK data centre startup which is key to Silicon Valley’s plans to build UK AI infrastructure, has raised $1.1bn in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Aker, the Norwegian energy infrastructure group, with participation from several other firms including Nokia and Nvidia. Nscale currently works with Aker, developing OpenAI’s AI data centre in Norway, called StarGate Norway, and its UK equivalent Stargate UK. Nscale said the funding will be used to deploy large-scale AI infrastructure across Europe, North America and the Middle East, helping projects like Stargate Norway and also the UK Stargate project. In total, Nscale has raised nearly $1.3bn including the Series B round. “We are building the AI-native Infrastructure platform of tomorrow,” said Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale. “AI is reshaping industries, economies, and national strategies – but it cannot happen without the physical backbone: the data centres, the GPUs and the software to orchestrate them. "We are building a vertically integrated, AI-engineered foundation designed to power the next generation of technological change, enabling industries and innovators across the globe to achieve what today feels impossible.   “We are creating one of the largest global platforms of its kind – purpose-built to meet surging demand and unlock breakthroughs at unprecedented scale. "This allows Nscale to provide our customers access to scarce, and highly sought after, compute capacity and rapidly accelerate the build-out of secure, compliant and energy-efficient AI infrastructure." Nscale, which piches itself as a "hyperscaler engineered for AI", was named as a key local AI infrastructure partner for OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia, which announced significant investments into the UK AI ecosystem last week, coinciding with the visit of President Trump.