Encryption startup Belfort, a KU Leuven spinoff, has closed a $6 million seed round to make encrypted data processing practical in real time. The round was led by deeptech investor Vsquared Ventures, with participation from Anagram, Protocol VC, Inovia Capital, Syndicate One, Prototype, Credibly Neutral, and angels including Jeff Dean (Google) and Naval Ravikant. The funds will support team expansion, technology advancement, early enterprise pilots, and development of a custom chip. Protecting sensitive data during processing is increasingly essential, not just at rest or in transit. Belfort addresses this with a hardware accelerator purpose-built for encrypted compute, enabling computation directly on encrypted data without decryption and overcoming long-standing speed and cost barriers. The technology is available via AWS Marketplace and can be integrated with minimal effort across healthcare, finance, and government. Practical applications include fraud detection, genomic analysis, and secure government operations. Belfort originated from KU Leuven’s COSIC lab, led by Prof. Ingrid Verbauwhede, a specialist in cryptographic hardware and a two-time ERC grant recipient. The company was co-founded by Michiel Van Beirendonck and Furkan Turan, with Laurens De Poorter (formerly Kraken Ventures and Google) adding operational leadership experience. Its core research matured over several years through major grants, including from the European Research Council, and a competitive US government contract with DARPA. Belfort’s view is that in an AI-first world, encrypted compute is foundational to trust. By combining advances in hardware and algorithms, the company aims to make processing sensitive data without decryption practical at scale and to establish the next layer of secure computing. Michiel Van Beirendonck, Co-founder and CEO, said: AI is transforming everything, but the infrastructure to keep sensitive data and models secure hasn’t caught up. Encrypted compute is the answer, but without hardware acceleration, it doesn’t scale. The company that cracks that challenge could become the next billion-dollar business. Belfort will use the new funding to double its team and accelerate product, technology, and business development across its San Francisco and Leuven offices.

Warsaw-based sun.store, a B2B digital marketplace for solar components, has raised €6 million in seed funding to modernise how solar, PV, and battery equipment is sourced and traded across Europe. The round was co-led by Contrarian Ventures, Market One Capital, and Movens Capital, with participation from FJ Labs, Push Ventures, and Aidiom. Procurement in the sector remains largely manual, fragmented, and inefficient, especially for smaller installers, distributors, and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms. Email and spreadsheet workflows limit access to supply, slow transactions, and increase the risk of mismatches, delays, and opaque pricing. Europe’s solar and storage market represents €35–40 billion in installed components each year, and parts often change hands four to five times before installation, which further inflates transaction volumes and values. Much of this activity still runs through offline channels that lack transparency, scalability, and speed. Founded in 2023, sun.store was created to address these challenges. The company enables verified sellers to list products with structured data, dynamic pricing, and integrated logistics. Buyers, including installers, wholesalers, and EPCs, can search and filter offers in real time, obtain instant quotes, and complete transactions with flexible payment options and embedded support. The platform verifies counterparties, standardises product data, and provides end-to-end order tracking to reduce mismatches and delays while improving transparency and efficiency. While the initial focus is on solar and storage, sun.store’s longer-term aim is to become the leading digital platform for clean-energy equipment, spanning HVAC, heat pumps, e-mobility infrastructure, and electrical components. The company continues to grow its network of merchants and buyers and is hiring across multiple teams. The new funding will accelerate product development, expand the feature set, and strengthen go-to-market efforts. sun.store will also scale its operational and commercial teams, with an emphasis on merchant onboarding and support, strategic sourcing, and business development.

The responsible investment platform Goodvest has closed a €12 million Series B, two years after its Series A. The round was led by Serena, with participation from business angels and existing investors Ring Capital, Polytechnique Ventures, ALM Innovation (AG2R LA MONDIALE’s innovation fund), and Globivest. Founded in 2020 by Joseph Choueifaty, Antoine Bénéteau, and Aurore Pinon-Jacques, Goodvest positions itself as the first fintech to offer investment solutions fully aligned with the Paris Agreement. Its product suite includes life insurance (including children’s policies), retirement savings plans, savings accounts, and private equity. These offerings exclude financing for harmful industries (e.g., fossil fuels, tobacco, companies violating the UN Global Compact) and prioritise sectors central to the ecological transition, such as renewable energy, low-carbon transport, and sustainable agriculture. Goodvest applies a transparent methodology that, since 2024, also accounts for biodiversity impact. A 2024 Reclaim Finance study found its Goodvie life insurance to be the least exposed to fossil fuels. Since launch, the company estimates its portfolios have avoided more than 100,000 tons of CO₂e, while offering savers customizable allocations aligned with their preferences. With retail investing on the rise, Goodvest aims to meet demand through straightforward access and stringent ESG standards. It partners with impact-focused players, including Helios, Sycomore, and CFCAL-Banque (Crédit Mutuel Arkéa). The company seeks to strengthen its leadership in responsible savings and set a benchmark for transparent, positive-impact investments. The funding will be used to expand ecological and social impact offerings, develop new strategic partnerships, and hire additional team members, with a focus on scaling a private wealth management service launched in the spring.

This week, investment firm Antler kicked off its Berlin residency. After an intense sprint, the most promising teams receive up to €500K in pre-seed funding — along with access to over €4 million in perks from world-class partners. Antler has been backing startups in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and across Continental Europe for the last five years, investing in more than 180 companies. Many of these have become some of the region's fastest-growing tech ventures, including Lovable, Peec AI, NeoCarbon, and Klearly, with further backing from investors such as a16z, Coatue, and Accel.  I wanted to learn more about Antler's novel approach to supporting early-stage startups.  One of Antler's leading voices is Dr Christoph Klink, a Partner based in Berlin, who joined the firm in 2020 as it was building its regional presence. "We started investing in 2021, so we've already gone through a full venture cycle — ups and downs included," he says. Across Europe, Antler now has just over 500 portfolio companies, with hubs in London, the Nordics, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, and Munich. Klink stresses the importance of Antler's intentionally decentralised model. "When founders launch a company, they rarely move across continents. They usually build locally. So we want to be as close to them as possible right from inception." Inside the 'Day Zero' approach At the heart of Antler's strategy is its 'day zero' investment approach — its six-month pre-seed, pre-launch program designed for founders at the very earliest stages. "These may be people with little more than ambition, maybe a domain, maybe not even a co-founder yet," Klink explains. The focus is on supporting founders as they kick into gear during the critical first period of building and growth. "We get super excited about founders, and we're fine if, at the beginning, there are still a few rough edges to the business that need to be rounded off," Klink admits.  "Quite often, we meet founders who have built an initial product but don't yet have the momentum to raise a full round. In such cases, we invite them into our office as part of a residency program.  We bring founders into our offices, work closely with them, and then make our initial investment." From there, Antler continues to back portfolio companies with follow-on investments. While the firm doesn't lead Series A rounds or beyond — "we prefer founders to team up with strong lead investors," Klink notes — it can invest up to €30 million per company over multiple rounds, supporting teams all the way through Series C. From engineers to domain experts to generalists According to Klink, Antler sees three main types of founder backgrounds: Technical backgrounds: Think engineers, CTOs, people who can actually build. "This is increasingly important; when you look at the top 10 US tech companies, 96 per cent of the founders had a technical background," he contends. Domain experts: People with deep knowledge of a sector like payments, industrial tech, or manufacturing. That expertise and credibility are critical, especially in B2B contexts. Generalists: Founders coming from commercial or operational roles. Increasingly, even generalists are using no-code tools to build prototypes themselves. According to Klink, the most successful founders tend to share a set of common traits. He describes it as a "positive craziness" — the willingness to take on the risk of starting a company. Resilience is just as critical, given the near-constant rejection from investors, customers, and potential hires that most entrepreneurs face. Strong communication skills are another essential aspect, as founders are "always selling," whether to staff, investors, regulators, or customers.  Finally, humility and teamwork are integral as he believes that "most successful companies are built by co-founding teams, and while overlapping skills can be valuable, overlapping roles often lead to tension — this is one of the most common reasons startups fail." Navigating Venture's hype cycles To date, Antler has brought more than 1,400 startups into existence across all industries, with the goal of backing more than 6,000 by 2030. While Antler was founded in 2017 in Singapore, the European office began investing around 2020–21, a unique time in venture capital marked by notable trends. According to Klink, Venture follows clear hype cycles. "We saw Web3 and anything blockchain-related, then quick commerce, then fulfillment-by-Amazon roll-ups, and then climate tech. Sadly, climate tech cooled off quite a bit, which is a huge loss for the planet. Many funds that were raised with a pure climate focus are now diversifying." AI as a mega-cycle, not a fad Now, of course, we're in the AI cycle. But Klink sees this as different to other hype cycles, contending that "it's a genuine technological mega-cycle, comparable to the personal computer, the internet, or cloud computing." "And on the back of that technological mega cycle, there's a bunch of really, really cool stuff that's gonna be built. And I think that that allows a lot of things to happen, which is why I think it's a very, very interesting time to be building a business today and to be building in Europe." AI accelerates development dramatically. For example, companies are reaching revenue faster because they can iterate quicker and with fewer resources. Release cycles that used to take months now take weeks or even days. Klink is also seeing entirely new business models emerge that wouldn't have been possible a few years ago. For example, one of its portfolio companies, Peec AI is working on AI-powered search— "something you wouldn't have thought of as necessary 10 years ago, but which now feels indispensable," shared Klink. However, he contends that this also means that once someone figures something out, everyone else quickly follows, so you can't afford to rest or you'll be left behind.  "That's the flip side of rapid progress: the rules of the game have changed. We're back in a period where you need to move incredibly fast, stay close to your customers, and constantly react to both their needs and the competition.  You have to build hand-in-hand with your customers, because your competitors will be doing the same. That's especially true in areas like AI, which evolve rapidly and remain uncertain. Honestly, no one really knows what the landscape will look like in five years." When it comes to sector priorities for Antler, Klink highlighted four key areas: Defence tech: Antler is open to dual-use companies. In June portfolio company Voltrac officially launched its autonomous, electric tractor platform designed for agriculture and frontline logistics.  Robotics and hardware: Klink sees a resurgence in AI-enabled hardware, contending that climate tech showed VCs that you can't solve big problems with software alone—hardware matters. "Now, software-enabled machines are getting real traction." Cybersecurity: Klink argues that with the rise of hybrid threats targeting mission-critical infrastructure, the need for robust defences is only becoming more urgent. Longevity and preventive health: People and insurers are focused on health prevention. Antler portfolio company Skleo Health is developing preventive eye-screening technology and aims to make preventive eye care more accessible by offering quick, non-invasive eye screenings in everyday locations, such as opticians, pharmacies, and workplaces.  "Europe has rediscovered its voice" While the halcyon days of 2021 and 2022 are over, Klink is optimistic about tech in Europe, asserting that Europe has rediscovered its voice.  "Geopolitical shifts have forced the continent to show strength, and 2025 feels like a turning point. Europe had to find that voice for a long time, but didn't. Now it has. We're seeing real scale stories — the second German decacorn Helsing just emerged — , and there are more exciting companies scaling across Europe."  Klink admits that European founders are unlikely to out-raise international competitors, especially US companies, "So you have to out-execute. The good news is that AI helps level the playing field. With fewer resources, you can now achieve much more. Execution, customer traction, and speed are more important than ever." Raise when you are ready "In terms of early-stage funding, Klink advises founders to ensure they are solving a problem that's at the very top of your customers' agenda today.  "Most VCs are generalists. If payments are scaling faster than cybersecurity, they'll invest in payments, not cybersecurity. So your problem has to be urgent and important to your customer right now." He advises companies to ship constantly, work closely with customers, and let fundraising be an outcome of building, not the other way around. "Great founders build first and then raise." Third, run a structured fundraising process. Reach out broadly, use warm introductions, and tap into the ecosystem.  "Early-stage investment is a very people-centric bet, so you want investors to fall in love not just with your idea, but with you." With this in mind, he stresses, finally, raise when you're ready — when you have the right proof points.   "There is such a thing as raising too early. And remember: fundraising takes an enormous amount of time and energy. Don't let it distract you from actually building your business. Lead image: Antler. Photo: uncredited. 

Revolut today pledged a £3bn investment in the UK and the creation of 1,000 UK jobs, as it opened its new global HQ in London.Europe’s most valuable private tech firm said the £3bn investment included recruiting for 1,000 roles, particularly in its B2B business, the continued development of its new HQ, as well as capitalising the UK bank as it expects to exit the mobilisation phase and get its much-sought-after UK banking licence.Revolut, valued at $75bn, said the £3bn UK investment was part of a broader five-year plan to invest £10bn and create 10,000 jobs globally. Revolut currently has more than 10,000 employees.Revolut, which currently has over 65m customers globally, including 12m in the UK, says it aims to hit the 100m customer mark by mid-2027.Nik Storonsky, CEO & co-founder of Revolut, said: "Our mission has always been to simplify money for our customers, and our vision to become the world’s first truly global bank is the ultimate expression of that. "From our roots here in the UK, we've grown to serve over 65 million customers globally, and today's opening of our new Global HQ in London is the launchpad for our future. This HQ will be central to driving our growth towards our next milestone of 100 million customers."To power that journey from our home market, we are investing £3 billion in the UK over the next five years. This commitment will not only create 1,000 new jobs but will also fuel the innovation from our London hub that will help us deliver on our global ambitions."Revolut also announced updates to its international expansion plans, including launching as a bank in Mexico early next year and plans to soon launch in India.

Barcelona-based recruitment company Workfully has closed an oversubscribed seed round exceeding €4 million to reinvent recruiting by empowering independent recruiters. The round was led by Shilling VC, with continued support from Indico, Pitchdrive, and Secways. Founded in 2022, Workfully aims to create the world’s most trusted hiring experience by placing individual recruiters, not agencies, at the centre of the process. Unlike marketplaces that sideline recruiters, Workfully lets them own and monetise their talent communities, much like creators do with subscribers on platforms such as Substack or YouTube. Recruiters on Workfully get a free, AI-powered CRM to publish roles, manage pipelines, and retain full ownership of their talent pools. Built-in monetisation lets them offer companies on-demand access to their audiences, creating recurring revenue without building costly agencies or chasing clients. Rather than amassing LinkedIn followers with no clear path to income, Workfully recruiters can scale earnings directly as their networks grow. For employers, Workfully offers a credible alternative to traditional agencies, often expensive and inconsistent, with eight in ten businesses reporting dissatisfaction. Companies can see the exact talent profiles within a recruiter’s pool, review client feedback, check candidate-experience ratings, and verify each recruiter’s track record for similar roles. The seed round closed in just over 30 days, reflecting strong investor confidence in Workfully’s mission and early momentum. The new capital will fund expansion into Ireland, Germany, Benelux, and the Nordics, further development of the first AI-powered monetization platform for recruiters, and a series of in-person launch events for talent leaders.

Nvidia is to make a "strategic" investment in UK AI startup ElevenLabs, as the AI-audio generator looks to bring in strategic partners in a bid to grow its business over the long term. The investment for an undisclosed amount marks the first time the US chip giant will have invested in UK unicorn ElevenLabs, which was founded in 2022. ElevenLabs CEO and co-founder Mati Staniszewski said: “We need strategic partners. It is a good combination where they are coming in with more than capital. They are strategically bringing in the GPUs, which they have inside-out knowledge of. It is mostly from the strategic angle. “Currently, we don’t need the extra capital and now we are thinking about the strategic partners that we can really bring in for the next ten years.” The investment will be structured as a standard in-between round, said Staniszewski, speaking today at an event in London hosted by ElevenLabs, showcasing how companies were using its AI voice agents. Staniszewski did not reveal details of how much Nvidia was investing in ElevenLabs, which is also backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia. ElevenLabs trains its own text-to-speech and speech-to-text AI models, powered by Nvidia’s GPUs. Last week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang listed several UK startups Nvidia was investing in, at an event in London, as part of a giant £2bn investment in UK AI startups. These were Wayve, Oxa, Revolut, PolyAI, Synthesia, Latent Labs and Basecamp Research. ElevenLabs was also on the list, but it is understood Huang did not read its name out, as it was on a different page from the other startups mentioned. Huang did, though, namecheck ElevenLabs as a notable startup building in the UK. Earlier this month, ElevenLabs confirmed an employee share sale valuing it at $6.6bn, which was double its valuation of nine months previous. In January this year, ElevenLabs tripled its valuation to $3.3.bn following a $180m funding round. 

UK-based technology company DaltonTx has exited stealth and completed a £4 million seed financing round. Backed by Redalpine, IQ Capital Partners, and Seedcamp, with additional support from Oxford University Innovation, DaltonTx will use this funding to redefine how technology transforms drug discovery. Pharma has a rare chance to make discovery faster and more effective with AI, but creating adaptive platforms demands years of engineering and deep scientific know-how. DaltonTx addresses this gap with a disease- and technology-agnostic platform that plugs into pharma, biotech, and CRO workflows, giving teams immediate access to AI-enabled discovery instead of building it in-house. DaltonTx was founded by Dr Garry Pairaudeau, Adrian Rossall, Dr Anthony Bradley, and Professor Charlotte Deane MBE, bringing decades of real-world experience in drug discovery, machine learning, and software engineering. Built by scientists for scientists, DaltonTx goes beyond predictive modelling to power the entire discovery loop, from raw data and model training to molecular design, synthesis, and decision-making. It’s not merely predictive, it’s adaptive: a reasoning engine that learns from every scientist, model, and experiment to improve outcomes continuously. DaltonTx’s platform is purpose-built for both small molecules and biologics, making it well-suited to the most complex R&D pipelines. It also enables collaborative intelligence, allowing scientists to work with an engine that iterates and learns, combining human insight with machine learning in real time. As explained by Dr Garry Pairaudeau, the company was created to change the status quo. It tackles high-impact problems with adaptive, AI-enabled systems that slot into scientific workflows, learn from every experiment, and equip organisations with durable AI capability. The funds will be used to build adaptive, AI-enabled discovery platforms that reshape the economics, timelines, and outcomes of R&D so breakthrough medicines reach patients faster.

Belgian healthtech startup Monsana has raised €500,000 in pre-seed funding from Seeder Fund, LRM, and private investors to accelerate patient access to innovative clinical trials. Recruiting patients remains a major bottleneck in the development of new medicines. About 70 per cent of trials are delayed by enrolment challenges, and too often, eligible patients aren’t identified in time to access promising treatments. Monsana addresses this challenge with an AI-powered platform that reads and interprets unstructured medical data, matching patients to the right studies quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively. The result is tighter collaboration between physicians and pharmaceutical companies, lower costs, and fewer eligible patients slipping through the cracks. Founded in June 2024 by Dr. Valerie Vandeweerd (CEO) and Simeon Devos (CTO), Monsana is rooted in medical and personal experience. Dr Vandeweerd, a former gynaecologist and clinical trial expert at Johnson & Johnson, saw firsthand how difficult it can be to connect patients with studies, even when her own family urgently needed experimental treatment. The platform has already proven effective in Belgian hospitals, doubling the number of patients identified in a fraction of the time, and Monsana is working with several Belgian hospitals and international pharma partners as it prepares to expand to neighboring countries. With this new investment, Monsana will deepen collaborations with hospitals, CROs, and pharmaceutical companies, while advancing a responsible, trust-first approach to medical AI.

Milan-based Pillar, a fintech digitizing construction finance, has closed a €3.2 million pre-seed round. Emblem led the investment, joined by international backers Pareto, Plug and Play, and Kima Ventures, as well as Italian investors B Heroes, Vento, Eden Ventures, and IAG. Prominent entrepreneurs also participated, including the founders of Aria, Convelio, Mobile First Company, 1000farmacie, Sibill, Futura, and Lexroom, alongside business angels such as Paola Bonomo, Ignazio Rocco Da Torrepadula, and Enrico Pandian. Founded by three entrepreneurs with deep tech and startup experience, Gabriel Guinea Montalvo, Paolo Tarsia Incuria, and Lorenzo Demaio, Pillar targets a core sector of the Italian and European economy that still relies on legacy processes. Construction remains central to Italy’s growth, accounting for 11.4 per cent of GDP in 2023 and roughly one-third of GDP growth over the past two years, yet advanced technology adoption is limited. The founders saw firsthand the gap between the complexity of construction finance and the potential of fintech, and set out to build software tailored to builders’ needs. Pillar gives construction companies a precise, real-time view of where money goes, tracking revenues, expenses, and margins at both the company level and for each project. Designed to be simple and intuitive, the platform uses AI to automate controls, reconcile bank transactions, and flag anomalies before they become real problems. Its key differentiator is its ability to integrate data from different sources (from tax records to bank accounts), while also automatically capturing information generated directly on site, such as delivery notes, hours worked, completed tasks, and progress reports. Since launch, Pillar has gained strong traction, with more than 100 clients, 350 projects managed, more than 500 workers tracked, and over 40,000 invoices processed. With the new funding, the company will accelerate product development, strengthen go-to-market efforts, and expand the team to scale.

Venture capital firm C4 Ventures announces the launch of its third fund, with a target fund size of €100 million.  C4 Ventures III will focus on early-stage investments in AI and deep tech startups across Europe, reinforcing the continent’s ability to create global contenders in the field.   C4 Ventures sees AI as the defining technological shift of our time, one that will transform both software applications, where most of the industry is focused, and Physical AI (robotics and autonomous systems), where C4 Ventures has been a pioneer since its inception. “The AI revolution is bigger than any previous technological shift we’ve seen since the Internet,” comments C4 Ventures Founder & CEO Pascal Cagni.  “We are at the forefront of a massive transformation that will redefine industries. With C4 Ventures III, we are doubling down on this moment, backing talented founders in AI, robotics, quantum computing and beyond”. C4 Ventures is recognised for its hardware expertise, with 5 hardware unicorns and leading portfolio companies such as NEURA Robotics (cognitive robots), Graphcore (AI processors), Alice & Bob and PsiQuantum (quantum computing), and more recently Arago (AI semiconductors). These investments reflect the firm’s unique ability to bridge frontier hardware and cutting-edge software, a combination it believes will shape the AI revolution. C4 Ventures has an operator-led, founder-first ethos. The boutique fund was built by former Apple and Microsoft executives like Pascal Cagni and Eric Boustouller, who have scaled tech companies across Europe and beyond, and now apply that experience to support visionary entrepreneurs from inception to exit.  Moreover, C4 Ventures draws on a global network of over 30 operating partners from the world’s leading tech companies. These experts provide strategic guidance, operational support, and access to a powerful network of industry leaders.  “C4 Ventures was built on a vision of Operators backing Entrepreneurs with global ambition and strong involvement,” says C4 Ventures Co-Founder and Managing Director Boris Bakech. “Fund III will extend this vision into the AI era, combining our operating and investing experience with the determination of founders to build Europe’s next champions.” Since its inception in 2014, C4 Ventures has invested in 54 tech startups, 12 of which have become unicorns. This exceptional ratio is rarely seen in European venture capital.  The firm has now seen a full investment cycle, with over 20 exits, 2 IPOs on NYSE (Riskified and Via) and 7 corporate M&A deals.  C4 Ventures II, launched in 2020, has significantly outperformed industry benchmarks. The fund already ranks in the top quartile for value creation and nearly the top decile for liquidity, just five years after inception, demonstrating the strength of C4 Ventures’ investment strategy and execution. “The success of C4 Ventures II has strengthened our conviction to launch C4 Ventures III to seize the defining technological shift of our time: artificial intelligence”, concludes C4 Ventures Partner Eric Boustouller. “Technology’s next chapter is unfolding right now, in Europe as much as anywhere else, and we are committed to supporting the founders who will shape it.”

Cologne-based Sunhat, the startup helping the enterprise automatically validate and share ESG and vital non-financial data, has closed €9.2 million in Series A funding. The round was led by CommerzVentures, with participation from existing investors Capnamic, EnBW New Ventures, xdeck, and WEPA Ventures. Enterprises are fielding a growing volume of requests for policies, certificates, audit records, ESG metrics, and other compliance evidence, each with specific formats and deadlines. Although this information is produced daily, teams often struggle to find, verify, and present it when needed. Research suggests employees spend roughly 360 hours a year searching for documentation, and about half of digital workers report difficulty locating required information. These pressures are intensifying as sustainability reporting and compliance become mandatory in more regions. With governance, risk, and compliance platforms projected to grow by $44.22 billion between 2025 and 2029, the ability to deliver instant, verifiable proof is becoming a meaningful operational and commercial advantage. Sunhat provides an AI platform that converts ESG and compliance data into verified, ready-to-send documentation for customers, investors, lenders, and regulators. The need for proof is not new, but its scale now exceeds the limits of legacy processes. Large enterprises receive thousands of requests each month across supply chains, financing, and commercial engagements, creating manual workloads that drain productivity, slow decisions, and complicate trust building. At the core of the platform is Proof AI, an intelligence engine trained on insights from thousands of successful questionnaires, audits, and assessments. It understands what counts as valid, verifiable proof for leading management standards, disclosure frameworks, and ESG ratings, and it maps those requirements to approved information companies already hold. The system learns continuously, refining rules and checklists over time. Proof AI Agents connect to existing systems, such as SharePoint and other core business platforms, as well as specialised ESG, EHS, and quality tools. They capture new information as it appears, check for recency and completeness, and alert owners before anything expires or becomes invalid. When a questionnaire or audit arrives, the agents generate a verified, ready-to-send response in minutes instead of weeks. The platform also scales across teams. Many customers begin with a single compliance or sustainability use case and then extend it to sales, legal, and procurement workflows. The new investment will support Sunhat’s next phase of growth. The company plans to expand its team, advance Proof AI, add integrations and partnerships, and continue closing the proof gap by making verified evidence instantly available.

Futurail, the European deep-tech startup developing an autonomy stack for self-driving trains,  announced the closing of a seed round, bringing total funding to €7.5 million.  Founded in 2023, Futurail is led by former Tesla, Argo AI, and Edge Case leaders, who previously shaped the rise of autonomous driving in the automotive sector. Now, they are bringing that expertise to rail with a clear mission: to make trains the most attractive mode of transportation.  I spoke to Maximilian Schöffer, co-founder and CCO, to learn more. The climate spark behind Futurail According to Schöffer, CEO Alex Haag led Tesla’s Autopilot team before moving to Audi, where he built its self-driving unit from zero to 300 people as CTO and Managing Director.  “That became part of the Argo AI joint venture with Ford and Volkswagen. After years in robotics and automation, he began asking what he could do for his kids regarding climate change.” Haag and his family started tracking their emissions and realised how much came from flying. He cut out flights almost entirely and began to rethink transportation. That reflection led him back to trains — still responsible for a third of global transport emissions, but with far more potential for decarbonisation. Schöffer detailed, “He asked himself: why don’t we have autonomous trains?  After speaking to people in the rail industry, he realised these were the same conversations the car industry was having 10–15 years ago — pilots here and there, but no real leader. His takeaway from the auto sector was clear: incumbents won’t be the ones to crack autonomy. It would be specialised software startups.” Schöffer had worked at a Pittsburgh-based autonomous driving startup and knew the space well. He recounted: “When a mutual friend reintroduced me to Alex, at first I thought: “Trains? Sounds boring.” But the more we spoke, the more I realised the economics made perfect sense." Schöffer contends, “We founded Futurail to bring that same revolutionary potential to rail, turning a 200-year-old industry into the backbone of sustainable mobility.”  Solving real industry pain points  Futurail offers two key selling points to the rail industry.  In Europe, operators spend about €500,000 per train per year on driver salaries, because they need 5–6 drivers per train.  “Utilisation is poor: on average, drivers are only productive about 50 per cent of the time. We realised we could cut those costs by up to 80% with an autonomous software stack.” Its first use case is depot autonomy. Up to 30 per cent of a driver’s time is spent in depots — moving trains to and from platforms, sidings, or yards. It's a fenced-off, restricted space, so it’s a perfect first use case.  Depot autonomy, for example, frees drivers from repetitive shunting and lets them spend more time on productive passenger routes. Further, there’s an acute driver shortage. According to Schöffer, almost half of Europe’s train staff is over 50 and will retire soon, while the EU wants to double rail kilometres.  “Training a driver takes 2–3 years. So we’re not replacing drivers anytime soon — we’re catching up with demand.” Cracking “the pilot problem” As of today, Futurail is already working with customers in Europe and the US, integrating and testing their system. Governments are under increasing pressure to offer flexible, cost-efficient and sustainable mobility for citizens and industries alike, which they can only achieve by shifting both passengers and freight from road to rail.  In mobility, many startups are able to successfully deploy their software in pilot projects but are unable to gain those critical first commercial customers, which lead to further product development, scale and customer acquisition. Critically, Futurail deliberately works with smaller, faster-moving players.  “This is not a fancy research project,” added Dr Patrick Dendorfer, CTO and co-founder. “It is about the serious ambition to build a certified, safe system that holds the expectations to redefine how people and goods move.” The startup already benefits from strategic early partnerships: in Europe with Lohr Group, a French global specialist in the design and manufacture of transport systems, including in railways; and in the United States with Parallel Systems, an automated, battery-electric freight rail vehicles startup founded by former SpaceX engineers. “What excites our partners is that autonomy unlocks both growth and efficiency,” said Maximilian Schöffer, CCO and Co-Founder. “Operators can run more trains, more often, at lower cost. That is a complete game-changer.” At scale, this shift will move millions of passengers and tons of freight from road to rail, avoiding more than 10 million tons of CO₂ emissions annually. Schöffer explained:  “In France, we’re in a government-backed consortium with a manufacturer and operator to build a new battery-electric train with autonomy integrated from the start. In the US, we’re working with Parallel Systems on retrofitting. Both projects are targeting certification in 2027, with mass production from 2028. That’s why our current funding is structured to get us to that certification milestone — so we’re not just running demos, but building systems that will scale.” Europe can’t miss the autonomy boat twice Significantly, the company’s autonomy stack, FUTURAILDriver, can be integrated into new trains or retrofitted onto existing fleets. Importantly, it also enables full use of secondary lines and the reopening of previously unprofitable routes, strengthening regional connectivity and unlocking new capacity across the network.  “All processing happens on the train, with off-the-shelf sensors integrated through our perception and sensor fusion systems. Retrofitting is critical because trains last 40 years. You can’t wait until 2060 to buy your first autonomous fleet,” stresses Schöffer. “We want to build Futurail into a global leader, but with a strong European base. Europe has the largest rail network in the world, and autonomy is a chance not to miss the boat — as we did with automotive AI." From depot autonomy, Futurail plans to expand to branch line autonomy, connecting rural towns with regional trains, before tackling mainline routes, which are much more complex,” he explained. “We see three phases: starting with depots and industrial sites — low-speed, restricted environments; moving to branch lines — rural routes with fewer trains and limited speeds; and ultimately mainlines — high-speed passenger and freight, which is the final goal.“Our autonomy stack doesn’t care if it’s pulling passengers or freight; the key challenge is perception and certification. By 2027, we aim to have our first certified systems on the tracks." Asterion Ventures (Paris) and Leap435 (Munich), co-led the round, which included EIT Urban Mobility and US investors Zero Infinity Partners and Heroic Ventures. Investors see in Futurail a unique opportunity to lead the train autonomy market. “ combines deep technical expertise and long-term vision with proven commercial traction to establish global relevance,” said Alexandre Sauvage, Partner at Asterion Ventures. “Their technology has the potential to transform rail into the backbone of sustainable mobility in Europe and beyond.” Dr Matthias Kempf, Founding Partner at Leap435, added: “Just as electric traction replaced steam and defined a new era, autonomy is the transformative technology of this century for the rail. Futurail is delivering this leap and ensuring Europe's industry stays ahead. With €7.5 million in funding, comprising €5.5 million in seed investment, €1 million in public grants, and €1 million from a pre-seed conversion, Futurail will accelerate team expansion, drive key projects with leading train OEMs and operators, and obtain regulatory approval for its first use case: depot autonomy. 

Veridox, an AI-powered platform for detecting document and image manipulation in insurance claims, has raised £1 million. The round was led by Outward VC with participation from Solo Investments Holdings Limited. Fraudulent insurance claims in Europe are estimated at around €13 billion a year, nearly 10 per cent of payouts, yet most insurers can quantify only what they’ve detected, not their total exposure. Veridox was founded by Dan Sandler, a former solicitor and serial entrepreneur who previously co-founded and exited Tabb (an order-and-pay app for hospitality), to address this gap. The company helps insurers move beyond manual, fragmented fraud detection by delivering AI-driven, litigation-ready insights on document and image tampering. Veridox’s platform forensically analyses claim files to flag potential manipulation that would otherwise be difficult or time-consuming to uncover. In an early pilot with a large insurer, the MVP identified approximately £50,000 of suspected fraud in a single case within seconds. Our mission is to help insurers make more informed decisions on fraud faster, which we do by offering reasoning behind why a document presents a risk of fraud to guide their investigation. This explainability sets us apart, and our development partners are already seeing the benefits, commented Dan Sandler. Unlike tools that surface only generic “red flags,” Veridox provides contextual findings with clear rationale, what was detected, why it matters, and where to look next, helping investigators distinguish benign edits (such as adding a signature) from manipulations with malicious intent. This level of explainability also supports the preparation of CPR 35 reports to meet compliance and evidentiary standards. The new funding will support team expansion, with a focus on product and sales, ahead of a broader market launch.

Wexler.ai, the AI platform for complex litigation, today announced a $5.3 million Seed round. Unlike broad legal AI tools, wexler.ai is explicitly designed to think like a litigator. The platform delivers verified, actionable facts with speed and scale, replacing slow and error-prone factual analysis with workflows built for case strategy. For example, tasks like building detailed chronologies that once took days can now be completed in about an hour. I spoke to co-founder and CEO Gregory Mostyn to learn more. "We're replacing slow, manual, and error-prone litigation review with a system that thinks like a litigator but operates at machine scale and speed," said Mostyn.  "With our newest release, litigators can not only build a winning case strategy by mastering the evidence, but challenge inaccuracies as they happen in proceedings."  Mostyn is not a lawyer by training. He comes from a sales and marketing background, having founded a couple of events businesses and served as a director at several scaleups. But law runs in the family: his father is a recently retired judge from the English Family Court and formerly a barrister, his brother is a partner at Cleary Gottlieb, and his stepmother is also a barrister. According to Mostyn, his dad retired due to Parkinson's but has been very involved in Wexler from the beginning. "He gave us the initial insight into how facts are the backbone of a system that could help solve complex disputes — essentially a litigation-specific AI platform." Further, Mostyn has always had an entrepreneurial drive — he joined  Entrepreneur First, and was keen to focus on litigation at a time when most legal AI was broad.  "That focus allowed us to go deep into workflows where the ROI is enormous because of the sheer volume of data involved." Software that "thinks like a litigator" According to Mostyn, wexler.ai thinks like a litigator. He explained that litigation is ultimately about facts: who did what, when, where, and why.  "The legal question usually comes after the factual one. That was one of the main insights from my father and has been confirmed by conversations with customers. Wexler works at the fact level, not just the document level. Instead of just saying 'this document is relevant,' it reads it like a human would, extracts the key nugget of information, and connects it to the broader story.  For example, a critical admission could be buried on page 93 of a document — wexler.ai finds that." It also identifies inconsistencies. For instance, if someone says in a deposition that they were in France, but an old email shows they didn't even have a passport at the time, Wexler surfaces that contradiction." According to Mostyn, such subtle insights are critical in litigation.  "Crack the chronology, crack the case" One of Wexler's most interesting features is real-time fact-checking of live audio. The funding comes as the company launches Wexler Real-Time, a groundbreaking real-time legal fact-checking feature as part of its fact intelligence platform, already used by top global firms to build chronologies, query vast case materials, and surface key inconsistencies. The new capability flags false or inconsistent testimony as it's spoken in depositions and hearings. Traditionally, Wexler ingests documents, analyses them, and consolidates insights. However, Mostyn explained, the shift now is layering that over live audio.  "In depositions, arbitrations, or litigation (with permission), if someone says something that contradicts the evidence, Wexler flags it instantly and points to the relevant documents." "For example, in Richard Sackler's deposition during the opioid litigation, he claimed he wasn't involved in marketing OxyContin. wexler.ai would flag that and point to multiple emails showing he was very involved. That's a powerful capability. Structuring the facts this way helps map out stronger case strategies," explained Mostyn. "As we say: crack the chronology, crack the case." The system extracts, analyses, and verifies key factual information across massive case datasets, transforming raw data into a usable work product. With the ability to process up to 500,000 documents per upload and support multilingual deployments, the technology enables global firms to handle the complexity of modern disputes with precision. The company also announced new global law firm customers, including HSF Kramer, Goodwin Procter, and Addleshaw Goddard. While many already use generalist AI platforms, like Microsoft Copilot or broad legal AI systems, Mostyn contends that litigation is different —"the stakes are high, and the workflows are unique. That's why they turn to us." "One client said Wexler feels like it's "built by litigators for litigators," even though I'm not a litigator myself. That's exactly our goal: to be the specialised litigation AI platform that understands the nuances of disputes." Hitting an inflexion point with US scaling wexler.ai is currently doubling down in the US, which Mostyn attributes to the company "hitting an inflexion point."  Mostyn explained that the beauty of focusing on facts is that facts are universal, making scale a viable option across different jurisdictions. "The core analysis works across jurisdictions and languages. We'll adapt outputs like motions or applications depending on the jurisdiction, but the core — analysing facts in context — is the same everywhere." Growing adoption across top-tier firms highlights the platform's category-defining role in litigation. From AmLaw 50 leaders in the US to multinational firms in London, and rapid growth in APAC, users report dramatic reductions in review time and stronger confidence in case strategy. Today, more than 70 per cent of wexler.ai users are in the US, with rapid growth across the UK, Europe, Canada, and Australia, as Mostyn explained: "Pear, a leading Silicon Valley VC, led our funding round, which is a big endorsement for a European legal AI startup. We're also hiring top litigators — one just joined us from Mayer Brown. We've been lean and even profitable in some months, but now it's time to accelerate. We want to convert this early growth into becoming the market-leading litigation AI platform." Since its pre-seed round in 2024, wexler.ai has grown its ARR by 20x and reduced manual review by at least 75 per cent, helping leading law firms and corporate legal teams establish facts faster and with greater accuracy.  Long-standing customer Clifford Chance has also embedded  wexler.ai across its dispute resolution practice, and Burges Salmon has also adopted the platform to enhance its legal workflows. Pear VC led the round, with participation from Seedcamp, The LegalTech Fund, and Pre-seed lead investors Myriad Venture Partners.  "At Pear, we love to partner with highly ambitious founders who are tackling big problems with unique tech," said Kathleen Estreich, Partner at Pear VC. "Greg and the wexler.ai team are building what's quickly becoming essential infrastructure for litigation. They combine real-time fact-checking with workflows designed for how lawyers actually win cases, becoming essential for all litigators." "In complex disputes, establishing the facts is often challenging and time-consuming," said Charlie Morgan, Partner at HSF Kramer.  "The Wexler platform is helping our teams do this more quickly and effectively, which in turn helps us improve case strategies, deliver more value and secure the best outcomes for our clients."  "Litigation is one of the most complex and high-stakes areas of law, and wexler.ai is redefining how lawyers uncover and use facts," said Tom Wilson, Partner at Seedcamp.  "We believe Wexler's team is building foundational technology that will change the economics of litigation, making legal teams faster, sharper, and ultimately more successful." "We like the accuracy and litigation-focused design of Wexler - it's truly a product for litigators," said David Hobbie, Director, Knowledge & Innovation at Goodwin. "Our lawyers have found it invaluable for early case assessment and thorough fact analysis, including identifying conflicting evidence. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Wexler as adoption spreads and as more fact-related features like the real-time fact-checking function are released." The new funding will accelerate wexler.ai's product development; increase the scale of documents to millions per upload, expand the engineering and commercial teams; support wexler.ai's US launch; and scale multilingual, region‑specific deployments to meet growing demand from top‑tier law firms and corporate teams.  Built by privacy and security experts, wexler.ai employs user-specific encryption keys, data masking, and complies with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, and AWS Cloud Security standards. Looking ahead, Mostyn litigation believes that overall, in the future, litigation will be fairer and more efficient: "Today, cases are often limited by budget — firms only review the evidence they can afford to analyse. With AI, all the evidence can be reviewed. That means stronger advocacy and more equitable outcomes for clients." For firms, AI won't just be about cost savings. It opens new revenue streams and pricing models. Some firms are already exploring fixed-fee "menu" services powered by AI.  "The forward-thinking firms adopting these tools now will benefit the most."

Forgent AI, an AI company reinventing how businesses win public sector contracts, today announced it has raised €4.3 million in Pre-Seed funding.  Public procurement represents a €2 trillion market in Europe, yet tens of billions are lost annually to manual processes, fragmented tender portals, and outdated workflows. Despite the massive stakes, 40 per cent of tenders receive one or zero bids, resulting in reduced competition, inflated prices, and lost public value. These inefficiencies come at a critical moment. Germany's €600 billion defence and infrastructure funds and the EU's €800 billion recovery package are reaching peak deployment, yet most companies can't navigate the complexity to bid. The result: fewer options for governments and missed opportunities for business across Europe. Forgent is changing that. Its platform uses AI agents to compress work from days to hours, enabling companies to discover more relevant opportunities, draft stronger bids, streamline compliance checks, and significantly cut costs - freeing up teams to focus on strategy and execution, not paperwork. The average tender has several hundred requirements and upwards of 30 different documents, and one small error can disqualify the entire application. Forgent’s AI understands all formal requirements and uses precision to scan and screen the best opportunities and recommend a bidding decision nearly instantaneously, saving significant time and resources. Forgent was founded by a team of engineers, researchers, and operators with deep industry expertise who are on a mission to build highly reliable, domain-aware AI for high-stakes environments. The founding team includes:   Erik Heinelt: Serial entrepreneur with two exits, including a local services marketplace to CHECK24, and co-founder of the German Startup Association. Dr Leonard Wossnig: Google PhD fellow and honorary Research Fellow at    UCL with over 10 years in AI research, founded and sold AI startup Rahko,    and was a former CTO at LabGenius, and Dr Timo Kuschma: Stanford-trained physician-scientist with a track record of leading AI teams at QuantumBlack that unlocked hundreds of millions in value, and leadership roles at Tecton (acquired by Databricks ), and Humanloop (exit to Anthropic). “We see a generational opportunity to rebuild how businesses engage with governments: faster, smarter, and at scale," said Erik Heinelt, co-founder and CEO of Forgent.  "When we succeed, public institutions gain access to better solutions, economic participation expands, and innovation flows more freely into the systems that shape everyday life.” Already, Forgent’s customers, ranging from infrastructure firms to high-tech suppliers, are using the platform to simplify discovery and identify precise matches across thousands of fragmented tender portals in Europe and improve win rates with proposals that never miss a requirement. Cherry Ventures led the round, with participation from prominent angels, including Charlie Songhurst (Board at Meta), KatrinSuder, (Chair at DHL Group, Board at Cloudflare) and leading experts of OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind. “What excites us about Forgent is not just the technology, it’s the ambition,” said Filip Dames, Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures. “They’re not building another tool. They’re rearchitecting how a €2 trillion public market works. By bridging deep AI expertise with hard-won procurement experience, this team is unlocking real economic value for both businesses and taxpayers.” The new funding will be used to grow the team, expand into new verticals, and advance Forgent’s AI agent technology. Lead image: Forgent AI. Photo: uncredited. 

Early-stage VC firm Ventech has announced the final closing of its sixth flagship fund, Ventech Capital VI, at €175 million, the largest fund in the firm's 26-year history. With €1.1 billion fund raised,    Ventech has built a cross-border investment platform with 320+ investments, 185 exits and 19 IPOs. Notable investments include Believe , Vestiaire Collective, Withings,    Arteris, Webedia, Prewave, and Veo . To date, Ventech Capital VI has made 15 investments: 6 in France, four in Germany, four in the Nordics, and one in the USA.  Ventech Capital VI is on track to back around 35 companies across Europe. With AI driving transformation across sectors, Ventech is strategically dedicating 50 per cent of its capital and time to AI-native vertical applications, backing category-defining companies that are shaping the future. Beyond AI, the firm is doubling down on four additional investment theses that align with global technological shifts: Digital Health, Industrial Software, cybersecurity and Sovereignty. Each of these sectors represents a massive opportunity for innovation. "We are entering a new cycle of disruption driven by AI and deep technological shifts. Now is the time to build, and we are thrilled to partner with ambitious founders tackling the biggest challenges and opportunities of our time," said Jean Bourcereau, Chairman and Managing Partner at Ventech.  "With five offices and a strong network across Europe, we are poised to support the next generation of category-defining companies from day one." With 15 companies already backed by Ventech Capital VI, featuring the German space traffic management company Okapi Orbits, the Finnish M&A SaaS firm Inven, the Swedish AI-driven IT service management startup Starhive, the enterprise platform to build AI agents Vertesia and the French Omaha Insights for next-gen equity research. Ventech was among the first to establish a local presence in Germany and China, in 2013 and 2006, respectively. Now Ventech is doubling down on the DACH region, expanding its team in Munich and deepening its connections to the local innovation ecosystems. Jean Bourcereau added: "Friendly globalisation is suffering, to say the least. Europe is more and more on its own. With 8 of the world's 10 largest companies being US tech giants, Europe's path is clear: double down on innovation. VC funds must step up to drive the next wave of global leaders." Ventech's been through multiple economic cycles, and now it's time for the younger generations. Ventech was founded on the eve of the infamous dot-com bubble, a period that saw countless VC funds and startups crumble. Yet, Ventech emerged stronger, forged by two unwavering convictions: Crises are prime moments for investment, as they often give rise to the next generation of industry giants. Technology, despite the turmoil, will continue to reshape the world. As Ventech's Founding Partner, Alain Caffi retires on a high note - with an outstanding 36x multiple exit from Believe, he generously and gracefully passes the torch to the next generation, marking the beginning of a new chapter in Ventech's long-term story. Jean Bourcereau steps up as Chairman, continuing to carry forward the firm's vision and legacy, while the leadership team embraces a younger generation: Stephan Wirries becomes General Partner with Fund VI, and Audrey Soussan proudly stands as one of the female GPs in France, both under 40. Beyond strengthening its next-generation leadership, Ventech has expanded its operational team over the past three years with key hires, including a Head of Marketing, Head of Investor Relations, and an Impact & ESG Manager, to better support both the firm and its portfolio. Jean Bourcereau concluded: "We're proud to have raised this sixth-generation fund with the backing of a diverse group of international LPs. A 95 per cent re-up rate speaks volumes about the trust in Ventech's performance and core beliefs. We're also honoured to see over a dozen former founders return as investors, one of the strongest endorsements we could receive. The entire team is deeply grateful for the continued trust of our LPs and the founders who chose us to stand by their side!"

If Europe's tech ecosystem wants to see how a digital-first approach to startups and governance can work in practice — and what it could mean for the proposed 28th Regime — it needs look no further than e-Estonia, the country's long-running project to build a fully digital society. Since the 1990s, Estonia has adopted technology as the backbone of governance, business, and daily life, transforming itself from a newly independent state into one of the world's most advanced digital nations.  Check out our plain language guide to the 28th Regime and the work of EU Inc. Since the 1990s, Estonia has adopted technology as the backbone of governance, business, and daily life, transforming itself from a newly independent state into one of the world's most advanced digital nations. "100% digital, 0% bureaucrazy" At the core of e-Estonia is a secure digital identity system: every Estonian citizen and resident has a government-issued ID card that enables them to access nearly all public and many private services online.  "0% bureaucrazy" highlights Estonia's commitment to eliminating unnecessary hurdles with smart, seamless digital solutions. With all government services now online, citizens and businesses can interact with the state quickly, securely, and efficiently—saving time and reducing stress. Since December 2024, every service — even filing for divorce — can now be completed online, marking a new era in citizen-centric governance. This achievement positions Estonia as a global leader in digital governance, setting a benchmark for nations worldwide. This infrastructure allows for activities such as voting in elections, paying taxes, signing contracts, accessing healthcare records, and even starting a business — all digitally, from anywhere in the world. e-Estonia offers a model for other nations, showing how digital infrastructure can enhance efficiency, reduce bureaucracy, boost economic competitiveness, and strengthen trust between citizens and the state. Vahtras Vahtras is Managing Director of e-Residency and a board member of Enterprise Estonia https://eis.ee/en/. I spoke to her to learn about what Estonia’s experience can offer the 28th Regime. e-Residency: Estonia’s gateway to a borderless digital economy The e-Residency program, launched in 2014, lets non-residents apply for a digital identity, establish companies in Estonia, and access its digital services without needing to live there. In simple terms, E-Residency gives foreign nationals secure digital access to Estonia's public e-services, enabling them to establish and manage companies fully online, sign documents digitally, and operate across borders without the friction of bureaucracy.  "While you wait for EU Inc., try "EE Inc" When it comes to the need for the 28th Regime, Vahtras calls the current situation "unsustainable." "Just recently, I heard about an Estonian founder who had to travel to Germany so a notary could read out — in German — a contract he himself had written. It took eight hours. If investors were involved, they all had to be there in person. It's absurd. Founders should be building their technology, not wasting time like this. Governments need to think boldly, even with ideas that sound like science fiction, because otherwise the private sector moves on.""The 28th Regime in the form spearheaded by  EU Inc., is essential if Europe wants to remain competitive with the U.S. or China." And in the meantime, we say: while you wait for EU Inc., try "EE Inc." As of August 2025, Estonia's pioneering e-Residency program has evolved into a global community of over 126,500 e-residents from 185 countries, who have established more than 36,000 Estonian companies. E-residents now account for around 20 per cent of all new companies created annually in Estonia, with roughly 400 new businesses founded each month.  The initiative has also had a substantial impact on the country's startup scene, with 38 per cent of Estonian startups linked to e-residents. On average, the program receives about 1,000 new applications every month, and nearly half of e-residents today are EU citizens.  For Estonia, the program strengthens competitiveness, creates new revenue streams through taxes and fees, attracts international talent and investment, and drives indirect growth through service providers and employment.  The model delivers clear financial value as well, generating an 8.7x return on investment compared to the state's outlay. As a result, Vahtras contends that whatever Europe implements, it should benchmark against the most advanced systems.  "In Estonia, we've built infrastructure and testing environments over decades. What we don't want is to be forced to slow down, or to adopt structures that make our systems worse. That's why we're excited about the 28th Regime." Modestly — but aggressively— waiting for the phone to ring Vahtras praises the Estonian startups and investors campaigning on social media, asking for change, but admits Estonia "could be better at promoting our perspective."  She admits that Estonians can be too modest, sharing,  "we sometimes joke that Estonian salespeople are 'aggressively waiting for the phone to ring. But we are involved. And people like Andreas Klinger, who really understands our systems, are strong allies." In other words, don’t mistake modesty for weakness — this is, after all, the birthplace of unicorns like Skype, Playtech, Wise, Bolt, Pipedrive, Zego, Gelato, and Veriff. Estonia offers safe haven for startups amid geopolitical risks Estonia's location gives it a unique perspective, especially with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Vahtras notes that Ukrainian and other non-EU startups are increasingly turning to Estonian e-Residency to establish companies rapidly — particularly in defence technology. Supporting defence and other critical sectors, such as energy and telecommunications, remains a key political and governmental priority for Estonia. "For defence tech especially, speed matters," asserts Vahtras. "Old models can't constrain us. This is how we can also restore foreign investment to the region, despite geopolitical risks.""The war in Ukraine has made us more aligned, more awake. The Commission has moved faster on many fronts. Of course, war is tragic. But in terms of impetus, it's like COVID — suddenly governments proved they could digitise quickly when they had to. In Estonia, we developed a notary app during COVID. Now you can sign property deals from your desk with facial recognition. It saved so much wasted time. EU Inc. and the 28th Regime should adopt that same digital-first approach." She also cautions about the need to avoid brain drain — "Europe has talent, but if scaling is too difficult here, founders will go to the US or Asia.  The 28th Regime could help keep startups in Europe by making it easier to grow here, which would also fuel the ecosystem — the "flywheel effect" of founders, employees, and new ventures." Tallinn hydrogen technology firm PowerUP Energy Technologies is keenly aware of the challenges facing Ukraine, recently launching a crowdfunding campaign to deliver one UP1K hydrogen generator directly to a drone team operating on the front lines in Ukraine. Headquartered in Estonia, PowerUP also operates legal entities in Finland and Poland. According to CEO Ivar Kruusenberg, an 'EU Inc.' would make life significantly easier: "The immediate question is what the exact impact would be, especially on banking. I hope it would ease the process of opening bank accounts and conducting transactions across Europe, which is currently a hassle."  "For instance, to open a Finnish company and bank account, you need a Finnish residence permit, ID code, and postal address. The same applies in Poland. As someone who holds both Polish and Finnish ID numbers, I have to ask: why?" He also sees that the 28th Regime would offer a significant advantage for fundraising, as it would "instantly position a local company as a regional or continental player." "Coming from a small country, I definitely welcome this idea. I hope it would create a pan-European perspective for investors and observers." Pick easy wins, then scale   Looking forward, Vahtras believes that Europe needs to stay agile rather than take a cautious approach to the 28th Regime, which involves agreement on paper over action, contending, "if you take too much on at once, you'll end up with endless committees and no real outcomes. It's better to pick the realistic bits, test them, and show they work. That's how innovation moves forward." She suggests that every innovation needs optimists inside the government.  "If only pessimists are at the table — people who only see risks — then innovation loses. The private sector can't win against that. So identify the optimists in the Commission, amplify them, and pair them with private-sector drivers.  And apply the startup mindset: don't try to fix everything at once.  Pick the easy wins first — unified entity, cross-border investment, digital-first business registry. Deliver quickly, then scale up." Looking ahead, Estonia plans to make the e-Residency journey even smoother, with new digital solutions, more global pick-up points, and a secure remote identity verification system expected to roll out in 2026.

Danish fintech Predicti has secured $4.2 million in funding led by TX Ventures and Dreamcraft Ventures, with participation from Plug and Play, to accelerate growth and advance its AI platform. Predicti builds a fully API-enabled system that helps financial institutions anticipate customers’ next moves and act at the right moment. By combining a broad range of public-registry data with machine learning, the platform enriches client data and predicts life events, such as property purchases or relocations, then turns those signals into timely product recommendations across digital channels and advisor workflows. Founded in 2022 by Jakob Vang Glud (CEO), Nikolaj Mikkelsen (CAO), and Magnus Larsen (CTO), the company is headquartered in Aarhus with hubs in Copenhagen and Lithuania, and is expanding across the Nordics. Its product suite spans three pillars: data (up-to-date registry data and derived variables), life events (forward-looking signals), and advisor (automation that matches customers with relevant products). Together, these tools help banks, insurers, and pension providers become more proactive and reduce churn and manual effort. As customer relationships move to digital channels and the traditional advisory model comes under pressure, institutions are seeking predictive insight into current and emerging customer needs. Predicti’s growth reflects this shift. The new funding will fuel the company’s ambitious growth plans and accelerate the development of its AI-powered technology that enables financial institutions to anticipate customer needs before they arise.

ANYbotics, a provider of autonomous robotic inspection solutions, received a strategic investment from Climate Investment (CI), following a recent round and bringing total funding to over $150 million. With this investment, CI joins existing backers such as Aramco Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, NGP Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Supernova Invest, Swisscom Ventures, TDK Ventures, and Walden Catalyst Ventures. ANYbotics tackles critical industry challenges in safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Designed for the toughest industrial environments, ANYbotics’ mobile robots are used to improve asset monitoring, safety, and emissions management. The ANYmal robot can autonomously detect indicators of equipment issues, such as overheating, abnormal vibrations, and fugitive gas emissions, including in hazardous or remote areas. Its software enables autonomous navigation, collision avoidance, and stair climbing for deployment at complex industrial sites. More than 200 ANYmal units have been shipped, performing thousands of inspections each week across oil and gas, mining, power, utilities, and metals. ANYbotics is already deployed with several CI Limited Partners, including BP, Equinor, Eni, and Petrobras, and with customers and partners including SLB, Siemens Energy, Siemens AG, GE Vernova, Novelis, Outokumpu, AWS, SAP, Yokogawa, and NVIDIA. At the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage facility in Norway, an ANYmal robot operates autonomously at a normally uncrewed site. It conducts frequent inspections and monitors CO₂ concentration levels, providing automated analysis and anomaly reports to operators to support safety, uptime, and asset integrity. The company is preparing to begin customer deliveries of ANYmal X, an Ex-certified legged robot designed for hazardous and explosive environments. With CI’s investment and deployment support, ANYbotics plans to launch ANYmal X in 2026 to enable continuous inspection in explosive zones and mitigate operational risks. The funding will also support the company’s global expansion, aligning with CI’s focus on decarbonization technologies for complex industrial settings.