Finnish venture capital firm Vendep Capital has closed €80 million for its fourth fund to support early-stage SaaS founders in the Nordics and Baltics during the AI era. The fund is backed by Nordic and European investors, including Tesi (the Finnish state-owned investment company) and Pension Insurance Company Elo, alongside family offices and angel investors. The vehicle has reached its target size, though fundraising will remain open to new investors for a short period. Since 2013, Vendep has built a strong SaaS investing track record in the Nordics, backing companies such as AlphaSense, Hostaway, Leadfeeder, and Happeo. The firm focuses on early-stage B2B SaaS (from pre-seed to Series A) with a particular emphasis on AI-first products, and is recognised as a specialist SaaS investor in Northern Europe. We are excited to continue our work. The Nordics and Baltics offer one of the most thriving environments globally for building category-defining software companies, and Vendep is uniquely positioned to partner with the next wave of founders driving that growth, said Sakari Pihlava, Founding Partner at Vendep. The new fund arrives at a pivotal time for SaaS. Sami Ahvenniemi, General Partner at Vendep, commented that while SaaS may not be viewed as the flashiest investment theme, it has continued to outperform thanks to predictable recurring revenues and strong margins. He added that AI is ushering in the most dynamic phase for the model, noting that the most significant AI products today are delivered and monetised as SaaS. Fund IV will invest in around 20 early-stage SaaS startups across the Nordics and Baltics, from pre-seed to Series A, with initial investments ranging from €0.1 million to €3 million. Vendep also provides follow-on funding to support portfolio companies as they scale toward global market leadership.

Helsinki-based CHAOS, a data-intelligence company focused on reinventing the global real estate industry, has raised €2 million in a new funding round with participation from Swedish investment company Nidoco and Finnvera, a state-owned Finnish financing institution. Founded in 2017, CHAOS aims to modernise the real estate sector with advanced location intelligence and AI-driven insights. The platform aggregates and interprets fragmented data, including neighbourhood growth, population movements, business performance, and service needs. It then turns this information into actionable insights that help developers, investors, planners, and retailers decide where to invest, what to build, and how to support thriving communities and successful businesses. By providing better access to understandable data and actionable insights, our platform empowers the real estate industry to make more profitable and human-centric decisions, said Natalia Rincón-Eriksson, CEO and co-founder of CHAOS. The platform’s AI capabilities help users navigate complex datasets, compare neighbourhoods and access localised insights on demographics, services and assets. Rather than simply summarising data, it delivers AI-generated recommendations across the asset lifecycle, from initial investment and property management to divestment. Designed for ease of use, it offers unified location analytics and dashboards with forecasting and simulation tools, plus flexible, pay-as-you-need pricing to support adoption across corporate teams. The new investment will support expansion across the Nordics and the DACH region and further development of CHAOS’s AI-driven solutions for real estate investors, property developers and retailers.

Swedish autonomous truck startup Einride is to go public in the US via a SPAC, valuing it at $1.8bn. Einride plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange via a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company), a vehicle which is designed as an alternative route for companies to go public without the expense and hassle of going through a conventional IPO.The SPAC merger, with Legato Merger Corp, will see Einride valued at $1.8 billion in pre-money equity, with the deal expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. Einride said the deal was expected to generate around $219 million in gross proceeds before accounting for potential redemptions of Legato’s public shares, transaction expenses and any further financing. Einride said it was also looking for up to $100m of private investment in public equity capital to speed up growth.The announcement follows weeks after Einride raised around $100 million in funding from existing investor EQT Ventures and quantum firm IonQ.Founded in Sweden in 2016, Einride has the bold ambition of disrupting the freight industry with electric and self-driving vehicles. It is developing and operating a new freight ecosystem, which includes one of the world’s largest fleets of heavy-duty electric trucks, cutting-edge autonomous technology and the proprietary Saga planning optimisation platform. The Swedish startup, which has also has a US headquarters in Texas, also raised $500m in 2022.Roozbeh Charli, CEO of Einride, said: "Today marks a defining moment for Einride and for the future of freight technology. “We’ve proven the technology, built trust with global customers, and shown that autonomous and electric operations are not just possible, but better. "This transaction positions us to accelerate our global expansion and continue to deliver with speed and precision for our customers. The foundation is built, the demand is clear, and our focus is on execution and delivering the future of freight.”Eric Rosenfeld, chief SPAC Officer of Legato, said: "This transaction with Einride aligns with our vision to bring industry-leading, innovative technology to the public markets."Einride's proven customer relationships, regulatory achievements, and technology platform position the Company to be a leader in the transformation of the freight industry. "We believe that the market fundamentals are strong, the timing is right, and Einride has the operational excellence to capitalise on this massive shift in how goods move around the world."

Paris-based AI platform Paage has raised $2.2 million in seed funding led by Aglaé Ventures, Kima Ventures, and Cassius, with participation from angel investors including Alexandre Eruimy (former CEO of PrestaShop), Felix Malfait (co-founder of Twenty), Darren Lachtman (Goldenset Collective), and Enzo Mattioli Ferrari (CEO of Ferrari Family Investment). As creators increasingly move away from traditional marketplaces, many now build and sell directly through their social platforms, engaging audiences through authenticity, trust, and personal connection. Paage positions itself at the centre of this shift as an AI-powered cockpit for social commerce, allowing creators and brands to centralise content, offers, payments, and audience management in one place. The platform helps users turn followers into customers and maintain ownership of their audience and data, reducing dependency on third-party platforms. Founded in 2025, Paage was created to make online creation and selling simpler and more accessible. The company believes that millions of ideas never come to life because creating online remains overly technical. With Paage, users can describe what they want, whether a page, product, or design, in natural language, and the platform generates it instantly. Its AI agent assists with structure, copy, and design, helping transform ideas into elegant, interactive pages. Co-founder Jean Ronin describes Paage as “a clear, inspiring space where people can create and exist on their own terms,” emphasising that its AI enhances creativity rather than replacing it. The company calls this approach augmented autonomy, technology that supports individuality, helping creators work faster while staying authentic. Nicolas Garcin, co-founder of Paage, noted that while social commerce is already well established in the US, it is only beginning to gain momentum in Europe. “Paage bridges the two worlds - the spontaneity of social creation and the independence of running your own business. AI shouldn’t box creators into templates; it should help them think clearer and stay true to their voice. In less than a year, Paage has grown to 100,000 users across more than ten countries, serving artists, musicians, coaches, freelancers, and brand founders who use the platform as their digital home base. The new funding will accelerate Paage’s AI and product development, strengthen its design and engineering teams, expand integrations across payments, CRM, e-commerce, and email marketing, and support its international growth.

DataCamp, a Belgium-founded online learning platform, has acquired Dubai-based Optima, an AI-native platform for building data and AI skills. As AI adoption accelerates, companies must continually upskill their teams. DataCamp helps individuals and organisations build capabilities in data science, analytics, and AI through interactive courses, real-world projects, and industry-recognised certifications across Python, R, SQL, Power BI, Tableau, machine learning, and cloud computing. It pairs foundational concepts with hands-on practice using new AI tools. Optima’s AI-native system adapts in real time, adjusting pacing, explanations, and feedback to each learner’s profile. Its technology already powers key curricula on DataCamp, and premium subscribers can choose the AI-native experience in many top courses. DataCamp will expand the integration across its platform over the next six months, enhancing both existing content and new offerings. Jonathan Cornelissen, DataCamp’s co-founder and CEO, said the company is moving beyond the traditional model of static, one-size-fits-all online learning: The field of data and AI is evolving faster than ever, and DataCamp is focusing on dynamic, human-centred learning to help people and organizations thrive amid upheaval. With the Optima team now part of DataCamp, we’ve never been better placed to redefine how organisations move their people along the learning curve. Optima founder and CEO Yusuf Saber will join DataCamp as Chief AI Officer, and the rest of Optima’s team will also join the company. This acquisition will further reinforce DataCamp’s position as a partner for organisations aiming to strengthen and future-proof their workforce.

Locai Labs today launches Locai, a general AI assistant powered by Locai L1-Large, the UK’s first foundational large language model (LLM), marking a watershed moment for British technology and the nation’s role in the global AI race. For years, the development of advanced AI has been dominated by the US and China, whose tech giants have benefited from vast data centre infrastructure and investment. Britain, by contrast, has faced a chronic shortage of domestic computing power. Now Locai, an AI assistant designed and built in the UK and backed by former science minister Lord Drayson, is taking on global rivals including GPT-5, Claude, DeepSeek and Gemini, outperforming them on the key measure of conversational ability and human preference whilst delivering top-tier results across mathematics, scientific reasoning, and instruction-following benchmarks. Specifically, Locai L1-Large surpasses GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen and Mistral to claim the #1 rank on Arena Hard v2, the industry’s leading benchmark for conversational ability and human preference, whilst delivering top-tier results across mathematics, scientific reasoning, and instruction-following benchmarks. Founders James and George Drayson have developed a new vision for “community AI,” combining self-learning technology with a decentralised, community-powered architecture to create high-performance AI that can be scaled sustainably. George Drayson has invented a technology called “Forget-Me-Not” that solves one of AI’s most persistent challenges: catastrophic forgetting - the tendency for models to lose previously learned knowledge when trained on new information. This means Locai Labs’ AI models can evolve independently without armies of human trainers or access to huge data-sets; Locai L1-Large teaches itself and constantly improves without human input, generating its own training data and never forgetting what it has learned. The result is faster progress and lower costs in model post-training, while preserving accuracy and safety. Tackling Britain’s data centre deficit  Traditional AI models demand enormous, energy-hungry data centres - an approach that is both costly and environmentally damaging. Locai Labs has taken a different path. As user numbers grow, Locai will scale through a community-driven blockchain network, allowing users themselves to contribute computing resources and shape the development of the model in future. This crowdsourced model means Britain will be able to compete in AI by offering a sustainable and decentralised alternative that is unique on the world stage. James Drayson, CEO of Locai Labs, said: “Britain doesn’t need to outspend the world to lead in AI - we need to outthink it, because we won’t win the AI race simply by building bigger data centres. Our approach has created an AI that has taught itself to be safer, more conversational and more intelligent, and that will scale sustainably through the power of its users. “It’s not just a new model, it’s a new way forward for AI and for the UK and gives consumers and organisations access to a British-built, sovereign, high‑performance AI without the usual trade‑offs.” The founders of Locai, from left to right, George Drayson, James Drayson, and Sujith Aleshwaram.

Today, open source cryptography company  Zama and Web3 venture builder PyratzLabs announced a €2 million investment and the creation of Zaiffer.  This joint venture is dedicated to building the future of confidential, compliant, and composable decentralised finance across Ethereum-compatible blockchains. Zaiffer introduces confidential tokens (cTokens), which conceal on-chain amounts while preserving sender/receiver audit trails and enabling selective disclosure for exchanges, auditors, or regulators. The approach redefines confidentiality as a right within DeFi while ensuring compliance with global standards. “Our mission has always been to help builders scale the next generation of Web3 companies,” said Bilal El Almay, co-founder and CEO of Zaiffer.  “Think of Zaiffer as the VPN for on-chain finance: confidentiality you can turn on or off, without leaving DeFi or changing wallets. It is a protocol that balances innovation, compliance, and usability. We are proud to partner with Zama to help bring confidential DeFi to market.” While blockchain transparency underpins trust, it also exposes balances, trade sizes, trade strategies, and treasury moves. This leads to exploitation, copy-trading, targeted liquidations, and corporate data leakage. For institutions, the absence of confidentiality remains a critical barrier to adoption. Existing confidentiality approaches fall short. Privacy coins operate on isolated networks, mixers break audit trails and face regulatory challenges, and confidentiality-focused technologies like ZK often require new infrastructure and introduce usability hurdles. Zaiffer closes this gap with a universal, audit-ready confidentiality layer for all EVM tokens and DeFi applications. Zaiffer’s core innovation is the Confidential Token Standard, developed with Zama and OpenZeppelin. Any ERC-20 or EVM-compatible token can be Shield (wrapped) into its confidential version (e.g., USDC → cUSDC, ETH → cETH, WBTC → cWBTC). Key properties of cTokens include: Hidden amounts: On-chain transfers show encrypted values while preserving sender/receiver links. Owner visibility: Users can selectively reveal balances or transactions for record-keeping purposes. Selective disclosure: Users may grant time-limited access to third    parties for compliance or audits. Because cTokens remain interoperable with existing DeFi apps, Zaiffer enables confidentiality without the need for new wallets, bridges, or fragmented liquidity. According to Rand Hindi, CEO of Zama, Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) is ready for mainstream applications.  “With Zaiffer, we demonstrate FHE’s ability to power real-world financial infrastructure, combining confidentiality with regulatory compatibility. This is a turning point for blockchain adoption.” Zaiffer leverages Zama’s FHE protocol, a decentralised set of computation nodes that process encrypted values without ever decrypting them. Currently, each encrypted transaction is completed in less than 5 seconds. This ensures confidentiality at the protocol level while supporting: Confidential payrolls and (cross-border) payments. Private swaps and OTC trades that conceal trade sizes. Treasury management and fund strategies shielded from competitors. Lead image: Freepik.

A new 2025 Globalscape report from Accel, published today, finds that AI models and AI-native applications are driving record funding in 2025, with total investment projected to reach $184 billion, nearly 80 per cent higher year over year. The report finds that AI is fueling record activity in public and private markets despite geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty. It also highlights the rise of a $5 trillion market leader and a concentrated group of large-cap technology firms that together represent roughly half of the Nasdaq Composite Index. Their combined operating cash flow, estimated at about $0.6 trillion in 2024, positions them to keep funding the substantial investments needed to stay competitive in AI. Beyond models and infrastructure, performance among $100+ billion cloud companies is mixed. Several large providers are beginning to see AI-related gains, while others remain more dependent on broader enterprise adoption of agentic automation. Overall, the outlook for software remains constructive. Accel’s Globalscape Public Cloud Index is up 25 per cent year over year, and the tech IPO market has begun to reopen. As agentic adoption approaches the S-curve inflexion point in the coming years, larger cloud providers may regain momentum by using existing platforms to deploy and orchestrate new agentic workflows, the report says. Source: Accel 2025 Globalscape report AI-native applications are accelerating investment As established vendors invest in agentic capabilities, a new cohort of AI-native applications is scaling rapidly. Combined financing for these apps and for AI models is pushing venture investment in cloud and AI across the US, Europe, and Israel to record levels. In 2025, funding in these regions is projected to reach $184 billion (nearly 80 per cent higher than in 2024). European application companies are raising rounds comparable to US peers, with notable examples including ElevenLabs (London), Helsing (Munich), Lovable (Stockholm), n8n (Berlin), and Synthesia (London). Source: Accel 2025 Globalscape report The race for compute The rapid expansion of AI-native applications, alongside expected growth in enterprise agentic deployment, is accelerating demand for AI infrastructure. Current estimates indicate that roughly 117 GW of additional AI data-centre capacity will be needed by 2030, comparable to the combined power use of the UK, Italy, and Spain, and could require about $4 trillion in capital expenditures over the next five years. Commenting on the report, Philippe Botteri, Partner at Accel, said AI is driving a profound global transformation marked by an unprecedented pace of innovation and scale. He added that meeting this shift will require significant investment, around $4 trillion over the next five years, to build accelerated-computing data centres to power the next generation of AI-native applications and agentic workflows. For more detailed insights and data, the full Accel 2025 Globalscape Report: Race for Compute is available for download here.

A Swedish startup leveraging AI to improve sales productivity has raised €600k pre-seed funding, backed by high-profile names across Europe's tech ecosystem. The funding round in Spiich Labs was led by Ampli Ventures, with backing from Tandem Health CEO Lukas Saari and Creandum co-founder Stefan Lindeberg. One of the founders of Lovable and a European OpenAI executive are also backing the startup. Johan Torssell, CEO and founder of Stockholm-based Spiich, claimed he turned down a role at Palantir to launch the startup. The startup says its AI assistant automates CRM updates, meeting preparations, and follow-ups. It says its first AI assistant eliminates over eight hours of weekly admin work. The assistant integrates natively with HubSpot, and Google Workspace, allowing reps to update CRM records through text or voice commands from anywhere. It automatically generates daily meeting briefs by synthesising CRM data, email threads, and company research, then drafts personalised follow-ups based on conversation context. The startup says it already has customers in five countries.Torssell said: "I turned down Palantir to build Spiich after watching startup founders and their sales teams lose entire days to admin work that could be automated."Sales reps should be building relationships and closing deals, not populating fields in a CRM. We built the product that we wished existed - one that works wherever the sales rep is, through simple conversation. The traction in our first four months proved the market was desperate for this, and we’re just getting started."

Berlin-based CERPRO, a startup for industrial quality assurance, has raised around €2 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by seed+speed Ventures, with D11Z as co-lead, and participation from EIT Manufacturing and Techstars. In many factories, engineering, quality assurance, and production still operate in silos. Documentation for incoming inspection and quality control is often created and checked manually in paper binders or Excel, leading to months-long backlogs. With labour gaps, higher costs, and stricter standards, manufacturing needs automated, measurable workflows. Compounding the issue, up to 30 per cent of production problems originate not on the shop floor but in insufficiently specified technical drawings. Founded in 2023 by Frederik Frei, Sascha Müller, and Henrik Pitz, CERPRO is building an intelligent platform to standardise and automate quality processes. Its first product, QualiSpec, automatically detects, interprets, and structures features from technical drawings to generate digital inspection plans in a fraction of the time. Since launching in December 2024, more than 100 SMEs in aerospace, medical devices, and mechanical engineering have adopted the software, reporting over 80 per cent faster quality processes, markedly fewer errors, and implementations completed in days. Beyond speeding inspection, CERPRO is extending its AI from inspection into design and engineering to flag potential issues earlier, shifting teams from reactive checks to predictive quality. The company’s roadmap connects quality data across OEMs and suppliers to create a shared foundation for transparency and traceability. Frederik Frei, CEO of CERPRO, said: Few areas in manufacturing are as data- and documentation-driven as quality assurance, which makes it perfectly suited for the use of AI. Together with our new partners, we aim to scale our technology across the industry and establish it as the unifying quality standard between OEMs and suppliers. The new capital will accelerate product development (including design-for-manufacture and predictive capabilities), expand sales, and scale CERPRO’s European market presence and partnerships, establishing a standardised, legally compliant quality workflow that links stakeholders across the supply chain.

Euler, the Icelandic software startup, has closed a €2 million seed funding round co-led by Iceland’s Frumtak Ventures and Nordic industrial tech investor Kvanted. Frumtak Ventures Partner Ásthildur Otharsdóttir and Kvanted Partner Eerik Paasikivi join the Euler board. Valued at over $20 billion, the global 3D-printing industry is positioned to enhance production by enabling lighter, more complex parts, reducing material waste and emissions, and complementing traditional manufacturing. However, large-scale adoption has been constrained by challenges in meeting stringent safety and performance standards, particularly in regulated sectors such as aerospace and defence, where minor disruptions can cause print failures and, without real-time monitoring, defects are often detected only after production, leading to costly rework or scrap. Euler’s platform introduces automated, real-time monitoring that flags potential defects before they occur, helping manufacturers save time and resources and produce more reliable parts at scale. A spinout of the Technical University of Denmark, Euler applies deep AI and process expertise to enhance fault detection for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) and selective laser sintering (SLS). The system integrates with leading 3D printers, using built-in camera data and AI algorithms for analysis without additional, costly monitoring hardware. Additive manufacturing has yet to live up to its hype, despite its disruptive potential. Challenges around cost, scalability, and quality assurance remain. Euler is already helping manufacturers overcome these issues, and this investment will enable us to continue our growth and expand exponentially, solidifying additive manufacturing as a reliable production process, said Dr Eythor Runar Eiriksson, co-founder and CEO of Euler. Euler’s customers include Alloyed (the additive manufacturing startup), KMWE (serving aerospace, semiconductor, healthtech, and industrial markets), and research organisations such as the Danish Technological Institute and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology. In a white paper with the Danish Technological Institute, Euler reported a 77 per cent reduction in time spent on failed builds, and more than a 20 per cent increase in revenue through improved overall equipment effectiveness. Euler will use the investment to accelerate platform rollout, expand its team, and scale product development. The company has also begun protecting its core technology, initiating trademark registrations and filing three patent applications.

After years of R&D, energy startup Synergi today launched Finland’s first EV virtual power plant. Synergi is the first company in Finland to aggregate thousands of electric vehicles via its consumer app, effectively creating a virtual power plant that supports grid balancing when needed. For consumers, this means the ability to earn rewards with home EV charging. Synergi‘s free mobile app is already trusted by over 10,000 households.  Check out our earlier interview with Antti Hämmäinen, CEO and co-founder at Synergi. With the launch of its new smart charging service, EV drivers in Finland can now participate in grid balancing directly through their home charging and earn monetary rewards in return.  Smart charging automatically schedules EV charging during the cheapest and most grid-friendly hours, allowing drivers to earn rewards from home charging.   Synergi’s smart charging feature automatically schedules EV charging to the most affordable hours of the day when the grid is least congested.  Fine-tuning EV charging in real-time Traditionally, smart charging has optimised charging based on hourly market prices, but Synergi’s new service goes further by fine-tuning the charging of thousands of vehicles in real time – for example, by pausing or resuming charging when the grid is over- or underloaded. Drivers receive monetary incentives determined by two factors: the duration of charging and the total energy consumed (kWh). This structure rewards users not only for energy usage but also for providing grid flexibility by keeping their vehicles connected for extended periods.  “By becoming Finland’s first virtual power plant for EVs and launching a new smart charging service, we’re laying the groundwork for a model where households can play a more active role in the energy transition and benefit from smart and flexible electricity use. Across Europe, there are already many demand response solutions where households can earn tens of euros per month in rewards,” says Antti Hämmäinen, Founder and CEO of Synergi.  New solutions for energy transition  Enabling household flexibility is a critical part of the energy transition. As society becomes increasingly electrified and renewable energy sources become more common, the electricity grid requires more flexible consumption from all users. New solutions, such as Synergi’s software-based remote control of devices, make it possible to integrate household flexibility into grid operations. Promoting demand response among households also supports the use of renewable energy sources.  Piloted reward system improved the driver's charging experience  Synergi’s new smart charging service was piloted with over 100 EV drivers earlier this year. Pilot results demonstrated that the reward system improved the driver's charging experience and that grid balancing events did not interfere with their routines. It also encouraged them to plug in earlier and stay connected longer, helping to maximise the availability and capacity of energy flexibility. Users simply set a desired charging completion time in the app, and grid balancing happens automatically within that time window.  The Synergi app currently supports all major EV brands, including Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo, Audi, Hyundai, ŠKODA, and more. Vehicles are connected via the manufacturer’s cloud services using the user’s credentials. Therefore, households do not need to buy special chargers or pay for costly installation work to start charging at home and earning rewards. Currently, grid balancing operates only by starting or stopping charging — energy is never fed back from the car battery into the grid. Rewards are available for EV drivers in Finland, but Synergi plans to expand the service to include heating, cooling, and home battery systems, with a broader rollout across Europe in the future.

Self.co, the digital health company helping people better understand and manage allergies and food intolerances, has raised €2.56 million in a combined grant and venture funding round.  The funding round of €1.2 million was led by Iron Wolf Capital, with participation from Coinvest, NGL Ventures, and several angel investors. Self.co received a €1.36 million grant from Innovation Agency Lithuania to improve its testing technology. The pooled funds will now support expansion into new markets and further development of Self.co's proprietary testing technology and long-term management tools. Allergies and intolerances affect between 30 and 40 per cent of the global population, a number expected to climb to nearly 4 billion people by mid-century. Despite this prevalence, diagnosis remains one of healthcare's biggest blind spots. Around 45 per cent of individuals with allergy-like symptoms in the EU are either misdiagnosed or never diagnosed at all.  Many of these people confuse allergies with other immune or digestive conditions such as intolerances or sensitivities, leading to years of uncertainty and ineffective treatment. The problem is compounded by long waiting times, often more than six months for specialist testing in public systems, and prohibitive costs. Layers of intermediaries, low test throughput, and provider costs create markups on a single molecular allergy test of between €200 and €400. This puts accurate diagnoses prohibitively out of reach for millions. As a result, people continue to live with fatigue, skin rashes, or digestive symptoms without real answers, while healthcare systems absorb billions in avoidable costs each year. Self.co's digital service tackles this with a holistic and scientific approach. Its core products are two proprietary microarray tests that analyse 98 allergens and 220 food sensitivities using a simple blood sample that people can take at home or in a partner clinic. Once evaluated by professional lab technicians, Self.co provides users with a detailed avoidance plan and connects them with supplements and treatments as needed through partnerships with local healthcare providers. Self.co is one of the only companies in the world currently manufacturing molecular allergy tests with around 100 analytes. By controlling the entire testing process, from technology development to lab analysis, and eliminating intermediaries, Self.co offers the same laboratory-grade testing for €69–€99, only a fraction of the traditional €200–€400 cost. According to Tautvydas Gylys, co-founder and CEO of Self.co, millions of people live with allergy-like symptoms but without a real understanding of what's causing them or what to do about it.  “We've taken advanced diagnostic technology and built a simple test system that gives anyone clear, medically valid answers without the high cost or long wait. Now the funding will help us bring our product to new markets like the UK, Ireland, Austria, and Germany, and deepen ongoing collaboration with healthcare systems in Poland and Lithuania." Self.co's testing technology, developed by allergists and lab specialists, achieves molecular-level precision through microarray innovation. Advanced calibration methods tailor measurements for each allergen, ensuring accuracy even at very low levels, while sensitive fluorescence detection identifies the smallest immune responses. AI then merges clinical data and expert review to deliver a personalised, actionable report. Kasparas Jurgelionis, Managing Partner at Iron Wolf Capital, says: “As deep tech investors, we back technologies with the potential to transform established industries - and that’s exactly what Self.co is doing in allergy diagnostics and care. This is a large, fast-growing market still underserved by current solutions.  Tautvydas and the team combine exceptional industry insight with strong execution, giving them a rare founder-market fit. Self.co’s platform addresses long-standing pain points for patients and clinicians, positioning the company to redefine allergy care globally.” Self.co will use the new funding to develop a comprehensive digital health platform that serves as an entry point for people experiencing allergy-like symptoms. The platform will include advanced symptom questionnaires to pinpoint conditions, expanded test offerings, and better integration with traditional healthcare systems. Lead image: Self.co. Photo: uncredited. 

London-based FALKIN, a digital safety company that helps prevent scams before payments occur, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding led by TriplePoint Ventures, with participation from Notion Capital, BackFuture Ventures, Aviva/Founders Factory, Haatch, Found Capital, and Founders Capital. The round also includes fintech and cyber investors such as Pierre Decote (Group Chief Risk Officer, Revolut) and Ben Enckevort (CTO and co-founder, Metomic). Scams are a growing financial risk in the AI era. In the UK, more than seven million people were affected last year, yet 71 per cent did not report incidents, and prosecution rates remain below 1 per cent. Despite significant spending, most controls activate only when funds move, missing the manipulation that initiates scams. Once legal fees, fines, remediation, and staff time are included, the total cost per incident can exceed four times the amount stolen. AI further elevates the threat through voice cloning, deepfakes, and advanced text generation that enable convincing impersonation at scale. FALKIN provides an embedded, AI-driven protection layer for digital banking. Its platform analyses behavioural and digital risk signals to detect deception early, enabling banks to protect customers proactively and reduce fraud losses. The company is expanding its integration ecosystem so financial institutions can embed this protection directly into digital-banking journeys and communications. FALKIN’s tools have been used by bank innovation teams and tens of thousands of consumers in the US and UK. In user feedback, 78 per cent reported greater confidence online, and more than half said prevention is more valuable than reimbursement, indicating that engaging consumers before payments are made can reduce risk and strengthen trust. The platform’s capabilities are embedded within familiar touchpoints, such as mobile-banking apps and customer-service portals, so customers are protected before funds leave their accounts. The funding will support hiring, product development, and deeper integrations with financial institutions, and will also launch Safety Labs, giving community banks and credit unions a structured, low-lift way to deploy and evaluate customer-facing scam-prevention tools.

Liverpool-based Enteral Access Technologies (EAT) has raised £500,000 in a bridging round led by British Design Fund, with participation from existing investors. Founded in 2018, EAT develops tools to make nasogastric and orogastric tube placement safer and simpler. Its flagship product, DoubleCHEK, combines CO₂ and pH measurement in a single device to reduce the risk of misplacement and enable quicker, more accurate tube placement across care settings without special equipment or tube types. By addressing misplacement and radiation-exposure risks associated with current insertion and confirmation methods, EAT aims to improve patient safety and streamline workflows. EAT is seeing growing adoption in the UK as providers align with updated guidance supporting combined CO₂ and pH verification. Internationally, EAT is also scaling rapidly. In the United States, interest increased after a leading children’s hospital adopted DoubleCHEK in January and further accelerated following the withdrawal of a comparable product. In Europe, rollout is underway, with Italy among the early adopters. Repeat orders and strong initial uptake indicate emerging traction as hospitals seek safer, more reliable enteral access solutions. Commenting on the new round, George Gallagher, CEO of EAT, said that the investment demonstrates strong backing for the company’s mission to enhance patient safety globally. He added that growing interest in DoubleCHEK reinforces EAT’s focus on expanding access to safer enteral technologies. With this new funding, the company will advance the development and accelerate the international rollout of its enteral access patient safety device.

LexDo.it, an Italian digital platform for starting and managing new businesses, has raised €1.7 million in a pre–Series A round to advance its mission of simplifying business creation. The round included selected business angels, with participation from Invitalia and fintech company Viceversa. Notable investors include Roberto Spada (founder, Spada Partners), Luca Orsini (founder, Antares European Fund), and Roberto Lombardi (business angel and investor). Founded in 2015 by CEO Giovanni Toffoletto, LexDo.it offers a single digital platform for online incorporation and end-to-end management of accounting, contracts, and consultancy. Users can also access a team of professionals and complementary tools, including business bank accounts, POS payment systems, grants and subsidised finance options, and a range of digital products and services. The platform serves more than 400,000 users and has supported the launch of over 6,500 businesses, reducing first-year costs by up to €3,000 compared with traditional channels. This is significant in a market where average opening costs and administrative requirements can exceed €4,000 and where starting a business remains complex and costly. Entrepreneurs are the beating heart of the economy. We created LexDo.it because starting a business is still too difficult without facing bureaucratic obstacles. Today, we are proud to be the go-to partner for thousands of entrepreneurs who launch and manage their businesses entirely online with us, said Giovanni Toffoletto. The new funding will support team expansion through 2025 and accelerate the technology roadmap, including AI- and automation-driven features to further digitalise and streamline management processes for SMEs and professionals.

Pre-Seed investment startup Ada Ventures has launched an AI-powered pitch deck review tool for founders that allows them to access VC-grade feedback before they share their materials with prospective investors. Developed by Ada Ventures Principal and Head of Product Michael Tefula , Deck Genius https://www.deckgenius.ai is a free platform that gives founders VC-quality feedback on their pitch deck in a fraction of the time it may take an investor to respond. The announcement comes just 12 months on from the launch of the firm’s inaugural AI review tool, AdaGPT —  see our earlier interview — which has been used by over 200 founders per month since launch.   Building on this success, Deck Genius will give founding teams an even deeper analysis of their pitch content, including slide-by-slide holistic analysis and actionable recommendations for improvement. To use the platform, founders simply upload a PDF copy of their pitch deck. Within minutes, they’ll receive a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental business elements of their proposal, as well as insights on the design and story-telling qualities of the pitch deck. Once complete, founders have the option to delete their pitch deck from the system or choose to have their analysis securely stored, allowing them to revisit the feedback in the future. By helping teams stress-test their proposals before they formally seek funding, Deck Genius will provide founders with the guidance and confidence they need to have the best chance of success when they eventually present their ideas to investors. Ada’s goal is for Deck Genius to analyse 500 pitch decks per month, more than double the amount processed by AdaGPT. Once their proposals have been analysed and refined, teams that wish to engage further with Ada Ventures will also have the option of reaching out directly to the investment team, via the firm’s existing portal. Michael Tefula, Principal and Head of Product at Ada Ventures, commented on last year’s AdaGPT experiment: “To our surprise, hundreds of founders engaged with the product shortly after launch, and we were quite taken aback by the uptake.  But while the appetite was encouraging, AdaGPT was too Ada-focussed, and we were keen to build something that could help all founders, regardless of whether or not they ultimately wanted to approach us for investment.” Deck Genius is the product of a team that has reviewed thousands of pitch decks a year, with input from other VCs and experienced operators from top firms across the ecosystem. According to Tefula, “their feedback helped us refine the quality of the AI analysis, and we expect this to improve further as we hand the tool over to the wider community.” He stresses that while Ada Ventures will never outsource its decision-making to AI,  “Deck Genius is an effective medium through which we can engage and support prospective founders from the beginning." "The tool has been through a rigorous early testing process, including being vetted for bias, and we’re excited to now be sharing it with the wider community. We’ve already offered a term sheet to one startup that approached after running their deck through AdaGPT, and we hope our work on Deck Genius will help to surface and support even more high-potential founders going forward.” The product has now launched in beta, and the firm is actively encouraging feedback from entrepreneurs that will help improve the tool for future users.

Swiss-based deeptech company Delvitech has closed a Series B investment round of $40 million. The round was led by EGS Beteiligungen (EGSB), the Investment Company of the Ernst Göhner Foundation, together with CREADD Ventures, and joined by several prominent European private investors. Delvitech develops AI-native solutions for 3D Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) used in electronics manufacturing. Its platform features a modular, scalable architecture designed to evolve with industry requirements. The system aims to provide comprehensive detection across printed circuit boards, including transparent adhesives, micro-pitch connectors, and mechanical or plastic components, to support full-spectrum visibility and high precision. In addition to defect detection, Delvitech focuses on predictive capabilities intended to anticipate errors and improve quality control efficiency. Roberto Gatti, founder and CEO of Delvitech, explained: We have developed an AI-native platform built on a future-proof neural network architecture. Our flexible and agnostic system can be applied across multiple markets and industries. Moreover, thanks to our proprietary predictive technology, we are paving the way to prevent errors rather than merely detecting them. Delvitech competes at the forefront of the high-tech industry, driven by a unique combination of cutting-edge innovation and vision. Companies using Delvitech’s optical inspection for electronic board quality control, and, in future, semiconductors, operate in sectors such as automotive, telecommunications, EMS, IoT, pharmaceuticals, defence, and industrial automation. The system’s self-learning AI adapts to production dynamics, minimising manual programming and enabling faster deployment, higher precision in defect detection, and reduced operating costs. It is designed to classify and identify defects on challenging materials, including plastic components and transparent adhesives used in board assembly. Delvitech plans to accelerate its next growth phase, expanding its global presence with a focus on India. The company aims to open a manufacturing facility there in 2026 and target a production capacity of more than 200 machines per month by 2030.

Swedish soundtracking platform Epidemic Sound today announced the launch of Studio, the first AI-powered soundtracking tool that enables content creators to instantly match and place both human-made music and sound effects seamlessly within their video. Epidemic Sound offers an extensive catalogue in music and sound for content creation, featuring world-class artists, Hollywood-grade ambient noises to establish background atmosphere, and foley sound effects to heighten actions such as breaking glass.  I spoke to CEO Oscar Höglund to learn more.  From upload to fully synced soundtrack in seconds Studio provides content creators with a faster, smoother creative workflow while ensuring artists continue to reach new audiences and earn from their craft. According to Höglund, Studio fast-tracks the soundtracking process, saving creators time and toil and allowing them to focus more on the fun stuff: “More than a third are struggling with time pressures or burnout. And with 94 per cent saying it contributes to their content’s success, Studio helps them fully tap into the power of audio to elevate their productions with super high-quality, human-made tracks and sound effects that fit with their content.   After a creator uploads their video, Studio uses AI and data insights, informed by contextual patterns from over 3 billion daily plays across online platforms, to analyse its content and instantly deliver a cohesive, legally safe soundtrack seamlessly synced to the visuals, as well as alternative music and sound effects options to choose from.  The three creator workflows studio fixes The idea for Sound is driven by first-hand experience and talking directly with content creators for the last decade and a half.  Soundtracking a 1 to 3-minute video can take up to five hours. Sound saves creators time by helping with three key areas: inspiration, search, and editing. “We know the soundtracking setup has been somewhat broken. Essentially, creators often had to edit and re-edit their video to fit around audio. Finally, through Studio, we’ve been able to reverse that setup so that audio now fits around the video,” shared Höglund.  “For example, alongside music, it might see the flock of birds in the background and identify the opportunity to elevate the content through a sound effect and incorporate that into the soundtrack.  It’s a source of inspiration for all the opportunities to use sound to elevate the story, and this is particularly noticeable with sound effects as they’re such an underestimated mechanism to add creative depth." Secondly, Sound addresses the need to search, instantly adding the first draft of a full soundtrack, including music and sound effects. It saves the layer of time and effort that comes with searching repeatedly to get the perfect audio and includes it in the draft. And finally, it reduces the need to edit the audio, syncing it to the action, explained Höglund:  “For example, the romantic music begins with the kiss, or the sound of broken glass hits when the vase hits the floor - all trimmed so the audio starts and finishes logically.  And at the same time, it keeps creative control well in the hands of the creator, providing different audio options for them to explore, as well as a simple way to import the draft soundtrack into their chosen video editor for further refinement.” Höglund contends that Epidemic Sound's extensive catalogue has enabled the company to bring about “win-win scenarios, where everyone can benefit, and nobody has to lose.” “Our extensive data pool sets apart how it can design products and tools that enhance the creator experience, as well as dial into what tracks are trending and how the global demand is shifting so we can continue to bring top-quality, contemporary music into the catalogue.”  Further, he attributes the company’s success to that fact that it takes on just 0.3 per cent of all the people who reach out to them: “We’re able to set a really high-quality bar.” Crucially, Epidemic Sound’s user-friendly licensing model allows brands and creators to access music with full usage rights while providing tools to elevate their content.  The company partners with artists across all genres, providing them with financial support through a 50/50 royalty split, upfront payments, and bonuses.  Artists can also explore multiple projects simultaneously, making Epidemic Sound a flexible and artist-centered platform. The secrets to scale  Epidemic Sound’s subscription/licensing model gives unlimited downloads and global rights. I was curious how the company ensures this remains financially viable as usage scales across user‐generated content? For Höglund, understanding your customers better than anyone else is pivotal. The team realised pretty early on that by meeting the soundtracking needs of the best creators in the world, it drove standalone listening of its tracks on streaming platforms where it creates additional revenue for them and their artists via the 50/50 royalty split.  He asserts: “Scale powers this ecosystem where creators flourish, artists thrive, and our business grows.”   It’s  enabled Epidemic Sound to go from zero online footprint, to hitting 1.5 billion daily views across online video platforms in 2020, to over three billion daily views today, while more than doubling its revenue, and diversifying and growing its artist remuneration model.” Fairer remuneration for artists   Epidemic Sound has a strong track record of innovative remuneration models for artists, including pioneering a 50/50 royalty split and an annual Soundtrack Bonus that has grown in step with the company’s success.  “We’re also boosting bonus payouts by 43 per cent overall in 2026, including a new $1 million remuneration pool to reward AI-related adaptation, and an increase in the annual Soundtrack Bonus from $3.7 million to $4.2 million,” shared Höglund. And for Epidemic Sound, this is just the start as it rolls out a completely new way of soundtracking; one that’s super dialled in to creators’ needs and one that enhances human creativity, not replaces it. “We’re big believers in the value of feedback from our creative communities – it’s played a central role in how we’ve continued to develop our Adapt tool since launch to give more creative control. Get out there, try out Studio, and let us know what you think!” shared Höglund. “AI should empower, not replace, human creativity” Further, Höglund believes that the company is in “the perfect position to strengthen how we continue to capture value from scale: we continue to offer market-leading licensing safety, while leading the charge with AI-powered soundtracking for creators, and working directly with our artists to innovate in a way that empowers and rewards human creativity.” “We believe AI should empower, not replace, human creativity. Studio embodies that belief, giving creators more time and freedom to focus on their stories while continuing to help artists reach an audience and earn from their craft.” He asserts that transparency is central to this — creators using Epidemic Sound always know when a soundtrack has been AI-assisted versus human-created, and all music and sound effects originate from its verified catalogue of human-made works.  He explained:  “Our technology is designed to empower creativity: AI provides speed and cohesion, while clear labeling, licensing, and rights management ensure both creators and artists understand how content is made, used, and credited.  Every track remains legally safe, properly attributed, and financially rewarding for the artists behind it. Creators know that when they adapt a track with our AI-powered tools, the artist’s rights stay protected and they always have the ability to opt out of having their tracks adapted.”

Hamburg-based venture firm Oyster Bay has closed its second fund at over €100 million, dedicated exclusively to the future food market. Investors include the European Investment Fund (EIF) and KfW. The food sector, roughly a $10 trillion industry representing about 12 per cent of global GDP and 40 per cent of the workforce, also accounts for around one-third of global emissions and contributes to water scarcity and biodiversity loss. Yet only about 8 per cent of climate-focused venture capital goes to food and agritech, underscoring a sizable investment gap alongside substantial untapped potential. Oyster Bay's founder and Managing Partner Christoph Miller notes that while food is sometimes treated as a passing VC trend, it is in fact one of society’s most significant long-term challenges. Oyster Bay’s first fund ranked in the top 10 per cent of European VC funds and backed companies including Oatly, AirUp, True Gum, and GoodBytz. Fund II continues the same strategy, entrepreneurial investing that pairs returns with impact, supporting founders transforming the global food system. We are not traditional financial investors, but entrepreneurs with a successful track record. Less than 0.1% of startups that apply to Oyster Bay make it into the portfolio – our involvement is a seal of quality, adds Felix Leonhardt, Managing Partner of Oyster Bay. As large food companies contend with supply-chain pressures, startups addressing the value chain, from sustainable inputs and alternative proteins to data-driven logistics, are gaining importance. Miller emphasises that efficiency, transparency, and resilience in supply chains will determine the sector’s transition. Oyster Bay sees major opportunities in traceability technologies, AI-based demand planning, and solutions that strengthen supply-chain resilience, viewing these as core economic enablers.