Earlier this year, I attended Upscale Conf in San Francisco, a conference hosted by Spanish generative AI creative suite Freepik. One of the topics I was most interested in was how creatives – designers, illustrators, film makers, etc. think about and use AI, so I was excited to attend a workshop titled “When anything is possible, what’s worth creating?” Hosted by Creative Strategist Jesús Terrada Gómez and Sofia López, Head of Social & Community – AI Growth from Freepik, it took a thoughtful look at the reality of what happens to creatives when commercial AI is unleashed. I also interviewed López after the workshop to gain more insights.  Freepik has a long creative legacy, having started as a stock media company working closely with illustrators, vector artists, photographers, and videographers.  The arrival of AI, therefore, wasn’t merely a product evolution — it represented a profound shift that reshaped the workflows, experiences, and even the creative identities of the artists who had long been part of its ecosystem. Check out my earlier interview with Joaquín Cuenca, CEO of Freepik.  Can AI art carry cultural weight?  López holds a degree in art history and a Master’s degree in Museology and Museum Studies, with a focus on classical Latin and the Baroque period. When asked whether AI-generated visuals can ever hold the same emotional or cultural resonance as traditional art, López contends that “art always has context. It has a moment in time, and it has intentionality. AI can absolutely participate in that.” While startups and investors race to position themselves in the AI hype cycle, López’s approach is noticeably more grounded. Intentionality, she argues, is not something AI introduces—it’s something creators must bring. “This challenge existed long before AI,” she says. “If you’re designing visuals for a brand’s Instagram, you’re not always approaching it as an artist. Sometimes you’re just doing your job.” AI, in her view, occupies a space between efficiency and expression. “AI can make you fast and efficient, but when you want to be intentional, you still can be,” she says. “The tool doesn’t decide that—you do.” Inside Freepik, López sees this duality in action. Creators use the company’s tools for daily marketing tasks, but many also push far beyond the expected: “Some of the experimental videos our creators make in their free time are incredible,” she says.  “We have an internal channel where they share them, and everyone goes, ‘Oh my God, you did this?’ Sometimes our CEO puts them straight onto the big office screen. It’s inspiring.” For López, that’s the path forward: a blend of experimentation, artistic sensibility, and a willingness to step outside AI’s default aesthetic comfort zone. “We can absolutely make culturally relevant work with AI,” she says. “But only if we treat it as a medium—not a shortcut.” However, she is also as wary of AI slop as the rest of us, asserting:  “There’s going to be a lot of mediocrity,” she warns. “We’re already drowning in this plasticky, cyberpunk-ish vibe. We can do better. We can tell better stories.” According to López, we’re living in an era where the internet allows everyone to share their creations. However, like every technological or creative revolution, it also means that everyone is sharing—AI users, non-AI users, and everyone in between.  “So a lot of people look around and think, “Oh my God, AI is this plasticky, cyberpunk-ish mess.” Terrada Gómez also admits, “somedays I scroll through endless neon cyberpunk explosions and think, “Oh God, we’re going to be stuck in this aesthetic for years.” This brings us to the question: Can AI be considered an art form? A lot of people say no, asserts López, “ But we say yes, but with nuance.” How does AI change the creative process in creative industries?  Terrada Gómez—an artist, illustrator, and scriptwriter—and López both believe we’re entering an era where intentionality and narrative matter more than ever. Terrada Gómez contends: “AI didn’t make me stop illustrating. Instead, I feel like I have two creative selves. Sometimes I start drawing and then jump to AI, or I generate something in AI that sparks a new illustration. They coexist. Traditional craft doesn’t disappear. It evolves.” López admits that as an art historian, "I was originally pessimistic. I wondered how artists would react. But then I saw critical, intentional work and realised this new medium absolutely has space for depth, critique, and relevance.” Further, Terrada Gómez asserts that you can always tell when AI work is made by someone with artistic sensibility versus someone simply smashing the “generate” button. “Everyone has a camera in their pocket. But not everyone has a photography exhibition. Tools don’t equal artistry.The difference is intentionality. Story. Emotion. You can tell instantly when something is crafted versus randomly spat out.” The evolution of consumption For one workshop participant, the real question was: What’s worth consuming? They shared: “People watch someone organise their fridge longer than they watch an Oscar-winning film. Maybe human connection or relatable content is what survives.” López agreed, asserting that every creative revolution changes what people consume.  “When photography appeared, ultra-realistic painting suddenly felt pointless, so artists shifted to surrealism, abstraction, and expressionism. Today, realism is admired again. Cycles change.” For Terrada Gómez, one thing never changes: good stories are always worth consuming: “A great story — whether animated, filmed, AI-generated, anything — moves people.” Finding your voice in the age of noise In a world suddenly saturated with AI-generated visuals, both Terrada Gómez and López argue that the real challenge—and opportunity—for creators lies in carving out a sense of authorship amid the chaos. Terrada Gómez notes that we’re all still early users, collectively shaping what the future web of AI art will look like. “Maybe you think you haven’t found your style — maybe you simply haven’t asked yourself the right questions yet. Self-reflection is part of the medium.” López believes that the creators alive today are the ones future generations will look back on. “So how we contribute now matters.” Terrada Gómez shared some of his work during the workshop, including Tears of a Clown and The Meteorite of Truth, a surreal, claymation-style AI short built around a simple idea: when a meteorite is moments away from obliterating Earth, people stop pretending and start telling the truth. As the rock draws closer, the honesty intensifies: The film's production involved a two-hour scriptwriting sprint with three hours of image and video generation. He asserts that the better you are at prompting, the faster the process takes.  He advises using long, detailed prompts  describing: The type of shot Camera movement Lighting The character The mood Pacing “Short prompts sometimes work, but we’re not at the point where they reliably give consistent character identity or tone.” But he also suggests that while AI is fast, people should “Slow down. Study cinema. Study composition. Learn why things work." "I once saw someone copy one of my videos almost exactly. Not sure how to feel about that yet.” López believes in testing the tools with a real goal: “Sitting down instead of trying three prompts, getting eight fingers on a hand, getting frustrated, and quitting. That’s not giving AI a real chance." On the other hand, she highlights the power of critical thinking by sitting down and asking:  “What am I as a creator? What do I want? What are my processes? Am I comfortable with what I’m creating? There’s a lot of self-reflection people are skipping because we live in the age of immediacy. In the end, meaning is what matters. Why are you making this? What do you want someone to feel? What do you feel?”  So, what should creators—especially in small startup design teams—be asking themselves when thinking about working with AI? López asserts that the best thing small teams can do is experiment because “we’re still at a point where there’s no single place where you can learn all AI processes or workflows.” “This means testing, playing, asking questions. Many places now will have enterprise plans. That alleviates compliance concerns, allowing creators to focus on their creativity. Dive in. Give it a go. Do the extra research. Go beyond the cyberpunk plasticky aesthetic and see what others are doing, what stories are being told.” According to López, we need not only conversations about getting creative work done, but also the “good and the ugly” conversations — “what worries me, what excites me, what creators think.” “At Freepik, we come from a very traditional background—illustrators, photographers, mockup creators. Some were sceptical of AI. However, after learning and experimenting, the things they are building now are truly impressive. They know composition and storytelling. Giving them AI is like giving a Ferrari to a pilot.” Lead image: Still image from short film Tears of a Clown.

Berlin-based NexDash has secured €5 million in seed funding to build Neo-Carrier for electric trucks, only three months after its founding. The round included participation from Extantia Capital and Clean Energy Ventures. Heavy-duty trucks account for around 35 per cent of transport-related CO₂ emissions, while over 90 per cent of logistics operators rely on small, ageing diesel fleets with limited capital and low levels of digitalisation. Although electric trucks can offer economic benefits, high upfront costs, operational complexity, and insufficient charging infrastructure have slowed their adoption. NexDash addresses these challenges with NexOS, an AI-based operating system that coordinates fleets, energy, and financing in real time, forming the digital backbone for electric and, over time, autonomous logistics. Using a combined model of digitalisation, electrification, and consolidation, NexDash acquires mid-sized logistics operators, accelerates the electrification of their fleets via scalable structured financing, and manages them through its Trucking-as-a-Service (TaaS) platform. This creates a scalable and economically viable model for zero-emission, data-driven freight transport. Founded by Michael Cassau, previously the founder of tech-rental company Grover, NexDash aims to accelerate the electrification of Europe’s fragmented and under-digitalised road freight sector. We consolidate, transform, and electrify diesel fleets – building Trucking-as-a-Service made in Europe. The last decade was about neobanks; the next is about neo-carriers, said Cassau, noting that Germany’s shift to electrification is beginning in the logistics sector. NexDash will use this round to finance acquisitions, early electric truck deployments, charging infrastructure, and the ongoing development of NexOS as it builds a next-generation, zero-emission logistics network across Europe.

Ukrainian cybersecurity startup SOC Prime today announced the closing of its next investment round to drive the company’s next wave of growth and innovation to help customers automate critical threat detections with AI. SOC Prime has built and operates the world’s largest AI-Native Detection Intelligence Platform for SOC teams. Trusted by over 11,000 organisations, the company delivers real-time, cross-platform detection intelligence that helps security teams to anticipate, detect, validate, and respond to cyber threats faster and more effectively. Pioneering Security-as-Code approach, SOC Prime’s Detection Intelligence is applied to over 56 SIEM, EDR, Data Lake, and Data Pipeline platforms. The company continuously improves the breadth and quality of its threat coverage, shipping top-quality signals to AI SOCs and security analysts. Backed by the world’s largest library of more than 600,000 context-enriched rules and queries, SOC Prime’s platform leverages the most comprehensive private detection intelligence dataset in the industry. This new investment round marks the beginning of the company’s next chapter, expanding its mission to make cyber defence smarter, more sustainable, and more accessible. The round is led by u.ventures and joined by DNX Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, J-Ventures, and Angel One. According to Ivan Petrenko, Managing Partner of Angel One Fund. SOC Prime represents the strength and global ambition of Ukraine’s deep-tech ecosystem. "Their AI-native approach to cybersecurity is not just transforming the industry – it’s redefining how we think about digital resilience. At Angel One, we’re proud to support a Ukrainian-born company setting new global standards in cyber defence." With this new funding, the company plans to deliver the first scalable, AI-native detection automation platform that tailors its extensive library of 600,000 detections to each customer’s specific threat-detection requirements. In addition, SOC Prime has implemented industry-leading shift-left logic that operates closer to the source, enabling security teams to identify and contain threats before they reach downstream systems. The funding will also accelerate the development of these privacy-first AI-native solutions built specifically for cybersecurity professionals. SOC Prime aims to keep its solutions cost-effective and efficient, helping organisations defend themselves without compromising on sustainability or performance. A portion of the investment will also expand the company’s US presence, providing direct support to customers across defence, energy, finance, and technology sectors.  According to the team:  "This funding helps us scale not just technology, but trust. We’re building AI for defenders, by defenders. We’ve designed it to protect, adapt, and endure, even in the toughest environments. Andrii Bezverkhyi, CEO of SOC Prime " Lead image: Freepik.

London-based PolyModels Hub has secured a £7 million Series A investment from Molten Ventures, in partnership with Marathon VentureCapital. PolyModels Hub is a biotech software company developing the digital backbone for biopharma process development, reshaping how medicines are designed, developed, and manufactured. The company combines AI, advanced modelling, and data-driven workflows to help teams move faster from lab experiments to large-scale production. Its flagship platform, ModelFlow, brings together process knowledge, models, simulation, and workflow management in a single environment. Scientists and engineers can design, test, and optimise drug processes more quickly and efficiently, helping organisations reduce time, cost, and risk while improving quality and compliance. According to Antonio Benedetti, Co-founder and CEO of PolyModels Hub, the pharmaceutical sector is experiencing a major digital shift. He explains that the company’s technology and team have already demonstrated significant impact for large pharmaceutical partners within just 18 months, with these collaborations now expanding globally. We’re investing deeply in complex biologics and advancing our platform to empower scientists with the model-based solutions they deserve to transform molecules into medicines for the 21st century. With the latest investment, PolyModels Hub plans to grow its engineering and product teams, further develop its core platform, and reach more pharmaceutical companies globally. The company will prioritise scalable solutions for process and regulatory workflows, supporting the broader digitalisation of biopharma process development and contributing to more efficient delivery of new medicines to patients.

The Berlin-based health tech company Mirantus Health has received €5.5 million to scale its software platform mira in the DACH region.  Ophthalmological care in Europe is increasingly strained: 30 per cent of ophthalmologists in Germany are already 60 years of age or older and approaching retirement, while at the same time, the need for consultations is rising significantly due to the ageing population. mira creates additional low-threshold points of contact and helps to reduce waiting times and relieve the burden on practices. With mira, opticians can perform on-site retinal imaging, intraocular pressure measurements, slit-lamp examinations, refraction data, and visual acuity tests, and digitally transmit the results to ophthalmologists for evaluation.  Instead of months of waiting, customers receive a results report evaluated by an ophthalmologist within 24 to 48 hours – quickly, easily, and digitally. The results report does not constitute a diagnosis but rather indicates to the patient whether there are any abnormalities that require further investigation. The goal is to detect potential abnormalities early and thereby avoid long-term follow-up costs for the healthcare system. If abnormalities are detected, those affected can quickly receive follow-up care from ophthalmologists in their region. In addition to the standard procedure via the statutory health insurance association, Mirantus assists with scheduling appointments, if needed, through a nationwide network of more than 400 ophthalmologists. Investors include Revent, Redstone, Entrepreneur First, Noaber, Arve Capital, and the telemedicine pioneers Kai Eberhardt (Oviva) and Katharina Jünger (TeleClinic). mira is already operating at over 200 locations. By 2027, the service is expected to be available at more than 1,000 locations in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The capital will be used to expand the digital software platform and its rollout across the DACH region.  Lead image: Mirantus Health. Photo: uncredited. 

Europe’s quantum tech industry is steadily evolving from a research-led domain into a more commercial ecosystem. Activity spans the full stack, from quantum computing hardware and photonic components to software, algorithms, sensing, security, and test infrastructure, with both specialised deeptech startups and platform-oriented players attracting capital. In H1 2025, hardware development remained a central focus, including fault-tolerant quantum processors, trapped-ion and CMOS-based architectures, as well as single-photon sources and detectors that underpin quantum communication and networking. At the same time, quantum-inspired and quantum-native software, sensing technologies, and post-quantum security tools gained momentum, reflecting growing demand for practical, application-driven value. The following are the ten largest funding rounds in the European quantum tech industry during the first half of 2025. Amount raised in H1 2025: €256M Multiverse Computing is a company specialising in quantum and quantum-inspired software for solving complex industrial challenges. Founded in 2019, the company develops platforms such as Singularity and CompactifAI, which apply quantum, tensor-network and advanced AI techniques to optimise processes, enhance forecasting, and accelerate modelling across sectors including finance, energy, manufacturing, mobility, and defence. Multiverse Computing enables enterprises to unlock high-value insights and performance gains without requiring quantum hardware. Multiverse Computing has raised €256 million across two funding rounds to speed up the adoption of LLMs by reducing the high costs that currently limit their deployment. Amount raised in H1 2025: €100M Alice & Bob (A&B) is a deeptech quantum computing company, founded in 2020, with headquarters in Paris and a presence in Boston. The company is developing a universal, fault-tolerant quantum computer based on its proprietary cat-qubit architecture, a new type of qubit that significantly reduces error rates and hardware requirements for large-scale quantum systems. Alice & Bob serve both hardware and software markets, offering its quantum technology via cloud services and targeting applications across industries where exponential computing power will drive innovation. In January, Alice & Bob raised €100 million in a Series B round to accelerate its progress toward building the world’s first practical quantum computer by 2030. Amount raised in H1 2025: $27M QuantWare is a quantum hardware company that designs, develops and manufactures superconducting quantum processors and related components. Spun out of TU Delft / QuTech and based in Delft, the company offers off-the-shelf and custom quantum processing units and amplifiers, giving labs and system builders affordable access to high-quality quantum chips. QuantWare’s goal is to “become the Intel of quantum,” enabling scalable, useful quantum computers by making powerful quantum hardware broadly available. In March, QuantWare secured $27 million Series A (over two rounds, in April and June) to help develop large-scale quantum processors. Amount raised in H1 2025: €21.5M Sparrow Quantum is a deeptech company spun out of Niels Bohr Institute (University of Copenhagen) that specialises in photonic quantum chip technology. Its core offering is deterministic single-photon sources on silicon, emitting long strings of photons with world-leading purity, indistinguishability and efficiency, aimed at enabling scalable quantum communication, quantum computing and quantum internet infrastructure. In June, Sparrow Quantum raised €21.5 million in a Series A round to support growth across several key areas. Amount raised in H1 2025: €12M Orange QS is a company that specialises in automated testing equipment and software for quantum chips. Founded in 2020 as a spin-off from QuTech, the company offers industrial-scale solutions such as the “OrangeQS MAX” and “OrangeQS FLEX” systems, designed to speed up the testing, benchmarking and qualification of quantum devices with high throughput and lower cost per qubit. By targeting the critical bottleneck of quantum-chip validation, OrangeQS supports both commercial quantum-chip manufacturers and research labs, helping to bridge the gap between prototype qubit systems and scalable production. OrangeQS raised €12 million in June in an oversubscribed seed funding round. Amount raised in H1 2025: $10M zerothird (formerly Quantum Industries) is a quantum security company that protects critical infrastructure and enterprise networks with entanglement-based cryptography designed to resist both classical and quantum attacks. Its product portfolio spans Key-as-a-Service, entanglement-based quantum key distribution systems, and quantum lab equipment, all built on high-efficiency entangled photon sources and detectors. In March, the company raised $10 million in seed funding. Amount raised in H1 2025: €6M QT Sense is a company that applies quantum sensing using nanodiamond technology to detect free-radical activity inside live cells in real time. Its platform, Quantum Nuova, delivers sub-cellular resolution insights into oxidative stress, enabling new capabilities in drug discovery, early-stage disease diagnostics and personalised medicine. In February, QT Sense raised €6 million to further refine its Quantum Nuova product. Amount raised in H1 2025: $4.2M ZuriQ is a Swiss quantum computing startup developing a scalable 3D trapped-ion architecture designed to overcome the key hardware bottlenecks of today’s quantum systems. Using micro-fabricated Penning trap arrays and ultra-small trapped-ion qubits that can move and connect freely in three dimensions, ZuriQ aims to deliver high-fidelity, highly connected quantum processors compatible with industrial silicon fabrication, enabling practical applications in areas such as pharmaceuticals, chemistry and logistics. In January, ZuriQ raised $4.2 million to break quantum computing's scaling barrier. Amount raised in H1 2025: €1M Pixel Photonics is a start-up that specialises in scalable superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) integrated on photonic waveguides. Their systems deliver ultra-high performance, including broadband operation, high count rates and rapid timing resolution, for applications in quantum computing, secure communications, LiDAR, and advanced imaging. In February, Pixel Photonics received a €1 million grant from the German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND) to advance the development of its waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (WI-SNSPDs) for multi-mode detection. Amount raised in H1 2025: €500K QSensato is developing atomic-photonic chips and integrated vapour cells for next-generation quantum sensors. Using innovative laser-written vapour cell technology, the company builds compact, ultra-precise devices capable of detecting tiny variations in electric and magnetic fields. Its solutions target applications in medical diagnostics, lab-on-chip systems, space and defence, environmental monitoring, and other sectors that require robust, high-sensitivity measurement tools. In May, Qsensato raised €500,000 in pre-seed funding to support R&D on new prototypes, accelerate the commercialisation of its current solutions, and expand its operations across Europe and the United States.

EQT Ventures is one of the largest VC investors in Europe and has raised €2.6 billion across three funds, and invests from Seed up to Series C. Together, EQT Group has invested in over 300 companies, including Einride, Wolt, Marvel Fusion, and Xeltis, as well as unicorns such as Freepik and Beamery. To understand how the Firm approaches AI, defensibility, and the evolving landscape of early-stage investing, I spoke with Alexander Fred-Ojala, Head of AI at EQT Ventures. Fred-Ojala leads the AI team developing the platforms, tools, and algorithms that make EQT's early-stage investing AI and data-driven. He also advises on technical aspects of the investment process and helps portfolio companies strengthen their AI capabilities. Inside EQT's Motherbrain: the AI engine rewiring venture sourcing When it comes to AI tooling, EQT is probably best known for its proprietary platform Motherbrain, which the Firm describes as "A powerful synergy of AI and human expertise." Initially launched in 2016 by EQT Ventures as a way to evaluate large volumes of tech startups, Motherbrain uses AI to scan, model, and track investment opportunities, supporting the full investment lifecycle from sourcing, through due diligence, and into portfolio value creation. For early-stage investing, there are literally millions of opportunities to assess if you're active across Europe, the US, and globally. But a human cannot analyse all those data points. "Motherbrain has been in operation for over 10 years". Fred-Ojala detailed: "What we're trying to do with these internal tools is build systems that give us an edge and boost productivity. For Ventures investing data-driven methods can especially generate alpha in sourcing and discovering new opportunities." Historically, this has been achieved through statistical methods, such as monitoring website traffic and utilising predictive models to forecast whether a company is on a strong trajectory. "There have been so many internal conversations about opportunities—what we thought of a founder, market notes, past assessments," he shared. Previously, someone had to record and read all those notes to remember the context. Now LLMs can analyse that and proactively say:  "This team member met the company before, they knew the founder, the discussion was about X. When you reconnect, here's the best angle to take," shared Fred-Ojala.  According to Fred-Ojala, what has changed with generative AI and large language models since GPT-3 (2020) and even more so since ChatGPT is that you can now analyse unstructured data. All textual data online — including conversations about a company, PDFs, market research, academic papers, and even internal data — can be understood by the models. On the sourcing side, the company has built an operating system to navigate opportunities. A dealmaker logs in and sees all relevant opportunities where digital traces exist. They're stack-ranked using interpretable scoring models — dealmakers can see why something is ranked. "For example, a team member can do deep agentic assessments of opportunities. This system will analyse all publicly available data on an opportunity and cross-run that with internal data. The main bottleneck for doing this at scale is compute. The tool also integrates metadata like "which internal EQT person knows this company", "which advisors have met them", helping with network intelligence and leveraging the scale of the EQT platform. It'll also rank by traction, foundation, and relevance to EQT Ventures— "it'd be unlikely that we invest in 20-year-old companies." "We want early-stage companies with high potential."  "People still underestimate how transformative AI will be." I asked whether Fred-Ojala sees Europe as a foundational model region, or whether our biggest opportunities are elsewhere. He admits that although his role focuses on building internal AI systems, he also works closely with deal teams when the Firm assesses AI opportunities. He contends that, if we look at frontier model development, Europe has leaders: “Mistral is the standout example: they're only a few months behind the cutting edge, perhaps three to six months, and they're innovating in ways that directly compete with the major labs.  And let's not forget: DeepMind was founded in the UK and still drives a large portion of Google's AI breakthroughs." However, it is extremely CapEx-intensive to build frontier models, and it may not be necessary for Europe to compete. Instead, he suggests: "We might actually be at 'peak foundational-model scale' and it wouldn't surprise me if the market corrects. Short-term hype or bubble? Possibly. Long term, though, I think people still underestimate how transformative AI will be." However, Fred-Ojala and I share the opinion that (at least for now) Europe is strongest in AI applications, where companies like Lovable, Cradle, Leya, and Helsing build vertical, industry-specific solutions on top of foundation models.  He shared: "Europe can accelerate here because our markets are so diverse and nuanced—AI thrives in environments where it can optimise complex workflows, and Europe is full of them. That's where I believe Europe's biggest opportunity lies." Agentic AI will rewrite every knowledge field Fred-Ojala has zero doubt that we're in a paradigm shift rather than simply an AI bubble, and maybe the biggest in technology history. He says it's comparable to electricity and the internet: "We're creating external cognitive engines that solve problems for us. That changes everything." He sees white-collar work and digital workflows as the start, asserting,  "In a few years, it will feel archaic to type on a keyboard and stare at a static screen. We'll instruct systems and manage agentic workflows instead. Look at software engineering: OpenAI just launched an agent-creation framework. Internally, they prototyped it in six weeks, and Codex, their own code-generation agent, wrote 80 per cent of the code. That would've been science fiction two years ago." From here on, agentic work will spread into every knowledge field, including biotech, chemistry, physics, and maths: "GPT-5 Pro solves novel math problems. DeepMind's AlphaEvolve discovers new algorithms. These are goosebump moments." Regarding a bubble, he asserts that, if anything, the short-term bubble is on the "the CapEx side — data-centre build-outs — more than venture funding itself." Crypto looked for problems. AI solves them Like many of us, Fred-Ojala has lived through the blockchain hype cycles — the ICO days, Web3, and NFTs — business models dependent on platform economics. Before joining EQT Ventures, Fred-Ojala served as Research Director of the Data Lab at UC Berkeley's Sutardja Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET) and co-founded the Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator, whose alumni have collectively raised over $600 million.  He admits that while crypto often felt like a tech looking for a problem. AI is the opposite.  "It solves problems now. Even if progress stopped today, distributing and integrating current capabilities would create massive value. The main bottleneck isn't technology—it's people. Changing workflows, mindsets, and habits takes time. That's why enterprise ROI measurements often look messy." The rise of new power centres As our conversation shifted from hype cycles to real-world impact, Fred-Ojala pointed out that the next wave of AI value won't be confined to familiar hubs like London, Paris, or Berlin. Fred-Ojala explained that EQT recently analysed AI activity across Europe and found that innovation is emerging far beyond the usual regional power centres. Instead, AI accelerates research in physics, chemistry, materials, and optimisation, which opens new physical-world applications and the opportunity for highly durable businesses. Beyond that, "we ended up creating three categories," he explained. The first is Full-Stack Powerhouses—regions with both a high number of AI startups and strong investment volume. "Stockholm is the standout here, with more than 50 AI startups and over €205 million invested," he noted.  The second group, Founder Factories, consists of cities with high startup density but comparatively lower funding. "Tallinn actually has the most AI startups per capita in Europe, with 360 companies per million residents" he said. Finally, there are the Money Magnets,  ecosystems with fewer startups but significant capital inflows. "Heidelberg and Cambridge fall into this category," Fred-Ojala explained.  "They're deep-tech academic cities that consistently attract large checks." Complexity is no longer a moat When asked how he distinguishes defensibility from hype in today's AI market, Fred-Ojala was clear:  "One major shift is that technical complexity is no longer a moat, especially in software," he said.  With tools like Lovable, he noted, "you can prototype a Slack-like SaaS product quickly, then have engineers refine what the AI can't finish." Instead, the attributes that make an AI startup truly fundable are changing.  He contends that velocity matters: "the teams that adopt AI workflows the fastest will outpace everyone. ”Distribution and brand are key assets "because mindshare compounds globally, and deep domain expertise is now a critical differentiator, the kind of vertical focus that frontier labs won't casually replace."  Ultimately, his advice to founders is straightforward: "Solve one or two problems exceptionally well. Don't try to solve 50. Generic wrappers won't last." "We're only scratching the surface" When asked where the AI landscape is heading over the next three to five years, Fred-Ojala cautioned that forecasting exponential progress is always difficult—but the direction of travel is clear.  "Services industries will be heavily disrupted," he said, pointing to a future where end-to-end GenAI workflows take over large swathes of customer support, legal, finance, and accounting." He also expects software itself to become increasingly fluid:  "We'll see real-time generated interfaces—software that reshapes itself around the user." Fred-Ojala believes several long-dormant technologies are poised for a comeback.  "AR and VR will resurge," he said, adding that humanoid robotics are finally approaching a level of maturity where they can become "meaningful contributors" across industries. Even if the pace of AI progress slows, he stressed that we're still early:  "We're only scratching the surface of current capabilities."

Following the excitement of our initial announcement, we are delighted to share the second round of speakers for the Tech.eu Summit London 2026. The event will take place on 21–22 April 2026 at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, bringing together leading figures shaping the future of technology across Europe and the world. What to Expect at the Summit The two-day summit will dive deep into the trends and innovations driving global change. Key themes include artificial intelligence, fintech, climate tech, deeptech, and other fast-evolving sectors defining the future of business and society. Attendees will gain valuable insights from top investors, founders, and technology experts as they explore the opportunities and challenges ahead. As in last year’s edition, the summit will also feature a dedicated Startup Stage, where emerging founders will present their solutions, share their growth stories and showcase the technologies they are building for the future. The stage will serve as a platform for promising startups to connect with investors, partners and ecosystem leaders, giving attendees a closer look at the next wave of innovation shaping Europe. Meet the Second Round of Speakers Deepka Rana - Northzone Maren Bannon - January Ventures Max Ohrstrand - SoftBank Investment Advisers Maximilian Wilhelm - Left Lane Michael Tefula - Ada Ventures Nadja Reischel - Cherry Ventures Randal Whitmore - Ada Health Rose Hulse - ScreenHits TV Will Bennett - Seedcamp Yana Abramova - Pretiosum VC This newly added group further highlights the diversity and depth of Europe’s technology ecosystem. Their perspectives will contribute to dynamic discussions on the state of innovation, investment, and technological transformation across the continent. Get Your Ticket Early Adopter tickets are still available for a limited time. Secure your spot today and be part of one of Europe’s most important gatherings for founders, investors, operators, and ecosystem leaders. Start Networking Before the Summit All attendees will gain access to the Tech.eu Events App, where you can begin networking ahead of the summit, set up meetings in advance, browse the agenda once published, and receive real-time event updates. More Updates Coming Soon Additional speakers and the full programme agenda will be announced in the coming weeks as we continue building a world-class lineup for 2026. Call for Speakers Remains Open Speaker applications are still open. Those interested in contributing to the summit can submit their proposals through the application form available here. We look forward to welcoming you in London this April for two days of insight, inspiration, and meaningful connections.

Logistica OS, the Berlin-based startup developing AI agents for supply chain operations, has raised €1.5 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by NAP, alongside Daphni and angel investors Javier de la Fuente, Nono Konopka, Daniel Khachab, Andrew Shaw, Jonas Meynert, Tony Kula and Hermann Ude. Europe’s logistics sector underpins around €10 trillion in economic activity, yet much of the industry still relies on pen, paper, spreadsheets, and phone calls. Every day, 300 million pallets move between more than nine million companies in Europe, and an estimated €50 billion is lost annually to inefficiencies, missing equipment, and administrative overhead. Despite automation in many other sectors, logistics remains under-digitised: fewer than 40 per cent of workflows are digital, and over 1.5 million roles in the sector are currently unfilled. Even with RFID tags, ERP systems, and other tools, many key processes still depend on manual work and reconciliation, increasing the risk of errors and losses. Founded in 2025 by Flavio Alario, Kenan Deniz, and Florian Lehmann, Logistica OS is addressing this gap with an agent-based platform for supply chains. Its suite of AI agents automates repetitive operational workflows across global logistics. Its first product, PalletClaim, addresses a common logistics challenge: reconciling pallet balances between partners. The AI processes handwritten delivery slips, extracts pallet and product data, and automatically creates and reconciles accounts, reducing weeks of manual work to near-instant processing. Delivery slips vary widely, as each customer, site, and driver records information differently. Logistica OS addresses this using proprietary Optical Character Recognition (OCR) models trained on thousands of real-world documents, combined with domain-specific rules to detect inconsistencies and validate data. Its flexible workflow builder adapts to each customer’s processes, enabling automation even in complex, multi-partner environments. For accuracy and compliance, all data is processed on EU-hosted infrastructure. We started with pallets because it’s the mess everyone knows. Once you automate that, you can automate everything around it: delivery claims, credit notes, invoice matching. The foundation is the same, says Flavio Alario, CEO and co-founder of Logistica OS. PalletClaim now processes more than 100,000 delivery slips per month, reducing manual work by around 80 per cent and lowering costs linked to equipment losses and administrative effort. With this new funding, Logistica OS aims to support more than 100 companies in automating repetitive workflows over the next 24 months, improving how logistics teams operate and communicate, one agent at a time. 

NcodiN, a French deeptech startup, has secured a €16 million seed investment led by MIG Capital AG through its MIG Fonds 17 and 18. The round also includes participation from Maverick Silicon, PhotonVentures, and Verve Ventures, along with continued support from existing investors Elaia, Earlybird, and OVNI. Founded in 2023 by Fabrice Raineri (CSO), Bruno Garbin (CTO), and Francesco Manegatti (CEO), NcodiN is developing NConnect, a new generation of photonic interposers with integrated nanolasers to address the speed and energy limitations of conventional semiconductor hardware. NConnect’s key differentiator is its use of ultra-small lasers, which enable high-density integration on silicon and scalability without major changes to existing processor architectures. NcodiN has demonstrated proof-of-concept nanolasers with energy efficiency below 0.1 pJ/bit, integrated nanodetectors, and complete optical links on silicon. The company has also built an independent cleanroom that supports rapid prototyping and collaborative development with industry partners. Dr Francesco Manegatti, CEO and Co-founder of NcodiN, explains that the company is providing a crucial missing element for one of the industry’s biggest challenges: achieving extremely high memory bandwidth to power the next generation of AI data centres. Our technology unlocks wafer-scale superchips by providing highly energy-efficient interconnects for networking across tens of chiplets – an essential component in the architectures everyone is pursuing. With the new funding, NcodiN will expand its team and accelerate the industrialisation of its laser-on-silicon technology. The company will also strengthen its supply chain and begin product qualification with key strategic partners, laying the groundwork for large-scale manufacturing. In parallel, NcodiN plans to expand its R&D capabilities and establish a presence in Silicon Valley.

Paris-based Rift, a deeptech company focused on on-demand aerial intelligence, has raised €4.6 million to advance its technology and roll out the first on-demand aerial intelligence network, operated from a single remote command centre in France. The round was led by AlleyCorp, with participation from OVNI Capital. A pioneer in autonomous drone-based observation, Rift is building an aerial intelligence infrastructure designed to protect national territories, critical infrastructure, and civilian populations. Growing geopolitical and climate risks are increasing pressure on critical infrastructure and borders, driving demand for long-range aerial surveillance. Current solutions are expensive and inefficient: a helicopter flight hour can exceed €3,000 and requires continuous human presence, which limits missions and creates blind spots that weaken security and heighten exposure to threats. Rift offers an alternative that enables continuous monitoring of sensitive areas and critical infrastructure at significantly lower cost. Its “Surveillance-as-a-Service” model turns a traditionally capital-intensive market into a flexible, zero-CAPEX service, where clients such as ministries, infrastructure operators, and industrial groups gain instant access to aerial surveillance capabilities while maintaining full sovereignty over collected data. Rift’s platform is designed for operational use cases such as early wildfire detection, monitoring highway incidents, tracking illegal border crossings, and overseeing pipelines, power lines, and railways for leaks or intrusions, giving authorities and operators earlier aerial visibility and faster coordination across large territories. Rift’s Co-founder and CEO, Daniel Nef, said that the company is developing the crucial layer between ground teams and satellites: a remotely operated network able to rapidly cover critical areas and deliver real-time situational awareness without requiring personnel on site. Our ambition is to equip nations and organisations, starting with Europe, with a scalable aerial intelligence infrastructure that strengthens public safety, protects critical infrastructure, and reinforces strategic autonomy. Rift’s system combines long-endurance VTOL drones, autonomous deployment stations, and the RiftOS software platform. This approach allows for the centralisation of piloting at a single site, reducing costs by up to a factor of ten compared to traditional methods and eliminating the need for 24/7 field teams. Through its proprietary detection technology and collaboration with the DGAC and European authorities, Rift is strengthening its regulatory position and enabling long-range operations and large-scale deployment across Europe. Luc Ryan-Schreiber, Principal at AlleyCorp, noted that Rift is playing an important role in shaping the European aerial intelligence sector by expanding surveillance capacity while sharply reducing costs. Rift’s integration of hardware, software, and data into the same architecture has the opportunity to improve the security of state infrastructure and bring much-needed technological advancements to the detection and protection of key assets. With this funding, Rift will scale production of its autonomous drone stations using industrial processes tailored for large-volume, cost-efficient manufacturing. In parallel, it will advance AI solutions to fully automate missions by 2027 and expand its surveillance network across Europe, with a focus on sensitive areas. To support this growth, Rift plans to double its workforce by 2026 and is already working on pilot projects with government and industrial partners.

Pleo, the Danish spend management startup, has laid off workers, following changes it introduced earlier this year regarding how it launches new products and services. The job cuts took place during September and October, with up to 100 workers laid off, sources told Tech.eu. Those impacted mostly worked across commercial, including leadership roles, and those who worked with Pleo’s SMB clients, sources said. The UK division of Pleo, which operates across Europe, has been hit by the cuts. Pleo confirmed the layoffs, but did not confirm the number impacted. A spokesperson for Pleo said: “Earlier this year, we made changes to our go-to-market strategy as we seek to take advantage of the enormous opportunity we see in key markets across Europe. “As part of these changes, a number of colleagues left Pleo during September and October. This was a difficult decision, but one that will enable our business to accelerate its growth through investment in our product offering and go-to-market technology.” Pleo also made job cuts in 2022, laying off around 15 per cent of its workforce. Pleo, which started life in Copenhagen in 2015, was co-founded by fintech veterans Jeppe Rindom and Niccolo Perra. It employs more than 800 people, according to the company’s website. The Danish startup, which has raised more than $430 million in funding, provides European businesses with various spend management tools including company cards, employee expense reports, credit and treasury products. In 2021, Pleo, which is backed by Creandum and Seedcamp, raised $150m at a $1.7bn valuation, and six months later raised another $200 million at a valuation of $4.7 billion. But this year, investor Kinnevik cut the value of its stake, giving Pleo an implied valuation of $1.62bn. Pleo says its services are used by over 40,000 businesses. As well as Copenhagen, it has offices across Europe, including London, Madrid and Berlin. In 2024, Pleo reported a 37 per cent year-on-year revenue growth, driven by a 56 per cent rise in SaaS revenue.

Bitcoin builder company BOB has completed its community sale, bringing total funding to over $25 million.  The company aims to bring decentralised finance (DeFi) functionalities to the Bitcoin ecosystem. According to BOB co-founder Alexei Zamyatin: "The community sale was an important part of our pledge to transition BOB to community ownership. We now have an aligned group of community protocol owners who, alongside tier 1 institutional funds, DeFi founders and leading BTC businesses, will be the driving force behind BOB’s mission to become the Gateway to Bitcoin DeFi, everywhere." Prior to the community sale, BOB had raised a total of $21 million across multiple Seed and strategic rounds. This backing has enabled BOB to achieve significant technical milestones in pursuit of its vision, including becoming the first hybrid ZK rollup, launching a BitVM bridge on testnet with major institutional partners, and pioneering the first Bitcoin intents system that enables 1-click BTC access across major chains. With TGE and the transition to full community governance around the corner, BOB will continue to focus on delivering on the Gateway to Bitcoin DeFi roadmap.

The UK Royal College of Art (Home) (RCA) has closed the RCA Design & Innovation S/EIS Investment Fund I. Launched to back the very best early-stage companies founded by RCA graduates and staff, the Fund offers investors access to a diverse pipeline of design-led, multi-sector investments addressing scalable markets that are open for innovation, while also benefiting from tax reliefs under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). This Fund is part of the College’s long-term strategy of ensuring that the best talent from the RCA can realise innovative commercial ideas and transform the world in a positive way. The RCA is among the top 10 universities in the UK for the number of spinouts created and the number of equity deals secured by its spinouts. This Fund builds on the success of the RCA’s incubator, InnovationRCA, in supporting companies founded by RCA graduates. InnovationRCA has backed over 90 design-led ventures, which have gone on to raise more than £150 million from other investors. Around 40 per cent of InnovationRCA’s portfolio consists of impact-for-profit companies, 60 per cent are patent-based, and in the past five years, 51 per cent have been women-led. Following its first close, the Fund has invested in 10 companies, driving innovation across multiple sectors, including medtech and cleantech. The companies include: BlueNose;  a London-based startup developing AI-driven aerodynamic retrofits on cargo ships to reduce air-drag, designed to significantly reduce fuel consumption, lower emissions, and ensure regulatory compliance without disrupting operations. Ponda: a Bristol-based biomaterials company developing technologies to transform wetland plants grown in regenerated peatlands into next-generation textiles for the fashion industry.  Revive Innovations +: a MedTech spin-out transforming emergency medicine and defence medical response with its patented, miniaturised auto-injector platform.  President and Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, Professor Christoph Lindner, said:  “This important milestone in the life of this fund is a testament to the strength of the talent pipeline emerging from the Royal College of Art.” Dr Nadia Danhash, Director, InnovationRCA, said:  “We are thrilled to welcome our investors into the Fund. Their participation recognises the UK as a strong source of investable and compelling design-led companies. We expect this to be the first of a series of funds that will maximise the potential of UK createch and build an even stronger UK Creative Industries sector.”

Curve, the UK all-your-cards-in-one-place fintech, has been acquired by banking giant Lloyds Banking Group, the companies have confirmed.Curve, which is backed by investors Fuel Ventures, IDC Ventures, Outward VC and Hanaco Ventures and has raised more than £230m in funding, said the deal was “rooted in shared ambition”.In a short statement, London-headquartered Curve, which has around six million users, said: “For existing Curve customers, nothing changes. Your Curve Pay app, your wallet, your cards, your rewards - all just as they were yesterday. But with the scale, reach and trust of Lloyds behind us, we’ll be able to do more of what you love, faster."Lloyds, which has 28 million customers,  said the deal was a “strategic move” to broaden and speed up the bank’s digital transformation.The bank highlighted the possible benefits of Curve’s digital wallet.It said: ”Alongside the services that Curve currently offers to customers, the integration of Curve Pay, Curve's cutting-edge technology and digital wallet, into Lloyds Banking Group's current digital offering, will allow Lloyds Banking Group to offer its customers an enhanced payments experience within mobile banking."The companies did not disclose financial details of the deal, but Sky News has reported that Lloyds was paying £120m for Curve, which was founded in 2015 by Israeli entrepreneur Shachar Bialick. The deal has not been without controversy, with some investors angry about the price and distribution of the sale proceeds. IDC Ventures, which holds 12 per cent of the shares, said: "IDC Ventures remains deeply concerned about the conduct of Curve’s management and board during the current sale process. Issues regarding the company’s governance and ownership are disputed, and IDC is reserving all legal rights pending further developments. "It is a matter of real surprise to shareholders that Lloyds Banking Group, a leading UK institution, would contemplate proceeding with a transaction that IDC believes is not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders. As such, IDC does not intend to support the proposed sale and does not believe that it is capable of being implemented without its support." The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.Lloyds said the deal was not expected to impact its full-year guidance figures for 2025 or 2026.

Spain-based Dost, an AI-powered financial automation platform, has closed a £6 million Series A round led by Octopus Ventures and officially launched in the UK market. The round also included participation from new investor TQ Ventures, as well as continued support from existing backers such as Draper B1, Born Capital and Eoniq.fund. Co-founded in 2021 by Adam Barbera (CEO), Fernando Martín (COO), Naqqash Abassi (CTO) and Àlex Caudet (CSO and Managing Director), Dost is a SaaS platform that automates financial document processing and supplier management for mid-market enterprises. The platform uses proprietary generative AI models to manage the entire accounts payable cycle, from document capture to ERP integration, and serves customers in sectors such as manufacturing, construction, logistics, automotive, food and beverage, and chemicals. Building on this foundation, Dost differentiates itself from competitors that depend on third-party OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools by using proprietary AI models trained specifically for complex, high-volume financial document processing. Its platform automates the full procure-to-pay and order-to-cash lifecycle. It is built for the “real economy”, focusing on established industries with complex supply chains and multi-page invoices that conventional automation tools often find difficult to process. The investment reflects growing UK interest in AI-driven financial automation, with Dost introducing technology already in use at more than 150 European enterprises in food, retail, manufacturing and other industries to address common challenges for British mid-market businesses, including manual invoice processing, data entry errors and approval delays. Following a pilot phase with early UK customers across manufacturing, construction, logistics, and automotive, Dost is now formalising its UK presence with a seven-person local team covering sales, marketing and customer success. Dost will use the capital to pursue a dual growth strategy: strengthening its position in Spain and accelerating its expansion into the UK market with the new London team.

French crypto-banking startup Deblock has secured €30 million in Series A funding led by Speedinvest, alongside CommerzVentures and Latitude. Existing investors 20VC, Headline, Chalfen Ventures, and Kraken Ventures also participated in the round. Deblock offers a fully on-chain banking solution in Europe that combines features of a traditional bank account with on-chain self-custody. By linking a euro current account with a personal, self-owned crypto wallet, the platform allows users to manage both fiat and digital assets in one place. This setup supports everyday payments, investments, and savings through Vaults and direct access to decentralised finance (DeFi) services, while enabling users to retain control over their funds rather than relying on custodial platforms. Deblock was founded by former Revolut and Ledger executives Aaron Beck, Adriana Restrepo, Jean Meyer and Mario Eguiluz. Since its launch in France in April 2024, the company has grown to more than 300,000 customers, reflecting increasing demand for banking services that combine usability and security while allowing customers to retain full control over their digital assets through self-custody. The company is regulated by the Banque de France as an Electronic Money Institution and holds a MiCA licence from the AMF, ensuring compliance with European financial standards. Building on this momentum, Deblock is preparing to enter the German market to bring its fully on-chain banking solution to a broader European audience, supported by Germany’s strong adoption of digital financial services and well-established regulatory framework. Our goal is to create a clear and secure way to use both euros and digital assets in everyday life – and these markets are critical to defining the future of on-chain banking in Europe, said Jean Meyer, co-founder and CEO of Deblock. The Series A funding will help Deblock accelerate its European expansion by growing its local team and investing in product localisation and German-speaking customer support.

Berlin-based Integral, an AI-powered services company focused on accounting, tax and payroll for SMEs, has acquired cleverlohn, a digital payroll and HR provider in Germany. The acquisition expands Integral’s AI-based offering and represents a step in its strategy to build a leading AI-first advisory firm in accounting, tax and payroll in Europe. Integral has also secured funding from General Catalyst, Cherry Ventures and Puzzle Ventures, bringing its total funding to €12 million. Founded in 2024 by Lukas Zörner and Anil Can Baykal, Integral is an AI-powered services company modernising accounting, taxation and payroll for SMEs in Europe, starting with Germany. The company combines AI-driven technology with human expertise to provide more efficient, accurate and streamlined financial services. By integrating Integral’s AI-driven capabilities with cleverlohn’s expertise, SMEs, partners, and other stakeholders will have access to a unified solution covering accounting, taxation and payroll. Commenting on the acquisition, Lukas Zörner, Co-founder and CEO of Integral, said it marks a major step in the company’s mission to use AI to transform accounting, payroll and tax services for SMEs: cleverlohn’s deep expertise in payroll and HR perfectly complements our offering. I am incredibly excited to work together with the team and focus on further expanding the offering for our customers and partners. cleverlohn has established a strong track record in providing payroll and HR services that help businesses streamline workflows and comply with Germany’s complex labour and tax regulations. The company will continue to operate as an independent entity under the cleverlohn brand. Darleen Warda, Co-founder and Managing Director of cleverlohn, said that the combined potential of Integral and cleverlohn is very significant. By using AI and further developing the product to better support their team, they aim to place even greater emphasis on delivering high-quality service and to offer SMEs improved support in managing payroll and HR processes with greater ease and confidence. Germany’s SMEs are increasingly affected by rising compliance costs, legacy systems and a shortage of skilled professionals. Integral’s AI-driven platform automates manual tasks and supports more accurate, efficient bookkeeping and, with the addition of cleverlohn’s payroll expertise, aims to provide SMEs with real-time insights and reliable customer service to better manage their financial processes. Additionally, Integral will use the new funding to further develop its product in close collaboration with customers and expand its team in Germany.

Car making exists in a challenging environment — marked by geopolitical tensions, high interest rates, raw material costs, CO₂ standards, increased competition in EVs, and pricing pressure. I recently took a press trip to Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Hangzhou City, to learn about Renault Group’s (hereinafter referred to as Renault for brevity) efforts to re-release the updated Twingo, the Twingo E-Tech electric and discovered a company reinventing how it develops vehicles.  The original Renault Twingo, launched in 1992, sold more than 4.1 million units across 25 countries. But as the small-car segment shrank to under 5 per cent of the European market, even the EV version struggled, and Twingo was discontinued in 2024.  It's an uncomfortable truth that SUVs dominate most cities where they don’t belong. In 2021, SUVs accounted for approximately 48 per cent of passenger car sales in China. By 2024, SUVs represented roughly 54 per cent of all new passenger vehicle registrations across major markets in Europe.  Can Renault get people out of their oversized vehicles and into the more compact Twingo E-Tech electric?  For Europe’s tech and startup ecosystem, Renault’s Twingo rollout is more than a story about one car — it’s a case study in how legacy industries must rethink speed, partnerships, and global learning if they want to stay competitive.  Inside Renault’s China playbook: faster cycles, leaner teams, cheaper cars Image: Inside the Twingo. To design an affordable and competitive electric city car, Renault has radically transformed its R&D with the Twingo E-Tech electric, the first model in its “Leap 100” programme — named for its goal of developing a car in just 100 weeks.  It’s the fastest vehicle programme in Renault’s history. To achieve this, Renault created a new organisational model combining European expertise with Chinese innovation, built around three pillars: Ampere (its electric vehicle business), ACDC, and the Novo Mesto assembly plant. Ampere led the project across its key stages in France, China, and Slovenia. Development began in France using the AmpR Small platform and a streamlined governance setup to speed decisions and reduce complexity.  In terms of the company’s focus on China, Renault’s CEO, Luca de Meo, told staff he wanted to do a car for less than €20,000 in under two years.  While the French team initially told him it was impossible, the Chinese said “no problem”. In response, Renault opened its Advanced China Development Centre (ACDC) in Shanghai in January, bringing together strong local partners, resident engineers, and dedicated teams focused on strengthening the company’s overall competitiveness. According to Renault CTO Philippe Brunet, “We are here to learn and to compete.” That pretty much sums up Renault Group’s strategy in China right now.  The company is intentionally embedding itself inside China’s NEV ecosystem — not just to observe it, but to learn from it and bring the innovation back to Europe.  This includes faster development cycles, smarter supply chains, and ultimately brings vehicles like the new Twingo to market in under 24 months –” though we’re aiming for 21 months,” said Jérémie Coiffier, Project Engineering China - ACDC. Image: Twingo virtual car. Renault has shaved time off their development cycle by concept freeze to engineering prototype in around nine months by tightening design loops, relying more heavily on software-first design, full virtual-car models, and simplifying supplier nomination.  The follow-on phases — engineering prototype to pre-plant trial, and then to start of production — are shortened further through the use of soft-tool hardware, parallel workstreams and closer alignment between engineering and industrialisation teams. The time savings are significant: 16 per cent shaved off upstream planning, 41 per cent off development and pre-industrialisation, and 26 per cent off the industrialisation phase itself.  All of this means new models can reach customers sooner.  How Chinese suppliers are accelerating Renault’s Twingo A key part of Renailt's acceleration comes from collaborating with 30 Chinese suppliers and engineers, many of whom already support both global and domestic OEMs. Image: Foyer of HORSE Powertrain company. There's also HORSE Powertrain, a UK-founded but Shanghai HQ company created by Renault and Geely in 2024 to build engines and hybrid systems for cars. This matters — China uses NEVs, or New Energy Vehicles to refer to non-ICE vehicles, encompassing BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles), PHEVs (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles), FCEVs (hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles), and those powered by sustainable fuel. In response, HORSE positions itself as a major supplier for markets where full EV adoption is progressing unevenly, offering scalable, lower-emission powertrains that let carmakers outsource ICE and hybrid development while focusing their own resources on electrification. This setup helps cut part-level development costs, tooling costs, and sourcing timelines. At the moment, about 40 per cent of Twingo components come from China and around 60 per cent from Europe and other regions (by value).  That balance is expected to shift further toward Europe once battery production is localised at Renault’s Novo Mesto plant, where the project ultimately transitions from prototype into full production.  As part of this integration, staff from the Novo Mesto plant have also been travelling to China to collaborate directly with suppliers and engineering teams. Ultimately, Renault’s two-year development cycle now brings it much closer to the pace of its fastest global competitors.  Where European OEMs traditionally operated on four-to-five-year timelines, Renault has essentially split that in half.  It’s now within reach of the 24–30 month cycles seen at agile Chinese players like BYD, NIO, XPeng, Geely. In China’s quickest startups, facelifts and software upgrades appear in 12–18 months. Renault isn’t aiming to become a Chinese EV company — but it is clearly adopting critical parts of the playbook. Investment in Chinese automotive ecosystem In July, Renault's electric vehicle business Ampere signed a deal with Chinese partners, including CICC Capital PE, in Hangzhou to launch an EV industry investment fund. The fund will target innovation in areas such as batteries, autonomous driving, smart cockpits, automotive software and AI within NEVs.  The fund is focused on Chinese companies, and it's unclear what this will mean for the European startup ecosystem. This week saw reports that  Renault has ended a project with French global automotive supplier Valeo  to develop a new rare-earth-free electric vehicle motor, instead looking for a cheaper Chinese supplier.  Yet, according to Ampere. Even if a Chinese company does contribute to the stator, the motor would still be made in Renault's plant in Cleon, France, with silicon carbide modules provided by Franco-Italian firm STMicro for the inverter, another central EV component. Further, Renault’s CVC arm invests in companies like Wandercraft and Verkor and is a  founding member of Software République, an open innovation initiative with partners like Atos, Dassault Systèmes, Orange, STMicroelectronics, and Thales. This program launched a dedicated startup incubator in Paris to advance sustainable, secure, and intelligent mobility, driving forth companies like COMPREDICT and  Entropy.. The price, policy, and infrastructure divide shaping China-Europe EV adoption China and Europe are moving through the EV transition in completely different ways, and the contrast is hard to ignore. In China, EV adoption is highest in southern regions where climate is naturally favourable. In Europe, uptake is strongest in the colder north, driven much more by policy and incentives.  That divergence shows up in consumer expectations too. Chinese buyers tend to want digital-first cabins, smart assistants, and deep app ecosystems. Europeans are still prioritising range, charging performance, practical features — and very predictably — privacy.  Further, China’s fleet market sits at roughly 10 per cent, whereas Europe’s is closer to 60 per cent and remains one of the biggest levers for EV adoption.  Pricing reinforces the split: Chinese EVs average around €19,000, versus roughly €35,000 in Europe.  And on infrastructure, China is well ahead, with around 4 million public chargers compared with Europe’s ~970,000, plus a far denser DC fast-charging network. In short: two ecosystems, moving at different speeds for very different reasons. The dark side of hyper-scaling: China’s EV sector falls into involution However, while Renault’s relationship with the Chinese automotive ecosystem shows its capacity for speed and innovation, it’s worth taking a look underneath the hood at how the local automotive market is faring. While China’s NEV market penetration stands at 50 per cent, news reports that the sector is “Bloated by excessive investment, distorted by government intervention, and plagued by heavy losses,  Essentially, China is undergoing a process of involution, where policy-driven overinvestment has created an oversupply of vehicles that exceeds market demand.  China’s total vehicle production capacity hit more than 55 million units last year, while actual sales were barely half that. Factories that once ran nonstop now hum at only 50 per cent capacity. The result is a deflation of price, thinner margins, and less profitability. Factories reduce their opening hours, and jobs decline, especially as factories are staffed by robots.   According to Autopost, of the roughly 130 EV manufacturers in China, only four made money last year — BYD, Tesla China, Li Auto, and Geely. It follows that more and more Chinese automakers will look to the European market to increase profits. For the first half of 2025, Chinese-made cars achieved a record ~5.1  per cent share of the European market. Combined, Chinese car brands outsold Mercedes in June.  While Chinese EVs are subject to sizable tariffs, there are reports that launching local production in Europe and a focus on hybrids has offered a loophole against the cost.  Europe builds a unified software stack Renault is not the only company looking to advance through software. Eleven automotive companies, backed by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June this year to cooperate on open-source software development. Their goal: speed up development, improve efficiency and security, and create a shared software platform for series production — with a modular code-first approach scheduled for rollout in 2026. The aim is to develop non-differentiating vehicle software based on an open, certifiable software stack – and thus accelerate the transformation to software-defined vehicles. This should not only reduce the development effort but also speed up the market launch. For Renault, the Chinese ecosystem offers unmatched speed, supplier density, and technical agility — which is exactly what Renault is trying to absorb through ACDC Shanghai.  But China’s overcapacity and race-to-the-bottom pricing also underscore why Renault is not trying to replicate the Chinese market model in Europe. Instead, it’s selectively importing the methods — faster development loops, integrated suppliers, software-first design — while avoiding the structural traps that have pushed much of China’s EV sector into unprofitability. Where to from here? Chinese overproduction means a growing surplus of EVs is being pushed into export markets, with Europe becoming the primary destination if the trends of Australia and the Middle East are anything to go by.  This influx is already driving EV prices down, particularly in the small and mid-size segments where margins are tight and European carmakers have traditionally struggled to compete on cost.  The challenge now is to ensure that European startups are not sidelined by the gravitational pull of China’s hyper-scale supply chain. Overall, if Europe can combine startup ingenuity with industrial reinvention, it still has a critical shot at shaping the next era of global mobility rather than simply importing it.

Europe is at a “crossroads" and has not realised its full potential, according to leading VC firm Atomico, which has urged the European ecosystem to power its first trillion-euro company. Atomico’s latest State of European Tech report (its eleventh) paints a positive picture of the European startup scene but says structural gaps mean Europe is potentially leaving trillions of euros in future, unrealised GDP on the table. Tom Wehmeier, partner and head of intelligence at Atomico, said: “Sovereignty in technology isn't about protectionism, it's about agency and choice – building the capability, confidence and capital to shape the future, while retaining the freedom to act independently and lead on Europe’s own terms.” In 2025, Europe can point to startups like Lovable, Synthesia, DeepL, ElevenLabs and n8n, which are known on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite these successes, Europe has not reached its full potential, the report says. It has identified four “key ambitions” which it says will define Europe’s success. These are (1) to make it easier for founders to build and sell across European borders at scale; (2) make Europe the home of choice for the world’s most ambitious talent; (3) better mobilise Europe’s capital markets; (4) strengthen the risk culture across Europe. The report provides solutions to the above ambitions. (1)  ● Test and Learn: To enable founders to build, policy must be crafted like great products — test fast, learn faster, build trust, and scale what works.● EU Inc: To grow, Europe needs a single pan-European company framework that lets founders incorporate digitally, raise capital, and operate seamlessly across borders in 48 hours.● Spinouts that Scale: Incentivise inventors to become founders, align spinout terms with global standards, and connect to markets.(2) ● Reward Risk: Simple, fair and accessible employee ownership, benchmarked to ‘Not Optional’ gold standards.● Bring the world’s best talent to Europe: Create a single, fast-track visa scheme that makes relocation frictionless and staying obvious.● Unlock Talent Mobility: Make it easier for founders and operators the freedom to move, work and build within Europe.(3) ● European Capital Compact: Channel pension, insurance and sovereign assets to fund European innovation, scaling national models like Tibi, WIN and Mansion House across Europe.● Savings into Growth: Empower Europeans to put their savings to work - productively, responsibly and confidently.● One Listing, One Capital Market: A single, liquid European market for growth companies — harmonised disclosure, pooled liquidity, and shared analyst coverage to keep IPOs, ownership and value in Europe.(4) ● Own the Narrative: Change how Europe talks about risk. Invest in narrative to celebrate ambition, embrace failure and success, and reframe entrepreneurship and experimentation positively.● Procure the Future: One fast, trusted, passportable route for startups to sell to European public and corporate buyers willing to bet on innovation.● Fail Better: Make it easier to start again. Make insolvency and restructuring easier, faster and fairer so founders can wind up, reset and restart without bureaucracy, stigma, or lost time. Sarah Guemouri, principal at Atomico, said: "Europe's mission has never been stronger. The talent, ambition, and ideas are all in place. What's missing are the conditions to match that potential: simpler regulation, more patient capital, and public commitment. "This year’s report is our blueprint for change, because the next decade will decide whether Europe leads the next tech era or lets others define it."