Balnord, an early-stage investor focused on the Baltic Sea region, announced it has exceeded its €70 million fund target and is on track for a final close of €100 million by mid-2026. The firm targets companies advancing Europe’s technological reindustrialisation, investing in frontier and dual-use technologies with emphasis on space, healthcare, and industrial resilience. Europe is undergoing a significant reindustrialisation, with frontier-tech and dual-use companies likely to play an important role. Annual investment across the continent is estimated at around €1 trillion to address complex challenges and support this shift. Balnord anticipates that high-growth companies will emerge in this segment. We’re investing in the backbone of European industrialisation. We have already invested around €13M in 10 companies. The first four of them raised €40M in subsequent investment rounds, generating revenues of €35M this year,  commented Marcin P. Kowalik, General Partner at Balnord.  Balnord’s strategy is to support Europe’s technological autonomy and reindustrialisation across sectors, including space, healthcare, and industrial resilience. Drawing on its founders’ experience as entrepreneurs and operators, the firm plans to support teams from the first round through exit. The fund plans to invest in at least 22 companies, with initial investments ranging from €500,000 to €3 million, with follow-on investments of up to €12 million per company. Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, General Partner at Balnord, noted that the team has been collaborating for nine years, bringing together a group of mission-driven investors and operators united by a shared goal of supporting founders in overcoming their most difficult challenges. We’re backing resilient entrepreneurs who are raising the bar on ambition, aiming to build billion-dollar companies across the Baltic Sea Region—where we can make a GDP-level impact. We’re not just investing in companies - we back founders and help them build movements. Balnord has invested in 10 companies to date, seven of which are currently public, including ATMOS Space Cargo (Germany), Vitvio (Poland), Astrolight (Lithuania), Microamp (Poland), Port.app (UK) and Satim (Poland). The firm has co-invested with funds such as Expansion, Matterwave, APEX Ventures, Seraphim, OTB, Inventure, Voima Ventures, and Bek Ventures (formerly Earlybird Digital East). Limited partners include the European Investment Fund, PFR Ventures, and European family offices, founders, and private investors.

Cambridge Photon Technology (CPT), a deeptech spin-out from the University of Cambridge, has raised £1,556,000 in new funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its photon-multiplier technology.  As global solar demand accelerates and silicon PV nears its theoretical efficiency ceiling (around 28 per cent), new solutions that enhance output power without redesigning the solar panels are urgently needed.  CPT has developed a patented photon-multiplier technology that enables existing silicon solar panels to generate more power by converting wasted sunlight into usable light.  By converting each high-energy photon, normally lost as heat, into 2 infrared photons that silicon can absorb, CPT’s innovation can boost energy output by up to 15 per cent while remaining fully compatible with existing solar infrastructure. It represents the first demonstration of this photon-multiplication effect at scale. The drop-in solution fits into standard solar modules without any redesign or capital-intensive manufacturing changes, offering one of the most practical routes yet to increasing global solar efficiency. The £926,000 equity investment round attracted international backing from Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Spectrum Impact, Tybourne Capital, Providence Investment Company and SourceSquared. A £630,000 Clean Energy and Climate Technologies grant from the UKRI Innovate UK Investor Partnerships was also awarded, enabled by the participation of Cambridge Enterprise in the investment round. According to Dr Claudio Marinelli, CEO of Cambridge Photon Technology, the investment demonstrates strong private-sector confidence in CPT’s technology and vision: “Attracting backing from leading investors across the UK, India, and Asia underlines the global relevance of our approach and its potential to transform solar efficiency at scale. The Innovate UK programme provides a powerful layer of support, helping us bridge the gap between early-stage development and commercial readiness.” Chris Gibbs, Investment Director at Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, said: “Cambridge Photon Technology exemplifies the kind of transformative innovation needed to accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy and address climate challenges.” With this funding, CPT will expand its R&D operation in Cambridge, accelerate material testing with global industry partners, and prepare for a larger Series A raise ahead of pilot deployment. The company aims to bring its first product to market by 2028. Lead image: Cambridge Photon Technology.

Traveltech is one of the industries that quietly shapes how the European technology ecosystem operates. Behind every itinerary is software that simplifies trips, from policy-compliant bookings and automated approvals to organised expense tracking, allowing travellers to focus on the journey rather than administration. In the background of every stay, digital hospitality platforms keep things running smoothly: property-management systems connect reservations, housekeeping, maintenance, and payments, while real-time revenue tools adjust prices to keep rooms full and margins healthy. Together, all of this forms a resilient ecosystem, gradually redefining how travel is planned, booked, and experienced. The following are the ten largest funding rounds in the European traveltech industry during the first half of 2025. Amount raised in H1 2025: $200M Perk (formerly TravelPerk) is a cloud-based platform that brings together travel booking, expense management and invoice payment into a single intelligent suite. It empowers teams to book and manage flights, trains, accommodation and cars, process expenses and invoices with AI automation, and gain real-time control and visibility over company spend and travel policy compliance. In January, the company completed its Series E funding round, raising $200 million and nearly doubling its valuation to $2.7 billion. Amount raised in H1 2025: $75M Mews Systems is a cloud-native hospitality management platform designed to streamline and elevate hotel operations. Its integrated suite includes property management (PMS), revenue management (RMS), point-of-sale (POS), guest tools like digital keys and virtual concierge, and full payment capabilities. The system is trusted by over 12,500 properties worldwide, helping them automate manual tasks, personalise guest experiences, and grow revenue, all via a single intuitive platform. In March, Mews raised $75 million to support its expansion in the US and DACH regions, accelerate platform innovation through AI-powered revenue management capabilities, and drive strategic acquisitions and R&D initiatives. Amount raised in H1 2025: $75M RoomPriceGenie is a dynamic, automated revenue-management platform tailored for independent hotels, B&Bs and small chains. It uses advanced algorithms and competitor/data-driven insights to set optimal room pricing every day, allowing hoteliers to boost revenue while maintaining full control and transparency. In February, RoomPriceGenie raised $75 million to support its global expansion and develop a new generation of API integrations designed to streamline revenue management for independent hotels worldwide. Amount raised in H1 2025: €46M Holidu is a Munich-based tech company that operates a vacation-rental search and booking platform across Europe, offering travellers access to thousands of privately managed holiday homes with secure booking and comparison features. At the same time, Holidu supports property owners and managers with tools to list, manage and optimise their rentals, enabling visibility across multiple booking portals and simplifying operations. In June, Holidu raised €46 million in a growth financing round to accelerate its AI development roadmap, expand its Property Management Software (PMS) business, and drive further growth in key strategic markets. Amount raised in H1 2025: €30M Roadsurfer is a global camper-van and RV rental company offering fully-equipped vehicles for road-trip adventures across Europe and North America. With flexible bookings, unlimited mileage in many locations, and a range of vehicle classes, from compact camper vans to larger motorhomes, the platform caters to both first-time campers and seasoned van-life enthusiasts. In February, Roadsurfer secured €30 million through an asset-backed financing round to cover all planned fleet investments for 2025, enabling further expansion of its vehicle fleet across existing markets in Europe and North America. Amount raised in H1 2025: €25M Exoticca is a Barcelona-based online tour operator, founded in 2013, that designs and sells all-inclusive vacation packages, including flights, hotels, transfers and guided or self-guided tours, to destinations around the world. With a strong emphasis on value, technology and convenience, Exoticca offers carefully crafted itineraries at competitive prices by combining destination experts with its proprietary booking ecosystem. In February, Exoticca secured a €25 million venture debt facility from BBVA Spark to strengthen its market position and support ongoing development initiatives. Amount raised in H1 2025: €21M HolaCamp is a Barcelona-based outdoor hospitality company operating a network of modern campsites and glamping destinations across the Iberian Peninsula. They blend nature and comfort by offering thoughtfully designed accommodations under the banner “#CampStories,” coupled with digital booking and guest-experience tools. In addition to running its own sites, HolaCamp provides centralised services to third-party campsite owners, such as revenue management, quality control and customer service, to elevate operations within the traditionally fragmented camping market. In June, HolaCamp secured €21 million in debt financing from Banco Santander’s Smart Fund, which supports high-growth initiatives that are sustainable, innovative, digital, and foster job creation. Amount raised in H1 2025: €20M Naboo is an all-in-one platform for planning corporate retreats and events, letting teams book venues, catering, activities, and transport in just a few clicks. It connects companies with curated locations and providers, streamlining off-sites, seminars, and team-building across Europe and North America. In January, Naboo raised €20 million to meet growing demand in the UK market throughout 2025, and to further expand its European presence across Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy. Amount raised in H1 2025: €10M Gaiarooms is a hospitality platform that operates a network of hotels, hostels and apartments across Spain, offering fully-digitalised accommodations with automated check-in/out, 24/7 online reception and smart-lock technology. It also provides property owners with operational and revenue-management services to transform their assets into modern, efficient rental units. Gaiarooms closed a €10 million round in March to revolutionise digital hotel management. Amount raised in H1 2025: €5.5M Hotiday is a travel-tech startup offering a unique “Room Collection” concept, partnering with hotels to curate distinctive rooms tailored for modern travellers. It not only addresses the challenge of unsold inventory but also equips hotels with powerful tools, including a proprietary revenue management system and advanced data analytics, to optimise pricing strategies and maximise profitability. In May, Hotiday raised €5.5 million to launch new locations in major European resorts and cities, enhance its service offerings for partner hoteliers, and grow its team.

Swiss-based Motley has raised a $1.5 million pre-seed round and launched its business reporting platform. The round was led by Seedcamp, with participation from Tiny VC, Kima Ventures, RTP Global, Founders AS, and several angels. Motley is an AI-powered platform that transforms how teams create business reports. By connecting directly to existing systems such as CRMs, BI tools, databases, and spreadsheets, it automatically sources data, builds report-ready documents, and surfaces relevant business context. Teams move from weeks of manual compilation to minutes of output, shifting focus to insights and decision-making. The platform retains historical context, analyses sentiment, and provides recommendations to make reports more useful. Designed for recurring business reviews, customer updates, and performance reports, Motley helps organisations streamline reporting, improve collaboration, and turn information into action. The company was founded by Egor Kraev (formerly Head of AI at Wise), Artemy Belousov (engineer at Yandex), and Yann Ranchere (former CFO and Partner at Anthemis), who have firsthand experience of reporting burdens on decision-makers. Early design partners and customers include Gigs, Evalart, and Impactpilot. At Motley, we believe reporting should empower strategic discussions, not dilute those. Today’s business teams spend billions of hours pulling data and preparing documents. Motley is here to turn that into a process measured in minutes, freeing companies to focus on impact, said Yann Ranchere, CEO of Motley. With the new funding, Motley will accelerate product development, broaden integrations, and scale go-to-market efforts with its early partners and customers.

Amsterdam-based startup Struck has raised €2 million in a seed round led by Value Factory Ventures, with participation from Antler and several industry angels from the construction and real estate sectors. The investment will be used to expand Struck’s AI-driven compliance platform and accelerate its rollout across Europe. Founded in 2024, Struck has developed an artificial intelligence platform that helps architects, developers and municipalities navigate complex building regulations. The software provides instant insights into the rules applicable to each project and will soon automatically verify whether designs meet all legal and environmental standards. By digitising and automating compliance checks, the platform aims to speed up permitting, cut costs and promote sustainable construction. “Building regulations are becoming increasingly complex, while the need for faster and more sustainable construction is greater than ever,” said Max van Riel, co-founder of Struck. “Therefore, it's essential to find solutions to accelerate and simplify this process.” Since its launch, Struck has become a leading platform for building regulation compliance in the Netherlands, serving thousands of users, including municipalities, builders, developers and architects. Its tools include an extensive AI library of building codes and an automated permit-exemption checker. Johan van Heusden, Managing Partner at Value Factory Ventures, commented: “The construction sector is responsible for nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions, yet we urgently need to build millions of new homes. Solving this paradox means building smarter, not slower.” Struck plans to expand beyond the Netherlands into other European markets where regulatory complexity continues to slow development.

Dublin-based climatetech Proveye has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to complete the development and deployment of ProvVari, a precision fertiliser solution designed to improve productivity, reduce costs, and minimise the environmental impact of grassland farming across Europe. Founded in Dublin and headquartered at NovaUCD, Proveye combines AI-driven remote sensing with satellite, aerial and field data to help farmers boost profitability while reducing emissions and restoring ecosystems. The project is supported under ESA’s Spark Funding initiative and aims to help farmers apply fertiliser more efficiently using space-based technology. Built on Proveye’s existing ProvGrass platform, ProvVari integrates satellite data from ESA’s Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions with drone imagery, GNSS guidance, and soil and weather data. The platform will generate variable rate application maps that optimise fertiliser use while protecting water quality and supporting EU climate and biodiversity goals. “ProvVari has already drawn strong engagement from agri-advisors, machinery manufacturers, and seed and fertiliser companies, as well as a growing community of progressive Irish farmers,” said Jerome O’Connell, CEO of Proveye. “At Proveye, we see little trade-off between farming and nature, our technologies are designed to enable both to thrive, and this ESA contract is a major step forward in our mission to align agricultural productivity with environmental stewardship, biodiversity protection, food security and climate resilience.” Proveye plans to launch ProvVari in Ireland in early 2026 before expanding into international markets. Alongside supporting farmers, the platform will provide policymakers and regulators with new tools to manage fertiliser use sustainably, contributing to healthier soils, cleaner water systems and more resilient rural landscapes.

Munich autonomous robotics systems startup Circus SE today announces that Circus Defence has signed a framework agreement with BRAVE1, the Ukrainian government’s defence technology platform.  Ths is the first deployment under the newly formed Circus Defence entity and the world’s first use in active defence operations – starting in Ukraine. The  deployment will provide Ukrainian partners with an operational logistics and efficiency  advantage through fully autonomous nutrition systems. Designed for field mission deployment, the company's CA-M delivers a frontline-ready, fully autonomous food preparation system that removes the need for human involvement and significantly reduces operational complexity. Its containerised design enables rapid transport, setup, and deployment — even in remote or temporary locations — ensuring 24/7 access to fresh, high-quality, nutritious meals without requiring permanent staff or kitchen infrastructure. Built for energy resilience and equipped with smart sensors and vision-based controls to maintain HACCP-level hygiene and food safety, the CA-M provides consistent, reliable nourishment wherever it’s needed most. Circus Defence SE is part of Circus SE, a developer of autonomous AI robotics and dual-use infrastructure systems. The company develops modular, AI-driven autonomous infrastructure solutions for mission-critical environments, building on Circus’s patented technologies and proven expertise in meal supply robotics. The program, initiated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation,  Ministry of Defence, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and Military Innovation Technology  Solutions (MITS), aims to integrate and scale next-generation defence technologies in  Ukraine.  The agreement establishes a collaboration to deploy autonomous ground infrastructure systems, starting with Circus AI robotics and nutrition supply systems at BRAVE1 facilities, with deployments set to begin immediately.  Circus Defence will also utilise the government-owned program’s expertise to expand its AI robotics product portfolio, moving beyond meal supply to next-generation autonomous defence systems.  The delivery to Ukraine marks Circus Defence’s operational market expansion, where the company will leverage its global mass-production capabilities and the upcoming start of  European high-volume production. 

Neutral atom quantum computing company Pasqal, today gains an equity investment from LG Electronics, a significant step toward advancing quantum computing to real-world industrial applications.  Founded in 2019, Pasqal constructs quantum processors using ordered neutral atoms in 2D and 3D arrays, enabling practical quantum advantages for its customers and addressing real-world problems.  As part of the partnership, Pasqal and LG Electronics will co-develop quantum algorithms to address some of LG’s most complex business challenges, including multiphysics simulation, optimisation, and material discovery. These efforts aim to unlock new efficiencies, accelerate innovation, and enable breakthroughs in product design and performance.  The two companies will also jointly explore collaboration opportunities in enabling technologies across the quantum computing value chain, such as optical and electronic components and modules that form the backbone of neutral atom quantum computing infrastructure. Neutral atom quantum computers use individual atoms trapped by laser light as quantum bits, operating at room temperature.  This collaboration will accelerate the industrialisation of quantum hardware and strengthen the global supply chain for critical quantum technologies.  According to  Loïc Henriet, CEO of Pasqal, the partnership with LG Electronics represents a powerful convergence of quantum science and industrial expertise: “Together, we will accelerate the deployment of industry-ready applications and bring quantum computing closer to solving real-world problems at scale.”  “At LG Electronics, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation to deliver transformative technologies. By investing in and collaborating with Pasqal, we are positioning ourselves at the forefront of quantum computing,” said Seong-Hyok Sean Kim, Senior Research Fellow (VP) of LG Electronics.  The strategic partnership is expected to accelerate product development and industrialisation of quantum computers, while also paving the way for industry-ready applications that will benefit multiple sectors. 

Swiss battery start-up BTRY has raised $ 5.7 million in an oversubscribed seed round. The round was led by Redstone VC, a European deep-tech venture capital firm, with participation from Bloomhaus Ventures, Linear Capital, Kickfund, Kick Foundation, and the CustomCells founders Leopold König and Torge Thönnessen as new investors. Existing investors HTGF (High-Tech Gründerfonds) and Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) renewed their commitment, reinforcing confidence in BTRY’s technology and market potential. BTRY’s thin-film solid-state batteries deliver ultra-fast charging, temperature resilience, and non-flammable safety, with performance that exceeds conventional lithium-ion cells. Drawing on solid-state techniques from semiconductor manufacturing, BTRY advances thinner, safer, longer-lasting batteries for reliable, compact, connected devices. The cells operate safely at temperatures up to 150°C, where conventional batteries may fail, swell, or ignite. Starting at 0.1mm in thickness, they can charge in about one minute and directly power wireless transmissions without additional capacitors. Rather than targeting large-scale storage for electric vehicles or grids, BTRY focuses on high-value applications where size and longevity are critical, such as smart connected labels, high-temperature industrial sensors, and lightweight consumer electronics. The manufacturing approach is solvent-free with low material waste, supporting high sustainability standards. The oversubscribed round confirms strong investor confidence from experienced deeptech and industrial backers. Working closely with this international consortium will enable us to transform world-class research into a scalable product, said Dr.Moritz Futscher, CEO and Co-founder of BTRY. The new funding will accelerate industrialisation of BTRY’s ultra-thin solid-state batteries, a category combining fast charging, extreme temperature stability, and intrinsic safety in one of the world’s thinnest formats. The company will scale to industrial roll-to-roll manufacturing, establish production infrastructure, advance industrial processes, and secure offtake agreements for integration into next-generation devices.

Used car platform Spotawheel, which offers used cars for subscription and sale across Greece, Poland and Romania, has secured €300m in a mix of debt and equity capital.The debt facility was provided by Pollen Street Capital. Spotawheel did not break down the split between debt and equity or reveal details of its equity backers but said it was "a consortium of leading European investors".Previous investors in Spotawheel include VentureFriends, and Velocity Partners. In total, it has raised €410m in debt and equity to date. Spotawheel, founded in Athens in 2016, offers used cars for subscription or sale, leveraging its own proprietary technology. This includes personalised customer recommendations, it says. The B2C startup currently operates across Greece, Poland and Romania.Spotawheel is tapping into the trend of drivers looking for an alternative to car ownership, amid rising car prices and household budgets under pressure.It said it will use the funding to expand across Europe and increase its used car subscription fleet.Charis Arvanitis, founder & CEO of Spotawheel, said: “Cars have become one of the most inflationary items in our daily lives. Consumers desperately need an option that doesn’t drain their disposable income. Spotawheel gives them that flexibility — the ability to adjust their car-related spending to life’s constant changes, without the burden of ownership.”Michael Katramados, partner at Pollen Street, added: “We’re pleased to partner with Spotawheel’s talented team, whose innovative product and customer-centric approach have set a new standard for used car leasing options in Europe. "This funding will enable Spotawheel to further expand its business, bridge critical gaps in used car financing, and strengthen its commitment to providing flexible, reliable mobility solutions for customers.”

Tallinn-based Leil, a data storage infrastructure software company, has raised €1.5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Karma Ventures with participation from Specialist VC. The enterprise storage market is estimated at about $22 billion and is growing at nearly 20 per cent annually. More than 330 million terabytes of new data are produced each day, a volume expected to triple by 2030. At today’s pace, the amount of data generated in a full year in 2010 is created in roughly six days. Scaling archives on conventional hard-drive systems is becoming more expensive and energy-intensive, increasing demand for lower-power infrastructure. Leil develops software that enables high-density shingled magnetic recording (SMR) hard drives to be used at an enterprise scale. SMR overlaps data tracks like roof shingles, fitting around 20 per cent more data per disk than conventional CMR drives commonly used in data centres. This improves cost per terabyte by approximately 20 per cent and reduces power consumption. Fewer drives also lower hardware costs, energy use, cooling needs, and operational overhead. Because SMR tracks overlap, data must be written sequentially to avoid overwrites or corruption, which requires specialised software. For more than a decade, adoption was largely limited to hyperscalers that built proprietary tools but did not commercialise them. Leil’s software automates SMR management, orchestrating how data is written, moved and recovered across thousands of drives while preserving density and efficiency. It classifies content by access patterns, groups inactive files and powers down the corresponding drives until needed, enabling up to 70 per cent energy savings depending on workload. SMR drives suit data-intensive organisations (national broadcasters, public archives, data and AI training centres, and research institutes) operating multi-petabyte environments. Leil’s software is already in use across these segments. According to Aleksandr Ragel, Co-founder and CEO of Leil, the next wave of innovation in AI and science is buckling under the weight and cost of its own data: We founded Leil to change that. We are making hyperscale storage economics a reality for every enterprise, delivering significant cost savings, reducing environmental impact, and ensuring critical data remains under our customers' control. Our HDD-native approach builds a high-performing, more resilient and efficient foundation for the data-intensive future. Leil uses a capacity-based subscription and supports a phased transition, allowing companies to run its software alongside existing hardware and add SMR drives over time. The new funding will accelerate go-to-market efforts, expand the product roadmap and grow the commercial team.

Paris-based Freeda, the startup that detects hidden errors in construction plans using artificial intelligence, has closed a €3.4 million funding round led by Frst with participation from Brick & Mortar Ventures. The company is also joining Station F's Future 40, a program that selects the 40 most promising startups from the Parisian campus. In construction and real estate, plan inconsistencies, regulatory non-compliance, and deviations from brand standards account for about 70 per cent of delays before construction begins. Each month of delay costs project owners on average more than €100,000, with higher impacts for owner-operators. Teams typically spend over 100 hours per project on manual compliance checks, and critical issues are still missed, leading to redesign, change orders, and budget overruns. Freeda has developed a plan-intelligence platform that combines AI with field expertise to industrialise plan verification. The process is broken into clear, actionable steps and executed in hours or days rather than weeks. By pairing artificial intelligence with human expertise (architects, engineers, accessibility specialists, and fire-safety experts), the platform identifies plan errors within 48 hours, compared to more than 100 hours with manual checks. The results are both financial and operational: avoiding delays can bring revenue forward and improve cost control, while teams spend more time on design and other creative work instead of repetitive verification. Mariano Rodriguez, CSO and co-founder of Freeda, explains: Architectural plans aren't just voluminous — their complexity is on another level. Each sheet is a layered document mixing graphic formats, successive versions, and nearly identical symbols where a single line changes everything. OCR isn't enough: geometry, topology, units — two centimetres of discrepancy can fail an inspection. This very complexity represents a massive opportunity, and our expertise lies in transforming it into clear, automatable verification processes. With more than 10 clients and 10,000 plans verified in 2025, Freeda targets the analysis of 1 million plans by 2026, supporting projects across Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Middle East. Freeda will use the funding to expand its team and industrialise plan reviews, recognising that AI alone isn’t enough. In parallel, it will adapt the platform to local standards and practices as it expands internationally, leveraging field expertise for globally relevant analysis.

Ana Stewart, Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur, has today announced her three priorities to deliver for Scotland’s most ambitious companies. Calling for a sharper focus on rapidly scaling firms, Stewart will prioritise: Closer engagement with founders and the private sector – launching Scotland’s largest annual startup and scaleup survey and working directly with entrepreneurs to shape services around their needs.    Tailored support for scaleups – designing interventions that support scaleups to access new talent, capital and markets. Better measurement of performance and impact – introducing consistent reporting to track progress and provide a transparent picture of Scotland’s entrepreneurial health. This builds on progress already delivered this year, including multi-year backing for Scottish EDGE, the launch of Dealroom Scotland, and ongoing investment in implementing Stewart’s Pathways report supporting more women to start and scale businesses.  The priorities were announced at the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference at the University of Strathclyde’s Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow, where Ana Stewart took part in a keynote session with Professor Eleanor Shaw OBE and Sir Tom Hunter. According to Ana Stewart, Scotland has made real progress towards becoming a first-rate startup nation.  “That foundation is essential – without a strong pipeline of promising new companies, there can be no scaleups.”  She highlighted the need to have to “follow our founders”, supporting them from the spark of a new idea right through to rapid international growth.  “Scotland has world-class entrepreneurs, and many are the economy’s unsung heroes. We should celebrate and acknowledge their achievements whilst making sure nothing holds them back from growing. Our entrepreneurs have the talent and ambition to compete on the world stage. Our job is to remove barriers, connect them with the right support, and make Scotland one of the best HQs to build and scale a business. That is my aspiration.” Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister, said: “Scotland can be proud of the progress made in recent years in building one of Europe’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial economies. That success is down to the talent and drive of our founders, alongside the support of many partners across the ecosystem." Irene Graham, CEO of the ScaleUp Institute, welcomed Stewart’s approach: “Collaboration at a national level is a prerequisite for building a high-functioning scaleup ecosystem. It’s encouraging to see Ana Stewart champion scaleups and put these founders and leaders at the heart of Scotland’s next phase of entrepreneurial growth.” According to Sir Tom Hunter, Scotland needs a laser focus on building scaling businesses: “Why? If we double the number of scaleups from the estimated 675 today, we’d create around 75,000 new high value jobs; that drives economic growth." Lead image: Professor Eleanor Shaw, Sir Tom Hunter, and Scotland's Chief Entrepreneur Ana Stewart. Photo: uncredited. 

Pan-European private equity firm Aspirity Partners has announced the final close of its inaugural fund, Aspirity Partners I (AP I), at over €875 million.  The fundraise reached its hard cap within six months after formal launch and was significantly oversubscribed. The Firm focuses on growth buyouts and strategic minority investments in Financial Technology & Services, as well as Enterprise Technology & Connectivity Services. It typically invests €50–€150 million per transaction in companies with valuations of up to €500 million. Aspirity partners with European, Europe-headquartered businesses that provide mission-critical, B2B technology-enabled services in sub-sectors benefiting from long-term secular growth, where deep sector expertise is a key differentiator. Founder and Managing Partner Joseph O’Mara brings over two decades of transatlantic private equity expertise from leading institutions. Joseph is joined by co-founder Ralph Choufani, who brings over a decade of complementary private equity experience. Together, they have built a high-performance team of professionals, blending deep sector investment insight with hands-on operational experience. The Aspirity ecosystem is supported by a network of globally recognised founders, entrepreneurs, and senior executives who provide specialist insights and functional support. This partnership-centric engagement model enables Aspirity to drive high-impact initiatives, accelerate internationalisation, and unlock transformative growth for portfolio companies. The Fund received strong interest from blue-chip investors globally, attracting commitments from highly regarded institutional investors across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The investor base includes leading endowments and foundations, pension funds, global family offices, insurance companies, and fund-of-funds. Joseph O’Mara, Managing Partner, commented: “We greatly appreciate the trust our investors have placed in us and their shared conviction in the significant opportunities within European Financial and Enterprise Technology Services. This is an important moment for Aspirity, and we are energised by the journey and opportunities ahead.” Ralph Choufani, Partner, added: “We look forward to delivering on our strategy, partnering with exceptional management teams, and supporting them to reach their full potential." Lead image: Aspirity Partners. Photo: uncredited 

Düsseldorf-based integration platform Maesn has raised €2.3 million to accelerate the development of its Unified API, which enables data exchange across financial and business software. The funding round was led by get.de, a company builder known for long-term partnerships. “Maesn is a software solution we as entrepreneurs have searched for many times ourselves,” said Robin Tschöpe, Managing Partner at get.de. “With its abstracted data model and API-first approach, ERP systems and business software such as Sage, DATEV or Visma eAccounting can be integrated easily.” Existing investors Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company (tiny.vc), NRW.BANK and several private backers also participated in the round. Tiny.vc is known for supporting developer-focused infrastructure and API-driven startups, while NRW.BANK plays a key role in funding high-growth technology ventures in North Rhine-Westphalia. The company plans to use the funding to expand its platform, enhance AI capabilities, scale go-to-market efforts and strengthen partnerships with SaaS providers and implementation firms. Maesn aims to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing software providers: the growing need for interoperability between systems such as ERP, accounting, CRM, payroll and billing. Its Unified API allows software teams to integrate and orchestrate financial and business data across platforms far more efficiently. Companies including HubSpot, Tipalti, Findity, Hero and clockin already use Maesn to connect to accounting systems like DATEV, Sage and Exact Online. The company plans to expand its Unified API to cover more ERP, accounting, payroll and invoicing systems, while growing its ecosystem of partners and scaling customer success and engineering teams.

Adaptronics, a deeptech startup developing electro-adhesive grippers for robotic systems in industrial automation and space, has raised €3.15 million. The round was led by 360 Capital, with participation from Galaxia, the aerospace technology transfer hub created by CDP Venture Capital’s Tech Transfer fund together with Obloo Ventures, which also invested in the company’s 2023 pre-seed round. Founded in 2022 as a spin-off from the Università di Bologna by Lorenzo Agostini (CEO), Camilla Conti (COO), and Rocco Vertechy (R&D Lead), Adaptronics aims to transform how robots grasp and interact with objects on Earth and in space. Adaptronics’ proprietary EAAL (Electro-Active Adhesive Layer) technology enables robots and automated machines to grasp a wide range of objects with high versatility, providing controllable adhesive force on items of varying shapes, sizes, materials, and weights up to several kilograms. The system operates at high speed (activation and release in under 10 ms) and with markedly improved energy efficiency, reported at up to 1,000 times that of standard solutions. Based on electrostatic forces with integrated tactile feedback, EAAL detects contact and proximity to ensure precise, gentle handling without pneumatic, mechanical, or magnetic components. The product comprises two main elements, an electronic control module and a replaceable gripping unit, which helps lower operational and maintenance costs. Lorenzo Agostini, CEO of Adaptronics, stated that the funding round represents an important milestone for the company. It shows investors’ trust in our vision of a deep-tech company developing an enabling technology that spans multiple industries. It will help us speed up our technological innovation path, expand our facilities with a pilot plant, and strengthen the international reach of our products. The funds will be used to support Adaptronics’ growth by expanding production capacity, accelerating its entry into European markets, and strengthening its organisational structure.

Armilar, a venture capital firm based in Southern Europe, closed the fourth generation of its flagship funds, raising over €120 million to invest across Portugal, Spain, and the rest of Europe. Armilar IV has attracted a diversified base of institutional investors, including the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Sociedad Española para la Transformación Tecnológica (SETT) and Spain’s NextTech vehicle for deep-tech innovation. The fund represents an important milestone for Armilar and builds on the firm’s track record across previous funds, reflecting the continued focus on generating strong returns through early-stage technology investments. Armilar IV has a strong Iberian allocation and focuses on Series A rounds. Its investment thesis targets the intersection of digital technologies and hard science, backing B2B startups with significant technological depth that address large-scale problems across areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software development, infrastructure and computing, digitalisation and automation, fintech, healthtech, spacetech, and dual-use technologies. The launch aligns with increased activity in Europe’s high-technology ecosystem, with Spain and Portugal showing strong momentum in venture investment and innovation. Armilar IV marks a natural next step for our firm, the opportunity to extend our Series A investment platform and continue backing exceptional founders as they take their technologies from validation to scale. We see outstanding innovation emerging from Iberia and across Europe, and we want to help these companies grow globally, said Pedro Ribeiro Santos, Managing Partner at Armilar. With more than 20 years of investing, Armilar has supported early-stage companies as they expand globally. The firm’s history of founder support and performance across earlier flagship funds contributed to the successful raise of Armilar IV despite challenging market conditions. Armilar has already met with many founding teams and is assessing several startups for its 2025 pipeline. Fundraising for Armilar IV will continue, with a goal of doubling the fund’s size by the end of 2026.

France-based observability platform Tsuga has closed a $10 million seed round and emerged from stealth. The round was led by General Catalyst with participation from Singular, alongside angel investors including Amjad Masad (Replit), Charles Gorintin (Alan, Mistral AI), Jonathan Benhamou (Resilience), Olivier Bonnet (BlaBlaCar), and Philippe Corrot (Mirakl), among others. Over the past decade, data growth has outpaced IT spend: logs, metrics, and traces have grown roughly 30 per cent annually while budgets rose less than 10 per cent. AI-driven development is pushing this gap to the limit as autonomous code and ephemeral microservices multiply telemetry faster than most enterprises can manage, rendering current stacks increasingly inefficient and risky. As a result, observability has become mission-critical, yet the prevailing model falls short. Despite the promise of a “single pane of glass,” organisations face technical complexity, escalating costs, and rising operational risk. Enterprises encounter three interconnected challenges (business-model misalignment, operational burden, and value erosion), which produce a fragmented landscape marked by tool sprawl and persistent blind spots.  Founded in 2024, Tsuga addresses this by enabling teams to focus on their core mission rather than fragmented dashboards. The platform is built from first principles for comprehensive coverage, minimal data gaps, controlled costs, and fewer trade-offs between control and convenience. Its bring-your-own-cloud (BYOC) architecture leverages modern cloud-native capabilities while keeping data, scale, and spend under customer ownership. Tsuga makes observability costs predictable by removing typical SaaS markups with a single transparent pricing model, enabling sublinear cost growth. Deployed in the customer’s cloud, it keeps logs, metrics, and traces under customer governance and simplifies compliance. A unified admin centre manages retention, access, and routing without infrastructure overhead. Built on OpenTelemetry and open formats, it avoids lock-in. With full-context data, the platform is AI-native, helping prevent and resolve issues faster. With $10 million in seed funding, Tsuga will prioritise product innovation and customer success, guided by direct user feedback.

Barcelona-based Kabilio, which applies AI to automate accounting and tax processes, has closed a €4 million pre-seed round led by Visionaries Club and Picus Capital. The round includes €200,000 in public funding from ENISA, making it one of Spain’s largest pre-seed financings. In Spain, there are an estimated 65,000 accounting and tax advisory firms serving millions of SMEs and self-employed workers. Current workflows show inefficiencies: clients often collect and submit information manually, which, given operational pressures, may arrive late or incomplete. These issues intensify during quarterly peaks, when advisors must concentrate significant effort on checks and manual data entry within a short window. Kabilio’s platform streamlines information exchange between firms and clients and automates processing, generating complete entries that integrate with accounting software. Founded in 2024 by Jose Ojeda and Álex Valls, the company uses generative AI to enhance collaboration. Kabilio reports that nearly 100 accounting firms use its platform, with productivity gains of up to 50 per cent. According to co-CEO Jose Ojeda, firms struggle to attract and retain talent because much of the work is repetitive and clustered around peak periods, and there is hesitation around adopting AI. It is precisely to change this that we created Kabilio, and the closing of this funding round gives us the definitive push to help these firms alleviate their teams' workload and allow them to focus on providing more value to their clients, which is what they are truly trained for. The platform comprises three tools: intelligent invoice processing (multi-channel ingestion, complex cases, and account suggestions with a reported 97 per cent accuracy), advanced bank reconciliation (secure links to 99 per cent of Spanish banks, AI-based matching, and a single review workspace)m and a Verifactu-compliant invoicing tool for SMEs and self-employed workers that synchronises data with advisors in real time. We are experiencing a technological turning point similar to the arrival of software in companies two decades ago. Artificial intelligence will not only optimize processes but will also change the nature of work and the relationship between advisory firms and their clients. Our goal is to build the infrastructure that makes this new paradigm possible, added Álex Valls, co-CEO and co-founder of Kabilio. The new funding will enable the company to strengthen its team, develop additional features and products, and accelerate its expansion in the Spanish market.

The software-as-a-service business of UK challenger bank Starling Bank has secured its biggest client deal to date, providing the cloud banking platform for the digital subsidiary of one of Canada’s biggest banks.Engine has signed a 10-year deal with Tangerine Bank, a subsidiary digital bank of Canada's Scotiabank, to upgrade its core digital banking system to Engine’s cloud-native banking platform, marking Engine’s first major client win in North America. Engine says the upgrade will mean reduced operational costs and complexity for Tangerine’s employees, while Tangerine’s over two million customers will also see a smoother experience, it said.The snapping up of Tangerine Bank comes as Starling and its subsidiary Engine look to establish a foothold in the North American market.Earlier this year, Starling announced it was opening offices in New York and Toronto and Starling was also said to be weighing up the US as a possible IPO market.Starling launched Engine as a subsidiary business in 2022, as the challenger bank U-tuned on its global strategy.It axed plans to grow Starling across Europe through a European banking licence, instead opting to provide its tech on a SaaS basis to banking partners. Engine sells itself as a “cloud-native, complete banking platform”. Clients can leverage its software to build and enhance services such as digital onboarding and savings accounts.Engine’s other clients include Salt Bank in Romania and Australia's AMP mobile-first bank. UK-headquartered Engine, which employs around 300 people, is also looking to recruit around 100 staff.Terri-Lee Weeks, president and CEO of Tangerine, said: “Tangerine chose Engine to help build the future of banking services for our clients – delivering a premier banking experience with intuitive, personalised features that evolve with client needs. "Engine’s modern core banking system uniquely provides an end-to-end platform on which Tangerine can innovate quickly and continuously, reducing the time-to-market for new products and features, and delivering world-class experiences for our clients – all while staying true to the client-first design that Tangerine is known for in Canada.”

 Sam Everington, CEO of Engine by Starling, added: “Engine’s technology and operating model is a tried and tested blueprint for building market-leading digitally-native banks. It is a true fintech success story as we see our software enabling ambitious, innovative and customer-centric banks all over the world.” Photo: Engine