Bending Spoons, the acquisitive Italian software conglomerate, is acquiring AOL, one of the internet’s most well known early companies. Bending Spoons is buying AOL from Yahoo, which is backed by private equity firm Apollo for an undisclosed sum, though the Italian firm said it had bagged a $2.8 billion debt financing package to finance the acquisition and future M&A activity. Reuters, which tipped the deal, previously said the acquisition valued AOL at more than $1.4 billion.  Bending Spoons, founded in 2013, is known for acquiring tech companies and then trying to improve their finances, sometimes by laying off staff. Last month, the Milan-based firm acquired US video sharing platform Vimeo for around $1.38bn, in a deal which will take Vimeo private. Luca Ferrari, Bending Spoons CEO and co-founder, said Bending Spoons would invest "significantly” in AOL, which was an internet giant in the 1990s. He said: "AOL is an iconic, beloved business that’s in good health, has stood the test of time, and we believe has unexpressed potential. “By our estimation, AOL is one of the top ten most-used email providers in the world, with a highly retained customer base counting around 8 million daily and 30 million monthly active users. "We intend to invest significantly to help the product and the business flourish. Bending Spoons has never sold an acquired business—we’re confident we’re the right long-term steward for AOL, and look forward to serving its large, loyal customer base for many years to come.” Jim Lanzone, CEO, Yahoo, said: "AOL and Yahoo share a great deal of history, and our new team has enjoyed the opportunity to return AOL to growth. “This transaction will allow us to focus more deeply on the aggressive roadmaps we have planned for Yahoo’s core products moving forward, while ensuring AOL continues to thrive under new ownership.” Reed Rayman, chair of Yahoo’s board of directors and partner at Apollo, said: “We believe this transaction positions AOL well for its next phase, while Yahoo accelerates investment in its flagship properties and AI-powered experiences.” According to The Information, AOL was worth over $100 billion by 2000 when it merged with Time Warner, which later spun AOL off, which then merged with Yahoo, which was acquired by Apollo in 2021. Bending Spoons has previously acquired Vimeo, WeTransfer and Evernote.

“It is a sign for Ukrainian businesses and the country”, says the co-founder of Ukraine’s newest unicorn, commenting on its recent external funding, which propelled it to unicorn status. Fintech-IT Group, the firm whose tech powers Ukraine’s biggest challenger bank, Monobank, recently became Ukraine’s latest $1bn-valued tech firm, after securing funding from regional fund, Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund (UMAEF), reported to be around $18m. The funding lifted Fintech-IT Group to unicorn status, joining half a dozen fellow Ukrainian unicorns, which include writing assistant Grammarly, software company GitLab and workflow automation company AirSlate (though some of these now have overseas HQ). Broader implications of outside investment It also has wider ramifications for the startup and tech ecosystem in Ukraine, a country still at war with Russia, says Oleg Gorokhovskyi, Fintech-IT Group co-founder. He says: “It’s a sign for everybody, a sign for Ukrainian businesses and the country, that even during this hard war, if you do the right things, if you help clients, you could be interesting for investors and raise money.  “It is a huge, important step for Ukrainian entrepreneurs and Ukrainian businesses overall.” Jaroslawa Z Johnson, president and CEO of UMAEF, which was set up by the US Congress in 1994 and has long-term experience of investing in tech firms in Ukraine and Moldova, said Fintech-IT Group was a “local leader” and that its success was testament to the strength of the Ukrainian tech ecosystem. Russia war blocking investment Ukraine’s war with Russia has been a block on external investment coming into Ukraine, experts say. Maria Kucheruk, co-founder, Ukrainian Association of Startups, said: “In general, attracting external investment into Ukrainian startups during the war remains extremely challenging. Only a few mature or already profitable companies manage to raise capital. “For the majority of early-stage startups, investors remain cautious due to perceived risks and geopolitical uncertainty. This makes the need for international co-investment mechanisms and innovation support programs more critical than ever.” Gorokhovskyi co-founded Fintech-IT Group, the umbrella company for several tech firms, including FintechBand, which supplies the core tech behind the Monobank app, with Mykhaylo Rogalskyi. Rogalskyi said during the war, the “mood of entrepreneurs in Ukraine is that it’s not the time to raise funds”. Furthermore, he said he was expecting complications with the UMAEF investment deal. Rogalskyi said: “It is really hard to expect investors to queue for Ukrainian companies. It was a big surprise for me to go through the deal, and nothing scared the potential investor during the negotiation period.”  A previous attempt at a fundraiser in 2021, with a consortium involving Goldman Sachs, “blew up” during negotiations, says Rogalskyi. What is Monobank? Monobank, founded in 2017, is Ukraine’s biggest neobank, and Ukraine's second biggest retail bank overall with around 10m customers. It is jointly owned by Universal Bank, which provides retail and commercial services, and Gorokhovskyi and Rogalskyi. Monobank says customers can open accounts within minutes, manage payments, access loans, and enjoy cashback and loyalty rewards. It also has a B2B offering supporting SMEs, and an e-commerce offering. Monobank's customer base is skewed towards younger people, with 85 per cent of 15 to 35-year-olds in Ukrainian cities using the banking app. Impact of war on Monobank Like other Kiev-headquartered businesses, Monobank has been badly impacted by the war- be it blackouts, air raid sirens, and staff anxiety. Rogalskyi says: “When you have a blackout in the cities, you have to buy generators and operate generators in the office. “You have to buy Starlink and operate Starlink. If anyone is not sleeping because of air raid sirens during the night and rocket attacks, the next day is not super productive.” Monobank staff are located in different locations within Ukraine for security reasons, and there is also the added threat of a cyberattack. Rogalskyi says: “Every couple of weeks, we have attempts to attack our infrastructure from, let’s just say, unknown hackers." International expansion on hold International expansion is on the agenda for Monobank, but the war has put its plans on hold. Possible markets include those where there are many Ukrainians, such as Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic countries. Rogalskyi says that the company would want to have a team in place in an overseas market, which, given restrictions on air travel out of Ukraine, coupled with a desire for the founders wanting to be in the challenger bank’s home market amid a war, has stymied these plans for the time being.Rogalskyi says: "For now, it’s important to be here in Ukraine, with our team, with our customers."

Life sciences investor Earlybird Health has promoted Dr. Rabab Nasrallah and Dr. Christoph Massner to Partners. Both new partners have led the firm's strategy across biotech, data-enabled therapeutics and medtech. Earlybird Health, part of Earlybird Venture Capital, focuses on early-stage investments in biotech, medtech, and digital health. The wider Earlybird group manages more than €2.5 billion in assets and has backed over 70 companies across Europe, including nine IPOs and 36 trade sales. “Rabab and Chris combine discipline and bold thinking. As they step into the partnership, they will help lead the future of Earlybird Health,” said Thom Rasche, Partner at Earlybird Health. “They have each helped shape how we evaluate opportunities, support portfolio teams, and translate innovation into clinical impact.” Massner joined Earlybird in 2018 and brings a commercial-led perspective spanning diagnostics, healthtech platforms, and device-enabled therapeutics. He has led several transactions across Earlybird Health I & II, focusing on business models that integrate data and AI into healthcare delivery and product development. He serves on the boards of Noscendo, Ariceum Therapeutics, and Hilo, and is a board observer at Shape Memory Medical and Alesi Surgical. Earlybird said he also plays a role in connecting its health portfolio with the wider technology investment ecosystem. Nasrallah, who joined Earlybird in 2020, brings a therapeutics and platform-led investment perspective. She has been closely involved in developing the firm’s biotech strategy and building partnerships with venture and pharmaceutical investors across Europe and the United States. Her board roles include HAYA Therapeutics, Greywolf Therapeutics, and Portal Biotech, alongside observer positions at GEMMABio, Priothera, ImCheck Therapeutics, and Prothea Technologies.. The promotions reflect Earlybird Health’s growing role in Europe’s life sciences ecosystem, which has seen increased investor interest amid advances in data-driven healthcare and biotech platforms. European life sciences VC investment surpassed €10 billion in 2024, driven by continued demand for innovation in precision medicine, AI-led drug discovery, and clinical technologies.

London-based Marleybones, a premium dog food brand, has closed a £2.5 million funding round led by TAW Ventures, the investment firm founded by Jane Lauder, with follow-on support from JamJar Investments, Active Partners, and Animal Health Angels. The round stands out for its strong female representation, with a female-founded company and an all-female investor team, still rare in European venture capital. Founded in 2020 to bridge the gap between quality and convenience, Marleybones offers Pantry Fresh® meals that are slow-cooked, nutritionally complete, and packaged in sustainable cartons. The range also includes vet-developed supplements, an omega oil, and natural air-dried treats, each vet-approved and produced in the UK. This investment follows over 200 per cent growth since the previous round and several milestones: expanded retail distribution, new product partnerships, a line of functional supplements, and a pilot veterinary channel. Mikala Skov, Co-founder of Marleybones, said: We’ve built strong traction across D2C and retail, expanded into supplements, and proven category demand with triple-digit growth. With TAW Ventures and JamJar by our side, we’re ready to accelerate our journey to make Pantry Fresh® a household standard. On sustainability, Marleybones partnered with rePurpose Global to achieve plastic-neutral certification, sources 100 per cent of UK-made products from locally grown British ingredients, and packages all meals in fully recyclable Tetra Pak cartons, avoiding millions of single-use plastic pouches and trays. Josephine Bager, co-founder of Marleybones, noted that the company’s growth reflects strong demand for dog food that doesn’t compromise on nutrition or ease of use. She said the Pantry Fresh® meals show that both can be delivered together, and the new funding will help Marleybones reach more customers and continue shaping the fresh dog-food category. The new funding will expand teams across creative, customer experience, and retail, build brand awareness via influencers, PR, retail activations, and events, and accelerate performance marketing and customer acquisition.

Customer communication platform Intercom has announced the opening of its next R&D hub in Berlin, marking a major investment in the company’s AI-powered customer service platform and its market-leading AI agent, Fin. Founded in Dublin in 2011, Intercom builds customer communication and service tools for online businesses. Fin is the centrepiece of the company’s push into fully automated, intelligent customer support. It’s designed to act as a “Customer Service Agent” rather than just a chatbot, blending automation with human-level understanding and context. I spoke to Darragh Curran, CTO of Intercom, to learn more. According to Curran, Intercom has around 28,000 customers across virtually every corner of the planet, with strong concentrations in North America and Europe.  “Germany is our third-largest and fastest-growing market among the major European countries.” 100 roles up for grabs in AI hub Over the next year, Intercom plans to hire 100 people across engineering, AI, data science, product, and design roles.  The new hub will serve as a cornerstone for advancing Fin, which the company envisions evolving into a true end-to-end Customer Agent, far beyond traditional customer service boundaries. “Berlin strikes us as a great city, providing a deep concentration of technical talent, universities that feed that, and a culturally rich, creative scene,” shared Curran. “Intercom is a very design-oriented company, so Berlin fits that ethos. It’s also emerging as a real hub for AI talent, which is particularly important for us.” While Intercom’s global headquarters remains in San Francisco, its R&D leadership is anchored in Dublin, making Berlin both geographically and strategically a natural next step in the company’s global expansion. “It’s close enough to those hubs to collaborate but has its own energy.” Further, Intercom says it chose Berlin for its unique blend of deep technical talent and creative energy.  “The city’s dense ecosystem of AI startups, applied research labs, and ambitious practitioners makes it an ideal location to accelerate the company’s AI hiring and innovation efforts. Berlin is a place where world-class engineers and designers thrive and its optimism and ambition in AI align perfectly with our own goals for Fin.” In terms of roles, Curran shared; “We intend to build a holistically complete R&D unit in Berlin — everything from AI and machine learning researchers to product engineers, designers, and managers. A huge focus of our investment is on building Fin, our AI Customer Agent.” I asked Curran what attracts people to work for Interim. He revealed: “You’ll join an incredibly talented team — people at the top of their field. If I were an engineer today, I’d want to be at a company doing something meaningful with AI. It’s the best way to learn. For us, it’s a moment of abundance — we know what we want to build, customers want it, and the opportunity is huge.”  Intercom’s Fin aims to redefine customer interaction Fin started as a customer service agent, but according to Curran, “Our vision is broader — an end-to-end customer agent. Think of it like a concierge that guides you through the customer journey, not just answering support tickets but handling anything from upgrades to refunds to helping you when you’re stuck in a product.” “We’re betting on this idea of the end-to-end customer agent. Even before we’ve built all the features, customers are already pushing Fin in that direction — that’s a great sign.” Significantly, Fin’s performance, measured in resolution rate, has improved from around 26 per cent to 65 per cent over two years. Only a few percentage points of that came from model upgrades — the rest came from Intercom's own architecture and continuous experimentation.” So far, more than 7,000 businesses have adopted Fin, including Berlin-based companies Ostrom and Tado, as well as global leaders such as Anthropic, Vanta, Clay, Personio, Whoop, and Miro. Fin has quickly become a core growth driver for Intercom, with the company approaching $100 million in ARR and positioning itself as one of the fastest-growing private software firms. Lead image: Darragh Curran, CTO of Intercom. Photo: uncredited. 

Antidote, a new London-based accelerator, has launched with £2.5 million in funding from Fulgur Ventures, Initial Capital and a group of private angel investors. Antidote aims to promote growth in the UK and to support entrepreneurs in Britain to build on open technologies, starting with Bitcoin and fintech. The accelerator provides workspace, funding, mentorship, and policy access, helping founders turn ideas into products that solve real challenges in payments and advance the technologies powering the next internet economy. Targeting early-stage entrepreneurs, experienced operators and corporate innovators, Antidote wants to empower founders from any background to turn serious ideas into investable, commercially viable businesses. Its programmes support founders working on: Financial and payments infrastructure. Digital identity and data sovereignty. Bitcoin and open-source technologies. Institutional and regulatory alignment for fintech innovation. Ben Cousens, Co-Founder and CEO of Antidote, shared : “We’re here for entrepreneurs turning new technology into real impact. Whether it’s Bitcoin, fintech, or leveraging AI and online identity, Antidote can offer the capital, community, and credibility to scale. The UK has the potential to lead this new wave of innovation. We just need to back the people building and focus on solving real problems: that's what matters.” Cousens contends that the UK has all the right ingredients by way of talent, capital, and legal frameworks to lead this new era of open, financial innovation, but "what's been missing is a credible bridge between founders and institutions, as well as a constructive approach to the 21st Century technologies that will define the economy of the future. "That’s what Antidote is here to build.” Through its workspace and network in London’s Hatton Garden, Antidote will offer founders access to: A six-month accelerator programme with workspace, workshops, and demo days. Direct funding and investor introductions. Mentorship from leading fintech, Bitcoin, and venture experts.    Community events and policy roundtables with UK regulators and ecosystem partners. Antidote is working in partnership with organisations such as UK think-tank Bitcoin Policy UK, who were instrumental in the formation of the organisation to enable access to a network that can bridge grassroots innovation with institutional support building trust, clarity, and collaboration across the UK’s growing technology ecosystem. Richard Faichney, Partner at Taylor Wessing, said: “We’ve worked closely with Antidote from the start to help build a foundation grounded in trust, clarity, and collaboration. Their work demonstrates how legal and institutional rigour can enable innovation rather than restrict it. This is a crucial step in strengthening the UK’s position as a hub for credible, long-term technology ventures." Mayra Tama, Partner at Initial Capital, said:  “Initial Capital invests in founders and ecosystems that turn Bitcoin’s potential into real-world progress. Antidote is building exactly what the UK needs right now, a credible platform that connects entrepreneurs, capital, and policy to accelerate meaningful innovation. We’re confident that Ben and the team will help cultivate the kind of companies that define the next decade of fintech and open technology.” Lead image: Freepik.

Eindhoven-based startup CityLegends has secured €1.7 million in funding to expand its street sports and culture platform internationally and advance its technology for connecting athletes, creators, and fans. The round saw participation from GFR Fund, Dutch Sport Tech Fund, Leisure Fund, and SportInnovator, alongside follow-on investments from existing backers LUMO Labs and LeanSquare. Founded in 2020 by Jimmy Hermans and Thijmen Verkerk, CityLegends operates a digital platform that connects street sports enthusiasts and urban creatives through media, gaming, and social interaction. Users can share clips, discover local spots, and compete in street Esports challenge while tracking and comparing performance. Andy Lürling, Founding Partner at LUMO Labs, said: “CityLegends has had an audacious global vision for their community from the get-go. We are excited to continue to be part of CityLegends’ journey going forward. "With also new global investors like GFR Fund from San Francisco joining the roster with unmatched expertise in shaping digital communities and cultures, we are confident CityLegends’ impact on the global urban sports community will only grow faster and stronger.” Founded in 2020 by Jimmy Hermans and Thijmen Verkerk, CityLegends operates a digital platform that connects street sports enthusiasts and urban creatives through media, gaming, and social interaction. Users can share clips, discover local spots, and compete in street Esports challenges while tracking and comparing performance. Hermans, the company’s CEO, said: “Urban culture being included in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles are a great testament to the global recognition and appreciation for the athletic and creative abilities of its practitioners. "Participation already matches traditional sports like football, basketball, and soccer, but the community is still wildly underserved with regards to digital tools. This new investment allows us to expand our platform and unite 200 million urban athletes and inspire 2 billion fans worldwide.” CityLegends plans to use the new capital to expand into new markets, enhance both its free and paid platform features, and grow its B2B media unit. The company will also develop “culture playbooks”, digital engagement tools designed to help brands and partners connect with urban sports and culture communities.

Paris-based Primaa, a developer of AI software for automated, accurate histological and cancer diagnostics, has extended its financing round to €7 million. The round is backed by the partnership fund between MH Innov’ and Elaia, and SWEN Capital Partners, with additional participation from Super Capital and members of the Wendel family. Primaa builds AI tools that detect cancer biomarkers and support diagnostic workflows. Cleo Breast (CE-IVDR) assists pathologists by automatically detecting and quantifying key biomarkers in breast cancer, while Cleo Skin, currently undergoing CE marking, addresses skin cancer and is designed to diagnose melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell carcinoma on histological slides. These tools aim to improve diagnostic reliability and consistency, reduce processing time, and ease routine workloads for pathologists. As well as saving time and improving accuracy in diagnostics, our tools make life much easier for practitioners. The automatic counting and detection features completely relieve them of certain time-consuming tasks, said Fanny Sockeel, CEO and co-founder of Primaa. Cleo Breast and Cleo Skin are in use at leading centres in France, including Institut Curie, AP-HP, and Saint-Joseph Hospital, and are beginning to roll out in Europe (ZAS Laboratory and Liège University Hospital). Primaa is expanding its portfolio with solutions in development for cervical cancer (in partnership with AP-HP and Medipath) and prostate cancer (Erasme Hospital, Belgium). The new funding will strengthen the sales organisation for faster European deployment and customer support, and accelerate feature development, including predictive AI models for disease progression and relapse risk. It will also support international expansion, particularly in the United States with planned FDA certification activities.

Nvidia is making a $1bn equity investment in Finnish telecoms infrastructure firm Nokia, as the two firms undertake a strategic partnership centred on working together on leveraging AI into telecoms networks and data centre development.The deal will see the US chip giant acquire more than 166 million new Nokia shares, at $6.01 each, giving Nvidia a 2.90 per cent stake in Nokia.Nvidia's investment marks the latest in a recent spree of equity stake deals undertaken by the US chip giant, as it looks to cement its position at the forefront of the AI race.Nokia says it will use the funds to speed up Nokia’s 5G & 6G software to run on Nvidia’s architecture as well as increase its presence in the AI & cloud market, according to a statement.Nokia added: “Nokia and Nvidia have agreed to collaborate on AI networking solutions and explore opportunities to incorporate Nokia’s data centre switching and optical technologies in Nvidia's future AI infrastructure architecture.”Nokia, well known for its early mobile phones, has pivoted into a telecoms infrastructure company and is now mainly known as a supplier of 5G cellular equipment to telecom providers. Nvidia has previously announced deals to invest $100bn in OpenAI and made a $5bn investment in Intel. Nokia's shares were up 15 per cent following the announcement.

Amsterdam-based micro-mobility company Dott has raised an additional $70 million, extending its Series B funding round to over $150 million. The company has previously raised over $228 million including $85 million Series B funding in spring 2021. Since the merger of TIER and Dott in 2024, the Company has successfully integrated operations to create one of the leading micromobility players in EMEA with operations in over 400 cities and 21 countries, and delivered over €60 million in annual cost savings to become adjusted EBITDA positive. The investment comes amid intensifying competition in Europe’s micro-mobility sector. Rivals such as Tier, Voi, and Lime continue to scale their e-bike and scooter fleets as cities shift towards low-emission transport. Many operators are also grappling with tightening regulation, city-level tender systems, and growing pressure to achieve profitability. Henri Moissinac, Co-Founder and CEO of Dott, said: “We reached a significant milestone for our business in 2021, launching e-bikes to extend our offer with a vehicle that is more familiar to many people and broadens the appeal of our service. Starting 2022 with additional funding will propel our growth and allow us to offer environmentally friendly travel to more people.” The company operates under an in-house logistics and maintenance model, in contrast to competitors who rely on third-party services. Alistair Watson, Head of Strategy Innovation, Private Equity at abrdn, said: “We felt that Dott is well positioned to be a leader in the category, offering a high quality product that has been recognised with significant growth in 2021, alongside a responsible business model which takes a rigorous approach to minimising its carbon footprint.” Specially, the company has successfully issued €70 million of senior secured floating rate bonds in the Nordic market, within a total framework of €150 million (the “Nordic Bonds”), and concurrently is raising a minimum of €15 million in preferred equity as an extension of its existing Series D fundraising round (the “Series D Extension”). The fresh capital will support the rollout of e-bikes, further product development, and expansion into new markets. Dott said the investment would help enhance user experience while maintaining a focus on safety and environmental impact.

SalesPatriot, a Polish-American startup building a procurement platform for defence and aerospace components, has raised $5 million in seed funding. The round was led by CRV, with participation from Pear VC, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Liquid2, Uncorrelated Ventures, and strategic angels including Paul Graham, Rich Miner, Mark Pincus, Steve Blank, and Mati Staniszewski. This brings total funding to $6.3 million. Founded in 2024 by engineers Nelson Ray, Benjamin Rhodes-Kropf, and Maciej Szymczyk, SalesPatriot addresses limitations in legacy procurement systems by ingesting and structuring data from government portals, ERPs, spreadsheets, and unstructured email. Its dynamic workflows automate quote processing and order management, enabling suppliers to process orders up to 7 times faster. The platform supports teams handling over $200 million in annual Pentagon orders. Nelson Ray (CEO) said the company aims to establish itself as the primary system of record for defence procurement and, over time, for other mission-critical supply chains as well. Wars today are won with logistics and supply chains as much as with new platforms. We’re building the infrastructure to make sure the West is ready. Within a year of founding, SalesPatriot signed contracts with distributors including Jamaica Bearings Group, AllClear Aerospace, and STATZ Corporation. For distributors and manufacturers, the system provides faster access to contracts, fewer manual errors, and higher throughput without additional headcount; for the DoD and its suppliers, it improves speed, accuracy, and supply-chain resilience. According to Benjamin Rhodes-Kropf (CTO), the company was designed from the outset to work within the complexities of defence procurement by integrating AI, structured and unstructured data, and legacy systems. Our workflows don’t force users to change how they work – they remove the manual overhead. That’s why our customers are already seeing 7x faster turnaround times and winning more Pentagon business. Looking ahead, SalesPatriot plans to deepen its presence in defence, expand into commercial aviation, and enter procurement markets in Europe and Asia, supporting a longer-term goal of becoming a trusted infrastructure layer for mission-critical supply chains and transforming how parts distributors and manufacturers buy and sell critical equipment.

In 2023, my nephew died back in Australia. As my parents were their only living relatives, they were forced to deal with his estate on the other side of Australia. This process took over 18 months, involved repeated travel between Melbourne and Sydney, and cost thousands. The problem was that my nephew had no plans in place, and everything from accessing bank accounts to closing subscriptions and selling vehicles and property was a laborious, burdensome process for my elderly parents. It's a problem many families face, and one UK startup, Lyfeguard, aims to solve the scattered chaos of personal admin, financial clutter, and unspoken legacy planning. From the outset, Lyfeguard stands out as a startup with a difference — it’s co-founded by father and son, Gary and Fraser Stewart. I spoke with them to learn more about the vision behind the company and the unique dynamics of building a business together as family.              Turning tragedy into a mission According to Gary, the idea for Lyfeguard emerged in 2021, when a couple of friends died really suddenly. And in both instances, their families asked him to go and help them with the estate administration. He admits: "It was terribly problematic. It was very intrusive, really difficult actually finding things — rifling through people's personal possessions just to find documents." This was compounded by the fact that, in both instances, the deceased were breadwinners, both employed and in their mid-to late fifties.  "The families were effectively three months away from a financial disaster." Fortunately, in both instances, he was able to find some life insurance, which maintained liquidity. But it took more than 18 months to close down both estates, including probate and the government's inheritance tax process.  "Even though they were spousal transfers, you still have to go through all the motions. There were also some business shares involved, so it was quite complex." Sometime later, he asked himself: 'What would happen to my family if the same thing happened to me? Would they know where my stuff was?' And the answer was a resounding no."  Facing the uncomfortable: building utility beyond death His son Fraser recalls that when they discussed the challenge with a few people, their faces went blank — the realisation came that what we were talking about was largely focused on death. "Storing documents and information in one place to pass on to family and friends sounds useful, but people don't want to think or plan for death. That's probably why they end up in the situation of not having information organised." So the duo knew they had to achieve the same end goal, but flip the idea on its head and give people day-to-day utility from the platform — while still getting that information there and keeping it up to date for family and friends to access later. Fraser, who completed an MBA at Alliance Manchester Business School, credits the experience with giving him the entrepreneurial skills needed to help build and scale a startup. Bringing information to life through open finance Lyfeguard works as an end-to-end life-management tool — a place to store information throughout someone's life, accessible whenever needed.  "But we didn't want it to be just a static repository," shared Fraser. "We wanted to bring that information to life, so we connected in open finance." That means banking, credit cards, investment platforms, pension providers, loans, crypto, mortgages — pretty much any financial instrument — can be connected in real time. This not only makes it easier to input information, but it also allows Lyfeguard to visualise it in ways that help people actually understand their personal finances: spending, balances, transactions, net worth over time, etc. Significantly, Lyfeguard offers an active platform, providing people with alerts about upcoming expiry dates, which is hugely helpful.  "There's so much to remember: driving licence renewals, utility bills, MOTs — the list goes on. Lyfeguard gives people that nudge when it's time," shared Gary. A secure vault for life's most important information Lyfeguard offers a secure "vault" where users can store documents, passwords, financial accounts, investments, and other vital information — all in one place. On the financial side, it taps into open finance data to give users a unified view of assets, liabilities, spending flows, and net worth, helping demystify what's often fragmented across multiple institutions.  "Ultimately, we want Lyfeguard to put the person at the centre — as their life-management hub — with the ability for everyone important in their life to gain access when they need it: spouse, children, adviser, lawyer, mortgage broker, bank, insurer, etc," shared Gary. "Right now, information comes via emails, letters, apps — it's fragmented. The way we manage our lives is broken. We're trying to fix that." Trust, transparency, and control Beyond being a personal tool, Lyfeguard is built with collaboration and sharing in mind: users can designate "Trusted Users" (family, executors, advisers) who gain access under defined circumstances — now, upon incapacity, or after death.  It's aimed not only at individuals but also serves professionals in the financial advice, legal, and estate-planning sectors by enabling smoother onboarding, richer client insights, and continuity of care across generations. According to Fraser, it allows people to share as much or as little information as they want, at a point in time that suits them. "They can choose to share very granular levels of data — either now or after they pass away." The startup is expanding its reach to include a lasting power of attorney (LPA), which would cover an incapacitation event such as a serious accident, "but even now, the information can be shared immediately; it doesn't need to wait for that kind of event."  The 360-degree client view Lyfeguard originally started as a business-to-consumer product and later began speaking to a few verticals.  Gary shared: "The first was financial advice. They were telling us, 'We need all this information about our clients.' To paint the picture — it was 2021, during or just after COVID. Advisers were seeing clients less in person, more via Teams, and struggling to get client information. Their existing portals were focused largely on finances — assets and liabilities — which are important, but there's more to a client than what's in their bank account. There's all the softer, peripheral information that sits around that. Then Consumer Duty came in, which is all about understanding clients better than ever and ensuring advice is genuinely tailored. They can only do that with accurate, up-to-date, personalised information."  This aligned really nicely with Lyfeguard — giving a 360-degree view of the client. Tackling the £5.5 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer Further, Gary shared that advisers — especially in the UK but also globally — are struggling with the wealth-transfer issue.  "Between now and 2050, £5.5 trillion will be transferred between generations in the UK. Currently, advisers lose about 90 per cent of clients when the original client dies; the beneficiaries almost never stay with that adviser." This means they lose the assets under management too, which is how they get paid. If a million pounds' worth of assets are under management, even at a 1 per cent fee, that's £10,000 a year gone. According to Fraser, Lyfeguard enables the adviser to see who the key people are — executors, beneficiaries, family — and the client can proactively share relevant information with them.  "Other portals don't allow that. So it becomes collaborative planning where the adviser treats the whole family unit as the client, not just one individual." Lyfeguard is live with 11 independent financial-advice firms and, at the time of our interview, was in the process of signing with a private-client law firm representing around 100,000 clients in the UK. "They like Lyfeguard because people want to store their wills electronically. Even though digital wills aren't legally valid yet, it gives executors a head start, and we annotate where the original will is held," shared Gary. "The same goes for lasting powers of attorney. Lawyers also like that it keeps them relevant — clients usually come for a will or an LPA and never return. Lyfeguard keeps that connection alive." The company is also in advanced discussions with a large UK insurance company that wants to include Lyfeguard in its employee-benefits offering, under the umbrella of financial wellness. Employees often have benefits like death-in-service insurance or private healthcare that their families don't even know exist. Lyfeguard brings it all into one view. Fraser asserts: "Lyfeguard's value is twofold: helping employees see everything in one place, and ensuring families know what's available to them." The cross-border opportunity  For now, the startup is focused on the UK, but the opportunity is global. Ireland's a great bridge into the EU — close, English-speaking, with a similar legal system. After that, Europe, Australia, and Canada. "People are more mobile than ever — remote work, international assets, multiple pensions. Lyfeguard will also support storing foreign assets, shared Gary. "Many people we speak to have pensions or property abroad, and it's incredibly difficult to keep track of. We want to solve that too." From family to founding team Of course, I had to ask about the dynamic of a father-and-son team.  Gary admits that it was tricky at first: "You have to redefine the relationship. But I feel privileged to work with my adult son. I have another son still finishing his accounting exams — I plan to rope him in next! It's special to build something together." Fraser agreed, sharing, "There aren't many people who can say they've co-founded a company with their dad." "It felt weird initially — almost like breaking and rebuilding the relationship — but now we're in a great rhythm. It's an absolute privilege." The startup initially bootstrapped, then raised friends-and-family funding in 2022, with a few follow-on rounds. It's currently raising, targeting a group of angel investors.  It recently completed the FinTech Innovation Lab in London, run by Accenture, which was a major boost. According to Gary, "it introduced us to so many investors and large enterprise customers — including several of the UK's biggest banks. They love what we're doing. Banks move slowly, of course, but the long-term potential is huge."

Stockholm-based Grasp, an AI startup automating investment banking and management consulting workflows with multi-agent systems, has raised $7 million in a Series A round led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from existing investor Yanno Capital. The round brings total funding to $9 million. Founded in 2020 by former McKinsey consultants RichardKarlsson and Johan Devér, together with former Ericsson AI engineer Simon Hällqvist, Grasp builds a proprietary multi-agent platform that automates complex, costly, and time-consuming tasks for finance professionals. By connecting domain-specific AI agents to trusted tools and datasets, the platform surfaces more relevant companies, delivers deeper insights, and produces ready-to-present spreadsheets and PowerPoint materials, reducing manual, repetitive work while improving output quality. The global investment banking and management consulting services market totals roughly $1.4 trillion in annual spending. As AI automates portions of this work and increases productivity, platforms like Grasp are positioned to capture a share of that spend. Richard Karlsson, CEO and co-founder of Grasp, shared the idea behind the company: At McKinsey, we spent over 90% of our time on manual work - reading reports, building excel models, creating presentations. Together with Simon, who brought critical AI expertise from Ericsson, we realised AI had the potential to completely transform this $1.4 trillion market of human-intensive finance work. Five years later, we're proving this thesis. While AI initially boomed in text-centric fields like law, recent advances have finally enabled AI agents to tackle complex, multimodal tasks prevalent in finance. Now, with Octopus Ventures joining our journey, we're excited to continue expanding our rapidly growing customer base. Over the past 12 months, Grasp recorded 3.5× ARR growth and now serves nearly 200 customers in 30 countries, including most of the Big Four consulting firms. The new funding will support the expansion and growth of the product and sales teams.

Latvian-based Desktop Commander, the company behind the open source Desktop Commander MCP server, has raised a €1.1 million pre-seed round led by 42CAP, with participation from BADideas Fund. Desktop Commander MCP provides AI-controlled access to a user’s computer and file system, enabling it to manage files, use the terminal, and review, write, and deploy code from natural language instructions, saving time and handling complex tasks without requiring users to code. Founded in March 2025 by former colleagues Eduards Ruzga (ex-Infogram, Prezi), Dmitrijs Sergejevs (ex-Juro), and Lauris Lietavietis (ex-Infogram, Prezi, Printify, Oxylabs), Desktop Commander has become one of the most-used MCPs on Smithery, the Docker MCP Hub, and the Claude connectors marketplace. It now has thousands of daily active users, including founders building products, developers reviewing and deploying code, and knowledge workers automating routine tasks. Built on Anthropic’s MCP standard introduced in late 2024, now with more than 15,000 MCPs, Desktop Commander is currently in beta with a paid offering that extends its core functionality based on user feedback. I initially developed the first iteration of the product as a custom GPT in 2023 to address a personal work-related challenge; it did not gain substantial interest at that time. However, I revisited the concept when Anthropic introduced their new MCP standard in late 2024, and it experienced significant adoption in April of this year. What I find most rewarding is users expressing that they have acquired capabilities they previously did not realize they possessed, stated Eduards Ruzga, CEO and co-founder. Desktop Commander will use the new funding to make coding and local automation tools more accessible to non-technical users. The team is currently beta-testing a paid offering based on the MCP framework that extends functionality informed by user feedback.

Belgian biosurfactants developer AmphiStar has been awarded €2.5 million in funding by SPRIND, Germany’s Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, to accelerate continuous manufacturing of its microbial biosurfactants.  This is AmphiStar’s third consecutive SPRIND award, bringing total support to €6 million and further validating its approach to converting bio-based waste into high-performance surfactants that are free from fossil and palm-based feedstocks. AmphiStar develops and produces 100 per cent upcycled microbial biosurfactants as high-performance, sustainable alternatives to conventional surfactants. Using its platform technology, the company converts bio-based waste and side streams into a portfolio of products that do not rely on fossil or palm-based feedstocks and require no direct land use, supplying sectors such as personal care, home care, and agrifood. The company applies synthetic biology, microbial fermentation, and mild processing to manufacture these ingredients, and offers what it describes as the first commercially available biosurfactants made entirely from bio-based waste and side streams. It is an honour to be recognised as one of the final five participants in Stage 3 of the SPRIND Challenge, following the thorough assessment by the expert jury. This funding strengthens our ability to deliver high-performance, circular ingredients that reduce environmental impact and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy, said Pierre-Franck Valentin, CEO of AmphiStar. SPRIND funding will enable AmphiStar to advance its continuous fermentation technology and accelerate the commercialisation of new biosurfactant molecules from its growing library, produced by microbially upcycling bio-based waste feedstocks into market-ready ingredients. Recent partnerships with Kensing in North America and Caldic in Europe reflect increasing global interest in waste-based, sustainable solutions and mark milestones toward broader adoption of circular biosurfactants.

Rotterdam-based venture studio Builders has raised an additional €3 million, bringing total funding to €4.5 million. The round was led by a group of entrepreneurs, exit-founders, and family offices, including Wouter Holtslag, Eric Carbijn, and Invint Capital. Additional participants included family offices Den Breems & Schouten B.V., Vajoinvest, Hedje Invest, Plott Invest, and angel investors Peter Kaas, Edwin de Jonge, Richard Budding, Karol Wojtaszek, Emil Wojtaszek, Joeri van den Bovenkamp-Hofman, Ruud Vodegel, Hector Rodriguez, Wilbert Nederpelt, Steven van Houweling, Roland van Gulik, Herjan Meloen, Tristan Orzero, Patrick Veldhuizen, Eliska Went, Theo Wieckardt, Patrick van de Werken, and Sylvia Dekker. Builders is a venture studio that partners with entrepreneurs to create enterprise AI companies from initial concept to independent operation. From day one, it provides support across concept development, validation, talent acquisition, network access, funding, execution, and growth. Following its first funding round, in which €1.5 million was raised, Builders developed Noon, Obeyo, and Influentials. Noon and Obeyo were later discontinued, while Influentials was successfully sold. With the €3 million raised in the second round, Builders has refined its focus on enterprise AI software and built a new portfolio of ventures (Everday, Avery, and Cortena), all of which are nearing seed-readiness. Backed by the new capital, Builders will scale operations, support its existing portfolio, and expand across Europe through partnerships with startup studios and venture ecosystems. The studio aims to increase its annual launch rate from at least four to up to ten companies as it progresses toward a self-sustaining model. To accelerate this growth, Builders is establishing a €25 million fund to invest across its AI ecosystem, providing follow-on capital for current ventures and backing new European collaborations, with a first close planned for summer 2026.

French specialised software provider of logistics management solutions, Shippingbo, has received funding from Main Capital Partners to support the next phase of its growth journey.  Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Toulouse, France, Shippingbo provides a comprehensive, cloud-based logistics management platform that combines Order Management (OMS), Warehouse Management (WMS), and Transport Management (TMS) functionalities into an integrated platform. Its solutions enable e-commerce brands, logistics providers, and retailers to automate fulfillment, optimise warehouse operations, and manage transport flows efficiently through a centralised interface.  Shippingbo’s software platform delivers scalability, flexibility, and seamless integration throughout the supply chain ecosystem. Its solutions enable supply chain players to connect and automate every stage of their operations, facilitating robust omnichannel strategies through unified logistics capabilities.  The company employs approximately 80 professionals at its Toulouse headquarters and serves around 1,000 direct customers across several verticals — including consumer goods, 3PL logistics, sports & leisure, and food & beverage.  Key customers include brands such as Venom, Teddy Smith, and Weber Industries, as well as third-party logistics providers (3PLs) such as DHL, Deret, and Stef.   Marc Heiricher, Founder and CEO of Shippingbo, shared: “We are very proud of this strategic agreement with Main Capital to support us in this new chapter.  Main’s experience in the software sector and in supporting scale-ups through their growth journey will allow us to accelerate Shippingbo’s development significantly. This new partnership validates  our vision and will provide us with new resources to continue innovating internally, strengthen  our partner ecosystem, and roll out a Buy & Build strategy to reinforce our position as an  established unified logistics platform for omnichannel commerce in France and internationally.”  Although the majority of its revenues are currently generated in France, Shippingbo demonstrates clear international ambitions, with a growing customer base and market presence in Spain,  Belgium, and Switzerland.  Through its collaboration with Main, Shippingbo aims to accelerate growth via continuous product innovation, international expansion, and a targeted buy-and-build strategy to reinforce its position as a specialised software provider in the logistics value chain. The partnership will prioritise expanding Shippingbo’s functional coverage (OMS, WMS, TMS), developing complementary modules and a partner network, and strengthening its go-to-market strategy to serve its growing European customer base better.   The management team - primarily composed of the founding partners with decades of experience in logistics software - will retain a significant stake and continue to lead the next phase of growth alongside Main.  The transaction represents Main’s third platform investment in France in 2025, following the opening of its  Paris office in February of this year.  The Shippingbo management team will continue to lead operations and retain a significant ownership stake, underscoring their strong commitment to the shared vision of building an internationally leading unified logistics platform. According to Jonas Kruip, Co-Head France & Sr. Investment Manager at Main Capital Partners, as supply chains become more digital, data-driven,  and customer-centric, integrated OMS, WMS, and TMS solutions have become mission-critical for businesses striving to deliver efficiency, transparency, and scalability across the entire supply chain.  “Shippingbo’s scalable and modern platform is uniquely positioned to address these needs,  and we look forward to working closely with the management team to accelerate innovation and expand the company’s presence internationally both through organic and inorganic growth."

EPFL spin-off MoleSense has received €156,000. (CHF 150,000) from Venture Kick to bring molecular wearables to maternity care.  These devices will continuously and non-invasively monitor key biochemical markers in high-risk pregnancies, enabling doctors to make data-driven decisions and mothers to receive proactive care. Preterm birth and pregnancy complications remain among the most pressing challenges in maternal health. When a mother’s water breaks too early, doctors face a difficult dilemma: delay delivery and risk infection or induce birth and risk lifelong complications for the baby. With no reliable way to quantify these risks, mothers often undergo invasive tests while clinicians must make life-or-death decisions with limited data. MoleSense ias developed a new class of wearables that track inflammatory proteins and steroid hormones in real time through non-invasive sweat monitoring using a “wear and forget” device.  By combining personalised molecular data with biology-aware machine intelligence, the technology provides real-time, actionable insights for early diagnosis and targeted interventions. Founded and led by Gian Luca Barbruni and Ata Golparvar, both PhD graduates from EPFL, MoleSense brings together deep expertise in micro- and nano-engineering and wearable technologies. The team is initially focusing on pregnancy management, aiming to impact more than eight million pregnancies annually across Switzerland, Europe, and the United States. Their approach sets a new standard for proactive, personalised maternity care and targets the USD 110 billion women’s healthcare device market, beginning its rollout with high-risk pregnancy centres such as CHUV. The CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick will help the Medtech startup complete validation and move forward along the regulatory pathway toward early market entry. “Venture Kick challenged us to think bigger, move faster, and sharpen our vision,” commented CEO Gian Luca Barbruni.  Lead image: Gian Luca Barbruni, CEO, MoleSense. Photo: uncredited.

Copenhagen-based Formalize has raised €30 million in a Series B co-led by Acton Capital and Blackfin Tech, with participation from West Hill Capital and CIBC Innovation Banking. The company has raised €50 million to date. Across Europe, organisations face an increasingly complex, interconnected regulatory landscape, with evolving rules reshaping expectations for information security, resilience, and reporting across industries and regions.  Formalize, addresses this with a single platform that automates compliance workflows, consolidates requirements, and supports companies in managing ongoing regulatory change. Founded in 2021, Formalize is a compliance software company whose platform supports NIS2, DORA, ISO 27001, GDPR, SOC 2, and related frameworks. The company began with its Whistleblower Software and has expanded into broader risk, privacy, and data compliance. Today, it serves organisations in over 80 countries and supports more than 12 languages. Jakob Lilholm, CEO and co-founder of Formalize, said compliance has become a basic requirement for doing business. At Formalize, we’re building a future where automation and AI simplify GRC for European SMBs without ever compromising on security or the local expertise that defines us. Our ability to scale and deliver value to thousands of companies places us at the forefront of Europe’s regulatory landscape, Lilholm added. The new funding will support expansion across Europe, with plans to increase presence in key markets such as the DACH region and France by opening additional offices and growing local teams to support customers and partners.

SpinDrive, a Finland-based provider of active magnetic bearing (AMB) systems, has secured new growth funding led by long-time investors Rhapsody Venture Partners and Innovestor. Founded in 2015, SpinDrive commercialises magnetic-levitation solutions for high-speed machinery. The company’s vision is to lead in advanced magnetic-bearing systems with IoT-based condition monitoring, improving efficiency and lowering costs and maintenance in industrial applications. Traditional industrial bearings rely on oil lubrication and physical contact between moving parts, creating friction, energy losses, wear, and frequent maintenance. Because bearings are widely used in rotating machinery (such as compressors, pumps, turbines, and blowers), these inefficiencies add up to substantial energy consumption and reduce electric-motor efficiency. SpinDrive addresses this with active magnetic bearing technology that levitates the rotor, eliminating physical contact and friction. The result is maintenance-free operation for over 20 years, no need for oil-based lubricants, and meaningful energy-efficiency gains. Compared with traditional ball bearings that often require replacement every 12–18 months in high-speed applications, SpinDrive’s systems include integrated condition monitoring without external sensors and can reduce overall equipment maintenance costs by more than 80 per cent. SpinDrive reports increasing US traction through both direct customers and European OEM partners with US operations. Its systems are being adopted in industrial cooling, heat pumps, wastewater treatment, and semiconductor manufacturing, where energy efficiency and reliability are critical. The upcoming Magma X100 extends SpinDrive’s AMB technology to ultra-high-speed machinery under 100 kW, broadening access to AMB benefits in new markets and applications. Developed with support from the European Commission, it is the company’s smallest, most affordable, and most efficient system to date, and has received commercial orders ahead of launch. Janne Heikkinen, CEO of SpinDrive, said: Magma X100 brings the benefits of AMBs to applications for which there has been no technical solution to date. Our new product is small in form factor and a fraction of the cost of existing AMB systems. We believe the benefits of AMBs will revolutionise a broad new set of appliances and machinery. The funding will support SpinDrive’s expanding US customer base, strengthen its market presence in the region, and enable the launch of the new Magma X100 magnetic bearing controller product line.