Cross-border payment fintech Sokin has received $50m in a funding round, valuing the UK fintech at $300m.UK-headquartered Sokin says it will use the funding to speed up overseas expansion and on product development.The Series B funding round was led by US investment firm Prysm Capital, with Watershed Ventures participating. Existing investors, including investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Aurum Partners, also participated.Founded in 2019 and headquartered in London, Sokin’s B2B platform streamlines cross-border accounts payable, receivable, and treasury operations for businesses.  The fintech provides access to more than 70 currencies for transfers and exchanges.Over the next year, Sokin says it will build on its infrastructure and look to bag regional licenses and banking partnerships, as it looks to extend its reach around the world.Vroon Modgill, CEO and founder of Sokin, said: "We've spent the past six years building a comprehensive financial infrastructure that makes global business faster and more efficient. "For too long, payments, treasury management, and international accounts have been fragmented and outdated. We've built the platform that brings it all together, and this funding lets us accelerate that vision globally.” IMAGE: SOKIN

Copenhagen-based Complir has secured €1.7 million in pre-seed funding to develop the AI infrastructure retailers will rely on as compliance increasingly becomes a global competitive factor. The round was led by Vendep Capital, with participation from Likeminded, Plug and Play, Xpress, JHJ Seed Capital, and business angels including Kraen Østergaard Nielsen, Per Thau and Neil S. W. Murray. Retailers are operating in a new environment where cross-border selling is no longer just a commercial decision but also a compliance challenge. Each product launch involves dealing with differing regulations, overlapping documentation, and extensive manual checks. At the same time, regulators in Europe and other regions are increasing requirements for safety and transparency. Companies that are able to adapt to these developments are more likely to maintain a competitive position. To address this growing complexity, Complir’s platform consolidates product data across systems and uses AI to automate key compliance workflows, including labelling, testing requirements, risk scoring, documentation, and regulatory monitoring. Instead of relying on spreadsheets and scattered PDFs, teams gain a clearer, connected view of each product and can identify potential risks earlier in the process. Complir’s AI agents surface market-access requirements in seconds, enabling retailers to expand product lines and enter new markets without extended compliance delays. Our mission is to make it easy for European retailers to launch products anywhere in the world – safely, confidently, and without drowning in paperwork, says Gustav Bang, CEO of Complir. Complir currently supports several major Scandinavian retailers across categories such as textiles, toys, cosmetics, electronics, and home goods. The new funding will be used to accelerate product development, broaden coverage across product categories, strengthen integrations with ERP, PIM, and PLM systems, and support expansion into additional EU markets, with the long-term aim of helping European retailers strengthen their position in exporting safe, transparent, and compliant products globally.

The founder of one of Europe’s most lauded startups of 2025 has pondered replacing himself as CEO. “I am honestly aware that probably at some point post IPO, maybe at some point it would make sense for somebody else,” says Jan Oberhauser, CEO and the sole founder of Berlin-based AI workflow automation startup n8n (pronounced “n eight n”). A statement which prompts the question where and when n8n would IPO? Ideally, Germany, but no immediate plans, says the 42-year-old father of two. A future IPO, his own future, n8n’s future, Delaware flip, turning down Y Combinator, typical working week, San Francisco’s talent density, and getting his kicks through indoor skydiving are some of the topics Oberhauser bounces through in a 30-minute video interview recorded a day before Slush. N8n bidding war N8n garnered the gaze of the mainstream tech press this summer, after it became the centre of an investor bidding war, with VCs offering rocketing valuations. The long-running Series C saga was finally confirmed in October, when n8n announced it had raised $180m, valuing it at $2.5bn, led by Accel, with Matt Miller’s Evantic, Nvidia’s VC arm, Visionaries Club and Sequoia also investing. N8n has raised $240m in total since it was founded in 2019, having raised $60m in March this year. What is n8n? N8n calls itself an “orchestration platform for AI-powered applications”. N8n allows developers and enterprises to connect hundreds of different apps and services and automate business tasks. Think of n8n as the glue between all these apps and services. Oberhauser, whose background is in visual effects, steadily built n8n for several years, then as AI started to get frothy, spawned by ChatGPT, the CEO realised the burgeoning tech could be the death knell of his startup. Or as Oberhauser told Sequoia: “We knew it was probably going to mean one of two things, either it was going to be a huge opportunity or the demise of our company.” A harbinger was Oberhauser clocking US startup Pinecone landing a chunky £100m Series B round, after pivoting from being a vector database startup to a database for AI. In 2022, n8n followed suit and made its AI play, linking workflows to LLMs and allowing users to “intuitively” build AI-powered applications (as opposed to hiring expensive developers). Revenues have been ripping over the past 12 months, says Oberhauser. Competitors to n8n include startups and scaleups, including the likes of UiPath and OpenAI with its AgentKit offering. N8n’s customers Like other developer-centred platforms, n8n has a flourishing developer and builder community (around 700,000, some of whom now work at n8n) supporting it, helping build integrations, develop content and ‘how to’ guides, which n8n has heavily invested in. Complementing these free users are hundreds of paying enterprise customers, including the likes of Vodafone, Microsoft and Mistral, as well as two ministries of defence using it for cybersecurity purposes. Given that n8n is a horizontal platform, enterprises are using it for varied reasons, be it sales, marketing and IT operations. Juggling its free and paying customers is a tightrope act, says Oberhauser, as leaning too far into paying customers at the expense of free customers reduces n8n’s chances of owning the space. N8n is an open source platform with restrictions, which means its code is accessible, but there are restrictions on its commercial use, differentiating it from traditional open-source licences that allow free use. Sovereignty Digital sovereignty has become an increasingly hot-button issue, as European governments try and define their place in the AI ecosystem. Within n8n, Oberhauser, who launched his first startup at 17, says European enterprises are open to using LLMs from around the world but have concerns about data sovereignty. He says: “We see people caring a lot about where the data is, and where it is hosted. “For example, people are very excited about something like an LLM with Deutsche Telekom, because they are looking for these European solutions and Mistral fits in there very well. “But many organisations are open to still use other models as long as they can self-host them, run them on their own infrastructure or host it on a provider within Europe.” Evolving CEO role Oberhauser, whose hobbies include indoor skydiving, is not a microphone-ready CEO, à la Anton Osika or Sebastian Siemiatkowski. He says: “I am a developer, I am an introvert, so it’s like any kind of public appearance is definitely not a thing I would love by default doing. I sometimes envy those extrovert founders who get energy from these events.” That said, his Slush-speaking week is a jam-packed few days involving a roundtable with a German politician, interviewing candidates for n8n roles, a team huddle, and a Friday “study block” with n8n’s VP of product where they chew over AI developments. His workload has changed “100 per cent” since the early n8n days, but he doesn’t pine for a co-founder, saying it hired well early on. He has, however, thought about bringing in a new CEO, replacing himself.. “At the moment, I feel I am the right person,” he says. “But I am honestly aware that, probably at some point post IPO, maybe at some point it would make sense for somebody else. It would not be driven by investors, because they couldn’t even push me out even if they wanted to.” Fan of Europe N8n is a Berlin-headquartered, Germany-incorporated startup, which is important to Oberhauser. He is a Europhile and reflects ruefully talking to an unnamed German founder, whose startup favours a US IPO. He says: “This is quite sad, even though the company grew large in Europe and has most of the team in Europe. It is definitely something that has to change. “I definitely want to have a European listing, if possible a German listing. “We are not in a rush to IPO anytime soon.” This marks a contrast with another high-profile German startup, DeepL, which is considering a US IPO, it has been reported. Around a year ago, one of n8n's US investors wanted it to “flip” to being US incorporated, a suggestion Oberhauser politely declined. And in n8n’s early days, its investors were “not the biggest fans of having a German entity but I pushed back very hard", he says. Amid much chatter about where another hot European startup, Lovable, is incorporated, Oberhauser rubbishes talk that a startup’s country of incorporation doesn’t matter, saying it impacts the perception of a startup and potentially its IPO destination. Oberhauser even turned down Y Combinator, as the US accelerator wanted him to be Delaware-registered. He says: “I could have got into YC but I didn’t take it because one of the things they needed is that I become Delaware reigstered and I didn't want to do that.  And it is much more important for me to start as a German GmbH and stay as GmbH in the long term.” US investors and US expansion N8n has European investors including Deutsche Telekom’s T Capital and Visionaries Club and US investors, like Sequoia, on its cap table. European investors were “very slow” and “not that aggressive” in wanting to invest in n8n in its early days, he says, adding that its German investors only came on board via word-of-mouth through its US investors. The US, he says, is now n8n’s fastest growing market, helped by US enterprises more willing to work with startups compared to European enterprises. This year, headcount has grown from 60 to 185, with n8n now having offices in Berlin, London and New York. The future Oberhauser did not disclose n8n’s revenues, but he stressed they were now above the $40m ARR (annual recurring revenue) reported earlier this year. Next year, n8n will look to grow in Europe and the US, where Oberhauser is visiting in January, on a trip to Silicon Valley, which, he says, is still home to the world's top AI talent. Given n8n is a horizontal, not a vertical, play, with a broad platform offering, it should be well placed in the AI race, experts say. One thing is clear: N8n is not short of ambition and wants to become the Excel of AI. He says: “What we want to become is the default tool out there for how people make these AI-powered applications.”

Minitap, an AI-powered mobile development platform, has raised $4.1 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Moxxie Ventures and Mercuri, with participation from EWOR, Tekton Ventures, Amigos Venture Capital, and several unicorn founders. It also attracted a strong group of AI infrastructure experts, including Thomas Wolf, Stefan Glanzer, Michael Breidenbrucker, Paul Muller, Petter Made, Daniel Krauss, Jochen Engert, André Schwämmlein, and Saturnin Pugnet, as well as operators from OpenAI, DeepMind, LangChain, and LlamaIndex. Mobile development remains significantly slower than web development, even with the rise of AI tools. While some solutions help web developers deliver features in days instead of weeks, they are less effective for mobile, as they cannot test on devices, handle iterations when issues occur, or verify functionality across different configurations. Minitap addresses this gap by enabling engineering teams to develop mobile features in a much shorter timeframe than the typical six weeks. Founded in 2025, Minitap enables engineering teams at consumer mobile companies to ship features significantly faster. The company’s vision is to make mobile development so seamless that non-technical teams at consumer app companies can build complete mobile features without relying on engineering resources. Minitap combines open-source AI agent frameworks with cloud infrastructure to automate mobile testing and iteration. According to Nicolas Dehandschoewercker, co-founder and CEO, mobile accounts for about 60 per cent of internet usage, but advances at only a fraction of the pace of web development. He notes that consumer app companies like Duolingo, Calm, and Hinge run far more experiments on the web than on mobile, and says Minitap was created to help close this gap. Minitap’s technology is built around two main components: Mobile-Use, an open-source framework that enables AI agents to operate phones in a human-like way, and Minitap Cloud, an infrastructure that can quickly provision any phone configuration (iOS or Android) across thousands of devices in parallel. Connected to AI coding environments, these tools allow AI systems to write mobile code, test it on real devices, detect issues, apply fixes, and deploy working features with minimal human intervention. Every consumer mobile company needs to experiment faster. The companies that run 10x more experiments will win their markets. We’re building the infrastructure that makes that speed possible, said Minitap's co-founder Luc Mahoux-Nakamura. Today, engineering teams at consumer mobile companies use Minitap to accelerate feature development. The company’s goal is to enable growth teams to release features without relying on engineering: a product manager describes a feature, supplies a Figma design, and AI generates the code, tests it, and deploys an A/B test within the same afternoon. Over the longer term, Minitap plans to support mobile apps that optimise themselves autonomously by running experiments, analyzing user behaviour, generating hypotheses, building variations, measuring outcomes, and iterating without human involvement. 

Growathon Ventures is launching as Europe's first women of colour (WOC) led VC fund, targeting €100 million to finance pattern-breaking founders who deliver excess returns, but receive only 0.02 per cent of European venture capital.  I spoke to Founder and General Partner, Esma Choho to learn all about it and discovered a legacy of female founders that offer a way forward. “VCs aren’t risk-driven—they’re pattern-copying machines” Choho doesn’t mince words. For her, the industry’s consistent underfunding of women isn’t a pipeline problem — it’s a fundamental mispricing of value.  Choho contends that “VCs aren't risk-driven, they're pattern-copying machines. “ She asserts that Europe has been copying American VC playbooks for 20 years, including their biases. That has left enormous alpha on the table. "We're not founded to fix diversity. We're founded to capture returns that everyone else misses. And in doing so, we make Europe grow." The data behind the arbitrage: outperformance vs underfunding The data is unambiguous: 63 per cent valuation outperformance, 2.5x capital efficiency, yet all-female teams got 1 per cent of US VC in 2024. Further,  top-quartile US funds had female decision-makers 69 per cent of the time She contends that this isn't a risk, but rather it’s systematically mispriced alpha with superior fundamentals. "European VCs are even worse: smaller market, more consensus-driven, more concentrated. They call pattern-breakers "risky" when they're actually the lowest-risk bet with the highest returns.” Take Lisa Su, now celebrated for transforming AMD from a struggling $2 billion company into a $200 billion semiconductor powerhouse. As a woman, an immigrant, and a PhD electrical engineer stepping into a failing hardware business, she embodies the kind of founder traditional VC pattern-matching would have dismissed at the seed stage—“wrong profile, wrong sector, wrong timing.”  The same is true for Mira Murati, who followed a non-linear path from mechanical engineering to AI leadership. An Albanian immigrant with an unconventional trajectory, she became the Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, one of the most influential technology organisations in the world.  These are the kinds of overlooked, pattern-breaking profiles that generate outsized returns — yet are routinely underestimated by traditional venture capital. First-mover advantage in venture’s most overlooked segment Growathon Ventures is the first European fund specifically designed to capture this arbitrage:  financing founders who are systematically rejected by traditional VC pattern-matching, despite demonstrably superior performance.  Women of colour founders get only 0.02 per cent of US venture capital, despite outperforming market returns. In Europe, the data is sparse — and the disparities are likely even worse. The result is a completely untapped opportunity.  According to Choho, being first is important for the ecosystem, but what matters for our LPs is being first to capture a documented arbitrage:  “The data has been screaming about this opportunity for years. We're launching because the market inefficiency won't last forever. Smart capital will follow. Our Founding LPs get a first-mover advantage. This is a growth engine that has been in plain sight. And Europe left it on the table. First movers get exposure to documented arbitrage before market correction.” Why pattern-breaking founders outperform on fundamentals According to Choho, pattern-breaking founders possess three operational advantages: Capital efficiency as a survival mechanism.  Raising 1/10th the capital means owning 3x more equity.  Research indicates that women-led startups are more capital-efficient, generating 78 cents in revenue for every dollar invested, compared to 31 cents for male-founded startups.  According to Choho, “this isn't luck, it’s necessity converted to discipline.” Product obsession over capital gains  Rana el Kaliouby (Affectiva) pioneered emotion AI. Aileen Lee, co-founder of Cowboy Ventures, coined the team "unicorn." Both are founders who exemplify a founder archetype driven by product obsession rather than capital games.  As a result, deep domain expertise beats pattern-matching.  Choho asserts that “WOC founders prove worth through output, creating defensible moats.” Resourcefulness from exclusion Further,  according to Choho, the 73 per cent survival rate for Black and Latina founders is operational reality, not inspiration.  “When excluded from networks, you build different problem-solving capabilities. This translates to resilience during downturns - exactly when most startups fail.” Not an impact Fund — a returns engine LPs have overlooked To be clear, Growathon Ventures is a WOC-led fund. It’s not an impact fund, a category where women in tech are often pigeon-holed. With this in mind I asked Choho how to reorient LPs from "impact investing" to returns-first thesis? Her advice: Show them their own portfolio construction logic.  “If European LPs saw data that founders with specific technical backgrounds delivered 35-78 per cent outperformance, they'd immediately source more of those profiles. The alpha is real. The demographic correlation is incidental.” Reshaping Europe’s innovation ecosystem Choho contends that every pattern-breaking founder who gets funded and succeeds strengthens Europe’s global competitiveness.  “This isn't about representation,” she says. “It's about optimising for the best founders, regardless of whether they fit Silicon Valley’s pattern-matching. Europe wins when we stop leaving talent on the table.” If Europe captured even 25 per cent of the alpha generated by overlooked founders, it would translate into tens of billions in additional value creation — resulting in more category-defining companies built and scaled in Europe rather than migrating to the US, and bolstering the continent’s position in AI, climate-tech, and B2B infrastructure. For the broader ecosystem, this shift would validate pattern-breaking founders, create new proof points, attract more diverse entrepreneurial talent, and force traditional VCs to confront entrenched biases — ultimately generating exits and success stories with a powerful flywheel effect. From a policy perspective, it would show that inclusive capital allocation isn’t charity but a superior investment strategy, provide a compelling blueprint for public-sector co-investment, and offer a path for Europe to build its own innovation advantage without simply mirroring the American model. Growathon Ventures’ €100 million raise and the 100 Founding LP model Growathon Ventures is raising €100 million, offering 100 European Founding LPs access at €7,920 each, closing this Christmas. According to Choho: "Growathon Ventures' returns will not only validate our thesis. It will prove that Europe can lead by being more inclusive, not despite it. That is the story of the next decade of European innovation.” The data has been screaming this for a decade. The 100 who move now own the correction.” The architect behind the Fund  Esma Choho is a system architect, entrepreneur, and investor with decades of experience in strategy,  technology, and organisational innovation. Her career began in 1991 with the founding of her own  strategy and research firm, the first in Europe led by a female founder-strategist of colour who developed and applied her own models to guide public institutions, governments, and corporations  through fundamental organisational and system transformations.  With the founding of this European VC fund, Choho expands her role as system architect to capital allocation and strategic investments. She positions herself not as a traditional VC player, but as an architect of systems: data-driven, directional, future-focused, driven by structural impact - not by superficial trends.  Why 100 founding LPs?  Aiming to secure 100 founding LPs at a time when many firms are struggling to raise capital is highly ambitious. But there's a strategy here. According to Choho, the model is built around three strategic mechanisms. First, network-driven deal flow: one hundred LPs who are founders, operators, and angels create a hundred entry points into pattern-breaking founder networks that traditional VCs rarely reach. The result is a systematic information advantage. Second, downstream validation: when portfolio companies raise Series A or B rounds, larger VCs routinely call these LPs for references. Having one hundred credible European operators in the cap table materially de-risks follow-on capital and drives higher valuations.  Third, the structure enables a multi-fund platform: once the thesis proves itself through exits, the 100 early believers gain reputational capital as the first to spot the opportunity. They anchor Fund II, attract co-investors, and receive priority access to co-investment opportunities.  As Choho frames it, €7,920 buys allocation rights in a platform designed to capture documented market mispricing before institutional capital corrects it. "Europe has been copying American VC playbooks for 20 years, including their biases. That has left enormous alpha on the table. We're not founded to fix diversity. We're founded to capture returns that everyone else misses. And in doing so, we make Europe grow." 

Wayve, the UK self-driving startup, has acquired a German startup which specialises in analysing AI model training data for automated driving..The UK startup has acquired Quality Match, founded in 2019, which employs around 20 staff, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition comes as London-based Wayve looks to trump rivals such as Tesla to prove that its tech can work for carmakers.The acquisition expands Wayve's presence in Germany, after it set up a testing and development hub in Germany earlier this year.Wayve leverages AI models which learn how to drive by consuming large amounts of video and driving data, which it then tries to replicate. Quality Match specialises in interpreting and analysing data used to train AI models for applications such as automated driving. Wayve said that as it gears up for the commercial deployment of its software, integrating Quality Match’s data “strengthens its ability to efficiently develop high-quality, auditable datasets that are essential for building reliable and explainable AI models". Daniel Kondermann, CEO of Quality Match, said: “At Quality Match, our mission has been to enhance data quality through advanced quality assurance and annotation optimisation. I’m incredibly proud of what our team has built." Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve, said: “Bringing Quality Match into Wayve marks a strategic step forward in our commitment to deliver safe and trustworthy AI.  "Daniel and his team have built exceptional expertise in data quality and understanding for AI, which will strengthen the robustness, interpretability, and performance of our systems."Wayve has begun testing self-driving cars with Nissan in Japan ahead of a 2027 launch to consumers.

As you know, the Tech.eu Summit London 2026 will take place on 21-22 April at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre. This two-day event promises to bring together the global investment and startup community for insightful discussions, networking, and collaboration in the heart of London. Time is running out! Don’t miss your chance to purchase tickets before prices go up. Also, the Tech.eu Summit London 2026 conference program is coming soon, stay tuned for the big reveal! Early Adopter tickets are valid until 3 December 2025 On 3 December 2025, Early Adopter tickets will become "Super Early Bird" tickets. Right now, Early Adopter tickets are available for £350 + VAT, but after 2 December, the price will rise to £375 + VAT. Attending with colleagues or friends? The "Early Adopter (3+ People)" ticket option is currently priced at £315 + VAT per person, reflecting a 10% discount on the individual Early Adopter price, increasing to £337.50 + VAT per person after 2 December. This transition will mark the start of the Super Early Bird phase, the next discounted tier in our ticket release. You can also download the Tech.eu Events app from the App Store and Google Play Store to start networking before the event, explore attendee profiles, schedule meetings, and access the full event agenda. The app also allows seamless entry with a QR code for quick check-in. Get your tickets today! Don’t wait too long, secure your spot before prices rise on 3 December. Be part of this exciting event at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre on 21-22 April, where the brightest minds in tech and investment will gather. We look forward to seeing you there!

Last week, we tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth over €574 million, and over 20 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

Today Black Forest Labs has announced a $300 million Series B round at a $3.25 billion post-money valuation. Black Forest Labs was founded last year with a mission to build frontier models for pixels—systems capable of creating what cameras cannot capture. The team set out to develop models that understand intent rather than simply execute prompts, offering tools that turn imagination into reality for everyone from global enterprises to independent artists. The company is deepening collaborations with existing partners, including a16z, NVIDIA, Northzone, Creandum, Earlybird VC, BroadLight Capital, and General Catalyst, while welcoming Salesforce Ventures and Anjney Midha (AMP) as co-leads, alongside Temasek, Bain Capital Ventures, Air Street Capital, Visionaries Club, Canva, and Figma Ventures. Millions of users are already creating with the company’s FLUX models. Its open-source models rank among the most popular image models on Hugging Face, while its enterprise offerings are widely adopted across platforms such as Fal.ai, Replicate, and TogetherAI. Industry leaders, including Adobe, Canva, Meta, and Microsoft, are building on Black Forest Labs’ technology to deliver new creative experiences. Yet the company views this moment as only the beginning. Looking ahead, it envisions models that unify visual perception, generation, memory, and reasoning—laying the groundwork for true visual intelligence. The new funding will accelerate research and development. With a small, world-class team—including pioneers behind latent diffusion, Stable Diffusion, and FLUX — Black Forest Labs continues to push the frontier of visual AI. From its headquarters in Freiburg and San Francisco, the company is hiring and inviting others to help build the future of visual intelligence.

This week, we tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth over €574 million and over 20 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. In addition to this week's top financials, we've also indexed the most important/industry-related news items you need to know about. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. Either way, let's get you up to speed. ? Notable and big funding rounds ??  Quantum Systems’ €180M Series C extension lifts company to €3B+ ?? Model ML raises $75M investment ?? Overstory secures €37.1M in Series B round ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ??  Metriks AI acquires Appare for €800M ??  Swedish AI company Lovable is taking over cloud company Molnett ?? Munich-based robotics unicorn Agile Robots is acquiring thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering ??  BKN301 acquires UK fintech Planky to advance AI-first banking ? Interesting moves from investors ? Onstage launches new early-stage venture fund ? Clover raises €30M to become the go-to investor for work and education startups ? Índico Capital Partners launches €125M Fund ? 6 Degrees Capital closes €154M fund ?? Germany unifies deeptech funding: DTCF to join HTGF in major VC platform overhaul ?️ In other (important) news ? Startups react to Autumn Budget, as the chancellor says ”if you build here, Britain will back you” ?? Revolut valued at $75BN, with Nvidia and A16z joining investor roster ? Skeleton opens €220M Leipzig SuperFactory to power Europe’s AI and grid stability ? Recommended reads and listens ? Empowering women to shape the future of food: inside EIT Food’s EWA programme ?? The eastern frontier is Europe's new critical deeptech engine ? Legal departments will be drivers of European sovereignty ? Europe’s diamond moment: a new semiconductor ecosystem in the making ♀️ Posters with purpose: the analog protest calling out the censorship of women’s health ? European tech startups to watch  ?? Ranketta receives €1M to improve e-commerce brand performance in AI search ??  Tyten raises £750,000 to bring AI-powered automation to the global facilities management industry ??  Yasu lands €850,000 to build the world’s first AI cloud engineer ?? Artificial intelligence startup Skymod AI received $400,000 in investment with the participation of ENA VC ?? Fintech firm Johix closes €300,000 funding round ?? Humbrela receives €161,000 to build a unified insurance intelligence layer

The German Federal Government plans to consolidate and strengthen financing for technology startups and scaleups. The DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF) will be continued under the umbrella of High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).   By integrating DTCF into HTGF, a seamless financing architecture will be established – from foundation to exit. The existing funds will continue investing in key future sectors – from energy and quantum technologies to semiconductors, biotech, industrial transformation, AI, software, and advanced materials.  Financing for young technology-oriented companies and access to equity for innovations in key technologies will be strategically consolidated within a joint public-private VC platform.  As part of this expansion, HTGF is expected to assume management of DTCF from February 1, 2026.  In addition, the German Federal Government has commissioned HTGF to set up a fifth generation of its successful public-private seed fund, scheduled to launch in mid-2027 – immediately following the investment period of the current HTGF IV seed fund. According to Dr Achim Plum, Managing Director of HTGF: “With the vision of a joint investment platform, we are creating the public-private VC structure that Germany and Europe need right now: continuous innovation financing – from technological idea to market leadership.  Companies like FMC and Proxima Fusion already show how seamlessly HTGF and DTCF complement each other. My co-managing directors Romy Schnelle, Sebastian Borek, and I thank the Federal Government for its trust in enabling HTGF to evolve into a comprehensive VC platform.” Dr Elisabeth Schrey, Managing Director of DTCF: “Over the past three years, the DTCF has firmly established itself in the market and built a portfolio of 19 outstanding companies. Through large investment syndicates, such as those supporting The Exploration Company and Cylib, we have been able to give these tech companies more time for development and scaling during their early growth stages.” Tobias Faupel, Managing Director of DTCF, adds: “Since the very beginning, DTCF has worked closely with HTGF. This successful collaboration will continue on the new platform with the same strong commitment to our portfolio and to DTCF’s investment focus.”  According to Dr Janina Jänsch, Head of the SME department at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy,  establishing a VC platform as a new joint investment structure under the strong HTGF brand marks an important next chapter. "The DTCF management team has built a broad portfolio of technology companies, assembled a strong investment team, and forged important industry connections." The specific details of this integration are currently the subject of discussions between the parties involved.

Skeleton Technologies has officially opened its €220 million SuperFactory in Markranstädt, near Leipzig.  The facility is already delivering to Siemens, General Electric, and Hitachi Energy for European electrical grids, and to major US hyperscalers for AI infrastructure.  I sat down with CEO Taavi Madiberk to learn all about it. Skeleton Technologies is a European global leader in high-power, fast-charging energy storage for AI data centres, grid stability, mobility, and defence. It works with some of the largest companies in the world, from AI hyperscalers to industrial and mobility OEMs, and defence prime contractors, with customers that include Hitachi Energy, Siemens, GE, Honda, Skoda Electric, and Danfoss, among others.   Its solutions are based on its patented Curved Graphene raw material, protect essential systems from power fluctuations, stabilise mission-critical infrastructure, enhance performance, and enable wider electrification across sectors where power, reliability, and safety matter most. And, with a fully European value chain, Skeleton's supercapacitors use no lithium, cobalt, manganese, or other critical raw materials, and are based on the company's patented Curved Graphene material. What Britishvolt and Northvolt got wrong — and Skeleton got right Building full-scale industrial factories is fraught with risk — and Europe's battery sector has learned this the hard way. Britishvolt remains one of the continent's most high-profile gigafactory collapses: the plant was never built, its assets were sold to Recharge Industries (which also failed to advance the project), and the company was declared bankrupt in 2023. Last year, Italvolt abandoned its plan to build a gigafactory on the former Olivetti site near Turin, entering insolvency soon after. And in March this year, even heavyweight Northvolt filed for bankruptcy, with production at its Skellefteå facility coming to a halt in June. Madiberk offers vital learnings to the sector, declaring, "We started the company during the nuclear winter of energy and climate financing — back in 2009. That meant we had to grow organically. We always had a lack of capital, so we needed a product that truly differentiated in the market."  He believes that you cannot solve factory buildouts with money alone.  "Europe tried that — and failed. Skeleton has been lucky not to be over-capitalised. A lack of resources forces efficiency. If you hire hundreds of people for a factory scale-up, you get too many chefs in the kitchen. That's a killer in manufacturing." Strategic partnerships The company derisked its factory buildout by partnering with Siemens  "We used their know-how in logistics, digitalisation, and automation," explained Madiberk.  The company initially created a digital twin of the factory, ensuring things worked virtually before building.  “You can’t outsource your way to deeptech”: Crucially, Madiberk sees the company's biggest asset as in-house competence — people who have done it before. "The common logic is: hire great people and outsource to industry experts. But top management needs to be hands-on — in equipment supply, in process design, in everything. Certain things you cannot buy from consultancies or outsource." Talent has been another decisive factor. Taavi highlights the company's strategic hires: "For AI, we brought in an experienced founder who sold his company to Danfoss for hundreds of millions. Now we have a very strong AI team in Finland." Agility has been just as important. When heavy-duty electrification slowed, Skeleton didn't stay attached to outdated plans. "Companies must look at real challenges," he says, and pivot accordingly. Even though Skeleton Technologies was smaller in the past — delivering to BMW vehicles and Volvo robot trucks — its prior experience allowed it to scale.  Madiberk recalled being knee-deep in mud on the land slot in 2023:  "There was nothing. And I told shareholders, "Do not worry. There will be a plant here with equipment. We will make it happen."  Further, Madiberk also points out that the company's long-standing focus on materials independence has become a competitive advantage.  "I've told customers for 15 years that critical raw materials matter. We use no lithium, cobalt, or manganese — and have a European value chain. People ignored it for years. After COVID and geopolitical shocks, suddenly it matters." Inside Skeleton’s rise from niche markets to a critical infrastructure leader Skeleton Technologies also avoided the path many battery companies took: trying to solve everything with money. Instead, Madiberk contends, "We avoided the sexiest, shiniest markets. We never went after EV main batteries. We never went after long-duration grid storage. That was a conscious decision. Two years ago, some investors told me: "Taavi, these are niche markets. Look at the EV market and that demand. Why aren't you chasing it?" But we stuck to our core." Rather, the company focuses on two key areas:  "We keep the lights on in Europe." Five months ago, Skeleton had the largest marketing campaign in its history.  "People in Spain and Portugal noticed — it was the blackout. That moment was a wake-up call for Europe," shared Madiberk.  The 2025 Iberian blackout highlighted the vulnerabilities of interconnected grids, and the European Commission estimates that €584 billion investment will be needed by 2030 to modernise Europe's electricity networks. Madiberk compares renewables to driving without a safety belt, contending, "the blackout happened because of renewable fluctuations — the solution isn't to go back to coal or nuclear. The solution is adding a safety belt. " German transmission system operators now use Skeleton supercapacitors as the last line of defence for 200 MW building blocks for 1.25 seconds of stability to prevent events like the Spain/Portugal blackout. Skeleton’s AI pivot pays off Further, about 18 months ago, the team realised that heavy-duty electrification would take longer than expected. So in response, the company focused on delivering supercapacitors to US AI data centre infrastructure companies.  In 2026, US hyperscalers are expected to invest $330 billion in AI infrastructure, while Europe will invest barely $10 billion. European investment must rise significantly but the continent faces two structural challenges. First, electricity bills will increase further as energy-hungry AI data centres drive up demand. Second, only a small share of the value of AI data centre infrastructure is manufactured in Europe. Madiberk asserts:  "We did something differently: Skeleton built its own power electronics and software. That allowed us to get into the AI market. And this niche is becoming our biggest market. We're also fully vertically integrated: our own materials, our own supercapacitors, our own AI and grid product lines." AI data centres are overbuilt, overheating, and wasting power A typical AI data centre pulls full power for a second and then, during data transfer, drops GPU load almost to zero — a cycle that repeats constantly. These rapid fluctuations, happening 24/7, create enormous stress on the grid as tens or even hundreds of megawatts swing up and down. Right now, around 40 per cent of AI energy is simply wasted, burned off to manage those peaks, and grid connections must be built at twice the required size just to cope. The wasted energy also overheats GPUs — and even immersion cooling can't fully remove that heat — cutting into overall performance. In response, Skeleton built its own power electronics and software. According to Madiberk, by using Skeleton's solution, you can get up to 40 per cent more computing power. On a $330 billion investment this year, that's $100 billion in value. "We keep the lights on — and we keep GPUs cool. That's our dual mission." How Skeleton’s Leipzig plant powers the AI era Specifically, Skeleton's Leipzig factory plant manufactures the company's latest graphene-based supercapacitors, used in GrapheneGPU™, enabling AI data centres to cut total electricity consumption by up to 44 per cent by smoothing power peaks and reducing stress on the electrical grid. At the same time, it keeps a core part of the value chain in Europe.  By eliminating power peaks and overheating, GrapheneGPU™ unlocks 40 per cent more computing power from the same investment in NVIDIA, AMD, or other GPUs. Further, Skeleton is the only fully integrated European company in high-power energy storage, covering the entire value chain from raw materials to cells, modules, systems, and software. The company is built on deep tech and holds more than 70 patent families across the value chain. Skeleton's inauguration of the Leipzig supercapacitor facility follows the recent opening of its SuperBattery plant in Varkaus, Finland. The Leipzig SuperFactory will create 420 jobs in Saxony and is designed for an annual output of up to 12 million cells. Using digitalisation and automation solutions in collaboration with Siemens Digital Industries, the new plant reinforces Europe's advanced industrial base.

Swiss-based earthmoving autonomy platform Gravis Robotics has secured $23 million in fresh funding, co-led by IQ Capital and Zacua Ventures, with participation from Pear VC, Imad (CVC of Nesma & Partners), Sunna Ventures, Armada Investment and Holcim. Alongside the funding, the company has announced a series of new industry partnerships that further strengthen its position in the effort to transform global construction. Founded in late 2022 as a spinout from ETH Zurich, Gravis addresses key structural challenges in the construction sector (rising demand, declining productivity and an ageing workforce) by focusing on improving output rather than overhauling existing processes. Leveraging the team’s expertise in AI and autonomy, its retrofit system goes beyond basic command-based operation, adapting to real ground conditions via a learning-based control system that “feels the soil” using data from hydraulics, LiDAR, cameras and GNSS. This core intelligence is connected to Gravis Slate, a tablet interface designed to integrate into existing construction workflows. The same sensor suite that enables autonomous operation also augments manual work, creating a continuous data loop that supports performance improvements and the rapid expansion of autonomous capabilities. Designed to handle variable site conditions across tasks such as trenching, earthworks, grading and material handling, Gravis is built to complement human teams rather than replace them, delivering around 30 per cent gains in output, reducing rework and improving safety. Ryan Luke Johns, CEO and co-founder of Gravis Robotics, noted that the most effective path to autonomy begins with improving productivity today: By giving operators real-time 3D intelligence and the ability to shift seamlessly between autonomy and augmented control, we cover more of the work, accelerate adoption, and create the data pipeline needed to learn new capabilities from the industry’s hardest jobs. Gravis systems are already in use with major construction companies, supporting site preparation, stockpile management and the loading of trucks and screeners. Most recently, Gravis was deployed by Taylor Woodrow at Manchester Airport, in what is described as the UK’s first large-scale use of autonomous excavation on an active construction site. The company is also partnering with Flannery to offer turnkey excavators equipped with the Gravis Rack and is rolling out similar models via OEM dealer networks, including Develon in the UK and Kibag in Switzerland. Following this expansion, Gravis is now active in seven countries across the UK, EU, US, LATAM and Asia, representing one of the broadest deployments of autonomous excavation technology worldwide across both mixed-fleet and OEM-integrated equipment, and bringing autonomy directly into the earthmoving equipment rental market. With its latest funding, Gravis plans to further develop its autonomy technology, deepen and scale its industry partnerships and leverage existing global distribution channels to support the large-scale rollout of autonomous earthmoving solutions. 

Europe’s first dual-use unicorn, Quantum Systems, has tripled its valuation and raised €180 million in a Series C Extension led by Balderton Capital.  This follows its €160 million Series C in May this year, bringing the total amount secured in 2025 to €340 million, which marks the largest private capital raise in  Europe’s dual-use sector. The company’s valuation is now above €3 billion.  Quantum Systems has emerged as Europe’s powerhouse for unmanned systems, and the new capital will fuel its multi-domain expansion across air, land,  and maritime use cases.  Quantum Systems’ platforms and software are deployed by NATO forces across  Europe and the US, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and most prominently in Ukraine, where its fleet has been operating since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.  Following the earlier Series C financing this year,  the company has already acquired and integrated AirRobot, Nordic Unmanned, and Spleenlab. The additional capital will also support strategic acquisitions specifically aimed at strengthening and expanding Quantum Systems’ multi-domain offerings. Florian Seibel, co-CEO and co-founder of Quantum Systems, said: “Triple unicorn status is a testament to our team’s ability to build systems and a company that performs in the most demanding real-world conditions. We will now accelerate our development of hardware, software and AI to become the defining leader in  multi-domain unmanned systems.”  Sven Kruck, co-CEO of Quantum Systems, said: “We are building the powerhouse of intelligent unmanned systems. Quantum Systems will accelerate its global  growth across countries and domains, to secure Europe, NATO and its allies.”  Rana Yared, General Partner at Balderton Capital, said: “We are partnering with Quantum Systems to help them continue to fulfil the promise of European sovereignty in defence and dual-use technology. As geopolitical instability rises and security priorities shift, the need for home-grown, trusted European innovation has never been greater. The Quantum Systems team pairs technical excellence with operational discipline and has demonstrated the ambition required to lead this category globally. We are proud to stand by their side, as Quantum Systems enters its next phase of scale.”  Quantum Systems employs up to 1,000 people across Germany,  Ukraine, the US, Australia, Romania, the UK, and the Baltic states and continues its global growth in hardware, software, and AI across all domains.  With the new funding, the company will accelerate its AI, software, and hardware development across all domains, connected by the multi-domain mission software MOSAIC UXS. 

For decades, silicon has been the backbone of the semiconductor industry. Diamfab believes the next era belongs to diamond. I spoke to CEO Gauthier Chicot to find out why and learn what it takes to industrialise an entirely new material platform. French company DIAMFAB is a spin-off from the Institut Néel-CNRS. Its technology is based on 30 years of R&D into the growth of high-quality synthetic diamonds for demanding electronic applications. It manufactures synthetic-diamonds that act as an alternative to conventional semiconductor materials(like silicon, silicon carbide (SiC), and Gallium nitride (GaN), especially in power electronics, which convert, manage or distribute high electrical power.  Diamond is no longer a laboratory material. It is becoming an industrial material. Japan’s Ookuma Diamond Device has raised more than €30 million, while more established US player Diamond Foundry is scaling rapidly — this week announcing a €753 million investment from the Spanish government to build a new microchip manufacturing plant.  For Diamfab, this rising international activity isn’t a threat — it’s validation. “Diamond chose me” Like many deeptech materials innovation spinouts, Diamfab was born in academia. Chicot admits, “I didn’t choose diamond — diamond chose me.  I studied semiconductor materials and started on other semiconductors, but then I got an opportunity to work on diamond during my PhD thesis. That’s when I discovered diamond and all the properties it can offer.”   Electrification demands a new class of power materials Chicot notes that as more systems become electrified—electric vehicles being a prime example—the need to handle large amounts of electrical power efficiently is growing rapidly. Most power-conversion devices today are still made from silicon, a material that reaches its limits when operating at high power. According to Chicot, for 20 or 30 years, we’ve been looking for materials to replace silicon.  “We’ve already moved from silicon to silicon carbide — every Tesla Model 3 has SiC converters inside the car. But we still want to improve efficiency and simplify the system.  The most effective material is diamond. It outperforms silicon carbide.” Smaller, lighter, tougher Diamond can withstand a voltage three times higher than silicon carbide and thirteen times better than silicon. Further, diamond is extremely good at dissipating heat, even better than copper.  “That means a diamond device can deal with a lot of power and evacuate its own heat efficiently. If a device heats up, its performance drops. So today we use fans and cooling systems, for example, in electric cars. These systems are bulky and complex. Diamond helps avoid that, “ explains Chicot.  Finally, diamond also reduces the carbon footprint.  Chicot details: “We need very small amounts of diamond material to fabricate a device. So from fabrication to usage, the footprint is lower.” In practice, the use of diamond makes semiconductors compact, lightweight, stable at high temperatures, tolerant to high voltage and radiation, and more energy-efficient than silicon.  It's invaluable for rugged conditions electronics such as EVs, aerospace, power grids, and radiation-hard systems, while there are also opportunities growing in radio frequency, optoelectronics, high-energy detectors, and quantum technologies using diamond’s NV-centre capabilities. Building the pilot line: from prototypes to industrial reality It's still relatively early days for Diamfab when it comes to rollout, with the team providing prototypes to customers and partners. In March 2024, the company raised €8.7 million. The team is building a pilot line, which will enable it to develop and test wafers and devices in conditions that represent industrial reality. “It also shows partners that we are ready for industrialisation,” explains Chichot. Further, there are already niche markets using diamond as a conductive electrode for other materials.  “It’s less “sexy " than full diamond power devices, but it generates revenue and helps us learn how to operate as an industrial company.” The art of transforming a conservative industry  Overall, part of the challenge is convincing customers to embrace what is still in many respects, frontier tech. According to Chicot, a lot of industrial players have heard about diamond, but 10 or 20 years ago.  “Back then, it was the beginning, and we need to update them and show that the technology has dramatically improved.” “We also need to show them that we are the right partner to work with. The industry is very conservative. We’re 20 people dealing with companies like Schneider Electric. So we need to balance showing what we can do, convincing end users, and driving the conversation through the value chain. We need to convince the end users first. We need to show them the added value and the performance gains. Then the end user will convince the semiconductor player to start working on it.”   Chicot contends that in France and Europe, companies are more conservative, but most industrial players are now convinced that diamond will be the next material for power electronics. But outside Europe, Japanese companies like Toyota have been exploring the potential of diamond.  “Interest is strong internationally. The question is when. It depends on how many actors—startups and big players—enter the game.”  When wafers scale, industry giants will listen Crucially, one of the biggest wins in Diamfab’s work is that it fits into existing supply chains. According to Chicot, while the beginning of the value chain —”substrate and the layer we grow” — is specific to diamond.  “But once you have the substrate plus the active layer, you can process the wafer in standard clean rooms. Metal deposition, lithography, and so on — it’s the same equipment as for other semiconductors. The only requirement is wafer size. Industrial facilities need at least a 4-inch wafer to enter their production line. But the equipment itself is the same. For example, to fabricate prototypes today, we use research facilities with the same equipment used for gallium nitride and others, just with an adapted recipe.” When the material is ready in sufficiently large wafers, the team can propose it to STMicroelectronics, TSMC, and so on.  “They will need a dedicated line to avoid cross-contamination, but the equipment doesn’t need to be different. The value comes from the diamond material itself,” explained Chicot. ´ Why diamond is Europe’s best shot at reindustrialising semiconductors Chicot contends that Diamfab's mission is to demonstrate that diamond has an industrial reality: “In Europe, we actually have almost everything we need to build a diamond semiconductor supply chain: research centres, substrate providers, device expertise, and major industrial players. This is an opportunity to reindustrialise semiconductors in Europe. Diamond power electronics is a new technology — and Europe is strong in power electronics. It’s easier to industrialise a new technology than to close the huge gap in silicon manufacturing, where Asia is already mature. We need to take advantage of this new technology to build a new ecosystem in Europe.” Lead image: DIAMFAB wafer diodes. Photo:Grenoble Alpes Metropole. Lucas Frangella.

London and Antwerp-based VC firm 6 Degrees Capital (6DC) has closed a €154 million fund, with the fund backing enterprise software, AI and fintech startups at seed and Series A stages.The fund is 6DC's third fund since its launch in 2023. Fund III will invest cheques of between €1m and €5m and follow-on capital up to €15m per company. The fund has already invested in Conveo, the AI research platform, and FlatPeak, the energy startup.The new fund is backed by a range of fund-of-funds, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals across Europe. 6DC is an eight-person early-stage venture capital firm with offices in London and Antwerp. Thibault D’hondt and Lucas Stoops, partners at 6DC, said: “We don’t follow the herd or wait for consensus. We build conviction from first principles and go the extra mile to truly understand each business. "This enables us to back founders with genuine commitment, not just capital. To move fast, cut through the noise, and make every interaction count."Wouter Volckaert, managing partner, 6DC, said: “As with previous funds, our ambition is to deliver top-decile performance and invest in multiple fund returners per vintage."To date, 6DC has partnered with more than 70 companies across its fund vintages.

Swiss-based ICT startup Humbrela has received €161,000 (CHF 150,000) from Venture Kick to advance the development of its AI-driven platform, which unifies insurance and warranty data and helps brokers, wholesale brokers and Managing General Agents (MGAs) better support their customers. Today, insurance information is spread across emails, portals, PDFs, credit card benefits and embedded products. This fragmentation makes it difficult for brokers to access structured data and provide timely, accurate advice to their clients. Because insurance involves risk, money and emotion, customers continue to rely on human advisors. At the same time, with general AI models achieving only around 52 per cent accuracy on insurance-specific content, the industry requires tools built specifically for its complexity rather than generic chatbots. Humbrela addresses this challenge by building a unified intelligence layer that consolidates policies and warranties, automatically identifies key protections and translates complex clauses into clear, actionable insights for insurance professionals. Co-founded by Semchs Zaidi (CEO), Simon Mazas (CTO), Mathieu Chabasse (CPO) and Sarah El Abshihy (Legal Counsel), Humbrela offers an all-in-one solution designed to streamline insurance administration and strengthen collaboration with insurers. It is aimed at all types of policyholders and can be used to complete, organise or consolidate different kinds of coverage (such as health, motor or household insurance), making the process simpler and more cost-effective. The company has already onboarded its first brokers in Switzerland and France and is in advanced discussions with wholesale brokers and MGAs across Europe. The newly secured funding will be used to improve Humbrela’s AI models for policy understanding and risk-gap detection, expand integrations with insurers, warranty providers and TPAs, strengthen compliance across EU, Swiss and UK markets, and support the company’s expansion with brokers, wholesale brokers and MGAs.

Índico Capital Partners has launched its sixth fund, Indico VC Fund III, with a target size of €125 million. The fund has secured a €30 million anchor commitment from the European Investment Fund (EIF), a part of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) focused on equity investments in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-cap companies. Índico Capital Partners is an independent venture capital fund manager based in Portugal, focused on investing in global and sustainable technology companies with a connection to Southern Europe. Its funds invest in areas such as deep tech, software as a service, marketplaces, artificial intelligence, space technology, fintech, cybersecurity and ocean-related businesses. Since 2019, Índico has invested over €123 million in 53 companies, which together have raised more than €2.5 billion from global investors. Indico VC Fund III will focus on innovative technology companies originating from Portugal, Spain and Italy, while also considering opportunities involving companies from these countries that are currently based in the US, UK or other markets. The fund will target investments from Seed to Series B stages, with a particular emphasis on enterprise SaaS, AI, Deep Tech and companies operating in the spacetech and oceantech sectors. Stephan de Moraes, Managing General Partner at Índico, noted that the EIF’s anchor commitment, building on its role as a major limited partner in previous funds, reflects solid institutional confidence in Índico’s approach of supporting top-tier teams aiming to build global category leaders. He added that it also reinforces the firm’s track record and its strategic focus on enterprise SaaS, AI and Deep Tech across Southern Europe and its diaspora: We are strategically positioned to identify and scale the best global companies, leveraging the region's top talent and bringing them into the international capital spotlight. We believe that by providing smart capital and hands-on support, we are truly shaping the next wave of European technological leadership at a global scale. The EIF investment aligns with the EIB Group’s core strategic priority of promoting technological innovation and digitalisation, as outlined in the EIB Group 2024–2027 Strategic Roadmap. The transaction is supported by InvestEU, an EU programme aiming to mobilise over €372 billion in investment by 2027, and by Portugal Blue, a programme designed to strengthen Portugal’s blue economy by providing equity funding to start-ups, SMEs and mid-cap companies.

UK-based StirlingX, a drone operations and data intelligence company, has closed its extended seed round at a total of $11 million. The SAFE investment, which follows the initial seed funding secured earlier in the year, was led by the RCM Private Markets Fund managed by Rokos Capital Management, with participation from new and existing investors, including GALLOS Technologies, ONE9, and a group of angel investors. StirlingX specialises in advanced drone operations and data intelligence for complex, high-security environments, including critical national infrastructure and defence. By combining automated drone platforms, resilient communications, and AI-driven analytics, the company converts aerial and sensor data into actionable insights that support faster decision-making, improve efficiency, and reduce operational risk. StirlingX is currently delivering live projects with clients such as Murphy and National Grid, supporting pre-construction planning, construction-phase operations, surveying, and compliance. Dean Jones, CEO of StirlingX, noted that completing the seed round represents an important milestone in the company’s development. The confidence shown by our investors allows us to push further and faster in delivering sovereign, secure technology to partners across critical infrastructure and defence. With strong momentum behind us, we are well-positioned to scale and deepen our impact across the markets we serve. The extended funding will support continued product development, international market expansion, and recruitment across engineering, AI, and data science. It will also allow the company to scale its manufacturing and R&D operations at its Cambridge and Oxford sites to meet increasing government and commercial demand.

Tyten (formerly Fixo), an AI company for the next generation of facilities management, has secured £750,000 in an investment round co-led by Fuel Ventures and Concrete Ventures, with follow-on participation from Antler and several angel investors. Using artificial intelligence, Tyten aims to modernise and improve the global facilities management industry. Its platform combines intelligent workflow automation for help desks with guided diagnostic tools for technicians, delivering measurable operational efficiencies and improved service outcomes across the built environment. Developed in close collaboration with industry professionals, Tyten is purpose-built for the facilities management sector, a £60 billion market in the UK and a $1.4 trillion industry globally that keeps buildings running. Despite its scale, the sector has historically been underserved by tailored AI and automation tools. Tyten seeks to address this gap by redefining how repairs and maintenance are managed at scale. Tyten’s AI-powered platform targets two core bottlenecks: help desk administration and on-site repair execution. From the moment an issue is reported through to job closure, the system manages repair requests end-to-end. Its first automation module allocates tasks, contacts subcontractors, processes technician reports, flags missing information, and initiates follow-ups, reducing repetitive work and saving help desk staff up to two out of five working days each week. In the field, technicians receive step-by-step diagnostic and repair guidance, reducing reliance on manuals or videos mid-job. This structured assistance helps them complete work more quickly and accurately, closing orders up to 80 per cent faster and supporting improved performance indicators for service providers and their clients. The company was co-founded by Vladimir Pushmin (CEO), Sergey Nasonov (CTO), and Tom Petrides (CCO), who bring combined experience in energy optimisation, AI, and commercial real estate, along with first-hand insight into the challenges faced by facilities management teams. This close understanding of the sector’s day-to-day realities underpins Tyten’s product approach. As Vladimir Pushmin, CEO and Co-founder of Tyten, explains: Facilities management is the invisible backbone of every building – but the technology behind it hasn’t kept up and has lacked the innovation needed. We built Tyten to solve that, working hand in hand with technicians and help desk teams to understand their real challenges. The new capital will be allocated primarily to engineering and product development, representing approximately 70-80 per cent of the total funding. Tyten is also expanding its technical team to support continued product development and meet increasing customer demand.