One of the co-founders of German challenger bank N26 is standing down as CEO, following reports of a dispute with some of its investors over the founders' handling of regulatory issues.Valentin Stalf, who co-founded N26, Germany’s most valuable fintech, with Maximilian Tayenthal in 2013, is moving to a position on the German challenger bank’s supervisory board. Tayenthal, who was co-CEO with Stalf, will remain as CEO, N26 said.The executive change follows reports, first published by Germany’s Manager Magazin, that some of its investors were agitating for the co-founders to leave, after BaFin, the German financial regulator, threatened to hit N26 with penalties last month.The German challenger bank, last valued at $9bn in 2021, had also been hit with BaFin sanctions in 2021 for its poor anti-money laundering controls.N26 said the co-founders will continue to hold almost 20 per cent of the shares of N26, which has also announced several new appointments to its leadership team.Stalf said: "My move to the supervisory board is a forward-looking decision to continue to best utilize my many years of experience and knowledge to strengthen N26."

Starling Bank is buying a UK accounting startup, as it looks to provide a beefed-up offering for its small business customers.London-based Ember, founded in 2018, provides tax and bookkeeping software.Ember is backed by N26 investor Valar Ventures, fintech investor Viola Fintech and European fintech investor Shapers. The deal is said to be worth less than £10 million, according to Bloomberg.Starling, one of the UK's most prominent challenger banks, said the deal, its first since it acquired Fleet Mortgages in 2021, would mean it could now offer its 500,000 SME customers an "all-in-one solution to manage their finances, from bank transactions to tax submission”.Starting’s purchase of Ember comes ahead of new rules coming in next year, known as "Making Tax Digital", which means businesses with a gross income of above £50,000 have to report their income and expenditure every quarter, rather than yearly, to HMRC.Starling plans to integrate Ember’s software by the end of 2025, to help those businesses comply with the new rules.Starling says it has a nine per cent market share for small business banking in the UK.Ember's current clients includes the customers of HSBC, Revolut, Barclays and Lloyds but Starling says its software will now become exclusive to Starling and will discontinue Ember’s advisory services.Adeel Hyder, Starling Bank’s managing director, SME Banking, said: “Ember’s platform is beautifully designed to simplify complex accounting tasks through a user-friendly interface.”Daniel Hogan and Aaron Shaw, co-founders of Ember, said: “We created Ember to take the pain out of accounting for small businesses - to help people make faster, clearer financial decisions without the stress. "Making Tax Digital has created a real call to action for SMEs and Ember provides the solution to this. Our deal with Starling Group will mean that we’re setting a new standard for how banking and accounting should work together — seamlessly integrated and refreshingly simple.”

Robinhood is launching a tool for investors, which analyses breaking news, analyst reports and Robinhood’s proprietary data to summarise why a stock is moving.The tool is the first UK product launched by Robinhood Cortex, Robinhood’s investment assistant, which it launched in the US earlier this year. The tool, powered by Cortex, produces summaries or digests as Robinhood calls them of why a particular stock is moving in the market. The launch of the tool also marks the latest in a string of products that Robinhood, famed for bringing commission-free trading to the market, has imported from the US to the UK.It comes as financial startups look to build up their AI offerings, either by leveraging foundational models like ChatGPT to create products or build tools on top of in-house data sets, like Robinhood. Robinhood says the tool leverages AI. Its data set includes news providers, research reports, real-time market data, analyst ratings, and technical indicators, to aggregated Robinhood customer trading data. According to Robinhood: “Digest delivers AI-powered summaries decoding what’s driving stock price movements - helping investors to make informed decisions with clarity and confidence.”The summaries are designed to be used as an additional research tool for traders before they execute a trade, says Robinhood.Jordan Sinclair, president at Robinhood UK. “We believe our UK customers —from first-time investors to seasoned traders—will appreciate the timely, accessible summaries that highlight what’s moving a stock, circumventing the need to manually gather information from multiple sources.”
Sinclair said the summaries help bridge the gap for traders who might have heard about a stock but don’t know why its price is moving. He said it was quicker for traders to use the summaries than alternative options.He said: “If they went to ChatGPT it would probably take them six different prompts to eventually get there. They still probably wouldn’t be quite sure what it meant for them.” He said: “We do make sure we have the right controls, the right guard rails.”Asked if Robinhood was late to the party with Cortex Digests, Sinclair said: “I don’t see us being late, I would rather deliver a great product for customers.”Cortex Digests, which will be free to UK users, began rolling out first in the US, and have already been used by hundreds of thousands of Robinhood customers, Robinhood said.

Climatetech VC fund Clean Grown Fund (CGF) has raised a third of its £150m target as it looks back startups aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and speeding up net zero innovation. CGF is a VC fund set up in 2020 which invests in UK-based early-stage startups that cut greenhouse gas emissions or improve resource efficiency. CGF says its Fund 2 has now raised £49m of its £150m target.  Fund 2 deploys initial cheques of £500k to £5 million, targeting innovations across six core areas: power and energy systems; transport and mobility; industrial decarbonisation; buildings and the built environment; agrifood and land use; circular economy, waste and water. Two of CGF’s previous investors, including Strathclyde Pension Fund, have committed to Fund 2, which is also joined by new investors Islington Pension Fund and East Riding LGPS, CGF said. CGF’s Fund 1 invested in 19 climate tech startups now projected to reduce over 55 million tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) by 2030, said CGF.  These include Sunswap, the developer of zero-emission transport refrigeration units: Rendesco, provider of low-carbon ground-source heat networks, and Above, a robotics firm aimed at helping the solar industry build higher-performing plants.   “Raising capital in this market isn’t easy, especially with global political uncertainty affecting climate policy momentum” said Beverley Gower-Jones, managing partner, CGF.  “Despite this, the UK continues to stand out as a hub for climate innovation – and the strong first close of Fund II reflects the trust our investors place in our team and our mission.”  IMAGE:PIXABAY

Norrsken Foundation has launched Norrsken Evolve, a new €57 million pre-seed fund aimed at backing startups working "at the intersection of impact, resilience, and scalability". The fund will target early-stage founders across Europe building solutions in sustainability, deeptech and infrastructure critical to the continent’s long-term resilience. The initiative represents a natural evolution of Norrsken Accelerator, the foundation’s existing early-stage programme launched in 2021. Norrsken Evolve will not only offer €250,000 in upfront capital, double the Accelerator’s previous standard, but will also enable follow-on investments in top-performing companies. The fund will be led by General Partners Johan Attby, Alex Bakir, and Rebecka Löthman Rydå. Its limited partners (LPs) include high-profile institutional backers such as Saminvest, the European Investment Fund, and SmartCap Green Fund (supported by the EU's NextGenerationEU programme), as well as notable private investors including Taavet Hinrikus and Sten Tamkivi’s firm, Skaala. This new vehicle arrives at a time when Europe’s tech ecosystem is grappling with broader macroeconomic uncertainty. While VC investment across the continent dipped in recent quarters, impact-focused funds - particularly those at the pre-seed and seed stages - have shown relative resilience, driven by the EU’s green agenda and strategic emphasis on deeptech and industrial sustainability. “With Europe in the midst of environmental, geo-political and financial turmoil, many feel demoralised. Yet there is a rising wave of pioneers...with groundbreaking solutions. We want to champion these founders,” said Rebecka Löthman Rydå, General Partner at Norrsken Evolve. The fund is structured around intensive, in-person "sprints" designed to support early-stage founders through the most critical phases of product and company development. This hands-on approach is paired with access to Norrsken’s extensive network of mentors, operators, and investors. “When we launched Norrsken Accelerator four years ago, our mission was clear: to build a pipeline of emerging impact-tech unicorns... We've proven the model works. Now, with the €57m Norrsken Evolve fund... we're doubling down,” said Funda Sezgi, co-CEO of Norrsken Foundation and co-founder of the original Accelerator. The fund will invest in 20–30 companies annually, with a thematic focus spanning renewable energy, healthtech, robotics, AI infrastructure, biotech, and next-generation materials. Norrsken Evolve’s first ten portfolio companies, announced alongside the fund’s debut, reflect this broad theme: Aiomics – AI engine converting Europe’s medical documentation into actionable data Atmospheric AI – Platform making global supply chains transparent through physical-world AI Bubble Robotics – Underwater robotics for infrastructure, ecosystems, and climate resilience Chain Bioreactor – 3D-printed bioreactors for scalable biotech manufacturing FION Energy – Smart industrial battery storage to cut energy costs Humla – Wearable AI platform for hands-free clinical use Jälle Technologies – Battery waste-to-materials upcycling startup New Dawn Bio – Grows wood-alternative materials 10,000x faster than trees Super6 – High-power supercapacitor tech for clean energy use TetraxAI – AI platform for accelerating energy transition infrastructure The fund will also expand its activities beyond Stockholm into Tallinn, Estonia, where it will run programming out of Kasvuhoone, a newly launched tech hub that aims to become a centre for Nordic innovation.

Monzo is planning to launch a mobile phone offering, mirroring similar moves by challenger financial startups Revolut, Klarna, and N26. The UK challenger bank is planning to launch a digital sim and offer monthly contracts in the UK, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the move and which has been confirmed by Monzo. A spokesperson for Monzo said: "When we heard from our customers that mobile contracts can be a pain point, we set out to explore how we could do this the Monzo way, and we are in the early stages of developing this idea." Monzo’s move into mobile is in its early stages, so it does not yet have a launch date, sources said. According to the report, Monzo would not build its own infrastructure but would act as a so-called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Instead of the high cost of establishing infrastructure of masts and systems, MVNOs licence parts of other operators’ networks. MVNOs then typically try and offer their customers cheaper prices. Monzo, which has over 12m customers, will hope to be able to cross-sell its mobile proposition to its customers. It will put Monzo up against the likes of EE and the recently-merged VodafoneThree, as well as new challenger financial operators moving into this area. Challenger banks like Monzo and its rivals are increasingly looking to branch out into new areas and new markets. Along with its core digital banking services, Monzo, for example, also offers insurance and BNPL services. The digital bank is looking to launch across the EU.  In June this year, Klarna said it was launching a mobile offering, first in the US, followed by the UK, Germany and other markets. Earlier this year, N26 said it was planning to offer mobile phone contracts while Revolut also announced plans to launch mobile plans in the UK and Germany.

Last week, we tracked more than 40 tech funding deals worth over €1 billion, and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

British insurtech Meshed, which provides an AI-compliant digital insurance broker service, has raised £950,000 in a pre-seed round to offer commercial insurance for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The round was led by Haatch, with participation from Aviva via Founders Factory, Exponential Science Foundation, and several angel investors. Founded by a team of seasoned insurance and tech operators, Meshed aims to tackle one of the sector’s most persistent problems: the inefficiency and high cost of traditional brokerage, which relies on legacy software and manual processes. The company's aim is that by rebuilding the broking stack from the ground up with AI at its core, it will drastically reduce costs, improve coverage accuracy and shorten quote times. “After nearly 20 years in the industry, I’ve seen just how little has changed,” said Mark Costello, CEO and co-founder. “Insurance is still too reliant on paperwork, underinsurance is far too common, and fees are often higher than they should be. We built Meshed to change that, to bring costs down for SMEs, give them the right protection and make the whole process faster, simpler, and more transparent.” Meshed’s platform uses AI-powered browser agents and voice agents to handle tasks like quote gathering, insurer chasing, and policy administration. According to the team, this model can also deliver real-time policy updates, helping businesses avoid the risk of underinsurance as they scale or pivot. “We’re pretty much rebuilding the entire insurance broking stack so it's AI-native, including the underlying data infrastructure, schemas, and integrations,” said Vincent Liu, Meshed’s CTO and co-founder. “This allows us to let our AI agents loose and ultimately reduce the quoting experience from one hour to nine minutes.” Meshed has already secured 51 insurer agreements and received regulatory approval as an Appointed Representative from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A key problem Meshed aims to solve is underinsurance, which affects around 80 percent of UK SMEs. Many of these businesses rely on outdated coverage because of broker inertia, high switching costs, or poor visibility into changing needs. “The traditional insurance brokerage model is broken,” said Jake Wells, co-founder and COO. “Brokers spend too much time buried in paperwork and chasing information, rather than advising and supporting clients. Our AI agents change this fundamentally, handling everything from quote generation to policy management, giving human brokers back the most valuable asset they have - time.” The funding round’s backers see Meshed as part of a broader wave of AI-first startups targeting legacy-dominated industries like insurance. “We always want to be on the leading edge of enabling our customers to protect themselves as much as they possibly need to and can. In order to do that, we need to keep finding the latest and the brightest ,” said Arslan Hannani, Chief Innovation Officer at Aviva. “We have to think about the founding team, the idea, the quality of the founders,” he added. “When it came to Meshed, it was pretty easy for us to get on board.”

This week we tracked more than 40 tech funding deals worth over €1 billion, and over 10 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 ?? Bending Spoons bags €500M in debt, eyes IPO next ?? Aira secures €150M to accelerate its mission to take Europe off gas ?? Oculis upsizes BlackRock loan facility to €106.2M ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ?? Click Labs acquires Evermile to streamline retail logistics for SMEs ??  Minders acquires Dise to strengthen Telegram’s B2B sales infrastructure ?? CarTrawler acquires French insurtech Koala to expand embedded ancillary offerings ?? US platform Capacity acquires Verbio Technologies ? Interesting moves from investors ?? Amsterdam-based Marktlink Capital secures €520M to back eleven PE managers ?? Polish Spire Capital Partners Closes €90M Private Equity Fund, 45% Backed by Domestic Investors ?? Meet Delphinus Venture Capital, new Aarhus-based €80M venture fund launched to boost the startup ecosystem of these regions ?️ In other (important) news ? Tesla bids to enter British energy market ? Zilch revenues double as tops five million customer mark ⚛️ Oxford Ionics installs quantum computer at NQCC ? Recommended reads and listens ?? paddy secures €1M pre-seed to lighten teachers’ workloads, gaining 12,000 users in just six months ? Kinisi bets on simplicity over spectacle in the robotics race ? CoreVitals targets the next frontier in preventative health ? European tech startups to watch ?? Medtech Better Medicine raises €1M to accelerate rollout of AI kidney cancer tool ?? GREÏ secures €650,000 to reduce operational inefficiencies in AI software ??: Medtech Sports Impact Technologies raises €650,000 for better concussion detection ?? Computle secures £500,000 for compute-intensive cloud software ?? Uspacy raises €420,000 funding to expand its all-in-one platform for SMEs