Podcast personality and entrepreneur Steven Bartlett today announced his company Steven.com has closed a major eight-figure investment, at a €365 million valuation to build what he calls the “Disney of the creator economy” and take his growing media empire to a global stage.

The investment was led by investors Slow Ventures and Apeiron Investment Group. This is believed to be Europe’s biggest ever creator holding company fundraising round.

Bartlett, who is also the creator and host of Diary Of A CEO (DOAC), said: “By bringing together creator IP, capital and our infrastructure, Steven.com is positioning itself to lead in the next era of the creator economy. My ultimate ambition is to build the Disney of the creator economy – and the strategic partners this funding round has brought on board has enabled me to take a big step in that direction.”

The funding round for Steven.com represents an exceptional scale compared with other European creator-economy and media-infrastructure fundings reported by EU-Startups in 2025.

While recent announcements such as Wyrld (Germany) (€1 million pre-Seed for creator-led e-commerce), Assisterr (UK) (€2.4 million for no-code AI-agent creation), Paid (UK) (€10 million to power the AI-agent economy) and Camera Intelligence (UK) (€1.7 million for AI-enabled creator hardware) focus on early-stage innovation, Bartlett’s eight-figure raise at a €365 million valuation signals a move toward consolidation and scale.

In contrast to these smaller rounds, Steven.com’s investment highlights the emergence of more mature, vertically integrated creator-media companies in Europe, particularly in the UK – positioning it as a potential anchor firm in the continent’s evolving creator-economy landscape.

“For the last century, companies like Disney – from its starting point with Walt Disney himself – has demonstrated the power of a single piece of intellectual property. He and his successors built a global empire by taking a character like Mickey Mouse and building a universe around him: films, theme parks, merchandise and more. This created a flywheel of immense, compounding value which resulted in a generational company.

“With my team, I think we are building the modern version of this model. But in our world, the IP is not a fictional character. The creator is the new franchise. Our mission is to build the defining company of the creator economy by constructing an ecosystem that scales a creator’s influence across two core pillars: creator media and creator ventures, while powering this flywheel with our proprietary creator technology,” added Bartlett.

EU-Startups has featured Steven Bartlett and his ventures multiple times over recent years. In January 2023, we reported on the launch of his $100 million Flight Story Fund to support European startups. Later, in March 2023, Bartlett and his fund were referenced as investors in London-based healthtech ZOE. His name appeared again in November 2024 in an article profiling his former business partner’s new marketing startup, cocreatd.

In 2025, Bartlett’s influence in the creator-economy space was acknowledged twice more: first in January 2025, where his Diary of a CEO channel was listed among the “25 must-follow YouTube channels for startups and entrepreneurs,” and later in June 2025, which included him in a roundup of leading business voices on TikTok.

Megan Lightcap, Partner at Slow Ventures said: “At Slow Ventures, we’ve long believed that creators are the next great entrepreneurs – and Steven Bartlett is a first-rate example. He isn’t just one of the fastest-growing and most trusted voices in the world; he’s a meticulously data-driven entrepreneur whose content, deep community, and portfolio of companies create a powerful flywheel that fuels system-wide growth. We couldn’t be more excited to back him through the Slow Creator Fund as he scales Steven.com across media, products, and technology.”

This new funding will accelerate Bartlett’s mission to empower creator media companies and creator ventures to scale globally and develop world-class creator IP and creator commerce eco-systems. The investment also enables Bartlett and his company – incorporating established divisions FlightStory, FlightCast and FlightFund – to maintain full independence, with Bartlett holding majority ownership of more than 90%.

Christian Angermayer – Apeiron Investment Group – said: “I have known Steven for several years now, and he is one of the brightest visionary entrepreneurs I’ve ever worked with – a true and rare asset to British entrepreneurship. Him and his world class management team are building the infrastructure to transform individual creators into institutional-grade businesses through an integrated ecosystem of media, ventures, and technology.

“We are backing the company that will define the creator economy by proving that the individual, properly capitalised and supported, can build empires that rival the entertainment conglomerates of the last century. Europe needs to take the creator economy very seriously and we need more platforms like Steven.com to build their empires right here in Europe.“

With the creator economy projected to reach more than $528 billion by 2030 and more than 207 million active creators worldwide, Steven.com is positioned to harness this momentum by combining investment, media expertise and technology infrastructure under one roof.

Bartlett already works with prominent creator talent through his media division, FlightStory. This includes Trevor Noah, Davina McCall, and Paul C. Brunson. The company acquires, scales and builds commercial infrastructure around top creator media IP, whilst investing in and incubating creator ventures.

Bartlett has also built a suite of public and proprietary tools that use creator audience data to remove guesswork from strategy and growth decisions on creator IP. Earlier this month he announced the public launch of one such tool called FlightCast.com – the world’s first podcast hosting platform built for video, with in-built AI and testing capabilities.

DOAC – which he created and also presents through FlightStory – is now the world’s second biggest interview podcast with more than 13 million YouTube subscribers and 70 million monthly views/downloads. It had achieved more than one billion streams across all platforms by late 2024 and this month (Oct 2025) it surpassed one billion views on YouTube alone. It also remains the No1 Podcast in the UK and Europe and is currently adding 600K new YouTube subscribers each month – making it the fastest growing show in the world – with a 500% compound annual growth rate.

Previous guests include Michelle Obama, MrBeast, Matthew McConaughey, Louis Tomlinson, Simon Cowell, Boris Johnson and, most recently, former Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp.

Bartlett has invested in more than 40 companies, including SpaceX, Whoop, Lovable, Replit, MrBeast, Cadence, Groq, and PerfectTed. This month PerfectTed also became Dragon’s Den’s most successful ever investment with the company now being valued at more than $190 million less than three years since the Founders appeared on the TV series.

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San Sebastián and Barcelona-based biotech Adaptam Therapeutics has raised €3 million in a pre-seed round led by Criteria Bio Ventures to develop first-in-class antibody therapies targeting immunosuppressive myeloid cells in solid tumours.

The funding will allow Adaptam to advance its antibody-based programmes, including antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and bispecific antibodies, into the preclinical stage across multiple oncology indications. As part of the round, Salvatore Cappadona and Pablo Cironi from Criteria Bio Ventures have joined the company’s board of directors.

“Immunosuppressive myeloid cells within tumours present one of the toughest challenges in immunotherapy today. Our goal is to neutralise this obstacle by developing therapies that specifically target these cells, offering patients new hope where traditional approaches have failed,” said Asis Palazon, founder, CEO and CSO of Adaptam.

Adaptam’s approach focuses on disrupting the tumour microenvironment, which often prevents immune cells from effectively attacking cancer. Its therapies target glycoimmune checkpoints selectively expressed in immunosuppressive myeloid cells such as tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs).

“We are thrilled to support Adaptam in its mission to transform cancer treatment by targeting the immunosuppressive cells within the TME. The scientific breakthroughs achieved by Prof. Asis Palazon and his team have laid the groundwork for potentially life-changing therapies,” said Pablo Cironi, chairman of Adaptam’s board.

Adaptam was founded based on research from CIC bioGUNE in Bilbao, with early support from Criteria Bio Ventures and a Caixa Research Health grant awarded to Palazon in 2021. Some of the underlying discoveries have been published in Nature Communications.

“CIC bioGUNE’s long-standing leadership in glycobiology provided the scientific foundation for Adaptam and we have supported the company from its earliest steps through to today’s preclinical maturation,” said Jesús Jiménez-Barbero, scientific director of CIC bioGUNE.

Valence-based Dracula Technologies, a pioneer in enabling battery-free IoT through energy harvesting from ambient indoor light, announced the completion of its Series A extension round, bringing the total Series A funding to €30 million.

The extension round includes participation from existing investor Banque des Territoires, acting on behalf of the French State under the “France 2030” programme, and leading the financial operation, together with MGI Digital Technology Group, an industrial partner in digital printing technologies. The round also welcomes the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund as a new strategic partner.

“I am very proud of this achievement, which wouldn’t have been possible without the commitment and hard work of our team, and the continued support of our long-standing investors – now joined by the EIC Fund,” said Brice Cruchon, CEO and Founder of Dracula Technologies. “With this support, we will strengthen our industrial base in France, lay the groundwork for future manufacturing closer to key markets, and begin discussions with industrial partners to accelerate global deployment.”

Dracula Technologies’ extension situates the French company within a broader European trend of investment in clean and smart-energy solutions.

In 2025, EU-Startups has highlighted related activity in adjacent sectors – such as Germany’s etalytics, which secured €16 million to expand its AI-driven energy-optimisation platform, and Spain’s Clevergy, which raised €3.2 million to scale its smart-energy platform across Europe.

While these firms address efficiency and solar integration, Dracula Technologies’ niche – battery-free IoT powered by ambient indoor light – remains distinct, with no equivalent 2025 funding rounds reported in this space.

“The renewal of our trust reflects our commitment to supporting companies rooted in local regions while pursuing international ambitions. As an early partner, we are proud to see Dracula Technologies expand its industrial base in France, thereby contributing to the energy and digital transition at both the national and European levels,” said François Wohrer, Chief Investment Officer at Banque des Territoires.

Founded in 2012, Dracula Technologies develops sustainable energy solutions with its LAYER technology, innovating power sources for low-power electronics. Its organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules, manufactured using patented digital printing, harvest ambient light, eliminating reliance on traditional batteries.

LAYER Vault complements the company’s existing OPV harvesting product line, transforming it into a 2-in-1 product, combining low-light energy harvesting and storage on a single, flexible film ensuring uninterrupted device functionality, empowering Smart Buildings, Smart Homes, Smart Asset Tracking, and other related applications.

EU-Startups previously featured Dracula Technologies in its GreenTech Report published in October 2022, noting that the startup had raised €5.5 million to develop a sustainable power source that converts ambient light into electricity for low-power connected devices.

This combined support from investors underscores confidence in Dracula Technologies’ ability to capture a share of the rapidly expanding €10 billion battery replacement market, projected to grow five-fold by 2030.

Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, said: “As a public investor supporting breakthrough European technologies, the EIC Fund is pleased to join Dracula Technologies in this new phase of industrial scale-up. Their energy harvesting innovation directly addresses the challenge of reducing battery dependency in connected electronics and supports the EU’s ambitions for sustainability, digital resilience, and industrial autonomy.”

The new funding will allow Dracula Technologies to scale up production, explore industrial partnerships to add additional manufacturing capacity closer to key markets, support global deployment to better serve customers worldwide, and solidify its position as a global leader in sustainable power for IoT.

To support growing demand in key sectors such as smart buildings, asset tracking, and IoT sensors, Dracula Technologies is currently fulfilling multi-year, high-volume contracts from global industry leaders to replace batteries in billions of devices using only ambient indoor light.

The capital will accelerate Dracula’s transition from sheet-to-sheet to roll-to-roll Inkjet manufacturing, quadrupling production capacity to 600 million cm² annually at its state-of-the-art Green MicroPower Factory in Valence – the world’s largest dedicated production facility for printed organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules.

With production yields approaching 95%, the company has achieved best-in-class manufacturing efficiency that positions it to serve global markets at scale.

“As a pioneer in digital printing technologies, MGI immediately recognised the unique potential of Dracula Technologies’ industrial approach to the production of OPV modules. From the very beginning, we were convinced of the impact their technology would have on powering connected devices, and we have supported them since their inception both as an investor and as an industrial partner, by providing our printing solutions and the associated consumables developed by the MGI Digital Technology Group,” said Edmond Abergel, COO in charge of the MGI Group Strategy.

He added: “This commitment now enables us, as both a shareholder and supplier, to support Dracula Technologies in a new stage of its development and to contribute to the worldwide deployment of sustainable, battery-free energy solutions.”

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Every summer, forests around the world are destroyed by fires. Traditionally, reseeding is labour-intensive, slow, and often limited in access due to steep slopes and the remote nature of fire-affected zones.  

But now a not-for-profit startup spun out of a high school project is united by a shared mission to rebuild Greece's forests and restore its native flora. ReSeed is a sustainability-focused startup that uses drones to reforest burnt areas by deploying seed bombs.

The startup uses advanced drone technology to map terrain, identify optimal planting zones, and deploy seeds in areas that are often inaccessible or unsafe for manual planting.  It aims to make reforestation faster, scalable, and more effective through technology.

From a school project to a reforestation mission

ReSeed was founded by two high school students, Alex Leontaridis and Dimitris Orfanidis. There's a whole team behind ReSeed, mostly other high school students.  I spoke to Leontaridis to find out more.   Alex Leontaridis is a senior high school student at Dodonea Lyceum in Ioannina.

As well as co-founding ReSeed, Leontaridis serves as a Research Assistant at Stanford's Venture Capital Initiative and Developer at RevisionDojo (YC F24). 

According to Leontaridis, "the idea for ReSeed came from a major problem in Greece — wildfires. 

"Since 2018, devastating fires have occurred every summer in Greece. When my team and I volunteered in reforestation efforts, we realised the process was expensive, slow, and required a lot of people. 

So, we started thinking about how we could reforest burned areas using drones. "

Planting smarter, faster, and safer

Before ReSeed, replanting in Greece was a manual process, with trees planted by hand. ReSeed uses advanced satellite imagery and AI analysis to identify areas most in need of ecological restoration. The team designed small seed pods containing different native seeds that can be dropped from drones and built their own drones from scratch. 

According to Leontaridis, "they're custom hexacopters — six motors — and we designed a mechanism that stores and releases the seed pods during flights based on pre-programmed GPS applications. "

The drones enable planting up to one tree per second with optimal spacing and depth.

Before each mission, the ReSeed Scout drone takes flight, using HD and multispectral cameras to analyse soil, vegetation, and terrain. Its data guides the main ReSeed drone to deploy seeds only where regrowth potential is highest — making RS-Iris the intelligent eyes of the operation.

The ReSeed drone is the heavy-lift workhorse of the operation, built for power, precision, and autonomy. With a six-tube seed dispenser delivering around 180 seed bombs per fill, it combines high-thrust motors, long-endurance batteries, and smart flight controls to navigate tough terrain.

Guided by data from the scout drone, it deploys seeds with accuracy while monitoring conditions for safety and efficiency — the backbone of ReSeed's scalable reforestation system.

Proof in the planting

To test their tech, ReSeed partnered with local universities and biologists to take samples from burned trees and soil, then tried to simulate the conditions in a lab. 

"We wanted to predict the success rate of seed germination and tree growth as accurately as possible, based on both lab tests and existing academic research," shared Leontaridis.

Significantly, the process proved much faster and more efficient than manual replanting, and the success rate was better than initially expected. A core part of ReSeed's approach is transparency and verification. Each mission is tracked through data and imagery, enabling continuous assessment of impact—from initial seeding to long-term ecosystem regeneration. 

Tracking seeds post-drop

Of course, rapid planting is not the end. Reforestation success depends on using the right local seeds, soil quality and regional climate. 

ReSeed has a timeline for monitoring — after two weeks, four weeks, and then two months. Specialised teams visit the reforested areas to track growth, survival rates, and canopy expansion, and compare results with lab projections. 

"We're also exploring ways to integrate more technology — things like sensor-based solutions or aerial imaging to monitor progress remotely," shared Leontaridis.

Drones for the bees

The startup is expanding its approach beyond forests, for example, to help replant flowers in areas where bee populations are declining.  "That's becoming a serious issue in Greece, too," notes Leontaridis.

It recently launched ReSeed Bees to protect and rebuild pollinator habitats through drone-enabled reforestation and targeted planting. 

Greece, known for its rich beekeeping tradition, is facing a sharp decline in bee populations due to pesticides, wildfires, climate change, and habitat loss — all of which threaten both biodiversity and food security. To address this, ReSeed Bees uses drones to plant native flowering species, herbs such as thyme, oregano, and sage, and trees that provide year-round shelter and nectar sources.

After planting, researchers observe flower density, bee population recovery, and pollination activity. The project not only supports the recovery of bee populations but also strengthens broader ecosystems and rural communities. Through education and engagement with schools, farmers, and local residents, ReSeed Bees fosters awareness of pollinator health and its crucial link to environmental resilience and sustainable agriculture.

A cheaper, smarter way to reforest Greece

Millions of euros are donated in Greece each year to reforestation after major fires. Leontaridis contends that their approach is "much cheaper than traditional methods, so we hope that over time, part of those funds can be redirected to support drone-based reforestation."

For now, ReSeed is funded entirely through donations and wants to remain a non-governmental, nonprofit organisation. 

"We believe that if we became a for-profit company, we'd lose part of our mission and identity."

So far, ReSeed has planted over 13,600 trees and flowering plants, helping to restore 650,000 square metres of land and sequester around 27 tons of CO₂ — based on forest density and tree spacing estimates.  ReSeed's main goal for the 2025–2026 season is to scale up.

"Last year, we focused on prototyping and testing different seed types and deployment systems. This year, we aim to plant 15,000 trees," shared Leontaridis.

"So far, we've planted between 2,000 and 3,000. The great thing about drone reforestation is how fast it is — in an hour, we can plant around a thousand seeds.

We're also working to recruit more volunteers, improve our technology, and strengthen our fundraising base."

When asked if they receive any school credit for their work, Alexandros Leontaridis said not yet — though he acknowledged it might help with his university applications, particularly in the US. Still, he emphasised that this wasn't the motivation behind the project:

"We just saw a big problem and wanted to make an impact."

Lead image: Re-Seed co-founder Alex Leontaridis.

Adaptam Therapeutics, a San Sebastian-based company pioneering cancer immunotherapies specifically targeting immunosuppressive myeloid cells, today announces the successful completion of a €3 million pre-Seed financing round

The round was led by Criteria Bio Ventures and will enable Adaptam to further develop its programmes and enter the preclinical phase in multiple oncology indications. As part of the round, Salvatore Cappadona, PhD, and Pablo Cironi, PhD, both from Criteria Bio Ventures, joined the board of directors.

“Immunosuppressive myeloid cells within tumors present one of the toughest challenges in immunotherapy today. Our goal is to neutralise this obstacle by developing therapies that specifically target these cells, offering patients new hope where traditional approaches have failed,” said Asis Palazon, PhD, founder, CEO and CSO of Adaptam.

This newly announced pre-Seed round for Adaptam places it alongside other 2025 European immuno-oncology ventures that have recently secured capital. Notably, this Spanish BioTech is addressing immunosuppressive myeloid cells in the tumour microenvironment – a more specific target compared with some of the broader tumour-targeted therapies funded elsewhere.

In France, Exeliom Biosciences raised €2.85 million to accelerate its immunotherapy programmes for cancer. From Sweden, Lithea AB secured €851k to advance a tumour-targeted therapy for childhood bone cancer. Meanwhile, Trogenix in the United Kingdom closed an €80 million Series A to accelerate the development of curative cancer treatments.

While these rounds differ significantly in scale and clinical maturity, they collectively indicate sustained investor confidence in European oncology innovation. Adaptam’s pre-clinical focus on glyco-immune checkpoint modulation adds a distinctive Spanish contribution to this broader regional momentum in cancer immunotherapy.

“The support from Criteria Bio Ventures enables us to take a step forward in achieving our mission. We are now actively planning our next funding round to support IND-enabling studies,” added Palazon.

Founded in 2023, Adaptam is a BioTech spin-off from CIC bioGUNE developing first-in-class antibody therapies for solid tumours.

Adaptam originated from research conducted by Prof. Asis Palazon and his team at CIC bioGUNE in Bilbao, Spain, with expert insights from Criteria Bio Ventures on the ideation, corporate strategy and operational setup of the company.

The company specifically targets the immunosuppressive myeloid tumor microenvironment through unexplored glyco-immune checkpoints, which are expressed in immunosuppressive myeloid cells such as tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs).

Adaptam is advancing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and bispecific antibodies as part of its differentiated pipeline. The company, backed by Criteria Bio Ventures and ERC funding, is committed to delivering new treatment options in immuno-oncology.

“We are thrilled to support Adaptam in its mission to transform cancer treatment by targeting the immunosuppressive cells within the TME. The scientific breakthroughs achieved by Prof. Asis Palazon and his team have laid the groundwork for potentially life-changing therapies,” said Pablo Cironi, PhD, chairman of the Adaptam board. “With this strong foundation, we believe Adaptam is well-positioned to deliver new, effective treatments for patients with solid tumors, addressing critical gaps in current immunotherapy options.”

Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment, offering new solutions to patients worldwide. However, the company says a significant number still fail to respond to these therapies or develop resistance over time.

This lack of efficacy is reprotedly due to the immunosuppressive nature of the tumour microenvironment (TME), which hampers the immune system’s ability to effectively target and destroy cancer cells. Among the main contributors to this immunosuppression are myeloid cells, particularly TAMs, which play a crucial role in inhibiting T-cell responses.

This challenge is particularly pronounced in patients with solid tumors, where these myeloid cells create an environment that prevents immune cells from mounting an effective anti-tumoral response.

“Adaptam’s differentiated approach at the intersection of myeloid-mediated immunosuppression and glycobiology represents a one-of-a-kind vision uniquely positioned to unlock the next frontier in cancer immunotherapy. We are proud to have partnered with Asis Palazon to build this exciting new venture and support its next phase of development.

“We are confident that Adaptam’s emerging pipeline offers a game-changing opportunity to transform cancer treatment for many patients,” said Salvatore Cappadona, PhD, board member of Adaptam.

Some of the core structural and mechanistic discoveries of immune-modulating glycan-binding proteins and their interactions with immune cells were previously published in Nature Communications.

“CIC bioGUNE’s long-standing leadership in glycobiology provided the scientific foundation for Adaptam and we have supported the company from its earliest steps through to today’s preclinical maturation,” said Prof. Jesús Jiménez-Barbero, scientific director of CIC bioGUNE.

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UK’s BMLL is set to be acquired by Nordic Capital in a transaction carried out with BMLL’s management and minority shareholder Optiver. Financial terms were not disclosed.

BMLL is an independent provider of harmonised historical market data and analytics, delivering Level 3, Level 2, and Level 1 order-book data across global equities, ETFs, and futures. Founded in 2014 in the University of Cambridge’s machine-learning labs, the company enables banks, asset managers, hedge funds, exchanges, and academic institutions to accelerate research, optimise trading strategies, and improve alpha generation. Its cloud-native platform provides harmonised, nanosecond-timestamped data from 100+ venues, reducing in-house engineering and speeding time to insight.

Nordic Capital’s investment includes a primary capital infusion to fund product development, innovation, and client delivery. BMLL plans to broaden venue coverage, extend historical depth, and expand multi-asset capabilities, positioning the firm as an alternative to incumbent providers. The initiative advances BMLL’s goal of building a trusted “golden copy” of high-quality, AI-ready historical market data to support decisions across the trading lifecycle, from research and alpha generation to execution analytics.

With Nordic Capital’s backing, BMLL will strengthen its go-to-market capabilities and deepen partnerships with exchanges, technology platforms, and market-infrastructure providers. The existing management team, led by CEO Paul Humphrey, will continue to run the business and remain shareholders.

Bunq, the Dutch challenger bank which targets tech-savvy customers who live and work in multiple countries, has been granted a US broker-dealer licence, as it expands into the US.

The licence will mean that Bunq, which has more than 20 million users in Europe, can bring its US stock trading offering, including ETFs, to US users. The licence was granted by the US watchdog, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Bunq says a US broker-dealer application will be an initial step towards the challenger bank trying to secure a US banking licence. On applying for a full US banking licence, Bunq said: “We do aim to file as soon as we can and will make sure US regulators have everything they need from us as quickly as possible."

Last year, Bunq withdrew its application for a US banking licence, citing problems between the Dutch regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Bunq, which has an EU banking licence, is also applying for a UK EMI licence as part of its international expansion.

Ali Niknam, founder and CEO of Bunq, said: "Our users roam the world – they live, work, and travel across borders. For many, the US is an important part of their lives. That’s why we’re excited to bring Bunq Stateside and make life easy for Americans and anyone who calls it home.”

Earlier this year, Bunq was hit with a €2.6 million fine for “serious deficiencies” in its anti-money laundering controls by the Dutch central bank (DNB). Bunq targets so-called "digital nomads", who it describes as tech-savvy customers who live and work in multiple countries.

Cellcolabs, a Stockholm-based BioTech startup focused on industrial-scale production of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), has secured €10.3 million in new funding to support further technical development, production scaling, and global market expansion.

The investment was led by Titian Capital through its life sciences platform, Titian Life Sciences, and brings Cellcolabs’ total funding to €31 million.

Dr Mattias Bernow, CEO of Cellcolabs, comments: “The industry is reaching an inflexion point. Scientific evidence is mounting. Regulatory pathways are opening. The demand for stem cells has never been greater. Yet scalable access remains the missing piece.”

Comparable developments include Finland’s StemSight, which raised €2.3 million to progress stem-cell-based treatments for corneal blindness, and Denmark’s Fuse Vectors, which secured €4.9 million for its cell-free viral vector platform supporting gene therapy production.

Larger later-stage activity is also evident with the UK’s TRIMTECH Therapeutics raising €28.6 million for neurodegenerative disease treatments, and LIfT BioSciences receiving €12 million to scale its allogeneic neutrophil immunotherapy platform.

While other Nordic firms such as StemSight and Fuse Vectors highlight the regional strength in advanced therapy development, Cellcolabs appears to represent one of Sweden’s most substantial 2025 fundraises in regenerative medicine – signalling growing European confidence in scalable stem-cell production as a foundation for the next generation of clinical and research applications.

“The partnership with Titian Life Sciences provides Cellcolabs with both the capital and strategic footprint needed to grow internationally. Together, we are building the infrastructure that can make stem cell therapies widely available, not someday, but in our lifetime,” adds Dr Bernow.

Founded in 2021 by Dr Mattias Bernow, Cellcolabs aims to revolutionise access to regenerative medicine by making high-quality, GMP-certified stem cells widely available and affordable. The startup is setting its sights on reducing the cost of MSCs by 90% by 2035, a move that would significantly lower barriers for both research and therapeutic use.

The company currently operates a GMP-certified facility in Stockholm and provides allogeneic MSCs to hospitals, academic institutions, and private clients globally. Its clients include professional athletes and public figures.

The MSCs are also used in studies focusing on musculoskeletal repair, cardiovascular prevention, and age-related frailty – though Cellcolabs itself does not administer treatments. These studies are often supported by the company’s subsidiary.

Inspired by two decades of stem cell research at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, Cellcolabs developed a proprietary protocol for producing MSCs at scale, using a method that prioritises both scientific rigour and industrial consistency. This protocol is said to offer an edge over larger players such as Lonza Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Stemcell Technologies, who still rely on smaller-scale, less standardised manufacturing.

Kayaan Unwalla, Managing Director of Titian Capital, adds: “The field of regenerative medicine is entering a new era. Our investment in Cellcolabs reflects Titian Capital’s conviction that scalable, standardised production of GMP-grade stem cells will be fundamental to the future of medicine. We are delighted to support Cellcolabs’ expansion and, in doing so, we aim to accelerate the global accessibility of safe, high-quality cellular therapies and help translate cutting-edge science into transformative patient outcomes.”

According to data from Crunchbase, the company had a previous €8 million funding round in March 2024.

The company’s ultimate ambition is to industrialise stem cell production so that research facilities and healthcare systems no longer need to rely on bespoke or small-batch alternatives.

Cellcolabs’ entry into the space comes at a time when demand for regenerative therapies is climbing steeply but remains underserved due to the high costs and manufacturing bottlenecks. With its streamlined and scalable platform, the company is positioning itself to lead a new generation of BioTech solutions capable of delivering consistent, safe, and affordable cellular therapies at global scale.

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UK-Qatar health tech startup Rhazes AI has launched a first-of-its-kind pilot at Al Hamshari Hospital in southern Lebanon, bringing advanced clinical AI tools into one of the most under-resourced medical environments in the region. 

The initiative is part of a controlled trial to evaluate how AI can ease the administrative burden on frontline doctors working under extreme pressure. 

The pilot is funded by Rhazes AI, conducted in partnership with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which runs the hospital, as part of a joint effort to strengthen frontline care in one of the region’s most underserved hospital systems.

Rhazes AI develops generative AI technology for the healthcare sector, focusing on clinician productivity and administrative tasks.

The company provides an assistant that transcribes consultations, generates medical documents, suggests diagnoses, and automates billing processes, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations. 

I spoke to Dr Zaid Al-fagih, co-founder and CEO of Rhazes AI to learn more about it. 

A lifeline for Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp.

AI Hamshari, operated by the Palestine Red Crescent Society, is located near Ein el Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are excluded from the national healthcare system, leaving hospitals like Al Hamshari to carry the full burden of care with limited international support.

The hospital has 80 beds, 56 doctors, and 31 nurses, yet serves over 4,000 patients each month and frequently performs more than 400 surgeries during times of crisis. It remains the only facility with a working dialysis unit serving the southern camps.

Under the new partnership, Rhazes is deploying an AI clinical assistant across the hospital’s outpatient and emergency departments. The agentic platform adapts to low-resource environments without requiring extensive hospital infrastructure

AI that adapts to low-resource environments

According to Dr Al-fagih, in a lot of the hospitals the startup works with, especially the super low-resource providers, they don’t really have electronic health records. 

“Sometimes there’s literally one computer for many doctors. They also don’t have access to cutting-edge medical knowledge, since a lot of guideline services are subscription-only.

Generally speaking, these hospitals are very low-resource. But that also means the potential impact can actually be much greater than in high-resource environments, where the big marginal gains have already been achieved.”

The Rhazes AI platform is highly adaptable and can be tailored to a doctor’s specific workflow and environment. It supports multiple languages for both input and output, and provides doctors with access to the latest up-to-date medical guidelines.

“So, in a way,” shared Dr Al-fagih, “we’re enabling hospitals that previously had very limited digital capabilities to access tools they would never have had before — things like digital note-taking, clinical guidance, and management plans.

An AI assistant that thinks like a clinician

Specifically, Rhazes AI supports doctors end-to-end by transcribing consultations in real time.  But it also goes further — it generates a tailored management plan for the specific patient.

“For example, if someone needs antibiotics but is allergic to penicillin, it knows to recommend clarithromycin instead. It tailors recommendations based on medical guidelines and the individual patient’s characteristics,” shared Dr Al-fagih.

The tool also automates documentation processes, helping doctors to create structured summaries, admission notes, billing codes, and insights from the patient record. This reduces administrative burden and enables more efficient care.

According to Dr Al-fagih, “We can also integrate third-party tools and customise everything. It even supports ICD and CPT coding — the systems used for recordkeeping and billing. So, it’s much more than a transcription tool. It’s an adaptable clinical assistant.”

Empowering overstretched Doctors

The Al Hamshari Hospital is staffed primarily by Palestinian doctors who, due to the absence of referral pathways or tertiary hospitals, must act as generalists, specialists, and emergency physicians all at once. 

Many see upwards of 60 patients per day. The burden of clinical documentation is immense and often falls on the shoulders of already overstretched teams.

Dr Al-fagih shared that while doctors in high resource setting like the UK are highly specialised, typically focusing on a narrow speciality once they reach consultant level, in many less developed countries — and particularly in under-resourced public hospitals — doctors have to be generalists.

“They cover a broad range of cases, far beyond their core speciality. That’s a huge source of potential medical error. So one of the biggest areas of impact for Rhazes AI is in clinical management support.

A doctor can speak with a patient, and our platform writes down everything that’s said. They can add existing patient information, and the system will suggest what that patient needs — the right diagnostic tests, treatment plans, and referrals.”

He contends that having that level of decision support is basically unprecedented in these places. It’s not that doctors are less competent — they’re just spread very thin across disciplines. 

“As an internal medicine physician, for instance, I would never have to deal with a surgical problem in the UK.

But in many of these hospitals, you do. So, we’re giving them the tools to safely expand their scope.”

Leap from medicine to macro-level change

Around four years ago, Dr Al-fagih did a Master’s in Public Policy, and experiencing the world outside medicine for the second time made him think, “I want to solve the challenges that doctors face at a macro level.”

He asserts that understanding these problems from a policymaker’s perspective, rather than as an operator, was a really enlightening experience. 

“Coming out of that, I had a choice: go back into medicine and practice as a doctor at the front lines again, or try to reimagine how doctors work — to make it more efficient, more effective, and more human.

At the time, I had just completed my research on an unrelated AI project, which coincided with the AI boom around 2023. That’s when the idea for Rhazes AI came into fruition."

The startup raised its first check in November 2023.

Fighting diagnostic error at scale

Further, Dr Al-fagih sees AI tools are a critical means to help doctors to tackle diagnostic error, which occurs in 1 in 14 general medical hospital patients. In the United States, around 800,000 people each year die or are permanently disabled due to misdiagnosis across care settings.

Decades of post-mortem research also indicate that diagnostic errors contribute to approximately 10 per cent of patient deaths. These are solvable failures of systems and support, not of clinician intent.

He asserts that doctors urgently need tools to automate documentation, easing the workload on stressed clinicians, whilst also providing a second, unbiased ‘set of eyes’ to help doctors avoid missed illnesses in one or two visits, let alone three.

A smartphone-powered leap forward

Back in Lebanon, for many doctors, who’ve never used an electronic health record, Rhazes AI provides a massive jump in capability.  “Some are genuinely blown away,” shared Dr Al-Fagih. 

Crucially, the platform is mobile-friendly — health professionals can use it on smartphones, even print directly from their phone. So, in hospitals with only a couple of computers, it still fits seamlessly into their workflow. For Dr-Al Fagih, it's been interesting seeing the contrast between different sites. 

“For example, in some hospitals, there are literally two computers for the entire staff. That’s been a major challenge.

We’re also running this as a study, so ideally, we’d have lots of granular data. But that kind of infrastructure just isn’t there — not from negligence, but simply because priorities are elsewhere, and budgets are tight.

That said, doctors can still use our platform entirely from their smartphones. The hospitals are in cities, so there’s at least some cellular coverage. They can write up notes and even print directly from their phones.”

Innovation shouldn’t wait for perfect conditions

Rhazes AI’s approach challenges the idea of when to innovate:

“Advanced tools don’t need to wait for perfect conditions; they should start where the need is greatest,” asserts Dr Al-Fagih.

"In an age where AI too often deepens inequality, this is an example of what it looks like to close that gap. It’s time for innovation to meet people where they are.”

"Doctors here carry entire communities”

Rola Soboh, a Rhazes AI associate implementing the pilot, said:

“I have supported multiple research and humanitarian projects focused on refugee health and wellbeing in Lebanon, and this project is deeply personal. This hospital isn’t just a building, it’s a lifeline.

“Doctors here don’t just treat patients, they carry entire communities.

So, when we talk about easing their load, it’s not just administrative, it’s emotional, physical, everything. To see cutting-edge technology actually serve people like this, in a place that’s so often forgotten, gives me a sense of real hope.”

Rhazes Ai is also working with several hospital systems in the Gulf region to deploy at scale. 

“They’re quite advanced digitally, so it’s an exciting partnership,” shared Dr Al-Fagih. 

One area Rhazes is now exploring is creating a lightweight, cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) that’s AI-native — accessible via smartphone and usable by all doctors within a hospital.

“That could be a game-changer for places without any EHR infrastructure. There are entire countries where not a single hospital has an electronic health record system.

Digitalisation, built with AI from the start, could actually give them an advantage over richer countries that are stuck with legacy systems. They can leapfrog the missteps that others made — starting fresh with modern infrastructure.”

The pilot will run as a non-randomised, controlled implementation trial from August to November 2025, to assess its effect on documentation time, decision confidence, and patient flow.

Lead image: Palestine Red Crescent Society. 

Last week, we tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth over €1.3 billion, and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.

? The top three industries that raised the most were cleantech (€791.6 million), healthtech (€151.5 million), and software (€66.8 million). Regionally, companies from ?? Germany secured €726.3 million, followed by the ?? UK (€262.5 million) and ?? Sweden (€57.1 million).

❗ Let's get you up to speed on everything that happened last week, including your handy.csv file, allowing for an even more in-depth analysis.

Have a great week!

Funding deals by amount

• GERMANY: Enpal secures €700M ABS facility with M&G for residential solar and heating loans
• UK: Non-drill brain monitoring startup CoMind raises over $100M
• AUSTRIA: Refurbed closes £44M round as it targets UK expansion
• UK: Chemify raises €43M to digitise molecule creation using AI
• UK: SheMed raises €43M to advance personalised women’s healthcare in the UK
• DENMARK: MATR Foods closes €40M funding
• SWEDEN: Cleantech company Meva Energy raises €40M
• LITHUANIA: nexos.ai secures €30M to tackle the enterprise AI adoption challenge
• FRANCE: Hublo raises €20M via Bpifrance
• NETHERLANDS: TRACT lands €18.6M to help agrifood businesses build smarter, more resilient supply chains
• UK: Immaterial secures €15.4M to advance monolithic MOF industrial decarbonisation systems
• NORWAY: Riff secures $16M Series A led by Northzone for business-ready vibe coding
• UK: Y Combinator–backed Saturn raises $15M to make financial advice affordable for all
• UK: Finster AI, an artificial intelligence platform for finance professionals, raises $15M
• IRELAND: Bronto raises $14M in seed funding
• UK: Mondra raises £10M to accelerate European expansion
• ROMANIA: .lumen expands its AI vision into urban robotics with €11M grant
• UK: AI film studio Wonder lands £9M investment
• GERMANY: roclub lands $11.7M to scale solutions for medtech staffing shortages
• SPAIN: Acoru secures €10M to disrupt money mule activity and predict financial scams
• ITALY: WSense raises €10M to scale subsea Wi-Fi and expand underwater IoT tech
• FRANCE: Female-led Lisaqua nets €9M to grow its sustainable, land-based shrimp farms across Europe
• SWEDEN: Magma Math raises $10M to expand AI-powered classroom platform
• UK: General Index raises €8.6M to redefine global commodity and energy pricing
• GERMANY: etalytics extends Series A to €16M with new investment from Microsoft’s M12
• ITALY: Sizable Energy raises $8M to launch ocean-based energy storage
• UK: Milvus Advanced closes $6.9M seed funding
• UK: Cyclana Bio raises £5M for endometriosis drug discovery
• SWEDEN: Zparq’s electric drivetrains steer marine transport toward zero emissions with €5.5M
• FRANCE: Volta raises €5M led by RTP Global to revolutionize B2B commerce with AI
• FRANCE: Blaise Matuidi raises €5M with his new startup Playse
• SPAIN: Docline raises €4.6M in funding
• GERMANY: With €4M in funding, insuretech developer Enzo looks to tackle water damage with their novel sensor
• ESTONIA: Yaga raises €4M to scale its sustainable fashion marketplace
• ITALY: DMAT secures €3.8M to transform the construction sector
• FRANCE: Kotcha powers up with €3.5M to scale AI coaching for runners
• DENMARK: Scaleup Finance raises £3M to launch Nume, an AI CFO for startups and SMEs
• SWEDEN: Cytely raises €3M as labs report 75% faster analysis using its smart microscopy platform
• NETHERLANDS: Hydryx raises €2.5M to turn trash into clean power
• NETHERLANDS: Watertech startup HULO secures €2.3M
• SWITZERLAND: Chipmind exits with $2.5M to launch AI agents for faster chip design
• UK: Rightcharge raises £1.6M to power EV charging payments for Europe’s fleets
• UK: Astut lands €1.8M round for transparent reasoning-based AI
• IRELAND: Paygentic nets $2M pre-seed to power payments for AI-native firms
• UK: Elbow Beach inks £1.5M into UPP to automate broccoli waste-to-protein tech
• SPAIN: Drone developer Fuvex raises €1.7M to fly high across Europe’s inspection skies
• GERMANY: 1000 Satellites secures €1.6M investment
• GERMANY: Hi inov and the EIC Fund are investing €1.5M in Xelera
• SPAIN: Aunoa raises €1.5M to scale its conversational AI agents across Europe
• UK: HotGreen Solutions raises £1.2M for ultra-efficient heat pumps
• ESTONIA: eID Easy raised €1.3M to develop its e-signature platform
• IRELAND: Lette AI raises $1.4M in pre-seed funding
• BELGIUM: nxgsat raises €1.2M to advance next-generation 5G satellite connectivity
• GERMANY: Every Health raises €1.1M to build Europe’s first LGBTQ+ virtual clinic
• FRANCE: Certificall raises €1M seed to strengthen its position in the European market
• AUSTRIA: 2ndCycle recieves €1M investment
• SPAIN: SHINEPHI raises €1M in funding round
• SPAIN: Virtest Technologies closes €800,000 round
• ESTONIA: AI energy startup MarkeDroid raises €300,000 to expand distributed energy platform
• SWITZERLAND: TALPA Inspection secures $100,000 to accelerate structural non-contact sensor technology
• AUSTRIA: Wirtschaftsservice (aws) is investing a six-figure sum in revitalyze
• UK: PEEQUAL raises funding to scale its squat-and-go, sustainable women's urinal
• GERMANY: reverse.fashion secures a six-figure sum investment
• UK: Real Fun Group secures six-figure funding deal
• GERMANY: in.hub closes seven-figure round to deepen industrial digitalisation offering across Europe
• SWITZERLAND: Anevo secures pre-seed funding
• UK: Quantum Fabrix (QFX) secures €2.2M led by YC’s Paul Graham
• SWITZERLAND: Exnaton raises Series A to power Europe’s digital energy transition
• AUSTRIA: SteadySense secured a seven-figure sum investment
• NETHERLANDS: Aluvia Photonic secures funding from PhotonDelta
• GERMANY: Galakto receives a €4 million investment

Exits and M&A activity

• FRANCE: Ipsen expands oncology portfolio with €1B acquisition of French biotech ImCheck Therapeutics
• UK: Allica Bank snaps up UK embedded finance startup Kriya
• FRANCE: Lyon-based startup Y-Brush taken over by Biotech Dental after being placed in receivership
• SWEDEN: TrueLayer to acquire open banking rival Zimpler
• NETHERLANDS: Dutch truck-services platform TRAVIS acquired by Germany’s Knorr-Bremse
• FRANCE: Sportway acquires Amsterdam’s Eyecons and Paris-based Sportall
• UK: Sales engagement platform lemlist acquires fellow French AI platform Claap to transform sales with AI technology
• GERMANY: The Munich-based fleet management company Carsync and the Münster-based startup motum are merging
• GERMANY: Munich-based defense tech company Quantum Systems is acquiring the AI ​​company Spleenlab
• NETHERLANDS: Amsterdam’s female-founded legal AI firm Uncover gets acquired
• GERMANY: Manual buys Formula Skin
• UK: Elucidat got acquired by Learning Pool
• UK: bexio acquires fintech startup Kontera

Lithea, a Lund-based company working on new ways to treat cancer by delivering medicine directly into tumours, has successfully raised €851k from its current investors to continue developing their drug delivery system and prepare its lead product, LIT1001, for clinical trials.

“Our technology has shown very promising results in animal studies, with 92% reduction in tumor size and much lower drug levels in the rest of the body compared to standard treatment,” said Ludvig Sjöberg, CEO of Lithea AB. “This funding helps us build stronger scientific proof and move closer to testing in patients.”

The round secured by Lithea to advance its tumour-targeted drug-delivery system fits into a wider European trend of 2025 oncology and BioTech investment.

In France, Exeliom Biosciences extended its Series A by €2.85 million to accelerate cancer immunotherapy, while Swiss firms such as NUCLIDIUM AG raised €84 million for a radiopharmaceutical theranostic platform and Hedera Dx secured €15 million to expand its precision molecular diagnostics for oncology.

Compared with these later-stage rounds, Lithea’s smaller raise reflects its earlier development phase but also underlines investor confidence in targeted drug-delivery technologies.

Dr Deepak Raina, CTO and Co-founder of Lithea AB, added: “We’re building a platform that combines precision with flexibility. The CaS/HA system allows us to deliver cancer drugs exactly where they’re needed, and we’re excited about its potential to improve outcomes for patients with difficult-to-treat tumours.”

Founded in 2021, Lithea is a PharmaTech company focused on the development of advanced therapies for solid tumour, and with the mission to prolong the lives of cancer patients.

Their lead product LIT1001 is a small pellet filled with the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin. It’s designed to be placed directly into bone tumors, specifically targeting osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer mostly affecting children. By delivering the drug straight into the tumor, LIT1001 aims to fight cancer more effectively while reducing harmful side effects.

The product has already received special recognition from the U.S. FDA as an Orphan Drug, which helps speed up its development and approval process.

Lithea’s platform can be used with many types of cancer drugs and may eventually be applied to other common cancers like breast, lung, and prostate.

The post Sweden’s Lithea secures €851k to advance tumour-targeted therapy for childhood bone cancer appeared first on EU-Startups.