Cognizant formed an OpenAI Frontier Capability Group of more than 25,000 staff to deploy Codex and ChatGPT for clients. It will focus on software engineering, updating old systems and customer service. The move comes 11 days after Cognizant put 18,000 staff behind Google’s Gemini. Cognizant has formed a group of more than 25,000 staff to […]

New York has banned AI chatbots from pretending to be human with children. Bots also may not build emotional dependency, encourage self-harm or hold sexual conversations with them. Governor Kathy Hochul signed the law on Wednesday, with a second law on baby monitor security. The banned features are off limits to anyone under 18 and […]

San Francisco’s Biological Computing Co. released TBC Mischief 1, an image-to-video model built on Wan 2.2. It says insights from living neurons make it about five times faster at the same quality, priced at $0.005 per second of video. It has not published independent benchmarks. San Francisco startup The Biological Computing Co. has released an […]

Proton, the Swiss company behind Proton Mail, will “re-interview” some of its staff about how they use AI at work. The results may affect who keeps their job. Internal messages show chief executive Andy Yen telling engineers to stop hand-writing code and use AI instead, 404 Media reported. Joseph Cox revealed the plan for 404 […]

Thrive Holdings, the holding company set up by Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital, has agreed to buy ADT for $10 a share in cash. ADT sells home security systems in the US. The deal values ADT at about $7.6bn in equity and $15.3bn in enterprise value. The price is a 45.6% premium to ADT’s close of […]

Ford CEO Jim Farley says the drivetrain in its new low-cost EV platform is about 30% more efficient than BYD’s, so Ford can use smaller, cheaper batteries. The platform debuts in the $28,350 Fathom pickup in late 2027. Ford did not say which BYD system it compared. Ford says the motors, gearboxes and inverters in […]

Anthropic spent $2,745,874 on personal security for chief executive Dario Amodei in 2025, more than four times his $654,167 salary. The figure is in the company’s IPO filing. The filing also says its co-founders’ pledge to give away 80% of their stakes is not legally binding. Bilin Lin first highlighted the security costs for Fortune, […]

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The post Weekly funding round-up! All of the European startup funding rounds we tracked this week (Oct. 26– Oct. 30) appeared first on EU-Startups.

Cognition, the startup behind the AI coding agent Devin, has received investor offers that value it at $70bn to $80bn. The San Francisco company is seriously considering raising a new round before the end of the year. Katie Roof reported the talks for Business Insider on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The talks […]

Entourage, the early-stage venture firm founded by Showpad co-founder Pieterjan Bouten, has closed its second fund at €100m. It passed its €75m target within two weeks, took more than €100m in commitments, and capped the fund there. Fund II will back about 25 companies at pre-seed and seed stage, in Europe and beyond, Entourage said […]

The Netherlands has long been regarded as a European leader in agricultural and food innovation, but that position appears to be under threat.

A new report published today by Dutch national investment institution Invest-NL warns that the country risks losing its competitive edge as other nations move faster to commercialise emerging agricultural technologies.

According to the report, Deep Dive Agrifood Biotech, addressing the barriers facing Dutch agrifood biotechnology companies could unlock approximately €17 billion in additional annual revenue by 2040. However, without coordinated action on regulation, financing and commercialisation, much of that opportunity could be captured elsewhere.

Based on interviews with more than 150 entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and policymakers, alongside investment data spanning 2010 to April 2026, the study examines three strategic areas: seed breeding and genetics, biological agricultural inputs, and biotech-derived food ingredients.

A strong start, a weaker finish

The Netherlands is home to notable agricultural research institutions, established seed breeders and a sophisticated food production ecosystem. Yet it seems scientific excellence is not necessarily translating into globally competitive businesses.

The report highlights a particularly telling imbalance: the Netherlands accounts for 3.3% of BioTech startups worldwide, but only 1.3% of scale-ups, according to broader BioTech data cited from the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). This suggests that while the country remains effective at generating innovation, it is less successful at helping young companies achieve meaningful commercial scale.

Invest-NL identifies three recurring weaknesses:

• too few promising technologies become scalable ventures
• regulatory and validation processes delay market entry
• insufficient financing prevents companies from reaching industrial production

The stakes extend beyond individual businesses. In a favourable scenario, Invest-NL estimates that annual Dutch agrifood BioTech revenues could reach approximately €25 billion by 2040, compared with just €8–9 billion if current conditions persist.

Crucially, the report argues that the Netherlands does not need to manufacture everything domestically. Instead, it should focus on retaining strategically valuable knowledge, intellectual property, companies and specialised capabilities, while taking advantage of European production networks where appropriate.

Ten years to say yes

One of the most striking obstacles concerns biological crop protection, where Dutch companies are developing alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides.

Obtaining European regulatory approval for a new biological crop protection product can take eight to ten years. Existing frameworks were largely designed around chemical products, making them less suited to certain biological innovations.

Consequently, some companies prioritise launching in markets such as Brazil and the United States, where commercialisation can proceed more quickly. Invest-NL warns that Europe risks losing ground in a biological crop protection market that could expand seven- to tenfold by 2040.

Food biotechnology faces similar difficulties. Regulatory approval for novel ingredients can take one to three years longer in Europe than in the United States, while building a first commercial production facility can require tens or even hundreds of millions of euros.

For fermentation-derived food ingredients alone, Invest-NL estimates that favourable conditions could support approximately €8 billion in annual Dutch revenues by 2040, compared with around €2 billion under existing policies.

The report stresses that faster approvals should not come at the expense of safety. Instead, regulators should offer earlier guidance, more predictable assessments and opportunities for companies to validate products under real-world conditions.

Innovation is not the issue

Recent EU-Startups coverage demonstrates that Dutch AgriTech entrepreneurs continue to attract investor interest across several areas identified in the report.

In August, Eindhoven-based VitalFluid secured €17.2 million to accelerate the commercialisation of its plasma-activated water technology, which offers growers an alternative to chemical crop protection. The investment was co-led by Invest-NL and Alder Tree Investments.

Meanwhile, Wageningen-based Aardaia raised €5 million in July to advance its genomics-driven crop breeding platform and develop a protein-rich tuber, while Nijmegen-based Gravity Gardens secured €2.6 million in September to scale its chemical-free seed activation technology.

Dutch food BioTech is also producing notable funding announcements. In June, Vivici received €12.5 million in European Innovation Council backing to expand the supply and commercial reach of its precision-fermented dairy proteins.

Last year, EU-Startups also reported on Revyve’s nearly €24 million Series B to expand production of yeast-based ingredients that can replace eggs in food manufacturing. Revyve had already commissioned a first-of-a-kind production facility in the Netherlands, illustrating that industrial scale-up is achievable with sustained backing.

Nevertheless, these successes do not eliminate the wider structural challenges. They illustrate the breadth of Dutch innovation, but also the importance of providing companies with appropriate financing and support beyond their initial funding rounds.

Europe will not wait

Across Europe, EU-Startups has reported comparable investment activity, illustrating how competition is developing around the same technologies.

In biological crop protection, France’s Agriodor raised €15 million in April to expand its natural scent-based pest management technology, while Denmark’s Mycoverse secured €2.4 million in March to develop fungal alternatives to chemical pesticides.

The competition is equally visible in food ingredients. French precision fermentation startups Verley raised €32 million and Standing Ovation secured €30 million in 2026, while Belgian fermentation company MAASH obtained a €12.15 million financing package combining equity and public financing to support industrial-scale mycoprotein production.

These announcements do not establish that the Netherlands has already lost its position. They do, however, show that European competitors are securing capital, developing production capacity and pursuing commercial opportunities in precisely the areas where Invest-NL sees significant Dutch potential.

To respond, Invest-NL proposes an indicative €650 million to €1.1 billion in public financing capacity between 2026 and 2030, spanning research, regulatory improvements, infrastructure and industrial scale-up.

Its ambitions for 2030 include doubling the number of agrifood BioTech ventures, reducing time to market by a factor of three, and developing five globally competitive companies capable of raising more than €100 million each.

For the Netherlands, the question is therefore becoming less about whether it can develop the next generation of agricultural technologies, and more about whether it can create the conditions for those technologies to become successful businesses.

The post The Netherlands risks losing its AgriTech crown, warns new report appeared first on EU-Startups.

The European Commission wants Frontex, the EU’s border agency, to monitor public social media posts about migration. It would also flag illegal content to platforms. MEPs and digital rights groups say the plan puts online speech under a border agency’s watch. The Commission proposed the change on Tuesday as part of a wider overhaul of […]

STMicroelectronics expects fourth-quarter revenue of $4.15bn, up about 10.5% on the third quarter and above analysts’ forecasts. The Franco-Italian chipmaker says AI data centres and satellite makers are adding to a wider recovery in chip demand. Third-quarter revenue rose 17.9% to $3.76bn, ST said on Thursday in its earnings statement. Operating income excluding one-off charges […]

This week, we tracked more than 60 tech funding deals worth over €1.3 billion and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.

Britain has no shortage of startup ambition, but can it turn that success into companies that scale and stay? This week's UK Budget introduced Founders' Relief and a raft of measures supporting entrepreneurs, including expanded employee share options, initiatives for female founders and further investment in AI. It's a welcome signal, but tax incentives alone won't solve Britain's scaleup problem.

The UK attracted €14 billion in startup funding in H1 2026, yet access to later-stage capital, customers, talent and infrastructure remains a challenge.

In my follow-up feature, I spoke to founders and ecosystem leaders about what needs to change, from closing regional and gender funding gaps to helping companies commercialise and compete globally. The real test isn't how many startups Britain creates, but how many it can help grow into lasting global businesses.

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❗ Want to explore the data in more detail? The free, open-access Tech.eu Funding Explorer offers deeper insights into funding rounds, investor activity, company profiles and market trends.

Either way, let's get you up to speed.

? Notable and big funding rounds

?? Fractile has raised £577M in Series C funding

?? NexGen Cloud closes $106M senior secured term loan facility

?? Perceptive Advisors is providing Swiss MedTech company Distalmotion with a loan of up to $70M

??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers

?? Greentech Alliance acquires Intermobility to tackle Europe's mobility coordination and funding gap

?? Digital Science acquires Jenni AI to bring verified research data to AI-powered academic writing

?? Evertrace acquires Veck to strengthen early founder detection

? Interesting moves from investors

? Auriga Partners announces €80M interim closing for its second cybersecurity fund

? Entourage raises €100M for second fund, targeting AI, robotics and deeptech

? BY Venture Partners closes $60M Fund III and opens Lisbon office to deepen European push

?️ In other (important) news

?? From startup nation to scaleup nation: Britain's next big challenge

?? “Founders’ Relief" among string of measures introduced in Budget to encourage founders

?? European energy coalition calls for €1B natural hydrogen exploration programme

? Proxima Fusion signs two Japanese partnerships to strengthen Germany's fusion supply chain

?? Europe’s biggest seed rounds of Q3 2026: Top tech startups to watch

? Recommended reads and listens

?? From private equity to precision strikes: How Lithuania's PDKinematics is rethinking drone warfare

? From losing 70% of its market to a global comeback: How OneSoil turned crisis into opportunity

? From two doctors to 800,000 clinicians: Vera Health raises $28.5M

?? Nexus Luxembourg returns in March 2027 with sovereignty at the top of the agenda

? European tech startups to watch 

?? Vuse XR receives €1.2M to scale ai assisted mixed reality training

?? KineDB raises €850,000 to rebuild database infrastructure as ai reshapes software development

?? Magic Vision lands €600,000 for ai powered monitoring solution silver eye

?? FLTRD raises €500,000 to help shoppers cut through ultra processed food

?? Venture Kick backs CHD with €160,000 to advance remote pregnancy monitoring

Ofcom has named four age checks it says can reliably tell whether UK social media users are 16 or over. They will underpin the UK social media ban for under-16s due next year, and many adults will have to pass them too. The regulator published its assessment on Thursday. The ban is due to start […]

South Korea has fined Google and Apple a combined 63.7bn won ($47.6m). The regulator says they forced app developers onto their own payment systems and delayed app reviews without explanation. Both must now let Korean developers link to outside payment options inside their apps. The Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) fined Google 42.9bn won […]

Vladimir Putin has called Elon Musk “a real genius” and said Russia is in close contact with him over satellites in orbit. Putin spoke on Wednesday at the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow, during a presentation on Rassvet, Russia’s answer to Starlink. The remarks follow weeks of disruption to Starlink over Ukraine. Kyiv’s military lost speed […]

Elon Musk’s xAI is buying homes next to its power plant in Southaven, Mississippi. The catch is that sellers must drop any claims in a noise lawsuit against the company. A realtor told one resident the target is 418 homes in the Colonial Hills neighbourhood. So far, 18 owners have agreed to sell. Oliver Milman […]

The UK’s National Wealth Fund is planning to invest in Uforce, a London-based defence technology company that makes military drones and robots, the Financial Times reported on Friday. The FT did not disclose the size or terms of the proposed investment, and neither Uforce nor the fund has commented publicly. Founded by Ukrainians, Uforce brings […]