Deep Science Ventures (DSV), a UK-based deeptech venture creator, and Renaissance Philanthropy, a nonprofit fueling a 21st-century renaissance by increasing the ambition of philanthropists, scientists, and innovators, today announce a venture-creation project designed for systemic intervention in crop resilience.

The project is part of DSV and Renaissance Philanthropy’s existing partnership to form the Climate Emergencies Resilience Lab (CERL).

Moving beyond traditional genetic modification, the initiative establishes a high-ambition roadmap to address the economic threat of climate-induced crop failures by creating commercially viable, deep-tech spin-outs.

By 2050, climate-driven agricultural collapse and malnutrition could cost the world $1.8 trillion and 887 million years of healthy human life.

This is not a distant projection; recent droughts and heatwaves have already destroyed up to 50 per cent of harvests across California, Southeast Brazil, and the Horn of Africa, while pre-harvest sprouting alone costs more than $1 billion annually.

However, the dominant approach- of engineering crops for permanent genetic resilience is reaching its limits.  Hardwiring heat tolerance into a plant's DNA often results in a "yield penalty" in normal years, while novel traits can take 10+ years to reach the market.

As climate extremes grow less predictable, these static, time-consuming solutions are becoming increasingly unviable for global food security.

However, a convergence of technology breakthroughs means that it is becoming possible to tune resilience in alignment with climate risks.

The DSV and Renaissance Philanthropy partnership has identified three high-growth technical pillars ready for venture creation and institutional backing:

• Forecasted priming to enhance stress pathways and orchestrate developmental processes, combining short-term weather accuracy with biologicals such as RNA or peptides to tune crops in real time. 
• Environment-responsive protectants and field-robust symbiotic microbes, enabling stress tolerance to be outsourced and reliably activated under specific conditions.
• Foundational breeding tools to rapidly expand the available palette of resilience traits, for example, by engineering wild relatives or donor plants to circumvent barriers including crossing, linkage drag and epistasis.

The partners seek to identify and embed specialised talent to lead technical and commercial scoping. These individuals will define a specific market or environmental need and work backwards to build the necessary field-ready data packages.

Unlike traditional models, this approach does not rely on an initial laboratory breakthrough or a chance discovery. 

By intentionally engineering the R&D, regulatory, and IP strategies toward a predetermined outcome, the initiative ensures that innovation is targeted where it can achieve the greatest global economic and nutritional impact.

"We are mapping the white space where science meets commercial markets," said Dom Falcao, co-founding Director at Deep Science Ventures. 

"This is about creating a de-risked pathway that transforms plant science into investment-ready companies. We are providing the systematic architecture to turn primed resilience into a dominant market category."

"Renaissance Philanthropy was built to advance entire fields," said Joshua Elliott, Chief Scientist at Renaissance Philanthropy.

"By furthering our partnership with DSV, we are enabling visionary philanthropic capital to act as a bridge for innovations that are too complex for traditional early-stage funding but too critical to ignore.

The next generation of agricultural tech must exist in the field, protecting livelihoods and preventing the social unrest caused by food insecurity. We look forward to partnering with collaborators, including scientists, funders and other experts, to realise our goals and encourage them to reach out to us." 

The London-based personalised supplement startup, which uses blood biomarker data to formulate individual supplement regimens, will be integrated into Herbalife’s 95-market network. The $55M guaranteed price is paid over five years; up to $95M in additional contingent payments takes the total to $150M. Herbalife has been searching for a credible data-driven answer to the personalisation […]

Bioniq, creator of personalised supplements based on blood biomarker analysis, has entered into an agreement for the sale of its assets to global nutrition company Herbalife.

Founded in 2019, Bioniq develops personalised supplement formulas using its patented product personalisation engine, an individual’s health background, and a proprietary database of biomarkers.

Bioniq’s personalised supplement formulations are designed for a broad range of individuals, from everyday wellness consumers to elite athletes.

Bioniq has built one of the largest proprietary datasets in the category, comprising over 6 million data points collected across five continents. Its patented algorithm identifies micronutrient imbalances and delivers precision daily nutrient support, complemented by one-on-one consultations and ongoing health insights.

Headquartered in London, Bioniq serves customers in more than 70 markets worldwide, including the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

The Company is backed by prominent investors, including HV Capital and Unbound, as well as elite athletes Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Dalot.

Since entering the UAE in 2021, Bioniq has expanded rapidly across the Gulf region through partnerships with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and Al Borg Diagnostics in Saudi Arabia.

The $55 million purchase price will be paid over five years, including an initial payment of $10 million at closing. In addition, the transaction value includes up to $95 million of contingent payments based on future performance.

Vadim Fedotov, Founder of Bioniq, will join Herbalife’s leadership team following the completion of the transaction. Key members of the Bioniq team will also transition to Herbalife.

The acquisition will enable Bioniq’s science-driven, personalised supplementation platform to scale globally through Herbalife’s extensive infrastructure, which spans 95 markets, with over 2 million distributors and millions of customers worldwide.

Bioniq’s proprietary algorithm, formulation capabilities, and international team will be integrated into Herbalife’s ecosystem, accelerating product innovation, expanding access, and enhancing the customer experience globally.

“With a professional athletic career behind me, I created Bioniq to make health measurable, actionable, and accessible,” said Vadim Fedotov, Co-Founder and President of Bioniq.  

"Our science-driven approach, proven efficacy, and sustainable business model have positioned us as a leader in personalised nutrition. Joining Herbalife allows us to accelerate our mission and bring personalised health solutions to a global audience at scale.”

“The future of health and wellness is increasingly personalised and data-driven,” said Stephan Gratziani, CEO of Herbalife.

“By combining Bioniq’s technology with our global infrastructure and Pro2col platform, we are uniquely positioned to deliver personalised nutrition to millions of consumers worldwide.“

“Throughout my career, biometrics and personalised nutrition have been central to helping me perform and compete at the highest level. As a longtime Herbalife and Bioniq user, I’ve experienced firsthand how a tailored approach to nutrition can help optimise performance,” said Cristiano Ronaldo. 

“I’m delighted to see Bioniq’s personalised supplements become part of Herbalife’s expanding access to nutritional supplements, helping people take a more informed approach to their health, wellness and performance."

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. As part of the transaction,

Herbalife also obtained a call option to acquire Bioniq LAB,  a separate platform focused on small molecules and peptides. 

The call option provides Herbalife with strategic flexibility to evaluate potential longer-term opportunities in this area in a disciplined and capital-efficient manner. 

Bioniq’s personalised nutritional supplements are expected to be offered later this year through Herbalife independent distributors for customers in select countries in Europe and the United States, with additional markets to follow.  

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. 

We don’t get many press pitches about consumer brands these days, so when I heard about a kitchen knife company that had raised VC funding, my interest was piqued. 

Allday Goods is an East London-based kitchenware brand crafting colourful, chef-quality knives. Ex-chef Hugo Worsley started making knives using recycled plastic and a toastie maker in his parents’ shed.

Allday Goods transforms plastic destined for landfill into knife handles, collecting, cleaning, shredding, and remoulding it into durable new forms. The brand quickly built a loyal following, with queues forming around the block for London pop-ups and online drops selling out in minutes. 

Now, Allday Goods has its sights set on becoming a kitchen staple, a vision that is edging closer to reality with a £765,000 cash injection led by FIGR Ventures. FIGR joins founder Hugo Worsley and existing backer Tom Gozney (Gozney Pizza Ovens) on the board as Allday Goods enters its next phase of growth.  

The round also includes Anotherway Ventures, Machroes Holdings (the family office of Lord Mervyn Davies) and a group of angel investors, including reinvestment from Gozney.

Allday Goods is already profitable with minimal external investment to date, challenging the status quo in the venture capital space. 

With new investment and strategic support secured, Allday Goods now enters its next stage of growth without losing the creative edge that defined it from the beginning.

Hugo Worsley, Founder, Allday Goods, commented:

“This is a huge moment for us. We’ve built Allday slowly and intentionally over the past few years, so having people we genuinely admire backing the next chapter feels incredibly special.”

Allday Goods has collaborated with Ottolenghi, Soho House, Maldon Salt, Kerrygold and Paul Smith, and appeared in The World of Interiors and Esquire. In fact, it was in the pages of Esquire that FIGR’s Portfolio Director Ellie Craig first discovered Allday Goods.

Ellie Craig, Portfolio Director, FIGR Ventures, added:

“I’ve followed Allday for years. Drops selling out in seconds and a community that can’t stop talking about the brand – this is what a cult following looks like. Hugo and the team have built something with exceptional foundations of sustainability, craft and a unique design language.

Now is the moment to take Allday from cult status to a kitchen staple.”

In the UK, 53 per cent of high-growth businesses are based outside London, but they receive only 39 per cent of the funding. 

Jenson Brook is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Britain's Got Startups, and is on a mission to change this.   

Britain’s Got Startups (BGS) helps early-stage and scaling companies outside London access investment, networks, and visibility by operating as a curated platform and event series that identifies high-potential startups across regions, including the North of England, Scotland, Wales, and the South West. Through structured showcases, BGS surfaces overlooked deal flow and creates more direct pathways to funding.

I spoke to Jenson Brook to learn all about it

Turning regional fragmentation into opportunity

Brook admits that he’s never been particularly academic. After high school, he started an apprenticeship at an accounting firm, which exposed him to private businesses and entrepreneurs early on. He then spent seven years in London, where he built and exited businesses focused on R&D tax relief, grants, and startup funding.  But he recalls that when he moved back to Yorkshire, the contrast was stark. 

“The network was far more fragmented. Investors were harder to find, often institutional rather than angel-led, and resources were very different.”

The idea for Britain’s Got Startups came from that gap. London has an incredible density of events, investors, and opportunities — so why couldn’t he create something equally strong outside London? It started with a pilot, the Northern Investment Event. Sixteen startups pitched.

Off the back of that, people from across the UK — the South West, Wales — started reaching out asking for something similar.

He recalled:

“We brought in around 20 London investors, and it became clear there’s real demand. What emerged was clear: there are great businesses across the UK that deserve to scale where they’re based — and investors need to see that.”

Why businesses outside London aren’t getting the funds

Brook attributes the funding disparity to a number of factors. First, over 80 per cent of early-stage investors are based in London. Naturally, they invest close to home: 

“They’ve got plenty of deal flow on their doorstep. Second, there’s an expectation that founders should come to London to raise. It’s seen as the hub, and people assume you need to be there.”

Third, there’s a lack of education around fundraising pathways outside London. According to Brook, founders outside London often bootstrap more. They build strong businesses, but grow more slowly because they don’t have the same access to capital.

“There’s also a broader mindset — many founders believe they need to move to London or the US to succeed. It becomes a self-fulfilling cycle.”

UK angel investing thrives — but remains regionally imbalanced

The UK has one of the most active angel investing ecosystems globally, but it is heavily driven by government tax incentives through schemes such as the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS),  with around 90 per cent of angel investors using them and most deals structured through these programmes. 

However, investment remains geographically concentrated, with a large share still flowing into London and the South East, reinforcing regional funding disparities. Brook attributes this in part to London’s dense network of angels, which doesn’t exist regionally, but also to cultural differences. 

“Regionally, people might build and exit a business — and then step back. In London or the US, founders often reinvest and stay active in the ecosystem.

We’re starting to see more early-stage VC activity outside London, which is encouraging. But angel investment still lags.”

While traditional networks still dominate access to capital, it's starting to change. 

“We’re seeing more diverse funds emerge — for example, all-female GP funds — and a broader shift in mindset. But there’s still progress to be made,” shared Brook. 

What kinds of startups are being built outside London? 

When it comes to the kinds of startups emerging from regional areas, software companies dominate, but what’s interesting is how they’re applied.

According to Brook, “Outside London, we often see tech solving problems in traditional legacy industries — engineering, construction, manufacturing — rather than purely digital or AI-first businesses."

“It’s a broader mix, often closer to real-world industrial needs, including  consumer businesses solving practical, everyday problems.”

Strong regional clusters dominate. Bristol and Leeds have high concentrations of tech talent. Manchester and Liverpool are growing hubs.  And then you’ve got the ‘Golden Triangle’ — Oxford, Cambridge, London — which drives a lot of biotech and life sciences spinouts. 

Brook asserts that universities such as Leeds, Manchester, and Liverpool have strong pathways for spinouts. 

But there are challenges. One of the biggest is equity — universities sometimes take very large stakes, which can make future fundraising difficult.

"There’s progress being made — organisations like Startup Coalition are pushing for better structures — but there’s still work to do.”

Why regional collaboration is the missing link

Another challenge is the lack of coordination across regional startup initiatives. Brook believes that if regions collaborated more and connected better with London and even Europe, it would open up far more opportunities for founders. 

"Organisations tend to operate in silos. More collaboration — between regions and with London — would create more opportunities. And the founders are experiencing fatigue. They’re being asked to pitch constantly.

One of the key pieces of feedback we’ve had is that they want more meaningful engagement — not just more events. There’s a real opportunity to think beyond ‘this region versus that region’ and instead build a more unified national ecosystem.”

The defining trait of regional founders

Brook characterises regional startups with one clear pattern — grit. 

“Regional founders often work incredibly hard — sometimes harder — because they’re further away from capital and networks. They don’t have the same access, so they push harder.

They’re persistent, they follow up relentlessly, and they don’t give up easily. I’ve seen founders fundraise for months without success, only to finally make a breakthrough through a chance connection. That level of persistence really stands out.”

£10 million raised — and a growing case for backing regional founders

Britain’s Got Startups has helped raise over £10 million for regional businesses in the past couple of years. What surprises many London-based investors is just how strong these companies are. They’re not just university spinouts — they’re also founders building practical, scalable businesses from places like Hull or the North East.

“There’s a real opportunity if investors are willing to look beyond London.”

Brook wants startups to know that BSG is not just a pitch competition. Rather, it's a program that is constantly iterating based on feedback — improving the experience, refining the format, and focusing on real outcomes.

“We’re also introducing founder ambassadors, including people who’ve given us critical feedback, to make sure we keep improving. At its core, this is a passion project. We’re trying to build something that genuinely helps founders — not just another event.”

If the UK is to unlock the full potential of its startup ecosystem, the opportunity lies not just in London — but in connecting and backing the talent already building across the country.

The Cambridge-based AI company, founded by a former Amazon Alexa research scientist, builds a self-learning economic map that models companies as multidimensional entities rather than forcing them into a single bucket. MiddleGame Ventures led; Unusual Ventures returned. Amazon is not a retailer. It is also a cloud computing provider, a logistics operator, an advertising network, […]

Cambridge-based deeptech company Theia Insights has raised $8 million in Series A funding, led by MiddleGame Ventures, with participation from Further Ventures and Unusual Ventures. The round brings the company’s total funding to $14.5 million to date.

Theia is addressing a structural limitation in financial markets: the lack of a real-time, accurate representation of the global economy. Most financial institutions rely on static classification systems that assign companies a single industry label, despite businesses increasingly operating across multiple sectors that evolve over time. This fragmentation limits the effectiveness of both human analysis and AI systems, which depend on accurate and consistent data structures to generate meaningful insights.

Founded by Dr Ye Tian, Isami Ito, and Dr James Thorne, Theia brings together expertise in AI, financial markets, and enterprise software to build what it describes as a dynamic, AI-driven map of the global economy.

Its proprietary technology processes a wide range of corporate data (including regulatory filings, earnings transcripts, and financial disclosures), to create a continuously updated, multidimensional view of company activity. Instead of a single industry label, companies are represented through evolving exposure across multiple sectors and themes.

This approach underpins Theia’s suite of products, which includes tools for dynamic industry classification, thematic analysis, and translating investment ideas into data-driven company universes. Together, these systems enable financial institutions to better understand structural trends, support portfolio construction, and improve decision-making across research, analytics, and trading workflows.

We must first see the economy clearly, not in fragments but as an interconnected whole. Theia exists to map the unmapped, to make visible the structure of the global economy,

said Dr. Ye Tian, Founder and CEO of Theia Insights.

The company’s technology is already used by global index providers, asset managers, hedge funds, and banks, supporting a range of applications from research to portfolio construction. As financial markets increasingly adopt AI-driven workflows, Theia positions its platform as a foundational data layer that enables both humans and machines to reason consistently about economic activity.

The funding will be used to expand Theia’s platform into new asset classes, beginning with private markets, as well as to further develop its research and engineering capabilities and scale its global commercial presence.

Stockholm-based Galdera Labs has launched with €1.5 million in pre-seed funding to develop an AI-driven platform for financial modelling. The round was led by J12 Ventures, with participation from Antler and angel investors with experience at companies including Klarna, DeepL, Stripe, and Plata.

The company is addressing a common challenge faced by finance teams: financial models are often rebuilt from scratch whenever business conditions change, resulting in fragmented workflows and outdated assumptions. This lack of continuity has also limited the impact of AI in finance, as the systems lack the contextual foundation needed to interpret financial data effectively.

Founded by Evan Rumpza, Mattia Scolari, and Giovanni Casula, the team previously worked together at Klarna, where they were responsible for financial planning across 26 markets during a period of rapid growth. To manage increasing complexity, they developed an internal system that replaced static planning cycles with continuously updated models, enabling a small team to support large-scale financial operations.

Building on that experience, Galdera is developing what it describes as “reasoning infrastructure” for finance. The platform combines a high-performance calculation engine with a semantic memory layer that links financial data to business context, assumptions, and strategic decisions. This approach allows models to remain continuously updated while capturing the reasoning behind changes in financial outcomes.

We’ve personally sat with 50 spreadsheets at two in the morning using tools that were supposed to solve the problem but didn’t. Financial modelling cannot rely on disposable models, whether they live in Excel or in a SaaS dashboard. Today, the technology exists for models that compound with the business. That is the infrastructure we are building with Galdera,

said Evan Rumpza, co-founder and CEO of Galdera Labs.

The platform enables finance teams to query models in natural language and simulate complex scenarios more efficiently, reducing the time required for planning and analysis.

With its launch, Galdera is opening its platform to its first customers, focusing on fast-growing organisations with complex operations where traditional financial tools struggle to keep pace.

The funding will be used to develop Galdera’s AI-driven financial modelling platform, build out its reasoning infrastructure, and support its initial rollout to early customers.

On-road testing in Croatia’s capital is already underway using Pony.ai’s Gen-7 system on the Arcfox Alpha T5, a Chinese-manufactured robotaxi. Uber intends to invest in Verne. The three companies plan to scale to thousands of vehicles across Europe, but have declined to announce a commercial launch date. Mate Rimac built his reputation making electric hypercars […]

The Amsterdam startup, which gives employees direct anonymous access to psychologists, lifestyle experts, and financial counsellors through their employer, now serves more than 2,000 organisations across five European markets. Smartfin led the round; Rubio Impact Ventures, which led the 2022 Series A, returned. The traditional path to professional psychological help in Europe involves a GP […]

The London-based proptech, which combines a proprietary robotic camera with an AI software stack to produce a full property media kit from a single visit, has closed its Series B led by Cipio Partners. The premise behind Giraffe360 is straightforward: a single property visit should generate everything a real estate agent or photographer needs to […]

Sony Honda Mobility has discontinued both its AFEELA 1 sedan and an unnamed follow-up SUV, less than a year after opening a dedicated showroom in California. Honda’s sweeping EV retreat left the joint venture without the technical foundations it needed to build either car. Nine days after Sony Honda Mobility opened its AFEELA Studio and […]

The Amsterdam startup, founded in 2022, is building a single AI platform that handles customer discovery, direct ordering, and retention for independent food and beverage operators. seed + speed Ventures led the round; PeakBridge returned alongside āltitude and Gekko Capital. A local pizzeria and Domino’s compete for the same dinner occasion, but they do not […]

The 2025 funding landscape in Finland reflects a combination of large late-stage rounds and a broad level of early-stage activity. With approximately €2.9 billion raised, a substantial portion of capital is concentrated in a limited number of equity and Series B–E rounds, indicating ongoing support for more mature companies expanding internationally.

At the same time, early-stage activity remains consistent, with multiple seed, pre-seed, and Series A rounds pointing to a steady pipeline of new ventures. Debt financing also represents a relevant share, particularly in capital-intensive or scalable business models.

Across sectors, deeptech, AI/software, cleantech, and healthcare account for a large share of deals, reflecting a focus on science-based and industrial innovation. Investment is also directed toward space, quantum, and energy technologies, indicating interest in strategic and infrastructure-related areas.

Overall, the market shows a balance between early-stage development and later-stage capital concentration  (for more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 - TheBig Picture).

Here are the 10 companies that raised the most in 2025.

Amount raised in 2025: $1B Nokia develops network infrastructure, connectivity solutions, and digital technologies that support secure and high-performance communication across fixed, mobile, and cloud networks. Its offerings are used by organisations to address evolving connectivity requirements. In 2025, the company secured a $1 billion equity investment from Nvidia as part of a strategic partnership aimed at integrating AI into telecommunications networks and supporting data centre development.

Amount raised in 2025: $900M Oura Health develops the Oura Ring, a wearable device that tracks sleep, activity, heart rate, and other biometric data, providing health and wellness insights through a connected app. The company has raised over $900 million in 2025, resulting in an estimated valuation of about $11 billion. The funding is intended to support further development of AI capabilities, product improvements, global expansion, and additional health-related features.

Amount raised in 2025: $320M IQM Quantum Computers is a company that develops superconducting quantum computing systems for research institutions, high-performance computing centres, and enterprises. Founded in 2018, it provides both on-premises and cloud-accessible quantum solutions. The company works on quantum hardware, software, and integrated systems, focusing on scalability and practical applications across fields such as science, energy, and healthcare. IQM raised $320 million in Series B in 2025 to cement Europe’s place in the quantum computing race.

Amount raised in 2025: €209.3M ICEYE is a space technology company that develops and operates a constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. Its systems provide high-resolution Earth observation data that can be captured day or night and in all weather conditions. The company delivers satellite imagery and analytics solutions to governments and commercial organisations, supporting applications such as disaster response, environmental monitoring, and security. The company secured €209.3 million in 2025 to expand and scale its space-based intelligence capabilities, particularly for defence and real-time monitoring.

Amount raised in 2025: €125M GoByBike is a company that provides bicycle leasing and employee benefit services to employers and their staff. Founded in 2020, it enables organisations to offer company bike programs, allowing employees to acquire bicycles through salary-based payments. The company manages the full process, including financing, administration, and delivery, supporting sustainable commuting and workplace wellbeing. GoByBike has secured a €125 million loan financing arrangement to expand operations and increase its capacity to provide bicycle benefit services.

Amount raised in 2025: €100M NestAI is a technology company focused on developing physical AI systems for real-world operations. The company builds autonomous systems and AI-enabled command and control platforms that integrate software, hardware, and data for mission-critical environments. Its technologies are used across areas such as logistics, inspection, security, and defence, with an emphasis on reliability, interoperability, and real-world performance. NestAI secured a €100 million investment to support the establishment of a physical AI laboratory and the development of autonomous vehicles and command-and-control systems for defence applications.

Amount raised in 2025: €55M DataCrunch (now operating as Verda) is a cloud infrastructure company that provides GPU-based computing services for artificial intelligence workloads. The company offers on-demand access to high-performance compute clusters, enabling organisations to train, deploy, and scale AI models efficiently. Its platform supports enterprises, researchers, and developers with scalable, cost-effective infrastructure powered by renewable energy and designed for data sovereignty and performance. DataCrunch raised €55 million to boost EU AI sovereignty with green cloud infrastructure.

Amount raised in 2025: €45M ReOrbit is a space technology company that designs and manufactures software-defined, interconnected satellites and space systems for secure data transmission and in-orbit processing. Its solutions support both defence and civilian applications, enabling independent control of critical space assets and communications. The company combines hardware, software, and system integration to deliver scalable and sovereign space infrastructure. In 2025, ReOrbit raised a €45 million Series A round to accelerate its growth and expansion.

Amount raised in 2025: €44M Hycamite is a cleantech company that develops technology to split methane into low-carbon hydrogen and solid carbon without CO₂ emissions. Founded in 2020, it provides scalable solutions for industrial decarbonization. Its proprietary process produces hydrogen and high-value carbon materials, including battery-grade graphite, supporting applications across energy, chemicals, and manufacturing. In 2025, Hycamite secured €44 million to scale up clean hydrogen and carbon production in Finland.

Amount raised in 2025: $36.5M IXI Eyewear is a technology company developing adaptive eyewear with autofocus lenses. Its glasses use integrated eye-tracking technology to automatically adjust focus in real time, providing clear vision at different distances. The company combines optical science, hardware, and design to create a new category of smart eyewear aimed at improving vision in everyday use. IXI raised $36.5 million in 2025 for autofocus glasses that promise sharper, smarter vision.

The Spanish propulsion startup, based at Castellón Airport, is the first Spanish space company selected for the European Innovation Council Accelerator. Its DARK system became the first hydrogen peroxide propulsion system flown in orbit in Europe, launching on a SpaceX mission in March 2025. Most of the satellites currently operating in orbit are kept in […]

Giraffe360, an AI-powered real estate marketing technology company, has closed a $10 million Series B funding round led by Cipio Partners. Existing investors, including Founders Fund, which led the company’s Series A, as well as Hoxton Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures, and Change Ventures, also participated in the round.

Giraffe360 is focused on transforming how real estate properties are presented and marketed globally. Its platform combines proprietary hardware with AI-powered software, enabling photographers and real estate agents to create a complete media kit from a single property visit, including HDR photography, virtual tours, LiDAR-based 2D and 3D floor plans, video content, property websites, virtual staging, and social media assets.

By integrating this workflow into a single system, the platform helps bring properties to market faster, enhances listing quality, and supports agents and photographers in growing their business.

This financing allows us to accelerate our vision at a pivotal moment for the industry, as real estate marketing shifts toward AI-powered, immersive, media-rich digital experiences.
Giraffe360 is building the infrastructure powering this transition - from data capture to intelligent, automated marketing,

said Mikus Opelts, CEO of Giraffe360.

The financing will support the continued development of Giraffe360’s AI-powered platform, expansion of its product capabilities, and growth of its operations across existing and new markets.

The 12th edition of one of Europe’s longest-running startup events takes place on 7–8 May in Valletta. Alongside the usual pitch competition and investor matchmaking, this year’s programme includes a media panel featuring founders and editors from some of the continent’s most-read tech publications. Most startup founders know they need press coverage. Far fewer know […]

Spanish space company Arkadia Space has secured €14.5 million in funding from the European Innovation Council Accelerator. The package includes a €2.5 million grant, €6 million in equity from the EIC Fund, and €6 million in private investment.

Beyond financial backing, the selection reflects direct institutional support from the European Commission for Arkadia’s green propulsion technology based on hydrogen peroxide, as well as a broader commitment to advancing critical space technologies in Europe.

Arkadia is developing a new hypergolic bipropellant propulsion system based on high-concentration hydrogen peroxide and a proprietary green fuel. Designed to replace hydrazine and its derivatives, highly toxic propellants increasingly restricted under European regulation, the technology aims to improve safety, performance, and sustainability in space missions.

Its hypergolic nature enables instantaneous ignition upon contact between propellants, eliminating the need for complex ignition systems while increasing reliability and precision for operations such as spacecraft docking and lunar landings. The system is also expected to reduce operational and refuelling costs by more than 60 per cent compared to conventional solutions.

EIC support comes at a critical moment for Arkadia. Over the past year, we have demonstrated that our technology meets market requirements and offers a true performance alternative to highly toxic fuels. This recognition confirms that we are on the right path and gives us a tremendous boost to commercialize the technology as early as next year,

said Francho García, co-founder and CEO of Arkadia Space.

The EIC selection follows the in-orbit validation of DARK, Arkadia’s propulsion system, launched in March 2025 aboard a D-Orbit satellite during a SpaceX mission, marking the first time a hydrogen peroxide-based propulsion system reached space in Europe.

The funding will support the commercialisation of Arkadia’s green propulsion technology, further R&D, expansion of its testing infrastructure, and the scaling of its commercial operations.

Amsterdam-based SOUS, an AI-powered growth platform for independent food and beverage businesses, has raised €4 million in seed funding. The round was led by Seed +Speed Ventures, with participation from existing investor PeakBridge, alongside āltitude, Gekko Capital, and a group of experienced angel investors.

As restaurant discovery increasingly shifts to digital channels, many operators face fragmented technology ecosystems and growing reliance on third-party platforms that limit data ownership and impose high commissions.

To address this, SOUS is building AI agents that operate continuously in the background to support restaurant growth, improving discoverability across digital and AI-driven platforms, converting online traffic into direct sales and engagement, and automating key aspects of marketing, brand presence, and customer communication.

Founded by Devon Scoulelis and Thomas Scholte, with William Hurst joining as co-founder and CTO, SOUS positions its platform as an end-to-end growth engine, supporting the full journey from customer discovery to transaction and retention.

Running a restaurant means running a digital business. The local entrepreneur doesn't have the budget for a CMO, CFO and CTO. We're building an AI agent that takes over part of that work, so the local pizzeria has the same firepower and tools as large players like Domino's with their many employees and budget,

said Thomas Scholte, co-founder and CCO.

Through its platform, SOUS enables restaurants to improve digital discovery, sell directly to customers, and unlock additional revenue streams such as takeaway, retail products, experiences, and subscriptions.

The platform integrates with existing restaurant tools, including Zenchef, positioning SOUS as a growth layer within the broader restaurant technology stack. Through such partnerships, SOUS helps restaurants increase visibility across search and AI-driven platforms, drive more traffic to booking channels, and convert that demand into confirmed reservations, supporting stronger outcomes for restaurants, guests, and platform providers alike.

With the new funding, SOUS plans to expand its product and engineering teams, further develop its AI-powered platform, and continue its international expansion across Europe, starting with Germany.