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How ByteDance Made China’s Most Popular AI Chatbot
how-bytedance-made-chinas-most-popular-ai-chatbot
16/10/2025
An AI chatbot developed by TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is now more popular than DeepSeek. The feat proves that user-friendly design often matters more than having the most advanced AI model.
16/10/2025 05:10 PM
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16/10/2025 04:01 PM
Deel hits $17.3B valuation after raising $300M from big-name VCs
Encube, a Stockholm-based DeepTech startup, is emerging from stealth with €19 million in funding to transform how hardware products are designed and manufactured, helping teams avoid costly design complexity, speed up development and lower production costs.
The round was backed by Kinnevik, Promus Ventures, and Inventure.
“Hardware development is a balancing act between how a product looks, functions and what it costs to produce. In Europe, we excel at the first two, but our manufacturing know-how is disappearing. At Sandvik and Aker, I saw firsthand how quickly production costs ballooned and competitive edge eroded, when early design decisions weren’t made with manufacturing in mind. We built Encube to change that,” says Hugo Nordell, CEO and Co-founder of Encube.
Encube’s launch funding arrives amid a surge of European investment in AI applied to industrial and manufacturing processes.
In 2025, Resourcly (Germany) raised €2.7 million for an AI-driven inventory platform, while 36ZERO Vision (Germany) secured €3.6 million to scale its data-efficient inspection software. Larger growth rounds, such as PhysicsX (UK) with €117 million and Pelico (France) with €34.7 million, show increasing investor appetite for AI-native engineering infrastructure. At an earlier stage, Bonx (France) and CloEE (Finland) attracted €7.3 million and €520k respectively for factory-focused software.
Within this funding landscape, Encube’s raise sits in the upper mid-range and reflects growing confidence in AI platforms that integrate design and manufacturing intelligence rather than focusing on narrow production tasks. Headquartered in Sweden, Encube also stands out within the Nordic deep-tech ecosystem, where few 2025 industrial AI startups have raised at comparable scale.
“Encube is one of the most promising innovations I’ve seen in hardware engineering in the last 30 years. The software’s ease of use and the speed of its simulations represent a major leap forward,” says Ralf Usinger, Global Head of Engineering Applications at Beyond Gravity.
Founded in 2021 by former Sandvik and Aker executive Hugo Nordell, together with Skype and Klarna veteran Johnny Bigert,, Encube is a European DeepTech startup developing AI-powered tools and workflows for hardware development. The company also conducts research in AI for hardware design, aiming to address complex challenges in the development process.
Validated by companies such as Volvo Group, Beyond Gravity and Scania, Encube develops an AI-powered platform that makes it faster and easier for hardware teams to understand which product design choices drive manufacturing complexity and how to avoid them.
This allegedly results in shorter time to market, lower cost of production and allows teams to explore exponentially more design directions than otherwise possible.
“Securing competence in our engineering and industrialisation functions is very challenging. Many of our key people are approaching retirement. Encube really helps us navigate the risk this creates for us,” says Jonas Hellman Peterson, Head of Sales Engineering at Birn Group.
Adding to industry pressures, tightening European sustainability regulations are requiring manufacturers to rethink how products are designed and built. Smarter product development and digital workflows at the design stage are becoming essential to improve both economic performance and environmental impact.
In hardware development, up to 80% of a product’s cost is determined once the design is locked. However, the company says many design decisions have an impact on manufacturing costs and the carbon footprint in ways that are not immediately obvious until they enter the production phase.
As a result, businesses are left with a difficult choice: either accept decreased profitability or redo the designs and delay market launch.
“We rely entirely on third parties to manufacture our robots. Encube makes it much easier for us to uncover and mitigate product risk early in development together with our suppliers and customers,” says Mattias Vanberg, Director of Development at Cognibotics.
Encube says they solve this challenge in two ways.
First, with a collaborative software platform that helps entire organisations align and make faster, better product decisions, all directly in the browser on any device.
Second, with AI-powered capabilities embedded inside the platform. These capabilities enable teams to eliminate common bottlenecks in hardware development projects.
One example of such a bottleneck is the need to manually identify design changes over time so that the team can determine if a change causes problems later. Another is to analyse how complex a design will be to manufacture, including what design choices drive this complexity.
“AI is fundamentally transforming how products are designed, enabling engineering teams to simulate, iterate and collaborate at unprecedented speed. Encube is pioneering this shift by embedding manufacturing intelligence directly into the engineering workflow, shaping the future of product development. We’re excited to partner with Hugo and the team on this journey,” says Tatiana Shalalvand, Investment Director at Kinnevik.
With a long-term ambition to help rebuild, secure and strengthen European industrial competitiveness, Encube will use its new financing to expand its commercial footprint across Europe, deepen existing partnerships and accelerate investments in hardware-focused AI, positioning the company to ride the current AI wave more aggressively.
“We’re incredibly proud to have been the first investors in Encube and our growing conviction in this stellar team has only been outpaced by the speed of their progress. We’re convinced that Encube is going to accomplish for industrial manufacturing what Figma did for web design and redefine how physical products are made,” says Adrian Arnsvik Bjurefalk, Principal at Inventure.
Barcelona-based Cooltra, a leading name in two-wheeled sustainable mobility across Europe, has officially acquired the business operations of fellow Barcelona-born urban cycling startup Kleta Mobility.
The move is part of Cooltra’s strategy to strengthen its service portfolio and deepen its market footprint across Spain, particularly in key cities like Barcelona and Valencia.
“For Cooltra, the integration of Kleta Mobility is a step forward in our growth strategy. This operation reaffirms our commitment to more sustainable, inclusive, and efficient urban mobility while enhancing our value proposition, diversifying our services, and providing real alternatives to private vehicle ownership,” said Timo Buetefisch, Co-founder and CEO of Cooltra. (Translated)
While many startups are securing fresh capital to scale operations, others – like Cooltra – are opting for strategic acquisitions to strengthen their position in competitive urban mobility markets.
Recent funding in the sector includes:
In Sweden, Standab raised €3.6 million to expand its charging infrastructure network for micromobility vehicles across Europe.
Belgium’s LIZY secured €75 million in equity and debt to scale its circular electric leasing model, highlighting investor confidence in sustainable fleet management.
In Spain, TRIBBU attracted €2 million in funding to grow its shared-mobility platform, signalling an active domestic investment landscape that also benefits established players such as Cooltra.
The Netherlands-based umob raised €3.5 million for its all-in-one mobility booking app.
The UK’s Forest secured €15.3 million to expand its e-bike fleet
Italy’s Maxi Mobility raised €1.2 million for its electric fleet-as-a-service platform.
Against this backdrop, Cooltra’s move represents a non-funding strategic consolidation, absorbing Kleta’s user base, assets, and employees to reinforce its market presence in Spain.
Overall, the deal reflects a European micromobility market in which scale, integration, and service diversification are becoming essential for sustainability – especially in urban transport ecosystems increasingly defined by electric, shared, and subscription-based models.
Buetefisch added: “At a critical moment for cities and the planet, we’re doubling down on the bicycle as the transport of the future. I want to thank everyone who made this possible. Their effort, passion, and commitment allow us to keep pedalling toward a cleaner, more human and connected future.” (Translated)
Founded in 2020 by Falk Siegel and Diego Casabe during the height of the pandemic, Kleta aimed to reduce barriers to city cycling with flexible, accessible mobility solutions.
Kleta’s roots in Barcelona mirror those of Cooltra, underscoring a shared commitment to local innovation in sustainable mobility. What began as a consumer-focused service has since expanded into B2B solutions, making the acquisition a strategic match for Cooltra’s multisector growth.
Founded in 2006, Cooltra has evolved into a dominant player in European micromobility, operating across multiple countries and offering electric scooters, bikes, and fleet services to both governments and private enterprises.
By folding Kleta’s assets and expertise into its broader operations, Cooltra gains not only scale but also a stronger foothold in the increasingly competitive bicycle-as-a-service market.
“The integration of Kleta’s production unit goes far beyond a business operation: it represents our firm commitment to bicycles as a driver of change towards more sustainable, inclusive, and efficient mobility. It is also a natural step in our growth strategy, adding talent, experience, and a community that shares our vision: we firmly believe that the future of cities moves on two wheels,” added Buetefisch in a public statement.
The integration will see Cooltra absorb Kleta’s fleet of over 2,000 urban bicycles- more than half of which are electric – alongside its existing customer base of 2,000 active users and a team of 13 employees.
All Kleta staff will retain their positions, seniority, and pay conditions.
Kleta’s offering was built around a subscription-based model for urban bicycles, tailored for both individual users and corporate clients. Subscribers could access quarterly or annual plans with perks like home repairs, theft protection, and accessory customisation.
The acquisition follows a difficult period for Kleta, which declared insolvency in September 2024 due to accumulated losses of €1.6 million and debts of €1.2 million with financial institutions.
Despite financial setbacks, the startup had managed to attract high-profile backers, including FC Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and NBA veteran Marc Gasol. The duo led two financing rounds worth €400k and €2 million respectively, demonstrating belief in the startup’s mission and potential.
With judicial approval now secured, the transition is expected to be completed in the coming days.
While Cooltra did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition, the company’s ongoing investment in expanding access to sustainable transport reinforces its ambitions to lead the urban mobility revolution – one pedal at a time.
UK-based
cybersecurity startup Theodosian has raised $1.3 million in a pre-seed round
led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from D11Z Ventures, 1818 Venture
Capital, Heartfelt, Startup Wise Guys, and several angel investors.
Theodosian provides
enterprise-grade, file-level encryption and access control, delivering a
persistent layer of protection that travels with data, supports compliance
across multiple regulatory frameworks, and helps mitigate both human error and
cyberattacks. Founded by cybersecurity practitioners with over a decade of
experience across defence, intelligence, banking, and healthcare, the company
focuses on a “second layer” of defence that embeds controls directly at the
file level.
The platform enables
per-file permissions and conducts 20–30 compliance-aligned checks per document.
It is designed to help organisations prepare for emerging standards, including
the UK’s Defence Cyber Certification (DCC) and the US Cybersecurity Maturity
Model Certification (CMMC), strengthening both compliance and overall security
posture.
According to Andy
Johnson, co-founder of Theodosian, the company was founded to close a major gap
in enterprise security by ensuring that each file remains protected wherever it
is shared or stored.
Our platform goes
beyond traditional encryption, offering persistent, per-file dynamic access
controls, detailed permission management, and continuous verification to ensure
only the right people can access sensitive data. With Fuel Ventures’ support,
we can bring these capabilities to market quickly, helping companies comply
with regulations, including new DCC standards, and significantly reduce the
risk of data breaches.
The funding
will support completion of v1 of the product and the start of commercial
scaling.
16/10/2025 01:10 PM
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16/10/2025 11:38 AM
Irish FinTech lender Teybridge Capital Europe secures €50 million funding line to expand working-capital solutions
Dublin’s FinTech startup Teybridge Capital Europe has raised an initial funding line of approximately €50 million from the Madrid-based family office Baghdadi Capital, with plans to gradually increase this to around €500 million as the business grows.
Teybridge Capital Europe, a trade finance and working capital platform, is projected to reach a valuation of over €100 million.
Dylan Martin, CEO of Teybridge Capital Europe, says: “The investment from Baghdadi Capital supercharges our ability to serve SMEs and corporates across multiple regions. It expands our reach, strengthens our offering, and brings our BRIDGE platform to more businesses in need of fast, reliable access to working capital.
“With this funding, we can support a broader client base while preserving the agility and rigor that have always defined us. It’s a powerful step forward for our company.”
This strategic investment aligns with a broader 2025 trend in Europe, where FinTech and specialty finance companies are scaling working capital and trade finance solutions through large credit lines and structured capital facilities.
Several comparable developments were reported by EU-Startups this year:
London-based Zvilo secured an expanded €75 million credit facility to support MSME trade finance operations.
Amsterdam’s Factris obtained €100 million from Brand New Day Bank to grow its SME invoice-financing portfolio across Europe.
Prague-based Flowpay raised €30 million from Fasanara Capital to enhance its embedded finance offering for SMEs.
Berlin’s re:cap secured a €125 million credit facility to expand its “Capital OS” platform into the UK market.
Brussels startup Husk raised €1 million in pre-seed funding to develop cashflow optimisation tools for early-stage businesses.
“At Baghdadi Capital we are not simply investing in companies; we are shaping a global network of autonomous platforms – connected by shared standards and strengthened with capital. Our investment in Teybridge Capital Europe reflects this vision: building resilience, empowering local teams, and delivering truly complementary financing solutions that support cross border growth,” adds Baihas Baghdadi, Founder & Executive Chairman of Baghdadi Capital.
Founded in 2022 by Dylan Martin and Colm Devine, Teybridge Capital Europe delivers working capital and trade finance solutions to SMEs and corporates through its proprietary platform, BRIDGE.
In two and a half years, Teybridge has deployed approximaely €500 million to over 250 SMEs across Ireland, the UK, and the U.S.
This investment forms part of Baghdadi Capital’s broader diversification strategy, which is designed to strengthen the Group’s position beyond Spain – its core market – where it already holds the largest book through its subsidiary, Trade & Working Capital.
All acquisitions are structured as cash-in only participations, with management teams retaining full autonomy over daily operations and risk assessment.
The UK market now represents 60% of Teybridge Capital Europe’s lending portfolio, providing lending facilities to UK SMEs and corporate clients in the food & beverage, technology, and manufacturing sectors.
Baghdadi Capital’s clients will now gain access to BRIDGE , Teybridge’s proprietary platform, for digital onboarding, operational management and near real-time funding.
Over the past two and a half years, the platform has processed more than 12,500 transactions and funded approximately more than £400 million in trade finance and working capital loans, to more than 250 clients based in the UK, Ireland and the US.
In this context, Teybridge Capital Europe brings nearly 1,000 debtors across 19 countries over the past two and a half years, while Baghdadi Capital through its different companies in the US and Spain managed almost 500 debtors only in the last fiscal year.
Together, the platforms look to achieve greater granularity and resilience, reducing concentration risk and creating synergies to negotiate more efficient funding terms which opens the door to new securitisation-like structures.
As part of the funding, Baghdadi Capital will join Teybridge Capital Europe’s board.
Encube builds an AI-driven platform
that helps hardware teams identify which design choices create manufacturing
complexity and how to avoid them. The result is faster development, lower
production costs, and the ability to explore far more design options.
Founded
by former Sandvik executive Hugo Nordell (CEO) and Skype/Klarna veteran Johnny Bigert, Encube is rethinking how engineering teams collaborate on hardware
product design.
European manufacturing is being
reshaped by geopolitics, a tightening talent pipeline, and the shift to
sustainable production. Supply-chain fragmentation and economic nationalism are
driving efforts to re-shore capabilities and secure industrial autonomy.
Meanwhile, an ageing workforce and past offshoring have widened skill gaps.
Stricter sustainability rules are pushing for earlier, smarter design and digital
workflows. Because most product costs are locked at design, late-stage impacts
on manufacturing expense and carbon footprint often force firms to choose
between lower margins or redesigns and delays.
Encube addresses these
challenges through two approaches. First, it offers a browser-based
collaborative platform that helps organisations align and make faster,
higher-quality product decisions across devices. Second, it embeds AI
capabilities that remove common hardware-development bottlenecks. These
workflows are essential yet typically manual and time-consuming. Encube aims to
make them faster, more accurate, and scalable.
The
platform has been tested in R&D programs with partners ranging from large
industrial firms to specialised space companies. Reported outcomes include
reduced time to market (up to 50 per cent), lower production costs (20–30 per
cent), and higher engineering productivity (up to 2×).
Hardware development is a
balancing act between how a product looks, functions and what it costs to
produce. In Europe, we excel at the first two, but our manufacturing know-how
is disappearing. At Sandvik and Aker, I saw firsthand how quickly production
costs ballooned and competitive edge eroded, when early design decisions
weren’t made with manufacturing in mind. We built Encube to change that,
shared Hugo Nordell.
The
new funding will support expansion across European markets, growth of existing
partnerships, and increased investment in hardware-focused AI, positioning the
company to accelerate its participation in the ongoing AI transformation.
16/10/2025 11:10 AM
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16/10/2025 10:40 AM
Dwarf Engineering is building the universal infrastructure layer for Ukraine’s defence sector
The defencetech sector has boomed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Many companies have now completed product development and beta testing, but they face a critical next hurdle: scaling up production. Large-scale manufacturing of new technologies demands robust, well-planned infrastructure.
Currently, individual teams are building their own production infrastructure from scratch, a process that wastes six to twelve months and $ 200,000 to $ 500,000 per tech solution.
Dwarf Engineering is the first company in Ukraine to launch ready-made infrastructure for B2B integrations in the defence tech sector, that allows software from different manufacturers to be deployed and updated across all types of unmanned systems and precision-guided munitions. I recently saw the company in the startup pitch final at IT Arena, where it won first place in the startup competition in defencetech category.
I spoke to Oleksandr Bakhmach, co-founder and CTO at Dwarf Engineering, to learn more.
A new standard for defence collaboration
According to Bakhmach, the company’s mission is to “build a bridge for quality assurance and technical support between tech teams and manufacturers.”
He adds,
“I haven’t seen anything like this globally. Most companies, such as drone maker DJI, are closed ecosystems. They don’t connect different companies or cover the full chain from software to hardware.”
The platform takes the opposite approach. “We’re building an open but secure protocol that allows different companies to collaborate without compromising sensitive data,” Bakhmach explains.
“Standardisation is crucial here. It might sound simple, but it’s actually the hardest and most innovative part of our platform.
We give manufacturers and tech teams a native, secure way to cooperate with each other — something that hasn’t existed before.”
A pivot to build Ukraine’s defence infrastructure layer
Bakhmach comes from a background in software engineering — mostly machine learning, data science, and computer vision. He shared: “I was always passionate about designing software architectures. From an early age, I was interested in robotics and wanted to find the right time to get involved in building robotic systems. I have a pretty broad background: from computer vision to Web3. I’ve worked with a lot of concepts, businesses, and ideas. So starting something new wasn’t too complicated for me.”
But he stressed, its not just about him — everyone at Dwarf Engineering wanted to build something new from scratch.
“In modern software development, everything is so automated and standardised that it’s hard to innovate. We wanted a new challenge and a “new breath.”
When it comes to defence, the whole domain is new.
According to Bakhmach, “the challenges in defence today are ones we’ve never had to deal with before. People are using tools intended for different purposes, and no existing platform addresses all of the domains.
Dwarf Engineering applies abstraction to defence infrastructure
To achieve its goal, Dwarf Engineering took principles from software development — particularly object-oriented programming — and applied them to the engineering domain.
At the core of this approach is abstraction, which allows complex systems to be broken down into modular, interoperable components.
According to Bakhmach, “every engineer, when facing a new challenge, tries to abstract the domain, find patterns and hidden relationships, and automate them. We did the same: we tackled autonomy systems, found recurring patterns and interfaces, and realised we needed a tool to do this better.”
The team realised this was a problem faced by all of the engineers in Ukraine.
“So we built a solution based on experience, data, and analytics. Our platform lets manufacturers and engineering companies focus on what they’re passionate about, while we solve the common problems they’d otherwise face again and again.”
Bakhmach outlined two key user groups: tech teams and manufacturers. For engineering teams, the main challenge has been secure collaboration.
“In traditional engineering, people collaborate openly and trust each other. In defence, it’s the opposite — zero trust, a lot of sensitivity, and no existing tools for collaboration,” he says.
“There wasn’t a platform to handle this before. We’re the first to develop a strategy that enables engineers to collaborate while maintaining zero-trust security. It was complicated, but I’m proud to say we’ve achieved it.
Now teams can collaborate, share data, and combine software without compromising security, intellectual property, or sensitive information.”
For manufacturers, the platform tackles standardisation — a critical but missing element in the defence sector. “In manufacturing, standardisation impacts everything — logistics, production, interoperability,” Bakhmach notes. “Defence lacked this standardisation. So our platform solves two problems at once: engineering security and manufacturing standardisation. That’s why we believe it’s a game-changer and why we received the IT Arena award — our vision aligns with the market.”
Turning shared struggles into a scalable platform
Bakhmach shared that most engineers they reached out to already knew they were missing something like this.
“When we showed them we knew the exact pain points they were facing — sometimes issues they’d never shared publicly — they were amazed. “How do you know that?” they’d ask. It’s because we went through the same challenges ourselves. That credibility made it easy to demonstrate why using our platform made sense.”
“Startups need to prove their concepts quickly to investors. We remove friction and side problems that distract them from their core ideas. You can think of our platform as a “hardware Docker”: a standardised, secure environment that lets them focus on building, not on infrastructure.”
Getting underneath the hood of the platform
The first major feature is Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD), adapted for defence hardware. This isn’t new in software, but the defence domain needed a new vision for using hardware.
“We’ve adopted DevOps ideas so teams can use familiar development patterns. That reduces friction and speeds up delivery,” shared Bakhmach.
The second feature is zero-trust environments. This enables multiple teams to work on the same device, each in isolated, secure environments that never interact.
“It’s like having a mini cloud on the device — SSH access, secure logging, everything — but fully isolated.”
For manufacturers, Dwarf Engineering provides strict versioning and standard interfaces for clear communication. These are crucial for collaboration between manufacturers and engineering teams. The platform is subscription-based.
Akin to the PlayStation Store: Dwarf Engineering provides the “console” — the platform — and users pick the “games,” i.e., modules and features, to run on it. All within a secure, zero-trust environment. Bakmach contends, “before our launch, it was the "first generation of video game consoles' era for the Ukrainian defence sector, and we started 'the second.” “Manufacturers integrate the system once, then can subscribe to different modules, combine them, or switch them out as needed.”
All of Dwarf Engineering’s software currently runs on Raspberry Pi with a customised Linux distribution.
“We modified drivers and a lot of system elements to make it efficient,” shared Bakhmach.
“We also provide a standard SDK and defined interfaces for communicating with UAVs and other unmanned systems — aerial, ground, or underwater.
Every device has its own control interface, and that’s a big headache for development teams. We remove that burden.”
Dwarf Engineering steps into hardware with Narsil
Now Dwarf Engineering is developing its own custom hardware, optimised for security and performance, to address gaps in off-the-shelf systems.
Narsil is a copilot system for combat FPV drones built around an autonomous target-guidance module that the team extends with frontline-driven features. Those enhancements can include maintaining flight under electronic-warfare conditions or navigating to targets in GPS-denied environments.
A key advantage for military users is Narsil’s semi-autonomous design: it preserves the control and experience of a professional operator while lowering the skill barrier for less experienced users. Among its distinctive capabilities is an integrated cruise-mode with targeting that simplifies long-distance aiming — a feature the team haven’t encountered elsewhere in this field. It is also, to its knowledge, the first smart guidance module that integrates directly with the payload.
Crucially, Narsil works offline in extreme environments, a critical challenge according to Bakhmach:
“Most systems assume access to sensors, GPS, or cloud compute. In reality, you may have none of that on the battlefield. So we rewrote algorithms to lower their requirements, rather than increasing hardware power.
We design as if there’s no connection, no data, and no sensors — then build from there. It’s challenging, but it’s the only way to ensure reliability in real conditions."
Further, each of the devices can form part of a peer-to-peer swarm. Devices can collaborate securely between each other, out of the box.
“It’s a huge benefit for collective autonomy missions,” shared Bakhmach.
Dwarf Engineering goes global with strategic partnerships and major milestones
Dwarf Engineering has achieved rapid growth and success. Its CEO, Vladyslav Piotrovskyi,was selected for the first batch at the DTSA accelerator at the prestigious Stanford Research Institute and secured first place at Defence Tech Valley, highlighting its innovation in the defence sector. It became the first to deliver payload-agnostic terminal guidance technology and successfully integrated three tech teams to accelerate development.
In terms of customers, Dwarf Engineering has signed agreements with seven factories and welcomed its first international client in Japan. With more than 1,500 hours of testing completed and its first factory application set to launch, the company has already sold 10,000 licences.
According to Bakhmach, the focus now is onboarding as many teams and manufacturers as possible to the Dwarf Engineering platform, speeding up delivery, improving security and optimisation, and reducing costs.
Winning at IT Arena validates “that we’re solving the right problems — problems the market truly cares about.”
16/10/2025 11:10 AM
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16/10/2025 10:27 AM
With its notable €105 million raise, French BioTech startup Adcytherix looks to tackle cancer with novel ADC
Marseille-based Adcytherix, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel and proprietary antibody drug conjugates (ADC), has raised €105 million in a Series A financing round to advance its lead candidate and treat high unmet need diseases
The round was co-led by Andera Partners, Angelini Ventures, Bpifrance (as part of both Large Venture and InnoBio investment strategies) and Kurma Partners, followed by Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), aMoon and existing shareholders Pontifax, DawnBiopharma (a platform controlled by KKR), Pureos Bioventures and RA Capital. The transaction represents the first investment from Andera Partners’ new BioDiscovery 7 fund.
Jack Elands, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Adcytherix, commented: “Closing the largest ADC-focused Series A in Europe in 2025 validates our science, our vision, and the exceptional work of our team since inception just 18 months ago. We are proud to have attracted a world-class syndicate of investors who share our ambition to develop breakthrough ADCs for patients resistant to the current classes of ADCs.”
The Series A financing of Adcytherix follows other significant bioconjugate and oncology-focused rounds such as yesterday’s Tubulis’s €308 million Series C to advance its antibody-drug conjugate pipeline from Munich, and Ciloa’s €6.5 million raise in Montpellier to progress engineered exosome therapies.
Together, these rounds illustrate sustained investor appetite for novel biologic modalities in Europe, spanning both antibody-based and vesicle-based therapeutics. Adcytherix’s funding positions it alongside Tubulis within a dynamic ADC landscape, with both companies expanding European capabilities in targeted oncology drug development.
Sofia Ioannidou, PhD, Partner at Andera Partners, added: “We are delighted to make our first investment from the BioDiscovery 7 fund in this landmark transaction. Adcytherix stands out with its deep ADC expertise, a differentiated lead programme, and a distinctive strategy focused on novel payload classes with the potential to both expand the reach of ADCs to tumors that currently respond poorly or not at all to this modality, and to overcome resistance mechanisms observed with commonly used payloads.
“We look forward to supporting Jack and his team as they build a next-generation ADC platform capable of delivering transformative therapies to patients.”
Founded in 2024, Adcytherix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel ADC to treat high unmet need diseases such as cancer. The company was founded by Jack Elands and Pontifax Venture Capital with two other executives of Emergence Therapeutics, Xavier Preville and Carsten Dehning as Co-founders.
Adcytherix’s ambition is to become a significant independent ADC powerhouse driving the development of transformational ADC technology for targeted cancer therapy.
The new funding will enable the company to advance its lead candidate ADCX-020 into the clinic, with first investigational new drug (IND – US) and clinical trial applications (CTA – EU, UK and Canada) filings planned by end 2025.
In parallel, Adcytherix will expand its pipeline of proprietary ADCs using novel payloads.
Sofia Ioannidou of Andera Partners will also be joining the Supervisory Committee following the Series A financing.
German-based HyImpulse Technologies GmbH (HyImpulse), a provider
of hybrid propulsion systems for satellite transport, has raised €15 million in
equity capital as part of its Series A funding round and secured an additional
€30 million in financing.
The round is led by Campus Founders Ventures. Other
investors include Helantic, GIMIC, the Global Resilience Innovation Fund
(GRIF), Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft (MBG) Baden-Württemberg,
Start-up BW Innovation Fonds, Sparkassen-Beteiligungsgesellschaft (SBG)
Heilbronn-Franken, Vienna Point and BTRON.
HyImpulse is an aerospace company
developing and manufacturing commercial rockets for suborbital and orbital
launch services. Its small launch vehicles use a proprietary hybrid propulsion
system based on liquid oxygen and paraffin, designed to offer cost-effective
and reliable access to space.
The company is developing the SL1 orbital rocket using
hybrid propulsion. In 2024, HyImpulse completed a key milestone with the
successful test flight of the SR75 suborbital rocket, demonstrating a
commercial paraffin-based hybrid engine and providing a foundation for
subsequent development. The first commercial SR75 missions with customers are
planned for 2026. The SL1 is expected to deliver up to 600 kg to low Earth
orbit starting in 2027.
Europe currently lacks fully independent access to space and
relies heavily on non-European launch providers. The Space Economy Report 2024
estimates European providers accounted for under 1 per cent of global launches
in 2024. The market is expanding, however, with a McKinsey analysis projecting
satellite-based technologies to reach roughly €1.25 trillion by 2040.
HyImpulse’s hybrid architecture is intended to reduce
component count by about 50 per cent, lower costs, and improve reliability, key
factors for cost-efficient, flexible launch services in the sub-ton payload
class. The company reports early traction with contracted orders in the
hundreds of millions and planned launch sites on multiple continents.
Dr Christian Schmierer, co-founder and CEO of HyImpulse, commented:
Europe does not have its own access to space. With this injection of capital, we will accelerate the commercialisation of our orbital rocket, making Europe
more independent and competitive. While some providers offer a scheduled bus
service to space, our solutions allow us to develop a flexible taxi service so
that our customers can choose individual launch solutions and flexibly plan
their schedules.
New capital will be used to advance the development
and commercialisation of SL1 and to expand production capacity.
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16/10/2025 10:00 AM
The biggest European gaming deals in H1 2025
the-biggest-european-gaming-deals-in-h1-2025
16/10/2025
Europe’s gaming scene in H1 2025 reveals a market that’s scaling and diversifying simultaneously. Funding was concentrated around three pillars:
established publishers expanding new operating units, a fast-moving wave of
mobile-first studios building data-driven casual and mid-core titles, and a
creative PC/console segment pushing premium strategy, simulation, and
genre-blending experiences. The result is an ecosystem that mixes dependable
hit-making with high-variance bets on fresh IP.
Alongside content studios, notable themes included blockchain-enabled
distribution and asset ownership, AI agents for testing and player simulation,
and technologies aimed at shortening production cycles through reusable
systems, personalisation, and more efficient content delivery.
The following are the ten
largest funding rounds in the European gaming industry during the first half of
2025.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $1.25B
Ubisoft is a developer, publisher, and distributor of video games and interactive entertainment. The company is known for overseeing widely recognised franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six, The Crew, and Just Dance.
Ubisoft operates a unified ecosystem called Ubisoft Connect, which brings together players’ games, social features, and rewards into a single platform.
Through a diverse portfolio of titles and continuous live updates, Ubisoft emphasises engaging communities, evolving game worlds, and cross-platform experiences.
In March, Ubisoft received a $1.25 billion investment from Tencent to support the creation of a new operating division.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $30M
Grand Games is a Turkish mobile game studio which focuses on creating genre-defining mobile games played by millions around the world. Their philosophy centres on empowering passionate people who take ownership, fostering a collaborative culture where each team member contributes to collective success.
Some of the flagship titles include Magic Sort, a magical sorting-based adventure, and Car Match, a relaxing traffic puzzle experience.
In January, Grand Games secured a $30 million Series A investment, just nine months after its pre-seed round, to expand its studio network, develop new major game genres, and publish its titles globally.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $25M
Bigger Games is a mobile gaming studio specialising in creating intuitive, emotionally engaging casual games, most notably their flagship title Kitchen Masters, a match-3 puzzle adventure set in social, culinary contexts.
At its core, Bigger Games emphasises principles such as ownership, progress, user obsession, candour, and excellence in its culture, striving to deliver experiences where “fun isn’t just a feature, it’s a feeling.”
In June, the company secured $25 million in Series A funding to scale Kitchen Masters globally, grow its team, and accelerate the development of upcoming titles.
Amount raised in H1 2025: €12M
Amplitude Studios is a Paris-based video game developer specialising in award-winning strategy games.
Best known for the Endless™ universe and Humankind™, the studio focuses on crafting deep 4X and strategy experiences “hand-in-hand” with players through its Games2Gether community-driven development approach. Amplitude invites fans into its official Amplifiers hub to vote on features, share ideas, and track progress across titles like Endless™ Legend, Endless™ Space 2, Endless™ Dungeon, and Humankind™.
In May, the company raised €12 million to support the development of new and ongoing projects, including Endless Legend 2, and to expand its team and community-driven initiatives further.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $12M
Ultra is a next-generation gaming platform built “by gamers, for gamers,” blending traditional game distribution with blockchain innovation.
The Ultra ecosystem is designed as a unified hub where players, developers, and creators converge: users can discover, play, trade, and compete all within a single client. The company’s proprietary blockchain enables tokenisation of game licenses and digital assets, giving players true ownership and the ability to trade or resell games and in-game items.
In April, Ultra raised $12 million in funding to accelerate platform expansion, recruit talent, and execute its roadmap toward mainstream adoption.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $10M
Opus Major is a Paris-based video game studio whose mission is to “Make the World Jam Together” by merging music and interactive play.
Their core vision centres on creating experiences (called “Opuses”) where music functions as magic in multiplayer adventures, fostering connection and emotional resonance among players.
Their debut project is MAJJAM (Opus #1), a cross-platform multiplayer game set in a vibrant universe where music is both a tool and a narrative force.
Opus Major raised $10 million in March, empowering the studio to realise its bold concept and scale development efforts.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $7M
Fuse Games is a mobile gaming studio founded in January 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey, with the mission to “Ignite Imagination.”
They specialise in blending advanced technology with creative design to deliver interactive, memorable game experiences. With a lean, passionate team focused on harnessing both technological innovation and strong gameplay fundamentals, Fuse Games is building toward a portfolio of mobile titles that strive to be both engaging and lasting.
In May, Fuse Games received a $7 million investment to develop original titles, expand its team, and continue investing in new technologies.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $7M
TaleMonster Games is a mobile game studio behind Match Valley, a hero-driven match-3 puzzle adventure where players build and unleash teams to defend their castle against quirky enemies.
Founded by Peak Games veterans, TeleMonster is on a mission to bring depth and creativity back to casual puzzle games.
In May, the company raised $7 million to expand its team, speed up development, and invest further in reusable systems that enable smarter game design, personalised player experiences, and efficient content delivery, allowing faster launches, quicker learning, and the creation of a lasting portfolio of games players return to over time.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $6M
Nunu.ai builds multimodal AI agents that autonomously play, test, and reason about games to automate QA and player-simulation workflows.
Studios describe test goals in plain English, nunu’s agents then execute end-to-end scenarios, surface bugs, and deliver dashboards with actionable insights, cutting manual QA effort and accelerating release cycles. The platform integrates via a lightweight SDK or black-box testing, offers enterprise-grade privacy options, and has demonstrated results like faster test cycles and significant QA cost reductions on real titles.
In March, Nunu.ai raised $6 million and introduced Unembodied Minds, AI agents designed for game testing that can control any character or entity and perform tasks across diverse environments.
Amount raised in H1 2025: $5M
Voya Games is a Berlin-based game studio founded in 2023 that develops Web3 gaming experiences focused on player ownership.
Their mission is to create fun, accessible, and interconnected games unified by shared token economies. Their debut title, Craft World, is a resource management and building game where players collaborate with dinosaurs to restore civilisation and interact with in-game economies via blockchain-enabled NFTs and token trading.
In May, VOYA Games raised $5 million to support the expansion of Craft World and further development of their broader Web3 ecosystem.
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German biotech Tubulis secures record-breaking €308M Series C
Tubulis, a pioneer in the development of uniquely matched antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), this week announced the successful closing of a €308 million Series C financing round.
This landmark round marks the largest Series C raised by a European biotechnology company and the largest financing for a private ADC developer globally.
Tubulis generates uniquely matched antibody-drug conjugates with superior biophysical properties that have demonstrated durable on-tumour delivery and long-lasting anti-tumour activity in preclinical models.
The Series C was led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, with participation from additional new investors Wellington Management and Ascenta Capital. Existing investors, including Nextech Invest, EQT Life Sciences, Frazier Life Sciences, Andera Partners, Deep Track Capital, Bayern Kapital, Fund+, OCCIDENT, Seventure Partners, and HTGF, also joined the round.
The proceeds from the Series C will be used to expand the clinical development of TUB-040, Tubulis’ lead ADC candidate targeting NaPi2b, an antigen overexpressed in ovarian cancer and lung adenocarcinomas. TUB-040 is currently being evaluated in a Phase I/IIa study (NAPISTAR1-01, NCT06303505) in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and relapsed or refractory non-small cell lung cancer. The candidate received Fast Track designation from the US FDA in June 2024.
Beyond TUB-040, the funding will advance Tubulis’ broader pipeline, including the clinical-stage ADC TUB-030 and several preclinical programs. Additionally, the company will continue to expand its proprietary ADC platform technologies to unlock novel therapeutic applications.
“This landmark financing round reflects the deep conviction these global healthcare investors have in Tubulis and the disruptive potential of our ADC platforms,” said Dr Dominik Schumacher, CEO and co-founder of Tubulis.
“With TUB-040 progressing in the clinic and first data to be shared in a late-breaking oral presentation at ESMO, we are ready to expand into earlier treatment lines, while continuing to innovate across our pipeline and technology platforms.
The new funding empowers us to execute on our vision of creating truly differentiated antibody-drug conjugates that are tailored to the biology of solid tumours and can deliver superior therapeutic value to patients.”
“Tubulis has distinguished itself in the ADC field with a forward-looking vision consistently backed by strong scientific data,” said Nimish Shah, Partner at Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners.
“The company is now positioned to translate an exceptional preclinical foundation into meaningful clinical results, with several important readouts on the horizon. As Tubulis continues to expand its pipeline and build momentum,
I’m excited to partner with the leadership team and Board to advance a new generation of ADC medicines for patients.”
Dr Frank Hensel, Principal at HTGF, added:
“Our relationship with Tubulis has always been built on trust and a shared ambition to redefine oncology treatment.
This latest round, supported by leading global investors, validates the strength of the platform and the team. We are proud to continue backing Tubulis as it enters a pivotal phase of clinical development.”
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16/10/2025 09:40 AM
British HRtech Jack & Jill raises $20M to expand to US
London-based startup Jack & Jill has secured 20 million dollars in seed funding to expand its AI-powered recruitment platform to the United States.
The round was led by early-stage European VC firm Creandum, with participation from Ada Ventures, Dig Ventures, Entrepreneur First, Firedrop, Repeat.vc, Episode1, Playfair, and over 75 angel investors, including Nico Rosberg and individuals from Lovable, Anthropic and ElevenLabs.
The company uses conversational AI agents to streamline recruitment for both candidates and employers.
Jack, one of the startup’s AI agents, interacts with job seekers to understand their experience and goals, surfacing only roles that closely match. Jill, its counterpart for employers, learns hiring requirements and identifies candidates by scanning thousands of Jack’s conversations.
“Agency recruiters are heavily constrained by their capacity, while job boards force candidates to sift through endless listings and inundate hiring teams with poorly-suited applicants.” said Co-Founder and CTO Saaras Mehan.
Since launching six months ago, Jack & Jill reports that 49,000 candidates have interacted with Jack, while Jill is embedded within the hiring teams of hundreds of fast-growing companies in London. The company says its clients are seeing faster hiring times, improved candidate quality, and reduced fees compared to traditional recruiters.
The team, currently 12 people strong, is preparing for an imminent launch in San Francisco as part of its broader international expansion.
“Jack & Jill is one of the most exciting businesses leveraging agentic AI that we have seen. The significant market traction they have gained at such an early stage is proof of the market demand.
"We have no doubt that Matthew, Saaras, and the team are leading a revolution in this industry, and we can’t wait to see the response in the US,” said Peter Specht, General Partner at Creandum.
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16/10/2025 09:35 AM
Bees & Bears raises €5M to scale embedded finance platform
Climate fintech Bees & Bears has raised €5
million in seed funding from Extantia Capital and Contrarian Ventures,
following a €2 million pre-seed round in 2024. The raise comes after the
company’s January agreement for a €500 million financing framework with a
listed European bank, enabling Bees & Bears to finance about 25,000 solar
installations, heat pumps, and battery storage systems over the next two years.
Founded in Berlin in 2023 by Marius Schondelmaier
and Jakob von Egidy, Bees & Bears develops embedded-finance solutions for
clean-energy technologies. Its platform allows craft installers to offer
customers instalment purchases for solar systems, heat pumps, and battery
storage directly during consultations.
A 2024 KfW study indicates that 40 per cent of
German households cannot afford climate technologies without instalment
options. While major digital platforms already provide embedded financing for
renewables, many local installers who deliver most deployments lack equivalent
tools.
Bees & Bears’ platform enables flexible
financing at the point of consultation using real-time credit checks, removing
bank detours and paperwork.
The workflow is straightforward. Installers prepare
quotes for solar panels, heat pumps, or battery storage and submit customer
information online. After automated verification, instalment purchases can be
approved immediately, reducing friction and speeding project delivery.
For
households, this means access to clean energy without upfront costs or lengthy
bank negotiations. For installers, it opens new customer segments and supports
faster revenue growth.
We’re building the financing infrastructure that
democratises access to climate technologies across Europe. Instalment purchases
are becoming the new standard for bringing renewable energy to wider society.
Our mission is to enable one trillion euros in sustainable financing,
said
Marius Schondelmaier.
The seed funding will
support rapid scaling to meet demand, expansion into commercial and industrial
segments, and entry into nearby European markets. Bees & Bears also plans
to triple its headcount and further strengthen its market position.
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Having studied the “genetic secrets” of plants, British spinout Wild Bio has raised €51 million to improve crop variety
Wild Bioscience, an Oxford University AgTech spinout that develops improved crop varieties using AI and precision breeding, has raised a €51 million Series A investment to expand their R&D and commercial operations, and to turn their early field successes into market-ready seed varieties.
This round was led by the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), with participation from existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), Braavos Capital, and the Oxford University.
Dr Ross Hendron, Co-Founder and CEO of Wild Bio says: “Advancing agriculture has limitless potential to help people and the planet. So to achieve meaningful, scalable impact, we need the right investors who are truly aligned with that big vision. I’m deeply grateful to EIT and to our current investors for sharing our excitement about what we’ve accomplished so far, and for their united support as we embark on this ambitious growth journey together.”
Wild Bioscience’s Series A positions it among the most substantial early-stage financings in European AgriTech this year.
Most peer investments in 2025 have ranged between €2 million and €10 million, typically focused on AI analytics, robotics, or data-driven farming tools rather than genetics or breeding.
For comparison, Switzerland’s Ecorobotix secured €90 million in Series D funding to scale its AI-driven precision spraying systems, representing one of the few European AgTech rounds exceeding Wild’s in absolute size. In the UK, Messium raised €3.8 million for satellite-based nitrogen management, while CroBio secured €805k to advance microbial solutions improving soil health.
Wild Bioscience therefore stands out for both funding scale and scientific focus – its AI-guided, evolution-based breeding approach addresses core crop productivity and resilience rather than precision application or monitoring.
The co-investment between OSE and the EIT also marks a notable first collaboration, highlighting investor confidence in translating plant evolutionary insights into scalable, climate-resilient crop varieties.
Professor Steve Kelly, Head of the Plant Biology Institute at EIT and Co-Founder and CSO of Wild Bio, says: “Combining the groundbreaking research at EIT and Wild will create a powerful synergy that could reshape sustainable agriculture on a global scale. Together, we will accelerate our ability to bring new technologies to market and deliver innovative solutions that enhance crop resilience, boost yields, and promote environmental sustainability.”
Founded in 2021, Wild Bioscience translates evolutionary biology into resilient crops. By integrating plant evolution, machine learning, and precision gene editing, Wild Bioscience aims to deliver high-yielding, climate-smart crops that support food security and planetary health.
Wild Bio specialises in crop genetics, and has developed a data-driven approach to improve crop productivity, climate resilience, and agricultural sustainability. The Wild Bio platform reportedly deciphers hundreds of millions of years of plant evolution to identify promising genetic improvements from wild species.
These evolutionary innovations are then used to guide precision breeding strategies for modern elite crop varieties.
Larry Ellison, CTO and Chairman of Oracle and Founder of the Ellison Institute of Technology, says: “Wild Bio is using AI to better understand the lessons learned over millions of years of evolution encoded in plant genomes. Those insights combined with precision breeding has enabled Wild Bio to develop new varieties of crops with both higher yields and climate resilience. The ultimate goal is to grow these new crop varieties on a commercial scale and help provide food security around the world. EIT is committed to working with Wild Bio to reach this goal.”
The company started in the University of Oxford with Founders Dr Ross Hendron and Prof. Steve Kelly, who spun-out the business to translate their scientific research out of the lab and onto the farm.
Since then, the team has grown to 30 in their Oxford-based headquarters and their leading crop projects are in field trialling programs spanning four countries.
Ed Bussey, Chief Executive Officer, OSE says: “We’re thrilled to partner with the Ellison Institute of Technology for the first time as co-investors in Wild Bioscience. Ross Hendron was one of OSE’s early Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, and the company is a great example of how our venture-building engine helps Oxford scientists turn breakthrough ideas into world-class businesses.
“EIT’s investment is a strong endorsement of Wild’s scientific advantage and will accelerate its mission to enhance crop resilience and build a more sustainable food system.”
This is the best time to build in the history of humanity. To young people wondering whether to start something, start now.
This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Laura Modiano, Startups EMEA at OpenAI, shares her “love letter to European founders” and turns it into a build-now playbook. She explains how OpenAI’s latest advancements are empowering founders to move from idea to prototype faster than ever, using AI tools that shorten cycles, reduce costs, and boost productivity across the board.
The conversation also explores the newest platform updates, including Apps in ChatGPT and the Apps SDK as a new distribution channel, AgentKit for more capable agents, Codex (GA) for developer speed, Sora 2 and Sora 2 Pro via API for high-ROI video creation, and GPT-5-pro for higher-stakes reasoning. You’ll also learn how to use these tools effectively: from turning ideas into prototypes at weekend-level speed, preparing your app listing before launch, and integrating AI into your workflows without slowing teams, to identifying where dynamic video and advanced models truly deliver impact!
Video version of episode 140:
Audio version of episode 140:
Key Takeaways:
Speed is a moat: Scaffold with GPT-5-pro, then optimise to cheaper models.
Don’t “add AI”, remove steps; redesign the workflow and eliminate friction instead of adding it.
Apps in ChatGPT = new distribution: 800 million weekly users across the EU and UK. Prepare your app listing, onboarding, and pricing now.
Agents vs. endpoints: With AgentKit, combine state, tools, and guardrails to deliver outcomes, not demos.
Codex (GA) is not a novelty: It enables pair programming, repository refactors, and documentation hygiene without slowing PR velocity.
Sora 2: Use it where dynamic video outperforms static formats, such as product demos, instructionals, and simulations.
Europe’s edge lies in talent density and research depth; the bottleneck is belief and shipping cadence, not brains.
HyImpulse Technologies, a Neuenstadt am Kocher-based provider of hybrid propulsion systems for satellite transport, has raised €15 million in equity capital as part of its Series A funding round and secured an additional €30 million in financing in one of 2025’s largest SpaceTech rounds.
The round is led by Campus Founders Ventures. Other investors include Helantic, GIMIC, the Global Resilience Innovation Fund (GRIF), Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft (MBG) Baden-Württemberg, Sparkassen-Beteiligungsgesellschaft (SBG) Heilbronn-Franken, Vienna Point and BRTON.
Dr Christian Schmierer, Co-founder and CEO of HyImpulse, said: “Europe does not have its own access to space. With this injection of capital we will accelerate the commercialisation of our orbital rocket, making Europe more independent and competitive. While providers such as SpaceX offer a scheduled bus service to space, our solutions allow us to develop a flexible taxi service so that our customers can choose individual launch solutions and flexibly plan their schedules.”
HyImpulse’s latest Series A equity round plus additional financing positions it among the largest European space-tech investments of 2025.
In comparison, UK-based Magdrive secured €9.9 million to advance propulsion for spacecraft, while Spain’s Kreios Space raised €8 million for its air-breathing plasma engine and Orbital Paradigm obtained €1.5 million to develop reusable re-entry capsules.
Meanwhile, French startups UNIVITY and Look Up attracted €31 million and €50 million respectively for satellite connectivity and orbital-radar monitoring.
In this context, HyImpulse’s round reflects sustained investor interest in European launch and propulsion capabilities, complementing broader funding trends in satellite infrastructure and space-traffic management. The deal also signals continued momentum for Germany’s emerging private space sector, where hybrid propulsion technologies are becoming a focal point for strategic investment.
Dr Schmierer adds: “We are grateful for the trust placed in us by Campus Founders and our other partners. Their commitment underscores the importance of our technology for European sovereignty.“
Founded in 2018, HyImpulse Technologies is a manufacturer and system provider of commercial rockets for suborbital and orbital launch services. Its small satellite launch vehicles with unique hybrid rocket propulsion using oxygen and paraffin are innovating the commercial space sector. With over 65 employees at locations in Neuenstadt, Ottobrunn and Glasgow, HyImpulse develops rockets to transport commercial payloads efficiently, sustainably and reliably into low Earth orbit and beyond.
HyImpulse will use the new capital to drive forward the development and commercialisation of the SL1 orbital rocket and expand its production capacities. Since its foundation, the company has raised around €74 million in capital.
Oliver Hanisch, CEO of Campus Founders Ventures, said: “HyImpulse has already made space history. With extremely efficient use of resources, HyImpulse is the first privately financed German space company to develop a hybrid rocket and successfully complete a suborbital test flight. The company addresses a geopolitically crucial market. HyImpulse is a role model for how startups can successfully translate cutting-edge research and DeepTech into marketable products.
“We have been supporting the team for more than three years, and I am delighted that HyImpulse is successfully using the platform we offer for startups here in Heilbronn. With Campus Founders Ventures, we have already invested in over 20 exciting teams ourselves, but this investment is special. We are delighted to be working with HyImpulse to build a company that will set international standards.”
According to the company, Europe does not yet have independent access to space and is highly dependent on non-European providers.
As per the Space Economy Report 2024, European providers accounted for less than one percent of all global launches in 2024. HyImpulse is working to improve this area: The company’s hybrid technology reportedly reduces the number of components by around 50 percent, lowers costs and increases reliability – a decisive factor in establishing cost-efficient and flexible launch services in the sub-ton payload range.
The market is growing dynamically: according to a McKinsey report, the global business with satellite-based technologies is expected to reach a volume of around €1.25 trillion by 2040.
HyImpulse is positioning itself early in this environment, with orders already secured in the triple-digit million range and launch sites on several continents.
Prof Dr Rudolf F. Schwarz, Managing Director of IABG and Investor of HyImpulse said: “I am pleased to see HyImpulse continuing to make progress in developing innovative and cost-efficient propulsion technologies for launch vehicles, strengthening the space sector in Germany, across Europe, and beyond.”
Ahead of other SpaceTech startups, HyImpulse reached a milestone in 2024 with the successful test flight of the SR75 suborbital rocket which demonstrated the functionality of a commercial paraffin-based hybrid rocket engine for the first time.
The first commercial launch of the SR75 with customers will take place as early as 2026. Building on the tests with the SR75, HyImpulse is working on the three-stage SL1 orbital rocket, which is expected to transport up to 600 kilograms of payload into low Earth orbit starting 2027.
Dutch AI-native platform
for customer research, Northsea, has raised a €660,000 pre-seed funding round
led by early-stage VC firm CapitalT, alongside a group of experienced business
angels.
Founded by Geart van Dam (CEO) and Nick van Zanten (CTO),
both with consulting and data science backgrounds, Northsea was created to
address the inefficiencies of customer research.
Well before generative AI went mainstream, the founders
were building advanced AI applications and writing software from an early age,
shaping the company’s technology-first approach. They built the platform
themselves and quickly gained traction with leading consultants and investors,
who value getting overnight insights, rather than waiting four to five days,
while achieving greater depth and quality.
Geart van Dam explained:
We founded Northsea to solve a problem we experienced
daily as consultants: customer research that takes weeks, is costly, and often
delivers unreliable results. With our AI-native approach, we make it possible
to generate deep insights in days instead of weeks, helping strategy teams and
investors move faster and smarter.
Northsea’s AI research assistant automates the full
research workflow, from survey design and respondent sourcing to data
collection and analysis, cutting manual effort by up to 80 per cent. By running
dynamic, interview-style conversations, it captures up to four times more
detail and yields higher-quality responses in a market increasingly affected by
survey fraud. As a result, consultants, investors, and strategy teams can
produce richer insights and real-time recommendations at a fraction of the
usual cost and time.
With the new funding, Northsea plans to double its team
size, expand internationally, further improve its product, and become the go-to
research partner for consultants, investors, and strategy teams worldwide.
