EU-Startups previously mentioned Devengo in its coverage of the We Make Future 2024 startup competition, where the company was listed among participating startups, but this is the first time its funding activity has been reported in detail.
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| id | date | title | slug | Date | link | content | created_at | feed_id |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50,943 | 07/11/2025 07:04 PM | Welcome to Big Tech's ‘Age of Extraction’ | welcome-to-big-techs-age-of-extraction | 07/11/2025 | In his new book, antitrust scholar and former White House adviser Tim Wu argues that tech giants are bleeding you dry—and lays out a plan to stop them. | 07/11/2025 07:10 PM | 4 | |
| 50,940 | 07/11/2025 05:04 PM | SoftBank is back, and the AI hype cycle is eating itself | softbank-is-back-and-the-ai-hype-cycle-is-eating-itself | 07/11/2025 | 07/11/2025 05:10 PM | 7 | ||
| 50,941 | 07/11/2025 05:00 PM | TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 Startup Battlefield 200: Celebrating outstanding achievements | techcrunch-disrupt-2025-startup-battlefield-200-celebrating-outstanding-achievements | 07/11/2025 | 07/11/2025 05:10 PM | 7 | ||
| 50,938 | 07/11/2025 05:00 PM | TikTok Shop Is Now the Size of eBay | tiktok-shop-is-now-the-size-of-ebay | 07/11/2025 | TikTok’s ecommerce arm has kept growing steadily, despite tariffs and never-ending debates over whether the platform should be banned. | 07/11/2025 05:10 PM | 4 | |
| 50,939 | 07/11/2025 04:00 PM | Weekly funding round-up! All of the European startup funding rounds we tracked this week (Nov. 03-07) | weekly-funding-round-up-all-of-the-european-startup-funding-rounds-we-tracked-this-week-nov-03-07 | 07/11/2025 | This article is visible for CLUB members only. If you are already a member but don’t see the content of this article, please login here. If you’re not a CLUB member yet, but you’d like to read members-only content like this one, have unrestricted access to the site and benefit from many additional perks, you can sign up here. The post Weekly funding round-up! All of the European startup funding rounds we tracked this week (Nov. 03-07) appeared first on EU-Startups. |
07/11/2025 05:10 PM | 6 | |
| 50,936 | 07/11/2025 03:46 PM | Spotawheel bags €300M, Aspirity Partners closes debut €875M Fund, and UK signals "Quantum Decade" | spotawheel-bags-euro300m-aspirity-partners-closes-debut-euro875m-fund-and-uk-signals-andquotquantum-decadeandquot | 07/11/2025 | This week, we tracked more than 60 tech funding deals worth over €848 million, and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. In addition to this week's top financials, we've also indexed the most important/industry-related news items you need to know about. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. Either way, let's get you up to speed. ? Notable and big funding rounds?? Used car platform Spotawheel bags €300M in equity and debt ?? Upway raises $60M to refurbish 1 million e-bikes by 2030 ?? Reflex Aerospace secures record €50M as satellites deemed Europe’s “Achilles heel” ???? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers?? Homemove acquires Home.co.uk, merging AI-driven moving tools with trusted market data ??US-based company acquires AI sign.mt language translator ?? GigRadar acquired the Ukrainian freelance community Top Rated Club ?? Latvia's Mapon shifts gears into Ireland, acquiring Fleet DATA to power European expansion ? Interesting moves from investors? Europe’s founders unite: new Fund aims to build Europe’s first trillion-dollar tech giants ? Aspirity Partners closes debut €875M Fund to back Europe’s next B2B tech champions ? Armilar Fund IV hits €120M first close to invest across Iberia and Europe ? Balnord unveils €70M fund for frontier and dual-use tech across the Baltics ?? Froda teams up with Triffin to provide £100M in growth capital for UK consumer brands ?️ In other (important) news?? Bulgarian unicorn Payhawk plays down Brex's European challenge ? Anthropic to open offices in Paris and Munich ?? Circus Defence makes first deployment with BRAVE1 in Ukraine — a world first for autonomous defence ⚛️ UK signals "Quantum Decade" with new investments and deals to fast-track real-world quantum adoption ? Recommended reads and listens? Europe’s AI ecosystem: Rapid growth and rising global ambitions ? Agate Sensors wins Swedish defence contract for physiology monitoring ? Europe’s urban shared mobility needs a brain — SWITCH built one. ?? Can SET University become Ukraine’s founder factory? ? Collo's deeptech fix for the food & beverage industry’s water waste problem ? European tech startups to watch
?? Leil lands €1.5M to make hyperscale storage infrastructure accessible for all ?? Motley raises $1.5M and launches AI business reporting platform ?? Vigilant AI.ai lands £585,000 pre-seed for compliant "AI Teammates" ?? FireDrone gets €161,000 from Venture Kick for heat-resistant drones ?? Pasqal secures strategic investment from LG Electronics to unlock real-world quantum advantages for product innovation |
07/11/2025 04:10 PM | 1 | |
| 50,937 | 07/11/2025 03:13 PM | Collo's deeptech fix for the food & beverage industry’s water waste problem | collos-deeptech-fix-for-the-food-andamp-beverage-industrys-water-waste-problem | 07/11/2025 | Despite efforts to reduce water consumption, the beverage industry is known for its resource-intensive nature: for example, producing each litre of Coca-Cola requires up to 1.8 litres of water, and in dairy, this ratio is twice as high. Both industries mainly rely on legacy sensor technology and measurement principles developed in the 1800s to distinguish between different liquids in the production process. Finnish deeptech startup Collo wants to change this. Developed after years of scientific research at Tampere University, the company has developed IoT analysers for optimising industrial liquid processes (and a corresponding platform), helping cut liquid losses in beverage and dairy production. Its tech is trusted by industry giants like Danone, Fonterra and Valio. I spoke to CEO Jani Puroranta to learn more. The three pain points that sparked Collo's RF innovationAccording to Puroranta, the company spun out an original science project where some big companies had identified the need for new types of analysers in their processes. The major things they were struggling with were, first of all, fouling — the accumulation of unwanted material on solid surfaces.
Then there's the need for predictive maintenance, rather than having a maintenance person go through the plant, check instrumentation, and follow a maintenance schedule. Puroranta contends, "Wouldn't it be better if the instrument could tell you when it needs service? That was a challenge." When asked why such a critical solution hadn't already been developed by the giants of the food and beverage world, Puroranta contends that genuine breakthroughs like this rarely originate inside large corporations. "They typically come from universities, where researchers test unconventional ideas, like a completely new method for liquid measurement that falls outside the industry's standard playbook," he explained.
The RF breakthrough lets factories see inside their pipes in real timeCollo uses radio-frequency (RF) sensing to analyse the behaviour and composition of liquids in real time. Instead of relying on traditional measurements like temperature, flow, or pH, Collo sends low-power RF signals through the liquid and measures how the signal changes as it interacts with the fluid. Different liquids – and changes within the same liquid – affect the RF signal in unique ways (a kind of "liquid fingerprint"). By interpreting these RF responses, Collo can detect transitions between products, levels of dilution, residue during cleaning, and other subtle changes that standard sensors can't capture. This allows manufacturers to track what is happening inside pipes and tanks with high precision, enabling better optimisation of product pushouts, cleaning processes (CIP), and overall process efficiency. A three-layer platform bringing "liquid intelligence" to the beverage and dairy industriesAfter the original project, the tech turned into a startup, and according to Puroranta, "Over the past years, it's become evident that this technology works particularly well in the food and beverage environment, tackling the challenges customers have there today. Dairy is a big vertical for us, beverage bottling plants as well." Collo offers three core products that together deliver end-to-end "liquid intelligence" for industrial processors. Collo Insights is the analytics and visualisation layer, turning complex liquid behaviour and sensor data into clear, actionable insights for operators to optimise processes, reduce losses, and monitor batch consistency in real time. Collo Connect integrates this intelligence directly into plant automation systems such as PLCs and SCADA, enabling precise, data-driven control of flow rates, transitions, and CIP sequences so processes can adjust automatically based on live liquid composition. Complementing these, the Collo Lab Analyser is a portable device for real-time liquid analysis in labs, pilot sites, or on the production floor, supporting R&D, quality control, and new product development through rapid testing and benchmarking. With Collo's tech, the primary goal is automation. Its instrument sends an automation signal to the plant's SCADA system, which then determines when to turn valves to eliminate losses that can be identified in the process. The automation connection is key. However, on the back of this, the company can also conduct cloud data analysis. "Or if the customer doesn't want any cloud connection, we can collect the data on site and do the final analysis separately," explained Puroranta.
The hidden drain on profits: product changeovers and cleaning wasteThe main applications for Collo's tech are so-called push-outs. "When you make product changes, you push the previous product out with water and then bring in the next product. The water needs to go to the drain, but sometimes you lose some of the product, or you may be too aggressive in the push-out, trying to save product, and end up diluting it instead. We help get that timing right," he explained. Further, when workers clean the pipes with acids and caustic chemicals, they need to flush them and determine when it's the right time to start production again. Collo's tech can save huge amounts of water by dynamically determining when the pipe is truly clean and when you can move to the next stage. And the impact is profound. Customers like Coca-Cola, which have publicly announced for years their targets for reducing water use, currently use 1.8 litres of water for every litre of Coca-Cola they bottle. Additionally, when considering product losses in dairies, according to Puroranta, there are approximately 12,000 dairies in the EU, which process 160 million tonnes of raw milk annually:
Reducing the average from 4 per cent to 3 per cent — a 25 per cent decrease — results in more than a billion euros saved annually across the industry. In other words, even incremental waste saving has a massive (excuse the pun) flow-on effect. Augmenting with smarter sensors and self-learning modelsCrucially, Collo tech augments existing supply chain set-ups, reducing the cost of replacement. Puroranta asserts, "We're not expecting customers to replace anything. Usually, they've gone through the process of identifying that they can't live with a no-parameter setup, which is usually time- and flow-based: just looking at the clock and turning the valve. That's wasteful. Then they add a conductivity instrument or some optical devices to monitor what's going on. With that, they get down from, say, 7 per cent loss to 5 per cent, maybe close to 4 per cent. But how do you get better than average? Then you need new technology. That's where we come in." Collo's instrument stands out because it measures nine variables, including temperature for temperature compensation. "How do you turn nine variables into a signal that automation can use? Because automation can only use a monotonic one-dimensional signal that goes up or down. It can't use nine-dimensional signals," shared Puroranta.
"The algorithms are also self-learning," explained Puroranta.
In August last year, the startup raised €5 million. "There are 12,000 dairies in Europe. That's thousands of addressable customers," shared Puroranta. Further, Collo's technology has numerous applications in liquid processes beyond the beverage industry, including oils, resins, and ceramics, as well as mining processes and mineral processing. |
07/11/2025 04:10 PM | 1 | |
| 50,942 | 07/11/2025 03:02 PM | How one founder plans to save cities from flooding with terraforming robots | how-one-founder-plans-to-save-cities-from-flooding-with-terraforming-robots | 07/11/2025 | 07/11/2025 05:10 PM | 7 | ||
| 50,935 | 07/11/2025 01:19 PM | UK signals "Quantum Decade" with new investments and deals to fast-track real-world quantum adoption | uk-signals-andquotquantum-decadeandquot-with-new-investments-and-deals-to-fast-track-real-world-quantum-adoption | 07/11/2025 | Today, as the National Quantum Technologies Showcase brings thousands of researchers, investors, and global policymakers together in London, the UK government is taking another step forward to unlock quantum’s vast potential to drive economic growth and national renewal, and help tackle major challenges like health and climate change. It announced a raft of announcements backed by millions of pounds worth of funding. This includes the announcement of 14 projects sharing £14 million through Innovate UK’s Quantum Sensing Mission Primer awards, to support the development of next -generation sensors that could be used in healthcare, transport, and defence:
Besides the Innovate UK Quantum Sensing Mission Primer awards, today’s package of support for the UK’s quantum pioneers includes:
Science Minister Lord Vallance said:
According to Jonathan Legh-Smith, Executive Director of UKQuantum, the achievements of the UK’s National Quantum Technologies Programme over the last 10 years have positioned the UK as one of the world’s leading quantum nations.
This is yet another step forward in the government's efforts to unlock the real-world benefits of quantum, underpinned by the £670 million for quantum computing announced in the Industrial Strategy – one of the largest and longest-term commitments made to this technology, of any government in the world. The government predicts that by 2045, quantum technology could contribute £11 billion to the UK's GDP and create over 100,000 jobs. Lead image: Freepik. |
07/11/2025 02:10 PM | 1 | |
| 50,932 | 07/11/2025 01:00 PM | Applied Computing raises £9M to bring superintelligence to the energy industry | applied-computing-raises-pound9m-to-bring-superintelligence-to-the-energy-industry | 07/11/2025 | London-based AI company Applied Computing, which develops foundation models for the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors, has raised £9 million in seed funding led by Stride.VC and Repeat.vc. Globally, a single refinery can support infrastructure used by up to 18 million people across food, transport, healthcare, and manufacturing. As policymakers and investors pursue net-zero goals, they face an energy transition projected to cost $110 trillion over the next three decades amid signs of slowing investment. Applied Computing addresses this by using advanced AI to improve the efficiency, security, and climate alignment of existing energy infrastructure. Its flagship platform, Orbital, is designed to optimise current assets, not replace them, reducing costs, energy consumption, and emissions. Built on a multi-foundation AI framework that integrates language, time-series, physics, and chemical-engineering models, Orbital delivers explainable, real-world optimisation. It ingests the full data output from downstream energy facilities, far more than traditional systems, and has shown up to 90 per cent improvement over prior state-of-the-art benchmarks on key metrics. Initial deployments focus on heavy industry, starting with oil, gas, and petrochemicals. Callum Adamson, CEO of Applied Computing, said:
In live deployments, Orbital has achieved up to 75 per cent cost savings compared to traditional cloud-based data platforms, with a payback period under ten weeks. Deployed fully on-edge, it combines models across language, physics, chemical engineering, and time-series forecasting to provide real-time intelligence without sending sensitive operational data offsite. Founded in 2025 by Callum Adamson (CEO) and Dr. Sam Tukra (Chief AI Officer), Applied Computing is already working with some of the world’s most complex industrial sites, including one of the largest oil refineries in operation. The round, reported as one of the largest seed financings for a UK-based AI company, underscores growing investor interest in energy technologies that enhance existing infrastructure alongside renewables. The new investment will support new partnerships, international growth, and preparations for a Series A round. |
07/11/2025 01:10 PM | 1 | |
| 50,933 | 07/11/2025 12:07 PM | Aquark Technologies secures €1.6 million Innovate UK contract to advance deployable quantum timing systems | aquark-technologies-secures-euro16-million-innovate-uk-contract-to-advance-deployable-quantum-timing-systems | 07/11/2025 | Eastleigh-based Aquark Technologies, innovators in miniaturising deployable sensing and timing technologies based on cold atoms, today announced it has been awarded a €1.6 million (£1.4 million) contract by Innovate UK. The contract will facilitate the future deployment of Aquark’s cold atom-based atomic clock, AQlock, at a major telecommunications site in the UK. NPL and Purbrook are subcontractors on the project, which will run until the end of March 2026. “It is vital that we protect our telecoms – not just for the benefit of daily civilian life, but also for our national security and economy. It’s therefore an honour to work alongside Innovate UK to bring this project to life,” said Alexander Jantzen, COO and co-founder of Aquark Technologies. According to EU-Startups coverage, there has been similar sector funding active across the continent. In the Netherlands, QT Sense raised €6 million to advance its quantum-sensing platform for biomedical applications. Within the UK, Zero Point Motion secured €4.7 million in pre-Series A funding to develop ultra-sensitive inertial sensors for navigation, while QFX raised €2.2 million to expand its modular quantum hardware platform. In the adjacent quantum computing domain, Phasecraft completed a €29 million Series B to accelerate algorithmic development. Aquark’s government-backed contract therefore complements this pattern of public and private investment aimed at strengthening the UK’s and Europe’s leadership in practical, deployable quantum technologies. “With AQlock 2, we will reduce the UK’s reliance on satellite signals that are vulnerable to jamming, spoofing, solar storms and more. This will help protect millions from the power outages, emergency services and supply chain disruption our networks are at risk of today, as well as address the huge economic losses that can occur as a result,” added Jantzen. Founded in 2021, Aquark Technologies builds and delivers the “world’s smallest and most deployable” cold atom quantum hardware to enhance accuracy, precision, and stability in critical industry operations. Building on deep knowledge in quantum, vacuum engineering, micro-fabrication and photonics, Aquark is dedicated to delivering robust, compact, and energy-efficient quantum hardware, and to making quantum devices more accessible and affordable, ready for use outside controlled lab environments in everyday applications. AQlock enables distributed, GNSS-independent positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). As the project’s lead contractor, Innovate UK is supporting Aquark to demonstrate the product’s commercial readiness and showcase its capability to enhance the UK’s national critical infrastructure, including national network performance. Innovate UK selected Aquark following its application for the competitive Contract for Innovation: Quantum Sensors and PNT Missions Primer. The collaboration follows several successful trials by Aquark with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the Royal Navy, as well as previous contracts with Innovate UK and a recent €2.1 million (£1.9 million) Future Leaders’ Fellowship. Critical infrastructure, including navigation systems, data networks, communications, and power distribution centres, require precise timing and sensor systems that are compact, transportable, and robust. According to the company, the systems currently available to meet these demands are costly, hard to integrate, and rely too heavily on many complex components and fragile supply chains. Aquark’s latest contract with Innovate UK is therefore a step towards preventing the estimated £1 billion daily economic losses associated with GNSS outages and contributes to the UK’s National Quantum Strategy goal to build quantum-powered infrastructure independent of satellite signals. The company outlines that this project will deliver more robust telecommunications networks for millions across the UK, strengthening national infrastructure and solidifying the UK’s position as a leader in scalable quantum sensing solutions. The post Aquark Technologies secures €1.6 million Innovate UK contract to advance deployable quantum timing systems appeared first on EU-Startups. |
07/11/2025 01:10 PM | 6 | |
| 50,934 | 07/11/2025 11:37 AM | Anthropic expands from US with Paris and Munich hubs amid booming European growth | anthropic-expands-from-us-with-paris-and-munich-hubs-amid-booming-european-growth | 07/11/2025 | Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company behind Claude, has announced the opening of new offices in Paris and Munich as part of its accelerated expansion across Europe. Following a year of rapid growth in the EMEA region – where the company has tripled its headcount – these new hubs are set to bolster Anthropic’s presence alongside its existing European bases in London, Dublin, and Zurich. The move comes on the heels of recent global office launches in Tokyo, Seoul, and Bengaluru, underlining the company’s ambition to grow its footprint and commercial operations. “Europe is home to some of the world’s most important and forward-thinking companies,” said Chris Ciauri, Anthropic’s Managing Director of International. “The business leaders I speak to are clear-eyed on both the immense opportunity that AI development represents and the critical importance of safety, reliability, and public trust. With a bigger, broader, and highly specialised leadership team, we’re doubling down on sustained EMEA growth and building the team our European users need.” The expansion of Anthropic into Europe coincides with a period of strong AI investment activity across the continent. In 2025, France-based Mistral AI secured €1.7 billion in Series C funding to advance model development and enterprise adoption, while Nscale in the UK raised €958 million to expand its AI cloud infrastructure. Germany also featured prominently with Helsing attracting €600 million in Series D financing to scale its AI-driven defence technologies. Early-stage activity remained dynamic too, as Spain-based Omnia raised €3.5 million to enhance AI marketing tools and Kabilio secured €4 million to expand AI productivity solutions for accounting firms. Anthropic’s decision to deepen its European footprint – particularly in France and Germany, where AI usage and policy discussions are advancing rapidly – reflects this wider trend of capital flow and ecosystem maturity within the region. Read more on AI funding here. “EMEA has become our fastest-growing region, with a run-rate revenue that has grown more than 9 times in the past year,” the company said in a statement. Backed by tech giants such as Alphabet and Amazon, Anthropic, which was founded in 2021 by ex-OpenAI employees, is currently valued at €158 billion ($183 billion). Over the past year, run-rate revenue in EMEA has grown more than ninefold, making it the fastest-growing region for the company. The number of large EMEA business accounts – those generating over $100k in run-rate revenue – has surged tenfold in the same period. Germany and France, as two of Europe’s largest economies and top 20 global markets for Claude usage per capita, have been earmarked as strategic launchpads. From industrial giants like BMW and SAP to consumer leaders like L’Oréal and digital-first platforms such as N26, Pigment, Qonto and Doctolib, Anthropic’s clients span a broad range of sectors where AI demands precision and trust. To support these ambitions, the company has introduced a regional leadership structure:
Beyond business, Anthropic is fostering local collaboration with educational institutions and cultural initiatives. In Germany, the company is partnering with Light Art Space (LAS) for a major Berlin exhibition, and supporting student-led AI hackathons through TUI.ai at the Technical University of Munich. In France, Anthropic is backing Unaite’s developer community through two 2026 hackathons designed to promote AI education. The company’s research, such as its Anthropic Economic Index, points to AI’s growing impact across Europe in fields like manufacturing, tourism, and digital infrastructure -sectors where Claude is already helping businesses to code, troubleshoot, and innovate at scale. With offices now in 12 cities worldwide, including San Francisco, Seattle, New York, and Washington D.C., Anthropic appears poised to cement its place not just in Silicon Valley, but in Europe as well. The post Anthropic expands from US with Paris and Munich hubs amid booming European growth appeared first on EU-Startups. |
07/11/2025 01:10 PM | 6 | |
| 50,931 | 07/11/2025 11:30 AM | Google, Microsoft, and Meta Have Stopped Publishing Workforce Diversity Data | google-microsoft-and-meta-have-stopped-publishing-workforce-diversity-data | 07/11/2025 | Other big tech companies including Amazon, Apple, and Nvidia have continued their annual disclosures this year even as the Trump administration cracks down on DEI. | 07/11/2025 12:10 PM | 4 | |
| 50,930 | 07/11/2025 10:43 AM | €515 billion at stake – Why the UK can’t afford to miss the SpaceTech boom | euro515-billion-at-stake-why-the-uk-cant-afford-to-miss-the-spacetech-boom | 07/11/2025 | From autonomous agriculture to encrypted finance, satellite-enabled infrastructure underpins 18% of the United Kingdom’s GDP – an estimated €515 million (£454 billion) of economic activity. Yet, as the global space economy booms and European neighbours ramp up capital deployment into sovereign launch systems and orbital manufacturing capabilities, the UK is at risk of drifting in the geopolitical and commercial gravity well of the new space race. This concern is central to The Space Economy: Act Now or Lose Out, the latest report from the House of Lords UK Engagement with Space Committee published this week. The document offers a clear and pressing message: Britain possesses significant potential to lead in the new era of space commerce, but strategic ambiguity, fragmented governance, and underfunding are curbing its ascent. Despite a strong legacy of innovation and a fast-growing startup scene, the report argues that the UK must urgently realign its approach if it wants to remain globally competitive. The Committee, chaired by Baroness Ashton, recommends the immediate appointment of a dedicated Space Minister and the creation of a strategic, costed, and funded plan to deliver on national space capabilities. “Only the most strategic and forward-looking nations will capture the economic and scientific rewards of this new space age,” said Committee chair Baroness Ashton. “With the right leadership, co-ordination, and investment, the UK can be there. Space is transforming the world, and our report found much to be positive about. Britain should play a role in leading that transformation or risk being left behind.” The numbersThe UK space sector currently employs around 55,000 people – many in high-productivity roles generating an average of €149k (£129k) annually, more than double the national average. Yet while the sector has grown at an average rate of 6.4% since 2000, it recently contracted by 8.9% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. Analysts attribute this to global inflation, supply chain disruptions, and the lingering impacts of Brexit and COVID-19. More worryingly, the government’s own audit found no clear picture of how much is being spent across departments, and the UK invests just 0.05% of GDP in space – significantly less than its French and Italian counterparts – according to Professor Brian Cox, Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester. And this lack of investment comes at a time of rapid transformation. Globally, the space sector is worth over €406 billion ($469 billion) and is forecast to grow to €2 trillion (£1.8 trillion) by 2035. Since 2015, over €40 billion ($47 billion) in private capital has flowed into space ventures, with 77% of the global space sector now commercially driven. In the UK, the number of space firms has exploded from 227 in 2006 to 1,907 in 2024. Yet scale remains elusive: despite the breadth of its research base and technical talent, the country has not seen a major space breakout success in recent years. How does the UK measure up?This issue is sharply illustrated by the 2025 investment landscape. Across Europe, the year has marked a significant acceleration in SpaceTech funding, with at least a dozen ventures announcing new rounds. According to EU-Startups coverage, the UK accounts for three: Space Forge (€26.8 million), Spaceflux (€6.1 million), and ALL.SPACE (€3.4 million in grant funding). Together, they represent a combined raise of approximately €36 million – modest compared with their continental peers, yet indicative of Britain’s capability in areas like in-orbit manufacturing, orbital debris tracking, and satellite infrastructure. Joshua Western, CEO of Space Forge, noted that, whilst his firm had been successful in garnering state and private investment in the UK, “the quantum of funding that is available for scale-up companies doing as hard as a technology as we are in space is difficult to find in the UK”. In contrast, France and Germany are dominating investment headlines. French startups Look Up and UNIVITY raised €50 million and €44 million respectively, supported by a coordinated national focus on connectivity and collision-avoidance systems. Germany’s Reflex Aerospace and HyImpulse Technologies brought in another €95 million combined, targeting satellite design and independent European launch systems. This concentration of funding reflects a deeper industrial strategy tied to EU-level co-financing and sovereign capability-building – something the UK has yet to replicate. Elsewhere in Europe, countries like Spain, Italy and Belgium are developing propulsion systems, ultralight solar panels, and onboard AI through startups such as Kreios Space (€8 million), Astradyne (€2 million), and EDGX (€2.3 million). Other relevant funding rounds include Italy’s Titan4 (€4 million) and Spain’s Orbital Paradigm (€1.5 million). When taking these funding rounds into account, Europe’s SpaceTech scene has the look of maturing and diversifying, with significant state and supranational support driving momentum. What needs to changeWhen viewed in this context, the UK’s SpaceTech profile stands out for its agility rather than scale. British startups are carving out high-value niches aligned with commercial satellite services, in-orbit logistics, and space domain awareness-areas likely to underpin the future of downstream space services. However, as the House of Lords report makes clear, this model cannot thrive on private initiative alone. The sector suffers from fragmented governance across departments, a lack of procurement-led growth strategies, and acute skills shortages – 95% of UK space firms report difficulty in hiring appropriately trained talent. The report calls for structural changes, including the creation of a Space Skills Taskforce and an overhaul of the grant-dominated funding model. Shifting towards public procurement could help crowd in private capital and encourage more firms to scale domestically. A single Space Minister and a cross-government “Space Champion” could help align objectives across departments currently operating in silos. Beyond economics, the report warns of the UK’s growing vulnerability due to space infrastructure dependencies. Satellite-enabled systems are not only crucial to financial transactions, agriculture, and transport but also to climate monitoring and national security. According to analysts cited in the report, losing access to Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) services could cost the UK €1.1 billion (£1 billion) per day. As such, the committee argues that satellite services should be formally recognised as Critical National Infrastructure. Where does the UK go from here?One of the report’s most striking insights is how quickly global dynamics are shifting. In 2006, the UK had just over 200 space firms. In 2024, that figure is nearing 2,000. Yet if current trends continue, without strategic reform, the country may find itself overwhelmed by better-coordinated and better-funded competitors. This divergence is already visible in the disparity between the UK’s stated ambitions and actual investment. While documents like the 2021 National Space Strategy and the 2024 Space Industrial Plan offer a strong policy direction, follow-through remains inconsistent. Ultimately, if the UK can marry its commercial agility with the scale, certainty, and coordination seen on the continent, Britain could secure a leading role in the next phase of the space economy. If it cannot, it risks becoming an innovation hub without a growth engine – brilliant at launching ideas, but not industries. The post €515 billion at stake – Why the UK can’t afford to miss the SpaceTech boom appeared first on EU-Startups. |
07/11/2025 11:10 AM | 6 | |
| 50,929 | 07/11/2025 10:40 AM | Anthropic to open offices in Paris and Munich | anthropic-to-open-offices-in-paris-and-munich | 07/11/2025 | The US AI lab behind the chatbot Claude is opening offices in Paris and Munich, as it looks to grow its European footprint. San Francisco–based Anthropic has also made a number of personnel appointments across Europe, where it employs nearly 200 people. The new Paris and Munich offices build on Anthropic’s existing EMEA headquarters in Dublin and offices in London and Zurich. Outside of the US, it also has offices in Tokyo, Seoul and Bengaluru. Separately, Guillaume Princen, who joined Anthropic earlier this year as head of EMEA, has been appointed EMEA head of startups, mid-market and digital native businesses. Thomas Remy, a former Google executive, has been appointed head of EMEA South, while Pip White, a former HP executive, has been appointed head of UK, Ireland, and Northern Europe. The San Francisco-based firm, valued at $183bn in September this year, says that Europe is now its fastest-growing region in terms of revenue, but did not divulge specific numbers. Examples of European firms working with Claude include L’Oréal, BMW, SAP, Lovable and N26. Chris Ciauri, Anthropic’s managing director of international, said: “The business leaders I speak to are clear-eyed on both the immense opportunity that AI development represents and the critical importance of safety, reliability, and public trust. "With a bigger, broader, and highly specialised leadership team, we’re doubling down on sustained EMEA growth and building the team our European users need.” |
07/11/2025 11:10 AM | 1 | |
| 50,927 | 07/11/2025 09:30 AM | Europe’s urban shared mobility needs a brain — SWITCH built one. | europes-urban-shared-mobility-needs-a-brain-switch-built-one | 07/11/2025 | Cities are under mounting pressure to manage an increasingly complex mobility landscape. Shared e-scooters, bikes and cars, on-demand delivery fleets, EV-charging needs, shifting commuter patterns, and new regulations have made urban transport harder to plan and optimise than ever. Operators are often left juggling siloed data, unpredictable demand, and costly manual decision-making, while city authorities struggle to design infrastructure that keeps pace with real behaviour on the ground. SWITCH (short for "Street Witch) is an Italian startup that provides agentic AI that can simulate, forecast, and act in real time, helping mobility and logistics stakeholders move from reactive operations to intelligent, data-driven systems that run efficiently and serve cities better. I spoke to SWITCH CMO Simone Ridolfi at the recent Bologna Gathering to learn more. From the Rome car-sharing App to AI mobility intelligenceSWITCH was founded in February 2020. It originally started as a consumer app in Rome, to match demand and supply, enabling users to "switch" cars with people. Then COVID hit. And while everything stopped, the team used that time to listen to operators and pivot their app to cater to people eschewing public transport for car sharing and micromobility. Ridolfi says the turning point came when the company hired specialised talent — including a Chief AI Officer — and doubled down on solving operators' real-world problems with AI and data. "We never stopped talking to operators. That's how we built what they actually needed," he says. Inside SWITCH's AI toolkitIn response to industry needs, SWITCH has developed a suite of AI tech, including:
The power of open dataCities generate a significant amount of open public data, including street layouts, traffic flows and congestion, parking information, and event details. "If you have a strong model to predict demand and use all this open data, the value becomes very interesting," contends Ridolfi. The startup works with shared mobility operators, carpooling platforms and Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) services —primarily in micromobility, but also increasingly in car-sharing. Currently almost all shared mobility providers use historical data models, but they're not very precise — or they rely on gut feeling. "For example, they think, 'Okay, let's put all the scooters in the city centre because a lot of people go there.' That might work for one day, but if you distribute scooters across the city based on predicted demand, you'll get more rides. We help them do that and calculate the impact. On average, we see a 25 per cent increase in operational efficiency," shared Ridolfi. "We help operators forecast future demand with much greater precision," Ridolfi explains.
Further, a car-rental operator might use their demand-forecasting module to decide how many vehicles to buy/position in different zones, when to offer discounts, and when to relocate vehicles. SWITCH also uses flight event data — arrivals and departures — to predict demand so providers know how many cars to position at airports. Real-time data responsivenessSWITCH's AI agent that connects a company's data with external platforms and with its demand prediction and optimisation models. You can receive data in a minute, and two minutes later, you'll get suggestions on what to do.
A shared mobility provider can use SWITCH's demand prediction to understand demand concentration in different city zones to know where to place scooters. Its rebalancing and forecast tools can guide them to proactively move vehicles to high-demand spots, avoiding oversupply/undersupply. For a new mobility launch, that means knowing how many vehicles to deploy, how many rides to expect, and when you'll hit break-even. Crucially, SWITCH can also help companies determine whether to enter a new market. For example, one micromobility company wanted to operate in a city in Norway. According to Ridolfi, "there are tenders, but they didn't know if they would be profitable — how many competitors, how many rides, etc.
It would have been beneficial in Berlin, which at one point had seven different e-scooter and e-bike operators competing for the same streets. Although operators are reluctant to share vehicle utilisation data, research indicates a single shared e-scooter is often used fewer than three times per day, for trips averaging under 1.5 km. That means long periods of idle time and significant public-space clutter relative to actual mobility output. Urbiverse powered a launch with shared mobility operator Wayla by modelling every key dimension of their rollout — from fleet size and vehicle placement to ride volume and profitability. The simulation, built on real-world data and dynamic modelling, delivered 92 per cent accuracy when compared to actual launch outcomes. This level of precision enabled the operator to transition from guesswork to a data-driven strategy, significantly reducing risk and refining deployment decisions. Data-Driven policy (and clarity) for cities and operatorsFurther, SWITCH's Urbiverse platform enables local governments to optimise shared mobility fleets, strategically place micromobility hubs and EV charging stations, and simulate policy impacts before implementation. By generating synthetic data when real-time data is unavailable, Urbiverse ensures officials can make informed decisions despite data gaps. Urban Copilot enhances Mobility-as-a-Service by predicting fleet availability so vehicles are in the right place at the right time. Another point is policy. Ridolfi contends that "cities need time to understand the impact of micromobility — but often they don't have the tools to measure it." Take London, where public e-scooters have been in trial phase since 2028 and are set to run until 2028. Yet mobility providers invest now, and then one day the city might say "No more scooters," like in Paris, leaving dozens of vehicles to be sold. "With SWITCH tools, operators can also become part of the city's planning process. They can be proactive, not reactive," shared Ridolfi.
SWITCH raised €600,000 from private investors in January, including EIT Mobility and Berkeley SkyDeck — the startup was part of Berkeley SkyDeck's first acceleration program in Milan — as well as around €400,000 in public grants since its inception. The startup is currently part of the NVIDIA Inception Program. And, as its reach expands, the days of idle scooters, underused fleets and reactive policy may finally be numbered. Lead image: Freepik. |
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| 50,928 | 07/11/2025 09:20 AM | Klarna launches rival direct debit payment method in Germany | klarna-launches-rival-direct-debit-payment-method-in-germany | 07/11/2025 | Klarna has struck a deal to allow its customers to make recurring payments by a new payment method heralded as the latest iteration of open banking, which is looking to compete with direct debit payments. The Swedish financial company is partnering with Sparkassen, Germany’s largest banking group, to launch Variable Recurring Payments, also known as VRPs, in Germany. VRPs have long been touted as open banking’s hot new initiative to rival direct debit payments. The deal with Sparkassen means that Klarna customers with an external Sparkassen bank account can set up an authorisation for Klarna to take recurring payments from their account, without needing to specify the value of the payment up front. Recurring payments for varying amounts can be made, without the customer needing to sign off each one. VRPs are expected to be used to pay for utility bills, subscriptions and other regular payments in a more flexible way. The move comes as Klarna looks to take market share from card giants Visa and MasterCard. Advocates of VRPs say its advantages over direct debit payments are that regular payments can be customised and are quicker and safer, with payments appearing immediately in accounts. Nicole Defren, head of northern and central Europe at Klarna, said: “VRP sets a new benchmark for digital payments for millions of consumers. "With Variable Recurring Payments, Klarna offers a modern, account-based alternative to traditional direct debits — secure, fast, convenient, and fully transparent. Together with the Sparkassen Finanzgruppe, Klarna continues to expand an innovative and future-ready payments network.” |
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| 50,925 | 07/11/2025 09:00 AM | Upway raises $60M to refurbish 1 million e-bikes by 2030 | upway-raises-dollar60m-to-refurbish-1-million-e-bikes-by-2030 | 07/11/2025 | Paris-based Upway, a platform for refurbished e-bikes, closed a $60 million Series C round led by A.P. Moller Holding, with participation from Galvanize, Ora Global, and renewed backing from Korelya Capital, Sequoia Capital, Exor Ventures, Transition, and Origins. Founded in 2021, Upway operates internationally and combines industrial expertise, proprietary technology, and a circular-economy approach. The company has refurbished and sold over 100,000 e-bikes and aims to return more than one million to the road by 2030. Its services also include financing, insurance, maintenance, and subscriptions. Its mission is to extend the life of e-bikes and make sustainable mobility widely accessible. According to co-founders Stéphane Ficaja and Toussaint Wattinne, Upway was built on the belief that sustainable light mobility depends on a circular model:
Upway buys used e-bikes, refurbishes them in-house to rigorous standards, and sells them online with a one-year warranty and home delivery. The catalogue spans more than 200 brands and 2,500 models, typically priced about 45 per cent below new, often saving buyers over €1,000 per bike, and each unit undergoes a 50-point inspection by trained mechanics. Refurbished e-bikes can replace short car trips, helping reduce congestion and cut CO₂ emissions by up to 90 per cent per kilometre, while diverting thousands of bikes from landfill and supporting a circular economy. Regular e-bike use (around 15 km per day) is associated with a 40 per cent lower risk of heart attack and may help address obesity and air pollution. With the new financing, Upway plans to accelerate its industrial and digital growth by opening additional UpCenters in Europe and North America. The investment will also support the rollout of new digital
services, including financing, insurance, maintenance, and subscription options,
aimed at making electric biking simpler, more affordable, and more accessible
to a wider audience. |
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| 50,926 | 07/11/2025 08:22 AM | The corporate delusion: How to sabotage your own hiring | the-corporate-delusion-how-to-sabotage-your-own-hiring | 07/11/2025 | I’m an ex-GM at Uber and am now building a startup in the UK, and I have one very painful question: Why is hiring for a startup in the UK so damn difficult? Within our entrepreneurial network, we often see the repercussions of poor hiring. Dying from bad hires is faster and easier than from a bullet to the head. It’s always the same story: startups struggle to hire the best people, lower or alternate their standards, and onboard people who don’t fit. The project then starts to underperform, never meets its revenue goals, and dissatisfies investors. And that’s the end. All the while, these wrong hires just update their resumes and move on. The real problem isn’t with these “resume-seekers” but with a lack of coherence: startups dream of growing into huge corporations and fail in hiring because they jump the gun and start hiring like one. This always happens subconsciously. The ambition to become huge fools people and leads them to make decisions that go against their will and mojo. The JourneymenSo, why is closing any position in tech, finance, or operations such a challenge, especially when you are a well-funded, fast-growing, ambitious project that offers above-average salaries and an outstanding team? My answer is precisely because you are a well-funded, fast-growing, ambitious project. The truth is, a lot of the people we interview are not really interested in disrupting an entire country’s economy, building a unicorn, or changing the lives of thousands of people. Instead, they are building their resumes, which is a completely separate task that has nothing in common with the future unicorn’s goals. It’s worth noting that the UK’s work culture is currently shifting, in part due to Revolut. We’ve observed that people who have worked at Revolut are much more results-oriented than the average population. The numerous startups founded by Revolut alumni are only accelerating this trend. To sort this out, I came up with a pretty elaborate system of green and red flags that worked well for my interviews. But then I delved into my past at Uber and saw that it worked in a pretty similar way. The same toolset for a startup and a huge corporation—that’s weird. It was only then that I saw the real pattern behind all of this. Red flagsLet me explain this concept using the “green” and “red” flags I’ve mentioned. For example, there are a number of things that trigger me during an audition. A huge number of people say that exposure to founders is important to them. But this is something that happens automatically when you come up with and deliver cool projects. The most important quality to master for this is to get shit done, and that’s what we should actually be discussing. Another trigger is when people worry about what their job title will be. This is fine, but it doesn’t align with what any startup aims to do: revolutionise an industry! What’s really important are the scope of your role and the opportunity to make an impact at scale, and obviously, the opportunity to earn good money when the company achieves its objectives. Think of the early role in the next Revolut as your last job you applied for with a CV. An obvious trigger, but one that needs to be mentioned, is when the first thing a person asks, during an evening interview, “Do you always work this late?” In general, any questions about work-life balance are a trigger if they are discussed before responsibilities and tasks. It should be clear to everyone that working at a startup isn’t a 9-to-5 job, but it’s not an investment bank either. I’m also triggered by memorised, rehearsed speeches. You want a bit of spontaneity and confidence. It’s very appealing when you communicate as equals. Green flagsThe main green flag is when a person independently, and without help, builds their own vision on top of what’s written in the job description and understands the bigger goal the startup is pursuing. You think, “Wow, we didn’t even tell you that.” There is a percentage of candidates who, during the call, start saying “we” instead of “you” and quickly become part of the team. This happens unconsciously, but we are convinced every time that it’s a very good sign. These people quickly integrate into the team, get involved in tasks, and start working toward the common goal. You also have to pay attention to how a person presents a case: what arguments they make and how grounded they are in reality. This shows how they will take initiative and complete tasks. The ability to maintain a well-reasoned, intellectual conversation on a topic and think broadly in the area for which they will be responsible. Pre-screeningDuring screening, we look for signs of excellence. We like to find rising stars early on and look for signs that they are amazing. Maybe they were first in their class at a good university. A fast career track at well-known companies, like the Big 3 or an audit firm, also works. You can grow fast there, but you have to be very talented. Unusual projects that a person took on with great responsibility are also a good sign. Sports achievements can also be a good sign that a person is driven to be the best and is ready to invest a lot. On the other hand, red flags are an obscure university, unclear career paths after that, and frequent job changes. I don’t want to be the first one to check whether this person is exceptional and test if the previous track record is just a mistake. We are not rejecting them; we are simply deprioritising them and thus lowering their chances of getting a job with us. Hire them as your number-two employeeAll of these rules aren’t about the fact that hiring in every startup must necessarily be done in accordance with them. They are about a startup’s need for a sense of homogeneity throughout its life. These rules are in place so that I can hire people with whom I am personally comfortable spending most of my life, which is dedicated to one thing: making huge changes in a specific industry. We just have to be aligned on the extent to which that big goal overshadows everything else. These are my personal rules that help me maintain the same feeling, communication style, informality, hunger, and focus on the goal that my partners and I had when we were just the three of us brainstorming the project. Surprisingly, I had the same feeling at Uber: the company was growing, but it was able to maintain the startup culture during hiring and only hired people who would fit an Uber-startup, not an Uber-corporation. Often, startups lose their authenticity as they grow and apply different hiring rules that are only suitable for corporations. Therefore, the question I ask myself when hiring the hundredth person for my team is: would I hire them if they were not person number one hundred, but number three? The post The corporate delusion: How to sabotage your own hiring appeared first on EU-Startups. |
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| 50,924 | 07/11/2025 07:00 AM | Balnord closes €70 million first round to back frontier and dual-use tech across the Baltic Sea Region | balnord-closes-euro70-million-first-round-to-back-frontier-and-dual-use-tech-across-the-baltic-sea-region | 07/11/2025 | Balnord, a Luxembourg-based early stage investor for the Baltic Sea Region, has announced this morning that it has oversubscribed its €70 million fund target and is well on its way to achieving a final close of €100 million by mid-2026. LPs backing the fund include the European Investment Fund, PFR Ventures, and European family offices, founders, and private investors from around the world. Balnord counts LPs in three continents and 12 countries. Most prior-fund LPs have reinvested in Balnord Fund I; among new LPs, many are founders of its exited portfolio companies. “We’re investing in the backbone of European industrialisation. We have already invested around €13 million in 10 companies. The first four of them raised €40 million in subsequent investment rounds, generating revenues of €35 million this year,” commented Marcin P. Kowalik, General Partner at Balnord. Balnord’s oversubscribed first close situates it within a 2025 European funding landscape increasingly oriented towards industrial resilience, dual-use technology, and regionally anchored DeepTech ecosystems. Across Europe, several funds announced this year reflect similar strategic priorities:
Balnord’s positioning – backing frontier and dual-use technologies across the Baltic Sea Region – aligns closely with these themes, particularly the Baltic-region DeepTech focus seen at Iron Wolf Capital. Its inclusion of the EIF as a limited partner further mirrors institutional activity supporting strategic sectors; notably, the EIF also backs Suma Capital’s ClimateTech vehicle. As EU-Startups recently observed in its broader review of policy-driven capital flows, the European VC landscape is shifting “from climate to resilience,” with new instruments reinforcing security, defence, and industrial innovation priorities (EU-Startups, Oct 2025). Within this context, Balnord’s fund contributes to a continental movement directing capital toward Europe’s re-industrialisation and technological sovereignty — areas now drawing sustained investor and public-sector attention. “There has never been a stronger time for Europe to build resilient and enduring tech companies. We’ve never seen a more significant and liquid opportunity to create and build technologies that will shape the modern world in the coming decade,” added Kowalik. Founded in 2024 and focused primarily on founders from the Baltic Sea Region (Nordics, Baltics, Poland, Germany), Balnord backs companies that are laying the foundation for Europe’s re-industrialisation in the real economy across sectors such as space, healthcare, industrial resilience, and more. According to the firm, Europe is undergoing the most significant wave of industrialisation in decades, and European frontier-tech dual-use technology companies are poised to define the next generation of winners. It is estimated that €1 trillion is ready to be invested annually across the continent, solving the most complex problems and tackling reindustrialisation – Balnord believes that the next wave of unicorns will emerge in this space. The new fund will invest in at least 22 companies and can make significant follow-on investments. Initial investments will range from €500k to €3 million, with follow-on investments up to €12 million per company. “As a team, we’ve been working together for nine years already, putting together a like-minded group of mission-driven investors and operators with the sole intention of helping founders with their toughest challenges. “We’re backing resilient entrepreneurs who are raising the bar on ambition, aiming to build billion-dollar companies across the Baltic Sea Region – where we can make a GDP-level impact. We’re not just investing in companies – we back founders and help them build movements,” added Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, General Partner at Balnord. The Balnord team includes General Partners Marcin P. Kowalik and Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, as well as Operating Partners Jarosław Pilarczyk, Wojciech Drewczyński, Hubert Szczołek, and Gabriele Poteliunaite. Balnord’s team is split between Gdansk, Luxembourg, and Berlin. Balnord has also created a founders board to support its investments, which includes Peter Bialo, co-founder of DocPlanner, the first Polish company to be valued over $1 billion, and Davis Siksnans, former founder & CEO of Printful, the first Latvian unicorn, and now CEO of Mapon, a leading B2B telematics company. “This fund will help drive innovation in key sectors such as defence and space, directly supporting the EU’s commitment to addressing pressing challenges. Investing in Balnord enables us to further contribute to the EU’s strategic objectives, ensuring that Europe remains at the forefront of technological innovation and capable of meeting future demands,” said Marjut Falkstedt, EIF Chief Executive. Balnord Fund I has already invested in 10 companies, including:
Other frontier tech and dual-use investments include companies working across space, industrial resilience, and tech bio. Sebastian Klaus, CEO of ATMOS Space Cargo, said, “Working with Balnord feels like having a partner who truly gets it. Their team’s entrepreneurial experience means they understand the ups and downs of building a company. They’re not just investors – they’re company builders and supporters.” To date, Balnord has co-invested alongside leading DeepTech funds, including Expansion, Matterwave, APEX Ventures, Seraphim, OTB, Inventure, Voima Ventures, and Bek Ventures (formerly Earlybird Digital East). “Balnord is already putting its raised capital to work, supporting entrepreneurs. Among them are the Polish founders of Microamp, a DeepTech project focused on 5G connectivity that previously took part in NATO’s DIANA accelerator, and SATIM, which has recently established partnerships with ICEYE and local armaments companies. “We’re also seeing the fund’s strong commitment to fostering the regional DeepTech ecosystem, going well beyond its investment activity. I believe that founders will truly benefit from this approach, and it’s one of the reasons we felt confident allocating our capital to Balnord Fund I,” says Rozalia Urbanek, Board Member of PFR Ventures The post Balnord closes €70 million first round to back frontier and dual-use tech across the Baltic Sea Region appeared first on EU-Startups. |
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| 50,923 | 07/11/2025 07:00 AM | Balnord unveils €70M fund for frontier and dual-use tech across the Baltics | balnord-unveils-euro70m-fund-for-frontier-and-dual-use-tech-across-the-baltics | 07/11/2025 | Balnord, an early-stage investor focused on the Baltic Sea region, announced it has exceeded its €70 million fund target and is on track for a final close of €100 million by mid-2026. The firm targets companies advancing Europe’s technological reindustrialisation, investing in frontier and dual-use technologies with emphasis on space, healthcare, and industrial resilience. Europe is undergoing a significant reindustrialisation, with frontier-tech and dual-use companies likely to play an important role. Annual investment across the continent is estimated at around €1 trillion to address complex challenges and support this shift. Balnord anticipates that high-growth companies will emerge in this segment.
commented Marcin P. Kowalik, General Partner at Balnord. Balnord’s strategy is to support Europe’s technological autonomy and reindustrialisation across sectors, including space, healthcare, and industrial resilience. Drawing on its founders’ experience as entrepreneurs and operators, the firm plans to support teams from the first round through exit. The fund plans to invest in at least 22 companies, with initial investments ranging from €500,000 to €3 million, with follow-on investments of up to €12 million per company. Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, General Partner at Balnord, noted that the team has been collaborating for nine years, bringing together a group of mission-driven investors and operators united by a shared goal of supporting founders in overcoming their most difficult challenges.
Balnord has invested in 10 companies to date, seven of which are currently public, including ATMOS Space Cargo (Germany), Vitvio (Poland), Astrolight (Lithuania), Microamp (Poland), Port.app (UK) and Satim (Poland). The firm has co-invested with funds such as Expansion, Matterwave, APEX Ventures, Seraphim, OTB, Inventure, Voima Ventures, and Bek Ventures (formerly Earlybird Digital East). Limited partners include the European Investment Fund, PFR Ventures, and European family offices, founders, and private investors. |
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| 50,922 | 06/11/2025 10:31 PM | Tesla Shareholders Approve Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Pay Package | tesla-shareholders-approve-elon-musks-dollar1-trillion-pay-package | 06/11/2025 | The unprecedented payday will go into full effect by 2035—as long as Tesla hits ambitious financial and production targets. | 06/11/2025 11:10 PM | 4 | |
| 50,920 | 06/11/2025 04:35 PM | Paris-based Hoora raises €1.1 million to build the “TikTok for gaming” and reshape mobile game discovery | paris-based-hoora-raises-euro11-million-to-build-the-tiktok-for-gaming-and-reshape-mobile-game-discovery | 06/11/2025 | French gaming app Hoora announced a €1.1 million ($1.3 million) fundraising round to blend social-media mechanics with instant-access gameplay – marking a key step in its ambition to become the “TikTok for gaming.” The project has attracted investors including Kima Ventures, Mathias Salanon (ex-Voodoo, Ubisoft), Nicolas Steegmann (Stupeflix exit to GoPro), Jean-Guillaume Kleis (Keleops), as well as experts in influence and Gen Z such as Arthur Kannas and Sophie Noël (Heaven exit to Hopscotch), Guillaume and Maxime Doki-Thonon (Reech exit to Dekuple). Along with influencers such as Charles Philip and Dany Graells Lehoucq aka Unchained, and Johan Lelièvre aka Jojol. Finally, founder Romain Mussault, together with long-time investors Owen Simonin and Hector Sohier (Initial Agency), is also strengthening his position in this round. “Our technology allows us to offer an experience that matches mobile habits: fast, smooth, and frictionless,” explains Flavien Marianacci, co-founder and CTO of Hoora. “We designed Hoora so that each game launches instantly, redefining how people play on mobile.” This fundraising by Hoora sits within a restrained but still active European gaming-startup landscape. Larger rounds such as Ultra’s €10.8 million in Estonia and VOYA Games’ €4.4 million in Germany show sustained investor confidence in the broader European gaming ecosystem. Smaller but conceptually adjacent rounds such as TILKI’s €1.8 million for AI-assisted game creation and PlaySafe ID’s €1 million for gaming safety indicate diversified funding themes spanning production, platforms, and player protection. Notably, Reality Games (UK) also secured €4.3 million to expand its real-world-mapping game platform Within this context, Hoora’s French round represents an early-stage push toward new modes of mobile game discovery and engagement, complementing a year in which the European gaming sector has remained active across both content and technology layers. “Hoora is not just a gaming app; it’s a new entertainment format – one for a generation that scrolls more than it downloads,” emphasises Romain Mussault, founder and CEO of Hoora. “This fundraising allows us to accelerate our development and strengthen our growth in Europe before tackling the U.S. market, where our initial tests are already very promising.” Founded in 2023, Hoora is a mobile platform inspired by social media mechanics – it allows users to instantly discover thousands of games without downloading, through a fluid, fast, and social experience. In just a few months, the app has surpassed 100,000 downloads. The company was founded by Romain Mussault, who launched his first successful app – generating over €100k in profits in a single month – before creating two influencer and digital acquisition agencies generating more than €10 million in revenue. Alongside him, Nicolas Marchal (COO), who has been part of the journey since the beginning, and Flavien Marianacci (CTO) form the founding core of the project. Hoora offers a unique experience: a mobile app where users simply scroll to instantly discover thousands of games – no downloads, no waiting. With a single gesture, users access a continuous feed of games designed for a fast, smooth, and accessible experience, capable of entertaining anywhere, anytime. In a global mobile gaming market estimated at over $90 billion, Hoora stands out as an alternative to the traditional download model. By combining instant access, diversity, and continuous discovery, the platform looks to bring mobile gaming into a new era. Deployed in test mode across several European markets – France, the UK, Belgium, and Switzerland – the app reportedly shows record performance, with a user acquisition cost well below market standards. In the long term, Hoora aims to build a sustainable economic model inspired by Spotify, where developers can publish their games and generate revenue. This approach seeks to create a virtuous ecosystem, beneficial for both creators and players, while rethinking mobile game monetisation. The post Paris-based Hoora raises €1.1 million to build the “TikTok for gaming” and reshape mobile game discovery appeared first on EU-Startups. |
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| 50,919 | 06/11/2025 03:35 PM | Madrid’s Devengo raises €2 million as EU Instant Payments Regulation accelerates A2A innovation | madrids-devengo-raises-euro2-million-as-eu-instant-payments-regulation-accelerates-a2a-innovation | 06/11/2025 | Devengo, a Spanish FinTech specialising in account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure, has closed a pre-Series A funding round worth €2 million, combining debt and equity, to offer multi-sector infrastructure for instant payments. The round features participation from Bankinter, Demium, and Banco Sabadell as lead investors, alongside continued support from existing partners such as TheVentureCity, Wayra – the corporate venture capital division of Telefónica – and Business Angels. “The entry of banks into Devengo’s capital structure is a clear signal of the strength of our value proposition and reinforces the solidity of our capital structure,” explains Fernando Cabello-Astolfi, CEO and co-founder of Devengo. This funding round comes amid a broader wave of European activity in account-to-account and payment infrastructure ventures. In early 2025, Open Payments (Sweden) raised €3 million to expand its B2B integration platform, while Payrails (Germany) closed €27.7 million to accelerate product innovation and commercial growth across EMEA. In the same period, Two (Norway) secured €13 million to scale its B2B payments offering, and UK-based players Navro and Yaspa attracted €36 million and €10.1 million respectively for global and regulated-sector payments solutions. While Devengo’s round is comparatively modest, it highlights the emergence of Spain-based players in a segment largely dominated by Northern European FinTechs. With the EU Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) fostering regulatory momentum for real-time euro transfers, the company’s focus on direct Iberpay connectivity and API-first design positions it within a Europe-wide trend of modernising payment infrastructure and enabling instant, programmable transactions across the SEPA zone. Andrés Dancausa, General Partner at TheVentureCity, added: “Devengo has everything it takes to lead instant account-to-account paymentsin the SEPA zone and become a key player in the modernisation of European payment infrastructure.” Founded in 2020, DEVENGO is focused on account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure, offering instant payment solutions for multiple sectors. With its direct connection to Iberpay and API-first architecture, Devengo enables automatic, instant, programmable, and intelligent payments for companies looking to optimise their payment processes, reduce operational costs, and improve their value proposition. The FinTech says they stand out for their pioneering model of direct technical connection with the Iberpay clearing house, reportedly eliminating dependence on traditional banking intermediaries and offering greater efficiency and control over payment operations. Its direct access to the national payment system, combined with specialised regulatory knowledge, enables a differentiated value proposition in terms of speed, security, and scalability. “Their API-first approach, their understanding of modern businesses’ needs, and their execution capabilities position them as a natural partner to build the future of instant payments,” added Dancausa. The funding will allow Devengo to accelerate its geographic expansion across the SEPA zone (Single European Payments Area) and strengthen its position amid growing demand for instant payments in Europe. Additionally, the company plans to incorporate next-generation payment protocols early on, such as Request to Pay and instant international transfers, anticipating regulatory and technological trends in the European payments ecosystem. EU-Startups previously mentioned Devengo in its coverage of the We Make Future 2024 startup competition, where the company was listed among participating startups, but this is the first time its funding activity has been reported in detail. The post Madrid’s Devengo raises €2 million as EU Instant Payments Regulation accelerates A2A innovation appeared first on EU-Startups. |
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| 50,918 | 06/11/2025 02:38 PM | Schlieren-based life science startup arcoris bio lands €6.7 million to advance biomarker detection platform | schlieren-based-life-science-startup-arcoris-bio-lands-euro67-million-to-advance-biomarker-detection-platform | 06/11/2025 | arcoris bio, a Swiss life science research tools and in vitro diagnostics company, has secured €6.7 million (CHF 6.3 million) in an oversubscribed Seed financing round to advance the development and commercialisation of its breakthrough MUSE biomarker detection platform. The round was co-led by Ventura Ace and ZEISS Ventures, with participation from Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) and both existing and new private investors. “Attracting two lead investors with deep industry expertise is a strong validation of our technical and business strategy. This support empowers us in our mission of transforming biomarker detection and digital pathology,” commented Simon Restrepo, co-founder and CSO arcoris bio. In 2025, European startups developing life-science research tools, diagnostics, and biomarker-detection technologies have continued to attract early-stage investment.
Against this backdrop, arcoris bio’s €6.7 million Seed financing positions the Swiss firm within a broader European movement to industrialise and scale next-generation biomarker and diagnostic technologies. Its MUSE platform, focusing on multiplex biomarker detection and digital pathology, reflects a shared trend toward enabling higher-sensitivity, data-rich diagnostic solutions. While comparable rounds in Sweden and France remain smaller, the company’s Swiss base and strong venture backing place it among the more substantial early-stage players in this fast-developing European diagnostics tools landscape. Matyas Vegh, CEO arcoris bio, added: “Securing this financing marks a major milestone for arcoris bio. In a challenging market, we are grateful for the trust our investors have placed in our vision. Their support empowers us to bring our innovations to market faster, strengthen our operations, and scale to meet growing industry demand.” Founded in 2022 by Simon Restrepo and Scott E. Fraser, together with entrepreneur H. Kaspar Binz, arcoris bio develops tech for biomarker detection in research and diagnostics. Its flagship MUSE platform provides universal, programmable signal amplification to enable highly sensitive and multiplex assays and advance digital pathology. MUSE enables researchers to detect multiple biomarkers simultaneously with “unprecedented” ease and sensitivity. By allowing the measurement of several difficult-to-detect biomarkers within a single sample at higher throughput. Andreas Jenne, Investment Director at Ventura Ace, said: “We have been impressed by the arcoris bio team’s vision and early traction with industry partners. We believe MUSE represents a truly enabling technology for digital pathology.” The financing will enable arcoris bio to industrialise MUSE and expand strategic partnerships and launch new products. “arcoris bio’s MUSE technology fills a critical gap in the market to enable better diagnostics and applications like drug discovery or precision medicine. Its universal applicability is particularly exciting – MUSE acts like a molecular GPU, amplifying the capabilities of existing biomarker platforms and opening new paths for innovation,” highlighted Benedikt Klaes, Senior Investment Manager at ZEISS Ventures. The post Schlieren-based life science startup arcoris bio lands €6.7 million to advance biomarker detection platform appeared first on EU-Startups. |
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