In summary: Meta has hired five founding members of Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup built by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, after she rejected a reported $1 billion acquisition offer. The most expensive individual hire, co-founder Andrew Tulloch, reportedly received a $1.5 billion package over six years. The talent raid is part of a […]

Summary: John Ternus, Apple’s incoming CEO effective 1 September, is a 50-year-old mechanical engineer who reversed a period of declining product quality, personally lobbied for the creation of iPadOS, oversaw the Apple Silicon transition, and now controls products generating roughly 80% of Apple’s revenue. His leadership style prioritises systemic problem-solving over blame, but critics note […]

Dutch pre-Seed VC firm DFF Ventures has just announced the close of their third fund; DFF Ventures III, oversubscribed at €70 million in order to invest from inception stage onwards in startups building software and AI solutions for underdigitised industries.

The fund was originally launched back in September 2025 (as covered by EU-Startups) with €50 million already committed and a brand new name – they formerly operated as the Dutch Founders Fund.

“That’s what makes this fund special. Our LPs understand what we invest in: software that touches the real world. Logistics, trade, operations – industries where defensibility comes from years of insights, network and data. Not something you can copy overnight,” shared Patrick Kerssemakers, Founding Partner, in a public statement.

The closure of DFF Ventures’ Fund III reflects a broader surge in European pre-Seed and early-stage venture capital activity throughout 2026.

This momentum is best highlighted by a series of significant fund announcements across the continent, each targeting sectors such as AI, DeepTech, and sustainability. In Germany, Vanagon Ventures secured €20 million for its Fund I, focusing on pre-Seed B2B startups addressing system-level challenges through AI and DeepTech. Similarly, Ananda Impact Ventures completed a €73 million first close to back European impact startups, further cementing Munich’s role as a hub for early-stage investment.

Beyond Germany, The Footprint Firm in Copenhagen raised €76 million for its Footprint Fund I, targeting early-stage climate and DeepTech companies in Northern Europe, while Swiss Constructor Capital closed a €92.8 million debut fund to support DeepTech, software, and EdTech startups globally. Lithuania’s FIRSTPICK launched a €25 million fund to empower Baltic founders at the inception stage, and Paris-based Elaia announced a €134 million DeepTech Seed fund, doubling the size of its previous funds to back B2B startups across Europe.

“Since opening our fund roughly six months ago, the world has only grown more uncertain. And when there is uncertainty, it’s easy to flock to consensus. But consensus kills returns. That’s why we have always stuck to our core thesis since fund I: we believe the hard part is the real world, not the code,” said the VC in a public statement.

Collectively, these funds represent approximately €420 million in disclosed capital for 2026, signalling a strong commitment to fostering innovation in underdigitised industries and foundational technologies.

DFF Ventures is a pre-Seed VC firm founded by entrepreneurs behind companies such as WeTransfer, fonQ, Just Eat and Treatwell. With ticket sizes ranging from €250k to €2.5 million, DFF invests from the ideation stage onwards in startups building digital solutions for underdigitised industries.

The fund focuses on Vertical AI, recommerce platforms and marketplaces, and invests globally while keeping Europe as its foundation.

That means software and AI companies touching physical operations: Fleequid moving buses, Vintage Cash Cow trading antiques, NorthLadder refurbished electronics, METYCLE sorting scrap metal, and Liablix handling damage claims.

The VC says that Fund III will allow them to continue to invest from inception stage onwards in companies building software for the backbone. This time not only in EU, but from everywhere in the world.

With fund III, they’ve welcomed 7 new companies and expect to welcome more.

The post DFF Ventures’ €70 million Fund III signals strong European pre-Seed Investment trends in 2026 appeared first on EU-Startups.

The Dutch startup, the only company offering a dedicated commercial solution for quantum chip testing, raised a €3M extension to its June 2025 seed round from the European Innovation Council Fund. The accompanying MAX Partnership Programme gives quantum chip makers a structured way to shape the next generation of OrangeQS’s high-throughput test equipment. OrangeQS, the […]

inploi, a London-based startup offering a talent technology platform helping employers hire at scale, today announced that it has secured €3.4 million (£3 million) in funding to support further expansion across the UK and the US and accelerate its AI roadmap. 

The round was led by YFM Equity Partners, alongside support from existing investors.

Matthew de la Hey, co-founder and CEO of inploi, said, “Employers are under huge pressure to hire at scale while delivering a better experience for candidates. inploi has proven there’s a better way to do this, and we’re seeing strong demand from organisations that want smarter, more efficient recruitment. YFM’s backing allows us to accelerate our growth, invest further in our product and scale the business internationally.”

Founded in 2016 by Matthew de la Hey and Alex Hanson-Smith, inploi is a candidate experience solution that helps enterprise employers automate and streamline their talent acquisition. 

The startup pivoted in 2021 from a labour marketplace to enterprise SaaS to address growing inefficiencies and poor engagement in high-volume recruitment. Its platform integrates with existing applicant tracking systems to streamline candidate journeys, reduce drop-off and enable faster, more effective hiring decisions. 

inploi owns the experience layer in hiring. It bridges the candidate market and the enterprise applicant tracking systems. The company claims that its technology empowers organisations to deliver good hiring experiences at scale, with AI agents that streamline candidate sourcing, screening, communications, and scheduling.

According to the startup, the technology aims to free talent teams to focus on higher-value interactions and improve hiring outcomes by reducing the manual workload and enabling more personalised engagement at scale. 

inploi stated that, so far, its white-labelled platform has facilitated millions of job applications for over 70,000 vacancies. Its client base covers sectors like hospitality, leisure, healthcare, construction, government, and retail. Key clients include Compass Group, Wagamama, Gail’s, PureGym, and several NHS trusts. 

Since launching its platform, the company has acquired over 30 enterprise clients and recently entered the US market. 

Roshan Puri, Partner at YFM Equity Partners, said, “inploi is addressing a real and growing challenge for enterprise employers. The team has built a compelling product with clear customer ROI and strong momentum in the UK and the US. We’re delighted to support inploi on its scale-up journey.”

With the new funding, the company intends to advance its next stage of commercial and product growth. This includes enhancing sales and marketing efforts and expanding its team. Additionally, it aims to speed up the development of Talent Agents, a new collection of AI-driven hiring assistants that automate sourcing, screening, scheduling, and candidate communications.

The post London’s inploi raises €3.4 million to help enterprises automate high-volume hiring with AI appeared first on EU-Startups.

The Hefei-based company, which has delivered 6,400 intelligent electric heavy-duty trucks in China and is targeting a Hong Kong stock market listing, has attracted an Australian superannuation fund among its latest investors, a sign that its clean freight story is reaching institutional capital well beyond its home market. It has yet to turn a profit. […]

Italy’s venture capital ecosystem is accelerating, with $1.7 billion raised in 2025 and a further $249 million deployed in Q1 2026, according to new Dealroom data released by tech conference Wave by Vento.

The 2025 total marks Italy’s second strongest year on record, while Q1 2026 significantly outpaces previous years, up from $109 million in Q1 2024 and $174 million in Q1 2023. While below the exceptionally strong Q1 2025 ($297 million), these figures point to a steadily rising baseline and a more consistent investment environment.

Italy’s growing tech ecosystem is translating into real economic impact. The enterprise value of the country’s tech companies has more than doubled since 2022, reaching $65 billion, while the sector now employs nearly 130,000 people. Italy is also home to 17 unicorns valued at $44.6 billion, including two new unicorns revealed in 2025: Prima and Namirial.

Activity in early 2026 also highlights the diversity and ambition of Italian tech. Recent rounds include:

• D Orbit’s $62 million Series D in space logistics,
• Subbyx’s $35 million Series A in consumer platforms, and
• Dronus’ $17 million early-stage investment to elevate its drone technology.

Meanwhile, Niulinx, a spinout from the Polytechnic University of Milan, raised $38 million in seed funding, Europe’s largest ever seed round for autonomous driving. 

Meanwhile, Italy’s AI ecosystem continues to deepen.

AI investment reached $414 million in 2025, with Q4 alone delivering $227 million, one of the strongest quarters on record. The enterprise value of AI companies in Italy has grown from $4.3 billion in 2022 to $8.6 billion in 2026, and they employ 16,000 people.

Diyala D’Aveni, CEO of Vento, said:

“Italy is proving that consistent growth matters. We are seeing a stronger baseline year after year, with more capital, more ambitious founders and more companies reaching scale.

The ecosystem may still be smaller than others in Europe, but it is becoming more resilient and more internationally relevant. With Wave by Vento, we are bringing global capital and talent into that momentum, helping Italian founders build companies that can compete at a global level.”

Yoram Wijngaarde, Founder of Dealroom, said:

“The data shows a clear upward trend in Italy. 2025 was one of its strongest years on record, with $1.7 billion invested and a record final quarter, highlighting growing momentum.

While still smaller than Europe’s largest markets, Italy is becoming more established and increasingly competitive within the European ecosystem.”

Lead image: Freepik.

The Osnabrück startup’s camera-based self-checkout, which identifies food and drinks without barcodes in under 10 seconds, is already running at 43 points of sale inside the Orlando Magic’s NBA arena and across about a third of German university campuses. The Series A was led by eCAPITAL and Simon Capital. VisioLab, a German startup that makes […]

Project Prometheus, launched in November 2025 with $6.2 billion in initial funding, is developing AI systems that understand the physical world, targeting engineering, manufacturing, aerospace, robotics, and drug discovery. The round has not yet closed. Jeff Bezos is close to finalising a $10 billion funding round for his AI laboratory at a $38 billion valuation, […]

The AI company received the photos from OkCupid in 2014 without users’ knowledge, in a data transfer that breached OkCupid’s own privacy policy. The FTC’s late March settlement with OkCupid and Match Group brought no financial penalties. Clarifai was not accused of wrongdoing. Clarifai, a Delaware-based facial-recognition AI company, has confirmed that it deleted approximately […]

The deal is Amazon’s second consecutive mega-round with a frontier AI lab, following a near-identical $50 billion investment in OpenAI two months ago. Anthropic’s annualised revenue has reached $30 billion. The arrangement locks Anthropic into AWS’s Trainium chips through Trainium4 and secures up to 5 gigawatts of compute capacity for Claude. Amazon has agreed to […]

Orange Quantum Systems (OrangeQS), a Delft-based startup that provides solutions for testing quantum chip performance, has announced the second closing of its Seed round at €15 million. This follows the first closing, announced in June 2025, at €12 million. 

The additional funds come in the form of an investment from the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Fund. With this funding, EIC Fund investor Zeina Chebli is joining the OrangeQS board.

Svetoslava Georgieva, chair of the EIC Fund Board, said, “This investment reflects the EIC Fund’s commitment to backing Europe’s most ambitious deep tech innovators. By advancing quantum chip performance validation, OrangeQS is addressing a key bottleneck in scaling quantum technologies.”

Founded in 2020,  OrangeQS provides advanced infrastructure for testing quantum chips. The company delivers high‑performance systems that enable reliable, scalable, and efficient characterisation of qubits and other relevant elements on a quantum chip.

According to the company, quantum computing is a rapidly developing field. As the chips that underpin many of these advances become more complex, a significant challenge has emerged: the need for scalable, precise, and cost-effective quantum chip testing.

OrangeQS claims to meet these challenges with a product suite designed to streamline quantum chip testing across the entire value chain.

The company’s solutions include OrangeQS MAX, OrangeQS FLEX, OrangeQS Juice, and Quantum Care.  OrangeQS MAX is the Dutch startup’s flagship test product that delivers turn‑key, reliable and fast quantum chip testing. It is built specifically for high‑throughput testing, the MAX minimises total test time per qubit through automation and validated protocols. Its dedicated architecture keeps both capital and operational costs far below those of quantum computers, resulting in a significantly lower cost per tested qubit, according to OrangeQS. 

The OrangeQS FLEX offers customisable chip-testing solutions for academic and industrial R&D teams. The FLEX system provides a unified framework that grows and adapts with the research. 

OrangeQS Juice is an open-source operating system that provides a unified control centre for quantum R&D and production workflows. With Quantum Care, the company shares its system integration expertise through consultancy services. 

OrangeQS has also introduced the OrangeQS MAX Partnership Programme in order to enhance the OrangeQS MAX product line and accelerate quantum chip testing across the industry.

It states that the new programme aligns the company’s development roadmap with key quantum chip manufacturers. The first companies to join the programme are Rigetti Computing, QuantWare, and Peak Quantum.

The programme is designed so that each partner company works independently with OrangeQS to impact specific areas of the OrangeQS MAX technology and product roadmaps, based on their needs and level of commitment. This allows them to keep their IP protected while ensuring the next generation of test solutions supports their quantum chip architectures and production processes.

The programme will also ensure that the OrangeQS MAX quantum chip testing system remains future-proof and fit-for-purpose. Future upgrades will allow for faster cryogenic quantum chip testing, aligned with the roadmaps of major quantum chip manufacturers. The OrangeQS MAX Partnership Programme will initially focus on parallel and non-destructive testing technology developments.

Garrelt Alberts, executive director of OrangeQS, said, “OrangeQS MAX already sets new industry benchmarks for high‑volume, automated quantum chip testing. With our new Partnership Program and support of EIC Fund, we are set to consolidate our leading position in one of the most challenging parts of the quantum computing sector as it scales towards commercial production.”

With the new funding, OrangeQS aims to accelerate the development of key technologies to further enhance the OrangeQS MAX product line. 

The company has also published a new white paper ahead of the ISIG Quantum Computing Infra Summit 2026 on 23 April. In this document, the company proposes a framework on utility‑grade quantum chip testing as a key enabler in future ‘dark quantum foundries’, indicating the company’s future direction. 

The post Delft’s OrangeQS extends Seed round to €15 million to scale quantum chip testing appeared first on EU-Startups.

Smart Robotics, an embodied AI company focused on intralogistics automation, has closed a €10 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Rotterdamse Havendraken, with participation from Innovation Industries and the Dutch family office Ernij Next. The funding will be used to accelerate the company’s European expansion across product categories and to further develop its AI-driven control layer.

For more than a decade, Smart Robotics has developed AI-powered pick-and-place solutions for intralogistics. Its full-stack robotics platform is built around a proprietary AI control layer that enables systems to handle high SKU variability and operational complexity with precision, speed, and a consistently low failure rate.

By combining AI software, robotics hardware, and integrated services, the company aims to advance the next phase of warehouse automation.

According to Heico Sandee, the company’s strength comes from combining proprietary AI software, extensive deployment experience, and a multidisciplinary team across AI, robotics, and logistics.

What truly sets us apart is the scale of real-world data we have accumulated, enabling us to continuously improve our AI and outperform traditional automation systems. This puts us in a strong position to help shape the next wave of automation in logistics.

While manufacturing automation has reached higher levels of maturity, logistics automation remains relatively underpenetrated, even as demand continues to grow. The expansion of e-commerce, rising operational requirements, and ongoing labour shortages are driving increased adoption of automated solutions, particularly in robotic pick-and-place applications.

With this funding, Smart Robotics aims to strengthen its position in the evolving automation landscape and continue scaling its AI-driven solutions across European markets.

Quantum chip testing company Orange Quantum Systems (OrangeQS) has announced the second closing of its seed round, extending its funding to €15 million. This follows the first closing in summer 2025, at €12 million. 

The additional funds come from the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Fund, which supports European deep tech innovation through venture capital.

To coincide with the funding, EIC Fund investor Zeina Chebli is joining the OrangeQS board.

The new funding news comes as OrangeQS announces a significant new program to enhance the OrangeQS MAX product line and accelerate quantum chip testing across the industry.

Quantum computing is a rapidly developing field. As the chips that underpin many of these advances become more complex, a significant challenge has emerged: the need for scalable, precise, and cost-effective quantum chip testing.

The new OrangeQS MAX Partnership Program aligns the company’s exponential development roadmap with key quantum chip manufacturers. The first companies to join the program are Rigetti Computing, QuantWare, and Peak Quantum . 

The program will see each partner company work independently with OrangeQS to influence specific parts of the OrangeQS MAX technology and product roadmaps, depending on their needs and level of commitment. This allows them to keep their IP protected, while ensuring the next generation of test solutions supports their quantum chip architectures and production processes.

The program will ensure that the OrangeQS MAX quantum chip testing system remains future-proof and fit-for-purpose. Future upgrades will allow for faster cryogenic quantum chip testing, aligned with the roadmaps of major quantum chip manufacturers.

The OrangeQS MAX Partnership Program will initially focus on developments in parallel and non-destructive testing technologies. OrangeQS has published a new white paper that proposes a visionary framework on utility‑grade quantum chip testing as a key enabler in future ‘dark quantum foundries’, indicating the company’s future direction.

Garrelt Alberts, executive director of OrangeQS, said:

“OrangeQS MAX already sets new industry benchmarks for high‑volume, automated quantum chip testing.

With our new Partnership Program and support of EIC Fund, we are set to consolidate our leading position in one of the most challenging parts of the quantum computing sector as it scales towards commercial production.”

Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, said:

“This investment reflects the EIC Fund’s commitment to backing Europe’s most ambitious deep tech innovators. By advancing quantum chip performance validation, OrangeQS is addressing a key bottleneck in scaling quantum technologies.”  

The new funding will be used to accelerate development of key technologies to further enhance the OrangeQS MAX product line, a turn-key, automated, and fast quantum chip testing system.

Lead image: Orange QS (Gaby Jongenelen Fotografie).

Zynt, a Warsaw-based startup building a signal intelligence platform for B2B sales, has closed a €424.4k ($500k) pre-Seed round to advance the technology, prepare the product for enterprise clients, and fuel international expansion. 

The funding was secured from Poland-based fund 24Ventures and a group of angel investors. 

“We see Zynt as a response to a real problem. AI enables powerful sales tools, but those same technologies are flooding the market with noise and eroding signal quality. B2B sales doesn’t need another volume machine. It needs precision. Today, timing is a scarcer resource than leads, and that’s exactly where Zynt builds its edge,” said Stanisław Rogozinski from 24Ventures.

Founded by Cezary Raszel and Wojciech Ozimek, Zynt offers AI-driven B2B sales intelligence, helping uncover the buying triggers in every industry. This helps in bringing down CAC and engaging buyers at the perfect moment.

According to the company, for years, sales teams around the world chased the same goal: reach more people, faster. “Tools like Apollo.io gave them access to massive contact databases and the ability to automate outreach at unprecedented scale. Then AI changed the game – and not for the better. “Personalised” emails became easy to mass-produce, inboxes turned into noise, and the effectiveness of B2B outbound has been quietly declining ever since,” mentioned the company in the press release. 

Zynt claims to fix this. The platform aggregates and analyses signals from sources like online content, social media activity, and official business registries to identify when a potential customer is most likely to buy.

“Our platform rethinks how sales teams approach outreach. Instead of asking only ‘who to contact,’ we focus on ‘when and why now.’ This lets companies move away from random, high-volume blasting and concentrate on leads that are genuinely close to a buying decision,” said Cezary Reszel, CEO of Zynt.

In order to pressure-test the idea, Ozimek relocated to New York City along with Raszel, and the duo conducted nearly 1,200 conversations with sales professionals. The duo found out that the best-performing sales teams weren’t the ones working with the largest lead lists. They worked with smaller, carefully curated pools, dedicating significantly more attention to each prospect and analysing their business context, current situation, and where they stood in the buying cycle.

Zynt says the issue wasn’t recognising who to contact, as effective tools already existed. The actual gap was understanding why now is the right time. This insight became Zynt’s foundation.

The company monitors a range of data sources, including news outlets, social media, job postings, press releases, product launches, and other online signals, tailored to a customer’s target market and competitive landscape. It states that the data runs through a multi-stage ELT pipeline powered by machine learning, natural language processing, and elements of game theory. 

Over time, the system learns which signals actually matter within a given sales pipeline. Users receive more than just lists of prospects; they also gain context and a clear understanding of whether the timing is actually right.

Using this capital, the company aims to advance technology development, focusing on full enterprise readiness, enhanced CRM data integration, and more advanced buying signal detection. The team is also working on a new event intelligence feature that will enable customers to track industry events and identify where their potential clients are likely to appear.

“Our focus is on continuously sharpening the system’s precision, both in identifying meaningful buying signals and in understanding the decision-making context behind them. We want Zynt to not only tell you when to reach out, but to explain what’s driving that moment and how to actually use it,” said Wojciech Ozimek, CPTO and co-founder of Zynt.

The platform supports multiple languages, making it easier to expand into new geographies. Currently, Zynt supports an expanding customer base that mainly consists of Polish companies operating globally. The company is already gearing up for its next funding round to fund ongoing product development, strengthen its position in the sales process, and speed up its entry into the U.S. market.

The post Warsaw’s Zynt raises €424.4k pre-Seed to sharpen AI-powered B2B sales intelligence appeared first on EU-Startups.

A focus on metabolic health — how the body produces, uses, and stores energy — is not merely a trend. Although 80 per cent of all women will be affected by a chronic illness at some point in their lives, the medical system continues to treat symptoms rather than addressing underlying metabolic causes early on.

Women are systematically underrepresented in clinical studies; hormonal fluctuations across the entire lifecycle – from the menstrual cycle through pregnancy to menopause – are barely accounted for in existing healthcare models.

And for most women, personalised prevention simply does not exist.

Austrian startup Hello Inside aims to change that. The company is positioning CGM (continuous glucose monitoring)-based metabolic tracking as a tool for women’s health, addressing areas such as PMS, menopause, energy levels, cravings, and symptom awareness.

It delivers this through personalised, sex- and gender-sensitive recommendations. Its programme is now available free of charge to members of BARMER, one of Germany’s largest statutory health insurers, which covers more than 9 million people.

I spoke to co-founders Mario Aichlseder, CEO, and Jürgen Furian, COO, to learn all about it. ​

The challenge of reach vs impact

For Aichlseder, that gap between reach and impact is personal. Aichlseder was a professional athlete in his youth, competing as a rock climber at the European and World Championships. He was an early employee at Runtastic, where, as VP Growth, he helped scale the organisation to 140 million registered users, and then sold the company to Adidas in 2015 for €220 million.

He stayed on for another four years through the corporate integration, getting to know corporate life. And during that time, he revealed, one thing became very clear:

“We had a fantastic product and fantastic reach, but reach does not necessarily mean impact. In other words, we helped healthy people stay healthy in a fun way, but it translated into a 1 per cent day-30 retention rate. “

At that point, he was working very closely with the Sports Performance Team at adidas to explore the next frontier in hardware beyond smart wearables and scales. They were looking into biomarkers, hormone monitoring, blood sampling, and glucose. And that’s when, according to Aichlseder, things shifted.

Experiencing an instant feedback loop

Two of Aichlseder’s three aunts live with diabetes, and his mother also died early from a chronic disease. That´s why preventative health became such an important topic in his life. He borrowed a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) from one of his aunts and put it to use. He recalled:

“My brain went in a completely different direction, because it was the first time I got real-time insight into how my food, movement, stress, and sleep were immediately visible and gave me an instant feedback loop.”

Aichlseder admits, “We tried building this before, back at Adidas and Runtastic, with a group of health experts. We had all the resources. But it is really hard to figure out human metabolism. There are so many complex patterns and interdependencies. We worked with static decision trees, protocols, diets, exercise regimens — trying to somehow create structure — but we really failed.”           

So he decided to join forces with Jürgen Furian, founder of Pioneers and  Vinzenz Weber, founder of blockhaus medienagentur and CTO of Diagnosia, to solve it.

Cracking the code with data intelligence

Most metabolic or wearable platforms stop at data collection and visualisation: glucose curves, sleep scores, activity metrics. Hello Inside takes it a step further by building a system that interprets those signals in context and translates them into decisions.

Aichlseder believes Hello Inside has cracked the code. Most companies use generative AI on large datasets. But in healthcare, recommendations must be auditable and traceable. So the company built its tech using a "Controlled-by-Design" principle: every recommendation is transparent, monitored, and aligned with established medical guidelines.

Aichlseder explained:

“We rank them according to current scientific standards and then pass those into the model. From there, we again reprioritise and apply quality assurance standards to the recommendations and insights.”

This is necessary because much of the public health model's training data is of poor quality. 

A 2025 report by Stanford-affiliated researchers reports an approximately 60 per cent failure rate across 13 LLMs on women's health questions.  

Worse, these models often delivered incorrect answers with high confidence.

The company has built what is likely the most comprehensive metabolic health dataset for women in Europe, including 66,000 symptom logs from 1,743 women, tracked continuously with glucose monitors over a 90-day period. The approach is holistic, combining glucose data with inputs on movement and sleep, and integrating with wearables such as Oura, Garmin, and others.

Women come for weight loss, but report exhaustion

An internal analysis by Hello Inside based on user-reported observational data suggests that engaged users of Hello Inside reported improvements in weight and several symptoms over 90 days.

One of the most interesting insights from Hello Inside’s data is that the number one symptom women report isn't what anyone in the industry assumes.

“Over the last six years, we kept hearing the same thing from women: 'I’ve been to multiple doctors, my lab results are normal, but I’m exhausted, I can’t lose weight, and no one can tell me why.”

At first, it was just feedback. But when we analysed the data, we saw that the number-one symptom — by far — is a lack of energy. What’s interesting is that when users sign up, they rarely choose “increase energy.” They choose “lose weight.”

So there’s a disconnect. People come for weight loss, but the underlying issue is exhaustion.”

Hello Inside also observed unexpected correlations, such as improvements in skin health linked to glucose stability. And importantly, even as it scaled the data by doubling and quadrupling, the results remained consistent.

Cycle syncing enters the evidence base

Further, a recent IRB-approved clinical study led by FLO Living in collaboration with Mira, Hello Inside, and Citruslabs found that a “cycle syncing” approach that aligns nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle habits with the phases of the menstrual cycle was associated with significant reductions in PMS symptoms.

In the three-month, single-group trial of 60 women aged 22 to 42, 92 per cent of participants reported a reduction in both the number and intensity of PMS symptoms within 60 days, with improvements emerging as early as the first month. And the company has achieved stickiness that few app developers could even dream of.

According to Furian, “Our hypothesis was: if we can capture attention, we can change behaviour. With the CGMs, we see up to 19 app opens per day. Without them, around three per day.”

That kind of frequency — closer to social media than healthcare —i s what enables behaviour change.

Making the shift from D2C to statutory health

Commercially, Hello Inside started with a D2C angle, which is no easy endeavour, but Aichlseder asserts, “thankfully we had enough operating experience, and from my eight-plus years in the space I knew how to keep a cool head, keep the focus, and keep momentum at a sustainable pace — without over-raising or going overboard on the investor side.”

This enabled the company to be very diligent about building the foundation and then finding proof in the D2C space. With the data, the company realised it needed to shift into a B2B2C business model. And it started with statutory health insurance.

According to Aichlseder, the company went after the people who could see the potential — rather than trying to convince those who just weren’t receptive. “

The D2C proof was beneficial because it removed the risk factor for statutory insurers around whether end users would actually like the product. 

Most companies trying to enter insurance build only for the payer and completely ignore the consumer. If someone asked me what the biggest challenge in this business is, it’s that we are trying to do the impossible: build for the payer and the consumer at the same time. That’s the real stretch.

Second, outcomes matter. You have to show and prove that whatever you offer has measurable health outcomes, and that it helps the statutory insurer understand, measure, and adapt.”

Further, while Germany and Austria both say they prioritise prevention, in practice, incentives remain relatively modest, fragmented, and often behaviour-based rather than outcomes-driven. That creates an interesting gap for companies like Hello Inside.

Currently in Germany, many incentivised health insurance programs, such as gym attendance and health checkups, focus on attendance rather than outcomes as a measure of success.

However, a suite of free, doctor-prescribed, health-condition-specific apps, such as those from HelloBetter, has paved the way for inclusion as a competitive advantage for startups targeting health insurers. BARMER has now launched a ZPP-certified metabolic prevention program and a 21-day blood sugar challenge on Hello Inside’s platform, closing a critical gap in women's healthcare.

This represents one of the first large-scale integrations of AI-powered metabolic prevention into statutory health insurance in Germany.

Building the next layer of metabolic insight

From here, Hello Inside wants to create better selection and higher-resolution content and courses for specific areas — whether that’s energy, pregnancy, menopause, or gestational diabetes.

As its intelligence layer is already built to scale, Aichlseder predicts that its biomarker tracking will expand soon:

“Lactate is something he sees coming fairly soon, but the one he’s most excited about, and which is probably one and a half to two years out, is cortisol.”

Furian asserts:

“Metabolic health has gone from unknown to central. In 10 years, we’ll look back and realise how little we understood.”

Polish startup Zynt, which develops a signal intelligence platform for B2B sales, has closed a $500,000 pre-seed funding round. The company was founded by Cezary Raszel and Wojciech Ozimek and backed by Poland-based fund 24Ventures alongside a group of angel investors.

Zynt’s platform is designed to address a shift in B2B sales dynamics. While modern sales tools have made it easier to reach large numbers of potential customers, the increasing use of automated and AI-generated communication has contributed to higher inbox volumes and reduced effectiveness of outbound efforts.

Zynt focuses on identifying the timing and context behind purchasing decisions rather than simply expanding contact lists.

Our platform rethinks how sales teams approach outreach. Instead of asking only ‘who to contact,’ we focus on ‘when and why now.’ This lets companies move away from random, high-volume blasting and concentrate on leads that are genuinely close to a buying decision,

said Cezary Raszel, CEO of Zynt.

The platform aggregates and analyses data from sources including news, social media, job postings, press releases, and product launches. This data is processed through a multi-stage ELT pipeline using machine learning and natural language processing to identify relevant buying signals. It provides users with contextual insights into prospects, including an assessment of whether the timing for engagement is appropriate.

Zynt operates in a growing market for sales automation and intelligence tools, where increasing pressure on sales teams is driving demand for more effective, data-driven approaches. While many solutions continue to prioritise scale, Zynt focuses on the gap in understanding timing and intent.

The funding will be used to advance the platform, including enterprise readiness, deeper CRM integration, and enhanced signal detection capabilities. The company is also developing an event intelligence feature to help customers track industry events and identify potential engagement opportunities.

VisioLab, a provider of AI-powered visual self-checkout solutions for food service, has closed an $11 million Series A financing round. The round was co-led by eCAPITAL Entrepreneurial Partners and Simon Capital, with continued participation from existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), zwei.7, and Heartfelt (formerly APX).

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Osnabrück, Germany, with a U.S. office in Boston, VisioLab develops iPad-based checkout systems that use computer vision and edge AI to recognise both packaged and unpackaged food items at the point of sale. This enables integrated checkout and payment without barcode scanning or the need for venue infrastructure modifications.

The system is deployed across sectors, including corporate dining, higher education, sports and entertainment, and travel and leisure. According to operator-reported data, the solution can reduce average transaction times by up to 70 per cent and can be set up by existing staff in approximately 10 minutes.

Alongside the funding, VisioLab is launching an integrated checkout-to-payment platform that combines item recognition, point-of-sale software, and payment processing in one system, eliminating the need for separate payment terminals and reducing complexity and costs.

The company is also introducing a B2B e-commerce channel, enabling operators to configure and order systems online, simplifying procurement for multi-site deployments.

The new funding will support VisioLab’s next phase of international expansion, building on recent deployments such as stadium-wide rollouts at the Orlando Magic’s Kia Center and Inter Miami CF’s Nu Stadium, as well as an ongoing rollout with Live Nation Entertainment.

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