Paris-based Omniscient, a decision intelligence platform for boards and senior executives, has raised $4.1 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Seedcamp, with participation from Drysdale, Plug and Play, MS&AD, Raise, Anamcara, and xdeck, alongside support from Bpifrance.

As corporate reputation continues to represent a significant share of enterprise value, organisations face growing challenges from fragmented data sources, reactive workflows, and the limitations of manual monitoring.

Founded by Arnaud d’Estienne and Mehdi Benseghir, both former McKinsey consultants, Omniscient aims to address these challenges by providing a unified intelligence layer for senior leadership. Its AI-driven platform aggregates and contextualises data from a wide range of sources, including media, social platforms, and internal systems, delivering real-time, actionable insights through a single interface.

According to d’Estienne, a recurring pattern became evident across numerous engagements during his time at McKinsey.

Organisations were sitting on vast amounts of data, but with no reliable way to turn it into decisions at the speed the market demands. The cost of that gap - in missed signals, missed opportunities, damaged reputations, and reactive crisis management - is enormous.
Omniscient exists to close it. It gives executive teams the intelligence they need, and frees the operational teams around them to focus on what actually moves the needle, rather than manually chasing information. The C-suite deserves better than yesterday's news.

At its core, the platform uses a network of specialised AI agents to analyse areas such as regulatory developments, supply chains, and competitive activity. Outputs are synthesised into concise, real-time briefings, enabling organisations to identify emerging risks and opportunities more efficiently. The system is designed to operate across multiple markets and languages, while continuously improving as it adapts to each organisation’s context.

Omniscient is already working with global companies and is expanding its capabilities toward predictive and prescriptive analytics.

The funding will be used to support engineering hires, further product development, and the expansion of commercial operations as the company scales its platform.

Generare, a Paris-based biotechnology company focused on generating molecular data for drug development, has raised €20 million in a Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Alven and Daphni, with participation from existing investors including Galion.exe, Teampact Ventures, and VIVES Partners.

Drug discovery has historically been constrained to a relatively narrow chemical space, largely due to limited data availability beyond it. At the same time, microbial genomes contain a vast reservoir of molecular diversity developed over billions of years, much of which remains unexplored. Generare is focused on generating and characterising this previously inaccessible data at scale to make it usable for drug development.

Founded in 2023 by Guillaume Vandenesch and Vincent Libis, the company is building a large-scale dataset of novel small molecules derived from microbial genomes. By decoding previously unexplored biological data, it aims to expand the chemical space available for drug discovery and address long-standing limitations in access to high-quality molecular data.

The company specialises in small molecules, the class of compounds behind many widely used medicines, with each newly identified molecule contributing to an expanding dataset. Its platform combines high-throughput cloning and sequencing technologies to identify, express, and characterise bioactive compounds, generating structured data on their properties and potential therapeutic applications.

According to co-founder and CEO Vandenesch, the lack of novel, high-quality molecular data remains a key constraint in drug discovery, limiting the effectiveness of existing approaches and models.

Generare reports increasing adoption of its platform among pharmaceutical and research organisations, with newly identified molecules being used in early-stage drug development. The company is focused on scaling its dataset and expanding its capabilities to meet growing demand.

The funding will be used to expand the company’s compound library, scale its discovery platform, and grow its multidisciplinary team as it continues to develop its data-driven approach to drug discovery.

Covalo, a Switzerland-based platform for ingredient discovery and data management in the personal care industry, has raised €3.5 million in a funding extension. The round was led by Hi Inov, with participation from existing investors HTGF and seed+speed Ventures.

The company addresses challenges in managing ingredient data, which is often fragmented across multiple systems, formats, and stakeholders. Product development typically requires handling large volumes of technical, regulatory, and sustainability information, creating operational complexity for R&D, regulatory, and procurement teams.

According to co-founder and co-CEO Yann Chilvers, inefficiencies in how product data is managed and shared contribute to delays and unsuccessful product launches, while limiting the industry’s ability to respond to regulatory changes and evolving market demands.

Covalo provides a platform that connects suppliers and brands through structured, standardised data flows, replacing manual processes such as emails, spreadsheets, and PDFs. By integrating directly with suppliers’ product information management systems and brands’ internal workflows, it enables real-time updates and more efficient data exchange across the product lifecycle.

The platform is used by a broad network of suppliers and brands across the personal care ecosystem and works with industry organisations to support data integration, regulatory processes, and sustainability initiatives.

The funding will support the expansion of Covalo’s data platform and enterprise offering, including the development of AI-based tools for workflow automation, data processing, and regulatory compliance, as the company continues to scale its infrastructure for the personal care industry.

A new quantum algorithm ran a 15-step nonlinear fluid simulation around a solid obstacle on real quantum hardware, the most physically complex publicly documented demonstration of its kind. The technique reduces qubit requirements and circuit depth, bringing industrial CFD applications closer to feasibility. Finnish simulation company Quanscient and quantum middleware developer Haiqu have demonstrated what […]

Fortis Solutions, an enterprise technology partner with decades of experience across infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data systems, approaches artificial intelligence as a force that is redefining how work is performed while preserving the importance of human contribution. Its perspective reflects a future where human judgment and machine precision operate in tandem, introducing new ways to elevate […]

A growing sense of unease is shaping how professionals engage with artificial intelligence, particularly as its capabilities expand across information creation and execution. Dan Pratl, founder of Quadron, believes this anxiety reflects a deeper structural issue that extends beyond automation and into how value itself is recognized. “We’ve reached a point at which the maturation […]

In October 2025, Sam Altman posted a message on X that ended with a single, carefully placed promise. ChatGPT, he said, would soon allow verified adults to access erotica. He framed it as a matter of principle: treating adults like adults. The internet reacted with the usual mixture of outrage, excitement, and jokes. Then, in […]

Former managers at Belgian legaltech scale-up Henchman are launching Backbone, an AI platform for real-time quality and compliance management in the food industry, with Seed funding from 100IN. 

Backbone consolidates fragmented data, from supplier documents to lab results, giving quality managers the tools to detect risks before they reach production. 

A recipe change at a food manufacturer triggers an immediate cascade of quality checks. Regulatory requirements around food safety have intensified sharply in recent years, and compliance now spans the entire organisation, from procurement and R&D to production and business development. Yet most of that oversight still runs on manual processes.

In practice, every supplier switch, product launch or incoming raw material delivery means manually cross-referencing certificates and specs, typically across Excel sheets, Word documents and email threads. Without real-time visibility, mismatches can go undetected until a product is already in production or worse, on the shelf.

Backbone's founders estimate that poor quality costs the food sector up to 15 per cent of revenue, excluding reputational damages.

The culprit is rarely a single critical failure, but an accumulation of small deviations caught too late. The recent wave of baby food incidents has put a sharp edge on what those numbers actually mean in practice. Backbone addresses the problem by centralising and automatically analysing data already within organisations, from supplier documentation and lab results to internal procedures.

"The data is usually already there, but scattered across systems or locked in people's heads," says co-founder Louis Opsomer.

"We make that information usable for day-to-day decisions."

"Many companies still operate reactively, treating certificates as their quality benchmark, but a certificate is just a snapshot," he adds.

“Backbone goes well beyond audit: rather than verifying compliance after the fact, it surfaces risks continuously. Besides, the time saved on administration frees quality managers to focus on what actually moves the needle.”

The platform is now operational across multiple production sites, and the team is handling inbound interest from both domestic and international prospects. Early customers include Zoutman, Greenway, Azingro and Euromeat.

The capital will fund commercial expansion and continued product development. Backbone is also establishing partnerships with international standards bodies, including BRCGS, and technology partners such as Microsoft, with integrations into Copilot among the initiatives under development.

"This is a global problem, and the inbound demand confirms that," says Siska Lannoo. 

"The food industry is moving towards predictive systems that surface risks before they materialise. We are helping companies make that transition now. In AI, speed is a competitive advantage, but without deep domain expertise, you cannot build something that holds up at scale.

That combination is what Backbone brings to the table."

A deal would give Amazon’s Leo satellite programme access to Globalstar’s L-band spectrum and operational infrastructure, a shortcut in its race to rival SpaceX’s Starlink. Apple’s stake, which powers Emergency SOS on iPhones, has made negotiations significantly more complex. Amazon is in advanced talks to acquire satellite telecommunications group Globalstar in a deal that would […]

The flagship fund of a UK government-backed initiative addressing the shortage of equity capital for women in the UK who are building businesses has reached a £130m first close of the fund, it said today.

The “Women Backing Women” fund is aiming to raise £250m in total to invest in female fund managers to back female-led businesses.

The initiative is a key part of the UK government-backed Women Taskforce, aimed at addressing the long-standing challenge of women struggling to secure investment capital.

Just 2p of every £1 of equity funding in the UK goes to female-founded businesses.

Today, Bootstrap4F, which is managing the fund of funds, said it had reached the £130m first close of its £250m raise, with investment from Barclays, the British Business Bank, M&G and Nationwide.

Bootstrap4F said it will now begin investing in fund managers, it said.

Stephanie Heller, managing director at Bootstrap4F, said: “Securing £130m in commitments, with Barclays, the British Business Bank, M&G plc and Nationwide, is an exceptional outcome in this market. We have built the infrastructure to deploy capital efficiently, and the funds that have expressed interest so far are both strong and high in quality. We are committed to making every investment count.” 

Minister for Investment Lord Stockwood said: "The UK is a thriving business hub, and this £130m investment into the Women Backing Women fund is a major moment in showcasing the power of government and industry in coming together to make a positive difference in our investment environment."

Paris-based Omniscient ingests 100,000+ sources, press, social, web, video, audio, internal pipelines, and synthesises them into a two-minute executive briefing. Renault is an early client. A global syndicate spanning France, Japan, and the US backed the round. Omniscient, the Paris-based decision intelligence platform built for boards and senior executives, has raised $4.1 million in pre-seed […]

In the competitive landscape of AI agents, where businesses are closing investment deals everyday to build and expand their AI infrastructure and software, the companies that seemed to be leading the race are OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Google, and Amazon. But despite the success of its large language models (LLMs) family, one of the big […]

Press aggregation platform Cafeyn Group is acquiring Readly’s non-Nordic operations, marking a significant step forward in its European expansion. 

Cafeyn offers unlimited access to over 2,000 national and international titles across multiple formats and devices, while Readly provides a single subscription that gives users access to over 8,000 magazines and newspapers.

Following the transaction, Cafeyn will serve more than 2.5 million users and generate combined revenues of nearly €100 million, significantly strengthening its scale and position across Europe.

Readly’s Nordic operations remain owned and operated by Bonnier News, while activities outside the Nordic countries (notably in Germany and the United Kingdom) are now joining Cafeyn.

The original Readly application will continue to be owned and operated by Bonnier News for the Nordic markets.

Laurent Kayser, CEO of Cafeyn, stated: 

“This acquisition marks a turning point for Cafeyn. This will allow us to deliver greater value to users, more sustainable revenues for publishers, and to support quality journalism at a time when access to trusted information has never been more important.”

Anders Eriksson, CEO of Bonnier News, added: 

“This agreement enables both parties to focus on their respective growth strategies. We now look forward to further developing and growing Readly in the Nordic markets, as an important and integrated part of our business.”

The integration of Readly’s operations will significantly expand the catalogue available to users, further enhancing the breadth and diversity of content accessible on the platform, while strengthening Cafeyn’s ability to deliver a compelling and comprehensive offering to its audiences.

Today, Moldovan game development studio Paparuda Studio secured an investment of over €210,000 (4 million MDL) to develop its first internationally targeted video game, marking a new step in the country’s transition toward high-value digital industries.  

Founded in 2026 by Victor Marchitan, Artiom Snegur, and Alex Culeva, Paparuda Studio represents a new generation of Moldovan developers moving beyond outsourcing to create original intellectual property (IP). The company plans to launch its first commercial game within the next 12–15 months, targeting global distribution platforms.  

The studio focuses on the Indie and AA (double-A) segment, combining creative independence with advanced production capabilities.

Its first projects centre on cooperative (co-op) gaming experiences, designed to foster social interaction and collaborative gameplay.  

The recent investment will support expanding the team from 5 to approximately 15–20 specialists, including programmers, game designers, and 2D/3D artists. Paparuda Studio is also exploring partnerships with internationally recognised publishers such as Devolver Digital and Team17, aiming to secure additional financing and global distribution opportunities. 

The company is preparing to release its products on major platforms, including Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo.

“For us, game development is not only about creating games, but also about building a community and contributing to the development of a strong local industry. We aim to create products that can compete globally,” said Victor Marchitan, co-founder of Paparuda Studio.

The emergence of companies like Paparuda Studio reflects broader developments within Moldova's technology and creative industries. Education and policy frameworks are playing a key role in supporting this growth.

Check out our earlier deep dive into the Moldovan tech ecosystem.

The Moldova State University (USM) has recently launched a dedicated bachelor’s degree program in Game Design, aimed at training future specialists in programming, 3D art, and animation — critical skills for the industry’s expansion.

At the same time, Moldova Innovation Technology Park (MITP) provides a competitive environment through its simplified 7 per cent tax regime, enabling companies to reinvest in product development and talent acquisition.

Moldova’s IT and creative industries continue to demonstrate strong growth:

• In 2025, the sector generated approximately $864 million, accounting for over a quarter of total service exports.
• Over the past five years, the sector has grown more than threefold.
• The IT sector represents approximately 5 per cent of total Foreign Direct Investment stock, which reached $6.3 billion in 2025.
  
  
  

Italy’s tech funding landscape in 2025 appears larger and more mature, but also highly concentrated. Total funding of around €2.5 billion is driven by a small number of very large rounds, while most deals remain relatively small, indicating a broad early-stage base but limited late-stage depth.

A significant share of funding comes from debt, suggesting that more mature companies are increasingly accessing structured and non-dilutive capital. This reflects an evolving ecosystem in which businesses with stronger fundamentals can access more sophisticated financing beyond traditional venture equity.

Investment is led by software, with strong activity across security, fintech, healthcare, robotics, and deeptech, pointing to a shift towards infrastructure, industrial applications, and regulated sectors.

Cybersecurity stands out for attracting larger rounds, fintech remains highly active, and healthcare continues to show steady growth. Robotics and deeptech indicate increasing confidence in capital-intensive innovation, while cleantech is still developing through smaller, earlier-stage funding. A broader trend is the integration of AI across sectors, rather than its emergence as a standalone category.

Overall, the market is shifting towards B2B, infrastructure, and applied deeptech. A key consideration for the coming period is whether more companies can transition from early-stage funding to larger growth rounds, reducing reliance on a limited number of outsized deals (for more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 - The Big Picture).

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

Amount raised in 2025: €1.1B Bending Spoons is a technology company that acquires and operates established digital products, focusing on long-term ownership and performance improvement. The company enhances acquired platforms using proprietary technologies and in-house expertise to drive innovation, improve user experience, and strengthen business outcomes. Its portfolio includes widely used consumer and enterprise applications, serving hundreds of millions of users globally. In 2025, the company raised approximately €1.1 billion across two corporate financing rounds to support the continued expansion of its product portfolio.

Amount raised in 2025: €350M INWIT is a digital infrastructure company that builds and manages shared telecommunications assets, including mobile towers, distributed antenna systems, and indoor coverage solutions. It enables mobile operators and other clients to deliver reliable connectivity, supporting technologies such as 4G, 5G, and IoT. By expanding and upgrading infrastructure across urban and rural areas, INWIT plays a key role in improving network coverage, capacity, and the overall digitalisation of Italy. INWIT received a €350 million loan from the European Investment Bank in 2025 to support digitalisation and connectivity, including improved mobile coverage in rural areas.

Amount raised in 2025: €170M Exein is an embedded cybersecurity company that develops software to secure IoT devices at the firmware level. Its technology enables real-time threat detection, response, and monitoring directly on devices, helping manufacturers and operators protect connected systems without relying on cloud-based security. By integrating security into the device itself, Exein supports compliance with evolving regulations and strengthens resilience across critical infrastructure, industrial systems, and consumer IoT environments. In 2025, Exein raised €170 million across two funding rounds to support product development, acquisitions, and international expansion of its embedded cybersecurity solutions for connected devices.

Amount raised in 2025: €83.5M NanoPhoria is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing inhalable therapies for cardiovascular diseases. Its proprietary platform uses non-viral, calcium phosphate nanoparticles to deliver biologics such as peptides and RNA directly to target tissues. By enabling precise, tissue-directed drug delivery via inhalation, NanoPhoria aims to improve treatment effectiveness while reducing systemic side effects, with a focus on conditions such as heart failure. In 2025, NanoPhoria secured €83.5 million in funding to support the preparation of its NP-MP1 drug candidate for human trials.

Amount raised in 2025: €70M Generative Bionics is a deeptech company developing intelligent humanoid robot platforms powered by “Physical AI,” combining robotics, artificial intelligence, and design. Its systems are built to operate safely in real-world environments, working alongside humans to support industrial and complex tasks. The company focuses on creating human-centred robots that enhance productivity and address labour shortages, with applications across sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare. In 2025, Generative Bionics secured €70 million in funding to advance the development of physical AI systems, establish a dedicated manufacturing facility, and expand edge AI applications across logistics, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Amount raised in 2025: €70M Scalapay is a fintech company offering buy now, pay later (BNPL) payment solutions that allow consumers to split purchases into interest-free instalments. Founded in 2019, the platform enables seamless payments both online and in-store, helping shoppers access flexible payment options while allowing merchants to increase conversion rates and customer engagement. Scalapay operates across multiple European markets, partnering with thousands of retailers to deliver accessible and transparent digital payment experiences. In 2025, Scalapay secured €70 million from the European Investment Bank to support growth, expand its product offering, and strengthen its presence across existing markets.

Amount raised in 2025: $60M Hercle is a fintech infrastructure company providing institutional-grade solutions for global money movement across fiat currencies, digital assets, and stablecoins. Its platform enables banks, brokers, fintechs, and payment providers to execute cross-border transactions, trading, and settlement in real time, combining deep liquidity with regulatory-compliant infrastructure. By bridging traditional financial systems with digital asset networks, Hercle supports large-scale, low-latency transfers and treasury operations across multiple currencies and markets. Hercle raised $60 million in 2025 to strengthen its institutional services and expand its international reach.

Amount raised in 2025: $40M Caracol is an advanced manufacturing company that develops large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) technologies combining robotics, software, and materials. Its turnkey solutions enable the production of large-scale, complex components across industries such as aerospace, automotive, and energy. By integrating digital design, robotic systems, and on-demand manufacturing services, Caracol aims to improve efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability in industrial production. In 2025, Caracol secured $40 million in Series B funding to scale its robotic additive manufacturing platform and support global expansion and technology development.

Amount raised in 2025: €25M Jethro is a technology company that provides software solutions and integration services for the banking, financial services, and public sectors. Its platform supports core banking systems, payments, document management, and digital services, helping organisations modernise operations, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experience. In 2025, Jet HR raised €25 million to enhance its platform and develop new modules aimed at reducing administrative complexity for businesses.

Amount raised in 2025: $27M Tulum Energy is a climate-tech company developing methane pyrolysis technology to produce low-carbon hydrogen for industrial applications. Its approach repurposes existing industrial equipment to generate clean hydrogen and solid carbon without direct CO₂ emissions, offering a scalable and cost-effective alternative to traditional production methods. The company focuses on enabling the decarbonisation of heavy industries such as steel, chemicals, and refining by delivering high-volume hydrogen solutions tailored to industrial demand. Tulum Energy secured $27 million in seed funding in 2025, to develop hydrogen production technology based on methane pyrolysis.

The Zurich platform, which connects 1,500+ ingredient suppliers and 6,000 brands including Givaudan, Symrise, PUIG, and La Prairie, is evolving from a discovery marketplace into a data backbone that plugs directly into suppliers’ PIM systems and brands’ R&D workflows. Hi inov led the round. Covalo, the Zurich-based platform connecting personal care ingredient suppliers with brands, […]

The Paris techbio company screens microbial genomes to find molecules that evolution spent three billion years producing, and claims to have characterised more novel small molecules in 2025 than the rest of the field combined. Alven and Daphni co-led the Series A. Generare, the Paris-based techbio company reading microbial genomes for molecules that drug development […]

WhatsApp has notified approximately 200 users, primarily in Italy, that they were tricked into installing a counterfeit version of the messaging app that was actually government spyware. The fake application was built by SIO, an Italian surveillance technology company that develops spyware for law enforcement and intelligence agencies through its subsidiary ASIGINT. WhatsApp said it […]

Karin Keller-Sutter, Switzerland’s finance minister and the country’s former president, has filed criminal charges for defamation and insult after Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok was prompted by an anonymous user to generate a torrent of sexist and vulgar remarks about her on X. The complaint, filed on 20 March with the Bern public prosecutor’s office, […]