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, […]

SpaceX has confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares to the public, according to multiple sources familiar with the registration, setting the stage for what would be the largest initial public offering in history and almost certainly making Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. The offering, internally code-named Project Apex, […]

Eighteen months ago, Legora was a Stockholm startup with a handful of law-firm clients and roughly $1 million in annual recurring revenue. On Tuesday, the company told Business Insider that it has crossed $100 million in ARR, a milestone that in enterprise software typically takes the better part of a decade. Max Junestrand, Legora’s 26-year-old […]

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Mark Lanier, the folksy Texas litigator who doubles as a part-time pastor, held a jar of M&Ms in front of the Los Angeles jury and told them that each one represented a billion dollars of Meta’s market capitalisation. There were, by that maths, roughly 1,400 sweets in the jar. The jury awarded his client six […]

Somewhere in Hasbro’s network, someone was where they should not have been. The $14.4 billion toy and entertainment conglomerate, owner of Peppa Pig, Transformers, Monopoly, Dungeons & Dragons, Nerf, Play-Doh, and Power Rangers ,disclosed on Wednesday that it had identified unauthorised access to its systems, an intrusion first detected on 28 March that has since […]

Six weeks was all it took. On 9 February, OpenAI switched on advertisements inside ChatGPT for free-tier users in the United States. By late March, the company disclosed that the pilot had crossed $100 million in annualised revenue, drawn more than 600 advertisers, and reached fewer than a fifth of eligible users. Now OpenAI is […]

Isaiah Taylor was sixteen when he decided the nuclear industry had a size problem. Not that reactors were too dangerous or too expensive, though they are both, but that they were simply too big. The multi-gigawatt monuments to Cold War-era engineering that still dot the American landscape were designed for a grid that moved power […]

Six months after listing on the New York Stock Exchange at $40 a share, Klarna is trading at roughly $12. The Swedish buy-now-pay-later company that once symbolised European fintech’s arrival on Wall Street has lost more than three quarters of its market value since its September debut. On Tuesday, it announced a $1.7 billion significant […]

On Tuesday evening in Wuhan, more than 100 of Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis stopped moving. They did not pull over. They did not activate an emergency protocol. They simply froze, scattered across the city’s roads and elevated highways, some in the middle lane of ring roads with traffic streaming past on both sides. Passengers trapped […]

Three months after Australia became the first country in the world to ban children under 16 from holding social media accounts, its online safety regulator says the platforms are not doing enough to make the ban work. eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant released her first compliance report on Tuesday, alleging that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, […]

Nexchip Semiconductor filed for a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday, joining a stampede of Chinese chip companies turning to the city’s capital markets as Beijing pours resources into building a domestic semiconductor supply chain that can withstand American export controls. The Hefei-based foundry, China’s third largest behind SMIC and Hua Hong […]

As France  and Germany push digital sovereignty up the policy agenda, a more practical question is emerging: who actually owns the data driving Europe’s AI systems? 

As models become increasingly commoditised, competitive advantage is shifting to the data layer, thereby raising the stakes around who owns and controls it. In an AI-driven economy, proprietary data — not models — creates an opportunity for competitive advantage.  

Analytics startup Countly is a product analytics and customer engagement platform built on an open-source, self-hosted foundation.  

The company helps organisations reduce reliance on third-party platforms by enabling them to capture, analyse, and act on their own user data—while maintaining full control over it. It operates on the belief that data privacy and actionable insights are fundamentally interconnected.

I spoke to Onur Alp Soner, CEO and co-founder of Countly, to learn more. 

The business opportunity

Embedding data sovereignty into a company’s commercial strategy can strengthen product differentiation, build regulatory trust, and unlock new partnership opportunities, particularly in sectors where data control is critical, such as healthcare, finance, and public services.

Countly’s platform is built on an open-source, self-hosted foundation that helps companies collect and process operational and usage data from their software products, essentially enabling them to understand how users interact with apps and services and improve those experiences. 

Soner sees his company as an early mover. Founded in 2013, Countly was built around self-hosted analytics long before data sovereignty became a defining issue in Europe. 

According to Soner:

“Basically, our main focus is data control and data ownership. We want companies to have complete control over the data they collect — that’s why we’ve existed since day one.”

He contends that the conversation has simply evolved in waves. When he founded Countly, he started from a simple idea: if you don’t control your data, you don’t control your systems. 

From GDPR to AI: how the data ownership debate evolved

Long before AI regulation entered the conversation, Soner was already working with European organisations in finance, telecoms, healthcare, and the public sector that needed to know precisely where their behavioural data lives, who can access it, and how it’s used.

“Right now, the spotlight is on AI. Before that, it was GDPR. Even when we started, the issue was that products in the market were collecting your data and giving you free analytics in exchange for using that data for their advertising business.

I’m not just talking about Google — there were other competitors too. One of the most prominent was Flurry. That model was fundamental at the time.

What’s changed is that different events — whether regulation or growing concerns about US companies using your data — have brought more attention to the importance of ownership. So we started Countly with the idea that businesses should control their own data. We didn’t want a third party using that data for purposes the business doesn’t even know about.”

AI is making data ownership economically viable

There’s been a long-standing idea that people or companies should own and monetise their data by extracting economic value from data assets, but that model never fully materialised in earlier innovation waves like IoT and website browsing (Gener8 is an interesting outlier).  

But AI is now changing the equation, with the data that fuels machine learning systems, as a highly valuable company asset, whether directly (selling data) or indirectly (using data to generate revenue). 

However, for Soner, that positioning around data ownership hasn’t always been straightforward. Of the big themes — data monetisation, regulation, and AI — he believes AI is the most promising for helping businesses understand the importance of the data layer and data control.

“Before that, it was really hard to market concepts like privacy, data ownership, and data control. It always ended up being framed as a regulation issue.

But it’s not just about regulation. Your data is the only truly unique thing about your business.”

“Your data is your only moat”: the challenge for startups.

However, the challenge is that large players give away so much for free. How do you compete with that?

Soner admits that for large companies, it might be easier, but for startups, it’s very difficult to say: ‘We won’t use all these free tools — we’ll stick to our principles.’ That’s a hard stance to maintain.”

AI doesn’t create value in isolation. Rather, it amplifies the quality of the data it is trained on. Without control over that data, companies risk outsourcing their long-term competitive advantage.

The missing layer in Europe’s AI debate

So what are we talking about when we talk about a sovereign data layer? At the heart of Soner’s argument is a simple framework where the AI ecosystem exists as three layers:

• First, compute: GPUs, infrastructure, and physical machines.
• Second, models: LLMs like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral.
• Third, the data layer.

“The first two layers get most of the attention. But the data layer is just as important and arguably more so — and it’s not being discussed enough.”

He contends that conversations with large companies, this often becomes a regulation issue: 

“Because of GDPR, we can’t do this.” But the real question is — why are you sending that data to external tools in the first place? This is operational data that feeds your AI models. It’s what makes AI valuable. AI amplifies whatever you already have — or don’t have — as a business.

But because everyone is afraid of missing out on AI, they focus on the exciting parts and ignore the “boring” ones: data control, data cleaning, and organisation-wide tracking strategies. Those are actually the critical conversations.”

Making sovereignty sell: from regulation to user value

So how do you incentivise companies to prioritise data ownership while still staying competitive? Soner points to Apple as a rare example of successfully turning privacy into a product feature.

“They communicate clearly: your data stays on your device. That’s the right approach. It’s not about saying, “We’re a German company, we follow strict regulations.” Customers don’t care about that. They care about what’s in it for them.” So you need to translate data sovereignty into tangible user benefits:

“This is how we protect your data. This is how we keep it in our infrastructure. And you still get great functionality.” That’s a much more understandable story.”

Europe wants control but runs on foreign tech

But can a European company really claim digital sovereignty if it relies on US infrastructure, analytics, or models? Soner admits that even Countly, which is building infrastructure for this purpose, still relies on technologies from US or Chinese companies.  This creates a paradox. He admits:

“There’s no way around it. Take databases — almost all major ones are US-based. So the question isn’t whether you use external technology—it’s how you use it. It’s about layering.”

Rather than full independence, data sovereignty becomes a deliberate architectural strategy, deciding what stays in-house and what can be outsourced. For example, you can control your data flows, decide what leaves your system and build proprietary datasets. He suggests that while you can use tools like Google Analytics, you should be mindful of what data you are sending and why. 

“Maybe you intentionally only use such a tool for high-level metrics, while keeping detailed user data in your own infrastructure. Because data is where long-term competitive advantage comes from.

Companies like Instagram, Amazon, Uber, and Airbnb are all data businesses. If you blindly use tools without thinking about your data flows, you lose that advantage.”

Make data ownership part of your company culture

Soner suggests that even for small companies, if you build data ownership into your story early, it becomes part of your culture.

“At Countly, every decision goes through that lens of data ownership. You can’t just say, “Let’s use this SaaS tool” or “Let’s plug in this AI." There’s always a level of mindfulness. That becomes part of how the organisation grows.”

Europe can build, but can it keep its companies?

Europe’s challenge is not building companies, but keeping them.

Looking ahead, I wanted to understand what a truly sovereign European digital infrastructure would look like. Soner explained that in the first instance, Europe needs strong infrastructure: data centres, electricity, and networking.

"Everything else depends on that."

However, this can not be considered in isolation from European talent. 

He asserts that while Europe is already building strong companies, the migration of companies to the US for capital and a broader ecosystem is a bigger issue, admitting, “We almost did the same ourselves."

"So the key question becomes: how do you make it attractive for founders to stay? That comes down to funding, incentives, and ecosystem support. If Europe can strengthen that, it can retain talent and companies—and that’s probably the most strategic investment it can make right now.”

Stop benchmarking the US and China and start building leverage

In terms of competitiveness, Soner asserts that we’re focusing on the wrong thing and that, while the debate often becomes "the US is ahead, China is ahead," the real race right now is about AGI and who gets there first.

“Still, that doesn’t mean Europe should wait. We can’t wait for others to define the future,” he says.

“We need to build our own systems, support our own companies, and retain our talent. If we do that, it’s perfectly fine to use global technologies—but on our own terms.

Control of the data layer — not just the models — will define who captures value in AI.”

The real opportunity for Europe lies not in competing on models, but in owning the data layer that underpins them.