The inbox has long been the softest entry point in enterprise security. As phishing campaigns grow more convincing, more personalised, and increasingly powered by generative AI, the tools designed to stop them have been locked in a reactive cycle: wait for the attack, analyse it, respond. IRONSCALES, the Atlanta-based email security vendor, is betting that […]

Every year since roughly 2018, the cybersecurity industry has declared that passwords are dying. Passkeys, biometrics, and FIDO2 hardware tokens would replace them. The promise was elegant: no more breached vaults, no more credential stuffing, no more sticky notes on monitors. It has not happened. Not at scale, anyway. A March 2026 report from HYPR, […]

Today, Credo Ventures announces Credo Stage 5, a $88 million fund that continues the firm's mission to be the first backer of the most ambitious CEE founders globally, both in the CEE region and in diaspora communities.

Credo Ventures is a Prague and Krakow-based venture capital firm founded in 2010, investing in exceptional founders from Central and Eastern Europe and their diaspora at the earliest stages.

Credo is doubling down on the Pre-Seed niche in CEE, where its track record, deep local networks, and unique investing culture give it an edge.

The partners of the fund include: Maciek Gnutek, Jakub Krikava, Max Kolowrat-Krakowsky, Matej Micek, Ondrej Bartos and Jan Habermann.

Over 15 years and across 4 funds, Credo has backed 100+ companies, including 2 decacorns, making it one of the most successful early-stage VC firms in Europe. Credo co-led or led the pre-seed rounds of two of the fastest-growing category-defining companies originating in CEE - UiPath and ElevenLabs. Credo is now launching their 5th fund - Credo Stage 5. ​

According to the firm, Credo Ventures positions itself as a first-cheque investor backing the most ambitious founders from Central and Eastern Europe and its diaspora.

“We partner with the best founders from CEE and its diaspora, being the first check in their companies. We seek serious technical builders with global ambitions and work closely with them.”

The firm highlights the scale of the opportunity, pointing to a region of 170 million people and a combined GDP of $2 trillion, alongside a strong track record of producing high-quality technical talent. Credo also underscores its early role in backing breakout companies from the region.

“CEE has already produced global outliers such as UiPath and ElevenLabs, where Credo was the first cheque and (co-)lead investor in both cases. While the ecosystem is maturing, fragmentation and cultural divergence remain significant barriers for outsiders—creating a structural advantage for us.”

The firm points to the strength of the CEE diaspora — particularly in hubs like San Francisco and London — as a key sourcing advantage.

“The CEE tech diaspora is strong, and we leverage preferential access through our networks. After 15 years and four funds delivering top-percentile performance, the new generation of GPs is reinforcing Credo’s position as the leading fund for CEE founders.”

Axios reports that OpenAI could secure 5 gigawatts of electricity from Helion Energy by 2030, scaling to 50 gigawatts by 2035. Altman has stepped down as Helion’s board chair and recused himself from the deal talks, an echo of the same move he made at nuclear startup Oklo last year. OpenAI is in advanced talks […]

The Munich startup is building what it calls a ‘context graph’, a continuously updated map of how operational decisions actually get made inside an enterprise, drawn from millions of real cases rather than documentation that may never have been written. There is a particular friction point in every enterprise AI deployment, and anyone who has […]

The UK job search engine has acquired the employment divisions of two multi-vertical classifieds aggregators from Lifull Connect, bolstering its presence in Spain, Italy, and Latin America as its Japanese parent offloads non-real-estate assets. Adzuna has acquired the jobs verticals of Trovit and Mitula from Lifull Connect, the digital classifieds group controlled by the Japanese […]

Mark Zuckerberg is building an AI agent designed to assist him with his duties as chief executive of Meta. According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, the system remains in development but already functions as an on-demand information tool that allows the chief executive to access data faster than traditional hierarchical channels would permit. […]

What began as a simple walking route created by a frustrated parent has grown into a global movement platform. In Lithuania, Walk15 has reached around 31 per cent of the population. Last year, it generated around €1 million in revenue.

Founded by Lithuanian entrepreneur Vlada Musvydaite Vilciauske, Walk15 is rethinking how people engage with health, sustainability, and community, by turning steps into currency.

From one route to a platform

Vilčiauskė was born in Ukraine, but lived most of her life in Vilnius.  She was originally an athlete, a 400-metre runner, and became a Lithuanian and European-level champion.

“Sport has always been part of my life,” she recalled.

“My mother was a 100-metre champion, and my father ran 800 metres. So I was almost like a 'designed' 400-metre runner.

Growing up, everything felt like a competition. But the most important lesson came from my mother — she always told me that the most important thing in life is whether you are happy, not how much money you make.

That philosophy stayed with me, and it’s one of the reasons I created Walk15.”

The idea for Walk15 emerged from a very simple, personal problem. As Vilčiauskė recalls:

“In 2016, I felt like a bad mother because I didn’t know where to walk with my kids.”

So she created a 15,000-step walking route together with a woman from a regional park. In the process, she realised that walking with a clear goal transforms the experience. “You stay engaged, you stay motivated,” she says.

One participant even lost 15–20 kilos simply by following the route—“that was a big moment for me.”

It also raised a new question: how could she share this with others? The answer was to build an app, initially centred on that single 15,000-step route.

“Maybe one day it will be international… so let’s call it Walk15.”

After the app, they started organising physical walking events where people could come with their families, friends, or dogs and walk 15,000 steps together.

How Walk15 turns steps into value

From a user perspective, the app is  simple: you connect your phone or wearable device, your steps are tracked—without collecting location data—and they accumulate in a digital “step wallet.”

Users can then join challenges created by companies, cities, or organisations, ranging from workplace wellbeing initiatives to large-scale public campaigns, all designed to motivate participation rather than competition.

Why motivation — not tracking — is the core product

Vilčiauskė quickly realised something important: motivation is everything.

“You can promote anything, but if people are not motivated, it doesn’t work.”

So she created the idea of a “steps market” where you could exchange your steps for something tangible, like fruit or vegetables.

With the steps market, everyday movement becomes something valuable: users can exchange steps for rewards such as discounts, products, or experiences — for example, trading 20,000 steps for a grocery discount on healthy items, or unlocking perks like airport fast-track access and discounts at Adidas through challenge milestones.

A platform for companies, cities, and communities

Walk15’s aim is to motivate people — “especially children and teenagers, where around 80 per cent don’t move enough every day,” shared Vilčiauskė.

However, the startup also has a clear business model. Companies and organisations pay to create step challenges for their employees or communities. Behind the scenes, the platform operates primarily as a B2B and B2G solution, enabling organisations to run customised, goal-driven campaigns that combine health, sustainability, and behavioural change at scale.

In just five years, the team has impacted over 1,500 companies and 1,000,000 app users worldwide, helping them improve their well-being, change mobility habits, and create a positive environmental impact, and has expanded with an additional company formed in Berlin.

Walk15 recently launched a large initiative with the European Central Bank. People walk while receiving educational content, such as financial literacy topics explained in a simple, accessible way. At the end, users from different countries compete based on total steps.

Walk15 also creates community-driven initiatives, like:

• Walking challenges that support animal shelters
• Dog-walking competitions
• Campaigns tied to donations

Vilčiauskė is at pains to clarify that Walk15 is not a step counter.

“We are a motivation and initiative platform. What we realised is that every organisation — whether it’s a company, a city, a sports club, or even a government — has the same challenge: how do you engage people?”

In response, they created initiatives that allow people to walk for the city, school, or cause. It works like a social platform — but instead of posting, you participate by moving.

Vilčiauskė asserts, “For me, this is very important because it connects movement with education. I always say: 10,000 steps are for your health, 5,000 steps are for your education. This is where we can really create impact.”

The challenge of categorisation

But scaling the platform hasn’t been without its challenges. For Vilčiauskė, the biggest challenges have been fundraising and positioning.

“We are not a typical SaaS company, and we’re not a simple consumer app either. That makes it difficult for some investors to categorise us.

Some see us as a community project, others as a health app — but we’re building something different. That said, we do have investors who believe in the long-term potential.”

A global movement, one step at a time

Walk15 is further building out its B2B platform to integrate AI, so companies can automatically create campaigns.

“For example, an HR manager could request a challenge, and our system would generate everything — from messaging to engagement. We already know what motivates people, so we can use that data to improve outcomes,” explained Vilčiauskė.

It is also working to further support NGOs with donation features so that people can contribute to causes through their activity. Long-term, Vilčiauskė wants to create a global movement.

“We want people everywhere to move more, feel part of a community, and contribute to something meaningful. It’s not about walking 15,000 steps. It’s about taking the first step—and changing behaviour over time.”

The Israeli video personalisation company is launching Strata, a foundation model it says produces separate, editable layers for text, animation, footage, and actors rather than a single flat file. It’s a direct challenge to the architectural limits of diffusion-based video generators. Every AI video model currently on the market produces the same thing: a flat […]

Interloom, an enterprise operations platform that captures expert knowledge and converts it into a persistent memory layer for AI agents, has closed a $16.5 million seed funding round. The round was led by DN Capital, with participation from Bek Ventures and existing investor Air Street Capital.

The company addresses a key limitation in enterprise AI adoption: the lack of operational context. While AI agents can process information, much of how work is actually performed remains undocumented. Interloom’s platform captures this knowledge from real-world workflows, enabling both employees and AI systems to access past resolutions and apply them to new cases.

Fabian Jakobi, founder and CEO of Interloom, said that as AI agents move into operational roles, their effectiveness is limited without access to company-specific knowledge, reducing their ability to provide accurate responses or enable automation.

We ground their decisions in successful resolutions from the past, ensuring their work is guided by real operational experience and governed through expert oversight, creating a memory that stays with the company.

Jakobi added.

Interloom builds a continuously evolving “context graph” that stores decisions and outcomes from past work. This allows AI agents to operate based on accumulated experience rather than static documentation, supporting more effective automation of complex processes. The platform also addresses knowledge loss driven by workforce changes by preserving expertise within the organisation.

With the new funding, Interloom plans to further develop its platform and expand its capabilities in enterprise AI and workflow automation.

Job search platform Adzuna has acquired the jobs businesses of Trovit and Mitula, two market-leading search engines operated by the Lifull Connect group.

The acquisition marks Adzuna’s third acquisition in four years, further strengthening its position as one of the world’s leading global job search platforms.

Founded in 2006, Trovit and Mitula operate in more than 50 countries, centralising thousands of classified ads spanning jobs, real estate, and cars, with a strong presence in key European and international markets.

The acquisition strengthens Adzuna’s footprint in high-growth international markets, including Spain and Italy.  For Trovit and Mitula Jobs’ global user base, the Adzuna acquisition brings continuity while introducing a smarter job search experience through its groundbreaking AI search technology and a suite of AI tools.

For employers, the acquisition brings a wider audience and more quality applications worldwide. Doug Monro, CEO and co-founder of Adzuna, comments:  

“We are excited to welcome users from the Trovit Jobs and Mitula Jobs to the Adzuna group. This acquisition represents a significant step forward in our strategy to grow our global portfolio and deliver smarter job search at scale. 

The acquisition gives us the ability to connect millions of extra jobseekers in Europe, the US, Asia and Latin America with the right opportunities using our AI search and tools, delivering even more high-quality matches and greater hiring efficiency for employers."

Carlos Ruiz Comes, Vertical Search General Manager from Lifull Connect, shared:  

“Adzuna has established itself as a global leader in online job search, and I firmly believe that Trovit Jobs and Mitula Jobs users will benefit from Adzuna’s technology and recruitment expertise and continue to grow and innovate under its leadership.”

A new entrant into the crowded but urgent European air defence startup space has closed its first significant round, as capital chases the continent’s most pressing military capability shortfall. The phrase ‘air defence gap’ has become one of the defining anxieties of European security policy in the years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The […]

French defencetech EGIDE has raised an €8 million seed round. 

The round was co-led by Expeditions, Eurazeo, and Heartcore Capital, with participation from Galion.exe and Kima Ventures. 

Founded in 2025 by former MBDA aerospace and defence engineers Simon Calonne and Florian Audigier, EGIDE was created to address the rapidly growing threat posed by cheap mass-produced drones and strike munitions, which are increasingly challenging traditional defence systems. Calonne is an aerospace engineer specialising in Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC), while Audigier is a pyrotechnical engineer with extensive experience in warhead design.

At the core of the company’s approach is the development of a new kind of electrically propelled interceptor and Mystique, a hardware-agnostic software platform that leverages distributed sensors, AI-driven detection, and layered interception systems. This munition architecture enables reactive iteration against evolving targets and faster integration across different weapon platforms and missions, while reducing the cost and complexity associated with traditional defence systems. 

As defence leaders gather at the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum this week, boosting Europe’s arsenal is top of the agenda. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Iran conflict have shown how quickly cheap drones can overwhelm legacy defence systems.

Europe and its NATO allies must transition from limited, high-cost interceptors to a new generation of adaptable, scalable systems capable of countering constantly evolving threats. EGIDE aims to lead this shift by building affordable, integrated defence systems designed for modern battlefields and for protecting critical infrastructure.

According to Simon Calonne, Co-founder of EGIDE, low-cost drones are fundamentally transforming modern warfare. Systems designed to intercept a small number of high-value threats are now being confronted with large volumes of inexpensive and highly adaptable aerial systems:

"At EGIDE, we are building a new generation of scalable and affordable defence capabilities designed to meet this challenge.

Our ambition is to build a European leader in mass-affordable interceptors capable of protecting forces and critical infrastructure against evolving aerial, sea and ground threats.

This funding allows us to accelerate the development of our interceptors and Mystique, and build the team that will help reshape Europe’s defence architecture.”

According to Dr Mikołaj Firlej, Co-Founder and General Partner at Expeditions,  Europe is entering a decisive moment in the rebuilding of its security architecture.

"The rapid proliferation of low-cost drones is transforming the character of warfare, exposing critical vulnerabilities and unsustainable economics associated with legacy defence systems."

Simon, Florian and the EGIDE team are addressing this challenge by developing scalable defence capabilities built specifically for the realities of modern conflict.

At Expeditions, we back founders rebuilding the technological foundations of European security, and EGIDE is exactly the type of company we believe will play a defining role in that transformation.”

Thomas Turelier, Managing Director at Eurazeo, commented: 

“Strengthening Europe’s sovereignty and resilience is a strategic priority in today’s environment. EGIDE’s approach to cost-efficient interceptors that can be integrated across air, sea and ground missions reflects this broader dynamic.

Simon, Florian and the team bring a rare depth of experience in the technologies that will be key in safeguarding Europe’s security, and we’re proud to support them as they build the next generation of defence systems.”

The company will use the new funding to accelerate the design and production of electrically-propelled interceptors and the development of its Mystique operating platform. 

EGIDE will look to expand its engineering team, bringing together the best talent from across Europe with expertise in electric propulsion, aerodynamic and warhead design and software engineering. 

The Paris-Milan VC’s new vehicle is the latest sign that European investors are hardwiring defence into their deeptech strategy. There is a version of this story that could have been told three years ago and would have raised eyebrows in polite European venture circles: a deeptech fund, backed by a major defence prime, raising tens […]

Stockholm-based Newly (formerly Natively), a mobile app development company, has raised over $2 million to date in funding to accelerate its growth and broaden access to native app development. The round was led by PSV Tech, with participation from Karaoke Club, Wave Ventures, Inception Fund, Foundry Ventures, Tiny Supercomputing Investment Company, and a group of prominent angel investors, including Fredrik Björk, Mattias Miksche, Sebastian Knutsson, Peter Carlsson, Joseph Michael, Wilhelm Bohlin, Alfred Wahlforss, and Mandeep Singh.

While AI has significantly simplified web development, making it easier than ever to launch landing pages, SaaS tools, and online stores, native mobile development has remained comparatively inaccessible. The complexity of building for iOS and Android, navigating app store requirements, and maintaining performance at scale has continued to limit development to specialised teams.

Newly aims to address this gap by enabling users to build, iterate, and launch fully functional, compliant mobile applications without coding. Its platform combines agentic AI systems with advanced mobile-native tooling, allowing teams to move from concept to an App Store–ready product significantly faster and at lower cost than traditional approaches.

Founder and CEO Timothy Lindblom describes the shift as one that reduces development timelines “from months to hours”, reducing friction between idea and execution. He notes that native mobile apps have historically been out of reach for many founders due to cost and complexity, a barrier that Newly seeks to remove.

The company plans to use the new funding to further develop its platform and expand beyond mobile into other native formats, including desktop software, augmented reality experiences, and wearable applications.

For most of the past decade, the received wisdom in European venture capital was simple enough: if you wanted a serious fund, you needed a partnership. The large teams, the committee structures, the distributed decision-making, these were treated not merely as operational choices but as a kind of institutional legitimacy. Nathan Benaich has spent the […]

Air Street Capital, founded by Nathan Benaich, has raised $232M for Fund III — making it the largest solo GP venture fund in Europe. 

The fund invests in AI-first companies in North America and Europe. The firm will lead early-stage rounds with cheques ranging from $500,000 to $15 million, alongside select growth investments of up to $25 million.

Founded in 2019, Air Street was built on a conviction formed years earlier — that AI would become a fundamental driver of technological progress.

According to Benaich:

“When I started investing in 2013, deep learning was largely confined to research labs. Yet I was convinced… the most important technology companies of our generation will be built AI-first. AI is a force multiplier for technological progress, and everything around us is ultimately a product of intelligence.”

From solo GP to Europe’s largest

With Fund III, Air Street is now the largest solo GP venture firm in Europe — a structure designed to enable faster, high-conviction decision-making.

“This structure enables high-conviction investing with a single decision-maker and significant capital to support the most ambitious teams.”

Over the past decade, the firm has backed companies across multiple domains:

• Software: Synthesia, Black Forest Labs, Poolside
• Science / Biotech: Profluent, Enveda Biosciences
• Physical AI / Infrastructure: Wayve, Sereact, Lambda, Crusoe
• Defence: Delian Alliance Industries

These companies reflect a broader shift:

"AI is no longer just augmenting products — it is enabling entirely new categories. AI is not simply improving the status quo but enabling entirely new kinds of products and companies to be built.”

Air Street has also built a wider AI ecosystem through initiatives like:

• The State of AI Report
• The RAAIS (Research and Applied AI Summit)
• A global AI network of ~3,000 researchers and builders

The firm has also engaged in policy and ecosystem-building efforts, including reforms to university spinout frameworks that the UK government has adopted.

“Our third epoch begins today”

With Fund III, Air Street is positioning itself for what it sees as a defining moment in technology. Benaich shared: 

“Fund III launches into what I believe is the most transformational period in technology of our generation. Capabilities that seemed like magic a decade ago are now real, usable, and creating enormous value. Air Street is built for exactly this moment.”

360 Capital, a European venture capital firm, has closed €85 million for Poli360 2, its new technology transfer fund targeting a total size of €100 million. The fund focuses on early-stage deeptech startups. 

Poli360 2 is classified as an Article 8 fund under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Its investor base includes the European Investment Fund, CDP Venture Capital, Italian pension funds, family offices and corporate investors such as Brembo, MBDA and Lucchini RS.

Poli360 2 continues the strategy established by Poli360 1, which has supported a portfolio of 20 companies, including Energy Dome, Isaac, Phononic Vibes, PhotonPath, Inxpect and Equixly. The new fund will invest in collaboration with leading universities and research centres, with plans to complete 20 to 25 investments. At least 80 per cent of the capital will be deployed in Italy, with the remainder allocated to opportunities across Europe.

The fund’s investment strategy focuses on two main areas: Industry Automation and Sustainability. Industry Automation includes fields such as robotics, Industry 4.0, semiconductors, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, IoT, infrastructure, industrial machinery and information technology. In Sustainability, the focus is on new materials, energy transition and the circular economy.

According to Alessandro Zaccaria, Partner at 360 Capital, the fund reinforces the firm’s commitment to translating research from Italy and across Europe into globally competitive companies through collaboration with academic institutions, research centres, and founders.

By working side by side with universities, research centres, and founders, we aim to support the next generation of deeptech companies shaping the technological landscape of the coming decade.

said Zaccaria.

Founded in 1997, 360 Capital operates from offices in Milan and Paris and invests in early-stage European startups across deeptech, climate tech and digital sectors. The firm has backed more than 170 companies and has recorded recent exits, including Preligens, acquired by Safran in 2024, and Exotec.