This week, we tracked more than 75 tech funding deals worth over €1.3 billion and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.

In addition to this week's top financials, we've also indexed the most important/industry-related news items you need to know about.

If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. Either way, let's get you up to speed.

Happy holidays!

As next week is a very short week before the festival season, it's a Merry Christmas and happy holidays for those who celebrate from all of us at Tech.eu. We won't be doing a round-up next week, but we still have some great stories coming out up until the new year, so check back onto the website. 

? Notable and big funding rounds

?? Lovable raises $330M at a $6.6B valuation to turn non-developers into software builders

?? Exein raises an additional €100M to expand its embedded cybersecurity platform

?? Neural Concept raises $100M to scale AI-native engineering

??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers

?? Swiss-US startup HomeBuddy acquired for $190M

?? Quantum Systems expands defence autonomy stack with FERNRIDE acquisition

??  Monzo buys digital mortgage broker Habito

?? Bought snaps up luxury rental platform Robes Rental in third acquisition of 2025

?? Tech giant ABB makes swoop for Manchester tech firm IPEC

? Interesting moves from investors

? MD One Ventures and Randox launch security and biotech accelerator for national resilience

? The rise of battery storage as an infrastructure asset

? Finland’s Cloudberry announces Europe-focused semiconductor venture fund

?? COFIDES will invest up to 10 million euros through the FIS in the Creas Impacto II fund

?  Early backer of unicorns Personio and Enpal, German VC Picus Capital closes €150 million preferred equity deal

?️ In other (important) news

? QuantumDiamonds invests over €150M for quantum chip inspection facility

?? Quantum Systems and Frontline Robotics set up Europe’s first foreign drone production line for Ukraine

? Monzo wins European banking licence, as investors agitate for CEO return

?  Trade Republic confirms decacorn status, following secondary share sale

? N26 appoints new CEO amid sanctions hit

? Recommended reads and listens

?  From speed to defensibility: What OpenAI sees in the next generation of AI startups

? The pickup counter Is food delivery’s blind spot — Pickpad is fixing it

? Why Emmi AI spends €1,000 per person every month to bring its remote team together

??  From Kyiv to continental scale: Liki24’s unapologetically European ambition

?? The Seoul Statement paves the way for European AI standards

? European tech startups to watch 

?? Wodan AI closes a €2M round to advance sovereign AI development in Europe

?? NobodyWho raises €2M to challenge Big Tech’s cloud AI with SLMs for local devices

??  A&B Smart Materials raises £1.5M pre-seed for biodegradable absorbents

?? Nodu lands $1.45M to upgrade Europe’s payment rails as stablecoins surge

?? ÄIO wins €1.2M grant to scale fermentation-based flavoured fats for food

Nodu, a London-based stablecoin infrastructure startup making digital assets work within traditional finance, has closed a €1.25 million pre-Seed round to broaden its global coverage and grow its team. 

The round was led by Digital Space Ventures, a Luxembourg-based venture capital firm and the early investor behind Revolut and PaySend. 

“The world is shifting toward digital money and programmable finance, and regulations like MiCA are bringing clarity to the market. By 2030, most major currencies are expected to exist in stablecoin form. Banks, PSPs, and FinTechs are now looking for reliable partners to bridge fiat and stablecoin ecosystems — and Nodu is building the rails that will move the industry forward. That’s why we’re proud to support them,” said Andrei Popov, Managing Partner of Digital Space Ventures.

Nodu was founded in 2025 by Alex Novozhenov, Vladislav Nikolayev, and Daria Dubinina, the team behind Crassula, a Latvia-based European Fintech platform. It positions itself as the European alternative to US-based players such as Zerohash and Bridge. 

Nodu makes it easier for businesses to integrate stablecoin payments. It provides banks, FinTechs, and businesses with a ready-to-use global compliance and payments framework. According to the startup, this enables them to launch faster without building their own infrastructure.

Nodu’s long-term vision is to connect more than 170 countries into one payment network, with stablecoins acting as the universal bridge between currencies, systems, and economies. 

“Banks wanted to join the digital-asset economy, but lacked safe, compliant tools. Nodu was built to change that. With stablecoins, global payments should take seconds, not days – and cost cents, not tens of dollars. Our mission is to make that infrastructure invisible, automatic, and globally accessible,” said Novozhenov, CEO and co-founder of Nodu. 

According to the company, clients can send, receive, and hold stablecoins in a similar way to traditional currencies, with compliance and reporting handled automatically in the background. The platform merges fiat and crypto rails into one regulated flow, linking European institutions with worldwide payment and blockchain networks. 

Nodu claims that one of its key differentiators is its stablecoin off-ramp capabilities, which are available in more than 100 countries, thereby enabling instant, low-cost fiat payouts. 

The fresh capital will enable the company to expand its global coverage, grow its engineering and compliance teams, and strengthen its partnerships with banks and FinTechs. Nodu has Latvian roots and operates on B2B2B and B2B2C models, generating revenue through transaction fees and subscriptions.

The post European rival to Zerohash and Bridge, Nodu raises €1.25 million pre-Seed led by early Revolut investor appeared first on EU-Startups.

Stablecoin infrastructure startup Nodu has closed a $1.45 million pre-seed round led by Digital Space Ventures. Nodu is a London-based stablecoin infrastructure startup with Latvian roots, founded in 2025 by Alex Novozhenov (CEO), Vladislav Nikolayev (CTO), and Daria Dubinina, the team behind the fintech platform Crassula. Nodu provides banks, fintechs, and businesses with a ready-to-use global compliance and payments framework for stablecoins, enabling them to launch services without building infrastructure internally.

The platform supports sending, receiving, and holding stablecoins, with compliance and reporting handled automatically. It is designed to integrate fiat and digital-asset rails into a single, regulated workflow, connecting European institutions with global payment and blockchain networks.

A key feature of Nodu’s offering is its stablecoin off-ramp functionality, which is available in over 100 countries and supports near real-time, lower-cost fiat payouts, including those for cross-border remittances.

As EU banks continue to prioritise digitalisation and seek additional revenue opportunities, Nodu is positioned to help address technical and regulatory hurdles. The company offers a faster, compliance-focused route to deploying digital-asset services, without a major engineering build-out.

Nodu launched with an existing base of relationships from the founders’ prior work. Before beginning operations, the team reported having more than 40 Crassula clients and over 20 partners interested in adopting the platform, supported by a network of more than 15,500 industry contacts.

Following the new funding, Nodu plans to expand its geographic coverage, scale its engineering and compliance teams, and deepen partnerships with banks and fintechs.

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The post Weekly funding round-up! All of the European startup funding rounds we tracked this week (Dec. 15-19) appeared first on EU-Startups.

Danish flavour company EvodiaBio has raised €6 million (DKK 45 million) in a new funding round to accelerate growth in existing markets and support their expansion into the asian market.

The round was led by the American investment firm RA Capital Management’s Planetary Health Fund and joined by other new investors Wild Radicals and Francis Family Funds, as well as existing investors EIFO, Ananke Ventures, Newtree Impact, PINC (Paulig), Jarne Elleholm (co-founder and Chairman of the Board), Sotirios Kampranis (co-founder), Camilla Kloss Fenneberg (CEO), and three board members: Flemming Besenbacher, Anne Cabotin, and Andreas Fibig.

Today’s funding announcement, follows last year’s €7 million raise – as reported by EU-Startups.

“I am proud of our team – within just three and a half years, we have gone from a research project to industrial production with all necessary approvals and a profitable product. That is rarely seen in the BioTech industry. This investment enables us to accelerate global growth and realise our ambition of becoming a leader in industrial BioTech, says Camilla Fenneberg, CEO of EvodiaBio.

In 2025, EU-Startups reporting points to continued investor interest in fermentation-based and sustainable BioTech, providing a useful context for EvodiaBio’s new round.

French startup Fungu’it raised €4 million to develop natural flavourings using fungi fermentation, underlining demand for alternative aroma and taste solutions with lower environmental impact. In an adjacent application area, Swedish precision-fermentation company Melt&Marble secured €7.3 million to scale its designer fats for food and beauty, while German startup Kynda raised €3 million to expand sustainable fungal protein production.

Taken together, these 2025 rounds amount to approximately €14.3 million invested across flavour, ingredient and fermentation-driven BioTech in Europe.

Against this backdrop, EvodiaBio’s €6 million raise positions it within a broader, data-supported trend of capital flowing into industrial BioTech platforms that apply fermentation to food and beverage value chains, with its specific focus on yeast-derived natural aromas complementing adjacent developments in flavours, fats and proteins.

“RA Capital’s investment in EvodiaBio at this stage underscores the company’s strong position. It confirms that we have removed the key risks related to technology, production, and commercialisation. We have proven that the technology works, that customers are interested in the product, and that the business model has been profitable from day one. Now we are ready to accelerate growth, says Jarne Elleholm, Chairman of the Board at EvodiaBio.

He adds:”What EvodiaBio has achieved in record time is highly unusual in our industry. Moving from the laboratory to a complete production platform, global partnerships, and market interest in such a short time demonstrates that Denmark has the potential to become a leading hub for biosolutions. The new capital allows us to accelerate even further and show how far industrial BioTech can take Denmark.”

Founded in 2021, EvodiaBio is an industrial BioTech company that develops sustainable aromas through fermentation. The technology is used commercially in the beverage industry and enables the production of natural aromas with significantly lower resource consumption and CO₂ emissions than traditional methods.

In just over three years, EvodiaBio has moved from the laboratory to industrial production of yeast-derived natural monoterpenes.

Since the launch of its Yops technology platform earlier this year, EvodiaBio has achieved global commercial traction with more than 70 commercial brews and over 10 projects with top-40 breweries worldwide.

“EvodiaBio’s technology platform convincingly solves the problem of efficiently and sustainably producing natural aromas at industrial scale. The team has executed with a speed and capital efficiency rarely seen in BioTech,” says Kyle Teamey, Managing Partner at RA Capital.

Teamey adds: “We see great potential in the company’s channel partnerships with Symrise and Lallemand and we are excited to support the company as it scales internationally and expands into new segments.”

With its latest investment and strong partnerships, EvodiaBio is well positioned to accelerate its growth. The next steps include expansion into new markets such as Asia and applying its sustainable technology across additional industries, including other beverages, wine, and the aroma industry more broadly.

This latest funding round is the company’s third in three years. In total, EvodiaBio has raised €20 million (DKK 150 million).

“This investment places us in a strong position to accelerate our growth and expand our technology into new markets, especially in Asia. We have achieved strong commercial validation, but we are still early in our growth journey. Our goal is to become a global leader in industrial biotech, and we see a tremendous opportunity to enter multiple industries with our sustainable and efficient solutions,” adds Fenneberg.

The post Copenhagen-based EvodiaBio raises €6 million to scale fermentation-based flavour technology appeared first on EU-Startups.

Editor’s Note: This post was created in collaboration and with financial support from EIT Food.

On 11 November, the Empowering Women in Agrifood (EWA) 2025 Demo Day programme took place in Seville, an initiative that supports women entrepreneurs working to create a more sustainable and innovative food system.

Now in its sixth edition, EWA 2025 is a six-month entrepreneurial programme designed to support aspiring and early-stage female entrepreneurs across 13 countries: Albania, Estonia, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, and Ukraine.

Backed by EIT Food and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, EWA helps participants build the skills, confidence and networks needed to develop and scale their ideas. Although women play a vital role in agriculture and rural innovation, their work often goes underrecognised. The programme helps address this gap by offering practical support, tailored training and access to a strong, long-lasting community.

This year’s edition brought together talented founders from across the region, each working on solutions that tackle real challenges in agriculture, sustainability and food production.  On that note, today we start the first of a series of three interviews highlighting standout participants from this year’s EWA programme. We begin with a remarkable woman entrepreneur, whose work brings scientific expertise and practical innovation together to address key challenges in the agrifood sector.

Interview with Anabel Millán Leiva, Co-founder of Cucare Diagnostics

Can you start by sharing the inspiration behind Cucare Diagnostics and how your journey into insect science and agrifood innovation began?

The Cucare founding team are scientists specialising in insect genetics, pathogens, and pesticide resistance. Our journey began at the University of Valencia, where we have spent over 30 years studying how insects interact with microorganisms and pesticidal compounds.

Through close work with farmers and beekeepers, we started receiving urgent calls aboutpests destroying crops and diseases wiping out hives. Existing diagnostic tools were often unavailable or impractical in real-world conditions.

As insect farming began to grow as a source of alternative proteins, a new problem emerged. Producers were facing serious health issues in their colonies, but had no way to detect or understand the diseases affecting them. Many of these threats were still unknown, and no diagnostic tools existed to guide decision-making.

We realised we had the expertise to help, but our laboratory methods were not accessible to those who needed them most. That is when we decided to move beyond academia. By working directly with beekeepers and farmers, we developed and validated practical diagnostic tools in real production environments.

In 2025, we founded Cucare Diagnostics as a spin-off from the University of Valencia, with the goal of bringing fast, reliable, and usable diagnostics to insect production and agrifood systems.

What motivated you to focus on insect health, pest resistance and pathogen detection, and how do you see this work contributing to a more sustainable and resilient food system?

Our motivation comes from understanding the crucial role insects play in food systems. They can be both a challenge and a solution: insects cause major losses in agriculture and livestock production, but they are also essential as biological control agents and as one of the most sustainable protein sources available.

Through our close work with farmers, insect producers, and other stakeholders, we see firsthand the real challenges facing the agrifood sector and the lack of practical tools to address them. We have the scientific knowledge to help, and we felt a strong responsibility to turn that knowledge into solutions that work in the real world. At the same time, we know food production must increase, but not at the expense of the environment.

Pesticide resistance is a clear example. As resistance grows, pest control becomes less effective and pesticide use increases, often without knowing whether treatments will work. By detecting resistance at the genetic level before treatments are applied, we enable more targeted pest control, reducing chemical use and environmental impact while improving crop and livestock health.

Insect farming is another important part of the solution, offering a sustainable way to meet the growing demand for protein. However, this young industry faces serious health challenges. By enabling early disease detection and preventive health management, we help make insect production more resilient, efficient, and sustainable.

Ultimately, our work supports a more resilient food system by enabling smarter pest control, reducing environmental pressure, and strengthening sustainable protein production.

Cucare Diagnostics applies advanced genetic and molecular tools to insect management and large-scale insect production. Can you walk us through your approach and explain what sets your solutions apart from more traditional methods?

Our approach combines advanced genetic and molecular technologies with bioinformatics and proprietary databases to support insect management and large-scale insect production.

These tools allow us to detect pathogens in insect colonies at very early stages, long before visible symptoms appear. Early detection is crucial, as it gives producers time to intervene and prevent outbreaks, rather than reacting once losses are unavoidable. Importantly, our methods are not limited to known pathogens. We can analyse the entire microbial community within a colony, including unknown or unexpected disease agents, which is especially important in insect farming, where many pathogens are still poorly understood.

Traditional diagnostics rely mainly on visual inspection, microbiological cultures, or targeted PCR tests. These methods usually require higher pathogen levels, are reactive rather than preventive, and can only detect what is already known, often leading to delayed or inconclusive results.

The same applies to pesticide resistance detection. While laboratory methods exist, they are often complex, slow, expensive, and not accessible to farmers or beekeepers. Our resistance detection services are designed to be fast, scalable, and cost-effective. By identifying resistance at the genetic level before treatments are applied, we support better decision-making, reduce unnecessary chemical use, lower costs, and minimise environmental impact.

What truly sets Cucare apart is our ability to turn advanced molecular science into practical, actionable solutions that work in real production environments.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while developing Cucare Diagnostics, particularly when translating scientific research into practical solutions for the agrifood industry?

One of our biggest challenges has been shifting our mindset from academic researchers to people building practical solutions and a viable company. In the lab, complexity and long timelines are acceptable, but in real production environments, they are not. Farmers and producers need reliable answers quickly, not perfect results weeks later.

From a scientific perspective, this meant adapting very advanced molecular techniques to make them fast, practical, and affordable. Another challenge was learning to balance scientific rigour with the urgency of the agrifood sector. Our clients do not just want data; they need clear guidance on what to do next. That pushed us to translate complex genetic results into simple, actionable recommendations.

Building trust outside academia was also essential. We had to show that molecular diagnostics could deliver real, tangible value in the field. On top of that came the realities of building a company: securing early-stage funding, dealing with bureaucracy, and learning the business side of things. It has been a steep learning curve, but one we are committed to, because we truly believe in the impact this work can have.

When did you first hear about the EWA programme, and what motivated you to participate?

I first came across EIT Food a few years ago, even before founding Cucare Diagnostics, through different training activities and programmes. I was drawn to its strong focus on practical innovation in the agrifood sector, which aligned closely with my scientific background and interests.

I later discovered the EWA Spain programme through EIT Food announcements on social media. After looking into it, it was clear how valuable it could be, both for me as an entrepreneur and for Cucare, particularly in terms of business development and mentorship.

Looking back, taking part in EWA Spain has exceeded my expectations. It has helped us sharpen Cucare’s strategy and market focus, while also supporting my personal growth as an entrepreneur and helping me build valuable connections. It has been a genuinely transformative experience, and joining the programme was absolutely the right decision.

How did the mentorship and training during the EWA programme influence your approach to building Cucare Diagnostics? What would you say are the three most valuable takeaways from the programme?

The training and mentorship we received through the EWA programme have had a strong influence on how we are building Cucare Diagnostics.

The training sessions were well structured and covered all the key aspects an early-stage startup needs, from idea validation and business models to legal topics, finance, marketing, leadership, and communication. I appreciated that each topic was addressed with the right level of depth and clearly adapted to the real needs of the participants.

If I had to highlight the three most valuable takeaways, the first would be mentorship. The mentors were highly professional, and the programme did an excellent job of matching mentor and mentee. I was paired with an exceptional mentor, someone with deep industry experience and strong human insight. She understood Cucare’s strategic direction, the right timing for decisions, and the personal pressures of leading an early-stage company. That combination of professional guidance and emotional intelligence was especially valuable during challenging moments, and I am very grateful for her support, as well as for the help of other mentors along the way.

The second key takeaway was the community. The other participants and the EWA team created a supportive and collaborative environment where we shared challenges, exchanged advice, and celebrated progress together. Building a startup can feel isolating, and being part of such a community made the journey feel much less solitary.

Finally, the training and visibility provided by the programme were extremely valuable. Beyond practical skills like pitching, market validation, and strategic planning, EWA gave Cucare visibility and credibility within the EIT Food ecosystem. Access to these networks and opportunities is helping us grow much faster than we could have on our own.

Sustainability is a core element of Cucare’s mission. How do your services help reduce the use of pesticides while protecting crops, ecosystems and insect health?

Sustainability is at the core of Cucare Diagnostics because we focus on prevention and informed decision-making, rather than reacting once problems have already escalated.

In agriculture, uncertainty often leads to pesticide overuse. Farmers frequently apply treatments without knowing whether they will actually work against the pests present. When resistance goes undetected and a treatment fails, additional pesticides are applied to avoid crop losses, increasing costs and environmental impact.

Our molecular resistance diagnostics remove that uncertainty. By identifying resistance genes before treatments are applied, we help farmers choose the most effective solution from the start. This leads to more targeted pest control, fewer applications, and lower chemical use. As a result, environmental pressure is reduced, residues on crops are minimised, and the effectiveness of existing pesticides is preserved for longer, while protecting ecosystems and beneficial insects.

How do you see advances in insect science and biotechnology shaping the future of agriculture, pest management and sustainable protein production?

I believe advances in insect science will play a major role in transforming food production, helping it become more sustainable and better managed. This means moving away from reacting to problems once they occur and towards preventive strategies that reduce losses and limit environmental impact from the start.

In pest control, we are shifting towards more precise, data-driven approaches. Instead of broad, one-size-fits-all treatments, pest management is becoming more targeted, effective, and environmentally responsible. At the same time, the insect production sector is still learning how to fully support insect health and welfare, but progress is clearly being made. Growing research into insect nutrition, health, and disease is helping make large-scale insect farming more reliable and resilient.

Overall, I see huge potential to improve how food is produced, and I am confident we are moving in the right direction towards systems that are more sustainable, resilient, and environmentally friendly.

To conclude this interview, what advice would you give to other women entrepreneurs considering starting a science-based business in the agrifood sector?

My advice is to focus on solving real problems, stay adaptable, and validate your ideas early. Trust your expertise and do not underestimate your knowledge and capabilities. Remember that being different and having a scientific background is not a limitation; it is a powerful competitive advantage.

Most importantly, do not do it alone. Seek out mentorship, peer networks, and programmes like EWA that combine technical, business, and personal support. Building a company is demanding, especially in the early stages, and having the right community makes a huge difference.

More on the programme 

As part of EWA 2025, Anabel joined a growing #EWAProgramme community of more than 600 alumnae across Europe. This network continues to support and unlock the potential of early-stage female founders well beyond the duration of the programme.

She also had the opportunity to pitch her idea at the Next Bite Satellite event, Accelerating Innovation Through Women Leadership, held on 4 December in Warsaw. The event brought together nearly 350 innovators, founders, and investors to rethink the future of food and highlight women-led innovation across the agrifood ecosystem.

Registration for EWA 2026 opens soon! Stay tuned and help build a future of food powered by women. More information is available here

About EIT Food

EIT Food is the world’s largest and most dynamic food innovation community. Backed by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, it works across the food value chain to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship, equipping changemakers with the skills, tools, and support they need to reshape the future of food.

EIT Food is one of nine innovation communities established by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an independent EU body set up in 2008 to drive innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe.

Learn more at EIT Food or follow EIT Food on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

The post Empowering Women in Agrifood 2025: Interview with Anabel Millán Leiva, Co-founder of Cucare Diagnostics appeared first on EU-Startups.

Schwyz-based Liom, an innovator in non-invasive biomarker monitoring and the developer of a non-invasive glucose-monitoring wearable, announced a €13.9 million (CHF 13 million) extension of its Series A financing round.

The round was led by previous lead investors, with new participation from Red Bull Ventures, Marc Maurer (former co-CEO of On Running), Melih Odemis (former co-founder and CTO of Yemeksepeti), Alejo Costa Ribalta, partner of venture capital firm CRB Health Tech and former senior executive of Philips and GE Healthcare – bringing its total Series A to €40.8 million (CHF 38 million) and its total funding to date to €67.6 million (CHF 63 million).

“Now, we can also be sure that we’ve not only proven the method, but we had the right team and the right amount of luck to generate the required breakthrough innovations in order to bring our platform into a wearable-fitting form-factor,” says Leo Grünstein, founder and CEO of Liom.

In 2025, European HealthTech startups focusing on wearables, biosensing, and preventive care have attracted notable venture capital, reflecting investor confidence in technologies that deliver continuous health insights beyond traditional clinical settings.

For example, Sava Technologies Ltd., a London-based MedTech innovator in real-time molecular wearable sensors, raised €16.6 million in Series A to advance regulatory approval and commercialisation of its next-generation device, bringing its total funding to nearly €28 million. In adjacent preventive care domains, Lucis secured €7.2 million in Seed funding to expand its biomarker-based health analytics platform across Europe, and GlycanAge raised €7.4 million to scale its glycan-based diagnostics for preventive ageing care.

Together, these 2025 rounds illustrate a funding climate where roughly €31 million is being allocated toward startups developing continuous monitoring, personalised metabolic insight tools, and preventive diagnostics that sit alongside Liom’s non-invasive glucose wearable innovation.

“Our miniaturisation breakthrough significantly increases light throughput versus current state-of-the-art solutions – even outperforming table-sized lab-scale devices by 12x – and with that unlocks prior unseen performance, a >24h battery life, smartwatch sizing and manufacturability at scale” Grünstein adds.

Founded in 2017 by Leo Grünstein, Liom Health (formerly Spiden) is a Swiss HealthTech startup innovating preventive and personalised health monitoring through a novel wearable that enlightens users with real-time biophysical feedback.

Liom’s first product, expected to launch in 2028, is a non-invasive glucose-monitoring wearable that offers a comprehensive view of metabolic health.

The new capital follows Liom’s recent breakthrough in miniaturising its proprietary Raman spectroscopy platform, having proven its ability to measure glucose non-invasively and as the world’s only company calibration-free, i.e. requiring no needles to calibrate whatsoever, on over 130 subjects in the course of the past years.

Liom is also welcoming Marc Maurer, former co-CEO of On Running – a Swiss success story valued at more than €11.8 billion (CHF 11 billion) – as both investor and Board member. Marc brings expertise in product, consumer value creation, as well as branding and marketing, especially at the intersection of health, fitness and consumer products.

His expertise will support Liom as it shifts from R&D into product development and commercialisation.

Maurer states: “Nutrition and movement are absolutely key to a high quality of life. Having access to glucose measurements through a wearable on your wrist, without the need for a needle, will allow all of us to understand the impact of nutrition and movement on our body much better and therefore live a healthier life. Liom unlocks mass-adoption by consumers & athletes vs current microneedle CGM devices.

“I believe Liom has the potential to disrupt and significantly expand the wearable market that has been created by Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Whoop, Oura, etc – yet hasn’t seen sensor-level innovation over the past decade.”

The post Swiss wearable glucose-monitoring technology startup Liom closes €13.9 million round appeared first on EU-Startups.

Destinus, a Katwijk-based aerospace and defense company, has secured a €50 million financing facility from Commerzbank, marking the company’s first commercial bank facility and supporting the next phase of its industrial expansion across Europe.

The Commerzbank facility complements €140 million in recently completed convertible instruments and shareholder loans, following the company’s earlier equity financing. Together, these new financings build on more than €200 million in previously raised equity, bringing Destinus’ total capital raised to nearly €400 million to date.

“Securing this facility is an important milestone for Destinus and a strong signal of confidence in Europe’s ability to build high-performance autonomous flight systems at scale. It reinforces our production roadmap and accelerates the industrialisation of our platforms for European and allied customers,” said Mikhail Kokorich, founder and CEO of Destinus.

2025 has seen a steady flow of funding into European defence, UAV and autonomous systems startups, mostly at an early or growth-stage scale.

Warsaw-based Orbotix raised €6.5 million to advance AI-powered autonomous defence systems, while Paris-based Rift secured €4.6 million to develop an on-demand aerial reconnaissance network built on autonomous VTOL drones. In the UAV manufacturing segment, Monopulse (MNP Technologijos) received €1.12 million to expand NATO-grade drone production capacity, reflecting demand for deployable, interoperable systems. On the software and infrastructure side, SalesPatriot raised €4.2 million to modernise defence and aerospace procurement workflows, highlighting investment interest beyond hardware alone.

Taken together, these rounds represent just over €16 million of disclosed funding in adjacent defence and autonomy segments in 2025, underscoring that most activity remains concentrated in relatively modest financings.

Against this backdrop, Destinus’ €50 million bank facility and nearly €400 million in total capital raised position it at the industrial, large-scale end of the European defense technology spectrum, contrasting with the predominantly early-stage funding profile of its sector peers.

“We appreciate the trust placed in us by our lenders and investors, and we value the advisory support provided by Rothschild & Co and CLEAR across our financing activities throughout the year,” adds Kokorich.

Founded in 2021, Destinus is a defense industrial company developing and manufacturing a new generation of AI-enabled autonomous systems, including one-way effectors, cruise missiles, and anti-drone interceptors, for national and allied defense.

With 750 engineers and specialists across Europe, the company combines AI-driven engineering, vertical integration, and large-scale production to design and manufacture autonomous systems and effectors at an industrial scale.

The new capital will accelerate the expansion of Destinus’ production lines, integration facilities, and testing infrastructure, enabling the company to supply scalable, cost-efficient autonomous systems that reinforce European defense readiness and strengthen sovereign industrial capacity across allied nations.

The company beleives that Commerzbank’s participation reflects growing institutional confidence in their ability to deliver defense capabilities at meaningful industrial volumes and to contribute to Europe’s long-term defense industrial resilience.

Building on strategic steps taken earlier this year to strengthen its Dutch presence and expand UAV capabilities, Destinus continues to scale its European operations in line with its mission to develop autonomous flight systems at industrial scale.

Destinus was also included in last year’s round-up Driving evolution: 10 European startups transforming mobility.

The post Dutch DefenseTech startup Destinus adds €50 million bank financing as total capital raised approaches €400 million appeared first on EU-Startups.

StretchSense, a wearable technology company that develops data capture gloves, has secured $2.3 million in funding led by PXN Ventures, with support from Scottish Enterprise. The company has now raised nearly $20 million across three external funding rounds.

Founded in 2012, StretchSense specialises in advanced motion capture gloves designed to connect human movement with digital environments. Its products use proprietary stretch sensor technology and machine learning to deliver high-fidelity hand and finger tracking for VR and XR applications, including animation, gaming, training, and simulation.

The company’s gloves enable natural, controller-free interaction, providing precise real-time motion capture for immersive environments and creative workflows.

StretchSense’s product portfolio includes XR training gloves for immersive learning and simulation, gaming and streaming gloves for intuitive interaction, and professional motion capture gloves for animation and virtual production. The technology emphasises comfort, durability, and usability, including features such as machine-washable textiles and robust sensor performance.

The company is increasingly focused on sectors including healthcare, education, aviation, and defence. Its gloves, developed through over a decade of hand data capture research, support realistic training experiences that encourage muscle memory development. The gloves also incorporate haptic technology, using vibrations to simulate interaction with digital objects.

Recently appointed CEO Chris Chapman, formerly an investor director at the company, said the technology is intended to simplify and enhance interaction in XR environments by removing traditional controllers. He added:

The XR Train glove powers scalable, truly immersive training, delivering intuitive interaction and measurable outcomes across enterprise and government environments.

With its latest investment, StretchSense is looking ahead to 2026, with a focus on scaling its XR training technology and further integrating physical interaction alongside virtual environments to support learning outcomes.

On 11 December 2025, EU-Startups participated in the AI Policy Day: Scaling AI in Europe hosted by the European Commission – a full-day high-level event organised with the support of the StepUp StartUps initiatives, Innovation Radar Bridge, and convened at the AI House, in Amsterdam. 

The event brought together policymakers, startup founders, corporate leaders, investors and researchers for constructive discussions on how Europe can accelerate adoption of AI while preserving its values of responsibility and trustworthiness. 

Throughout the day, discussions converged on a shared assessment: Europe’s position in AI is stronger than it is often perceived. Participants pointed to the continent’s solid research base, well-established industrial ecosystems and an expanding network of AI hubs as key assets for long-term competitiveness.

Discussions also reflected a broad consensus that regulation, including the EU AI Act, is not viewed as a barrier to innovation. Instead, many participants emphasised its role in fostering trust, providing legal certainty and enabling responsible AI deployment. Clear and coherent regulatory frameworks were widely seen as a factor that can support competitiveness, alongside ongoing efforts to ensure proportionate and efficient implementation that facilitates innovation and market uptake.

The discussions highlighted Europe’s structural strengths in AI, including its strong research base, established industrial ecosystems, specialised talent pipelines and access to sector-specific data.

Backed up by recent data, it appears that especially when it comes to AI talent, Europe is already in a leading position. The combination of these assets has the potential of enabling Europe to advance domain-focused and agentic AI solutions, particularly in complex and regulated sectors. 

At the same time, participants acknowledged persistent challenges in scaling AI companies, especially regarding late-stage investment.

While early-stage funding is relatively well-developed, securing financing rounds above €100 million remains difficult. Discussions therefore focused on improving access to growth capital, including through greater mobilisation of institutional investors and stronger alignment of public and private financing instruments.

The StepUp StartUps consortium, together with the Innovation Radar Bridge, played a central role in shaping the event’s content and analytical focus.

This EU-funded initiative brings together partners including Barrabes.biz, DEEP Ecosystems, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS), Startup Europe Regions Network (SERN), and EU Startups, with the support of the European Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA).

Through a series of data-driven reports on key AI ecosystem dynamics – ranging from talent development to scale-up investment gaps – the consortium provided evidence-based insights that informed and structured the discussions throughout the day. 

The programme featured contributions from a wide range of stakeholders, including Marietje Schaake, International Policy Director at Stanford University; Eoghan O’Neill, Senior Policy Officer at the European Commission; Marc Zegveld, Managing Director, TNO as well as representatives from the research, investment and legal communities actively engaged in shaping Europe’s AI landscape. 

Overall, discussions on policy, talent and investment were marked by a constructive and forward-looking tone, reflecting a shared commitment to advancing AI adoption in ways that strengthen Europe’s competitiveness while upholding its values and delivering societal benefits.

The AI Policy Day reaffirmed the importance of continued dialogue between policymakers and ecosystem actors as Europe works to translate its AI strengths into scaled sustainable impact. 

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Munich-based venture capital firm Picus Capital announced the closing of a €150 million preferred equity financing transaction provided by global private markets manager Carlyle AlpInvest. 

This transaction injects the VC firm with significant capital, enabling it to pursue new investments while continuing to scale and support its existing portfolio of almost 200 companies, including unicorns such as Personio and Enpal. 

Robin Godenrath, Managing Partner & founder at Picus Capital, said, “Carlyle AlpInvest’s partnership underscores the strength, resilience and potential of our portfolio and positions us to accelerate growth across our investment platform.

“Partnering with Carlyle AlpInvest allows us to continue supporting our existing portfolio companies and their visionary founders as they scale, while advancing our mission to invest in new innovation leaders and deliver strong risk-adjusted returns across all stages.”

Picus Capital was founded in 2015 as a privately financed investment firm. It has since evolved into an early-stage technology investment firm with a long-term investment philosophy. It partners with entrepreneurs from pre-Seed through to later growth stages via the Picus Venture Fund strategy. 

The VC firm’s focus areas include energy and climate, fintech, enterprise infrastructure, generative AI, cybersecurity, healthcare, and enterprise application. The firm states that it has consistently delivered an annual internal rate of return (IRR) exceeding 40% since its inception.

Earlier this year, in May, the VC firm announced the final closing of oversubscribed Picus Venture Fund II at its €250 million hard cap, more than double the size of its predecessor fund.

In 2025, EU-Startups reported on two funding rounds involving Picus Capital. Last month, the firm led the €4 million pre-Seed funding round of Barcelona-based Kabilio, along with Visionaries Club. In Jaunary, it backed Paris-based Maki in a €26 million Series A funding round.

“Picus has assembled a highly diversified portfolio of category-defining companies, and the firm’s sustained performance and impressive momentum made this an especially attractive partnership for us,” said Michael Hacker, Global Head of Portfolio Finance at Carlyle AlpInvest.

Carlyle AlpInvest is a global private equity investor with nearly €87 billion ($102 billion) of assets under management and more than 700 investors as of September 30, 2025. It has invested with over 370 private equity managers and committed over €94.7 billion ($111 billion) across primary commitments to private equity funds, secondary transactions, portfolio financings, and co-investments. Carlyle AlpInvest employs more than 290 people in New York, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, London, and Singapore.

The post Early backer of unicorns Personio and Enpal, German VC Picus Capital closes €150M preferred equity deal appeared first on EU-Startups.