MyC, a software platform dedicated to managing employee health in industrial, multi-site, and high-risk environments, announces a €10 million funding round led by Hi Inov. and including IXO and existing investors, Elaia and OSS Ventures-

In many high-risk sectors, such as energy, industry,  maritime, defense or specialised medical services, employee health management still largely relies on fragmented tools that are poorly suited to multi-site and international environments. 

MyC addresses these challenges by providing an operational response tailored to such contexts. Its platform covers both occupational health and first-line medical care, while ensuring a high level of security and compliance with international standards.

It improves  operational efficiency through process automation, including pharmaceutical management, medical records management with specialist consultations, and regulatory  reporting. Designed to operate in complex conditions, including limited connectivity, the platform enables rapid, large-scale deployments. 

Founded in 2020 by Dr Laurent Bonnardot, an ENT physician and emergency doctor with extensive experience in isolated and complex environments, and Benjamin Crevant, an entrepreneur from the industrial sector, MyC develops a cloud-based platform that centralises and secures employees’ medical data. 

According to Dr Laurent Bonnardot, co-founder of MyC:

“For more than twenty years, from industrial sites to offshore platforms, I managed employee health using fragmented systems. Even the world’s largest organisations lacked truly fit-for-purpose tools.

MyC was born out of this frustration: providing international  companies with a single platform capable of covering all their needs, from on-site medical  follow-up to multi-country regulatory compliance, where traditional solutions fall short."

MyC addresses a structural challenge for many organisations: gaining access to a reliable,  secure and actionable view of employee health in complex, highly regulated environments,”  says Valérie Gombart, co-founder and Managing Director of Hi inov.

“The platform combines strong domain expertise rooted in medical field experience with a robust SaaS technology designed for international deployment. This investment fully aligns with our  strategy to support European B2B companies delivering tangible operational value to  essential industries.” 

With this funding round, MyC plans to strengthen its product roadmap and scale its sales and marketing teams to support broader adoption among international enterprise clients. 

Sparxell, a University of Cambridge spin-out and innovator of bioinspired colour technology, has raised €4.2 million ($5 million) in pre-Series A funding to replace toxic chemicals in the €40 billion ($48 billion) global colourants market.

The round is led by SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean 2 fund, with participation from Alpha Star Capital and Cambridge Enterprise. The investment accelerates Sparxell’s transition from pilot programmes to commercial-scale manufacturing, with tonne-scale production facilities operational by 2026.

Dr Benjamin Droguet, Founder and CEO of Sparxell, says: “Our technology isn’t just an alternative – it is here to stay because it delivers superior performance due to its nature-inspired features. This funding takes us from proof of concept to production and commercial launches.”

The 2025–2026 period points to a steady flow of capital into bio-based colour, cellulose and sustainable materials technologies, providing context for Sparxell’s pre-Series A.

In January 2026, Copenhagen-based Octarine Bio added €5 million to its Series A to advance its natural pigment platform for applications including textiles and cosmetics. Earlier, in June 2025, Danish biotech Cellugy secured €8.1 million to scale cellulose-based materials designed to eliminate microplastics in personal care products, reflecting adjacent momentum around biofabricated cellulose solutions. In April 2025, Finland’s Fiberdom raised €3.5 million to commercialise plastic-free wood-fibre materials for circular applications.

Taken together, these rounds represent approximately €16.6 millioninvested into closely related sustainable materials and colour technology segments, positioning Sparxell’s funding within a broader European pattern of backing for scalable, bio-based alternatives to petrochemical-derived pigments and materials.

“We’re at an inflexion point. Brands are under pressure to eliminate synthetic toxins from their supply chains. Momentum is building in Europe around banning ‘forever chemicals’ such as PFAS. The EU microplastics ban is also now in force, while the FDA is reassessing synthetic colour additives,” adds Droguet.

Founded in 2023 by University of Cambridge scientists Dr Benjamin Droguet and Professor Silvia Vignolini, Sparxell is a colour platform technology that creates natural colour pigments, inks, glitters, sequins, and films that are reportedly plastic-free, toxin-free, and fully biodegradable.

Its patented technology uses cellulose from wood pulp, extracting and assembling cellulose crystals into structures that reflect specific wavelengths of light to create “100% plant-based structural colour” – the same principle that creates vibrantly coloured butterfly wings – eliminating petroleum-based chemicals, synthetic dyes, toxic heavy metals and minerals.

Using physical structures rather than toxic chemicals to create colour, their capabilities span pigment powders, glitters, inks, sequins, and films for applications across textiles, cosmetics, food and beverage, packaging, paint and coatings, automotive sectors and more.

According to the company, their tech outperforms synthetic alternatives whilst also reducing water use and energy consumption – as well as eliminating microplastics and chemical pollution.

Mélanie Le Guen, Investment Director, SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean strategy, shares: “Sparxell’s innovation is fully aligned with the ambition of our SWEN Blue Ocean 2 fund. By reinventing colour through a bio-based, biodegradable approach, Sparxell offers a tangible response to a major environmental challenge while enabling global industries to transition toward safer and more sustainable practices. We are delighted to accompany them in this next phase of growth.”

The textile industry alone releases 1.5 million tonnes of toxic synthetic dyes into waterways annually. And unlike synthetic dyes which persist in the environment and complicate recycling, Sparxell’s 100% cellulose pigments are biodegradable and integrate into circular economy systems fundamentally transforming end-of-life scenarios for coloured textiles and packaging.

Earlier this year, Sparxell secured a €1.9 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC). Sparxell also announced a collaboration with British luxury brand Patrick McDowell and launched commercially available plant-based textile inks with Positive Materials.

Chris Gibbs, Investment Director, Cambridge Enterprise, says: “This investment is an important milestone in Sparxell’s development, enabling more sustainable colourants based on natural, biodegradable pigments delivering tangible environmental benefits as the technology scales.

“We’re pleased to have worked alongside the team since their earliest stages and to continue to support them through this next phase. The team has built a great round and a great investor syndicate to take the technology global.”

The Pre-Series A funding will drive three strategic priorities:

• Scaling manufacturing to tonne-scale production
• Accelerating product certification for textiles, cosmetics, and automotive applications,
• Hiring key new staff, including for business development

Alexandre Cadain, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Alpha Star Capital, adds: “We were drawn to Sparxell’s method and leadership: Instead of trying to retrofit sustainability into existing chemistry, they rebuilt colour from first principles using a natural structure. It offers a clear answer to a long-standing industry challenge, and it works at a scale that matters.”

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The Novo Nordisk Foundation has allocated up to €25 million for the BioInnovation Institute (BII) to launch a new initiative, ‘Upscalator’, to support Danish and European early-stage startups with facilities, services, and expertise to support that novel biosolutions reach the market and can drive the green transition.

The BII is a life science and DeepTech innovation institute in Copenhagen. Through their programmes, Venture Lab, Bio Studio and BII Quantum Lab, they support life science and DeepTech startups with knowledge, network, infrastructure and funding of up to €3 million per project and €1.8 million per startup.

“Biosolutions have been hailed as the next new Danish super sector – but if we are to fulfill our ambitions, strategic initiatives are needed. Thus, we are pleased that BII, with the support of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, can provide a much-needed opportunity to economically support early-stage biosolution startups from all of Europe by providing access to facilities and expertise to scale up their solutions,” says Jens Nielsen, CEO of BII.

Recent activity from 2025–2026 shows steady, but still fragmented, early-stage investment across the European biosolutions and adjacent BioTech landscape.

In Finland, Avenue Biosciences raised €4.8 million to scale a protein engineering platform aimed at improving biologics manufacturing reliability, while Portugal-based PFx Biotech secured €2.5 million to advance precision-fermented human milk proteins. Denmark features prominently, with Copenhagen startups Enduro Genetics (€12 million Series A for scalable bioproduction technologies) and EvodiaBio (€6 million to scale fermentation-based flavour solutions) both attracting growth capital. Sweden-based Melt&Marble also raised around €7 million to develop designer fats using industrial biotechnology approaches.

Collectively, these rounds account for approximately €32 million in disclosed funding and illustrate that while capital is flowing into precision fermentation, protein engineering and synthetic biology, funding is typically targeted at platform development rather than the costly and knowledge-intensive upscaling phase.

Against this backdrop, the BII’s Upscalator initiative, directly addresses a notable gap in the European biosolutions ecosystem by coupling funding with access to facilities and process expertise, particularly relevant given Denmark’s continued concentration of biosolutions startups alongside broader European activity.

“Upscalator is designed to cut time to impact. By bringing funding, infrastructure, and deep biosolutions expertise together in one place, we expect that we can reduce development timelines by up to a year and help new green technologies reach the​ market faster, where they can make a real difference on the green transition,” adds Jens.

Data provided by the BII paints a clear picture: The global economic footprint of biosolutions production is expected to nearly double by 2035, reaching approximately €778 billion, and to create more than 5 million jobs. In Denmark alone, biosolutions across sectors such as agriculture, food, and biochemicals are expected to support more than 34.000 jobs and significantly drive the green transition and the success of Danish and European biosolutions startups.

However, there is currently a dire need for earmarked financing and tailored guidance for scaling up new solutions. While Denmark historically has a strong global position within biosolutions led by large corporates as Novonesis, Arla, and Carlsberg, the BII says that startups often lack access to knowledge and facilities to successfully upscale their solutions.

Jens further underlines that, based on conversations with the 23 biosolutions companies that BII supported through its acceleration and company creation programmes, a lack of knowledge of how to upscale and the economic ability to afford the services and expertise from Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) are mentioned as the key obstacles to bringing new biosolutions to the market.

To address the challenges that biosolutions startups currently face, the Upscalator initiative will be based on five key components:

• An advisory function
• A process design unit with a small-scale process lab for process validation
• A network of service providers
• A funding vehicle to support upscaling
• A strong biosolutions community of like-minded companies and stakeholders

BII’s track record of supporting more than 130 startups – collectively raising over €1 billion in external funding – combined with its strong biosolutions portfolio and central location in Innovation District Copenhagen, was a key reason why the Novo Nordisk Foundation selected BII to lead the Upscalator initiative.

Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives. Their mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society.

“The green transition depends on our ability to move promising biosolutions from early development to real-world application. BII has demonstrated a unique capability to support companies at this critical stage, and with Upscalator, we are further strengthening the European biosolutions ecosystem to enable faster scaling, real impact and long-term value creation for society,” says Mikkel Skovborg, Vice President of Innovation, Novo Nordisk Foundation.

To spearhead Upscalator’s activities, Jette Thykær has been hired as a director and will bring industry experience from Novo Nordisk and academic knowledge from her background as an Associate Professor in Fermentation Technology at DTU.

Upscalator will run in two three-year periods from Q1 2026 to Q1 2029 and Q1 2029 to
Q2 2032.

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If 2025 was the year for setting global ambitions when it comes to technology and innovation, 2026 is the year we start realising our potential.

Over the next 12 months, we will see the maturation of AI as it is applied to more industries. At the same time, a new race is emerging, the race towards quantum breakthroughs, alongside ongoing efforts to scale green technology in the face of climate change.

As nations compete for technological sovereignty in these fields, agile startups are presented with significant opportunities to set the pace of innovation and act as the bridge between laboratory breakthroughs and real-world applications. However, many early-stage businesses continue to face technical and structural challenges when it comes to scaling and commercialising ideas. Whether it is access to researchers, talent, or funding pathways, without specialised support, startups will struggle to fulfil their potential and drive innovation.

To thrive in 2026 and navigate an uncertain business landscape, successful early-stage businesses will turn to regional innovation hubs to gain access to specialised expertise and support networks. By tapping into these ecosystems, startups can capitalise on three prime opportunities in the year ahead.

The rise of quantum

While AI continues to dominate headlines, the rise of quantum technology offers a parallel revolution and a unique opportunity for European startups to secure global leadership. The economic stakes are high, with quantum projected to contribute £11 billion and 100,000 jobs by 2045 in the UK alone.

At a state level, governments are ramping up investment in research and development and seeking international partnerships to accelerate progress, such as the UK and Germany’s joint £14 million collaboration on quantum research. The public sector is also backing startups in this race, dedicating funds to support high-potential businesses with payments tied to reaching technical milestones.

Beyond capital, however, startups working with quantum face scaling challenges related to infrastructure, energy costs, and access to specialised talent. To sustain growth over long research and development cycles, startups need access to PhD-level expertise, specialised supply chain networks, and technical infrastructure to deliver real-world quantum advantage.

Regional innovation hubs will become crucial in helping businesses overcome these hurdles, providing expert guidance and peer networks needed to succeed. The startups that make use of these ecosystems will be best positioned to become national champions.

Empowering regional innovation

Across much of Europe, the innovation map is decentralising. In 2026, this shift will continue, with investment that traditionally pools in capital cities flowing increasingly towards specialised regional powerhouses as they gain influence. Whether it is Munich for deep-tech engineering, Barcelona for biotech, or Manchester for advanced materials and AI, startups relocating to these regional centres have much to gain.

Governments are actively backing this shift. Initiatives such as the UK’s AI Growth Zones and Industrial Strategy funding are designed to elevate regional hubs into global centres of innovation. A key part of this strategy is recognising the vital role startups play in the innovation economy.

Innovation districts like Sister understand that it takes a community to grow an idea and bring together the critical elements startups need to succeed. This includes access to talent pools through world-class academic institutions, concentrated industry expertise, and local government support. By joining these communities, entrepreneurs can capitalise on niche local specialisms and close the distance between laboratory-grown breakthroughs and global markets.

Entrepreneurs leading the GreenTech revolution

By 2026, the transition to Net Zero will hinge on entrepreneurial speed. With global temperatures potentially rising by 3°C, double the 1.5°C target, Europe’s green startups are on the front line. From the renewable energy hubs of the Nordics to the UK’s 16,000-strong GreenTech sector, the continent is rich in innovation. Yet many founders remain bottlenecked by high research and development costs and regulatory complexity.

To bridge this gap, innovation districts have emerged as essential infrastructure. These specialised ecosystems reduce the distance between disruptive startups and the support networks they need to scale and thrive. By embedding themselves in these hubs, entrepreneurs can bypass the friction of scaling in isolation and access the specialised networks required to move from prototype to market.

Crucially, these districts also link nimble startups with established multinationals. While large corporations often move at a slower, more bureaucratic pace, they provide the industrial scale that startups lack. Innovation districts facilitate this exchange, allowing European businesses to translate regional expertise into global climate impact.

For the modern founder, success in 2026 depends on leveraging these connected ecosystems to turn sustainable breakthroughs into commercial realities at speed.

Capitalising on opportunities in 2026

The innovation landscape is shifting again. In 2026, the nations that capitalise on new opportunities will be those that recognise the importance of startups and specialised ecosystems.

By moving beyond capital cities into regional innovation districts, European startups gain access to the triple helix of academia, industry, and policy needed to bridge the gap between laboratory and market. These hubs are becoming the new engines of technological sovereignty.

For today’s entrepreneur, the path forward is clear. To solve global challenges at the speed 2026 demands, startups must leverage the power of proximity. By anchoring ambition within a connected community, founders can transform regional expertise into global leadership, ensuring their startups evolve from promising ideas into champions of the new industrial era.

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A London-based startup that automates R&D tax credits for tech companies has emerged out of stealth, with $1m in pre-seed funding, including backing from Andreessen Horowitz's (a16z’s) accelerator.

TaxNova has raised funding from a16z’s accelerator, a16z speedrun, early-stage angel fund, s16vc, accelerator Karaoke Club, and more than 20 CTO and CFO operators and investors from Revolut, digital whiteboard maker Miro, and other tech firms. 

TaxNova has also entered into a16z’s accelerator programme.  

R&D tax credits are government incentives that lower a company’s tax bill. Companies in the UK claimed £7.6 billion in R&D tax relief in 2023-24, figures show.

TaxNova says the existing process for claiming R&D tax credits is long-winded, saying companies must gather documented qualified research expenses and supporting records to apply, which often requires engineering teams to reconstruct months of work from memory.  

It says that most rely on inefficient processes, running an increasing risk of audit from tax authorities and wasting engineering time. It also says that tech companies are missing out on billions of pounds of unclaimed tax credits.

TaxNova says its solution can speed up the claims process from months to weeks.

Its solution is to connect directly to the tools engineers already use, including GitHub, Jira, Linear, Slack, and Notion, to automatically pull out the qualifying R&D work.   

The platform leverages AI to identify projects, calculate eligible costs, and produce audit-ready documentation without pulling engineers away from shipping.  

It says that its tech creates an audit trail linking every claim back to source documentation. It works alongside existing tax advisers rather than replacing them and has concluded a partnership pilot with a top-5 R&D tax advisory firm, it says.

The startup was founded by George Nichkov, CEO, a former consultant, and computer engineer, Marya Malykh, CTO.

Nichkov  said: “TaxNova AI-powered platform extracts data from your existing systems to maximise R&D tax claims without wasting engineers’ time. 75 per cent of time is lost on data collection and we’re solving this bottleneck."

Swedish VC Kinnevik has written down the value of its stake in Swedish green steel startup Stegra by half, citing the higher anticipated costs of a plant it’s building as it looks to become a major player in Europe’s green industrial transition.

Kinnevik’s latest financial report reveals it has written down the value of its stake in Stegra by 49 per cent to 649 million krona in the fourth quarter from 1,280 million krona in the third quarter. Kinnevik holds a three per cent stake in Stegra.

Stegra, one of Europe’s highest-profile green industrial projects, is developing fossil-free steel using hydrogen. 

The write-down comes as Stegra looks to complete $1.1bn in financing to complete the construction of the plant in northern Sweden, which will generate steel using hydrogen.  

Kinnevik said: “Stegra’s funding round is progressing positively but is still ongoing. Recent company developments have been positive, including the signing of a significant multi-year contract with ThyssenKrupp Materials Services, and continue to reinforce our underlying business case.   

“However, the current funding round reflects a higher project cost than previously expected and is likely to cause meaningful economic dilution of our existing investment in the company.   

“This expected dilution is what drives the write-down of our shareholding in the quarter, which remains sensitive to the successful conclusion and final outcome of the ongoing funding round.”  

The Stegra plant had been due to open this year but has now been delayed until 2027.  

Stegra has raised €6.5bn from investors, including Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, the Agnelli family, and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC.  

According to the Financial Times, Citigroup wants to stop being a lender to Stegra over concerns about its future.  

Stegra is part of Kinnevik's climate tech portfolio, which also includes Agreena and Aira. 

Kinnevik CEO Georgi Ganev described the performance of many of its climate tech investments as "unsatisfactory".

Photo: Stegra

Hublo, a Paris-based provider of workforce management software solutions for the healthcare sector, has raised received a €40 million reinvestment vehicle from growth investment firm Revaia.

This investment will support Hublo in a new phase following its sale in 2025, aiming to extend support for the company beyond the initial holding period.

This follows 2025’s close of Revaia Growth II fund at €250 million, as covered by EU-Startups.com.

Antoine Loron, co-founder and co-CEO of Hublo, added: “Revaia’s continued commitment to us is a continuation of a long-term partnership built on trust and alignment. Their decision to reinvest alongside our new majority shareholder demonstrates their belief in our trajectory and strengthens the stability of our shareholder base for the next stage of our development.”

Activity across 2025 and early 2026 points to continued but generally smaller-scale investment activity across adjacent areas of European HealthTech when compared with Hublo’s €40 million reinvestment.

In September 2025, Warsaw-based Doctor.One raised €4 million to expand its asynchronous care platform for chronic patients into additional European markets, while Antwerp startup Mindoo secured €5 million in Seed funding to reduce administrative workload for hospital and medical staff using AI agents, placing it closest thematically to Hublo’s focus on operational efficiency for healthcare professionals. In Switzerland, Zurich-based Ahead Health raised €5.1 million to scale its preventive healthcare services through clinic partnerships, while UK longevity startup GlycanAge closed a €7.4 million round to commercialise glycan-based ageing diagnostics.

Taken together, these adjacent healthtech rounds amount to approximately €21.5 million, underscoring that Hublo’s reinvestment vehicle is materially larger than most recent European HealthTech financings and reflects a later-stage, ownership-driven commitment rather than primary growth capital alone.

Alice Albizzati, Founding Partner of Revaia, stated: “This reinvestment vehicle extends the support we have provided to Hublo since 2021 and reflects our confidence in the quality of the team and the company’s trajectory, while also allowing us to bring in new investors for the next phase of value creation.”

Founded in 2016, Hublo was born from the merger of Whoog and MedGo during the height of the Covid crisis – addressing structural healthcare staff shortages. Its platform enables healthcare institutions to efficiently manage staffing, from recruitment to scheduling, internal mobility, and communication.

The solution reportedly centralises and optimises the ad-hoc and recurring staffing needs of hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and healthcare providers. By 2025, Hublo was being used by over 22,000 managers in more than 5,000 facilities, benefiting 1 million healthcare professionals, with an average saving of 2.5 hours per day per user.

Having acquired a significant stake in July 2021, when Hublo was already establishing itself as a player in the digitalisation of workforce management for healthcare facilities, Revaia supported the company in its expansion and scaling-up strategy.

This support was structured around three key levers:

• Extending the product offering to a comprehensive workforce and talent management platform
• Strengthening the go-to-market strategy with public and private institutions
• Implementing a proactive sector consolidation strategy, which included three acquisitions that were integrated during this period.

This momentum enabled Hublo to quadruple its annual recurring revenue and reach operational break-even ahead of schedule. Five Arrows, the alternative asset investment arm of Rothschild & Co, finalised its strategic investment in July 2025 following a competitive process. This sale marks the first exit for the Revaia Growth I fund.

The reinvestment vehicle raised by Revaia brings together European, UK and US investors and allows both existing Revaia investors and new entrants to invest alongside the new shareholder and management team.

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Following our series of country articles, today we turn our attention to Greece’s innovation landscape, exploring the factors shaping its startup ecosystem and highlighting the momentum behind a new generation of technology-driven companies.

Greece has steadily strengthened its position as a growing startup hub in Southeastern Europe, supported by an increasingly active venture capital scene, strong technical talent, and a wave of founders building for international markets from day one. Athens remains the centre of gravity for much of this activity, with emerging innovation in Thessaloniki and Attica across sectors such as fintech, cybersecurity, Web3, robotics, foodtech, and enterprise software.

In this article, we take a closer look at the Greek entrepreneurial landscape by highlighting 10 promising startups, all founded between 2022 and today.

Founded in 2022 and based in Athens, Billys is a property management SaaS platform designed to simplify and digitise apartment building management. The platform provides full transparency for administrators and tenants through features such as online payments, automated notifications, expense tracking, and the digital issuance of shared building charges, helping modernise a traditionally manual and fragmented process.

Beyond core building management, Billy’s integrates access to additional services, including technical support, insurance of common areas, cleaning services, and legal coverage through a network of vetted partners. To date, they have raised €2.9 million in funding to expand their product offering, strengthen integrations, and scale adoption among residential and commercial property managers.

Founded in 2025 and based in Athens, Caresma operates in the elder care market, connecting seniors with trained caregivers who provide personalised daily support and companionship. The company focuses on quality and trust by selecting caregivers through a rigorous process that includes background checks, psychometric assessments, and targeted training, supported by technology throughout the matching and monitoring process.

Caresma’s services cover a wide range of needs, including mobility assistance, dementia and Alzheimer’s care, nutrition support, emotional well-being, and emergency assistance. By combining continuous caregiver upskilling with ongoing communication between families and carers, the platform aims to deliver reliable, high-quality care at home. The company has secured €650k to expand its caregiver network and scale its technology-enabled care model across Greece.

Founded in 2022 and based in Attica, Mind The Hack is a cybersecurity startup developing an automated, attacker-driven security testing platform for modern enterprises. Its solution transforms traditional penetration testing into a continuous process, enabling organisations to instantly discover vulnerabilities across networks, cloud environments, and digital assets through automated deployment and real-time analysis.

Powered by AI and supported by ethical hacker expertise, Mind The Hack simulates real-world attack scenarios to validate exploitability, prioritise risks, and reduce false positives. The platform integrates seamlessly with existing enterprise systems via APIs and third-party tools, offering real-time alerts, centralised project management, and customised security workflows. MindTheHack has raised €2.8 million to further develop its platform and support enterprises operating in highly regulated and critical infrastructure sectors.

Founded in 2022 and based in Athens, myTeam is a sportstech SaaS platform designed to digitise and simplify the day-to-day operations of sports clubs and academies. The platform centralises key administrative functions such as scheduling, attendance tracking, communication, and financial management, helping clubs reduce manual work while improving engagement with athletes, parents, and members.

Available via web and mobile app, myTeam supports coaches, administrators, athletes, and parents with real-time access to training schedules, match information, payments, and announcements. Its financial tools enable clubs to manage subscriptions, track income and expenses, and automate payment reminders, while integrated communication features improve coordination across teams. To date, they have secured €1.5 million to further develop their platform and support expansion across European sports organisations.

Founded in 2024 and based in Athens, PlugSecure is a cybersecurity startup focused on protecting critical energy infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated digital threats. The company develops an AI-driven security platform designed specifically for operational technology environments, offering end-to-end protection across energy assets such as EV charging networks, solar installations, battery energy storage systems, and wind infrastructure.

Their platform combines real-time threat detection, fraud prevention, incident response, and continuous infrastructure monitoring, while supporting compliance with regulations such as NIS2. By securing communications between devices and central management systems, the solution helps operators prevent energy theft, minimise downtime, and maintain business continuity. To date, PlugSecure has raised €720k in funding

Founded in 2024 and alsobased in Athens, Pod Network is a Web3 infrastructure startup aiming to rebuild how digital markets operate. The company is developing a blockchain system designed to make markets more open, fair, and accessible by removing the structural advantages created by traditional, centralised exchanges, where proximity, privileged access, and institutional control often dictate outcomes.

At the core of Pod Network’s approach is a simplified, high-performance blockchain architecture that allows anyone to launch markets with rules enforced by code, enabling global participation without trust-based intermediaries. The company has raised over €9 million in funding to build its infrastructure and expand its developer ecosystem.

Based in Thessaloniki, Progressive Robotics is a deep-tech startup developing AI-powered software that brings true intelligence to industrial robots. The company focuses on automating complex palletising and depalletizing tasks, enabling robots to handle single-case, mixed-case, and unknown items on the fly, without pre-sorting or rigid sequencing.

Founded in 2023, they have raised €1.55 million in funding to develop further their physical AI platform and scale deployments across logistics, manufacturing, and e-commerce environments. Progressive Robotics’ software integrates with existing robotic hardware and warehouse workflows, supporting inbound and outbound operations for 3PLs, fulfilment centres, and automated warehouse systems, while aiming to make advanced robotic automation accessible to companies of all sizes.

Established in 2023 and headquartered in Paianía, near Athens, Rubico is an international maritime company focused on the ownership and operation of eco-conscious crude oil tankers. The company operates modern Suezmax-class vessels designed with fuel-efficient engineering and environmentally friendly technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving operational sustainability in global crude oil transportation.

To date, they have secured €9.7 million in funding to support the development and management of their growing tanker fleet and the integration of advanced efficiency and compliance technologies. By combining modern vessel design with a sustainability-driven operational model, the company positions itself at the intersection of traditional maritime logistics and the industry’s transition toward cleaner, more responsible shipping practices.

Founded in 2022 and based in Athens, StiQ is a foodtech startup operating cloud kitchens and fast-casual food brands in Greece. The company runs a multi-brand kitchen model focused on preparing and delivering meals through online food delivery platforms. Its portfolio includes several brands such as Protein Garden, Dinas, and Healthy Concept, with a menu covering a wide range of recipes.

They have secured €25 million in funding, which it is using to expand their kitchen network, support brand development, and further automate operations using technology and AI. StiQ currently operates multiple locations and has served a large number of customers across Greece, positioning itself as an active player in the country’s growing food delivery and cloud kitchen market.

Based in Athens, Wocap is a fintech startup developing a digital marketplace for working capital management. The platform enables buyers and their existing suppliers to interact directly to accelerate invoice payments using a dynamic auction model, without relying on banks, debt financing, or intermediaries. Buyers can deploy excess liquidity to earn returns, while suppliers gain earlier access to cash under transparent, market-driven terms.

Founded in 2025, Wocap has already raised €450K in funding to develop its platform, integrate with enterprise ERP systems, and support its initial market rollout. Targeting SMEs as well as larger corporate buyers, the company focuses on simplifying early payment processes while improving transparency and efficiency across supply chain financing.

By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!

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Denmark’s largest startup organisation, TechBBQ, has received a strategic grant of €2 million (DKK 15 million) from the Danish Industry Foundation (Industriens Fond).

Since its establishment in 2013, TechBBQ has become one of Northern Europe’s leading platforms for technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. The flagship event in Copenhagen now serves as a central meeting point for entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, and decision-makers from Denmark and abroad.

Specifically, the grant has been awarded to the TechBBQ – Denmark’s Tech Lighthouse project, which aims to strengthen Denmark’s international visibility and position in technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and to build on the long-standing partnership between the Danish Industry Foundation and TechBBQ. The grant runs from 2026 to 2028 and amounts to DKK 5 million (approximately €670,000) annually.

Support from the Danish Industry Foundation during the period 2023–2025 has been a key driver of TechBBQ’s international development. 

“Denmark has a strong entrepreneurial environment, but must continue to remain visible and attractive in the international competition for capital, talent, and knowledge. TechBBQ plays an important role in bringing the ecosystem together and creating the international connections that Danish startups need. With this support, we want to help Denmark position itself more clearly as a leading tech and innovation nation,” says Thomas Hofman-Bang, CEO of the Danish Industry Foundation.

“The support enables us to build on the results we have already achieved and further develop TechBBQ as a leading international platform that unites the Danish ecosystem around a shared ambition. Above all, the funds are intended to benefit Danish entrepreneurs by giving them better access to international investors, specialised talent, technological knowledge, and global networks,” says Avnit Singh, CEO of TechBBQ.

At the same time, the contribution from the Danish Industry Foundation and the collaboration with Bella Centre Copenhagen — TechBBQ’s base since 2025 — mean that TechBBQ now has optimal conditions to bring together global perspectives and create stronger connections across the Danish startup and innovation ecosystem over the next three years.  

Over the next three years, the funds will be used to further develop TechBBQ’s role as an international platform and to unite the Danish startup ecosystem, with a particular focus on attracting international investors, experts, and talent to Denmark.

The 14th edition of TechBBQ will take place on August 26–27, 2026, at Bella Centre Copenhagen.

London-based Veremark has raised $26 million in Series B funding, led by Gresham House Ventures, with participation from existing investors Samaipata, ACF Investors, and Stage 2 Capital, alongside a multi-million dollar debt facility from Salica Partners.

Founded in 2020, Veremark is a global workplace trust company that provides background screening, whistleblowing, and credential verification services through a single platform.

Veremark supports organisations by conducting background checks for new hires and rescreening existing employees, helping employers manage compliance, risk, and workplace standards across multiple jurisdictions. As workforces become more global and dynamic, with shorter employment tenures and increased use of AI-generated or misleading candidate information, verification and identity checks have become more complex for hiring teams.

In addition to pre-employment screening, Veremark has expanded its offering to support workplace integrity throughout the employment lifecycle. This includes an anonymous whistleblowing and speak-up platform, reporting tools, and a digital career passport, Verepass, which allows individuals to store, manage, and share verified credentials. Built on blockchain technology, Verepass is designed to reduce the need for repeated checks and streamline verification processes for employers.

Daniel Callaghan, CEO and co-founder of Veremark, noted that organisations are increasingly adopting continuous approaches to managing employee conduct risk. He added:

Veremark provides companies with enhanced confidence in who they are bringing into the business and enables multiple checkpoints to ensure their behaviours remain ethical and appropriate. We help companies reduce hiring risk, improve auditability and help protect workplace integrity beyond the point of hire.
Our goal is to make trust something employers can evidence and manage in practice, combining secure global screening with tools that help protect people, surface concerns earlier and strengthen workplace standards.

The investment follows a period of continued growth for Veremark, during which the company expanded its capabilities through the acquisition of Agenda Screening Services, a background screening provider offering a broad range of checks, including criminal, employment, sanctions, credit, and bankruptcy screening across more than 180 countries.

The new funding will be used to support further product development, investment in AI capabilities, and continued expansion of the company’s global operations.

Veremark, a British workplace trust company, has raised €22 million ($26 million) in Series B funding to drive further investment in new products, AI, and continuing to expand the company’s global scale.

The round was led by Gresham House Ventures, with participation from existing investors Samaipata, ACF Investors and Stage 2 Capital – inclusive of a multi-million dollar debt facility from Salica Partners.

This comes after 2024’s €2.8 million fundraise, as reported by EU-Startups.

Daniel Callaghan, CEO and co-founder of Veremark, says: “The world of work is facing a new set of challenges. The modern company is looking to ensure an ‘always on’ mindset to managing employee conduct risk.  Veremark provides companies with enhanced confidence in who they are bringing into the business and enables multiple checkpoints to ensure their behaviours remain ethical and appropriate. We help companies reduce hiring risk, improve auditability and help protect workplace integrity beyond the point of hire.”

In the 2025–2026 EU-Startups funding landscape for HR technology and adjacent hiring platforms, investment activity has concentrated on AI-enabled workforce infrastructure.

Copenhagen-based Kiku raised €4 million at Seed stage to develop AI tools aimed at high-volume frontline recruitment, while Madrid-based Orbio secured approximately €6.4 million to expand its AI-native human capital management system.

Against this backdrop, Veremark’s €22 million Series B stands out as a larger growth-stage round within the same broad HR and compliance technology category, bringing total disclosed funding across these deals to roughly €32 million.

While Kiku and Orbio focus on recruitment efficiency and workforce management, Veremark’s funding is directed towards scaling global background screening and workplace trust infrastructure, indicating investor appetite across complementary layers of the HR technology stack rather than a single dominant use case.

“Our goal is to make trust something employers can evidence and manage in practice, combining secure global screening with tools that help protect people, surface concerns earlier and strengthen workplace standards. This funding enables us to scale that globally, while continuing to invest in world class client experience as we grow,” adds Daniel.

Founded in 2018, Veremark connects background screening, whistleblowing, and credential verification into one system.

While performing background checks on new candidates for companies across the globe, Veremark also helps businesses rescreen existing employees. The business also has a career passport – Verepass – that allows candidates to own, manage and share their verified credentials.

Today’s investment follows a period of sustained growth for Veremark, which grew its revenue run rate by 300% in 2025 and recently acquired Agenda Screening Services, a specialist background screening firm, offering criminal checks, instant employment checks, global sanctions, credit and bankruptcy checks in over 180 countries.

Employers who use Veremark can implement global background screening at scale during the hiring process or on an ongoing basis.

Joe Krancki, Investment Director at Gresham House Ventures, says: “We’ve known the Veremark founders for many years and have seen them operate up close across different phases of growth and market conditions. What consistently stands out is the quality of the team – thoughtful, values-driven, and genuinely world-class. Veremark has built a category-defining platform at the intersection of global hiring, regulation and trust, at a time when AI is increasing the complexity and risk of verifying people at scale.

“We’re excited to partner with the team as they scale internationally and continue to set the standard for how workplace trust is managed in a modern, global organisation.”

With an increasingly dynamic global workforce, shorter tenures, and the growing use of AI to present false data or profiles and capabilities, the company believes that hiring managers are finding it harder than ever to verify candidate information and confirm identity. Veremark estimates that the forward looking market for companies to adopt stronger workplace trust initiatives is €101 billion ($120 billion) per year, as organisations face growing pressure to hire safely, protect culture and maintain compliance.

Alongside pre-hire screening, Veremark has recently launched tools that support workplace integrity throughout employment, including a fully anonymous Whistleblowing and Speak Up platform and reporting functionality.

The company now employs more than 200 people, has seven offices worldwide, including the UAE, New Zealand and the Philippines and works with more than 6,000 clients globally. Veremark’s clients include worldwide industry players, e.g., OVO Energy and Schneider Electric.

Tim Mills, Managing Partner at ACF Investors, adds: “With the spread of AI increasing risks around identity verification, Veremark’s technology replaces fragmented, manual background screening checks with a seamless, candidate-first approach, enabling businesses to make smarter hiring decisions.

“The company’s impressive and sustained growth is a testament to its best-in-class leadership team, paired with innovative technology that is helping to redefine pre-employment screening. We look forward to continue working with the team on its remarkable journey.”

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enclaive, a German cybersecurity company specialising in confidential computing, has raised €4.1 million in seed funding, with the round co-led by Join Capital and the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund and supported by Auriga Cyber Ventures.

Rising AI adoption, evolving data protection regulations, and increasingly sophisticated cyber threats have heightened security concerns around cloud computing. While cloud platforms offer scalability, many organisations remain cautious when it comes to migrating sensitive workloads.

A particular challenge for security and compliance teams lies in protecting data during active processing. This stage of exposure can limit cloud adoption, especially in sectors such as the public sector, finance, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and AI, where even brief access to sensitive data can pose elevated risk.

enclaive addresses this issue by enabling confidential computing across multi-cloud environments. Its platform allows organisations to deploy applications within secure enclaves, with the aim of protecting data throughout processing without requiring changes to existing code, tools, or operational workflows.

Andreas Walbrodt, co-founder and CEO of enclaive, explained that the pace of cloud adoption has exceeded the level of trust many organisations have in existing security models, particularly as AI and sensitive workloads are increasingly deployed across multiple cloud environments.

With enclaive, businesses don’t need to trust the cloud—their data, microservices, and AI models are shielded from unauthorised access at every moment. We’re making confidential computing accessible for any organisation, regardless of technical expertise,

Walbrodt added.

The platform is designed to support enterprise workloads such as Kubernetes clusters, virtual machines, and AI applications, using a modular and vendor-agnostic architecture intended to simplify deployment and operational control.

The new funding will be used to support commercial growth, further development of the eMCP platform, expansion of engineering and operations teams, and initial international expansion.

Experts in healthcare and financial services have secured £2.5 million in seed funding to fund a startup geared towards providing health and wealth products for the over 60s.  

The funding round in UK-based Lateral was led by UK fintech investor Augmentum with support from Triple Point and TinyVC.

Lateral, which is a nine-strong team, believes it has spotted a gap in the market, namely the over 14m people who are over 60 in the UK who are in need of healthcare and financial wellness guidance.

The funding will be used to support the rollout of Lateral’s first product, the Lateral Health Plan, which combines financial cover for private healthcare, care navigation, and "stay-healthy benefits" in one policy.

Lateral says central to the plan is a nurse-led navigation service designed to help users make informed decisions and get the most from their healthcare, including NHS and private options.

Run by qualified case-management nurses, the service includes NHS and private care, and offers personalised support to help members understand their diagnosis and explore the best treatment pathways, the startup says.

Its founders say one of the plan’s key attractions is that it will focus on simple and transparent pricing.

The startup was founded by Laura Ashforth, former managing director, insurtech unicorn Zego, and Steven Mendel, co-founder and ex-CEO of pet health unicorn ManyPets.  

Ashforth said: “We’re on a mission to empower over 60s to live well for longer, helping them navigate the complicated world of retirement by offering them an affordable range of products expertly created just for them.

“Many people find the health system increasingly hard to navigate as they get older. Lateral is designed to help members understand their options and make informed choices about care, while also embedding evidence-based preventative approaches, such as an annual health check, to support proactive engagement with their health.”  

Mendel, executive chair, added: “People are living longer and with more active lives, yet the systems designed to support them haven’t kept up. For far too long, insurers have viewed people over 60 as old, immobile, and liable to injury.

"The reality is that many people in their 60s and 70s are fitter and more active than ever. For them, retirement is a chance to do more, not less.”

IMAGE: Lateral

In southern Germany, an international fellowship programme designed to help startups explore new markets is returning for its 10th batch. The Stuttgart Region’s Startup Welcome Package continues its mission to attract international tech startups by offering a structured introduction to one of Europe’s strongest innovation ecosystems. Unlike previous editions, Batch #10 is open to tech startups across sectors, with no specific industry focus.

The Startup Welcome Package is a fellowship programme aimed at international startups and young tech companies that are looking to better understand the German market and assess expansion opportunities in the Stuttgart Region. Combining online and on-site elements, the programme offers founders hands-on exposure to local business culture, market dynamics, and innovation networks.

Programme overview

The Startup Welcome Package is part of the Hi Tech! international marketing initiative, which promotes the Stuttgart Region as an attractive destination for global tech talent and entrepreneurs. The programme is organised by the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation and is designed to provide both strategic insights and practical connections.

The fellowship is structured in two phases. Participants first take part in a five-week online programme focused on market understanding, peer exchange, and preparation for market entry. This is followed by an on-site immersion in the Stuttgart Region, where selected startups engage directly with local companies, institutions, and ecosystem partners.

Batch #10 timeline

• Online programme: Starts on 21 April 2026 and runs for five weeks
• On-site phase: 30 June to 9 July 2026

During both phases, the programme supports one representative per startup. Flight, accommodation, and coaching costs are covered, allowing founders to fully focus on exploring business opportunities in the region.

Focus and eligibility

• Batch #10 is open to international startups and young companies working in technology-related fields.
• There is no predefined industry focus, as long as the solution has a clear tech component.
• The programme is particularly suited to early-stage startups that already have some market traction and are exploring internationalisation options.

Participants are expected to actively engage in both the online and on-site phases and to use the programme to validate their market assumptions, build relationships, and gain a realistic understanding of doing business in Germany.

A gateway to the Stuttgart innovation ecosystem

The Stuttgart Region is known for its strong industrial base and long-standing expertise in engineering, mobility, and advanced manufacturing. It is home to global companies such as Bosch, Porsche, and Daimler, as well as a dense network of SMEs, research institutions, and technology-driven startups.

Through the Startup Welcome Package, participating founders gain direct access to this ecosystem and the opportunity to connect with potential customers, partners, and innovation stakeholders. Beyond business, the programme also introduces participants to the region’s quality of life, from its cultural offerings to its surrounding vineyards and natural landscapes.

More information

For tech startups looking to explore the German market and build meaningful connections in a well-established innovation region, the Startup Welcome Package offers a structured and supportive entry point.

More information about the programme is available via the official channels.

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SmartyPlants, a UK-based technology startup focused on plant care, has received £190,000 in funding from the British Design Fund (BDF) to support the continued development of its smart sensor system for houseplants.

Caring for indoor plants can be challenging due to factors such as inconsistent watering, unsuitable light conditions, and limited visibility into plant health. SmartyPlants aims to address these issues by providing data-driven insights that help users better understand the conditions their plants are experiencing.

Founded in 2023 by Ben Beavers, the company develops smart sensors that monitor key environmental and soil factors, including soil moisture, light levels, temperature, humidity, and nutrient availability. Used alongside a companion mobile app, the system delivers real-time information to support more informed plant care decisions across a wide range of indoor plant types.

The company’s approach focuses on simplifying everyday plant care by reducing guesswork and providing clearer guidance. By translating sensor data into accessible insights, SmartyPlants seeks to help household plant owners manage their plants more effectively and respond to changes in growing conditions in a timely manner.

According to founder Ben Beavers, the company was established to make plant care more straightforward for consumers who want their plants to thrive but lack clear, practical information. The technology is designed to give users greater clarity and confidence in their day-to-day care routines.

With the new funding, SmartyPlants plans to further refine its technology and software in line with its goal of making plant care more intuitive and reliable for everyday users.

London-based Polaron, an AI-first materials company building the intelligence layer for the physical world, has raised €6.7 million ($8 million) to expand its engineering team, accelerate deployment of generative design tools, and support customer demand across automotive and energy.

The round was led by Racine2, an impact-focused fund led by Serena and Makesense, with participation from Speedinvest, Futurepresent, and angel investors from the industrial AI ecosystem.

Isaac Squires, CEO and co-founder of Polaron, said, “For 150 years, industry has used machines to shape materials. Now, we are teaching machines to understand them. Polaron is building an intelligence layer powered by the world’s materials data for faster discovery, better design and a new generation of advanced materials.”

Spun out from Imperial College London, Polaron was founded in 2023 by CEO Isaac Squires, CTO Steve Kench and Chief Scientist Sam Cooper. The company combines generative AI with deep materials science expertise to accelerate the development of advanced materials.

Polaron states that material performance is determined by the relationship between how a material is made, what it looks like inside, and how it behaves in the real world, across materials ranging from batteries and composites to metals and ceramics. These process–structure–performance relationships drive the critical behaviours of materials, such as ageing, failure, strength, yield, uptime, cost, and more.

The company states that industries have automated how products are made, but understanding the materials still requires manual work, isolated tools and trial and error. Engineers have to figure out how processing choices affect performance, often using bespoke scripts and subjective judgment.

“‍At the heart of this challenge is a fundamental scientific relationship: processing determines structure, and structure determines performance. The arrangement of grains, pores, phases, and defects inside a material governs properties such as strength, lifetime, and failure. This structure is not abstract. It is directly observable under the microscope, where rich microstructural images capture the physical fingerprint of how a material was made and how it will behave – supporting cleaner, more efficient manufacturing at scale,” Polaron mentioned in the press release. 

The company claims to connect process, structure, and performance by training AI models on real microscopy images and measured properties. This allows machines to interpret microstructure, explain why materials behave as they do and help engineers optimise processes. 

“What impressed us about Polaron is its focus on the point where materials innovation often breaks down: translating scientific insight into manufacturable reality. By grounding AI in real microstructural data and industrial constraints, Polaron is building a platform that can accelerate how advanced materials move from research into production,” said Florian Obst, Principal investor with Speedinvest’s AI and Infra investment team. 

The company states that its platform automates material characterisation and helps bring down the significant time requirement for manual analysis to minutes. Most importantly, the platform helps unlock insights that were previously impossible, including three-dimensional reconstructions of materials from two-dimensional images and rapid identification of complex microstructural features.

Using learned process-structure-property relationships, the system explores the design space to identify optimal material configurations and the processing conditions required to achieve them. The company says this capability bridges the gap between laboratory innovation and industrial manufacturability and works across metals, ceramics, polymers and composites.

Polaron claims that its technology is already used by engineers at global manufacturing companies, including EV makers responsible for over a third of the world’s electric vehicle production. One of its applications involved supporting the design of new battery electrodes, which has yielded energy density improvements of more than 10%. 

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