European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the EU will create "a new truly European company structure," which she named "EU Inc."  

The announcement represents a major milestone for EU–INC, a policy movement backed by over 22,000 signatories including Europe's leading founders, investors, and the broader startup community.    

Since October 2024, EU–INC has led a policy campaign for the creation of a pan-European legal entity. In February 2025, the movement delivered comprehensive legal proposals to the Commission and has worked closely with EU institutions and Member State governments to advance this vision.  

A statement from EU-Inc today shared:

“We look forward to continuing to work alongside the Commission and Member State governments to ensure the new legal entity delivers the maximum impact for startups and for Europe.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to turn Europe into the best place to start and scale startups.”   

What is EU Inc?

EU Inc is aimed at establishing a single, optional EU-wide legal entity for startups — referred to as the "28th regime" — that sits alongside, not replaces, national company structures. It would include: 

• A unified legal entity under EU law: simplify cross-border incorporation and operations.
• Central EU registry: one-stop, fully digital onboarding in English. 
• Standardised investment documentation: harmonised legal templates to ease pan-European funding.
• Europe-wide stock option framework: enabling consistent equity for employees across borders.
  

Check out our comprehensive EU-Inc coverage.

As detailed in von der Leyen's speech: <!--

While on paper the market of 450 million Europeans is open to them, it is far more complicated in reality.And that acts as a handbrake on the growth and profit potential of companies.

"We will soon put forward our 28th regime. The ultimate aim is to create a new truly European company structure. We call it EU Inc.

We need a single and simple set of rules that will apply seamlessly all over our Union. So that business can operate across Member States much more easily.

Our entrepreneurs will be able to register a company in any Member State within 48 hours – fully online. They will enjoy the same capital regime all across the EU.

Ultimately, we need a system where companies can do business and raise financing seamlessly across Europe – just as easily as in uniform markets like the US or China.

If we get this right – and if we move fast enough – this will not only help EU companies grow. But it will attract investment from across the world."

According to Tom Henriksson, General Partner at VC OpenOcean:,

“It’s hard not to be excited. The plan for a fully digital, pan-European company form that can be easily created within two days will, if implemented correctly, at long last put startups on equal footing with overseas competitors. It’s hard to overstate the gravity of this.

At present, acquiring companies in other member states or attempting to take your business across borders drops founders in the centre of an interminable maze of regulations. In-person meetings with notaries poring over every signature are woefully outdated, especially when inflicted on digital-first companies."

The possibility that the 28th regime could, with a stroke of a pen, cut admin time from months for each country to just 48-hours across every member state will have founders punching the air.

He cautions that “it’s not a done deal, of course. We’ve yet to see how the rules are formulated, and the eternal problem with these regimes is that member-states are under no obligation to opt-in.

"The result may be just another layer of bureaucracy, and founders potentially shouldering compliance costs in the countries that do adopt it, without feeling the benefits.

Only time will tell whether adoption is widespread enough to avoid this fate, but there are new reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the future of European innovation today.”

Heidelberg-based Exciva, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutic compounds for the treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions, today announces the closing of a €51 million ($59 million) Series B round.

Gimv and EQT Life Sciences co-led the round. Additional participants included new investors Fountain Healthcare Partners, LifeArc Ventures, Carma Fund and Modi Ventures, as well as existing investors Andera Partners and LBBW.

“We are delighted that we could attract funding from both existing and new investors. This confirms that our product is highly promising,” said François Conquet, CEO of Exciva. “If the results of the phase 2 trial are positive, it will be a significant step forward in symptomatic treatment options for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”

In the European Alzheimer’s and neurodegeneration funding landscape, Exciva’s Series B sits alongside several other notable financings.

Earlier in the year, Augustine Therapeutics, based in Leuven, raised €77.7 million in a Series A to advance brain-penetrant HDAC6 inhibitors for neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s-related indications. In Ireland, Dublin-based Aerska secured €17 million in Seed funding to develop RNA-interference medicines targeting diseases of the brain, with Alzheimer’s among its focus areas.

The UK has also seen activity, with Cambridge-based TRIMTECH Therapeutics raising €28.6 million at Seed stage to work on small-molecule degraders for neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, and London-based Punto Health closing a €2.3 million Seed round to scale an AI-powered platform for dementia care and cognitive decline.

Taken together, these EU-Startups-reported rounds amount to roughly €126 million in disclosed funding directed at Alzheimer’s-related therapeutics and dementia solutions, before including Exciva’s own raise.

Against this backdrop, Exciva’s financing stands out as one of the larger late-stage rounds in the segment, highlighting continued capital deployment into both disease-modifying approaches and treatments addressing neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Exciva’s therapy for agitation in Alzheimer’s disease is highly differentiated, addressing significant shortcomings in the current standard of care and other products under development,” said Andreas Jurgeit, PhD, partner at Gimv. “We are pleased to collaborate with the Exciva team – backed by decades of expertise in neuropsychiatry drug development, including approved therapies – to transform care for this challenging aspect of dementia.”

Exciva is a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2016 by Drs Anton Bespalov, Hans Moebius and Rao Vepachedu to address neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease dementia and other brain disorders. Exciva uses its discovery potential, which has led to the combination of two CNS-active compounds to treat agitation in patients living with Alzheimer’s disease dementia.

The behavioral and psychological symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia can be severe and demanding on caregivers. These include agitation, aggression, sleep disorders, irritability, depression, anxiety and hallucinations. The prevalence of AD, and its associated behavioral and psychological symptoms, is growing in aging societies.

The company says that if nothing is done in the meantime, the global dementia population is projected to grow from ~50 million today to over 150 million by 2050. In conjunction, epidemiological studies have revealed that, on average, about 40% of AD patient admissions reported agitation. It is estimated that more than 70% of people with AD dementia develop agitation at some point during the illness.

As of today, only a few drugs are available to treat these symptoms; many carry significant side effects and boxed warnings, limiting their use.

“This investment illustrates the potential of Exciva to bring an exciting innovation into a therapeutic area where Alzheimer’s patients have limited or no treatment options,” added Philip Scheltens, MD, PhD, partner at EQT Life Sciences. “We are delighted to co-lead this financing to realise Exciva’s potential, which stands out for both the quality of its science and the expertise of the team. We look forward to bringing this new therapy to patients.”

The new proceeds will primarily fund a phase 2 study evaluating Deraphan’s therapeutic potential for treating agitation in patients with AD. Deraphan is the combination of two clinically validated products, including one novel chemical entity (NCE), which have demonstrated activity in the CNS field, with the potential to offer better efficacy and risk/benefit ratio than existing therapies. The clinical trial will be conducted in Europe, the UK, the US and Canada.

A phase 1 trial with Deraphan has been successfully completed and reportedly showed that the combination is safe and well-tolerated.

Following the Series B, the board of directors will be composed of Raphaël Wisniewski (Andera Partners), Philip Scheltens (EQT Life Sciences), Andreas Jurgeit (Gimv), Aidan King (Fountain Healthcare), Vikram Sudarsan (independent Board member) and François Conquet (CEO).

The post German BioTech Exciva lands €51 million to advance Alzheimer’s drug testing in patients appeared first on EU-Startups.

London-based Allocation Strategy, a company developing analytics tools to support asset allocation and investment decisions, has raised £1.6 million in a funding round led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from angel investors and industry experts.

Periods of market volatility have exposed limitations in many institutional allocation tools, particularly in linking portfolio decisions with underlying macroeconomic drivers. At the same time, asset allocation has grown more complex as asset classes converge, private and alternative markets expand, geopolitical conditions evolve, and advances in AI reshape investment decision-making.

Allocation Strategy was developed to address these challenges by providing a more comprehensive and reliable analytics framework for portfolio construction and risk assessment. The platform supports key asset allocation workflows, including capital market assumptions, portfolio optimization, macro risk analysis, scenario modelling, and model portfolios, helping institutional investors better assess risk and return trade-offs.

Pavol Povala, CEO of Allocation Strategy, said the platform is intended to give investment teams a stronger analytical foundation for asset allocation decisions, supporting processes from expected return assumptions through to scenario analysis and portfolio construction.

The company was founded by Pavol Povala, Drew Barnden, and Michael Chin, who bring extensive experience in developing and operating asset allocation analytics at scale.

The new capital will be used to scale the business, expand research and development, and accelerate the rollout of new solutions for institutional investors.

As Europe’s energy transition accelerates, the financial infrastructure underpinning it remains stuck in the analogue era, with fragmented registries, manual processes, and opaque markets slowing capital flows into renewables and limiting price discovery, liquidity, and scale.

In response, Soldera has successfully built the “Stripe for Renewable Energy,” unifying Europe’s 30+ certificate registries into a single interface and MCP. The tech is used by Fortune 500 companies and global asset managers to access more than 4,000 power plants.   

Turning Guarantees of Origin into programmable financial assets

Simply put, Soldera has developed an AI-powered platform that automates the management and trading of Guarantees of Origin (GOs) in the renewable energy sector. GOs are certificates that verify and monetise renewable electricity production, and traditionally, managing these certificates involves significant administrative work.  

Soldera's service automates this entire process significantly reducing the administrative burden for renewable energy producers.

The platform also offers features such as spot sales and forward hedging strategies to help producers maximise revenue from their GOs. 

Since Soldera raised €25 million last April, the company has gone from strength to strength.

I spoke to Stenver Jerkku, Soldera’s CEO, to understand what has driven this momentum.

Scaling fast: growth, funding, and market traction

Overall, 2025 was a bumper year for the company, which achieved 70x revenue growth, scaling from €150k to €1 million. It has just secured €1.6 million in non-dilutive funding through the EAS Applied Research Grant to double down on its AI infrastructure.

According to Jerkku, “It’s been an absolutely wild ride. We’ve had around 30 per cent month-on-month growth, consistently, and we’re now working with roughly 4,000 power plants and more than 500 corporate customers."

Creating a meta-layer across Europe’s fragmented registries

The company has also gained a new market, with Jerrku explaining:

“What really surprised us was inbound interest from large multinationals — including Fortune 500 companies — at a point when our product was still positioned mainly for renewable energy producers.

That forced us to step back and ask: why are global corporates coming to a platform originally built for power producers?"

The team discovered that the problem that it solved for producers is even more painful on the corporate side. A multinational seeking to source and report renewable electricity across 10, 20, or 40 countries faces completely different registries, rules, and audit requirements in each market. The alternative is to hire large internal teams or rely on brokers and traders, which is costly, opaque, and inefficient.

"So we realised we could become a unifying layer — a kind of “meta-infrastructure” on top of national energy attribute certificate registries — and offer turnkey compliance automation for both producers and corporates, " explained Jerkku.

“Roughly half of European registries have APIs. The rest still run on fax machines, spreadsheets, PDFs — and in some countries, manually updated Excel files maintained by a single civil servant.”

Soldera uses AI to integrate with all of them, whether through APIs, document parsing, or automated reconciliation, and normalises everything into a single platform. This enables direct connections between power producers and corporate buyers and automates the full lifecycle of energy attribute certificates — issuance, transfer, cancellation, audit trails, and reporting.

“For corporates, that cuts back-office compliance costs by 25–40 per cent,” shared Jerkku.

"For producers, it boosts revenues by 10–15 per cent by removing layers of intermediaries, and reduces administrative overhead by up to 95 per cent, because the process becomes essentially passive."

In practice, this means a corporate sustainability team no longer has to understand how the Polish, Spanish, German, and Nordic systems all differ — they just see one interface, one compliance flow, one audit-ready dataset.

“Our long-term goal is that EAC management becomes something nobody has to think about anymore. It should be as invisible as cloud billing,” shared Jerkku.

ESG politics versus regulatory reality

The market Soldera operates in sits at the intersection of energy policy and financial regulation, and I was curious whether geopolitics, with shifting political narratives around ESG — particularly in parts of the US —  was reducing corporate demand. 

Jerkku admits he was worried at first, especially with the backlash against ESG in parts of the US:

“But once you talk to corporate sustainability teams, you realise how structural this is. 

They’re driven by regulations like CSRD, Scope 2 and Scope 3 reporting, supply-chain pressure, and investor disclosure requirements — not political fashion.” 

The company sees a rise in  “greenhushing”, where companies do the work but talk about it less publicly.  Yet according to Jerkku, “the actual volume of certificate cancellations and renewable claims is still rising year on year.”

Building infrastructure-scale ambition with an AI-native team

From here, Solera plans to scale its corporate product to the same level as its producer platform and build out a visible global enterprise customer base. It's also working to turn the virtual registry layer into a truly global system with end-to-end compliance across all major markets.

And third, continuing to operate as an AI-native organisation. 

“Our ambition is to build a European infrastructure-scale company — potentially a unicorn — with fewer than 30 people, each operating at 10x leverage through automation", shared Jerkku.

Selected overseas tech “trailblazers” working at promising UK startups will be able to claim reimbursement of visa fees as part of a package of measures announced by the UK government today, as it looks to ramp up its appeal as a destination for startups and investment amid simmering tensions between Europe and the US over Greenland.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves today pitched Britain as a haven of stability as the government looks to attract the brightest minds in AI, clean energy and life sciences, in a speech in front of businesses and global investors at the World Economic Forum at Davos.

The speech comes amid increasingly frosty relations between the US and European countries, including the UK, which follows President Trump's threat of tariffs on countries not backing a US takeover of Greenland.

The package of measures includes reimbursement of visa fees for “select trailblazers” in deep tech and those joining the most promising UK firms in priority sectors, the government said.

The government said researchers and academics in sectors like AI, quantum computing and semiconductors will benefit from visa fee reimbursements, so they can more easily come to the UK. The UK government did not respond to a request for more details about the reimbursement fees.

The government also said new scholarships to study at UK universities will be made available for international maths Olympiad gold medalists. Global firms will also find it quicker to expand in Britain via a new offer to fast-track their sponsor licences, it said.

Other measures unveiled by the government include increased resources behind its Global Talent Task Force, which will bring in specialist private sector head-hunting expertise, as the government looks to encourage more top tech talent to relocate to the UK.

Reeves said: "In a volatile world, Britain stands out. This government is making sure Britain is home to the stability, talent and capital that businesses and investors want and that drives greater growth.

"Some countries give you a platform, but Britain gives you momentum. My message at Davos this week is clear: choose Britain – it’s the best place in the world to invest."

Business and trade secretary, Peter Kyle, who is also part of the UK delegation in Davos, said: "We are positioning the UK as the destination of choice for the brightest minds and innovators as we strive to lead the global race for talent.

“By attracting leaders in AI, quantum, life sciences, and clean energy, we will drive growth, innovation, and make the UK the premier launchpad for the world’s best entrepreneurs."

IMAGE: PEXELS

Applications are now open for the first Open Call of H2SHIFT, a European initiative designed to support startups and SMEs developing innovative hydrogen production technologies. The call is open until 18 March 2026 and targets companies working across the hydrogen value chain, particularly those developing alternatives to existing market solutions or leveraging underexploited energy sources.

The H2SHIFT project brings together industrial partners, universities and research centres within a single, integrated ecosystem of innovation services. Its offering spans the entire development pathway, from laboratory testing and technical validation to scale-up and business development support. Access to these services is provided through a system of cascading Open Calls managed via a Single Entry Point, allowing potential beneficiaries to apply through one centralised access point.

Development platforms

The first Open Call will select a limited number of companies that will gain subsidised access to three advanced development platforms:

• Politecnico di Torino’s test infrastructures for direct hydrogen production from solar energy.
• Youwind’s software for modelling hydrogen production in an offshore environment.
• Resolvent’s multiphysics simulation platform to support design and scale-up of hydrogen production technologies.

At Politecnico di Torino, researchers will support companies developing thermochemical and photochemical hydrogen production processes. Domenico Ferrero and Francesco Orsini, respectively associate professor and researcher of the STEPS group at the Department of Energy Galileo Ferraris, explain: “Our High-Flux Solar Simulator will enable the testing of prototypes of reactors, and their constituent materials, for the thermochemical splitting of water, a process that exploits only the concentrated heat of the sun to produce hydrogen and oxygen. This technology does not require electricity and therefore represents an interesting alternative for the generation of hydrogen from solar energy”.

Further support at Politecnico di Torino focuses on photo-electro-chemical hydrogen production. Simelys Hernandez, associate professor at CREST within the Department of Applied Science and Technology, comments: “We have recently acquired an ultrasonic device for the production of large-scale photocatalytic cells with constant thickness. This, together with our test bench, will allow us to test and validate at scale new materials and devices for the production of hydrogen by photoelectric means, using only sunlight as a reaction motor”.

Youwind will provide access to its Software as a Service platform, which supports the optimised design of onshore and offshore wind farms by integrating engineering and financial modelling. The platform considers environmental and technical constraints, wake loss models, logistics and downtime optimisation, while tracking selected financial indicators. Edvald Edvaldsson, Co-founder and CTO of Youwind, explains: “Our platform needs to consider the production and storage of hydrogen locally to offshore wind farms, to represent and evaluate the business opportunity. The goal of the collaboration with companies through H2SHIFT’s open calls is precisely to further develop our platform to include production models and obtain an estimate of the cost of hydrogen generated with wind energy”.

Resolvent’s contribution focuses on multiphysics modelling to support the analysis and optimisation of complex hydrogen production processes. Lene Gottrup Barfod, Managing Director and Partner at Resolvent, notes: “We supported several companies that needed to verify the functioning of their prototypes for a subsequent scale-up. Simulation with our platform allows us to study the best configurations and operating conditions for process optimisation and is therefore a very useful tool to support the development of an innovation from lab to market”.

How the application process works

The application process requires companies to complete an online form and submit a video presentation outlining their innovation. As explained by Alissa Bauer of the Collège des Ingénieurs, who oversees the presidency of the Single Entry Point: “The application procedure involves filling out an online form, to be complemented by a video presentation of the innovation. After the deadline of 18 March, the consortium of H2SHIFT will evaluate all the applications received and interview the finalists to select the four winners, one for each development platform”.

Selected companies will have up to six months to work directly with experts from Politecnico di Torino, Youwind and Resolvent. Looking ahead, Mara Tumiati of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, organiser of the Open Calls, adds: “At the end of 2026 all the test lines and services of the H2SHIFT ecosystem will be made available through a second open call, and 8 other start-ups and/or SMEs that develop innovation in hydrogen production will be selected”.

Further details about the call and application process are available on the official H2SHIFT website, which also hosts the recording of the project’s launch webinar held on 26 November 2025. In addition, the project will host two in-person events for innovators, one on 26 January 2026 in Paris at the Collège des Ingénieurs and another on 4 February 2026 in Turin at the Environment Park. Registration for both events is available via Eventbrite.

H2SHIFT, short for Services for Hydrogen Innovation Facilitation and Testing, is a Horizon Europe Open Innovation Test Bed project providing access to laboratories and specialised expertise to support the validation and scale-up of hydrogen production technologies. Co-financed by the European Union, the project is coordinated by Snam and supported by a consortium of 13 Italian and European partners to strengthen Europe’s leadership in hydrogen innovation.

H2SHIFT is a Horizon Europe project (ID 101137953). Co-funded by the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union

The post Project H2SHIFT: First open call open until 18 march 2026 for hydrogen innovators (Sponsored) appeared first on EU-Startups.

Orbem, the Munich-based DeepTech company turning Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) into an AI-powered tool to reveal hidden insights in food and biology, today announced the closing of a €55.5 million Series B round to expand into the US, launch new solutions for the poultry industry, and enter the multi-billion-dollar fruit and vegetable market.

The round is led by Innovation Industries and joined by Supernova Invest, with follow-on participation from existing investors General Catalyst, 83North, The Venture Collective, Possible Ventures, and several angel investors.

Dr Pedro Gómez, co-founder and CEO of Orbem, says: “We’re the first and so far only company in the world to demonstrate the use of MRI in less than one second and without humans in the loop. We began by showing the poultry industry what’s possible when you can see inside an egg, and we are just getting started.”

Across 2025, analysis shows steady but generally smaller funding rounds for European DeepTech companies working on AI-driven imaging, inspection, and sensing technologies adjacent to Orbem’s space.

France-based TiHive raised €8 million to scale its terahertz- and AI-powered non-destructive quality-control systems for industrial production lines, while Paris-based Chipiron secured €14.9 million in a Series A to develop a miniaturised MRI scanner aimed at making magnetic resonance imaging more accessible in clinical settings. In the Netherlands, QDI Systems obtained up to €7.5 million in investment and EIC support to advance quantum-dot-based X-ray and SWIR imaging technologies for medical and industrial applications.

Together, these rounds amount to approximately €30 million, highlighting a consistent flow of capital into European AI and imaging DeepTech, albeit at a lower scale than Orbem’s newly announced €55.5 million Series B.

Seen in this context, Orbem’s raise stands out both for its size and for its commercial maturity, supporting expansion into the US and the rollout of AI-powered MRI solutions across poultry, fruit and vegetable quality assessment, and longer-term healthcare applications.

While peers such as Chipiron focus on next-generation MRI hardware and others like TiHive and QDI Systems target inspection and sensing niches, Orbem’s funding reflects investor confidence in the industrial deployment of MRI at scale and the value of its growing biological dataset, positioning the company at the upper end of European DeepTech funding activity in this sector during the 2025/2026 period.

“This new funding allows us to accelerate our US expansion and help more food producers and healthcare providers make better decisions with data. Our scalable platform and our rapidly growing, proprietary biological dataset are the perfect basis for achieving this. We are proud to see the trust our investors have placed in us and our vision to help the world see from the inside out,” adds Dr Gómez.

Founded in 2019, Orbem uses AI to industrialide MRI, enabling non-invasive insight into everything from fruits to eggs to the human body. By providing previously inaccessible information – the sex of an embryo inside an egg, the health of a seed, the quality of an avocado without cutting it open – Orbem serves global customers across agriculture, food, and health.

By doing so, the company is building what is becoming the industry’s largest and most comprehensive biological dataset.

Its flagship product, the Genus Focus, reportedly uses AI-powered MRI to see inside a poultry egg, non-invasively determining its sex in less than one second. This provides an animal-friendly and efficient alternative to the culling of male chicks, a practice now banned in several EU countries.

With over 170 million eggs scanned to date, Orbem is scaling rapidly, ready to meet increasing global demand spurred by initiatives like the new ‘Hatch Check’ certification in the US.

Pleuni Hooijman, Investment Manager at Innovation Industries, states: “Orbem is truly exceptional. Few companies manage to make such complex technology accessible and scalable across so many industries. With its platform, Orbem is already transforming entire sectors, and we are very pleased to join them on this journey.“

Building on their success, Orbem recently launched the Genus Scale, a product that sees inside eggs to check their fertilisation status before incubation. This allows hatcheries to stop wasting valuable incubator space on non-viable eggs, repurposing them for the food industry, creating new revenue streams, and fighting food waste.

Michaël Thomas, Investment Director at Supernova Invest, adds: “We’re thrilled to join forces with Orbem, a visionary company that perfectly embodies Europe’s DeepTech excellence. By combining cutting-edge AI and MRI technologies, Orbem delivers concrete answers to some of the major challenges of our time, from reducing animal suffering to fighting food waste and building a more sustainable global food system. This investment illustrates our conviction that Europe can lead in physical AI, transforming scientific breakthroughs into meaningful industrial innovation.”

The Series B funding will accelerate Orbem’s mission to solve global challenges by revealing what we can’t see on the outside of food and biology. Key initiatives include:

• US Market Entry: After establishing its first US office in Houston, Texas, in 2025, Orbem is bringing its poultry solutions to one of the world’s largest agricultural markets.
• Expanded Poultry Platform: Orbem will continue to strengthen its commitment to the poultry industry, scaling its existing solutions.
• New Vertical: The company is expanding its actionable intelligence for sustainable food production into the fruit and vegetable sector. Orbem’s non-destructive technology can see inside produce like watermelons, avocados and mangoes to spot internal defects and assess quality without cutting them open. This helps producers to sort goods with precision, ensure consistent quality, and dramatically reduce food waste before products reach the consumer.
• Healthcare: What Orbem learns from scanning millions of eggs and avocados translates to a deeper understanding of biology. The company is building the world’s largest biological dataset. This unique asset is the foundation for AI models that could have applications in human health, making non-invasive insights more accessible.

The post From eggs to avocados – Germany’s Orbem raises €55.5 million for AI-powered MRI expansion appeared first on EU-Startups.

We’re happy to announce that the 11th edition of the Global Startup Awards Grand Finale will take place on the evening of May 7th 2026 as part of this year’s EU-Startups Summit (May 7-8) at the Mediterranean Conference Center in Valletta, Malta.

The Grand Finale is a separate, globally-focused startup ecosystem celebration embedded within our evening agenda – adding a fresh, international flavour to the proceedings, but distinct from our very own EU-Startups Pitch Competition.

A shared mission, expanded stage

This collaboration was made possible thanks to MeOut Group, the investor behind the Global Startup Awards (GSA) and parent company of EU-Startups. It reflects our shared belief that startups don’t thrive in isolation – they thrive through collaboration.

While EU-Startups continues to focus on Europe, GSA brings a truly global community into the room. Through a shared mission of boosting startups ecosystems beyond borders, we’re co-hosting an environment where local innovation meets international perspective. Together, we’re shaping a platform that welcomes boundary-pushing entrepreneurs, regardless of where they come from.

“EU-Startups has always stood for connecting the European startup ecosystem – and now, through this collaboration with GSA, we’re opening the door for global perspectives to join the conversation. While our Summit remains focused on European innovation, this partnership strengthens our shared mission of empowering founders at every stage and from every region,” says Thomas Ohr, CEO and Founder of EU-Startups.

Why Malta?

After expanding across 154 countries over the past decade, the GSA is returning to its European roots – and what better place than Malta? The island is an increasingly strategic bridge for global policy, tech investment, and cross-border talent.

Hosting the Grand Finale here symbolises a homecoming of sorts for the GSA, and we’re happy to have it take place during this year’s EU-Startups Summit.

Over 2,500 attendees are expected across the joint event, with at least 1,200 startup founders, 300 investors, and delegations from more than 100 countries. That diversity brings not just visibility but tangible opportunity all involved.

“After more than a decade of building the Global Startup Awards across 154 countries, we are now bringing the full strength of our global network into the heart of Europe. Hosting Edition 11 of the Global Grand Finale here creates a powerful bridge between global innovation and Europe, anchored in an EU setting and strengthened through our partnership with EU-Startups and our co-founding investor, MeOut Group,” adds Kim Balle, CEO and Co-founder of XO Group (Owner of the GSA).

Different stages, shared energy

Our own EU-Startups Pitch Competition will continue to be one of the top highlights of the annual EU-Startups Summit, with a sole focus on early-stage startups from across Europe. The GSA Global Grand Finale, which is happening the day before our EU-Startups Pitch Competition finals, is adding a global dimension that complements our core mission.

In Malta, GSA finalists from across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and Oceania will compete live across 13 categories, including:

• Startup of the Year
• Best Newcomer
• Best GreenTech Startup
• Best HealthTech Startup
• Best FinTech Startup
• Best Youth Startup
• VC of the Year
• Best Accelerator or Incubator Programme
• Best Co-working Space
• Founder of the Year
• Diversity Role Model of the Year
• Ecosystem Hero of the Year
• People’s Choice

Winners will be announced during the Global Awards Ceremony in front of an audience of global investors, ecosystem leaders, and media.

Beyond the pitch stage, attendees can expect live startup showcases, keynote sessions, fireside chats, cutting-edge product exhibitions, curated matchmaking opportunities, and dedicated networking zones designed to foster cross-border collaboration.

Tickets and access

All EU-Startups Summit ticket holders will have access to the GSA Grand Finale. Finalists selected for the competition will receive complimentary access.

As we look ahead to May, we invite founders, investors, and startup enthusiasts from all over the world to join us in Malta for what promises to be a truly special edition of the EU-Startups Summit – with a global twist.

The post Global Startup Awards Grand Finale to take place at this year’s EU-Startups Summit appeared first on EU-Startups.

London-based Stream, a workplace finance provider (formerly Wagestream), today announced the close of its €76 million ($90 million) Series D funding round to accelerate its mission of delivering financial tools to the everyday worker by partnering with employers.

The latest round is led by Sofina, with continued backing from existing investors Ascension Ventures, Balderton, Northzone, Smash Capital, Local Globe Latitude, the British Business Bank, and participation from Better Society Capital – bringing the company’s total funding to €194 million ($228 million).

“Stream has pioneered the workplace finance category in the UK, as one of the few platforms giving workers fair financial tools to save, budget and plan ahead – all through their employer. For many, this is the first time they’ve felt genuinely in control of their money,” said Peter Briffett, co-founder and CEO of Stream.

The past year showed continued investor activity around workplace finance and employee financial wellbeing platforms, providing relevant context for Stream’s Series D.

In June 2025, Madrid-based Payflow raised €10 million in an equity round to expand its earned wage access and financial wellbeing offering across Europe and Latin America, highlighting interest in employer-embedded financial tools beyond the UK.

EU-Startups has also previously reported on Stream (then Wagestream) itself, which secured a €352 million debt financing facility in May 2025 to scale fair financial services for employees, highlighting the company’s earlier use of non-dilutive capital alongside venture funding.

Taken together, these announcements point to at least €362 million in disclosed funding and credit facilities flowing through the European workplace finance sector during 2025.

“This investment will allow us to deepen that impact through pensions and international growth, helping more people build financial security. If we get this right, the benefits extend far beyond individuals – lowering personal debt, reducing risk of employment and boosting productivity,” adds Peter.

Founded in 2018, the Stream platform boasts four million users through 2,000 brands across the UK, Europe, and US. Offered through employers, the platform aims to help members to earn, learn, save, spend and borrow on their own terms, all through one app.

Stream first launched with an earned wage access product, giving people flexible access to their earned wages for a flat fee, and challenging payday lenders that profit from financial distress through high-cost, unsustainable credit.

Jean-François Burguet, Principal at Sofina, comments: “Stream has redefined how financial services can be delivered in the workplace with both profitability and purpose. Its impact-led model aligns with Sofina’s investment philosophy, and we are delighted to lead this round as the company enters its next phase of growth – heralding a new era for employee-oriented workplace finance.”

To date, Stream says they have saved its members over €170 million ($200 million) on financial services products they would have had to have paid a premium for elsewhere.

Following the acquisition of pensions technology company Zippen in July 2025, Stream began the roll-out of its first pensions product in the UK – Find and Combine – to capture the estimated €35.7 billion (£31.1 billion) in unclaimed pensions assets.

In five months, the company says they located almost €9 million (£8 million) in lost pensions.

Dougie Sloan of Better Society Capital adds: “Stream exemplifies how placing impact considerations at the heart of product development can drive sustainable commercial value. Its focus on tackling the ‘poverty premium’ not only works to improve financial resilience, but also solve critical challenges for employers.

“Stream’s dedication to understanding and improving their products’ impact on users enables greater positive outcomes and propels their strong commercial growth, and we look forward to the impact this funding will support.”

The investment will also support Stream’s international growth, specifically in the US. The US business already supports one million employees across major brands including New Balance, Hilton and Dollar General – and plans to further scale its network of integration partners.

George Mills, Investment Director at British Business Bank, says: “Since our initial investment in early 2024, Stream has gone from strength to strength and expanded its financial wellbeing offering to include savings accounts and fair loan products. These new services should help the company both to accelerate growth and to improve the financial wellbeing of the millions of workers that already use the platform.”

The post British workplace finance platform Stream adds €76 million in funding, bringing total raised to €194 million appeared first on EU-Startups.

European food retail is undergoing a structural reset — and it’s creating real pull for startups. AI is moving from experimentation to infrastructure, reshaping everything from demand forecasting and inventory optimisation to personalised offers and pricing, and giving young companies clear entry points into core retail operations. At the same time, sustainability and health have become commercial imperatives.

Retailers are actively seeking solutions for waste reduction, low-impact supply chains, smarter packaging, and nutrition-led innovation, supported by digital-first marketing and hybrid store formats.

For agrifood startups that can show measurable impact and ROI, Europe’s retail market is competitive — but full of opportunity.

However, market entry is challenging for agritech and foodtech startups.

Foodtech startups typically begin with pilots: limited volumes, regional trials, or proof-of-concept deployments. Retailers, meanwhile, operate at a massive scale through long sales cycles and expect consistent supply across many stores, as well as predictable pricing and logistics.

Food retail runs on notoriously tight margins, which makes buyers cautious about adding operational complexity or increasing unit costs.

In response, EITFood has developed Straight2Market (S2M), a program targeting agritech startups.

What is Straight to Market?

S2M is an acceleration and innovation programme led by EIT Food, designed to fast-track the validation, commercialisation, and market entry of innovative food solutions, directly connecting startups and entrepreneurs with major European retailers.

It helps startups understand retailer requirements around scale, pricing and operations, while allowing retailers to explore new, sustainability-driven solutions with reduced risk. The result is a faster, more realistic pathway from innovation to shelf— benefiting both sides of the food value chain.

What does the programme offer?

For startups and entrepreneurs, S2M offers a practical route to market readiness, combining real-world consumer testing with direct feedback to refine and adapt products, financial support of up to €30,000 to develop or validate an MVP, and the opportunity to run proof-of-concept pilots with leading European retailers. It helps de-risk commercialisation and accelerate progress from prototype to shelf.

Retailers, in turn, gain cost-effective access to disruptive innovation focused on sustainability, technology, and supply chain efficiency. ​

Turning open innovation into reality

In 2025 alone, the programme supported 15 startups, helping them refine and validate their technologies and products in real retail environments. ​ 

S2M also engaged four major retailers — Eroski, Migros, Ametller Origen and Sonae — all of whom firmly believe in open innovation and in partnering with entrepreneurs to accelerate change. ​

Each startup received €30,000 to enhance and adapt their solutions, while each participating supermarket benefited from €15,000 to implement the necessary in-store modifications to commercialise the products effectively. ​

Take a look at the participants:

Eroski partnered with:   ​

Triwuu is a digital platform that connects consumers directly with local producers, offering fresh, sustainably sourced food through curated boxes of fruits, vegetables, and artisanal products selected for quality and low environmental impact. By reducing intermediaries, the platform improves traceability, supports local economies, and promotes more responsible consumption. ​

Remolonas fights food waste by giving a second life to “imperfect” fruits and vegetables and edible production surpluses through flexible weekly or biweekly subscription boxes of seasonal fresh produce. By redirecting food that would otherwise be discarded, the model helps reduce emissions, resource use, and unnecessary waste across the supply chain.   ​

Iztueta is a family-owned producer of artisanal dairy products, made using fresh milk from its own cows raised in a sustainable farming environment. Its range includes natural yoghurts, ice creams, and farm milk, all crafted with traditional methods and high-quality ingredients that prioritise freshness, provenance, and taste. ​

Barrenetxea is an agricultural cooperative producing traditional Basque vegetables since 1980, with a strong focus on sustainable farming practices and freshness. Its offering centres on seasonal vegetables and greens harvested at peak ripeness and delivered in assorted baskets, many carrying the Eusko Label certification for quality and origin. ​

Migros Up teamed up with:   ​

Yummate is reimagining healthy snacking with vegan, gluten-free, protein-rich products designed for health-conscious consumers. Its flagship offering is baked Chickpea Puffs made from chickpea flour, available in flavours such as vegan cheese, sweet corn, and peanut, combining nutrition with everyday convenience. ​

Artisan Candy specialises in gourmet confections crafted with natural ingredients and traditional methods. Its signature product, Sea Salt Caramel Candy, pairs rich, buttery caramel with Fleur de Sel to deliver a refined, premium taste experience. ​

Hubixos crafts functional beverages designed to support energy and overall wellness. Developed by PatiLabs, the brand offers health-oriented drinks enriched with functional ingredients such as vitamins and adaptogens, targeting consumers seeking everyday performance and balance.

In addition:

Sonae matched with Tetis Biotech, a marine biotechnology company transforming aquaculture by-products into sustainable, high-value functional ingredients.

Its snacks include marine collagen and “Seanacks” rich in protein, collagen, and omega-3, all produced through eco-friendly processes that support circular bioeconomy principles. ​

Ametller Origen partnered with Genky Innovations, which develops functional foods inspired by longevity and circularity, using antioxidant-rich ingredients to support healthy ageing.

Through its Eternal Foods range, the company upcycles wine industry by-products to deliver resveratrol and more than 30 antioxidants in products designed for everyday wellness. ​

According to Izaskun Valle, Business Innovation Project Manager at EITFood, leading the Straight2Market programme throughout 2024 and 2025 has been an incredibly rewarding and transformative experience. ​

“Working closely with retailers and startups has enabled me to drive innovation, foster strategic collaboration, and contribute meaningfully to the growth of the agrifood ecosystem.“

Valle concludes:

“Once again, Straight2Market highlights the transformative impact that collaboration can have on shaping the future of food.

The programme helps companies test their solutions in real-world facilities to improve their projects before launching them on the market. "

By backing these businesses, EIT Food not only drives innovation but also helps strengthen a more connected, resilient,  and sustainable European food system. ​ 

To learn more about the programme, visit the S2M website to explore how startups and retailers can collaborate to pilot, validate, and scale innovation in real retail environments.

Lead image: Freepik.

German robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) provider NEOintralogistics has closed a €3 million seed funding round, led by the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund with participation from Cetus Holding.

The need for accessible automation solutions continues to grow. While automation can deliver significant operational cost savings, adoption has been constrained by high upfront investment requirements. As a result, many warehouses worldwide continue to operate manually, with cost barriers limiting automation primarily to large operators.

NEOintralogistics aims to address this gap by making warehouse automation more affordable, scalable, and faster to deploy. Its robotic picking system is designed for both brownfield and greenfield warehouses and can be implemented within weeks rather than months or years. Through a pay-per-pick model, automation shifts from a capital expenditure to a flexible, performance-based service.

Michael Drodofsky, co-founder of NEOintralogistics, said the company is focused on reducing the cost and complexity that have traditionally limited access to warehouse automation.

Our RaaS model removes the need for costly infrastructure or warehouse redesigns, allowing customers to integrate the system into existing shelving and realise efficiency gains more quickly,

Drodofsky added.

The company’s solution is designed to be more flexible and cost-efficient than traditional automation systems and can significantly reduce reliance on manual labour. NEOintralogistics is already working with industry partners, including Magazino, Jungheinrich, GLS, and BITO.

Commenting on the investment, Tim Hos, Associate at APEX Ventures, said NEOintralogistics has developed a scalable approach by replacing high upfront costs and complex integration with a recurring Robotics-as-a-Service model. He noted that this shift improves the underlying economics of intralogistics and supports broader market adoption.

The funding will be used to support commercial expansion and customer acquisition, further product development, growth of research and development capabilities, and team expansion, particularly in engineering and operations.

French accounting software platform Pennylane has raised $200m in a funding round, but says it had no immediate need for the fresh funds.  

The round was led by growth investor TCV, with Blackstone Growth and existing investors, including Sequoia, DST Global and the venture arm of Alphabet, CapitalG, also participating.  

The funding round values Pennylane at around $4.25bn, according to a report in Bloomberg, but Tech.eu was not able to verify this.  

Founded in 2020, Pennylane is a financial management and accounting platform for startups, SMEs, and their accountants across Europe.  

It sells itself as an “all-in-one” accounting and financial management platform that centralises the financial function of businesses and their accountants in one shared workspace, enabling them to work closer together.

Arthur Waller, co-founder and CEO of Pennylane, said: “We had no immediate need for funding, but the opportunity to partner with investors like TCV and Blackstone with low dilution was a strategic advantage. This gives us the resources to stay fully independent while accelerating our lead in AI and expanding across Europe. Our mission remains unchanged: being the reference tool for accountants and their clients."

Pennylane says it will use the funding to increase its R&D investment, including fine-tuning its product in Germany, where it recently launched, and improving its payment and cash management offering.  

Last year, Pennylane raised €75m in a funding round co-led by Sequoia, Alphabet’s CapitalG, and Meritech Capital Partners, while the year before it raised €40 million in a Series C.