A quantum startup headquartered in the UK, Ukraine and the US has raised what it says is one of the largest seed rounds in quantum software, bagging $11m.

The funding round in Haiqu was led by Primary Venture Partners, with participation from Qudit Investments, Alumni Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Silicon Roundabout Ventures and returning investors Toyota Ventures and Mac Venture Capital.

Haiku is focused on building the software layer that can optimise the current state of quantum hardware. The startup said the funding will be used to support the upcoming launch of Haiqu’s operating system for quantum applications, which it says makes quantum more efficient and more resistant to errors. The funds will also be used to expand its team.

Haiqu was co-founded in 2022 by Richard Givhan, a Stanford-trained engineer, and Mykola Maksymenko, a former quantum researcher at Max Planck Society and Weizmann Institute.

Givhan said: “Quantum teams need to make empirical progress on hardware to close the gap toward industrially useful quantum applications. Today, too little experimentation happens because quantum cloud costs are prohibitive and hardware performance remains insufficient.

"Our goal is to change that overnight with a software system that can run larger applications at a fraction of the cost. We are grateful to have found investors who recognise the ugly truth: middleware isn’t sexy, but it matters.”

Brian Schechter, partner, Primary Venture Partners, said: “Quantum computing must demonstrate commercial advantage over classical compute in some domain in order to scale. The premise underlying our investment in Haiqu is that software is essential to realise this goal.

“More specifically, quantum hardware needs to operate more noise-resiliently and at greater scale. Haiqu minimises hardware shortcomings to get the best of what quantum has to offer today and in the many years before we have fully fault-tolerant qubits." 

According to Crunchbase, Haiqu has raised $5.8m in total to date, prior to this funding round.

Italy’s Bricks.sh, an AI-native internal tool builder, announces that it has raised €1.6 million in a pre-Seed round in order to continue building the core team – they are also announcing the launch of its public beta.

The round was led by Primo Capital, with participation from Octopus First Cheque Fund, Eden Ventures, Vesper Holding and Vento, alongside a roster of impressive angel investors including Gianluca Cocco (Qomodo), Filippo Conforti (Commerce Layer), as well as the entire founding team of online operations automator, Smartness.

Dario Di Carlo, CEO and founder of Bricks.sh, says “A staggering amount of engineering time is being wasted on internal tools. In fact, building internal platforms to refund orders, update subscription plans, and so on generally takes a third of each developer’s time. When building them, the previous generation of internal tool builders posed a trade off for both business and tech team: if you want a tailored solution, it takes months of development. If you want a fast solution, you sacrifice a bespoke fit. The result? Tooling that slows down tech teams, and just doesn’t work for your business teams.

“Speed where developers need it, customisation where operators demand it – and a path out of the months-long grind of building internal tools that don’t drive revenue, but do drain time. The real, positive impact we’re seeing is on user bottom line,” adds Dario.

Founded in 2025, Bricks.sh embodies a new approach to building internal tools. The platform gives developers the opportunity to automatically generate an admin panel, purely by plugging their API and databases into Bricks.sh’ AI.

In “three clicks“, Bricks.sh empowers developers to generate a ready‑made admin panel for the entire team – both technical and non-technical members. All users can then easily use and interact with the admin panel.

Bricks.sh keeps the admin panel in sync with a user’s API and database. Whenever Bricks.sh detects a change – such as a new field, an updated table, or a modified endpoint – the platform updates the admin panel’s frontend to match.

The company says this saves developers’ time twice over: automatically building internal tools, and staying on top of ongoing maintenance.

Niccolò Sanarico, General Partner, Primo Capital says, “Having spent years as a software engineer and then CTO, I’ve experienced firsthand the frustration of building internal tools. What immediately drew us to Bricks.sh was the elegance of their idea, and their smart use of generative AI.

“But what truly convinced us to lead this round was the team itself. Dario and Giuliano embody the rare combination of technical skill, youthful energy, dedication, and the hunger to fundamentally reshape how developers work, with a global vision from day one. That’s the kind of team we like to back at Primo Capital.”

Bricks.sh has so far signed up over 500 users, 99.7% from outside of Italy, the company’s home country; with 35% of users in the USA.

Bricks.sh’ recent integration with Supabase illustrates how the developer market has taken to the platform. Bricks.sh’ one-click admin panel developed specifically for Supabase users allegedly resulting in sign-up numbers tripling within the month; in addition to ongoing strong traction and consistent positive feedback.

Speaking on its technical capabilities, CTO and co-founder Giuliano Torregrossa, says, “As developers, we observed that regardless of industry or use case, internal tools have the same structure: tables to list users, orders, transactions; and forms to act on that data.

“But, this was just an observation, so we pressure-tested it. We mapped the market, and shaped our thesis: developers need speed and safety, while business teams need tailored tools that boost their workflows. Compared to building in house, Bricks.sh can ship an admin panel 1000x faster and with a 10x better UX.“

The post With a third of developer time spent on internal tools; Milan’s Bricks.sh raises €1.6 miliion to automate admin panels appeared first on EU-Startups.

Istanbul-based Dataroid has closed a $6.6 million pre-Series A funding round led by the FinAI Venture Capital Fund of Tacirler Asset Management, with participation from the Tacirler Asset Management Future Impact Venture Capital Fund and Endeavor Catalyst.

The company had previously raised $2 million in December 2023 from Koç Group’s Private Venture Capital Investment Fund and İşbank’s 100th Year Venture Capital Fund.

Dataroid is a digital analytics and customer engagement platform that enables organisations to measure and analyse customer interactions across multiple digital channels.

The platform integrates customer data, behavioural analytics, application performance monitoring, and data modelling into a single system, providing marketing, product, and technology teams with comprehensive insight into customer experience and performance. It is used by medium and large enterprises across sectors, including financial services, aviation, and retail.

According to co-founder Fatih İşbecer, the company’s long-standing work with large banking customers in Turkey has helped establish a strong foundation for international expansion. He added:

As the market-leading digital analytics platform for banking and financial services in Turkey, our platform today enhances the digital experience of more than 120 million users. We see expanding this value to new markets as a priority.
With this new funding, we aim to strengthen Dataroid’s AI-focused capabilities in line with customer needs and accelerate our global marketing initiatives, particularly across EMEA and Europe.

In 2025, G2, a B2B technology marketplace, recognised Dataroid as a leading digital analytics platform in the Middle East and awarded it top placement in the “Best Support” category for both product and customer journey analytics, based on user feedback. The company reported net revenue retention of 127 per cent by the end of 2025, with no customer or revenue churn.

With the new funding, Dataroid plans to expand into additional geographies, strengthen its presence in EMEA, accelerate global marketing efforts, and further develop its AI-powered self-service analytics capabilities.

At 42 pages, Tech.eu's 2025 Annual Report is our largest to date and packed with a comprehensive review of topics including investments, geographic and industry performance, top M&A and exit activities, insights and predictions from startups and VCs, and much more.

While there's plenty more information packed inside the full report, let's dive into some top-level items.

Key findings

€72 billion

In 2025, European tech investment reached €72 billion, positioning the year as the second-strongest of the past three years and reinforcing the market’s long-term growth despite a modest 3.2 per cent correction from 2024’s peak.

3740+ deals

2025 saw a steady stream of investments both in terms of the number of deals and the total amounts raised month-over-month.

UK on top

From a geographic view, 2025 saw little change in the top countries funded, with the UK retaining its lead position.

Fintech reins supreme in 2024

In 2025, fintech was the best-performing industry, with €11.1 billion raised over 397 rounds.

715 M&A and exit activities

In 2025, the number of exits increases to 715, compared with 648 in 2024, indicating a moderate recovery in exit activity.

While this is an improvement on the previous year, exit volumes remain below the 2023 level of 847, suggesting that 2025 reflects a stabilisation phase rather than a full return to earlier highs.

Pre-Seed and Seed investors drive deal flow in 2025

In 2025, the European tech ecosystem was supported by a balanced mix of public institutions, early-stage specialists, and global venture capital firms, creating a resilient and scalable funding environment.

Investors such as Bpifrance, CDP Venture Capital, and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) played a central role in backing innovation, particularly at early stages, while specialised pre-seed and seed investors, including Antler, SpeedInvest, and Seedcamp, led overall deal activity.

The entire Tech.eu 2025 Annual Report is now available for download.

Gain a deeper understanding of the European tech landscape and make informed decisions for your business with data-driven analysis, exclusive reports, and valuable research.

From all of us here at Tech.eu, we wish you a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2026.

As we close the chapter on 2025 and look ahead to what 2026 may bring, we’ve released a special Tech.eu podcast episode that does something a little different.

Instead of our journalists alone unpacking the biggest stories of the year, we turned to what you read most in 2025 — and invited the founders and investors behind those headlines to share their perspectives on the moments that shaped Europe’s tech and innovation landscape, and the forces they believe will define the year ahead.

From defence tech and deeptech to venture capital, regulation, and Europe’s ambitions for global scale, the conversation brings together voices from across the ecosystem to reflect on what really mattered in 2025 — and what is now coming into focus for 2026.

Watch or listen:

? Hosts

• Cate Lawrence, Senior Journalist, Tech.eu
• John Reynolds, Journalist, Tech.eu

?Guests

• Ricardo Mendes, TEKEVER
• Andreas Klinger, co-initiator of the EU-INC, former CTO, investor, and entrepreneur
• Simon Schaefer, Founder of Factory, angel investor, President at Allied for Startups, and co-initiator of the EU-INC
• Filip Dames,  Founding Partner, Cherry Ventures
• Jevgeni Kabanov, President, Bolt
• Gilles Retsin, co-founder of AUAR
• Riam Kanso, CEO, ConceptionX
• Jed Rose, Partner, Antler 

Some of the stories you read most in 2025

• TEKEVER becomes the latest unicorn in Europe's defencetech industry
• Inside Antler’s "Day Zero" strategy: backing founders before the first round
• Cherry Ventures launches $500M in funds to propel Europe’s first trillion-dollar company
• One year on from Draghi report: Europe’s innovation future hangs on the 28th Regime
• Conception X launches angel syndicate for Europe’s deeptech PhDs h
• Bolt sounds alarm over Lyft's €175M FREENOW acquisition: “We’re the last European 
• Construction tech startup AUAR raises £5.1M to expand robotic micro-factories
  

Cambridge-based Nuclera, a BioTech company accelerating drug discovery by providing access to functional proteins through its benchtop eProtein Discovery System, today announced a €10 million ($12 million) financing extension, bringing the Company’s total Series C funding to €74 million ($87 million).

The raise was led by Elevage Medical Technologies and Jonathan Milner, joined by existing investors British Business Bank and GK Goh. The investment will accelerate the integration of antibody expression and binding validation capabilities into the Company’s eProtein Discovery benchtop system.

Dr Michael Chen, CEO and co-founder, Nuclera, says: “This financing underscores our growing momentum and demonstrates that we are expanding eProtein Discovery into one of the fastest-growing segments of biologics R&D. Scientists increasingly require scalable, high-quality datasets to power AI models in biologics discovery. We are positioning Nuclera to become a foundational platform for the future of protein and antibody engineering, ultimately accelerating therapeutic discovery timelines.”

Dr Michael Wasserman, Chief Operating Officer, Elevage Medical Technologies, commented: “Since our initial investment, Nuclera has made meaningful progress in expanding the capabilities, adoption, and global reach of the eProtein Discovery platform. The extension of the system into full-format antibody expression, purification, and binding validation represents a significant step forward, particularly as biologics discovery becomes increasingly driven by AI-enabled workflows that require scalable, high-quality datasets.

“Elevage is proud to continue supporting Nuclera as it evolves into a foundational platform for protein and antibody engineering, helping researchers accelerate discovery timelines and reduce friction across the drug development process.”

Founded in 2013, Nuclera’s mission is to accelerate discovery by providing researchers rapid, easy access to the highest-quality functional proteins essential for drug discovery research.

The Company’s eProtein Discovery benchtop system combines unique cell-free expression systems, novel digital microfluidics, and robust screening data to empower scientists to perform multiplex protein screening, characterization, and small-scale expression in-house.

By providing clear guidance on which protein has the best chance of success from the start, eProtein Discovery reportedly reduces the time, cost, and uncertainty traditionally associated with protein expression and purification.

The company says researchers can generate soluble, purified proteins, including challenging membrane proteins, for downstream functional testing in under 48 hours, significantly accelerating workflows compared with months-long cell-based methods.

Dr Jonathan Milner, Chairman of the Nuclera Board of Directors, founder and former CEO of Abcam, Inc and CEO of Meltwind Advisory, added: “Nuclera is solving one of the most pressing bottlenecks in biologics discovery – the slow, fragmented, and resource-intensive process of synthesising full-format antibodies. The team’s success in membrane proteins, one of the most challenging protein classes, combined with their microfluidic expertise, places them in a unique position to transform antibody development workflows.”

Expanding eProtein Discovery with antibody-specific capabilities represents a strategic step as Nuclera moves into AI-enabled protein engineering, addressing a critical industry need for scalable, standardised, and high-quality datasets that can be used to power next-generation AI models in biologics discovery.

The advancement will enable researchers to perform end-to-end expression, purification, and binding validation of full-format antibodies on an integrated, high-throughput system.

Since the closure of its previous Series C financing in 2024, the Company has advanced its eProtein Discovery capabilities with the addition of a membrane protein workflow, extended its global footprint to broaden customer access across APAC and the Middle East, and initiated a collaboration with Cytiva to accelerate the path from DNA to fully purified and characterised proteins to better understand drug-target interactions.

In parallel, the eProtein Discovery system was installed at Domainex, the first CRO implementation of the system, streamlining protein production services and further validating the system’s commercial and scientific impact.

The post UK’s Nuclera brings Series C funding to €74 million following €10 million extension for its eProtein Discovery system appeared first on EU-Startups.

LIV4 an Italian startup applying generative AI to enterprise processes, has closed a €500,000 Pre-Seed funding round to accelerate the development of its platform, expand its team and strengthen strategic partnerships. 

Today, quality management is often perceived as a complex, mandatory process, slowed down by repetitive manual activities and a high risk of human error. Feedback from companies involved in early pilot projects confirms the need for a concrete solution capable of reducing operational time, increasing accuracy and improving data analysis across internal systems.

LIV4 develops a proprietary platform designed to query, analyse and generate complex technical documentation in a fast, intuitive and fully compliant way.

It enables companies to interact with their quality data using natural language, automating activities that are still largely manual and time-consuming today: from information retrieval and regulated technical documentation to process traceability and validation.

Founded in 2025 by Patricia Achinca and Matteo Giunchedi, LIV4 originally started in 2023 as a solution for intelligent information management in travel organisations, before evolving into industrial-quality processes.

After years of research, experimentation and early prototypes, the founders identified a clear and unmet need in the industrial sector: simplifying and accelerating data management and documentation activities within quality processes.

“Our vision is to help companies turn industrial quality into a truly strategic process through the use of generative AI,” said founders Patricia Achinca and Matteo Giunchedi.

“We do this through a proprietary platform capable of understanding technical contexts, querying enterprise data and automatically generating documents that are already formatted and compliant with industry regulations.

With this round, we will expand product features, strengthen the team and accelerate validation within the Italian industrial market”.

LIV4 has already launched pilot projects with Nupi Industrie Italiane, as well as companies in the Food & Beverage and Earthmoving sectors.

The team currently consists of seven people and plans to expand in the coming months, particularly in tech and product roles, to support platform development and scale the technology to additional regulated industries.

The investment was led by a group of business angels with direct experience in the industrial, software and manufacturing sectors, including Bernhard Konzet (General Manager at Blulink), Claudio Ognibene (President and CEO of Ognibene Power), Sean Milloy (entrepreneur and senior executive with global experience at Cummins, now CEO of LHP Europe), and Giovanni Giunchedi (former executive at Bottega Veneta, Sergio Rossi and Richard Ginori – Kering Group).

The round was also supported by Intesa Sanpaolo and Banca d’Imola, further validating the project's solidity and the relevance of applying generative AI to industrial quality processes.

“We decided to invest in LIV4 after analysing its potential in an industrial context that is undergoing an inevitable transformation,” said investor Bernhard Konzet 

“I am very familiar with the complexity of quality management and the amount of time required for documentation and analysis. LIV4’s approach is concrete, immediately applicable and built on a deep understanding of the industry. 

Many organisations already rely on structured information systems: this is the ideal way to finally unlock the value of data that has been collected for years.”

Biotech company Nuclera has secured an additional $12 million in financing, bringing its total Series C funding to $87 million. The extension was led by Elevage Medical Technologies and Jonathan Milner, with participation from existing investors British Business Bank and GK Goh.

Nuclera is focused on streamlining protein expression and purification workflows through its benchtop system, eProtein Discovery, with the aim of improving access to proteins for drug discovery research. By integrating cell-free expression systems, digital microfluidics, and comprehensive screening data, the platform helps identify promising protein candidates early, supporting more efficient development while reducing time, cost, and uncertainty.

As part of its expansion into AI-enabled protein engineering, the company plans to extend eProtein Discovery with antibody-specific capabilities. This will enable researchers to perform end-to-end expression, purification, and binding validation of full-format antibodies within a single, integrated high-throughput system, while also supporting the generation of scalable, standardised, high-quality datasets for training advanced AI models in biologics research.

According to CEO and co-founder Dr. Michael Chen, the new funding reflects the company’s momentum and its strategy to position eProtein Discovery within one of the fastest-growing segments of biologics R&D. He added:

Scientists increasingly require scalable, high-quality datasets to power AI models in biologics discovery. We are positioning Nuclera to become a foundational platform for the future of protein and antibody engineering, ultimately accelerating therapeutic discovery timelines.

The investment will further support the integration of antibody expression and binding validation capabilities into the eProtein Discovery system, enabling in-house multiplex protein screening, characterisation, and expression.

Ahead Health, a Zurich-based preventive healthcare company, today announces that it has raised €5.1 million ($6 million) in funding to scale its European expansion by signing up more partner clinics across Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, enhance its platform, introduce new testing modalities and grow its engineering team.

The round was led by RTP Global, with participation from Tiny.VC, Pareto 20, and entrepreneurs including Kai Eberhardt (Oviva), Stef van Grieken (Cradle), Sara Hürlimann (Zahnarztzentrum), Thomas Wolf (Hugging Face), Michiel Bakker (MIT, DeepMind), and Cody Gakpo (Liverpool FC).

Nick Lenten, CEO and co-founder at Ahead Health, says: “Well-analysed data for preventative health purposes is already making a massive difference, with 25% of those who have used our services discovering a medical issue that was previously unknown to them. Next to that, we also uncover more longevity-focused insights – for instance when our MRI analysis pinpointed the root cause of my own nagging lower back pain, which then allowed me to treat the issue.

“We’re thrilled to welcome new investment as we enter a new stage of growth and many more people will experience such relief as a result. We all want to be able to lift our grandkids when we’re 70, and early detection is the key.”

Ahead Health’s round comes amid steady funding activity across Europe in preventive healthcare, diagnostics and longevity-focused HealthTech during 2025.

In Switzerland, Zurich-based Aeon raised €8.2 million to scale its AI-driven preventive health platform, underscoring sustained investor interest in the Swiss market. In the UK, longevity and diagnostics players attracted significant capital, including GlycanAge, which secured €7.4 million to expand glycan-based ageing diagnostics, and Numan, which raised €51.6 million to broaden its preventative digital healthcare offering.

Elsewhere in Europe, Spain-based Holo raised €1 million to grow its personalised lab testing and health-tracking platform, Poland’s Holi closed a €3 million round to expand its digital obesity treatment clinic, and Dutch men’s health startup Fellos raised €2 million to scale its telehealth services.

In adjacent monitoring and diagnostics, Swiss wearable technology company Liom secured €13.9 million to advance continuous glucose monitoring.

Taken together, these rounds represent over €100 million invested into preventive, diagnostic and proactive healthcare startups in Europe during 2025, positioning Ahead Health’s raise within a broader pattern of capital flowing into data-driven early detection, biomarker analysis and preventive care models – particularly notable given the continued concentration of activity in Switzerland.

​​​Vinsensius Vega, CTO and co-founder at Ahead Health, adds: “Proprietary, hard-to-get data is where we believe the AI-puck is going. We want to help people securely and safely build that data set, and help make sense of it – embedded in the local healthcare system they’re part of.”

​​​Founded in 2024 by ex-Google executives, medical doctors, and healthtech builders, Ahead Health combines preventive check-ups such as MRI scans, advanced blood tests, and CT-scans into a single AI-powered platform to democratise access to sophisticated preventative healthcare.

It translates biomarkers (naturally occurring indicators in the body which can indicate disease) into personalised, actionable insights. The company says this can lead to detection of conditions like cancer, brain disease, endometriosis, and cardiovascular issues years earlier than traditional healthcare.

Crucially, Ahead Health’s full-body MRI scan and blood tests take just 30 minutes.

Jelmer de Jong, Partner at RTP Global, says: “There’s enormous untapped potential in the preventative health space, which is quickly emerging as one of the most exciting applications of AI in healthcare. Nick and team combine operator experience with healthcare expertise to keep building on their success and serve the growing number of consumers placing a priority on proactive health management. We’re very proud to back them on their journey.”

As a licensed medical practice, Ahead Health operates through partnerships with clinics across Switzerland and Germany, combining medically rigorous testing with an AI platform that continuously learns from both research and individual health patterns.

The post “We all want to lift our grandkids when we’re 70”: Ahead Health raises €5.1 million for preventive healthcare expansion appeared first on EU-Startups.

Touchwaves, a Dutch deeptech startup and spin-off from TNO, has raised €1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round. The round was led by SecFund, which supports startups, scale-ups, and innovative SMEs addressing the innovation needs of the Dutch Ministry of Defence, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Regional Development Agencies under ROM-Nederland.

Additional participants include TNO Ventures, Brabant Startup Fonds, imec.istart, and Joanna Invests. The round also received support from NWO through its Take-off 2 program, which advances high-potential, research-based innovations.

Founded by Charlotte Kjellander and Martin Romero, Touchwaves develops wearable haptics technologies designed to support human performance and situational awareness, enabling more intuitive interaction with complex systems in high-workload environments.

Human factors remain a significant challenge in aviation, with research indicating that a large share of non-combat incidents are linked to human error. This highlights the need for innovation that places human performance at the centre of system design, particularly in military aviation.

Touchwaves is currently working with the Dutch Ministry of Defence, including the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Forces and the Center for Man in Aviation, on the development of wearable haptics systems aimed at enhancing pilot performance in fighter jet operations.

Charlotte Kjellander, co-founder of Touchwaves, noted that while much of the innovation in military aviation has focused on aircraft systems, the company’s approach prioritises human performance:

By supporting pilots with intuitive, non-invasive haptic feedback, we help them operate more effectively in the most demanding environments.

While military aviation is Touchwaves’ initial focus, the technology is designed for broader dual-use applications across other high-stress environments.

Martin Romero, co-founder, added that the technology is intended to complement existing systems by improving situational awareness and supporting resilience under high workload and stress.

Future use cases include elite sports ( where haptics can support breathing guidance, body awareness, and recovery), ground operations (where haptic alerts may assist with fatigue and workload management), and healthcare and wellbeing (where tactile guidance could help individuals develop focus, awareness, and resilience). These applications align with Touchwaves’ long-term objective of establishing haptics as a core interface for enhancing human performance in environments characterised by high cognitive load and stress.

The company plans to use the new funding to accelerate the development of a next generation of dual-use wearable haptics technologies aimed at further improving human performance and situational awareness in high-stress environments.

Zurich-based Ahead Health has raised $6 million in funding led by RTP Global, with participation from Tiny.VC and Pareto 20. The round also included several entrepreneurs, among them Kai Eberhardt (Oviva), Stef van Grieken (Cradle), Sara Hürlimann (Zahnarztzentrum), Thomas Wolf (Hugging Face), Michiel Bakker (MIT, DeepMind), and Cody Gakpo (Liverpool FC).

Early detection remains limited in many healthcare systems, which are often reactive, fragmented, and costly, despite advances in AI that now enable more precise identification of potential disease indicators from imaging and blood data.

Founded in 2024 by former Google executives, medical professionals, and health technology specialists, Ahead Health was created to address this challenge by bringing preventive check-ups, including MRI scans, advanced blood tests, and CT scans, into a single AI-powered platform designed to expand access to preventive healthcare.

The platform translates complex biomarkers into personalised, actionable insights, supporting earlier identification of conditions such as cancer, neurological disorders, endometriosis, and cardiovascular disease. The company’s full-body MRI and blood testing process is designed to be completed within 30 minutes, delivering a personalised health plan through a fully digital experience.

Well-analysed data for preventative health purposes is already making a massive difference, with 25% of those who have used our services discovering a medical issue that was previously unknown to them. Next to that, we also uncover more longevity-focused insights – for instance when  our MRI analysis pinpointed the root cause of my own nagging lower back pain, which then allowed me to treat the issue,

explained Nick Lenten, CEO and co-founder of Ahead Health.

Ahead Health operates as a licensed medical practice through partnerships with clinics in Switzerland and Germany, combining clinically validated testing with an AI platform that continuously learns from both scientific research and individual health data. With established relationships among leading clinical providers in these markets, the company is expanding its European presence and further developing its platform.

The new funding will support this expansion by enabling Ahead Health to add partner clinics in Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria, enhance the platform’s capabilities, introduce additional testing services, and grow its engineering team.

UK-based Verna has raised $4 million to support growing global demand for its nature recovery software. The funding round was led by Berlin-based NAP and Zurich-based Übermorgen, with participation from UK investors including Vanneck, Love Ventures, Concrete Ventures, and Climate VC.

The accelerating degradation of natural systems is increasing risks for businesses and communities, making nature restoration a key factor for long-term growth and resilience. Although substantial capital is now being directed toward nature investment, turning these commitments into effective on-the-ground action remains challenging due to the complexity of measuring and improving biodiversity outcomes.

Verna addresses this challenge by helping organisations translate nature-related commitments into practical, measurable results.

Verna provides software that supports the planning, implementation, and long-term monitoring of nature recovery programmes. Its platform is used by more than 3,000 users across over 100 organisations. Rather than generating new environmental data, the company focuses on integrating existing data sources, enabling teams to make informed decisions and track progress over extended timeframes. Its AI-driven solutions are designed to move organizations beyond risk reporting toward verifiable action and delivery.

According to Rafi Cohen, co-CEO of Verna, as environmental pressures increase, organisations that depend on land, either directly or through their supply chains, have an increasing need to invest in nature recovery to strengthen long-term business resilience.

Verna initially focused on projects using the Biodiversity Net Gain framework, a methodology developed in the UK and now being adopted more widely. As the company expands, it plans to support additional nature recovery frameworks.

The new funding will be used to further develop the platform, including expanding its AI capabilities to optimise nature recovery plans.

NetBird, an open-source network security platform built on product-led adoption, has closed a $10 million Series A round led by Pace Capital, with participation from Nauta Capital, InReach Ventures, and Antler.

NetBird is a Berlin-based software company developing an open-source Zero Trust network security platform that enables secure and cost-effective private networking for organisations of all sizes. Since its launch on GitHub in 2021, the platform has been adopted by companies across multiple industries seeking modern solutions for connecting remote employees and distributed infrastructure.

In a market largely shaped by traditional sales models, extensive marketing, and closed-source technologies, NetBird follows a more transparent and user-focused approach. Its growth is driven by open-source development, community engagement, and a strong emphasis on usability, particularly as organisations look for alternatives to VPN solutions that require frequent security updates and are associated with recurring security vulnerabilities.

European digital sovereignty also remains an important part of NetBird’s long-term strategy, as demand grows for security infrastructure developed within Europe.

The platform reduces the operational complexity of network management by eliminating the need for port configuration, centralised gateways, and complex firewall rules. This design philosophy also informs the company’s growth strategy. NetBird relies primarily on organic adoption, supported by engineers, DevOps teams, and security professionals who evaluate and deploy the platform within their environments and later advocate for broader adoption inside their organisations.

Misha Bragin, co-founder of NetBird, noted that enterprise network security has traditionally been constrained by long sales cycles and extensive product demonstrations before teams can experience real value:

At NetBird, the code name for our GTM strategy is ‘Proof of Concept Starts at Home’, meaning that users can try the product for free with minimal friction and experience its value first-hand in their private homelabs before rolling it out to production. Our community has become our strongest advocate, shaping the product far more than any traditional enterprise marketing ever could,

NetBird’s customer base includes managed service providers, technology companies, large enterprises, and public sector organisations. Customers such as Sport Alliance, netgo, Signicat, and VIEW Group use the platform to manage secure connectivity across teams and infrastructure.

The new funding will support continued investment in engineering and product development, expansion of use cases, and additional support for the company’s growing user community, as well as further global scaling of the platform.

Klearly, an Amsterdam-based FinTech startup focused on in-person payment solutions, today announced it has raised €12 million in Series A funding to fuel its mission to build Europe’s best payments system for restaurants.

The round was led by PayPal Ventures (PayPal’s venture arm), with participation from Italian Founders Fund and existing investors, including Global PayTech Ventures, Antler Elevate, and Shapers.

“Klearly has a simple mission: to build Europe’s best payments system for restaurants, bars, and clubs. We’re not a generic payments player, and we don’t force merchants to switch POS. Instead, we provide a payment layer purpose-built for hospitality that supports leading operators and the leading POS providers. This funding will allow us to accelerate our expansion across Europe, hire across engineering and operations, and continue strengthening our product depth,” said Sam Koekoek, CEO of Klearly. 

Founded in 2022 by Eva Rosa Bian, Edan Dil, Guy Griv, and Geus Walder, Klearly is a payments platform built specifically for restaurants, bars, and clubs. The company understood the need for restaurants to have a dedicated payment system and therefore built Klearly. 

According to the company, it integrates with restaurant POS systems and helps operators run service, increase revenue per guest and improve customer retention. Klearly can also be deployed as a standalone payment system. It is device-agnostic and runs on existing hardware, so merchants don’t have to buy new equipment to get started. 

Ashish Aggarwal, Partner at PayPal Ventures, said, “Hospitality remains one of Europe’s largest – yet least integrated – payment categories. Klearly gives restaurants, bars, clubs and POS providers a modern, integrated payment experience, without replacing existing systems. We believe that Klearly will power the next generation of hospitality commerce across Europe, and we’re excited to support the team as they scale in Italy, Belgium and beyond.”

Klearly reported that it is approaching €1 billion in annualised total payment volume (TPV). Following strong traction in the Netherlands, with over 4,000 merchants processing payments through its platform, the company is focusing on Italy and Belgium. 

The fresh capital will be used by the company to scale its presence in Italy by building local go-to-market capabilities and deepening partner coverage. It also aims to strengthen its POS partnerships, advance product development, and grow its team across commercial, partnerships, operations, and engineering.

Lorenzo Franzi, Partner at the Italian Founders Fund, commented, “The traction Klearly has achieved in the Netherlands is a strong signal: restaurants want payments that fit the realities of service, not generic setups. With 300,000+ restaurants, Italy is one of Europe’s largest restaurant markets, making it a natural next step. We’re proud to back Klearly as they scale into Italy and build a leading position in hospitality payments.”

Last year, in Jaunary, Klearly raised €6 million in a Seed funding round led by Global PayTech Ventures, Antler Elevate, and Shapers. 

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AI-native internal tool builder Bricks.sh has raised €1.6 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Primo Capital, with participation from Octopus First Cheque Fund, Eden Ventures, Vesper Holding, and Vento.

The round also included several angel investors, including Gianluca Cocco of Qomodo, Filippo Conforti of Commerce Layer, and the founding team of online operations automation company Smartness. The company also announced the launch of its public beta today.

Bricks.sh provides an automated approach to building internal tools. The platform allows developers to generate an admin panel by connecting their APIs and databases to its AI system. With minimal setup, teams can create a ready-to-use admin panel for both technical and non-technical users, making it easier to interact with internal systems.

The platform keeps admin panels synchronised with underlying APIs and databases. When changes occur, such as the addition of new fields, updated tables, or modified endpoints, the interface updates automatically, reducing the time developers spend on both initial development and ongoing maintenance.

Dario Di Carlo, CEO and founder of Bricks.sh, said that a significant share of engineering time is spent building internal tools, often forcing teams to compromise between speed and customisation. This trade-off, he noted, frequently results in solutions that slow technical teams and fail to meet business needs.

We built Bricks.sh to end this trade-off once and for all. The outcome: speed where developers need it, customisation where operators demand it—and a path out of the months-long grind of building internal tools that don’t drive revenue, but do drain time. The real, positive impact we’re seeing is on user bottom line,

Di Carlo added.

The company plans to use the new funding to expand its core team and continue developing the product.

Amsterdam-based Klearly, a payments platform for restaurants, bars, and clubs, has raised €12 million in Series A funding, bringing its total capital raised to €20 million. The round was led by PayPal Ventures, with participation from Italian Founders Fund and existing investors including Global PayTech Ventures, Antler Elevate, and Shapers.

Although the payments market is highly competitive, many restaurants continue to rely on generic, legacy payment systems that are not specifically designed for hospitality operations, particularly during peak service periods. Klearly addresses this gap by providing a payments platform built for the restaurant industry, with a focus on performance and reliability in high-volume environments.

By integrating with existing restaurant POS systems, the platform supports smoother service operations, increased revenue per guest, and improved customer retention. Klearly can be used as a standalone payments system and is compatible with existing hardware, allowing merchants to adopt the platform without replacing their equipment. For operators seeking deeper integration, Klearly also offers a payments layer that connects to current POS systems, enabling faster and more reliable transactions without requiring a new POS solution.

Sam Koekoek, CEO of Klearly, said the company’s goal is to develop a leading payments system for restaurants, bars, and clubs across Europe, adding that Klearly is not a generic payments provider and does not require merchants to replace their existing POS systems.

Instead, we provide a payment layer purpose-built for hospitality that supports leading operators and leading POS providers.

Klearly has achieved significant adoption in the Netherlands, with thousands of merchants processing payments through its platform, and is now expanding its presence in Italy and Belgium in collaboration with restaurant groups and point-of-sale partners.

The new funding will support this growth by strengthening local go-to-market capabilities in Italy, broadening the company’s partner network, and continuing investment in product development, POS partnerships, and team expansion across commercial, operations, partnerships, and engineering.

Berlin-based NetBird, an open-source network security platform, today announced a €8.5 million ($10 million) Series A round to scale, hire, and establish itself as a European alternative to US vendors for modern remote access and network security.

The round was led by Pace Capital, with participation from Nauta Capital, InReach Ventures, and Antler.

Tina He, who led the investment at Pace Capital, commented: “Security infrastructure needs to be open, composable and built for how modern organisations actually operate. NetBird is exactly the kind of foundational layer we look for: technically excellent and loved by the technical community. What impressed us most was the quality of adoption. Teams started small and quickly replaced their entire corporate VPN stack.”

Founded in 2021 by Misha Bragin and Maycon Santos, NetBird is a software company developing an open-source Zero Trust network security platform. It combines a WireGuard-based overlay network with Zero Trust Network Access to provide a unified open-source solution for secure connectivity. 

The company claims that its entire growth model is based on simplicity. With its solution, teams don’t have to worry about opening ports, centralised gateways or complex firewall configurations, it noted. 

According to NetBird, traditional VPNs add complexity with the configuration and management of VPN gateways and firewalls. It stated that its software-defined networking (SDN) eliminates the complexity of managing VPN gateways and firewall configurations, connecting resources directly and securely without single points of failure.

NetBird claims to spend limited resources on marketing and does not operate a traditional sales organisation. Instead, it relies on organic adoption, supported by known community creators and IT-influencers. The company stated that its open-source transparency and self-hosted capabilities turn individual users into advocates.

“NetBird realised that the true decision-makers in modern corporate environments aren’t just executives, they’re the network engineers, DevOps teams, and security practitioners who love to tinker, test, and hack in their own homelabs. They discovered this through the early adoption patterns of their community: long before NetBird reached procurement desks, it was being installed, benchmarked, and stress-tested at home by the very engineers who later championed it inside their organisations,” mentioned the company. 

Misha Bragin, CEO and co-founder of NetBird, said, “Enterprise network security has traditionally been gated behind long sales cycles and endless demos before teams can experience real value. We’ve changed that model. At NetBird, the code name for our GTM strategy is ‘Proof of Concept Starts at Home’, meaning that users can try the product for free with minimal friction and experience its value first-hand in their private homelabs before rolling it out to production. Our community has become our strongest advocate, shaping the product far more than any traditional enterprise marketing ever could.”

The fresh funding will be used by the company to scale its platform, expand its engineering and product team, as well as to support customer migration from traditional SSL VPN and firewall solutions.

“We’re already winning deals and migrating customers away from traditional SSL VPN products like Sophos, SonicWall or Fortinet. This funding helps us do it at an even larger scale,” said Maycon Santos, co-founder and CTO, NetBird. 

The company also stated that European sovereignty remains an important part of its mission. It positions itself as a European alternative for modern remote access and network security for organisations seeking security infrastructure developed in Europe rather than relying on large US-based vendors.

In 2024, NetBird raised €4 million in a Seed funding round co-led by InReach Ventures and Nauta Capital. It has gained adoption across industries and regions, including managed service providers, high-growth startups, global enterprises, and major European governmental organisations. Sport Alliance, netgo, Signicat and VIEW Group are some of its customers. 

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