Agileday, an Espoo-based technology company building an AI operating platform for professional services, today announced that it has raised €6.4 million in Series A funding for international expansion and to modernise how professional services firms plan, deliver, and scale their work.

The round was led by Newion, with participation from Specialist VC, Vendep Capital, and Business Finland.

“Agileday is redefining how professional services firms prepare for the future. The founders have lived the challenges of running service companies themselves, and that firsthand experience shows in a product that genuinely addresses real pain points and helps firms reach the next level. With strong product-market fit, an exceptional customer win rate, and rapid international growth, Agileday’s AI-powered platform is well-positioned to scale across Europe and North America,” said Anton Keller, Associate at Newion.

Agileday was founded in 2022 by Jaakko Hartikainen, Mikko Virtanen, Jaakko Hallavo, and Hannu Kärkkäinen. Jaakko Hartikainen, co-founder and co-CEO of Agileday, said, “Agileday was founded because we saw how outdated management systems were holding both people and businesses back. Professional services firms don’t fail for lack of talent, but because information is fragmented, decision-making is reactive, and people are treated as resources instead of motivated professionals. 

“We built Agileday to change that. By unifying sales, project, and financial data together with people’s skills and interests into one transparent platform, we help companies grow faster while creating the work-life people deserve.”

The company’s AI-powered professional services automation platform (PSA) connects talent, allocations, timesheets, and project financials into one unified operating system for services firms. According to Agileday, the platform acts as the operational engine between CRM and financial tools, synchronising sales pipeline, project delivery, and financial data in real time, with AI integrated into its core functionality.

With AI and automation transforming professional services, Agileday claims to help professional services companies gain visibility and operational efficiency by breaking down silos across sales, delivery, and finance. 

The company reports serving over 70 global service companies, ranging from fast-growing consultancies to publicly listed corporations. It has registered 3x year-over-year growth and witnessed strong demand among enterprise clients such as Apply Digital, Propeller and The Electric Factory in North America, as well as Knowit, Siili Solutions and Eficode in Europe.

Mikko Virtanen, co-founder and co-CEO of Agileday, said, “Our strong growth shows that Nordic values – trust and radical transparency – are a real competitive advantage for modern companies. When processes serve people, not the other way around, teams deliver better results faster. As a Nordic-born company, we’re now challenging global giants in this category, with a 100% win rate in client evaluations across all markets.”

With this fresh capital, the company plans to scale its technology and accelerate growth across Europe and North America.

The post Espoo-based Agileday raises €6.4 million to build an AI operating platform for professional services appeared first on EU-Startups.

Rijswijk-based Helin, an AI data platform and provider of industrial edge computing and analytics technology, has secured €10 million growth investment to boost its international sales capacity and further develop its platform.

The round was led by Amsterdam-based investment firm FORWARD.one and followed the securing of a loan from Rabobank.

“We already run in critical industrial environments. This investment allows us to scale deployments faster while continuing to meet and optimise strict requirements on uptime, latency, and security,” said Martijn Handels, co-founder and CPTO of Helin. 

Founded in 2017, Helin offers real-time monitoring, control and security of installations for companies in the oil and gas, renewable energy, maritime, and manufacturing industries, using edge technology.

The company claims to unlock the full potential of industrial assets by replacing fragmented on-site software and slow cloud analytics with a single platform that runs directly on industrial assets such as vessels, offshore platforms and remote energy sites. 

Helin notes that it enables customers to deploy applications quickly without modifying their IT setup by integrating hardware, software, and connectivity into a single system. Since the software runs on-site, Helin continues to operate even when connectivity drops, enabling real-time decision-making in offshore and remote environments where delays, downtime, or loss of control are not an option.

“Helin has proved the value of its solution with the most demanding clients. The platform is deployed, expanding, and retained by industrial customers. This investment is about accelerating sales execution and enterprise-level rollouts,” said Paul Pruijmboom, Partner at FORWARD.one and Board Member at Helin. 

The company raised its €3 million Seed round from FORWARD.one in 2023. This was Helin’s first funding round and marked the transition from its initial bootstrap phase to a phase of accelerated growth.

“Our goal is to become the world’s leading development platform for industrial AI applications and ultimately reach unicorn status. In the oil and gas sector, we are already an international market leader, and we aim to extend that position to the other industries we operate in. The investment from FORWARD.one allows us to further expand our international sales team and connect with industrial organisations that want to run their AI applications securely and locally,” added Handels.

Operating globally, the Dutch scaleup currently employs over 80 people and reported that its signed ARR has grown twelve-fold over the past three years. Its customers include global operators such as Boskalis, Shell, BP, Stena, and Sunrock. 

The post Dutch-based Helin secures €10 million to scale its industrial edge intelligence platform appeared first on EU-Startups.

A hospitality management software provider, Mews, has raised $300 million in a Series D funding round led by EQT Growth, with new investors Atomico and HarbourVest Partners, and participation from existing investors Kinnevik, Battery Ventures, and Tiger Global. The round values the company at $2.5 billion.

The investment follows Mews’ fourteenth acquisition, DataChat, a generative AI analytics platform, and builds on earlier funding, including a $75 million raise in March 2025 to support geographic expansion.

Mews provides a cloud-native operating system for hospitality that integrates revenue management, operations, and the guest journey. Its platform includes property management (PMS), point-of-sale (POS), revenue management (RMS), housekeeping, payments, and guest-facing tools, enabling automation and operational efficiency across hotel functions.

The platform is used by more than 15,000 properties worldwide, supporting task automation, guest personalisation, and revenue growth through a single system.

Matt Welle, CEO of Mews, said the company is building an operating system that reshapes how hoteliers engage with guests by managing operational complexity so teams can focus on delivering more enjoyable, profitable, and rewarding hospitality experiences.

Following a year of strong growth, the funding further supports Mews’ position in the hospitality technology market. In 2025, the company reported more than 132,000 monthly active users across 85 countries, 42.3 million checked-in reservations, $19.7 billion in platform transaction volume, and $537 million in additional revenue generated for hoteliers through its Mews Spaces feature.

Commenting on the investment, Richard Valtr, founder of Mews, said hospitality is an industry centred on delivering experiences rather than just services.

The validation for our product from the market is clear, in both the US and Europe, and it is great to see how we are now powering ahead of any other hospitality company in terms of AI and agentic hospitality. It’s an exciting time to reinforce our vision of making Mews hotels the most profitable in the industry,

Valtr added.

Kirk Lepke, Partner at EQT Growth, said Mews is developing a modern, AI-enabled hospitality operating system designed to address fragmentation across the industry.

Looking ahead, Mews plans to further scale Mews Payments and its broader fintech infrastructure by embedding commerce more deeply into hotel operations. The company will also continue its international expansion across North America and Europe, while entering additional markets.

The funding will also support continued investment in artificial intelligence, with agent-based systems integrated across the platform to automate complex workflows, reduce staff workload, improve guest experiences, and accelerate product development and deployment.

Tonight marks the annual Estonian Startup Awards, where Triin Hertmann stepped into her new role as President of the Estonian Founders Society — and as the co-founder of a new local tech media platform, FOMO Observer, which officially launched this evening.

While Estonia, particularly Tallinn, is known globally for its digital-first approach to every bureaucratic inconvenience, it’s been without a local tech media outlet of its own.

So I spoke to Hertmann to learn more about the endeavour, the state of Estonia’s startup ecosystem, funding realities, geopolitics, and why the community needs more honest storytelling.

Angel, operator, and ecosystem builder and now media co-founder

Triin Hertmann is an Estonian entrepreneur, investor, and fintech leader with roughly 20 years of experience in technology, finance, and startup ecosystems.

In 2011, Triin became the second hire at Wise (formerly TransferWise), where she built and led finance, payment operations, and global people teams as the company scaled from a startup into a major global fintech.

After leaving Wise, she became an active angel investor and fund LP, focusing on early-stage companies, especially those with impact potential and female founders.

She has invested in 35+ startups. Introducing FOMO Observer.

What’s clear to me is that Estonia needs a dedicated outlet for the local startup ecosystem.

​I often meet journalists from daily broadsheets and more mainstream publications at conferences. The problem is that at every event, you invariably find dozens of compelling stories worth pursuing. But broadsheets are limited in how often they can write about a given topic, even Estonia’s thriving startup scene.

After exiting her own startup, Hertmann took time to focus on investing and giving back. During that period, it became very clear to her that there is a gap in Estonia for startup media.

“Together with my co-founder, I kept hearing the same frustration: that the real stories of building companies — the struggles, the failures, the hard decisions — are rarely told. Most coverage focuses on funding rounds and success narratives.

We want to create a more mature mirror for the ecosystem. Real people, real companies, real journeys. No halo effect, no empty hype.”

Co-founded by Hertmann and seasoned journalist Tarmo Virki, FOMO Observer will offer some typical newscycle stories like funding announcements, but also focus on in-depth interviews, opinion pieces, and long-form storytelling. Hertmann asserts,

“At one point, I was told by large media houses that 'nobody wants to read about startups. What they really meant was that it’s difficult to monetise through traditional subscription models.”

“The media is part of the infrastructure of an ecosystem. If you remove it, you weaken the whole system.
Our belief is simple: build something valuable for the community first, and the business model will follow.”

Besides employing excellent journalists, including Fiona Alston, Teele Kaljuvee, and Tarmo Virki, the publication will also have one unfair advantage, according to Hertmann — its network. ​

“Many of the most experienced founders and operators in Estonia are close to us personally.

We’ve invited them to become co-creators and contribute regularly. These are people with strong personal brands and decades of experience, writing not for PR, but to genuinely share what they’ve learned.” ​ 

Uniquely, the publication will be published in Estonian and in English, depending on the story and the speaker. The goal is to serve the local community while also making Estonia’s startup thinking visible globally.

Founders recognising excellence in other founders

The Estonian Startup Awards are, at their core, about founders recognising excellence in other founders and a fitting setting for the launch of FOMO Observer.

The Awards are a community initiative co-organised by LIFT99, Estonian Founders Society, and Startup Estonia. Its sponsors and partners include Bolt, Coop Bank, Estonian Ministry of Defence, Nordic Ninja, PayPal, Plural, SkipEat, Specialist VC, Swedbank, TalentHub, Tallinn City and others.

According to Startup Estonia, there are nearly 1,600 startups operating in Estonia today, but this year's winners were selected from 506 candidates nominated and chosen by members of the startup community themselves. Judging was conducted by a jury of 200+ Estonian startup founders.

Amongst award recipients, a big congratulations goes to the Founder of the Year,  Kaarel Kotkas, CEO and Founder of Veriff!

From funding winter to revenue maturity: Estonia’s startup ecosystem enters a new phase

Hertmann characterises the local ecosystem as in an interesting point in time:

“Estonia’s startup community is entering a new phase, and I’m excited to help guide it.”

For three consecutive years, startup funding and deal volumes have stabilised or even declined slightly. But at the same time, she shared, revenues have grown significantly. Investor money is finally converting into real business results — into profitable, sustainable companies.

“That’s a healthy shift. If you can grow with customer money, that’s the best capital there is."

Unsurprisingly, due to  Estonia’s location and history, one of the strongest emerging areas is defencetech. Estonia has strong ties with Ukraine, robust European cooperation, and a growing community of founders, investors, and policymakers working in this space. “There is real momentum, and not just in building companies, but in building an ecosystem around them, ” shared Hertmann.

In terms of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Hertmann asserts, “The right response is to keep building, keep growing, and keep strengthening our technological and economic base. Growth itself is a form of resilience.”

AI is also booming — like every serious startup hub, Estonia is seeing a wave of new AI-native companies.

“It’s still a very immature market and an immature technology in many ways,  admits Hertmann, “but the experimentation level is high, and the ambition is there.”

Founders get busy in stealth mode

Currently, much of the momentum in Estonia’s tech ecosystem is being driven by founders working largely out of the public spotlight. As Hertmann puts it,

“What feels different now is how much is happening under the radar. In the past six months, especially, I’ve seen many teams building quietly, almost in stealth.

With AI tools and no-code or low-code platforms, you no longer need a large engineering team or significant capital to get to market — two people and a dog can now build a real product.”

As a result, she says, startups can reach customers without visibility, press, or even fundraising. “It’s a different startup society,” Hertmann adds.

“My wish as president is to bring these builders out of the shadows and connect them to the community.”

“I come from being a founder and an operator myself. Today, I have the privilege of supporting other founders not only with capital but also as an advisor and board member.

This ecosystem is my home. Of course, I hope investments work out financially, but that’s not the primary driver. I genuinely love building companies and helping people grow. If value is created, everyone wins.”

In terms of sectors of personal interest, Hertmann is bullish about energy: 

“It’s the foundation of everything, and we’re seeing profound structural change there.” 

She also continues to follow fintech closely because of her background in finance. At the same time, she prefers to have a niche rather than chase every trend, sharing:

“One of the luxuries of being an independent investor is that I don’t have to follow the hype cycle — I can make decisions based on conviction, not FOMO.”

That global mindset has always been one of our key advantages. What’s changing now is the diversity of what is being built. For a long time, SaaS was the dominant success story. But for Hertmann, “Now we see much more variety — deep tech, hardware, defence, energy, AI. The ecosystem is becoming more specialised and more complex, in a good way.”

Estonia is more than the “land of unicorns”

Hertmann admits that the‘land of unicorns” narrative of Estonia is a bit outdated.

“Not because we won’t produce more unicorns, but because the conditions are different now. We’re no longer in the 2021–2022 environment of hyper-growth at any cost.

What we’re seeing instead is more sustainable company building. The next generation of success stories will likely look different: slower, more capital-efficient, more revenue-driven, and hopefully more resilient.”

Overall, Estonia is entering a new chapter. Less hype, more substance. More sustainability, more depth, more diversity in what is being built. ​

Lead image: FOMO Observer Team: First row - Aleksi Partanen, Triin Hertmann, Liina Laas, Kaidi Ruusalepp. Second row -  Allan Martinson, Fiona Alston, Kaari Kink, Tuuli Kaljuvee, Tarmo Virki and Kärt Siilats. Photo: Mario Pedanik.

Amsterdam-based Mews, an OS for hospitality, today announced it has raised €255 million ($300 million) in a Series D funding round in order to further invest in AI, embed agent-driven systems to automate complex workflows, reduce cognitive load for staff, improve the guest experience, and accelerate how products are built and deployed

The round was led by EQT Growth, with new investors Atomico and HarbourVest Partners, and participation from existing investors Kinnevik, Battery Ventures and Tiger Global – valuing the company at €2.1 billion ($2.5 billion).

“With EQT Growth joining in addition to new investors Atomico and HarbourVest, we have the backing to continue moving faster than anyone else in the industry,” says Matt Welle, CEO of Mews. “We are engineering an operating system that is changing how hoteliers interact with their guests. Mews exists to handle the operational complexity so hoteliers can focus on what matters: making hospitality even more fun, profitable, and fulfilling.”

In the context of recent European hospitality and HotelTech funding activity, Amsterdam-based Mews’ €255 million Series D represents one of the largest pure-play software raises in the sector.

Other, smaller but related rounds point to sustained investor interest in operational and management technology for hotels. In Spain, Amenitiz raised €38.9 million to scale its all-in-one hotel management platform and develop new AI-driven features. Also in Spain, Room00 Group secured a €400 million strategic investment to expand its tech-enabled hotel portfolio across Europe, reflecting capital flowing into technology-led hospitality operations rather than software alone.

Taken together, these announcements indicate that roughly €695 million has been committed to European hospitality and adjacent HotelTech models in 2025/2026, with Mews’ raise accounting for a substantial share of that total.

Also of note, is that in March 2024 Mews also raised €101 million to help hoteliers embrace cloud technology.

“Hospitality is the business of experiences,” adds Richard Valtr, Founder of Mews. “The validation for our product from the market is clear, in both the US and Europe, and it is great to see how we are now powering ahead of any other hospitality company in terms of AI and agentic hospitality. It’s an exciting time to reinforce our vision of making Mews hotels the most profitable in the industry.”

Founded in 2012, Mews an OS for hospitality, unifying workflows across revenue, operations and the guest journey so teams can automate the mundane and focus on memorable guest experiences.

Powering 15,000 customers across 85 countries, the Mews platform spans PMS, POS, RMS, Housekeeping and Payments, helping hoteliers move from property management to profit management.

This new funding follows a year of strong and durable growth, during which SaaS gross profit increased by 55%.

In 2025, the company achieved:

• 42.3 million checked-in reservations, of which 3.2 million via Mews Kiosk1
• Platform Transaction Volumes of €16.7 billion ($19.7 billion)
• Accelerated SaaS gross profit growth of 55%
• Created more than €457 million ($537 million) in additional revenue for hoteliers through its proprietary Mews Spaces2 feature, powered by over two million non-room reservations

The funding will expand Mews’ investments in AI, embedding agent-driven systems across the platform to automate complex workflows, reduce cognitive load for staff, significantly improve the guest experience and accelerate how products are built and deployed – enabling properties to:

• Orchestrate operations in real time with intelligent automation
• Optimise revenue and profit with advanced insights into guest behavior
• Scale business without the debt of legacy tech
• Radically simplify workflows to onboard teams faster

“I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the Mews team for several years and witness the company go from a bold vision to an organization delivering at scale,” said Kirk Lepke, Partner at EQT Growth. “Hospitality is one of the world’s largest industries, yet its core systems remain decades behind. Mews is creating a modern technology standard, an AI-enabled hospitality operating system that helps solve the fragmentation we see in the industry. We at EQT Growth are incredibly excited to lead this round and partner with Mews.”

Mews will also accelerate the expansion of Mews Payments and its broader FinTech infrastructure, embedding commerce into the core of hotel operations and positioning Mews as the connector between experience and revenue.

The investment comes shortly after the completion of Mews’ fourteenth acquisition, DataChat, a generative AI analytics platform.

“Matt and Richard have built a category-defining platform with the depth, pace of innovation and global reach required by modern hospitality,” said Laura Connell, Partner at Atomico. “The most ambitious builders in hospitality are focused on delivering ever-improving experiences for their end consumers, and they need technology that can keep pace with rising expectations around speed, service and personalisation. Mews is the key enabler for the future of hospitality, and the team is well on their way to building a generational company.”

The post With €255 million in funding, Dutch company Mews doubles down on automation and payments in hospitality appeared first on EU-Startups.

Following our series of country articles, today we turn our focus to Estonia’s growing innovation landscape, exploring the forces shaping its startup ecosystem and the momentum behind a new generation of tech-driven companies.

Estonia, a small Nordic-Baltic nation with a strong digital-first mindset, has built a global reputation as one of Europe’s most startup-friendly environments. Known for its e-government infrastructure, e-residency programme, and early success stories such as Skype and Wise, the country continues to punch well above its weight.

In this article, we take a closer look at the Estonian entrepreneurial landscape by highlighting 10 exceptionally promising startups, all founded between 2023 and today!

Founded in 2023 in Tallinn, BetterPic is an AI-powered platform that enables individuals and teams to generate professional, studio-quality headshots without the need for a traditional photoshoot. Users upload a small number of selfies and select from more than 150 visual styles, with the system delivering photorealistic 4K images in under an hour.

To date, the startup has landed €2.1 million in funding to combine automated generation with optional AI and human editing tools, allowing users to fine-tune elements such as clothing, backgrounds, and facial details, placing strong emphasis on privacy and data protection, with images encrypted, never used for AI training, and permanently deleted after delivery

Established in 2024 and headquartered in Tallinn, Frankenburg Technologies is a defence technology startup developing air defence and missile systems for national defence and critical infrastructure. The company focuses on reducing cost and production time by designing systems that can be manufactured faster and at larger scale than conventional defence solutions, while remaining suitable for real-world deployment.

Its technology combines missile system design with an AI-based situational awareness and targeting platform intended to improve threat detection and response. The team draws on experience from defence policy, air defence engineering, and large-scale manufacturing, and operates across several European countries. To date, Frankenburg Technologies has raised €5.5 million to support product development and expand its engineering and production capabilities.

Founded in 2023 and based in Tallinn, Grid Raven develops a software-only Dynamic Line Rating solution that enables electricity grid operators to increase transmission capacity without installing additional hardware. By analysing weather conditions and line behaviour in real time, the platform allows operators to safely unlock additional capacity on existing infrastructure and improve grid reliability.

The company’s system relies on high-resolution wind forecasting that accounts for local landscape features and provides probabilistic confidence levels for operational planning. Its technology is used by grid operators for both day-ahead planning and real-time control room operations, supporting renewable energy integration and reducing curtailment. To date, they have secured €6.3 million to date to scale deployments across European and international power networks.

Founded in Tallinn in 2023, MarkeDroid develops an AI-powered energy management platform designed to optimise how electricity is produced, stored, and traded across residential, commercial, and industrial sites. The platform connects assets such as solar panels and batteries to a cloud-based virtual power plant, using forecasts and consumption data to determine when it is most efficient to buy, sell, or store energy.

The system enables site owners to participate in energy flexibility markets, helping reduce costs, improve returns on renewable energy investments, and limit exposure to negative electricity prices. Now active in more than 12 European countries, MarkeDroid has raised €920k to date to expand its technology, partnerships, and geographic footprint as decentralised energy systems continue to scale.

Launched in 2024, Raiku is a Web3 infrastructure startup building high-performance transaction coordination tools for the Solana blockchain. The company focuses on improving transaction predictability by enabling guaranteed block inclusion and low-latency execution, addressing congestion and uncertainty that can limit the use of blockchain networks for more demanding applications.

Raiku’s technology works directly with Solana’s core validator set, allowing developers to reserve blockspace or secure execution at specific times, rather than relying on best-effort transaction processing. This approach supports use cases such as financial markets, gaming, decentralised infrastructure, and large-scale AI workloads. To date, the company has secured approximately €11.5 million in funding, led by Pantera Capital, to expand its global validator coordination network and continue developing its infrastructure stack.

Founded in 2025 and also headquartered in Tallinn, Rollo Robotics develops autonomous robotic systems designed to support security operations in environments where continuous monitoring is required. Its flagship product is an autonomous security robot capable of patrolling predefined routes around the clock, using high-definition video, object detection, and motion sensing to monitor sites without constant human presence.

The robot is designed to operate in a wide range of settings, including industrial facilities, transport hubs, healthcare environments, and critical infrastructure sites. In addition to visual monitoring, it can detect hazardous gases, recognise licence plates, and support two-way audio communication, while automatically returning to a charging station when needed. Rollo Robotics has raised €3.7 million to date to support pilot deployments starting in 2025 and further development of its autonomous navigation and sensing capabilities.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Tallinn, Salesforge is a sales execution platform designed to support outbound outreach across email and LinkedIn from a single system. The software enables teams to run multi-channel campaigns at scale, managing prospecting, message delivery, and replies without relying on multiple disconnected tools or seat-based pricing models.

The platform includes built-in email infrastructure tools focused on deliverability, centralised inbox management, and optional AI-based automation to support prospecting and follow-up workflows. Salesforge is used by sales teams and agencies to streamline outbound processes while maintaining visibility across channels. To date, the company has raised €427k to further develop its platform and expand its customer base across international markets.

Based in Tartu and founded in 2023, Soldera develops a platform for managing and procuring Energy Attribute Certificates for renewable electricity consumption. The company provides corporates with a single interface to access multiple national registries, helping simplify compliance, reporting, and certificate cancellation across different jurisdictions.

The platform also aggregates renewable energy producers, enabling direct procurement and automated documentation while reducing administrative overhead and reliance on intermediaries. Soldera works with hundreds of corporates and thousands of production sites across Europe. The company has landed €4.7 million to date to expand its infrastructure, automation capabilities, and international footprint as demand for transparent renewable energy compliance continues to grow.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Tallinn, TELETACTICA develops advanced communication systems for unmanned, autonomous, and mission-critical platforms. The company focuses on integrating control links, video transmission, telemetry, and data exchange into unified, secure radio systems designed to perform reliably under high-interference and operationally demanding conditions across air, ground, and industrial environments.

All core hardware and software are developed in-house, from research and engineering through to manufacturing and field integration, allowing tight control over performance and security. Their systems are used across defence, government, and industrial applications, including UAV operations and autonomous platforms. The company has raised €1.6 million to date to support continued R&D, production scaling, and international deployment of its communication infrastructure.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Tallinn, ZND is a digital asset platform offering a range of services for managing, trading, and earning from cryptocurrencies. The company positions itself as a user-focused gateway to digital finance, providing access to tools for buying, trading, borrowing, and earning on digital assets within a regulated environment.

ZND’s ecosystem includes an AI-powered assistant designed to help users navigate crypto markets, alongside custody infrastructure focused on asset security and compliance with local regulatory requirements. The platform also operates its own utility token, which supports functionality across services such as rewards and staking. To date, ZND secured €17.1 million to expand its product offering and scale operations across international markets.

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

The post 10 Estonian startups to keep an eye on in 2026 and beyond! appeared first on EU-Startups.

Octarine Bio, a Danish BioTech company developing a new generation of sustainable pigments through precision fermentation, has successfully secured €5 million to accelerate the industrial-scale validation and commercial rollout of PurePalette, their natural pigment platform.

The round was supported by existing investors and joined by new partners, including The Footprint Firm, Edaphon, Unconventional Ventures, DSM-Firmenich Ventures, Oskare Capital, as well as several business angels, among them Per Falholt and Steen Riisgaard, former CSO and CEO of Novozymes (now Novonesis). This brings its total Series A raise to €12.8 million, including earlier pre-Series A financing.

Commenting on the milestone, Nethaji Gallage, CEO and co-founder of Octarine Bio, says: “The completion of our Series A is a pivotal step for Octarine. It enables us to scale production of our first three flagship PurePalette colours, execute on commercial partnerships already in place, and expand product development of our safe and sustainable pigments into new industries. We deeply appreciate the unwavering support from our existing investors and are excited to welcome new partners who bring additional industry-relevant capabilities.”

Octarine Bio’s Series A extension fits into a broader pattern of 2025/2026 European funding activity in synthetic biology and sustainable materials, as covered by EU-Startups.

In May 2025, Solena Materials, a London-based company developing synthetic-biology-enabled textiles, raised €5.9 million in Seed funding to scale production of next-generation sustainable fabrics. More broadly within industrial and enabling BioTech, Helsinki-based Avenue Biosciences secured €4.8 million in early-stage funding in January 2026 to expand its protein engineering and manufacturing tools, underlining sustained capital deployment into platform technologies that support scalable biological production.

Taken together, these rounds represent approximately €10.7 million in disclosed funding across adjacent sectors, providing context for Octarine Bio’s financing as part of a wider, albeit selective, flow of capital into European synthetic biology and sustainable materials ventures during 2025 and 2026.

Anna Zimmermann, Senior Associate, Edaphon adds: “PurePalette has the potential to drastically reduce the environmental impact of textile dyeing, one of the most polluting steps in the textile value chain. By fitting into existing dyeing processes, the pigments can be widely adopted and drive meaningful change across the industry. We are excited to support the team as they move into this next phase.”

Founded in 2018, Octarine Bio is a synthetic biology company, engineering microbial systems to produce bio-based pigments with a proven low environmental impact. Through proprietary fermentation and biocatalysis platforms, Octarine Bio reportedly creates high-performance alternatives to fossil-based dyes, designed to integrate directly into existing textile manufacturing systems.

According to PurePalette, they are the industry’s only fully bio-based colour platform capable of delivering the entire colour spectrum through a single production process, offering high colour strength, performance, and stability, while maintaining a proven low environmental impact.

PurePalette colours possess unique properties enabling use in applications spanning several business areas, ranging from textile, food and beverage, cosmetics and many more.

Jonas Ahm-Lundgren, Partner, The Footprint Firm said: “We are thrilled to continue backing Octarine in bringing their groundbreaking technology to market.The team is world-class, and the potential for bio-based colour in the textile space and beyond is enormous.”

The post Copenhagen’s Octarine Bio adds €5 million to Series A to advance sustainable colour platform appeared first on EU-Startups.

Shield Space, a defence technology startup developing systems to protect satellites from signal jamming and other threats, has raised £2 million to support its first orbital test flight. The round was led by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II via Mercia Ventures, with participation from Twin Path Ventures, ROI Ventures, and P3A Ventures.

Space assets are widely regarded as critical national infrastructure, supporting services such as communications and navigation. At the same time, incidents of satellite jamming have increased in recent years, alongside concerns about direct attacks by hostile actors. Additional risks include the rising number of counterspace systems in orbit and the growing volume of space debris.

Founded in 2025, Shield Space is developing autonomous, AI-driven guidance systems that allow satellites to detect potential threats and manoeuvre to safety without requiring intervention from ground-based teams. This approach is intended to address growing risks in orbit, where response times are often constrained by reliance on manual control from Earth.

Graeme Ritchie, CEO of Shield Space, said that space infrastructure underpins many aspects of modern life and that adversaries are increasingly seeking to take advantage of uncertainty and slow response times in orbit:

Our ambition is to give the UK, NATO and its allies sovereign space capabilities to operate decisively in contested environments.

The new funding will support Shield Space’s next stage of development, including preparations for its first orbital test flight.

The company plans to use the capital to advance its autonomous AI guidance technology, establish new premises in Lincoln, and expand its team, strengthening its operational capabilities as it moves toward in-orbit testing.

We are pleased to announce that Diliara Lupenko, Co-founder and COO of Impress, will join the speaker line-up at the EU-Startups Summit 2026 on May-7-8 in sunny Malta!

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Barcelona, Impress has become Europe’s leading provider of modern orthodontics. The company operates across nine countries and serves more than 250,000 patients through a network of over 200 clinics, supported by a team of more than 1,000 employees. By combining clinical expertise with proprietary technology, Impress has built a scalable model that challenges traditional orthodontic care.

As Co-founder and COO, Diliara leads operations, technology, and patient experience at Impress. Under her leadership, the company has developed an AI-powered hybrid orthodontic model supported by proprietary software, applications, and AI platforms. This approach significantly reduces the need for in-person visits, lowers costs compared to traditional providers, and improves operating efficiency and treatment economics for dentists and clinics.

Impress has surpassed €100 million in annual revenue, reached EBITDA breakeven, and is backed by leading European and US institutional investors. As the company continues to expand internationally, it is setting a new benchmark for accessible, technology-enabled orthodontic care while maintaining high clinical standards.

At the Summit, Diliara Lupenko will share some great insights from her entrepreneurial journey and her path of scaling a healthtech company internationally. Don’t miss out, and make sure to secure your ticket soon!

OUR EVENT SPONSORS

Malta Enterprise is Malta’s economic development agency, facilitating economic growth, investment, and innovation by offering a range of support services for local and foreign enterprises setting up a productive presence in Malta. As a key player in Malta’s economic landscape, it contributes to the nation’s prosperity by attracting investments, supporting businesses, and driving innovation, thereby reinforcing Malta’s position as an attractive destination for entrepreneurs and investors alike. Malta Enterprise actively cultivates a vibrant startup ecosystem, playing a pivotal role in fostering a conducive environment for startups and offering tailored support and incentives to empower emerging businesses.

M. Demajo Group is a leading business player in Malta, with a successful history spanning 115 years. The Group’s growth and diversification have resulted in a wide coverage of business sectors through a commitment to long-term results. M. Demajo Group’s workforce is 500 strong and their various activities have been developed through organic growth, acquisitions, partnerships, and startups. Its strong financial situation and ethical standards, its business reputation, and its renowned track record as a business partner are all key factors in its continued expansion.

The post Impress Co-founder and COO Diliara Lupenko will speak at the EU-Startups Summit 2026 on May 7-8 in Malta appeared first on EU-Startups.

This week, Metavallon VC launched a new  €5 million Pre-Seed brain gain fund. It aims to invest early in deep-tech startups founded outside Greece or in Greek university spin-outs, provided they commit to building R&D or product teams within the country. 

With over €70 million in capital under management, Metavallon VC has invested in more than 35 startups since 2018. The fund is supported by EquiFund, a joint initiative of the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Hellenic Republic, as well as HDBI (Hellenic Development Bank of Investments), drawing capital from both public and private investors. 

The fund will deploy €200,000 to €400,000 per investment, focusing on pre-seed deep tech and life sciences startups.  

The fund’s name reflects Greece’s decade-long “brain drain,” during which more than 600,000 highly skilled professionals left the country following the 2009 financial crisis.

This trend has gradually begun to reverse, partly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as many Greeks abroad reassessed proximity to family and quality of life. Increased economic stability, new R&D tax incentives, and a more mature tech ecosystem have further attracted returning talent as well as international founders seeking to establish operations in Greece.

  “We are not just targeting Greek founders abroad”, said Demetris Iacovides, Partner at the Brain Gain Fund.

“There is already a clear movement among global deep-tech startups seeking to build scale R&D in European countries with a high-talent base in tech but without the cost overhead of Boston, London, or Berlin.” 

Metavallon VC has led deep-tech investments, including Think Silicon, acquired by Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), Seervision, acquired by Q-SYS, and Purposeful, acquired by PharOS.

While Brain Gain operates as a separate fund, its foundation within Metavallon’s platform provides strong advantages in deal sourcing, local network access, and founder support infrastructure.  

The Brain Gain Fund team welcomes discussions with Greek founders worldwide, as well as international deep-tech teams that view Greece as a strong base for R&D. Whether refining an idea, exploring a research breakthrough, or seeking early feedback, the team hosts weekly office hours and is open to connecting. 

Vi Partners this week announced the first close of its latest venture capital fund, targeting €161 million (CHF 150 million). It coincides with Vi Partners' 25th anniversary, marking a quarter-century of continuous venture capital activity. 

Since its founding in 2001, Vi Partners has supported successive generations of entrepreneurs and contributed to Switzerland's development as a leading hub for technology and healthcare innovation. 

Building on more than two decades of investment activity, the new fund will focus on Series A and early-stage investments across technology and healthcare. In technology, Vi Partners backs companies building mission-critical software and data-driven platforms across enterprise, AI, fintech, and industrial applications.

In healthcare, the firm supports companies addressing material clinical and healthcare system needs across biotech, medtech, and digital health. This strategy builds on experience as an early partner to category-defining companies, including AMAL Therapeutics, Kuros Biosciences, Araris Biotech, and Oculis in healthcare, as well as technology leaders such as Nexthink, SumUp, and Unique. 

“Over the past 25 years, we have consistently focused on identifying and supporting teams  with strong scientific and technological foundations, with the ambition to build outstanding 
companies,” said Diego Braguglia, Managing Partner at Vi Partners.

“This new fund allows  us to continue applying a disciplined, long-term investment approach, grounded in deep  sector expertise and close collaboration with entrepreneurs.” 

“With this fund, we are entering the next phase of our investment activity and look forward to partnering with founders building category-defining companies out of Switzerland and  Europe,” said Olivier Laplace, Managing Partner at Vi Partners.

“Our role is to be a  committed, hands-on partner from the early stages onward, combining capital with  experience, network, and long-term support.” 

ABZ Innovation, a manufacturer of heavy-duty agricultural and industrial drones out of Budapest, today announced it has closed a €7 million funding round in order to scale production, speed up product development, and expand in key global markets – as it challenges Chinese grip on the drone market.

The round was led by Vsquared Ventures, with participation from Day One Capital and Assembly Ventures.

Karoly Ludvigh, CEO of ABZ Innovation, said: “Our mission is simple: we build drones that take people out of dangerous, repetitive work while helping farmers and industrial operators do more with less. This investment lets us scale production, deepen R&D, and equip a growing global network of distributors and service providers with reliable, heavy-duty systems they can turn into revenue-generating services.”

In the wider European drone and aerial robotics funding landscape, ABZ Innovation’s round sits alongside several notable investments in adjacent segments of the market.

In Switzerland, Voliro raised €19.8 million to accelerate the deployment of its autonomous aerial inspection drones for industrial maintenance and safety use cases. Spain’s Fuvex secured €1.7 million in the first phase of its Series A to expand long-range autonomous drone systems across sectors including agriculture, energy infrastructure inspection and security.

At the larger end of the market, Germany-based Quantum Systems raised €160 million to scale AI-powered aerial intelligence platforms for defence, emergency services and industrial applications.

Together, these rounds represent approximately €181 million of disclosed funding flowing into European drone and aerial systems companies in 2025. Within this context, ABZ Innovation’s raise reflects growing support for mid-scale, hardware-focused European manufacturers aiming to offer domestically built alternatives in a market still largely dominated by Chinese suppliers.

Thomas Oehl, General Partner at Vsquared, adds: “ABZ Innovation stands out by approaching drones not as individual products, but as an end-to-end automation platform for real industrial and agricultural use cases. The incredible team has a clear problem–product–solution mindset, combines robust hardware with a European autonomy stack, and is already proving it can compete globally on performance and cost. That combination is exactly what Europe needs to build: competitive, sovereign drone capabilities at scale.”

Founded in 2021, ABZ Innovation is a manufacturer of heavy-duty agricultural and industrial drones for spraying, spreading, cleaning and other specialised tasks, focused on robust hardware, high payload capacity and long-term partner support. It is used by partners in 25+ countries worldwide.

As Chinese manufacturers dominate the global drone market, ABZ is positioning itself as Europe’s leading challenger in the heavy-duty segment – offering a European-made alternative with supply chain security and data sovereignty.

In the broader European tech funding landscape, several startups have also explicitly framed their capital raises as steps toward reducing reliance on Chinese suppliers or competitors.

For example, CarbonX secured around €4 million to scale its alternative battery carbon materials, positioning its technology as a locally produced alternative to Chinese-dominated graphite supply chains and aligning with broader EU strategic material policy.

Beyond battery materials and drones, the EU’s strategic efforts – such as the Choose Europe to Start and Scale initiative – underscore a regional push to close gaps with global tech leaders including China, with new public-private funding vehicles aimed at enabling European scale-ups to compete on a global stage.

Csaba Kákosi, Managing Partner at Day One Capital, shares: “The CEE region is producing a growing number of top-tier DeepTech companies that are becoming leaders on the global​ stage. Day One Capital is committed to backing founders and companies of this caliber. ABZ Innovation is a perfect example, and we are delighted to welcome them to our portfolio.”

The company’s main selling point is that it pairs cost-competitive hardware with a full-stack European autonomy platform to turn drones into practical automation tools.

Use cases:

• In agriculture, spraying and spreading drones enable more precise application of crop protection products and fertilisers – helping reduce chemical and water use and addressing labour shortages in orchards and other high-value crops.
• In industry, ABZ’s cleaning drones remove people from hazardous environments such as work at height or on contaminated surfaces, improving safety and reducing downtime.

Felix Scheuffelen, co-founder at Assembly Ventures, says: “We’re excited to partner with the ABZ Innovation team. As incumbent leaders face mounting restrictions, the opportunity for a new category-defining company in aerial drones is wide open. ABZ’s commitment to hardware performance, data security, and supply chain reliability positions them to lead across European and US markets. This investment reflects Assembly’s focus on backing exceptional companies at key inflection points.”

The post With China leading global drone manufacturing, Hungary’s ABZ Innovation raises €7 million to expand heavy-duty drones appeared first on EU-Startups.