New Dawn Bio, a deeptech startup developing what it describes as the world's first cultured wood, has closed a €2.1 million oversubscribed pre-seed funding round. The round was led by CapitalT, with participation from Norrsken Evolve, Ontdekkers Group, and a group of prominent angel investors, including Jelle Prins.

Founded in 2024 by Tom Clement (CEO) and Kianti Figler (COO), New Dawn Bio is developing a new approach to producing one of humanity’s oldest and most widely used materials. By harvesting stem cells from trees, multiplying them in bioreactors, and guiding their development into specific shapes, the company can grow wood into its intended form. This process eliminates the need for logging and enables production up to 10,000 times faster than conventional forestry.

Tom Clement, co-founder and CEO of New Dawn Bio, said the wood industry still relies on a centuries-old process of shaping rectangular boards and beams from round tree trunks:

For the first time in history, we can grow premium wood directly into its final shape. This funding allows us to advance our technology and bring a practical product to market.

New Dawn Bio’s technology aims to address the environmental and industrial challenges of traditional timber production. With 5.3 million hectares of tropical forest lost annually, the company’s approach could help reduce pressure on natural forests while avoiding up to 2.1 gigatons of direct CO₂ emissions each year. Its shaped-wood production process also reduces material waste and manufacturing costs by eliminating many conventional woodworking steps.

At the core of the company’s innovation is a new approach to wood production: cultivating living plant cells into wood structures rather than harvesting and processing trees. By combining advances in cell biology, materials science, and engineering, New Dawn Bio is developing tunable wood materials while using AI to accelerate research and development.

The funding will be used to support the next stage of the company’s development, including further technology advancement and team growth. New Dawn Bio brings together expertise from a range of scientific and engineering disciplines to support the development and scaling of its cultured wood technology.

Merantix Capital has announced the final close of its €103 million AI Fund, which will invest in early-stage AI-native companies across sectors including logistics, manufacturing, energy, finance, healthcare, life sciences, robotics, enterprise software, and physical AI.

The fund’s limited partners include Union Investment, Jungheinrich, KPMG Germany, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The fund builds on Merantix Capital’s first fund, which focused on venture studio incubations and backed companies including revel8, Deltia, Vara, and Cambrium. The new fund will allocate capital equally between venture studio companies developed with the Merantix team and direct investments in pre-seed and seed-stage AI startups across Europe.

Merantix Capital’s investment strategy focuses on companies applying artificial intelligence to industry-specific use cases, particularly in sectors where AI adoption may support operational efficiency and workflow optimisation. With investment teams based in Berlin and London, the firm invests in founders across Europe.

The fund has already made investments in companies including Droidrun, which develops mobile-native AI agent infrastructure, Arqh, focused on logistics optimisation, and Outpost Bio, which applies AI to human microbiology. The portfolio also includes several companies currently operating in stealth mode across logistics, manufacturing, recruiting, ERP, energy, and fashion technology.

Merantix Capital operates within a broader platform that includes the Merantix AI Campus in Berlin, the London AI Hub, AI House Davos, and Merantix Momentum, an AI solutions provider focused on enterprise AI implementation. These initiatives provide portfolio companies with access to industry networks, technical expertise, and potential commercial partnerships.

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Kodesage, a startup developing an on-premise AI platform for legacy software modernisation, has raised $6.6 million in a seed funding round led by VentureFriends. Existing investor Portfolion also participated in the round, alongside angel investors including Christian Szegedy, co-founder of xAI, and German footballer Mario Götze.

Founded in 2024 by Gergely Dombi, Miklos Szurdi and Gyorgy Szilagyi, Kodesage helps enterprises understand, document and modernise complex legacy software systems. Its platform extracts information from source code and documentation to create a continuously updated knowledge layer that enables teams to maintain, migrate and support mission-critical applications with greater efficiency and lower risk.

Kodesage is primarily focused on highly regulated industries, including banking, insurance, energy, transportation, telecommunications and the public sector, where critical business operations often continue to rely on software built decades ago. While these systems remain essential to day-to-day operations, modernising them can be costly and complex, particularly as experienced engineers retire and institutional knowledge becomes harder to access.

The platform is designed to analyse both modern and legacy technology stacks, including Oracle Forms, PL/SQL, COBOL, PowerBuilder and RPG. It automates tasks such as codebase discovery, documentation generation, context-aware code conversion, test creation and AI-assisted production support.

To address data residency and compliance requirements, Kodesage operates entirely within customer-controlled environments, whether on-premise, in a virtual private cloud or in fully air-gapped deployments. This approach allows organisations to use AI-powered tooling while keeping source code, databases and business-critical information within their own infrastructure.

Software modernisation is rarely straightforward, particularly in regulated industries where legacy and modern systems often need to coexist for years. As institutional knowledge gradually disappears, the burden of maintaining these systems continues to grow. Our goal is to help organisations modernise faster, reduce operational complexity and improve support through AI-assisted tooling,

said Gergely Dombi, co-founder and CEO of Kodesage.

The company plans to use the new funding to expand its go-to-market efforts across the US and Europe, while continuing to invest in product development and engineering. Kodesage said its long-term vision is to enable self-healing enterprise applications capable of continuously learning, testing and validating improvements with human oversight.

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A new Cambridge Enterprise Initiative called Leaps is launching today to embed Cambridge-based companies in complementary ecosystems, giving selected founders access to new markets, talent and investment in key geographical hotspots to enable their success

The initiative has been launched in collaboration with global partners Phoenix Court, Balderton Capital and the BioInnovation Institute Foundation (BII). With space for three companies, the London Leap will allow Cambridge startups to be embedded within the dynamic London ecosystem, which attracts not only international capital, but has a reputation for continued unicorn creation. 

With Cambridge being ranked as one of the world’s top cities for innovation output per capita in the Ecosystem Index, behind only the Bay Area and Boston, the deep connection with London will connect two powerful and complementary ecosystems.

The aim is to boost Cambridge-born companies, translating the world-renowned research at the University of Cambridge addressing some of the major global challenges – climate health, human health and quantum computing to name just a few. 

Since 1995, the companies supported by Cambridge Enterprise have collectively raised over £4.9bn, making Cambridge a source of trusted commercial science-based innovation. From idea development to investment, we provide the diverse support needed by researchers, innovators and talented teams tackling the challenges facing the world today. Notable spinouts from Cambridge Enterprise include BlueGnome, Centessa Pharmaceuticals, Gyroscope, Solexa, VocalIQ and Cytora.

Companies will be invited to apply and chosen on a competitive basis by the Leap partners and an advisory board formed by investors and serial entrepreneurs with a global presence.

Among them are Susan Hill, CEO of Mestag Therapeutics, Daniel Mahony, Senior Partner at Novo Holdings UK, Lord David Prior, Deputy Chairman UK and Global Senior Advisor at Lazard, Dr Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, Chief Strategy Officer at Microsoft and Dr Kaja Wasik, CEO of Echo Labs. 

Jim Glasheen, Cambridge Enterprise Chief Executive Officer said:

“Companies cannot grow and scale in isolation. London is a globally connected hub.

Our partners can help our companies become a ‘local’ within these complementary innovation ecosystems, creating the meaningful connections that allow companies to grow. London is only the beginning, as we identify new ecosystems in different locations and continue to build on a global proposition of Leaps.”

Suranga Chandratillake, General Partner at Balderton, said:

“Cambridge continues to be one of the most exciting ecosystems for deep tech, producing companies such as Wayve, Healx and Darktrace.

The next generation of ambitious founders deserves the support to match that ambition. This is why we’re delighted to partner with  Cambridge Enterprise through Leaps, enabling the connections that are such a critical part of building a successful tech business.”     

Julia Hawkins, General Partner at Phoenix Court, said:

“Cambridge has long produced some of the world’s most ambitious deep tech companies, from pioneers like Raspberry Pi to breakthrough businesses such as Nyobolt and CuspAI. 

The opportunity now is to help more of these companies connect earlier with global markets, talent and customers. London is one of the few ecosystems in the world with the density of operators, investors and international networks to help accelerate that journey.”

Jen Nielsen, CEO at BioInnovation Institute, said:

“We are excited to support the London Leaps initiative and help strengthen the bridge between Cambridge and other leading innovation ecosystems.

At BII, we are passionate about turning outstanding scientific research into commercially viable companies, and Cambridge represents one of the world’s foremost hubs for scientific excellence, entrepreneurial talent and breakthrough innovation.”

Lead image: Pixabay.

Semble, a London-based HealthTech startup helping outpatient providers coordinate care and manage the entire patient journey, has secured a €34.7 million (£30 million) Series C funding round. 

The round was led by European growth investor Revaia, with participation from a second new investor, Partech, alongside continued backing from existing investors Mercia Ventures and Octopus Ventures. 

Morgan Kessous, Partner at Revaia, said, “Semble is building the system of action for modern healthcare – a platform with genuine clinical depth, real scale and the trust of healthcare providers across the UK and France. The European healthcare market is being reshaped – by technology, by demand and by shifting patient expectations – and Semble is exceptionally well positioned to lead it. Revaia is proud to back the company with the investment further strengthening its conviction in the long-term transformation of healthcare.”

Founded in 2018 by Christoph Lippuner and Mikael Landau under the name Heydoc, the company later rebranded as Semble in July 2022. The company is a healthcare management platform for outpatient providers. It was founded to address the lack of coordination in healthcare. 

The company claims to connect and orchestrate every stage of the patient journey, helping solo clinicians, growing group practices, and complex enterprise organisations deliver faster, safer, and more patient-centred care.

According to the company, the investment comes as healthcare providers across the UK and Europe face mounting operational pressure caused by fragmented technology systems, rising patient demand and a generational shift towards private medical insurance and self-pay care models.

Christoph Lippuner, CEO and co-founder of Semble, said: “For years, the industry has tried to address complex systemic issues through disconnected point solutions, but fragmented technology often adds operational complexity for healthcare providers and creates an interrupted experience for patients. 

“What healthcare organisations need is intelligent orchestration across the entire care journey. The practices and groups that win over the next decade will be the ones that deliver the best patient experience end-to-end. This investment allows us to rapidly scale that vision across the UK and Europe.”

The platform is open and interoperable by design, and integrates with over 1,200 tools across diagnostics, billing, labs, CRM and more. It reports that currently, over 10 million patients have received care from a clinician using the platform. Its 1,700 customers include notable healthcare brands, including Nuffield Health, Welbeck, Midland Health, London Doctors Clinic, Modality and ProblemShared.

With this funding, the company aims to expand into leading healthcare groups, strengthen its position as the AI orchestration layer in modern care delivery, and establish itself in France, where Semble’s flexible platform has achieved regulatory maturity in under a year. The company has also increased its headcount by over 50% since December 2024.

The post London’s Semble raises €34.7 million Series C to scale its healthcare management platform for outpatient providers appeared first on EU-Startups.

CommerceClarity, an AI agent platform for catalogue operations used by enterprise retailers and brands including Prada, STIGA, Cisalfa Sport, Arcaplanet, Next Hardware & Software and Top Farmacia (Hippocrates Holding), has acquired Barcelona-based startup Katalogo.ai. As part of the transaction, Katalogo.ai founder Luca Cozzolino will join CommerceClarity's founding team as Chief Product Officer.

The acquisition marks CommerceClarity’s first M&A transaction, completed 18 months after the company was founded and six months after it raised €2.7 million in funding.

The acquisition brings together two companies working to address the growing complexity of product catalogue management in e-commerce. As retailers expand across multiple channels, markets and marketplaces, and as AI-powered search and shopping agents increasingly influence product discovery, the quality and structure of product data have become critical factors in online visibility and performance.

CommerceClarity has developed an AI-powered platform that helps retailers and brands structure, enrich and validate catalogue data across sales channels. The platform acts as an intelligence layer that enables businesses to manage catalogue operations at scale while maintaining data quality and compliance requirements.

Katalogo.ai was focused on building AI-powered styling agents for retail catalogues, capable of analysing available products and generating curated outfit and product recommendations. The company’s technology was designed to help fashion and lifestyle brands create more personalised shopping experiences while maximising the value of their product data.

We had identified the same problem from two different angles. Luca approached it from the merchant and platform side, while we focused on enterprise infrastructure. Bringing the two approaches together allows us to accelerate the development of a shared vision,

said Federico Sargenti, co-founder and CEO of CommerceClarity.

Cozzolino brings experience across e-commerce, retail and product development, having held product leadership roles at Shopify and Zalando. At Katalogo.ai, he focused on developing solutions to the growing challenges of product catalogue management.

When I met the CommerceClarity team, it became clear that our expertise was highly complementary. Joining forces creates an opportunity to accelerate product development and pursue a larger vision for the future of commerce,

says Cozzolino.

The acquisition coincides with CommerceClarity’s international expansion, with the UK becoming the company’s first market outside Italy.

As it expands internationally, CommerceClarity said it will continue to scale its AI-driven catalogue operations platform and its “Service as a Software” model, under which dedicated AI engineers work alongside customers to deploy and optimise catalogue management agents across product categories.

Innovorder, a French restaurant technology company specialising in the digitalisation of restaurant operations, has raised €20 million in a funding round led by UL Invest, the family office of technology entrepreneur Laurent Useldinger.

The transaction combines a capital increase with the partial buyout of shares held by existing investors. Evolem, which first invested in the company in 2019, remains a shareholder following the operation.

Founded in 2014, Innovorder develops cloud-based software and digital solutions for restaurant operators across both commercial and contract catering. Its all-in-one SaaS platform supports a wide range of operational functions, including order management, payment processing, kitchen operations, business management, customer loyalty, and AI-powered reporting.

The company serves customers across multiple segments, including quick-service restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, food courts, transport catering, as well as schools, universities, hospitals, and corporate dining facilities. In the European contract catering market, estimated at €22 billion and still largely reliant on legacy systems, Innovorder has established a strong presence as a cloud-native technology provider.

Over the past 18 months, the company has expanded its focus on artificial intelligence, building a dedicated AI team and deploying its first AI agents for customers. Central to this strategy is Atlas, Innovorder’s proprietary platform designed to automate operational and management tasks while integrating with existing software systems. The company says the technology helps restaurant operators improve efficiency and reduce the time spent on routine administrative work.

The funding comes as Innovorder continues to expand across the European restaurant technology market. The company said it has been profitable since 2024 and reports annual organic growth of 40 per cent. It expects to generate €15 million in revenue in 2026.

The new capital will be used to support Innovorder’s next phase of growth, including further product development, expansion across European markets, potential acquisition opportunities, and the strengthening of its position in both commercial and contract catering.

Semble has raised £30 million in a Series C funding round led by Revaia, with participation from Partech and existing investors Mercia Ventures and Octopus Ventures.

Semble is a UK-based healthcare technology company that provides a practice management and care coordination platform for outpatient healthcare providers. Its software helps clinicians, medical practices, and healthcare organisations manage patient journeys, coordinate care, and streamline clinical and administrative workflows through a unified platform.

The company says more than 10 million patients have received care through clinicians using its platform. Semble also serves more than 1,700 healthcare organisations, including Nuffield Health, Welbeck, Midland Health, London Doctors Clinic, Modality, and ProblemShared.

According to the company, adoption has increased among private outpatient hospitals and healthcare groups seeking to consolidate multiple operational systems into a single platform.

Commenting on the funding, CEO and co-founder Christoph Lippuner said that healthcare providers have traditionally relied on disconnected technology solutions to address operational challenges, a fragmented approach that can increase complexity for providers and create a less seamless experience for patients:

What healthcare organisations need is intelligent orchestration across the entire care journey. The practices and groups that win over the next decade will be the ones that deliver the best patient experience end-to-end. This investment allows us to rapidly scale that vision across the UK and Europe.

Semble plans to use the funding to expand its presence among large healthcare groups, strengthen its position in the UK and France, and further develop its AI-powered care orchestration capabilities.

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