London-based Cryogenx has raised €1.9 million as part of Seed funding round to accelerate the development of its portable cooling technology to combat heat strokes.

The UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), managed by Future Planet Capital, has invested €495k in Cryogenx as part of the funding round.

Founder and CEO of Cryogenx, Matt Anderson, added: “Heatstroke isn’t just an isolated risk; it’s a rising global threat – and existing solutions simply aren’t practical enough to meet the challenge. We’ve designed CGX1 as a defibrillator for heatstroke, providing frontline responders and military personnel the ability to treat heat-related illness effectively, wherever it strikes.

“The backing from UKI2S is pivotal – it not only validates our mission but gives us the resources to accelerate regulatory clearance, scale manufacturing, and get this lifesaving technology into the hands of those who need it most.“

Founded in 2020, Cryogenx develops portable on-demand cooling devices designed to rapidly treat heatstroke and heat-related illnesses in-the-field. Their flagship product, CGX1, eliminates the need for cold-chain logistics and can be deployed in remote, industrial, military, and emergency response settings.

The company is targeting global markets across defence, industry, and climate adaptation sectors.

The CGX1, is designed to deliver rapid, life-saving treatment for heatstroke and heat-related illness- all without the need for ice, refrigeration, or complex cold-chain logistics. Described as a “defibrillator for heat”, the lightweight device can be deployed in minutes, making it a potential game-changer for military, industrial, and emergency response applications where high temperatures put lives and operations at risk.

“This is exactly the kind of innovation we target in our defence and security investments,” said Alex Leigh, Investment Director at UKI2S, managed by Future Planet Capital. “Cryogenx is addressing a critical, global challenge with a solution that has the potential to transform how we prevent and manage heat injuries across sectors. We’re proud to support them as they scale their impact and set a new benchmark for operational safety and resilience.”

Cryogenx is focused on dual-use applications, with strong relevance for defence customers like the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the US Department of Defense (DoD), where Cryogenx says exertional heat illness is a persistent and costly issue. The company is also eyeing rapid expansion into civilian sectors, including energy, construction, mining, emergency services, and sports.

The funding will be used to drive FDA clearance, scale up manufacturing, and expand international sales. Cryogenx is also developing lighter, modular versions of its technology and planning a subscription-based model to build long-term revenue.

By 2030, 700 million people are projected to be exposed to extreme heat, with the resulting productivity losses expected to top €2 trillion annually. Core body temperatures exceeding 39°C can be fatal, and even sub-lethal heat stress sharply reduces physical and cognitive performance – according to data provided by Cryogenx.

Four environmental factors – temperature, humidity, radiant heat, and wind speed – combine to push workers beyond safe limits, according to research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Once body temperatures rise above 38°C, heat exhaustion sets in; at 40.6°C, the risk of organ failure and death from heatstroke increases dramatically.

Cryogenx’s innovation looks to tackle this head-on, providing a scalable, portable solution at a time when climate-driven heat stress is emerging as one of the most urgent global health and economic challenges.

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At Tech.eu, we are firm champions of EU Inc., a grassroots pan‑European initiative launched in October 2024 by a coalition of top entrepreneurs, startup founders, and venture capitalists to establish a single, optional EU-wide legal entity for startups—referred to as the "28th Regime. 16,000 founders, investors and enthusiasts signed a petition in support. 

Just a few months ago, momentum was building for real change. With strong backing from startup leaders, investors, and even high-level voices like Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi, the idea of a true pan-European company form — one that could simplify cross-border fundraising, hiring, and growth — seemed within reach. 

But now, a draft report, the MEP Repasi Report on the 28th Regime, with recommendations to the Commission, bears little resemblance to what we've been championing.

It's set to be presented to MEPs tomorrow (Wednesday), and in its current form, could end up helping only traditional and family-run businesses — while further alienating talent, high-growth startups, and scaleups.

As Iwona Anna Biernat, Legal Strategy Lead at EU-Inc, notes, "What we need is one company form, one registry, one market. Not 27 flavours of the same headache.

Europe needs your help

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

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

Check out our earlier interview with the co-initiators of EU Inc., Andreas Klinger, an investor with Prototype Capital and former CTO of Product Hunt and Simon Schaefer, Founder and CEO of Factory and member of the Advisory Board at Allied For Startups and angel investor.

Why do we need the 28th Regime? 

For startups and scaleups, operating across borders in Europe is ridiculously complex, involving 27 splintered national systems. Raising investment often requires setting up multiple legal entities in different countries, each with its own rules, paperwork, and tax frameworks.

This costly and time-consuming process puts European founders at a disadvantage compared to their US counterparts at a time when startups need to move at speed to innovate, solve industry painpoints, and remain globally competitive.  

Further, stock options are still governed by fragmented national rules, making it nearly impossible to offer employees consistent and competitive equity packages across borders. 

Hiring talent in another EU country often means navigating an entirely new legal and payroll system. Instead of benefiting from the single market, many startups are stuck piecing together a patchwork of local solutions, which slows down their growth and discourages international ambition.

If you want more evidence of why Europe needs the 28th Regime, take a read of the Draghi report. 

A draft EU startup framework dominated by the old, pale, and stale 

Taking a look at the draft report on the 28th Regime, in the finest legalise you notice that while the "entities or persons from whom the rapporteur received input" list includes a broad mix of stakeholders, there's a dominance of legacy institutions such as banks, notarial chambers, and legal professional associations, many of which benefit from status quo national corporate systems and protecting their existing roles. 

Further, while Stripe, France Digitale, EU Inc, Startup Portugal, and ESNA (European Startup Nations Alliance) are included, they are outnumbered by traditional institutions, public bodies, and trade associations.

Also, most of those listed are from Germany, France, or Austria-based, which may bias the legislative design toward central European legal traditions, overlooking the realities of newer or smaller startup ecosystems (e.g., in CEE, Baltic states, Southern Europe) which have the most to gain from cross-border investment and a 28th regime.

You can help by having your say

The European Commission just opened its public consultation on the 28th-Regime. You have until 30 September — don't worry, we'll remind you. 

There are four easy ways you can have your say: 

1. Put something in writing. Tell Brussels why we need the 28th Regime. Got a horror story? Share it. Missed opportunity? Share it. Something that makes your live much harder as a founder? Share it. 
2. Fill in the questionnaire. It's quick, and it shows that the startup community is engaged and active on this issue.
3. If you have access, talk to your national Presidents, PMs, Justice ministers, and Economy ministers about how crucial EU Inc is.
4. Or tell us at Tech.eu. Politicians take their cues from the media — what they see, hear, and read directly influences the positions they take and the priorities they set.

Europe needs one company form, one registry, one market. Speak up before it’s too late.

Corporate-startup collaboration (or ‘corporate venturing’) has become a bit of a buzz phrase in European innovation circles. The idea is simple enough: on the one side, large corporations bring scale, financial weight and power, and on the other side, startups bring agility and innovation. But the reality is often different, expectations are not met, and the shiny pitch decks first presented at the start are not realised in real life. A pilot runs out of steam, a demo gets stuck in procurement, and six months later, the “promising” collaboration is quietly shelved.

For the readers working at large corporations, who have been tasked with sparking innovation amongst a complex company structure, this is a familiar story. The intent is there, but often the result is disappointing.

So what’s going wrong in this scenario? According to new research from the European Innovation Council (EIC), the problem isn’t a lack of ambition – it’s a lack of structure. A recently released report, Unlocking Innovation with Corporate Venturing, draws on seven years of data from the EIC’s Corporate Partnership Programme (CPP), which is part of the EIC Business Acceleration Services available to all EIC Awardees. With over 1,500 startup-corporate engagements and more than 100 commercial deals analysed, the research offers a clear-eyed look at why so many open innovation efforts underperform – and what to do differently.

“It’s not you, it’s me”: The internal blockers in corporates

It’s become common knowledge among corporates that startup engagement is no longer optional; it’s a strategic necessity. That said, the day-to-day work of making that happen is where things get complicated. According to the EIC’s data, one of the most consistent blockers is “internal misalignment”. Different business units have different priorities, KPIs become misaligned, and the speed mismatch between startups and large firms quickly becomes a relationship dealbreaker.

Surprisingly, this scenario is more widespread than one might think. Data from the EIC shows that a large share of corporate-startup engagements never make it beyond the pilot phase. In fact, across hundreds of interactions, only 92 have resulted in confirmed business deals since 2017, suggesting that most partnerships stall long before reaching commercial traction.

Another common issue is the “pilot trap” – a proof-of-concept or one-off demo that initially sounds productive but in reality never scales. As the report outlines, this often stems from a lack of coordination between decision-makers, unclear goals, or a lack of budget committed beyond the experiment phase.

In short, as they say when relationships end, “it’s not you, it’s me”. There is no lack of promising startups – it’s actually the corporate side that often struggles to bring the right ingredients together.

Four key pillars for collaboration that actually work

Drawing from both academic research and hands-on programme experience, the EIC CPP has outlined four key success factors for collaboration. While none are particularly surprising on their own, it’s the combination and consistency of these elements that seem to matter most.

• Strategy alignment: Aligning collaborations with actual corporate innovation priorities is essential. This means being honest about what your team can get behind within the existing corporate structure
• Far-reaching commitment: Success depends on internal buy-in. From C-suite to project teams, the most effective collaborations are supported by leadership and operational teams who remain invested and engaged.
• In-house skills: It’s not just about finding good startups, it’s about having the internal capabilities to assess, engage, and co-develop. For example, this includes legal, procurement, technical and commercial expertise.
• Experimentation: Successful collaborations start small and iterate. This means structured pilots, clear KPIs and a “test before invest” mindset help ‘de-risk’ innovation for both sides.

What the EIC CPP is doing differently

The EIC Corporate Partnership Programme (CPP) is putting its experience to good use by designing a structure that really works, with a 92% success rate to back it up.

Rather than one-off matchmaking events, the CPP is a multi-month, multi-phase process that starts with identifying a clear challenge, including tailored startup scouting, and hands-on support before, during and after initial meetings.

Participating corporates include giants like Galp Vattenfall, Holcim, Caixabank, L’Oreal and Telefonica. But it’s not just the big names that matter; it’s the way the programme enforces structure that’s driving results.

Since launching in 2017, the CPP has facilitated over 100 business deals across multiple sectors (from healthcare to energy, to digital infrastructure), focusing specifically on collaborations with EIC-backed deeptech startups. The in-person Corporate Days lead the way, delivering 30% more business deals than online sessions and significantly outperforming multi-corporate formats.

Since launching in 2017, the CPP has facilitated over 100 business deals across multiple sectors, from healthcare to energy to digital infrastructure, with a strong focus on collaborations involving EIC-backed deeptech startups. The programme has engaged with leading corporations such as ABB, Airbus, BMW, CaixaBank, CommerzBank, Enel, Ferrovial, L’Oréal, Medtronic, Neste, Roche, Saint-Gobain, Shell, Siemens Energy, Solvay, Thales, and Telefónica. Notably, the in-person Corporate Days have led the way, delivering 30% more business deals than online sessions and significantly outperforming multi-corporate formats.

The Corporate Partnership Programme is just one part of the wider support offered through the EIC Business Acceleration Services. Designed to help Europe’s most promising innovators grow faster, these services open doors to major corporates, investors, public buyers, and international business partners. Between 2021 and 2024, this broader offer helped facilitate 230 deals, supported €362 million in investment rounds through investor outreach and pitching activities, and contributed to nearly 400 new jobs through agreements signed at trade fairs. It’s a powerful reminder that when startups are backed by more than just funding, real scale becomes possible.

Next steps

For innovation leads already aware that their current startup engagement model isn’t delivering, the takeaway is fairly clear: it’s not about scouting harder, it’s about structuring smarter. Startup collaboration works best when it’s treated not as a one-off activity, but as a process, with clear objectives, committed stakeholders, and a willingness to test and learn.

If you’re serious about getting more out of your startup engagement, the EIC report is a useful place to start. You can download the full report here, or explore what it means to become a partner in the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme here.

In 2025 and beyond, the real differentiator isn’t finding startups, it’s knowing what to do once you do.

The post It’s not you, it’s us: New report reveals why corporate-startup partnerships fall apart appeared first on EU-Startups.

Antler, the early-stage VC firm, is launching a €500,000 initiative supporting European “outlier founders” who want to build "category-defining tech companies”.

Called Antler ONE, the programme launches in September this year and will see "highly selective" founders invited onto the programme.

The founders will receive €200k from Antler with a commitment to invest up to a further €300k in the company’s pre-seed round.

Antler, which backs Swedish vibe coding startup Lovable, says the programme is targeting “outlier” founders across continental Europe, who will be invited to Berlin to build a tech startup.

By “outlier” founders, Singapore-based Antler says it means founders who are “capable of building truly category-defining, multi-billion dollar companies”.

Based on its research, it says these founders are most likely to be founders with technical backgrounds who have experience working for fast-growth tech startups and unicorns. 

After an initial phase, founders will either remain in Berlin to scale these businesses, or work with the Antler investment teams in its offices in Munich, Amsterdam and Paris.

Founders receive 1:1 mentoring from Antler investment partners, venture partners and other experienced founders.

They will also have access to Antler’s global talent network, perks for tech tools and services worth $4m, flagship investor events in San Francisco and London and beyond and up to €30m in follow-on investment. 

Antler ONE is not an accelerator, as Antler doesn’t take equity in return for participation and it does not guarantee investment for everyone who takes part. 

Antler has made investments in Germany, the Netherlands, France and across continental Europe for the last five years and has backed more than 180 startups. 

Christoph Klink, partner, Antler, said: “We’re doubling down on the best founders in Europe - with double the capital and a bigger commitment than ever.

“€500k at inception gives the best founders the best chance to raise pre-seed rounds in weeks, not months, and seed rounds in months, not years. 

"We want to back true outlier founders who are ready to build category-defining tech companies and make sure the very best founders in Europe have the capital and support they need.”

IMAGE: ANTLER

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Munich-based 36ZERO Vision has raised €3.6 million in a pre-Series A round to accelerate the expansion of its AI-powered visual quality inspection system across Europe and different sectors.

The latest funding was led by JOIN Capital, Bayern Kapital, and Vanagon Ventures, with additional backing from UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators and Alchemist.

According to CEO Heiko Huber: “Our system delivers higher accuracy with lower complexity, and it’s already earning the trust of top-tier manufacturers. This funding helps us scale faster and push the limits of what AI in manufacturing can do.”

Founded in 2021 out of a hackathon at BMW Group, the company is innovating industrial defect detection with a data-efficient, hardware-agnostic platform designed to dramatically reduce pseudo-defects while enhancing accuracy and ease of deployment.

The startup was co-founded by Zeeshan Karamat, a former Microsoft and BMW Group engineer with a background in computer science and mathematics, and Heiko Huber, a mechanical engineer and serial entrepreneur who previously Co-founded fitness tech giant EGYM.

Karamat developed the foundation of the company through his hackathon experience – including over 100 wins – and a growing frustration with the inefficiencies of enterprise engineering environments. His work at BMW on predictive maintenance planted the early seeds for what would become 36ZERO Vision.

“Manufacturing is overdue for AI-driven innovation that reliably delivers results beyond the lab. 36ZERO Vision’s breakthrough solution is rewriting industry standards by dramatically cutting false positives and simplifying processes,” said Tobias Schirmer, Founding Partner at Join Capital.

Launched to address the inefficiencies of traditional inspection systems, 36ZERO Vision has developed a software-first visual inspection tool that leverages a modular deep learning model to detect defects using as few as five annotated images.

This stands in contrast to existing solutions which reportedly require thousands of samples and lengthy manual labelling processes.

Its software can be deployed using low-end hardware – including iPhones or NVIDIA Jetson devices – and supports widely adopted industry protocols, aiming to make integration straightforward and accessible across production environments.

The company’s technology has already seen adoption by Siemens, Bosch Rexroth, and LEONI – integrating the system into their production lines.

According to Huber, manufacturers are ready to adopt new inspection solutions because existing systems simply don’t deliver: “They’re frustrated. It takes hundreds or thousands of images, plus manual labelling. Even then, they often get too many false positives.”

By simulating hundreds of thousands of synthetic image variations, 36ZERO Vision’s AI models reportedly learn robustly from minimal data.

According to Zeeshan Karamat, “In one benchmark with just 10 images, we achieved nearly perfect accuracy – no missed defects, no false alarms. In contrast, a state-of-the-art competitor had a 9% error rate. Our platform is highly data-efficient.“

What sets 36ZERO Vision says sets them apart is its multi-stage deep learning architecture. Each stage, acting as a “mixture of experts,” focuses on specific inspection tasks to deliver high accuracy. Users can perform labelling, training, and validation directly in the cloud-based platform – enabling self-serve onboarding without the need for on-site integration or hardware retrofitting.

Initially focused on automotive, the startup now serves industries including electronics, machinery, building materials, and is seeing increased traction in defence. Plans are in place to expand into semiconductor inspection – particularly wafer and chip applications – within the next few years.

The funding will allow the team to expand across sales, customer success, and product development, and to deepen deployments across Europe. While most of 36ZERO Vision’s current growth is European, the long-term ambition is to define a global standard for software-first industrial AI.

Huber emphasised the importance of staying close to industry: “Ultimately, what we’re building can’t be done in a vacuum. You need proximity to real industrial use cases. AI alone isn’t enough; you need something that works reliably on the shop floor.

“Southern Germany has the perfect ecosystem for this: world-class talent, customers, and industrial champions who are willing to adopt new tech. That’s our home base.”

The company plans to focus on expanding its footprint across Europe in the near term, with ambitions for wider global impact in the years ahead.

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AzureCell Therapies, a biotech spin-off from the University of Geneva, has received €154,500 (CHF 150,000) from Venture Kick to deliver cell-based treatments that replace damaged neurons in Parkinson’s patients.

Parkinson’s disease affects over 10 million people worldwide. Current treatments only manage symptoms and fail to halt the disease’s underlying neurodegeneration. 

While regenerative cell therapies hold promise to tackle the root cause of the disease by replacing lost dopamine-producing neurons, critical challenges — including tumour risk, scalable manufacturing, and sustained long-term efficacy — must be overcome to unlock the full potential of this transformative therapeutic approach.

AzureCell Therapies is pioneering next-generation regenerative cell therapies using lab-grown neurons derived from healthy donor stem cells, engineered for safety, scalability, and long-lasting functional integration into the brain. 

Its proprietary cell and genetic engineering platforms enable controlled production of therapeutic neurons with consistent quality and minimal tumour risk. The result is a rare combination of clinical precision and scalable manufacturing, designed to restore damaged neural circuits and bring long-lasting, disease-modifying benefits to patients.

The Biotech startup combines expertise in neuroscience, stem cell biology, and genetic engineering with a strong venture-building track record. CEO Dr Bilal Fares is a second-time biotech founder, CSO Prof Karl-Heinz Krause is a stem cell expert with two successful exits, and SAB Chair Prof. Emi Nagoshi specialises in genetic engineering and Parkinson’s neuroprotection. 

“We started with an ambitious vision to reshape cell therapy for neurodegenerative diseases. Thanks to Venture Kick’s timely funding, clear feedback, and strong network, we’ve grown into a team of five with over CHF 1 million in funding and are preparing for incorporation,” highlights CEO Bilal Fares.

The funds will boost its production platform, support good manufacturing practice (GMP) transition, and cover core business setup, including brand and IT development.

Lead image: AzureCell Therapies: co-founder and CEO Dr. Bilal Fares, Research Associate Lena Grollmus, Science & Business Associate Dr Olivia Cattaneo, Chair of the SAB Prof. Emi Nagoshi, and co-founder and CSO Prof Karl-Heinz Krause. Photo: uncredited. 

Amsterdam-based CapitalT, the early-stage VC firm known for its data-driven approach and focus on ClimateTech and the Future of Work, announced the first close of Fund II, targeting €50 million.

This first close is backed by a mix of existing investors from CapitalT’s first fund and new limited partners who share the firm’s commitment to driving meaningful innovation.

“We founded CapitalT to prove that combining data, empathy, and conviction creates outlier results,” says Eva de Mol, Founding Partner. “This close shows that our model resonates with Founders and investors who believe that technology can drive positive change.”

Founded in 2020, CapitalT is a (pre)-Seed VC firm with a focus on human-centric investments. Employing a data-driven approach, CapitalT identifies and supports the most promising teams and invests in software technology companies with a primary focus on ClimateTech and the Future of Work.

CapitalT says they are committed to driving innovation and making a positive impact on the world.

Since its inception, the firm has invested in over 30 companies, including TestGorilla, a talent assessment platform reshaping hiring; Vaayu, an automated software solution to track and reduce carbon emissions in retail; and Overstory, which uses AI to monitor vegetation and prevent wildfires.

Fund II aims to support purpose-driven Founders building scalable solutions to urgent challenges, from decarbonisation to the transformation of work.

According to CapitalT, Fund I ranks among the top-performing early-stage funds in Europe.

Janneke Niessen, Founding Partner , adds: “We see tremendous untapped entrepreneurial talent across Europe. With Fund II, we scale our support for Founders solving real-world problems – and help them build companies that matter.”

With Fund II, CapitalT says they are doubling down on backing exceptional teams from the very beginning and leveraging AI to stay at the forefront of venture investing. Over the past two years, the firm has increasingly integrated AI into its own workflows to empower its lean team, automate processes where it makes sense, and remain fast, focused, and Founder-first.

To support this next chapter, CapitalT is expanding its team, welcoming Daphne Dovermann and Nina Donker as new team members.

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Europe’s startup ecosystem is entering a new era. While headlines often focus on unicorn valuations and mega rounds, there is a deeper transformation taking place in how startups are funded and supported. Capital is no longer just about size. Increasingly, it is about alignment, strategy, and long-term value.

At the centre of this shift are two key groups of investors that have traditionally operated behind the scenes: Family Offices and Fund of Funds (FoFs). While Family Offices have traditionally been labelled as “quiet capital” for their discreet, low-profile investment style, that narrative is rapidly shifting. Today, both are becoming essential partners in the European innovation landscape. They are moving from the sidelines into active roles, shaping fund strategies, backing emerging managers, and helping founders scale across borders. Together, they’re powering a new wave of innovation across the continent.

Family Offices: From Discreet backers to strategic partners

Family offices, private firms managing the wealth of high-net-worth families, have long been a source of patient, flexible capital. Historically, their investments leaned towards real estate or public equities, but the last decade has seen a dramatic shift. According to PwC’s Family Office Startup Deal Study, family office investments in European startups surged by nearly 49% in deal count and almost tripled in value to $158.8 billion in 2021 alone. This surge is not just about volume: the median ticket size has more than tripled since 2012, reflecting a growing appetite for later-stage, higher-impact deals.

Several factors are driving this momentum: 

• Generational change: Younger family members are increasingly at the helm, bringing startup experience and a taste for innovation. 

• Long-term vision: Family offices are less constrained by short-term exit timelines, enabling founders to pursue sustainable growth. 

• Strategic flexibility: Without the regulatory hurdles of institutional funds, family offices can move quickly and align investments with family values, whether that’s climate tech, health, or deep tech. 

In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the rise of family offices is reshaping the region’s investment landscape. Traditionally, wealth in CEE is relatively new, much of it created after 1989, but it is maturing rapidly, and so is the way it is managed. Single Family Offices (SFOs) and Multi-Family Offices (MFOs) are proliferating, offering tailored structures for capital allocation, tax strategy, philanthropy, and succession planning. What is unique in CEE is that many family offices operate with leaner portfolios, often between €5 million and €20 million, yet they punch above their weight by leveraging deep local knowledge and strong cross-border networks.

This new generation of family offices is not just investing locally; they are actively building “Central European champions” by deploying capital regionally and across Western Europe. They frequently co-invest with private equity houses and international partners, bringing their expertise and connections to the table. A prime example is Czech businessman Daniel Křetínský, whose family office has acquired strategic stakes in companies across the UK, France, and Germany, as well as energy assets throughout Europe. This trend reflects a broader shift: family offices in CEE are evolving from small, family-owned businesses into sophisticated investment conglomerates, serving as vehicles for channelling wealth into high-growth assets and fostering cross-border collaboration.

Moreover, favourable legislative changes, such as the Polish Family Foundation Act, have accelerated the creation of family offices and family foundations, further boosting their role as both local partners and international co-investors. Their growing prominence is not only redefining the region’s M&A market but also fostering a more interconnected, innovative, and resilient European startup ecosystem

Fund of Funds: Building the Foundations of European VC 

While family offices are increasingly visible on cap tables, Fund of Funds (FoFs) play a “maybe quieter” but equally vital role. By investing in a range of venture capital funds, FoFs amplify their impact, support emerging managers, diversify risk, and ensure a steady pipeline of capital for startups at all stages.

FoFs are particularly important in Europe, where the venture ecosystem is still maturing compared to the United States. Their willingness to back first-time or specialist funds helps professionalise the market and introduces new expertise and networks. As the economic climate becomes more challenging, this institutional backbone is essential for maintaining momentum in startup funding.

Impact, Diversification, and the Road Ahead

The rise of impact investing is another area where family offices and FoFs are leading the charge. According to BlackRock’s 2025 Global Family Office Survey, nearly one-third of family offices plan to increase allocations to private credit and infrastructure, with a growing focus on sustainability and impact. Platforms such as Dealflow.eu are helping to bridge the gap between capital and innovation, enabling family offices and fund of funds to discover EU-vetted startups, build trust, and align with founders who are driving Europe’s next wave of growth.

“The private markets have grown considerably over the years. Today, 87% of U.S. companies with more than $100 million in revenue are private, while just 13% are public. As a result, family offices around the world have been building more sophisticated private market investing programs,” said Edouard Thijssen, Founder at Trusted Family and NextGen member of the family behind the Aliaxis Group.

Where Europe’s Next Big Ideas Meet Their Champions 

Europe’s startup scene is evolving at breakneck speed, and the lines between capital providers and strategic partners are becoming increasingly blurred. Family offices and fund of funds are no longer content to sit on the sidelines. They are actively shaping the next wave of European innovation, bringing not just capital but long-term vision, specialist expertise, and a genuine commitment to building lasting value.

For founders, fund managers, and investors looking to engage with this dynamic capital, the need to connect has never been more critical. The upcoming Ventures.eu Forum will bring together the continent’s most forward-thinking family offices, fund of funds, and venture capitalists.

Taking place on 23 September at the Château de Beloeil in Belgium, the forum offers a unique opportunity to forge new partnerships, exchange insights, and help shape the future of European tech. If you are ready to join the conversation shaping tomorrow’s unicorns, this is where you need to be!

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The founder of UK fintech Curve proudly tells Tech.eu that its 200-strong workforce comprises 45 nationalities, likening it to a “melting pot”.

It seems apt then that Curve’s headquarters are in a pretty mews in London’s Paddington district, one of the capital’s most cosmopolitan and polyglot areas, in a building that could be mistaken for an international business school or an art gallery.

Waiting in reception, on a boiling hot day, Tech.eu can hear a cacophony of languages as parched employees walk past reaching for the water fountain.

One of these overseas nationals is the Curve founder himself, Shachar Bialick, a softly-spoken Israeli who founded Curve in 2015 after moving to the UK.

Bialick says: “Usually immigrants come from a very uncomfortable position, which means they have more pain and suffering. It means by definition they have more resilience.”

What is Curve?

Curve is a UK fintech that is slightly under the radar: it’s not a flashy headliner like Revolut or Monzo nor a chirpy challenger often in the news, like Zilch.

In fact, Bialick, 42, a serial startup founder, is arguably more well-known than Curve, frequently popping up on panels and podcasts, usually with a headline about his time in the Israeli special forces. 

Curve is a digital wallet which allows users to consolidate all their bank and loyalty cards through one app and make payments that way.

Digital wallets are big business these days: two in five online purchases in the UK were made using a digital wallet in 2024 and almost half of Brits (45 per cent) leave the house with only their phone as a payment method; meanwhile, in Brazil, instant digital payment Pix has supplanted credit cards in popularity.

Curve has around six million customers, half from the UK, half from the rest of Europe, who spent over £30bn on the platform in 2022. It makes money from card transactions, subscription fees and also on rewards fees and lending.

But Curve is a bit of a David, compared to the Goliath that is Apple Pay, which has over 750m users globally and is used by 63 per cent of the UK population who use mobile payments. Then there are other mobile wallets such as Google Pay, PayPal, Revolut and MasterCard Click to Pay.

Taking fight to Apple

But Apple’s vice-like grip on the European market could be under threat after a landmark European Commission ruling, which has allowed alternative digital wallets on the iPhone. 

Now, Curve, with its Curve Pay digital wallet, can be the default wallet setting on iPhones.

Bialick says: “That enables us now to compete directly head to head with the likes of Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

“Unlike Apple Pay, Curve is able to give you the same wallet experience, tap and go, but it gives you much more value. For example, Curve is the only wallet that saves you money on FX on travel.”

Other advantages of Curve Pay, which is also available on Android devices, over Apple Pay, include rewards and splitting payments while saving banks millions in transaction fees paid to Apple, he claims..

Bialick says over 35 per cent of Curve’s customers have signed up for Curve Pay as its default iPhone setting.

Funding to date

Curve has raised around £200m to date, a figure Bialick calls frugal, contrasting it with the larger funds raised by Revolut, and pointing to its unflashy offices as an indicator of its frugality.

Investors in Curve include Speedinvest, Seedcamp, Santander InnoVentures, Outward VC, IDC Ventures as well as fintech luminaries including Ricky Knox, Tandem Bank co-founder, and Taavet Hinrikus, Wise co-founder. 

This year, it secured £37m in fresh funding, led by Israeli Hanaco Ventures, which invested in Curve for the first time and has a focus on Israeli startups.

Curve was last valued at £133m, when it raised in 2023, but Bialick rebuffed questions about its current valuation.

Curve’s financials

In its latest financials for the year ending 2023, Curve reported revenues of £26.7m, on losses of nearly £36m.

Bialick says he hopes Curve will begin turning a profit in the next six months, which seems a stretch, saying profitability will satisfy its backers.

Curve took some arrows in the media after its auditor PWC warned about a “material uncertainty” about Curve's future, in the accounts.

On the warning, Bialick said, post the Wirecard controversy, auditors are a lot more risk-averse and want to see a startup’s clear cash flow view over the next 18 months.

Lloyds in Curve acquisition talks

In the past few days (after this interview took place), Sky News reported that Lloyds Banking Group, Britain’s biggest high street bank, is in talks to buy Curve, for a price said to be up to £120m, with a deal potentially announced as early as September.

Lloyds is said to have identified Curve as a strategically attractive bid target as it pushes deeper into payment infrastructure under CEO Charlie Nunn.

Lloyds is also said to believe that Curve would be a financially sound asset to own because of the fees Apple charges consumers to use its Apple Pay service.

Move to UK

Bialick arrived in the UK in 2013, after spending a year at the Singapore arm of the famous French business school, Insead, an experience he describes as giving him “humbleness”, flattening his ego as he was surrounded by higher achievers than him. 

In the UK, he joined payments startup Checkout.com when it was a tiddler, with just 12 employees, as head of product.

The idea of Curve had been bubbling away in Bialick’s head since 2006, he says, but he wanted to know more about the world of payments, to ensure Curve could be viable.

On Checkout.com, he said: “It was a remarkable experience in terms of learning about payments, learning about what it is to be an employee.”

In fact, he says he is still friendly with Checkout.com founder, Guillaume Pousaz, (although, he says, he didn’t know Pousaz had recently switched his residency from the UK to Monaco).

It was Pousaz, he says, who helped Curve out of the Wirecard scandal, with Checkout.com replacing Wirecard as its card acquirer, and Pousaz, he says warmly, not taking advantage of Curve’s perilous position.

Israeli startups founded and exited

Bialick was born in Tel Aviv, Israel's second-largest city and was brought up in the settlement city of Ariel, in the occupied West Bank.

He lived in Israel up until the age of 30, founding and exiting four startups solving “ad hoc issues”, none of them achieving “Spotify levels of success”.

He says: “What it does give you is ten years of deep experience mentoring people, raising funds, working with shareholders, understanding how markets operate.”  

Before that, at the age of 18, he had carried out compulsory service in the Israeli military, which “rejigged his mindset”, instilling in him the mantra that “everything is possible”.

He tells of a brutal military exercise, walking for 40km, in 40cm of water, in heavy rain, with 40 kilos on his back.

“When you have finished that, it gives you the confidence that actually I can do what I thought I couldn’t do,” he says.

One solution, posited by Bialick, for more UK startup success stories is to bring back compulsory military service (like in Israel), shaking up the UK class system by bringing together a smorgasbord of social and ethnic communities.

He points to a slew of successful startups, with Israeli military-experienced founders, including US insurtech Lemonade and global software outfit Similarweb.

Management style

Plastered on the walls of Curve’s offices are a dizzying array of leadership principles, like “focus on the mission” and “obligation to dissent”. 

Bialick likens his role to a gym instructor, “coaching and training” his “professional sports team”, driving them forward. At one point, he likens himself to a “Ferrari”.

“Our job is to coach people to what great looks like,” he says.

One of his big rallying cries is “speed of decision making”, so he often asks employees to deliver projects earlier than they said they could.

He admits the high-performance, Darwinian culture is not for everyone but says the culture is well set, joyfully recalling overhearing a conversation when a Curve employee effectively ousted an underperforming employee from the company.

Domestic life and UK government

This high-performance culture appears to extend to his personal life. 

Bialick, who is married with two children, spends the little free time he has “formalising physics theories for fun” or “iterating on new AI tech”.

For the most part, Bialick is a fan of the UK, saying institutions like the NHS are “remarkable” but not appreciated by the Brits.

However, he has concerns about the ramifications of tax reforms, which have targeted wealthy non-domiciled residents.

He adds: “My biggest concern right now is that the UK has done remarkably well building an ecosystem. But will they continue to build it and continue to support it?”

Laka, a London-based and award-winning European green mobility insurance company, has raised $10.4 million in a Series B funding round, solidifying its position as a leading insurer for e-bikes, e-scooters, and sustainable transport across nine EU countries and the UK.

Laka’s main offering is collective-driven insurance, with its flagship product being award-winning coverage for bikes, e-bikes, and e-cargo bikes. It also provides additional products, including personal liability, health and recovery cover, and tailored solutions for commercial partners.

At the heart of Laka’s model is a fairer approach to insurance: monthly claims are shared among its community of cyclists, causing monthly costs to fluctuate but always within a guaranteed cap. This means cyclists pay only for actual claims, not inflated premiums based on predictions.

The company has fixed what customers typically dislike about conventional insurance: long contracts, pages of fine print, and poor customer service. Whilst insurers benefit when a claim is rejected, Laka earns a success fee only when a claim is settled, and thus aligns interests with its customers. Its customer-centric approach, which comes with zero excess and monthly contracts, has resulted in seven consecutive wins of Best Cycle Insurance Provider.

Tobias Taupitz, CEO and co‑founder of Laka, said: 

Reaching this milestone marks a pivotal moment in Laka’s journey - it’s a testament to the trust we’ve built with riders, retailers, and corporate partners across Europe.

This new financing will enable us to deepen that trust, expand our category‑defining role in green mobility insurance, and build towards profitability, while pursuing further acquisitions that consolidate this fragmented market.

Strong momentum and strategic growth

Over the past two years, Laka has transformed from an award-winning cycle insurer into a multi-vertical green mobility platform operating across nine EU countries and the UK. 

Through its verticalised services, Laka goes beyond insurance. Its offerings now include:

• Recovery of stolen or damaged bikes and e-scooters
• Replacing stolen bikes
• Salvaging and recycling of bike parts, reducing waste and emissions.

Commercial services for retailers, manufacturers, and bike shops, making Laka a central piece of the green mobility ecosystem.

Laka maintains strong growth year-on-year, with strong retention and rising average revenue per customer. Its B2B2C model has deepened connections with retailers, bike brands and leasing platforms across nine EU countries and the UK. Laka’s commercial partners, including Decathlon, Brompton, Gazelle, Riese & Müller, Tenways and Ribble, have further fuelled this momentum. 

The Series B round is co-led by Shift4Good and MS&AD Ventures, and backed by investors including Ponooc, Achmea Innovation Fund, Autotech Ventures, Motive Partners, Creandum, LocalGlobe, 1818 Ventures, and Republic (formerly Seedrs).

Matthieu de Chanville, Founding Partner at Shift4Good, commented:

As sustainable transport and micro‑mobility expand across Europe, the need for seamless, customer‑centric insurance has never been greater. Laka is positioned to lead this space, aligning interests between riders, retailers, and insurers, and tackling the fragmented nature of the market head on.

We’re excited to support their next chapter of growth and to help unlock the full potential of the green mobility revolution across the European continent.

By 2030, the global micromobility market is projected to more than double in value, from around $160 billion to $340 billion, according to McKinsey. Europe is expected to be the largest regional contributor globally, growing from about $60 billion in 2022 to $140 billion by 2030.

Yet despite the rapid adoption of micromobility, insurance for this sector remains highly fragmented. Laka’s collective-driven approach - making insurance fairer, aligning interests between insurers and riders, and rewarding lower claims with lower costs - positions the company as the category-defining player in this growing space.

Jack Toyama, President & Managing Director, MS&AD Ventures, shared:

The micro‑mobility market is evolving rapidly, presenting huge opportunities for platforms that can unify and redefine its insurance offerings. Laka has demonstrated an impressive ability to integrate acquisitions and build a collective‑driven approach that benefits both riders and businesses.

We’re proud to support the team as they scale across Europe and help drive the shift towards a cleaner, more connected transport ecosystem.

The $10.4 million Series B equity raise will support Laka’s path to profitability. The company may also pursue an additional extension round in 2025, targeting strategic investors. In addition, Laka is set to finalise a major debt financing agreement in the coming months to help fund its acquisition strategy.

Lead image: Laka team | Photo: Uncredited

Ordio, the People Operating System designed for deskless industries, has raised €12 million in a Series A funding round to launch “Payroll Plus,” the first fully automated payroll solution for deskless workers. 

In Europe, over 100 million people work in deskless jobs across healthcare, hospitality, retail, and logistics. Yet despite a €20 billion market for digital solutions, these sectors remain largely underserved. While office software continues to advance, businesses employing deskless workers still depend on manual processes, fragmented tools, and physical paperwork.

Ordio is designed to change that. It streamlines paperwork through smart automation, going far beyond traditional HR or shift planning tools. The platform brings together all essential operational processes, from onboarding and shift scheduling to automated payroll, in a modular, scalable solution built for the real needs of the deskless workforce.

With Payroll Plus, launching in summer 2025, Ordio will introduce the first fully automated payroll platform designed for complex wage calculations in deskless jobs. 

Ordio already automates gross wage calculations, but Payroll Plus will integrate full net payroll processing for the first time. Bonuses, legal requirements, and tax complexities are all processed in real time, powered by AI.

David Keuenhof, founder and co-CEO of Ordio, commented: 

This marks the most significant advancement in payroll automation in decades. Tasks that once required weeks will soon be accomplished in minutes, entirely without human intervention.

The idea behind Ordio emerged from the experience of David Keuenhof, who managed 135 employees at his Sushi Ninja restaurant chain. Tasks like shift planning, sick leave management, and payroll were chaotic, with no existing software suited to the fast-paced, non-office environment. In response to this gap, Keuenhof and Gregor Pilz set out in 2021 to build a solution tailored to the realities of deskless teams.

Today, more than 1,500 companies in hospitality, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing rely on Ordio. 

The round was led by Vienna-based tech investor 3VC, with participation from Swiss family office Wecken & Cie., as well as existing investors Capnamic and Simon Capital.

Federico Rota Candiani, Investment Manager at 3VC, commented: 

Ordio is redefining how teams and processes are organised in the hospitality, retail, and service industries. Instead of using individual tools and manually accounting for payroll, users receive a comprehensive cloud solution that automates all processes. We see Ordio as a strong driver for the future of shift work and are excited to support the team.

With this new funding, Ordio will accelerate product development in AI-powered payroll and process automation, aiming to become the backbone of the real-world workforce.

InsurTech startup Laka, the British green mobility insurance firm, announces today a Series B round of €8.8 million, for its insurance offering for e-bikes, e-scooters, and sustainable transport across nine EU markets and the UK.

Its long-standing investors include Ponooc, Achmea Innovation Fund, Autotech Ventures, Motive Partners, Creandum, LocalGlobe, 1818 Ventures, Republic (formerly Seedrs), Porsche Ventures and a number angel investors.

Tobias Taupitz, CEO and Co‑founder, Laka: “Reaching this milestone marks a pivotal moment in Laka’s journey – it’s a testament to the trust we’ve built with riders, retailers, and corporate partners across Europe. This new financing will enable us to deepen that trust, expand our category‑defining role in green mobility insurance, and build towards profitability, while pursuing further acquisitions that consolidate this fragmented market.”

Founded in 2017, Laka aims to challenge outdated traditional insurance to provide customers and businesses with a “fairer, collective-driven approach to insurance“. Laka customers reportedly pay no upfront premiums, and are instead charged based on the cost of claims submitted by the collective the previous month.

The idea is that fewer claims result in lower charges.

Laka customers work together as a collective and share the cost of claims. Laka handles all claims, divides the cost and limits each customer’s maximum monthly spend with a cap based on the value of the equipment insured by each individual member.

Laka’s main offering is this collective-driven insurance – with its flagship product being  bike, e-bike and e-cargo bike insurance – alongside other products such as personal liability, health & recovery and solutions for commercial partners.

Laka says that they have fixed what customers typically dislike about conventional insurance: long contracts, pages of fine print, and poor customer service. Whilst insurers benefit when a claim is rejected, Laka earns a success fee only when a claim is settled.

The Series B equity raise will enable Laka to work towards profitability. Laka may seek to raise an additional extension round in 2025, focused on strategic investors. Laka will also soon complete a significant debt financing agreement in the coming months, which will fund its acquisition pipeline.

Matthieu de Chanville, Founding Partner at Shift4Good: “As sustainable transport and micro‑mobility expand across Europe, the need for seamless, customer‑centric insurance has never been greater. Laka is positioned to lead this space, aligning interests between riders, retailers, and insurers, and tackling the fragmented nature of the market head on. We’re excited to support their next chapter of growth and to help unlock the full potential of the green mobility revolution across the European continent.”

Over the past two years, Laka has evolved from a cycle insurer into a multi-vertical green mobility platform across nine EU + UK markets. Its trajectory has been defined by both organic growth and significant acquisitions:

• Luko’s e-scooter insurance portfolio (2025): adding 19,000 customers and deepening its focus on micromobility, acquired from Allianz Direct.

• Renewal rights to CoverCloud’s bike insurance portfolio (2024): Expanding its foothold in the UK bike insurance segment.

• Cylantro (2023): A French e-bike insurance broker that positioned Laka to dominate one of Europe’s fastest-growing e-mobility markets.

Laka’s commercial partners include Decathlon, Brompton, Gazelle, Riese & Müller, Tenways and Ribble.

Jack Toyama, President & Managing Director, MS&AD Ventures: “The micro‑mobility market is evolving rapidly, presenting huge opportunities for platforms that can unify and redefine its insurance offerings. Laka has demonstrated an impressive ability to integrate acquisitions and build a collective‑driven approach that benefits both riders and businesses. We’re proud to support the team as they scale across Europe and help drive the shift towards a cleaner, more connected transport ecosystem.”

By 2030, the global micromobility market is projected to more than double in value – from around €136 billion to €290 billion, according to McKinsey. Europe is expected to be the largest regional contributor globally, growing from about €51 billion in 2022 to €51 billion by 2030.

Yet despite the rapid adoption of micromobility, Laka says insurance for this sector remains highly fragmented.

Through its verticalised services, Laka aims to go beyond insurance. Its offerings now include:

• Recovery of stolen or damaged bikes and e-scooters.

• Replacing stolen bikes.

• Salvaging and recycling of bike parts, reducing waste and emissions.

• Commercial services for retailers, manufacturers, and bike shops.

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The Swedish founders of an exited startup have re-emerged with news of a funding round backing their new AI startup, involving investors in Swedish vibe coding outfit Lovable.

Opper, an AI infrastructure play, is the brainchild of Göran Sandahl and Johan Gustafsson, the co-founders of Unomaly, a machine learning startup which was acquired by US firm LogicMonitor in 2020.

Opper has now raised $3m pre-seed in a funding round led by Luminar Ventures, with Lovable backer Emblem Venture Capital, Greens Capital, and angel investors also taking part.

In a press release, Opper, which has a team of seven, says it has launched its "Task Completion API".

It says the API is “designed to help developers move beyond one-off prompts and fragile prototypes, providing a structured and dependable path to launching AI-powered features in production environments”.

Sandahl, CEO, said: "The success of chatbots, agents, or data tasks comes down to how reliably they interact with models. “Opper removes the guesswork from prompt engineering and gives developers a tool that just gets the job done."

 Czech startup Aim has raised €300k to build an AI-powered agent that delivers continuous, context-aware business briefings – refining its ability to read, interpret, and summarise content such as market reports, customer activity, social media posts, and opinion leaders.

The funding comes from Miton, who joined the project before its official launch as a founding investor. Founding partner Tomáš Matějček will be involved in product development and also oversees companies such as Rohlik, Rossum, Sense Arena, and Graet.

“To stay in the loop, you’d often need a full-time personal analyst,” explains Michal Najman, Founder of Aim. “Relevant information is scattered across platforms, podcasts, and languages. Plus, algorithms are optimised to capture as much of our attention as possible – not to deliver the most relevant info in the shortest time. That’s where we see a huge opportunity for Aim. You don’t need a full-time analyst or 100 hours a month to stay informed.”

Founded in 2025, Aim is designed for startup Founders and business operators, Aim helps users stay informed by surfacing only the most relevant insights – pulled from a range of scattered and multilingual sources, including podcasts, forums, newsletters, and social media.

Currently in private beta, Aim already has paying clients among VCs and startups. The tool reportedly functions as a personal business analyst, automatically identifying which information is relevant to each user’s specific needs.

According to the team, Aim does not simply wrap around an existing AI model; instead, it uses custom classification methods to determine contextual relevance – a process that cannot be achieved through prompting alone.

“A key customer group for Aim is startup Founders or simply business owners. They need to know what’s happening in their space, but absolutely don’t have time to monitor everything. A benchmark from a competitor, casually mentioned in a small podcast in German, can radically improve how they think about their business – or move it in a smarter direction,” adds Najman.

Aim is positioned as a long-term, continuous briefing companion rather than a one-off research tool. Unlike social platforms that are designed to maximise attention, Aim is built to minimise time spent while maximising value delivered.

The idea for Aim developed through early collaboration between Najman and Miton. “We wanted an AI analyst that precisely understands each of our contexts – and crucially, one that gets better over time within each topic. About a year ago, we met Michal Najman. Back then, Aim’s MVP was already using LLMs in a very interesting way. So we started iterating together until the current form of Aim began to take shape,” says Tomáš Matějček.

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Visual quality inspection startup 36ZERO Vision has raised €3.6 million pre-Series A funding to expand the reach of its AI-powered vision operating system for manufacturing.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, 36ZERO Vision’s software-defined, hardware-agnostic technology stands out due to its superior accuracy and ease of use, achieving a remarkable reduction in false positives, known as pseudo defects, which commonly plague traditional inspection solutions.

I spoke to CEO Heiko Huber and co-founder and CTO Zeeshan Karamat, to learn more.

Built for industry, born in a hackathon

Co-founder and CTO Karamat has a background in mathematics and computer science, with a strong entrepreneurial mindset and work ethic. He shared:

“Even during high school, I was freelancing, working for some of the top 100 companies globally. I was also among the top three students in a national math competition in Pakistan.

I had this extreme learning phase — working up to 22 hours a day using what I called the “Superman pattern”: four hours of work, 20 minutes of sleep, and repeating it five times.

After that, I applied to Stanford and was lucky enough to be accepted, but due to my nationality at the time, I couldn’t get the visa. So instead, I applied to universities in Australia and Germany. In Germany, tuition was free, so it was an easy choice.”

He started working at Microsoft and later at BMW Group, where he led a predictive maintenance project where,“we could detect if a machine would fail within 9–10 weeks, and the accuracy was really high.“ It was a successful project, but he realised the 9-to-5 enterprise life wasn’t for him.

He participated in hackathons on weekends — MIT, Oxford, Microsoft — and ended up winning more than 100 times. 

One of the hackathons at BMW Group led to the start of 36ZERO Vision, where his team aimed to do industrial quality inspection purely through software, using minimal hardware. 

“Everyone said it was impossible to achieve industrial-grade accuracy on low-end hardware.”

 That challenge pushed them to develop their own foundation model. That’s also when he met Heiko.

Huber is from southern Germany, near Stuttgart, and his addiction to cars inspired him to study mechanical engineering in Munich. He co-founded a successful fitness startup in the fitness tech space — the now hugely successful EGYM.  He admits, “being a fairly conservative German, I decided to pause that and finish my studies — no regrets there.”

Afterward, he did an MBA and ended up at McKinsey. A role in Siemens’ venture unit, and as Managing Director at UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s largest entrepreneurship centre followed, where he met Zeeshan.  He recounts:

“He was part of the program, and I immediately fell in love with the technology and the vision. It was clear to me that this had the potential to bring real efficiency and quality to the industrial world. Munich has the perfect ecosystem for this—talent, customers, infrastructure.

When Zeeshan asked me to join as co-founder and CEO, it was a no-brainer.”

A software-first approach for real-world deployment

According to Zeeshan, the startup originally began using iPhones because they're accessible and easy for customers to deploy without any specialised hardware:

“Our tech stack was developed with low-end hardware in mind. We rewrote the entire foundation model in C++, optimised to run efficiently even on devices like iPhones, NVIDIA Jetson units, or low-spec GPUs.

We support industry protocols like GenICam, which allows us to connect to a wide range of industrial cameras — Matrix Vision, IDS, etc.

On the compute side, we use low-level languages to ensure maximum efficiency.”

A modular, data-efficient foundation model

36ZERO Vision is using deep learning to detect patterns, independent of background noise or lighting. Its model not only learns from real images but can simulate hundreds of thousands of synthetic images based on key variations. 

The core of 360Vision’s system is a multi-stage foundation model. Each stage trains on a specific task, like a “mixture of experts.” Each expert learns small, specific things, and collectively they deliver high accuracy.

Currently, the model is trained on 2D visual images, from single-channel to five or six-channel images. 

According to Zeehan, “these could be standard RGB images, mono cameras, or even X-rays.” 

“The powerful part is that we only need a small number of data points, sometimes as few as five images.

In one benchmark with just 10 images, we achieved nearly perfect accuracy — no missed defects, no false alarms. In contrast, a state-of-the-art competitor had a 9 per cent error rate. Our platform is highly data-efficient.” 

A solution to real-world frustration

“We built 36ZERO Vision to solve a real-world frustration," said CEO Heiko Huber. 

Visual inspection too often only works in theory, but fails in production. Most systems still rely on pixel-perfect comparisons, which means that even small differences, reflections, shadows, and angle shifts can cause false positives. 

Most of 36ZERO Vision’s customers already use some form of computer vision, but according to Huber,  “they’re frustrated. It takes hundreds or thousands of images, plus manual labelling. Even then, they often get too many false positives.

According to Huber, "our system delivers higher accuracy with lower complexity, and it’s already earning the trust of top-tier manufacturers. 

"This funding helps us scale faster and push the limits of what AI in manufacturing can do.”

The company’s proprietary AI technology is already industrialised and actively deployed in production environments at some of the world’s most demanding manufacturing companies, including Siemens, Bosch Rexroth and LEONI. 

Further, 36ZERO Vision’s technology significantly outperforms established competitors such as Keyence and Cognex by delivering higher accuracy, reducing inspection errors, and simplifying the inspection process.

Significantly, with 36ZERO Vision’s solution, users only need a handful of images. Even more importantly, they can label them in their cloud-based platform, train the model, and validate performance themselves. It’s a self-serve onboarding, with no hardware installation or on-site integration required.

I was curious how open manufacturers are to switching from existing solutions. According to Huber, “they’re surprisingly open—because the pain is real.”

“That said, it’s a conservative industry. One-off licenses happen fast, but full rollouts take time. They want to be sure the system works. But once you're in, you're in. We’ve had almost zero churn.”

In some cases, 36ZERO Vision has fully automated inspections that were previously manual. This kind of deployment can achieve ROI within 4–5 months — that’s exceptional in industrialtech.

36ZERO Vision started in automotive, then moved into electronics, machinery, and building materials. It has growing interest from the defence sector, where the product is a perfect fit for its high quality requirements and complex inspection needs. 

According to Huber,

“Eventually, we’ll move into semiconductors — wafer and chip inspection — but that’s likely two to three years out.”

This latest investment round was led by an investor syndicate including JOIN Capital, Bayern Kapital, and Vanagon Ventures, with additional support from notable investors including UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators and Alchemist.

"Manufacturing is overdue for AI-driven innovation that reliably delivers results beyond the lab. 36ZERO Vision’s breakthrough solution is rewriting industry standards by dramatically cutting false positives and simplifying processes,” said Tobias Schirmer, Founding Partner at Join Capital. 

“We invested because their technology is already validated by top-tier customers and uniquely positioned to scale quickly in a market hungry for solutions that actually work.”

"Advancing the development of Industry 4.0 application scenarios in an efficient and profitable manner requires reducing recalls and rework – and thus labour costs – while at the same time improving production quality and reliability,” according to Monika Steger, Managing Director at Bayern Kapital.

“36ZERO Vision’s AI-powered visual quality inspection solutions are designed to achieve exactly these goals, thus providing great value for many industrial sectors.

This means that 36ZERO Vision’s business model has significant potential for scaling across a wide range of markets and convinces with its strong commercial potential, making it an attractive investment for Bayern Kapital.” 

Building the future of industrial AI in Southern Germany

With the new funding, 36ZERO Vision is focused on scaling across Europe, expanding with existing customers, hiring, and building more features. 

According to Huber, “We’ll stay focused on Europe for the next two years. Long-term, we believe we can build a category-defining company from southern Germany.”

"Ultimately, what we’re building can’t be done in a vacuum. You need proximity to real industrial use cases. AI alone isn’t enough; you need something that works reliably on the shop floor.

Southern Germany has the perfect ecosystem for this: world-class talent, customers, and industrial champions who are willing to adopt new tech. That’s our home base.”

The new capital will be used to expand 36ZERO Vision's team across sales, customer success and product development in response to rapidly increasing customer demand. It will also enable the company to enhance its technological leadership further and reinforce its unique position in the global market for AI-driven visual inspection solutions.

Lead image: 36ZERO Vision co-founders: CTO Zeeshan Karamat and CEO Heiko Huber. Photo: uncredited. 

Cologne-based Ordio, a People Operating System designed for deskless industries, has raised €12 million in a Series A funding round to launch ‘Payroll Plus’, a fully automated payroll solution for deskless workers.

The round was led by tech investor 3VC, with participation from Swiss family office Wecken & Cie., as well as existing investors Capnamic and Simon Capital.

“This marks the most significant advancement in payroll automation in decades,” said David Keuenhof, Founder and Co-CEO. “Tasks that once required weeks will soon be accomplished in minutes, entirely without human intervention.”​

Founded in 2021 by David Keuenhof and Georg Pilz, Ordio innovates day-to-day operations in deskless industries, an area that the company says traditional software fails. Its modular platform digitises and automates every process along the employee lifecycle – from shift planning to payroll. Ordio is now used by over 1.500 companies across hospitality, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing.

The idea for Ordio was born when Keuenhof managed 135 employees at his Sushi Ninja restaurant chain and realised that shift planning, sick leave, and payroll were organisational chaos. According to him, no existing software could keep up with the fast-paced, labor- intensive environment, everything was built for office jobs.

“Ordio is redefining how teams and processes are organised in the hospitality, retail, and service industries. Instead of using individual tools and manually accounting for payroll, users receive a comprehensive cloud solution that automates all processes. We see Ordio as a strong driver for the future of shift work and are excited to support the team,” says Federico Rota Candiani, Investment Manager at 3VC.

According to data provided by Ordio, over 100 million people in Europe work in deskless jobs – from healthcare and hospitality to retail and logistics. Despite a market for digital solutions exceeding €20 billion, Ordio says that these sectors remain underserved. While office software is booming, businesses operating with deskless jobs continue to depend on manual processes, point solutions, and physical paperwork.

Between 2020 and 2023, around 48,000 gastronomic businesses in Germany were forced to shut down. The industry is facing a severe labor shortage, with turnover rates reaching up to 50% in some sectors.

Complex legal requirements further complicate payroll: wages, bonuses, absences, and tax compliance must all be managed accurately, making payroll significantly more challenging than in typical office settings.

Ordio aims to eliminate the frustration of paperwork through smart automation, going beyond traditional HR or shift planning tools. The platform unifies all core operational processes, from onboarding and shift scheduling to automated payroll, in a modular, scalable solution tailored to the realities of the deskless workforce.

With Payroll Plus, launching in summer 2025, Ordio will introduce the first fully automated payroll platform designed for complex wage calculations in deskless jobs. Ordio already automates gross wage calculations, but Payroll Plus will integrate full net payroll processing for the first time.

The company’s revenue reportedly quadrupled in 2024. With this new funding, Ordio will accelerate product development in AI-powered payroll and process automation, aiming to become the backbone of the real-world workforce.

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Expense management solutions provider Rydoo, a global leader in expense management solutions, has announced the acquisition of Semine, a provider of AI-powered accounts payable automation (APA) technology.

Rydoo is an AI-powered expense management platform that gives businesses full control over employee spending. Employees submit expenses in seconds, while finance teams gain real-time visibility and control with automated workflows, real-time policy checks and insights for higher compliance and efficiency. 

Rydoo currently supports over 1 million users worldwide in automating expense management, helping finance teams gain real-time control over employees’ spend while significantly reducing manual workload.

Semine is an AI-driven accounts payable automation platform designed to streamline and optimise financial processes. Today, Semine processes millions of invoices and is utilised by over 10,000 companies in the Nordics and beyond.

The acquisition of Semine aligns with Rydoo’s mission to empower finance teams with the best-in-class solution for their spend processes. Semine brings a strong domain expertise, trusted customer partnerships, and a powerful technology platform.

By combining market-leading expense management with fully automated AP workflows, Rydoo and Semine are building an end-to-end solution that delivers maximum efficiency, control, and strategic insight.

In 2024, Rydoo welcomed a new majority shareholder, Eurazeo, providing renewed backing to accelerate its strategic ambitions. 

Since then, the company has expanded its footprint in the US and continued its strong growth across new geographies.

“We are excited to welcome Semine to the Rydoo family”, said Sebastien Marchon, Rydoo’s CEO. 

“Both of our companies are rooted in the same essential values: customer obsession, product excellence, humility, collective intelligence, and passion.

This is a true convergence of visions, talents, and cultures, bringing us closer to our ambition of building a world-class platform for finance teams.”

“This partnership not only allows us to broaden our product portfolio but also accelerates our ability to bring cutting-edge solutions to a wider European market. What truly matters to me is that Rydoo shares our passion for technology and excellence — together, we’re poised to deliver the most advanced and future-ready offering in the industry”, said Bjørn Røsten, Semine’s CEO.

According to Benjamin Hara, Partner at Eurazeo Elevate:

"Semine’s acquisition lies at the core of Rydoo’s strategic roadmap: build a leading international spend management software. 

The two companies and teams share a lot in common, making the combination a great match. We’re proud to support Sebastien and Bjørn’s teams in the beginning of their common journey.”

Uzbekistan startup TASS Vision has raised €1.3 million. The startup enables retailers to monitor complete customer journeys in physical stores in real time, optimise product placements, and measure the effectiveness of in-store marketing. 

All of this happens without sending data to the cloud, with full emphasis on customer privacy. TASS Vision’s products run exclusively on edge AI cameras that process images directly on the device. 

TASS Vision was founded by Shakhzod Umirzakov and Jamshidjon Khakimjonov. The entrepreneurial spark came from an unexpected place: a bus depot in Tashkent, where Shakhzod worked as a teenage ticket inspector. 

During this time, he discovered that up to 30 per cent of revenue was being lost due to human error or fraud. 

In response, he developed his own sensor device for counting passengers. Although the product didn’t take off due to the small market, it revealed an important insight: most offline businesses operate without data.

That insight led to the founding of TASS Vision in 2021, with the goal of bringing “Google Analytics” into the offline world. Today, the platform offers two key products – Vitrac (customer journey tracking) and Sitrac (shelf interaction analysis) – both running on proprietary edge AI cameras designed to protect privacy while providing deep analytical insight.

“We help retailers run performance marketing – not online, but right on the shop floor. The data shows that many of our clients have increased revenue and reduced operational costs. Our goal isn’t just to automate retail, but to create a new data standard for the entire offline world,” says Shakhzod Umirzakov, one of TASS Vision's founders.

The startup is currently active in more than 2,000 retail stores across ten countries and collaborates with over a hundred brands in the electronics, fashion, FMCG, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Purple Ventures led the investment with a €500,000 contribution. The remaining amount came from funds including Domino VC, Pragma Tech VC, Sabah Fund, Caucasus VC, Big Sky Capital, and IT Park VC. Also participating were early angel investors Bachrom Abduqadirov and Ahror Abdukarimov, who supported the startup back in 2022 along with 500 Global, UzVC, and Activat.

"This is a true data revolution for brick-and-mortar retail. TASS Vision delivers what e-commerce has had for years – precise and detailed insight into customer behaviour and measurability. With its own hardware and software, the company has a strong technological edge and an extremely efficient business model,” says Jan Davídek, Partner at Purple Ventures, adding: 

“We believe the combination of edge AI and retail will be one of the defining trends of the coming years, and TASS Vision is well-positioned to become a leader in this category.

That’s why we didn’t hesitate to invest, even in faraway Uzbekistan – becoming the first fund from our region to do so.”

Over the past two years, TASS Vision has grown by 500 per cent year-over-year, with the vast majority of new clients coming through referrals. The company now employs 35 people, including teams in Uzbekistan, South Korea, and China, where R&D in AI models, image processing, and edge hardware is conducted.

The new investment will help complete the development of the next generation of proprietary cameras – expected to be up to 20× faster than the current models, more energy-efficient, and better suited for global deployment. The aim is also to simplify installation and lower the barrier to entry for customers even further.

Lead image: TASS Vision. Photo: uncredited.