Summary: The Pentagon has narrowed its Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations (ANPI) programme from eight companies to three, advancing microreactor deployment at Buckley Space Force Base (Colorado) and Malmstrom Air Force Base (Montana) by 2030. The original eight vendors included BWXT, Oklo, X-energy, Kairos Power, Radiant, General Atomics, Westinghouse, and Antares. The commercially owned reactor […]

On May 7-8, the EU-Startups Summit 2026 takes place in sunny Malta, bringing together around 2,400 founders, investors, and startup ecosystem leaders for two days of networking, inspiration, and knowledge-sharing.

We are excited to announce that Christoph Sollich, also known as “The Pitch Doctor”, will be joining the speaker lineup of the EU-Startups Summit 2026. He has spent years helping startups and corporate intrapreneurs craft better pitches by focusing on content, performance, and visual storytelling. With a background spanning startups, advertising, and accelerator programmes, he has worked with over 3000 startups across Europe and MENA. He is also the creator of Pitchlympics, a live pitch battle format that combines education with entertainment.

In his session titled “How a Mobility Unicorn (Ponycorn!) is beating AI with EI (Equine Intelligence)”, Christoph will take a humorous yet insightful approach to startup storytelling. Using his fictional “Pöny” concept, he will explore how founders can stand out, capture attention, and communicate their ideas more effectively in crowded markets, blending comedy with practical takeaways.

Christoph will also host an entertaining networking activity called Pitchlympics on May 8 from 9:45 to 10:30 in the Meeting Area.

If you are interested in international expansion, community-led growth, and the realities of scaling across culturally diverse markets, this session will offer valuable operator-led insights. Secure your ticket today and stay tuned for further updates on our event page.

OUR EVENT SPONSORS

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

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

The IONOS Cloud Start-up Program provides young companies with up to €100,000 in cloud credits for up to five years after their founding. Start-ups benefit from a sovereign IT infrastructure “Made in Germany,” offering 100% GDPR compliance and full legal certainty. IONOS Cloud guarantees technological freedom without vendor lock-in. Long-term support is also ensured: exclusive discounts after the first year enable a seamless transition into the IONOS Cloud ISV Partner Program. In this way, digital sovereignty becomes a strategic competitive advantage from founding to scaling.

The post “The Pitch Doctor” Christoph Sollich joins the EU-Startups Summit 2026 in Malta appeared first on EU-Startups.

Kurma Partners, a French healthcare venture capital firm, announced the final closing of Biofund IV at €215 million to support the discovery and development of disruptive therapeutic solutions for severe or incurable diseases.

Building on the €160 million Biofund III, this fundraise has increased the new vehicle’s size by nearly 35%. Biofund IV is backed by three cornerstone investors – the Australian pharmaceutical company CSL, the European Investment Fund (EIF), and Bpifrance (which invests directly and through the Biotech Health Acceleration Fund, managed as part of the France 2030 initiative).

Thierry Laugel and Rémi Droller, Managing Partners at Kurma Partners, said: “This latest closing reflects our investors’ long-standing trust in the model we have built over the past fifteen years: an integrated ecosystem that bridges the gap between scientific discovery and venture capital financing.

“With Biofund IV and Argobio Studio, we now possess a unique capacity in Europe to identify world-class academic science, transform it into globally competitive biotechnology companies, and support them through to full maturity. It is this depth of commitment that sets us apart for researchers, entrepreneurs, and, ultimately, for patients.”

Kurma Partners’ final close of Biofund IV can be set alongside a broader run of BioTech and therapeutics financing across Europe.

Relevant examples include:

• France: ErVimmune in Lyon, which raised €17 million to advance cancer vaccines and cell therapies for hard-to-treat cancers; and Generare in Paris, which raised €20 million to expand its molecular data and drug discovery platform.
• Laigo Bio in Utrecht, which completed a €17 million Seed round to progress cancer and autoimmune therapies, with Kurma Partners named among the investors;
• iDEL Therapeutics in Dortmund, which secured €9 million to develop its cancer therapeutics platform
•  STORM Therapeutics in Cambridge, which raised €47.5 million to advance its RNA-modification oncology pipeline.

Together, these rounds amount to roughly €110 million, indicating continued capital deployment into European BioTech in 2026, particularly in oncology and adjacent therapeutic areas.

France appears nultiple times through ErVimmune and Generare, which is notable given Kurma Partners’ home territory. EU-Startups has additionally covered Kurma before with their Biofund IV first close.

Dr Steven Pitt, Global Head of External Innovation at CSL, adds: “Our partnership with Kurma Partners has enabled us to further build relationships across Europe, a region brimming with scientific innovation. By investing in a team with a proven track record of identifying and translating high‑quality European science, we are pleased to support the European biotech ecosystem and the progression of promising research toward therapies for patients with unmet medical needs.”

Founded in 2009, Kurma Partners, an Eurazeo group company, invests in companies from inception through to growth stages, covering the entire healthcare spectrum through its various dedicated franchises.

These have expanded alongside successive funds in early-stage BioTech (Biofunds I, II, and III), early-stage digital health and diagnostics (Kurma Diagnostics and Kurma Diagnostics 2), and most recently, growth capital (Kurma Growth Opportunities Fund).

With this final closing, Kurma Partners’ total AUM across all franchises reached €1 billion.

Biofund IV builds on the strategic success of its predecessor, Biofund III, which to date has completed three exits:

• Amolyt Pharma (rare endocrine diseases) sold to AstraZeneca
• Emergence Therapeutics (cancer-targeting Antibody-Drug Conjugates or ADCs) sold to Eli Lilly
• Corlieve Therapeutics (rare epilepsies) sold to uniQure.

More recently, there was the acquisition of ImCheck by Ipsen – a portfolio company of both Biofund II and Kurma Growth. ImCheck specializes in next-generation immunotherapy antibodies for cancer treatment.

EIF Chief Executive, Marjut Falkstedt, added: “We are thrilled to be renewing our cooperation with Kurma Partners as we pursue our common goal of supporting breakthrough innovation in Europe’s leading biotechnology sector. Apart from improving people’s lives, this has an important impact in strengthening European competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy.

“Through the EIB Group’s TechEU initiative, the EIF ultimately seeks to ensure that Europe’s brightest entrepreneurs get the support they need throughout the business lifecycle, and this transactions does exactly that.”

Kurma aims to make approximately twenty investments through Biofund IV, focusing on startups as well as the ex-nihilo creation of new BioTech companies.

To date, Biofund IV has completed 11 investments: SciRhom (Germany – autoimmune diseases), Memo Therapeutics (Switzerland – natural immunity), Avidicure (Netherlands – cancer immunotherapy), Elkedonia (France/Belgium –resistant depression), Nuevocor (Singapore/France/USA – genetic heart diseases), Evla Bio (Switzerland/Germany – cardiorenal diseases), Adcytherix (France – antibodies targeting solid tumors), Evidence Bio (France – respiratory diseases), Laigo Bio (Netherlands/UK – oncology and autoimmune diseases), Alveus (USA/Denmark – respiratory diseases), and Givax (USA/Europe – next-generation cancer vaccines).

Kurma also collaborates closely with Argobio Studio, a dedicated BioTech startup launchpad co-founded with Bpifrance. As a venture builder, Argobio has invested in eight companies to date, three of which have already completed their initial funding rounds: Elkedonia, Laigo Bio, and Enodia Therapeutics.

The post Kurma Partners closes €215 million Biofund IV to back European BioTech ventures from Paris appeared first on EU-Startups.

The new model reasons about composition, searches the web for context, generates up to eight coherent images from one prompt, and renders text in non-Latin scripts with near-flawless accuracy. It also took the number one spot on the Image Arena leaderboard within 12 hours of launch, by the largest margin ever recorded. Two years ago, […]

Secondary share trading platforms are pricing Anthropic at approximately $1 trillion, just three months after its primary fundraising round valued it at $380 billion. OpenAI is trading at $880 billion on the same platforms, a meaningful reversal of the previous order. The valuations are not primary rounds and carry no guarantee of liquidity. Anthropic, the […]

The $25B programme has no expiration date and sits on top of a December 2024 authorisation that still had $6.8B remaining. Netflix’s board approved it on 22 April. Shares rose 1.5% in premarket trading on the news, after falling as much as 10.8% following the Q1 report on 16 April. Netflix’s board authorised an additional […]

Balderton today announces the appointment of Phil Chambers as Partner, where he will focus on early-stage investments.

Chambers joins the firm after a 20+ year career as a founder, operator and angel investor in the European technology ecosystem, including roles in London, Hamburg and Copenhagen. Most recently, he served as CEO of Orbex, the Scottish space launch company.

Prior to Orbex, Chambers co-founded and served as CEO of Peakon, a Balderton portfolio company focused on employee engagement, which he led through rapid international expansion from its Danish home into the UK, Germany, the US, and APAC before its $700 million acquisition by Workday in 2021. He was then GM at Workday for two and a half years, where he grew Peakon’s global footprint to hundreds of millions in ARR. 

After falling in love with computers and technology as a child, Chambers studied computer science at the University of Manchester and worked at startups, including Gumtree in the UK and the local reviews company Qype, based in Hamburg, Germany.

He then became CTO at Podio, a work management company based in Copenhagen that was acquired by Citrix, where he later led the GoToMeeting product line in Santa Barbara. This experience inspired him to co-found Peakon, a product that revolutionised the employee listening market and made continuous listening a standard practice in many companies.  

Alongside his operating career, Chambers has been one of Europe’s most active angel investors, backing more than 100 startups.

At Balderton, Phil will draw from his own experience to support founders as they start and scale their businesses in Europe.

Bernard Liautaud, Managing Partner at Balderton, said:

“I have had the pleasure of knowing Phil for almost a decade now, first working with him as a board member of Peakon, where I saw him grow the company from virtually nothing to a $700 million acquisition by Workday.

We then stayed close during his tenure at Workday, and his Orbex years.

I could not be more excited to welcome Phil to the Balderton partnership.”

Phil Chambers added:

“I’m absolutely delighted to be joining the Balderton team: an incredible group of people, working with the most impressive companies in Europe, and a fund at the top of its game.”

Cleantech company TheStorage, which develops industrial thermal energy storage solutions, has closed a €3.6 million seed funding round. The round was led by Voima Ventures, with participation from existing investors Superhero Capital and 2C Ventures, alongside new investor Momentum.

The company is focused on addressing one of the most emissions-intensive and challenging areas to decarbonise: industrial heat production. Its thermal energy storage technology stores energy in sand, enabling industrial companies to electrify heat processes, integrate renewable energy sources, and optimise energy use based on electricity market prices. This approach can significantly reduce both energy costs and emissions compared to fossil-based systems.

Currently, the majority of industrial heat is still generated using fossil fuels, while the increasing availability of renewable energy and volatility in fossil fuel markets are driving demand for more flexible and cost-effective alternatives. By storing energy and releasing it when needed, TheStorage’s system helps overcome the intermittency of renewables and supports a more stable and economically viable transition to low-carbon energy.

The new funding gives us real momentum in commercialising our technology. Interest in thermal energy storage is growing enormously across industry, and our goal is to be the number one choice for companies looking for efficient solutions to manage their energy costs and support their sustainability targets,

said Timo Siukkola, CEO and co-founder of TheStorage.

In addition to reducing costs and emissions, the technology enables industrial operators to respond to fluctuations in electricity prices and participate in grid balancing markets, creating potential new revenue streams while contributing to grid stability. The solution is designed to deliver high efficiency in heat transfer and integrate seamlessly into existing industrial processes without compromising performance.

With the new funding, the company plans to accelerate commercialisation, expand its team, and further develop its technology, aiming to scale its solution globally as industries seek practical pathways to reduce emissions and energy costs.

Berlin-based climatetech startup VREY has closed a €3.3 million seed funding round led by Rubio Impact Ventures, with participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Kopa Ventures.

The company enables property owners to deploy solar systems in multi-family buildings and supply the generated electricity directly to tenants, without taking on the role or regulatory burden of an energy supplier.

Nearly half of Europeans live in buildings with shared roofs, yet solar adoption in this segment remains low. In Germany, fewer than 2 per cent of multi-family rental units use on-site solar, largely due to regulatory complexity that requires property owners to act as energy suppliers.

A recent regulatory change in Germany introduces a new framework, “Gemeinschaftliche Gebäudeversorgung”, which removes this requirement and enables a simpler structure for shared solar deployment. VREY’s platform is designed to operationalise this framework and make it accessible at scale.

As a certified smart metering operator and billing partner, VREY provides an integrated solution for tenant electricity models and “Gemeinschaftliche Gebäudeversorgung.” Its platform measures each tenant’s share of solar output and manages billing directly, eliminating the need for property owners to assume supplier responsibilities while allowing tenants to benefit without switching providers.

The company currently manages a three-digit number of projects across all 16 German federal states. Its customer base includes private landlords, housing cooperatives, project developers, and large real estate companies. For system installation, VREY collaborates with partners selected by its customers.

In addition to solar distribution, the platform supports the integration of batteries, heat pumps, and EV charging infrastructure. VREY positions its solution as an “EnergyOS” for multi-family buildings, providing a central layer for measuring, billing, and managing energy flows.

The majority of property owners want to future-proof their buildings, but until now, practical solutions were missing. With VREY, we make solar in multi-family buildings simple and economically viable for the first time,

says Julius Pahmeier, co-founder and Managing Director of VREY.

With the newly secured funding, VREY plans to expand its team of around 20 employees and further develop its platform. The company aims to strengthen its position in the multi-family building segment and unlock additional energy use cases for property owners.

Starling Bank has no plans to enter the “massively overserved” US retail banking market, but will focus its US expansion on its business-to-business offering instead, says its chief financial officer.  

The UK challenger bank is looking to establish itself in the US, to diversify and grow its revenues, and is looking at buying a US bank to secure a national US banking licence.  

Speaking to the Banker, Starling CFO Declan Ferguson said the challenger bank had no plans to expand Starling’s retail offering in the US, which he described as a “massively overserved” market.

Ferguson said: “The opportunity for a UK retail bank to be successful there is limited . . . I can’t see what the unique selling point is."

Ferguson said that Starling, which has nearly five million customers, would not be applying for a US banking licence but would undertake a “more modest acquisition”.

It hopes to establish itself in the US within the next two years, the CFO said.  

Instead of launching its retail bank stateside, Starling is focusing its efforts on exporting its B2B offering Engine.  

Starling launched Engine as a subsidiary in 2022, as the challenger bank U-turned on its global strategy.  

Engine sells itself as a “cloud native, complete banking platform”.

Clients can leverage its software to build and enhance services such as digital onboarding and savings accounts.  

Engine has set up a Delaware subsidiary and has appointed former McKinsey partner Jody Bhagat, to head up its multi-million-dollar US assault from its New York office.  

Last year, Engine, which employs around 300 people, landed its biggest client to date, Tangerine Bank, which is a subsidiary of Canada’s Scotiabank.

Earlier this year, Monzo said it was exiting the US market while British rival Revolut has applied for a US national bank licence.

Swedish legal tech unicorn Legora has made its second acquisition in two months, snapping up a Swedish startup specialising in legal research, which has built a search engine for lawyers.

Legora has acquired Qura, a 10-strong team which was founded in 2023, for an undisclosed amount.

Legora is a much-hyped AI platform for lawyers which supports lawyers in researching, reviewing and drafting legal work. Legora is competing against US rival Harvey as they look to disrupt the legal market.  

Stockholm-based Qura has built a search engine, which leverages AI to scan legal documents, pull together scores of legal sources, and produce quick summaries or more detailed analyses of legal questions.  

Legora says Qura’s search engine goes beyond traditional AI retrieval methods, saying its product “enables precise, reliable legal reasoning, rather than surface-level search”.

This is a capability that Legora does not currently have, Legora says.  

Qura is working with law firms, which have previously relied only on traditional publishers, and its product is now running across 27 countries.  

The deal will see the Qura’s team join Legora’s existing legal research organisation, with a remit to expand internationally, including the US.

Max Junestrand, CEO & co-founder Legora, said: “Legal research will be a cornerstone of the legal AI stack, and Qura has built one of the most impressive foundations in the world.  

“We evaluated legal research startups globally, and Qura stood out by a wide margin. Their ability to combine deep legal understanding with truly AI-native infrastructure is exceptional."  

Last month, Legora made its first acquisition, buying Canadian legal AI startup Walter, as it looks to expand its presence in North America.

The acquisition for an undisclosed sum came in the same week Legora announced its $550m Series D funding round, at a $5.5bn valuation.

Fasal Bio, a Zagreb-based company developing a proprietary renewable material platform designed to reduce the reliance on conventional plastic, has secured a €7 million growth equity investment from BlackPeak Capital. 

This transaction marks the Bulgarian private equity firm’s first direct investment in Croatia. BlackPeak Capital targets growth equity investments of €5–20 million in fast-growing companies in Southeast and Central Europe. It manages two funds with total assets under management of €150 million. 

“Fasal has built something rare, a platform where deep technical capability translates into scalable, real-world products, which is precisely a type of business where growth capital can make a difference, not just by accelerating it, but enabling a company with genuine innovation to drive change at industrial scale,” shared Marko Dabic, Investment Manager at BlackPeak Capital.

Founded in 2012 by Krešimir Hagljan, Fasal Bio develops Naturion, a proprietary composite material made from wood and renewable natural raw materials. It is compatible with existing thermoplastic processing, such as injection moulding and extrusion, enabling industrial-scale adoption without new infrastructure and producing durable finished goods from renewable resources.

The company claims to integrate proprietary innovation with product design, prototyping, and manufacturing, enabling partners to move quickly from concept to shelf – an increasingly important capability as regulations worldwide tighten restrictions on conventional plastics and sustainability targets become real business requirements.

Its products span multiple categories, including animal chewables, children’s toys and games, household goods, and clothes hangers. Some of its proprietary brands are D-Bone and FORMIQ. Naturion materials are used in the commercial production of products for leading international brands across the US and Western Europe, claims Fasal Bio. 

Krešimir Hagljan, Founder and CEO, Fasal Bio, said, “We have spent years building the capability to reduce reliance on fossil-based plastics in real world production, not just through innovation, but by making it work at scale. This investment is a turning point for Fasal Bio.”

With the fresh capital, the company plans to expand production capacity and invest in commercial and R&D functions. BlackPeak Capital plans to work closely with Fasal’s team to accelerate international growth and extend the reach of the Naturion platform. It also plans to hire new employees in Zagreb.

“We are moving from proving what is possible to scaling it globally. With BlackPeak’s support, we are expanding our manufacturing, strengthening our commercial capabilities, and accelerating our mission to enable a new generation of everyday products to be made from renewable materials at scale,” Hagljan added. 

Fasal Bio notes that with current demand already exceeding production capacity, the new facility will enable it to meet existing needs, take on new customers, and expand into its own-branded product lines.

The post Zagreb-based Fasal Bio secures €7 million to replace plastics with renewable raw materials appeared first on EU-Startups.

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund lost NOK636 billion ($68 billion) in investment returns in the first quarter, driven by the equity slide among large US technology companies. The S&P 500 posted its deepest quarterly decline since 2022. The fund marginally outperformed its benchmark. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages Norway’s Government Pension Fund […]



This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, we sit down with Ahti Heinla, Co-Founder, CEO, and CTO of Starship Technologies and one of the original engineers behind Skype!

In this episode, Ahti shares his journey from a young programmer in Estonia to building one of the world’s most advanced autonomous delivery companies. He reflects on the lessons he took from Skype into Starship, explains why last-mile delivery became the problem he wanted to solve, and explores how autonomous robots are changing the way goods move through cities.

We also dive into the human side of automation, from concerns around jobs and the evolving role of delivery workers to the importance of sustainability, regulation, an much more!

Key Points:

• Ahti’s early start in programming and how it influenced his long-term approach to building technology
• Key lessons from Skype that directly shaped how he built and scaled Starship
• Why last-mile delivery stood out as a high-impact, unsolved problem worth tackling
• How autonomous delivery is reshaping (not simply replacing) jobs in the logistics ecosystem
• The balance between innovation and regulation when deploying robots in public spaces
• Ahti’s vision of future cities where autonomous delivery is seamlessly integrated into daily life

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This episode of the EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. The trust management platform helps more than 12k companies, including Nando’s, Allica Bank and Granola, start and scale their security programmes while building trust with buyers. It saves security teams time and improves programme visibility by automating over 35 compliance frameworks, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, as well as GRC workflows like risk management. Click here to learn more!

The post The EU-Startups Podcast | Interview with Ahti Heinla, Co-Founder & CEO Starship Technologies appeared first on EU-Startups.

TCV led the Series B one year ago and now doubles down on the Series C. Insight Partners also returns. The thesis: AI coding agents are generating software so fast and at such volume that human code review is no longer sufficient, and enterprise artifact management must function as the primary control and security layer. […]

On 7-8 May, we’ll be heading back to sunny Malta for the 12th edition of the EU-Startups Summit – our exciting two-day event bringing together around 2,400 of Europe’s most ambitious founders, forward-thinking investors, and corporate innovation leaders.

The Summit offers a packed agenda with inspiring talks, insightful panel discussions, a buzzing exhibition hall, and a thrilling pitch competition. But beyond the stage and the spotlight, what truly powers this event is the energy of human connection.

Whether you’re looking to raise your next round, scout talent, explore partnerships or simply exchange ideas, this is where it happens. To help you make the most of your time, here’s how this year’s setup makes networking easier, smarter and more impactful than ever.

The EU-Startups Summit App

Our dedicated networking app will be your go-to companion throughout the event. With it, you can explore the attendee list, message fellow participants, and arrange 1:1 meetings seamlessly.

Swipe, match, chat and schedule – all within the app. You’ll also get real-time updates and full access to the event agenda, speaker info and your personalised schedule.

The Networking Game – Let’s have some fun!

Inside of every booklet there is a bingo-like list of tasks that will help all of our attendees break the ice and get into networking mode!

Completing the actions earns each player one point. Collect at least 6 points to unlock a prize, and keep going: the more points you earn, the better the rewards!

These tasks include:

• Join the unicorn hunt! Find one hidden around the venue and bring it to the EU- Startups Playground
• Share your thoughts on EU-Startups Playground’s Wall

• Have a coffee at the M. Demajo booth and ask for the secret phrase

The Meeting Room – Where deals are made

Looking to schedule focused, one-on-one meetings? The Meeting Room in Vassalli Hall, located on Floor 1 of the venue, is your go-to space for exactly that. Designed to support meaningful conversations, it’s the ideal spot to sit down with investors, potential partners, or fellow founders in a quieter, more professional setting.

You can book a space in this room directly through the EU-Startups Summit app, making it easy to coordinate and secure meeting slots in advance. The room will have tables available for those that wish to book them.

While the main purpose of the Meeting Room is to facilitate pre-arranged meetings, it will also host a number of themed networking sessions throughout both days.

These include speed networking and Women in Tech meetups – all designed to spark quick, engaging interactions. To stay up to date on what’s happening in this space, check the app regularly and plan your schedule accordingly.

The Networking Lounge – Relax and connect

Sometimes, the best conversations happen when you’re not rushing between sessions or ticking off your meeting schedule. That’s where the Networking Lounge comes in. Located at the end of the Exhibition Hall, this inviting space is designed to offer a more laid-back environment for spontaneous chats, informal catch-ups, and moments of reflection between all the action.

Whether you’re reconnecting with someone you met earlier, discussing a panel you just attended, or simply taking a breather, the lounge offers a comfortable setting to pause and engage.

It’s also a great spot to meet new contacts outside of scheduled meetings – you never know who you’ll bump into over a cup of coffee.

Networking Drinks with a view

As the day wraps up, we take the networking to new heights – quite literally. Join us for the official EU-Startups Networking Drinks on both Day 1 and Day 2 at the Grand Harbour Terrace of the Mediterranean Conference Center.

From 18:00 – 21:30 on Day 1; and 17:00 – 20:30 on Day 2, you can enjoy a laid-back atmosphere, chill music, and breathtaking views of Malta’s coastline. It’s the perfect setting to keep conversations going and meet new faces in a more relaxed setting.

Just remember: the terrace has limited capacity for up to 900 people, so plan ahead!

From speed networking and AI matchmaking to sunset drinks by the sea, the EU-Startups Summit 2025 is built for connection. Get ready for two unforgettable days of collaboration, insight, and opportunity. Visit our event page to learn more about the Summit, the speaker line-up, and the latest updates!

OUR EVENT SPONSORS

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

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

The IONOS Cloud Start-up Program provides young companies with up to €100,000 in cloud credits for up to five years after their founding. Start-ups benefit from a sovereign IT infrastructure “Made in Germany,” offering 100% GDPR compliance and full legal certainty. IONOS Cloud guarantees technological freedom without vendor lock-in. Long-term support is also ensured: exclusive discounts after the first year enable a seamless transition into the IONOS Cloud ISV Partner Program. In this way, digital sovereignty becomes a strategic competitive advantage from founding to scaling.

The post The EU-Startups Summit 2026 Networking Guide – All the juicy details! appeared first on EU-Startups.

Nscale will construct the data centres at existing BT infrastructure sites; BT will provide connectivity. Both companies are founding members of the new UK Sovereign AI Industry Forum. The deal deepens Nscale’s position as a central plank of the UK government’s national AI infrastructure strategy. BT Group and Nscale announced on 23 April 2026 that […]

The 2025 fintech funding landscape in Europe reflects a highly active yet concentrated market, shaped by a mix of venture capital, growth equity, and large-scale debt financing.

Geographically, the UK clearly dominates. With over €6.1 billion raised, it accounts for more than half of all fintech funding in 2025. This leadership extends beyond total capital to deal activity, with the UK also hosting the highest number of transactions.

Germany and France form a second tier, with roughly €1.5 billion and €1 billion respectively, while countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland follow at a considerable distance. Markets like Spain and Türkiye show strong deal activity but significantly smaller average ticket sizes, pointing to a more early-stage ecosystem. 

A defining feature of the market is the prominent role of debt financing. Although fewer in number, debt deals account for nearly a third of total funding, often structured as large credit facilities, warehouse financing, or asset-backed arrangements.

This reflects the maturity of many fintech business models (particularly in lending, payments, and embedded finance), where access to capital is critical for scaling. While Series A and Series B rounds remain active, they represent a smaller share of overall funding.

Taken together, the fintech sector is both dynamic and evolving. Early-stage activity remains strong across Europe, but capital is concentrated in a limited number of markets and driven primarily by later-stage and debt-led financings (for more detailed analyses of the European technology ecosystem, check out Tech.eu’s annual report: European Tech 2025 - The BigPicture).

Here are ten fintech companies that raised the most in 2025.

Amount raised in 2025: £1.5B Propel Finance offers fast and flexible financing solutions across assets, vehicles, embedded finance, and green initiatives, enabling businesses to access essential equipment and technology. By combining digital tools with personalised support, it helps companies fund key investments and optimise cash flow. The company secured £1.5 billion to expand its lending capacity and further strengthen its support for SME growth.

Amount raised in 2025: £500M Capital on Tap offers flexible credit solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, including business credit cards and financing products designed to improve cash flow, support expansion, and simplify access to working capital. The company secured a £500 million funding package through its third asset-backed securitisation, backed by receivables from its business credit card portfolio.

Amount raised in 2025: €505M Bees & Bears provides a digital embedded finance platform that enables installers and vendors to offer flexible, real-time financing for renewable energy solutions such as solar panels, batteries, and heat pumps, supporting the wider adoption of sustainable technologies. In 2025, the company secured €505 million in funding, including a €500 million financing framework with a listed European bank and €5 million in seed capital. The funding will support operational scaling, expansion into commercial and industrial segments, entry into additional European markets, team growth, and the financing of renewable energy installations.

Amount raised in 2025: €400M Younited is a European fintech and regulated credit institution that provides instant consumer credit and payment solutions through a fully digital platform. Leveraging advanced technology and APIs, it enables seamless access to loans and financing both directly and via partners in retail, banking, and telecom. Operating across multiple European markets, the company focuses on delivering simple, transparent, and fast credit experiences while promoting financial well-being. In 2025, Younited secured €400 million warehouse financing from Citi to expand consumer credit in Europe.

Amount raised in 2025: £300M Carmoola is a UK-based financial technology company offering a fully digital car finance platform that enables users to budget, secure approval, and pay for vehicles through a mobile app. By leveraging open banking data and proprietary credit technology, it provides instant financing decisions, flexible repayment options, and a seamless purchasing experience without traditional paperwork or intermediaries. The platform is designed to make car ownership more accessible, transparent, and efficient for consumers. Carmoola has secured a £300 million private asset-backed securities facility to expand its car finance offering, bringing total funding to over £540 million.

Amount raised in 2025: £300M Wagestream (now rebranded as Stream) is a financial well-being platform that partners with employers to give employees flexible access to earned wages alongside tools for budgeting, saving, borrowing, and financial planning. Delivered via a mobile app, it helps workers manage their income in real time, reduce financial stress, and improve overall financial resilience. It also supports employers in enhancing employee engagement, retention, and productivity through improved financial well-being. Wagestream secured £300 million in debt financing in 2025 to expand its alternative to high-interest loans.

Amount raised in 2025: £250M Abound is a UK-based fintech company that provides consumer lending solutions powered by artificial intelligence and open banking technology. Its platform enables faster, more accurate credit decisions by analysing real-time financial data rather than relying solely on traditional credit scores, allowing more people to access fair and affordable loans. In addition to direct lending, the company offers its technology to financial institutions, supporting smarter, lower-risk lending and improving overall credit assessment across the industry. In 2025, Abound secured £250 million in financing from Deutsche Bank, increasing its total lending capacity to £1.6 billion.

Amount raised in 2025: €207.7M Finom offers an integrated financial platform for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and SMEs, combining business accounts, payments, invoicing, and expense management within a mobile-first solution. Designed to streamline business finances, it blends banking-style services with modern technology, enabling companies across Europe to manage their operations efficiently and securely. In 2025, the company raised €207.7 million across two funding rounds to support strategic acquisitions, expand its customer base and product offering, and drive broader growth initiatives, including hiring and increased use of AI.

Amount raised in 2025: £150M 365 Finance is a UK-based fintech that provides fast, flexible funding solutions for small and medium-sized businesses through revenue-based financing and merchant cash advances. Its platform enables companies to access capital quickly without fixed repayments, with repayments linked to card sales, helping businesses manage cash flow and fund growth. The company positions itself as an alternative to traditional bank lending, offering unsecured finance with streamlined application and approval processes. 365 Finance has secured a £150 million debt facility to support more than £300 million in annual originations, sustain its strong growth trajectory, and expand lending to Irish SMEs through a dedicated euro line.

Amount raised in 2025: €170M Froda is a Stockholm-based fintech and licensed credit institution that provides digital financing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 2015, the company offers business loans, savings products, and an embedded finance platform that allows banks, fintechs, and partners to integrate lending directly into their services. By leveraging data, machine learning, and fully automated processes, Froda enables fast, transparent, and tailored credit decisions, aiming to improve access to financing and support business growth across multiple European markets. Froda has raised around €170 million over two rounds to drive European expansion.

The company will go negative on free cash flow for the rest of 2026, CFO Vaibhav Taneja confirmed. But Q1 delivered an unexpected $1.4 billion positive free cash flow beat, and Tesla ended the quarter with $44.7 billion in cash. The capex uplift from $20B to $25B is a $5 billion revision to guidance issued […]

Belfast-based Cloudsmith, a universal artifact management platform, today announced a €61.5 million ($72 million) Series C financing to power the era of AI-driven software development.

The round was led by TCV, with participation from Insight Partners, along with investments from other existing investors. In 2025, the company raised a €21.9 million Series B funding round, also led by TCV. 

“Cloudsmith is the only platform built for the way software is being developed today — by AI agents. We’re never going back to hand-crafted software. AI agents generate so much software, so fast, it’s nearly impossible for humans to carefully review it all. Cloudsmith has the scale, and the broad view across the open-source ecosystem, to protect enterprises against the new kinds of threats that AI-driven development introduces,” Glenn Weinstein, CEO of Cloudsmith.

Founded in 2016, Cloudsmith is the artifact management platform built for the age of AI. As AI coding agents transform the pace and scale of software development, Cloudsmith gives engineering teams the infrastructure to manage, secure, and govern every package across every format and environment. Built cloud-native from the ground up, Cloudsmith claims to provide the visibility and supply chain controls that modern enterprises need to ship with confidence. 

According to the company, the artifact management market has been fundamentally reshaped by AI agentic software development. “As AI coding agents generate code at unprecedented velocity and volume, the software artifacts and dependencies they produce introduce an expanding threat surface that is now a board-level concern,” mentions Cloudsmith. 

It states that companies need to handle increasingly extensive software supply chains, including open source libraries, internal packages, and third-party dependencies, while also dealing with escalating regulatory demands to demonstrate that AI-generated software is secure by design.

Cloudsmith is designed for this environment. Its platform offers engineering teams the scale and visibility required to manage every package throughout all stages, enabling quick progress without compromising security or oversight.

The additional investment, made one year after Cloudsmith’s Series B, comes amid a period of robust year-over-year growth. The company reported that an increasing number of existing customers, including Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, are replacing legacy tools and upgrading to Cloudsmith’s cloud-native platform. 

Meanwhile, enterprises using AI-coding agents are choosing Cloudsmith to ensure proper guardrails and governance for their software supply chains, says the company. 

“In an era increasingly defined by AI-driven development, securing the software supply chain is critical. As a cloud-native offering, Cloudsmith is well positioned to do this – providing the scale and reliability needed to help power enterprise and AI-driven builds and mitigate emerging risks. We believe in Cloudsmith’s vision to secure the software supply chain by serving as a curated, AI-ready solution for enterprises of all sizes,”  said Thomas Krane, Managing Director at Insight Partners.

Cloudsmith plans to use the funding to accelerate product development and expand its go-to-market capabilities.

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Universal artifact management platform Cloudsmith has raised $72 million in Series C financing led by TCV with participation from Insight Partners, along with investments from other existing investors. 

The additional funding positions Cloudsmith for massive growth to power the era of AI-driven software development. As AI coding agents generate code at unprecedented velocity and volume, the software artifacts and dependencies they produce introduce an expanding threat surface that is now a board-level concern.

Enterprises must manage ever-larger software supply chains, which span open source libraries, internal packages, and third-party dependencies, all while facing growing regulatory pressure to prove that AI-generated software is secure by design. Cloudsmith gives engineering teams the infrastructure to manage, secure, and govern every package across every format and environment.

Built cloud-native from the ground up, Cloudsmith provides the visibility and supply chain controls that modern enterprises need to ship with confidence. 

The additional investment, one year after Cloudsmith’s Series B, follows a period of strong year-over-year growth, as enterprises seek modern infrastructure that keeps pace with the speed and scale of AI-generated software. Increasing numbers of existing customers, including Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, are replacing legacy tools and upgrading to Cloudsmith's cloud-native platform. At the same time, enterprises that adopt AI-coding agents are turning to Cloudsmith to provide the guardrails and governance their software supply chains require. 

According to Glenn Weinstein, CEO of Cloudsmith, we’re never going back to hand-crafted software. AI agents generate so much software, so fast, it's nearly impossible for humans to carefully review it all. 

"Cloudsmith has the scale and the broad view across the open-source ecosystem to protect enterprises against the new kinds of threats that AI-driven development introduces.”

“Having led Cloudsmith’s Series B and now its Series C, TCV is proud to deepen our partnership with a company we see as defining artifact management for the AI era. As AI shapes the software supply chain, we believe Cloudsmith is uniquely positioned to become a platform enterprises rely on for compliance, control, and security at global scale,” said Morgan Gerlak, Partner at TCV.

“In an era increasingly defined by AI-driven development, securing the software supply chain is critical. As a cloud-native offering, Cloudsmith is well-positioned to do this – providing the scale and reliability needed to help power enterprise and AI-driven builds and mitigate emerging risks. We believe in Cloudsmith’s vision to secure the software supply chain by serving as a curated, AI-ready solution for enterprises of all sizes,”  said Thomas Krane, Managing Director at Insight Partners.

Cloudsmith will use the funding to accelerate product development and expand its go-to-market capabilities.

The investment is Microsoft’s largest-ever in Australia and builds on an A$5 billion commitment from October 2023. It includes expanding Azure AI supercomputing capacity by more than 140%, extending the Microsoft-ASD Cyber-Shield to additional government agencies, and training three million Australians in AI skills by 2028. Microsoft has announced A$25 billion (approximately USD 18 billion) […]

UNIVITY, a Paris-based operator of space-based connectivity services, announced the closing of a €27 million Series A funding round in order to complete its VLEO 5G demonstration programme, develop its telecom operator offering, strengthen its teams, and prepare for industrial and commercial scale-up from 2028.

The round was raised by Blast, Expansion, and the Deeptech 2030 fund managed on behalf of the French State by Bpifrance as part of France 2030, alongside two family offices. This follows a September 2025 €31 million raise – as reported by EU-Startups.

Charles Delfieux, Founder and CEO of UNIVITY, says: “We are building the reference space infrastructure designed for telecom operators, covering the full range of connectivity needs – from ultra-high-speed broadband to direct-to-smartphone connectivity. The convergence between terrestrial and space networks is inevitable. Our ambition is to enable operators to leverage space as a natural extension of their terrestrial 5G networks, combining performance, competitiveness, and sovereignty.”

Within the context of space and adjacent infrastructure funding, the closest benchmarks for UNIVITY are

• Spain: Sateliot in Barcelona, which launched a €100 million Series C to deploy a 16-satellite 5G constellation and support global commercial execution; PLD Space in Elche, which added a €30 million EIB loan to complete MIURA 5 development and expand industrial and launch capacity; and Arkadia Space in Castellón, which secured €14.5 million to commercialise green propulsion systems.
• SWISSto12 in Lausanne, which secured €73 million to develop its compact telecom satellite HummingSat
• SatVu in London, which raised €34 million to scale a multi-satellite constellation
• AIRMO in Berlin and Luxembourg, which raised €5 million to launch its first satellite mission and expand airborne monitoring.

Taken together, those comparator announcements amount to over €256 million, or about €283 million including UNIVITY’s raise, indicating that substantial capital is still flowing into European space infrastructure across connectivity, satellites, launch, propulsion and orbital services; in this narrow 2026 comparator set, none of the closest peers is France-based, so there is no same-country match to call out here. EU-Startups has, however, covered UNIVITY before, reporting in September 2025 that the Paris-based company secured €31 million in strategic France 2030 funding to support its space-based 5G constellation.

Stéphane Lefevre-Sauli, Senior Investment Director at Bpifrance, adds: “We are delighted to continue supporting UNIVITY, whose globally impactful innovations in VLEO and 5G NTN spectrum are critical to enabling telecom operators to remain competitive and independent in the space connectivity market. This investment fully addresses national and European sovereignty challenges in connectivity, which are at the core of our investment thesis.”

Founded in 2022, UNIVITY develops a wholesale space infrastructure enabling telecom operators to provide high-speed, low-latency internet access from space directly to their customers, complementing terrestrial networks.

Through Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellites and the use of telecom operators’ 5G spectrum, the company reportedly delivers a high-performance, affordable, and sustainable solution, designed for both broadband and Direct-to-Cell markets.

Today’s funding will enable the company to:

• Complete execution of its uniShape VLEO 5G demonstration programme, which aims to demonstrate the performance of its high-speed, low-latency VLEO connectivity service, based on breakthrough innovations across multiple domains
• Develop a uniquely positioned offering for telecom operators in the market
• Strengthen and structure its teams
• Prepare for industrial and commercial scale-up from 2028

UNIVITY explains that they offer telecom operators a solution to sovereignty challenges – enabling them to retain strategic control over their space-based connectivity services.

As terrestrial and space networks converge, a global market expected to reach several tens of​ billions of euros by 2030 is emerging, with telecom operators seeking to preserve their central role against vertically integrated models from new entrants.

UNIVITY’s strategy is built on two core technological pilars.

• First, its positioning in VLEO, enabling significantly lower latency, improved performance – including smartphones and connected vehicles – and rapid natural atmospheric disintegration at the end of satellites’ life, contributing to orbital sustainability.
• Second, the use of telecom operators’ 5G spectrum, ensuring native integration with existing mobile networks and enabling for seamless 5G NTN service continuity, without relying on frequency bands already saturated or pre-empted by new entrants.

The company aims to place telecom operators back at the centre of the value chain by developing a shared, neutral space infrastructure that they can commercialise themselves s just as they do today with terrestrial networks.

Charles Beigbeder, co-founder of Expansion, says:​ “UNIVITY represents an exceptional opportunity to support a breakthrough innovation that is rethinking space connectivity infrastructure. With this Series A, we are strengthening our commitment to enabling telecom operators to capture this strategic market while addressing the challenges of sustainable space usage.”

This Series A will support the execution of the uniShape programme, the first VLEO-based 5G NTN demonstrator, developed with the support of CNES. Two VLEO 5G satellites will be assembled, integrated, tested, and operated in orbit to validate an end-to-end high-throughput 5G NTN service, as well as Direct-to-Cell smartphone connectivity – from ground gateways to end-user devices.

This demonstrator will reportedly be a world first and a key milestone toward the deployment of the commercial uniSky constellation. It will demonstrate full interoperability between terrestrial and space networks within a controlled convergence framework.

Beyond the demonstrator, this funding round also marks a new phase of development: the transition to industrial and commercial scale. The company is strengthening its teams in engineering, industrialization and business development to prepare for the next phase, set to begin in 2028.

Anthony Bourbon, Founder of Blast Club, states: “UNIVITY is not just innovating – it is redefining the architecture of global communications. By positioning space as the natural extension of terrestrial networks, the company is already establishing itself as a pivotal player in the sector. At Blast, we support those who have the boldness and operational excellence required to build the industrial champions of tomorrow.”

Furthermore, through this funding round and with the support of CNES, UNIVITY says they are accelerating the development of a competitive space infrastructure designed to complement fiber and cellular networks, extend connectivity to rural and remote areas, strengthen the resilience of critical networks, and restore operators’ control over their space-based expansion.

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