Paris-based deeptech Altrove has raised $10 million in seed funding to scale production of AI-designed, sustainable alternatives to critical materials such as rare earths.

The round was led by Alven, with participation from Bpifrance’s Digital Venture fund, Contrarian Ventures, and Emblem, bringing Altrove’s total funding to $14 million.

Existing investors include Entrepreneurs First and notable angels such as Thomas Clozel (Owkin), Julien Chaumond (Hugging Face), Thomas Plantenga (Vinted), and Michal Valko (formerly at Meta).

Founded in 2024 by Martin and Laulainen, Altrove plans to use the funding to expand its laboratories, grow its team, and scale production of AI-designed materials from grams to industrial volumes within two years.

Altrove is developing AI-predicted materials that aim to reduce reliance on imported resources and strengthen industrial sovereignty in Europe. Its proprietary platform combines artificial intelligence, automated lab synthesis, and self-learning characterisation to accelerate material discovery from years to weeks.

“Western nations cannot afford to be dependent on imports for the very materials that power electrification,” said Thibaud Martin, co-founder and CEO of Altrove.

Altrove has already reached several technical milestones, including the development of rare-earth-free and cobalt-free magnetic materials for high-performance motors and non-toxic, lead-free compounds for sensors and actuators. The company has secured more than a dozen partnerships with major players in automotive, energy, and heavy industry, with the first products expected to launch within two years.

“Our technology ensures that our AI-designed materials consume the resources we want them to consume, without dependence on other nations' resources,” said Dr Joonatan Laulainen, co-founder and CTO.

Photo by Takemaru Hirai on Unsplash

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In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, we sit down with Julio Martinez, Co-founder and CEO of Abacum, a platform that helps CFOs and finance teams forecast revenue, plan headcount, and model financial scenarios to drive efficient growth. Founded in 2020, the company has raised a total of $105 million to date and now serves hundreds of mid-market companies across 31 countries.

Julio is an experienced entrepreneur with a background in fintech and a passion for building tools that simplify complex financial operations. Under his leadership, Abacum has expanded globally, with a team of more than 100 employees across Barcelona, New York, and London.

In our conversation, we talk about how Abacum transforms traditional spreadsheet-heavy workflows into real-time, collaborative planning, how finance teams adopt the platform in practice, Spain’s growing tech scene, and why the company is doubling down on U.S. expansion. We also dive into Julio’s personal operating system: Vipassana, Stoicism (Epictetus), journaling, family-first values, and even his near-career as a paella cook (though he hasn’t said his last word on that yet).

Video version of episode 142:

Audio version of episode 142:



Key Takeaways:

• Excel works… until scale, collaboration, and cadence break it.
• One live model for revenue, headcount, and OPEX equals forecasts you can defend.
• Headcount discipline covering role, timing, ramp, and ROI beats top-down totals.
• AI enhances productivity; decisions remain human.
• EU vs US: The EU optimises for control, the U.S. for speed. Abacum serves both.

The post EU-Startups Podcast | Episode 142: Julio Martinez, Co-founder and CEO of Abacum appeared first on EU-Startups.

At just 18 years old, Robert Mukhametov has already built a mini app empire from his base in Cyprus. He’s founded RM Company, built a team, and created three AI-powered apps that have each climbed into the Top 100 of the App Store — spanning health, finance, and consumer transparency. 

What’s more, he’s done it all without a cent of investor funding. And, this is his first job. 

I spoke to him to find out how he did it. 

No funding, no problem

Mukhametov admits, “When I started at 16, nobody wanted to invest in a teenager,” he recalls.

“They probably thought I’d spend the money on designer clothes. So I asked myself, ‘Why do I even need funding if I can build and market apps myself?’”

He bootstrapped every project, reinvesting revenue from one app into the next. 

“When you bootstrap, you learn to spend wisely. You focus on what truly matters — improving user value — instead of wasting money on vanity ads like billboards in Times Square,” he says.

His story shows that high-impact AI products can come from the most unexpected places — and that speed, experimentation, and an obsessive focus on user experience can sometimes rival the resources of much larger, well-funded te ams.

After teaching himself to code and market apps, Mukhametov began experimenting with everyday problems he could solve using AI — starting with nutrition.

“I tried another calorie-tracking app from the App Store and found it outdated and clunky,” he recalls. 

“I thought, I can make this ten times better — and cheaper.”

That insight led to CalSnap, which lets users photograph their meals to get instant calorie and nutrition estimates powered by AI.

It’s designed for those who want to lose weight or eat more mindfully without manual entry. The app provides progress tracking, visual meal logs, and daily summaries, making it a quick and user-friendly alternative to traditional calorie counters. It’s currently ranked around 76th in the Health category.

The company’s second effort is Lumin, a shopping-companion app designed to help you decode the ingredient lists on food and beauty products.
 By scanning a barcode (or product label) the app generates an easy-to-understand “health score” that reflects ingredient quality, additive risk, and nutritional balance. 

It also offers plain-English definitions of every ingredient, explains potential concerns, and suggests healthier alternatives when a product rates poorly. The makers emphasise their independence (no brand tie-ins), so the advice is intended to be unbiased. It’s currently ranked 36th out of 100 in the Apple App Store.

The third app is TradeGenius, which focuses on stock trading and tracks explicit trades made by US politicians and shares that data with regular users.  The app offers instant alerts when new filings are published, provides ranked lists of insider performance, and uses AI to simplify complex market data into bite-sized summaries. 
Mukhametov discovered that US politicians have historically outperformed the S&P 500, and since the data is public, he thought,  “‘Why isn’t there an app that makes this easy to access?”’

According to Mukhametov, “People love it. We’ve even had some conflicts with politicians trying to hide their trades. But

it’s all publicly available data — it doesn’t violate any laws — and we comply with all sector policies. We’re not censoring anything.” It’s currently ranked 52nd in the Finance category.

Beyond that, Mukhametov is particularly excited about expanding into the mental health space — a sector he believes is underrated and full of potential. 

The team’s first step is an AI psychologist app developed with input from a professional psychologist.

“There’s a growing need for mental health tools, and not enough good ones.”

What makes a good app?

Mukhametov asserts that apps built solely for profit fail to impress. He believes the right path is to focus on what people actually need — and to maximise perceived value.

“If you do that well, users will come, and some will pay for premium features.”

When launching new products, he believes in releasing them for free first to gauge user interest, noting that “if retention is low, adding subscriptions or premium features won’t help.”

Like many developers, AI has provided a boost in productivity, as according to Mukhametov, “We use AI extensively. For example, we use OpenAI’s Codex models — one of the best on the LLM leaderboard. Every employee has access to ChatGPT. We follow an AI-first approach.”

Mukhametov admits he’s been interested in AI long before ChatGPT “I used to train small models on my home computer just for fun — that’s actually how this company started,” he shared.

“When ChatGPT came out, I immediately saw it as a paradigm shift. I didn’t plan a formal AI integration strategy — I just started using it.

If I saw a task that AI could make faster or easier, I’d show my team how to do it. That’s how it spread internally.”

Crafting UX that keeps users coming back

From a UX perspective, several features appear across all of the company’s apps — for example, streaks, which have proven effective in helping users stay consistent and are frequently mentioned in reviews.

However, each app is tailored to its specific sector. The team prefers to spend additional time perfecting the design for each product rather than applying a one-size-fits-all template.

According to Mukhametov, app building is not all fun. Building an app that reaches the top 100 is hard — “there are endless bugs to fix and constant updates to make.”

Until recently, all marketing and design were done by Mukhametov, with the team only hiring a marketing team this October.

The company primarily markets on Meta and TikTok, using their ad platforms.  “We test as many creatives as possible to see what resonates with users,” shared Mukhametov.

Behind the screens:  how to get and stay in the App Store’s Top 100

When asked how the team manages to get and keep its apps in the top 100, Mukhametov explained that it comes down to a mix of factors: strong product quality, high user retention, frequent weekly updates, and continuous AI model improvements across all apps.

“We use AI in all our products and are constantly working to make it better,” he said, adding that keeping prices low is also a key part of their strategy to make the apps accessible to everyone.

From here on, the company aims to elevate its top 100 apps to the top 10 in their respective categories, with the ultimate goal of having at least one app ranked in the top 10 of every primary App Store sector.

It's also expanding into gaming, recently launching into the new territory of Roblox games, where it currently has a 99th percentile click-to-play rate and an average playtime of 50 minutes, which is well above industry averages.
Mukhametov admits he doesn’t do much outside work, working around 100 hours a week.

“Building products is what motivates me most. I’ve tried going to parties or playing games, but I always come back to creating things. I enjoy making people’s lives easier.”

He attributes his success to passion, asserting,“I try to encourage others — especially young people — to just build something. Whether it’s a website, an app, or a game, start small and learn by doing.”

He also mentors young founders. 

Ultimately, Robert Mukhametov represents a new generation of founders who move fast, think globally, and build with purpose — often without waiting for permission or funding.

Lead image: Robert Mukhametov. Photo: uncredited. 

The eighth edition of VDS brought the global tech community together in the City of Arts and Sciences, turning Valencia into the focal point of European innovation. Over two days, the event gathered more than 12,000 founders, investors, and business leaders from 120 countries under the theme “Collaborate Today. Transform Tomorrow.” Organised by Startup Valencia, VDS 2025 showcased how collaboration, purpose, and technology can drive positive impact across industries and borders.

A record-breaking gathering of global innovators

This year’s summit set a new milestone for international participation, with 45% of attendees coming from abroad, a 41% increase compared to 2024. More than 3,000 startups, 1,500 corporations, and 800 investors managing over €300 billion in assets joined a program that featured 600 speakers across seven themed stages. From DeepTech and AI to sustainability, health, and space innovation, the sessions explored how Europe can lead the next decade of technological progress.

Innovation with a human heart

The 2025 edition was inspired by the solidarity shown after Storm DANA, which hit Valencia in 2024. Reflecting on how the local tech community responded with initiatives such as DANA Help and Adopt a School, Juan Luis Hortelano, President of Startup Valencia, said the experience proved that innovation can be both resilient and compassionate.

This human-first perspective was present throughout the event. Scientist and entrepreneur Pilar Mateo presented “Women Paint Too”, an initiative encouraging women to transform challenges into creativity. Diversity, inclusion, and sustainability were recurring themes, with more than one-third of speakers being women and many sessions dedicated to social and environmental progress.

Global voices and bold ideas

VDS 2025 hosted an extraordinary mix of global innovators and cultural figures. Actor and investor Kelly Rutherford spoke about aligning purpose and business, while former England captain Sol Campbell shared insights on leadership and resilience. Longevity researcher Aubrey de Grey discussed advances in rejuvenation science, and Minh Le, creator of Counter-Strike, reflected on the evolution of gaming and digital creativity.

Unicorn founders from Creditas, Glovo, Remote, letgo, Mews, Exoticca, Qonto, and ElevenLabs joined leaders from Booking.com, Adyen, and Just Eat Takeaway.com to illustrate Europe’s capacity to build and scale globally relevant startups. Gillian Tans (Booking.com), Sacha Michaud (Glovo), and Enrique Linares (letgo, Plus Partners) offered practical insights into what it takes to grow from early stage to global scale. Ana Peleteiro (Preply) explored how artificial intelligence is transforming education through a “human first, AI-enabled” approach.

AI, DeepTech and smarter scaling

Artificial intelligence was one of the central themes of the summit. Christian Teichmann (Burda Principal Investments) and Iñaki Berenguer (LifeX Ventures, Coverwallet) examined how AI is reshaping investment, healthcare, and innovation infrastructure. Blockchain, cybersecurity, and defence were also in focus, highlighting Europe’s growing influence across emerging technologies.

Scalability Day, organised by Adigital and EsTech with the support of ICEX, brought together international founders and investors to share lessons on sustainable growth. The event highlighted 22 European scaleups achieving annual growth above 20%, underlining the maturity and ambition of Europe’s tech ecosystem.

Valencia’s growing tech momentum

During the opening ceremony, Mayor Mª José Catalá announced that the City Council will continue supporting VDS for two more years, calling the summit a defining moment in Valencia’s rise as a European tech capital. The renewed partnership between Startup Valencia and Estonia’s e-Residency programme further deepened cross-border cooperation across Europe’s digital ecosystems.

The Valencian Startup Observatory 2025 report confirmed this momentum. The region now counts 1,689 active startups, up 11.3% year on year, with €160 million raised in 2025, a 66% increase over 2024. More than 70% of Valencian startups secured investment this year, solidifying the city’s reputation as one of Europe’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial communities.

Celebrating excellence and impact

Innovation and collaboration took centre stage at the VDS International Startup Competition, where Spacebackend from Luxembourg and Zibra AI from Ukraine were named winners in the Early and Growth Stage categories. Special recognition went to Marina de Empresas for its post-DANA recovery project “Alcem-se,” to Espai Aero CV for advancing aerospace innovation, and to Iñaki Berenguer, who received the VDS 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award for his global entrepreneurial impact.

Institutional and corporate backing

VDS 2025 was backed by Banco Santander as the main sponsor, Valencia Innovation Capital as the host partner, and the e-Residency of Estonia as the partnering country. A broad alliance of partners, including Wayra Telefónica, EY, Fundación LAB, CaixaBank DayOne, PowerCo, Volkswagen Group Services, IBM, OVHcloud, Mobile World Capital, Bit2Me, Adigital, EsTech, Opentop (Valenciaport), and MAPFRE, played a vital role in the event’s success. Key technology partners such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google for Startups, and HubSpot for Startups further amplified the summit’s international reach. Institutional supporters, including Spain’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism, the Generalitat Valenciana, ICEX, CDTI, ENISA, Renfe, and several leading universities, reinforced VDS’s standing as a European benchmark for innovation and technology.

Europe’s collaborative spirit on display

Closing the summit, Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, highlighted how shared effort drives progress: “VDS shows what happens when Europe’s innovators work together: we accelerate ideas that make the world better.” From renewed partnerships and record participation to tangible progress in sustainability and inclusion, VDS 2025 once again demonstrated that Europe’s future of innovation is collaborative – and Valencia is leading the way.

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Sofia-based EnduroSat has closed a $104 million funding round. Riot Ventures, Google Ventures, Lux Capital, the European Innovation Council Fund, and Shrug Capital participated as the company advances its mission to streamline access to space data.

EnduroSat is an aerospace company dedicated to making space more accessible. The team designs, builds, and operates advanced small satellites and satellite modules, enabling organisations to deploy and manage space missions more efficiently.

The funding coincides with the official opening of EnduroSat’s state-of-the-art Space Center in Sofia, addressing accelerating global demand for small- to mid-sized satellite constellations.

The new 188,340-square-foot facility gives EnduroSat the capability to manufacture up to two 200-500kg satellites daily and features advanced RF labs, hardware and mechanical labs, ISO-classified clean rooms, and comprehensive space qualification facilities, delivering speed, reliability, and cost efficiency in satellite manufacturing.

Raycho Raychev, EnduroSat CEO and founder, said:

This latest investment, combined with the launch of our new Space Center, marks a pivotal moment. It not only validates our strong market traction but significantly accelerates our ability to deliver highly capable, cost-effective satellite constellations at an unprecedented scale, moving us closer to a future where space data will become universally accessible and instantly available.

The new funding will enable EnduroSat to scale its production capacity for advanced constellation customers, accelerating time-to-orbit by supporting the manufacturing of up to two ESPA-class satellites per day.

Bending Spoons, the Italian tech conglomerate which typically acquires and tries to revive tech brands, has raised $710m in an equity fundraising round at an $11 billion valuation, it said today.

The announcement follows just a day after Bending Spoons said it was acquiring AOL, one of the internet’s most well known early companies.

The equity round was led by T Rowe Price with participation from Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity and others.

Luca Ferrari, co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, said “This moment is a validation of a decade’s worth of work and it serves as an important recognition of what we’ve accomplished at Bending Spoons so far.

“We remain early in our journey and have ambitious plans for continued investment and growth."

The $770m funding comprises $270m in new funding and a $440m secondary share sale by existing investors in Bending Spoons.

The funding complements a $2.8bn debt facility the Italian company has also secured, as it hunts out new acquisitions and develops its AI chops.

Along with AOL, Bending Spoons has also acquired Vimeo, WeTransfer and Evernote, among other tech firms.

Legal technology company Legora has raised $150 million in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at $1.8 billion.

The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors ICONIQ, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark, and Y Combinator. The company plans to more than double its headcount over the next year while establishing new global hubs.

The company is now headquartered in New York and the investment will support Legora’s global expansion and continued development of its AI-powered platform for legal professionals.

The UK is now among the companys fastest-growing markets, with clients including Linklaters, Deloitte Legal, and Bird & Bird.

“We are seeing astronomical demand for our product. Legal professionals across the globe are adopting AI into their work at an unprecedented rate, and I could not be more proud of supporting our customers on this journey,"

said Max Junestrand, CEO and co-founder of Legora.

Legora’s platform is used by tens of thousands of legal professionals for document review, research, drafting, and collaboration. The company works closely with major law firms such as Linklaters, Cleary Gottlieb, Goodwin, and MinterEllison, positioning itself as a partner in digital transformation rather than a simple software vendor.

Headquartered in New York, Legora operates offices in Stockholm, London, Denver, and Sydney.

Hyperdrives is a Munich-based deep-tech startup building the next generation of high-performance electric drives — and proving that you don't need venture capital to achieve commercial traction. 

Founded in 2021, it moved fast, went to market, and attracted commercial customers just by bootstrapping, creating motor-cooling tech that fills a critical customer need and is scalable across the whole mobility vertical. 

I spoke to CEO Robin Renz to find out more.

The deeptech breakthrough powering the future of electric drives

The ongoing electrification of transport demands electric drives that are more powerful, efficient, and cost-effective at scale. Conventional motors cool indirectly via water jackets or oil spray, which leaves temperature hot spots in the windings, limits current capability, and compromises efficiency.

Hyperdrives' breakthrough lies in making direct hollow-conductor cooling viable for mass production using standard materials and existing automotive production lines.

Previous attempts at this approach were complex, expensive, and prone to reliability issues. Hyperdrives has solved these challenges with a technology that channels coolant directly through hollow copper conductors — cooling the motor at the precise point of heat generation. 

This eliminates thermal bottlenecks and achieves a tenfold improvement in heat dissipation: a 100 K temperature difference in a conventional motor corresponds to just 10 K in Hyperdrives' system.

Because the copper runs cooler, the motor can safely handle much higher current densities, delivering over 12 kW/kg continuous power density at the system level — roughly twice that of a conventional EV motor of the same size. The result is a motor that's lighter, smaller, and up to 10 per cent more efficient over real-world drive cycles, offering a unique performance-to-cost advantage across automotive, aerospace, and marine applications.

According to Renz:

"We build electric motors and full drive systems — the motor plus the inverter, which is essentially the brain managing electricity from the battery or fuel cell.

What sets Hyperdrives apart is our power density — extreme power in a very small package. We achieve this not with exotic materials or 3D-printed windings, but by re-engineering the cooling."

Every electric motor has a thermal limit. The more current you feed into the windings, the hotter it gets. Conventional cooling is "like boiling an egg and then putting it in cold water — it cools the outside, but stays hot inside." 

Hyperdrives does it differently: its coolant runs through the copper conductor itself.

"That gives us ten times better heat transfer. We can push more electricity through the motor without overheating — that's how we reach our power density. It sounds simple, but making it compact enough for a car and industrialising it for mass production is incredibly complex. That's where much of our IP lies — in the industrialisation process itself," explained Renz. 

From balcony prototype to breakthrough

Hyperdrives was founded by a team of seasoned automotive innovators:

Michael Numberger, a pioneering engineer and former lead designer of Le Mans – winning hybrid electric drive systems with over 13 years of experience; Robin Renz, an experienced strategist and M&A professional who helped pioneer Volkswagen Group's MEB electric platform; and Benjamin Hengstler, a motor software and controls specialist who previously led the development of a Formula E–winning electric drive system.

At some point, Numberger discovered the technology that defines hyperdrives today — hollow-conductor cooling. He realised he could achieve motorsport-level power density at a fraction of the cost and complexity using this method.
He wanted to develop it internally but wasn't allowed to, so he quit his job. He and Hengstler built the first prototype in his kitchen and on his balcony.

When it was ready, they tested it at the University of the Armed Forces in Munich because it was powerful and they needed a proper test bench.

Hilariously, the test was so successful that all the cables melted and the fire alarms went off — 
"The bench couldn't handle the power the motor produced, recalled Renz. "That was the moment they realised it worked, not just on paper but in hardware."

Renz joined later — he knew Numberger from university. They were looking for a commercial co-founder, and that's how we teamed up. 

One scalable, adaptable cooling system to power them all

Significantly, Hyperdrives doesn't build a single motor for a specific application. Rather, it has a technology that can be applied to many different electric motors, from cars, trucks, and boats to industrial tools and aircraft, as well as agricultural use cases. 

Renz detailed:

"We don't change the fundamental principle or design of an electric motor either, which really helps with industrialisation and production — the architecture itself stays the same. 

It's a bit like with a turbocharger: you take a normal V6 motor, put a turbocharger on it, and suddenly it performs like a Ferrari V12. It's similar to us — obviously very different physics — but the same idea."

Commercial interest before investment

Hyperdrives stands out because the startup manufactured products for commercial customers without investor funding.

Renz admits, "Bootstrapping made us slower in some ways. Still, it meant we skipped at least one financing round and built real traction before raising capital."

"We bootstrapped for three years — and when I say bootstrapped, I really mean it. We lived off our savings, and there was no grandmother investing money into it. We financed everything ourselves through early customer revenue."

The team of four reached about a million in revenue last year, a mighty feat for a hardware startup."

However, the beginning of this year, Hyperdrives raised its first round of funding. 

"We already have a pretty broad commercial pipeline, and to convert that, we needed to do our homework," explained Renz. 

"We needed it because we're now doing more expensive things like system testing and automotive testing, which require significant capital, and we needed to extend the team to handle that."

The response from mobility OEMs is enthusiastic because, according to Renz, everyone in high-power motor R&D is trying to solve the same problem: how to push thermal limits.

"We're doing what many call the 'holy grail of cooling.' Everyone knows it's the right direction, but no one else has figured out how to make it manufacturable."

So, when the team talks to OEMs, they immediately understand the benefits. The main question is about durability and scalability — can it survive mass production? That's what it's proving right now.

Hyperdrives' first customer was a hypercar manufacturer building a hypercar platform. The second was a company that builds electric hydrofoiling boats, which had previously used extremely high-powered Formula E motors, which are extremely expensive. 

"Our hypercar customer actually connected us with them — they said, 'You need to talk to these guys,'" shared Renz. 

At that time, they were still a home-office company.

"The marine company decided to give it a shot, and since then, we've been their motor supplier. One thing led to another — a bit of luck and a lot of hustle."

How Hyperdrives balances custom projects and mass production

Hyperdrives has two business pillars. 

The first is a low-to mid-volume project business. Renz explained:

"A customer comes to us with a specific application — for example, an electric boat or drone.

We take our technology platform, adapt it to their needs, manufacture it with a partner in Germany, and deliver the hardware.

We plan to scale that to hundreds or low thousands of units per year over the next two years."

The second pillar is the high-volume automotive business, where Hyperdrives licenses its technology so  OEMs can integrate it into their existing production lines. Significantly, Hyperdrives' processes can be seamlessly integrated into the existing automotive supply chain.

"In fact, we can keep about 80 per cent of their existing setup unchanged. We only replace two processes, one of which is currently dirty and expensive. That's crucial because no carmaker is going to scrap eight global production lines to adopt a new motor design," shared Renz. 

Hyperdrives is currently expanding its ten-person team to fifteen by next year as it moves into its next growth phase. The company's priorities include securing a major project customer to scale its technology into the hundreds of units per year, launching its first pre-development project with an automotive partner, and establishing a pilot production plant in Munich.

According to Renz, the pilot plant will demonstrate the company's industrialisation processes in real hardware.

"It's crucial both to scale our project business and to prove to OEMs that our production process works — that it's high quality, efficient, and ready for automotive validation.

We want to get to the point where a production planner from BMW, for example, can stand next to our pilot line, stopwatch in hand, and see for themselves that it works."

Lead image: Hyperdrives' founders. Photo: uncredited.

In the first half of 2025, European robotics financing totalled €618.7 million across 33 deals, roughly 1.8 per cent of all European tech capital (€33.7 billion) and 1.7 per cent of deal volume (1,941 deals).

While robotics remains a focused slice of the market, the period’s largest financings highlight a broadening scope: aerial systems for defence and geospatial intelligence, collaborative and humanoid platforms, medical exoskeletons, and drone solutions for renewable-energy maintenance and industrial inspection.

Logistics and manufacturing stayed busy with warehouse piece-picking, outdoor mobile robots for inspection and site logistics, modular automation cells, and software layers that power robot vision, autonomous picking, programming/orchestration, and systems integration. Long-range BVLOS platforms and marketplaces rounded out activity.

Together, these themes point to a sector shifting from pilots to scaled, mission-critical deployments across defence, healthcare, energy, and supply chains.

The following are the ten largest funding rounds in the European robotics industry during the first half of 2025.

Amount raised in H1 2025: €160M Quantum Systems develops advanced aerial intelligence systems that integrate vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) drones with high-performance sensors and mapping software. Its product line, including the Trinity Pro, provides long-range drones and turnkey systems for defence, security, and geospatial applications. With a mission of “Aerial intelligence when it matters,” Quantum Systems enables critical operations in infrastructure inspection, ISR and remote sensing. In May, Quantum Systems secured €160 million to scale its AI-powered aerial intelligence platform.

Amount raised in H1 2025: €120M Founded in 2019 in Germany, NEURA Robotics develops next-generation cognitive and humanoid robots that learn, adapt and collaborate with humans. Its product range spans industrial, service and domestic robotics, including robot arms (MAiRA), mobile manipulators (MiPA) and humanoid platforms (4NE-1), all built on its proprietary AI platform and ecosystem (“Neuraverse”). The company’s mission is to make human-robot collaboration safe, intuitive and accessible across industry and everyday life. In January, NEURA Robotics secured €120 million for its cognitive and humanoid robotics business, reinforcing its leadership in the field and positioning the company to lead Europe’s robotics industry and compete globally.

Amount raised in H1 2025: $75M Wandercraft is a French robotics company on a mission to put movement, for people, industry and humanity, at the heart of engineering innovation. Leveraging artificial intelligence and real-world experience, Wandercraft has developed the world’s first self-balancing personal exoskeleton, “Eve”, enabling individuals with severe motor impairments to walk both indoors and outdoors. The company also designs advanced robotics for rehabilitation and industrial applications, striving to restore autonomy, dignity and freedom of motion. In June, Wandercraft secured $75 million for global acceleration of AI-powered robotics.

Amount raised in H1 2025: $62M Aerones is a pioneering robotics firm dedicated to transforming wind-energy maintenance. By deploying patented robotic systems tailored for blade and tower inspections, cleaning, coating and repairs, the company enables wind-farm operators to boost efficiency, reduce downtime and enhance safety by replacing risky human processes. Aerones serves major global wind-power players, helping the industry move faster, cleaner and smarter. In June, Aerones closed $62 million round to expand its global operations and develop artificial intelligence-assisted maintenance technologies.

Amount raised in H1 2025: $44M Nomagic delivers AI-powered “pick and place” robotics solutions designed to transform warehouse automation for leading retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies. Their systems combine advanced vision, machine learning and robotics to boost accuracy in picking, packing and sorting operations. With 24/7 monitoring, remote operations support and a technology roadmap driven by teams from top tech backgrounds, they help clients scale into future-proof, lights-out warehouse fulfilment. In February, Nomagic secured $44 million in funding to accelerate its European expansion and advance its investments in AI and robotics technologies.

Amount raised in H1 2025: €31M ARX Robotics develops Europe’s next-generation autonomous mobile robotics and digitalisation platform designed to modernise legacy fleets. They offer modular robotic systems, called “autonomous all-rounders”, and their software suite Mithra OS for transforming existing vehicles into connected, AI-enabled assets. With a focus on modularity, open APIs, and rugged performance, ARX Robotics aims to enhance productivity and resilience across commercial and defence missions. ARX Robotics raised €31 million in April to advance military automation.

Amount raised in H1 2025: €25M Sereact offers an AI-powered automation solution designed for warehouses, delivering “day one” intelligence with over 98 per cent accuracy on any robot, without retraining or retooling. Their technology integrates with existing systems and hardware (from cube storage to conveyors and autonomous mobile robots), enabling robots to pick, place, and adapt across workflows. With a production-ready vision-language-action model trained on millions of real-world picks, they provide a plug-and-play “brain” for robots, enabling fully autonomous operation in messy warehouse environments. In January, Sereact raised €25 million to boost AI robotics zero-shot visual reasoning.

Amount raised in H1 2025: €11.3M Capra Robotics is a Danish company that designs and builds versatile mobile robot platforms tailored for inspection, logistics and urban maintenance applications. Based on its patented wheel-frame architecture, Capra delivers deployment-ready autonomous systems that work both indoors and outdoors to handle tasks like perimeter monitoring, facility logistics, de-icing and more. The company emphasises seamless integration, agility, and scalability to automate demanding environments. Capra Robotics secured €11.3 million in January to create mobile robots to help people wherever they go.

Amount raised in H1 2025: $11M Voliro is a Swiss company specialising in drone-enabled non-destructive testing solutions. Their flagship platform, the Voliro T, features tiltable rotors for omnidirectional mobility and can apply stable force and torque for contact inspections. Designed for industries like oil & gas, chemicals, wind energy, and infrastructure, it enables inspections in complex or high-risk environments, boosting safety, speed, and cost-effectiveness. In June, Voliro secured $11 million to modernise infrastructure with aerial robotics.

Amount raised in H1 2025: €8.5M Unchained Robotics is an automation-platform company whose mission is to simplify access to robotics for manufacturers of all sizes. They offer a brand-agnostic online marketplace and configurator that lets users compare robots, grippers, cameras and other components, with transparent pricing and specs. For turnkey applications, they provide their modular cell system “MalocherBot” paired with their operating system “LUNA OS”, enabling pre-configured automation solutions that can be set up quickly and without deep programming expertise. In June, Unchained Robotics raised €8.5 million to support the international expansion and further development of its intelligent software.

London-based Solidatus, a provider of data lineage solutions, has secured a £5 million loan from the Growth Debt Fund at Salica Investments to support R&D and drive growth.

The global data governance market is projected to approach $20 billion by 2032, with data lineage becoming an increasingly critical component. Growth is driven by rising data volume and complexity, tighter regulation, and heightened requirements for data quality and security.

To address this challenge, Solidatus provides advanced data lineage solutions for highly regulated sectors such as financial services, energy, and pharmaceuticals. The platform enables organisations to map, manage, and trace data from its origin through transformations to downstream use, creating a clear, auditable view that supports decision-making, compliance, digital transformation, and AI initiatives.

AlunBaker, Executive Chairman at Solidatus, said:

Our focus on advancing the platform’s AI capabilities will further enhance our customers’ ability to manage complexity, ensure compliance, and unlock the value of trusted data at scale. Without lineage, even the most advanced models risk instability, and regulatory cracks will start to show, with major consequences to businesses across all sectors.

By reducing manual effort in complex governance tasks and adding natural-language interactions on top of Solidatus’ lineage intelligence, the platform will simplify how organisations build data trust, navigate complex models, and meet regulatory requirements.

The new investment will accelerate AI-enabled features, including automatic lineage generation with human-in-the-loop verification and inter-system lineage.

Monzo CEO TS Anil is stepping down from the role after over five years and is being replaced by a former Google executive with banking experience.

Anil is being replaced by Diana Layfield, an ex-banker who also spent nine years at Google in various senior roles, including across Google's search and crypto businesses.

The move comes ahead of Monzo's expected blockbuster stock market listing, which could value the challenger bank at as much as £10bn.

Layfield will take up the CEO role of London-based Monzo, which is famed for its coral-coloured cards and is backed by CapitalG, Alphabet's growth stage VC arm, in February next year, when Anil moves to an advisory role.

Layfield currently holds a non-executive role at AstraZeneca and is chair of the UK development institution, British International Investment. Layfield has previously served as CEO of Standard Chartered in Africa.

Under the tenure of Anil, who in 2020 replaced Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield as CEO, Monzo has grown into a profitable powerhouse, with over 13 million customers and annual revenues of over £1bn.

However, this year Monzo was hit with a £21m fine by the UK financial watchdog over lax financial crime controls, after the challenger bank onboarded customers with "implausible" London landmark addresses such as Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street and even Monzo’s business address.

According to Bloomberg, Anil and the Monzo board met Layfield when the challenger bank was looking for a UK CEO.

Anil said: “There’s never a right time to step away from an incredibly special company that’s so close to your heart.

"It’s always been my belief that great leaders make way for others - it’s something that’s been done before at Monzo when the baton was handed to me, and it’s why the business will continue to go from strength-to-strength under Diana’s leadership.

"I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve all achieved together and most importantly, for our customers. It’s been a journey full of Monzo magic, and I’m so excited to see what comes next.”

Gary Hoffman, chair of the Monzo board, said: “What an incredible legacy TS leaves behind as Group CEO. In almost six years under his leadership Monzo has transformed from a start-up to a major player with more than 13 million customers, a much-loved bank, and one-to-watch on a global scale.

"TS has led with values and integrity throughout and has nothing but my gratitude and respect for all that he’s achieved and the brilliant foundations that have set Monzo up for the future. As he steps into an advisory role for Monzo, the Board is excited to appoint Diana to lead the company’s next stage of growth and scale.”

Layfield said: “I’ve admired Monzo for many years. The team’s passion for innovation and focus on the customer have been distinctive, and they have delivered incredible progress under TS's leadership.

“It's hugely exciting to be joining them to deliver on Monzo's potential in the UK and internationally, and make even more strides on Monzo’s mission to make money work for everyone, together.”

The rate of startups building a US presence before series A increased from 33 per cent to 64 per cent in the last 5 years. And for CEE founders, the need is even higher: 50 per cent of CEE startups relocate to the US during scaling.

On October 1, the European Startup Embassy launched: a shared landing pad and community hub for startups and VCs from Central and Eastern Europe expanding to the US.

I spoke to Vladimira Činčurová, CEO of the European Startup Embassy, and Petr Šmíd, a General Partner at Rockaway Ventures and a founding participant, while attending How to Web in Bucharest, to find out more. 

Building a bridge between Europe and San Francisco  

Činčurová brings over seven years of experience in scaling startups across both the commercial and nonprofit sectors. When she was in San Francisco last year, she noticed how fragmented the Central and Eastern European (CEE) diaspora is.

“You have strong Slovak, Czech, Ukrainian, and Romanian communities — each doing great things, but rarely connected. I met incredible people, early employees of companies like Grammarly, UiPath, WhatsApp, and others, and thought: what if we brought them together?”

At Microsoft, she’d spent five years helping Central European startups expand internationally, mainly to the US.

She often heard from founders — for instance, from Romania — asking if she knew anyone in San Francisco who could help them. And she realised, despite the strong diaspora, there was no central network or physical space connecting these founders.

At first, the idea was just to create a Czech-Slovak hacker house. Then she met Luka, who had a similar idea, and decided to work together:

“Then Hungary joined, then our Ukrainian partners — they were already planning their own Ukrainian house but on a slower timeline, and we said: use ours in the meantime!”

According to Činčurová , there’s high seasonality in San Francisco — the top season is from October to December — so they needed something now.

“They agreed, and then we connected with people from Poland who were thinking along the same lines. So really, I didn’t reinvent the wheel.

It was an ongoing idea that we unified. The European Startup Embassy became a central hub for VCs and startups from Central and Eastern Europe trying to build their presence in the United States.”

“Flying in and out isn’t enough”

Činčurová shared that usually, when founders go to the US, they do so ad hoc — flying in and out every few months — which doesn’t help with long-term relationships.

"Logistically, it’s also hard. When we were expanding to the US with my co-founder on behalf of LUMUS, our women’s investment club, it took us almost three months to organise events there, and that’s not even our main job!

If you don’t have a Head of North America or a dedicated US office, it’s limiting. That’s why we wanted to create something that helps with logistics and acts as a landing pad.”

Rockaway Ventures’ mission to take founders global

Rockaway Ventures is a VC fund based in Prague, investing in early-stage companies — Seed or Series A — founded by European founders, both across Europe and in the US. 

Šmíd contends that for smaller countries, and for Central and Eastern Europe, the US market is incredibly relevant. He joined the fund about a year ago. Before that, he spent 11 years at Google. He shared:

“That experience taught me that if you want to build something meaningful in tech, you need to work very closely with the US.

That’s also one of the motivations behind us becoming a partner in the European Startup Embassy project — we want to support the founders in our portfolio better, and more broadly, help European founders build stronger access to the US market.”

A soft landing for Europe’s founders in the US

Crucially, the European Startup Embassy is a launchpad for those testing US expansion or exploring partnerships.

“Essentially, we make it easier and more structured for CEE startups and VCs to build relationships in the US without needing a full-time office there,” shared Činčurová.

She recalled:

“When I first went to San Francisco, I didn’t have a big plan — honestly, it was during my breakup therapy! But spending a month surrounded by founders who think in terms of 10x growth completely changed how I view scaling.

That’s why we encourage early-stage founders to come for a month.

Not to move permanently, but to test, meet people, and shift perspective. It’s a soft landing — you have accommodation, workspace, and a ready-made community of like-minded people.”

European Startup Embassy’s founding participants span technology companies (Keboola, Apify, Valka.AI, Boost.space, Navigara, ReactorX, Oddin.gg), venture funds (Rockaway Ventures, United Founders, Almaz Capital, Underline Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Lead Ventures), as well as legal, accelerator, and advisory partners (Sparring, Future Unicorns, Moonshot, and Telegraph Hill Advisors).

How Productboard became a Czech unicorn by looking West

According to Šmíd, one of Rockaway Ventures’ most successful portfolio companies, Czech-founded Productboard, a B2B software company building product-management tools. 

“We invested in them very early,” he says.

“They started developing their US presence soon after, and that’s a key motivator — especially for B2B software, where the US is the biggest market. You can grow faster, find customers more easily, and access capital.”

Alongside their market push, Productboard raised from US-focused investors — first Index Ventures, then Sequoia — both leading funds in the space.

“So you build the market, and at the same time, you get investment from investors who can help you accelerate in that market,” Šmíd explains.

In the process, Productboard carried out what’s known as “the flip”: re-incorporating from a European entity to a Delaware C-Corp. It’s a move that’s become a rite of passage for many scaling European startups.

“It’s not a new story — the US offers a predictable legal environment. That’s the first motivator,” he says. 

“And that predictability helps attract US investors. Even today, more than ten years later, relatively few American VCs invest directly in European-incorporated companies.

They don’t have an issue with European founders or markets — it’s the legal framework they’re wary of. That remains a big hurdle.”

CEE founders no longer waiting to “go global”

Šmíd contends that most CEE startups test locally first — they get their first reference customers here because it’s their home market, but the trend is shifting.

”More startups are building for the US market much earlier. We see that reflected here in Central and Eastern Europe.”  

Another major driver is the growing diaspora.

“When I joined Google 12 years ago, finding a Czech or Slovak engineer in San Francisco was rare — there were maybe a handful.

Now, during a recent trip to San Francisco around Easter, we met a community of around 150 Czechs — founders, engineers, product managers — working at startups and major tech companies like Meta and Google.

And that’s just the Czech group.

Add in Romanians, Ukrainians, Poles — the ecosystem has exploded. That community now helps accelerate this cross-Atlantic bridge.”

Not just a co-working space — a launchpad

Architecturally, the European Startup Embassy’s San Francisco space offers a full ecosystem under one roof, designed to support every stage of a startup’s US journey.  The basement serves as a hackathon hub for high-focus activities like coding sprints and intensive workshops. 

The ground floor is a 24/7 flexible event and co-working area where founders and investors can collaborate, host meetups, or work side-by-side. 

On the first floor, private meeting rooms provide space for confidential or strategic discussions, while the rooftop transforms into a social venue for networking receptions, investor dinners, or community celebrations. 

Together, these zones create an immediate physical “landing pad” in San Francisco — a ready-made base for European startups and VCs to work, connect, and host events without the cost or complexity of setting up their own office.

What sets a CEE startup scaling to the US up for success?

Making European startups go to the US. According Činčurová, success is a mix of planning and openness. You can’t just arrive and hope for the best — you need to research, network, and set goals. But at the same time, she contends, “San Francisco has this unique energy that can reshape your mindset.”

“There’s a saying that you’re the average of the five people you surround yourself with. Being around founders with a 10x mindset — it rubs off on you.”

When she came back, she told her co-founders: "We need a presence in San Francisco.” And then suddenly, more Slovak and Czech VCs started doing the same — opening offices, visiting, setting up hubs.

“I genuinely believe the best deal flow from Central Europe passes through San Francisco somehow. You don’t have to move there permanently, but spending even one month can reshape your perspective.

That’s why we built packages for early-stage startups — you can stay a month, test it, and see how it changes your outlook.”

Turning presence into performance

I was curious about how the embassy's founders measure its success. 

Činčurová admits she sometimes jokes that if she had €1 million, “I’d fund three CEE founders to live in San Francisco for a year — and then compare their results with similar startups who stayed in Europe. I’m convinced the difference would be dramatic.”

For the European Startup Embassy, success means helping both startups and investors create tangible results.  

"For startups, it’s about faster growth and a global mindset. For VCs, it’s offering their portfolio companies access to our US presence — a real added value. 

Our VC partners can even transfer their “Embassy package” to portfolio startups, helping them host events, find customers, or meet investors in the US.”

Bridging, not draining Europe

The European startup ecosystem is heavily focused on keeping its talent and capital within the region, bolstered by initiatives like EU-Inc’s  28th regime. Činčurová asserts she’s a huge supporter of EU-Inc and of simplifying how startups scale across Europe’s 27 regimes.

“The goal of the European Startup Embassy isn’t to take talent away from Europe — it’s to build a bridge. We want to connect European founders and investors with US capital and networks, while ensuring value flows both ways. 

Europe has world-class talent. The US can offer funding and market access. We help them meet in the middle, not compete.”

Šmíd agrees and asserts that Europe won’t have a truly strong tech sector if the people building it haven’t experienced the best that’s out there globally. 

“That applies to founders, employees, and investors alike. Helping founders get experience in the US, access to capital, and exposure to world-class ecosystems is part of the story.

But these people often give back. If they succeed, they tend to reinvest in the region — as angels, LPs, or by building teams here.

For example, the founder of a Czech hotel-management software company we backed is now a significant LP in local Czech funds. There are many such examples. That’s how you create the flywheel effect — successful founders return, start new ventures, or support others doing so.”

For Činčurová, the risk isn’t founders going to the US — the risk is when they don’t come back. 

“We want them to return as investors, mentors, or role models, sharing what they’ve learned so the next generation doesn’t have to start from zero.”

For success, Činčurová advises CEE founders to think globally from day one:

“Don’t wait until Series A or B to explore the US market — by then, your competitors will already be there. Be smart about your cap table. Choose angels and investors who can actually help you with market expansion, not just provide capital. Money is important, but smart money is what takes you global.”

Šmíd hopes that the cooperation between Europe and the US isn’t seen as a zero-sum game. 

“It’s not “us versus them, it’s a partnership where both sides use technology to create better solutions, drive innovation, and learn from each other.

Healthy competition helps everyone improve. That’s the spirit we want to foster — doing things better, together.”

Lead image: opening party in San Francisco. 

Record-breaking attendance, global collaboration, and an enduring message of transformation defined the eighth edition of VDS, held on October 22-23 at the City of Arts and Sciences and organized by Startup Valencia. Over two days, the international tech event brought together more than 12,000 global leaders, investors, and founders from 120 countries, confirming its status as one of Europe’s leading international technology gatherings and establishing Valencia as a world-class innovation hub.

A record-setting edition

VDS 2025 marked a new milestone in global participation, with 45% of attendees traveling from outside Spain, a 41% increase from last year. More than 3,000 startups, 1,500 corporations, and 800 investors managing over €300 billion in assets gathered under the theme “Collaborate Today. Transform Tomorrow.”

Across seven stages and 600 speakers, the summit explored how technology and human purpose can work in symbiosis to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges — from climate change and AI governance to cybersecurity, health, and sustainable cities.

Human purpose at the heart of Technology

This year’s edition was deeply inspired by solidarity after Storm DANA, which devastated parts of the Valencia region in 2024. Startup Valencia’s President Juan Luis Hortelano reflected on how the community’s response through initiatives like DANA Help and Adopt a School exemplified resilience through collaboration. That spirit guided the event’s narrative, positioning innovation as a force for both progress and empathy.

Scientist and entrepreneur Pilar Mateo presented the Woman Paint Too initiative, which empowers women to transform adversity into invention. Diversity and sustainability were woven into every aspect of VDS 2025, with over a third of speakers being women and numerous sessions addressing equitable growth, inclusion, and environmental impact.

Global Voices, Local Impact

From Hollywood actress and investor Kelly Rutherford discussing purpose-driven entrepreneurship to Sol Campbell, former England captain, reflecting on resilience, VDS 2025 featured an extraordinary lineup of visionaries bridging technology, business, culture and innovation.

Unicorn founders including those from Creditas, Glovo, Remote, letgo, Mews, Exoticca, Qonto, and ElevenLabs shared the stage with leaders from Booking.com, Just Eat Takeaway.com, and Adyen. All tech giants that began as startups themselves. Panels on startup scaling featured Gillian Tans (former CEO of Booking.com), Sacha Michaud (Glovo), and Enrique Linares (letgo, Plus Partners), who offered real-world insights on growth, grit, and reinvention.

Meanwhile, Aubrey de Grey, pioneer in longevity research, explored the science of rejuvenation, while Ana Peleteiro, VP of Data & Applied AI at Preply, showcased how “human-first, AI-enabled” education is transforming learning. Minh Le, creator of Counter-Strike, discussed the future of gaming and creativity in the digital age.

AI, DeepTech, and scalability take Center Stage

Artificial intelligence dominated the agenda, with sessions like “AI as the New Infrastructure: Investing Beyond the Hype” by Christian Teichmann (Burda Principal Investments) and Iñaki Berenguer (LifeX Ventures, Coverwallet) examining AI’s evolution across sectors such as healthcare and education. Blockchain, cybersecurity, and defense also emerged as core themes shaping the future of innovation.

The second day featured Scalability Day, organized by Adigital and EsTech with the support of ICEX, which brought together international founders and investors to share best practices for scaling sustainably. The event underscored the strength of Europe’s scaleup ecosystem, highlighting 22 fast-growing startups with annual growth rates above 20%.

Valencia’s rise as a European Tech Innovation Hub

During the opening ceremony, Mayor Mª José Catalá announced the City Council’s continued support for VDS for two more years, declaring that the summit places Valencia ahead of Madrid and Barcelona as a magnet for international tech investment and talent. The collaboration agreement between Startup Valencia and e-Residency of the Government of Estonia was also renewed, deepening ties between two of Europe’s most dynamic digital ecosystems.

New data presented in the Valencian Startup Observatory 2025 revealed the city’s accelerating momentum: 1,689 startups, up 11.34% from 2024, with €160 million raised in 2025 — a 66% increase in funding activity. More than 70% of Valencian startups received investment this year, reflecting a thriving and increasingly global ecosystem.

Awards and Recognition

The VDS International Startup Competition crowned Spacebackend (Luxembourg) as winner in the Early Stage category and Zibra AI (Ukraine) in the Growth Stage. Honors were also given to the Startup Valencia DANA Help initiative, Marina de Empresas for its post-DANA recovery project “Alcem-se,” and Espai Aero CV for advancing aerospace innovation. Iñaki Berenguer received the VDS Honorary Award, recognizing his contributions to global entrepreneurship.

Institutional and corporate backing

VDS was supported by Banco Santander as main sponsor, Valencia Innovation Capital as host partner, and e-Residency of Estonia as partnering country. A strong coalition of partners, including Wayra Telefónica, EY, Fundación LAB, CaixaBank DayOne, PowerCo, Volkswagen Group Services, IBM, OVHcloud, Mobile World Capital, Bit2Me, Adigital, EsTech, Opentop (Valenciaport), and MAPFRE, contributed to its success. Technology partners Microsoft, Amazon, Google for Startups, and HubSpot for Startups further reinforced VDS’s global reach.

Institutional supporters such as Spain’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism, Generalitat Valenciana, ICEX, CDTI, ENISA, Renfe, and major universities cemented the summit’s reputation as a benchmark for innovation and technology in Europe.

Collaborate Today. Transform Tomorrow.

The closing ceremony, led by Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, underscored how collaboration remains the foundation for global progress. “The symbiosis that emerged from VDS 2025 will endure,” said Hortelano, “as we have become a global platform driving a better future.”

From the renewal of international partnerships to the launch of new scaling initiatives, VDS 2025 has proven that technology, driven by purpose and collaboration, can transform the world, starting from Valencia.

Stuttgart-based Q.ANT, a pioneer in photonic processing for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), announced the second closing of its Series A, bringing total funding to $80 million. The additional investment came from Duquesne Family Office, LLC, the investment firm of Stanley F. Druckenmiller, which joins existing lead investors Cherry Ventures, UVC Partners, and imec.xpand, along with L-Bank, Verve Ventures, Grazia Equity, EXF Alpha (Venionaire Capital), LEA Partners, Onsight Ventures, and TRUMPF.

As AI infrastructure expands, semiconductor chips have become strategic assets and geopolitical tools. McKinsey projects AI-related data-centre spending to exceed $5.2 trillion over the next five years. With data centres consuming growing shares of national power grids, energy efficiency is a primary constraint.

Q.ANT addresses this at the hardware level. Its photonic processors compute with light, delivering AI and HPC performance at a fraction of the energy of electronic chips, enabling more scalable, efficient computing.

Dr. Michael Förtsch, founder and CEO of Q.ANT, noted that AI is rapidly straining global resources, including energy, hardware, and financial capacity.

At Q.ANT, we achieve performance through efficiency, not brute power alone, redefining how AI can scale. The Duquesne Family Office shares our conviction that sustainable computing will define the next era of progress.

In the past five years, Q.ANT has introduced a commercial photonic processor for real-world AI and HPC workloads. Built on thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), the Q.ANT Native Processing Server (NPS) integrates as a plug-in co-processor for existing data centres. Early internal benchmarks indicate up to 30× higher energy efficiency, 50× performance gains, and the potential for 100× capacity increases, without active cooling.

The system delivers 16-bit floating-point accuracy comparable to modern digital processors while retaining the advantages of analogue computation. Q.ANT aims to make photonic processing a core element of AI systems by 2030.

The new funding will accelerate commercialisation, advance next-phase technology development, and support expansion into the US market.

SAGES, a London-based start-up developing alternatives to synthetic dyes, has received £190,000 from the British Design Fund to accelerate the commercialisation of its food-waste-derived colour technology.

Founded by Emily Taylor and Alice Simpson, SAGES aims to reduce reliance on petroleum- and coal-tar-based dyes in global supply chains.

Synthetic dyes are estimated to account for about 20 per cent of global wastewater and have been linked to environmental impacts. SAGES develops water-soluble, biodegradable dyes designed to integrate with existing dyeing processes.

The company’s patented formulations draw on waste streams such as red and yellow onion skins, coffee, blueberry, red cabbage and avocado. The dyes have been tested on cellulose and protein fibres, meeting industry-standard benchmarks for UV and wash fastness.

Recent collaborations include custom colour development for Patrick McDowell’s London Fashion Week collection, surface projects with James Burleigh, and fibre-dyeing trials with Bananatex and Story Mfg.

The funding will support product development, pilot-scale production and strategic partnerships across the fashion, interiors and industrial textiles sectors. It will help SAGES move from lab-scale innovation to commercial deployment, with priorities including expanding its dye palette, refining production systems and strengthening collaborations with manufacturers and designers.

Copenhagen-based startup Evertrace, which uses data and AI to help VCs source and screen investment opportunities, has acquired a Berlin-based peer specialising in helping VCs with early-stage deal sourcing.

Morphais calls itself a “data intelligence company”, which leverages data to help VCs, angel investors and family offices find and access seed and pre-seed startups and founders as early as possible.

Launched in early 2024, Evertrace's platform “assists venture funds in obtaining real-time, better data on potential investments, candidates, and competitors”. 

Evertrace aggregates tools like company registers and GitHub patents to help investors identify top early talent.

Evertrace says its platform is used by over 100 funds, including Antler, Cherry Ventures and Heartcore Capital.

The seven-strong team of Morphais, which is used by "many of the top global VC funds" and which was founded by Eva-Valérie Gfrerer and Max Laemmle, will join Evertrace. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Evertrace said Morphais "delivers curated batches of high-potential companies and stealth founders, powered by proprietary behavioural and market intelligence".

The acquisition marks Evertrace's third acquisition, following that of Whisper AI and Seedpoint.

Jacob Houlberg, co-founder of Evertrace, said: “This acquisition is a key component in our overall strategy, and will enable us to further improve our core offering."

Eva-Valérie Gfrerer, co-founder of Morphais, said: “We founded Morphais to make venture capital far more efficient and transparent, so the very best founders are surfaced irrespective of their background. 

"Joining Evertrace allows us to combine our unique sourcing technology with Evertrace’s advanced features and founder signals. It will enhance the offering for our customers.”

Earlier this year, Evertrace raised $600,000 with investments from VCs along with Sonu Banga, co-founder of Intellishore; Eske Gunge, founder of Actimo; and the investor Christian Jantzen.

FAKTUS, Europe's first neobank dedicated to construction SMEs,  today announces €56 million in combined equity and debt financing.  Lakestar and Foundamental are providing €9 million in equity, and a separate debt capacity of up to €47  million is provided by certain funds under the management of Insight Investment, alongside Fost Capital. 

FAKTUS is positioned to scale rapidly across Europe, bridging the gap between institutional finance and SMEs in the  €2.5 trillion construction market, where 90 per cent of builders remain underserved. 

Bridging the construction-finance gap 

Construction

SMEs face payment delays averaging 85 days while managing upfront costs for materials and payroll. FAKTUS addresses this with a streamlined, AI-powered platform: 

• Business Accounts – Real-time project cashflow tracking for clear visibility and accurate forecasting. 
• Invoice Financing with Integrated Validation – Immediate liquidity on receivables,  with streamlined workflows for faster approvals and collections to keep projects moving.
• Material Advances – Upfront funding to start projects without delays.
• Retention Bonds – Release project holdbacks through guarantees from an investment-grade guarantor, ensuring project completion and liquidity. 

Using AI, the platform reads invoices, parses contracts, tracks schedules, identifies risks, and compresses weeks-long underwriting into two-hour financing decisions, enabling SMEs to access liquidity faster than ever. 

Already, 470+ worksites have been financed and €100m+ of projects supported, including schools, hospitals, social housing, and landmark projects like Roland Garros and the French  Senate. 

FAKTUS' €56 million funding potential comprises both equity and asset-backed debt, giving the company the capacity to serve construction SMEs while offering investors regulated, risk-assessed exposure:

• €9 million in Equity from seed rounds led by Lakestar and Foundamental (2023–2024)  — powering platform development, team growth, and early market traction 
• Up to €47 million in debt from certain funds under the management of Insight  Investment and Fost Capital via Faktus Financement, a fully regulated securitisation vehicle dedicated to construction SME financing.

The vehicle — supervised by the AMF and managed by IQ-EQ — purchases receivables and provides loans exclusively to construction SMEs.  By establishing one of Europe's fastest-regulated Fonds Commun de Titrisation (FCT) just 18 months after issuing its first loan, 

FAKTUS acts as the vehicle's servicer, combining construction expertise with advanced credit analytics to evaluate contract terms, debtor payment patterns, and sector-specific risks. 

This ensures financing solutions are precisely tailored to the realities of each project, while giving investors high-quality, risk-assessed opportunities. 

This strategic mix of equity and debt positions FAKTUS to scale across Europe while providing SMEs with rapid, reliable, and customised financing.  FAKTUS has grown its client base 300 per cent in six months, supported by 13 regional agents and partnerships with 20+ federations and insurers, including Atradius and Coface. 

"We're connecting underserved, family-owned SMEs in construction with the institutional world," said Réda Kabbaj, Co-Founder of FAKTUS. "

By combining construction-specific and financial  expertise, we bring funding directly to the real economy."

"I  believe FAKTUS now has all the ingredients to build Europe's leading Neobank for contractors,"  said Patric Hellermann, General Partner at Foundamental:

"When we led FAKTUS' pre-seed round in 2023, we were excited by the team. Just 9 months later, when Lakestar led the seed round, we had become excited by the product.

And now 2  years in, we have the data to be excited by FAKTUS' execution and customer feedback."

"As investors in Revolut, we know how valuable neobanks can become. The construction market is unique, making up roughly 10 per cent of Europe's GDP but still underserved. FAKTUS has the team and understanding to succeed," said Enrico Mellis, Partner at Lakestar. 

The company plans to finance €500 million of worksites in the next 18 months, achieve full coverage in France, and expand to the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal in 2026,  ultimately serving more than 800,000 SMEs across Europe.

Lead image: FAKTUS. Photo: uncredited.

Frankfurt-based Scavenger AI has raised €2.5 million in seed funding to make company data as easy to access as asking a question. The round was led by BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen (BMH), with participation from xdeck, and existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Calm/Storm Ventures.

Across Europe, small and mid-sized companies hold vast data, yet insights often stay locked behind technical barriers and limited data talent, with information spread across ERP, CRM, and SQL systems that require specialist skills or IT queues.

Scavenger addresses this gap between data availability and usability. Its natural-language platform lets employees query data through a single interface, reducing reliance on spreadsheets and dashboards across finance, operations, and sales, and returning answers in seconds with full traceability.

Our goal is simple: any employee should be able to make data-driven decisions without writing a line of code,

said co-founder Maximilian Hahnenkamp.

The company is already supporting data intelligence for customers such as Telekom, Mann & Schröder, and Wangen Pumpen.

Developed in Europe for European companies, it differentiates itself from US business intelligence tools. Designed for the large SME segment in the DACH region, it brings together enterprise-level analytics and full GDPR compliance, offering a form of business intelligence not previously available to European SMEs.

Europe’s SMEs deserve AI that’s secure, explainable, and built around their needs—not a black box,

added co-founder Felix Beissel.

The company will use the funds to accelerate product development, expand across Europe, and make enterprise-grade analytics accessible to a broader range of SMEs.