Civo, a cloud computing startup, has announced the launch of its second UK Cloud Region, LON2, in partnership with Deep Green data centre provider Deep Green. Based in Swindon, Berkshire, this new Cloud region operates on 100 percent renewable energy. Deep Green, Civo’s long-standing partner, selected the Carbon-Z site for its exceptional environmental practices. This upgrade means customers can now handle more intensive and complex workloads, such as AI and ML applications, with greater efficiency and reliability, and data that remains within national borders.  Mark Boost, CEO and Co-Founder of Civo said: “Sustainability is at the heart of our mission at Civo. As demand for cloud solutions surges, we are committed to ensuring that the benefits of this technology don’t come at the expense of our environment. It’s a pleasure to be working alongside Deep Green, a partner we have trusted for several years to deliver on our environmental commitment. “With the introduction of LON2, we’re taking an important step toward building a more responsible and environmentally conscious cloud industry. Together with Deep Green, we’re demonstrating that cloud innovation can, and should, be built on a foundation of sustainability.”  Mark Bjornsgaard, Founder and CEO of Deep Green, added: “We’re all well aware of the environmental footprint left by the tech industry. By partnering with Civo to launch LON2, we’re on a mission to change the narrative. This collaboration is about proving that innovation and sustainability can go hand in hand. With 100% renewable energy powering LON2 and a shared commitment to exploring further eco-friendly solutions, we’re making meaningful strides towards a greener future for cloud computing.”

Swedish battery cell marker for EVs Northvolt has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US, placing a blow in Europe’s ambition to divest its dependency on Chinese battery manufacturing.  Chapter 11 provides the company with the financing to focus on operational improvements and supporting customers, while allowing for restructuring, reorganisation, and fundraising to secure a long-term competitive positioning.  Northvolt Germany and Northvolt North America, subsidiaries of Northvolt AB with projects in Germany and Canada, are financed separately and will continue to operate as usual outside of the Chapter 11 process as key parts of Northvolt’s strategic positioning. The company is also announcing that Peter Carlsson will take on a role as Senior Advisor and step aside from his role as CEO. He also remains a Member of the Board. Northvolt was founded in 2016 by two former Tesla executives, Peter Carlsson and Paolo Cerruti. It raised over $13.8 billion. However, it has struggled against falling demand for electric cars and fierce competition from Chinese manufacturers.  It laid off 1,600 workers in September and was found earlier this month to fall short of its production goal of 100,000 cells per week, only managing to ship around 20,000. It lost a €2 billion contract with BMW in June, Northvolt Ett, the company’s flagship battery gigafactory in Skellefteå, Sweden, and Northvolt Labs in Västerås, Sweden will remain operational however, Northvolt suspected production at one of the two manufacturing buildings at the Skelleftea plant in late October, cutting costs by ending its 24/7 production cycle earlier this month.   According to Northvolt, the company has enough cash for a week of operations but has secured $100 million in new financing for the bankruptcy process. Operations will continue as normal during the bankruptcy. The company expects to complete the restructuring by the first quarter of 2025.

Pre-Seed and Seed stage investors BSV Ventures has closed a €15 million fund with the inclusion of strategic Limited Partners (LPs) such as the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Lithuania’s ILTE fund under the Accelerator 2 programme, and private investors from across Europe. BSV Ventures invests in startups at the “Beyond Scientific Validation” stage, where advanced research transitions into solutions on the path to becoming commercially available at scale.  With offices in Lithuania, Estonia and Finland, BSV Ventures is focused on enabling early-stage innovators from the Baltics and EU to build and internationally scale their businesses by leveraging technologies in critical, strategic scientific and technological domains from mechatronics and biotech to functional genomics, future of computing, space technologies, AI, and beyond. “Over the past two years, we’ve scouted and supported founders contributing to the next wave of global innovation — ranging from hydrogen and hardware to AI-driven medical devices and resilient connectivity solutions that enable comms even in the most challenging environments,” said Andrius Milinavičius, Managing Partner at BSV Ventures. “We take NIF’s trust as recognition of our thesis that European, specifically Baltic, Nordic, and CEE DeepTech has massive potential.” The Baltics’ unique geopolitical position and high standard of education create a unique innovation environment.  According to Erik Bhullar, General Partner at BSV Ventures, Baltic founders innovate with urgency driven by high-stakes realities.  “Look at Ukraine —the pace of innovation on the front lines is faster and more focused than anywhere else in Europe because they understand that technological edge is a matter of survival.”  He asserts that deeptech requires a different mindset: “It’s a proving ground, not a playground. The innovators shaping our future need capital partners who understand the unique challenges in their journey ahead. It takes greater competence and foresight at the earlier stage you dare to venture — because selection and effective support are crucial.”  Chris O’Connor, Partner at NATO Innovation Fund, sees the region as of great strategic importance to the security and resilience of the Alliance: “Our investment in BSV Ventures reflects confidence in their strong leadership, complementary expertise, and proven commitment to transforming the Baltics into a global hub for DeepTech and dual-use innovation - essential for advancing European sovereignty.” Lead image: BSV Ventures. Photo: uncredited

Barcelona bio-based packaging startup B’ZEOS has closed its seed round.  B'ZEOS offers sustainable, home-compostable, and bio-digestible packaging solutions made from seaweed extracts to combat plastic pollution. The packaging is fully compatible with existing packaging production lines.  Seaweed’s rapid growth rate, ability to sequester CO2, and lack of dependence on land or fresh water, without releasing microplastics, make it an ideal raw material for sustainable packaging.  The viability and scalability of B’ZEOS’ packaging has been validated in five paid pilots to date, in collaboration with partners such as Nestlé and other industry players.  Faber led the funding with participation from ICIG Ventures, the venture capital unit of International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG).  The strategic collaboration with ICIG, a privately owned industrial group with an interest in biotechnology and novel materials, will enable B’ZEOS to fine tune its products and increase production by leveraging ICIG’s expertise in compounds. According to Guy Maurice, founder and "SeaEO" of B’ZEOS, the company is not just focused on developing an eco-friendly solution — its providing an industry-ready, scalable alternative for packaging manufacturers globally.  According to Dr Pelin Yilmaz, Investment Director at ICIG Ventures:  “Our partnership with B’ZEOS, complemented by the expertise of our compounding platform, allows us to transition towards fossil-free, compostable packaging.  Their industry expertise enables them to understand the sustainability needs and requirements of the packaging sector, creating solutions that are both robust and versatile.” With the funding, B’ZEOS will expand its technology readiness level. Lead image: B’ZEOS. Photo: uncredited.

I've spent the last few days at Slush in Helsinki. There's snow and lots of amazing startups — and, of course, the infamous Slush 100 startup competition, where startups compete for a cool €1 million in funding.  Today, Tech.eu was granted an exclusive interview with OASYS NOW, the winner of Slush 100. Netherlands startup OASYS NOW is on a mission to make personalised healthcare and precision medicine accessible to all.  The company is currently focused on cardiology, rare diseases, and multiple chronic diseases. It has developed an AI-powered clinical trial patient identification and recruitment platform for hospitals, doctors, and research nurses who find patients eligible for medical research studies. It meta-crawls research trial criteria and provides healthcare providers with checklists that can be cross-matched with EHRs to find trial options. This automates a large chunk of the time spent trawling through research eligibility criteria for individual studies.  I spoke to OASYS NOW co-founders, CEO Nima Salami and CTO Sara Okhuijsen.  You can also check out our earlier interviews with OASYS NOW CEO Nina Salami.  When it comes to new modes and healthcare treatment and drug discovery, many innovations are thwarted in the early stages. Not due to the science but a lack of research participants.  According to Salami, around 80 per cent of trials fail to meet the initial enrollment target and timeline, and these delays can result in lost revenue of up to $8 million per day for drug-developing companies.  OASYS NOW is building the EU's first AI-powered Patient Recruitment platform for Clinical Trials. It consists of two main products: GRIP app: This app empowers individuals to take control of their health data. Users can gain personal health insights and discover relevant clinical trials, accelerating access to treatments. ELaiGIBLE Platform: This platform streamlines the process of identifying eligible patient cohorts for clinical trials, reducing the time from months to minutes for trial sites (hospitals and clinics) and Clinical Research Officers (CROs). Health professionals can connect with multiple clinical trial databases, and identify relevant trial options with the click of a button. Health data is automatically matched to clinical trial eligibility criteria, so their patients get personalised matches. From heart disease to immunology The company has expanded its reach from primarily heart conditions to brain-related diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Dementia as well as immunology. Okhuijsen notes that  "The technology is very easy to adapt to different therapeutic areas. So we're just identifying where the most needs are and which clients can quickly adopt our technology." Making new tech accessible to healthcare providers is key Gaining traction in the healthcare sector is no easy task. OASYS NOW patient-centric üprivacy design approach has attracted interest from healthcare professionals.  Okhuijsen asserts that one reason healthcare has been predominantly hesitant to adopt new technology is that "they weren't surrounded by people who could tell them what is possible now. So we go where they are and share with them through public lectures and workshops. This also gives people names and faces to the technology. They get to know us and see how we develop and evolve the tech over time.  Research recruiters and staff well receive the AI assistant because it's very explainable. According to Okhuijsen: "Our algorithm, while seemingly complex, is designed to be user-friendly. It not only processes data but also provides clear explanations for its decisions. This transparency empowers end-users to agree or disagree with the algorithm's recommendations and provide valuable feedback. This approach contrasts sharply with traditional methods that rely on research nurses with advanced data science skills to write complex queries. Our algorithm simplifies the process, making it accessible to a wider range of users." The value of privacy by design OASYS NOW's technologies are built compliant-by-design and are thus fully GDPR compliant. An external party continuously monitors its ISO27001 compliance. According to Salami, privacy-first a choice.  "So it's transparency over the data you use and giving people a choice over how it should be used. We use the best data security possible to ensure the least amount of data is used so that it's not used for purposes outside those agreed upon."  The company is also developing a third product that will enable genetic researchers worldwide to collaborate on large data sets without moving the data. Salami shared:  "Every researcher, no matter where they are in the world, can learn from other researchers' data somewhere else. Without that data having to move. Moving data is expensive, but when you move data, you lose control over it." The company is tackling this through confidential federated learning with extra layers of security whereby the data is encrypted at rest and in transit." This approach has attracted interest from NVIDIA and Google. According to Salami, it gives the team validation that "by prioritising privacy first, you can come up with novel ideas of how things can be done, which wasn't possible before. Hot on the heels of their win, the team at OASYS Now is full of praise for Slush. Okhuijsen notes that the competition is a very public VC pipeline.  "The top 20 startups go through a due diligence process which includes interviews with the VC patterns. So, it's a great funnel in a very professional, publicly known competition.  The funds will assist with expanding the team, especially engineers and salespeople, and will also help finance compute power. Runners-up were women's healthcare science company Mohana (Canada) and AI-driven accessibility compliance platform Dev Ally — stay tuned for an interview with Dev Ally co-founders Cormac Chisholm, CEO, and Patrick Guiney-Fox COO, in the next couple of weeks.  Lead image: OASYS NOW by Petri Anttila.

Fashiontech startup MannyAI has raised a €1.5 million funding round, including a €240,000 IUK grant and a €1.26 million Pre-Seed investment led by Dreamcraft Ventures.  In global garment production up to 40 per cent of items often remain unsold due to misaligned demand.  Traditionally, brands have managed inventory risk through markdowns and bulk purchasing, leading to significant overproduction. MannyAI offers an innovative alternative: a test-and-reorder model that enables brands and their trusted suppliers to collaborate seamlessly using advanced AI for short, responsive order cycles.  By shifting to shorter cycles, brands can minimise the volume of finished goods required from the outset.  The company is founded by ex-manufacturer turned tech entrepreneur Shruti Grover and data scientist Simon Johnson. In her early twenties, Grover gained hands-on experience by establishing and operating temporary factories on construction sites across India, producing structural stone and building facades. She went on to set up a cutting-edge manufacturing facility in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, equipped with advanced water-jet cutters and 5-axis CNC machines. Grover emphasises: “While many fashiontech investments focus on expensive machinery, our experience in factory operations has given us a unique perspective. It’s standard software — automating paperwork, tracking fabric, and using AI for production and capacity planning — that can actually reduce overheads and make small-batch production profitable for European factories, which already operate at high efficiency.”  MannyAI’s initial offerings include AI-powered tools for cost negotiation, real-time order allocation, and dynamic capacity management tailored to each factory’s capabilities.They enable brands to meet real-time demand and optimise costs for ultra-fast lead times. MannyAI’s approach aligns with the EU’s policy momentum to address overproduction and overconsumption in fashion.  Significantly, unlike traditional on-demand manufacturing, MannyAI’s business model is designed to empower existing factories without the need for capital-intensive equipment. Dreamcraft Ventures led the funding with participation from Alante Capital, Plug and Play EMEA, Carbon13, Ventures Together, and sourcing giant PDS Ventures. According to Mathilde Lyet, Principal at Dreamcraft, increasing regulatory pressures and a shift toward nearshoring, means this innovation is well-timed to help brands reduce waste and improve profitability in a rapidly evolving industry.” With three factories across Europe currently testing MannyAI’s technology, the company is rapidly operationalising its model for real-world applications in the apparel and footwear industry. The funds will enable MannyAI to transform traditional factories into agile, AI-driven production hubs, supporting brands in reducing their total production volumes while making small-batch production profitable. Lead image: MannyAI. Photo: uncredited. 

Faircraft, the maker of lab-grown leather, has raised €15 million in funding.  The startup has developed a lab-grown material derived from animal skin cells that replicates the structure and composition of traditional leather through cellular agriculture processes.  According to Haïkel Balti, co-founder and CEO of Faircraft, lab-grown leather represents a major evolution that goes far beyond the fashion industry, and uses cutting-edge technologies to honour ethical considerations.  The company holds two international patents and has developed a proprietary, standardised process suited to scalability, conceived and implemented entirely in-house.  Faircraft’s lab-grown leather has 90 per cent fewer CO2 emissions, 95 per cent less waste, and an 80 per cent reduction in water consumption. While the cost of manufacturing Faircraft’s lab-grown leather is currently higher than that of traditional leather, the company aims to reach price parity with leather used widely in industry.  This funding will enable Faircraft to expand its team, notably by recruiting more engineers and biologists, and accelerate its efforts to scale operations and address growing demand. Kindred Ventures, Cap Horn, BPI, Blue Wire Capital, Sake Bosch, Entrepreneur First, Alliance for Impact, and Heirloom participated in the funding. 

Microoled, a French manufacturer of high-resolution, low-power OLED microdisplays, has received investment from Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials Inc.  Since its creation in 2007 in Grenoble's Tech Valley, Microoled specialises in the design, production and marketing of OLED microdisplays for near-eye applications  (outdoor optical equipment, night vision glasses, ocular equipment for medical devices, and AR glasses.  Mixed-reality headsets, smart glasses, and other wearable tech require embedded microdisplays that can offer high luminance and contrast but also very low power. According to Eric Marcellin-Dibon, CEO of Microoled: “Augmented and virtual reality are huge market opportunities, but successful products can only be achieved by mastering the key technologies down to the pixel level.”  The company is now looking to conquer the sportech market with the roll-out of ActiveLook(R) for augmented reality glasses used by sports enthusiasts.  “OLED microdisplays have the potential to enable a wide range of new AR/VR experiences,” said Anand Kamannavar, Vice President and Global Head of Applied Ventures. “With this investment and our expertise in advanced display manufacturing, we look forward to helping Microoled deliver a new generation of ultralight, low-power wearables.” The company has raised an undisclosed amount in its latest funding round, bringing its total funding to over €29 million. The investment will help fast-track Microoled’s development of full-colour, high-luminance RGB OLED solutions.

Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) will provide the plumbing for "at least half of banking activity in the medium to long term", according to a top executive with Natwest's BaaS offering. Speaking on the Tech.eu podcast, George Toumbev, chief commercial officer, NatWest Boxed said: “There is no doubt that Banking-as-a-Service as a model will be key to the provision of financial services in the future. To me that’s a fact.” BaaS can be defined as a service whereby regulated financial institutions deliver financial services, such as debit cards and KYC, to non-banking businesses. The BaaS model is facing some challenges of late. The high-profile collapse of US BaaS provider Synapse earlier this year and recent major job cuts at German BaaS provider Solaris have cast a pall over the industry. But Toumbev gave an upbeat assessment of the prospects of BaaS, particularly for those with banking licences like NatWest Boxed. He said: “In the long term, banks are the natural custodians of this Banking-as-a-Service capability. Why? Because they own the balance sheet and the banking licence. “Fintechs are amazing at product development, and product market fit. But there reaches a point where fintechs need to grow up because banking is highly regulated."

The CEO of UK challenger bank Kroo Bank has suggested that it could begin offering investment products, amid a further fall in interest rates and customers becoming less risk-averse. Andrea De Gottardo, Kroo CEO, said: “If you look two years in the future with base rate going down, stabilising around 2 per cent, 2.5 per cent, some of the customers looking at better returns are willing to take some more risks. Potentially offering some sort of investment? Why not.” The Bank of England cut interest rates from 5 per cent to 4.75 per cent in November, the second cut in 2024. While offering stock and shares trading is not on Kroo’s immediate roadmap, De Gottardo pointed out that, should it offer investment products in the future, it might do so through a partnership, and not through its own licence. Should it do so, Kroo would be entering a competitive market, going up against traditional players like Hargreaves Lansdown and new players like Freetrade. Kroo, founded in 2016 and which has a UK banking licence, offers current accounts, personal loans, and overdrafts. It is set to offer cash ISAs next year. It now has nearly 190,000 customers and has surpassed £1bn in deposits. De Gottardo said last year that the goal was to get to a million customers, but says this is a long-term goal and not its north star. He said:  “The number of customers is not our north star. A lot of other challenger banks have gone for growth at all costs. That has never been our mindset. It has always been quality over quantity. “We could scale way faster if we want to. It’s fairly easy to acquire customers if you don’t really care about how the customer behaves. “Do they like the product? Do they use the product? Do they engage with the product? Growth for the sake of growth feels very 2019/2020. I think the whole market has moved on.” He said a growing number of Kroo’s customers, which are primarily between 30 and 45, use Kroo as their primary account, but did not disclose how many. Kroo says it has paid out over £51m in interest directly back to customers’ current accounts, which the CEO says is at odds with traditional banks. Kroo currently offers 3.85 per cent interest on its current account, while most banks do no pay interest on current accounts. Industry figures show that £253bn sit in accounts that are non-interest-bearing, amid the UK’s major banks, such as Lloyds and HSBC, reporting big profits. Kroo has raised around $74m and last year raised around $2.1m through a crowdfund raise on CrowdCube.

Lighthouse, a commercial intelligence platform for the travel & hospitality industry, has raised $370M in growth investment led by KKR. The investment will be used to develop the platform, perform strategic acquisitions and for global expansion. KKR is making the investment in Lighthouse through its Next Generation Technology III Fund. Lighthouse’s $80M Series B investment round was completed in November 2021. Existing investors Spectrum Equity, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads Ventures, and Highgate Technology Ventures will continue their participation in the business. Lighthouse’s suite offers capabilities to drive incremental bookings and streamline operations. The platform is underpinned by proprietary technology that processes over 400 terabytes of travel and market data daily and leverages AI to deliver insights that enable customers to make better and more efficient operational decisions. “We're extremely grateful to the 70,000+ hospitality providers, who have placed their trust in Lighthouse," said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of Lighthouse. “I couldn’t be more energized by what we’re working towards. We’re just getting started in making hospitality data and tools more powerful, accessible, and affordable. This investment by KKR significantly accelerates our ability to enhance our commercial platform through expanded AI capabilities and additional data sets, enabling us to better serve our existing customers while continuing to expand across the hospitality market.” KKR has established a proven track record of supporting technology-focused growth companies, having invested approximately $23 billion in related investments since 2010 through its private equity and growth equity funds and built a dedicated global team of nearly 70 investment professionals with deep technology growth equity expertise. Lighthouse will be able to leverage KKR’s extensive industry experience, local resources and global network to help further enhance its customer offerings and tap into new segments globally. “Lighthouse has demonstrated an exceptional ability to support hoteliers of all sizes – ranging from global chains to independent properties – by addressing the unique needs of each segment,” said Stephen Shanley, Partner and Head of Tech Growth in Europe at KKR. “Their strong track record, customer loyalty, and proven ability to deliver value across varied markets position them as the leading platform in this space. We are proud to support Lighthouse in expanding its global footprint, driving continued innovation, and enhancing its market leading offerings."

European deeptech companies are driving breakthroughs across industries such as healthcare, energy, mobility, and AI. These companies leverage advanced technologies, such as AI, robotics, quantum computing, and biotechnology, to solve complex global challenges and disrupt traditional industries.  With a focus on research, sustainability, and cutting-edge solutions, they are vital to Europe’s tech ecosystem, contributing to economic growth and technological leadership.  Looking ahead to 2025, European deeptech companies are set to play an increasingly crucial role in shaping the future, reinforcing Europe’s position as a global innovation leader. Here are ten European deeptech companies that raised the most in the first three quarters of 2024.  Imec is a world-renowned R&D and innovation hub specializing in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. Leveraging a cutting-edge €2.5 billion 300mm semiconductor pilot line, a diverse team of over 5,500 experts from 96+ countries, and a vast ecosystem of 600+ industry and academic partners, Imec drives innovation in deep-tech, software, and systems. Its groundbreaking solutions address critical challenges in healthcare, mobility, Industry 5.0, clean energy, and agrifood, enhancing quality of life and advancing sustainable progress worldwide. In May, the company raised €2.5 billion for advanced chip tech R&D pilot line. Qdrant is an open-source vector search database designed to power the next generation of AI applications with cutting-edge, high-performance vector similarity search technology. Deployable as an API service, Qdrant enables efficient searching for high-dimensional vectors, making it an ideal solution for transforming embeddings and neural network encoders into robust applications. From matching and searching to recommending and beyond, Qdrant provides the foundation for building intelligent, data-driven systems easily. In January, the company raised $28 million. iCOMAT is a pioneer in advanced composite manufacturing, revolutionizing the industry with its patented Rapid Tow Shearing (RTS) technology—the world’s first defect-free fibre-steering process. Originating as a spin-out from the University of Bristol, iCOMAT enables the creation of ultra-lightweight, stronger, and more cost-effective carbon fibre composites for industries such as aerospace, automotive, and marine. Committed to delivering world-class composite manufacturing solutions, iCOMAT partners with clients to achieve unprecedented levels of product performance, transforming lightweight across transport and other high-performance sectors. During the first three quarters of 2024, the company completed two funding rounds, raising approximately €26 million in total. Greenerwave is a French deep-tech startup revolutionizing electromagnetic wave control with smart materials and advanced physics-based algorithms. Founded in 2016, the company builds on groundbreaking research to create intelligent, reconfigurable surfaces for telecommunications and beyond. Greenerwave’s innovative technology enables cost-effective, low-power solutions for diverse applications, including RFID, 4D RADAR imaging, and steerable antennas for SATCOM and 5G-6G. By shifting the complexity from hardware to software, Greenerwave delivers cutting-edge wave-shaping solutions that are attracting significant interest from leading industry players. Earlier this year, the company closed a €15 million fundraising round. Peaq is a pioneering layer-1 blockchain driving a global infrastructure revolution. It empowers individuals to own and benefit from innovations in mobility, energy, connectivity, environment, agriculture, and digital infrastructure. As the backbone for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs), peaq supports over 45 applications across 18 industries and connects more than 1,000,000 intelligent devices, vehicles, machines, and robots. Offering permissionless and borderless digital infrastructure, peaq enables increasingly advanced machines to serve humanity equitably, democratizing opportunities and abundance in the Age of AI and automation. In March the company raised $15 million for web3-enabled public infrastructure. Monumo is a deep-tech engineering company revolutionizing electric motors to drive sustainability and efficiency. With electric motors consuming half of the world’s electricity, Monumo is committed to creating motors that optimize resource use like never before. Currently focused on EV powertrain systems, Monumo collaborates with leading automotive companies to deliver advanced motor system designs that provide a significant competitive edge. This year, the company successfully completed two funding rounds, raising a total of approximately €13 million. Morphotonics revolutionizes visual experiences with cutting-edge nanoimprinting technology, enabling the creation of innovative products like next-generation mobile screens, intuitive 3D interfaces, and immersive AR glasses. With unmatched precision at nano and micron scales, Morphotonics makes high-volume, high-quality, cost-effective manufacturing a reality. Morphotonics raised €10 million in Series B funding, to scale operations, expand its global customer base, and accelerate the adoption of large-area nanoimprinting in display technology, with a second closing expected by year-end. CarbonX is a company that is addressing the growing demand for locally sourced critical raw materials for the battery industry. Based in the Netherlands, the company leverages its proprietary feedstock technology to enable cell manufacturers and electric vehicle OEMs to obtain high volumes of essential anode materials locally. CarbonX's innovative technology is energy-efficient, consuming significantly less power than synthetic or natural graphite, which leads to lower costs and a reduced carbon footprint. Earlier this year, the company closed €10 million in a fresh funding round which will use the funds to accelerate its commercial growth to the next level. FluoRok, a spin-out from the University of Oxford, has developed a patented method to access essential fluorochemicals crucial for the energy transition, healthcare, and food supply. The UK-based company focuses on creating efficient, safe, and sustainable solutions for fluorochemical production by utilizing fluorinated waste or naturally occurring fluorite minerals as raw materials. FluoRok's proprietary technology reduces energy consumption, lowers CO2 emissions, and enables the reshoring of manufacturing with enhanced process safety while introducing the circular economy to fluorochemical production. The company primarily targets markets in Li-ion battery electrolyte salts and agrochemicals. Recently, the company secured £7.7 million in a fresh funding round. Waymap is a high-tech company that provides the world’s only navigation app offering precise guidance both indoors and outdoors, with accuracy up to 1 meter and 10-degree heading, without the need for external signals. Originally developed to assist visually impaired individuals, Waymap has expanded its mission to offer the most accurate and inclusive navigation solution. The app provides step-by-step directions across city transport networks, streets, and major buildings, ensuring users can navigate seamlessly wherever a map is available. In April, the company completed a £7 million funding round.

Amsterdam-based Move Energy’s “Fund I” has landed a €35 million commitment from the European Investment Fund (EIF). Move Energy Fund I provides Series A funding for European hardware and software ventures that accelerate the energy transition. The Fund specifically targets decarbonising the power and transport sectors, as well as buildings, which contribute 55% of global CO₂ emissions. The EIF’s commitment, combined with prior commitments from more than 30 investors including cornerstone investor Pon Holdings, brings the Fund’s total commitments above €100 million.  So far, the Fund has invested in five companies and intends to hold its final close by the end of Q1 2025, with a hard cap of €150 million. “This investment reflects our commitment to driving the energy transition.” said Marjut Falkstedt, Chief Executive of the EIF. “As COP29 has highlighted once again, limiting global warming and the shift towards sustainable energy production, consumption and mobility, are critical in the fight against climate change. Private initiatives like this one are a signal that the market also sees economic opportunities in this context, and we are here to support them.” Lex Roukens, Managing Partner at Move Energy, commented: “We are thrilled to welcome the EIF as a key investor. This commitment validates our mission and strategy and paves the way for further growth. We look forward to collaborating with the EIF to support groundbreaking European ventures in decarbonising power, transport, and buildings.”

Belgian provider of integrated business software Odoo has raised  €500 million in secondary capital, increasing the Belgian Unicorn’s valuation to €5 billion. Since its founding in April 2002, Odoo has been dedicated to developing and continuously enhancing a comprehensive suite of management software applications for small and mid-sized businesses.  Today, with over 13 million users and currently adding more than 7,000 new clients each month, Odoo helps companies to focus on mproving customer satisfaction, driving innovation, optimising business processes, and scaling operations efficiently. Odoo has achieved sustained annual growth of 40 per cent and is projected to exceed €650 million in billings within the next 12 months, with a target of reaching €1 billion in billings by 2027.  The company has strengthened its global presence by establishing 15 subsidiaries and building a network of 7,500 partners worldwide.  CapitalG and Sequoia Capita led the funding, with participation from BlackRock, Mubadala Investment Company, HarbourVest Partners, AVP, and Alkeon.  As part of the transaction, existing investors Summit Partners, Noshaq, and Wallonie Entreprendre are selling a portion of their shares; Summit will remain Odoo's largest institutional shareholder. "Fabien and his team have built a one-of-a-kind business from their ambitious vision for a unified suite of tightly integrated business apps," said Alex Nichols, partner at CapitalG, the independent growth firm of Alphabet Inc.:  "Odoo's powerful and easy-to-use suite of apps has won over customers across more than 100 countries and virtually every industry, as well as companies with anywhere from one to thousands of employees.  The team's two decades of dedication and long-term thinking has fostered a robust community of partners, contributors, and users that will serve as their foundation for years to come." According to Andrew Reed, Partner at Sequoia Capital:  "Odoo is a tremendous business already, and it feels like their best days are still ahead. Odoo has the long-term potential to transform the SMB software market and deliver enormous value to customers." The recent launch of Odoo 18, the most advanced iteration of the company's software, on October 2nd, strengthens the company's market position and enhances overall performance and customer experience. "ERPs are traditionally expensive and resource-intensive to implement, often failing to meet the actual needs and evolving requirements of SMEs. We have developed a unique value proposition that is playing a pivotal role in the market," explains Fabien Pinckaers, founder and CEO of Odo. Faris Al Mazrui, Head of Growth at Mubadala, sees Odoo as an exceptional partner for companies adapting to cloud and AI megatrends: “We're excited to support their growth worldwide." For 2025, the unicorn is already expecting many more opportunities and expansion projects, enhancing Odoo's capabilities for research and development, and allowing accelerated innovation in its product offerings. The company expects to open five new subsidiaries within the next three years across Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Lead mage: Fabien Pinckaers, founder and CEO of Odoo. Photo: uncredited. 

AI integration platform Eden AI has raised €3M in a Seed round led by Galion.exe  with participation from 50 Partners and several business angels including Olivier Pomel (Co-Founder of Datadog), Sébastien Pahl (Co-Founder of Docker) and Alix de Sagazan (Co-Founder of ABTasty). Eden AI will use the funding to accelerate product development, grow its engineering team, and expand its partner ecosystem. A portion of the capital will also be used to extend Eden AI’s workflow capabilities and build robust monitoring and analytics tools, allowing users to track performance metrics, usage patterns, and costs across all integrated AI services from a centralised dashboard. Eden AI’s end-to-end platform serves as a hub for businesses to access different models from Google, AWS and OpenAI. The company began with a unified API that combined multiple AI models for easy business use. This API provided access to services like natural language processing, computer vision, and generative AI through one interface. Taha Zemmouri, Co-Founder and CEO of Eden AI, said: “We believe that every company, regardless of size or technical expertise, should be able to leverage AI to drive efficiency and innovation. Our ultimate goal is to become the definitive platform for building AI-powered applications at scale.” Kevin Kuipers, Co-Founder of Galion.exe, added: "Eden AI has demonstrated exceptional innovation in making AI accessible to businesses of all sizes. Their platform's ability to integrate multiple AI models into existing workflows in a frictionless and intuitive manner is a game-changer for the industry." Eden AI 's customers include Atos (Eviden) and the Council of Europe.

BiocSol, a spinout specialized in sustainable crop protection solutions, has raised a €5.2M Seed round. Agri Investment Fund and VIVES IUF led the round, bringing extensive expertise in agribusiness and biotechnology, alongside Belgian investors, including Invest.BW and IMBC Spinnova SA. BiocSol develops microbial-based biopesticides for farmers by providing a biocontrol to protect their crop. By harnessing specific microbial substances, the company creates reliable, stable and cost-effective biosolutions targeting key agricultural challenges, such as mildew agents. The company aims to attract a total €10M by year-end through additional non-dilutive and equity financing. With the funding, BiocSol will expand its team, broaden its R&D pipeline and kickstart the regulatory processes for biofungicides. BiocSol will also be able to increase production to meet demand and optimize its quality and efficiency processes. “We are thrilled by the confidence our investors have shown in our biopesticides technology and our long-term vision,” said Denis Payen, CEO. “With this funding we can scale up our technology, providing farmers worldwide with access to more sustainable and efficient agricultural solutions. In the face of climate change and resource limitations, our microbial-based methods offer a future-forward, eco-friendly approach.” “This new investment is strategic for our fund as it enables us to become part of the rapidly growing Wallonia AgTech ecosystem,” said Patrik Haesen, CEO of Agri Investment Fund. “We are particularly impressed by BiocSol's innovative approach, which addresses some of the most pressing agricultural problems by creating multiple modes of action to combat pathogens that are swiftly developing resistance to current solutions.” Emerging fungal and oomycete pathogens infect staple calorie crops and economically important commodity crops, thereby posing a significant threat to global food security. Indeed, plant pathogenic fungi destroy between 20 and 40 % of the global annual harvest. CTO and founder Simon Caulier concluded by saying: “We’re at a pivotal moment for the company, advancing our mission to develop sustainable crop protection solutions. This investment allows us to bring impactful solutions to agriculture, fostering a healthier planet for future generations.”

KoRo, the snacking brand with over two million customers in Europe, successfully closes an oversubscribed Series C financing round and receives €35 million in fresh capital.  Founded in Germany in 2014, KoRo offers a wide range of high-quality products from natural foods, such as nut butters and dried fruit, to clean-label snacks and functional foods.  The company employs more than 300 people. A customer base of over 2 million people shop for KoRo products online as well as in over 10,000 retail locations across Europe. Coefficient Capital led the round with participation from existing investors such as Five Seasons Ventures, HV Capital, Partech, Haub Legacy, SevenVentures and others.  KoRo has welcomed ex-CEO of Oatly, Toni Petersson, as its newest member of the Advisory Board.  "KoRo's omnichannel model is one of the most impressive I've seen in the industry to date. The seamless connection of online and offline experiences creates a powerful flywheel effect that promotes brand visibility, customer loyalty and long-term growth. This unique approach and KoRo's ability to reach consumers at exactly the right moment is key to the company's success. I'm excited to be a part of it," says Petersson.  Many exciting projects and partnerships are already planned for the coming year - there is still a lot of exciting to come from KoRo," says Florian Schwenkert, CEO of KoRo. The financing enables KoRo to continue to pursue its profitable growth strategy, expand its innovative product range and expand its strong presence in Europe — especially in France, Italy and the Benelux region.  Lead image: KoRo founder Constantinos Calios, CEO Florian Schwenkert, Advisory Board member Toni Petersson and CFO Dr Daniel Kundt.

Apideck, a provider of API software, has raised $7.5M in its Series A round. The round was led by Amsterdam-based Airbridge Equity Partners, the round includes PMV, angel investors, and executives from Atlassian, Rocketreach, Aikido, Teamleader, and Proxyclick.  The investment will be used for international growth and enhance its product offering for B2B software and fintech companies. Apideck’s cyber infrastructure aims to enhance security and reduce customers' liability. It has attracted clients from startups to publicly listed companies, including companies like BILL, Drata, Benefex, Principal Group, 11x, Kintsugi, Setyl, and Atradius. The company has offices in San Francisco and Europe, and supports a global customer base. "Apideck's Unified API platform simplifies integrations while ensuring secure, cost-efficient management of customer data. We’re excited to support their growth as they meet the increasing demand for seamless SaaS solutions," said Rick van Boekel, co-founder and partner at Airbridge. "The upcoming integration of AI technologies positions Apideck to further revolutionize how businesses connect their tools." The funding will be used to scale Apideck’s engineering, product, and go-to-market teams. With a growing demand for integrated solutions, Apideck aims to continue supporting customers worldwide by enhancing its platform capabilities, expanding API coverage, and fostering new partnerships with software providers. "Integrations have become a critical requirement for any business adopting SaaS products," says Gertjan De Wilde, CEO and co-founder of Apideck. "Our real-time Unified API platform empowers companies to enable their customers to connect the tools they rely on, reducing friction and allowing their engineering teams to focus on what they do best. Apideck’s platform simplifies complex integration challenges by offering a standardized approach to connecting different software applications. Unlike traditional integration platforms, Apideck allows companies to standardize multiple APIs while maintaining full ownership of their customer data. The platform supports 150+ connectors across industry verticals, such as: HRIS, accounting, CRM, and e-commerce, and is expanding rapidly into new API categories. “Next to providing superior security, our no-data-storage approach provides customers with an increased control over their budget thanks to usage based pricing,” says Tom Schouteden COO, and co-founder of Apideck, “instead of customers having to pay per connection regardless of whether they are actually using the service.” Apideck also plans to integrate its Unified APIs with emerging large language models (LLMs), so that customers can harness AI for real-time data processing.

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) startup TEKEVER has raised €70 million in a funding round led by Baillie Gifford, and the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF). TEKEVER develops and operates UAS that provide customers with Intelligence-as-a-Service. Unlike traditional aerospace companies, TEKEVER is vertically integrated, combining aeronautical design, manufacturing and production with software development and data science, which allows them to quickly bring products to market and adapt them to evolving customer needs. Its technology is dual-use, deployed by civilian and military organisations as well as private companies, with applications ranging from detecting environmental threats such as oil spills, wildfires or flash flooding to gathering intelligence and conducting search and rescue missions for defence and security purposes. The already profitable company is also a recognised expert in advanced satellite communication and networking systems for multi-satellite missions, particularly Inter-Satellite Links, as well as satellite RF payloads for Earth observation and space exploration. Customers include the European Maritime Safety Agency and the UK Home Office, as well as multiple defence and security forces and corporations throughout Europe, North America and Southeast Asia.  TEKEVER systems have been deployed to Ukraine to enable some of the most complex and demanding long range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, performed under the most extreme operational and technical conditions. According to CEO Ricardo Mendes, TEKEVER was built to provide its customers with future-proofed, AI-centric hardware-enabled systems that are produced at scale and effectively delivered and sustained globally.  Baillie Gifford and the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) led the funding, which also included the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), Crescent Cove Advisors LP, and existing investors Iberis Semper and Cedrus Capital.  Chris Evdaimon, Investment Manager, Private Companies at Baillie Gifford, commented: “ TEKEVER is a rapidly growing and already profitable company, a rare combination in defence, national security and space startups. We were attracted by its approach to building drones – with a software-centric and vertically integrated model – along with the real-life experience TEKEVER has accumulated.” Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, Partner at the NATO Investment Fund, commented:  “Unmanned Aerial System technologies are critical to advancing defence, security and resilience. We are thrilled to support TEKEVER - whose technology is revolutionising the defence and commercial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sectors.” As part of its growth plan, TEKEVER, which is already profitable, will accelerate investment in R&D to support product innovation and expand its global production, delivery and support footprint. Lead image: TEKEVER. Photo: uncredited. 

Celebratix, a Dutch blockchain ticketing startup backed by Solana, has secured €1.1M from the Swedish VC uBIT, and angel investors. The funds will be used to expand internationally. Celebratix offers a ticketing infrastructure via blockchain technology, without the requirement for end users to deal with crypto. The company now provides ticketing for some of the largest venues in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Berlin. Celebratix leverages Solana's blockchain software to make event revenue and customer data accessible before, during and after events.The Dutch startup has a core customer base of events in and around Amsterdam, such as the Chicago Social Club and Jimmy Woo.  “Celebratix was founded by event organizers, for event organizers”, commented founder Frank Roskam. “Having organized festivals for 40.000+ people ourselves in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, we’ve first-hand experienced the fraud issues when it comes to reselling tickets. Let alone all the data that is being lost for retargeting. We are perfectly positioned to challenge the incumbent ticketing companies like Ticketmaster.”“With Celebratix, organizers have full control over the sale of their tickets, which means they do not have to pay fees to secondary marketplaces and can better engage their attendees,” said Taco Ketelaar, one of the Dutch business angels. "As a one-stop-shop for events, I am convinced that Celebratix is setting the new standard for ticketing in Europe. With the backing of Solana it has the potential to scale worldwide."With the €1.1M investment round, founders Frank Roskam, Hans Jochem Dijk (Oranjebloesem/PIV Records) and Guy Rombaut (ex-Bitvavo) will expand overseas to Sweden and the United Kingdom. Through a partnership with MixMag, Celebratix recently entered the German market providing services in both Berlin and Hamburg.With backing from Angel Investors in every one of those countries. The funding will be used to hire a new set of back-end developers, as well as expand its sales ambitions.