This week we tracked more than 35 tech funding deals worth over €404 million, and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. Either way, let's get you up to speed. ? Notable and big funding rounds ??Fresh £125M for GoFibre to expand connectivity in rural Scotland ?? Investment app Midas lands $80M Series B, the country’s biggest fintech deal ?? Stark raises $62M for weaponised drone systems, backed by Sequoia and Peter Thiel ?? Loft Dynamics raises $24M Series B to redefine pilot training with VR simulators ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ??  Starling Bank snaps up UK accounting startup Ember ?? Advent to acquire Swiss chipmaker U-Blox in $1.3B deal ?? US quantum computing firm Strangeworks expands European presence with Quantagonia acquisition ?? Visma strengthens foothold in DACH with AI-driven acquisitions of milia.io and Taxy.io ? Interesting moves from investors ? Clean Growth Fund raises one-third of £150M fund target ? Norrsken Evolve launches €57M fund to back "impact tech" ?? Spintop Ventures strengthens Nordic expansion with new Danish office and Principal ?️ In other (important) news ? N26 co-founder Valentin Stalf exits CEO role following investor row ?? Brex aims to crack EU market with partnership-led approach ?Digital bank targeting Turkish diaspora to launch in UK ? Monzo mirrors Revolut and Klarna with plan to launch mobile service ? Recommended reads and listens ?? Doncaster is the UK's AI hub you've never heard of ? Why most AI drug discovery startups struggle — and how Turbine plans to beat the odds ☀️ Cyprus: A rising Mediterranean hub for tech and innovation ? Inside Nemo: the six-week sprint that turned inclusive banking research into a working fintech prototype ? European tech startups to watch ?? Seabound receives £1.1M grant from UK Government ?? Meshed raises £950,000 for AI insurance broker for SMEs ?? WePositive.Energy secures €350,000 to tackle grid congestion with AI ?? RedMimicry secures Seed funding to scale cyberattack emulation platform ?? Lignufy secures €40,000 investment to digitize timber trade in Europe

A digital bank targeting the estimated near one million Turkish diaspora living in the UK is launching in the UK. Called RUUT, the challenger bank will offer retail and business accounts, including cards and remittances. The brains behind the venture are Moka United, the fintech subsidiary of İşbank, Turkey’s largest privately-owned bank, and UK fintech Algbra Labs, which is providing the tech. RUUT is an existing brand that has been created to help the Turkish diaspora in Europe make easy money transfers to Turkey.   A beta version of RUUT has already been built in Germany, but the UK banking offering is set to be more comprehensive. The UK offering will target the Turkish diaspora in the UK, which numbers close to one million people, according to estimates. RUUT will offer its financial products through regulated financial infrastructure partnerships. RUUT plans to offer its services across 27 EU countries. Halim Memiş, CEO of Moka United and RUUT, said: ”Through RUUT, we aim to deliver inclusive, user-friendly, and trusted digital banking experiences — beginning in the UK."

The road to Doncaster from London is a good and fast one, but one less travelled. South Yorkshire’s new city has struggled to prevail since the area’s mining industry was decimated in the 1980s. Visitors tend to visit from across Yorkshire, but that is about to change. Doncaster is ten miles away from Orgreave, a village primarily known for the Battle of Orgreave, a violent confrontation during the 1984-85 UK miners' strike between striking miners and police that is considered a pivotal event in the history of the UK. While the coking plant is now closed and a housing estate stands on the site, the event remains a significant part of the village's history and is the subject of ongoing campaigns for justice and inquiry, more than 40 years later.Hope, however, is open for this hitherto benighted and beleaguered area with an arts festival backing up recent announcements for its regeneration, an event that is just as important as entrepreneurship and local council support. Artbomb UK in the city The recent Artbomb UK festival centred in the city’s beautiful and inclusive Unitarian Church, is Doncaster’s festival of experimental art, ‘urgent ideas’ and collective imagination. ​Taking over shops, streets and unexpected spaces, ArtBomb 2025 brought together artists, performers, thought leaders, communities and dreamers to explore how we live, and how we might live better. This year’s theme, A Meaningful Use of Time, invited audiences to slow down and tune in. “Experimentation, arts and creativity are critical in building energy, community and innovation. It’s not always pretty and never formulaic but curious people muck about, find solutions and entertain themselves in between the cracks - be they lesser used buildings, marginalised communities or making tools do things they may never have been intended for,” said Mike Stubbs, Creative Director, Artbomb UK. While visitors at Artbomb 2025 may have been encouraged to slow down, Doncaster is ploughing ahead and fast. It has long been a place that makes and moves things. Its rail engineering heritage, freight corridors and manufacturing know-how have shaped the economy for more than a century. What’s new is the way those strengths are being recombined with digital capability and fresh investment to create a modern tech hub—one rooted in real industries, not just glossy co-working spaces. A visible signal of intent is Gateway One, the city’s flagship digital tech hub now under construction beside Doncaster railway station. Backed by £32 million, the five-storey, 52,000 sq ft Grade-A building is designed to be net-zero in operation. The council and local partners position it as both a front door for incoming companies and a scale-up home for local startups, with completion targeted for early 2027. In other words: a permanent anchor for digital and AI businesses, in the most connected part of the city centre. “Doncaster has innovation in its DNA from building the iconic Flying Scotsman to nurturing engineering legend Sir Nigel Gresley. Today, the city is writing a new chapter, recovering from deindustrialisation with bold ambition and more than £50 million invested in regeneration and restoration. “At the heart of this transformation is our new AI hub, anchoring Doncaster’s emergence as a northern powerhouse for artificial intelligence, digital innovation and future-ready growth,” said Damian Allen, CEO, Doncaster City Council. Wider South Yorkshire strategy The Digital Tech Hub is not a standalone bet. It slots into a wider South Yorkshire strategy to grow high-value, innovation-led sectors. In 2023 the region was named the UK’s first Advanced Manufacturing Investment Zone, a long-term programme designed to catalyse R&D, attract private investment and create jobs across Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and, crucially, Doncaster. The zone builds on the area’s established strengths in making practical, engineered solutions (from clean energy to next-gen mobility) and provides a framework for incentives, sites and skills. For Doncaster’s tech ecosystem, that matters: it means a pipeline of firms and projects that need software, data, automation, and AI applied to real-world problems.  The city’s logistics superpower is another distinctive asset. iPort Doncaster—marketed as the UK’s most advanced multimodal logistics hub—brings 24/7 distribution capability, a rail freight terminal and millions of square feet of Grade-A space within minutes of the motorway network.  This is where warehouse automation, computer vision, telematics, and optimisation software stop being buzzwords and start cutting costs and carbon for household-name tenants. Inward-investment teams now pitch Doncaster as the place where logisticians meet data scientists—backed up by real kit, not slideware. Skills are the lifeblood of any tech hub, and here too Doncaster has been building quietly but deliberately. University Campus Doncaster runs higher technical pathways in data analytics and cybersecurity as part of the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology and has been investing in hands-on facilities such as a new gaming hub for game development and esports.  At 13–18, Doncaster UTC (the city’s university technical college) leans into engineering and digital, with industry partners ranging from the AMRC to rail manufacturers—giving young people earlier exposure to real-world projects and employers. None of this is flashy; all of it builds the vocational spine that scaling tech companies need. Rail still runs through the story - literally. The former National College for High Speed Rail site at Lakeside, which closed in 2023, is being repurposed by Network Rail as an education and training centre.  That keeps advanced transport and systems engineering skills anchored locally, and dovetails with the city’s digital ambitions in signalling, predictive maintenance, and rail automation. The move also reassures employers that specialist training will be available at scale, right in Doncaster.  Connectivity, of course, is table stakes for a tech hub. Doncaster’s mainline rail links are strong, but the city is also working to restore its international gateway. Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) closed in 2022; since then, the council and regional mayor have pushed a “South Yorkshire Airport City” plan to reopen the site as a sustainable aviation hub. In April 2025 the UK government backed a £30 million devolved funding investment to support the reopening, projecting thousands of jobs and billions in economic impact by 2050. Local leaders remain publicly committed to a spring 2026 relaunch, which would plug Doncaster’s tech-enabled logistics, aerospace services and business travel back into global flows. For founders and investors, that’s a signal: growth here will be connected. There’s also something subtler - civic momentum. Doncaster’s elevation to city status in 2022 wasn’t just a new letterhead; it unlocked political leverage and a sense of identity that’s useful when courting capital and talent. Place-branding doesn’t write code, but it does help a recruiter close a mid-career engineer who wants both an interesting job and a place with a future.  Doncaster’s tech proposition on the ground First, it’s applied. Unlike pure-play software clusters, Doncaster’s tech is naturally fused to sectors it already leads: logistics, rail, advanced manufacturing and public-sector digital. Startups have immediate problem sets—warehouse robotics deployments that must work with night-shift crews; rail asset monitoring that has to earn its keep by cutting downtime; fleet electrification that requires data-driven routing and charging. That creates early revenue opportunities and deep moats for companies that can productise domain expertise. Second, it’s collaborative. The Digital Tech Hub is designed as a hinge between the city centre, the station and employers—convening meetups, hack days and accelerator activity while offering grow-on space so companies don’t have to move to scale. Tactically, that’s smart: long commutes to innovation assets sap momentum. Keeping engineers, product managers and customers within a short walk reduces friction and makes serendipity routine.  Third, it’s skills-forward. The Institute of Technology model puts higher technical education on a practical footing, with industry-shaped curricula and equipment. Pair that with the UTC, the retooled rail training centre and adult-learning pathways at Doncaster College, and you get a pipeline that can serve both startups and corporates. For founders, that means less time fighting the talent market alone and more time building.  Fourth, it’s place-based, not parachuted-in. The iPort, Doncaster North and other industrial sites are long-horizon platforms for experimentation with AI-enabled operations, low-carbon tech and Industry 4.0. When a council talks about an “AI Growth Zone,” it lands differently if it can point to a 500-acre logistics park with an on-site rail terminal, buildings going up, and firms committed to trialling new tools in live environments.  Challenges remain Every emerging hub must avoid becoming a commuter satellite that exports its best people each morning; the solution is to keep stacking high-quality roles locally, which the Digital Tech Hub aims to do. Access to seed and angel capital outside the “Golden Triangle” is always tighter; here, the Investment Zone’s signalling effect and the region’s manufacturing investors can help. And while city status helps perception, sustained delivery—on time, on budget—will matter more than slogans. The airport timeline will be watched closely by employers weighing relocation. Still, the direction of travel is clear. Doncaster isn’t trying to clone someone else’s tech cluster; it’s building one that fits its DNA. If you’re a founder working on applied AI for logistics, a railtech scale-up seeking a training and testbed ecosystem, or a corporate digitising supply chains, this is a city where engineers can look out the window and see the systems they’re improving.  And as the Digital Tech Hub opens, the Investment Zone deepens, and international connectivity comes back online, Doncaster’s value proposition will only get sharper: an affordable, connected, industry-anchored home for tech companies that want to ship product, not just pitch decks. In short: the emergence is real. It’s anchored in assets you can visit, programmes that are funded, and a skills pipeline that is being steadily built. For once, 'tech hub’ isn’t a press release—it’s a plan being poured in concrete, wired with fibre, and populated with teams who build things that work.

Countless resources and time are expended globally to research and advance novel therapies that end in clinical failure and no patient benefit.  Imagine a world where it is possible to predict any potential drug’s effect on translatable biological models yet unavailable for lab-based testing, while accurately representing patient biology.  Turbine is a biotech company that has built a biology-first, AI-powered “virtual lab” — the world’s first interpretable cell simulation platform.  Turbine’s Simulated Cell platform creates virtual cells that mimic molecular-level behaviour — modelled on real patient biology. It enables in silico experimentation to accelerate drug discovery and development across oncology and beyond. I spoke to Szabi Nagy, co-founder and CEO of Turbine, to learn more about the company's origin, product offering, and growth to a team of 60+ data scientists, computational and molecular biologists drawn from Budapest’s deep tech talent pool. Predicting drug performance before the first clinical trial The Simulated Cell platform models the fundamental protein signalling logic that decides cell fate and facilitates in silico experiments at scales that are impossible in the physical world. In other words, Turbine.ai constructs a digital twin of cellular systems—a biologically representative virtual model that mirrors real cells, enabling simulation and prediction in a controlled, iterative environment. As a result, billions of simulated experiments can be run in the time it takes to complete even a single test in a wet lab to empower the biopharma industry by identifying and confirming disease-driving mechanisms. And now, virtual cell models aren’t just for big pharma anymore. In April Turbine launched a virtual lab, which lets scientists use the company’s powerful cellular simulation technology to tackle some of the toughest R&D challenges – including understanding how a potential drug will perform in humans before embarking on a multi-million dollar clinical trial. For the first time, smaller biotech teams are jumping in and using it hands-on to run experiments faster, smarter, and in ways that just weren’t possible before. From origins in network science to machine learning Turbine actually started out not as an AI company, but as a network science company. The idea was to represent a cell as a network — nodes (proteins) connected by edges (interactions).  According to Nagy, “there’s a rich mathematical theory about how networks behave. Our thought was: can we represent biology as a dynamic network and simulate how it responds when something changes?” The advantage of this approach is interpretability. For example, if you administer a drug that inhibits a protein, you can see how the network predicts downstream effects — whether the cell survives, dies, or changes behaviour.  However, Nagy admits that while scientists loved this because they could intuitively understand the mechanism and generate hypotheses, the problem was scalability.  “These networks were built manually by experts reading literature and setting parameters. After a point, predictivity plateaued, because human bias was baked in.” That’s when the company turned to machine learning — and with its use became more predictive and flexible, able to model more drugs and diseases. But this didn’t always win over the scientists. Nagy admits, “We became more of a black box. Biologists hated that — they felt they couldn’t trust the predictions without understanding the reasoning.” Simulating biology is harder than training an LLM Simulating biology is no easy task. The team spent the first four of five years making the technology scale.  Nagy admits that, “biology is incredibly complex and happens at a microscopic scale, so our ability to generate data is limited.” The company grappled with challenges such as, how to represent biology at a level where you can learn something universal? Is it possible to create a model that can mimic many different types of cells and eventually tissues?  Then, when it comes to deep learning, there’s the challenge of finding an abstraction level where you can actually start training the model and simulating experiments in a way that’s useful, without trying to “boil the ocean” and spending decades and billions on data generation. Unlike LLMs, which can be trained to a reputable knowledge of words and grammar, “with cells you only get superficial snapshots. You have very little data and need to learn a very complex system.” The second challenge for the company was the sheer number of possible experiments.  Turbine began with a foundational machine learning model trained to learn fundamental rules of biology — such as how proteins interact with each other, and how molecules (like drugs or microenvironmental signals) acting on proteins can alter their function. The model is trained on data from real biological systems — including lab-based experiments, animal studies, and human samples. This typically consists of genomic information and protein-level measurements, most often transcriptomics, as it is easier to generate.  These snapshots give the model its training targets: how the cell looked before an intervention, and how it looked after. The model then infers the wiring that led from A to B, across millions of experiments. Where do biotech startups go wrong?  Drug discovery is often held up as one of AI’s most credible applications. When critics dismiss AI hype or “slop,” they still concede: at least it might help cure cancer. But turning promising science in the lab into a viable, commercial product that patients and healthcare systems will actually adopt is anything but straightforward. With Turbine’s years in the field, I was curious to hear Nagy’s view on why so many biotech startups struggle to turn scientific breakthroughs into commercial success. Nagy attributes it to four main factors:  Business model. Early AI drug discovery companies were funded by tech investors who thought Pharma would pay millions for better molecules. However, he contends that Pharma didn’t see it that way. “They saw these tools as point solutions in a long process, not something worth huge deals. So many companies had to pivot into biotech — building their own pipelines, because VCs wanted a path to returns.” Narrow focus. Most companies concentrated on molecule design. But most clinical failures aren’t because the molecule isn’t “good enough.” “They fail because of target choice, patient selection, biomarkers, or combination strategies. These are harder problems that many ignore.” Data dogma. According to Nagy, there’s a strong belief that “data equals value.” Companies raised hundreds of millions to generate proprietary datasets.  Nagy suggests that “AlphaFold showed the opposite: it didn’t create new data, it just applied better machine learning to existing public data. Data is useful, but not a moat.” Speed is not everything. Machine learning and AI are also correlating as bringing speed to drug discovery, but Nagy contends that this approach is misleading. “Faster to failure isn’t a business model. “Many failures don’t happen because the chemistry was too slow, but because drugs don’t benefit patients. Most failures occur in Phase II, when you need to show efficacy. Molecule design — AI or not — is rarely the bottleneck. The real issue is whether you picked the right target, patient population, and dose.” Rethinking pharma economics: fewer lab tests, less animal use, cheaper drug discovery Most biomedical digital twins today focus on patients — for trial design or treatment optimisation. Turbine is virtualising the steps leading to the patient: preclinical experiments and drug discovery workflows. Nagy asserts that over time these approaches will connect: “Imagine a patient digital twin generating hypotheses, which feed into our simulated cell or tissue models. You can then run experiments virtually to identify the best treatment strategy for that patient. That feeds back into the patient twin, creating a feedback loop.” Turbine’s platform is already used to guide the pipelines of pharma companies such as AstraZeneca, Ono Pharmaceutical, Cancer Research Horizons, and Bayer.  Turbine has applied simulations to almost 30 programs — from target identification to indication expansion.  Nagy explained: “We’ve shown that if you run simulations first and then test what the simulations suggest, you’re two to three times more likely to succeed in real experiments.That alone may not revolutionise a single step — but if you apply it across dozens of decision points, the cumulative effect is transformative.” Nagy contends that if platforms like Turbine succeed, instead of running endless lab experiments with limited predictive value, you’d have more computational scientists modelling experiments — and only confirming the most promising ones in the lab. That could reduce reliance on animal experiments, accelerate discovery, and change the economics of pharma.  “Today, only a few dozen large companies dominate because they’re best at managing clinical trials, approvals, and global commercialisation. If drug discovery itself becomes cheaper and more predictable, smaller players could innovate and still reach patients. That could expand innovation and potentially lower drug prices.” In August, Turbine entered into a one-year research partnership with MSD (Merck & Co.) to simulate otherwise hard-to-study cancer patient populations. The collaboration aims to uncover new therapeutic dependencies — insights that can help MSD prioritise drug targets, biomarkers, and combination strategies for validation in wet-lab experiments.

Swedish early-stage venture capital firm Spintop Ventures has announced its expansion into Denmark with the opening of a permanent presence in Copenhagen, accompanied by the appointment of Jasenko Hadzic as Principal. The move is part of the firm’s broader strategy to deepen its pan-Nordic footprint and solidify its role as a long-term partner to the region’s most ambitious tech founders. Hadzic joins from Nordic VC BackingMinds, where he led investments in SaaS, cybersecurity, and energy. He brings a decade of experience spanning both VC and startup operations, including as co-founder of a fast-scaling startup and founder of community initiatives such as The Investor Series, CPHFTW, Angel Next, and the Nordic Startup Conference. “Jasenko brings a combined 10 years of experience within venture capital and scale-ups. He’s well-known in the Danish ecosystem and is passionate about pushing the Nordic’s forward – having formerly founded initiatives such as The Investor Series, CPHFTW, Angel Next and Nordic Startup Conference,” said Sami Niemi, Partner at Spintop Ventures. “His experience on the investment side and as a former co-founder of a fast-growing startup, will be a great complement to the team and a value-add to our portfolio companies.” Spintop says Hadzic will be based in Copenhagen, working closely with Senior Advisor Mads Mikkelsen, as the firm doubles down on its engagement with Denmark’s increasingly active startup ecosystem. “I’m genuinely excited to join the team at Spintop Ventures, where a founder mentality and hands-on approach are at the core of how we support our portfolio companies,” said Jasenko Hadzic. “This is reflected in our track record, long-term value creation and on the investment team itself, where every member brings firsthand experience as either a founder, operator or executive. In VC, this combination is unique and I believe we’re well-positioned to be the best partner for the most ambitious teams in the region.” Denmark’s startup scene has matured significantly over the past five years, bolstered by increased public-private partnerships, global interest in Copenhagen as a tech hub, and a wave of experienced entrepreneurs launching second and third ventures. According to Dealroom, Danish startups raised over €1.2 billion in 2023, and local VC activity has steadily increased despite broader European funding headwinds. Spintop’s commitment to Denmark mirrors a broader trend among Nordic funds seeking deeper national footprints within the region. Sweden and Finland remain the traditional engines of Nordic tech, but Denmark is emerging as a strategic priority for investors focused on sectors such as climate tech, SaaS, and digital health. The firm has raised four funds to date, with exits including portfolio companies acquired by Cisco, Klarna, Zynga, Bentley Systems, and Synopsys, as well as several public listings.

Today, Visma strengthens its offering to accountants and tax advisors in the DACH region with the acquisitions of milia.io and Taxy.io. This brings Visma’s acquisitions to ten so far this year, and more than 350 in total. milia.io offers an AI-powered platform for accounting offices which facilitates client collaboration and automates and standardises internal workflows. The all-in-one platform covers end-to-end workflows, thus significantly enhancing communication and collaboration with clients, and is easily integrated with leading accounting systems. Taxy.io pioneered the use of AI in tax advisory, and is already used by more than 1,500 tax firms and tax departments across Germany. Its AI tax assistant helps tax advisors respond efficiently and precisely to complex tax inquiries, and recently became the first digital assistant to pass the official tax advisor exam. milia.io was co-founded by Tilman Walch and Michel Menk in 2021. Becoming part of Visma marks the next step in realising milia.io’s vision, strengthening its position in AI-driven automation for tax and accounting firms while opening new opportunities for sustainable growth. According to Tilman Walch, CEO of milia.io: “Together with Visma, we can accelerate our roadmap and expand the value we deliver to customers. Our focus remains clear: making everyday work in tax and accounting easier and smarter. With Visma’s long-term perspective and our shared commitment to AI innovation, we can ensure that our customers benefit from continuous improvements and future-proof solutions.”  Taxy.io is a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University, and was co-founded by Daniel Kirch, Sven Peper and Steffen Kirchhoff in 2018. Peper and Kirch will continue to lead the company as co-CEO’s, while Kirchhoff stays on board as CTO. “Taxy.io’s mission is to help all entrepreneurs and companies tackle the burden of regulation. After seven years of scaling our business in Germany, serving thousands of tax and legal professionals and solving millions of tax cases with AI, we are happy to continue our growth story together with Visma as an international leader in tax, accounting and legal software“, says Kirch. “We are very excited to confirm our continued growth in Germany through these two acquisitions. milia.io and Taxy.io are leading the way in leveraging AI to automate, simplify and support the work of accountants and tax advisors, and will be perfect additions to our suite of software offerings in the DACH region”, says Ari-Pekka Salovaara, Chief Growth Officer at Visma. Visma is a leading provider of mission-critical business software, with revenue of € 2.8 billion in 2024, 17,500 employees and 2.1 million customers across Europe and Latin America.

Brex, the US spend management platform, will not pursue an all guns blazing approach to cracking the EU market, but will adopt a more measured, partnership-led approach, according to a Brex executive heavily involved in its international plans. Erica Dorfman, EVP of global financial products at Brex, said: “We are trying to do it in a really thoughtful way, in terms of going in with our partners and going in where we have known demand for the Brex product in the market. “Our goal is not to sort of jump in with a huge presence and see what money we can light on fire.” Brex made a name for itself selling corporate cards and expense management tools to fast-growing startups. Brex, last valued at $12.3bn in 2022, announced earlier this month that it was launching across the EU, having secured an EU Payment Institution licence. The licence allows it to sell its corporate cards and spend management products to businesses across the EU. The San Francisco-based startup has set up an office in the Netherlands, where it secured the licence, with a 12-strong team running across sales, operations and customer success.  The fintech said it would start onboarding select EU customers in the coming months, through a phased rollout and expects to be fully up and running in the EU in early 2026. Founded in 2017, Brex started out targeting startups but has since broadened out to larger enterprises, a strategy it will mirror across the EU, says Dorfman. Its clients include over 250 public companies, including Coinbase and Robinhood while Scale AI is also a client.It says it currently serves 1,500 customers with EU operations but, before securing the licence, Brex could only offer its spend management services to European companies with a US presence. Now it will no longer face that hurdle. Potential European startup competitors could be Spendesk, Pleo, Payhawk and Tradeshift. Describing the difference between the US and EU market, Dorfman said: “Europe is definitely a very, very different market. And each country in Europe certainly has its own nuances both from an acquisition standpoint as well as what different companies in those markets need. “There is a lot more fragmentation perhaps in the card market in Europe, but the core needs of the customer, to have a corporate card, to have expense management, to have constant currency where that makes sense, I think are all things that we have seen.” Nuances in the bloc include on regulation and also on employee spend and employee reimbursement. But Brex is hoping its EU launch will be kick-started by leveraging its partnerships with Navan, the US travel expense startup, and Zip, the US procurement startup. Dorfman said: “I think as we enter into the market, we are going to be doing so with some of our partners like Zip and Navan, who have customers in Europe who are looking to use our BrexPay for Navan and Brex for Zip which are deep integrations with our product and allow us to serve the companies that they are already marking as customers but who don’t have a corporate card.” Founded by Pedro Franceschi and fellow Y Combinator alum Henrique Dubugras, Brex’s revenue streams include transaction fees, foreign-exchange fees, and subscriptions. It is reported to hit $500m in annual revenues this year. Brex, which does not have a US banking licence but partners with a bank, will not be bringing its banking and bill pay services to the EU immediately. But hopes to in the future, pending on licences. The next market Brex is targeting is the UK. Dorfman adds: “There is a lot of overlap with our existing customer base in terms of types of business.”

Stark, a German defence tech startup focused on weaponised drone systems, has raised $62 million in fresh funding, with Sequoia Capital leading the round. The investment reportedly values the company at $500 million, making it one of Europe’s fastest-scaling startups in the military technology sector. The funding round brings Stark’s total capital raised to $100 million since its founding in 2024. The company has also attracted backing from influential figures including Peter Thiel, the American-German billionaire and Palantir cofounder known for his interest in dual-use technologies. Sequoia Capital, which rarely backs European defence companies, has not yet publicly commented on the deal. Stark was founded by Florian Seibel, cofounder and CEO of German drone company Quantum Systems, which builds autonomous aerial systems for commercial and military clients. Stark’s mission is to develop and manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) designed for combat, a segment of the broader drone market that has gained increasing strategic attention amid global geopolitical instability and the war in Ukraine. In July 2025, Stark also expanded into the UK, opening a new drone production facility as part of a push into one of Europe’s most active defence markets. The UK has seen a spike in defence tech investment and government-backed procurement programmes, including new initiatives supporting sovereign drone capabilities. Stark’s fast-growing profile is emblematic of a broader shift in European venture capital, where defence and dual-use technologies, once considered off-limits, are increasingly receiving serious attention and funding. The war in Ukraine, heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and renewed NATO defence pledges have accelerated interest in sovereign military capabilities and next-generation battlefield technologies. In a signal of its broader ambitions, Stark recently acquired Berlin-based Pleno, a startup specialising in autonomous navigation software, which it will use to enhance its drone swarming capabilities This includes startups working on AI-enabled surveillance, autonomous systems, and next-gen weapons platforms, areas where European founders are now playing catch-up to their US and Israeli counterparts. European governments have also signalled a shift in procurement and industrial policy. In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s “Zeitenwende” doctrine has unlocked tens of billions of euros in defence spending, while the UK and France are both pushing for more homegrown innovation in military tech. With $100 million in total funding and a growing international footprint, Stark is now firmly positioned among Europe’s most heavily backed defence startups alongside names like Helsing, ARX Robotics, and the increasingly dual-use Quantum Systems. Image: Bildschirmfoto

Swiss VR Flight training company Loft Dynamics has raised a $24 million Series B funding round led by Friedkin with participation from Alaska Airlines and existing shareholders Sky Dayton and Craft Ventures, as well as UP.Partners.  The round brings Loft Dynamics’ total funding to $60 million and marks a major step forward in expanding its commercial airline offerings while continuing to grow its core helicopter business. Loft Dynamics developed the world’s only FAA- and EASA-qualified VR helicopter simulator, used by operators such as Airbus Helicopters, the Los Angeles Police Department and Air Greenland. With this latest investment, the company is applying its cutting-edge technology and regulatory credibility to transform airline pilot training at scale. “Pilot training hasn’t kept pace with the rest of aviation,” said Fabi Riesen, founder and CEO of Loft Dynamics. “We’re still sending trainees across the country to sit in $10-$20 million, warehouse-sized domes—technology that hasn’t evolved in decades. In an era of pilot shortages and increasing air mobility, that’s simply no longer sustainable. We’re building a new standard—one that’s far more realistic and accessible. High-quality, regular training leads to better pilots. And better pilots mean safer skies.” Loft Dynamics’ immediate focus is developing a fully integrated hardware and software system built to make pilot training safer, more effective, immersive and scalable. Initial offerings will include existing helicopter simulators and new full-motion Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 VR airliner simulators — up to 12 times smaller and a fraction of the cost of traditional full-flight simulators.  Loft’s new airliner simulators will include a multi-crew replica cockpit with all aircraft haptics, body and eye tracking, plus AI-powered training intelligence to measure pilot performance and deliver tailored feedback. It will also feature LofTWIN—a virtual demonstration mode that lets instructors record immersive lessons for pilots to replay at any time. These systems will enable pilots to train safely and regularly for any condition, including rare, high-risk scenarios and past aviation tragedies. To further increase training accessibility, Loft Dynamics is also developing a spatial computing–powered home training kit, allowing pilots to review sessions, access immersive content, and train remotely—from the base or their living room. As part of the investment, Dan Friedkin, chairman and CEO of Friedkin (as well as an accomplished pilot), will join Loft Dynamics’ board of directors, partnering closely with Series A investors Sky Dayton (partner at Craft Ventures, founder of Boingo Wireless, EarthLink and CloudKitchens) and Ben Marcus (co-founder and managing partner at UP.Partners), both of whom also serve on the board.  “Loft Dynamics is defining the next era of aviation training,” said Dan Friedkin.  “This investment enables them to scale their solution globally, fast-track innovation, meet an urgent industry need and elevate pilot safety in the process. Loft brings the vision and execution capability this moment demands.” “Through Alaska Star Ventures, our corporate venture capital arm, we are excited to support Loft Dynamics in bringing FAA-qualified VR technology to commercial airline training,” said Pasha Saleh, corporate development director, Alaska Airlines.  “This investment will not only enhance our industry-leading training program but also pave the way for future training solutions across the aviation industry.”

London-based hospitality CRM app Embargo is targeting Europe-wide growth with its new raise of $3.5 million in funding. The injection of capital was provided from a group of prominent angel investors as it looks to scale its AI-driven CRM and loyalty platform across Europe. The round attracted backing from investors including Paul Statham (founder of Condeco), Christo Georgiev (founder of myPOS), Hampton Finance (the Chantler family fund behind Meadow Foods), Mike Branney (founder of Oh Polly), Stephen Zinser, and Carl Christian Reiner. Founded in 2018 by Frederick Szydlowski and Tsewang Wangkang, Embargo offers a plug-and-play platform tailored for small and medium-sized hospitality businesses (SMEs), including coffee shops, bakeries, and restaurants. The startup helps operators drive customer retention, repeat sales, and digital engagement across in-store, collection, and delivery channels through loyalty programs and CRM tools that are traditionally only accessible to large restaurant chains. “Our mission is to level the playing field for hospitality SMEs keen to grow their revenues and scale – we do that by giving them access to the kind of tools typically reserved for global enterprises,” said co-founder Frederick Szydlowski. “This investment is not just a vote of confidence in our product and growth to date, but also in the scale of the opportunity ahead. With strong foundations, a growing international footprint, and a clear product roadmap, we’re perfectly positioned to become the go-to platform for hospitality businesses worldwide.” In a fragmented European market where SMEs represent around three quarters of hospitality businesses, the accessibility of such tools has lagged behind the US. Embargo is aiming to bridge that gap, offering what investor Oliver Chantler of Hampton Finance called a “sophisticated but easy to use” platform. “Embargo is closing a critical information gap in the food and hospitality sector, and we are excited to be part of its journey,” said Chantler. Embargo plans to use the fresh capital to further develop its AI and machine learning engine, which supports personalised marketing and retention strategies for merchants. It also intends to ramp up B2B sales and marketing, especially in existing markets, before launching in new geographies from 2026. Recent integrations with major US-based payment and POS providers such as Square and Lightspeed hint at a broader global strategy. “For the first time, we have the budget to fully leverage our product-market fit and significantly accelerate sales and marketing,” said co-founder Tsewang Wangkang. “We aim to more than double our growth year-over-year while maintaining a healthy business model and avoiding short-term artificial spikes that don’t deliver long-term value.”

A new report lays bare the scale of financial exclusion facing people with learning disabilities. It found that more than a third require ongoing support to manage day-to-day spending, while nearly one in three do not even hold a bank account in their own name. Behind these numbers are systemic barriers — from complex sign-up processes and inaccessible digital tools to a lack of personalised support — that leave many excluded and vulnerable.In response, CI&T has launched Nemo, Art of the Possible – a groundbreaking prototype of a financial app created in collaboration with Project Nemo, a grassroots initiative driving to improve disability inclusion in the Fintech and FS industries. I spoke to Hannah Darley, Senior Strategy Director at CI&T, to learn more, and gained a wealth of information about how tech companies can embed inclusive practices into their design processes. The Nemo prototype is devised for adults with learning disabilities to manage finances independently and safely. It not only creates a workable product but offers a wealth of information on how startups can create user-centric tech that epitomises inclusive design. It was built in only six weeks, with CI&T’s teams engaging with individuals with lived experience to design an app that directly addresses the challenges they face with banking. Turning inclusive banking challenges into a broad blueprint for action The app is part of a broader strategy which began with a roundtable at Nationwide to discuss the state of banking for people with learning disabilities. Out of that came four workstreams: A major research project funded by Nationwide and carried out by Firefish, examining the banking experience for people with learning disabilities. A regulatory review by Fox Williams, looking at current frameworks like the Mental Capacity Act — what’s clear, what isn’t. A solutions review, almost like a Dragons’ Den, scanning for existing and emerging tools. And finally, “The Art of the Possible”, which is where CI&T partnered. True user-centric design from the get-go In developing the app, the team deliberately started with a blank sheet. In parallel with the research workstream, it brought in people with lived experience — individuals with learning disabilities and their carers — throughout the process. This is critical. I’ve previously met a startup who designed smart home tech for the visually impaired who never tested it with their intended audience until it went to market — and yes, it failed. Then there was the company creating autonomous wheelchairs, who had only tested them on research participants without mobility challenges. According to Darley: “We had a kickoff workshop with Project Nemo volunteers (many have family members with learning disabilities), industry experts, people with lived experience, and carers. That involvement continued across the project.” “But, here, people with lived experience were embedded throughout. What we heard repeatedly was: ‘This is the first time we’re really being heard.’ People said too often decisions are made about them, not with them. That ongoing involvement was hugely valuable.” Understand the biggest challenges faced by your users Project Nemo did so many things right. Darley recounts: "In terms of working with people with learning disabilities and carers compared to other user research, the difference wasn’t in who was in the room, but in how often." For the team working on Nemo, understanding the specific needs of users with disabilities was critical. These include: Opening an account: Documentation requirements can make it difficult. Ongoing money management: About a third of people regularly need support. Unsafe workarounds: Many share cards or passwords with carers, which is risky. Fraud and exploitation: They’re often targeted, or signed up for things in the street that they don’t fully understand. Banking apps: Remembering PINs, navigating apps, or handling declined transactions causes stress. Further, existing “parent-child” financial tools often feel patronising to adults with learning disabilities Create rapid user-focused design that adapts as you build While Joanne Dewar, Founder of Project Nemo, had offers from various financial institutions, she didn’t want to be shaped by their technology priorities. Instead, she wanted a neutral partner who could go back to user needs without constraints, and in doing so created a blueprint that any bank or fintech worldwide could take and adapt. The process started broadly — identifying functional, emotional, and physical needs for a money management app. Then it honed in on one persona: Emily, part of Project Nemo, and her daughter Ellie, who has Down syndrome. From that, the team built a high-fidelity prototype and a technical proof of concept in just six weeks, showing that 86 per cent of the features could be delivered with existing technology. In doing so, it created a live, working prototype, shaped by lived experience. It demonstrates how inclusive design can yield practical, scalable solutions that the Finance sector can implement immediately. According to Darley: “The prototype made it real — proof that if we could do this in six weeks, with 86 per cent of features possible today, then other teams could do even more. It was about showing what’s possible, not just imagining it." A prototype that redefines financial access Built with accessibility and ease of use as core principles, Nemo is a highly adaptive, inclusive digital product that empowers users to take control of their financial lives, while still allowing for trusted support where needed. While primarily designed for adults with learning disabilities, its advanced features and versatile configurability also significantly benefit neurodiverse individuals and anyone seeking greater confidence and support in managing their finances. Nemo’s key features include: Two views: The main app belongs to the user. They’re in control. There’s also a supporter view, but supporters can only see or nudge — never control money. Users choose who can see what. Onboarding: After asking users about habits like ATM use, accessibility needs, and money management styles, the app then adapts — e.g. dyslexic-friendly mode, dark mode, bottom navigation for mobility needs. Personalisation: Icons, layouts, and modes can be customised. According to Darley, “Abilities change over time, and the app adapts.” Balanced input: The app aims to capture perspectives from both users and carers. “For example, Ellie might say she can climb ladders, but her mum knows it’s unsafe. That balance shaped features,” shared Darley. Calm Mode: For moments of stress (like declined payments). It guides breathing exercises, strips back the interface, and helps users re-engage with money without panicking. Later, features can be reintroduced gradually. Representation: Some of the individuals with firsthand experience who collaborated on the prototype’s development included Kris Foster, Co-Founder of Project Nemo and George Webster, a BAFTA-winning actor and presenter known from CBeebies and Mencap who has Down syndrome. Webster is featured in the prototype and presents in-app video explanations, such as for Terms and Conditions, to make them easier to understand. Darley shared, “Seeing someone relatable makes information more accessible." Accessible design isn’t optional: four lessons for startups Regulations may be nudging companies toward accessibility, but Darley argues startups should go further — embedding lived experience, embracing diversity, and rethinking what “innovation” really means. Her advice for startups looking to implement accessible design: Bring users in, and pay them. People with lived experience are consultants, not charity cases. Diversity matters. Disabilities affect around 20 per cent of the population — these aren’t “edge cases.” Be careful with constant updates. Frequent redesigns disorient users and hurt trust. Darley recounts, “One person was distressed when a bank changed the grocery icon in its app.” Question innovation. As one workshop participant said: “Are you really innovating if you’re leaving people behind?”  Overall, Darley contends: “For me, the key lessons are: make sure lived experience is always in the room, push for diverse teams, and use AI in ways that help us be more human, not less." Critically, the app is not only a practical tool, but also a statement of intent. It demonstrates how the financial sector can and should evolve to serve everyone, not just those who fit the standard mould. It also shows that inclusive innovation doesn’t require compromise, only the will to involve those most affected from the start. This launch represents a pivotal moment in advancing financial accessibility — transforming research into actionable solutions for a community that has been underserved for far too long. Through this initiative, CI&T and Project Nemo are building pathways to a more equitable financial future, where true independence and inclusion become realities rather than something aspirational.

German cybersecurity company RedMimicry, a provider of a platform for the realistic emulation of complex cyber-attacks, has received million-dollar Seed financing to advance realistic cyberattack testing. Many companies only test their defences selectively and under unrealistic conditions. This means that vulnerabilities in processes, technology, and collaboration can remain undetected. However, regulatory requirements such as DORA and NIS-2 stipulate that companies must comprehensively and regularly test their security measures against current attack chains.  RedMimicry was founded in 2023 by Alexander Rausch and Stefan Steinberg. The company provides repeatable emulations that enable companies to thoroughly validate their cyber defences against threat scenarios, such as malware or targeted attacks. This enables customers to increase their security sustainably while reducing costs and effort. As well as working directly with customers, RedMimicry collaborates with a growing network of partners to help companies of all sizes enhance their security processes. Alexander Rausch, founder and CEO of RedMimicry, said: “Our vision is to enable companies to protect themselves independently and effectively against increasingly complex cyber-attacks. With the support of experienced investors, we can advance our technology significantly and expand our market position.” High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) led the round with participation from Capital Square from Hamburg, superangels from Munich, and several well-known business angels.  Björn Sykora, Principal at HTGF, said: "Alex and Stefan combine technical excellence with entrepreneurial vision. With RedMimicry, they are addressing one of the greatest risks companies are currently facing: protection against cyber-attacks. They provide a European security solution that benefits both medium-sized and large companies.” According to Martin Ostermayer, co-founder of Capital Square:  “RedMimicry’s bold vision and outstanding team embody exactly the kind of ambition and expertise we look for in founders – and we’re confident they’ll set new standards in cybersecurity.” The fresh financing will enable RedMimicry to further develop its product platform, with a particular focus on specific threat scenarios, including attacks on critical infrastructure (operational technology, OT) and financial service providers. RedMimicry is also investing in its sales team and expanding its partner network. Lead image: Alexander Rausch, Security Researcher / Founder & CEO of RedMimicry, Stefan Steinberg, COO of RedMimicry and Björn Sykora, Principal at HTGF (Photo: Alexander Klebe).

Cyprus has rapidly emerged as a vibrant and fast-growing tech ecosystem, fueled by strategic investment, strong government support, and an expanding startup community. The country is now accelerating its digital transformation through a series of national initiatives aimed at integrating artificial intelligence across public and private sectors, expanding ultra-high-speed network connectivity, and strengthening the digital economy. Key priorities include developing digital skills, supporting research and innovation, promoting startup entrepreneurship, and enhancing cybersecurity. These efforts are already delivering results: in 2024, the tech sector contributed €8.5 billion to the economy and supported over 62,000 full-time jobs (KPMG). The ICT workforce has grown significantly, reflecting the sector’s robust expansion. However, this rapid growth has driven rising demand for skilled talent. As more international professionals fill key roles, Cyprus is increasingly reliant on foreign expertise, highlighting the urgent need to invest in local talent development to ensure long-term sustainability. Through targeted reforms and strategic planning, Cyprus is building a strong digital infrastructure and positioning itself as a leading Mediterranean hub for global tech, innovation, and entrepreneurship. These are the companies to keep on your radar in 2025. Amount raised in 2024: €10.2M Eschatology Entertainment is a Cyprus-based game studio founded in 2022 by industry veterans. With a global, remote team, the studio is crafting a narrative-rich, AAA Souls-like first-person shooter set in an apocalyptic Wild West world. In August 2024, Eschatology closed a Series A round of €10.2 million to fund final development, complete a showcase vertical slice, and build an internal publishing team. The studio aims to create immersive, story-driven experiences with rich philosophical and cinematic depth. Its IP is designed to grow into a lasting cultural franchise beyond just one game. Amount raised in 2024: $2M Obelisk Studio is a game and CG outsourcing studio excelling in high-fidelity assets for games, film, and cinematics. Serving independent developers and AAA studios alike, its skilled team of art directors and artists, each with over a decade of industry experience, produces top-tier 3D character art, environmental modelling, sculpting, and cinematic visuals. The studio is also developing Displacement, a first-person horror-action title set in a near-future alternate reality. Obelisk Studio raised $2 million in 2024 to fuel its transition from supporting AAA franchises to developing its own original IP. Amount raised in 2024: €1.2M Moving Doors is a proptech company offering designer, fully furnished rental apartments across cities, including Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos, and Dubai. Through its online platform, customers can explore real-time listings, book accommodations instantly, and manage support and services via a tenant app. The company raised €1.2 million in 2024 to deliver flexible long-term stays for professionals and digital nomads. Amount raised in 2024: €1M Magify is an analytics and LiveOps platform, designed specifically for mobile game developers. It enables studios to scale user engagement, optimise monetisation, and forecast revenue growth through advanced tools like predictive analytics, remote A/B testing, hyper-personalised segmentation, and purchase validation. With a lightweight SDK and intuitive dashboard, Magify helps developers maximise LTV and ROAS while reducing development and QA overhead. Its clients include studios whose games collectively engage over 350 million players worldwide. Magify raised €1 million in seed funding in September 2024 to fuel product development and expansion. Amount raised in 2024: €1M Placy is a Cyprus-based proptech startup, offering AI-powered assistants tailored for the real estate sector. It provides two main products. The first, Placy is a consumer-facing AI assistant for property buyers and sellers, available via WhatsApp and Telegram, handling tasks like valuations, appointment scheduling, and property agreements. The second, Placy Pro, is a white-label SaaS solution for real estate professionals and agencies, integrating with MLS systems and CRMs. It automates lead qualification, booking, follow-ups, upsells, and multilingual client engagement—all without technical overhead. With pre-seed funding of €1 million secured in October 2024, Placy aims to streamline real estate workflows, boost agent productivity, and enhance conversion rates globally across EU and MENA markets. Amount raised in 2024: Undisclosed Wild Forest is a free-to-play real-time strategy game developed by Zillion Whales, blending fast-paced PvP battles with card-collecting mechanics and NFT rewards powered by the Ronin blockchain. Players build a custom deck of unit cards, wage single-screen battles to control territory, and upgrade their assets (mines, barracks, and towers) to gain tactical advantage. A distinctive day-night cycle with fog of war enhances strategy and decision-making. The game supports NFT progression: players collect units, mint NFTs, upgrade their rarity, and trade them on the marketplace for real rewards. The company raised an undisclosed investment in 2024 to support its growth and expand development efforts.

A UK startup which deploys so-called AI agents to fix software failures has raised $17m, in a funding round backed by the VC arm of Alphabet-owned Google.Phoebe was founded by Matt Henderson and James Summerfield, formerly CEO and CIO of Stripe Europe, who sold their first startup, Rangespan, a UK startup that uses data science to help retailers determine which products to sell and when, to Google in 2014.Phoebe, which is launching today, is launching amid an explosion of activity in AI, be it funding, company, product and software launches. Amid this explosion of AI activity, Phoebe deploys AI agents to monitor and diagnose software problems, generating code and infrastructure changes to fix them.It says it deploys “swarms” of AI agents that search for evidence among vast siloed data to evaluate many different potential causes and solutions for a problem.  Financial losses from software outages grew to more than $400 billion in 2024, industry figures show.The founders of Phoebe point out that software failures could get a lot worse as AI-generated code leads to systems that are less well understood when things go wrong.Henderson said: “High-severity incidents can make or break big customer relationships, and numerous smaller problems drain engineering productivity. Software monitoring tools exist, but they aren’t very intelligent and require people to spend a lot of time working out what’s wrong and what to do about it.” Along with GV-formerly Google Ventures- the funding round was also led by Cherry Ventures. IMAGE:PIXABAY

Midas, Turkey's leading investment platform, has raised $80 million in Series B funding, the largest investment ever secured by a Turkish fintech company. This brings Midas' total funding to date to more than $140 million. Founded in 2020, Midas offers access to Turkish and US equities, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies through a single platform. Since launch, Midas has grown rapidly and now serves more than 3.5 million investors. Midas enables trading on US exchanges at a competitive flat fee of $1.50 per transaction, while permanently eliminating all commissions and account-related charges, including clearing and custody fees, for Borsa Istanbul. In addition, the platform provides real-time market data at no cost to its users. Since its founding in 2020, Midas has fundamentally changed how individuals in Turkey access financial markets. With a commission-free, seamless, and user-friendly experience, millions of people have made their first investments through Midas. Collectively, Midas users have saved nearly $50 million in transaction fees, and half of them began their investing journey on the platform. Midas has set new industry standards by dramatically lowering costs. After cutting US trading fees by 90%, the company permanently removed all Borsa Istanbul commissions in 2025. Today, Midas offers free live market data, and instant, fee-free transfers—making it the go-to platform for Turkish retail investors. Egem Eraslan, CEO of Midas, said:  "From day one, our mission has been to make investing accessible, affordable, and seamless for everyone.  Today, millions of people manage their investments through Midas. With this new funding, we are building a comprehensive ecosystem that unifies all investment needs on one platform, while further strengthening our security and technology infrastructure.  This will enable us to keep growing as a fintech company that serves the needs of individual investors both in Turkey and globally." The record-breaking raise highlights international investor confidence in Midas and its pioneering role in reshaping Turkey's fintech landscape.  The round was led by QED Investors. New investors include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), HSG (formerly Sequoia China), QuantumLight (founded by Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky), Spice Expeditions LP, and George Rzepecki. Existing backers Spark Capital, Portage Ventures, Bek Ventures, and Nigel Morris also joined the round, reaffirming their confidence in Midas. Yusuf Özdalga, Partner at QED Investors, said:  "Midas has unlocked access to vast domestic and global investment opportunities for Turkish users, utilising cutting-edge fintech tools. As QED, we are proud to lead Midas' Series B round, and are incredibly excited to partner with Egem and his team, who have created an exceptionally strong product and performance culture. We look forward to being part of this growth journey in Turkiye, the wider region, and beyond in the coming years." Having democratised investing for the masses, Midas is now expanding into tools for more sophisticated investors. Following the launch of margin investing, advanced analytics, and Midas Pro, the company will use its Series B funding to introduce derivatives trading in both Turkish and US equities. The rollout begins in September with US options trading, providing investors with free real-time data, competitive pricing, and intuitive interfaces—bringing the "Midas Standard" to derivatives markets. In parallel, Midas is increasing its investments in security and operational resilience. With infrastructure built to meet global standards, the company remains committed to providing a safe, reliable, and uninterrupted investing experience. The company will use the new capital to strengthen its security infrastructure to international standards further and to accelerate the launch of advanced products designed for active traders.

Munich-based deeptech mining company Hades Mining has emerged from stealth and announced today that it has raised a €5.5 million pre-seed round led by Project A. Europe's energy and critical mineral demand are surging – driven by AI, electrification, and industrial reshoring – while the continent imports over 58.4 per cent of its energy and over 90 per cent of its critical minerals, creating vulnerable dependencies. Europe's clean-energy transition and industrial base depend on secure domestic access to critical minerals and reliable baseload heat.  Many resources occur at great depths of kilometres below our feet, or in geologically challenging settings that conventional methods cannot reach, and many existing deposits and geothermal reservoirs remain under-accessed due to technical limits.  Addressing this challenge, Munich-based Hades Mining was founded by serial deeptech entrepreneurs Dr. Max Werner (Founder & CEO, serial deep-tech entrepreneur with a military background), Björn Dressler (Founder & CTO, former COO at Isar Aerospace), and Dan Gengenbach (Founder & SVP Material Displacement, former VP at Marvel Fusion and applied physicist).  The company is building a new class of drilling and subsurface access systems to operate projects directly – expanding existing resources and pushing the frontier to ultra-deep extraction.  By accessing ultra-deep and stable heat reservoirs beneath the Earth's crust, Hades unlocks geothermal energy at an unprecedented scale and advances in-situ recovery (ISR) – a low-impact technique using fluid circulation to extract minerals from deep rock formations without open-pit excavation. Technical details remain confidential at this stage. Hades remains independent by developing and operating mining and geothermal projects from start to finish: securing licences, drilling, and managing production. Partners and subcontractors are brought in only where they add speed, safety, or scale. Unlike traditional contractors who are paid per metre drilled, Hades generates revenue directly from the minerals, power, and heat it produces, maintaining long-term ownership stakes in every project.  This vertically integrated, technology-driven model accelerates development, enhances efficiency, and transforms each site into a platform for multiple high-value outputs.  By owning the full process, Hades gains operational knowledge that feeds directly into technology development, making implementation faster and more effective. The company prioritises European projects that strengthen strategic supply chains for EVs, renewable energy, semiconductors, and district heating — directly supporting the continent’s energy transition and industrial resilience.  “Europe can’t lead the energy transition while depending on others for the building blocks of modern life,” said Dr Max Werner, founder and CEO of Hades Mining.  “We’re working hard to bring the entire process under one roof — from license to production — combining the speed and precision of a tech company with the responsibility and staying power of a resource owner. Our goal is to help build a new standard for accessing minerals and energy at depth, and to do it in a way that’s transparent, sustainable, and future-focused.”  Led by Project A, other participants in the round include Visionaries Tomorrow, Founders Factory (Venture Fund funded by Rio Tinto) and strategic angels across aerospace, energy, and advanced manufacturing: Florian Seibel (Quantum Systems),  Roman Hölzl (RobCo),  Daniel Wiegand (formerly Lilium),  Moritz von der Linden (Marvel Fusion),  Hélène Huby (The Exploration Company),  Chris O’Connor (formerly NIF), Dr Nicolas Burkardt (Marvel Fusion), and Viessmann Generations Group.  “Access to energy and critical minerals is essential for any nation to remain independent, secure, and productive — and to give itself the greatest chance of democratic stability,” said Jack Wang, Partner at Project A.   “Hades is working to ensure Europe can depend on these resources for the long term. It’s a decisive step towards the resilience our continent needs. Energy is the next sovereign frontier.”  Thong Le Hoang, Founding Partner at Visionaries Tomorrow, said:  “One of the toughest challenges in applied deep tech is operating in extreme environments under real-world time, cost, and quality constraints. In energy and minerals, that means economically accessing superdeep reservoirs — a problem unsolved despite decades of incremental improvements. Hades is advancing the frontier with a breakthrough system built for unprecedented speed, scale, and precision.  By taking a systems-level approach to target the industry’s true bottlenecks, not just isolated lab results, the team turns deep tech into a strategic asset for Europe, unlocking one of the most consequential economic and impact opportunities of our time.”  Hades will deploy the funding towards the development of its new technologies and exploring the first sites for energy and critical mineral extraction.

How do you know when an animal is ill? Animals like horses (and cats!) are masters at concealing illness. It’s a problem experienced first-hand by Adam Siedlaczek, a former Polish national show jumping rider who tragically lost a mare to colic while a junior rider. “This is sadly very common — almost everyone from my national junior team went through something similar. Colic is extremely deadly for horses.” Though life moved on and he worked on industrial R&D projects, the experience stayed with him. Whilst in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, Siedlaczek was out jogging wearing a health-tracking wearable when the idea struck him: why not apply a similar approach to horse health? “During that jog, I thought: there’s technology for humans, like smartwatches and monitors—why not for animals too?” He joined forces with Szymon Serej, who has a background in advertising and branding, and two developers as co-founders who helped build the first prototype. “We decided to try building something for horses that could prevent such situations. Losing a horse isn’t only emotionally devastating; it’s also a massive financial loss, especially for professionals—breeders, trainers, riders.” For conditions like colic—one of the leading causes of equine death — early detection can mean the difference between a quick intervention and a costly, often fatal outcome. Horsano: a digital health assistant for horses Enter Horsano, a startup rethinking how technology could protect equine health. The team is developing continuous monitoring wearables that bring the kind of real-time insights we take for granted in human health devices to the stables. According to Serej, while experienced breeders may notice signs, horses often spend long hours alone in stalls or paddocks where an illness can fester undetected. Horsano acts as a personal health assistant for the horse. It can measure heart rate, respiration rate, heart rate variability (HRV), moisture, and activity (like lying down or staying calm). AI is used to filter this data and turn it into insights about the horse’s health and condition. The platform compares data against normal ranges and studies horses under specific conditions, including colic, respiratory problems, and situations like foaling. Siedlaczek detailed: “We collect data during those events, and with AI, we look for what’s typical and what’s not. But we’re also studying horses during specific conditions: colic, respiratory problems, or situations like foaling." There have been a number of efforts over the years to create wearables for small animals, livestock and even zoo animals. I wanted to know whether the team built Horsano based on existing technology or started from scratch. According to Siedlaczek, while encouraged at first to use hardware already available on the market, they encountered a problem: “We couldn’t find any company willing to adapt their devices to our needs—whether communication protocols, device size, or sensors, “ he shared. Years of R&D turned an idea into working hardware The team underwent four years of R&D during which it not only developed the textiles — a sensor-embedded belt and vest – but also the software and hardware. Serej contends, “We knew it would be a long, difficult road, but it was necessary. Human devices don’t translate easily to horses.” Horsano’s hardware is built around a specially designed wearable vest or belt fitted with proprietary dry sensors that can read vital signs directly through a horse’s fur. “You don’t need gels, moisture, or to shave the horse. With it, we can measure heart rate and respiration rate. That’s a global innovation — no one else has done it this way,” explained Serej. The device continuously tracks parameters such as heart rate, respiration, heart rate variability, movement, posture, and environmental conditions (temperature and humidity). Inside the wearable is a compact electronics module with a rechargeable battery — designed to last at least 24 hours under full monitoring and up to a week with lighter use — plus wireless connectivity to sync data to the cloud to capture all insights and make it possible to revisit data months later as AI models improve. Eventually, more analysis will happen on the device itself, depending on connectivity and battery conditions. The unit is lightweight and designed to be worn daily during stabling, grooming, or transport, with charging done much like a smartphone when the horse is not using it. An important factor in wearables for horses is speed. “The system should be faster than a human observer or someone checking on the horse once a day. If you catch colic in the first hour, it might be solved with movement or medication. By the tenth hour, surgery could be required—and that’s €5,000 or more,” explained Siedlaczek. From clinics to the field Horsano 1.0 is currently deployed in a number of veterinary clinics where its used in situations such as monitoring horses post-surgery. Horsano 2.0, with dry sensors, will be ready by the end of this year and aims to offer at least 24 hours of continuous monitoring (ECG, movement, respiration) on one charge. With lighter use, it can last over a week. The battery is rechargeable, similar to a phone. In the future, horses will also wear the device during riding to monitor health metrics during exercise. Horses are far more expensive to care for than other pets. This makes wearables a good investment, especially as, up until now, horse care is not particularly digital-first.The product targets horse owners, veterinarians, veterinary clinics, breeders, owners of stables and equestrian centres Siedlaczek explained that outside of top clinics using X-rays or blood tests, most equine care remains analogue, relying on manual knowledge and the owner’s connection with the horse. “That bond is wonderful, but owners can’t spend 24/7 with their horses,” he noted. Veterinarians’ responses to Horsano vary. Some say, “This is great, but I’m not sure I’ll use it in every case.” Others acknowledge, “I may not be your direct client, but my clients definitely are.” Many also recognise how continuous monitoring can lower clinic costs by providing richer data. That continuous data stream has already uncovered insights beyond what’s found in veterinary literature. “For example, heart and respiration rates change significantly between day and night—something veterinarians couldn’t capture with only daily manual tests,” Siedlaczek explained. Looking ahead, he believes digitisation is inevitable. “Change is coming. The new generation of owners grew up with smartphones—they’re always online. They’ll drive digital adoption." The device will cost around €2,000, with a small subscription for extra features like multi-horse monitoring or additional analytics. The company will also offer rentals to target younger owners who don’t want to buy outright but are happy to try the technology. Horsano is now fundraising to expand in Europe Horsano attended the EIT Digital Venture Incubation program in 2021 at the time of their launch, and they are now part of its Equity Portfolio. The company is currently raising funding. While initial R&D is complete, it now needs capital for certifications, go-to-market, and expansion to countries like Germany, France, and Benelux.

US quantum and high-performance computing software provider Strangeworks today announced the acquisition of German company Quantagonia.  Founded in 2021 by Dirk Zechiel, Philipp Hannemann, Prof Sabina Jeschke, and Prof Sebastian Pokutta, Quantagonia develops AI-powered, quantum-ready planning technology. It makes advanced decision-making accessible to both experts and business users by combining optimisation, AI, and natural language to solve complex planning challenges at scale. The merger removes long-standing barriers that have plagued subject matter experts and non-technical users alike. It allows anyone within an enterprise to harness applied AI to solve complex planning problems across industries such as life sciences, finance, energy, aerospace, logistics, and manufacturing, spanning use cases from staff and asset scheduling to route planning and inventory optimisation. The merger instantly unlocks new go-to-market opportunities by opening access to a broad, underserved audience previously excluded from this domain.  The combined entity will build on Strangeworks’ existing solutions, unlocking vast market opportunities by seamlessly integrating Quantagonia's expertise in mathematical optimisation, HybridSolver orchestration technology, and AI-powered decision-making solutions with Strangeworks' robust AI and quantum infrastructure, expansive compute catalogue and partner syndicate.  Having recently expanded its global footprint with a new presence in India, this acquisition significantly strengthens Strangeworks' market position and accelerates the company’s strategic goals in Europe.  At the heart of Quantagonia's value are two powerful technologies designed to overcome the traditional barriers of complex optimisation planning:  The solver orchestration engine is a sophisticated, hardware-agnostic solver management and selection technology. Unlike conventional single-algorithm approaches, the solver management engine intelligently orchestrates multiple best-in-class solvers to work in parallel, dynamically sharing information to achieve superior performance.  The AI-powered decision-making solutions powered by LLMs complement the solver orchestration engine. Quantagonia’s suite of tools leverages advanced LLMs to remove traditional requirements of deep mathematical and programming expertise and provide an intuitive, natural language interface. This enables non-technical subject matter experts, such as operations managers, supply chain professionals, or HR specialists, to formulate, refine, and solve problems on their own.  "This acquisition is not only about combining two companies; it's about uniting two powerful visions to create something truly transformative for any organisation wanting to take advantage of advanced computing," said William Hurley (Whurley), founder and CEO of Strangeworks  “We’re excited to welcome Dirk, Philipp, and the entire Quantagonia team into the Strangeworks family. Their expertise in applied AI and optimisation will help drive innovation across Europe and beyond.”  According to Dirk Zechiel, co-founder and CEO of Quantagonia, “Joining forces with Strangeworks will allow us to scale rapidly, serve more customers, and make sophisticated optimisation capabilities available globally.”  Quantagonia’s presence in Munich and Frankfurt expands on Strangeworks' established footholds across the US, Europe, and APAC, positioning the combined company for significant global growth. Backed by investors, including IBM, Hitachi Ventures, RTX Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Great Point Ventures, Strangeworks is expanding access to next-generation computing solutions for companies worldwide.

One of the co-founders of German challenger bank N26 is standing down as CEO, following reports of a dispute with some of its investors over the founders' handling of regulatory issues.Valentin Stalf, who co-founded N26, Germany’s most valuable fintech, with Maximilian Tayenthal in 2013, is moving to a position on the German challenger bank’s supervisory board. Tayenthal, who was co-CEO with Stalf, will remain as CEO, N26 said.The executive change follows reports, first published by Germany’s Manager Magazin, that some of its investors were agitating for the co-founders to leave, after BaFin, the German financial regulator, threatened to hit N26 with penalties last month.The German challenger bank, last valued at $9bn in 2021, had also been hit with BaFin sanctions in 2021 for its poor anti-money laundering controls.N26 said the co-founders will continue to hold almost 20 per cent of the shares of N26, which has also announced several new appointments to its leadership team.Stalf said: "My move to the supervisory board is a forward-looking decision to continue to best utilize my many years of experience and knowledge to strengthen N26."

Starling Bank is buying a UK accounting startup, as it looks to provide a beefed-up offering for its small business customers.London-based Ember, founded in 2018, provides tax and bookkeeping software.Ember is backed by N26 investor Valar Ventures, fintech investor Viola Fintech and European fintech investor Shapers. The deal is said to be worth less than £10 million, according to Bloomberg.Starling, one of the UK's most prominent challenger banks, said the deal, its first since it acquired Fleet Mortgages in 2021, would mean it could now offer its 500,000 SME customers an "all-in-one solution to manage their finances, from bank transactions to tax submission”.Starting’s purchase of Ember comes ahead of new rules coming in next year, known as "Making Tax Digital", which means businesses with a gross income of above £50,000 have to report their income and expenditure every quarter, rather than yearly, to HMRC.Starling plans to integrate Ember’s software by the end of 2025, to help those businesses comply with the new rules.Starling says it has a nine per cent market share for small business banking in the UK.Ember's current clients includes the customers of HSBC, Revolut, Barclays and Lloyds but Starling says its software will now become exclusive to Starling and will discontinue Ember’s advisory services.Adeel Hyder, Starling Bank’s managing director, SME Banking, said: “Ember’s platform is beautifully designed to simplify complex accounting tasks through a user-friendly interface.”Daniel Hogan and Aaron Shaw, co-founders of Ember, said: “We created Ember to take the pain out of accounting for small businesses - to help people make faster, clearer financial decisions without the stress. "Making Tax Digital has created a real call to action for SMEs and Ember provides the solution to this. Our deal with Starling Group will mean that we’re setting a new standard for how banking and accounting should work together — seamlessly integrated and refreshingly simple.”