London-based Solidatus, a provider of data lineage solutions, has secured a £5 million loan from the Growth Debt Fund at Salica Investments to support R&D and drive growth. The global data governance market is projected to approach $20 billion by 2032, with data lineage becoming an increasingly critical component. Growth is driven by rising data volume and complexity, tighter regulation, and heightened requirements for data quality and security. To address this challenge, Solidatus provides advanced data lineage solutions for highly regulated sectors such as financial services, energy, and pharmaceuticals. The platform enables organisations to map, manage, and trace data from its origin through transformations to downstream use, creating a clear, auditable view that supports decision-making, compliance, digital transformation, and AI initiatives. AlunBaker, Executive Chairman at Solidatus, said: Our focus on advancing the platform’s AI capabilities will further enhance our customers’ ability to manage complexity, ensure compliance, and unlock the value of trusted data at scale. Without lineage, even the most advanced models risk instability, and regulatory cracks will start to show, with major consequences to businesses across all sectors. By reducing manual effort in complex governance tasks and adding natural-language interactions on top of Solidatus’ lineage intelligence, the platform will simplify how organisations build data trust, navigate complex models, and meet regulatory requirements. The new investment will accelerate AI-enabled features, including automatic lineage generation with human-in-the-loop verification and inter-system lineage.

Monzo CEO TS Anil is stepping down from the role after over five years and is being replaced by a former Google executive with banking experience. Anil is being replaced by Diana Layfield, an ex-banker who also spent nine years at Google in various senior roles, including across Google's search and crypto businesses. The move comes ahead of Monzo's expected blockbuster stock market listing, which could value the challenger bank at as much as £10bn. Layfield will take up the CEO role of London-based Monzo, which is famed for its coral-coloured cards and is backed by CapitalG, Alphabet's growth stage VC arm, in February next year, when Anil moves to an advisory role. Layfield currently holds a non-executive role at AstraZeneca and is chair of the UK development institution, British International Investment. Layfield has previously served as CEO of Standard Chartered in Africa.Under the tenure of Anil, who in 2020 replaced Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield as CEO, Monzo has grown into a profitable powerhouse, with over 13 million customers and annual revenues of over £1bn. However, this year Monzo was hit with a £21m fine by the UK financial watchdog over lax financial crime controls, after the challenger bank onboarded customers with "implausible" London landmark addresses such as Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street and even Monzo’s business address. According to Bloomberg, Anil and the Monzo board met Layfield when the challenger bank was looking for a UK CEO. Anil said: “There’s never a right time to step away from an incredibly special company that’s so close to your heart. "It’s always been my belief that great leaders make way for others - it’s something that’s been done before at Monzo when the baton was handed to me, and it’s why the business will continue to go from strength-to-strength under Diana’s leadership. "I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve all achieved together and most importantly, for our customers. It’s been a journey full of Monzo magic, and I’m so excited to see what comes next.” Gary Hoffman, chair of the Monzo board, said: “What an incredible legacy TS leaves behind as Group CEO. In almost six years under his leadership Monzo has transformed from a start-up to a major player with more than 13 million customers, a much-loved bank, and one-to-watch on a global scale. "TS has led with values and integrity throughout and has nothing but my gratitude and respect for all that he’s achieved and the brilliant foundations that have set Monzo up for the future. As he steps into an advisory role for Monzo, the Board is excited to appoint Diana to lead the company’s next stage of growth and scale.” Layfield said: “I’ve admired Monzo for many years. The team’s passion for innovation and focus on the customer have been distinctive, and they have delivered incredible progress under TS's leadership. “It's hugely exciting to be joining them to deliver on Monzo's potential in the UK and internationally, and make even more strides on Monzo’s mission to make money work for everyone, together.”

The rate of startups building a US presence before series A increased from 33 per cent to 64 per cent in the last 5 years. And for CEE founders, the need is even higher: 50 per cent of CEE startups relocate to the US during scaling. On October 1, the European Startup Embassy launched: a shared landing pad and community hub for startups and VCs from Central and Eastern Europe expanding to the US. I spoke to Vladimira Činčurová, CEO of the European Startup Embassy, and Petr Šmíd, a General Partner at Rockaway Ventures and a founding participant, while attending How to Web in Bucharest, to find out more.  Building a bridge between Europe and San Francisco   Činčurová brings over seven years of experience in scaling startups across both the commercial and nonprofit sectors. When she was in San Francisco last year, she noticed how fragmented the Central and Eastern European (CEE) diaspora is. “You have strong Slovak, Czech, Ukrainian, and Romanian communities — each doing great things, but rarely connected. I met incredible people, early employees of companies like Grammarly, UiPath, WhatsApp, and others, and thought: what if we brought them together?” At Microsoft, she’d spent five years helping Central European startups expand internationally, mainly to the US. She often heard from founders — for instance, from Romania — asking if she knew anyone in San Francisco who could help them. And she realised, despite the strong diaspora, there was no central network or physical space connecting these founders. At first, the idea was just to create a Czech-Slovak hacker house. Then she met Luka, who had a similar idea, and decided to work together: “Then Hungary joined, then our Ukrainian partners — they were already planning their own Ukrainian house but on a slower timeline, and we said: use ours in the meantime!” According to Činčurová , there’s high seasonality in San Francisco — the top season is from October to December — so they needed something now. “They agreed, and then we connected with people from Poland who were thinking along the same lines. So really, I didn’t reinvent the wheel. It was an ongoing idea that we unified. The European Startup Embassy became a central hub for VCs and startups from Central and Eastern Europe trying to build their presence in the United States.” “Flying in and out isn’t enough” Činčurová shared that usually, when founders go to the US, they do so ad hoc — flying in and out every few months — which doesn’t help with long-term relationships. "Logistically, it’s also hard. When we were expanding to the US with my co-founder on behalf of LUMUS, our women’s investment club, it took us almost three months to organise events there, and that’s not even our main job! If you don’t have a Head of North America or a dedicated US office, it’s limiting. That’s why we wanted to create something that helps with logistics and acts as a landing pad.” Rockaway Ventures’ mission to take founders global Rockaway Ventures is a VC fund based in Prague, investing in early-stage companies — Seed or Series A — founded by European founders, both across Europe and in the US.  Šmíd contends that for smaller countries, and for Central and Eastern Europe, the US market is incredibly relevant. He joined the fund about a year ago. Before that, he spent 11 years at Google. He shared: “That experience taught me that if you want to build something meaningful in tech, you need to work very closely with the US. That’s also one of the motivations behind us becoming a partner in the European Startup Embassy project — we want to support the founders in our portfolio better, and more broadly, help European founders build stronger access to the US market.” A soft landing for Europe’s founders in the US Crucially, the European Startup Embassy is a launchpad for those testing US expansion or exploring partnerships. “Essentially, we make it easier and more structured for CEE startups and VCs to build relationships in the US without needing a full-time office there,” shared Činčurová. She recalled: “When I first went to San Francisco, I didn’t have a big plan — honestly, it was during my breakup therapy! But spending a month surrounded by founders who think in terms of 10x growth completely changed how I view scaling. That’s why we encourage early-stage founders to come for a month. Not to move permanently, but to test, meet people, and shift perspective. It’s a soft landing — you have accommodation, workspace, and a ready-made community of like-minded people.” European Startup Embassy’s founding participants span technology companies (Keboola, Apify, Valka.AI, Boost.space, Navigara, ReactorX, Oddin.gg), venture funds (Rockaway Ventures, United Founders, Almaz Capital, Underline Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Lead Ventures), as well as legal, accelerator, and advisory partners (Sparring, Future Unicorns, Moonshot, and Telegraph Hill Advisors). How Productboard became a Czech unicorn by looking West According to Šmíd, one of Rockaway Ventures’ most successful portfolio companies, Czech-founded Productboard, a B2B software company building product-management tools.  “We invested in them very early,” he says. “They started developing their US presence soon after, and that’s a key motivator — especially for B2B software, where the US is the biggest market. You can grow faster, find customers more easily, and access capital.” Alongside their market push, Productboard raised from US-focused investors — first Index Ventures, then Sequoia — both leading funds in the space. “So you build the market, and at the same time, you get investment from investors who can help you accelerate in that market,” Šmíd explains. In the process, Productboard carried out what’s known as “the flip”: re-incorporating from a European entity to a Delaware C-Corp. It’s a move that’s become a rite of passage for many scaling European startups. “It’s not a new story — the US offers a predictable legal environment. That’s the first motivator,” he says.  “And that predictability helps attract US investors. Even today, more than ten years later, relatively few American VCs invest directly in European-incorporated companies. They don’t have an issue with European founders or markets — it’s the legal framework they’re wary of. That remains a big hurdle.” CEE founders no longer waiting to “go global” Šmíd contends that most CEE startups test locally first — they get their first reference customers here because it’s their home market, but the trend is shifting. ”More startups are building for the US market much earlier. We see that reflected here in Central and Eastern Europe.”   Another major driver is the growing diaspora. “When I joined Google 12 years ago, finding a Czech or Slovak engineer in San Francisco was rare — there were maybe a handful. Now, during a recent trip to San Francisco around Easter, we met a community of around 150 Czechs — founders, engineers, product managers — working at startups and major tech companies like Meta and Google. And that’s just the Czech group. Add in Romanians, Ukrainians, Poles — the ecosystem has exploded. That community now helps accelerate this cross-Atlantic bridge.” Not just a co-working space — a launchpad Architecturally, the European Startup Embassy’s San Francisco space offers a full ecosystem under one roof, designed to support every stage of a startup’s US journey.  The basement serves as a hackathon hub for high-focus activities like coding sprints and intensive workshops.  The ground floor is a 24/7 flexible event and co-working area where founders and investors can collaborate, host meetups, or work side-by-side.  On the first floor, private meeting rooms provide space for confidential or strategic discussions, while the rooftop transforms into a social venue for networking receptions, investor dinners, or community celebrations.  Together, these zones create an immediate physical “landing pad” in San Francisco — a ready-made base for European startups and VCs to work, connect, and host events without the cost or complexity of setting up their own office. What sets a CEE startup scaling to the US up for success? Making European startups go to the US. According Činčurová, success is a mix of planning and openness. You can’t just arrive and hope for the best — you need to research, network, and set goals. But at the same time, she contends, “San Francisco has this unique energy that can reshape your mindset.” “There’s a saying that you’re the average of the five people you surround yourself with. Being around founders with a 10x mindset — it rubs off on you.” When she came back, she told her co-founders: "We need a presence in San Francisco.” And then suddenly, more Slovak and Czech VCs started doing the same — opening offices, visiting, setting up hubs. “I genuinely believe the best deal flow from Central Europe passes through San Francisco somehow. You don’t have to move there permanently, but spending even one month can reshape your perspective. That’s why we built packages for early-stage startups — you can stay a month, test it, and see how it changes your outlook.” Turning presence into performance I was curious about how the embassy's founders measure its success.  Činčurová admits she sometimes jokes that if she had €1 million, “I’d fund three CEE founders to live in San Francisco for a year — and then compare their results with similar startups who stayed in Europe. I’m convinced the difference would be dramatic.” For the European Startup Embassy, success means helping both startups and investors create tangible results.   "For startups, it’s about faster growth and a global mindset. For VCs, it’s offering their portfolio companies access to our US presence — a real added value.  Our VC partners can even transfer their “Embassy package” to portfolio startups, helping them host events, find customers, or meet investors in the US.” Bridging, not draining Europe The European startup ecosystem is heavily focused on keeping its talent and capital within the region, bolstered by initiatives like EU-Inc’s  28th regime. Činčurová asserts she’s a huge supporter of EU-Inc and of simplifying how startups scale across Europe’s 27 regimes. “The goal of the European Startup Embassy isn’t to take talent away from Europe — it’s to build a bridge. We want to connect European founders and investors with US capital and networks, while ensuring value flows both ways.  Europe has world-class talent. The US can offer funding and market access. We help them meet in the middle, not compete.” Šmíd agrees and asserts that Europe won’t have a truly strong tech sector if the people building it haven’t experienced the best that’s out there globally.  “That applies to founders, employees, and investors alike. Helping founders get experience in the US, access to capital, and exposure to world-class ecosystems is part of the story. But these people often give back. If they succeed, they tend to reinvest in the region — as angels, LPs, or by building teams here. For example, the founder of a Czech hotel-management software company we backed is now a significant LP in local Czech funds. There are many such examples. That’s how you create the flywheel effect — successful founders return, start new ventures, or support others doing so.” For Činčurová, the risk isn’t founders going to the US — the risk is when they don’t come back.  “We want them to return as investors, mentors, or role models, sharing what they’ve learned so the next generation doesn’t have to start from zero.” For success, Činčurová advises CEE founders to think globally from day one: “Don’t wait until Series A or B to explore the US market — by then, your competitors will already be there. Be smart about your cap table. Choose angels and investors who can actually help you with market expansion, not just provide capital. Money is important, but smart money is what takes you global.” Šmíd hopes that the cooperation between Europe and the US isn’t seen as a zero-sum game.  “It’s not “us versus them, it’s a partnership where both sides use technology to create better solutions, drive innovation, and learn from each other. Healthy competition helps everyone improve. That’s the spirit we want to foster — doing things better, together.” Lead image: opening party in San Francisco. 

Record-breaking attendance, global collaboration, and an enduring message of transformation defined the eighth edition of VDS, held on October 22-23 at the City of Arts and Sciences and organized by Startup Valencia. Over two days, the international tech event brought together more than 12,000 global leaders, investors, and founders from 120 countries, confirming its status as one of Europe’s leading international technology gatherings and establishing Valencia as a world-class innovation hub. A record-setting edition VDS 2025 marked a new milestone in global participation, with 45% of attendees traveling from outside Spain, a 41% increase from last year. More than 3,000 startups, 1,500 corporations, and 800 investors managing over €300 billion in assets gathered under the theme “Collaborate Today. Transform Tomorrow.” Across seven stages and 600 speakers, the summit explored how technology and human purpose can work in symbiosis to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges — from climate change and AI governance to cybersecurity, health, and sustainable cities. Human purpose at the heart of Technology This year’s edition was deeply inspired by solidarity after Storm DANA, which devastated parts of the Valencia region in 2024. Startup Valencia’s President Juan Luis Hortelano reflected on how the community’s response through initiatives like DANA Help and Adopt a School exemplified resilience through collaboration. That spirit guided the event’s narrative, positioning innovation as a force for both progress and empathy. Scientist and entrepreneur Pilar Mateo presented the Woman Paint Too initiative, which empowers women to transform adversity into invention. Diversity and sustainability were woven into every aspect of VDS 2025, with over a third of speakers being women and numerous sessions addressing equitable growth, inclusion, and environmental impact. Global Voices, Local Impact From Hollywood actress and investor Kelly Rutherford discussing purpose-driven entrepreneurship to Sol Campbell, former England captain, reflecting on resilience, VDS 2025 featured an extraordinary lineup of visionaries bridging technology, business, culture and innovation. Unicorn founders including those from Creditas, Glovo, Remote, letgo, Mews, Exoticca, Qonto, and ElevenLabs shared the stage with leaders from Booking.com, Just Eat Takeaway.com, and Adyen. All tech giants that began as startups themselves. Panels on startup scaling featured Gillian Tans (former CEO of Booking.com), Sacha Michaud (Glovo), and Enrique Linares (letgo, Plus Partners), who offered real-world insights on growth, grit, and reinvention. Meanwhile, Aubrey de Grey, pioneer in longevity research, explored the science of rejuvenation, while Ana Peleteiro, VP of Data & Applied AI at Preply, showcased how “human-first, AI-enabled” education is transforming learning. Minh Le, creator of Counter-Strike, discussed the future of gaming and creativity in the digital age. AI, DeepTech, and scalability take Center Stage Artificial intelligence dominated the agenda, with sessions like “AI as the New Infrastructure: Investing Beyond the Hype” by Christian Teichmann (Burda Principal Investments) and Iñaki Berenguer (LifeX Ventures, Coverwallet) examining AI’s evolution across sectors such as healthcare and education. Blockchain, cybersecurity, and defense also emerged as core themes shaping the future of innovation. The second day featured Scalability Day, organized by Adigital and EsTech with the support of ICEX, which brought together international founders and investors to share best practices for scaling sustainably. The event underscored the strength of Europe’s scaleup ecosystem, highlighting 22 fast-growing startups with annual growth rates above 20%. Valencia’s rise as a European Tech Innovation Hub During the opening ceremony, Mayor Mª José Catalá announced the City Council’s continued support for VDS for two more years, declaring that the summit places Valencia ahead of Madrid and Barcelona as a magnet for international tech investment and talent. The collaboration agreement between Startup Valencia and e-Residency of the Government of Estonia was also renewed, deepening ties between two of Europe’s most dynamic digital ecosystems. New data presented in the Valencian Startup Observatory 2025 revealed the city’s accelerating momentum: 1,689 startups, up 11.34% from 2024, with €160 million raised in 2025 — a 66% increase in funding activity. More than 70% of Valencian startups received investment this year, reflecting a thriving and increasingly global ecosystem. Awards and Recognition The VDS International Startup Competition crowned Spacebackend (Luxembourg) as winner in the Early Stage category and Zibra AI (Ukraine) in the Growth Stage. Honors were also given to the Startup Valencia DANA Help initiative, Marina de Empresas for its post-DANA recovery project “Alcem-se,” and Espai Aero CV for advancing aerospace innovation. Iñaki Berenguer received the VDS Honorary Award, recognizing his contributions to global entrepreneurship. Institutional and corporate backing VDS was supported by Banco Santander as main sponsor, Valencia Innovation Capital as host partner, and e-Residency of Estonia as partnering country. A strong coalition of partners, including Wayra Telefónica, EY, Fundación LAB, CaixaBank DayOne, PowerCo, Volkswagen Group Services, IBM, OVHcloud, Mobile World Capital, Bit2Me, Adigital, EsTech, Opentop (Valenciaport), and MAPFRE, contributed to its success. Technology partners Microsoft, Amazon, Google for Startups, and HubSpot for Startups further reinforced VDS’s global reach. Institutional supporters such as Spain’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism, Generalitat Valenciana, ICEX, CDTI, ENISA, Renfe, and major universities cemented the summit’s reputation as a benchmark for innovation and technology in Europe. Collaborate Today. Transform Tomorrow. The closing ceremony, led by Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, underscored how collaboration remains the foundation for global progress. “The symbiosis that emerged from VDS 2025 will endure,” said Hortelano, “as we have become a global platform driving a better future.” From the renewal of international partnerships to the launch of new scaling initiatives, VDS 2025 has proven that technology, driven by purpose and collaboration, can transform the world, starting from Valencia.

Stuttgart-based Q.ANT, a pioneer in photonic processing for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), announced the second closing of its Series A, bringing total funding to $80 million. The additional investment came from Duquesne Family Office, LLC, the investment firm of Stanley F. Druckenmiller, which joins existing lead investors Cherry Ventures, UVC Partners, and imec.xpand, along with L-Bank, Verve Ventures, Grazia Equity, EXF Alpha (Venionaire Capital), LEA Partners, Onsight Ventures, and TRUMPF. As AI infrastructure expands, semiconductor chips have become strategic assets and geopolitical tools. McKinsey projects AI-related data-centre spending to exceed $5.2 trillion over the next five years. With data centres consuming growing shares of national power grids, energy efficiency is a primary constraint. Q.ANT addresses this at the hardware level. Its photonic processors compute with light, delivering AI and HPC performance at a fraction of the energy of electronic chips, enabling more scalable, efficient computing. Dr. Michael Förtsch, founder and CEO of Q.ANT, noted that AI is rapidly straining global resources, including energy, hardware, and financial capacity. At Q.ANT, we achieve performance through efficiency, not brute power alone, redefining how AI can scale. The Duquesne Family Office shares our conviction that sustainable computing will define the next era of progress. In the past five years, Q.ANT has introduced a commercial photonic processor for real-world AI and HPC workloads. Built on thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), the Q.ANT Native Processing Server (NPS) integrates as a plug-in co-processor for existing data centres. Early internal benchmarks indicate up to 30× higher energy efficiency, 50× performance gains, and the potential for 100× capacity increases, without active cooling. The system delivers 16-bit floating-point accuracy comparable to modern digital processors while retaining the advantages of analogue computation. Q.ANT aims to make photonic processing a core element of AI systems by 2030. The new funding will accelerate commercialisation, advance next-phase technology development, and support expansion into the US market.

SAGES, a London-based start-up developing alternatives to synthetic dyes, has received £190,000 from the British Design Fund to accelerate the commercialisation of its food-waste-derived colour technology. Founded by Emily Taylor and Alice Simpson, SAGES aims to reduce reliance on petroleum- and coal-tar-based dyes in global supply chains. Synthetic dyes are estimated to account for about 20 per cent of global wastewater and have been linked to environmental impacts. SAGES develops water-soluble, biodegradable dyes designed to integrate with existing dyeing processes. The company’s patented formulations draw on waste streams such as red and yellow onion skins, coffee, blueberry, red cabbage and avocado. The dyes have been tested on cellulose and protein fibres, meeting industry-standard benchmarks for UV and wash fastness. Recent collaborations include custom colour development for Patrick McDowell’s London Fashion Week collection, surface projects with James Burleigh, and fibre-dyeing trials with Bananatex and Story Mfg. The funding will support product development, pilot-scale production and strategic partnerships across the fashion, interiors and industrial textiles sectors. It will help SAGES move from lab-scale innovation to commercial deployment, with priorities including expanding its dye palette, refining production systems and strengthening collaborations with manufacturers and designers.

Copenhagen-based startup Evertrace, which uses data and AI to help VCs source and screen investment opportunities, has acquired a Berlin-based peer specialising in helping VCs with early-stage deal sourcing.Morphais calls itself a “data intelligence company”, which leverages data to help VCs, angel investors and family offices find and access seed and pre-seed startups and founders as early as possible.Launched in early 2024, Evertrace's platform “assists venture funds in obtaining real-time, better data on potential investments, candidates, and competitors”.  Evertrace aggregates tools like company registers and GitHub patents to help investors identify top early talent.Evertrace says its platform is used by over 100 funds, including Antler, Cherry Ventures and Heartcore Capital.The seven-strong team of Morphais, which is used by "many of the top global VC funds" and which was founded by Eva-Valérie Gfrerer and Max Laemmle, will join Evertrace. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.Evertrace said Morphais "delivers curated batches of high-potential companies and stealth founders, powered by proprietary behavioural and market intelligence".The acquisition marks Evertrace's third acquisition, following that of Whisper AI and Seedpoint.Jacob Houlberg, co-founder of Evertrace, said: “This acquisition is a key component in our overall strategy, and will enable us to further improve our core offering."Eva-Valérie Gfrerer, co-founder of Morphais, said: “We founded Morphais to make venture capital far more efficient and transparent, so the very best founders are surfaced irrespective of their background.  "Joining Evertrace allows us to combine our unique sourcing technology with Evertrace’s advanced features and founder signals. It will enhance the offering for our customers.”Earlier this year, Evertrace raised $600,000 with investments from VCs along with Sonu Banga, co-founder of Intellishore; Eske Gunge, founder of Actimo; and the investor Christian Jantzen.

Qovery, a DevOps automation platform that makes software deployment effortless across any cloud environment, today announced the release of its AI DevOps Copilot, an AI agent that delivers answers, executes complex operations, and anticipates what’s next.  To date, it’s the only automation platform to cover the entire DevOps lifecycle. I spoke to Romaric Philogène, CEO and cofounder of Qovery, to learn all about it.     From automation to intelligence Simply put, DevOps is a collaborative approach that combines cultural principles, practices, and tools to automate and streamline the processes between software development and IT operations teams.   Qovery’s DevOps automation platform lets developers deploy and scale applications on their cloud — simplifying and automating infrastructure so tech teams can focus on what matters most: building great products.  According to Philogène, while Qovery already automates key steps such as provisioning, application deployment, and server security,  no matter how much you automate, there are always edge cases — configuration issues that arise from how developers set up applications or infrastructure.  "That’s where AI becomes powerful,” he contends.  “Our Copilot lets software engineers continue working in the language they’re used to, without switching between interfaces. Instead of troubleshooting manually, they can simply say, ‘Copilot, can you fix this issue?’ The Copilot diagnoses problems, accesses configuration data, and resolves issues autonomously. A new DevOps interface: natural conversation to reduce worker inefficiencies  Atlassian’s 2025 DevEx reports 50 per cent of developers lose 10 or more hours a week on non-coding toil in the software pipeline.  Qovery’s Copilot aims to change this: engineers give instructions in simple language and the system executes, turning a drain on resources into a competitive advantage.    According to Philogène, the Copilot represents a new type of interface—natural language. Instead of working through UIs, CLIs, or APIs, users can simply talk to the system. “Our goal is to optimise how customers already use Qovery: reducing the time spent debugging, troubleshooting, or optimising configurations.”  For example, a team can request simple instructions that unused environments be shut down at the end of the day, or that a new service be deployed at a specific time, or more complex ones - such as “to run dev environments only from Monday 8 a.m. PT to Friday 6 p.m. PT; tear down non-used environments automatically at night; and trigger daily integration tests only if the platform has been unstable in the last 48 hours” and Qovery DevOps Copilot will handle the process automatically. Developers are increasingly using AI not just to write code, but to verify it—to double-check what the model produces. This inspired Qovery to build a compatibility matrix: a list of tasks that the Copilot is guaranteed to perform safely.  “Of course, you can ask it anything, but we ensure that what’s officially supported works reliably without excessive human supervision,” explained Philogène. Five AI agents powering the future of DevOps What makes the company distinct is learnings from Qovery’s five years of experience streamlining the entire DevOps lifecycle — thousands of clients over 25 million applications and 30+ million infrastructure operations —- are built into DevOps Copilot’s five AI agents:   AI Provision Agent: Automates environment creation and scaling by interpreting natural-language requests to allocate resources on demand, enforce quotas, and optimise infrastructure usage. AI FinOps Agent: Improves efficiency by detecting idle environments, scheduling shutdowns, and identifying opportunities to reduce spend. AI Observability Agent: Enhances incident response by retrieving logs, identifying anomalies, and suggesting solutions before issues escalate. AI DevSecOps Agent: Strengthens governance by enforcing compliance, requiring confirmations for sensitive actions, and maintaining a full audit trail. AI CI/CD Agent: Simplifies deployment and pipeline management with natural-language prompts for scheduling releases and managing test queues. Strong guardrails for data security    While prompts are processed through Claude AI, (Anthropic's model) but private data and credentials are never transmitted. Qovery already runs customers’ infrastructure, so the company is very mindful of privacy.  Philogène explained:  “We’ve designed guardrails so users can configure how the Copilot interacts with their environment. For example, they can restrict it to read-only mode—where it reviews configurations and provides recommendations—or grant write access for direct operations. Even then, the Copilot always requests confirmation before executing any changes.  We ensure that only non-sensitive information is ingested into the AI system, and we’re continuously refining how we handle and anonymise data. Data safety is absolutely central to this product.” Further, all actions are bound by role-based permissions, requiring explicit approval internally for high-stakes decisions like deleting databases or applications.   In the future, customers will be able to bring their own models for full control and compliance.  But for now, because Qovery controls both input and output data flows, the Copilot can learn from users' behaviour across organisations. It adapts to their workflows and infrastructure patterns, allowing for increasingly personalised recommendations. “We have a huge advantage: access to well-structured data and consistent user behaviour patterns. This gives the AI the right context to make meaningful decisions without compromising privacy,” shared Philogène. While too many tools in the software pipeline impact developer efficiency, engineers don’t want the fewest tools — they want the best tools for the job. Copilot, therefore, is totally agnostic — working seamlessly with any tool currently employed by development teams. Further, in production DevOps, reliability and latency are everything. Philogène explained that the company’s new AI Copilot maintains real-time responsiveness by operating directly within the Qovery platform rather than relying on third-party intermediaries.  “That’s the beauty of the Qovery AI Copilot. It leverages the full capabilities of our platform, integrating directly with our APIs,” he said.  From automation to agentic autonomy In terms of what’s next in the DevOps space, Philogène contends that the industry is moving toward fully autonomous agents.  “The Copilot will eventually identify and resolve problems before the engineer even needs to intervene. We’re not there yet—we still need to solve problems like hallucination, data ingestion limits, and context window size. At Qovery, we mitigate these by feeding our models highly structured operational data and monitoring user behaviour to limit hallucinations. Once those foundational challenges are solved, we’ll see agents capable of managing complex systems end-to-end.” However, he doesn’t believe AI will replace developers. Rather, it will redefine their role. “Developers are becoming more like product engineers—people who define and solve problems, not just write code. Similarly, designers and engineers will use AI to bring their product ideas to life faster. It’s a complete shift in how teams collaborate.” Two early pilot customers already tested Copilot during its pre-launch phase. Their feedback informed Qovery’s development roadmap.

FAKTUS, Europe's first neobank dedicated to construction SMEs,  today announces €56 million in combined equity and debt financing.  Lakestar and Foundamental are providing €9 million in equity, and a separate debt capacity of up to €47  million is provided by certain funds under the management of Insight Investment, alongside Fost Capital.  FAKTUS is positioned to scale rapidly across Europe, bridging the gap between institutional finance and SMEs in the  €2.5 trillion construction market, where 90 per cent of builders remain underserved.  Bridging the construction-finance gap  Construction SMEs face payment delays averaging 85 days while managing upfront costs for materials and payroll. FAKTUS addresses this with a streamlined, AI-powered platform:  Business Accounts – Real-time project cashflow tracking for clear visibility and accurate forecasting.  Invoice Financing with Integrated Validation – Immediate liquidity on receivables,  with streamlined workflows for faster approvals and collections to keep projects moving. Material Advances – Upfront funding to start projects without delays. Retention Bonds – Release project holdbacks through guarantees from an investment-grade guarantor, ensuring project completion and liquidity.  Using AI, the platform reads invoices, parses contracts, tracks schedules, identifies risks, and compresses weeks-long underwriting into two-hour financing decisions, enabling SMEs to access liquidity faster than ever.  Already, 470+ worksites have been financed and €100m+ of projects supported, including schools, hospitals, social housing, and landmark projects like Roland Garros and the French  Senate.  FAKTUS' €56 million funding potential comprises both equity and asset-backed debt, giving the company the capacity to serve construction SMEs while offering investors regulated, risk-assessed exposure: €9 million in Equity from seed rounds led by Lakestar and Foundamental (2023–2024)  — powering platform development, team growth, and early market traction  Up to €47 million in debt from certain funds under the management of Insight  Investment and Fost Capital via Faktus Financement, a fully regulated securitisation vehicle dedicated to construction SME financing. The vehicle — supervised by the AMF and managed by IQ-EQ — purchases receivables and provides loans exclusively to construction SMEs.  By establishing one of Europe's fastest-regulated Fonds Commun de Titrisation (FCT) just 18 months after issuing its first loan,  FAKTUS acts as the vehicle's servicer, combining construction expertise with advanced credit analytics to evaluate contract terms, debtor payment patterns, and sector-specific risks.  This ensures financing solutions are precisely tailored to the realities of each project, while giving investors high-quality, risk-assessed opportunities.  This strategic mix of equity and debt positions FAKTUS to scale across Europe while providing SMEs with rapid, reliable, and customised financing.  FAKTUS has grown its client base 300 per cent in six months, supported by 13 regional agents and partnerships with 20+ federations and insurers, including Atradius and Coface.  "We're connecting underserved, family-owned SMEs in construction with the institutional world," said Réda Kabbaj, Co-Founder of FAKTUS. " By combining construction-specific and financial  expertise, we bring funding directly to the real economy." "I  believe FAKTUS now has all the ingredients to build Europe's leading Neobank for contractors,"  said Patric Hellermann, General Partner at Foundamental: "When we led FAKTUS' pre-seed round in 2023, we were excited by the team. Just 9 months later, when Lakestar led the seed round, we had become excited by the product. And now 2  years in, we have the data to be excited by FAKTUS' execution and customer feedback." "As investors in Revolut, we know how valuable neobanks can become. The construction market is unique, making up roughly 10 per cent of Europe's GDP but still underserved. FAKTUS has the team and understanding to succeed," said Enrico Mellis, Partner at Lakestar.  The company plans to finance €500 million of worksites in the next 18 months, achieve full coverage in France, and expand to the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal in 2026,  ultimately serving more than 800,000 SMEs across Europe. Lead image: FAKTUS. Photo: uncredited.

Frankfurt-based Scavenger AI has raised €2.5 million in seed funding to make company data as easy to access as asking a question. The round was led by BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen (BMH), with participation from xdeck, and existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Calm/Storm Ventures. Across Europe, small and mid-sized companies hold vast data, yet insights often stay locked behind technical barriers and limited data talent, with information spread across ERP, CRM, and SQL systems that require specialist skills or IT queues. Scavenger addresses this gap between data availability and usability. Its natural-language platform lets employees query data through a single interface, reducing reliance on spreadsheets and dashboards across finance, operations, and sales, and returning answers in seconds with full traceability. Our goal is simple: any employee should be able to make data-driven decisions without writing a line of code, said co-founder Maximilian Hahnenkamp. The company is already supporting data intelligence for customers such as Telekom, Mann & Schröder, and Wangen Pumpen. Developed in Europe for European companies, it differentiates itself from US business intelligence tools. Designed for the large SME segment in the DACH region, it brings together enterprise-level analytics and full GDPR compliance, offering a form of business intelligence not previously available to European SMEs. Europe’s SMEs deserve AI that’s secure, explainable, and built around their needs—not a black box, added co-founder Felix Beissel. The company will use the funds to accelerate product development, expand across Europe, and make enterprise-grade analytics accessible to a broader range of SMEs.

London-based Human Health, a patient-first precision health platform, has secured a €4.7 million seed round from LocalGlobe, Airtree, Skip Capital, Aliavia, and Scale Ventures, with participation from angels including Arvind Rajan (Cricket Health), Eric Salama (former Kantar CEO), and David Shein (OIF Ventures). In the EU, more than one in three adults (35 per cent) live with a long-standing health condition, and waiting times have risen in several countries, leaving many patients to manage care across multiple providers and rely on ad hoc tools. Human Health develops patient-centred solutions. By combining patient-reported data with AI, its Precision Health platform creates a feedback loop that helps individuals track their health, identify patterns, and generate actionable insights. The goal is to make precision healthcare broadly accessible, extending tools typically reserved for clinicians and leading institutions. Founded by former Canva product leaders Kate Lambridis and Georgia Vidler, Human Health lets users capture their medical history, track interventions, and generate clinician-ready reports. With consent, de-identified experiences can also contribute to research. AI surfaces patterns across mind, body, and lifestyle, helping users focus on areas such as mental health, pain, gut, women’s health, autoimmune conditions, or sleep. When it’s time to see a clinician, the platform compiles a clear report built from real patient data. The new funding will help the company accelerate development of advanced features, expand coverage into additional conditions, and give patients the option to contribute anonymised data to research. Human Health will also scale its B2B platform, Human Evidence, enabling selected life sciences partners to gather real-world, patient-reported data at scale.

Bending Spoons, the acquisitive Italian software conglomerate, is acquiring AOL, one of the internet’s most well known early companies. Bending Spoons is buying AOL from Yahoo, which is backed by private equity firm Apollo for an undisclosed sum, though the Italian firm said it had bagged a $2.8 billion debt financing package to finance the acquisition and future M&A activity. Reuters, which tipped the deal, previously said the acquisition valued AOL at more than $1.4 billion.  Bending Spoons, founded in 2013, is known for acquiring tech companies and then trying to improve their finances, sometimes by laying off staff. Last month, the Milan-based firm acquired US video sharing platform Vimeo for around $1.38bn, in a deal which will take Vimeo private. Luca Ferrari, Bending Spoons CEO and co-founder, said Bending Spoons would invest "significantly” in AOL, which was an internet giant in the 1990s. He said: "AOL is an iconic, beloved business that’s in good health, has stood the test of time, and we believe has unexpressed potential. “By our estimation, AOL is one of the top ten most-used email providers in the world, with a highly retained customer base counting around 8 million daily and 30 million monthly active users. "We intend to invest significantly to help the product and the business flourish. Bending Spoons has never sold an acquired business—we’re confident we’re the right long-term steward for AOL, and look forward to serving its large, loyal customer base for many years to come.” Jim Lanzone, CEO, Yahoo, said: "AOL and Yahoo share a great deal of history, and our new team has enjoyed the opportunity to return AOL to growth. “This transaction will allow us to focus more deeply on the aggressive roadmaps we have planned for Yahoo’s core products moving forward, while ensuring AOL continues to thrive under new ownership.” Reed Rayman, chair of Yahoo’s board of directors and partner at Apollo, said: “We believe this transaction positions AOL well for its next phase, while Yahoo accelerates investment in its flagship properties and AI-powered experiences.” According to The Information, AOL was worth over $100 billion by 2000 when it merged with Time Warner, which later spun AOL off, which then merged with Yahoo, which was acquired by Apollo in 2021. Bending Spoons has previously acquired Vimeo, WeTransfer and Evernote.

“It is a sign for Ukrainian businesses and the country”, says the co-founder of Ukraine’s newest unicorn, commenting on its recent external funding, which propelled it to unicorn status. Fintech-IT Group, the firm whose tech powers Ukraine’s biggest challenger bank, Monobank, recently became Ukraine’s latest $1bn-valued tech firm, after securing funding from regional fund, Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund (UMAEF), reported to be around $18m. The funding lifted Fintech-IT Group to unicorn status, joining half a dozen fellow Ukrainian unicorns, which include writing assistant Grammarly, software company GitLab and workflow automation company AirSlate (though some of these now have overseas HQ). Broader implications of outside investment It also has wider ramifications for the startup and tech ecosystem in Ukraine, a country still at war with Russia, says Oleg Gorokhovskyi, Fintech-IT Group co-founder. He says: “It’s a sign for everybody, a sign for Ukrainian businesses and the country, that even during this hard war, if you do the right things, if you help clients, you could be interesting for investors and raise money.  “It is a huge, important step for Ukrainian entrepreneurs and Ukrainian businesses overall.” Jaroslawa Z Johnson, president and CEO of UMAEF, which was set up by the US Congress in 1994 and has long-term experience of investing in tech firms in Ukraine and Moldova, said Fintech-IT Group was a “local leader” and that its success was testament to the strength of the Ukrainian tech ecosystem. Russia war blocking investment Ukraine’s war with Russia has been a block on external investment coming into Ukraine, experts say. Maria Kucheruk, co-founder, Ukrainian Association of Startups, said: “In general, attracting external investment into Ukrainian startups during the war remains extremely challenging. Only a few mature or already profitable companies manage to raise capital. “For the majority of early-stage startups, investors remain cautious due to perceived risks and geopolitical uncertainty. This makes the need for international co-investment mechanisms and innovation support programs more critical than ever.” Gorokhovskyi co-founded Fintech-IT Group, the umbrella company for several tech firms, including FintechBand, which supplies the core tech behind the Monobank app, with Mykhaylo Rogalskyi. Rogalskyi said during the war, the “mood of entrepreneurs in Ukraine is that it’s not the time to raise funds”. Furthermore, he said he was expecting complications with the UMAEF investment deal. Rogalskyi said: “It is really hard to expect investors to queue for Ukrainian companies. It was a big surprise for me to go through the deal, and nothing scared the potential investor during the negotiation period.”  A previous attempt at a fundraiser in 2021, with a consortium involving Goldman Sachs, “blew up” during negotiations, says Rogalskyi. What is Monobank? Monobank, founded in 2017, is Ukraine’s biggest neobank, and Ukraine's second biggest retail bank overall with around 10m customers. It is jointly owned by Universal Bank, which provides retail and commercial services, and Gorokhovskyi and Rogalskyi. Monobank says customers can open accounts within minutes, manage payments, access loans, and enjoy cashback and loyalty rewards. It also has a B2B offering supporting SMEs, and an e-commerce offering. Monobank's customer base is skewed towards younger people, with 85 per cent of 15 to 35-year-olds in Ukrainian cities using the banking app. Impact of war on Monobank Like other Kiev-headquartered businesses, Monobank has been badly impacted by the war- be it blackouts, air raid sirens, and staff anxiety. Rogalskyi says: “When you have a blackout in the cities, you have to buy generators and operate generators in the office. “You have to buy Starlink and operate Starlink. If anyone is not sleeping because of air raid sirens during the night and rocket attacks, the next day is not super productive.” Monobank staff are located in different locations within Ukraine for security reasons, and there is also the added threat of a cyberattack. Rogalskyi says: “Every couple of weeks, we have attempts to attack our infrastructure from, let’s just say, unknown hackers." International expansion on hold International expansion is on the agenda for Monobank, but the war has put its plans on hold. Possible markets include those where there are many Ukrainians, such as Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic countries. Rogalskyi says that the company would want to have a team in place in an overseas market, which, given restrictions on air travel out of Ukraine, coupled with a desire for the founders wanting to be in the challenger bank’s home market amid a war, has stymied these plans for the time being.Rogalskyi says: "For now, it’s important to be here in Ukraine, with our team, with our customers."

Life sciences investor Earlybird Health has promoted Dr. Rabab Nasrallah and Dr. Christoph Massner to Partners. Both new partners have led the firm's strategy across biotech, data-enabled therapeutics and medtech. Earlybird Health, part of Earlybird Venture Capital, focuses on early-stage investments in biotech, medtech, and digital health. The wider Earlybird group manages more than €2.5 billion in assets and has backed over 70 companies across Europe, including nine IPOs and 36 trade sales. “Rabab and Chris combine discipline and bold thinking. As they step into the partnership, they will help lead the future of Earlybird Health,” said Thom Rasche, Partner at Earlybird Health. “They have each helped shape how we evaluate opportunities, support portfolio teams, and translate innovation into clinical impact.” Massner joined Earlybird in 2018 and brings a commercial-led perspective spanning diagnostics, healthtech platforms, and device-enabled therapeutics. He has led several transactions across Earlybird Health I & II, focusing on business models that integrate data and AI into healthcare delivery and product development. He serves on the boards of Noscendo, Ariceum Therapeutics, and Hilo, and is a board observer at Shape Memory Medical and Alesi Surgical. Earlybird said he also plays a role in connecting its health portfolio with the wider technology investment ecosystem. Nasrallah, who joined Earlybird in 2020, brings a therapeutics and platform-led investment perspective. She has been closely involved in developing the firm’s biotech strategy and building partnerships with venture and pharmaceutical investors across Europe and the United States. Her board roles include HAYA Therapeutics, Greywolf Therapeutics, and Portal Biotech, alongside observer positions at GEMMABio, Priothera, ImCheck Therapeutics, and Prothea Technologies.. The promotions reflect Earlybird Health’s growing role in Europe’s life sciences ecosystem, which has seen increased investor interest amid advances in data-driven healthcare and biotech platforms. European life sciences VC investment surpassed €10 billion in 2024, driven by continued demand for innovation in precision medicine, AI-led drug discovery, and clinical technologies.

London-based Marleybones, a premium dog food brand, has closed a £2.5 million funding round led by TAW Ventures, the investment firm founded by Jane Lauder, with follow-on support from JamJar Investments, Active Partners, and Animal Health Angels. The round stands out for its strong female representation, with a female-founded company and an all-female investor team, still rare in European venture capital. Founded in 2020 to bridge the gap between quality and convenience, Marleybones offers Pantry Fresh® meals that are slow-cooked, nutritionally complete, and packaged in sustainable cartons. The range also includes vet-developed supplements, an omega oil, and natural air-dried treats, each vet-approved and produced in the UK. This investment follows over 200 per cent growth since the previous round and several milestones: expanded retail distribution, new product partnerships, a line of functional supplements, and a pilot veterinary channel. Mikala Skov, Co-founder of Marleybones, said: We’ve built strong traction across D2C and retail, expanded into supplements, and proven category demand with triple-digit growth. With TAW Ventures and JamJar by our side, we’re ready to accelerate our journey to make Pantry Fresh® a household standard. On sustainability, Marleybones partnered with rePurpose Global to achieve plastic-neutral certification, sources 100 per cent of UK-made products from locally grown British ingredients, and packages all meals in fully recyclable Tetra Pak cartons, avoiding millions of single-use plastic pouches and trays. Josephine Bager, co-founder of Marleybones, noted that the company’s growth reflects strong demand for dog food that doesn’t compromise on nutrition or ease of use. She said the Pantry Fresh® meals show that both can be delivered together, and the new funding will help Marleybones reach more customers and continue shaping the fresh dog-food category. The new funding will expand teams across creative, customer experience, and retail, build brand awareness via influencers, PR, retail activations, and events, and accelerate performance marketing and customer acquisition.

Customer communication platform Intercom has announced the opening of its next R&D hub in Berlin, marking a major investment in the company’s AI-powered customer service platform and its market-leading AI agent, Fin. Founded in Dublin in 2011, Intercom builds customer communication and service tools for online businesses. Fin is the centrepiece of the company’s push into fully automated, intelligent customer support. It’s designed to act as a “Customer Service Agent” rather than just a chatbot, blending automation with human-level understanding and context. I spoke to Darragh Curran, CTO of Intercom, to learn more. According to Curran, Intercom has around 28,000 customers across virtually every corner of the planet, with strong concentrations in North America and Europe.  “Germany is our third-largest and fastest-growing market among the major European countries.” 100 roles up for grabs in AI hub Over the next year, Intercom plans to hire 100 people across engineering, AI, data science, product, and design roles.  The new hub will serve as a cornerstone for advancing Fin, which the company envisions evolving into a true end-to-end Customer Agent, far beyond traditional customer service boundaries. “Berlin strikes us as a great city, providing a deep concentration of technical talent, universities that feed that, and a culturally rich, creative scene,” shared Curran. “Intercom is a very design-oriented company, so Berlin fits that ethos. It’s also emerging as a real hub for AI talent, which is particularly important for us.” While Intercom’s global headquarters remains in San Francisco, its R&D leadership is anchored in Dublin, making Berlin both geographically and strategically a natural next step in the company’s global expansion. “It’s close enough to those hubs to collaborate but has its own energy.” Further, Intercom says it chose Berlin for its unique blend of deep technical talent and creative energy.  “The city’s dense ecosystem of AI startups, applied research labs, and ambitious practitioners makes it an ideal location to accelerate the company’s AI hiring and innovation efforts. Berlin is a place where world-class engineers and designers thrive and its optimism and ambition in AI align perfectly with our own goals for Fin.” In terms of roles, Curran shared; “We intend to build a holistically complete R&D unit in Berlin — everything from AI and machine learning researchers to product engineers, designers, and managers. A huge focus of our investment is on building Fin, our AI Customer Agent.” I asked Curran what attracts people to work for Interim. He revealed: “You’ll join an incredibly talented team — people at the top of their field. If I were an engineer today, I’d want to be at a company doing something meaningful with AI. It’s the best way to learn. For us, it’s a moment of abundance — we know what we want to build, customers want it, and the opportunity is huge.”  Intercom’s Fin aims to redefine customer interaction Fin started as a customer service agent, but according to Curran, “Our vision is broader — an end-to-end customer agent. Think of it like a concierge that guides you through the customer journey, not just answering support tickets but handling anything from upgrades to refunds to helping you when you’re stuck in a product.” “We’re betting on this idea of the end-to-end customer agent. Even before we’ve built all the features, customers are already pushing Fin in that direction — that’s a great sign.” Significantly, Fin’s performance, measured in resolution rate, has improved from around 26 per cent to 65 per cent over two years. Only a few percentage points of that came from model upgrades — the rest came from Intercom's own architecture and continuous experimentation.” So far, more than 7,000 businesses have adopted Fin, including Berlin-based companies Ostrom and Tado, as well as global leaders such as Anthropic, Vanta, Clay, Personio, Whoop, and Miro. Fin has quickly become a core growth driver for Intercom, with the company approaching $100 million in ARR and positioning itself as one of the fastest-growing private software firms. Lead image: Darragh Curran, CTO of Intercom. Photo: uncredited. 

Antidote, a new London-based accelerator, has launched with £2.5 million in funding from Fulgur Ventures, Initial Capital and a group of private angel investors. Antidote aims to promote growth in the UK and to support entrepreneurs in Britain to build on open technologies, starting with Bitcoin and fintech. The accelerator provides workspace, funding, mentorship, and policy access, helping founders turn ideas into products that solve real challenges in payments and advance the technologies powering the next internet economy. Targeting early-stage entrepreneurs, experienced operators and corporate innovators, Antidote wants to empower founders from any background to turn serious ideas into investable, commercially viable businesses. Its programmes support founders working on: Financial and payments infrastructure. Digital identity and data sovereignty. Bitcoin and open-source technologies. Institutional and regulatory alignment for fintech innovation. Ben Cousens, Co-Founder and CEO of Antidote, shared : “We’re here for entrepreneurs turning new technology into real impact. Whether it’s Bitcoin, fintech, or leveraging AI and online identity, Antidote can offer the capital, community, and credibility to scale. The UK has the potential to lead this new wave of innovation. We just need to back the people building and focus on solving real problems: that's what matters.” Cousens contends that the UK has all the right ingredients by way of talent, capital, and legal frameworks to lead this new era of open, financial innovation, but "what's been missing is a credible bridge between founders and institutions, as well as a constructive approach to the 21st Century technologies that will define the economy of the future. "That’s what Antidote is here to build.” Through its workspace and network in London’s Hatton Garden, Antidote will offer founders access to: A six-month accelerator programme with workspace, workshops, and demo days. Direct funding and investor introductions. Mentorship from leading fintech, Bitcoin, and venture experts.    Community events and policy roundtables with UK regulators and ecosystem partners. Antidote is working in partnership with organisations such as UK think-tank Bitcoin Policy UK, who were instrumental in the formation of the organisation to enable access to a network that can bridge grassroots innovation with institutional support building trust, clarity, and collaboration across the UK’s growing technology ecosystem. Richard Faichney, Partner at Taylor Wessing, said: “We’ve worked closely with Antidote from the start to help build a foundation grounded in trust, clarity, and collaboration. Their work demonstrates how legal and institutional rigour can enable innovation rather than restrict it. This is a crucial step in strengthening the UK’s position as a hub for credible, long-term technology ventures." Mayra Tama, Partner at Initial Capital, said:  “Initial Capital invests in founders and ecosystems that turn Bitcoin’s potential into real-world progress. Antidote is building exactly what the UK needs right now, a credible platform that connects entrepreneurs, capital, and policy to accelerate meaningful innovation. We’re confident that Ben and the team will help cultivate the kind of companies that define the next decade of fintech and open technology.” Lead image: Freepik.

Eindhoven-based startup CityLegends has secured €1.7 million in funding to expand its street sports and culture platform internationally and advance its technology for connecting athletes, creators, and fans. The round saw participation from GFR Fund, Dutch Sport Tech Fund, Leisure Fund, and SportInnovator, alongside follow-on investments from existing backers LUMO Labs and LeanSquare. Founded in 2020 by Jimmy Hermans and Thijmen Verkerk, CityLegends operates a digital platform that connects street sports enthusiasts and urban creatives through media, gaming, and social interaction. Users can share clips, discover local spots, and compete in street Esports challenge while tracking and comparing performance. Andy Lürling, Founding Partner at LUMO Labs, said: “CityLegends has had an audacious global vision for their community from the get-go. We are excited to continue to be part of CityLegends’ journey going forward. "With also new global investors like GFR Fund from San Francisco joining the roster with unmatched expertise in shaping digital communities and cultures, we are confident CityLegends’ impact on the global urban sports community will only grow faster and stronger.” Founded in 2020 by Jimmy Hermans and Thijmen Verkerk, CityLegends operates a digital platform that connects street sports enthusiasts and urban creatives through media, gaming, and social interaction. Users can share clips, discover local spots, and compete in street Esports challenges while tracking and comparing performance. Hermans, the company’s CEO, said: “Urban culture being included in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles are a great testament to the global recognition and appreciation for the athletic and creative abilities of its practitioners. "Participation already matches traditional sports like football, basketball, and soccer, but the community is still wildly underserved with regards to digital tools. This new investment allows us to expand our platform and unite 200 million urban athletes and inspire 2 billion fans worldwide.” CityLegends plans to use the new capital to expand into new markets, enhance both its free and paid platform features, and grow its B2B media unit. The company will also develop “culture playbooks”, digital engagement tools designed to help brands and partners connect with urban sports and culture communities.

Paris-based Primaa, a developer of AI software for automated, accurate histological and cancer diagnostics, has extended its financing round to €7 million. The round is backed by the partnership fund between MH Innov’ and Elaia, and SWEN Capital Partners, with additional participation from Super Capital and members of the Wendel family. Primaa builds AI tools that detect cancer biomarkers and support diagnostic workflows. Cleo Breast (CE-IVDR) assists pathologists by automatically detecting and quantifying key biomarkers in breast cancer, while Cleo Skin, currently undergoing CE marking, addresses skin cancer and is designed to diagnose melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell carcinoma on histological slides. These tools aim to improve diagnostic reliability and consistency, reduce processing time, and ease routine workloads for pathologists. As well as saving time and improving accuracy in diagnostics, our tools make life much easier for practitioners. The automatic counting and detection features completely relieve them of certain time-consuming tasks, said Fanny Sockeel, CEO and co-founder of Primaa. Cleo Breast and Cleo Skin are in use at leading centres in France, including Institut Curie, AP-HP, and Saint-Joseph Hospital, and are beginning to roll out in Europe (ZAS Laboratory and Liège University Hospital). Primaa is expanding its portfolio with solutions in development for cervical cancer (in partnership with AP-HP and Medipath) and prostate cancer (Erasme Hospital, Belgium). The new funding will strengthen the sales organisation for faster European deployment and customer support, and accelerate feature development, including predictive AI models for disease progression and relapse risk. It will also support international expansion, particularly in the United States with planned FDA certification activities.

Nvidia is making a $1bn equity investment in Finnish telecoms infrastructure firm Nokia, as the two firms undertake a strategic partnership centred on working together on leveraging AI into telecoms networks and data centre development.The deal will see the US chip giant acquire more than 166 million new Nokia shares, at $6.01 each, giving Nvidia a 2.90 per cent stake in Nokia.Nvidia's investment marks the latest in a recent spree of equity stake deals undertaken by the US chip giant, as it looks to cement its position at the forefront of the AI race.Nokia says it will use the funds to speed up Nokia’s 5G & 6G software to run on Nvidia’s architecture as well as increase its presence in the AI & cloud market, according to a statement.Nokia added: “Nokia and Nvidia have agreed to collaborate on AI networking solutions and explore opportunities to incorporate Nokia’s data centre switching and optical technologies in Nvidia's future AI infrastructure architecture.”Nokia, well known for its early mobile phones, has pivoted into a telecoms infrastructure company and is now mainly known as a supplier of 5G cellular equipment to telecom providers. Nvidia has previously announced deals to invest $100bn in OpenAI and made a $5bn investment in Intel. Nokia's shares were up 15 per cent following the announcement.