French precision fermentation company Standing Ovation has announced a €30 million Series B financing round, including €25 million in equity, led jointly by the Ecotechnologies 2 fund — managed on behalf of the French government by Bpifrance as part of the France 2030 initiative — and Crédit Mutuel Innovation.  The round includes its existing investors Astanor, Bel Group, Seventure Partners, GoodStartUp, and Big Idea Ventures, as well as new investors Danone Ventures, Angelor, Newtree, and Noshaq. This investment is supplemented by $5.7 million (€5 million) in non-dilutive financing provided by Bpifrance and a leading banking syndicate. Standing Ovation is redefining dairy protein production with a patented process that turns whey permeates into high-value caseins, a premium ingredient in critical demand across the global agrifood industry. The ability to repurpose dairy co-products, which are currently of little to no value, is a major milestone that reshapes the future of the ecosystem. A world-first, patented technology Lead image: Standing Ovation. Standing Ovation upcycles agricultural sugars and milk whey — previously diverted to fertiliser or biogas — into high-quality casein, the cornerstone of dairy.  The company Standing Ovation has shielded its technology with eight patent families.  Critically, Standing Ovation repurposes local circular resources, effectively reducing the industry's dependence on international supply chains. This issue is all the more critical given that France’s self-sufficiency in milk could be at risk as early as 2027. Further, Standing Ovation’s process drastically reduces the strain on global resources (a 74 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and up to three times less water use than animal casein, according to an ISO-certified life cycle assessment). Standing Ovation turns dairy side-streams into profitable new markets for producers, and offers the food industry a reliable, high-performance solution to the rising global demand for dairy and protein-rich products. Furthermore, this new resource has the advantage of contributing to the necessary decarbonisation of their processing operations. According to Yvan Chardonnens, CEO, and Romain Chayot, co-founder and Managing Director of Standing Ovation: “Our patented technology is becoming the focal point for an industry-wide shift toward sustainable, high-performance proteins. Our ambition is to pioneer a new, circular, and sustainable approach to protein production to meet rapidly growing global demand. By combining technological innovation with the dairy industry’s expertise, we are bridging the gap between the agri-food industry and deep tech. Backed by strong technological barriers to entry, we are accelerating our rollout and helping to strengthen European food sovereignty.”  This new funding will finance the commercial rollout of Standing Ovation’s proteins in the United States and, starting at the end of 2027, in Europe and Asia.  Lead image: Standing Ovation. Photo: Antoine Repesse.

From March 16 to 20, Paris became the command centre for the future of European deeptech, bringing together founders, industrialists, investors, and public decision-makers at Bpifrance's headquarters to accelerate the transition from science labs and startup studios to commercial markets. A convergence of European deeptech power players Conceived by Bpifrance and INSKIP with the support of over 30 partners, European Deeptech Week brought together more than 2,500 ecosystem stakeholders in Paris for conferences, workshops, closed-door sessions, and investor-startup meetings.    For five days, Paris was an innovation nerve centre, bringing together startups, policy makers, investors, and large corporates to connect national and pan-European initiatives, share best practices, and foster cross-border partnerships designed to translate Europe’s scientific leadership into industrial and strategic strength. All of this was part of a critical goal to make disruptive innovation a direct lever of sovereignty, competitiveness and resilience for Europe. Building across Europe’s strategic industries  The European Deeptech Week programme spanned key strategic sectors including AI and quantum computing, space and defence technologies, industrial technologies and Industry 4.0, energy and climate innovation, and life sciences and health technologies — all seen as foundational to Europe’s next generation of globally competitive industries. European Deeptech Week included representatives from the European Commission and national innovation agencies, venture capital firms and deeptech-focused funds, including Eurazeo, Elaia, Supernova Invest, and Wind Capital. France’s deeptech surge sets the pace 410 deeptech startups were created in France in 2025, with the sector raising €4.1 billion. Reflecting this momentum, European Deeptech Week showcased founders building across quantum computing, climate technology, advanced materials, space, and carbon capture.  Speakers included Jean-Luc Maria of Exotrail, Maud Vinet of Quobly, Valérian Giesz of Quandela, and Susanna Partanen of Woamy. Capital, policy, and ecosystems align Major corporates participating included Airbus, Safran, Thales Group, VINCI, EDF, Siemens, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Dassault Systèmes, Bosch, and STMicroelectronics. Their presence underscored the growing role of large industrial groups in adopting, procuring, and deploying deep technologies developed by startups and research institutions. Ecosystem leaders such as Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau of Techleap and innovation hub leaders from Station F contributed to discussions on strengthening Europe’s startup ecosystems. And, in a landscape often defined by fragmentation, the event demonstrated how intentional coordination can help transform Europe’s deeptech excellence into collective momentum. European Deeptech Week was co-organised by BPIFRANCE & Inskip Entrepreneurs with the support of the European Commission and France Deeptech.

Stockholm-based Endform, a platform designed to run browser-based end-to-end tests at high speed, has raised €1.5 million in funding. The round was led by Alliance VC, Antler, First Fellow, and Greens, with participation from a group of strategic angel investors. Endform develops a platform that enables engineering teams to run browser-based end-to-end tests for web applications more efficiently. Built specifically for the Playwright testing framework, the system distributes tests across multiple cloud machines, allowing large test suites to run in parallel. By executing each test on separate machines and coordinating the results centrally, Endform reduces the time required to complete testing pipelines and provides developers with faster feedback during the software development process. The platform is designed to simplify testing infrastructure so teams can scale their test coverage while maintaining rapid development cycles. The company is targeting the quality assurance infrastructure market, which is experiencing increased demand as AI-assisted development accelerates the pace of software iteration. As development cycles become faster, engineering teams require quicker feedback from testing processes, something traditional testing infrastructure can struggle to deliver. Endform addresses this challenge by enabling large numbers of browser instances to run performance-intensive tests simultaneously. With a single command change, organisations can run existing Playwright test suites fully in parallel, significantly reducing testing times. Commenting on the challenges of scaling test infrastructure, Jakob Norlin, co-founder of Endform, said that as test suites grow, they can increasingly become a bottleneck that slows down the pace of engineering teams: Endform solves this by decoupling the number of tests from the time it takes to run them, allowing developers to focus on shipping code rather than waiting for CI pipelines. Our software is already helping some of the world’s best companies to scale and accelerate their code development. The company launched its platform in March 2025 and has since been adopted by organisations across Sweden and the United States, including software company Lovable. The new funding will be used to expand the company’s core team and support further growth as Endform works to increase adoption of its platform for end-to-end web testing.

Insurtech Qover today marks its 10th anniversary with a significant milestone: the extension of a $12 million growth capital facility from CIBC Innovation Banking, bringing total funding raised since inception to over $100 million. Founded in 2016 by Quentin Colmant and Jean-Charles Velge, Qover set out to make insurance simple, transparent, and accessible across borders through technology.  Ten years later, the company has become a defining force in European insurtech, orchestrating embedded insurance programs for major global brands including Revolut, Mastercard, BMW, Monzo, bunq, Canyon and Trust Travel (a TUI brand), across 32+ countries. Qover now protects 15 million people through its platform and is on track to reach 55 million users by the end of 2026, driven by a strong pipeline of partner programs currently in implementation. Over the last four years, Qover has achieved 3x revenue growth, with total GWP exceeding $173 million. "We started with a simple conviction: insurance could be simpler and truly accessible across borders," said Quentin Colmant, CEO and Co-founder of Qover. "Ten years and 15 million users later, that conviction has become a platform, and with AI now accelerating what's possible, we are more ambitious than ever. Our goal is to protect 100 million people by 2030, building the infrastructure that makes a global safety net real." The additional growth capital from CIBC will support Qover's continued investment in its orchestration platform, AI capabilities and operational infrastructure as the company enters its next chapter.

Stockholm-based Enkei, a company developing circular materials for architecture and interior design, has closed a pre-seed funding round at a €3 million valuation. The round includes investors such as architect Anders Lendager, Christina Åqvist, Ulf Mattsson, and Fabian Månsson, alongside RadCap. It also brings in materials expertise from Thomas Granfeldt and Daniel Strömberg. Founded by Lovisa Sunnerholm and Miriam Bichsel, the company focuses on transforming construction and ceramic waste into high-quality materials for architectural applications. Its platform aims to address the environmental impact of traditional materials such as concrete and quarried stone, which continue to dominate the built environment despite growing sustainability concerns. Enkei’s approach centres on converting waste streams into usable materials, supporting the development of a more circular construction ecosystem. Its core product, ReCeramix™, is made primarily from recovered construction and ceramic waste and is already being applied in interior surfaces and design-led projects, including tabletops, window sills, and other architectural elements. Construction produces Europe’s largest waste stream, yet the materials shaping our built environment still rely heavily on newly extracted resources. We see a significant opportunity to transform overlooked waste into a new generation of architectural materials, keeping resources in circulation instead of extracting more, said Lovisa Sunnerholm, CEO and co-founder of Enkei. The funding will be used to advance research and development and support the commercialisation of ReCeramix™, as the company continues to expand its material platform and applications within architecture and interior design.

Czech defencetech STV Group and UK cybersecurity company Post-Quantum today announced the successful testing of the world’s first quantum-safe drones for active deployment across allied theatres. As allied nations adapt to warfighting defined by autonomous systems and drones, the ability to future-proof secure communications between drones and their operators is of paramount importance. Drone swarms procured today may be stored and deployed in future operations years later. This dynamic requires drones manufactured today to incorporate encryption that’s resistant to attack by both classical and quantum computers. In Ukraine and the Middle East, unmanned platforms must operate under conditions that include: Jamming, GPS denial and signal interception, Beyond-line-of-sight missions over degraded communications links,  Large-scale fleet command and control, Continuous transmission of sensitive ISR data. At the same time, governments recognise that adversaries may already be collecting encrypted communications for decryption once quantum computing becomes viable. With drone platforms expected to remain operational for decades, protecting these systems against future quantum threats is becoming a near-term requirement. The two companies have now successfully trialled the new approach at STV’s weapons testing facility in the Czech Republic.  The collaboration combines STV’s combat-tested unmanned systems and command-and-control infrastructure with Post-Quantum’s patented post-quantum cryptography and secure radio technology. STV asserts that it is one of the very few companies worldwide that can deploy its drone solutions directly to operational environments without further certification. Specifically, the partnership introduces two industry firsts: A quantum-resilient drone architecture designed for contested operational environments The first airborne deployment of Classic McEliece, the longest-studied post-quantum public-key cryptographic algorithm, previously considered infeasible for DDIL (denied, disrupted, intermittent, limited) communications Classic McEliece for operational deployment  The new platform is underpinned by Classic McEliece, the code‑based post‑quantum cryptographic scheme co-invented by Post-Quantum. The partnership’s architecture uses the cryptography in a targeted, mission-aligned way by encrypting full‑motion video, imagery and flight metadata for the duration of the mission. This ensures sensitive ISR data remains confidential over the long term against Harvest Now Decrypt Later attacks. Dr Pavel Kudrhalt, Chief Executive Officer of STV Group, said: “STV’s unmanned platforms operate daily in Ukraine, where drone communications are among the most contested in the world. In this environment, communications security is no longer an afterthought – the risk of an adversary intercepting or even seizing control of a drone swarm is simply unacceptable.  By integrating Classic McEliece into our operational stack, we are giving our customers the strongest available future‑proof cryptography, engineered for the realities of the battlefield and ready for immediate deployment.” According to Rikky Hasan, Chief Executive Officer of Post-Quantum, the partnership is about more than cryptography: "It is about delivering a complete sovereign unmanned operations system, with quantum‑resilient security built in as standard.” “Classic McEliece’s large key size has long been considered too large for real-world deployments, especially for airborne platforms operating in DDIL environments.  We have proven that assumption wrong. Its tiny ciphertexts and ultra‑fast encryption, combined with our experience in government‑grade radio communications and electronic warfare, make it the ideal choice for protecting drone ISR against both classical and quantum attacks." The companies will begin phased integration of the quantum-resilient UAV platform across European and allied defence programmes. Lead image: Freepik.

Empirical Ventures, a specialist deeptech Fund, has secured an additional £10 million British Business Bank commitment to back the UK’s best venture scientists, bringing its total support to £15 million. This partnership will accelerate Empirical’s mission to back the best venture scientists in the UK. Empirical Ventures was built to solve a specific problem: exceptional scientists often lack investors who speak their language. Empirical Venture Scientist's thesis suggests that the most valuable companies of the next century will not be built by generalist entrepreneurs, but by deep domain experts who can navigate the boundary between fundamental research and commercial reality.   By focusing on Deetech and Life Sciences, Empirical Ventures is actively de-risking the "hard science" sector, proving that with the right support, scientific founders can deliver outsized returns and high-skilled regional employment. The commitment from the British Business Bank, via its Regional Angels Programme, will allow Empirical Ventures to write high-conviction cheques to these founders across the UK.  By combining patient capital with their unique SEIS & EIS Fund and Syndicate, Empirical Ventures is providing the financial fuel for scientists to leave the lab and build technologies that bend the physical world, from novel energy generation and advanced materials to next-generation life sciences and everything in between.  Mark Barry, Senior Investment Director at British Business Bank, said: “We are delighted to expand our commitment to Empirical Ventures. Their team has identified a powerful untapped resource in the UK economy: the ‘Venture Scientist.’  By backing technical founders who solve hard problems, Empirical is helping to bridge the critical funding gap for science-led businesses outside London. This partnership ensures that the UK’s brightest scientific minds have the support they need to turn research into category-defining global companies.” Dr Johnathan Matlock, Co-Founder and General Partner at Empirical Ventures, said: “The greatest companies of the next 30 years will be built by scientists. We call them ‘Venture Scientists’ — founders who bring rigorous scientific methodology to company building. But for too long, these founders have been underestimated or misunderstood by generalist investors.  This £10 million commitment from the British Business Bank allows us to back these Venture Scientists with the conviction they deserve.  Whether they are in Bristol, Manchester, or Edinburgh, we are here to ensure that the founders capable of rewriting the rules of what’s possible get the resources to do so.”  This commitment directly supports the UK government’s 2026 Modern Industrial Strategy by unlocking the commercial potential of the UK’s world-leading research base.

Today, VC firm P101 released the tenth edition of the "State of Italian VC" report, an analysis of the evolution of the Italian innovation industry. The Italian tech sector includes more than 14,000 innovative companies – nearly 12,000 of which are startups – that, in 2025, generated a production value of 10 billion euros and employed around 62,000 people. Of these, about a third work in startups that, alone, last year, recorded a production value of about €2.8 billion. According to Andrea Di Camillo, Founder and Managing Partner of P101, we are today looking at the evolution of an industry that barely existed in Italy a decade ago.  Italy has moved from a handful of operators with limited resources and marginal impact to a venture capital ecosystem with solid foundations, consistently investing between 1 and 2 billion euros per year into the real economy. "Corporate participation is essental" Di Camillo shared that the broader context has also changed dramatically: the era of incremental innovation is over: “We are now facing a phase of deep technological discontinuity, with AI and critical infrastructure reshaping capital allocation, alongside a growing awareness that digital sovereignty is no longer a choice, but a strategic necessity.  Everything is moving faster, and if we want to keep pace, growing capital alone will not be enough — despite the support of institutional investors such as CDP and EIF, and players like Azimut.”  He asserts that corporate participation will be essential, as it remains limited to a few virtuous cases, along with a more efficient public capital market.  “Above all, what is needed is a truly international perspective: from funds, which must look beyond national borders; from companies, which must compete globally; and from investors, who must become increasingly international. In a continent that remains too fragmented, the future of this industry — central to innovation — will depend on strengthening venture capital as a European asset class. The ‘28th regime’ represents a first step in this direction.” Evolution of investments: VC quadruples, but Italy slips in the European ranking Over the past decade, the Italian VC has invested a total of about €10 billion in startups, 7.5 of which in the last 5 years. This growth trajectory has led to a fourfold increase in annual investment capacity, from €363 million in 2016 to €1.4 billion in 2025. However, despite Italy being the fourth-largest economy in Europe, per capita VC investment remains disproportionately low: Fewer deals, bigger tickets: 2025 marks the maturation of the market In 2025, investments in Italy reached €1.4 billion, up 17 per cent compared to 2024, despite a decline in the number of transactions to 637 (-35 per cent). This trend reflects an increase in average deal size, with the median doubling to 1 million euros. Startup valuations in Italy have increased over time, from €1.8 million in 2016 to nearly €5 million in 2025. However, this remains roughly half of European levels and significantly below the US, where average valuations approach €49 million. Exit: the structural bottleneck of public markets In 2025 Italy recorded 22 exits, down from 31 in 2024, mainly due to lower corporate acquisitions (from 25 to 14 transactions). Buyouts increased from 6 to 8, indicating a growing role for financial investors. As in 2024, no IPOs were recorded for VC-backed companies.  Over the last decade, only 22 IPOs in Italy have involved VC-backed companies, confirming the limited role of public markets in the industry. In 2025, fundraising totalled nearly €400 million across 9 funds (-13 per cent year-on-year), with the market heavily concentrated on smaller fund sizes and no vehicles above €150 million. Overall, over €8 billion was raised in Italy over the last decade through 123 funds.  Although Italy has doubled its fundraising capacity in ten years, it still accounts for a small fraction of Europe's funding, with total funding reaching almost €11 billion, down sharply from € 25 billion in 2024.  Investors: institutional are growing, but domestic capital still dominates Italian venture capital remains heavily reliant on domestic investors (71 per cent), highlighting limited international diversification: European investors account for 19 per cent of funding, followed by North American investors at 4 per cent, while Asian investors are notably absent. The Middle East contributes 6 per cent, making Italy unique among its peers in attracting a meaningful share of capital from the region. The LP base is relatively balanced despite concentration: Direct investments: 17 per cent Banks: 15 per cent Funds of funds: 14 per cent Foundations: 10 per cent Pension funds: 9 per cent Insurance companies (4 per cent) and corporates (12 per cent) remain underrepresented, compared to more mature ecosystems such as France, where they account for 14 per cent and 21 per cent respectively In general, the interest of institutional investors is growing, thanks to the support of investors such as CDP, EIF, and Fondo Italiano, which have invested 63 times in Italian funds over the last 10 years, as well as Azimut, and driven by new regulations aimed at incentivising investments in VC.  Universities: Bocconi and Politecnico drive new entrepreneurship  In the last five years, startups founded by former students of Italian universities have raised over €7.3 billion in capital from the broader innovation ecosystem, which, alongside Italian VC, includes business angels, private, foreign, and corporate investors.  Bocconi University (3.1 billion) and Politecnico di Milano (2.2 billion) lead the ranking, followed by: The University of Bologna (1 billion), LUISS (505 million), La Sapienza in Rome (338 million), and The Polytechnic University of Turin (196 million) contributed more modest, but still significant, investment flows.

German tech investor Maguar , which specialises in medium-sized B2B software companies, has acquired a significant stake in GlobalSuite Solutions, a multinational software company specialising in Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) solutions.   This transaction represents Maguar's first investment in the Spanish market. Founded in 2007, with a presence in Iberia and Latin America and a team of more than 100 professionals, GlobalSuite Solutions supports more than 2,000 customers in highly regulated sectors, including banking, insurance, healthcare, and telecommunications, offering solutions that facilitate risk management, regulatory compliance, business continuity, and ESG.  Companies are increasingly adopting technology platforms that centralise risk management, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance, replacing manual processes with integrated systems that provide real-time visibility and improve strategic decision-making. Maguar's investment in GlobalSuite Solutions is part of this trend, aimed at driving the company's evolution in a market that is increasingly strategic for organisations. Maguar plans to support GlobalSuite Solutions by strengthening its commercial organisation and partner ecosystem while driving innovation in automation, integration, artificial intelligence, and usability. The alliance also envisions geographic expansion into new markets, complemented by a selective acquisition strategy. According to Arno Poschik, Founding Partner of Maguar, GlobalSuite Solutions has developed a solid and highly differentiated GRC platform in a market with great potential.  “With this investment, we seek to support the continued development of its technology and accelerate its expansion to continue generating value for its customers." Antonio Quevedo Muñoz, founder and CEO of GlobalSuite Solutions, shared: "Maguar's entry marks a key moment for our company and opens a new stage of progression. Their extensive experience in the development and scaling of B2B software companies, together with their long-term vision, makes them the ideal partner to accompany us in this new phase. Thanks to this alliance, we will be able to continue driving innovation on our platform and strengthening our presence in new international markets, thereby maintaining our commitment to delivering maximum value to our customers.” Antonio Quevedo Muñoz, founder and CEO of GlobalSuite Solutions, will continue to lead the company, maintaining a significant stake in the business, alongside his team and Jaime Girón de Velasco, who will join GSS as Managing Director.  Lead image: Antonio Quevedo Muñoz, Founder and CEO of GlobalSuite Solutions, and Arno Poschik, Founding Partner at Maguar.

Midas, a platform for composable on-chain investment products, has raised $50 million in Series A funding. The round was led by RRE Ventures and Creandum, with participation from Framework Ventures, HV Capital, Ledger Cathay, Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, M1 Capital, Anchorage Digital, FJ Labs, North Island Ventures and GSR. The round brings total funding to $58.75 million, following an $8.75 million seed round in 2024. Midas enables asset managers to convert institutional-grade investment strategies into regulatory-compliant tokens, providing investors with transparency, liquidity, and composability across decentralised finance protocols such as Morpho and Pendle. As institutional adoption of tokenised assets continues to grow, many existing products still rely on delayed settlement processes, creating liquidity constraints for investors. To address this, Midas has introduced Midas Staked Liquidity (MSL), which deploys dedicated staked liquidity to enable instant redemptions without affecting underlying yield or composability. We’re building toward a future where investing works like the internet: open, transparent, composable, and accessible by default, said Dennis Dinkelmeyer, CEO and co-founder of Midas. In addition to MSL, the company plans to expand its product offering into a broader range of institutional asset classes, deepen integrations across decentralised finance ecosystems, and further develop existing partnerships. Developers, investors, and asset managers can access further information, including technical documentation and live products, via the Midas platform. The newly raised capital will support the continued development of MSL as part of an open liquidity architecture designed to enable instant redemptions across on-chain investment products.

TerraSpark, a developer of space-based solar energy systems, has raised over €5 million in a pre-seed financing round. Investors include Daphni, better ventures, the Hans(wo)men Group, and a group of strategic business angels. TerraSpark is developing a long-term approach to energy generation based on space-based solar power, aiming to provide continuous energy independent of weather conditions or time of day. The concept addresses growing challenges in Europe’s energy infrastructure, including rising demand, grid constraints, and increasing energy needs from data centres. While the concept of space-based solar power has existed for decades, recent reductions in launch costs and advances in satellite manufacturing and orbital robotics are making its implementation more feasible. TerraSpark is taking a phased approach, beginning with the commercialisation of radio frequency-based wireless energy transmission for industrial use on Earth. This allows the company to validate safety, efficiency, and regulatory requirements before scaling towards orbital systems. Space-based solar power has long been considered something for the distant future. Across Europe, energy resilience is now a practical concern. With a step-by-step approach, starting with commercially viable systems on Earth, we believe this can become real infrastructure within a realistic timeframe, said Jasper Deprez, founder and CEO of TerraSpark. The company is led by a team with experience in space technology, engineering, and scaling businesses, including Jasper Deprez (CEO), Sanjay Vijendran (CTO), and Matthias Laug (COO). In the coming months, TerraSpark plans to prepare pilot applications and demonstration use cases, including wireless power transmission for live environments. An orbital technology demonstrator is planned for 2027, followed by initial space-to-Earth power transmission in 2028. The funding will be used to further develop the company’s technology and support upcoming pilot applications and live testing.

The Tech.eu Summit London 2026 is set to take place on 21–22 April 2026 at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London. With the event now less than four weeks away, this is one of the final opportunities to secure a ticket before pricing moves to its last tier. Ticket pricing will be updated on 1 April 2026 Ticket pricing for the Tech.eu Summit London 2026 will be revised on 1 April 2026. From that date, the Last Chance ticket will be priced at £600 + VAT. Joining with colleagues or friends? A discounted group rate is available for purchases of three or more tickets, with Last Chance (3+ People) passes priced at £550 + VAT per person. The Tech.eu Summit London 2026 will bring together founders, investors and technology professionals from across Europe and beyond. Sessions will cover artificial intelligence, fintech, deeptech, climate tech and other fast-evolving sectors, with speakers confirmed from organisations including OpenAI, Notion Capital, PolyAI, Oxa, Wise, NATO Innovation Fund, Upvest, 2150, Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, Mollie and many more. Make the most of your summit experience with the Tech.eu Events App Attendees can download the Tech.eu Events App via the App Store and Google Play to begin connecting ahead of the summit. Through the app, participants can browse attendee profiles, arrange meetings in advance, explore the agenda and manage their personal schedule. The app will also be used for on-site access via QR code check-in. Get your ticket today Secure your ticket before prices increase on 1 April. Join us at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre on 21–22 April for two days of discussions, networking and insight from some of the most influential figures in European technology and investment. We look forward to welcoming you in London. Partners Pavilion Partner Gold Partner   Silver Partners   Supporting Partner Community Partners           

miros, a Lausanne-based startup founded in 2023 and spun out of the EPFL ecosystem, announced the closing of a  €1.1 million (CHF 1 million) Pre-Seed funding round from various business angels. miros is building a network of connected workpods to bring privacy, calm and comfort into public and semi-public spaces. Through its hardware and software platform, including a mobile app to locate, book and access pods, the company addresses the needs of a workforce that is increasingly mobile and flexible.  “We start with pods, but the ambition goes far beyond that,” said Dr Fabio Zuliani, Founder and CEO of miros. “We are looking at how commercial real estate itself can become flexible, modular and on-demand.  The pod is just the first building block. Seeing it already used throughout Switzerland and beyond makes  that vision feel very real.”  The round follows a manufacturing partnership with Ducommun Menuisiers, initiated through the  SyNNergy grant from Innovaud. The pods are designed in collaboration with Lakabi, a Lausanne-based furniture brand, and fully built in Switzerland. In parallel, the project also received support from the Canton of Vaud to develop a new version made entirely from Swiss wood (Bois  Suisse), reinforcing its focus on local sourcing and production. Since its inception, miros has deployed 15 workpods and worked with partners including SwissTech  Convention Centre, Beaulieu, and Hôpital Riviera-Chablais.  Through Geneva Airport’s GVA Runway Lab open-innovation program, miros was able to test its value proposition under real-world conditions and confirm strong product-market fit. The company has also taken its first step internationally, with a pod deployed at Village by Crédit Agricole in Toulouse, France, since October. These deployments helped validate the product and lay the foundation for scaling, with nearly 350 hours of usage so far.  The company plans to announce several new partnerships in the coming months as it continues to expand its footprint across Switzerland.  miros will use the funds to deploy a network of connected and bookable workpods across Switzerland, with a  target of more than 100 units by the end of 2026. 

Mistral today said it had secured $830m in debt financing, marking its first debt raise, to buy Nvidia chips to power its first data centre.   The French AI startup, which is seen as a European rival to larger US LLM companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, said the deal represents a “significant milestone”.   The debt raising was financed by a consortium of seven banks: Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC, La Banque Postale, MUFG and Natixis CIB. Mistral said the funding will finance 13,800 Nvidia GPUs as it builds out its first data centre in its native France. The raising of debt comes as Mistral, which is valued €11.7bn, looks to take on US and China in the AI race. Mistral, which is looking to become a full stack AI player, is pitching itself as an open-source, sovereign data alternative to the largely proprietary models of its US rivals. Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral, said: “Scaling our infrastructure in Europe is critical to empower our customers and to ensure AI innovation and autonomy remain at the heart of Europe.   “We will continue to invest in this area, given the surging and sustained demand from governments, enterprises and research institutions seeking to build their own customised AI environment, rather than depend on third-party cloud providers.”   Earlier this year, Mistral announced details of its first-ever data centre near Paris, France, which will power the training of Mistral AI’s own models, as well as those of its customers. It is set to become operational in Q2 2026.   Last month, it also announced the launch of a new data centre in Sweden.

Last week, we tracked more than 55 tech funding deals worth over €850 million, and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

Finland-based quantum computing startup IQM Quantum Computers has secured a €50 million financing package from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. The funding is intended to support the company’s continued growth and strengthen its position in the global quantum computing market. The facility was secured ahead of IQM’s previously announced plans to become the first publicly listed European quantum computing company through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. It is expected to reduce the company’s overall cost of capital while increasing flexibility and diversification within its capital structure. IQM develops full-stack superconducting quantum computers and provides both on-premises systems and cloud access to research institutions, universities, high-performance computing centres, and national laboratories. Its approach enables organisations to directly operate and manage their own quantum infrastructure. The financing package comes at a pivotal time for IQM, as we build momentum for our next phase of growth. This financing further strengthens our capital structure, increasing the resources available to execute on our technology vision and expand into new markets. said Jan Goetz, CEO and co-founder of IQM. With growing global demand for on-premises quantum systems, the company is positioning itself to support enterprise adoption of quantum and quantum AI technologies. Its strategy combines hardware development, cloud accessibility, industry partnerships, and ecosystem expansion, with a long-term focus on achieving fault-tolerant quantum computing. The capital will be used to accelerate IQM’s technology roadmap, expand research and development activities, and support entry into additional markets, further advancing its capabilities in superconducting quantum systems.

German industrial AI startup deeplify has announced the successful closing of a €2 million pre-seed funding round. The round was led by D11Z Ventures, with participation from Vanagon Ventures, EWOR, and a group of strategic business angels. The investment will support the company’s mission to modernise how critical infrastructure is inspected and managed. The company addresses a longstanding gap in industrial operations. While recent advances in artificial intelligence have largely focused on productivity tools and digital services, many sectors responsible for maintaining essential infrastructure still rely on fragmented and outdated processes. Inspection workflows often depend on spreadsheets, static documents, analogue imagery, and manual reporting, despite the high risks associated with undetected defects. We have the most advanced software for digital-first workflows, but when it comes to determining if a high-pressure pipeline is safe, the industry is often still stuck in the past, said Jan Löwer, co-founder and CEO of deeplify. The need for modernisation is increasing as Europe’s chemical sector, comprising around 31,000 companies, faces ageing infrastructure, a shortage of experienced inspectors, and growing volumes of complex inspection data. To address this, deeplify has developed an end-to-end AI platform for industrial inspection and asset integrity management. By connecting workflows from raw sensor data to automated defect analysis and auditable reporting, the platform replaces fragmented processes with a unified system, helping reduce inspection time, minimise errors, and improve traceability. The solution is grounded in real-world industrial experience. Early projects revealed significant inefficiencies in existing workflows, leading to an initial deployment with Open Grid Europe. Further pilots with SKF followed, and the platform is now used by inspection firms serving global energy companies such as Shell. The newly secured funding will be used to expand deeplify’s platform capabilities and accelerate deployments across sectors, including energy, oil and gas, chemicals, and transportation.

This week, we tracked more than 55 tech funding deals worth over €850 million and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. Alongside the week’s top funding rounds, we’ve highlighted key industry developments, as well as notable trends in European venture activity, investor moves and emerging sectors shaping the current funding landscape. 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 ?? Kandou AI closes $225M Series A round to break memory bottlenecks in AI ?? Granola raises $125M at $1.5B valuation ??. Vuelo secures €64M in seed funding to build an AI-native travel booking experience ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ?? Swedish-founded Kobalt is sold for €1.3B ?? Bioniq cashes in on personalised health boom with $150 million Herbalife acquisition ??. Unifly buys EuroUSC-Benelux to bridge drone tech and regulation at scale ? Interesting moves from investors ?.Nathan Benaich's Air Street raises $232M Fund III, becoming Europe’s largest solo GP venture firm ?. 360 Capital announces €85M close for Poli360 2, targeting €100M ?. Credo Ventures raises $88M Fund 5 to double down on pre-seed in CEE and its global diaspora ?. Team Scaleup launches to close Europe’s post-Seed funding gap ? futurepresent emerges from stealth with $300M Fund I to back AI across infrastructure and industry ?️ In other (important) news ??  Europe builds Microsoft-compatible ‘Euro-Office’ to reclaim digital sovereignty ?. Aleph Alpha’s former CEO lures Apple engineer from US to join European startup ??. tozero opens Europe’s first industrial-scale battery recycling plant to power Europe’s material independence ??. Most UK startups aren’t in London. But most funding still is ??  Galtea lands $3.2M to cut costly AI testing delays ??  Newly secures $2M+ in funding to advance native app creation platform ??. Klarna veterans launch Galdera with €1.5M for AI financial modeling ??: Allday Goods raises £765,000 to scale its cult, recycled-plastic knife brand ?? NanoZymeX secures €160,000 to advance lipid nanoparticle enzyme therapies for rare diseases

Today, a coalition of European enterprises and community organisations has launched Euro-Office, a solution for editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, developed as a true sovereign community collaboration of over a dozen different organisations. A tech preview is available immediately.  The effort, backed by major European tech firms including IONOS, Nextcloud, Eurostack, XWiki, OpenProject, Soverin, Abilian and BTactic is planning a first stable release by summer. Need for a sovereign office Across Europe, public administrations, enterprises and educational institutions are reassessing their dependence on non-European productivity platforms. While office software remains mission-critical infrastructure, there is currently no solution that combines full Microsoft format compatibility, a familiar user experience and genuine digital sovereignty under European stewardship. The announcement comes at a time when many organisations are reassessing their reliance on existing office solutions, not only from a cost or functionality perspective, but increasingly from a control and long-term risk standpoint. Just this week, it became public that ONLYOFFICE has shut down its cloud offering, forcing many organisations to reassess their current setup. "With the geo-political developments we have seen in the last year, there is a clear need for a reliable, fully Microsoft-compatible and easy-to-use sovereign office solution in Europe," states Achim Weiss, CEO of IONOS. "Our joint initiative delivers a suite with an extremely familiar interface and capable of working with documents, presentations and spreadsheets.“ Existing alternatives often require trade-offs between compatibility and usability, are encumbered by legal risks around licensing and trademarks, or are developed without transparent, open governance, lacking an independent, sustainable contributor community. For organisations handling sensitive information and public data, this creates structural risk. Euro-Office addresses this gap directly. It is designed to provide seamless handling of widely used document, spreadsheet and presentation formats, while offering an interface that minimises retraining and migration friction.  The entire code base is released under fully open source licensing, free from trademark constraints, and developed in a transparent process open to public scrutiny and contribution. The result is an office suite built not only for functionality, but for strategic resilience. “Europe has had the technical building blocks for years. What was missing until now was an initiative to bring them together into a meaningful, comprehensive solution,” says Frank Karlitschek, CEO of Nextcloud.  “With Euro-Office, we’re not starting from scratch; instead, we’re taking responsibility for a vital piece of digital infrastructure. This finally gives organisations tools they can trust: transparent, durable, and managed in Europe.” A public tech preview of Euro-Office is available immediately on GitHub.The preview enables organisations and individuals to evaluate core functionality, test compatibility, and contribute feedback ahead of the first stable release planned for summer. Lead image: Achim Weiss, CEO of IONOS, Henri Schmidt, member of German Parliament, Frank Karlitschek, CEO of Nextcloud.

The co-founder and former CEO of high-profile German AI startup Aleph Alpha has today revealed fresh details about his new AI startup, which launched last month and is backed by a multi-million-dollar investment from the German consultancy Roland Berger. The new startup founded by Jonas Andrulis, who left Aleph Alpha last year after six years leading it, is developing what it calls “collaborative AI systems", which are designed to address the challenge in industrial AI applications of a lack of human integration into complex, AI-driven processes. It says in industrial environments, automated AI systems alone are not sufficient and human judgement remains critical. Its tech means that AI agents can ask humans clarifying questions, helping negate hallucinations, it says.   Today the startup revealed its name, CNTR (the name refers to the so-called “centaur chess” where teams of humans and computers play together) and said that Apple engineer Alejandro Molina was relocating from the US West Coast to join the startup as its CTO in Germany. Molina has also previously worked for Amazon and Aleph Alpha.   Andrulis said: “Most AI systems today are built to replace human labour. Humans are reduced to temporary gap-fillers. That’s a dead end—for the technology itself as well as for the companies that are putting their most valuable assets at risk: their teams and their culture.    “We’ve founded CNTR so that humans and machines can learn, make decisions, and solve problems together—not competing, but collaborating with each other.”   Aleph Alpha was originally one of the few European LLM startups but subsequently pivoted from building LLMs to helping businesses and governments use AI.