A UK money management app for Gen Z-ers which counted two Conservative peers as advisers is closing- and ex-staff claim dozens of staff are owed money. One disgruntled former employee said: “My personal estimate is that the number of unpaid folks is in the dozens, if not 100+.” Another ex-employee said: “W1tty had a very good tech team but the management was the root cause of failure.” W1tty was founded in 2019 by Ammar Kutait, a Syrian-born British citizen, who became wealthy through commodities trading and energy investments. Kutait bankrolled the fintech with $10m of his own investment, with plans to invest millions of dollars more, according to the Times. The London-headquartered fintech targeted Gen Z-ers, such as students and other young people starting their careers. In an interview, Kutait, W1tty founder and CEO, said: "The current wave of neobanks we are seeing are geared towards millennials and above, but what about the 16–24-year-olds? They have their own wants and needs for a banking partner, and that’s the gap we’re hoping to fill at W1tty.” In another interview, he said: “Our aim at W1tty is to put customers in control of their finances through a customisable suite of attractive products and services available on the app, with transparent and flexible pricing.” The fintech had offices in London and Lithuania but in December last year, it is understood significant parts of the business were moved to Dubai. In total, it is thought to have had over 100 staff. W1tty acquired a UK Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the FCA in 2021 ahead of its launch in the UK in early 2022. It also had a Lithuanian EMI licence, which it used to launch in Poland and Lithuania. W1tty Global LTD, its UK entity, began winding down in September this year while W1tty Global, its Lithuanian-licenced entity, began winding down in July, according to the W1tty website. W1tty Global is still active at Companies House, and last reported financials for the year ending 2022, reporting a loss of $682,000. Lord Hill of Oareford, a former European commissioner who laid out plans to free up the UK’s listing rules to accommodate more tech businesses, sat on W1tty’s advisory board, as did Lord Chadlington, a former adviser to Sir John Major and David Cameron. Gene Lockhart, the former chief executive of Midland Bank who helped set up First Direct and has also been on the board of Metro Bank, was also on W1tty’s advisory board. Lord Hill and Lord Chadlington stood down from their roles in February this year, according to the Lords Registered Interests. Sara Waclawik, who was head of customer care at W1tty between April and October 2023, posted on LinkedIn about the plight of a W1tty employee she employed, who she said was owed money. Waclawik said: “The company owner Ammar Kutait has since disappeared from LinkedIn (not a big surprise). He's probably flying his private jet now, while claiming he cannot afford to pay a few thousands of EUR to a person who worked for him with all devotion.” She added: "It seems many people have been exploited which is horrific and sad, given that the person who owes money is not affected at all, and regular people for whom it's a big sum they depend on has been left with nothing." Responding to her post, Salman Mohammmad Mujtaba said:  “I have not been paid my dues from November 2023.” Another former employee said:  “My personal estimate is that the number of unpaid folks is in the dozens, if not 100+.” Another said: “Before I left they had few delays with payments which was a warning for me.” W1tty did not respond to a request for comment.

This week, Atomico's State of European Tech released a special tenth-anniversary edition. It looks back over a decade of huge growth for the ecosystem and maps its superpower potential against significant challenges faced by the sector today.  The State of European Tech report combines quantitative data from 41 European countries and a survey of thousands of founders, operators, and investors to understand what's really going on in European tech.  I spoke with Sarah Guemouri, Principal at Atomico and co-author of the report, to learn more and Russ Shaw CBE, founder of Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates. Here are just a few of the key insights from the report:  Europe's tech companies have raised $426 billion since Atomico launched the inaugural edition of its State of European Tech (SoET) report in 2015 - ten times more than the $43 billion raised in the decade prior (2005-14).  Atomico expects that European companies will secure $45 billion in investment this year, in line with the $47 billion raised in 2023.  According to Guemouri:  "Over the past decade, startups have demonstrated remarkable flexibility in scaling, attracting top talent, and securing substantial funding. This has empowered founders to set ambitious goals and drive rapid innovation." This year's report finds that: the fundamentals are strong for Europe's early-stage startups - and in some regards, they are pulling ahead of the US.  More founders starting companies in Europe than the US Europe is home to more founders starting companies than the US - as has been the case every year for the past decade. There are currently 35,000 early stage tech startups in Europe - more than in any other region globally. Back in 2015, London was the only European city in the global list of top ten hubs by funding raised for early-stage startups (rounds under $15 million). Fast forward to 2024, and London has risen to second place globally, with Berlin and Paris also joining it in the top ten.  According to Shaw, it's significant that, of more than 350 European unicorns, nearly half of $1 billion IPOs in the past decade have come from the UK.  "Success stories like Revolut — which today was also granted its UK trading licence — and Zopa — on course for a 35 per cent revenue increase this year — are shining lights for the UK's ongoing leadership in fintech and innovation. European venture capital fell to $45 billion this year — less than half the $101 billion raised in 2021 — the UK has once again retained its status as Europe's top destination for investment." Guemouri highlighted the ambition of founders who don't just dream of building a billion-plus company.  "They're actually thinking of a scale that's 100 times that.  We asked founders to reflect on what it means to be successful for their businesses. Some people mentioned going on Mars or servicing billions of users — a very different mindset there versus what we saw when we started the report.  There's more companies with more ideas, built to solve harder problems that are really leveling up across the board.  That translates to an expanding opportunity set." However, the ecosystem must address a critical growth-stage funding gap There are now 8x more growth companies than there were ten years ago in Europe, despite an uneven playing field.  While Europe and the US start on equal footing, US startups are twice as likely to raise rounds above $15M than their European counterparts.  As many as 1 in 2 European scaleups have turned to a US investor for funding.  This matters as this creates a pull away from Europe - leading to talent, knowledge and economic leakage.  This issue needs solving at an institutional level. European pension funds currently invest just 0.01 per cent of capital into European venture capital - a figure that looks like a rounding error for the $9 trillion of assets they manage.  One issue that's been consistently hampering  upscale ambition is the growth funding gap.This year the report tried to unpack what exactly that means and what it equates to.  Researchers found that over the past decade, Europe has been underfunding its growth-stage companies. According to Guemouri, "For the past decade, there's been a significant disparity in access to capital, particularly compared to the US. Reducing this dependence on foreign capital, especially the US, is crucial." Guemouri asserts that one potential solution lies in domestic capital sources, such as pension funds: "Despite holding trillions in assets, these funds allocate a minuscule 0.01 percent to European tech—essentially a rounding error. By increasing this allocation, we could unlock billions more for European scale-ups. This increased capital could significantly impact the European tech ecosystem. It could encourage top talent to stay in Europe and build successful companies rather than seeking funding elsewhere. Ultimately, this would strengthen Europe's position as a global tech leader." The report also highlights other strengths of the European tech landscape:  Job creation has thrived  In Europe, almost 20 million jobs have been created since 2015, and it's growing at 24 per cent at a compounded annual growth rate, which is the same place that we'd see in the US.  There are 7x more people working in funded tech companies today in Europe compared to 2015.  Talent pools in the US and Europe are growing at the same rate. The European tech sector now employs 3.5 million people - as many as the US had in 2020.  Further, over 2.5 million of these jobs have been created since 2015, meaning Europe's tech talent market has grown at a rate of 24 ppercentCompound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) —n par with the US.  According to Guemouri, European tech continues to focus on solving the toughest of issues, with climate grabbing the attention of founders, capital and talent.  "Europe is allocating its resources to sectors with the potential to solve new societal problems. 1 in every 5 dollars —21 per cent of the capital invested this year – has gone into companies related to sustainability, which is double the ratio of what we see in the US, which is 11 per cent." Over the last ten years, carbon management is the theme that's seen the greatest increase in its share of Seed-stage funding. It has climbed 39 places in Atomico's rankings since 2015.  Europe is well-placed to seize on opportunities in deeptech, but money and mindset need to follow.  Deeptech (including AI) has captured 33 per cent of Europe's total funding levels this year.  Over the last ten years, European deeptech startups have raised $94 billion, versus $123 billion in Asia and over $300 billion in the US. The report forecasts that in ten years' time European tech could have an ecosystem value of $8 trillion and a world class talent pool of 20 million employees.  This year's survey finds that founders with over ten years' experience say they have seen progress in diversity and inclusion over the past decade - a statement with which participants from under-represented groups also agreed.  However, the report finds that the needle has moved only fractionally this decade when it comes to closing the gender funding gap. While all-women teams now raise double the proportion of pre-Seed funding they used to (at 4.9 per cent), their share of the pie continues to decline at later stages, receiving just 1.7 per cent of funding at Series B and beyond.  According to Shaw, diversity remains an urgent challenge.  "Women still make up just one-third of Europe's tech talent, a number that has stagnated for nearly a decade, and ethnic minority founders continue to face systemic barriers to funding.  To secure its future as a global tech leader, the UK investment community must prioritise inclusion and develop opportunities for underrepresented groups, ensuring innovation reflects society's diversity." To mark the tenth anniversary of the State of European Tech, Atomico has created a documentary interviewing individuals who helped build the ecosystem into what it is today, and speaking to those who are helping to shape its future.

Turkish-founded Kalder has raised $10.5 million in funding, which includes its most recent $7M Seed round. Kalder’s white-label partner rewards platform enables brands to launch partner cashback programs directly within their app or website. Customers can earn rewards automatically when shopping at partner stores.  Brands can reward their loyalty program members on every purchase at participating stores and automatically receive commissions on each sale in their partner network—generating new revenue while boosting customer engagement and spending within the brand. Brands benefit from automated tracking and insights, with payouts made directly from each transaction.  Kalder’s platform manages everything for both the customer and the brand – from sign-ups to purchase tracking and payments, powered by integrations with payment networks. Brands gain unique insights into customer spending, and can create new acquisition channels with partners. "Until now, most brands haven’t had access to tools that allow them to turn loyalty into profit. With Kalder, any brand can turn loyalty programs into direct revenue streams, much like the gold standard of loyalty programs in the travel and finance categories," said Gokce Guven, Kalder CEO and founder.  “With acquisition costs soaring, brands are looking for new ways to deepen customer relationships and retain quality customers, and we’re excited to help them build this into their everyday strategy." Javelin Venture Partners led the funding with participation from 8VC, Human Capital, Gingerbread Capital, Emergence Capital, Formus Capital, and prominent angel investors.  Previously, Kalder raised $3.5M in seed funding led by 500 Startups.  According to Noah Doyle, Managing Director of lead investor Javelin Venture Partners, Kalder is delivering on the long-held promise of loyalty monetization without the cost and complexity of traditional rewards programs: “Kalder has streamlined this process into a turnkey model that gives brands of all sizes an unprecedented opportunity to profit from customer loyalty and align it seamlessly with their marketing goals." Additional investors include Harry Maguire of Manchester United, Shuo Wang, Co-founder of Deel, Julius Genachowski, Board Chairman of Sonos, former FCC Chairman and board director of Mattel and Mastercard. Brands that rely on Kalder today include iconic names like Godiva, MILE, Heat.io, Swiss-Brazilian sports club BSC Young Boys. Based on Kalder’s model, the average brand sees 50,000 cashback users, which drive $450,000 in rewards sales revenue monthly.  Michael Sutherland, former CTO of Real Madrid, added, "Kalde offers a digital loyalty ecosystem that seamlessly aligns fan experiences with club goals.” “Their cashback product is particularly disruptive, fostering a sense of community by connecting fans with local and international businesses. It creates real value for fans and generates scalable, net-new revenue for clubs—all with minimal integration and no upfront costs.”

Over the last decade, Industry 4.0 promised to bring data-driven insights to the manufacturing sector, reducing inefficiency, supply hold-ups and logistical bottlenecks, deploying predictive maintenance to reduce machinery downtime, overall saving time and money.  However, factory digitisation presents many challenges that hinder its seamless implementation. Integrating diverse systems, devices, and technologies, especially bridging the gap between IT and OT systems, poses significant complexity. Substantial initial investments and the difficulty in justifying costs and demonstrating ROI have further complicated the adoption process.  The process is still relatively nascent, with 64 per cent of manufacturers still in the first stages of digital transformation. In response, Finnish startup CloEE is an AI digital advisor for discrete manufacturing that boosts sustainability, improves overall equipment efficiency (OEE), and drives annual revenue growth of up to $1 million.  I spoke to Julia Sabitova, co-founder, COO, and Chief AI Advisor Nick Gushchin to learn more.  CloEE simplifies data-driven manufacturing insights According to Sabitova:  "Manufacturers have a problem with data.  Either they lack data, their data is dirty, or they don't know what to do with it. Further, there's the challenge of implementing data analysis.  "Most manufacturing companies have over 20 operators who produce every day and — often night as well, and they just don't have time to train people to use different platforms."  Discussions with a competitor revealed that workers needed a month's training or more to utilise their software effectively.  In response, CloEE brings highly accessible digitisation to mid-size manufacturing companies. Companies can start with one facility and then scale it to their other operations.  Leveraging generative AI, CloEE delivers continuous improvement using real-time data from manufacturing equipment, MES, and ERP systems.  It reduces energy consumption by 30 per cent and emergency stops by 95 per cent, while providing quick, cost-free project implementation to save manufacturers time and money. With CloEE, workers don't require deep domain expertise in data analytics, AI, advanced automation or advanced upskilling. "We realised that everyone knew about data collection systems, but no one used them properly. But we could build a simple-to-use, easy-to-understand and deploy plug-and-play platform with no charge for implementation that could deliver results and ROI in less than three months from installation." Bringing value to mid-size factories CloEE's focus on mid-sized factories is strategic. There are over 200,000 manufacturing companies in Europe, the US and APAC, many smaller in size.  According to Sabitova, the benefits of Industry 4.0 have yet to pass them by. But many still operate in a brownfield-greenfield environment with only a portion of machinery digitised.  "Manufacturing companies don't have one type of equipment. They have a zoo of equipment. They want to drive through the implementation of ERP or MES systems. Many of them use SCADA systems, so they have some level of digitalisation. But it doesn't influence the process system significantly." And in turn, CloEE's tech has gained fast traction in less than two years of operation.  It offers a number of distinct advantages over its competitors. Workers can not only use it remotely on their phones, but the software speaks their language, meaning workers aren't waiting months for translations.   Further, CloEE's AI digital advisor can be accessed remotely and even by mobile. This is a huge boost for factories where the IT/OT divide persists. Factory floor data is often relished to the first-floor offices and only accessible via desktop or laptop, meaning machinery workers cannot access the data that benefits them most.   "Our platform supports over 100 protocols, and our team has successfully connected over 25000 devices globally." CloEE's leadership team brings a wealth of experience. Oleksandr Zadorozhnyi, CEO, brings over a decade of global sales experience in Industry 4.0, IoT, and SaaS solutions. Julia Sabitova, COO and co-founder, leverages her extensive B2B marketing expertise to drive CloEE's growth. Nick Guschin, Chief AI Advisor, has a proven track record in leading AI projects across diverse sectors. Slava Mitin, CTO, brings over a decade of industry experience, having successfully implemented Industry 4.0, IoT, and AI solutions in large-scale manufacturing environments. Robert Klöpsch, Chief AI Officer, has 10 years in data science & analytics, optimising processes in industry and finance using AI and ML, with a proven track record with Fortune 500 in AI / ML deployment.  Driving a greener manufacturing industry  CloEE contributes to sustainability by leveraging existing machinery and equipment. "We are ready to work with any type of data from equipment or machines." Further, by leveraging data from equipment and energy consumption, the system enables enterprises to decrease equipment electricity consumption through efficient utilisation while also decreasing scrap, making production more environmentally friendly by using fewer resources and reducing production's CO2 footprint. Additionally, analysing equipment data provides valuable insights into machine performance, usage patterns, and potential issues like product quality problems. This granular level of data empowers businesses to pinpoint the root causes of issues by identifying specific operators, modes, and timeframes. "We believe that a comprehensive, 100 per cent equipment data collection system can lead to a significant efficiency boost of 20-30 per cent within just three months." Real-world perspective of AI costs and challenges I've been hearing about AIoT and AIIoT for a long time, but few people are willing to share the practicalities of AI in industrial settings, especially when it comes to cost and risk. According to Gushchin, CloEE initially explored training its own LLM but realised the significant cost, exceeding $2 million.  "Given the challenges faced by companies like Aleph Alpha, which recently pivoted from their initial sovereign GPT model to Ai support due to high costs and competition, we believe a more sustainable approach is necessary.  Further, we see the AI market as fragmented, with various players specialising in different areas.  There will be models, providers and users. Due to the high demand for this technology and the significant investment required, we won't compete with OpenAI or similar companies." CloEE currently utilises Azure OpenAI service models. "We can seamlessly shift between models within days, or even hours, as we have pre-installed plugins and protocols to facilitate this transition." I was curious about the security around training LLMs using industrial data. Manufacturing is currently the most targeted industry for cyberattacks, representing 20 per cent of all cyber extortion campaigns in 2023. An attack that downs operations can result in financial costs of millions per day not to mention reputational damage.  Gushchin explains that the company uses less sensitive data to train its models.  Further, "Azure provides us with a robust and secure cloud environment for customer data. Our LLM-agnostic solution can be deployed both in the cloud and on-premises, catering to diverse customer preferences and ensuring data security." This year, CloEE participated in European SkyDeck Berkeley, an international accelerator program for European-based startups.  The CloEE team at European SkyDeck Berkeley, Sabitova praised the program, recalling an influx of 150 emails into her inbox — many via word of mouth:  "What was even more interesting is that when I replied to the emails, people answered, many immediately. I was not waiting to get a response. People really understand the need we are addressing." CloEE has gained traction globally, including in Finland, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Malaysia, and India.  With 10 million industrial facilities housing approximately 1 billion machines, a vast reservoir of untapped potential exists. The company has seven paid customers, including Hyundai, with 200 connected machines. It aims to reach 90 potential customers ready to deploy its solution and gain a competitive edge next year. Lead image: Freepik.

Superscale, a game business analytics startup, has raised $1.2M to support the launch of their new product, SuperPlatform. The round was led by existing investors including Across Private Investments, LevelUp Ventures, Zero One Hundred, and Venture to Future Fund, along with new investor Strecko Investments. SuperPlatform enables consistent of business data sharing from over 40 sources across marketing, product, and finance to give a more holistic view of games business performance. Its ‘Command Center’ feature enables gaming executives and investors to model shifts in strategy, and execute them across their organizations for organisations of a range of sizes. After a soft launch in August 2024, 60 studios are already using SuperPlatform to understand their entire business in one integrated platform. Ivan Trančík, Founder and CEO, commented: “Apple’s privacy changes and the post-pandemic slump rocked the games industry. CEOs, CFOs and investors have been kept up at night, scrambling to implement radically different business strategies across their organizations. By consolidating essential tools and analytics into one platform, we give studios of all sizes the peace of mind to trust their business data again, while reducing the need for multiple platform tools or costly internal solutions.” Michal Csonga, partner at Zero One Hundred, said: “SuperScale has executed a stellar corporate and product transformation during the most turbulent period in the history of the gaming industry. They have consolidated years of expertise into one software platform. SuperPlatform saves game studios and developers significant time and costs and increases profits drastically. We are thrilled to support this success story that is reshaping this global industry."

Remote work can create a real headache for companies. Managing employee benefits across borders is often a fragmented, complex, broker-led challenge for multinational companies. HR leaders often have to deal with the arduous task of managing globally competitive benefits across many jurisdictions, each with different regulations and laws, while also synchronising benefits with payroll.  Today HR platform and payroll provider  Remote has unveiled Remote Global Benefits, allowing companies to access and manage multi-country health insurance plans without leaving the Remote platform.  Powered by Kota’s infrastructure and insurer network, it makes it easy for companies to handle the selection, enrollment, and administration of high-quality, compliant local health benefits for their distributed teams without navigating complex international benefits landscapes. I spoke to Job van der Voort, CEO and co-founder of Remote and Luke Mackey, CEO and co-founder of Kota to learn more.According to van der Voort: Remote Global Benefits represents a significant leap forward in managing international employee benefits.  Empowering global companies “Unlike traditional solutions that often involve fragmented processes and multiple intermediaries, our integration with Kota provides a unified, digital-first approach for companies with employees in multiple countries, or those expanding into new regions.” This means companies can manage their global benefits directly through the Remote platform, eliminating the need for multiple systems or brokers.  The solution streamlines the entire process – from selecting plans to employee enrollment and ongoing administration. By automating many of these tasks and integrating them seamlessly with payroll, we’re not just saving companies time and money; we’re fundamentally changing how companies approach global benefits management.  Mackey estimates that in a 50-person company with just one entity, HR can spend up to 30 hours per month administering benefits. He further asserts that existing solutions tend to be global insurance brokers, which typically means segregated processes, offline administration, timely set-up, and, ultimately, high costs.  “As Kota has connections with insurance carriers, it means one flow and process per market, where employee data is synced back and forth between Remote and the insurance carrier and then straight into payroll.” Remote Global Benefits provides companies with teams across multiple countries, or those expanding into new regions, an efficient way to offer the competitive, localised benefits that are essential for attracting and retaining talent. As companies compete globally, strong employee benefits are critical to recruiting and retaining top talent. According to Remote’s Global Benefits Report, 60 per cent of employees consider benefits a deciding factor when choosing between job offers, and nearly 80 per cent of companies see improved retention after enhancing their benefits packages.  Local regulatory compliance simplified I was interested in how Remote Global Benefits ensures compliance with local regulations across different jurisdictions. For example, as a remote worker myself, I am required to register locally as a freelancer because of the lack of a local company entity.  van der Voort detailed that its solution is designed to automatically adapt to local requirements, ensuring that the benefits offered are always compliant with local laws – which vary by region.  “This removes a significant burden from HR teams, who no longer need to navigate the complexities of multi-jurisdictional compliance on their own. “ Keep it simple, keep it flexible Mackey advises companies looking to improve their global benefits offerings to start simple:  “Look for comprehensive local health insurance coverage that allows employees to add family members– whether you cover them or not.  Local health insurance offerings are designed to dovetail into loca health systems, schemes that are individually designed for the country they are operating in, providing health insurance options like this removes policies that may over insure or under insure your employees.” He stressed that health and life insurance will always be a high priority for employees. “Beyond that, don’t overcomplicate too much. Listen to your team and give them the flexibility to choose more day-to-day benefits, such as employee assistance programs, wellness, and fitness.” Job van der Voort emphasised the importance of flexibility and scalability in your benefits strategy: “As companies expand globally, their benefits needs will evolve. It’s crucial to have a system in place that can grow and adapt with your organisation – this is where solutions like Remote Global Benefits can be particularly valuable.” Solutions also need to be easy to use, or risk low adoption rates and underutilised benefits.  He further prioritises companies to prioritise integration: “The ability to manage benefits alongside other HR functions like payroll can significantly streamline operations and improve the employee experience. Ultimately, a well-integrated, flexible benefits strategy can be a powerful tool for attracting and retaining top talent in a competitive global market.” According to van der Voort, while Remote initially focuses on key European markets, its roadmap for 2025 includes expansion beyond Europe.  “This phased approach allows us to refine our scope and ensure we’re delivering a best-in-class solution in each market we enter.”

Open-source CRM Twenty has raised a $5 million Seed round led by Runa Capital with participation from C-Suite executives at HubSpot, Front, and Pipedrive. Led by Félix Malfait, Charles Bochet and Thomas Colas des Francs, the startup will use the funds to grow its open source community, develop its product and deploy among Enterprise clients.  Twenty has over 280 active contributors to its repository. “Packaged software today tends to make companies more alike.” said co-founder and CEO Felix Malfait. “To truly stand out and create something unique, companies need more than just off-the-shelf solutions. Twenty will offer a path to real, differentiated value. This is a CRM for those who want to build something that truly stands out and own it end-to-end.” "Open source is a powerful approach for highly extendable areas where enterprises require customization: own data sources, workflows, AI models, hybrid deployment, and security. This applies not only to cloud and data infrastructure but also to large business suites like CRM or ERP,” said Konstantin Vinogradov, a General Partner at Runa Capital. “OSS might be the best way to disrupt its established closed-source leaders there, with their proprietary and outdated developer ecosystems. We have been highly impressed by Twenty's founders and their bold vision from the start, and the outstanding open source traction since then has confirmed that they are on the right track. It is a privilege to support them in building an open-source alternative to Salesforce.”

Croatian SaaS startup Bitreport has raised €300,000 from Purple Ventures. Bitreport streamlines management for chain restaurants and retail stores. The application simplifies communication between business locations, ensures task completion, and speeds up store audits and checklists by 90 per cent. Through task management, digital checklists, schedules, integrated analytics, and communication tools, it helps employees and managers work more efficiently, ensuring consistent service levels across all locations.  Currently, Bitreport operates in Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. According to  Domagoj Rade, co-founder of Bitreport, “We help our clients establish and take advantage of data-driven processes on the frontline which leads to unparalleled operation excellence in every location,” “We chose Purple Ventures because of their transparent, straightforward approach and the hands-on support they provide us daily as we scale our business.” In addition to its home market of Croatia, Bitreport currently operates in Serbia and Slovenia, with plans to expand across Europe. “The Bitreport founders crafted an excellent business plan and approach to managing the company. Their software standardises quality management for businesses with multiple locations, which is a challenge many chains face, and there’s strong demand for a solution like this,” said Jan Davídek, partner at Purple Ventures. Purple Ventures' second fund builds on the success of its first, which was active between 2019 and 2023. During that time, the team identified potential in now-established companies like Hedepy, Toroto, Kilde, Ringil, Tatum, VOS.Health, Choice QR, Kardi AI, and Campiri. Lead image: Bitreport. Photo: uncredited.

Edinburgh-based biotech Cytomos has raised £5M to scale up production of its cell analysis technology. The round was led by existing investors Archangels with participation from Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise and British Business Bank. The capital will be invested in marketing Cytomos its first commercial product, Celledonia™, built on its cell-analysis technology platform AuraCyt. Celledonia™ is a benchtop cell analyser which aims to significantly enhance single-cell analysis, potentially transforming biological drug discovery, development processes, and biologics manufacturing. The business' sights are now set on establishing a foothold in North America, the company has a pipeline of trials planned with global partners and strong interest in co-development opportunities from technology developers and a pharma company. Cytomos' technology AuraCyt is an unbiased, scalable cell analysis platform to provide a scalable alternative to current cell analysis systems. Using this platform, Cytomos enables biopharma to bring novel therapies to market by up to 6 months faster and reduce costs by enabling critical decision making earlier. Its scalable nature makes it unique in measuring cellular physiology based on intrinsic single-cell properties. Sarah Hardy, director and head of new investments at Archangels, said: “Cytomos has gone from strength to strength, achieving commercialisation earlier this year marks a critical inflection point for the business. With new premises secured and a robust plan to derisk the supply chain, we’re looking forward to helping David and the team scale their operations and secure access to new markets.” David Rigterink, CEO at Cytomos, added: “Successfully raising £5 million within a difficult market has been a huge boost for the business. The result is testament to the team’s hard work in delivering our first commercial product with international early adopters. Cytomos now has the right building blocks in place to scale quickly, establish a foothold in the US, and continue developing our single cell analysis technology to support advancements in biological drug development and manufacturing automation.” The business employs 21, largely based at its new premises in Roslin, and expects to add another four staff over the next year.

AI hardware startup GEMESYS has secured €8.6M in a pre-seed funding round, positioning itself as a European leader in the next-generation AI chip technology race. Amadeus APEX Technology Fund and Atlantic Labs led the round, which included contributions from NRW.BANK, Sony Innovation Fund, and Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play Tech Center. GEMESYS will use the funding to accelerate research and development and expand its team to further advance its chip architecture.  AI hardware innovations are predominantly led by Asia and the US. GEMESYS aims to provide Europe’s answer to the demand for technological independence and innovation.  Although neural networks mimic the human brain, they lack the efficiency of their biological counterparts. Training and operating these networks requires significant energy, a major challenge to creating genuine artificial intelligence (AI) for mobile devices. GEMESYS hopes to strengthen on-device AI training and inference by leveraging its architecture and memristor tech. This empowers edge devices to learn and process data directly at the source, opening new possibilities for various applications.  Dr. Dennis Michaelis, CEO of GEMESYS, commented, “At GEMESYS, our mission is to bring learning capabilities to every device through technology developed in Europe. Building on this foundation, we’re pioneering new applications that empower edge devices like never before—positioning Europe as a leader in distributed intelligence and setting a new standard for industry innovation.” Ion Hauer of APEX Ventures expressed his support, saying, “We’re excited to see GEMESYS redefine what’s possible in Edge AI. Its technology can transform countless industries and push the boundaries of on-device inference and training.”

A PayPal-backed UK fintech that offers white-label payment infrastructure for businesses has made its first acquisition and more could follow, says its boss. Modulr, which calls itself an “embedded payments platform", has acquired London-based Nook, in a cash deal for an undisclosed amount. Modulr, which has an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence, provides payment services for the likes of Sage and Ripple. Its client roster runs across fintechs and bigger businesses. It processes over 200m transactions and over £100bn of payment value on its platform, on an annualised basis.  By using Modulr’s tech, its clients circumvent the need to build their own payment infrastructure, become regulated and run a payment network. By acquiring Nook, Modulr says it is beefing up its offering. While Modulr focuses on the payment execution part of the payment journey, Nook specialises in simplifying the accounts payable workflow, offering the full invoice lifecycle management from receipt, through approval to payment and reconciliation with accounting software. Myles Stephenson, CEO and founder, Modulr, said: “By combining Nook's AP automation platform with our embedded payments expertise, we’ll be able to provide our existing and prospective customers with even more products that save time and money for busy business owners and accounting professionals.”  Stephenson said Modulr did consider building a similar offering to Nook in-house but the time to market would have taken too long, between 18 months and two years. The four-strong team at Nook, which was founded in 2020, will join Modulr. Stephenson said more acquisitions could follow suit “if there are suitable businesses out there”. In July this year, it was revealed that Modulr had a temporary FCA ban on onboarding some new customers, known as partners, lifted but Modulr must give the financial regulator 10 days notice when onboarding new customers. Stephenson said he expected this notice to be lifted in the future. Modulr last undertook a fundraise, around £83m, in 2022, led by General Atlantic. Other investors in the round included Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, Highland Europe, and PayPal Ventures. Stephenson said the fundraising meant that Modulr had enough cash to fund Modulr to profitability and beyond. “We are very close to breaking even,” he added.

Finnish startup Serviceform, a provider of a marketing tools for SME’s in Europe, has secured €2.45M to consolidate its European presence. Participants in the round include Virta Equity, BackingMinds, Gorilla Capital and entrepreneur and angel investor, Lasse Järvinen. The funding will be used to further solidify Serviceform’s position as the category leader in marketing within the Automotive & Real estate sectors, and explore new opportunities in other verticals. Serviceforms is used on 4000 websites across 25 countries.  Its platform offers marketing services such as lead generation, customer management and customer support. Customisable apps include Chatbots, Live Chat, WhatsApp Campaigns, Calendar, Video Carousels, Cart and Comparison Engine, AI Search Engine, Pop-ups, Lead Bars, Social Inbox, CRM, Web analytics and Dynamic forms.  With this investment round, Serviceform plans to expand into new new industries and explore M&A opportunities. The next phase of the company will be to scale its commercial engine, in an attempt to become the category winning marketing suite for SME’s. The funding will also be used to identify and forge partnerships with partners and resellers to further support the growth and commercial efforts.  “I am very excited for what’s next for Serviceform. From the start, my co-Founder, Jarkko, and I aimed to empower traditional businesses with technology that allows them to focus on their business and leave growth and technology to us. With Virta Equity on board and the backing from our main current investors, we’re in prime position to continue our growth and become the category leader in our field. I’m very grateful for the dedication from our whole team and I believe we can do so much more to help our customer succeed,” commented Iranthi Gomes, CEO & Co-founder at Serviceform. “Serviceform has truly shown excellence in building growth not only in Finland, but also other countries in Europe. When getting familiar with the company and what Serviceform is offering to the customers, we had full trust of having a winning concept in our hands. The made investment gives a great opportunity to scale and after all, to give more additional value for the customers,” said Marko Möttönen, Partner at Virta Equity. “Since our first investment in 2022, it’s been clear that Serviceform is deeply committed to developing the best tools for SME’s to manage their business - from lead generation and growth, automating customer support, to streamlining internal workflows. Iranthi and Jarkko are truly customer obsessed and we believe they will be a category winner,” added Jasenko Hadzic, Principal at BackingMinds.

Telecoms startup Firsty has raised a €5.1M round to offer free mobile data globally. Speedinvest led the round alongside DFF (Dutch Founders Fund), angel investor Marcel Smits (ex-KPN CFO) and former executives from Mollie, Booking.com, Uber, Vodafone, and Adyen. The company has also partnered with Uber, allowing users to access the Uber app without data charges. Firsty first launched its beta version across Europe, UK, Turkey, Switzerland, and the USA in January 2024 through its €1.1M pre-seed round. Global mobile data coverage was introduced throughout the course of Q1 2024. The pre-seed round investors included Marcel Smits, Godert Vinkesteijn, ex-CFO KPN Mobile along with Patrick Stal, former head of marketing at Uber and N26. Unlike traditional mobile providers, Firsty removes the complexity of (e)SIM switching or restrictive data plans. Users download the app to seamlessly connect to mobile data in any country and have the ability to pause and retain unused data. Firsty Co-founder and CEO, Vince Vissers, commented: “We built Firsty because we believe mobile data connectivity is a human right. With support from industry-disrupting investors, we are set to challenge telecom giants, drive rapid growth, and make global telecom free and transparent. We’re not just competing, we’re changing the rules of the game. “Firsty’s mission is not just to simplify telecom for individual users but to deliver tailored solutions for businesses seeking to provide seamless mobile connectivity for their teams and customers.”  Speedinvest Partner, Jeroen Arts added: “Firsty's vision of free global telecom is bold and disruptive. At a time when Europe is prioritising innovation, Firsty stands out by combining scalable technology with a global vision, challenging entrenched players. We’re confident they will redefine how people stay connected across borders, and we’re excited to back their growth.” The provider has expanded into 150 markets across Europe, North America, Latin America, APAC, and Africa in just a few months, where it has garnered 400,000 users.

Heim, a software platform for healthcare in the home, has raised £2.2M Seed round to ease pressure on hospitals. The round was led by Heal Capital and joined by Form Ventures, Portfolio Ventures and Houghton Street Ventures. With 13% of NHS beds occupied by people who could be receiving care in the community, Heim Health’s mission is to help more patients be treated at home. Their platform sources and deploys nurses and then support their work with technology that can unlock latent capacity, make home-based healthcare cost effective and reduce pressure on staff. Heim Health (formerly known as Ally Health) was founded by the team behind Testing For All - the only not-for-profit Covid testing service to emerge during the pandemic, delivering more than 1 million at-home tests. Heim Health partners with healthcare organisations - both in the private sector and the NHS - to manage the end-to-end delivery of their at-home appointments. Heim sources highly-skilled nurses or other healthcare practitioners who can deliver care - such as blood tests, post-operative assessments, and injections - in a patient’s home, with the company’s API-led platform then enabling this care to be delivered in a resource-efficient and scalable way. For patients, the tech offers a simple interface where they can book, change or cancel at-home appointments - making it as easy as booking a table at a restaurant. For older people, patients with mobility issues, or those with additional needs, the Heim Health solution removes the stress and obstacles often involved in accessing care, as well as relieving the burden on loved ones by simplifying the process of organising healthcare services. This £2.2m raise will enable Heim Health to further develop its proprietary assignment algorithms and support a wider range of healthcare services, including furthering its work with the NHS. Kelly Klifa, Co-Founder and CEO at Heim Health, commented: “For a long time, healthcare was rooted in the community. This brought so many benefits to both patients and practitioners, but in recent decades it’s become completely cost-ineffective to deliver it. Meanwhile, secondary care is becoming increasingly bottlenecked, with waiting lists at an all-time high and discharge delays keeping patients in hospital longer than they need. Our mission with Heim Health is to build the digital infrastructure needed to change this; revitalising community-based care and moving more healthcare from the hospital into the home through scalable modes of delivery.“ Sasha Tory, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer, added: “Our goal is to make scheduling an appointment as simple for patients as booking a table or arranging a parcel delivery. We achieve this by enabling healthcare providers to deliver in-home care efficiently, eliminating the burden of unnecessary handwritten paperwork and logistics management. By relieving practitioners of these pressures, we tap into under-utilised workforce capacity and prevent future strain on the healthcare system.”

Swiss AI safety startup Calvin Risk has raised $4 million in Seed funding, bringing its total funding to over $5.5 million. Founded in 2022 and spun out of ETH Zurich, Calvin Risk helps companies deploy AI safely and manage these risks through automated testing and quantitative risk assessment. AI models often function as "black boxes", making it difficult to understand how decisions are made or whether underlying biases influence outcomes.  For companies, this opacity can lead to unintended consequences that threaten both their operations and reputations – especially as generative AI systems like ChatGPT increasingly power customer interactions.  Further, the upcoming EU AI Act introduces strict requirements for AI systems, mandating that companies assess and document the risks of their AI models with severe penalties for non-compliance.  Calvin Risk has developed a platform that uses adaptive assessments and continuous monitoring to provide a real-time overview of a company's entire AI portfolio, predicting potential risks (qualitatively and quantitatively) and their associated value-at-risk. “With AI systems becoming central to operations, proper corporate governance must now include explicit AI risk management at the Board level,” commented Julian Riebartsch, CEO and Founder of Calvin Risk.  Calvin Risk has secured partnerships with leading global institutions, including insurer Aviva, Lloyds Banking Group, Hub France, and the Audit Research Center (ARC Institute).  The company is collaborating with Lufthansa Industry Solutions, resulting in the first GenAI model to earn an "Assessment Seal Certification" from leading certification company TÜV Süd. This certification guarantees AI models meet rigorous technical and ethical benchmarks.  The investment round was led by Join Capital and seed + speed Ventures. The funds will enable Calvin Risk to scale its platform, enhance its AI risk assessment tools, and expand its market reach across Europe. Lead image: Calvin Risk. Photo: uncredited. 

Revolut plans to offer UK and EU stock trading and ETFs next year after the UK finance regulator granted it a UK trading licence. Europe’s most valuable private tech firm, valued at $45bn, has been granted the licence by the FCA, meaning it is now an authorised investment firm. It means that Revolut, which is primarily known as a challenger bank, will go up against the likes of Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and Freetrade by offering stock trading. Since 2018, Revolut has operated its trading feature through a third party, which is understood to be Resolution Compliance, an FCA-regulated firm which offers licence-to-hire services for fintechs. The partnership allowed Revolut to offer an investment service through its app, where retail customers could buy and sell shares listed in the US.  Now, under its own licence, Revolut will be able to offer new products and services to its customers when it wants to including UK and EU stocks and ETFs. Revolut says the UK licence will also allow for “significant improvements in user experience” for its 650,000+ existing UK trading customers. Yana Shkrebenkova, head of Wealth and Trading UK at Revolut, said: “Today’s announcement is a significant milestone for Revolut Trading. "Having launched our successful investment product five years ago, we strive to bring best in class investment products to our customers in the UK. "We know that there is so much more our Revolut Trading customers want from our platform and we are working hard to deliver on this, rolling out new features safely and considerately." The move follows Revolut's announcement in September that it was launching a standalone investment app in Europe, as it looks to disrupt the retail investor market and ramp up its efforts to be an all-encompassing financial super-app. Revolut is piloting Revolut Invest in Greece, the Czech Republic and Denmark, with plans to roll out across the EU later this year and other countries around the world.

Goodstack, a SaaS and fintech platform for companies' charitable donations, has raised $28 million in its Series A funding round. The round was led by General Catalyst, with support from existing investors Morpheus Ventures and Repeat (formerly Jigsaw). It provides a growing suite of technology services to nonprofits around the world, including verification and payment rails through its API. The company is on track to facilitate donations of over $3bn from them in 2024, more than treble last year’s level, and channel it to charities in more than 215 countries and territories. Global brands partnering with Goodstack include LinkedIn, Canva, Atlassian and Monday.com.. Goodstack is on track to facilitate donations of over $3bn from them in 2024, more than treble last year’s level, and channel it to charities and good causes in more than 215 countries and territories. Beneficiaries range from giants like the Red Cross and Oxfam to local fundraising appeals. As part of its evolution, Goodstack – which previously operated as Percent – is rebranding to reflect its growth as a technology platform. It will use the capital to further develop services for corporates and build its technology stack for nonprofits, hiring right across its team in 2025. Henry Ludlam, founder and CEO of Goodstack, said: “Being purpose-led is baked into our generation. People now expect companies to put purpose at the heart of what they do to make a difference to society. Today this is harder for companies than it should be. "Our product makes it easy for businesses to quickly build purpose and giving into their customer, employee and corporate offerings, driving significant consumer, nonprofit and investor value. Meanwhile nonprofits are behind the private sector in terms of the technologies they are using to catalyze their purpose. We aim to be the “Stripe for philanthropy” and our mission is to deliver the world's best technology & funding to them as quickly as possible.” “Goodstack enables its customers to serve all stakeholders—employees, customers, and communities—by supporting nonprofits and charitable giving,” said Quentin Clark, Managing Director of General Catalyst. “The validation and trust that partners like LinkedIn and Canva have in Goodstack is a powerful testament to the company’s value, and combined with strong leadership, positions Goodstack well for continued success.”

Fintech QPLIX, developer of wealth management software for family offices and private banks, has secured over €25 million funding from Partech via its Growth Fund.  QPLIX was founded in 2012 in Munich, Germany. Its platform provides comprehensive coverage of both liquid and illiquid asset classes as well as diverse client structures, consolidating all investment data into a powerful database.  The software enables users to perform real-time analyses at any time, whether through the core application, the customised client portal, or the app. Additionally, QPLIX is responsible for its own IT infrastructure and security, proving itself to be a trusted partner. Over €300 billion in assets currently managed on the platform. Since 2019, Deutsche Bank has been a key partner to QPLIX as its first external shareholder. The bank utilises QPLIX as an innovative portfolio management system to external asset managers, which both partners have jointly devised.  The investment of over €25 million will support the company's growth objectives and facilitate the implementation of its international expansion plans. As a result, Partech has become an investor alongside Deutsche Bank, with both holding collectively a minority stake. The funding supports expansion into key markets such as France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, as well as the Middle East and the APAC region. Lead image: QPLIX. Photo: uncredited. 

UK-founded global job search engine Adzuna has acquired front-line worker recruitment platform Seiza. Founded in 2010  French company Seiza connects companies with candidates through targeted social media campaigns in Europe and North America and offers a recruitment automation platform to help companies turn those candidates into hires.  With a focus on hard-to-fill roles in frontline sectors, including hospitality, logistics, and retail, Seiza is trusted by over 400 clients, including global brands like McDonald’s, Sysco, Ecolab, and Veolia, to deliver quality hires efficiently. The acquisition strengthens Adzuna’s presence in North America and Europe. The acquisition offers a one-stop shop for full-funnel recruitment advertising, giving jobseekers access to every job in one place and presenting employers with access to a talent pool of over four billion that includes both active jobseekers and passive candidates. Doug Monro, CEO and co-founder of Adzuna, comments: “Social media is now a key component in recruitment advertising, with nearly 80 per cent of jobseekers turning to platforms like Facebook and Tiktok for their job search, and client demand to access a massive audience of over four billion users worldwide.” Camille Cosnefroy, CEO of Seiza and Vice President of Social at Adzuna, shared: “Businesses worldwide face a dire need for frontline workers, with the talent gap projected to cost a staggering $8.5 trillion in lost annual revenue by 2030.  Joining forces with Adzuna enables us to bring our vision to life at a much larger scale. We look forward to Seiza's future as part of Adzuna.”

Pruna AI, a platform that allows ML teams to simplify code and streamline models, has raised $6.5 million in a seed funding round led by EQT Ventures with participation from Daphni, Motier, and Kima, along with support from high profile angels including Roxanne Varza, Hervé Nivon, and Olivier Pomel. The company will use the fresh capital to expand its technical team to a full staff of machine learning research engineers, and operation and go-to-market specialists. Using compression methods including pruning, quantization, compilation and caching, among others, the company’s platform enables AI developers to simplify deep learning models, making them more efficient across hardware setups. Pruna AI claims that a compressed machine learning model, reduces the energy and computational power required to run them, allowing engineers to cut carbon emissions by up to 91 percent.  Bertrand Charpentier, Co-Founder, President, and Chief Scientist at Pruna, commented: “EQT Ventures’ investment in Pruna AI comes at a pivotal time in our business’ growth and we are looking forward to scaling and expediting our product launch with their support. "The proceeds from our raise will also go towards helping to grow our talented team – which has already tripled in size – enabling us to fulfill our goal of helping to support engineers develop AI in the fastest, cheapest, and most sustainable way possible. EQT Ventures were a clear choice of partner – they are experts in supporting young, ambitious businesses to scale and innovate sustainably for the future, which is at the heart of what we do.” Carl Svantesson, Partner at EQT Ventures, added:  “Striking the right balance between growth and environmental accountability is top of mind for businesses of all sizes these days. By bridging efficiency and sustainability, Pruna AI not only democratizes cutting-edge technology but also champions a future in which every company can scale rapidly and responsibly. "The team’s Munich-Paris ecosystem affords them extra leverage in a competitive market, giving them a strong commercial foothold and a compelling talent acquisition opportunity. We are thrilled to welcome Pruna AI to the portfolio.”