Berlin-based Peec AI, a marketing platform built for the era of AI search, has raised a $21 million Series A round led by European VC firm Singular, with participation from Antler, Combination VC, identity.vc, and S20. The round follows Peec AI’s seed financing led by 20VC in July 2025 and brings the company’s total funding to $29 million. As AI search becomes a key discovery layer for both consumers and B2B buyers, many marketing teams still lack visibility into how their brands are represented across different platforms (such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini), which sources drive that representation, and how they can influence it. Peec AI is designed to address this gap. Although AI search may appear simple on the surface, delivering accurate, contextual, and reliable results at scale is technically complex. Peec AI’s platform is built on a proprietary data pipeline that tracks source influence, visibility, and sentiment across major AI engines in real time. This infrastructure supports a user-friendly interface while relying on advanced engineering and data systems. Co-founders Daniel Drabo, Tobias Siwonia, and Marius Meiners have focused on combining data depth, quality, and product design to provide marketing teams with clearer insight into their performance in an AI-driven landscape. The platform enables marketing teams to see how their brand appears in AI-generated answers, understand which sources contribute to those results, and identify which actions can affect visibility, sentiment, and reach, all within a single environment. Since launching in February 2025, Peec AI has onboarded more than 1,300 brands and agencies across different sectors and markets. As adoption grows, one of the main challenges in this emerging category is balancing analytical depth with ease of use. Peec AI is designed to keep complex data accessible, helping teams move from insight to action with minimal friction. By emphasizing product design and data accuracy, the company aims to help marketing teams work more efficiently, make informed decisions, and remain visible as AI search reshapes how brands are discovered. We are obsessed with precision. Clean data, clear workflows, and a UI that teams actually love to use. Our job is to help marketers win where AI is shaping the narrative, without adding complexity, said Marius Meiners, Co-founder and CEO of Peec AI.   With the new funding, Peec AI plans to open offices in New York, hire more than 40 additional team members over the next six months, and expand its offering beyond analytics to build a broader marketing software stack for the AI era.

Newcastle-based biotech InvenireX has secured £2 million in Seed funding to accelerate commercialisation of its DNA nanotechnology platform that can detect disease at the earliest biological stages.The round is led by DSW Ventures, with participation from XTX Ventures, Cambridge Technology Capital and angel investors with biotech experience, and includes grant funding from Innovate UK. Founded in 2023 through Conception X, InvenireX builds on Dr Dan Todd's PhD research at Newcastle University, and was born to address a fundamental limitation in modern science: molecular detection has barely advanced in the past 40 years. Check out our earlier interview with Dr Riam Kanso, CEO and founder of Conception X  Current methods, such as PCR, were designed for different purposes and repurposed for disease detection, but require extensive sample preparation that can lose up to 50 per cent of the molecular markers being sought, making early signals effectively invisible. InvenireX's platform uses programmable DNA nanostructures, or "Nanites", to capture specific genetic markers inside custom microfluidic chips. A proprietary AI-powered reader then identifies and quantifies targets in real time, enabling the detection of disease markers at concentrations existing methods cannot capture.  In pilot testing, InvenireX has demonstrated 200-fold greater sensitivity than qPCR and 60-fold improvement over digital PCR, while reducing both time and cost per test each by half, with quantitative results available in minutes rather than hours or days.   The implications are wide-ranging: tumours as small as one millimetre could be detected up to a decade earlier than currently possible, vaccine manufacturers could verify the presence and concentration of active ingredients for the first time at production scale, and researchers could discover biological markers previously impossible to detect. "Our machine could pick up cancer, HIV or sepsis earlier – any disease with a nucleic acid trace," InvenireX CEO and founder Dan Todd says. "We're made of DNA – that's the source code. If you can pick up traces of faults and errors in that code, you can detect problems across the board before symptoms appear. We've built the ultimate needle-in-a-haystack detector – a tool that we can put in the hands of scientists to enable the discoveries of tomorrow.” Jonathan O’Halloran, founder of molecular diagnostics PCR company QuantuMDx and angel investor in InvenireX, said: “There are moments in your life that make you tingle. The first one for me was watching Craig Venter announce the first draft of the human genome, then next was hearing about Solexa, then Oxford Nanopore’s DNA sequencing technologies. Most recently, it was listening to Dan Todd describe InvenireX’s technology. I believe it’s the UK’s next big technology.” InvenireX has completed a successful pilot with a diagnostics company that has committed to purchasing the first instrument, with further pilots underway in vaccine manufacturing and infectious disease diagnostics. The funding will support team growth and expanded pilot programmes.

Biotech company Artios today announced the successful close of an oversubscribed $115 million Series D financing.  Artios is pioneering next-generation approaches in the DNA damage response (DDR) field through its comprehensive anti-cancer approach and the deep experience of its team of DDR drug developers.  Artios’ mission is to develop new classes of medicines that exploit DDR pathways with the aim of improving outcomes for patients with hard-to-treat cancers. The company’s clinical-stage candidates, ATR inhibitor alnodesertib and DNA Polymerase theta (Polθ) inhibitor ART6043, as well as its pre-clinical programs, including DDRi-ADCs, are designed with differentiated pharmaceutical properties and novel biological approaches to precisely eliminate a cancer cell’s remaining survival mechanisms. There are currently no approved therapies specifically for patients whose tumours harbour ATM-deficiency, a population where alnodesertib has demonstrated durable responses across eight different solid tumours. The round was co-led by founding investor SV Health Investors and new investor RA Capital Management, with participation from new investor Janus Henderson Investors and broad support from Artios’ existing investors.  Other investors who supported the Series D round include Andera Partners, Avidity Partners, EQT Life Sciences, Invus, IP Group plc, M Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Omega Funds, Pfizer Ventures, Piper Heartland, RA Capital Management, Sofinnova Partners, and Schroders Capital. The Series D proceeds will expand the clinical evaluation of Artios’ lead program, alnodesertib, to enroll additional ATM-negative patients in each of second-line pancreatic cancer and third-line colorectal cancer, for which the program was recently granted US FDA Fast Track Designation.  The proceeds from the financing will also be used to initiate a Phase 2 randomised clinical trial for Artios’ second potential first-in-class candidate, ART6043, in patients with BRCA-mutant HER2-negative breast cancer who are eligible to receive a PARP inhibitor. “This Series D accelerates our potential path to registration for both alnodesertib and ART6043, broadening development for the next generation of DNA damage response (DDR) therapeutics to indications among the highest of unmet need across pancreatic, colorectal, and breast cancers, where median survival is often measured in months,” said Mike Andriole, Chief Executive Officer of Artios.  “As we address these indications and prepare for others, I would like to thank our existing investors, led by SV Health, for their ongoing support, and also our new investors, RA Capital Management and Janus Henderson Investors, for joining our mission to bring these potential medicines to patients as quickly as possible.” Nikola Trbovic, Managing Partner, SV Health Investors, added: “We are thrilled to have supported Artios’ evolution, from an early-stage DDR pioneer when we founded the company to the established company it has become, distinguished by a promising and differentiated pipeline. We look forward to continuing to do so as it deploys the Series D proceeds to drive late-stage development of alnodesertib as well as its pipeline. This financing, and the recent appointment of Mike Andriole as CEO, are exciting steps in Artios’ continued growth and its transition toward becoming a commercially oriented organisation.” Jake Simson, Partner, RA Capital Management, commented: “We are excited to co-lead this financing round to advance the next generation of DNA damage response therapeutics. Artios’ differentiated clinical programs, alnodesertib and ART6043, together have the potential to meaningfully expand the impact of DDR-targeted therapies. The rate and durability of responses observed to date for alnodesertib across a range of solid tumours and the early clinical results with ART6043 underscore the strength of Artios’ approach and ability to deliver novel, potentially first-in-class treatments for patients while building significant long-term value.”   Lead image: Freepik

Nursing care company voize  has raised $50 million in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital, with participation from existing investors HV Capital, Redalpine and Y Combinator.  The global nursing shortage has reached crisis point. The WHO predicts a global deficit of 4.5 million nurses by 2030 Nursing, as ageing populations and rising care demands stretch teams thin. Europe alone is short 1.2 million healthcare workers, whilst the US has an expected deficit of up to 450,000 nurses a year. Nurses lose 30 per cent of their time to admin work, costing $246 billion in labour across the US and Europe — the result: burnout, high turnover, and less time for patients – the heart of care. While many companies have built AI scribes for physicians, nurses — the backbone of healthcare — have been left behind. Their workflows are fundamentally different and too often overlooked, leaving them jotting vital notes on scraps of paper mid-shift. voize is changing that. Founded in 2020 by twin brothers Fabio (CEO) and Marcel Schmidberger (COO), alongside Erik Ziegler (CTO), voize was inspired by the brothers’ experience when their grandfather entered a nursing home. Seeing firsthand how much time nurses lost to admin sparked a mission to return time to frontline care. Developed hand-in-hand with nurses over tens of thousands of hours in care homes, voize’s AI companion doesn’t just document, it assists. voize listens as nurses speak during care, understands their notes, and handles admin like documentation and scheduling in real time. Seamlessly integrated with Electronic Health Records, voize fits naturally into nursing workflows, keeping nurses focused on patients, not paperwork. Image: voize. voize’s proprietary AI models are purpose-built for nursing, developed entirely in-house. They accurately capture complex medical language, understand regional dialects, and support non-native speakers, empowering every nurse to document with confidence. As well, unlike most AI models, voize’s system is so efficient that it runs locally on smartphones, with no constant internet connection required. This ensures high data protection and continuous, reliable care, even when wifi connectivity fails — a first in healthcare AI. Today, 1,100 care facilities in Germany and Austria, and more than 75,000 nurses save up to 30 per cent of their time each shift thanks to the AI. The impact is so profound that care homes now feature voize in job ads — making voize not just a tool, but a reason nurses choose where to work. Fabio Schmidberger, co-founder and CEO of voize, said: “Nurses enter the profession to care for people, and leave it because of all the admin work. For too long, they’ve had little technology designed to truly support them. At voize, we’re building AI that redefines what it means to care, where technology works in the background, and people come first. Seeing this come to life already across care homes and hospitals and hearing how nurses rediscover the joy in their jobs has been incredible." Daniel Waterhouse, General Partner at Balderton, said: “Nurses are the backbone of every healthcare system — yet too often, they’re overwhelmed by administrative tasks that pull them away from patients. voize recognised this disconnect and built a solution born from listening and understanding. Their AI companion doesn’t replace human care; it restores it, removing friction from documentation and empowering nurses to spend more time where they’re needed most.” The investment will accelerate voize’s expansion in Europe and entry into the US, and advance its mission to eliminate administrative burden in healthcare, giving nurses more time for what matters most: care. Lead image: voize founders: Erik Ziegler, Fabio Schmidberger, and Marcel Schmidberger. Photo: uncredited. 

Danish fintech Flatpay has become the country’s latest unicorn, after securing $170 million in funding. Flatpay co-founder Rasmus Hellmund Carlsen said Flatpay has become the fastest firm in Denmark to reach unicorn status, reaching the milestone in three years. Flatpay is now valued at $1.7bn following the funding round, it said, with the latest round led by AVP, the European and North American investor and Smash Capital, the backer of consumer internet and software firms. Other investors in the round were existing investors Hedosophia, Seed Capital, and Dawn Capital. The Danish fintech, which provides payment software for SMBs, last raised funds in 2024, when it secured a €45m ($52m) Series B round two years after its founding in 2022. Flatpay offers businesses a point of sale and payment solution. It says its no setup fees for terminals, no subscription fees, flat rate for all card types, alongside its data dashboards, sets it apart from rivals. Flatpay, which says it has more than 60,000 customers and employs more than 1,500 staff, says it is on track to hit $500m in ARR by the end of next year. Carlsen added: “Three years ago, Flatpay was an idea shaped by a clear ambition: build a payments company that puts small businesses first — with simple pricing, great service, and a product experience that removes friction rather than adds it. “Since then, the momentum has been extraordinary. From our early days in Denmark to fast growth in Finland, Germany, Italy, the UK, and France, more than 60,000 merchants now rely on Flatpay every day.” The funds will be used to expand its presence in European markets, as well as to target new markets.

Milan-based Guidoio, the first fully digital driving school in Italy, has closed a €3.5 million seed round. The round was led by European venture capital fund 360 Capital, alongside Azimut Libera Impresa SGR S.p.A. Founded in 2023 by Lorenzo Mannari and Giuseppe Cavallaro, Guidoio is developing a fully digital model for obtaining a driving license. The company’s platform is designed for digital-native learners and digitalises the entire process, from enrollment to exams. Guidoio’s service is built around accessibility, transparency, and flexibility. Through the app, candidates can manage each step of the process via smartphone: enrollment, documentation, medical appointment scheduling, practical lessons with certified instructors, and personalised theoretical study supported by AI. Two features are central to the experience: Tutor AI, which creates adaptive, personalised study paths based on individual learning progress, and Smart lesson booking, which allows students to schedule driving lessons near their home, simplifies logistics and bringing instructors closer to learners. This model gives candidates greater control over their learning journey while providing support when needed. A driving license today represents independence, employment, and freedom. Our ambition is to transform this journey into a simple, transparent, and accessible experience, aligned with the expectations of a generation that no longer tolerates bureaucracy and opacity. It’s this mix of experience, capital, and shared vision that will allow us to accelerate toward our goal of bringing Guidoio across Italy and building a new standard for digital mobility — more accessible, smarter, and closer to people, explains Lorenzo Mannari, Co-founder and CEO of Guidoio. The new funding will be allocated across three main areas: commercial expansion, product development, and team growth. The company aims to bring its driving school model to more than 30 Italian cities by the end of 2026 and plans to hire new team members in key roles to support this expansion. On the product side, investments will focus on strengthening the e-learning platform to improve preparation for theory and practical exams, developing new digital tools for instructors, and further advancing the AI-based features already integrated into the platform.

Paris-based deeptech Hummink has raised €15 million to expand the deployment of its patented High-Precision Capillary Printing (HPCaP) technology, which enables manufacturers to print metals and functional materials with high accuracy and address microscopic defects in real time. The round was co-led by KBC Focus Fund, Cap Horn, and Bpifrance, with follow-on support from Elaia Partners, Sensinnovat, and Beeyond, and additional participation from the French Tech Seed fund managed by Bpifrance as part of France 2030 and the European Innovation Council Fund. As microelectronics support the growth of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, small manufacturing defects have become increasingly costly. Imperfections at the sub-micron scale can compromise entire batches of chips or displays. Founded in 2020 as a spin-off from École Normale Supérieure - PSL and CNRS, Paris-based deeptech company Hummink focuses on this challenge. Co-founded by materials scientist Amin M’Barki and hardware startup operator Pascal Boncenne, the company has developed a technology that operates like a miniature fountain pen, depositing material at the nanoscale in a controlled manner. This process enables manufacturers to create and adjust circuitry directly at the sub-micron level, with applications in semiconductor packaging, next-generation memory, and advanced displays. While traditional lithography remains central to electronics manufacturing, it still produces defects that contribute to yield loss and material waste. Hummink’s printing tools are designed to complement lithography by detecting and correcting such defects at the micronic level, with the aim of increasing output, reducing scrap, and lowering environmental impact. Hummink’s initial integration focus is on next-generation OLED displays for smartphones and laptops, where up to 30 per cent of annual production is reportedly discarded due to microscopic defects, equating to an estimated €16 billion in losses and significant material waste. The company’s technology is designed to correct many of these defects, enabling manufacturers to recover output that would otherwise be scrapped. Our mission is to bring precision where it has never been possible before. Microelectronics is at the heart of the AI revolution, and every micron matters, said Amin M’Barki, Co-founder and CEO of Hummink. Hummink currently generates revenue by selling its NAZCA demonstrator, a first-generation high-precision printing system for R&D labs, along with custom conductive inks. NAZCA is already installed in labs and research centres across Europe, Asia, and the United States, including Duke University, where it was used to create fully recyclable, sub-micrometre printed electronics published in Nature Electronics. The new funding will be used to further develop Hummink’s industrial printing module and prepare its technology for integration into semiconductor and display fabrication lines.

Last week, we tracked more than 60 tech funding deals worth over €736 million, and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

Life sciences venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners today announced the close of its latest flagship fund, Sofinnova Capital XI, at €650 million ($750 million), greatly exceeding its initial target. Based in Paris, London, and Milan, Sofinnova Capital XI will back a new generation of pioneering biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies addressing urgent unmet clinical needs. Sofinnova Capital XI is actively deploying capital, with investments already made in a few portfolio companies, including Latent Labs, BioCorteX, and  Amolyt. In keeping with Sofinnova’s multi-strategy platform model, Capital XI draws on the strength of its experienced team, including Partners Maina Bhaman, Anta Gkelou, Karl Naegler, Antoine Papiernik, Henrijette Richter, and Graziano Seghezzi. Sofinnova Capital XI attracted strong support from a global base of blue-chip institutional investors—among them sovereign wealth funds, leading pharmaceutical companies and other corporates, as well as insurance companies, foundations, and family offices. Commitments came from across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East, with a majority of returning LPs and a significant number of new top-tier investors. This reflects enduring confidence in Sofinnova’s disciplined strategy and long-standing track record. Antoine Papiernik, Managing Partner and Chairman of Sofinnova Partners, said: “This fundraising marks a pivotal moment for Sofinnova. It gives us the firepower to double down on early-stage opportunities and reinforces our uniquely collaborative, science-driven investment approach. We’re excited to continue backing visionary entrepreneurs and advancing the next wave of breakthroughs in science and medicine to bring them to patients worldwide." The fund will continue to support early-stage biotech and medtech ventures across Europe and North America, participating in both initial and follow-on rounds.

This week, we tracked more than 60 tech funding deals worth over €736 million and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. In addition to this week's top financials, we've also indexed the most important/industry-related news items you need to know about. 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 ?? Zilch nets $175M as eyes "strategic" M&A ?? FMC raises €100M as it unveils new class of memory chips for the AI era ?? Aily Labs grabs $80 million in one of 2025’s biggest Series B rounds for female-led AI startups ??  Uber competitor Grab invests up to $60M in Vay ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers  ?? Purple announces merger with Splash Access ?? DataCamp acquires Optima to power the next-gen AI learning engine ?? Barcelona’s EU-Startups acquired by MeOut Group ?? Reekom acquires Paris-based textile repair company Tilli ? Interesting moves from investors ?Backed VC closes $100M Fund III and marks 100th investment milestone ? Oyster Bay closes €100M Fund II for next-gen food startups ? Vendep Capital raises €80M to back the next wave of AI-era SaaS founders ? Ada Ventures unveils Deck Genius to give founders VC-level feedback powered by AI ?Erin Hallock joins NATO Innovation Fund to advance alliance-critical frontier tech ?️ In other (important) news ? Healthtech dominates European VC in a €8.3B October ? Locai Labs launches the UK’s first foundational LLM to rival GPT-5 and Claude ?? Founders and investors slam UK “exit tax" ?? "Exit tax" on founders axed, according to reports ?? Lithuania’s Sentante achieves transatlantic first in remote robotic stroke intervention ?? Finland’s first EV virtual power plant goes live ? Recommended reads and listens ?? Missiles hit Kyiv startup hub LIFT99 — it only made Ukraine's tech community more determined ?? Japan’s €33B bet on Europe: deeptech & AI lead as cross-border investment surges ? Epidemic Sound launches Studio, an AI tool that auto-soundtracks creator videos in seconds ?? Europe’s biggest landlords team up to build a proptech scaling machine ? European tech startups to watch  ?? Edtech company Nuela closes a €620,000 investment round ?? Spiich Labs gets €600,000 backing from Tandem Health and Creandum founders ?? Enteral Access Technologies secures £500,000 to scale DoubleCHEK ?? Quantum receives €161,000 to build scalable next-gen quantum hardware ?? Journalist to founder: Monty Munford’s HomeTruth emerges from stealth to solve a £60B problem

TechBBQ has just received a 6 million Danish kroner (approx €800,000) grant from the Danish Board of Business Development. It follows an earlier grant in May this year and is part of a larger investment round (122 million DKK) from the Danish Board for Business Development. Denmark is increasingly backing the startup ecosystem, investing in initiatives, accelerators, hubs, and programs that reflect its commitment to fostering entrepreneurship. The TechBBQ Summit serves as a central meeting place for the entire startup community, offering matchmaking with investors, talent, speakers, media, and knowledge sharing among startups, corporates, and research institutions. The grant will ensure that TechBBQ can continue to host its annual international startup and entrepreneurship summit at the end of August, as well as year-round activities that provide access to networks, capital,  knowledge, and new markets for startups and scaleups across Denmark. “We are incredibly grateful for the support and trust from the Danish Board of Business Development and Beyond Beta,” says Benjamin Rej Notlev, CIO & CCO at TechBBQ. “This grant enables us to expand our efforts to strengthen the Danish startup ecosystem. Denmark holds enormous — but still untapped — potential, and we look forward to building the connections and partnerships that can lift Danish startups to new heights. At the same time, we aim to maintain Denmark’s position as the host of one of Europe’s most significant and valuable entrepreneurship events.” At TechBBQ 2025, around 10,000 participants took part, including 3,500 startups and scaleups and 1,700 investors. The summit also featured over 350 speakers, 160 members of the press, and numerous partners and community contributors. The new grant will enable the summit to further develop into an even stronger pan-European meeting place, with more curated exhibition areas, themed stages, and international exposure for the most forward-thinking tech companies. “TechBBQ’s mission is to join efforts for entrepreneurship. Our overarching goal with the annual summit is to show the world that the Nordics are creating unique companies worth watching. At the same time, we’re helping position Copenhagen as a European capital where innovation and new jobs are thriving,” adds Benjamin Rej Notlev. TechBBQ 2026 will take place at Bella Center Copenhagen, August 26–27, 2026.

There are hundreds of startup accelerator programmes across the UK and Europe, but as a journalist, I’m only interested in those built and delivered by deep domain experts within specific industries.  ATechX is a growth program developed by the venture and innovation arm of Aroundtown, Europe’s third-largest listed real estate company.  Partnering with Vonovia (Europe’s largest residential real estate company), and built-world VCs noa, Fifth Wall, and Round Hill Capital, ATechX helps the real estate sector adopt technology in a systematic, scalable way — moving beyond one-off pilots towards long-term commercial deployment.  I spoke to Angie Mahtaney from ATechX to learn all about the programme. The program targets early-stage startups that already have a product (or at least a minimum viable product) and are ready to scale their solutions within real estate, residential, commercial, and hospitality spaces across Europe.  Crucially, it aims to be a “testbed” environment, where startups gain access to real-world assets (via Aroundtown’s portfolio) to pilot or deploy their solutions. "Real estate isn’t plug-and play" According to Mahtaney, ATechX was developed in response to programs where startups get stuck in the piloting phase and fail to attract commercial customers.  She contends: “It was clear that giving a startup a single pilot or one-off investment wasn’t moving the needle. Startups need alignment of systems, product validation, and business model clarity. It’s rarely plug-and-play in real estate. The idea behind ATechX was to create a programme that deploys tech in a structured way — beyond pilots — where both sides think early about how the relationship can scale. That’s how you build win-wins.” Further, compared with biotech or consumer tech, there’s no “hockey-stick' growth because sales cycles are long and risk tolerance is low. It’s a traditional industry, and that’s the biggest barrier.  However, once a solution is adopted, relationships tend to be extremely sticky — but getting there takes time. This means founders need to structure their business accordingly. "The lights have to stay on during long sales cycles," shared Mahtaney.  Take the example of data – GDPR and privacy requirements are very stringent. Early-stage startups often lack ISO certifications and security processes.  “So even with the appetite to adopt tech, it can’t happen overnight.” Further, while there's an increased growth of material innovation from cement to construction-waste composites, these haven’t been tried for decades. The implications of failure are huge. So for the industry, the caution is logical.” Why enterprise partners matter (especially with Europe’s old building stock) In addition, many proptech startups struggle to gain early-stage commercial pilots (much less commercial traction) in Europe simply because of the number of people who rent rather than own apartments in old buildings that would desperately benefit from a retrofit or new tech. For Mahtaney,  that’s exactly why ATechX’s approach matters.  “We own the assets and we can create a real sandbox.” In ATechX, startups work “side-by-side” with real estate, property, and hospitality providers who deploy or pilot-test in real assets. If they prove successful, they scale systematically, from one asset to ten assets, and from one country to multiple countries. “Accelerators are great, but many don’t have the ability to commercialise at scale. By bringing in partners like Vonovia and Round Hill Capital, we can share learnings, give multi-perspective mentorship, and open our portfolios in a controlled-risk environment,” shared Mahtaney.  ROI, differentiation, and survival matter more than vision Entry to ATechX is competitive. Firstly, ROI is non-negotiable. Mahtaney contends, “It sounds simple, but it’s not. You can have the biggest vision, but if you’re not delivering value to the tenant or to us, it won’t scale.” The team also considers the viability of the business model and whether pricing aligns with ROI. Then there's the question of whether the company can fundraise and stick around — “Because the worst case is integrating a solution only for the startup to go insolvent six months later,” shared Mahtaney. The programme is performance-based. After several months of collaboration with the ATechX team and asset experts, startups present to an investment committee comprising leadership from Aroundtown, Vonovia, and Round Hill. Mahtaney stresses that the program is goes beyond the funding focus of others: "We believe great founders will raise capital. The white space we’re solving is zero-to-one commercialisation. We want to give you business. And we’re extremely transparent. If your business case doesn’t yet work, we’ll tell you — and help you fix it. If you want to strengthen the foundations of your company, this is a great place to do it.” Part of this transparency is supporting companies to pivot. According to Mahtaney, the pivots from just two startup cohorts are "incredible." “Startups present their updated business model, the traction they’ve achieved, and the plan for pilots or portfolio-wide deployment. At that point, partners may choose to invest. We’ve made several investments across both cohorts so far.” Examples of successful startup pivots include:  A robotics founder came in with a prototype focused in hospitality. ATechX placed her at one of their hotels to identify where robots could actually move the P&L. However, according to Mahtaney, “Serving dishes isn’t a big cost centre. Through on-the-ground observation, she pivoted towards higher-value operational tasks — and is now commercially engaging with several hotels.” Another startup working on ultra-efficient cooling discovered — through meetings with hotel GMs, construction teams, and energy experts — that their biggest opportunity was in a customer segment they hadn't originally considered. The program helped them re-target and re-align their product roadmap. MapMortar initially entered the program with an AI-first retrofit planning tool. They realised the biggest pain point wasn’t the modelling — it was usability. Existing tools require heavy training and fall apart when the trained staff member goes on holiday." With this in mind, Mahtaney stresses, “Founders often think about big features, but sometimes the details differentiate you. If someone in our company can’t use your product instantly, they won’t. MapMortar figured that out by watching the tiny pain points we didn’t even articulate.” Startups have until November 27 to apply for the latest accelerator program. Lead image: Freepik.

If you're a small business competing with larger companies, high-quality service and professionalism are essential for standing out. With Zoom Workplace, your AI-first work platform, you can deliver polished experiences that wow your prospects and build meaningful connections with your customers. 1. Stay organized when booking conversations Set up a call with Zoom Scheduler Customers today have a lot of options - if they run into any issues when scheduling a meeting, they can easily reach out to your competitor instead. Use Zoom Scheduler to streamline the process of setting up a call. You can set up a custom scheduling link to send to prospects and put on your website. They can select from your available times to book a meeting in seconds, and they'll automatically receive an invite and meeting link in their email. 2. Focus on the meeting, not your notes Turn on AI Companion for note-taking When you're on a call with a customer, you want to give them your full attention. Taking notes is distracting and pulls your focus away from the conversation. Turn on AI Companion during your Zoom meeting, and you can put down your pen with the knowledge that you'll receive a full summary of the meeting, broken down by discussion topic, with a list of next steps to take. AI Companion is included with eligible paid Zoom plans, so you don't have to worry about additional costs. 3. Follow up quickly with action items Use AI Companion to help speed up your response time Once the meeting is over, follow up with your prospect via email to recap what was discussed and let them know about your next steps. You can review your AI Companion-generated meeting summary and forward the entire recap, or choose which parts of the summary you want to share, like the list of action items. AI Companion can also help you generate a thank-you email or Zoom Docs project brief using content from your meeting. 4. Keep your team informed Share information on Team Chat Strong communication with your team is essential to providing a polished customer experience. Use Zoom Team Chat, included with Zoom Workplace, to loop in team members and make sure they're part of the conversation. If you're working on signing a major client and have lots of moving parts to coordinate, set up a specific channel or shared space to share meeting summaries, files, and status updates all in one place. 5. Stand out with a video message Share a message with Zoom Clips Providing an excellent experience for your clients often involves adding a personal touch. Create a quick video right from your Zoom Workplace app using Clips. With a few simple clicks, you can record your screen and capture how to use that cool new feature or walk through a document. You can also record yourself on camera to create a quick video message.

In my role, I've visited countless startup hubs and co-working spaces — but it's not every day that a tour includes a bomb shelter or a building that has survived a Russian missile strike. During a trip to Kyiv two weeks ago, Tanya Chaikovska — co-founder and CEO of LIFT99 Kyiv — invited me to visit the space, learn about its restoration efforts, and meet with members of the team. Chaikovska co-founded LIFT99 Kyiv when she was just 21 years old, partnering with Estonian entrepreneur Ragnar Sass, who had a bold vision: to create infrastructure in Ukraine that would finally allow its exceptional talent to build product companies — not just outsource for others. Before the war, LIFT99 Kyiv quickly became one of the most influential hubs in the country: the only place where founders could raise pre-seed capital from international angels at European-level valuations, where global companies came to hire Ukrainian teams, and where the ecosystem minted a 0→1 unicorn — Matter Labs, whose founders took their earliest steps inside the hub. So, on a crisp autumn Sunday, I made my way to the hub to speak with Lada Samarska, Operations & Development Manager, and Aliona Chernenko, a former resident turned Community & Engagement Manager, to learn more. From Baltic roots to Ukrainian entrepreneurs LIFT99 began in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2017, founded by a group of Estonian entrepreneurs, including Sass. Estonia had already produced companies like Skype and Pipedrive, and the founders wanted a physical space where entrepreneurs could meet, collaborate, and not feel alone. Before LIFT99, Sass co-founded Garage48, famous for its hackathons. When he began spending time in Ukraine, he noticed something striking: massive engineering and product talent, but most of it engaged in outsourcing rather than creating startups. After meeting Chaikovska — then a young lawyer — he proposed they build something new. “Let’s open LIFT99 in Ukraine. The talent is here — the ecosystem just needs the platform.” Chaikovska helped establish the legal and operational foundations of the Kyiv hub, which almost immediately became a home where founders could prototype, raise their first capital, and plug into global networks. Home to a bright yellow helicopter The LIFT99 helicopter. Two things stood out during my visit to LIFT99: the ongoing construction — more on that shortly — and the bright yellow helicopter in the middle of the hub. Chaikovska explains: “We discussed how to inspire people to do crazy, big things with the help of community — and decided to remove all receptions, put a community kitchen right at the entrance, and place a real-size helicopter on the 3rd floor of a central Kyiv office.” For months, the founders even planned for the helicopter tail to extend out onto the street. Permits ultimately prevented it, but the helicopter stayed — becoming an unofficial symbol of Kyiv’s fearless tech culture. The hub itself is airy and warm: open kitchen, lounge areas, meeting rooms named after Ukrainian and Estonian founders, plenty of plants, a shower, and a tiny bedroom on the top floor that founders compete for during long nights. Image: Visiting the site's underground bomb shelter. The missile attack On the early morning of 28 August this year, two consecutive missile strikes hit Kyiv. “I was in a nearby bomb shelter,” Samarska recounts. “The explosions were so loud. I thought: ‘That was either my apartment or LIFT99.’ Both are within 250 meters.” When she emerged, she saw ambulances and fire trucks — and realised it was the hub. The building next door had taken a direct hit. Unusually, both rockets exploded on top of the building rather than piercing downward. The blasts sent debris into surrounding structures, including LIFT99. The damage was extensive: shattered windows, 90 per cent of interior glass gone, broken furniture, collapsed walls. Image: Windows waiting for new glass. A fallen sign reading “It will be worth it” became both dark humour and motivation. Some damage was invisible — walls coming loose from frames, glass leaning dangerously, debris embedded inside furniture and walls. “People think a missile strike is a one-day event,” Samarska said. “But if you’re directly affected, it lasts for months. You keep walking on metaphorical broken glass. Sometimes literal glass.” Image: Members kept finding debris weeks after the attack. A wartime lifeline After Russia’s full-scale invasion, LIFT99 evolved from a workspace into a survival centre for the tech community. “When power outages started in 2022, we installed a generator,” Samarska said. The generator was personally donated by Gero Decker, co-founder of Signavio, who wanted to ensure Ukrainian founders could keep working even when the entire capital went dark. And Kyiv did go dark. Entire districts — sometimes the whole capital — had no electricity, no heating, no mobile connection, often for days. In those moments, LIFT99 opened its doors for free to anyone in tech who needed a place to charge devices, warm up, connect, or simply sit in the light. “There were days when so many people came that we literally ran out of chairs,” Samarska says. “Founders were sitting on the floor, wrapped in jackets, laptops plugged into the generator — the only source of power for several blocks. It sounds unreal now, but it was life-saving.” Some founders slept at the hub during long attacks. The small bedroom became coveted; others stayed on couches or in meeting rooms. Chernenko recalls a startup couple arriving after a night in a bomb shelter with their tiny, exhausted dog. “But they still showed up to build. That’s Ukrainian founders: frozen, tired, but unbreakable.” An expanded mission Global solidarity — and leadership from within LIFT99 did not retreat during the war — it expanded its mission. Chaikovska and Sass launched Help99, a tech-driven donation platform enabling global tech leaders to support Ukraine quickly and transparently. It also encouraged many of them to visit Kyiv for the first time. Image: Fundraising by Help99. They then launched Coaches for Ukraine — led by Ariane de Bonvoisin — uniting partners from Cherry Ventures, Atomico, world-class coaches, and top angels to mentor Ukrainian founders through the hardest months. Across these years, LIFT99 took on an additional mission: to push foreign investors, operators, and founders to come to Kyiv, run office hours, invest, and support the Ukrainian teams who chose to stay and build through the war. Many made their first Ukrainian investments ever because LIFT99 insisted on fostering that physical connection. Rebuilding — and upgrading: LIFT99 Kyiv Hub 2.0 Image: Rebuilding at work. Despite the destruction, LIFT99 is not simply repairing its space. It is building Kyiv Hub 2.0, driven by a clear mission: to create the most resilient 24/7 place for anyone in Ukraine to launch and run their business. The upgraded hub introduces infrastructure that the ecosystem has never had before: Hackathon Space A dedicated arena for Garage48-style hackathons, prototyping weekends, and community tech challenges. Media Room / Content Studio A fully equipped space for recording podcasts, videos, demos, and fundraising materials — with professional production support. “We want everyone in Ukraine to be able to broadcast high-quality content abroad,” the team says. Residents get priority access and discounts. Hardware Lab: A compact but powerful lab with 3D printers, basic tools, and workbenches for robotics, hardware, and energy founders. Kyiv Hub 2.0 isn’t just a rebuild. it’s a declaration that LIFT99 is constructing the next generation of Ukraine’s startup infrastructure in the middle of a war. Giving, grit, and community Image: NAFO badges displayed at LIFt99 Kyiv. The hub’s walls display patches from NAFO fundraising drives and Help99 campaigns, many of which funded vehicles for the frontline. Receiving an authentic brigade patch — usually reserved for soldiers — is a rare honour. LIFT99 provides free space to NGOs like: • Blood Agents — Ukraine's main blood donation coordination network. • Behind Blue Eyes — offering psychological support and education to children in frontline regions. Image: Rebuilding the NGO room. Image: A trophy for one of this year's winners of the Ukrainian startup awards. It also hosts the Ukrainian Startups Wall of Fame and annual startup awards, spotlighting the country’s most influential emerging tech companies. Image: Ukrainian Startups Wall of Fame. Identity under pressure Investors often label being based in Ukraine as a risk. For founders, this is painful. “If you can build a startup here — during missile strikes and blackouts — and still ship a world-class product, then being Ukrainian is a superpower,” Samarska says. Air raid sirens interrupt calls. Founders hide their location to avoid scaring clients. Others relocate temporarily to raise funds. But LIFT99 urges them not to lose connection. “They are part of us, even if they’re building from Berlin, Tallinn, or San Francisco,” Chernenko says. “We want them to keep hiring here, keep contributing, keep identifying as Ukrainian founders. Otherwise, we risk losing our talent forever.” Want to support LIFT99? Here’s how you can help: Run office hours: The team curates meetings between Ukrainian founders and international VCs, operators, and experts. Visiting Kyiv? LIFT99 will show you around, help you navigate the ecosystem, and introduce you to founders. Part of the diaspora? Stay connected. Your knowledge and network matter. Ukraine needs its global founders more than ever. Chernenko sums it up: “If you’re exploring Kyiv, thinking about opening a team, or simply curious about the tech scene — LIFT99 is the place. Just come. We’ll plug you in.”

A planned “exit tax“ on entrepreneurs who leave the UK has been dropped by the chancellor of the exchequer, according to reports. Rachel Reeves had been said to be planning a 20 per cent tax on the British assets of wealthy founders leaving the country as part of this month’s Autumn Budget, as the government looked to plug a multi-billion pound hole in the country’s public finances. The levy has now been axed amid concerns that founders would exit the country before the charge was implemented, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. A source close to the chancellor told the newspaper: “This is a pro-business government which is building on the progress we’ve already made to strengthen the UK’s position as an attractive investment prospect for the best and the brightest across the world. “Introducing an exit charge would risk signalling that the UK is less welcoming to entrepreneurs and global talent, and that’s not something the chancellor wants to do.” It said the chancellor was also concerned the levy would lead to founders abandoning plans to launch startups in Britain. Dom Hallas, the CEO of the Startup Coalition, which campaigned for the planned tax to be dropped, said the U-turn had been “fully confirmed from folks in government” to him. Earlier this week, the Startup Coalition published a letter signed by over 150 founders and investors calling for the planned tax to be halted, saying it would tell entrepreneurs that "their ideas and innovations aren’t welcome" in the UK. Hallas added: “This has only been possible because of the startup community uniting with a clear voice about how detrimental it would be to the UK." A report in the Times said that one government source said the levy was not likely to go ahead, although another said no final decision had been made.

Acurast, the first decentralised physical infrastructure network (DePIN) that turns smartphones into a global mesh of verifiable, confidential compute, today announced that it has raised a total of $11 million to date.  Acurast is redefining compute by utilising billions of smartphones – no data centres required. This verifiable, scalable, and confidential compute network enables users to run secure applications on decentralised infrastructure at scale — without compromising speed or privacy.  The $11 million total combines non-dilutive grants and token-based rounds across 2023-2025, including an oversubscribed public token sale on CoinList in May 2025, which raised $5.4 million.  Acurast’s backers include notable angels such as Dr. Gavin Wood (Co-founder, Ethereum; Founder, Polkadot), Leonard Dörlochter (Founder, peaq), Michael van de Poppe (Founder, MN Capital), Scytale Digital, Ogle (Founder, GlueNet; CoinDesk’s Most Influential), and Vineet Budki (CEO, Sigma Capital).  The company also confirmed that its Genesis Mainnet will become publicly available on November 17, 2025, alongside the debut of its native $ACU token. Alessandro De Carli, Founder of Acurast, said: “Mainnet marks the moment Acurast becomes a genuinely open, global compute fabric ready for real-world integration. Billions of smartphones are the most battle-tested hardware on earth. By turning idle phones into verifiable, confidential compute, we remove the gatekeepers, reduce the costs, and bring secure, trustless computation to anyone, anywhere, and all without a data centre.” Acurast’s product traction has been proven in an incentivised testnet that reached enterprise-grade scale. Over 146,443+ phones have been onboarded to supply compute; developers have executed more than 85,784+ deployments; the network has processed upwards of 489M+ million on-chain transactions; and 179,000 on-chain accounts have been created.  These real devices are already powering mission-critical workloads with strict confidentiality and integrity requirements. This is supported by programs like the Cloud Rebellion, which expand the network’s overall footprint while rewarding early contributors for their efforts. At the core of Acurast’s advantage is the combination of tamper-resistant execution on consumer phones and secure hardware verification. Unlike raw compute marketplaces that rely on self-reported server specifications (or server-based TEE solutions), Acurast cryptographically verifies each device’s authenticity and executes workloads within enclaves. This process ensures that even the device owner cannot access sensitive data, resulting in censorship-resistant, highly distributed compute. Vineet Budki, CEO of Sigma Capital, said: “Acurast is creating a new, user-owned compute layer that aligns perfectly with where AI is heading.Hardware verification, enclave-based confidentiality, and a massive potential footprint of smartphones combine into a defensible moat that server-centric models can’t compete with.” “What stands out about Acurast is execution. They’ve shipped, they’ve grown real usage, and they’ve proven demand before mainnet,” said Michael van de Poppe, Founder of MN Capital. “Turning everyday phones into revenue-generating, verifiable compute nodes is a powerful unlock for inclusion and for scale. We’re excited to back a team that’s building for real-world adoption.”

Semiconductor pioneer FMC has raised €100 million to set new standards in memory chips with its highly innovative technology. The €77 million in equity comes from FMC's oversubscribed Series C financing round, which is backed by prominent existing and new investors and ranks among the largest raise of its kind in the semiconductor industry. An additional €23 million has been sourced through public funds, including contributions from the IPCEI ME/CT program and the European Innovation Council (EIC). Memory chips have become a strategically crucial technology that is currently being dominated exclusively by South Korea, the US, and Taiwan, with China rapidly catching up. So far, Europe has not had a significant presence in this critical semiconductor segment. With FMC, a credible player is now emerging in Silicon Saxony with the ambition to close this strategic gap from within Europe. Based on the thin-film material hafnium oxide, the company has created a new class of memory cells with its DRAM+ chip – more sustainable, faster, and cost-efficient. Thanks to its extremely low power consumption, the technology significantly reduces the energy demand of AI data centres, laying the foundation for their scale-up in Europe and worldwide.  According to Thomas Rückes, CEO of FMC, the company is working on the next generation of memory chips and system solutions that are not only more sustainable and energy efficient, but also faster and less expensive than the current industry standard: “While bandwidth has so far been the dominant metric of AI compute, energy efficiency is now becoming the key factor for the next generation of AI. “ Rückes asserts that memory chips are the main bottleneck in the AI stack.  “FMC's DRAM+ and 3D CACHE+ technology addresses precisely this issue: Faster and more energy efficient than established products. This lays the foundation for scaling up AI data centres and AI edge applications. Securing an equity financing of this magnitude emphasises the significance of our technology, and we are grateful to have earned the trust of leading deep-tech investors for our vision." The equity round is led by HV Capital and the DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF), along with Vsquared Ventures. Returning investors include eCAPITAL, Bosch Ventures, Air Liquide Venture Capital, M Ventures (Merck), and Verve Ventures. Fabian Gruner, Partner at HV Capital, said: "FMC's highly innovative memory chip technology is unique and has the potential to redefine global industry standards. We are proud to back its commercialisation through our commitment." Even with the planned expansions of energy capacity, AI data centres are expected to consume a very large share of global energy production in the future. FMC's innovative persistent DRAM+ and 3D-CACHE+ memory technologies and systems can significantly reduce this energy consumption by minimising and optimising the data transfers between compute hierarchies, which account for a substantial portion of energy use, thereby increasing compute efficiency.  When FMC's technologies replace conventional memory, system efficiency for high-performance databases and processing speed for energy-efficient AI applications could improve by more than 100 per cent. This is possible because persistent DRAM+ and 3D-CACHE+ technologies replace volatile memory, eliminating time-consuming data transfers between volatile, fast, and slower non-volatile storage. FMC is commercialising its DRAM+ and 3D-CACHE+ designs and products in collaboration with leading DRAM memory chip companies and advanced logic foundries in high-volume 300mm production fabs worldwide for specific, energy-efficient customer applications in the near future. FMC's technology also has disruptive potential to achieve higher memory densities than conventional memory solutions. The fresh funding will accelerate the commercialisation of the company's DRAM+ and 3D CHACHE+ memory chips and system solutions and expand its global presence.

From cybersecurity to defence and privacy innovation, European security companies in H1 2025 are increasingly addressing the complex security needs of both enterprises and governments. The landscape spans from software-driven automation and cloud-native threat detection to emerging categories such as AI-powered security operations, digital identity governance, and secure data exchange. A strong cluster of companies emerges from major European hubs such as Paris, Berlin, London, Munich, and Dublin, each cultivating specialised expertise in areas like extended detection and response (XDR), privileged access management, and consent management. The convergence of cybersecurity and compliance, along with new regulatory frameworks like NIS2 and DORA, is also driving investment in automation, managed services, and privacy-first solutions. The integration of artificial intelligence into threat analysis, incident response, and vulnerability management has become a defining theme, enabling faster, more adaptive protection against increasingly sophisticated attacks. The following are the ten largest funding rounds in the European security tech industry during the first half of 2025. Amount raised in H1 2025: €120.7M Tines is a workflow-automation platform designed to empower security, IT operations, infrastructure, engineering and product teams to move fast while staying safe. Built on a drag-and-drop, low- or no-code foundation, Tines enables organisations to connect any tool or API, craft intelligent workflows and deploy AI assistants across the enterprise with enterprise-grade security and integration flexibility. By replacing repetitive manual tasks with orchestrated workflows, Tines helps teams reduce time-to-value, scale operational coverage and focus on mission-critical work rather than “muck work.” In February, Tines secured €120.7 million in Series C financing to accelerate product innovation and ensure enterprise-grade security. Amount raised in H1 2025: €72M Didomi is a Paris-based software company that helps organisations place user consent and privacy at the heart of their digital strategies. The company offers a consent and preference management platform that enables businesses to collect, store and manage user data choices across websites, mobile apps, and connected devices, while ensuring compliance with global data regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. With its tools, companies can customise user privacy journeys, track vendor risk, automate data-subject request management, and optimise marketing performance, improving consent rates and return on ad spend. In April, Didomi secured €72 million in funding, enabling the company to acquire Addingwell, a leading provider of server-side tagging technology. Amount raised in H1 2025: €65M FTAPI Software is a Munich-based software company, founded in 2010, that provides a German-hosted, enterprise-grade platform for secure data exchange and automated workflows. Its platform supports the handling of sensitive files, encrypted emails, structured data collection, and workflow automation, all designed to meet compliance standards such as GDPR, NIS‑2 and DORA. With over 2,000 organisations and more than one million users relying on its tools, FTAPI serves sectors such as public administration, healthcare, and industry, aiming to give clients full control over their data flows and reduce manual overhead. In February, FTAPI Software raised €65 million to further expand its product portfolio for secure, trustworthy data exchange. Amount raised in H1 2025: €26M Sekoia.io is a cybersecurity company that empowers SOC teams and MSSPs with an AI-driven operational security platform. Their flagship offering, the Sekoia SOC Platform, integrates cyber-threat intelligence (CTI), next-gen SIEM/XDR capabilities, and SOAR automation in one unified solution. Designed for rapid deployment and seamless integration into existing security stacks, Sekoia.io’s platform supports organisations across hybrid and multi-tenant environments, enabling continuous 24/7 threat detection and streamlined incident response. In April, Sekoia.io raised €26 million to inject more AI into cybersecurity. Amount raised in H1 2025: $23M Cloudsmith is a cloud-native, globally distributed SaaS platform that serves as the “single source of truth” for software teams, enabling organisations to centrally manage, secure, and distribute all software artefacts across the software supply chain. Trusted by enterprises worldwide, Cloudsmith enhances visibility, compliance, and control in modern DevOps and CI/CD workflows. In March, Cloudsmith raised $23 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to over US$40 million. Amount raised in H1 2025: $20M Labrys Technologies is a London-based tech company that builds Axiom, a secure workforce-management platform designed to help organisations verify, engage, coordinate and pay globally dispersed teams through a single solution. Axiom brings together four core capabilities: biometric identity and location verification, a global real-time team visualisation interface, multilingual secure communications and task assignment, and instant compliant payments (including via stablecoins). Targeted especially at high-risk, low-trust environments, such as defence, humanitarian aid and government operations, Labrys’s platform enables large‐scale coordination with enhanced security, compliance and operational efficiency. Labrys raised $20 million in June for humanitarian and security operations software. Amount raised in H1 2025: €13.35M Whalebone is a cybersecurity company providing user-centric, no-installation Protective DNS and comprehensive digital security solutions for telecom operators, ISPs, enterprises, and governments. Its platform blocks phishing, malware, and fraud at the DNS layer, protecting users and devices without requiring any software installation. With products like Aura for telecoms, Immunity for enterprises, and Peacemaker for on-premise environments, Whalebone delivers seamless, scalable protection and strengthens digital trust across networks worldwide. In February, Whalebone raised €13.35 million in Series B to expand globally, enhance customer success, accelerate product development, grow enterprise and public sector reach, and strengthen threat intelligence. Amount raised in H1 2025: $14M ThreatSpike Ltd is a London‐based cybersecurity company offering an end-to-end managed service designed to defend organisations of all sizes. Their “Blue” platform provides 24/7 detection and response across cloud, network, endpoints, email and applications, while their “Red” service delivers unlimited penetration testing and offensive-security exercises under a fixed subscription. The company emphasises clear outcomes over alerts, integrating AI-driven automation, cross-domain threat hunting and compliance coverage to simplify security operations and replace tool sprawl with a unified service. In June, ThreatSpike raised $14 million to simplify cybersecurity for SMEs. Amount raised in H1 2025: €12M Baobab is a Berlin-based cyber-insurance MGA that combines a market-leading insurance policy with built-in risk-prevention services for Europe’s SMEs, delivered through a broker-friendly digital platform. Its approach uses automated underwriting, dynamic pricing, and continuous portfolio management in partnership with major carriers such as Zurich, ERGO, Liberty Specialty Markets, Tokio Marine Kiln, Argenta (Hannover Re) and Talbot (AIG). In June 2025, Baobab raised €12 million to further scale its integrated cyber protection offering. Amount raised in H1 2025: $10M Qevlar AI empowers Security Operations Centers (SOCs) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) with a revolutionary autonomous, agentic-AI platform that automatically investigates alerts end-to-end—enriching data from SIEM, EDR, cloud and other tools, drawing conclusions, generating reports, and recommending remediation steps in minutes. Founded in 2023 in Paris, Qevlar is backed by top-tier investors including EQT Ventures and Forgepoint Capital, and serves major enterprises and global MSSPs, enabling them to cut mean time to investigate (MTTI), reduce alert fatigue, and shift analysts from reactive tasks to proactive threat hunting. In April, Qevlar AI secured $10 million in funding to advance its agentic-AI security engine, bringing total backing to $14 million.

It’s not every day that I write about a colleague’s startup. Today, HomeTruth, a home finance tech startup, has emerged from stealth with a $4 million valuation, having graduated from proptech VC STYX’s living lab and an undisclosed initial investment.  HomeTruth addresses a £60 billion UK market plagued by inefficiencies and lack of trusted property data. The startup is led by fellow Tech.eu journalist and entrepreneur Monty Munford, so we sat down to discuss all things proptech and how his own frustrations as a homeowner inspired him to found a startup.  The biggest purchase of your life has the least transparency When Munford bought a house in Hastings a couple of years ago, he quickly realised how little reliable information exists for the biggest purchases most people ever make. The only data he could access was what the seller had originally paid — and by the time he moved in, it became clear that many of the promised renovations, from roof work to underfloor heating, had never been done, and there was no data available to work out what had been done and when. He recalls:  “Between completion and moving in, I discovered that most of what she’d claimed about the home—renovations, the roof, underfloor heating—was untrue. It took me two years to sort it all out.” During that time, his friend Jason Ryan, visited and asked what he was working on. Munford said, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if there were a logbook for homes?” Something where a homeowner could say, “Yes, I’m verified,” and show a trusted record of money spent on improvements—£10,000 on solar in 2023, £4,000 on carpets in 2024, and so on. It would create upside for sellers and safety for buyers.” From navigating insurance to securing mortgages, homeowners face a fragmented ecosystem where transparency is scarce and information is asymmetric.   Munford asserts: “Buying a home should be a celebration, not one of the most stressful experiences of your life. The process today is archaic and opaque, and it affects the biggest financial decision most people will ever make. We want to bring accuracy, transparency and truth into that journey—and provide the property industry with the data intelligence it desperately lacks.” In response, HomeTruth is developing a platform which aggregates public and licensed datasets to build a foundational ledger covering more than 28 million UK homes. Even at its earliest stages, the startup has been laser-focused on developing a digital solution with commercial viability.   The duo started testing the concept and realised pretty quickly that there was a meaningful gap in the market for this kind of verified data layer.  And it went beyond having proof of renovations and building works to gaining insights into how a homeowner could benefit from making changes to their homes that would improve their resale value.  HomeTruth’s AI Advisor puts verified property insights in one place HomeTruth has developed a platform that engages homeowners through a free HomeTruth AI Advisor, enriching the ledger with consented, ground-truth data while offering proactive insights, secure storage and guidance. The Advisor helps homeowners understand their home’s true value, risks and opportunities while enriching the data ecosystem for insurers, as every single homeowner inquiry enhances the HomeTruth database. HomeTruth uses surveyors' reports and energy certificates to forecast the impact of specific improvements on the value of a property.  People typically move every three to five years, so rather than short-term subscriptions, HomeTruth is building something that supports that entire journey. In terms of UX, a user would upload all relevant property documents — energy certificates, land registry information, utility data, renovation records, neighbourhood price changes, and so on.  By sharing their data, homeowners get immediate value: accurate responses, better estimates, and a more transparent experience. According to Munford, “HomeTruth exists specifically to avoid hallucination and provide verifiable, property-specific truth.” Users can ask the advisor questions like: “If I spend £8,000 on solar, how does that impact my home value?”“What are the projected energy bills for the next two years?”“What should I fix before putting the home on the market?”They get an instant, tailored, reliable answer." The real value is the dataset”: How HomeTruth unearthed a massive B2B opportunity HomeTruth’s turning point came when the team realised that the real breakthrough wasn’t just answering homeowners’ questions—it was the unprecedented dataset those questions created, revealing a far larger B2B opportunity than they initially imagined. Munford explained: “We realised that homeowners might ask thousands of questions about their properties — about energy prices, renovation ROI, local price movements — and our LLM could respond in real time based on a mix of verified documents and aggregated datasets.” “But the real value wasn’t just the answers—  it was the dataset generated by millions of these questions. The property-related queries people ask form an extraordinary, real-time window into the housing market.” This made the startup realise that their market opportunity was a lot bigger than the buyers and sellers themselves — insurers, banks and major stakeholders in the property transaction chain have a far more urgent need for this intelligence than individual homeowners.   “They struggle with opaque risk, outdated valuations and inconsistent documentation. The entire home insurance market, in particular, is fundamentally broken,” asserts Munford.  By combining verified property data with homeowner engagement, HomeTruth provides insurers, lenders and homeowners with accurate and actionable insights. The platform is designed to reduce mispricing, prevent fraud and improve customer experiences across the property ecosystem. “This is for anyone who needs real-time, high-quality property data to make better decisions. We’re starting with the UK, but the problem is universal.” HomeTruth is fixing a system-wide data failure Styx is a European early-stage VC and accelerator focused on PropTech, Smart City and ConTech startups. Styx invests in visionary entrepreneurs reshaping the built environment across Europe. According to Florian Fischer, STYX Co-Founder and Chairman:  “HomeTruth is tackling one of the most complex and opaque experiences in modern life; homeownership. Banks, insurers and homeowners alike are operating in the dark, making decisions on incomplete or outdated data that ultimately leads to mispricing, inefficiency and frustration across the entire sector. We’re proud to help such an accomplished founding team kick off their venture through the STYX Living Lab. We look forward to working with Monty and Jason as they transform how homeowners, insurers and lenders engage with property intelligence.” HomeTruth’s next hires: A CEO and curious builders  In addition, HomeTruth Co-founders Jason Ryan and Monty Munford are looking to bring in curious minds and a CEO who sees the opportunity and wants to fix a broken system with technology that empowers every homeowner in the UK. Munford admits, “I’m not a CEO — I’m the front man, the storyteller, the connector. Now we need an operator who believes in the mission and can execute.” From journalist to founder: why experience matters in tech Munford has had careers across journalism, advising startups, and now founding his own. I wanted to know what’s been the biggest learning curve? He shared: “Moving away from being known primarily as a journalist has been a journey. I’ve helped nearly 50 companies raise a combined €1.6 billion over the years, and I’ve always wanted to apply that knowledge to something of my own. People assume journalists shouldn’t build startups. I disagree — journalists are curious, sceptical, analytical. Those are incredibly useful traits. But you need a community that supports you rather than pigeonholes you, and I’ve been lucky to have that. The biggest lesson is that a lifetime of curiosity and experience absolutely can translate into a meaningful company.” Lead image: Freepik.

Zilch, the UK consumer lending fintech, has netted over $175m in an equity and debt funding round as it eyes acquisition targets. The funding round was led by KKCG, the Czech investment group, with participation from BNF Capital, the family office, and other strategic investors. The round includes an expansion of Zilch’s £100 million credit facility with Deutsche Bank, announced last year. Zilch said the funds will be geared toward marketing activity, as it looks to grow its brand, product development and to explore strategic M&A opportunities. Zilch, whose other investors include Goldman Sachs and eBay, has over 5m customers. Since launching in 2020, Zilch has established itself as one of the UK’s most valuable fintechs and before this funding round, it was valued at around £1.5bn. Zilch provides advertising-subsidised BNPL services and competes against the likes of Klarna and Clearpay. Zilch customers use a card to pay via debit or credit, which can be paid off in interest-free instalments. Philip Belamant, CEO & co-founder of Zilch, commented: “This funding reflects strong confidence in our team, strategy and execution, enabling us to continue scaling at pace. “In a market where many have found raising capital difficult, the network and strategic leadership of my co-founder, Sean O’Connor, have been instrumental in helping us achieve this outcome and we are excited for the year ahead.”