German sustainable banking startup Tomorrow has raised just below €5M in new funding. Existing investors Abacon Capital, ETF Partners and Kopa Ventures participated in the round IFB Innovationsstarter. To funding will be directed towards customer acquisition and develpoing its software, including expanding its range of banking products. The startup is known for collaborating with customers to offer cutsomised account fees. Co-founder and co-CEO Michael Schweikart commented: “We are currently passing an important milestone with Tomorrow. Despite a challenging market environment, which has hit many startups hard, we were able to secure a substantial financing round and are profitable on a monthly basis for the first time.” Tomorrow was founded in 2018 by Inas Nureldin, Michael Schweikart and Jakob Berndt, and has since accrued over 100,000 customers and more than 10,000 crowdfunders (earning it the title of Europe’s largest crowd-backed company). It is also known for "ethical banking" alignments such as directing customers away from investments that support the fossil fuel industry. The company also offers carbon offsetting investment opportunities to lower a customer's carbon footprint. The company does not yet own a banking license.

I’ve just got back from the Tomorrow Mobility World Congress in Barcelona. Its a 3-day summit, where industry executives, government leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, and technical experts discuss the most relevant issues for the future of urban mobility. A key observation for me was a critical shift in focus away from those pioneering entirely new modes of transportation, such as eVTOLs or hyperloops, towards effectively analysing, optimising and modernising existing urban infrastructure. I heard plenty of great conversations about the need for speed to reach net zero, effective economics, and building partnerships. The event also showcases just some of the many startups that are dedicated to greening cities and improving transport through digital solutions, retrofitting, and infrastructure enhancements. Here are some standouts: Karos (France) Look at any busy road during peak hour, and you’ll see lots a gridlock of single occupancy cars. Public transport is great, but it relies on home and work being close to amenities, which is often not the case if you live or work in the outer suburbs or rurally.  Karos operates short-distance carpooling for daily commutes.  Its developed an app that leverages AI and geolocation to match carpoolers based on their preferences and mobility patterns. The app offers optimised door-to-door itineraries, including intermodal trips combining carpooling and public transport.  Users can easily choose and confirm carpool proposals while the app's algorithms calculate meeting times and optimised pick-up locations, considering factors like detours and walking time.  Importantly, Karos integrates with local public transport networks, suggesting combined options when appropriate.  The company often partners with large organisations to subsidise the service, and drivers earn at least €1.50 per passenger per journey. There is also a customisable SaaS platform for corporate clients, providing tools for tracking usage and implementing communication campaigns. EVARM (Spain) EVARM is an integration engineering company specialising in converting professional vehicles to alternative fuels, such as LPG, CNG, hydrogen, which have an ECO or 0-emission label. It offers customised solutions that reduce emissions, improve operating costs, and supports clients with fleets across road transport, water treatment, corporate sanitation services, and more. Zeabuz (Norway) Image: Zeabuz. Zeabuz is a spin-off from the leading research community on autonomous vessels at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, which built the world’s first autonomous urban ferry prototypes.  It has developed a proprietary autonomy platform for vessels, scalable, certifiable, and suitable for new designs and existing vessels’ retrofit. It consists of three onboard products and two supporting onshore products that can be implemented in different phases and for various levels of autonomy, customised to the segment, vessel, regulatory requirements and customer needs. Following the same cognitive and physical processes as a human mariner, the Autonomy Solutions can see, understand, plan, act and reason. Through human-machine teaming they will support the tasks and responsibilities of a human operator located onboard or onshore. Zeabuz launched the world’s first autonomous urban passenger ferries  in Stockholm this June 2023, and now deploys solutions for intelligent automated navigation and remote supervisory control for conventional vessels.  Nemi (Spain) Nemi makes public transport in low-density areas feasible by providing a software solution that enables flexible bus services. By deploying Nemi’s software as a service tool, local authorities transform and develop their communities, transport operators optimise the use of their fleet while making more efficient and frequent trips and passengers benefit from a reliable, transparent and flexible public transport service. The company offers software to support: On-demand bus  services  to improve the efficiency and user experience of low demand areas such as small and rural towns, Hybrid software to facilitate the needs of irregular passenger flows, including on request stops or operating on-demand during certain off-peak times of the day or week or year. Digitising regular public transport lines to create a communication channel between the users and the operator to improve accessibility and safety. This includes data on passenger numbers and popular pick-up points. Parkunload (Spain) Image: Parkunload. Parkunload aims to address the challenges of urban parking demand, particularly for freight and delivery vehicles, by providing a digital platform that makes short-term parking zones more efficient and easier to manage for both drivers and city authorities. By leveraging Bluetooth technology, the solution enables precise zone detection, automatic permit validation, and real-time enforcement. This empowers cities to optimise parking space utilisation, reduce illegal parking, and streamline traffic flow. 

HelloBetter has raised €3M for its digital mental health product. Funding has been provided by the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Energy of Brandenburg through the Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB). The funding will be used to develop and commercialise its AI to personalise the user experience, aiming at improving adherence, user satisfaction and overall mental health outcomes. The project named ‘MindFIT’, which was launched in stealth mode earlier this year, will see first results next year. HelloBetter offers ten online therapy programs, addressing both common mental health conditions such as depression, insomnia, and panic disorders, as well as underserved conditions including vaginismus and chronic pain. Six of these programmes have received approval from the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) and are fully integrated into Germany's standard healthcare system, available free of charge to all publicly insured adults as prescription digital therapeutics.

Revolut is beefing up its M&A unit, as the UK challenger bank looks to sniff out acquisition targets. Revolut executive Ferran Sostres Sindreu, who sits in Revolut's corporate development team, took to LinkedIn to advertise a key M&A role at Revolut. Sindreu said: “If you are interested in joining Revolut's M&A team, hit me up, we’re hiring!” The job spec for finance and strategy manager includes “developing relationships with investment banks, investors, and other sources of acquisition targets” and “validating targets’ fit against Revolut's strategic priorities”. The role will fit into Revolut’s Finance & Strategy team, which is understood to have been in place for five years and is around twenty-strong. As well as hunting out acquisition targets, the unit is also understood to look at areas including modelling and corporate development. Revolut, which is Europe’s most valuable privately held tech firm, has made acquisitions in the past. In 2022, it acquired Arvog Forex, an Indian foreign exchange business while in 2021, it snapped up Nobly, a UK-headquartered point-of-sale business.

Borro, a Brussels-based startup that has developed an intelligent deposit system for reusable cups, has raised €350,000 in funding  The adoption of reusable cups remains a pressing issue in the event industry. Last summer, Tomorrowland faced a €2 million fine for opting out of reusable cups; in response, Borro addresses a key challenge for major events: fraud prevention, reduced staffing costs, and an improved visitor experience. Borro’s system links reusable cups directly to consumers’ bank cards. When attendees return their cups to designated smart return points, their deposits are automatically refunded, eliminating fraud, reducing wait times, and ensuring a smooth experience for guests. The company was founded earlier this year and quickly demonstrated the effectiveness of its technology in a successful pilot at a top-tier Belgian football stadium.  “There's been an incredible amount of discussion about reusable cups in recent years,” says Borro co-founder Kasper Albers.  "With Borro, we aim to relieve event organisers of this burden, allowing them to focus on what really matters.” The funding round was led by Seeder Fund, with additional support from Imec.istart and a group of private investors.  This investment will help Borro scale its solution further within Belgium and internationally. Lead image: Kasper Albers and Glenn Verhaege, co-founders of Borro.

Belgian-Swiss financial forecasting startup Predikr has raised €750,000 funding.  Founded earlier this year, Predikt is an AI-driven platform that helps CFOs and finance teams of large companies and multinationals improve their financial forecasts. Spun out of R&D at KU Leuven, the platform leverages advanced predictive models, integrating internal financial processes with over 10 million external macroeconomic indicators such as global commodity prices, consumer behaviour and inflation. This enables companies to make accurate forecasts for KPIs such as revenue, costs and profit, anticipate market shifts faster and make better strategic decisions. According to Nick Vandesype, CEO of Predikt, corporate finance departments, especially in the consumer products and industrial manufacturing sectors, suffer from complex decision-making processes. “CFOs are struggling to maintain confidence in their financial forecasts. Predikt allows companies not only to react to internal data, but also to be better prepared for external shocks.” Investors include entrepreneurs such as Louis Jonckheere (CEO of Wintercircus, co-founder of Showpad), Joris Van der Gucht (founder of Silverfin), Jorn Vanysacker and Gilles Mattelin (founders Henchman), Matthias Gerooms (co-founder of Lighthouse) and global consulting agency Keyrus. According to Louis Jonckheere, CEO Wintercircus:  "The early traction with first customers is proof that Predikt is not just capitalising on a trend but truly offers a solution to a crucial problem CFOs are struggling with today. Nick and his team have become experts in predictive analytics through years of experience, so I strongly believe in the future of their solution." The startup plans to use the funding mainly to develop the platform further and increase usability and marketing locally and abroad. Lead image: Predikt. Photo: uncredited. 

Autonomous marine drone startup Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering has raised $2 million in Pre-Seed funding. Their first suite of products focuses on making seagrass restoration cheaper, faster and larger in scale to improve ocean biodiversity and remove gigatons of carbon radically.  However, habitat loss is a key driver of ocean health decline, with 7 per cent of seagrass meadows lost every year, and restoration is expensive.  In response, the Irish-founded company is automating the restoration of marine habitats such as seagrass.  The company has developed low-cost, high-performance autonomous marine drones that reduce the cost of restoration by 10x while making projects 100 times larger and faster.  I spoke to co-founder and CCO Will O’Brien to find out more. The power of seagrass on ocean biodiversity  Seagrass is known for its positive impact on biodiversity and powerful carbon removal capabilities, capturing 35 times more carbon than rainforests.  These underwater meadows store about 10 per cent of the ocean's carbon despite covering only a tiny fraction of the seabed.  Seagrass meadows also support ocean diversity, providing habitats for countless marine species, including endangered ones like seahorses, turtles, and manatees. Additionally, seagrass meadows improve water quality by filtering out harmful nutrients and reducing pathogenic bacteria. They also protect coastlines from erosion and storms by stabilising sediments and dissipating wave energy. New laws mandate for large-scale restoration, like the EU’s Nature Restoration Law, and the growing demand for blue carbon (carbon removed by restored seagrass meadows). However, according to O’Brien : “Traditional methods involve divers going down and manually collecting seeds by hand. Then, they process the seeds on land. Then, they go back into the ocean and plant them by hand.  Divers are limited by how much time they can dive per day for health and safety reasons.  Additionally, they are limited by weather. In comparison, our technology doesn't face these limitations and can move much quicker than humans.” Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering drones collect seeds from healthy donor meadows, replant them in areas where seagrass has been lost, and then monitor their growth.  Partnerships drive large-scale ecosystem recovery  Governments are the main customers for ecosystem restoration services alongside non-profits and  supporting corporations.  O’Brien shared:  "At the trial stage, we assess the efficacy of our approach to restoration. We try to understand the optimal conditions for restoration (time of year, density of planted seeds, location, etc.).  Once we have established this, we can scale up our projects relatively simply by deploying more drones.” The autonomous marine drone startup has partnered with The Nature Conservancy and governments in Florida and Australia to conduct large-scale ecosystem restoration projects.  They have demonstrated successful seagrass restoration in trials with the University of Western Australia.  O’Brien shared that the purpose of restoring seagrass meadows in Western Australia is to assist with local biodiversity efforts.  “Seagrass is a crucial habitat for local fish species like pink snapper and crustaceans like crabs." Later this year, the company will begin work on a project in Western Australia with the University of Western Australia (UWA) that is poised to become one of the largest seagrass restoration projects in the world, a project they are dubbing “Gigameadow One". “Our trials with UWA have shown that our restoration method has significantly higher growth and germination rates than traditional methods.” Modular design enables economies of scale The company has managed to keep their drones at a competitive price point by taking advantage of economies of scale and technological advances that have reduced the cost of similar technologies, e.g. electric cars for batteries, smartphones, FPV drones, and robot vacuums. O’Brien shared:  “We also have a fundamentally different approach to other players in the market. We've chosen to engineer our drones to go to a maximum depth of 300 metres, which significantly reduces costs.  “Our drones have been designed for mass manufacturing from day 1. We do this with a modular architecture. This means we can achieve economies of scale quicker as we scale our production.” Lowercarbon Capital led the round, which included Superorganism, the world’s first biodiversity VC, and ReGen Ventures, an investor in planetary-scale regenerative technologies. Angel investors, such as Eoghan McCabe and Ciaran Lee, founders of Intercom, also contributed. Ryan Orbuch, Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, added:  “Ulysses’ underwater drones make seagrass planting 10x cheaper and are ready to scale restoration efforts today.” The main challenge of any startup is convincing ecosystem players of the efficacy of their tech. According to Akhil Voorakkara, CEO and co-founder of Ulysses: "We've proven that autonomous restoration can reverse this trend at a fraction of the traditional cost. If you’re a marine scientist, a conservation group, or a government agency ready to move beyond pilot projects to landscape-scale restoration, reach out to us. The solutions exist - now it's time to deploy them." The company plans to use the funding to make key hires in its engineering and go-to-market teams and ramp up production in preparation for some exciting projects in 2025. Lead image: Ulysses Co-Founders (Left to Right: Colm O’Brien (Chief Engineer), Jamie Wedderburn (CTO), Will O’Brien (Chief Commercial Officer), Akhil Voorakkara (CEO). Photo: Dylan Cannyghin.

JP Morgan Chase’s UK boss has shed more light on reports that it plans to launch a UK credit card, saying it would not be a rewards-orientated credit card, but stopped short of confirming it was launching a card. Kuba Fast, UK CEO of Chase, the consumer brand of the US banking giant JP Morgan, also said Chase aimed to be a top five bank in other European markets which it is gearing up to launch in. Asked about plans for Chase to launch a credit card in the UK, to complement its debit and savings accounts, Fast said: “I can’t comment on that but maybe there are some employees that are doing something around using a different shade of blue when they shop. “Unsecured lending broadly is for sure an important direction for us. “We are not looking at a kind of Sapphire-like rewards orientated card, which I know many of our commentators perhaps would expect.  “Our broad sense is we have met a slice of the rewards-related needs with our debit card offering and cash back on debit card. So for sure the priority for us would be to uniquely focus on the borrowing need. “If there is a credit card coming anytime soon, that card likely would be a borrowing-orientated credit card rather than a rewards credit card.” Sapphire is Chase’s upmarket credit card brand in the US. There have been previous reports that Chase senior executives are testing a UK credit card within their mobile apps. Elsewhere in the interview, on a podcast with fintech consultancy 11FS, Fast talked about the bank's ambition across Europe. He said: “The ambition for us is yes, we want to have millions of customers across Europe and be across the big markets in Europe and aim for the same thing that we would aim here in the UK, which is become one of the top five institutions in each of the markets we are in.” Chase launched in the UK in 2021 and has attracted over two million customers and amassed £20 billion in deposits.

The European tech ecosystem has continued to evolve rapidly with software companies playing a central role in driving innovation across various industries. With €3.6 billion raised in the first three quarters of 2024, the software industry demonstrates its importance in this dynamic landscape. Companies increasingly focus on enhancing operational efficiency, leveraging emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing, and addressing the growing demand for digital transformation services. As we look towards 2025, the European software sector is poised for further growth. Companies are expected to increase investments in research and development to bring next-generation solutions to market, particularly in areas like cybersecurity, automation, and sustainable technology. The emphasis will likely shift towards creating more integrated, scalable, and user-friendly solutions, catering to an increasingly diverse client base that spans both large enterprises and smaller, fast-growing startups. As data privacy and sustainability regulations continue to tighten, software companies will need to remain agile, enhancing their compliance capabilities while staying competitive in an ever-crowded market. Here are ten software companies that raised the most funds in the first three quarters of 2024, driving the growth and strengthening of the sector. team.blue is a dynamic ecosystem of over 60 established brands, united to empower customers with comprehensive online solutions. The company combines traditional hosting services—including domain registration, email, shared hosting, e-commerce, and server hosting—with specialized SaaS offerings like compliance, marketing tools, and team collaboration products. This diverse portfolio makes team.blue a one-stop partner for businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to thrive online across Europe. In July this year, the company secured €550M investment at €4.8B valuation. Bending Spoons is a technology company specializing in the development and publishing of mobile apps and software solutions. Since its founding in 2013, the company has built a reputation for creating a diverse suite of apps that address needs in areas like fitness, photo and video editing, and productivity. With a strong focus on innovation, user experience, and data-driven insights, Bending Spoons is dedicated to delivering high-quality digital products. Earlier this year, the company raised $155 million in equity financing. Osapiens is a German-based technology company that supports global enterprises in achieving sustainability and future-readiness through comprehensive Software-as-a-Service solutions. Founded in 2018, osapiens provides transparency and sustainable growth across the entire value chain, helping businesses meet ESG compliance requirements and streamline manual processes through its cloud-based platform, the "osapiens HUB," which integrates AI-driven solutions for efficient ESG reporting and compliance with regulations like CSRD, EUDR, and CSDDD. The company has completed a $120 million Series B financing round which brings the company’s funding to over $145 million. CloudPay delivers innovative, expert-led solutions for managing employee pay processes, and understanding their impact on business success. As a provider offering a unified platform for global payroll, payments, and on-demand pay, CloudPay ensures a seamless, comprehensive pay experience that employees deserve. Backed by a team of experts, CloudPay helps companies implement best practices, adapt to change, streamline operations, and elevate employee satisfaction. This year, the company secured $120 million in funding, which will support enhancements to its products and technology. Visit Group is a hospitality and travel software company which develops a specialized e-commerce, packaging, and distribution platform tailored for the tourism industry. Their platform supports the entire tourism value chain, offering digital expertise to travel organizations and a technology solution uniquely suited to the needs of travel and tourism brands. Earlier this year, the company secured €100 million to accelerate growth across the region through investments in both organic and inorganic expansion, enhancing the range and depth of solutions available to its customers. Stonal is an artificial general intelligence for real estate platform for multi-class real estate asset owners and asset managers. The company supports real estate professionals in making informed decisions by providing comprehensive, reliable data across all property dimensions—economic, technical, and financial. In a complex market, Stonal enables effective management and strategic repositioning of assets, particularly in the evolving office sector. This year, the company secured €100 million investment for real estate data management. Based in Austria, Storyblok pioneered the headless CMS concept by separating template logic from content, and has since expanded its features to serve a growing global customer base. The company’s mission is to revolutionize content management for mid-market and enterprise businesses in EMEA and AMER, by introducing innovative features that streamline content workflows, enhance collaboration, and accelerate the content lifecycle. In June 2024, the company raised $80 million in Series C funding, which will accelerate its growth in the US and Europe and support its goal of building the first end-to-end content platform. Zama is an open-source cryptography company specializing in Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) solutions for blockchain and AI, aiming to make privacy seamless and secure by ensuring end-to-end encryption for all applications. As data breaches, surveillance of cloud applications, and public blockchain smart contracts continue to raise privacy concerns, maintaining privacy online is becoming more challenging. Zama's mission is to make privacy effortless by ensuring end-to-end encryption for all applications, using homomorphic encryption to address the growing challenges of data breaches, surveillance, and public blockchain smart contracts. In March, the company secured $73 million which will be used to hire skilled engineers, software developers, and cryptography researchers to maintain its open-source libraries and work with strategic partners to advance a new class of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). Hyperexponential is revolutionizing the insurance industry through decision intelligence. By addressing challenges like disconnected systems, outdated processes, and chaotic data, the company empower insurers to make smarter, faster decisions. Combining deep actuarial expertise with cutting-edge engineering, Hyperexponential’s solutions enable teams to work more agilely, collaborate more effectively, and access a broader range of tools. A progressive approach, seamless integration, and ongoing support ensure that the company’s software delivers immediate results and evolves to meet future needs. At the beginning of the year, the company closed a $73 million Series B funding round which will be used to support the company’s US market entry. OneStock offers a Distributed Order Management solution that revolutionizes how businesses orchestrate and fulfill orders to enhance customer satisfaction. The platform provides centralized, real-time visibility and control over inventory across all stock locations, optimizing order allocation and fulfilment through advanced algorithms. This enables businesses to meet customer demand efficiently while minimizing costs and supporting omnichannel capabilities such as Ship from Store, Click and Collect, and Returns Management. Built on MACH architecture, OneStock’s scalable and flexible solution ensures rapid deployment, easy integration, and a future-proof, best-in-class customer experience. The company secured a $72 million investment which will fuel OneStock’s continued international expansion, particularly into the US market.

Solar developer software, Glint Solar, has raised an $8M Series A funding round led by Smedvig Ventures with participation from Momentum, Futurum Ventures and Antler’s Nordic fund and later stage fund, Elevate.  Glint Solar’s platform allows solar developers the tools to evaluate project sites for potential development. The platform blends adaptable layout designs and yield estimates with country-specific GIS data and topographic analysis. Its hub gives teams full oversight and control over essential project data such as 3D-rendered project layouts.Its software is used by small to large solar developers and energy companies in more than 35 countries globally, including Recurrent Energy, Statkraft and E.ON, following its $3M Seed round in 2022. Harald Olderheim, CEO and Co-founder of Glint Solar, said: “To counteract the effects of climate change, renewable energy needs to be adopted at a faster pace. The UN IPCC report says that 70-85% of the world’s electricity must come from renewable sources by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of a warming planet. "Luckily, utility-scale solar is quickly becoming the most cost-efficient form of energy one can build – in Texas, for example, it has overtaken coal as the most important energy source. The remaining factor is to also make solar energy development time efficient. Software is at the heart of the solution and this investment allows us to continue to push the boundaries of making complex, fragmented data and insights easily accessible, directly impacting the speed of global solar adoption.”  Founded in 2020 by Harald Olderheim, Even Kvelland and John Modin, the Norwegian startup recognised that while solar is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways of curbing the climate crisis, projects move too slowly. With 73% of solar development companies’ time spent on projects that don’t make it to the permitting stage, there is an urgent need for better tools and insights on solar development. Glint Solar overcomes this by making the permitting stages easier, smarter and faster.  Glint Solar has experienced rapid growth since its $3 million Seed round in 2022, with its customer base more than tripling in the last 12 months. The software is used by small to large solar developers and energy companies in more than 35 countries globally, including Recurrent Energy, Statkraft and E.ON.  This latest investment will be used to expand into new markets and to improve the overall product offering, serving both existing and new solar developers. To support this, the company will grow its sales and product development teams, aiming to more than double its current headcount of 30 over the next 12 months. Looking ahead to 2025, the company will continue to drive disruption among solar developments with best-in-class insights and tools to ‘get it right from the beginning’. The product will grow into a wider platform to solve key challenges for developers, including a battery energy storage systems (BESS) feature to help project developers identify where to develop energy storage units. 

European tech companies collected €3.4 billion in October 2024.Click to read the rest of the news.

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Education and workplace training VC firm Emerge has closed $73 million for its oversubscribed global early-stage Fund II, backed by 100+ of the world's best future of work and learning operators.  The second fund more than triples the investment from its first, bringing Emerge's total assets under management to $100 million.  I spoke to Nic Newman, General Partner of Emerge, to find out more. A way to democratise opportunity  As Europe's only edtech specialist fund, Emerge was founded to democratise access to opportunity. The company is focused on education and the future of workplace learning.  Newman contends:  "We believe that investing in founders who are revolutionising education and the future of work is the most impactful way to level the playing field." Over the past decade, Emerge has invested in 80+ companies, empowering over 31 million people worldwide and generating a valuation of over $2 billion. Newman sees AI as a great leveller in education and the future of work:  "A decade ago, edtech was largely driven by ex-teachers and folks with a background in learning and development,  with probably an ok technical founder but a likely mixture of services and services and Saas. "We know from Bloom's Taxonomy that anybody who gets one-to-one tutoring can achieve two or three times the learning outcome. But of course, that's unscalable. You can't do that in a classroom." However, the company doesn't invest in "tutoring companies that cost $5,000 to $7000 per year "because that increases inequality." Newman counters, "But when you've got a teacher or workplace coach with an AI-pilot that helps them prepare for and facilitate one-to-one learning, suddenly you're democratising access to individual help. And that's what we find really exciting." "AI is creating huge opportunities in how we learn and navigate our career — because we're changing careers more often — and lastly, how we work and how we put AI  at the centre of how we work better, more productively,  and more happily." Newman sees future investment priorities for the firm, including workplace talent assessment and selection and career navigation pathways, as well as support and transition in the shift out of roles displaced by AI. Not your typical investors Emerge's partners defy the conventional investor profile.  "Education was our escape," says Newman, whose father was a truck driver.  "I'm the first in my family to attend university." Partners are immigrants, working-class kids and refugees, for whom education was the path to a better life.  A unique venture partner community  Emerge is a community-powered investor. Unlike other VCs, Emerge is supported by 100+ Venture Partners – operators who have built future of work and learning companies and providers, including the co-founders and CEOs of Udemy, Degreed, Trilogy, Beamery, Go1, Coursera, Busuu, Kahoot, Andela, Docebo and Springboard, as well as the CHROs and CLOs of Fortune500 companies such as Kraft Heinz, IBM, Boeing and McDonalds.  Newman shared: "We don't mind you backing from the earlier stages. We want them to not worry about building at those initial Pre-Seed and Seed stages, and we don't invest in Series A because we've got so many relationships with series A people to help them raise their round."  At Emergy, Venture Partners engage with portfolio companies throughout their entire lifecycle, focusing on accelerating their journey to product-market fit and Series A and beyond.  They inform Emerge's market research, source deals, support the diligence process, co-invest as angels, become advisors to companies, and even join their boards and become customers.  More than half of the Venture Partner community is based in the US, powering Emerge's strategy to find the best founders in Europe and turbocharge their expansion into the US and global markets. The closing of Fund II follows multiple successful exits for Emerge, including Zavvy's acquisition by Deel earlier this year. Numerous portfolio companies, including Edurino and Unibuddy, have also seen significant up-rounds.  Investments already out of Fund II include Colossyan, an AI video platform for workplace learning, which announced a $22M Series A with new investors.  Investors in Fund II include KfW Capital, Laerdal Invest, Jacobs Foundation and Southern New Hampshire University. 

Marosa, an accounting SaaS for invoicing and compliance, has secured a €12 million investment from private investment firm Aquiline. This is Marosa's first raise and will help accelerate its growth strategy, expand compliance software and e-invoicing offerings, and support its global expansion. Headquartered in Vigo, Spain, Marosa's flagship software, VATify, centralizes e-invoicing, VAT registration, and reporting, and automates communication with tax authorities. The investment will enable Marosa to further accelerate product development, go-to-market approach, and international expansion, while capitalizing on significant regulatory and market momentum across Europe. Marosa has garnered over 1,200 enterprise and eCommerce customers across various EU countries. Recent regulatory shifts, such as the adoption of mandatory e-invoicing and real-time reporting across Europe, have underscored the importance of digital VAT compliance solutions.  Pedro Pestana da Silva, Founder and CEO of Marosa, commented: "I am delighted to welcome Aquiline as our first external investor. Over time, we have built a trusted relationship with their team, and they truly understand our vision, technology, and the needs of our clients. With this investment, we are well prepared to accelerate our R&D, enhance our product offerings, and expand our reach in a complex and evolving market." Giovanni Nani, Principal at Aquiline, added: "Since our first meeting in 2020 we have admired the software and services that Pedro and the Marosa team have been developing for their growing customer base in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Aquiline has a strong track record of backing bootstrapped financial services and technology entrepreneurs. We are excited to partner with Marosa on its next phase of growth and support the team on its journey of becoming a pan-European VAT compliance and e-invoicing leader."

If you're a startup reading this you've probably pitched a VC and then waited a really long time for feedback. When you do receive feedback, it may be in response to fundamental errors in your application that send you back to step 1.  But now there's another way. Early-stage VC firm Ada Ventures has launched an AI pitch deck review tool dubbed "AdaGPT".  The tool offers founders instant feedback on their decks, creating an anonymous, free-to-access sounding board for any founder to use before approaching investors.  It's the brainchild of  Michael Tefula, who's been hired as Principal and Head of Product. I met with Michael and Ada Ventures Partner Check Warner to learn more. AdaGPT can assess whether a pitch deck aligns with Ada's investment thesis, flag information gaps, and suggest potential improvements.  Once assessed, all uploaded documents are immediately deleted, allowing founders to amend their decks before they are shared with the Ada team. Founders are encouraged to trial the tool and provide feedback to help further refine the offering. A polymath leveraging operational expertise to redefine VC Michael brings with him a wealth of experience, having held a senior investment role at Downing Ventures and participated in the Atomico Angels programme. He has also spent time in operator roles, including CFO at impact-investing platform CIRCA5000.  Michael is a Chartered Accountant, published author, and has previously collaborated with the Ada Ventures team as part of their market-leading Ada Angels programme and as the firm's "Investor-in-Residence"; helping the team to source deals.  Over the last three years, Michael has made over 20 angel investments in early-stage startups — including Cino, who I published an interview with last week. He is also a board advisor for the Oxford Seed Fund.  Warner characterises Michael as a polymath and "a real student of VC."  "He's always been incredibly curious about the future of venture capital. How can it be done better? Which is quite exciting for us to have embedded within our team." She detailed:  "A core value at Ada has always been about how we can rewire VC? How can we make VC a better product for founders?  And what's lovely about having Michael in the team is he brings that cage rattling." Alongside his responsibilities as an investor, Michael will also be taking on the role of Head of Product for the firm. He shared: "I joined fintech company CIRCA5000 at a Seed stage, and that experience was incredible because I got to work with founders very, very closely in building a meaningful product."  The UK VC market is underserved by VCs with operational experience. The average in the US is up to 50 per cent and as high as 60 per cent for top-tier VCs. The UK struggles with a mere 8 per cent. One of the things I took away from that experience was the need for speed, whether that's in shipping products or just dealing with your investor and the people you're working with. I learnt that many investors are very slow in responding to founders, for instance. This also highlighted the need for more empathy for founders." During this time at CIRCA5000, beta-GPT 3 emerged, and it unlocked a new enthusiasm for tech in Tefula, who learnt to write code and automate various bits of his work.  As a self-taught software developer, Michael will design and build new tools to aid the fund's investment strategy and support founders. Why is AdaGPT needed?  Ada Ventures receives over 1600 press pitches a year. The firm Ada already has a detailed plain language investment thesis available to founders and has also published a Seed investment framework. But as Warner explains: "We cannot give human feedback to all 1600 applicants. So we want this product to share useful feedback." The product is allowing us to  scale ourselves and be more accessible and available to founders." Can gen AI detect your authentic self?  One thing that piqued my curiosity is where AdaGPT would stifle applicant authenticity — we all know the difference between an email or pitch from the heart and one written using generative AI. Both journalists and investors value authenticity over a slick press pitch, hands down. Warner asserts:  "One of our company values is to be human, and connecting with founders is a core part of making investments at Ada. And that is something that we will always hold on to. So when it comes to the product,  we will enhance our process of getting to the heart, the human, and the mission of the company.  We want to spend more time thinking about how startups can service real customers and patient groups, not writing documents and doing paperwork." Streamlining not ranking Michael stresses that AdaGPT is not numerically ranking or rating startups, noting."LLMs are, by nature, probabilistic. And they're also trained on large amounts of data from the internet. "They also have some considerable biases in terms of how they behave. So if we would try and have a large language model score a company, it would take away from, you know, our ability actually to step in and say, this is what we as a team, from a human perspective, having met the company, having spent time with the founders. We want to leave ranking and numbers to the human elements and only use LLMs where we think they can perform well." The importance of humility  Warner shared that startups are considered to have several characteristics, including ambition, productivity, pace, and how quickly companies can ship things. But Ada Ventures also—unusually—looks at humility.  So of course, I wanted to know, how do you measure that?  Warner explained, "We try to understand if they see the world from only their point of view. Do they understand the end users and the customers and how they feel? Do they listen to us and reflect on our feedback, or are they just railroading through what they want to do? Other funds may not have that in their framework." "Genuinely, we think humble founders are founders who listen to their customers. They'll listen to their employees. They'll take on board feedback from investors and other people. So that's one of the characteristics we use.  Commerciality and fundraising are super important to us in terms of how we evaluate founders, as are grit and resilience." Ada Ventures also considers founder trajectories over time to gain a broader understanding of the founders and their backgrounds.  Michael notes that such a focus on founder trajectory highlights the limitations of what you can do with predictive machine learning.  "Data may say a founder from a particular university will be a great founder. But it fails to capture the context around their life trajectory. This is where we think that understanding a founder's background and story is a crucial advantage in identifying the best founders. " Warner stressed:  "We think a lot about the dangers and pitfalls of automated data-driven sourcing tools that are out there, which are very reductive, historic, and backwards-facing. So, internally, we're thinking about how to ensure bias is reduced. How do we make sure that inclusivity is included? And how can we weigh up these characteristics to ensure we don't fall into the trap of just pattern matching on what's happened before? Because that's what's led us to where we are in VC today." The company has conducted its first pilots with investees and prosüective startups and received valuable anonymised feedback.  Michael recounts: "One really interesting bit of feedback was that it's too fast. When founders often try to get meaningful feedback from investors, it takes a very long time to hear back from them, so this feedback was interesting. We also want to ensure that the quality of the feedback is not shallow. So, for example, if AdaGPT is looking at competition, can it actually highlight how a particular startup is differentiated in the context of the competition from the competition side? We've baked in those feedback elements, but it's early days. We're looking to get more feedback."   I was curious if this could inadvertently gatekeep great founders. We've all heard the stories of friends applying for jobs that they are qualified for — and know the right people — but fail to get past the first hurdle because of a recruitment site that uses GenAI. Warner admits: "That's what we're really nervous about. That's why this will not be any part of our investment process. It sits separate from that. So it's more just tooling." AdaGPT is just the first in a series of products that will expand access to Ada Ventures knowledge and services to a broader group of founders. Warner stresses, "If you're a founder building a company that broadens access to work, money or skills – do get in touch with Michael." Try out AdaGPT (beta) today. Lead image: Ada Ventures: Check Warner, co-founder and General Partner, Michael Tefula, Principal and Head of Product, Matt Penneycard, co-founder and General Partner.

Dutch-based VC fund 4impact Capital,  has successfully closed its second fund (Fund II) at a final total of €68 million.  This SFDR Article 9 fund focuses on early-stage digital and sustainability ventures in northwest Europe. It provides scalable solutions for global challenges while delivering strong financial returns.  4impact capital launched its first fund in 2019 and is complemented by seven venture partners in Europe and the US who are industry experts have built successful businesses.  Since its first closing last year, Fund II has backed six transformative ventures, including Coolgradient, which optimises energy and water consumption in data centres. Deftpower leverages EV batteries to address grid imbalances, while Carbonfuture is a provider of high-quality durable carbon removal credits, and recently secured a successful Series A funding round.  “We don’t just invest - we partner with them, providing the support needed to fuel their growth and success. What drives us is the opportunity to catalyse positive change, and we are excited to help shape future businesses,” said 4impact founding partner Pauline Wink.  Founding partner Ali Najafbagy adds:  “Our tech focus areas are remote sensing, AI and big data, and emerging technologies such as blockchain. Through these digital technologies, we can help solve parts of labour shortage and contribute to a sustainable and competitive Europe and beyond.”  The successful launch of Fund II is backed by early supporters and visionary investors, including founders, industry leaders and institutional investors such as Invest-NL, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Oost NL, and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), reflecting confidence in 4impact’s mission of impact investing. 

AllFocal Optics, a deeptech startup creating nanophotonic lens technology for always-in-focus images, has raised $5.3M in funding, comprised of a $3.6million (£2.8m) equity raise, led by SpeedInvest, and Innovate UK grants. AllFocal Optics' thin nanophotonic lenses claims users can visually access virtual information in the real world without the nausea and discomfort typically associated with virtual, augmented and mixed reality. If trials are successful, AllFocal’s advanced nanotech devices can be built into cars’ heads-up displays to put sat-nav directions on windscreens, doctors would be able to display vital medical information on smart glasses during procedures and consumers could use nausea-free headsets to interact with virtual games in physical settings. The first trials of AllFocal Optics in car settings will take place early next year in partnership with Jaguar LandRover. The firm anticipates its lenses to be in augmented reality glasses and virtual reality headset in the next two years. Dr Pawan Shretha, AllFocal’s founder and CEO said: “Critical to XR’s mass adoption is enabling users to interact with virtual images for as long as they like, without feeling nauseous, and to seamlessly shift focus between physical and virtual environments. Our technology, compatible with LCD, OLED, or any type of display, makes that possible. "By projecting a digital image onto a user’s retina, it keeps the image in focus regardless of how the eyes adjust to the surrounding world, completely eliminating any discomfort. After more than a decade of research, we’re now ready to take our technology to market, unleashing possibilities across automotive, medical, engineering industries, and more.” Rick Hao, Speedinvest’s deeptech partner added: “ AllFocal has unique technologies that are fundamentally changing the way nanophotonics are designed. Their patented technology is the key enabler for a variety of industries, including smart-glasses, heads-up display and defence. We are thrilled to support AllFocal Optics as they push the boundaries of visual technology. AllFocal is recreating human vision via its technology - this is critical to the future of any industry.”

Speaker applications are now open for the Tech.eu Summit London 2025! The Summit will take place in London on March 25 - 26 at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre. It provides a critical means of fostering meaningful connections with Europe's most influential tech leaders, investors, and rising startups. What are we looking for? We welcome speakers on diverse topics that span critical areas such as AI, entrepreneurship, sustainability, fintech, quantum computing, and climate tech. We give bonus points to those offering presentations that include personal experience, case examples, data-backed findings, actionable insights, and simply content that will blow us away. Speakers can be founders, investors, C-level corporate executives with a focus on digital transformation, or others in the startup and tech ecosystems. Do you have a unique perspective, valuable insights, or world-changing ideas that need to be heard? This year's the Tech.eu Summit London 2024 event in May hosted over 1200 participants and 120 speakers and was a hive of activity and enthusiastic discussion, not to mention some fantastic startup pitching. Speakers included: Matt Ondler, President @Axiom Space. Saqib Bhatti, Minister - Tech and the Digital Economy @UK Parliament Darko Hajdukovic, Head of New Primary Markets and Deputy Head of Digital and Securities Markets @London Stock Exchange PLC Agata Nowicka, Founder and CEO @Female Foundry Akis Bratsos, Partner @Lakestar Julie Karl Koch Fahler, Co-founder and COO @Agreena Charlotte Guzzo, Co-founder and COO @Sano Genetics At the Tech.eu Summit London 2025, we want to hear from more startups than ever, as well as industry entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders. If you've got something to say, apply today! Apply now to speak at Tech.eu Summit London 2025. To sponsor the Tech.eu Summit London 2025, please contact us at sales@tech.eu. You can purchase your tickets to attend the conference here.

Webel, a platform that allows users to find and hire all kinds of at-home services, has closed a €1.4M funding round from investors Goodwater Capital, Decelera Ventures and ZAKA VC. The round was raised specifically for international expansion, starting with London. The company hopes to facilitate the at-home service hiring sector, allowing users to compare thousands of qualified professional profiles and book services. In addition to its expansion plans, Webel aims to explore cross-selling strategies across various categories on the platform and enhance its business profile by developing internal software. Nacho Tejero, CEO and co-founder, commented: “With this capital injection, we can continue consolidating our national expansion, where we expect to close the year with 500% growth, while also opening the doors to international expansion, taking Webel outside Spain for the first time. Our model is unique, and we are 50% cheaper than any competitor, giving us a significant competitive advantage that will help us conquer similar markets.” Samuel Zalesak, Associate and Member of Investment Committee at ZAKA VC, explained their reasons for ongoing support of Webel: "At ZAKA, we continue to invest in Webel because they exemplify the qualities we value in early-stage startups: Innovation, transparency, and data-driven growth. Our initial investment was driven by their unique platform leakage prevention feature, which incentivizes service suppliers to stay engaged by reducing fees and boosting visibility. "This, in turn, allows Webel to expand efficiently while fostering strong relationships with service providers. Webel’s exceptional reporting capabilities, adaptability, and operational transparency further solidified our confidence, making them a standout in our portfolio. Their strategic approach has been a key driver of their continued success and growth.“ Over the past year, the platform’s services have grown by 650 percent with over 400,000 customers using the platform.

French VC Axeleo Capital has closed a new €125M greentech fund. The capital was provided by three major investors: the Révolution Environnementale et Solidaire fund, which is funded by Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale's societal dividend, Bpifrance and the Fonds National de Venture Industriel (FNVI) managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French government as part of the Plan France 2030, and the Veolia group. The new fund aims to finance innovative and resilient green technologies in Europe by combining financial and industrial expertise. With a final target of €250m, it aims to make 15 to 20 investments in Europe with lead tickets ranging from €3M to €10M in the energy (new renewable energies, storage), chemicals and materials (biomaterials, plastics recycling), agriculture and food (bio-based fertilisers and pesticides) and mobility (electric motors, decarbonisation of air and sea transport) sectors. These funds have been used to make an initial investment in Sweetch Energy, a start-up specialising in osmotic energy, a permanent, controllable renewable energy source. ‘Following the success of our Software B2B strategies, the launch of GTI I represents a major step in the development of our management company. In line with our values and our entrepreneurial DNA of supporting founders, this fund allows us to address a field of major innovations around decarbonisation, green technologies and the renewal of industrial sectors in Europe,’ commented Eric Burdier and Mathieu Viallard, co-founders of Axeleo Capital. ‘With the whole Axeleo Capital team, we are very happy with this first closing which allows us to act now. The support of our sponsors and investors, whom we thank for their confidence, reinforces our collective ambition to contribute to the emergence of tomorrow's European and green industrial sectors.’ said Guillaume Sarlat and Marc Lechantre.