Zilch, the UK BNPL fintech, has received a licence which it says will remove its reliance on third parties and allow it to build more payment methods in-house.Zilch, which is backed by Goldman Sachs and eBay, also said it had strengthened its ties with Visa, which earlier this year replaced Mastercard as Zilch’s card network partner.The UK fintech has received a payments services licence from the UK's main financial regulator, the FCA.Zilch said the licence means it will be less reliant on third parties and would be able to build more payment methods in-house, as well as bring products to market quicker.It comes ahead of the full rollout of Zilch’s one-click checkout feature, Zilch Pay, next year.Philip Belamant, co-founder and CEO of Zilch, said: “This is a major step change for Zilch, bringing us firmly into the payments tent and giving us a true seat at the table to shape the ecosystem. “It opens the door to new opportunities, setting us up to move even faster, more efficiently and cost-effectively."Zilch also said it has secured “Principal Membership” of Visa for the first time, and that Zilch and Visa intend to explore new opportunities to collaborate on payments.In November, Zilch, which has over 5m customers, bagged over $175m in an equity and debt funding round as it eyed 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 first half of 2025 showed continued momentum across Europe’s foodtech landscape, driven by growing demand for sustainable, scalable and resource-efficient food solutions. Investment activity reflected a maturing ecosystem in which innovations are increasingly focused on transforming core elements of the food value chain rather than solely introducing new consumer products. Activity centred on next-generation proteins such as precision-fermented dairy, mycelium-based ingredients and advanced plant-based meat analogues, with an emphasis on realistic sensory qualities, clean labels and scalable production. Alongside this, there was notable growth in circular and upcycling solutions that convert agricultural and food-processing sidestreams into high-value ingredients, as well as innovations in aquaculture and blue food, including land-based farming and seafood by-product valorisation. Fermentation-driven flavour and ingredient platforms also advanced. Overall, the period underscored a shift toward technologies designed to improve the efficiency, sustainability and resilience of Europe’s food system. The following are the ten largest funding rounds in the European foodtech industry during the first half of 2025. Amount raised in H1 2025: €130M Laxey is an Icelandic aquaculture company pioneering sustainable land-based salmon farming on the Westman Islands. The company develops advanced facilities that produce high-quality Atlantic salmon using environmentally friendly energy, innovative water-reuse technologies, and controlled systems that minimise environmental impact and eliminate the need for antibiotics. Laxey’s integrated operations span from smolt rearing to grow-out and processing, with the goal of scaling production substantially while creating local jobs and supporting the regional economy. In May, Laxey secured €130 million in combined equity and debt financing to support the next phase of its development. Amount raised in H1 2025: €32M Vivici is a company redefining how dairy proteins are made for the food and beverage industry. Using precision fermentation, Vivici produces animal-free dairy proteins that offer high nutritional value and superior performance while significantly reducing environmental impact compared with traditional animal-derived proteins. Founded in 2023, Vivici works with food brands worldwide to accelerate product innovation and bring sustainable, high-quality protein solutions to market. Vivici secured €32 million in February to expand its access into new international markets, launch its second dairy protein ingredient, and establish long-term manufacturing capabilities. Amount raised in H1 2025: €26M Volare is a company that is transforming food industry side streams into sustainable, high-quality ingredients such as protein, oil and fertiliser for aquafeed, pet food, agriculture and chemical applications. Built on research from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Volare uses innovative circular economy technology centred on the black soldier fly to upcycle food waste into natural, drop-in ingredients that reduce environmental impact and support a more resilient food system. The company is scaling its operations with industrial-scale production facilities and has secured significant funding to expand its breakthrough insect-based protein platform. In May, Volare closed a €26 million funding round to build protein production plant Volare 01 and to advance its unique technology. Amount raised in H1 2025: €20M Heura Foods is a mission-driven foodtech company that develops 100 per cent plant-based, sustainable, and nutritious food products with a focus on meat alternatives inspired by Mediterranean culinary heritage. Founded in 2017 in Barcelona, Heura aims to transform the global food system by offering plant-based proteins made from high-protein legumes and quality natural ingredients, helping reduce environmental impact and promote healthier eating habits. Its products are sold internationally in thousands of stores, and the company continues to innovate in new categories beyond plant-based meat. In May, Heura Foods received €20 million boost from the EIB to expand sustainable food tech. Amount raised in H1 2025: €15M Project Eaden is a company focused on creating the next generation of sustainable, animal-free meat alternatives that closely mimic the taste, texture, and experience of conventional meat. Using advanced platform and fibre-spinning technologies inspired by the textile industry, Eaden develops ultra-realistic plant-based products designed to meet growing global demand while significantly reducing environmental impact. The company aims to make delicious, plant-based meats that appeal to mainstream consumers and help accelerate the shift toward a low-carbon food system. Project Eaden secured €15 million in January to fuel its European retail rollout of ultra-realistic plant-based hams and to advance R&D efforts focused on developing whole-cut meat alternatives. Amount raised in H1 2025: €10M Rival Foods is a company developing the next generation of plant-based meat alternatives that closely mimic the texture, juiciness and bite of whole-cut animal proteins using a proprietary Shear Cell technology to transform plant proteins into layered, muscle-like structures with minimal ingredients and clean-label formulations. Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from Wageningen University & Research, Rival Foods focuses on supplying high-quality, scalable plant-based chicken and beef alternatives to chefs, retailers and food brands across Europe, helping accelerate the transition to more sustainable protein options without compromising on taste or culinary experience. In June, Rival Foods raised €10 million to double its production capacity, scale its proprietary manufacturing technology, and reduce production costs so it can offer plant-based meat at more competitive prices. Amount raised in H1 2025: €4M Fungu’it is a French foodtech company developing a new generation of natural, fermented aromatic ingredients to enhance the taste and nutritional quality of food products through a clean-label, sustainable approach. Using solid-state fermentation with filamentous fungi, Fungu’it upcycles agricultural by-products into rich, complex flavourings ideal for both plant-based and traditional formulations, helping food manufacturers improve sensory profiles without artificial additives. The company’s innovative technology addresses key challenges in the food industry by combining naturalness, functionality and circularity to support the transition toward more sustainable and flavorful foods. In June, Fungu’it raised €4 million to build an industrial pilot plant, patent and scale its fermentation process, and develop a unique database from testing hundreds of strain–by-product combinations. Amount raised in H1 2025: €3.6M Grassa is a company that is transforming grass into high-quality, sustainable ingredients for animal and future human nutrition. Using a natural process of pressing, heating and filtering, Grassa unlocks the full nutritional potential of grass to produce protein concentrates, prebiotic sugars, fibres and plant-based fertilisers, offering a locally sourced alternative to imported soy and reducing emissions and waste in agricultural systems. By working with farmers and food chain partners, Grassa aims to build a circular, climate-positive food system that increases food production efficiency while lowering environmental impact. In March, Grassa raised €3.6 million to support scaling up the process, demonstrating benefits to dairy farmers, and developing grass protein for human consumption. Amount raised in H1 2025: €3M Kynda is a foodtech startup developing sustainable mycoprotein ingredients for the food and pet-food industries by converting agricultural by-products into high-protein, high-fibre mycelium through proprietary biomass fermentation technology. Its rapid fermentation process produces versatile, clean-label protein with meat-like texture and rich umami flavour, offering a scalable, low-impact alternative to traditional plant and animal proteins while upcycling under-utilised biomass. Founded in 2019, Kynda aims to support a more circular and efficient food system by unlocking the value of crop sidestreams and expanding access to nutritious, sustainable protein solutions. Kynda secured €3 million in February to scale up production with a new factory opening. Amount raised in H1 2025: €2.5M SuperGround is a foodtech company that partners with global food producers to make meat and seafood processing more efficient and sustainable. Using patented processing technology, SuperGround upcycles undervalued fish and poultry side streams into tasty, high-quality ingredients for products like nuggets, patties and fish balls. This full-utilisation approach helps companies reduce waste, lower emissions and costs, and produce more food from the same resources without compromising on flavour or food safety. In March, SuperGround secured €2.5 million to expand its technology aimed at minimising food waste.

Berlin-based AI healthtech company FICUS Health has closed its seed round, raising a total of €3 million together with its previous pre-seed financing. The round was led by European early-stage investor Redstone and supported by Merantix Capital as well as leading industry business angels. Founded in 2024, FICUS Health develops an AI platform that supports rehabilitation clinics with medical documentation. The software automates key processes, enhances information flow between physicians, therapists, and administrative staff, reduces administrative workload by up to 70 per cent in many clinics, and allows clinical teams to spend more time on patient care. The platform complies with high security and data protection standards, including ISO/IEC 27002, and all patient data is processed exclusively in Germany. FICUS is led by founders Benjamin Pochhammer (CEO) and Dr. Mario Elstner (CTO), who bring extensive experience in technology, healthcare, and AI product development. According to CEO Benjamin Pochhammer, the company’s aim is not only to give clinical staff more time in their daily work, but also to fundamentally improve how rehabilitation clinics operate: AI is the key lever to relieve operational workflows, optimise cost structures, and at the same time improve the quality of care. In this way, we support both medical staff and decision-makers who aim to shape their facilities in a digital and economically sustainable way. Market demand reflects this need. FICUS is already working with nearly 100 rehabilitation clinics across Germany. In less than nine months, more than 100,000 medical documents have been processed, and around 1,000 professionals use the system daily. Europe’s aging population is driving growing demand for rehabilitation, while the number of skilled workers is declining, and up to 1.8 million healthcare positions in Germany could remain unfilled by 2035. At the same time, clinics face rising costs, tight budgets, and high documentation workloads, with administrative tasks taking up around one-third of working time. Reducing this burden by even one hour per day could free tens of thousands of professionals for direct patient care. With the new funding, FICUS plans to further develop its AI platform, build additional applications along the entire patient journey, and ensure interoperability with existing systems. In parallel, the company will strengthen its organisational structures and expand its market position across the German-speaking region.

Qargo, an intelligent transport management system (TMS), has raised $33 million in a Series B funding round led by Sofina, with participation from existing investor Balderton Capital. The round follows Qargo’s rapid expansion across key European logistics hubs over the last 18 months. This latest investment brings Qargo’s total funding to $54 million. Founded in 2020, Qargo is a cloud-based transport management platform designed for carriers, freight forwarders, and 3PLs. It helps logistics companies digitise operations and automate manual tasks across the transport cycle, from order entry and planning to load building, invoicing, and reporting. The platform integrates with existing tools to support more efficient and profitable operations, reduce environmental impact, and enable scalable growth. Qargo Intelligence, the platform’s AI engine, enables logistics companies to automate large parts of the end-to-end transport workflow, including order creation, route planning, trip optimisation, load building, invoicing, and warehouse time-slot booking. This automation has helped customers reduce time spent on repetitive administrative tasks by up to 75 per cent, saving hundreds of hours each week across planning, customer service, and back-office teams. With the addition of agentic AI that can interact with external systems, Qargo’s platform is significantly reducing overhead costs and accelerating processes at a scale that traditional TMS systems cannot match. Its optimisation capabilities, which help companies run fleets more efficiently, can cut empty running by up to 30 per cent, a key advantage in a market where margins are under pressure from competition, decarbonisation requirements, and rising cybersecurity risks. Since its Series A in May 2024, Qargo’s growth has accelerated, with annual customer invoicing processed through the platform increasing from £420 million to more than £1.9 billion, and its customer base expanding from around 100 to more than 400. The Series B funding will enable Qargo to further scale its team, expand into new markets, and accelerate the development of its AI-driven product capabilities, while maintaining its independence and ability to partner with companies ranging from family-run firms to large enterprises.

Cofounder VC today announced the launch of a new early growth-stage fund that continues the investment activity of the CofounderZone team. The fund will target dynamically growing technology companies with proven market validation and recurring revenue, offering both capital and hands-on operational support to accelerate scaling. Cofounder VC (previously: CofounderZone) is an early-growth venture fund. The fund invests in technology companies that have validated products, growing revenue and a clear path to scaling. Cofounder VC combines capital with operational support from an experienced investment team, Venture Partners and a broad network of business angels. “Innovation’s value shows up only after market validation. At Cofounder VC, we aim to minimise execution risk by investing in the growth phase — when teams have proven demand, repeatable sales and clear momentum,” said Dr Tomasz Golinski, General Partner at Cofounder VC. “At that stage, our capital and operational playbook — especially in sales strategy, market entry and team building — can make a decisive difference. Our Venture Partners and the network of business angels we’ve built over the years are key assets we bring to founders.” The fund is sector-agnostic but leans toward business-process digitisation, sustainability and health tech, targeting companies with at least €100–200k in monthly recurring revenue that are profitable or near break-even. It plans to invest €1–3 million per company across a portfolio of around eight startups, supported by a network of 250+ business angels for deal sourcing and co-investment. The fund will actively support portfolio companies with: International expansion strategy and execution, Building and professionalising sales teams Fundraising and investor relations Organisational scaling and governance Implementing management best practices The team has been strengthened by the addition of Maciej Kowalczyk, founder and manager of Corvus Ventures, and will be supported by a group of Venture Partners — industry and operational experts who will advise deal selection and portfolio development. “Our goal is to bridge the gap between seed financing and later-stage growth capital,” added Michal Sioda, General Partner at Cofounder VC. “We see limited interest from many international VCs in the CEE  region, which leaves a gap for promising companies. We welcome projects that may be overlooked by large foreign funds but have strong potential to scale — and we’re ready to partner with teams that have already demonstrated early commercial success and now want to build something much bigger.” The fund has completed its first closing. Investors include Polish Development Fund, private investors and family offices from Poland and abroad. The fund intends to continue raising capital in the coming months.

Berlin-based Zentio has closed a €1.4 million pre-seed funding round led by HTGF, with additional support from SIVentures. Alongside capital, the investors will provide strategic and operational support for Zentio’s next phase of growth. Industrial companies make thousands of decisions every day, from minor operational adjustments to major strategic shifts, and each choice can trigger ripple effects across the entire value chain. A change in shift scheduling, for example, influences machine utilisation, which affects inventory levels, cash flow, and storage costs. These decisions are highly interdependent, yet no single person or existing system can fully oversee and simulate all these impacts in real time. Most companies lack the resources to analyse every scenario, leading to suboptimal planning, reduced productivity, capital tied up in inventory, missed delivery deadlines, and underused capacity. To move beyond simply digitising existing processes, manufacturers need a new approach that fundamentally changes how decisions are made. Zentio addresses this by enabling AI-native, real-time production planning. Its system structures and centralises operational, machine, and production data through AI agents, creating a self-learning flywheel effect. This depth of shopfloor-level insight helps factories turn operational data into a strategic asset, enhancing productivity, adaptability, and decision-making at scale. As Immo Polewka, co-founder and CCO at Zentio, explains, the best way to bridge this gap is by moving forward: Our vision is to elevate the standard of decision-making in European manufacturing. By combining operational data with mathematical optimisation and agentic automation, companies can plan ahead strategically and respond to disruptions with confidence. This approach allows decision-makers to anticipate capacity needs weeks in advance, respond to machine breakdowns or material shortages with the best available options, and adjust shift schedules or machine settings in real time to increase output and minimise idle time. Founded in 2025, Zentio is working with a network of pilot customers and strategic partners across Europe to advance its vision of AI-native production planning. Our main focus for the coming months is to advance our core mathematical systems and ML pipelines and tie it all together with UX and agents. To achieve this, we’re expanding our team with ambitious engineers who want to join us in building the first generation of AI-native production planning, added Christophe Kafrouni, co-founder and CTO of Zentio. The new funding will enable Zentio to deepen existing partnerships and lay the groundwork for long-term impact across European manufacturing.

This week, Spanish technology company  Internxt launched Internxt AI, a conversational AI tool designed as an ethical and secure alternative to tools like ChatGPT.  Internxt AI prioritises user privacy, total anonymity and strict compliance with European regulations, offering an accessible, sovereign AI experience free from mass surveillance.  This launch aligns with Internxt’s mission to establish itself as the leading brand in online user protection, providing a European alternative to the American tech giants.  Check out our earlier interview with Fran Villalba Segarra, CEO and founder of Internxt.  Most AIs we use daily —such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot— store and reuse data to train models or feed advertising ecosystems. Internxt AI breaks that pattern, offering a 100 per cent private, anonymous and sovereign experience where user information is never stored or shared.  Its technology relies on a unique security infrastructure, with end-to-end encryption and zero-knowledge architecture that prevents even the company itself from accessing user files. Internxt has also integrated post-quantum encryption, based on the NIST-approved Kyber 512 algorithm, designed to withstand future quantum-based cyberattacks. Developed fully on European servers, Internxt AI ensures that all user data remains within EU territory, complying with GDPR and the future EU AI Act. Unlike American competitors, Internxt AI does not track, sell or link data to accounts, enabling completely anonymous interactions. It also does not store anything shared with the system.  “Internxt AI represents the future of European AI: accessible to everyone, but without compromising on privacy,” says Fran Villalba Segarra, CEO and founder of Internxt. “We’ve worked hard to deliver a robust, European, open-source model that advances society with more than twenty billion parameters, offering fast, independent, precise and bias-free responses. It’s time for Europe to lead the AI revolution with ethics at its core.”  According to Villalba, the main features of Internxt AI include:  Absolute Privacy: End-to-end encryption for all conversations; no logs or metadata stored. Guaranteed Anonymity: Access with no registration, no cookies and no user identifiers. European Sovereignty: Hosted exclusively on European infrastructure, ensuring regulatory compliance and preventing cross-border data leaks. Advanced Security: Protection against malicious prompt injections and independent audits to mitigate bias. Accessibility: An intuitive, multilingual interface, including Spanish, is free to use. Power: Capable of handling complex queries in programming, creative writing, data analysis and more, with performance comparable to leading models but optimised for energy efficiency. Internxt is known for its strong commitment to data privacy and sovereignty, meeting the highest standards and certifications (GDPR, ISO 27001, SOC2, ENS, HIIPA) and having received the Spanish Data Protection Agency’s Award for Best Startup.  The company complements its offering with a no-tracking VPN and an intelligent antivirus, and is preparing the launch of Internxt Mail and Internxt Meet, encrypted email and video-calling services that will compete with Gmail and Zoom.

Ghent-based tech scale-up Trendtracker has closed a $7 million Series A funding round led by Armilar, with participation from existing investor Capricorn Partners. The investment will support the further development of Trendtracker’s autonomous AI strategy and foresight platform, which is designed to help organisations streamline strategic research, planning, and decision-making amid growing demand for AI tools that improve how organisations anticipate change and make strategic choices. Founded in 2019, Trendtracker provides an AI-powered strategic and foresight intelligence platform used by enterprises, governments, and consulting firms to monitor their external environment, identify emerging trends, and support the development of forward-looking strategies. Its platform is used by teams at organisations including Siemens, PepsiCo, P&G, PwC, Arthur D. Little, and Ageas. In an environment of constant change and increasing data volume, traditional strategy cycles are becoming less effective. Decision-makers need ongoing visibility into emerging trends that may create risks or opportunities across political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental domains. Trendtracker addresses this need with an always-on, AI-powered strategic intelligence platform that continuously monitors global signals, interprets them in context, and connects developments to their potential strategic impact. This helps organisations and governments act more quickly, make better-informed decisions, and anticipate disruption. Trendtracker’s platform is built on a predictive architecture and a coordinated system of AI agents that continuously detect, score, forecast, and interpret emerging trends by quantifying and explaining a range of impact KPIs. Drawing on this contextual understanding, the system provides leaders with deterministic, explainable, and transparent strategic intelligence on a 24/7 basis. According to Vincent Defour, CEO of Trendtracker, the company aims to reshape how teams working in strategy, risk, insights, innovation, and foresight operate. The AI doesn't just look at the past, but actively models strategic recommendations, predicting the future for businesses. Our technology functions as a strategic sparring partner, enhancing leadership judgment without supplanting it. Combining advanced AI with foresight expertise, Trendtracker positions itself as an autonomous AI strategy and foresight partner, helping organisations detect change earlier, understand its implications more deeply, and make informed decisions about their future direction. With a global customer base, Trendtracker plans to use the new capital to further develop its AI Analyst architecture, enhancing its multi-agent systems to automatically map organisational environments, analyse key sources of uncertainty, generate scenario-based forecasts, and recommend prescriptive strategic actions with clear rationale. The company will also accelerate its expansion in the US and the Middle East, supported by new strategic partnerships and a stronger local presence. In addition, Trendtracker intends to deepen its integrations and alliances with consulting firms, strategy and innovation platforms, global data providers, enterprise partners, and public-sector organisations, while scaling its hybrid team with senior talent in AI, foresight, engineering, and commercial leadership.