Czech healthtech startup Kardi AI, which has built an AI-powered chest strap that detects heart arrhythmias, has closed a €1.1M round to support international expansion and the advancement of clinical validation. The investment round included contributions from existing backers BrightCap Ventures, DEPO Ventures, and Garage Angels, with new support from Lumus Investment Collective and a Czech angel investor. With this new capital, the company is prioritizing expansion into regional and global markets. Its first targets include Central and Eastern European countries — Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania — followed by expansion into the United Arab Emirates and India, where demand for affordable cardiovascular diagnostic tools is high and digital health uptake is accelerating. Founded with the aim of making heart health monitoring both more accurate and accessible, Kardi has already helped detect over 250 serious cases of arrhythmia - life-threatening conditions that can lead to stroke, heart failure, or early-onset dementia. Its device, combining ECG measurement through a wearable chest strap with AI-driven analysis, is designed to overcome the limitations of traditional 24-hour Holter monitors, which often miss irregularities due to limited observation windows. “Traditional single 24-hour period monitoring often isn’t enough. Arrhythmias appear randomly and if you don’t catch them at the right time, it’s like they never existed. With Kardi Ai, users can measure every day, dramatically increasing the chances of early detection,” explains Prof. Tomáš Skála, co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Kardi Ai. “Kardi Ai has an exceptional, proven product that’s already helping save lives. Now it’s time to take this technology beyond the Czech Republic. We want to become the European leader in continuous heart monitoring. We believe this unique combination of data, clinical validity, and simplicity can change the way we prevent cardiovascular disease,” says Hrabal. “This expansion comes at a key moment. The markets we’re targeting face similar challenges to the Czech Republic – high rates of cardiovascular disease, overloaded healthcare systems, and growing interest in digital health. We believe Kardi Ai can make the biggest difference right there,” adds Hrabal. Globally, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death, with arrhythmias often going undetected until a major health event occurs. The World Health Organization estimates that over 17 million people die each year from CVD-related causes. With healthcare systems under pressure and populations aging, demand for continuous, user-friendly monitoring tools is on the rise. Kardi Ai is currently preparing for a clinical trial in partnership with university hospitals in Olomouc and Ostrava, building on existing collaborations with more than 20 hospitals and approximately 130 cardiologists.

UK-based venture capital firm Volution has announced the launch of its second fund, a $100M vehicle designed to address structural funding challenges faced by high-growth tech companies in the UK. The new fund is backed by a co-GP partnership with Japan’s SBI Investment Co. It aims to provide scale-up capital to fintech, AI, and SaaS businesses that need further investment to expand internationally. While early-stage investment remains relatively robust, later-stage funding has seen sharp declines. According to recent data, Series A funding in the UK dropped by 44 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, and the conversion rate from Series A to B has halved over the past five years. This trend poses risks to the country’s tech pipeline, with many promising businesses struggling to transition from early traction to global scale. Volution’s fund seeks to fill that gap by backing companies poised for international expansion but underserved by current funding mechanisms. The fund has already made initial investments into one fintech and one AI company. “The UK has a huge challenge at the moment. The government is laser focused on productivity and growth but there is a fundamental structural funding challenge," said James Codling, Managing Partner at Volution. "We have overfocused on unlocking cash at the very early stage through various tax efficient investment schemes but the money tends to evaporate post Series A. Companies get sold, fold, or become walking zombies. Investment at the inflection point of international growth is critical for the tech company and offers the most significant returns for LPs." “The businesses we back aren't just an idea and a couple of letters of intent. These are successful businesses aligned with the Government's Industrial Strategy. They have figured out product-market fit, have a solid go-to-market strategy, and are achieving significant revenue of at least £5m ARR. Volution is the catalyst to propel them to the next stage, both financially and by leveraging the team's extensive experience in scaling tech businesses.” SBI Investment, the venture arm of Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, has made a number of UK investments in recent years, including into Oxford Quantum Circuits, Elliptic, and Tide. Tomoyuki Nii, Director and Executive Officer for Overseas Investment at SBI Investment Co., said: “The UK is a global leader in FinTech and AI, with world-class universities, a strong regulatory environment, and a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. These strengths make it an attractive destination for investment. Our cornerstone commitment to Volution comes at a time when Japan and the UK government are strengthening economic ties to drive growth across both markets. Building on the success of Volution’s first fund, it will provide a new funding option for fast-growing UK businesses looking to scale.” Among Volution's investments is Zopa Bank, a UK fintech unicorn. The firm focuses on businesses that fall between the cracks of seed-stage and private equity investment, offering both capital and expertise to help companies grow to the next level.

Startups spend hours pitching their startups through decks, competitions, and endless meetings with investors. But the folks they woo also have to raise funds, in an environment where fundraising has become increasingly complex. And just as hard, if not harder. But now there's a pitch doctor to help investors raise funds.  Pitch Me First is a European advisory and marketing firm that specialises in helping private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds successfully attract investors and raise capital.  It's the brainchild of former institutional investor Tülin Tokatli, who I spoke to to find out more.  From institutional investor to pitch Coach Tokatli previously served as a Limited Partner (LP) at the European Investment Fund (EIF) and has extensive experience evaluating and managing investment opportunities. At EIF, Tokatli screened a lot of the proposals that EIF received. She explained: "It's a three-step approach and takes between 12 to 18 months, and every step needs to be handled very carefully because competition is high.  EIF receives about a thousand applications annually and only invests in 80 to 100. So what happens to the other 900?" After working there for five years, doing this daily, she decided to launch her own company in 2023.  "Pitching is competitive, so let's look at proposals early, identify risk areas, and improve before presenting to LPs." Fundraising has gotten harder For VC funds, the ability to generate returns for Limited Partners (LPs) remains the ultimate benchmark of success. However, many limited partners are holding back on new fund commitments, squeezed by lower returns from earlier investments and tempted by more attractive high-growth opportunities outside of venture capital. Meanwhile, market turbulence — driven by stock volatility and disruptive trade policies — has shaken investor confidence, slowing down fundraising efforts and pushing IPOs further down the road. VC fundraising in Europe experienced a slow start in Q1 2025, with only €2.3 billion raised across 24 funds, suggesting a potential decline compared to 2024's totals.  Private equity funds globally amassed $179.1 billion in Q1 2025, a decline of $21.7 billion compared to the same period in 2024. ​ Funds targeting Europe accounted for 19 per cent of the total capital raised, amounting to approximately $34 billion. However, while fundraising is far lower than a few years ago, so far in 2025, we've seen several notable fundraises across diverse sectors: Spanish investment firm IDC Ventures (IDCV) launched VC4 FoF I, its inaugural fund of funds with a size of up to €150 million. Climatetech VC 2150 secured nearly €200 million for its second fund, aiming to invest in sustainable urban solutions across North America and Europe.  Junction Growth Investors closed its first fund at €115 million.  Last week early-stage industrial VC KOMPAS VC closed its €150M second fund. We also saw the launch of several smaller funds this year. For example, First Momentum Ventures, originating as a student initiative, closed a €35 million Fund II, and former Accel investor Candice du Fretay launched Outlier Grove, a $20 million fund designed to help European B2B startups expand into the US market from their inception.  How Pitch Me First helps Fund managers Pitch Me First provides expert guidance on investment strategy, market positioning, and fundraising approaches, while supporting clients through the application and due diligence process by reviewing documents such as pitch decks and portfolio models.  They also deliver market analysis, benchmarking, and facilitate introductions to potential limited partners through their industry network. Pitch Me First revamps investor websites, boosts online visibility with content and SEO, and streamlines reporting through analytics, real-time dashboards, and customised CRM solutions. The company provides hands-on support, including training, mock interviews, and workshops, to ensure fund managers are fully prepared for investor engagement and due diligence. According to Tokatli, it's like getting a driver's license:  "You practice with sample questions before the real test. Every fund is unique, so we tailor the coaching. We do rehearsal meetings, predict the questions they might get, and prepare strong answers. Sometimes it's even mediation between partners — they challenge each other, and I help manage that too." Common mistakes in investor fundraising pitching According to Tokatli, alot of investors approach investment optimistically but with a lack of coherence:   "There's a pot of money, so they want to set up a fund with their best friends.  But it needs to be based on something solid. What they want to sell with the fund has to have coherent links. Often one part might make sense, but four other parts don't match." Track record is important — past performance isn't a guarantee, but it's still a good indicator.  Tokatli asserts that investors need to show that they have the network to raise funds and the business acumen to help companies grow.  "They also need to position themselves uniquely because the market is very mature now.  Sometimes, they even undersell themselves, and I help bring their strengths forward. Everything lies in the details, and good preparation is key." Warm introductions aren't everything  While Tokatli contends that relationships help — "if you're a good salesperson, it's a big advantage" — relationships alone don't make an investor move.  "Maybe it's 20 per cent relationships, but 80 per cent is the foundation: the fundamentals need to be strong.  I've seen managers try to use personal connections to influence decisions, but for example, at EIF, we stayed professional. It was always about the facts and the material submitted. No favouritism." Further, pitching strategies differ depending on whether the audience is private equity firms, angel investors, or sovereign wealth funds. For example, screening timelines are different.  Tokatli explained that Angels or smaller investors usually move quicker and focus more on relationships. But institutional investors — government institutions, sovereign wealth funds, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) — have much lengthier and formal processes, easily three to four months or more. The importance of diverse, complementary teams However, in an era where investment is focused in increasingly complex and niche sectors within deeptech, quantum computing, and defence, Tokatli cautions that teams need complementarity. "You can't have only scientists if you're investing in deep tech — you also need someone thinking commercially, someone who wants to build and sell businesses. And the team has to be close to the target market — you can't operate a regional fund out of London if you're investing in, say, Eastern Europe." Also, institutional money comes with mandates. EIF, for example, has a strong focus on climate, innovation, and defense. So ESG is unavoidable. Funds must understand the EU taxonomy and show how they contribute.  Even deep tech funds not directly doing climate investments are expected to allocate a portion toward ESG-aligned sectors. Tokatli contends that diversity is also important: "Today, having no female partners at the decision-making level really limits your chances. But it has to be merit-based, not tokenistic." Startups might smirk at the idea of VCs struggling to pitch — but in today’s fundraising climate, everyone has to hustle for a yes. And the more VCs succeed, the more funds they can allocate to startups. 

Aldea Ventures, a pan-European fund of funds focused on specialist, early-stage VC managers in frontier technology, has announced a €50M first close of its second fund, Aldea II, which is targeting a total raise of €125M. With this new vehicle, Aldea continues its mission to support pre-seed and seed-stage investors operating at the cutting edge of deep tech, while deepening its footprint in Europe and selectively expanding into North America. The firm, which launched its first fund in 2020, is doubling down on its strategy of identifying emerging managers with niche technical expertise in high-impact sectors such as AI, next-gen computing, climate tech, health and bio, and robotics. Aldea has invested in 28 funds managed by 23 different VCs, participating in over 1,000 startup investments. With Aldea II, the firm plans to build a more concentrated portfolio focused on sub-€100M Micro-VCs and sub-€25M Nano-VCs, as well as a limited number of co-investment and secondary opportunities. Initial Fund II commitments have already been made to early-stage managers including as Moonfire II (data-driven VC), Amino II (health and bio frontier tech), and Unruly Capital (climate and deeptech). Aldea II also welcomes Concept Ventures and First Commit into its portfolio, while continuing relationships with funds like Possible Ventures and 201 Ventures. “We view venture capital as a dynamic, distributed intelligence network that propels innovation forward,” said Alfonso Bassols, Managing Partner at Aldea Ventures. “At Aldea, we’ve consistently found that very early stage specialist managers—fueled by their unique insights and local expertise—are crucial to detecting the subtle signals that shape tomorrow’s breakthroughs. With our second fund, we’re doubling down on our dedication to this network by making more concentrated investments in the most promising managers, empowering these visionary allocators who operate at the leading edge of innovation." Aldea’s strategy comes at a time when investor attention is increasingly shifting to high-impact, frontier technologies. According to ARK Invest’s Big Ideas 2024 report, frontier tech sectors are projected to grow at an average annual rate of 42 percent, far outpacing traditional tech’s projected 3 percent growth. As these sectors become more technically complex and capital-intensive, Aldea believes the best outcomes will come from backing managers with domain-specific knowledge and patient capital. “Aldea has been more than an investor - they’ve been a true partner,” said Mick Halsband, General Partner at Lunar Ventures. “Over the years, they’ve shown real alignment with our mission to back deeptech founders in Europe. They understand the long timelines and complexity this space demands, and they’ve supported us with patience, trust, and a shared belief in building for the long term. They’re one of the few FoFs truly helping lay the groundwork for deep tech innovation coming out of Europe.” Aldea has also announced key team changes to support its growth. Daniela Cavagliano, who joined the firm as COO in 2023 following a decade at UBS, has been promoted to Partner. Gabrielle Cummins, previously with Barcelona-based climate tech firm Mitiga Solutions, joins as Principal. “In recent years, we've witnessed a significant influx of innovative technologies—many with the potential to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Cavagliano. “In my view, these technologies should be a core component of any investor’s portfolio. Among the available instruments, Aldea offers a particularly unique proposition: a well-diversified portfolio of highly specialised early-stage managers, providing a compelling combination of high-value creation and low-risk exposure. I have absolute confidence in the success of the strategy we started in 2020 and on which Fund II continues building." While Aldea continues to prioritise Europe - where 71 percent of portfolio companies from Fund I are based - it is also eyeing increased exposure to the U.S. market, particularly through European funds with cross-Atlantic ambitions and the infrastructure to support global expansion for EU founders.

Berlin-based fintech Pliant has secured a $40M Series B round, bringing its total funding to over $100M. The investment aims to accelerate Pliant’s expansion into the US market. The round was co-led by Illuminate Financial and Speedinvest, with participation from existing investors PayPal Ventures and Motive Ventures.​ Pliant specializes in B2B payment solutions, offering a platform that combines physical and virtual credit cards with automation tools to streamline corporate spending. Its cards-as-a-service (CaaS) model enables businesses to launch their own branded credit card programs, enhancing customer retention and providing new revenue streams. The platform has gained traction in industries such as travel, fleet management, and banking. Pliant’s expansion into the U.S. is part of its strategy to tap into the large and underserved B2B payments market.​ The Series B funding will support Pliant’s US market entry, including the establishment of a local team and infrastructure. The company plans to hire additional talent and expand its partner network to facilitate growth. Recent collaborations, such as the partnership with Commerzbank, have helped Pliant reach more customers and support a wider range of payment use cases.​ “We are proud to have reached this milestone and grateful for the continued support of our investors. We have proven that our platform delivers real value at scale. With a strong foundation in Europe, we are ready to bring our solution to the U.S. market,” said Malte Rau, CEO and co-founder of Pliant.​ Tom Filip Lesche, Partner at Speedinvest, commented: “Pliant is not just building a 10x better credit card product – they’re building the future infrastructure of corporate payments. We’ve been following Malte, Fabian, and their team for some time and I can't think of another team that has consistently outperformed their ambitious plans year after year. "We’re now proud to co-lead this Series B and partner with such an exceptional group on their journey to become a defining European fintech success story.”​ Konstantin Koenig, Principal at Illuminate Financial, added: “B2B payments remain one of the most underserved and inefficient areas in global finance – still hindered by manual processes, opaque infrastructure, and slow settlement cycles. Pliant’s platform brings a much-needed layer of automation, flexibility, and intelligence to corporate payments, unlocking real value for modern businesses.”​

Last week, we tracked more than 65 tech funding deals worth over €428 million, and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, rumors, and related news stories across Europe.Click to read the rest of the news.

Munich autonomous unmanned ground systems (UGV) company ARX Robotics has raised €31 million Series A funding round, led by HV Capital with participation from Omnes Capital and significant support from existing investors NATO Innovation Fund and Project A. This brings its funding to over €40 million.  Europe’s shifting geopolitical landscape is driving a renewed focus on defence modernisation and strategic autonomy. As European nations bolster their capabilities, demand for advanced, AI-driven autonomous systems is rising.  Land operations remain vastly under-automated – despite accounting for 80 per cent of all military activities, 70 per cent of material usage, and 40 per cent of total procurement. ARX Robotics is bridging this gap by digitising and autonomising European forces – equipping them with advanced capabilities through high-performance UGVs, modernised legacy systems, and seamless AI-driven connectivity across land, air, and sea domains. Founded by Marc Wietfeld (Co-Founder and CEO), Maximilian Wied (Co-Founder and CFO), and Stefan Roebel (Co-Founder and COO), all former officers in the German Bundeswehr, Arx Robotics seeks to strengthen European resilience. It has developed the world’s first independent AI-powered operating system for legacy vehicles, ARX Mithra OS, which helps militaries increase their operational efficiency and enhance situational awareness as they modernise their fleets. “The demand for modular, software-driven defence systems is growing rapidly—and we’re building the company that will define this category in Europe", said Marc Wietfeld, co-founder and CEO of ARX Robotics. “At the core of ARX Robotics is a clear mission: to build the next generation of defence infrastructure through scalable robotics and software.  This fresh funding is an important milestone and catalyst that allows us to move from successful deployments to industrial scale.” Since its founding in 2022, ARX Robotics has become the leading UGV supplier to key European markets, including Germany, Ukraine and the UK, with six European military forces currently deploying them. ARX also supplied the Ukrainian Military with the largest Western-developed fleet of UGVs and was recently contracted by the European Defence Agency (EDA) to participate in the first EU-wide defence innovation initiative. With its technology, ARX Robotics has the potential to retrofit over 50,000 NATO vehicles. With a fully European supply chain, ARX ensures that mission-critical technology stays under European control, aligned with the continent’s sovereignty and resilience goals. ARX Robotics recently announced its expansion into the UK with the    establishment of new headquarters and a planned production facility,    alongside a strategic partnership with Daimler Truck to advance next-gen military vehicles. Fabian Gruner, Partner at HV Capital, said: “ARX is proof that Europe can build internationally relevant defence technology: modern, AI-native, and strategically sovereign. Their rapid deployment across Europe is a testament to both the urgency and strength of their product.” Chris O’Connor, Partner at NATO Innovation Fund shared: “We are proud of the tremendous progress the ARX Robotics team has made over the previous year, including growing their suite of products to address the legacy ground fleet, expanding geographic reach and building a world class team. A RX Robotics has fielded the largest Western UGV fleet to Ukraine and we look forward to continuing to support the company as it expands its reach across NATO nations.” With the Series A funding, ARX Robotics plans to significantly scale production, accelerate its European expansion into key markets, and strengthen its AI-driven defence capabilities. Lead image: ARX Robotics. Photo: uncredited. 

Hands-free electric vehicle (EV) charging startup Rocsys today launched the world’s first integrated platform to power 24/7 hands-free charging for autonomous mobility. I spoke to Crijn Bouman, co-founder and CEO of Rocsys to find out more.  Bouman has been in the EV space for about 20 years. After graduating from Delft, he founded Epyon, Europe’s first EV fast-charging company, later acquired by ABB, where it became the ABB Charging Group.  Following the acquisition, he stayed on to build out a global business. In his last year at  ABB Charging Group, he visited a robotic startup in San Francisco. They had an indoor test track where autonomous vehicles drove around and parked themselves. But then a person had to walk over and plug them in. He recalled: “I was completely awestruck seeing autonomous vehicles for the first time, but I wondered, 'Why don't you automate that too?' Someone there told me their management said the only focus was to get vehicles ready for the road — everything else would come later.” The idea stuck. A year later, he left ABB, met some people working in robotics, and founded Rocsys.         Why driverless vehicles need autonomous charging Vehicles are becoming driverless, but infrastructure is still built for humans. There's a huge gap.  Current charging systems are built on the outdated assumption that a human operator should always be present. Manual charging is time-consuming, labour-intensive, error-prone, and incompatible with the scalability that autonomous fleets demand. A manual charging process negates the benefits of otherwise autonomous systems by introducing a human bottleneck. Bouman contends that to reach a driverless future, the infrastructure needs to be designed for driverless vehicles.  “We fill that gap, and the first application is charging. We use a combination of robotics, AI, computer vision, and software. It's a hardware-enabled software business — the hardware is important, but it’s all about computer vision, AI, and controls. People sometimes call it 'embodied AI' or 'physical AI.'”  The Rocsys Platform includes four key components: Rocsys Steward – An advanced automatic connection device powered by computer vision and machine learning. It autonomously detects vehicle arrival, opens the charging port, plugs in safely, charges, and unplugs — all without human intervention. It’s compatible with all standard connectors and existing multi-brand infrastructure. Rocsys API – Enables integration with IT systems such as Terminal Operating Systems (TOS) and Fleet Management Systems (FMS), providing operators with total control and visibility over charging in the context of wider logistics or mobility operations. Rocsys Portal – A operational dashboard providing real-time data-driven insights into charging activities, enabling operators to optimise performance and unlock efficiencies in autonomous workflows. Rocsys Proactive Care – A 24/7 support service offering remote performance monitoring, computer vision performance updates, remote troubleshooting, and proactive maintenance to ensure uninterrupted operations, especially in challenging environments like ports and logistics hubs. Ports, logistics, and robotaxis: where Rocsys wins To gain traction in the crowded EV charging market, Rocysys is very intentional about the markets it targets: port terminals and logistics yards, where automated vehicles are already being deployed, and there's a real problem to solve. Designed to meet the demands of 24/7 autonomous operations, especially in rugged environments like ports where manual charging is a hidden bottleneck. The Rocsys Platform ensures vehicles are always charged, connected, and ready when operators need them. It unlocks greater efficiency, safety, and scalability for the world’s leading port operators, logistics companies, and robotaxi brands.  Bouman detailed:  “Passenger cars are more of a 'nice-to-have' use case — it's not critical. In professional fleets, though, automation is a 'must-have.' So we focus on real, painful problems in professional settings. We basically ensure the vehicle is correctly connected to a normal charger. So the charging speed depends on the charger itself." Rocsys automates high-speed charging — like 400kW, 10-minute fast charges — is possible with its system, which is an advantage over wireless charging. Further, reliability is also critical. According to Bouman: “In fleet environments, if someone forgets to plug in or damages a connector, it costs real money. A vehicle not charged on time in a port, for example, can be extremely costly." Rocsys works with customers in the robotaxi, logistics, and ports sectors, including operators like APM Terminals MVII, the number 2 port terminal operator in the world, leading autonomous vehicle solution providers like EasyMile and embotech and vehicle OEMs like Hyster, DAF, and Autocar.  Significantly,the Rocsys Platform offers seamless integration with existing vehicle and infrastructure setups without the need for a wholesale retrofit and delivers unmatched compatibility across all vehicle types and charging brands. From hype to business reality Autonomous vehicles have been in development for over 20 years. Five or six years ago, there was a lot of hype. Then disappointment — too much overpromise, too little real-world success.  According to Bouman, the conversation has shifted from 'Will it work?' to 'Will the business case work?' The port automation market is projected to exceed $15.5 billion by 2032.  Waymo is completing around 200,000 paid rides a week in the US. Baidu's Apollo Go service has been at the forefront, with approximately 1.1 million rides in the fourth quarter of 2024, and is expected to achieve profitability this year. In trucking, Fernride and Einride are going from strength to strength, as well as defencetech applications like ARX Robotics. Rocsys will present the Rocsys Platform and future innovations to the Rocsys Steward at ACT Expo from April 28 to 30 at Booth #6514.  

This week we tracked more than 65 tech funding deals worth over €428 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 ?? Xayn secures €80M to build Europe’s privacy-first legal AI ?? Consent management specialist Didomi raises €72M and acquires Addingwell ?? Symbiotic raises $29M in Series A funding ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ?? Datatonic acquires Syntio to strengthen its data engineering capabilities ?? The Berlin-based FinTech Senken is acquiring the Berlin-based startup Ivy ?? Supply chain software security firm Socket acquires Coana ? Interesting moves from investors ? KOMPAS VC closes €150M Fund II to back sustainability and productivity-focused industrialtech ? Student spinout First Momentum Ventures closes €35M Fund II for deep tech startups ? Sheblooms Venture raises €205,000 to empower female entrepreneurship ?️ In other (important) news ?? Poland installs its first superconducting quantum computer ?️ Aquark Technologies and NOC successfully trap cold atoms underwater for the first time with Boaty McBoatface ? Berlin tech salaries stagnate as gender pay gap widens — now over 20 per cent ?M&A momentum undone by legacy systems and talent gaps, warns Unit4 ? OKAPI:Orbits secures €13M to build the future of space traffic management ? Recommended reads and listens ?? Croatia: Accelerating growth and innovation for a digital tomorrow ? Berlin-based Reflex partners with Umbra to bolster Europe's space sovereignty ? Spendesk partners with Dust to roll out custom AI agents ? 6 startups powering a greener planet on Earth Day ? European tech startups to watch ?? Innovate UK has awarded TreQ and a consortium of partners £1.65M to develop an Open Architecture Quantum (OAQ) Testbed ?? Tella raises $2.1M for AI-powered video creation ? WineFi secures £1.5M seed funding for fine wine investing platform ?? Rundle secures $900,000 to make renting the new buying in the UK’s consumer tech economy ?? Taglayer raises €800,000 to help marketers build personalised customer experiences

Berlin is famous for a few things: clubs, doner kebabs, startups, tourists, and poor customer service. It's an ever-changing city (and my home) that attracts a huge number of tech enthusiasts.  A recent survey by the author of the weekly tech newsletter,  Handpicked Berlin offers an insight into what people are earning right now in the city’s tech ecosystem. With  1,845 valid submissions, the 3rd annual salary survey for the tech and startup sectors. This year's report reveals a concerning trend: median salaries have stagnated at €75,000 while the gender pay gap has significantly widened. Before we dig into the findings, let’s just get some demographics:  Gender: Out of 1845 total respondents this year, 996 (53.98 per cent) identify as male, 820 (44.44 per cent) as female, 15 as non-binary respondents (0.81 per cent), and 14 preferred not to say (0.76 per cent). Education: The Berlin tech scene remains highly educated, with nearly 94 per cent of professionals holding at least a Bachelor's degree. Master's degrees are most common (49.3 per cent), followed by Bachelor's (36.9 per cent). Career stage: Most tech professionals in Berlin are mid-career, with over 60 per cent having 6–15 years of experience. Large corporations (1000+ employees) employ the largest share (35 per cent), while smaller startups (1–10 employees) are underrepresented, despite Berlin’s active early-stage scene. Yeah, surprise, surprise most people don’t work at startups While Berlin prides itself on its reputation as a startup haven, in reality only 29.26 per cent (539 respondents) work at startups this year, compared to 36.47 per cent (419 respondents) last year—a decrease of 7.21 per cent — perhaps team members were too busy hustling to fill in the survey?   Meanwhile, the vast majority (66.4 per cent, 1223 respondents) are employed at established companies, up from 60.31 per cent (693 respondents). In terms of salary progression,  the most substantial salary jumps occur when moving from micro-companies to small businesses, with a 25 per cent increase between the 1-10 and 11-50 employee brackets.  How large is the gender pay gap? The gender pay gap has increased compared to last year, now standing at over 20 per cent across all respondents (vs 15 per cent last year). It probably also has to do with more women participating this year. In median terms, women earned 20.48 per cent (€66,000) or €17,000 less than men (€83,000). The situation was worse for non-binary respondents (25.30 per cent less, €62,000). For women in leadership positions, the gap has widened significantly. Female leaders make up 40.28 per cent of leadership respondents, they earned a median of €75,500 compared to €100,000 for male leaders – a difference of €24,500 or 24.5 per cent (vs 14.46 per cent last year). In the group of individual contributors, the gap was €13,250 or 16.99 per cent (€64,750 for women vs €78,000 for men). This growing disparity suggests that despite increased awareness of gender inequality in compensation, the tech and startup sectors in Berlin are experiencing a concerning trend in the wrong direction. It’s fair to say that equal quality work should mean equal pay. Even when controlling for both experience level and role, a significant gender pay gap persists among full-time employees. Based on a subset of 1,700 respondents, the data shows that men consistently earn more than women across nearly all roles and experience brackets, with the average adjusted pay gap at -14.9 per cent.  The gap is especially pronounced in mid-career positions such as managers and individual contributors, where differences range from -15 per cent to over -22 per cent. While younger employees show slightly smaller disparities (around -10 per cent), the gap widens with more experience, reaching -26 per cent for those with 16–20 years on the job.  Notably, the only group where women out-earn men is among very early-career team leads. These findings suggest that factors beyond role or experience—such as negotiation practices, unconscious bias, or structural inequalities—may contribute to ongoing pay disparities. The migrant experience  In reality, the data reflects Berlin’s international tech ecosystem, with German passport holders accounting for 15.6 per cent of respondents (versus approximately 75 per cent of Berlin’s general population). This provides excellent insights for international professionals but may not fully represent local German compensation patterns.  Further, the majority of respondents function with intermediate or basic German proficiency — it's not easy to learn Deutsch when you work full time, and Germany could increase its attractiveness to skilled migrants by including administrative services in languages besides English.  Yet contrary to common assumptions, fluency in German does not correlate with higher salaries in the tech sector. In fact, those with advanced German skills (C1 level) report the lowest average and median salaries—€68,611 and €67,250, respectively. Meanwhile, professionals with little or no German proficiency tend to earn more, with average salaries above €80,000. This pattern suggests that international specialists, particularly those with in-demand technical skills, may command premium pay regardless of language ability. It may also reflect a talent gap in the local German-speaking workforce, prompting companies to offer higher salaries to attract non-German-speaking experts. Curiously, German citizens earned €7,000 less than their non-EU counterparts, and other EU citizens earned €8,000 less. This continues a pattern of previous years, where international talent from outside the EU gets a premium compensation in Berlin’s ecosystem.  However, as Berlin competes globally for tech talent in response to the ever-present skills gap issues of talent retention and workplace equity that could impact the city's position as Europe's leading tech hub.  What jobs pay the most and least in Berlin?  This year's expanded role categorization reveals significant salary disparities across job titles. The highest-paying roles are in:  Software Engineering Leadership (€115,995 average),  SRE & Infrastructure (€112,000), and  Executives (€107,722), reflecting the premium on technical leadership and strategic roles.  On the other end, the lowest-paying roles include:  Executive Assistance & Administration (€40,750), Accounting (€44,000, though based on a single respondent), Architectural Design (€45,750).  Roles in Web Development, Graphic Design, and Content & Creative Marketing also fall on the lower end of the salary scale.  Industries with the highest salaries:  Looking at average startup employees reported a higher average salary (€80,424.86) compared with established companies (€78,041.29)—a small 3 per cent advantage for startups.  A lot of people will leave their jobs Nearly one-third of respondents (30.82 per cent or 567 people) indicated they are likely or very likely to change jobs in 2025.  It’s unclear whether this includes people who suspect their role may be eradicated but at the very least suggests  companies need to work on their employee retention policies. Further, an overwhelming majority of respondents (67.8 per cent) received neither payment nor flex-time for extra hours worked which shows the need for room for improvement Bonus and equity structures vary notably by company size. Mid-sized companies (201–500 employees) offer the most generous bonuses, with the highest average (€20,135) and a median of €10,000. Large enterprises (1000+) provide the most consistent access to bonuses (32.6 per cent of employees), though at a slightly lower median of €8,000.  When it comes to equity, very small companies (1–10 employees) offer the highest average value (€56,136), likely to offset lower salaries, but access is limited (11.3 per cent). Large enterprises strike the best balance, offering both broad access (30.9 per cent) and solid equity value (median €20,000). Mid-sized firms remain a sweet spot, offering top-tier bonuses and decent equity without startup-level risk. Lead image: Cate Lawrence. 

This week, Berlin-based legal tech startup Xayn (soon to be Noxtua SE), developer of Europe's first sovereign Legal AI Noxtua, completed its Series B investment round of approximately € 80.7 million, with C.H. Beck, Germany's leading legal publisher, as the leading investor. Additional new investors on board include Northern Data, a specialist in High-Performance Computing (HPC), Germany's largest business law firm CMS, Xayn's long-standing partner and co-initiator of the Legal AI Noxtua, and global law firm Dentons. I spoke with Xayn CEO and co-founder Dr Leif-Nissen Lundbæk and Dr Markus Kaulartz, lawyer and partner for AI at CMS, to learn more.  Europe's first sovereign legal AI platform Xayn has developed Europe's first sovereign legal AI platform, specifically tailored for the German and European legal systems. Designed to meet the stringent privacy, compliance, and professional secrecy standards of the legal profession, Noxtua offers a suite of AI-powered tools to assist legal professionals in their daily work.​ Born out of research at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London, Xayn's foundation lies in reinforcement learning, which it still uses to improve performance. today  While it didn't begin with language models, it became clear early on that they would be essential. Noxtua combines reinforcement learning with transformer and recurrent neural networks to optimise both performance and energy efficiency—its models can reduce energy consumption by up to 98% compared to alternatives. The Xayn team connected with Dr Markus Kaulartz from CMS, one of Europe's largest law firms. His insights on privacy law and IP rights highlighted how existing legal AI tools, particularly those from the US, couldn't be used in European legal settings. They realised a real need for a compliant, powerful AI tool built for Europe. The importance of privacy-first data sovereignty  Compliance, privacy, and data protection regulations deeply affect the legal industry —  especially in Europe.  In Germany, law firms must comply with the Professional Secrecy Act, which restricts the use of cloud-based tools like ChatGPT. You'd need client permission to process their data using these platforms—something that's rarely feasible. That's why many firms traditionally have relied on on-premise software – up until now. Xayn's sovereign European Legal AI adheres to the high professional, criminal, and data protection law requirements for attorneys (e.g. Section 203 of the German Criminal Code (StGB), Section 43e of the German Federal Code for Lawyers (BRAO)), enabling its use by professionals bound by confidentiality without requiring anonymisation. Noxtua is trained on legal data — not client data — but on contracts and clauses designed specifically for this purpose. That makes it both compliant and accurate. Data sovereignty is at the core of Xayn's identity.  Dr Lundbæk asserts that the company has  always believed in a privacy-first, European-centric approach to AI—bringing the algorithm to the data, not the other way around. "This means designing systems that are data-efficient, respect privacy, and support sovereignty. We've had many conversations with US investors and partners who simply don't understand why it matters. But for Europeans, it's critical — especially given our dependence on foreign technologies. From a legal AI perspective, the challenge is clear: the US legal market is relatively uniform, making it easier to scale tools like Harvey. In Europe, however, we deal with fragmented, complex systems. US-centric tools aren't suitable for German, French, or Italian legal systems. We're building specifically for that complexity." Xayn serves two main customer types: law firms and in-house legal departments, including compliance and procurement teams. Law firms have greater complexity, broader topics, and tighter regulations, especially around professional secrecy. Noxtua Legal AI evolves with 55 mllion Beck documents Xayn is currently building the third generation of Noxtua, leveraging C.H.Beck's exclusive legal data for training and further optimising of the Noxtua Legal AI. Previously, Noxtua trained its model mainly using law firm data, which allowed for good clause comparisons but lacked deep interpretability. With Beck data, the model can now explain and justify recommendations with proper references. This blend of drafting and research makes the system more accurate and trustworthy. Publishing more than 9,000 available works, 80 specialist journals, and up to 1,000 new publications and new editions every year, the specialised publisher has by far the largest legal database in the German-speaking world with beck-online – with well over 55 million documents covering all relevant areas of law. beck-online contains, among other things, the most comprehensive collection of relevant commentary literature, which is essential for lawyers in their daily work.  According to Dr Lundbæk: "This increase in data allows us to massively enhance the model's capabilities. It's not just a minor update, it's a significant evolution of the product." According to CMS partner, Dr Markus Kaulartz, in civil law countries like Germany, literature such as commentaries and academic articles play a central role alongside statutes and case law. Lawyers and judges consult these sources to interpret law and make decisions. "When a client sends a request, a lawyer must first understand the context, analyse the documents, and reference relevant case law and literature to provide advice or draft documents. Judges do the same when forming legal decisions. That's why this partnership between Noxtua and Beck is powerful. Noxtua provides the AI and software capabilities, and we bring the legal data — both for training the model and supporting references. Unlike other tools like ChatGPT, our system can show the exact page from a commentary or case law that supports a response." Xayn updates its model roughly every three months, which includes new functionalities and improved reasoning, ensuring that the latest documents and rulings are integrated. Xayn expands Noxtua’s reach as public sector adoption accelerates And from the get-go Xayn has attracted interest in Germany from a sector of legal professionals that have lacked the ability to access the AI-embedded tools of their global peers.  Dr Lundbæk shared: "When we Xayn announced  Noxtua publicly, it was overwhelmed by the interest. It clearly filled a massive gap. Law firms and legal departments are under pressure from growing regulations and shrinking headcounts—they need solutions like  Noxtua  to stay ahead." Xayn has expanded its user base to encompass large law firms like CMS to enterprises and government departments. Law is everywhere — in contracts, regulations, bureaucratic forms. Public sector interest, in particular, has grown rapidly due to regulatory pressure.  Dr Lundbæk contends that governments are moving faster than expected, especially in Europe: "Our focus on security, compliance, and sovereignty — supported by partnerships with Deutsche Telekom and Northern Data — aligns well with public sector needs." Noxtua includes contract review templates — developed in collaboration with firms like CMS — that help guide users through legal workflows. These prebuilt workflows are designed to support even less tech-savvy users, enabling smooth and effective adoption. Upcoming features include matrix review, which allows for bulk contract analysis, and multi-step templates — sometimes referred to as agentic behavior — that automate entire legal workflows such as contract review, redlining, and email generation. The team is also expanding integrations, including with Power Automate. One example is ENBW, a German energy provider, which uses the platform to automatically detect incoming contracts, apply checklists, generate redlines, and notify legal teams — all without manual intervention. This approach goes well beyond simple chat interfaces. It embeds AI directly into real legal processes, with a focus on transparency, depth, and alignment with organisational needs.  The current geopolitical shifts lend additional weight to this investment in sovereign European technology – above all in AI: in addition to high-quality data, Europe needs its own AI models and an autonomous infrastructure for more digital sovereignty and in order to avoid or reduce technological dependencies.  This is where the strategic investor Northern Data, based in Frankfurt am Main, brings extensive expertise in sovereign, European high-performance computing and hosting.  Aroosh Thillainathan, Founder and CEO of Northern Data Group, commented:  "We empower the world's most innovative companies – not just through our technology, but also by fostering the ecosystems that spark groundbreaking ideas.  Xayn/Noxtua successfully combines cutting-edge AI applications, fine-tuned LLMs, proprietary databases, and powerful compute resources—all within our sovereign, legally compliant AI infrastructure." Previous investors Global Brain Corporation, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, CMS, and Dominik Schiener remain invested in the startup. The latter, along with C.H. Beck, takes over the shares of former investor Earlybird VC in alignment with the AI startup's new strategic orientation.

London-based fintech WineFi has raised £1.5M in a Seed funding round led by Coterie Holdings, a British fine wine group. This investment also includes contributions from SFC Capital, Founders Capital, and several angel investors. The funding aims to enhance WineFi's platform, which offers data-driven access to fine wine investment opportunities, making this asset class more accessible to a broader range of investors.​ Founded by Oliver Thorpe and Callum Woodcock, both with backgrounds in asset management at Fidelity International and J.P. Morgan, WineFi seeks to provide high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and funds with comprehensive data and insights into wine portfolios. Traditionally, wine investment has been facilitated through merchants, often lacking transparency and standardised data. WineFi's platform aims to bridge this gap by offering a more structured and transparent approach to investing in fine wines.​ The platform allows individuals to co-invest in diversified, expertly curated wine portfolios, with minimum investments starting at £3,000. This accessibility is particularly appealing as investors seek alternative assets amid market volatility.​ WineFi has partnered with Lympid, a digital asset platform, to provide clients with access to fractionalised fine wine investments. This collaboration integrates blockchain technology to enhance transparency and liquidity in the wine investment market. By leveraging these innovations, WineFi aims to attract a new generation of investors to the fine wine sector.​ Coterie Holdings, known for its extensive experience in the fine wine sector, has taken a strategic stake in WineFi. Michael Saunders, CEO of Coterie Holdings, has joined WineFi's board of directors, bringing over 40 years of industry expertise. Saunders commented: "The wine investment model hasn't changed significantly in decades. WineFi's fresh approach combines deep wine expertise with modern financial tools to make this historically compelling asset class more accessible to sophisticated investors." This partnership is expected to provide WineFi with valuable industry insights and infrastructure support.​

Polish industrialtech startup DBR77 Robotics has closed a €3.5M Seed round to support its international growth and technological development. The investment was led by ff Venture Capital (ffVC), a New York and Warsaw-based early-stage investor specializing in AI, robotics, and automation. Other participants include the National Centre for Research and Development’s NCBR Investment Fund ASI S.A. (NIF), RKK-Investment, and KIROI, a German industrial-focused fund. Existing investors EEC, Level 2, and SQD Alliance also reaffirmed their commitment to DBR77’s growth. ​ DBR77 Robotics' platform integrates Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, digital twin technology, and a robotics marketplace to optimise manufacturing and logistics operations. The platform enables real-time data collection, process simulation, and automation, providing businesses with tools to enhance efficiency and scalability. ​ The company’s business model combines Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscriptions for its digital twin and IoT system with commissions from its marketplace, which connects manufacturers with robotics solutions from global suppliers such as Fanuc, KUKA, Yaskawa, ABB, and Mitsubishi Electric. ​ The newly secured capital will be allocated to DBR77’s “GO GLOBAL” strategy, focusing on expanding into Western European and U.S. markets. Key initiatives include enhancing AI capabilities, integrating with IoT systems, and further developing and commercialising the Digital Twin platform. The company has established subsidiaries in Berlin and Pittsburgh to spearhead growth in the DACH region and North America, respectively. ​ “Today, I can say this with confidence: our technology and market strategy are perfectly aligned to succeed in a world undergoing global transformation. The industrial and logistics sectors face unprecedented levels of uncertainty and competition. DBR77 is the answer to these challenges - a platform that enables measurement, optimization, and automation of production and logistics like nothing this market has seen before,” said Piotr Wiśniewski, CEO of DBR77.

Datatonic, a cloud data and AI solutions provider, has announced the acquisition of Syntio, a specialist in data engineering. The move aims to enhance Datatonic’s enterprise service offerings and global delivery capabilities by integrating Syntio’s expertise in data ingestion, transformation, and business intelligence. The combined entity hopes to leverage its expanded capabilities to address the increasing demand for advanced data and AI solutions. By integrating Syntio’s data engineering with Datatonic’s AI-driven approach, the company aims to deliver enhanced value to clients and solidify its position as a leader in the global data and AI services market. Syntio, headquartered in Zagreb, Croatia, has experienced significant growth since its inception in 2017. The company has been recognized by the Financial Times as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies for three consecutive years. The acquisition significantly bolsters Datatonic’s service portfolio, combining its proficiency in Generative AI and AI platforms with Syntio’s deep technical specialisation in data engineering. This merger enables the combined entity to offer a comprehensive range of high-impact solutions to clients across various industries. Scott Eivers, CEO of Datatonic, expressed enthusiasm about the acquisition, stating, “We are thrilled to welcome Syntio to the Datatonic family. This acquisition is a key step in our strategy to expand our global reach and enhance our service capabilities. Syntio’s talented team and specialized expertise will be invaluable as we continue to deliver innovative data and AI solutions to our clients.” Davorin Cetto, CEO of Syntio, commented on the acquisition, saying, “Joining Datatonic at this stage in the evolution of AI and data engineering is an exciting opportunity for Syntio. The scale of offerings, the geographic coverage, and our combined expertise mean our customers now have the best technology options as they navigate towards a cloud data and AI-centric future.” Datatonic is backed by Perwyn. Mike Rothwell, Investment Manager at Perwyn, highlighted the strategic importance of the acquisition, stating, “We are very proud of this deal. The acquisition of Syntio expands Datatonic’s global footprint as well as adding the high-quality team that Davorin and Tomislav have built. This will augment the business’ capabilities across generative AI, machine learning, and data analytics.”

Turkish-founded device-as-a-service (DaaS) company Rundle has secured $900,000 Seed funding to disrupt the UK’s rental economy by merging affordability, flexibility, and sustainability — demonstrating that access to technology can be as seamless as ownership.  ´ TIBAS Ventures led the funding, with participation from ARYA VC and QNBEYOND Ventures.  Rundle makes it easier to access the latest tech — from TVs to gaming consoles, games, laptops, and smart home devices —without the long-term commitment or environmental impact of ownership. The company successfully collaborated with major e-commerce platforms and banks in Türkiye, gaining visibility among millions of users. Building on this success, the company expanded into the UK market in 2024, where it has been testing and refining its model in a new and dynamic landscape. Rundle has quickly gained traction among UK consumers, with users raving about the smooth rental process on Trustpilot. Customers highlight the convenience, affordability, and flexibility of renting everything from cameras to VR headsets and baby gear. According to Basak Baykan, CEO of Rundle:  "We aim to become the go-to platform for users who want to try before they buy while ensuring financial flexibility.  Through partnerships with retailers, fintech providers, and e-commerce platforms, we will make renting as seamless as buying — just like we did in our home country." With this momentum, Rundle is targeting a 15X growth, scaling its operations and expanding its reach to a much wider audience in 2025. Lead image: Rundle. Photo: uncredited. 

Austrian startup Emmi AI, which is building AI-powered simulation technology for industrial engineering, has raised €15M in a seed round, the largest seed investment ever for an Austrian startup. The round was led by 3VC, Speedinvest, Serena, and PUSH VC. Emmi AI is part of a new wave of "applied AI" companies using AI to solve long-standing engineering challenges, such as computational fluid dynamics, thermal analysis, and material stress testing - critical tasks across industries like aerospace, automotive, energy, and semiconductors. It spun out of the simulation group at NXAI, an Austrian AI research lab focused on industrial applications. With this funding, Emmi AI plans to expand its engineering and research team, further develop its real-time simulation platform, and scale across industrial sectors. Emmi’s software replaces traditional numerical solvers with deep learning models capable of processing massive simulations in milliseconds, removing the need for labor-intensive manual setup. The company’s inspiration is drawn from breakthroughs in AI-driven weather forecasting and climate modelling, applying similar techniques to simulate complex industrial environments. “Today, industries where simulation is mission-critical spend thousands and thousands of hours on modelling turbulence, simulating fluid or air flows, heat transfer in materials, traffic flows and much more,” said Dennis Just, CEO and Co-founder of Emmi AI. “With Emmi AI, simulations that previously took days or weeks now run in seconds - completely transforming what’s possible in real-world engineering and paving the way for truly intelligent, data-driven digital twins that can learn, adapt, and optimize in real time.” “We set out to tackle real engineering bottlenecks - the kind that slow down innovation in high-stakes industries,” said Dennis Just. “This funding allows us to move faster, grow our team, and deliver scalable simulation platforms that fit the pace and complexity of modern industry.” The startup’s name pays tribute to Emmy Noether, the mathematician who laid the groundwork for much of modern physics. The company says this reflects its goal to bring clarity, speed, and intelligence to the most challenging engineering problems of the physical world. “What excites us most about Emmi AI is their capacity to tackle previously unsolvable engineering challenges. By delivering 'GPT Moments' in industrial simulations, they're empowering engineers to push the boundaries of what's possible,” said Peter Lasinger, General Partner at 3VC. “Their research enables real-time simulation of complex systems governed by physics. This is a massive game changer for industrial design and operations,” noted Guillaume Decugis, Partner at Serena.

Today, enterprise cloud company Unit4 unveiled part one of its international research study “The Back Office in 2025.”  The study surveyed 600 senior IT and finance decision-makers across the professional services sector in midmarket and enterprise organizations to uncover insights into key challenges and opportunities, particularly around M&A and modernizing finance systems. According to the research, 81 per cent of firms have participated in M&A activities over the last five years, with 58 per cent making acquisitions and 48 per cent being acquired.  Unit4's research found that 86 per cent of senior finance and IT decision-makers feel M&A integrations take longer than expected, causing delays in delivering value. On average, it takes eight months to integrate a new acquisition, and 1 in 5 firms take over a year. These delays result in increased operational risks, higher employee turnover, and challenges aligning stakeholders and systems. The UK is the fastest globally to integrate acquisitions at 4 months, compared to the global average of 8 months. In the DACH region, it takes 12 months. Globally, media and publishing firms take 11 months to integrate  acquisitions, followed by management consultants (10 months) Further, for many organizations, the promise of M&A remains unmet due to significant operational and technological hurdles. Globally, the majority of respondents (and by industry sector) say inconsistencies with financial data are the biggest business challenge facing M&A integration. The top challenges that delay M&A, according to survey respondents, are: Fragmented financial systems: Legacy systems often impede the ability to create a single source of truth for financial data, leading to errors, inefficiencies, and time-consuming manual reconciliations. IT talent constraints: Limited IT resources result in delayed integrations, further elongating an already complex process. Lack of standardised processes: Without standardized systems, aligning operations across merged entities becomes a bottleneck, hindering progress. Other risks include increased cybersecurity threats, damaged brand reputations, and slower decision-making processes. However, respondents noted that demonstrating real-time financial insights, automation, and scalability will enhance their firm’s appeal to potential buyers.  According to Bryce Wolf, Global Director of Professional Services, Unit4, every professional services firm is laser-focused on growth and extracting value wherever possible, which means M&A is a strategic weapon in building more robust business models. “Unfortunately, IT and finance systems are hindering their ability to assimilate acquisitions quickly to realise value. It is essential that Professional Services firms address this limitation by modernising their core back-office systems to remain competitive into the future.” Globally and in the UK, respondents said the best way to attract a buyer was to improve the availability of real-time financial insights. US respondents believe the emphasis should be on streamlined and automated operational processes, which is also the top response for media and publishing. Management consulting respondents believe the focus should be on operational scalability.

Zopa Bank, the UK savings and lending digital bank, has reported a doubling of pre-tax profits to £31.5m in 2024, as it outlined how AI will become more commonplace in its banking operations. Pre-tax profits reached £31.5m in 2024, compared with £15.8m in 2023, revenue was up 30 per cent to £303m. Customer numbers were up from 1.1 million to 1.4 million at Zopa, which raised £66m in an equity round last year and is understood to be a unicorn. Revenue growth was helped by a 62.5 per cent jump in deposits to £5.5 billion and balance sheet loans, which grew 16.2 per cent to £3.1 billion. Zopa, which has a UK banking licence, currently offers personal loans, credit cards, point-of-sale retail finance, car finance, savings accounts, and financial health tools. Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana said it would be expanding its product range, which includes a soon-to-launch current account. He said: "The next phase of our ambition is to address an even larger share of our customers’ financial needs by expanding the Zopa product set into everyday banking.” Zopa’s 2024 annual report also sheds light on how Zopa is integrating AI into its operations. It said: “In future, we will integrate AI further into our customers’ everyday banking needs." It said that most of its engineers now use GenAI tools daily and that it had also built a test concept for how an AI assistant could support its business in the future.

Paris startup Poppins has raised €5 million for its digital therapy used in the rehabilitation of dyslexia in children to increase care capacity. This brings its total funding to €20 million. France has 1.3 million children with dyslexia, while only 25,000 speech therapists are available, resulting in waiting times of 12 to 24 months and lasting academic and psychopathological repercussions. Improving early intervention and access to care is a major public health issue supported by the government. Launched in 2018 by François Vonthron and Antoine Yuen, and originating from the École Polytechnique, Poppins is a startup specializing in the development of medical devices for the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly dyslexia, which accounts for 80 per cent of learning disabilities. Poppins has developed a video game app that offers home-based support, complementing and reinforcing speech therapy care. It does not replace a healthcare professional, but allows children to practice and progress day after day Poppins was developed through a multidisciplinary collaboration involving leading research teams, including Professor Michel Habib, a neurologist specialising in learning disabilities at La Timone Hospital (AP-HM), Professor David Cohen, head of department at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (AP-HP), and patient associations such as the French Dyslexia Federation. Poppins has demonstrated clinical benefits by enabling more frequent at-home care and has been rigorously tested, including a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with over 6,000 families in France. According to François Vonthron, CEO and co-founder of Poppins, the company is now ready for integration into care pathways: “The results of our work must now benefit as many people as possible in order to reduce the loss of opportunity caused by difficulties accessing care and increase care capacity for children with dyslexia." Racine² led this funding round with the participation of long-standing investors the Bpifrance Patient Autonome fund, Eurazeo, Kurma Partners, BNP Paribas Développement, and Verve Ventures. Eric Gossart, Partner at Serena shared: “Dys disorders affect 8 per cent of our youth. The consequences on academic success, mental health, and professional integration underscore the public health imperative to improve care pathways to guarantee each child early and intensive support, including in areas most under pressure due to a lack of speech therapists. Racine2 is proud to support a rigorous and humble team in its mission of strong societal impact.” Lead image: Poppins. Photo: uncredited. 

French fintech Spendesk, a platform for spend management and procurement, has partnered with AI infrastructure startup Dust to roll out tailored, secure AI assistants across its organisation. The initiative aims to unify internal AI usage, enhance productivity, and maintain strong compliance with European and UK data regulations. Enterprises are increasingly turning to automation tools to remain competitive. Dust specialises in enterprise-ready AI agents built on top of secure integrations with workplace tools such as Slack, Notion, and Intercom. Spendesk, which counts SoundCloud, Gousto, and SumUp among its customers, had already embraced AI in various internal functions, from sales and customer support to accounting automation. But when it sought to scale AI usage across departments, it found itself grappling with fragmented adoption. Different teams were experimenting with disconnected tools, leading to data security concerns and inconsistent usage patterns. “It’s impossible to use Spendesk without interacting with AI. We’ve implemented no fewer than 15 AI-powered features since 2017, predicting and pre-filling more than 2 million accounting fields each month,” said Rodolphe Ardant, Founder of Spendesk. “As UK businesses continue to navigate an evolving regulatory and economic landscape, secure AI adoption has never been more crucial. At Spendesk, we found ourselves vetting contracts with individual AI assistants one by one. It wasn’t scalable or cost-effective,” said Axel Demazy, CEO of Spendesk. “It also meant that teams more hesitant to experiment with AI were left behind, unsure of how these tools could support their work or comply with internal policies and local regulations.” With Dust’s platform, Spendesk employees will build AI agents that interact with internal documentation using natural language - regardless of their technical expertise. These agents are designed to understand each team’s business context, enabling secure, role-specific automation that integrates seamlessly with existing workflows.. “This partnership gives our teams the most powerful productivity tool we’ve ever put in their hands. Internal efficiency translates directly into faster innovation for our customers, helping us deliver both the most in-demand spend management features and the next generation of AI-first capabilities,” said Rodolphe Ardant. “By partnering with a fellow French innovator committed to data security, we’re proving that European tech can lead in AI while staying true to our values of privacy and user empowerment.” Spendesk’s partnership with Dust reflects a broader trend in Europe: a desire to balance AI innovation with privacy and regulatory compliance. With the EU’s AI Act on the horizon and the UK pursuing its own AI governance framework, companies are under pressure to adopt solutions that are both effective and legally sound. “We built Dust to help companies create AI agents that are truly useful and trusted by their teams,” said Gabriel Hubert, CEO of Dust. “Spendesk had the vision and urgency to move early, and together we’ve shown what’s possible when AI is deployed thoughtfully and securely at scale.”