How UK Investment Can Transform European Scaleups
Funding for UK tech startups surged to €25.7bn (≈$28bn) in 2025 across 1.6k deals, up from €21.7bn (≈$23.6bn) in 2024. A Sifted Talks panel, backed by the Department for Business and Trade, highlighted the need for more growth‑stage capital, especially from pension funds, and discussed scaling tactics such as equity‑vs‑debt financing, talent incentives, and market expansion. The Mansion House Accord aims to lock billions of pounds of pension assets into tech by 2030. Experts stressed aligning investors and founders to sustain momentum.
Exclusive: Quantum Software Startup Algorithmiq Raises €18m, Relocates to Italy
Algorithmiq, a quantum‑software startup, closed a €18 million Series B round, roughly $19.6 million, and shifted its headquarters from Helsinki to Milan. The funding will accelerate development of proprietary algorithms for quantum computers and expand its European market presence. The relocation aligns the...
Arāya Sie Fund Raises £7.5m First Close for Women-Led Startups Amid Tech ‘Bro Renaissance’
Arāya Ventures and the female‑founder accelerator Sie Ventures announced a £7.5 million first close (approximately $9.5 million) for their new Arāya Sie Fund. The vehicle is dedicated to backing women‑led startups operating in the United Kingdom and across Europe. By pooling capital...
Inside European Defence Tech: 70+ Companies Mapped
European defence technology funding surged to €2.5 billion (about $2.7 billion) in 2025, more than twice the €1.2 billion raised in 2024. The jump reflects the prolonged war in Ukraine and fresh conflicts in the Middle East, making geopolitical instability a new norm....
Anthropic vs European AI
Anthropic, the OpenAI rival, unveiled its new large‑language model Mythos, directly challenging European AI firms such as Loveable and Legora. The rollout has sparked concerns among European startups about the defensibility of businesses built on external models. Fintech companies across...
DeepL Cuts 250 Jobs in Push to Stay Ahead in AI Race
DeepL, the Cologne‑based translation startup, announced it will lay off 250 employees, roughly a quarter of its global workforce, as part of a structural overhaul to embed AI throughout its operations. CEO Jarek Kutylowski framed the move as a proactive...
From Chargers to Code: Europe’s EV Infrastructure Pivot
European EV charging is evolving from hardware‑heavy deployments to software‑driven energy platforms, as investors chase recurring revenue models. Start‑ups raised roughly $3.9 billion in 2025, with $236 million already pledged this year. Geneva‑based AMP IT, founded in 2021, combines solar, storage and smart...
Can’t Code? This Startup Just Raised $9m to Make You a Workflow Automation Genius
London AI startup CodeWords raised a $9 million seed round led by Visionaries, with angels including Miro CEO Andrey Khusid and Supercell founder Ilkka Paananen. The platform lets non‑technical users build complex workflow automations via a chat‑based AI agent, currently running...
Silo Founder Raises €25m for 'Palantir of Quantum Computing'
Helsinki‑based AI startup Qutwo announced a €25 m (~$27 m) angel round, valuing the company at €325 m (~$354 m) post‑money. Backed by a roster of high‑profile angels—including Yuri Milner, Xavier Niel and Thomas Wolf—the firm has already hired 50 experts and secured €20 m (~$22 m) in contracted...
The Hidden Gender Gap in Startup Hiring
A new study of Portuguese hiring data reveals that women are significantly under‑hired by startups, a gap that shrinks when firing costs are lowered. Before a 2011 labour‑market reform, women were 2.7% less likely than men to be hired by...
From Local to Global: Navigating AI-Driven Expansion and Compliance
Startups are leveraging AI to accelerate market entry, but regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act are emerging as the primary bottleneck. The Act, with its high‑risk classification and transparency rules, forces companies to adapt compliance strategies for each jurisdiction,...
Hertility CEO Helen O’Neill on Building a Foundational Model for Women’s Health
Hertility, a UK‑based women’s health startup, has created a diagnostic system that can identify endometriosis with 98‑99% confidence in just eight days, dramatically cutting the NHS’s average nine‑year diagnostic timeline. The platform combines AI‑driven data collection—capturing menstrual‑cycle information on the...
Iceland Might Be Europe’s Most Exciting Startup Hub (per Capita)
Iceland Innovation Week showcased the island’s outsized startup density, producing more companies per capita than any other European hub. While the small population of under 400,000 limits scale, founders are leveraging Iceland’s natural assets and a bold, off‑beat culture to...
Exclusive: Groove Quantum Raises €16m to Ramp up Chip Production
Groove Quantum, a Dutch quantum‑chip startup, announced a €16 million seed round, roughly $17.4 million. The capital will be used to enlarge its quantum processors and launch industrial‑scale manufacturing. The financing marks a significant step toward commercializing quantum hardware in Europe. Investors...
How Oxford Saïd Entrepreneurship Centre Is Driving Growth: ‘There's a Lot of Investors Tapping Into the Ecosystem’
The Oxford Saïd Entrepreneurship Centre is accelerating the city’s deep‑tech surge, with local startups raising £429 m (≈$550 m) across 34 deals in 2025, up from £417 m the year before. The centre’s Seed Fund and Catalyst Grant provide up to £100 k and...
GV-Backed Biotech Startup OMass Faces IP Lawsuit
Oxford‑based OMass Therapeutics, a biotech spin‑out backed by Alphabet’s GV, Oxford Science Enterprises and Sanofi Ventures, has been hit with an intellectual‑property lawsuit. The filing alleges that OMass infringed on patented technology related to its drug‑discovery platform. While the case...
E-Bike Startup Forest Secures £40m Series B Funding Round
London‑based micromobility startup Forest announced a $51 million Series B round, expanding its earlier £13 million raise to a total of £40 million. The funding, which includes a minority stake from hardware partner OKAI, will fuel expansion across 18 boroughs, new parking infrastructure, and...
Voi Founder Backs App Store-Dodging Startup Zellify in €3.1m Seed Round
London‑based startup Zellify announced a €3.1 million seed round, roughly $3.35 million, to fund its platform that helps mobile developers bypass Apple and Google app‑store fees. The round was led by Voi co‑founder Fredrik Hjelm, alongside a mix of European venture firms...
Redpine Raises €6.8m to Give AI Agents Access to Non-Public Data
Stockholm‑based Redpine closed a €6.8 million (≈$7.4 million) seed round led by NordicNinja, with Luminar Ventures and Node.vc participating. The startup offers an API that lets AI agents tap premium, non‑public data—especially scientific archives—through a pay‑per‑token model, positioning itself as a data‑licensing...
Europe’s Startups Should Stop Chasing Grants
European deep‑tech startups are increasingly funded by early public grants, which shifts founder focus from market validation to meeting grant criteria. This misalignment delays product launches, inflates overhead costs, and places undue risk on taxpayers. Private capital first compels founders...
Sereact Taps Headline to Lead $110m Series B, Plots US Expansion
Stuttgart‑based robotics firm Sereact announced a $110 million Series B round led by Headline, with participation from Bullhound Capital, Felix Capital and Daphni. The funding brings total capital raised to over $140 million and will finance the development of Cortex 2, an upgraded vision‑language‑action...
How Trump Pushed Aleph Alpha and Cohere Together
German AI startup Aleph Alpha announced a merger with Canadian rival Cohere, creating a combined entity valued at $20 billion. The deal brings together Aleph Alpha's strong foothold in European multilingual language models and Cohere's enterprise‑focused large language model platform. Both...
Wolt CEO and Slush Chair Marianne Vikkula on Building a Superapp, Leadership Lessons and Slush’s Secret Sauce
Marianne Vikkula, CEO of Wolt and chair of the Slush conference, discussed the Finnish delivery firm’s transformation into one of Europe’s few superapps on the Sifted podcast. Wolt, which started as a restaurant‑food delivery service in Helsinki, now offers groceries,...
Ride-Hailing Giant Lyft to Buy Black Cab App Gett’s UK Business
Lyft agreed to acquire Gett’s UK business, adding the leading black‑cab app in London to its portfolio. The deal follows Lyft’s 2023 purchase of British taxi platform FreeNow for $175 million and its earlier acquisition of TBR Global Chauffeuring. Gett’s fleet...
Elon Musk Mulled Mistral Deal to Take on OpenAI and Anthropic, Reports Say
Elon Musk’s xAI has been in talks about a three‑way partnership with Paris‑based Mistral AI and San Francisco code‑editing startup Cursor. SpaceX recently secured rights to acquire Cursor for $60 bn after buying xAI for $250 bn. Mistral, valued at about $13.6 bn...
Builder.ai Founder Named ‘Key Beneficiary’ in Money-Laundering Probe
Builder.ai founder Sachin Dev Duggal has been named the "key beneficiary" in an Indian money‑laundering probe involving defunct electronics group Videocon. Authorities allege that interest‑free loans from Videocon were funneled through a series of offshore entities, ultimately delivering roughly $4 million...
Which Tech Startups Have the Best Perks?
European tech startups are turning perks into a competitive talent weapon, with fintech leaders Wise, Revolut and Bunq topping the list. Companies range from offering unlimited paid time off (Veed, Mews, Rohlik) to generous sabbaticals—Wise adds six weeks plus £1,000...
Can Europe Ever Compete with California?
At Salesforce’s TDX developer conference, the company showcased a new AI‑first strategy aimed at turning customers into "agentic companies" through tools like Slackbot agents, agentic scripting and integrated large‑language‑model services. The event featured deep collaborations with Anthropic and OpenAI, underscoring...
Revolut Targets $200bn Valuation for IPO
Revolut is aiming for a valuation between $150 bn and $200 bn when it eventually lists, according to the Financial Times. The fintech’s most recent private round in November pegged the company at $75 bn, up from $45 bn a year earlier. CEO Nik...
Synthesia Announces Major Hiring Push, Opens Three New Offices
Synthesia, the London‑based AI video platform, announced a 70% headcount increase, adding over 400 employees. It will invest more than $25 million to open new offices in Austin, Paris and Berlin while expanding its Zurich presence. The move follows a $200 million...
Lovable Denies Mass Data Breach
Swedish low‑code AI startup Lovable denied a mass data breach after an X user claimed they could view other customers' chat histories and personal details. The company admitted its documentation on "public" project visibility was unclear, but says no breach...
CuspAI Raising $200m at Unicorn Valuation, Reports Say
CuspAI, a 2024‑founded AI startup that speeds material design, is in talks to raise at least $200 million, which would lift its valuation above the $1 billion unicorn threshold. The platform functions as a search engine for materials, generating chemical compositions from...
Four-Month-Old Recursive Superintelligence Raises $500m
Recursive Superintelligence, a London‑based AI startup founded four months ago by UCL professor Tim Rocktäschel and former Salesforce chief scientist Richard Socher, announced a $500 million Series A round at a $4 billion valuation. The financing was led by Google Ventures and included...
Could Europe Become a World Leader in Robotics?
European robotics startups attracted a surge in venture capital, with 2025 investment exceeding €1.45 bn (about $1.58 bn). The first quarter of 2026 alone brought in €522 m ($570 m), indicating strong momentum. Growth is fueled by EU policy incentives, a deep engineering talent...
How Legora Hired Jude Law
Swedish legal‑tech startup Legora has landed British actor Jude Law for a high‑profile television ad promoting its AI‑powered contract platform. The spot, produced by agency Noa Åkestam Holst and directed by SNL veteran Rhys Thomas, was filmed in Los Angeles over...
‘The Next Big Thing’: Newfund Raises €60m to Back Brain Technologies
Paris‑based early‑stage venture capital firm Newfund has closed a €60 million ($65 million) fund dedicated to brain technologies, aiming to back up to 25 European startups with seed‑stage checks of $1‑3 million. The fund is the first Europe‑only VC focused exclusively on neuro‑tech,...
Kelluu Raises €15m to Secure Europe’s Skies with Autonomous Airships
Finnish autonomous‑airship startup Kelluu raised €15 million ($16.3 million) in a Series A round led by the NATO Innovation Fund, its first Finnish investment. The company operates the world’s largest fleet of hydrogen‑powered, unmanned airships that can stay aloft for more than 12 hours...
Anthropic Plots Lovable Challenger, Leak Suggests
Anthropic is reportedly testing a new in‑chat app‑builder inside Claude that lets users create chatbots, photo albums, and landing pages from simple prompts. If launched, the feature would turn Claude into a full‑stack, no‑code development platform, directly challenging Sweden’s fast‑growing...
Who Gets Ahead in VC? Mostly the Usual Suspects
The article argues that advancement in venture capital firms is driven less by merit and more by entrenched privilege, elite networks, and cultural fit. It highlights that general partners often share similar backgrounds—top‑tier schools, family wealth, and longstanding industry connections—while...
Meet the Swiss Founder Building Robots that Make Crêpes
Swiss startup Maus Robotics, founded by 28‑year‑old Robert Hennig, has built an automated crêpe‑making robot that can serve a fresh crepe every 90 seconds. The prototype, developed during Hennig’s EPFL PhD, costs roughly $5,400–$6,500 in hardware and uses a patented...
AI Is Rewriting the Rules of European Entrepreneurship
AI and low‑code platforms are collapsing the technical and financial barriers that have traditionally defined European entrepreneurship. Tools such as Lovable and Anthropic’s Claude let non‑technical founders turn domain expertise into market‑ready software in weeks rather than months. This shift...
Here’s How You Can Secure Access to the UK’s Most Powerful Supercomputer
Isambard, the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, now delivers twice the combined speed of all other national machines. The government‑backed National Supercomputing Service has opened a formal application pathway, allowing startups to secure dedicated time on the platform. Early adopters such...
Project Europe CEO Kitty Mayo: ‘Harry Stebbings Is Like Our Head of State and I’m Prime Minister’
Kitty Mayo, newly appointed CEO of Project Europe, leads an accelerator backed by Harry Stebbings and roughly 200 entrepreneurs. The program focuses on founders under 25, aiming to nurture the next generation of European companies worth €100 bn (about $109 bn). After...
UK Banking Licence Applications Drop to Zero in 2025
No firms applied for a UK banking licence in 2025, a drop from six applications in 2024. The decline follows Revolut’s long‑awaited licence approval and criticism of UK regulatory bureaucracy. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves has introduced the Scale‑up Unit to...
How to Survive the SaaSpocalypse
The article outlines eight practical tactics for SaaS firms to navigate the so‑called “SaaSpocalypse,” a wave of anxiety driven by AI advances and volatile public‑market valuations. It argues that value resides in the output and service layers rather than the...
VC Firms with All-Male Teams Halved over Past Decade in UK, Report Shows
Diversity VC’s latest report shows UK venture‑capital firms with all‑male investment teams have more than halved over the past decade. The share without any women fell from 48% in 2017 to 21% in 2025, while women now represent 31% of...
Exclusive: Nvidia Challenger Arago Tapes Out First Chip in a Milestone Move for Semiconductor Startup
Arago, a two‑year‑old AI‑chip startup positioning itself as Nvidia’s challenger, announced its first successful tape‑out, sending the final design of its custom processor to a semiconductor foundry for fabrication. The milestone follows a $844 million Series C round that fuels its R&D...
Europe Lost the B2C Tech Race. Can It Win in B2B?
Europe has fallen behind the United States in building consumer‑focused (B2C) tech giants, with startups like Airbnb, Uber and Instagram dominating the global market. Analysts argue that the continent’s strength now lies in enterprise (B2B) solutions, where deep engineering talent...
Why a Vegan Sausage Pioneer Is Setting up an AI Law Firm Called Keith
Andy Shovel, co‑founder of vegan food brand THIS, has launched an AI‑powered law firm called Keith, targeting the notoriously stressful conveyancing market. The startup announced a $2.5 million seed round and plans to operate with 30‑40 narrowly focused AI agents that...
Tiny VC Partner Philipp Moehring on when to Take Money Off the Table
European seed financing is inflating, with recent rounds like Yann LeCun’s AMI Labs securing $1 billion at a $3 billion valuation and David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence raising $1 billion at $4 billion. Tiny VC, a micro‑fund founded by Philipp Moehring and Andy Chung, has built a 450‑startup portfolio that includes Wayve,...