Europe’s quantum technology sector is attracting increasing attention from both private investors and public institutions, as governments across the continent position photonics and quantum computing as strategic priorities in the global technology race. With the United States and China accelerating their quantum investment programmes, European deeptech startups are now securing the capital needed to move breakthrough research out of the laboratory and into commercial applications. Münster-based Pixel Photonics has secured €13.5 million in combined funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its superconducting single-photon detector technology. The total comprises a €5 million seed round, led by Futury Capital, alongside €8.5 million from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator — split between €2.5 million in grants and €6 million in equity investment. Additional seed investors include the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND), Kensho Ventures, and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). EIC Accelerator validates European quantum ambitions The EIC Accelerator selection represents a significant endorsement of Pixel Photonics’ commercial potential. The company was chosen as one of just 61 recipients from approximately 1,000 applicants — the European Union’s most competitive funding instrument for breakthrough innovation. The dual structure of the funding, combining private venture capital with public institutional backing, reflects a growing pattern in European deeptech where blended financing models are enabling capital-intensive hardware startups to bridge the gap between research and market entry. “This funding enables us to transform what has so far been a highly specialised quantum technology into robust, scalable industrial products,” said Nicolai Walter, CEO of Pixel Photonics. The investment follows a trajectory of increasing institutional confidence in photonic quantum technologies. Futury Capital’s decision to lead the seed round positions the firm alongside established deeptech backers HTGF and SPRIND, both of which have track records supporting German hardware innovation from early-stage through to commercial scale. From university spin-off to quantum hardware contender Founded in 2021 as a spin-off from the University of Münster, Pixel Photonics develops waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (WI-SNSPDs) through its proprietary ARCTIC platform. The technology transforms what has traditionally been bulky, laboratory-scale equipment into compact, chip-based solutions capable of detecting individual photons with exceptional sensitivity and speed. The applications span several high-value sectors, including quantum computing, quantum key distribution (QKD) for secure communications, medical diagnostics, defence, and advanced microscopy. The company has already established strategic partnerships with notable quantum computing firms, including QuiX Quantum, PASQAL, and ORCA Computing, and has delivered detector systems for photonic quantum computer development alongside the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). The European quantum technology market continues to expand rapidly, supported by the EU’s Quantum Technologies Flagship programme and national initiatives across Germany, France, and the Netherlands. As quantum computing architectures mature and demand for high-performance single-photon detection grows, companies like Pixel Photonics occupy a critical position in the hardware supply chain — providing the detection infrastructure upon which quantum networks and computing systems depend. With the new capital, the company plans to scale production, expand its product portfolio — which includes the Dena rack-format and desktop detector systems — and accelerate international market entry. The team, led by CEO Nicolai Walter and CTO Dr Wladick Hartmann, is also preparing for its next funding round as it transitions from development-stage to full commercial operations. Summary Company Pixel Photonics Headquarters Münster, Germany Founded 2021 (University of Münster spin-off) Round Seed + EIC Accelerator Amount €13.5 million (€5M seed + €8.5M EIC) Lead Investor Futury Capital Other Investors SPRIND, Kensho Ventures, HTGF Use of Funds Scale production, expand product portfolio, accelerate market entry Also read: Latest European startup fundraising news ned funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its superconducting single-photon detector technology. The€5 million seed round, led by Futury Capital, alongside €8.5 million from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator — split between €2.5 million in grants and €6 mill

The European sales technology landscape is gaining momentum as artificial intelligence reshapes how companies train, manage, and optimise their commercial teams. From automated call analysis to personalised coaching workflows, a new generation of startups is building intelligent tools that promise to transform sales performance — and early-stage investors are taking notice. Berlin-based Zell has raised €500,000 in early-stage funding to scale its AI-powered sales management platform, which analyses sales conversations, identifies behavioural signals, and generates personalised coaching plans for sales teams. The round was backed by P3 Ventures and SkyDeck Europe, alongside UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator programme, Lendlease, and Cariplo Factory. Several angel investors also participated, including Nicola Pivaro, Flavio Di Palo, Pietro Tansini, Thomas Hunziker, Gabriele Sidoti, and Ricardo Waller. P3 Ventures and SkyDeck Europe back AI sales coaching vision The investment reflects growing investor appetite for AI-native tools that address the persistent challenge of sales team performance. Traditional coaching methods — manual call reviews, subjective assessments, and one-size-fits-all training — are increasingly viewed as inadequate for fast-scaling commercial organisations. Zell’s platform aims to replace these with data-driven, automated workflows. Founded by Alberto Garagnani (CEO) and Moritz Beck (CTO), Zell has developed an AI operator that listens to sales calls in real time, identifies key behavioural patterns, and delivers actionable feedback to both individual sales representatives and team managers. The platform goes beyond simple transcription by analysing tone, objection handling, and engagement signals to produce tailored coaching recommendations. The startup has already secured early customers across multiple markets, including Pack, Revenue Excellence Partners, Commerciali Digitali, Ladle, and HomeTown, with commercial traction spanning the United States, Germany, Italy, and Spain. This geographic breadth at such an early stage signals strong product-market fit for AI sales coaching solutions across diverse sales cultures and languages. Zell’s participation in the UC Berkeley SkyDeck accelerator programme and Cariplo Factory has provided the founding team with access to a global network of mentors, investors, and potential enterprise customers — a significant advantage for a Berlin-based startup targeting international expansion from day one. European AI sales technology market builds momentum The raise comes amid a broader wave of investment in AI-driven sales and revenue intelligence tools across Europe. The global sales enablement market is projected to grow significantly over the coming years, driven by demand for tools that improve conversion rates, reduce ramp-up time for new hires, and provide real-time performance insights. Zell’s approach — combining conversational AI analysis with automated coaching plan generation — positions it in a growing segment that sits at the intersection of sales enablement and workforce development. While established players in the conversation intelligence space focus primarily on recording and transcription, Zell differentiates by closing the loop with personalised, actionable coaching outputs. The fresh capital will be deployed towards product development, expanding the platform’s language and market coverage, and growing the engineering team. With operations already spanning four countries and backing from both European and US-based investors, Zell is well-positioned to capture early-mover advantage in the AI sales coaching category as European enterprises increasingly seek intelligent alternatives to manual sales management processes. Summary Company Zell Headquarters Berlin, Germany Founded 2024 Founders Alberto Garagnani (CEO), Moritz Beck (CTO) Round Pre-Seed Amount €500,000 Key Investors P3 Ventures, SkyDeck Europe, UC Berkeley SkyDeck, Lendlease, Cariplo Factory Angel Investors Nicola Pivaro, Flavio Di Palo, Pietro Tansini, Thomas Hunziker, Gabriele Sidoti, Ricardo Waller Use of Funds Product development, market expansion, engineering team growth

The European fintech sector continues to attract significant investor attention as AI-powered solutions reshape how finance teams operate. From treasury management to accounts payable and payroll, startups are racing to automate the operational backbone of corporate finance — and investors are backing the most promising platforms with conviction. London-based Round has secured $6 million in seed funding to scale its AI-powered finance automation platform, which streamlines treasury management, accounts payable, and payroll for growing businesses. The round was led by Alstin Capital, with participation from Backed VC, Love Ventures, and existing investor Passion Capital, which led the company’s $2.1 million pre-seed round in October 2024. Notably, approximately 10 per cent of Round’s existing customers also invested in the round, alongside angel investors including Paul Forster, founder of Indeed. Alstin Capital leads seed round as AI finance tools gain traction The investment signals growing confidence in AI-native finance infrastructure. Alstin Capital, an early-stage venture fund focused on B2B software, led the round as Round demonstrated strong product-market fit among fast-growing companies. The platform is already used by notable clients including Cleo, the AI-powered financial assistant, and PostHog, the open-source product analytics company. Founded in 2023 by Pac O’Shea and Hayyaan Ahmad, Round has built a platform that functions as an AI operator for finance teams. The technology automates invoice processing, approval routing, and payment execution for accounts payable, while its AI Treasury Manager agent automatically identifies optimal rates and sweeps funds across connected accounts. The platform integrates with more than 2,000 UK and EU bank accounts and offers access to BlackRock Money Market Funds yielding above 4.2 per cent on idle cash. “We are building for the finance team of the future, one that understands the importance of automation,” said Hayyaan Ahmad, co-founder of Round. The company reports that customers achieve a 75 per cent reduction in invoice processing time and a fourfold improvement in yield on idle cash, with full onboarding completed in as little as five days. Alongside the funding, Round announced two new products: an Agentic Workflow Builder that converts natural language descriptions into automated financial processes, and Autonomous Payroll, which streamlines the complete payroll cycle from file upload to payment execution. European AI finance automation market gathers momentum The raise comes at a time of accelerating investment in AI-powered finance tools across Europe. Accounts payable automation and treasury management represent a combined addressable market worth tens of billions of dollars globally, yet the majority of mid-market finance teams still rely heavily on manual processes, spreadsheets, and fragmented software stacks. Round’s approach — combining treasury, AP, and payroll into a single AI-native platform — positions it against a fragmented competitive landscape of point solutions. The company’s ISO 27001 certification and FCA-regulated custodian partnerships with Wealthkernel, BlackRock, and Barclays provide the compliance framework that enterprise finance teams require. The fresh capital will be deployed towards product development, expanding the engineering and go-to-market teams, deepening integrations with banking and financial systems, and scaling infrastructure. Round also plans to invest in community initiatives, including finance-focused hackathons and workshops designed to build its presence among CFOs and finance leaders. With total funding now exceeding $8 million, Round is well-positioned to capture a meaningful share of the AI finance automation market as European businesses increasingly seek intelligent, end-to-end platforms to replace legacy financial workflows. Summary Company Round (Round Treasury) Headquarters London, United Kingdom Founded 2023 Founders Pac O’Shea, Hayyaan Ahmad Round Seed Amount $6 million Lead Investor Alstin Capital Other Investors Backed VC, Love Ventures, Passion Capital, Paul Forster (Indeed founder) Total Funding ~$8.1 million Use of Funds Product development, team expansion, banking integrations, infrastructure scaling

Plymouth-based Altilium has secured £18.5 million from the UK government’s DRIVE35 Scale-Up Fund to build Britain’s first commercial refinery recovering lithium, nickel and graphite from end-of-life EV batteries.

Dutch circular-construction startup MAECONOMY has raised €1.5 million in fresh funding to scale a platform that treats building materials as auditable, financeable and tradable assets. The round was led by Eindhoven-based impact investor LUMO Labs alongside LIOF, the regional development agency of the Dutch province of Limburg. Headquartered in Heerlen and led by founder and chief executive Vince Meens, MAECONOMY is tackling one of the heaviest footprints in the European economy. Construction and demolition account for more than a third of all waste generated in the European Union, and the sector remains among the most resource-intensive in the bloc. MAECONOMY’s thesis is that most of that waste is not waste at all — it is future inventory that has never been properly catalogued, valued or traded. A financial layer for the built environment The startup’s platform digitises building- and material-level data and applies algorithmic models to turn raw construction inputs into commercially actionable intelligence. In practice, it generates digital material passports for steel, concrete, wood and copper embedded in buildings, then attaches a financial value to those records. Owners can use the resulting data to report on embodied carbon, plan end-of-life recovery and, increasingly, sell or pledge materials that have not yet been extracted from a standing structure. That last piece is where MAECONOMY is trying to carve out a defensible position. A growing number of software vendors already offer material passports as a compliance or ESG reporting tool. MAECONOMY is going a step further by building the financial layer that turns those passports into instruments institutional owners can actually trade, finance or collateralise. If it works, a building is no longer simply a cost centre at end of life — it becomes a material bank with a quantifiable residual value. Regulation is doing part of the selling The timing reflects a broader regulatory shift. Material passports are moving from voluntary best practice toward mandated documentation in a number of European jurisdictions, and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and EU Taxonomy are forcing large asset owners to produce far more granular data on embodied carbon and circularity than they have historically maintained. For real estate investors, municipalities and developers, that creates a compliance burden and a market opportunity in the same motion. MAECONOMY is positioning itself at the intersection of the two, pitching its platform as both an audit-ready reporting layer and a route to monetising materials that previously sat on balance sheets as a future liability. The company is already working with Dutch municipalities and institutional asset owners, and plans to use the new capital to deepen those relationships before expanding across Europe. Why LUMO Labs and LIOF wrote the cheque The investor syndicate is telling in its own right. LUMO Labs runs a €100 million impact fund that recently drew a €6 million commitment from Spain’s state-owned investment arm SETT, and its mandate leans heavily towards early-stage deep tech and sustainability bets with measurable outcomes. LIOF, meanwhile, is one of the most active regional development agencies in the Netherlands and has been increasingly visible in circular-economy deals in the south of the country. Together they bring the kind of patient, mission-aligned capital that a category-defining play like MAECONOMY requires. Building the financial infrastructure for the circular built environment is not a quick flip — it demands the slow work of standards-setting, integration with real estate software stacks and credibility with regulators and asset owners. A regional impact syndicate is often better suited to that pace than a generalist venture fund. The bigger picture MAECONOMY joins a small but growing cohort of European startups attempting to re-engineer the economics of construction, from digital twins of existing buildings to marketplaces for reclaimed components. Very few have tried to build the missing financial layer underneath all of it. With €1.5 million in the bank and a regulatory tailwind that is only strengthening, the Heerlen-based company now has a window to prove that digital material passports can carry real monetary weight — and that the walls of Europe’s existing buildings are, quite literally, assets waiting to be priced. Related reading on Sesamers: Fundraising news · TeiaCare raises €7M to scale AI-powered care monitoring · Serve First raises £5M follow-on for AI customer experience platform

European venture funding held up decisively this week, with more than €280 million flowing into a mix of AI-native, defence-tech, deeptech and fintech companies. The pattern is familiar — AI continues to dominate headlines — but the spread of stages and sectors this week gives a clearer picture of where capital is actually moving in 2026. From a $130M late-stage deeptech round for a space-to-AI infrastructure company to a scrappy €1.7M pre-seed for an AI moderation startup, Week 15 was a reminder that European venture is still placing bets across the full maturity curve. Two themes stand out. First, AI is no longer a category — it is infrastructure across construction, security, diagnostics, personal care and enterprise workflows. Second, sovereign and defence-adjacent tech is quietly racking up serious funding momentum, with European LPs and funds increasingly comfortable backing dual-use technologies. Here are the deals that mattered. The Deals AirHub closed a €4.4M Series A to scale its mission-critical drone operations software for Europe’s defence and security sector. The Dutch company builds the fleet-management and counter-drone infrastructure that European public-safety and defence buyers are scrambling to deploy in 2026. Read the full AirHub story. Trent AI raised a $13M seed to bring agentic AI security to enterprise workflows — a category that barely existed 18 months ago but is now attracting some of the largest seed cheques in Europe. As companies roll out autonomous agents, the attack surface multiplies, and Trent AI is betting that securing agents will be a standalone market. More in our Trent AI deep dive. Handhold secured €3M in seed funding to automate B2B software sales with AI account managers — attacking the fragmented buying journeys that make enterprise procurement so painful for both vendors and buyers. Read more on Handhold. Audicin picked up $1.9M to scale its brainwave-based nervous system regulation technology, pushing the boundary of consumer neurowellness beyond meditation apps. Full story on Audicin’s raise. Pickmybrain raised $2.1M to let domain experts monetise their knowledge through AI-powered “Digital Brains” — a creator-economy play that sits at the intersection of expertise marketplaces and generative AI. Details in the Pickmybrain article. Penemue closed €1.7M to scale AI-powered hate speech detection across European languages — a timely raise given tightening EU regulation around online harms and platform accountability. See the Penemue announcement. Xoople delivered the week’s largest deep-tech headline with a $130M raise to build Earth’s AI data infrastructure from space. The company is positioning itself as a foundational layer for Earth-observation intelligence, with applications from climate monitoring to defence. Full coverage in our Xoople Series B piece. Covalo raised €3.5M to build the data backbone for the personal-care industry — a B2B ingredients and formulation platform that has quietly become critical infrastructure for beauty and skincare brands. More in our Covalo story. Octostar closed €6.1M to scale its sovereign AI intelligence platform across Europe — a clear vote of confidence in the “European stack” narrative that is driving procurement decisions in the public sector. Read the full Octostar coverage. Finally, Upvest closed a landmark $125M Series D to modernise Europe’s investment banking infrastructure — one of the biggest European fintech rounds of the year so far, and a signal that investor appetite for embedded-finance infrastructure has not cooled. Full analysis in our Upvest Series D article. Sector Themes Three patterns jump out from Week 15’s activity. AI has become horizontal infrastructure. The AI label applies to seven of this week’s ten deals, but the use cases are strikingly diverse: drone operations, enterprise security, B2B sales, neurowellness, knowledge monetisation, content moderation, and sovereign intelligence. This is the maturation curve we have been watching for the past year — AI is no longer a destination sector but the default architecture for new companies across every vertical. Defence and sovereignty are structural, not cyclical. AirHub, Octostar and arguably Xoople all touch dual-use or sovereignty-adjacent markets. The investor base for these rounds is expanding beyond specialist defence funds — generalist European VCs are now comfortable writing cheques in a space that would have been off-limits three years ago. Fintech infrastructure is back. Upvest’s $125M round is the headline, but the broader message is that the “picks and shovels” layer of European finance — custody, clearing, embedded infrastructure — is once again a priority area for growth capital. That is a meaningful shift from the 2024-25 fintech winter. Looking Ahead Week 16 will be the first real post-Q1 reporting period, and we expect a cluster of follow-on raises from companies closing out Q1 milestones. Watch in particular for more activity in climate-tech and energy-transition deals — two spaces that were relatively quiet this week but have strong pipelines heading into Q2. Expect at least one European unicorn crowning by month-end. Week 15 Summary Table Startup Amount Stage Sector Xoople $130M Series B Space / Earth AI Upvest $125M Series D Fintech infrastructure Trent AI $13M Seed AI security Octostar €6.1M Growth Sovereign AI / intelligence AirHub €4.4M Series A Drone / defence software Covalo €3.5M Growth Personal-care data Handhold €3M Seed AI B2B sales Pickmybrain $2.1M Seed AI knowledge / creator Audicin $1.9M Seed Neurowellness Penemue €1.7M Pre-seed AI content moderation Want to stay on top of every European fundraise? Bookmark the Sesamers fundraising hub — we cover every meaningful round, every week.

Milton Keynes-based Serve First has secured £5 million (€5.7 million) in follow-on funding to accelerate the growth of its AI-driven customer experience platform, less than a year after closing its initial £4.5 million round in June 2025. The round was led by existing backers Pembroke VCT and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, managed by Mercia Ventures. Both investors first wrote cheques in June 2025, and have now doubled down following a period of rapid commercial traction. Annual recurring revenue at the company has nearly doubled since that initial raise, surpassing £2 million. Founded in 2023 by Erol Ayvaz, a former Asana and Market Force Information executive, Serve First helps multi-site operators measure and improve the experience their customers receive on the ground. Its platform ingests feedback from in-store surveys, online reviews and mystery shopping programmes, then applies machine learning to surface the operational issues that matter most — the broken journeys, the under-performing locations, the frontline teams that need support. For organisations running hundreds or thousands of venues, that analysis is notoriously hard to do manually. Serve First’s pitch is that AI can finally close the gap between what customers are telling brands and what head-office teams actually act on. Rapid growth across retail, hospitality and facilities management The company’s customer list reads like a map of the UK consumer economy. Brentford FC, Topps Tiles, The Body Shop, The Sushi Co and Spud Bros all sit alongside a European pharmacy group operating more than 2,500 locations across seven countries. Aramark, Elior and Alphega Pharmacy are also on the roster. That breadth reflects a deliberate strategy. Rather than narrowing to a single vertical, Serve First has positioned its platform as a horizontal customer experience layer for any business that runs physical sites at scale. Retail, hospitality, health and wellness, franchise networks, facilities management and venue operators are the core markets, and the company is leaning into new compliance demands — notably Martyn’s Law, the UK legislation requiring public venues to improve safety and crowd management — as an additional wedge. The team has grown to 25 employees, still lean by scale-up standards but a meaningful jump from the handful of people in place a year ago. Where the money is going Serve First will use the fresh capital in two areas. The first is commercial expansion: the company intends to recruit a Chief Revenue Officer and materially increase the size of its sales and marketing function. With ARR already past £2 million and a pipeline that spans multi-site enterprises in the UK and Europe, the leadership team clearly sees room to convert category interest into revenue faster. The second priority is product development, and specifically AI. Customer experience software is in the middle of a generational shift as large language models make it possible to extract structured insight from unstructured feedback at a cost that would have been unthinkable two years ago. Serve First plans to push further into that territory — automating root-cause analysis, surfacing site-level recommendations and giving operators a more predictive view of where problems are about to surface. A vote of confidence from existing backers Follow-on rounds from the same investor syndicate are often read as the strongest signal in venture capital. Pembroke VCT, a London-based tax-advantaged venture fund with a portfolio spanning consumer, SaaS and healthcare, and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, the British Business Bank–backed regional fund managed by Mercia Ventures, clearly see enough progress to justify putting more capital to work roughly ten months after their initial commitment. For the Midlands tech ecosystem, Serve First is a useful case study. Milton Keynes is not typically in the same conversation as London or Manchester when founders map where to build a SaaS company, but the combination of regional capital, proximity to corporate HQs in the home counties and a workforce willing to move there is producing a steady trickle of later-stage software businesses. The bigger picture for European CX software Serve First’s round arrives at an interesting moment for the customer experience software market. The incumbents — Qualtrics, Medallia, InMoment — built their businesses on survey infrastructure and dashboards. The next wave of challengers argues that the real value now lies in operational action, not measurement. Whoever can translate customer signal into frontline behaviour change, at scale, owns the category. European founders have a credible shot at that prize. The regulatory environment around consumer data is tighter, multi-site operators are more fragmented, and local-language feedback is harder for US-built tools to handle well. Serve First is one of several UK and European players now trying to turn those structural advantages into durable businesses. With £9.5 million raised in total and a growing footprint across retail, hospitality and facilities management, the company has given itself enough runway to find out whether that bet pays off. For more on European funding, see our full fundraising news coverage.

As geopolitical instability, hybrid threats, and the proliferation of disinformation reshape the global risk landscape, the demand for sophisticated intelligence tools that can cut through information overload is intensifying across both public and private sectors. Alicante-based deeptech startup Golden Owl has closed a €1.4 million seed round to scale its AI-powered anticipatory intelligence platform, which fuses open source intelligence with advanced analytics to detect complex risks in real time. The round was led by venture capital firm First Drop, with additional support from business angels and public funding through Spain’s ENISA programme and a NEOTEC grant from CDTI. The investment will accelerate the company’s technical development, expand access to non-indexed sources across the open, deep, and dark web, and fund commercial rollout across sectors including energy, logistics, security, and government. First Drop backs intelligence-as-a-service model Golden Owl, legally registered as Datintel S.L. and headquartered at the Alicante Science Park within the University of Alicante campus, was founded by CEO Ana Beik and CTO Sabi Soltani. The company has built what it describes as an external intelligence operating system that goes beyond traditional data analysis, fusing dispersed signals to anticipate dynamics and scenarios before they fully materialise. The platform operates through a modular Intelligence-as-a-Service architecture comprising three core products. Noctua is a research and analysis platform combining OSINT modules with advanced search capabilities and multi-source data fusion for forensic intelligence work. Strix provides continuous strategic intelligence through configurable monitoring systems designed for early detection and dynamic tracking of actors, risks, and complex environments. A third product, Otus, is planned for launch as a global human intelligence marketplace for deep analysis in high-complexity scenarios. The technology stack draws on advanced AI, neural networks, and high-performance computing infrastructure, processing data from more than 10,000 premium sources and billions of data points across the open, deep, and dark web. European intelligence technology market expands The seed round arrives as European governments and enterprises are significantly increasing their investment in intelligence and security technologies, driven by the evolving threat landscape. The market for OSINT solutions has been expanding steadily, fuelled by the growing recognition that traditional intelligence methods cannot keep pace with the volume and velocity of information generated across digital channels. Golden Owl holds ENISA Certified Startup status and AENOR Young Innovative Company certification, lending institutional credibility to its operations. The company collaborates with the Enterprise Europe Network, the University of Alicante, and participates in Horizon Europe-funded innovation projects, embedding it within the European research and innovation ecosystem. The company’s focus on anticipatory intelligence — identifying emerging risks before they crystallise — distinguishes it from more conventional OSINT tools that primarily serve reactive investigation workflows. By targeting sectors such as energy, logistics, insurance, and government, Golden Owl is pursuing markets where the cost of failing to detect risks early can be substantial, creating a compelling value proposition for its intelligence platform. With hybrid threats, disinformation campaigns, and supply chain vulnerabilities continuing to dominate the European security agenda, Golden Owl’s seed funding positions it to capture early-mover advantage in a market where demand is growing faster than the supply of credible, AI-powered solutions. Summary Company Golden Owl (Datintel S.L.) HQ Alicante, Spain Founders Ana Beik (CEO), Sabi Soltani (CTO) Round Seed Amount €1.4 million Lead Investor First Drop Other Backers Business angels, ENISA, CDTI NEOTEC Use of Funds Technical development, source expansion, commercial rollout rcial rollout across sectors including energy, logistics, security, and government. First Drop backs intelligence-as-a-service model Golden Owl, l— identifying emerging risks before they

The European Union’s eIDAS2 regulation is reshaping how organisations manage digital identity, creating a new market for enterprise-grade identity wallets that can issue, verify, and manage credentials at scale. Spanish startup Sybol has raised over €1 million in combined public and private investment to accelerate the rollout of its corporate digital identity platform, positioning itself at the forefront of Europe’s emerging Business Wallet framework. The round was led by the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), with participation from energy major Repsol, Grupo Synaptia, Bolboreta Innova Group, Tritemius, Venturade, and Chromata Invest. The capital will fund the expansion of Sybol’s enterprise verification platform and the development of its corporate wallet built on decentralised identity principles. Repsol-backed venture targets enterprise verification Sybol emerged from an intrapreneurship initiative within Repsol Digital, the energy company’s digital transformation unit. Repsol retains a 15 per cent stake in the company and contributed its proprietary decentralised authentication technology to the venture, giving Sybol an unusual head start in enterprise adoption. Led by CEO Raúl López, CTO Iñigo Garcia, and COO Alfredo Abad, the team has built a platform that enables organisations to issue, manage, and verify digital certificates using blockchain-based verifiable credentials. The technology replaces traditional document-based workflows with standardised, reusable credentials linked to verified identities of both issuers and recipients. The platform is already operational at scale within Repsol’s own ecosystem. Repsol Electricidad y Gas currently uses Sybol’s technology to issue more than 2,500 verifiable credentials per month for 500 corporate clients, demonstrating the platform’s readiness for enterprise-grade deployment. eIDAS2 creates a regulatory tailwind for digital identity Sybol’s initial focus on sustainability-related certifications is strategically astute. As ESG reporting requirements tighten across Europe, the demand for verifiable, traceable certification data is growing rapidly. Automated validation of sustainability credentials addresses a genuine pain point for auditors, regulators, and corporate compliance teams. The broader opportunity, however, lies in the eIDAS2 regulation itself. The European framework for electronic identification is establishing standards for both personal and organisational digital wallets, and companies that build compliant infrastructure early stand to capture significant market share as adoption accelerates across the bloc. Spain has signalled its commitment to this digital identity infrastructure through SETT’s public investment in Sybol, reflecting a broader governmental push to position Spanish companies at the leading edge of European digital transformation. The combination of public backing, corporate parentage through Repsol, and alignment with incoming EU regulation gives Sybol a distinctive competitive position in what is expected to become a substantial market. With the European Commission targeting full eIDAS2 implementation by 2027, Sybol’s focus on building enterprise-ready infrastructure now could prove well-timed as organisations across the continent prepare for the transition to verifiable digital credentials. For more startup fundraising news and insights into Europe’s innovation ecosystem, explore our coverage of the latest funding rounds. Summary Company Sybol HQ Spain Founded by Repsol Digital intrapreneurship programme Leadership Raúl López (CEO), Iñigo Garcia (CTO), Alfredo Abad (COO) Round Mixed (public + private) Amount €1 million+ Lead Investor SETT (Spanish Society for Technological Transformation) Other Investors Repsol, Grupo Synaptia, Bolboreta Innova Group, Tritemius, Venturade, Chromata Invest Use of Funds Platform rollout, corporate wallet development, eIDAS2 alignment

Europe’s ageing population is placing unprecedented strain on residential care infrastructure, with demand for intelligent monitoring solutions accelerating as facilities struggle to balance operational efficiency with quality of care. Italian healthtech startup TeiaCare has secured €7 million in fresh funding to expand its AI-powered care monitoring platform across new European markets and into broader healthcare settings. The investment, led by returning backer P101 SGR with participation from existing shareholders and new investors including Spanish family offices Namarel and Inderhabs, will fund TeiaCare’s international expansion into France and Spain whilst supporting the development of advanced Data, Spatial, and Care Intelligence capabilities. P101 SGR leads expansion-stage investment P101 SGR, one of Italy’s most active venture capital firms, led the round as a returning investor, signalling continued confidence in TeiaCare’s growth trajectory. The participation of Namarel and Inderhabs, both Spanish family offices, is strategically significant as it coincides with TeiaCare’s planned entry into the Spanish market alongside France. Founded in 2018 by Guido Magrin and Luca Iozzia, TeiaCare has developed Ancelia, a proprietary platform that combines optical sensors and artificial intelligence to monitor care environments in real time. The system generates actionable insights for care staff in nursing homes, rehabilitation centres, and dementia care units, enabling faster response times and more informed clinical decision-making without intrusive wearable devices. The company has built considerable traction across Italy, serving more than 150 clients across over 200 facilities and covering approximately 75,000 residents. This footprint, concentrated across key Italian regions including Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, and Tuscany, provides a solid foundation for the planned European expansion. European care technology market gains momentum The investment comes at a time when European governments are increasingly recognising the need for technology-driven solutions in eldercare. With the continent’s over-65 population projected to reach 130 million by 2050, the pressure on residential care facilities to deliver better outcomes with constrained resources is only intensifying. TeiaCare’s approach — using ambient optical sensors rather than wearable devices — addresses a critical adoption barrier in care settings, where residents may resist or be unable to use wearable technology. The non-invasive nature of the Ancelia platform has been a key differentiator in securing facility-level adoption across Italy. Beyond its core residential care market, TeiaCare plans to extend its solutions into broader healthcare and home care settings, potentially opening significantly larger addressable markets. The development of Spatial Intelligence and Care Intelligence modules suggests the company is building toward a comprehensive data platform for care environments, rather than remaining a point solution for monitoring. The €7 million round positions TeiaCare to compete in a European healthtech landscape that has seen growing investor interest in AI-powered care solutions, as demographic pressures and workforce shortages make technology adoption in care settings not merely desirable but essential. For more startup fundraising news and insights into Europe’s innovation ecosystem, explore our coverage of the latest funding rounds. Summary Company TeiaCare HQ Italy Founded 2018 Founders Guido Magrin, Luca Iozzia Round Growth Amount €7 million Lead Investor P101 SGR Other Investors Namarel, Inderhabs Use of Funds European expansion (France, Spain), platform development, broader healthcare settings

Dutch drone operations startup AirHub has raised €4.4 million in Series A funding led by Keen Venture Partners to develop dedicated defence and security products, building on a client base that includes Dubai Police, Belgian Federal Police, and Shell.

The rapid adoption of autonomous AI agents across enterprise environments has created a significant and largely unaddressed cybersecurity gap. According to Deloitte’s 2026 State of AI report, nearly three in four companies plan to deploy agentic AI within two years, yet only one in five has a mature governance model for autonomous agents. London-based Trent AI has emerged from stealth with a $13 million seed round to tackle this structural vulnerability head-on, offering what it describes as the first multi-agent security solution purpose-built for the agentic era. The seed round was co-led by LocalGlobe and Cambridge Innovation Capital, with participation from senior figures at OpenAI, Spotify, Databricks, AWS, and Stripe. The capital will be deployed to expand the engineering team, accelerate product development, and grow Trent AI’s early customer base across Europe and the United States. LocalGlobe and Cambridge Innovation Capital back agentic AI security play The calibre of Trent AI’s investor roster reflects the seriousness with which the industry views the agentic security challenge. LocalGlobe, one of Europe’s most prominent early-stage venture firms, co-led the round alongside Cambridge Innovation Capital, the University of Cambridge’s venture arm. The angel investor list reads as a who’s who of senior AI leadership: Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, a member of technical staff at OpenAI; Tony Jebara, former Vice President of Engineering and Head of AI/ML at Spotify; Ippokratis Pandis, a Distinguished Engineer at Databricks; and Avinash Bhat, a Director at AWS. The founding team brings deep technical credibility to the challenge. CEO Eno Thereska previously served as Distinguished Engineer at Alcion, AWS, and Confluent. Chief Scientist Neil Lawrence holds the DeepMind Professorship of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and previously served as Director of Machine Learning at Amazon. CTO Zhenwen Dai brings experience as a machine learning scientist at AWS and Senior Research Manager at Spotify. A platform built to secure autonomous AI agents Unlike conventional cybersecurity tools retrofitted for AI environments, Trent AI’s platform deploys specialised AI security agents that continuously scan customer environments, assess risk, mitigate vulnerabilities, and evaluate overall security posture. The system operates through four distinct agent groups handling vulnerability detection, severity ranking, remediation recommendations, and security trend analysis. The platform’s proprietary judgement layer and reinforcement learning technology orchestrate these security agents across customer workflows, transforming agentic AI security from a manual audit exercise into a continuous, automated process. Trent AI’s agents can simulate complex attack chains, detect overly broad access permissions, and generate actionable code improvement suggestions — capabilities that static rule-based security tools fundamentally lack. The platform already integrates with popular AI development tools including Claude Code and Lovable, and supports CI/CD pipeline integration for continuous security monitoring. Trent AI has been adopted by several technology firms during its stealth period, with early design partners including Canopy and Weblogic. European agentic AI security market gains momentum Trent AI’s emergence comes at a time when the European cybersecurity market is experiencing substantial investment momentum, driven in part by regulatory frameworks such as the EU AI Act that place increasing obligations on organisations deploying autonomous AI systems. The gap between agentic AI adoption and adequate security infrastructure represents a significant market opportunity, particularly as enterprises move beyond experimental deployments toward production-grade autonomous workflows. The $13 million seed round positions Trent AI among the better-capitalised European cybersecurity startups at the pre-Series A stage. With AI agent deployment accelerating across sectors from financial services to healthcare, the demand for purpose-built agentic security solutions is expected to grow substantially in the coming years. For more on European startup fundraising, visit our fundraising coverage. Summary Company Trent AI Headquarters London, United Kingdom Founded 2025 Round Seed Amount $13 million Lead Investors LocalGlobe, Cambridge Innovation Capital Notable Angels Leaders from OpenAI, Spotify, Databricks, AWS, Stripe Use of Funds Engineering expansion, product development, customer growth