The market for AI sales agents targeting B2B software companies is attracting serious capital as investor conviction grows around the displacement of traditional sales development representative roles. Tallinn-based startup Handhold has raised a €3 million seed round to deploy AI agents across the full software buying journey — from first contact through to customer onboarding — positioning itself at the intersection of two of the fastest-growing categories in enterprise software. The round was led by Entourage Capital, with participation from Inovia Capital and e2vc. The raise also drew a notable cohort of angel investors from within the European tech ecosystem, including Markus Villig, the founder and chief executive of Bolt, Harsh Sinha, chief technology officer at Wise, Janer Gorohhov, co-founder of Veriff, and Ott Kaukver, former chief technology officer of Twilio. The calibre of individual backers reflects growing confidence that AI-driven sales automation is moving beyond experimentation into mainstream enterprise adoption. A platform built to unify the fragmented buying experience Handhold was founded in 2025 by Georg Vooglaid and Uku Tammet. The company’s central thesis is that B2B software purchasing has become structurally inefficient — vendors rely on human sales teams that cannot operate at the scale or speed that modern buyers expect, while buyers receive inconsistent, fragmented experiences that rarely reflect the actual product. Handhold’s answer is a suite of three coordinated AI agents that operate continuously and in sequence. The first agent handles inbound qualification, engaging website visitors in real time, answering product questions, and assessing lead quality without requiring a human sales representative. The second delivers personalised, voice-driven product demonstrations — including live interaction with the actual product interface — at any hour and in over 50 languages. The third guides newly converted customers through onboarding, maintaining context from every prior interaction to ensure continuity across the entire buyer journey. The system is designed to be operational within one to three days of deployment, significantly faster than the six-week average the company cites for comparable enterprise implementations. One early customer, Parim, reported a 60 per cent reduction in poor-fit sales calls alongside a 20 per cent month-on-month increase in qualified leads — metrics that suggest the platform is improving both the efficiency and selectivity of inbound pipelines. Handhold soft-launched in September 2025 and reached a six-figure annual recurring revenue run rate by year end, serving more than 15 customers across sectors including logistics and financial services. The four-person team plans to use the seed capital to accelerate go-to-market execution and scale towards enterprise-grade deployments. Strong operator backing reflects confidence in the AI agent opportunity The involvement of Markus Villig and Harsh Sinha is particularly instructive. Both built or scaled companies that faced the challenge of managing complex, high-volume customer interactions at scale — Bolt across ride-hailing and Wise across international payments. Their backing suggests firsthand recognition of the operational leverage that well-designed AI agents can deliver. Georg Vooglaid, chief executive of Handhold, framed the company’s approach around the economics of personalisation at scale: “With AI agents, we can now replicate that one-to-one experience at scale because the economics work.” The comment points to a structural shift in what is now achievable. Historically, highly personalised selling was reserved for large enterprise deals where the margin justified the headcount. Handhold’s platform is designed to make that level of engagement commercially viable across a much broader customer base. The company identifies a total addressable market of approximately $60 billion in combined sales development representative and customer success manager labour costs across the United States and European Union — a figure that, even partially captured, represents a substantial commercial opportunity. European AI sales automation attracting growing investor attention Handhold enters a competitive but expanding market. Direct competitors include Spara, 1mind, Supersonik, Quarterzip and Trig, each of which focuses on specific segments of the sales funnel. Handhold’s differentiation lies in its integrated approach: a single platform that maintains contextual continuity from initial prospect engagement through post-sale activation, rather than addressing discrete stages in isolation. The broader AI agent market is expanding rapidly, with analyst estimates suggesting the sector will grow from approximately $7.8 billion in 2025 to over $52 billion by 2030. Within that trajectory, sales and customer engagement represent one of the largest near-term deployment opportunities, given the direct impact on revenue generation and the measurability of outcomes. European investors, long cautious about AI infrastructure plays concentrated in US markets, are increasingly backing applied AI companies that can demonstrate unit economics within months rather than years. For Handhold, the seed raise provides the runway to prove that its integrated AI sales agent model can scale beyond early adopters and into the mid-market and enterprise segments where the commercial returns are most significant. The company’s trajectory — six-figure ARR within three months of soft launch, backed by some of the most operationally credible angel investors in European tech — positions it as one to watch in the rapidly consolidating AI sales automation space. More information: handhold.io | Source: Tech.eu | Related: European Startup Fundraising News

European neurotechnology attracts growing investor interest as wellness meets wearables The intersection of neuroscience and consumer technology is emerging as one of Europe’s more compelling deep tech investment themes, as advances in brainwave entrainment, biometric integration, and auditory engineering create new commercial pathways for technologies that were previously confined to clinical research settings. With the global wellness technology market expanding rapidly, startups that can bridge the gap between peer-reviewed neuroscience and scalable consumer products are drawing increasing attention from strategic and institutional investors. Helsinki-based Audicin has raised $1.9 million (€1.6 million) to scale its real-time nervous system regulation technology across defence, healthcare, and enterprise applications. The round includes private investment, follow-on backing from Petteri Lahtela and Virpi Tuomivaara — the co-founders of Oura Health, one of Finland’s most successful consumer health companies — and a grant from Business Finland through its Deep Tech Accelerator programme. The capital brings Audicin’s total funding to approximately $3 million. Oura Health co-founders double down on brainwave entrainment technology The continued involvement of the Oura Health co-founders is a notable signal for Audicin’s commercial trajectory. Oura, which pioneered the smart ring category and has become a global standard in passive health monitoring, provides both a strategic reference point and a potential integration pathway for Audicin’s technology. The follow-on investment suggests that the Oura founders see material alignment between Audicin’s nervous system regulation capabilities and the broader ecosystem of wearable health devices. Audicin’s technology draws on brainwave entrainment, music neuroscience, and auditory engineering to deliver audio-based interventions that support nervous system regulation. Unlike mindfulness applications that require active user engagement, Audicin’s approach works through passive background listening — audio sessions adapted to a user’s physiological signals play in the background while they work, commute, or rest, requiring no conscious effort from the user. The company’s SDK, Audicin for Apps, enables third-party digital health, performance, and consumer platforms to integrate the technology directly, triggered by biometric data, time of day, or in-app events. The SDK supports integration with leading wearables including Oura, Apple Watch, Garmin, and Whoop, positioning Audicin as an infrastructure-level technology rather than a standalone consumer application. From wearables to defence: a dual-use commercial strategy Founded in 2022 by an all-female team — Laura Avonius (CEO), Victoria Williamson, and Mariana Sousa Aguiar — Audicin is pursuing a dual-track commercial strategy that spans consumer wellness and restricted-access environments. A new product in development, a standalone offline Sleep Headband, targets healthcare facilities and defence settings where mobile devices are not permitted. The device delivers pre-configured recovery programmes based on low-frequency brainwave protocols without requiring a connected phone, opening addressable markets that most consumer wellness companies cannot reach. The company reports strong early commercial traction, with a €6.9 million ($8 million) sales pipeline spanning defence, athletic performance, and wellness clinic sectors. This pipeline figure, notably large relative to the company’s current funding stage, suggests that Audicin’s dual-use approach is resonating with institutional buyers who value evidence-based nervous system interventions delivered through scalable, passive technology. Finland’s deep tech ecosystem supports neuroscience commercialisation Audicin’s fundraise is emblematic of a broader trend within Finland’s deep tech ecosystem, where companies are increasingly commercialising technologies rooted in peer-reviewed scientific research. The backing from Business Finland’s Deep Tech Accelerator programme underscores the institutional support available to Finnish startups operating at the frontier of applied neuroscience. For a female-founded company operating in a sector where the gap between scientific capability and commercial product has traditionally been wide, Audicin’s progress from laboratory science to a multi-million-dollar sales pipeline in under four years represents a notable trajectory. Company: Audicin HQ: Helsinki, Finland Founded: 2022 Round: $1.9 million (€1.6 million) Key Investors: Petteri Lahtela and Virpi Tuomivaara (Oura Health co-founders), Business Finland Deep Tech Accelerator Total Funding: ~$3 million Use of Funds: Scaling technology across defence, healthcare, and enterprise applications Website: audicin.com

The creator economy meets artificial intelligence as expert monetisation platforms attract investor attention The convergence of artificial intelligence and the knowledge economy is opening new pathways for professionals and public figures to scale their expertise beyond the constraints of time and physical availability. As AI capabilities mature, a growing cohort of startups is building platforms that transform individual knowledge into persistent, interactive digital assets — creating what some in the industry are calling the “expert economy.” Tallinn-based Pickmybrain has raised $2.1 million (€1.8 million) in pre-seed funding to scale its platform that enables professionals, celebrities, and domain experts to create AI-powered “Digital Brains” — personalised AI advisors trained on their specific knowledge and expertise. The round was led by a group of business angels positioning the Estonian startup to expand into new markets and deepen its product capabilities. Angel investors back vision for AI-powered expertise at scale The pre-seed round attracted investment from Garri Zmudze, a longevity and biotech investor who was an early backer of Insilico Medicine, alongside Raison.app and a number of non-disclosed private investors. The capital will be deployed to grow the team, scale into new geographic markets, and accelerate product development. Pickmybrain’s platform works by training AI models on an expert’s structured knowledge — interviews, articles, books, and recorded responses — to create interactive Digital Brains that users can query for practical, domain-specific guidance. Crucially, experts retain full control over the content their AI is trained on, uploading their own media and consenting to the use of any third-party resources. For individuals with limited digital footprints, the platform provides tools to record thoughts directly, which the AI then uses as training material. The model introduces a hybrid approach to knowledge delivery: users can ask Digital Brains questions based on an expert’s insights for immediate AI-generated responses, while more complex or sensitive queries are routed directly to the expert through asynchronous one-to-one video, creating a tiered engagement model. From Paul Pogba to Peter Vesterbacka: building a premium expert roster Founded in 2022, Pickmybrain has assembled a roster of more than 1,000 professionals spanning sports, entertainment, and business. Notable names on the platform include Peter Vesterbacka, the co-founder of Rovio (the studio behind Angry Birds) and founder of Slush, one of Europe’s most prominent startup events; World Cup winner Paul Pogba; and Bozoma Saint John, the former chief marketing officer at Netflix and Uber. The calibre of these early adopters signals the platform’s positioning at the premium end of the expert economy, targeting professionals whose knowledge carries sufficient commercial value to justify the creation of a persistent digital presence. For experts, the appeal lies in the ability to monetise their expertise passively and at scale, without the scheduling constraints of traditional consulting or speaking engagements. Estonia’s AI ecosystem continues to punch above its weight Pickmybrain’s fundraise adds to Estonia’s growing reputation as a disproportionately productive hub for AI-focused startups. The Baltic nation, which has produced more unicorns per capita than almost any other European country, continues to attract founders building at the intersection of artificial intelligence and consumer-facing platforms. With a strong digital infrastructure and a regulatory environment that has historically encouraged technology entrepreneurship, Estonia offers a competitive base from which to scale into broader European and global markets. As AI reshapes how knowledge is packaged, distributed, and monetised, platforms like Pickmybrain represent an emerging category that sits between the creator economy and enterprise AI — one where the value lies not in the model itself, but in the curated expertise it delivers. Company: Pickmybrain HQ: Tallinn, Estonia Founded: 2022 Round: $2.1 million (€1.8 million) Pre-seed Key Investors: Garri Zmudze, Raison.app, private angel investors Use of Funds: Team growth, market expansion, product development Website: pickmybrain.com

Freiburg-based TrustTech startup expands multilingual content moderation platform to 89 languages The regulatory landscape for online content moderation across Europe is shifting rapidly, with the EU Digital Services Act now mandating that platforms and organisations implement protective measures against harmful content. For the growing number of public figures, sports clubs, and media organisations facing a surge in online abuse, the compliance requirement has created an urgent demand for technology that can identify threats in real time — across languages, dialects, and the ever-evolving lexicon of coded hate speech. Freiburg-based Penemue has raised more than €1.7 million to scale its artificial intelligence platform for detecting and countering online hate speech, digital violence, and disinformation. The round attracted a diverse investor base including TION Health, Beyond Tomorrow, 4seedimpact, zigzag, Berlin Angel Fund, CGS Consulting and Beteiligungs GmbH, RLM Beteiligungs GmbH, and ILG Group, alongside prominent business angels from encourageventures e.V., Black Forest Business Angels, and Business Angels Mitteldeutschland. Beyond keyword filters: understanding context at scale What distinguishes Penemue from conventional content moderation tools is the depth of its linguistic analysis. Rather than relying on basic keyword matching, the platform analyses complex linguistic cues to identify harmful content across 89 languages in real time. The system recognises coded language, slang, regional dialects, and even emoji-based communication patterns, continuously updating its models to reflect emerging terms, cultural shifts, and new forms of digital abuse. The platform functions as a live monitoring layer for social media comments and direct messages, enabling organisations to hide or delete harmful content with a single click — or escalate cases directly to law enforcement through integrated legal complaint filing. “It is not just the people affected who are victims, but everyone who reads along,” said Sara Egetemeyr, co-founder and managing director of Penemue. The company was founded alongside Jonas Navid Mehrabanian Al-Nemri and Marlon Lückert, with a mission to make digital spaces safer through technology rather than manual moderation alone. Bundesliga clubs and federal politicians among early adopters Penemue has already built a notable client base across Germany and Europe. Bundesliga clubs in both the first and second divisions use the platform to monitor fan interactions and protect players from online abuse. Federal-level politicians, media houses, artists, and influencers also rely on the service, as do public prosecutors and police authorities investigating criminal online communication. The company’s effectiveness has been independently validated through an impact evaluation conducted by the University of Mannheim, which documented measurable positive effects in reducing digital violence — providing third-party academic credibility that strengthens Penemue’s positioning in a market where claims of AI effectiveness are often difficult to verify. European regulatory tailwind drives demand The fresh capital will fund further AI development, new European and international partnerships, and deeper cooperation with public institutions. Penemue’s timing aligns with a regulatory environment that is increasingly favourable to content moderation technology providers. The EU Digital Services Act creates compliance-driven demand across the bloc, while individual member states are introducing their own frameworks for combating online hate speech. The German startup has already earned recognition as AI Champion of Baden-Württemberg and is a member of Deutsche Telekom’s TechBoost programme. Its partnership with the #NoHateSpeech initiative further anchors it within the broader European movement to address digital abuse systematically rather than reactively. For Penemue, the challenge ahead lies in scaling a linguistically complex product across new markets while maintaining the detection accuracy that has earned it the trust of some of Germany’s most prominent institutions. Company: Penemue HQ: Freiburg, Germany Round: Funding round Amount: €1.7 million+ Key Investors: TION Health, Beyond Tomorrow, 4seedimpact, zigzag, Berlin Angel Fund Use of Funds: AI development, European and international expansion, public institution partnerships

Nazca Capital leads Series B as Spanish startup enters unicorn territory Europe’s space technology sector is experiencing a pivotal transformation, with artificial intelligence reshaping how satellite data is collected, processed, and commercialised. As enterprises and governments increasingly rely on real-time geospatial intelligence for everything from agricultural forecasting to disaster response, the demand for AI-ready Earth observation platforms has never been higher — and investors are taking notice. Madrid-based Xoople has closed a $130 million Series B round to accelerate the development of its proprietary satellite constellation and EarthAI platform. The round was led by Nazca Capital, with participation from MCH Private Equity, CDTI (the Spanish government’s technology development fund), Buenavista Equity Partners, and Endeavor Catalyst. The investment brings Xoople’s total funding to $225 million and pushes the company’s valuation into unicorn territory. Strategic investors back Europe’s earth observation ambitions The investor composition reflects a deliberate blend of private capital and institutional backing. Nazca Capital, one of Spain’s most prominent growth-stage venture firms, led the round — a significant endorsement of the country’s deeptech ecosystem. CDTI’s participation underscores the strategic importance the Spanish government places on sovereign space technology capabilities, while Endeavor Catalyst’s involvement connects Xoople to a global network of high-growth entrepreneurs. “Every major computing era creates a new system of record; those that define that system become the economic centres of that era,” said Fabrizio Pirondini, CEO and co-founder of Xoople. The company’s thesis is that as artificial intelligence matures, it will require a continuous, high-fidelity data layer representing the physical world — and that whoever builds it will occupy a position analogous to what cloud infrastructure providers became in the software era. Founded in 2019, Xoople spent its first seven years developing its technology stack around data collected by government spacecraft, building partnerships with Microsoft Azure and Esri for distribution and cloud infrastructure. The company began commercialisation in Q2 2026, with private preview customers already including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies across agriculture, insurance, infrastructure monitoring, and government services. From third-party data to proprietary satellite constellation The Series B funding will primarily finance Xoople’s transition from relying on third-party satellite data to operating its own proprietary constellation. The company has announced a partnership with L3Harris Technologies, the American aerospace and defence contractor, to design and manufacture sensors for its spacecraft. Pirondini described the constellation as capable of producing data that is “two orders of magnitude better” than existing monitoring systems. This vertical integration strategy positions Xoople to control the entire value chain — from data collection in orbit to AI-processed insights delivered to enterprise clients. The approach differentiates it from competitors like Planet Labs, BlackSky, and ICEYE, which also operate satellite constellations but have not built the same degree of AI-native data processing infrastructure. European space-tech investment gains momentum Xoople’s raise arrives at a moment of growing confidence in European space technology. The continent has seen a steady increase in venture capital flowing into satellite and earth observation startups, driven partly by the European Space Agency’s expanded partnership programmes and partly by increasing demand from climate monitoring, precision agriculture, and insurance underwriting. The competitive landscape includes both established players and well-funded newcomers. Planet Labs and Airbus Defence and Space operate mature constellations, while ICEYE and Capella Space have carved out niches in synthetic aperture radar imaging. Xoople’s differentiation lies in its AI-first approach — building not just the satellite infrastructure but the intelligence layer that transforms raw observation data into actionable insights for enterprise decision-making. With its Series B complete and satellite construction underway, Xoople represents one of the most ambitious bets in European deeptech this year — and a signal that Spain’s startup ecosystem is producing companies capable of competing on a global stage. Company: Xoople HQ: Madrid, Spain Founded: 2019 Round: Series B Amount: $130 million Total Funding: $225 million Lead Investor: Nazca Capital Use of Funds: Proprietary satellite constellation development, sensor manufacturing with L3Harris, platform expansion

The personal care industry confronts a data infrastructure gap The global personal care industry, valued at approximately $3 trillion, faces a mounting challenge: an estimated 80 per cent of products will require reformulation by 2030 as regulatory frameworks tighten around ingredient transparency, sustainability standards, and consumer safety. Yet the infrastructure connecting ingredient suppliers with the brands that formulate consumer products remains remarkably fragmented, relying on manual processes, siloed databases, and inconsistent data standards. Zurich-based Covalo has raised €3.5 million in a funding extension to accelerate its transformation from an ingredient marketplace into the shared data backbone for the personal care sector. The round was led by Hi inov, with continued participation from existing investors HTGF and seed + speed Ventures. The capital will fund the expansion of Covalo’s enterprise data platform, development of AI-based tools for workflow automation, and scaling of its infrastructure across key markets as the company positions itself at the centre of an industry-wide data modernisation effort. From marketplace to industry data infrastructure Founded in 2021 by Yann Chilvers and Timo von Bargen, Covalo initially operated as an ingredient discovery marketplace — a digital platform enabling cosmetics and personal care brands to search for and compare raw materials from suppliers worldwide. Over five years, the platform has grown to connect more than 1,500 ingredient suppliers with over 6,000 brands across 145 countries, with a database exceeding 50,000 ingredients. However, the company’s strategic vision has evolved significantly beyond marketplace transactions. Covalo is now building the connective tissue between suppliers’ product information management (PIM) systems and brands’ research and development and product lifecycle management (PLM) workflows — effectively creating a standardised data exchange layer for an industry that has historically lacked one. “What the industry needs is one common data backbone,” said Yann Chilvers, co-founder and co-CEO. “Inefficiencies in how product data is managed and shared contribute to delays and unsuccessful product launches, whilst limiting the industry’s ability to respond to regulatory changes and evolving market demands.” Enterprise clients validate the platform approach The quality of Covalo’s client base speaks to the platform’s growing credibility within the industry. Givaudan and Symrise — two of the world’s largest fragrance and flavour houses — alongside luxury group PUIG and premium skincare brand La Prairie, are among the companies using Covalo’s infrastructure. These partnerships with industry leaders suggest the platform has moved beyond the early-adopter phase and is gaining traction with the established players whose participation is essential for any industry-wide data standard to succeed. The €3.5 million funding extension will support the launch of several AI-powered capabilities, including conversational analytics, automated RFI and RFP processing, intelligent data extraction and enrichment, and regulatory compliance tools. These features are designed to reduce the significant manual effort currently required to source, evaluate, and qualify ingredients — a process that can take months for complex formulations and represents a major bottleneck for product development teams. Regulatory tailwinds drive urgency for data transparency The personal care industry faces an increasingly complex regulatory landscape across its key markets. The European Union’s Cosmetic Products Regulation continues to evolve, with stricter requirements around ingredient documentation, safety assessments, and environmental impact reporting. Similar regulatory tightening in the United States and Asia-Pacific markets is creating a global compliance challenge that is particularly acute for brands operating across multiple jurisdictions. For ingredient suppliers, the ability to provide standardised, verified data to brand partners is becoming a competitive necessity rather than a convenience. For brands, having a reliable infrastructure to access and manage supplier data across their entire product portfolio is essential for maintaining regulatory compliance and accelerating time to market. Covalo’s positioning as a neutral, industry-wide data layer — rather than a proprietary system controlled by any single supplier or brand — gives it a structural advantage in an ecosystem where trust and data interoperability are paramount. As the reformulation wave accelerates and regulatory demands intensify, the case for a shared data infrastructure in the personal care sector appears increasingly compelling. Summary Company: Covalo HQ: Zurich, Switzerland Founded: 2021 Round: Seed extension Amount: €3.5 million Lead investor: Hi inov Participating investors: HTGF, seed + speed Ventures Use of funds: Enterprise platform expansion, AI tool development, market scaling

European demand for sovereign intelligence technology accelerates The geopolitical landscape reshaping European defence and security priorities is driving unprecedented demand for sovereign technology platforms — systems that operate entirely within national borders without dependence on foreign cloud infrastructure. With European governments investing close to €1 billion in defence technology through the European Defence Fund alone, and the continent’s tech sovereignty spending exceeding €1.5 trillion in 2026, the market for AI-native intelligence tools built on European soil is expanding rapidly. Galway-based Octostar has raised €6.1 million in a seed extension round to scale its sovereign AI intelligence platform across European government agencies. The funding round attracted participation from existing strategic and venture capital investors alongside a notable new commitment from The Techshop, a Milan-based venture capital firm, and several new national institutional investors. The capital will accelerate deployment of Octostar’s platform, which serves national security, law enforcement, and financial intelligence organisations across Europe and beyond. A European alternative to Palantir gains traction Founded in 2023 by Dr Giovanni Tummarello, Robert Fuller, Varun Sharma, and Simone Scarduzio, Octostar has been identified by Intelligence Online as one of only two European alternatives to Palantir — the American data analytics giant that dominates the global intelligence software market. The distinction is significant at a time when European governments are actively re-evaluating their technology supply chains for intelligence and security applications. “Nations are re-evaluating their technology supply chains for intelligence and security,” said Dr Tummarello, CEO and CPO of Octostar. “The question is no longer whether sovereign alternatives are needed, but how quickly they can be deployed.” Octostar’s platform provides investigative intelligence capabilities including link analysis, communications intelligence, document intelligence, and GenAI-powered agents — all deployed within a fully sovereign, air-gapped architecture that operates without cloud or internet connectivity. This approach addresses a critical concern for European security agencies that increasingly view dependence on American hyperscalers as a strategic vulnerability. Rapid deployment across EU institutions The company’s commercial momentum has been striking for a startup founded less than three years ago. In Q1 2026 alone, Octostar completed three new deployments within EU national law enforcement and judicial bodies, with more than 15 additional deployments expected by year-end. The platform has also been deployed for national security purposes across the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, and the company has announced joint work with BAE Systems, one of Europe’s largest defence contractors. Headquartered in Galway with a research and development centre in Bergamo, Italy, and offices in London, Octostar benefits from backing by Platform94, an Irish Government and EU initiative supporting deep-tech companies. The cross-border structure reflects the broader European approach to building sovereign technology: leveraging talent and institutions across multiple member states whilst maintaining independence from non-European infrastructure. “Octostar is well positioned for an intelligence market that increasingly demands digital sovereignty,” noted investors from Cysero VC, highlighting the structural nature of the opportunity. The sovereign AI imperative in European defence The timing of Octostar’s funding aligns with a fundamental shift in European security thinking. US hyperscalers still control approximately 70 per cent of the European cloud market, a dependency that has become increasingly uncomfortable as transatlantic relations evolve. The European Commission has responded with initiatives including the EURO-3C project, which brings together more than 70 organisations to build sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure. The Europe AI and analytics in defence market is projected to grow at 8 per cent annually through 2030, with information superiority commanding more than 10 per cent of the European Defence Fund budget. For intelligence software specifically, the shift towards sovereign platforms represents a generational procurement cycle that could reshape the competitive landscape for years to come. With its air-gapped architecture, rapid deployment track record, and growing roster of European government clients, Octostar appears well positioned to capture a meaningful share of this expanding market — offering European agencies a credible, homegrown alternative to the American platforms that have long dominated the intelligence software sector. Summary Company: Octostar HQ: Galway, Ireland (R&D in Bergamo, Italy; offices in London) Founded: 2023 Round: Seed extension Amount: €6.1 million Key investors: The Techshop (Milan), existing strategic and VC backers Use of funds: Scaling deployment across EU government agencies Total funding: €6.1 million

Europe’s fintech infrastructure race intensifies with major investment Europe’s financial technology infrastructure sector is undergoing a profound transformation as traditional banks increasingly seek API-first solutions to modernise their legacy investment systems. The shift from monolithic banking platforms towards modular, cloud-native infrastructure has attracted significant investor attention, with B2B fintech infrastructure alone drawing €6.3 billion in the first nine months of 2025. Against this backdrop, Berlin-based Upvest has secured $125 million in fresh capital to cement its position as the continent’s leading investment API provider. The funding comprises $90 million in equity from Sapphire Ventures, Tencent Holdings, Bessemer Venture Partners, and BlackRock, complemented by a $35 million credit facility. Coming just twelve months after its Series C, the round underscores the accelerating demand for infrastructure that enables banks and wealth managers to offer seamless investment experiences without building proprietary technology from scratch. Global investors back European fintech infrastructure play The participation of Tencent — one of the world’s largest technology conglomerates — alongside established venture firms Sapphire Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners signals growing international confidence in Europe’s fintech infrastructure layer. BlackRock’s involvement is particularly notable given the asset manager’s own strategic interest in democratising investment access globally. Founded in 2017 by Martin Kassing, Dr Til Rochow, and Tobias Auferoth, Upvest operates as a regulated securities institution that provides banks, brokers, and wealth managers with API-based infrastructure encompassing trading, custody, and back-office services. The platform effectively replaces the fragmented legacy systems that have historically constrained European financial institutions from launching competitive digital investment products. “Banks choose Upvest for infrastructure to grow investment propositions profitably at scale for new investors,” said Martin Kassing, CEO and co-founder. “The $125 million round, just 12 months after our Series C, underscores our momentum to be the top choice for financial institutions launching and scaling best-in-class investment experiences at lightspeed in Europe.” Scaling across Europe’s largest markets Upvest’s client roster reads as a directory of Europe’s most prominent digital financial institutions. DKB, Santander’s Openbank, Revolut, N26, Webull, and Raisin all rely on Upvest’s infrastructure to power their investment offerings. The platform currently processes more than 100 million orders annually for over 30 financial institution clients, supported by a team of 280 employees. The fresh capital will fuel expansion into Europe’s largest markets, with a particular focus on localised pension products — including Germany’s forthcoming Altersvorsorgedepot and the United Kingdom’s Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs). This pension strategy positions Upvest at the intersection of two powerful trends: the digitisation of retirement savings and the European Commission’s push to deepen capital markets union across the bloc. Upvest is also investing in AI-driven wealth solutions, including autonomous advisory services designed to personalise investment strategies at scale — a capability that could prove transformative as European regulators increasingly encourage retail investor participation in capital markets. The broader European fintech infrastructure opportunity The European embedded finance market is projected to reach $143.2 billion by the end of 2026, growing at 11.1 per cent annually. Within this landscape, investment infrastructure represents one of the most underpenetrated segments, as the vast majority of European banks still operate on decades-old core systems that were never designed for real-time digital investing. The median European funding round grew 32 per cent between 2024 and 2025, the largest increase since 2020, with fintech infrastructure consistently ranking among the most active investment categories. Upvest’s ability to attract $125 million just twelve months after its previous round suggests the company is approaching an inflection point, with management indicating a clear path to profitability in the near term. As European regulators continue to push for greater retail investor access to capital markets and the pension landscape undergoes digital transformation, infrastructure providers like Upvest stand to benefit from a structural tailwind that shows no signs of abating. Summary Company: Upvest HQ: Berlin, Germany Founded: 2017 Round: Series D ($90M equity + $35M credit facility) Amount: $125 million Lead investors: Sapphire Ventures, Tencent Participating investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, BlackRock Use of funds: European market expansion, pension product rollout, AI-driven wealth solutions

Europe’s defence and intelligence technology sector is experiencing a decisive inflection point, driven by governments’ growing determination to reduce dependence on non-European vendors for critical national security infrastructure. The movement gained further momentum when Switzerland terminated its contract with Palantir in early 2026, citing concerns over US intelligence agencies’ potential access to sensitive defence data — a development that underscored the urgency of building genuinely sovereign alternatives. Against this backdrop, Irish startup Octostar has closed an extension of its seed round, bringing total funding to €6.1 million. The investment attracted participation from existing strategic and venture capital investors, alongside new backers including Milan-based venture capital firm The Techshop and several national institutional investors. Strategic investors back sovereign AI growth The funding reflects accelerating institutional demand for investigative intelligence platforms that operate entirely outside US jurisdiction. Gianluca D’Agostino of The Techshop described the investment thesis: “Giovanni and his talent-dense team represent a rare combination of deep domain expertise. Octostar is one of the very few teams delivering on such demand.” The Galway-headquartered company, founded in 2023 by Dr Giovanni Tummarello, Robert Fuller, Simone Scarduzio, and Varun Sharma, has built an AI-native intelligence platform designed for national security, law enforcement, and financial compliance organisations. Its architecture supports deployment in fully air-gapped, No Cloud/No Internet environments — a critical requirement for government agencies that cannot risk data exposure through cloud-based systems. Octostar’s platform integrates link analysis, communications intelligence, document intelligence, and generative AI-powered investigative agents within a fully sovereign and extensible architecture. Clients can customise workflows and adapt the system to their specifications without vendor intervention, maintaining complete operational independence. Positioning as a European Palantir alternative The company has been recognised by Intelligence Online, a specialist intelligence industry publication, as one of only two European alternatives to Palantir in the investigative intelligence space. This designation carries significant weight within the sector, signalling that Octostar has achieved the technical and operational credibility required to compete with the dominant US incumbent whilst offering genuine sovereignty guarantees. Traction has been building rapidly. In Q1 2026 alone, Octostar completed three new deployments within EU national law enforcement and judicial bodies, with more than 15 expected by the end of the year. The company has also secured national security deployments across the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, and announced joint work with BAE Systems, the UK defence contractor. CEO Dr Giovanni Tummarello framed the opportunity in geopolitical terms: “Nations are re-evaluating their technology supply chains for intelligence and security. The question is no longer whether sovereign alternatives are needed, but how quickly they can be deployed.” European defence tech investment reaches record levels Octostar’s funding arrives at a moment of unprecedented investment in European defence and security technology. Private investment in the sector reached a record €5 billion in 2024, representing a fivefold increase compared to 2019. The European Commission has committed €307 million to advancing trustworthy AI and strategic digital technologies, whilst the European Investment Bank Group has pledged €15 billion through the European Tech Champions Initiative. The sovereign AI opportunity is substantial. McKinsey estimates that sovereign AI capabilities could unlock up to €480 billion in value annually by 2030 across Europe. However, capturing this value depends on European companies demonstrating genuine technological and operational independence from US jurisdiction — precisely the positioning Octostar has established. With offices in Galway, a research and development centre in Bergamo, Italy, and a sales presence in London, Octostar is building from a foundation that reflects its cross-border European identity. The company’s previous funding — a €2 million seed round in November 2024 from Italian investors including Cysero, Euveca, and Kilometro Rosso — provided the initial capital to develop the platform and secure early government contracts. The fresh capital will support expanded deployment capacity and product development as European governments accelerate procurement of sovereign intelligence solutions. Company Octostar Headquarters Galway, Ireland Founded 2023 Round Seed Extension Amount €6.1 million (total) Key Investors The Techshop, existing strategic and VC investors, national institutional investors Use of Funds Expanded deployment capacity and product development Total Funding to Date €6.1 million

Digital commerce in the B2B sector has long laboured under a peculiar inefficiency. Whilst consumer-facing platforms have achieved unprecedented adoption by meeting customers where they already spend time, many B2B ordering solutions have pursued a distinctly different strategy: build a dashboard, populate it with data visualisations, and assume adoption will follow. For retailers and hospitality operators in emerging markets across Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, this assumption has proven persistently wrong. The reality is measurable and sobering. Industry data consistently shows that traditional B2B SaaS ordering platforms achieve adoption rates of around twelve percent among small and medium-sized retailers and HoReCa operators. These figures have remained stubbornly flat for years, suggesting the problem is not merely one of poor implementation but of fundamental design philosophy. Into this gap steps nFuse, an AI-powered B2B ordering platform that has just secured two million dollars in funding to accelerate its expansion across Europe and beyond. Funding and investor backing The $2 million round was led by Eleven Ventures and LAUNCHub Ventures, two of the most prominent venture capital firms operating across the CESEE region. This funding reflects growing investor confidence in solutions addressing the persistent friction within B2B commerce in emerging markets, a sector where inefficiencies remain both widespread and expensive. The capital will support nFuse’s expansion strategy, with particular focus on accelerating adoption across Europe and preparing for entry into broader EMEA and American markets. nFuse was founded by Stoyan Ivanov, who serves as Chief Executive Officer, and Stefan Radov, Chief Operating Officer. Both bring substantial experience from their previous roles at Coca-Cola. Ivanov spent two decades in corporate business development and was instrumental in building Coca-Cola’s European venturing unit, providing him with deep insight into enterprise operations and scaling challenges. Radov brings expertise in distribution, sales operations, and go-to-market strategy accumulated through years in the beverage and FMCG sector. Their combined background reflects a founding team that understands both the strategic and operational realities of B2B commerce at scale. How nFuse reimagines B2B ordering The platform’s core proposition is elegantly straightforward. Rather than requiring retailers and HoReCa operators to learn yet another software interface, nFuse enables ordering through the messaging applications they already use daily: WhatsApp, Viber, and SMS. Customers can place orders using text, voice messages, or images. The system is powered by AI that processes these inputs and converts them into structured orders, eliminating the need for new applications or significant workflow changes. This approach addresses what has long been a blind spot in the B2B SaaS industry. Radov, reflecting on the problem the company seeks to solve, observes: “We sat in the meetings where adoption targets kept getting missed. They don’t want another app. They want to order the same way they message their family.” This insight emerged from direct experience within large organisations struggling to drive adoption of traditional ordering platforms. Ivanov adds institutional perspective: “The industry built and designed eB2B for headquarters — for the people who wanted dashboards and data.” His observation captures a crucial misalignment between what traditional B2B ordering platforms optimise for and what end users actually need. Whilst logistics managers and purchasing departments may appreciate comprehensive data visualisations, the frontline staff placing orders simply want to communicate their needs through familiar tools. The FMCG B2B sector and messaging-first ordering The FMCG and general B2B ordering sector has undergone gradual but significant transformation over recent years. Messaging-first approaches have gained traction in emerging markets precisely because they reduce friction and align with existing user behaviour. nFuse’s presence across CESEE, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia reflects the genuinely global nature of this opportunity. In each region, the fundamental problem is identical: conventional B2B ordering applications built around desktop dashboards fail to achieve meaningful adoption among small retailers and informal hospitality operators. Within Europe specifically, B2B SaaS funding has remained robust throughout 2026, with investors recognising both the market opportunity and the durability of solutions that actually solve genuine problems. nFuse’s success in raising capital from prominent regional venture firms suggests that investors see real potential in a messaging-native approach to B2B ordering. Looking ahead As nFuse moves into its expansion phase, the broader implications extend beyond any single company’s trajectory. The B2B ordering platform market may finally be reckoning with a fundamental truth: adoption metrics matter more than feature completeness, and meeting users where they are proves more effective than asking them to change their habits. For retailers and hospitality operators across the CESEE region and beyond, nFuse’s expansion could mean finally having access to a B2B ordering platform that works with their workflow rather than against it. Summary Company: nFuse Founders: Stoyan Ivanov (CEO), Stefan Radov (COO) Round: $2 million Investors: Eleven Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures Use of Funds: European expansion, broader EMEA and American markets Product: AI-powered B2B ordering via WhatsApp, Viber, and SMS

European defence technology has undergone a marked shift over the past three years. The proliferation of low-cost unmanned systems, exposed starkly by recent conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, has rendered many legacy air defence systems economically unviable. A single interceptor missile costing hundreds of thousands of euros deployed against a drone worth a few thousand has created a fundamental imbalance in modern warfare economics. This backdrop has catalysed a wave of European defence technology investment, with the sector attracting €2.3 billion in funding last year alone — double the equivalent figure from 2024. Into this landscape steps EGIDE, a Ris-Orangis-based drone defence startup that has secured €8 million in seed funding to accelerate development of electrically propelled interceptor systems and a hardware-agnostic software platform designed to counter unmanned threats at scale. The round was co-led by Expeditions, Eurazeo, and Heartcore Capital, with participation from Galion.exe and Kima Ventures. The company’s funding will be deployed across three primary objectives: accelerating the design and production of its interceptor systems, developing and refining Mystique — its distributed sensor and AI-driven detection platform — and expanding its engineering team across Europe to bolster capabilities in electric propulsion, aerodynamics, warhead design, and software architecture. EGIDE currently operates with a team of six to nine employees and is recruiting to support the expanded roadmap. Who is backing EGIDE The investor syndicate reflects confidence in both the founders and the market timing. Expeditions, which led the round, observed in a statement that “the rapid proliferation of low-cost drones is transforming the character of warfare, exposing critical vulnerabilities in legacy defence systems.” This articulates the core thesis: European defence establishments lack scalable, cost-effective alternatives to traditional air defence frameworks. Eurazeo and Heartcore Capital, as co-leads, bring both financial firepower and sector connectivity. Heartcore Capital has developed particular expertise in applied technology businesses serving the defence sector, whilst Eurazeo’s presence signals institutional-level conviction in the opportunity. The participation of venture funds including Kima Ventures — known for early-stage defence technology bets — reinforces that this is not a one-off outlier but rather part of a structured investment wave in European defence infrastructure. Addressing the drone problem EGIDE’s technical approach centres on two complementary elements. The company develops electrically propelled interceptor systems designed to be orders of magnitude cheaper than conventional air defence missiles whilst retaining sufficient lethality and precision. The economics here matter: if an interceptor costs a fraction of a conventional missile, the cost-exchange ratio becomes defensible across wider operational deployments. The second pillar is Mystique, a software platform that operates independently of specific hardware implementations. The system combines distributed sensors, AI-driven threat detection, and layered interception logic. By decoupling software from hardware, Mystique can theoretically be retrofitted into existing defence infrastructure or paired with EGIDE’s own interceptor hardware, expanding its addressable market. The founding team comprises Simon Calonne, CEO and aerospace engineer specialising in guidance, navigation, and control systems, and Florian Audigier, CTO and pyrotechnical engineer with warhead design expertise. Both are former MBDA engineers — Europe’s largest missile systems manufacturer — which provides meaningful credibility in a sector where technical pedigree and established industry relationships carry substantial weight. Calonne stated: “Low-cost drones are fundamentally transforming modern warfare. We are building a new generation of scalable and affordable defence capabilities designed to meet this challenge.” This framing — scaling and affordability as design principles rather than afterthoughts — differentiates EGIDE from legacy defence contractors and positions it alongside comparable European drone defence startups that have recently secured substantial funding. The broader European defence technology moment EGIDE is not alone in attracting capital to address the anti-drone technology problem. Frankenburg Technologies, based in Tallinn, recently raised €30 million for interceptor missile development. Tytan Technologies, operating from Munich, secured a similar €30 million round for air defence systems. Both companies emerged from comparable tactical observations: European NATO allies require new solutions urgently, and traditional procurement cycles are too slow. The investment velocity in European defence technology reflects genuine urgency at the institutional level. Defence ministries across NATO are recalibrating procurement strategies, venture capital is deploying capital at scale, and technical talent is migrating from civilian tech into defence applications. This represents a structural reorientation, not cyclical enthusiasm. Looking forward EGIDE’s €8 million seed round provides sufficient runway to validate its interceptor platform and establish initial market traction with European defence customers. The real test lies in execution: delivering cost-effective, reliable systems that perform under operational constraints, securing customer validation, and expanding its engineering capacity to support a growth trajectory that will likely require a significantly larger Series A within 18 to 24 months. The European drone defence startup ecosystem is consolidating quickly around teams with credible technical founders, clear technical differentiation, and investor backing that signals market timing. EGIDE fits this template. Whether it becomes a category leader or acquires strategic value for a larger defence prime will depend on how effectively it translates funding into engineered solutions that prove defensible in European procurement environments. Summary Company: EGIDE HQ: Ris-Orangis, France Founded: 2025 Founders: Simon Calonne (CEO), Florian Audigier (CTO) Round: €8 million Seed Lead Investors: Expeditions, Eurazeo, Heartcore Capital Other Investors: Galion.exe, Kima Ventures Total Funding: €8 million Use of Funds: Interceptor development, Mystique platform, engineering team expansion

Data quality has emerged as perhaps the most critical technical constraint on artificial intelligence adoption across European enterprises. As organisations race to implement machine learning systems and AI-powered applications, a fundamental challenge persists: the quality of data flowing into these systems directly determines the quality of outputs. Gartner research identifies data quality as the single biggest obstacle to successful AI implementation, whilst a recent MIT study found that 95 percent of AI projects never reach production, often due to data governance failures. Against this backdrop, Stockholm-based Validio has secured $30 million in Series A funding, a vote of confidence from some of Europe’s most sophisticated investors in the company’s approach to automating data quality and observability across enterprise systems. The funding round, which closed on 5 March 2026, was led by Plural, a venture firm founded by Taavet Hinrikus, the co-founder of Wise, alongside technology investor Ian Hogarth. The round also attracted participation from existing backer Lakestar, as well as J12 and a roster of notable angel investors including Kevin Ryan, the founder of MongoDB; Denise Persson, former Chief Marketing Officer at Snowflake; Emil Eifrem, founder and CEO of Neo4j; and Sven Hagströmer, founder of the Avanza Bank platform. This brings Validio’s total funding to $47 million since its 2019 founding. Understanding the Validio approach Validio’s agentic data management platform automates critical functions that have traditionally consumed enormous engineering resources: data observability, quality monitoring, lineage tracking, and asset cataloguing. The platform combines AI-powered anomaly detection capable of processing billions of records to identify data quality issues in minutes rather than at month-end reporting cycles. Early customers report a 95 percent reduction in manual investigation time, whilst one metric stands out particularly: the company reports reducing data lineage configuration from eight months to a single day through automation. These improvements translate directly to business value. Validio’s own growth metrics underscore market appetite: the company has achieved 800 percent annualised revenue growth. Its customer base spans several high-profile European firms including Nordea, Deutsche Glasfaser, Canva, Truecaller, Surfshark, Walden, and AllianceBernstein, many of whom operate mission-critical data infrastructure that feeds downstream analytics and machine learning systems. CEO Patrik Liu Tran, who founded Validio alongside Oliver Molander and Urban Eriksson, articulated the stakes in a recent statement: “In the AI era, everything is magnified: now it’s garbage in, disaster out.” This frames data quality not as a back-office concern but as a direct determinant of whether AI implementations succeed or fail at scale. Why investors are backing this moment The investor composition reflects both the strategic importance of data infrastructure and the timing of this round. Plural’s involvement represents the venture thesis of Hinrikus and Hogarth, who have demonstrated conviction in enterprise software addressing fundamental technical constraints. The participation of product founders — Ryan at MongoDB, Eifrem at Neo4j, and Persson’s experience at Snowflake — indicates that experienced technologists recognise the problem Validio solves. This timing matters. European venture capital continues to flow disproportionately towards AI-backed companies. Across the continent in the first quarter of 2026, startups raised $19.3 billion across 887 funding rounds, with AI-backed ventures capturing approximately 62 percent of available capital. Validio’s focus on a foundational layer of the AI stack — ensuring that the data feeding machine learning systems is reliable — positions it within this broader momentum. A European data infrastructure story Validio represents a growing pattern in European technology: high-value software addressing enterprise operational problems, founded outside the Bay Area yet attracting global investor attention. The company’s Stockholm origins connect to a broader Nordic strength in data-intensive systems, from the fintech infrastructure behind Wise to the customer data platforms built across the region. The deployment of capital from this round reflects ambition to scale internationally. Validio plans to expand its go-to-market operations in the United States, United Kingdom, and Northern Europe, with new offices opening in New York and London. Product development will continue in parallel, ensuring that the platform keeps pace with the expanding complexity of data architectures across industries managing critical information flows. For enterprise technology buyers evaluating data quality tools, Validio’s funding and investor backing signal both validation of the problem and the confidence that the company has developed a credible solution. Whether the platform can maintain its growth trajectory whilst integrating effectively into complex organisational data stacks remains an open question — but the market opportunity that prompted this Validio funding round is unambiguous. Key Details Company: Validio HQ: Stockholm, Sweden Founded: 2019 Founders: Patrik Liu Tran, Oliver Molander, Urban Eriksson Round: $30 million Series A Lead Investor: Plural Other Investors: Lakestar, J12, Kevin Ryan (MongoDB), Denise Persson (Snowflake), Emil Eifrem (Neo4j), Sven Hagströmer (Avanza Bank) Total Funding: $47 million Use of Funds: US, UK, and Northern Europe go-to-market expansion; new offices in New York and London