In our fast-paced, tech-driven world, it’s easy to get swept away by the latest innovations and advancements.
As a result, it’s easy to miss out on important stories that impact our lives; however, they also deserve our attention as well.
In this edition of in other news this week, we have briefly compiled a list of important news that we have missed.
Give it a read!
Eindhoven’s ONWARD Medical gets €50M
Based out of Eindhoven, ONWARD Medical is a medical technology company creating therapies to restore movement, function, and independence in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) and movement disabilities.
The company raised €50M in gross proceeds by way of an upsized bookbuild offering through a private placement with institutional investors of 10 million new ordinary shares via the Joint Bookrunners (Read more).
MoneyBox secures €84M funding
Founded in London, MoneyBox is a savings and investment app. The fintech company raised £70M led by Apis Global Growth Fund III SCSp, with participation from Amundi. The funding round boosts the company’s valuation to £550M, just two years after its Series D funding.
The transaction will primarily involve a secondary share sale, with existing investors selling 10-15 per cent of the share capital. Around 35,000 eligible shareholders, including employees and crowd investors, will also have the opportunity to sell up to 10 per cent of their holdings (Read more).
Dutch-based ProQR announces public offering of 18,000,000 ordinary shares
Based out of Leiden, ProQR is a biotech company that discovers and develops unique RNA therapies for severe rare and common diseases.
The company has announced a public offering of 18,000,000 ordinary shares for $3.50 per share, aiming for total gross proceeds of $63M before expenses. Additionally, the underwriters can buy up to 2,700,000 more shares within 30 days at the same price, with fewer discounts and commissions (Read more).
Validation Cloud secures funding to expand AI products
Zug-based Validation Cloud is a Web3 data and AI company with products in staking, node, and data-as-a-service. The company raised $10M in funding led by True Global Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to expand its AI product, bringing seamless access to Web3 data and enabling unparalleled user experiences to network ecosystems and applications (Read more).
Epitopea bags €28.6M for RNA-based treatments
Epitopea is a transatlantic cancer immunotherapy company focused on developing accessible, off-the-shelf RNA-based treatments for difficult-to-treat cancers. They target a new class of untapped tumor-specific antigens known as Cryptigen TSAs, which are widely shared among multiple patients with the same type of tumor. The company raised $31M in pre-Series A financing, bringing the total raised by Epitopea to over $45M (Read more).
Genie AI secures €16.4M to advance Agentic AI editor
London-based Genie AI is a legal tech startup that has developed an editing platform — Agentic AI editor, that uses AI to draft and review legal documents for companies. The company secured $17.8M in Series A funding, led by GV (Google Ventures) and joined by Khosla Ventures (early investors in OpenAI). The company will use the funding to expand its Agentic AI editor to create legal workflows, expanding its customer base in the USA and other countries (Read more).
Sensei bags €15M to advance retail technology
Lisbon-based Sensei specialised in autonomous retail technology that helps in eliminating checkout lines, streamline operations and give retailers unprecedented insights into their businesses. The company raised €15M in a Series A funding round to scale 1,000 fully autonomous points of sale by 2026. The investment was backed by BlueCrow Capital, LINCE CAPITAL, Explorer, Kamay Ventures, Techstars, METRO AG, Iberis Capital, Bright Pixel (formerly Sonae IM), Seaya, and business angels, including Diogo Mónica and João Graça.
Here’s how a fishing rod helped Sensei catch €15M (Read more).
Foria Italia secures €1.7M
Milan-based Foria Italia, a startup specialising in the recycling of personal absorbent product (PAP) waste has secured €1.7M funding led by Tech4Planet – the National Technology Transfer Hub for Environmental Sustainability promoted by CDP Venture Capital, and by MITO Tech Ventures – a venture capital fund under art. The company has patented a technology that recycles up to 100% of waste from absorbent personal products (PAP), like diapers. This process converts the waste into secondary raw materials, which can be used in new production cycles, promoting a circular economy (Read more).
Quiet gets €4.5M funding
Based out of Paris, Quiet focuses on acquiring and reviving mobile games and apps. The company improves features, boosts user engagement, and expands market reach. Their team uses expertise in game development, marketing, and design to enhance acquired properties and meet players’ current expectations. Quiet raised €4.5M in funding led by Varsity, as well as various key investors and partners (Read more).
GreenGo secures €3M
Based out of Paris, GreenGo provides a platform to book eco-friendly transportation and accommodation. The company raised €3M in funding to accelerate its developments, and in particular to build the ultimate low-impact travel platform. Investors, including INCO Ventures (via its Abeille Assurances fund), Climate Leaders Fast Track, 4Ventures, and business angels, participated (Read more).
Oxla raises funding from TQ Ventures and others
Oxla is a high-performance analytical database designed for large-scale data processing. Its innovative architecture features a dynamic query processing cluster that scales automatically based on demand, ensuring efficient resource use and faster processing for data-intensive workloads. The company raised $11M in funding from TQ Ventures, Lead Ventures, Warsaw Equity Group, and 4growth VC (Read more).
HeavyFinance signed a portfolio guarantee of €10.5M
Vlinius-based HeavyFinance is a climate technology firm providing sustainable finance and investment solutions for agriculture. The company has signed a portfolio guarantee of €10.5M with the European Investment Fund (EIF) to support small and medium-sized farms on their journey to more sustainable agriculture. The guarantee will help to deliver €15M of new debt financing in Poland and Lithuania to 550 farmers (Read more).
Recyda secures €6.3M from Cusp Capital and others
Based out of Freiburg, Germany, Recyda’s SaaS platform helps packaging manufacturers, brand owners, and retailers manage packaging data and meet international sustainability requirements. The company raised €6.3M in funding from Cusp Capital as the lead investor, with participation from Speedinvest, Futury Capital, the Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, and notable business angels such as Dr. Stephan Rohr (TWAICE), Benedikt Franke (Planetly / Helpling), and Martin Weber (one • five). The company will use the funds to expand its platform for sustainable packaging management into international markets (Read more).
Keel bags funding for its no-code platform
London-based Keel offers a no-code platform for operations teams to easily build custom operational software solutions. The company raised $6M in funding from Earlybird Venture Capital and LocalGlobe, to bridge the gap between no-code solutions and ERP software (Read more).
Aether secures funding to accelerate AI solar platform expansion
Aether offers an AI-powered end-to-end platform for rooftop solar installers. The company raised $2.5M in a seed funding round led by noa (formerly A/O), with participation from Y Combinator, Collab Fund, Amino Capital, and Climate Capital. The funding will be used to accelerate Aether’s expansion and introduce a native solar design tool tailored for the European market (Read more).
ExoMatter raises €1.7M to help businesses discover new materials
Based out of Munich, ExoMatter raised €1.7M in pre-seed funding round, led by Vanagon.vc. The round also received support from Bayern Kapital, 212 NexT, Bloomhaus Ventures AG, ZAKA VC, and four female business angels from encourageventures e.V. The company’s AI-driven platform, enables businesses to discover new materials up to 90 per cent faster than traditional methods. The company uses AI and quantum-level calculations (DFT) to optimise materials for performance, cost, and sustainability (Read more).
4Tissue gets €2M led by three prominent female investors
Based out of Antwerp, 4Tissue is a biotech company at the forefront of regenerative medicine, utilising advanced bio-interactive hydrogels to transition from cells to tissue engineering. The company raised €2M in a seed funding round including equity investment and non-dilutive grants. Led by three prominent female investors from the life science and business sectors, this funding will enable 4Tissue to accelerate the clinical development of its innovative platform (Read more).
Daiki bags €1.5M to deploy AI responsibly
Daiki is an artificial intelligence company that was founded as a spin-off of a research project about ethical AI between the University of Vienna and Gradient Zero, a machine learning company based in Vienna. The company raised €1.5M in seed funding to help businesses across Europe successfully and responsibly deploy AI (Read more).
Cristiano Ronaldo invests in Bioniq
Based out of London, Bioniq offers AI-driven personalised supplements based on blood test data. After conducting years of testing, Bioniq has developed the largest of its kind proprietary biochemical database with blood test data from customers across 5 continents. Recently, global soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo has made a significant investment in the company, bringing its total valuation to $82M (Read more).
Somnoz joins hands with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Rotterdam-based Somnoz is a startup developing an innovative robot to combat insomnia. The device simulates calm breathing, allowing poor sleepers to fall asleep naturally using sensors. Recently, the company announced a partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to help their cabin crew with the Somnox Sleep Program for their well-being (Read more).
Klarna Group removes Mikael Walther from the Board of Directors
Shareholders of Klarna Group PLC voted to remove Mikael Walther from the Board of Directors. They also approved changes to the company’s Articles of Association to meet British governance standards, similar to those of companies like AstraZeneca, HSBC, and Unilever. Both decisions were supported by 87 per cent of the votes (Read more).
Presto Ventures announces four new members
Presto Ventures recently announced the addition of four new members to the Presto Tech Horizons family — Lucie Bresova as a Partner, Bavovna AI, a system for autonomous drone navigation, Vidar Systems, a developer of portable acoustic locators, and Tur.ai, an AI tool for process automation (Read more).
IGNE and Chippr merges
Digital agency IGNE and data-driven software company Chippr have merged to drive growth and impact. Based in Dotslash, Utrecht, they will combine their expertise to help organisations tackle strategic and technological challenges, offering more data-driven solutions and digital innovations.
The Chippr Sandbox allows entrepreneurs and organisations to develop prototypes and minimum viable products (MVPs) on various budgets, using the talent from the Chippr Academy. IGNE is a tech agency and venture studio that helps organisations with digital transformation and supports startups, particularly in healthcare and well-being, to achieve their innovative goals (Read more).
Aunetic acquired Qnister
Bayern-based Aunetic, a specialist in the field of Governance software, announces the acquisition of Qnister, a leading Swedish provider of compliance software solutions, specialising in GDPR and whistleblower services.
The transaction is in line with the development of Aunetic into an international Governance software group, formed by the merger of the Swedish Blika (Tax & Legal related software solutions) and German Audimex (Internal Audit software solutions), together with Aunetic’s investment in Switzerland’s LARI Digital in 2023 (Compliance software solutions) (Read more).
Drax Group join hands with Smart Green Shipping
Renewable energy firm Drax Group (Drax) and Smart Green Shipping have announced a partnership to develop and use innovative wind-assisted ‘FastRig’ technology, which will be used to help decarbonise the shipping sector. Drax will invest £1M in a project to install Smart Green Shipping’s lightweight wing sail on a vessel. This funding will be matched by the UK Government’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition grant (Read more).
Green Future Project closes new investment
The Green Future Project (GFP) is a certified climate tech partner that helps companies on their decarbonisation journey with a single platform. It allows businesses to monitor energy consumption, measure carbon footprints, and offset emissions through carbon credits. Recently, GFP secured undisclosed funding from PranaVentures, Finint Investments SGR, and Inovexus (Read more).
Cambridge unveiled plans to boost the Greater Cambridge area
Cambridge unveiled a plan aimed at boosting the Greater Cambridge area by doubling the number of unicorns, increasing venture capital for startups, and creating twice as many science and innovation companies, all within 10 years.
This plan is designed to establish Cambridge as a key asset for the UK economy. Led by Innovate Cambridge, the plan was designed to enhance the region’s science and innovation while maximizing social benefits. It was introduced at the third annual Innovate Summit.
Over the past 25 years, companies like Arm Holdings, Bicycle Therapeutics, CMR Surgical, Darktrace, Healx, and Raspberry Pi were founded in Cambridge. The goal was to achieve the same level of economic growth in the next 10 years as in the previous 25 years (Read more).
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