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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - Europe, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌏️
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📰 Important News
- Revolut secured its full UK banking license from the Bank of England, allowing it to offer a wider range of services.
- Ukraine is opening access to battlefield data for partners to train and validate AI models for next-generation autonomous defense systems.
- ClearToken partnered with Canton Network to launch three platforms for institutional settlement of stablecoin FX and tokenized cash flows.
- The European Patent Office is deploying an advanced optical character recognition model developed by Mistral AI.
- Kyron.bio and Servier entered a partnership on antibody glycoengineering to improve next-generation biologic drugs using precision glycosylation technology.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- Nscale secured $2 billion in a Series C round led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries, valuing the company at $14.6 billion.
- Yann LeCun's new AI startup AMI Labs raised a record-breaking $1 billion seed round from investors like NVIDIA to build world models.
- Legora landed $550 million in a Series D round led by Accel, at a $5.55 billion valuation, to accelerate its expansion across the United States.
- AI agent platform Wonderful closed a $150 million Series B round led by Insight Partners, valuing the company at $2 billion, to fuel global expansion.
- Digital health company Alan secured $116 million in funding led by Index Ventures, boosting its valuation to $5.8 billion.
💰️ IPO and M&A Watch
- Ramp announced its acquisition of European B2B payment provider Billhop, marking a major step in its international expansion.
- Energy Aspects is set to acquire Kayrros to merge its market expertise with geospatial data and machine learning.
- Legora acquired Walter AI to accelerate its vision for a fully integrated, agentic experience that executes complex, multi-step legal workflows.
- Emagine acquired Waada The Movement, a leading Dutch consultancy, to significantly bolster its presence in the Benelux region.
🏦 About Investors
- Entrepreneurs First secured $200 million to intensify its unique model of backing individual founders.
- Elaia successfully closed its $155.3 million DTS3 deep seed fund, empowering European pre-seed and seed-stage B2B startups.
- UVC Partners secured an $89 million first close for its new $173 million growth fund, strategically moving into multi-stage investing.
- Samaipata launched its third fund, targeting $127 million with $81 million already secured, to back early-stage European AI startups.
- The Daphni-led Time4 fund secured $58 million in its first close to back diverse and underrepresented entrepreneurs across France.
🚀 Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
Nscale
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in London, Nscale is rapidly positioning itself as a key provider of next-generation AI infrastructure, delivering large-scale GPU computing, networking, and orchestration software for hyperscalers and enterprise AI developers. The company recently raised a record $2 billion Series C round, led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries, with participation from major backers including Dell, NVIDIA, and Lenovo. Led by CEO Josh Payne, Nscale has strengthened governance with board members including Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Decker, and Nick Clegg, while expanding globally to power sovereign AI infrastructure and hyperscale data centers for partners such as OpenAI and Microsoft.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Entrepreneurs First
Founded in 2011 in London by Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford, Entrepreneurs First is a pioneering talent-first venture investor that backs exceptional individuals before they form a startup. The firm recruits technical and entrepreneurial talent globally and helps founders build companies from scratch, primarily in frontier technologies such as AI. EF recently raised $200 million as its portfolio valuation surpassed $16 billion, with backing from investors including Eric Schmidt, Nat Friedman, and the Collison brothers. Led by CEO Alice Bentinck, the firm now requires its pre-seed startups to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area, reinforcing its mission to cultivate globally ambitious founders.
🤑 Opportunities Expiring Soon
SPIN Rise 2026 Call for Proposals
- 📢 Organizer: 28DIGITAL
- 🗂️ Category: Funding, Training & Learning
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 17, 2026
Eurostars Funding for International R&D Projects 2026
- 📢 Organizer: Eureka Network
- 🗂️ Category: Funding
- 🪜 Target Stages: Stage Agnostic
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 19, 2026
Hackathon on Artificial Intelligence in Education 2026
- 📢 Organizer: University of Twente
- 🗂️ Category: Hackathon
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Education & Workforce, AI & Data
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 20, 2026
EIT Urban Mobility Startup Ecosystem Agents Open Call
- 📢 Organizer: EIT Urban Mobility
- 🗂️ Category: Other
- 🪜 Target Stages: Stage Agnostic
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Mobility & Logistics, DeepTech, Energy & Environment
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 23, 2026
ReFlow Hackathon 2026
- 📢 Organizer: BBioBoosters
- 🗂️ Category: Hackathon, Award/Prize
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Energy & Environment, Agriculture & Food, Manufacturing & Materials
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 23, 2026
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