European startup news, funding rounds and events
Fundraising intelligence, founder interviews and the events that actually move the ecosystem.
Agenda – next 30 days
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Creative tech in Europe runs on grants. San Sebastián’s finalists prove it
Ten startups pitched at the San Sebastián Film Festival on 24 September. I went through every one of them afterward and couldn’t find a single disclosed…
Ben Costantini
AI replaced 3D printing in composites pitches
In 2019, 3D printing was the loudest thing in composites. Across that year’s JEC Composites Startup Booster applications it ran at 24.7 mentions per 10,000 words…
Ben Costantini
IFA 2026: the twenty startups who pitched, and the one who won
A company that prints implantable human tissue won a pitch competition at a consumer electronics fair. Cellbricks Therapeutics took the IFA Pitch Battle 2026 on the…
Ben CostantiniThe Selected podcast
Tips & advice
The empty startup area: why tradeshows fail at startup sales
Picture this. A strategy director at a major exhibition calls with six weeks to go before the show. The brand new startup area has sold exactly…
Ben Costantini
Why events are lying about their metrics
This week I read about a hackathon claiming 6,000 attendees over a single weekend. The venues hosting it can’t accommodate more than 1,000 people. Nobody in…
Ben Costantini
The hidden costs of events: Why founders get the math wrong
Most startup founders treat events like they’re going travelling: count the days, block the calendar, done. But event tickets don’t come cheap, and the actual affair…
Ben CostantiniSpotlight
Latest
Vocca raises $20M Series A for its AI medical receptionist
Fourteen months in, Vocca's AI receptionist answers a million patient calls a month across 1,500 practices. Norrsken VC just led a $20M Series A to take it deeper into the…
WhiteLab Genomics raises $26M Series B for AI genomic medicines
Paris TechBio WhiteLab Genomics lands a $26M Series B led by AVP to validate AI-designed gene therapy vectors in living systems and push its Boston hub into North American partnerships.
Vates raises €30M growth round to scale open source virtualisation
Grenoble's Vates bootstrapped XCP-ng and Xen Orchestra to 1,000 customers in 100 countries. Its first round, €30M from IRIS and Bpifrance, bets Europe can own the VMware exodus.
Sensible Biotechnologies raises $47M Series A for cell-made mRNA
Oxford Science Enterprises leads a $47M Series A for Sensible Biotechnologies, whose engineered cells produce naturally modified mRNA, plus up to $20M non-dilutive for Slovak manufacturing.
Hadrian raises $40M Series B for agentic offensive security
Forgepoint Capital International and SmartFin co-lead a $40M Series B for Amsterdam's Hadrian, whose AI agents emulate attackers around the clock, taking total funding to $65M.
Latest funding
| Company | Round | Lead | Sector | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MintNeuro Unclassified · United Kingdom | Odyssey Ventures | Unclassified | €4.5M | |
| Cori Clinical Unclassified · United Kingdom | Seed | Breega | Unclassified | €3.6M |
| Noah Unclassified · United Kingdom | Seed | – | Unclassified | €33.9M |
| Calliora Unclassified · Germany | Pre-seed | Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments, redalpine | Unclassified | €5.4M |
| RougeTx Unclassified · Netherlands | Series A | BioGeneration Ventures, Angelini Ventures, Kurma Partners | Unclassified | €51.8M |
| Wiremind Unclassified · France | – | Unclassified | €35M |
Browse the ecosystem
Call for startups
Startup Nights — Pitching Competition 2026
Swiss-headquartered companies founded in 2018 or later, with a minimum viable product and initial funding already secured, can apply to pitch at Startup Nights…
Pharmapack Awards 2027
Pharma packaging and drug-delivery teams are the audience for this award, judged and showcased at Pharmapack Europe in Paris. A Rising Star category exists…
Global Industrie — Concours des Startups 2027
Global Industrie’s startup competition in Lyon looks for mature, deployable industrial solutions across performance, digitalisation, decarbonisation and the energy transition, which rules out concept-stage…
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