At Zubr Capital, we believe the sharpest opportunities emerge when the market seems to be on pause. That’s why we put together this digest: your concise navigation through the most important deals and trends of June 2025 – no recycled themes, just new patterns and standout cases worthy of attention.

Welcome to the season where the noise fades, and opportunities quietly take root.

Major investment deals: the summer’s (un)usual suspects

June 2025 brought a rare sense of calm to the European tech scene, with only a handful of major deals making it to the surface. Yet sometimes, scarcity is the best signal – and what did happen points squarely at where capital and ambition are converging.

• NXP B.V. (Netherlands) acquires TTTech Auto AG (Austria): a €625 million move for software-defined vehicle technology, as automotive and AI draw ever closer
• European Investment Fund backs Quantonation II (France): a €30 million injection into a quantum and deep physics fund – a clear bet on frontier science rather than incremental innovation

There were no other major VC rounds above the €10–20 million mark, and both IPO and PE activity remained notably quiet.

Insider’s note:

Beneath the calm, the few transactions that stood out were strategic, not incidental – channelling capital into AI for mobility and quantum for next-generation computing. Europe’s focus this month was narrow but deep – laying groundwork for where value will concentrate next.

Unusual and standout deals: where the edges spark

With the mainstream pipeline slowing, the real action shifted to unexpected intersections – where technology and strategy cross-pollinate in ways that don’t make the front page, but quietly redraw the map.

• Revolut x Wero: pan-European payment sovereignty: with Revolut integrating Wero (the European Payments Initiative’s digital wallet) for customers in France, Belgium, and Germany, we’re witnessing the first serious attempt to build pan-European instant payments infrastructure outside the reach of US-based rails. This is more than a partnership: it’s a statement of intent that Europe wants to own its own digital finance future
• Lunar: Nordic blueprint for modular banking: Nordic digital bank Lunar’s adoption of Visa’s Pismo core banking and Wise Platform signals a pivotal shift in how banks across Europe may soon operate – embracing cloud-native, API-first systems that lower barriers for new entrants and open up rapid scaling. The Nordics have quietly become Europe’s test lab for next-gen banking architecture
• Dexter Energy: when AI stops being a trend and becomes the baseline: Dexter Energy’s €23 million round for AI-driven energy and battery optimisation barely raises an eyebrow today – not because it’s unimportant, but because, in Europe, AI is fast becoming simply “how it’s done” across all critical infrastructure sectors. The future of energy, and most other industries, will be inseparable from advanced analytics

Why it matters:

This summer’s standout deals aren’t about hype – they’re about Europe taking ownership of its financial and technological future. Payment sovereignty is moving from talk to real infrastructure. Banks are shifting from legacy IT to open, modular systems that can scale fast and adapt. And AI? It’s no longer a trend – it’s the standard everyone now expects, integrated into every serious platform and sector.

For investors, the message is clear: Europe’s next growth phase will be built on control, flexibility, and deep technology – not on following the old playbooks.

New trends of the month: quiet revolutions in motion

This summer wasn’t just about deals – it was about infrastructure and strategic direction. Europe’s tech agenda is being quietly but radically reshaped by institutional ambition and new regulatory force.

“AI Continent”: Europe’s €20 billion bet on supercomputing: The European Commission launched a €20 billion initiative to build 3–5 “AI gigafactories” – supercomputing hubs that promise moonshot projects in healthcare, robotics, and climate science

AI takes over the portfolios: exposure to AI assets in EU equity funds nearly doubled in two years, reaching €0.5 trillion. Some leading funds now allocate up to 27% to AI – a clear sign that “future bets” are turning mainstream.

EIC expands deeptech funding: The European Innovation Council rolled out its €1.4 billion budget, with the STEP Scale-up scheme offering €10–30 million per company. The focus? Digital, clean tech, net zero, generative AI, and climate-resilient robotics

Quantum act: roadmap to a pan-European quantum ecosystem: The European Commission published a roadmap for the Quantum Act, aiming for unified infrastructure and regulation to close skills gaps and end fragmentation

Innovation fund reboots for low-carbon tech: a public consultation launched to reshape the EU Innovation Fund for low- or zero-carbon technologies, with policy and funding set for overhaul

Insider’s perspective:

What looks like summer calm is actually groundwork for a multi-year leap: from AI infrastructure to quantum, from climate tech to next-gen robotics. It’s less about “trends” and more about a systematic rewiring of the entire European tech landscape.

Conclusion: quiet foundations for Europe’s next tech cycle

Beneath the calm, Europe’s tech sector is building real momentum for the next phase – not in the headlines, but in the substance: infrastructure, deeptech, and serious shifts in financial architecture. The absence of noise doesn’t mean inactivity; it means opportunities are emerging where few are looking.

At Zubr Capital, we focus on these undercurrents – the signals that rarely make the news, but define where the next cycle of growth begins. This digest is a snapshot of where Europe’s most meaningful bets are being placed today.

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