Funding

Scintil Photonics has completed a $58 million (€50 million) Series B funding round led by Yotta Capital Partners and NGP Capital, with participation from NVIDIA. The round includes new participation from BNP Paribas Développement, alongside existing investors including Supernova Invest, Bpifrance Digital Venture, Innovacom, Bosch Ventures, Applied Ventures ITIC Innovation Fund (AVITIC), underscoring continued confidence in the company’s technology platform and market opportunity.

UK and Netherlands-based cybersecurity and compliance company Naq has successfully closed a €6 million Series A funding round to accelerate its mission to help health technology companies meet essential NHS standards amid rising cyber threats and regulatory delays.

ASML has invested €1.3 billion in Mistral’s Series C funding round as the lead investor. This has resulted in ASML holding an approximate 11% share on a fully diluted basis in Mistral AI. The total funding for the Series C round totals €1.7 billion, at a €11.7 billion post-money valuation.

Fyxer AI, creator of the AI-powered executive assistant designed for everyday professionals, today announced a $30 million Series B funding round led by Madrona, with participation from Lakestar Capital.

BoobyBiome, a London-based biotechnology company advancing the science of breast milk and the microbiome, has raised £2.5 million in seed funding for its infant feeding solutions. Founded in 2019 by a team of female scientists-turned-entrepreneurs – Dr. Lydia Mapstone, Dr. Sioned Jones, and Dr. Tara O’Driscoll – BoobyBiome plans to tackle the rising rates of infant health issues by harnessing the power of the breast milk microbiome.

UK artificial intelligence (AI) companies attracted a record-breaking £2.9 billion in investment last year, solidifying Britain’s position as a global leader in cutting-edge technology.

Throxy, an outbound growth partner for companies selling into traditional industries, has announced a $6.2 million seed round led by Base10 Partners with participation from Y Combinator.

LineWise, the US-based AI-powered “virtual engineer” for manufacturers, has raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding from A2D Ventures, Y Combinator, Exitfund, REMUS Capital, SBXi Fund, and Team Ignite Ventures. The funding will accelerate LineWise’s mission to eliminate two of the most expensive problems in manufacturing: unplanned downtime and yield loss caused by defects.

MEGA, the AI voice agent platform purpose-built for order-to-cash (O2C) management, has announced a $2 million pre-seed funding round led by Spintop Ventures, a Nordic early-stage venture capital firm with 15 years of experience scaling software-based technology companies.

ArcaScience, the AI healthtech startup setting a new standard for benefit-risk evaluation to make better, safer drugs, has announced a $7 million seed funding round led by The Moon Venture, with participation from Pléiade Venture, Plug&Play Ventures, Bpifrance, and AKKA Technologies.

IQM Quantum Computers has raised a $320 million Series B funding round, marking the largest ever Series B fundraise in the quantum space outside of the US. This latest funding round boosts IQM’s funding total to $600 million.

Anthropic has completed a Series F funding round totalling $13 billion. This investment reflects Anthropic’s continued momentum and reinforces its position as one of the leading intelligence platforms for enterprises, developers, and power users.

Camera Intelligence, the startup building an AI-powered camera system for content creators and businesses, has closed its $2 million Seed funding round, which will accelerate the development of its integrated AI-native camera and content editing solutions.

Phasecraft has announced it has raised a $34 million Series B funding round to accelerate its breakthrough work to transform quantum computing’s theoretical promise into practical applications.

WheelsOn, the UAE’s mobile-first car rental platform, has closed a $12.5 million funding round, including $2.2 million in equity from a group of MENA-focused private investors, including partners of Xploration Capital, $6.5 million for a fleet expansion round, and $4 million financing from local banks. This latest round brings WheelsOn’s total funding to $12.5 million, pushing its valuation to $30 million.

Farmers and growers across the UK are set to benefit from £12.6 million in new funding, with two fresh competitions backing research and development of innovative agritech solutions that best cut costs, reduce seasonal labour, improve animal health, and tackle wider industry challenges.

ZERO, the B Corp Certified sustainable money app, has launched its second crowdfunding campaign via the Crowdcube platform following a landmark first six months of operations.

EnsiliTech has raised its second oversubscribed funding round, securing £4.5 million in Seed funding to improve the way life-saving medicines are stored and transported globally.

Wype, the UK’s fastest-growing bottom care brand, has closed an oversubscribed £1 million equity round to accelerate its mission of making the most overlooked part of the body the most cared for.

When it comes to startups, the market is saturated with advice on what investors should look for in founders. But we rarely see the conversation from the other side. What should founders be looking for in their investors? Should they just be taking the first offer that comes their way, grateful for the interest? Or is more discernment needed?