Digital transformation has become the next big frontier defining how businesses operate. A survey found that at least 77 per cent of CEOs have accelerated their digital transformation plans. Now, digitisation has not only found a new meaning but also became a shield for labour and productivity.

Its rise has been unequivocal among both small and large companies and there are companies like Sigli at the centre of this rapid change. From the periphery, Sigli looks like just another tech company, but its story is a confluence of engineering and business and the unity that comes out of it and has been helping companies meet their digitalisation goals for years.

Built on values

Sigli was founded in 2015 in Vilnius, Lithuania, after its founders had spent years working for big corporations with an engineering-first mindset. The four founders realised that engineering is important, but there is a need for unity between engineers and a business mindset. This led them to launch Sigli as a business-centric company with a razor-sharp focus on clients.

“We believe that any engineering solution is done by a human who is an engineer and who understands the business side of it,” says Maxim Golikov, Sigli’s Chief Business Development Officer and host of the Innovantage Podcast.

While the founders are still engineers at their roots, Golikov adds that there is often a gap in thinking between engineers and business people and when you bridge that gap, there is a lot of value to derive. This, he adds, is exemplified by Sigli’s three values: ownership, transparency, and service.

He says the company is built on a foundation where every person, regardless of their position, is encouraged to take ownership “because as a person, your capacity to bring value is much higher than any system that an engineer can develop.”

Golikov further adds that they encourage transparency for everybody, internally as well as externally, while service is the very basis of its existence. When they started, these values formed their backbone, while software development was its core service. Golikov tells me back then, it wasn’t even called digital transformation, but they did build the foundational blocks that are now called digital transformation.

Digital transformation

The way Golikov explains the rapid escalation in demand for digital transformation is different from any other narrative. He tells me that they have been solving engineering challenges for years but as the company got older and its clients became closer, the scope of the challenges also grew.

This challenge, be it engineering, technical or business, can be collectively dubbed as digital transformation. “And through the experiences that we’ve gained, through business experience, through technical experience, through product experience, we understood that we can bring more value to the table than just writing lines of code,” explains Golikov.

Most businesses start with basic services but as their client needs evolve, their capabilities evolve with those needs. Sigli’s story is essentially that where they started by solving engineering challenges before evolving to do projects with end-to-end delivery, looking at the problems of their clients through a business lens and applying digital solutions to solve them.

Even at this stage, Golikov quips, they didn’t call it digital transformation but once they added governance to their services, they began to officially call what they did – digital transformation. The three basic blocks of digital transformation for us came down to, building that relationship with the client, being aligned on the same level with them, creating that transparency through one of our values and again being focused on the end value that we bring,” he adds.

A great example of Sigli’s approach to digital transformation in action is the work it has done for Allkind Group, a leader in accessible technology for individuals with disabilities. With Allkind, Sigli reimagined their digital infrastructure by integrating AI capabilities to enhance both operational efficiency and customer engagement. The partnership led to development of intelligent features like personalised learning tools and automated support systems, tailored to the unique needs of Allkind’s audience.

“By aligning cutting-edge innovation with a deep understanding of industry challenges, Sigli demonstrated how digital transformation can unlock new possibilities for businesses dedicated to making a meaningful impact,” says Golikov.

Software as an enabler

When it comes to digital transformation, the three key things to consider are speed, efficiency and security. While that is true, Golikov adds that software is only an enabler because tech companies and startups are always after speed and efficiency while larger businesses are keen on security.

Since Sigli is based in Europe with offices in Antwerp and Vilnius, the company is uniquely positioned to deliver speed, efficiency and any additional securities, whether it is regulatory or governance. But the real challenge, he explains, is the resistance to digital transformation within non-tech companies.

“So a digital transformation project for a company that is not a tech business often means spending a lot of money on something very, very nebulous,” he says.

Since many old companies rely on legacy systems, digital transformation requires redoing everything from the group up and it can be a huge expense. Golikov states that such companies see digital transformation projects as an expense or as a revenue generator and with software as an enabler approach, they build a solution that is not only digital but also a revenue-generating model. He argues that the value of digital transformation is tied to technology and not derived from it.

Artificial intelligence

At the time of writing, 90 per cent of Sigli’s business comes from Europe while 10 per cent comes from the US. When the company started, it maintained a balance between the US and Europe but has found its business model and mindset more suited to European businesses. Golikov says the bulk of their business comes from Benelux with Belgium and the Netherlands driving a lot of business.

The company also generates a good amount of business from the DACH region, primarily Switzerland and Austria, with Germany not contributing in a big way. Insurance remains one of the biggest industries while education (or edtech) remains equally important. The clients of Sigli can be summed up as non-tech businesses like logistics to tech-focused businesses like e-commerce.

“I would say that we have kind of not an industry but a very heavy focus on data solutions, data analysis, business intelligence, data platforms, and AI,” quips Golikov.

He doesn’t hesitate to state the obvious – the tech industry loves its hype cycles but claims that AI is indeed the next big thing. He says AI has real applications and tangible effects that he hasn’t felt in a long time and adds that he didn’t feel this way about AR or VR, IoT, and even crypto or blockchain.

“AI seems to be more ubiquitous,” he says, before adding, “it seems to cover everything. All industries, all levels of management, all people, day-to-day business, governments, etc.”

While AI is the buzzword right now, Sigli has been building data-centric solutions for a while and AI is all about data. “Data is the bedrock of any digital transformation project because it is important both from a regulatory standpoint as well as internal security standpoint.”

How does Sigli approach AI? Golikov says they always ask whether they need AI to solve this problem and don’t use AI as a quick fix. He says to derive the best result from AI, it is important to understand the limits of AI and if there is good data in a project or a problem then that problem is likely to be solved by AI.

“A lot of companies just want AI for the sake of AI without knowing that it will hallucinate and give wrong information a lot of the times,” he adds.

He says it is important to understand the potential of AI but even more important is to know its limits. One way Sigli is already using AI is by connecting its chatbot with OpenAI’s large language model to improve customer service, assistance, and experience. The company is also using AI to help businesses solve challenges with patient diagnosis accuracy, supply chain optimisation, predictive maintenance, efficient grid maintenance, network optimisation, etc.

The use of AI in the logistics industry is a great example. Golikov tells me they worked with a leading provider of IoT-enabled freight solutions provider to transform their cargo tracking systems with AI. Sigli introduced AI-driven communication tools that enhanced operational insights and user interaction. This demonstrates Sigli’s deep understanding of the industry and its ability to think how AI can redefine experience before implementing it.

However, to succeed with AI, Golikov recommends looking at why AI is needed and what AI can do and then applying governance to achieve the best result. Afterall only 20 per cent actually use AI while only 5 per cent succeed with AI.

Structured growth

Without delving deep into the financials, Golikov reveals they have an annual turnover of €5M right now and a team of 100 people. In the next two years, the company aims to double that number to €10M while also doubling its team size. With the ongoing geopolitical situation and uncertainty in the market, the Belgian company is optimistic but also cautious.

The company aims to double its revenue in the next two years by following its play book in Belgium. He says by investing more in the region, they were able to grow their business and as the next step, they want to do the same with the UK. “At the moment we are considering opening up an office next year there,” says Golikov, adding they are looking at London, Reading, Birmingham or Manchester as a possible location.

If this expansion goes well, the company plans to continue to focus on Benelux and the UK while also expanding in regions like DACH and the US. shift its focus either to the US or the DACH region. They also plan to hire across a broad range of roles. One thing that won’t change is its business philosophy, which Golikov reckons is their north star. He says their growth and competitive advantage are directly linked to their business philosophy and company values.

Alicante, Spain-based PLD Space, a company specialising in the development of reusable space launchers, announced on Tuesday that it has secured an €11M loan from COFIDES, a state-owned finance company, through a co-investment loan from the Fund for Foreign Investment (FIEX).

To date, the company has raised €170M in funding.

Ezequiel Sánchez, PLD Space Executive President, states, “We appreciate COFIDES’ confidence in PLD Space. Our mission is to provide Europe with a comprehensive payload launch capability, and this support inspires us to continue driving European space sovereignty while strengthening its strategic space infrastructure.”

Fund utilisation

The company will use the funds to support the development of the launch site for its MIURA 5 rocket in Kourou, French Guiana.

This loan will help PLD Space invest in the MIURA 5 launch complex at CSG, which spans 15,765 square meters. The first MIURA 5 flight is scheduled for late 2025.

PLD Space plans to generate over 10 direct jobs and 50 indirect jobs in Kourou, with expectations for more as launches increase. The company also aims to collaborate with local suppliers to strengthen the supply chain.

The Spanish company will initially invest a total of €16M in the development, construction, and operation of this launch base, located at the CSG—Europe’s spaceport in Kourou—operated by the French Space Agency (CNES) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The project was formalised at COFIDES headquarters in the presence of the Secretary of State for Trade, Amparo López Senovilla.

Amparo López Senovilla highlights, “This initiative exemplifies the critical role of public-private collaboration in supporting strategic and innovative projects, which rely on institutional backing as an anchor investor during the early stages of technological development. This project underscores COFIDES’ position as a leading institution in managing public funds to support Spanish companies’ international investment ventures.”

PLD Space: Developing reusable rockets

Founded in 2011 by Raúl Torres and Raúl Verdú, PLD Space is an aerospace company that develops reusable rockets.

Currently, the company is working on creating MIURA launch vehicles and the LINCE manned capsule, making Spain one of the few countries capable of launching various payloads into space.

Last October, the company launched the first private European rocket, MIURA 1. The rocket has recovery and reuse requirements that only three companies in the space industry have achieved

The flight lasted 306 seconds in which MIURA 1 reached apogee at an altitude of 46 kilometres. The mission concluded with the rocket landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

With this launch, Spain becomes the tenth country in the world to have direct space capability. 

Located in Elche, Spain, with additional facilities in Teruel and Kourou (French Guiana), PLD Space aims to make space more accessible.

The company employs over 250 people.

The investor

COFIDES is a state-owned trading company that manages state funds, as well as its resources and those of third-party institutions.

COFIDES’s mission is to support the internationalisation of the Spanish economy, attract foreign investment into strategic sectors in Spain, promote the impact economy, and contribute to global economic development.

COFIDES’s shareholders include the Spanish State, Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Sabadell, and CAF-Development Bank of Latin America. 

Ángela Pérez, COFIDES Chairperson, says, “COFIDES is committed to supporting companies that contribute to global technological transformation. PLD Space is a pioneer and a benchmark in Europe in the development of reusable rockets, and this collaboration reaffirms our commitment to innovation and the consolidation of European technological leadership.” She also thanked the Secretary of State for Trade for attending the formalisation of this project.

Rotterdam-based Pieter Pot, the sustainable packaging company, recently announced that it has raised €100K via crowdfunding. 

Max van der Mars, co-owner of Pieter Pot, also announced the company’s two “most important plans”, which would be realised using this capital. 

The first initiative features a stainless steel refill pot designed to reduce CO2 emissions, cut costs, and enhance customer convenience. This shows the Dutch company’s commitment to providing eco-friendly solutions while meeting customer needs. 

In addition, the company plans to increase its product offerings from 350 to 500 items. As a result, the company will introduce an array of new products, including soups, sauces, and lunch spreads, all packaged in sustainable jars. 

Since the relaunch in January this year, the Dutch company has generated €2.8M in sales. The online supermarket is currently making a loss, but it reports having its first profitable weeks based on EBITDA, says the report.

This crowdfunding campaign comes over a year after the Dutch company was declared bankrupt. According to the bankruptcy declaration, Pieter Pot faced a debt of €1.8M.

However, a week later, the holding company — Pieter Pot Beheer BV initiated a crowdfunding campaign, intending to issue shares to interested investors, with a minimum goal of €1.25M.

Pieter Pot: Addressing issues of packaging waste

Founded in 2019 by Jouri Schoemaker and Martijn Bijmolt, Pieter Pot’s innovative concept sought to address the issue of packaging waste by offering customers the option to buy groceries without any packaging.

With limited alternatives available for purchasing packaging-free groceries, Pieter Pot filled this gap by replacing traditional single-use plastic packaging with reusable pots. 

Customers could receive their orders in these pots and return them for cleaning and reuse, creating a circular system that aimed to minimise waste.

The startup saved an estimated four million packages from entering landfills, demonstrating the positive impact of its mission. 

Amsterdam-based Recall, an AI startup that helps users summarise, organise, and revisit information, announced on Monday that it has secured $1.5M (approximately €1.4M) in a funding round led by renowned VC Jason Calacanis.

Other investors, including Blockchain Founders Capital and Rocket Capital, participated in the round.

The Dutch company will use the funds to accelerate its mission to bring order to content chaos, transforming how individuals and businesses consume, organise, and retain knowledge. 

Birth of Recall

Paul Richards, a South African full-stack developer with deep expertise in knowledge graphs in the cybersecurity industry, founded Recall in 2022.

The Amsterdam company was born from frustration with existing tools that required excessive manual effort but failed to connect and resurface knowledge effectively. 

Richards envisioned a self-organising knowledge graph to connect his notes and highlight relevant past content.

After a year of struggle with his side project Recall, posting on Hacker News became his last hope and a game changer.

That first investment allowed him to quit his job and fully commit, bringing on developer Igor Gligorević as CTO to accelerate progress.

“Our vision is to redefine knowledge management as ‘intelligence management,’ where content consumption is intentional and insightful,” said Recall’s COO, Sankari, who brings over 10 years of startup experience.

How it works?

The web & mobile app organises information into a personalised knowledge graph, automatically tagging and connecting content based on key entities.

There are four main features:

• Summarise – The platform summarises online content from articles, PDFs, and YouTube videos up to 10 hours long.
• Categorise – Automatically categorise content using topic-based tags.
• Connect – Content is stored in a knowledge graph, revealing hidden connections and unlocking new insights.
• Review – The platform reinforces memory with a spaced repetition quiz, helping users retain content over time.

London-based Synthera, a fintech company leveraging generative AI to transform financial market analysis, has raised $1.86M (approximately €1.77M) in a pre-seed funding round.

Led by Motive Ventures, the round also saw participation from Entrepreneur First, Transpose Platform, KDX (led by Stanford Professor Ashby Monk), BuenTrip Ventures, Robin Capital, and Angel Invest. 

Angel investors, including a former Citadel Portfolio Manager and experienced asset managers, further showed confidence in Synthera’s approach.

Michael Hock, Partner at Motive Ventures, says, “Synthera is solving a fundamental problem in the financial industry: the inability of historical data and traditional models to account for the realities of today’s markets.”

“By leveraging cutting-edge generative AI, they are creating a product that addresses a critical need for financial institutions looking to improve risk management and portfolio outcomes. We’re proud to back such a visionary team.”

What does Synthera offer?

Synthera claims to leverage generative AI to address flaws in traditional financial forecasting methods like Monte Carlo simulations. According to the company, these conventional approaches often overfit historical data, fail to account for dynamic market changes, and miss non-linear correlations, increasing investors’ exposure to risks.

By generating synthetic market data, Synthera enables investment teams to forecast risks, including rare tail events, identify non-linear correlations for better diversification, and stress-test portfolios using bespoke forward-looking scenarios. 

The platform’s AI-driven models simulate realistic market conditions across yield curves, equities, FX, and other financial factors, providing deeper insights and precision in portfolio optimisation and risk management.

Synthera was founded by Mariana Barona, a Cambridge graduate and former Goldman Sachs Asset Management specialist, and Lukas Schreiner, an AI and quantitative finance expert with experience at LPA and Swiss Quant. 

Oxford Professor Rama Cont, an expert in quantitative finance and risk management who serves as Synthera’s scientific advisor, advises the team.

Co-founder and CEO Barona says, “By bridging the gaps in traditional approaches, Synthera provides financial institutions with the tools to anticipate and navigate market complexities in ways that weren’t possible before. This fresh funding allows us to bring our solution to market and help investment teams unlock better, data-driven decisions.”

Capital utilisation

Synthera will use the funds to accelerate product development, expand its team of engineers and data scientists, and collaborate with financial institutions to pilot its technology.

The company aims to help hedge funds, asset managers, pension funds, and banks improve insights and enhance risk-adjusted returns.

Barona says, “Our technology is not just about improving what exists—it’s about redefining how investment teams think about data and risk in a dynamic market environment.”

Berlin-based carbmee, a developer of AI-powered carbon management software, announced on Tuesday that it has secured €20M in a funding round led by CommerzVentures, with participation from Fly Ventures.

The announcement comes as the company claims to have consistently achieved sustainable growth, whilst maintaining capital-efficient operations, carbmee’s revenue has tripled over each of the past three years.

Fund utilisation

The German company will use the capital to enhance its software and service offerings, drive product innovation, and expand its reach to enterprises globally.

The funds raised will also be invested in further developing carbmee’s Environmental Intelligence System with a focus on features like collecting granular LCA data.

Additionally, the company will invest in carbmee Studio—the recently launched customisation tool that enables users to create tailored, AI-driven reports and dashboards with ease.

Christian Heinrich, CEO and co-founder, says, “This funding round is a validation of the innovative work we’ve done so far, but it’s also a launching point for what comes next.”

“With over 80% of emissions being rooted in the supply chain, we have built a platform that not only meets the evolving needs of complex industry enterprises but also plays a critical role in the global shift toward sustainability,” adds Heinrich.

Previously, carbmee has been backed by more than 15 high-profile angel investors – among them industry leaders such as Noah Eisner (co-founder of procurement platform Coupa), Gisbert Rühl (CEO of Klöckner & Co.), Dirk Hoke (CEO of Volocopter), Mike Corbo (former chief supply chain officer at Colgate-Palmolive), Pat McCarthy (VP Workspace & Gemini at Google), Marcel Vollmer (former CIO of Celonis), Ulrich Piepel (former CPO at RWE and AG & innogy SE). 

carbmee: Help companies manage carbon emissions

Founded in 2021 by Christian Heinrich and Robin Spickers, carbmee helps companies manage, reduce, and report on their carbon emissions with unparalleled accuracy and efficiency on a centralised platform through advanced data analytics and AI.

Robin Spickers, the co-founder, adds, “We address one of the biggest challenges faced by the manufacturing industry. Currently, teams in large organisations work in data silos – procurement, R&D, finance, production – and rely on manual Excel spreadsheets to calculate carbon footprints, causing data inaccuracy and ineffective processes.”

“Our platform provides a centralised platform for all enterprise users to manage CO2 emissions at the corporate, product, supplier, and SKU levels—enabling CO2 data to be managed as accurately as financial data in an ERP system,” he continues.

Consequently, procurement teams can collect data to choose eco-friendly suppliers.

Finance teams can report according to CSRD or CBAM standards. R&D engineers can create sustainable products, and sustainability teams can find ways to reduce CO2 emissions, especially in Scope 3.

Currently, carbmee works with numerous international customers, including Lufthansa Technik, Maersk, Kärcher, Hilti, Miele, Coca-Cola, Schaeffler, and Anglo American.

The investor

CommerzVentures is a specialised fintech VC investor with assets under management of €550M.

CommerzVentures invests in early and growth-stage companies in Fintech, Insurtech, and Climate Fintech.

CommerzVentures is a return-oriented investor with a geographical focus on Europe and pursues a global strategy including Israel, the USA, and Africa.

Paul Morgenthaler, Managing Partner at CommerzVentures, comments, “Christian and Robin have already achieved phenomenal growth since founding carbmee. They are at the forefront of a vital industrial step-change as businesses around the world demand the knowledge and support to manage their carbon emissions. Their powerful software breaks down the complexity of decarbonising global supply chains, solving a key problem for industries. We share in the team’s exceptional ambition for the future and look forward to helping them deliver on this journey.”

Berlin-based NetBird, a company that develops an open-source network security platform, announced on Tuesday that it has raised €4M in Seed funding.

The round was co-led by InReach Ventures and existing investor Nauta, with participation from Antler and a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The German company plans to use the funds to accelerate its product development and expand its footprint globally.

Talking about the expansion plans to Silicon Canals, Mikhail Bragin, co-founder of Netbird, says, “NetBird’s expansion plans focus on strengthening its market position in Europe, including the Netherlands. Despite having a global user base, the priority is to establish a deeper regional presence, build partnerships, and tailor solutions to meet the needs of European businesses, particularly SMEs, which are key drivers of the economy in the Netherlands.”

Additionally, the company plans to double down on hiring efforts with the latest capital injection.

Explaining the job criteria and expectations, he says, “The focus is now on hiring individuals who combine deep technical expertise with a strong understanding of marketing and growth strategies, particularly in the secure networking and Zero Trust space, to drive adoption and scale the business effectively.

Birth of NetBird

Misha Bragin and Maycon Santos, a couple of engineers passionate about network security and open-source development, founded NetBird.

They began their journey in Brazil at PSafe, a cybersecurity startup later bought by CyberLabs.

After moving to Berlin, they joined a founder residency program by Antler, a leading early-stage venture capital firm in Europe.

During this time, they came together to work on a side project about end-to-end encryption and secure data transfer, which eventually turned into NetBird.

NetBird is a software company developing an open-source, zero-trust network security platform that’s easy and affordable for teams of all sizes and budgets.

The company’s mission is based on a fundamental belief: secure private networking is a basic right for every modern organisation.

What is Zero Trust Security?

The shift to hybrid work has transformed network security from perimeter-based defences to Zero Trust architectures.

This approach, based on the principle of “never trust, always verify,” assures continuous authentication for all users and devices, mitigating remote access risks.

A zero-trust architecture (ZTA) is a design that focuses on safety by ensuring strict access controls, verifying devices and users, and keeping systems separate.

Citing an example, Bragin explains, “Imagine a hotel where guests can freely wander around, check out other rooms, and even take things that aren’t theirs. It’s chaotic, insecure, and a nightmare for the hotel owner to manage. This represents traditional private networks, where once someone gains access, they can do whatever they want.”

“In contrast, a Zero Trust “hotel” provides guests with a key card that only allows access to their assigned room for a limited time. This means guests cannot enter other rooms or areas they are not authorised to access. Similarly, in IT, users can only access specific resources they need for a limited time, minimising the risk of security breaches from compromised credentials,” he continues.

“Furthermore, we establish dedicated corridors for each guest, leading only to their room. This is like a direct encrypted tunnel (peer-to-peer connection) that ensures privacy and security,” he adds.

Why NetBird over traditional VPN?

At the heart of its NetBird’s technology is a zero-configuration business VPN that integrates a peer-to-peer, WireGuard-based network with an intuitive access control system.

• Decentralised Connectivity: Unlike traditional VPNs that connect clients to a central server, NetBird creates direct connections between machines for better performance and scalability.
• End-to-End Encryption: NetBird uses WireGuard for end-to-end encryption, ensuring safe communication between devices, protected from third parties, including NetBird itself.
• User-Friendly Access Control: NetBird integrates easily with identity providers like Okta, Microsoft, and Google, simplifying user onboarding and offboarding while enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• Reduced Attack Surface: NetBird keeps infrastructure hidden from the public, removing the need for open ports. This provides a more secure network compared to traditional VPNs, which often expose gateways that can be targeted by attackers.

Make advanced network security accessible to everyone

According to Bragin, implementing Zero Trust can be difficult and costly, especially when working with older systems. Vendors often offer no clear value proposition, leaving SMEs uncertain about the return on investment.

“NetBird simplifies Zero Trust adoption with a user-friendly design requiring minimal configuration. It eliminates the need for opening ports, complex firewall rules, or VPN gateways, reducing the technical barriers. It takes less than 5 minutes to get started.”

Additionally, NetBird works with existing solutions, making migration easier. The platform also connects with identity providers, SIEM, and EDR systems. It operates across cloud, on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud setups, making it adaptable to any infrastructure.

Business model and revenue projection

NetBird’s business model is a freemium subscription model offering a free plan for small teams and paid plans ($5 or $12/user/month) with scalable features for organisations, targeting secure connectivity and Zero Trust network security.

For enterprise customers, NetBird provides licensing and dedicated support for self-hosted installations.

“Over the next 2 to 3 years, NetBird aims to significantly expand its go-to-market efforts, targeting both existing and new customers, to achieve substantial revenue growth and scale its market presence,” reveals Bragin.

The investors

Nauta is a pan-European VC firm investing in early-stage B2B software companies with offices in London and Barcelona.

With over half a billion assets under management and a team of 24 people, Nauta is one of Europe’s largest B2B-focused VCs.

As a sector-agnostic investor, Nauta’s main areas of interest include B2B SaaS solutions with strong network effects, vertically focused enterprise tech transforming large industries, as well as leveraging deep-tech applications to solve challenges faced by large enterprises.

Nauta has led investments in over 80 companies, including Brandwatch, Danelfin, Techspert, Holded, MishiPay, Wecover, AppFollow, ifeel, and Cledara.

“The rise of remote working and distributed infrastructure has driven significant change to the security requirements for businesses of all kinds. Many have turned to VPNs as a solution to secure their employees’ access to confidential or protected information, but many VPNs are inefficient, costly, and act as a single point of failure for even the largest companies. NetBird solves these challenges by combining a Mesh-VPN architecture with Zero Trust Network Access Controls, providing a solution that is more efficient, cheaper, and more secure than a traditional VPN,” says Carles Ferrer, General Partner at Nauta, commented.

InReach Ventures is an AI-powered venture capital firm focused on early-stage European startups.

The VC develops and uses its proprietary software and AI to discover, evaluate, and support investments, primarily in the areas of consumer internet, SaaS, and marketplaces.

“NetBird’s approach redefines what’s possible in network security,” says Amanda Jones Floyd, Partner at InReach Ventures. “While traditional solutions force companies to choose between security and simplicity, NetBird proves you can have both and do it brilliantly. The way that NetBird has managed to break down complex network security into a beautifully simple, user-friendly product is inspiring. That’s why we’re not just investing in their technology but in their vision and the extraordinary team making it happen.”

Amsterdam-based Nebius Group, an AI infrastructure company, announced on Monday that it has entered into definitive agreements for a $700M (approximately €667M) private placement financing from a select group of institutional and accredited investors.

It includes participation from Accel, NVIDIA, and certain accounts managed by Orbis Investments.

The Dutch company will use the funds to further build out its full-stack AI infrastructure – including large-scale GPU clusters, cloud platforms, and tools and services for developers.

Arkady Volozh, founder and CEO of Nebius Group, says, “The foundation of our business is our expertise in building advanced technology infrastructure. We have demonstrated the scale of our ambitions, initiating an AI infrastructure build-out across two continents. This strategic financing gives us additional firepower to do it faster and on a larger scale. I’m grateful to our investors for the trust they have placed in us – our team is ready to deliver.”

Issuing Class A shares

Nebius Group will issue 33,333,334 Class A shares for $21.00 each in a private placement. This price is about 3% higher than the average price of the shares since trading started again on Nasdaq. The deal will close once standard conditions are met, says the company in the press release.

Additionally, the Board has decided that the Company no longer needs to buy back its Class A shares after seeing strong trading and liquidity since trading resumed on Nasdaq on October 21, 2024.

In August 2024, shareholders approved a plan to repurchase up to 81M Class A shares at a maximum price of $10.50 each. This price was based on available cash after selling the Company’s Russian business.

John Boynton, Chairman of the Board of Nebius, says, “The authorisation to potentially repurchase shares was originally intended to provide legacy shareholders who wanted to exit our new business an opportunity to do so, especially in light of the prolonged suspension of trading on Nasdaq. Based on the strong level of investor engagement and technical dynamics that we have observed following the resumption of trading on Nasdaq, we believe that those shareholders who may have wanted to exit have had an opportunity to do so at a price higher than the maximum repurchase price authorised by shareholders,”

‍“The Board has determined that the best way to maximise value for the Company’s shareholders is to invest our capital into our core AI infrastructure business, where the Company believes there is a substantial market opportunity,” adds Boynton.

As a result of the combination of strategic financing and the decision not to deploy any capital toward repurchasing Class A shares, the Company now expects to deliver an annualised run-rate revenue (“ARR”)1 by year-end 2025 of $750M to $1B.

Nebius Group: Building AI infrastructure

Founded by Arkady Volozh, Nebius is a technology company that provides the infrastructure needed for the global AI industry. This includes GPU clusters, cloud platforms, and tools for developers.

The company’s core business is an AI-centric cloud platform built for intensive AI workloads.

With proprietary cloud software architecture and hardware designed in-house (including servers, racks, and data centre design), Nebius gives AI builders the computing, storage, managed services, and tools they need to build, tune, and run their models.

The AI-native Nebius GPU cloud is designed to manage the full ML lifecycle – from data processing and training to fine-tuning and inference – all in one place.

The new Nebius AI Studio inference service expands the company’s offerings for app developers. It provides access to advanced open-source models in a user-friendly environment at competitive prices per token.

The Dutch company, a preferred cloud service provider in the NVIDIA Partner Network, offers high-end infrastructure optimised for AI training and inference.

The company’s core AI infrastructure division is supported by a team of approximately 400 skilled engineers, delivering a genuine hyperscale cloud experience tailored specifically for AI developers.

London-based 9fin, an AI-powered analytics platform for debt capital markets, announced on Monday that it has raised $50M (approximately €47.4M) in a Series B round led by Highland Europe.

Existing investors, including Spark Capital, Redalpine, Seedcamp, 500 Startups, and Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital, also participated in the round.

The new funding will enable the UK company to invest further in its AI technology, grow its analytics team, and accelerate its expansion in the US. 

9fin: Building next-gen debt capital markets technology  

Founded by Steven Hunter and Huss El-Sheikh, 9fin aims to organise the world’s leveraged financial information and make it accessible and usable.

Steven Hunter, Co-founder and CEO of 9fin says, “Debt markets are the biggest overlooked asset class in the world, and yet they still rely on technology and information sources straight out of the 1980s – opaque, slow, and messy. We started 9fin to give professionals in the market a data edge, with smarter, faster intelligence. I’m really proud of the product, team, and company culture we’ve built so far at 9fin, and we’re just getting started. There’s a huge opportunity to build the #1 global provider of debt market analytics and bring debt markets into the AI age. We’re delighted to welcome Highland as a partner to help us achieve that vision.”

Through an AI-powered data and analytics platform, the company centralises everything that’s required to assess credit or win a mandate from one location using machine learning and computer vision.

Through its platforms, 9fin offers products such as news alerts, financials, covenants,  comparables, deal predictions, ESG, restructuring, and search.

9fin says its platform makes searching, filtering, and analysing extremely complicated data simple, helping subscribers win business, save time, and perform better than their competitors. 

Since its Series A+ round in 2022, the UK company has achieved 400 per cent group-wide ARR growth, with its US business growing at an even faster rate.

The company has also grown to 240 employees and recently doubled the size of its tech team, driving increases in product development speed.

Over this period, the company has more than doubled its customer base to nearly 200 of the largest firms in global credit markets, including leading investment banks, distressed debt advisors, private equity, credit fund managers, and law firms.

9fin is used by asset managers with a combined AUM of over $17T, with many more debt market professionals discovering its intuitive platform each week. 

Huss El-Sheikh, Co-founder and CTO of 9fin, says, “From the moment we started building at our kitchen table, 9fin has pioneered the use of AI in debt capital markets, setting a new industry standard. By investing in the best product and engineering talent, we’ve dramatically increased product velocity, delivering capabilities to give our customers the best workflows, tools, and insights, and helping them navigate easily through complex financial markets.”

The investor

Highland Europe invests in exceptional growth-stage technology and consumer companies. It has raised over €2.75B and has invested in companies such as Adjust, AMCS, Camunda, ContentSquare, Deepki, Descartes Underwriting, GetYourGuide, Featurespace, Finbourne, Huel, ME+EM, Nexthink, Nothing, Oritain, PVcase, SoSafe, Supermetrics and Zwift.

Fergal Mullen, Co-founder and partner of Highland Europe, says, “Debt markets are booming but data and technology offerings simply haven’t kept pace. 9fin’s vision, its relentless focus on technology, innovation, and company culture, position it as the go-to platform for those working in debt markets. We’re thrilled to support their ambition to become the global market leader.”

Leiden-based VitroScan, a biotech company, announced that it has received €1.9M from Biotech Booster to deliver chemotherapy response prediction for ovarian cancer patients.

Biotech Booster’s funding will help the Dutch company to use its knowledge and research, along with partnerships with ovarian cancer experts from Leiden University Medical Centre and Radboud University Medical Centre.

This funding will assist in preparing for clinical use and ensuring the service meets quality and regulatory standards for patients.

Biotech Booster: Commercialising biotechnology research

Established in 2022 under Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Biotech Booster is a Dutch national program to stimulate the commercialisation of biotechnology research from academia and small industry.

The program runs from 2022 – 2031 and is financed by the Dutch government’s National Growth Fund with a subsidy of ~ € 250M, to which co-financing from partners will be added.

In December 2023, Biotech Booster BV and the Biotech Booster Foundation were established.

The program connects researchers with the biotech industry to quickly turn discoveries into practical applications. It provides funding, mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs, and access to a strong network of scientists.

Biotech Booster is organised into five clusters that cover the entire field of biotechnology:

• Industrial Biotechnology & Production 
• Agriculture & Food  
• ATMPs, Biopharmaceuticals & Associated Enabling Technologies 
• Diagnostics & Services 
• Vaccines, Small Molecules, Discovery & Development Platforms

Biotech Booster works closely with other National Growth Fund programs, such as Oncode Accelerator and RegMedXB. 

VitroScan: Predictive tumour testing service

Based out of Leiden Bio Science Park, VitroScan has developed ChemoPredict, a predictive tumour testing service for ovarian cancer patients.

The platform identifies chemotherapy-resistant versus chemotherapy-sensitive patients, demonstrating its capability to select effective and cost-efficient treatment strategies for individual patients.

VitroScan’s clinical trial program is performed in collaboration with expert clinicians from leading oncology centres. In these trials, patient specific ex vivo tumour sensitivity to chemo-, targeted, or immunotherapy is correlated to clinical outcomes.

Although treatments are available, 30 per cent of patients have a tumour that does not respond to the standard primary therapy of carboplatin + paclitaxel and move on to an advanced stage.

In total, about 70 per cent of ovarian cancer patients relapse within three years of treatment and are then treated with a range of second and third-line therapies.

The high-rate disease progression, variable treatment success, large economic burden, as well as the few predictive biomarkers for this tumour type make ovarian cancer a prime candidate for developing reliable predictive tumour testing.

Knowledge of tumour sensitivity will allow both doctors and patients to make better-informed treatment decisions and avoid unnecessary side effects and loss of quality of life. It will also open up avenues for biopharmaceutical testing of potential new treatments.

A couple of months back, the company announced a partnership with Imunotx to start its first ex vivo clinical trial with a patient for Imuno’s peptide MHC targeting T cell engagers!