Defence and Dual-Use: The Largest Vehicle of the Week
The headline fund launch of the period came from the Franco-German partnership between Earlybird and AVP.
- E2D: 500M euro growth-stage fund targeting roughly 20 European defence and dual-use companies at an average ticket of 25M euros each (led by Earlybird and AVP)
The fund is one of the more significant cross-border defence capital vehicles to emerge in Europe and arrives as governments across the continent push for faster sovereign capability development.
Series A Rounds: AI and Climate Take Centre Stage
Several growth-stage raises stood out this week for their sector diversity.
- Cargofy: 10M euros (approximately 11M USD) Series A to deploy AI digital workers across freight operations, led by u.ventures, Toloka, and Movens Capital
- Kvasir Technologies: 10M euros Series A to scale climate-neutral marine biofuel, with participation from European Energy, EIFO, Maersk Growth, and Footprint Fund
- SOMAREALITY: 3M euros (oversubscribed) Series A for real-time cognitive monitoring via eye tracking, led by Catalyst Romania with participation from MT-Lab, RDY Ventures, Moondust Ventures, and Gateway Ventures
- Vivici: 12.5M euros from the European Innovation Council Accelerator to scale animal-free dairy proteins through precision fermentation
Seed and Early Stage: Fintech, Legaltech, and More
Earlier-stage activity remained healthy, with deals appearing across several verticals.
- Warren: 10M euros seed round to reshape retirement savings, led by Motive Ventures
- Flagright: 12.5M USD (YC-backed) to fuel US expansion into financial crime compliance
- Turbo Law: 3.8M USD seed round to expand its litigation platform, led by Revo Capital with participation from Treeo VC, BridgeX Ventures, Alchemist Accelerator, and others
- Frontier Health: approximately 10M GBP to build an AI agent platform for the NHS, led by Atomico (founded by a former Palantir healthcare executive)
- Rusk Media: approximately 12M USD (Rs 100 crore) to expand content franchises and AI production tools, based in Mumbai
- OneSoil: 1M euros to expand an AI-powered precision farming assistant, backed by existing investors including Yury Melnichek
- Minysa: 163K euros from Venture Kick to develop next-generation gallium nitride control chips for power electronics
Fund Vehicles and Institutional Commitments
Beyond direct company raises, two institutional fund moves are worth noting.
- FPE Capital Fund IV: 46M euro cornerstone commitment from the British Business Bank to support high-growth businesses across the UK and Ireland
- Bharat Innovates 2026: approximately 254.5M USD in commitments generated at the India deep-tech showcase held in Nice, spanning over 50 agreements and new India-France technology partnerships
Editorial Perspective
A few threads run clearly through this week's activity. European defence is attracting serious institutional capital, with the E2D vehicle signalling that investors now see dual-use technology as a core growth category rather than a niche bet. At the same time, AI continues to move into highly regulated and operationally complex sectors, including logistics, healthcare administration, and financial crime compliance, suggesting that the next phase of AI investment will be less about general-purpose tools and more about deep vertical integration. The presence of climate-focused raises in marine biofuels and precision fermentation also points to continued appetite for hard-science solutions to emissions problems, even as the broader macro environment remains cautious on large deals.