Defense and Deep Tech Take Center Stage
The single largest raise of the cycle came from the defense sector. Stark, the German maker of weaponized drones, confirmed a 500M euro round backed by a marquee syndicate.
- Stark: 500M euros, led by Sequoia and Founders Fund, with participation from the NATO Innovation Fund and Project A
On the deep science side, two UK companies addressed critical supply and energy infrastructure challenges.
- Astral Systems: 23M GBP (approximately 26M euros) Series A, led by Mercia Ventures, to commercialize medical radioisotopes using multi-state fusion technology
- AlpSemi: 17M euros, led by Yotta Capital, to advance solid-state circuit breaker semiconductors
AI Tooling and Developer Infrastructure
AI-native software companies pulled in a cluster of meaningful rounds across Europe and India.
- Tsuga: 30M euros Series A, led by Singular with participation from General Catalyst and DST Global, for its AI observability and agent platform
- JUPUS: 13M euros Series A, led by Semapa Next with NRW.BANK, for AI tooling aimed at law firms
- Timefold: $13M Series A, led by Alstin Capital, for vehicle routing and shift scheduling APIs
- Mitigata: $15M Series B, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, for cybersecurity software out of Bengaluru
- Kyrok: 3.1M euros pre-seed, led by Speedinvest, for industrial AI applied to pharma and chemical supply chains
- Fika Jobs: $4M pre-seed, led by Luminar Ventures, for AI-powered video resume hiring in Stockholm
Seed and Early Stage: Robotics, Space, and Biotech
Early-stage capital flowed into hardware and life sciences in notable volume.
- Acumino: $12M seed (approximately), backed by DeepMind's robotics accelerator, for precision robotics
- Ubotica: $11M, to scale its orbital AI platform for real-time maritime intelligence
- TRIMTECH Therapeutics: 12M euros additional seed closing (total seed at 41M euros), led by Johnson and Johnson Development Corporation and BGF, for small molecule therapies targeting neurodegenerative protein aggregates
Climate, Fintech, and Real Estate
Sustainability and fintech rounds rounded out the day's activity.
- VARM: 17.5M euros Series A, led by ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund and co-led by GET Fund, to scale home insulation across Germany and Europe
- Flease: 13M euros, led by Partech Impact, to expand reconditioned vehicle fleet leasing in France
- Sportway: 20M euros, led by Gamma Waves, for AI-driven sports media production
- equipal: approximately 19M euros (combined equity and debt), for asset finance and business equipment lending in London
- Square Yards: approximately $95M (Rs 900 crore in combined debt and equity), crossing unicorn status as an Indian real estate and mortgage platform
Fund Closes and Institutional Moves
- Menlo Ventures: $3B raised across two new funds, the firm's largest capital raise in its 50-year history, focused on AI from seed through growth stage
- The UK government committed 60M GBP to two university AI research labs aimed at reducing the cost of AI development
What the Day's Raises Signal
A few clear currents run through this slate. Defense tech continues to attract sovereign-adjacent capital at scale, as Stark's 500M euro round confirms that NATO-aligned investors are now participating directly alongside traditional venture firms. AI is no longer a single theme but a substrate layered across legal, logistics, sports, cybersecurity, and supply chain verticals, with each company making a specific vertical claim rather than a general intelligence pitch. Perhaps most telling is the Menlo Ventures fund close: a firm that staked its reputation on one concentrated Anthropic bet is now raising at $3B, signaling that LPs are rewarding conviction-driven AI investing with larger mandates. The biotech and deep science rounds, particularly in radioisotopes and neurodegeneration, suggest patient capital is finally moving off the sidelines in sectors where timelines are long but strategic need is acute.