Headline Raise: Humanoid Becomes Europe's Newest Unicorn
The day's standout announcement came from the UK and European robotics sector. Humanoid, which builds industrial humanoid robots for physical AI applications, closed a $152M Series A at a $1.35B post-money valuation. The round brings total capital raised to $270M and cements the company as Europe's latest unicorn. No single lead investor was named in available sources.
Early-Stage Raises: Seed and Pre-Seed
Several companies at the earliest funding stages attracted capital across energy, AI, and fashion tech.
- Bluecore Energy, building portable nuclear reactors mounted on barges, raised $10M in a pre-seed round led by Slauson and Co.
- NeuralZome, a Bengaluru-based deeptech startup offering no-code AI agent training for off-road robots as a service, raised $2.4M in a seed round led by 8X Ventures.
- Cascade, a London-based AI startup predicting engineering and construction project outcomes before they go live, raised $3.5M in a seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz Speedrun.
- Sowilo, an Iceland-based startup behind Catecut, an AI-powered fashion product intelligence platform, raised an undisclosed pre-seed to support a global Shopify app launch.
- ORiS, a Turin-based deeptech company developing laser-based wireless power transmission systems for space and dual-use applications, closed a $5M pre-seed led by Earlybird and co-led by Pitchdrive, including a $0.5M regional grant.
Growth-Stage and Strategic Rounds
More established companies also announced meaningful capital events.
- Ather Energy, India's electric two-wheeler manufacturer, raised approximately $155M (Rs 1,300 crore) through an oversubscribed qualified institutional placement, earmarked for manufacturing expansion and product development.
- Omio, Berlin's multimodal travel booking platform, secured $10M in a strategic investment from Granite-Integral, a joint venture between Granite Asia and Integral Corporation, to fund expansion into Japan and Southeast Asia.
- Deutsche Sanierungsberatung, a Berlin climate tech startup focused on climate-neutral home renovations, closed a Series A of over $12M led by Simon Capital and VERBUND X Ventures.
Space and Defence Technology
Europe's dual-use and space hardware sectors saw a cluster of activity.
- deltaVision, a Munich-based manufacturer of fluidic systems for satellites, launchers, lunar landers, and orbital servicing vehicles, raised $12M in its first funding round, led by KT Ventures and Valemount Capital.
- E2D, a $570M dual-use and defence technology growth fund co-managed by Earlybird and AVP, announced Airbus Defence and Space as anchor investor and made its first investment in Alta Ares (amount undisclosed).
Cleantech and Biomaterials
- Circular Materials, an Italian company recovering critical raw materials from industrial wastewater, secured $13M in SAFE financing from a consortium including CDP Venture Capital, the European Innovation Council Fund, EIT RawMaterials, and 360 Capital.
- Ponda, a Bristol biomaterials startup behind the plant-based insulation product BioPuff, secured a $3M DEFRA grant to lead a wetland farming demonstration supporting peatland regeneration.
Editorial Perspective
Today's raises reflect a few converging themes worth noting. Physical AI and robotics attracted the largest single check of the day, with Humanoid's unicorn round signaling that European investors are now willing to back hardware-intensive bets at valuations once reserved for software companies. The cluster of space infrastructure deals, from orbital fluidics to laser power transmission to barge-mounted nuclear reactors, points to growing conviction that the next layer of the space economy will be built around energy and logistics, not just satellite communications. On the climate side, the mix of grant funding and institutional SAFE rounds suggests early-stage cleantech is still navigating a more cautious capital environment than AI, even as the underlying demand for critical material recovery and home decarbonization continues to grow.