Unicorns and Late-Stage Highlights
The headline news on August 5 came from two European companies crossing the billion-dollar valuation mark.
- Moss, the Berlin-based fintech, was crowned Europe's newest unicorn after closing a 30M euro Series C, adding to a strong run for B2B spend-management platforms on the continent.
- Oxylabs, the web data infrastructure company, reached a $3.6B valuation in its first-ever external raise after a decade of bootstrapping. The company described the move as finding the right timing and the right partner.
- HappyRobot, which builds agentic AI for supply-chain and enterprise operations, closed a $150M Series C led by Prysm Capital and co-led by Eurazeo, with existing backers a16z, Base10, and Y Combinator participating. The round values the company at $1.2B.
Growth-Stage Raises
Several companies at the Series A and B stages secured meaningful capital across fintech, energy, and industrials.
- 10x Banking, the UK core-banking platform founded by a former Barclays CEO, raised 40M pounds in a combined debt and equity round to continue expanding its infrastructure for digital banks.
- Ore Energy, the Amsterdam-based iron-air battery startup, closed a $43M Series A led by Plural and HV to scale grid-scale storage capable of holding renewable power for up to 100 hours.
- AEM (Advanced Electric Machines Group), a UK maker of rare earth-free electric motors, secured 16M pounds to broaden its product portfolio and accelerate manufacturing.
- Vaaree, an Indian home decor marketplace, raised approximately 7M USD (65 crore rupees) in a Series A led by Hero Enterprise and Cap Alpha Ventures.
- GetVantage, an Indian B2B fintech serving MSMEs, closed roughly 7.5M USD (63 crore rupees) in a Series A1 round to scale its lending and technology platform.
Seed and Pre-Seed Activity
Early-stage deal flow was broad, spanning construction tech, legal AI, robotics, and customer intelligence.
- conmeet, which builds an AI operating system for construction and trades businesses, raised 6M euros in an oversubscribed seed round.
- Exclaim Robotics, a Zurich startup building autonomous robots for AI data centre maintenance, exited stealth with a 4M euro pre-seed round co-led by Founderful and Playfair.
- Aavalynx, an AI legaltech platform focused on corporate dispute resolution, raised approximately 1.75M euros (1.5M pounds) in pre-seed funding led by Omega Ventures.
- Monava, a Swedish-Finnish defencetech company specialising in acoustic drone detection, closed an undisclosed investment round with Gungnir Capital as the largest backer.
- Shiplog, a Paris-based agentic customer intelligence platform for B2B SaaS, raised approximately 1M USD in pre-seed funding backed by Kima Ventures and Project Europe.
- Estel Technologies, a Bulgaria-based AI sales platform for the tech staffing market, raised 270K euros in pre-seed funding led by Vitosha Ventures.
Macro Context
The day's activity sits within a broader surge: Crunchbase data shows global venture funding reached $65B in July 2026, up 100% year over year, with a record 14 billion-dollar rounds in a single month. India's picture was more mixed, with July VC funding up 29% year over year but down sharply from June, as the absence of large anchor deals weighed on overall totals.
Looking across today's raises, a few signals stand out. Agentic AI is moving well past the pilot stage and commanding Series C valuations that would have seemed aggressive even 18 months ago. Long-duration energy storage is attracting growth capital as grid operators seek alternatives to lithium. And the two European unicorn announcements in a single day suggest that late-stage dry powder is still flowing toward proven, capital-efficient businesses, not just the fastest-growing ones. Founders who held out for the right partner, as Oxylabs did for a decade, may find the current market particularly receptive.