Startup Funding Recap October 7 2026: Key Raises Across Europe

Series B and Growth Rounds

The largest raise of the day came from Spiko, a Paris and London-based tokenised cash fund platform that closed a $90M Series B led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with Index Ventures and Speedinvest participating. The round brings total funding to $120M and is aimed at expanding access to cash yield for businesses and individuals sitting on idle capital.

WhiteLab Genomics, a Paris-based biotech using AI to design genomic medicine building blocks, closed a $26M (roughly 23M EUR) Series B led by AVP. The funds will accelerate development of its AI-driven genomics pipeline.

Vates, a French virtualization company, secured 30M EUR from IRIS Growth fund and Bpifrance to pursue global expansion as licensing changes reshape the virtualization market.

Series A Rounds

• Procuros (Hamburg, supply chain connectivity): 20M EUR Series A led by XAnge, to build out AI-native infrastructure for autonomous B2B trade.
• Vocca (voice AI, healthtech): $20M Series A to automate patient phone calls and reduce administrative burden on healthcare providers.
• Hadrian (London and Amsterdam, agentic AI offensive security): $40M round co-led by Forgepoint Capital International and SmartFin, targeting expansion across EMEA and the US.

Seed and Pre-Seed Rounds

• byteXL (Hyderabad, edtech): $9M seed to expand its college-linked AI skilling platform to 500,000 engineering students across 15 Indian states.
• Edonia (France, foodtech): 15M EUR led by SWEN Blue Ocean 2, Asterion Ventures, EIT Food, and Bpifrance, to scale microalgae protein as a meat alternative with up to 27 times lower carbon footprint than beef.
• Cleavr (France, fintech): 8M EUR seed led by Varsity, for accounts receivable automation and European expansion.
• Comparables.ai (AI market intelligence): $6M seed to scale its private and public market intelligence platform for dealmakers.
• Nettle (insurtech, AI): $4.8M oversubscribed seed led by MTech, to expand its AI workspace for commercial insurance loss control.
• SimpL (Italy, B2B sales AI): 1.2M EUR pre-seed led by Techshop Capital, to develop an AI-powered operating system for generating B2B sales opportunities.
• Finches (Bavaria, agritech): 2M EUR pre-seed led by High-Tech Grunderfonds (HTGF) with Vanagon Ventures, to help food producers identify supply risks earlier.

New Funds and Institutional Moves

• Nevermind VC (Italy): Launched with a 23.6M EUR first close targeting dual-use deeptech startups at pre-seed and seed stage across Italy and Europe.
• Graduate Ventures (Netherlands): Launched a 125M EUR second seed fund, with 100M EUR already committed, to back Dutch tech startups.
• Fuel Ventures (UK): Received an 11M EUR (roughly 10M GBP) commitment from the British Business Bank through its Regional Angels Programme.

Acquisition

Personio, the German HR tech unicorn, acquired Circula, a German spend management platform, positioning itself as the first European platform to combine HR, payroll, and spend management in a single product.

What the Day's Deals Signal

October 7 underscores a few durable themes in venture capital right now. Agentic AI is moving beyond software productivity tools and into regulated, high-stakes domains: cybersecurity with Hadrian, healthcare communications with Vocca, and commercial insurance with Nettle all raised on that thesis. Meanwhile, alternative proteins and supply chain resilience continue to attract institutional backing in Europe, with Edonia and Procuros both closing meaningful rounds. The cluster of new fund launches, from Nevermind VC in Italy to Graduate Ventures in the Netherlands, suggests that early-stage capital formation in continental Europe is accelerating, particularly around deep tech and dual-use technology where geopolitical tailwinds are strong.