EU-Startups

02/06/2026

📢 After co-organising today’s EIC Community Training on ‘Scaling Beyond the Grant: Strategies for Growth’, we at EU-Startups are looking forward to the starting tomorrow in Brussels 🇧🇪 👀

The Summit will bring together the community for two days of networking, exhibitions and high-level discussions, while the will continue supporting EIC awardees with dedicated stands, workshops and matchmaking opportunities designed to help innovators move beyond funding and connect with corporates, procurers, investors, partners and the wider innovation ecosystem 🤝

Our EU Projects Manager, Timothy Zammit, will also be present at the EIC Summit on 3 June and on the morning of 4 June. If you are attending and would like to meet, feel free to reach out and connect during the event.

📍 EIC Pavilion, exhibition area

🔗 Explore the programme: https://eic.eismea.eu/community/stories/dive-eic-business-acceleration-services-activities-and-side-events-eic-summit-2026

02/06/2026

Zazume, a Barcelona-based PropTech startup that digitises the entire residential rental lifecycle, has closed an investment round worth €2.5 million to implement its growth strategy. 🇪🇸 🏘️🚀

The round was led by the London-based VC firm Nordstar and Spanish venture GTV Capital. The round also includes the conversion of capital previously contributed by Sabadell Venture Capital and other family offices.

Jeroen Merchiers, CEO and co-founder of Zazume, stated, “We have identified a huge opportunity to rapidly drive the company forward and help professionalise the sector. This capital increase allows us to position ourselves as the best option for small real estate agencies looking to monetise their property management portfolio or even just exchange non-payment insurance premiums.”

Zazume, a Barcelona-based PropTech startup that digitises the entire residential rental lifecycle, has closed an investment round worth €2.5 million to

02/06/2026

In this piece for EU-Startups, Shayan Roy Chowdhury explores the key differences between coaching and mentoring, and why understanding both can help entrepreneurs find the right kind of support at the right stage 👀 🤝

Shayan is the Interim Managing Director at Newton Venture Program, where he leads strategy, team, and operations for a venture capital training initiative backed by London Business School and LocalGlobe.

Read Shayan's full piece below.

Most of us appreciate the usefulness of impartial career advice and understand the value of an external advisor when it comes to our professional lives.

02/06/2026

DEScycle, a London-based startup building metals processing infrastructure for critical and precious metals recovery, has secured more than €10 million in confirmed non-dilutive funding over the past 10 months. 🇬🇧 ♻️🔩

The funding has been secured across a series of competitive UK and European programmes, including €5 million from EU Horizon, €1.5 million from Germany’s SPRIND, €2.5 million from the EIC Accelerator, €1.04 million awarded through Innovate UK Investor Partnerships and €578.3k through a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.

Fred White, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at DEScycle, said, “Critical raw materials are becoming a strategic priority for both the UK and Europe, and that is creating growing demand for new metals processing infrastructure. Securing more than €10m in confirmed non-dilutive funding across competitive European and UK programmes is a strong signal of the importance of domestic metals recovery."

DEScycle, a London-based startup building next-generation metals processing infrastructure for critical and precious metals recovery, has secured more

02/06/2026

MODELIA, a Madrid-based platform for generating and managing visual assets using AI for the fashion industry, has closed a €1.03 million Seed round to develop its technology and expand across Europe and the U.S. 🇪🇸 👗

The round was led by Next Tier Ventures, a Spanish fund specialising exclusively in AI startups, and includes participation from Rapid Scale (United States) and Archipélago Next (Spain), existing investors who are participating again in this round.

“We are living in one of those moments when an entire industry is changing its language. Artificial intelligence has made the ability to generate an image accessible to anyone, but producing fashion imagery at an industrial scale – true to the garment, true to the brand, issue after issue, collection after collection – remains a craft,” says Iván Rodríguez, CEO and co-founder of Modelia.

Modelia, a Madrid-based platform for generating and managing visual assets using AI for the fashion industry, has closed a €1.03 million ($1.2 million)

02/06/2026

Geneva-based Wecan, a startup specialising in compliance solutions for private banks and financial institutions, today announced that SEALSQ, a post-quantum cybersecurity company, has acquired a majority equity stake in it.🇨🇭 ⚛️

This follows an initial 28% investment made one year ago. As part of this strategic transaction, SEALSQ will invest €5.4 million to accelerate Wecan Group’s development and support the deployment of next-generation Compliance Co-pilote and post-quantum financial security solutions for the global financial industry.

Vincent Pignon, Ph.D, founder and CEO of Wecan Group, commented, “Wecan Group was created to help financial institutions manage trust, compliance and sensitive client information more efficiently. With SEALSQ as a majority shareholder and strategic technology partner, we are entering a new phase of growth. This investment will allow us to accelerate the deployment of our Compliance Copilote and strengthen our infrastructure with post-quantum security capabilities, providing banks and financial institutions with future-ready solutions for client lifecycle.”

Wecan Group, a Geneva-based startup specialising in compliance solutions for private banks and financial institutions, today announced that SEALSQ Corp

02/06/2026

Bayshore AI, a Munich-based startup building an agentic AI platform that performs legal and compliance tasks in a reliable, explainable, and auditable way, has exited stealth mode with €6.9 million in Seed funding. 🇩🇪 🏛️⚖️ 🤖

The round was led by Earlybird Venture Capital, with participation from Lucid Capital, BOOOM, Heliad, and strategic angels.

“Across industries, business units need to go through an endless amount of approval processes – whether it’s inviting a customer to lunch, onboarding a new sales intermediary, or changing a critical process at a bank. Those processes mostly run on PDF forms, Excel sheets, and scattered email threads, creating uncertainty and friction,” said Philipp Wiegand, Chief Executive Officer, Bayshore.

Bayshore, a Munich-based startup building an agentic AI platform that performs complex legal and compliance tasks in a reliable, explainable, and

01/06/2026

Circular11, a Dorset-based startup turning low-grade plastic waste into building materials and home products, has secured €2.7 million in equity funding. 🇬🇧 ♻️🧱

The investment was led by Vectr7 Investment Partners LLP, with The FSE Group, which invested €728.1k from the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund, acting as co-lead. The round also included The FSE Investor Network, Oxford Innovation Network, and other private investors, alongside an InnovateUK grant award.

Benjamin Gibbons, CEO of Circular 11, said, “We believe that every tonne of plastic that gets incinerated is a missed opportunity to deliver low-carbon materials to a construction sector that desperately needs affordable and long-lasting assets. The backing of Vectr7, the South West Investment Fund, FSE and other investors is an important step; it gives us the resources to scale manufacturing, whilst continuing to develop the systems behind our materials and respond to growing pressure on industry to find better uses for plastic waste.”

Circular11, a Dorset-based startup turning low-grade plastic waste into building materials and home products, has secured €2.7 million (£2.4 million) in

01/06/2026

Choosing a co-founder is one of the most consequential decisions a founder will make, and getting it wrong can cost more than time, money, or momentum, writes 4x founder and startup advisor Charles Hope 🤝 ✨

In this article for EU-Startups, Charles shares the three filters founders should apply before choosing who to build with, covering complementary skills, chemistry, and the often-overlooked love for the problem.

Charles has advised and mentored 650+ founders, who have collectively raised over $150 million, and works with 14+ global startup programmes as a mentor, advisor and workshop leader.

Read his article here 📰:

The biggest predictor of whether your startup survives isn't your idea or your funding. It's whether you picked the right person to build it with. Noam

01/06/2026

encosa, a Munich-based company specialising in battery energy storage systems (BESS) for commercial and industrial (C&I) businesses across Germany, has closed €25 million in Seed funding. 🇩🇪 🔋🏭

The Seed round was led by Realyze Ventures, with participation from Verve Ventures, Bayern Kapital, Blum Ventures, and kopa ventures. Notably, all pre-Seed investors reinvested in this round.

Sebastian Becker, co-founder and COO, encosa, said, “Storage projects are consistently underestimated — they’re complex infrastructure, and the job isn’t done when the system goes live. encosa delivers savings from day one and carries the operational risk for the long haul.”

encosa, a Munich-based company specialising in battery energy storage systems (BESS) for commercial and industrial (C&I) businesses across Germany,