Europe AI funding boom, programmable proteins, climate-friendly agriculture, and much more...
What's Up Tech? #211
Welcome to our 211th newsletter, written with 🖤 by Annika Bautista, Sarah Luna Mongin, featuring an interview with Seif El Gamil.
🔍 Topics we'll cover this weekGeneral news from the week: Former Mistral scientist eyes at stealth funding & EU pours billions into AI innovation 🇪🇺
Fundraising news from the week: From health to fintech—€100 million for consumer health, £107 million for digital payments
Up-and-coming ventures to watch: AI & climate innovation take center stage, with Sweden dominating the roundup 🇸🇪
Internships & Job offers of the week
The Career Corner: featuring Seif’s insights as a Analyst at Eurazeo and Head of baby vc France!
Enjoy the read! 💛
🤑 Fundraisings of the week💊 naturalX Ventures closes €100 million fund to back consumer health startups (🇩🇪)
naturalX Ventures announced the closing of its first €100 million VC fund dedicated to consumer health startups in Europe with select investments in North America. The fund aims to bridge gaps in healthcare investment targeting Series A rounds, with flexibility for late Seed and Series B investments.
Focusing on the intersection of wellness and medicine, naturalX backs science-driven products and services. 🩺
💉 Nina Capital announces first close of €50M Fund III to advance health tech innovation (🇪🇸)
Barcelona-based VC firm Nina Capital has reached the first close of its €50 million Fund III, bringing its total assets under management to over €100 million. The fund will back Pre-Seed to Series A startups with initial investments between €250,000 and €1.5 million, reserving capital for follow-on rounds.
Nina Capital will expand its investment reach to Australia for the first time, alongside Europe, North America, and Israel. First Fund III investment is Sonar Mental Health, a US-based platform using AI and human-led support to assist students in school districts.📚
Female-founded HealthTech VC firm Nina Capital Closes €50M Fund III
💸 Revving raises £107 million to accelerate payments for digital industries (🇬🇧)
Fintech scaleup Revving has secured £107 million in funding to tackle delayed payments in digital industries. The company provides a payment acceleration solution, granting businesses immediate access to earned sales revenue—even before invoices are raised.
Through an intuitive online portal, users can track real-time commission data, access advanced payments, and generate financial reports. Revving’s proprietary credit risk engine integrates directly into digital marketplaces, leveraging granular data for automated funding. 💰
Revving Secures £107M to Combat UK Adtech's Cash Flow Crisis
⚡ Renew Risk secures €5.9 million to enhance risk modelling for renewable energy (🇬🇧)
In a round led by Molten Ventures, Renew Risk raised €5.9 million to bridge the gap between the renewable energy sector and financial markets.
The company provides risk modelling and analytics to insurers, brokers, bankers, developers, and asset managers, offering insights into physical risks such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and severe storms affecting offshore wind and solar farms. ☀️
These advanced models help financial markets make data-driven decisions, ensuring more resilient and sustainable investments in renewable energy.
Renew Risk Bags €5.9M for Insight on Physical Risks Like Hurricanes or Earthquakes
👩⚕️ Ex-DeepMind research scientist raises $40 million in Series A for a stealthy biotech startup (🇬🇧)
Latent Labs, founded by a former DeepMind researcher, Simon Kohl, has raised $40 million in Series A funding co-led by Radical Ventures and Sofinnova Partners. The firm is developing AI foundation models for protein design.
Their overall vision is to reduce reliance on traditional “wet labs,” and make biology programmable. They envision a future where AI can generate and optimize custom proteins on demand, revolutionizing biotech and pharmaceutical research. 🔬
Founded by DeepMind Alumnus, Latent Labs Launches with $50M to Make Biology Programmable
🔥 Up-and-coming startups to watch🐮 Agteria Biotech raises €6 million to slash methane emissions from cattle (🇸🇪)
Stockholm-based Agteria Biotech has secured €6 million in Seed funding to pursue regulatory approval for its methane-reducing products for cattle.
Founded in 2023, Agteria has developed the patent-pending AB-01 Molecule, a scalable, low-cost solution that significantly reduces methane emissions from cattle—offering the highest methane reduction per euro. Successful in-vivo trials have already attracted strong interest from the beef, dairy, and animal feed industries. 🧀
Agteria Biotech Raises €6M for Methane-Reducing Products for Cattle
🏗️ AI-BOB raises €2 million to automate construction compliance (🇸🇪)
AI-BOB has secured €2 million of funding led by CapitalT and Fund F by Female Founders, reaching a valuation of over €10 million just a year after its launch. The company is creating an AI-driven compliance platform for architects and developers. The tool minimizes the time taken for administrative tasks by automating blueprint reviews and ensuring compliance to building regulations. The firm addresses costly construction errors, which in Sweden alone amount to €9.8 billion annually. 👷
Stockholm-based Construction Tech Firm AI–BOB Raises €2M Led by CapitalT
🧾 AI innovation brought to accounting firms by Y Combinator alumni (🇸🇪)
AI-powered accounting software Bluebook has secured $3 million in funding from EQT Ventures, Y Combinator, and angel investors.
Bluebook automates repetitive tasks, conducts detailed monthly audits, processes supplier invoices, and provides AI-driven accounting, tax, and VAT insights with reliable citations.
Already onboarding firms across Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, Bluebook plans further Nordic and European expansion in 2025. 🌍
Y Combinator Alumni Bluebook Raises $3M to Build AI Agents for Accounting Firms
🌿 Proba raises €1M to decarbonize agri-food supply chains (🇳🇱)
Proba has secured €1 million, led by Future Food Fund and Yield Lab Europe, to help agri-food businesses reduce supply chain emissions.
Proba is pushing for a new approach called insetting, which enables companies to directly cut emissions by investing in sustainable practices. They specialise in tackling fertilizer-related decarbonization, as fertilizer-related emissions account for 5% of global greenhouse gases. This beats out even aviation and shipping. 😱
Amsterdam-based Proba secures €1M to help the agri-food industry cut fertilizer emissions
📰 News of the week💡 Ex-Mistral employee trying to raise for his new AI startup, Genesis Robotics
Former Mistral research scientist Théophile Gervet is raising $80M for his new AI-powered robotics startup, Genesis Robotics. The startup is developing a high-speed simulation platform to train next-gen robots. 🤖
The simulation platform aims to create virtual environments where AI models can train robots far more efficiently than in the real world. Co-founder Zhou Xian claimed Genesis can run simulations 10-80x faster than Nvidia’s IsaacGym, though he later clarified that early tests were based on limited static scenes.
🤑 Billions into European AI announced in the AI Action Summit
It’s been a busy week for investors at the AI Action Summit in Paris. The EU launched InvestAI, a €200-billion initiative to bolster Europe’s AI ecosystem. The plan includes a €20 billion fund for AI gigafactories. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that this initiative aims to create a "CERN for AI," fostering innovation across all company sizes.
Concurrently, a €150-billion push led by 20 key investors, such as General Catalyst, was launched under the “EU AI Champions Initiative.” According to a note they’ve released, “our mission is to foster a resilient partnership between incumbents and technology providers to unlock Europe’s full potential in AI.” 👏
Plans for €150B 'EU AI champions' Strategy Unveiled at Paris AI Summit
EU Launches InvestAI Initiative to Mobilise €200B of Investment in Artificial Intelligence
🍏 The Career Corner ft. Seif El Gamil, Analyst at Eurazeo and Head of baby vc France!If you were a student now, what three things would you do to land an internship or full-time role in VC?
Network. Attend conferences, reach out to interns, analysts, and associates on LinkedIn.
Develop genuine curiosity for a specific industry or space. Become deeply knowledgeable about a trending topic—read, read, and read.
Be kind. No one wants to work with an arrogant or selfish individual. When smarter people speak, listen. And never try to undermine others.
What is one skill or competence candidates should develop to stand out?
Deep analysis. Unroll the thread to its very end. Get to the root of concepts—don't settle for superficial knowledge.
What’s the biggest mistake students make when applying or interviewing for VC roles?
Focusing solely on VC. There are many other valuable experiences to consider—startups and scale-ups (Chief of Staff, Product, or Sales roles), Tech M&A, fundraising, consulting…
What’s a common misconception about working in VC?
In France? That you’ll get rich quickly. Most funds don’t achieve outstanding performance, so carried interest is almost irrelevant for junior positions. Salaries aren’t among the highest either. When applying for VC, do it for the passion, the learning experience, and the balanced (yet often blurred) line between work and personal life. The hope of carried interest and fund returns may come later—but statistically, that’s rare in France.
What are questions your team doesn’t get asked often enough about the industry?
How do you win a deal when there are seven competing term sheets on the table?
How did you leverage your network to get where you are today?
During my internships, I worked hard, stayed rigorous, and always remembered that first impressions last. After 2–3 months, I would ask my superiors for help securing my next opportunity. Additionally, baby vc has been a strong career accelerator, connecting me with many incredible people.
👔 Internships & job offersInternships
Visiting Analyst, Climate & BioTech - FoodLabs (Berlin)
VC Analyst Intern (several positions) - Ternel (Paris)
VC Analyst - Hexa Scale (Paris)
Jobs
Brand, PR & Communications Manager - FoodLabs (Berlin)
Investment Manager, Tech Ventures - Vorwerk Ventures (Berlin)
Accelerator Program Manager - Katapult Ocean (Oslo)
You can also read more about baby vc on our website and follow our updates on LinkedIn, or directly reach out to us at hello@baby-vc.co! 🤝
The whole baby vc crew 🖤