Ocean-mapping drones, a robotics foundational model, ERP for factories, and much more...
What's Up Tech? #231
Welcome to our 231st newsletter, written with 🖤 by Annika Bautista, Sarah Luna Mongin, and Aris Sevastianos.
🔍 Topics we'll cover this weekGeneral news from the week: Brussels doubles down on AI rules
Fundraising news from the week: Femtech ushers in a new era of data-rich period tracking, and the OS for your doctor just dropped 💸
Up-and-coming ventures to watch: Deep sea drones and a stealthy robotics company are setting the stage
🆕 Product news from the week: scroll to the end for one-liner, stand-out headlines on the latest tech that you should read more about 👀
Internship & Job offers of the week
Enjoy the read! 💛
🤑 Fundraising of the week🛍 Talon.One raises $135 million to supercharge AI-powered loyalty tech (🇩🇪)
Talon.One just bagged secured $135 million in growth funding to turn boring old promos into sleek, data-fueled loyalty machines. The round was led by as led by Silversmith Capital Partners and Meritech Capital. Their software lets brands like H&M, Adidas, and Sephora build hyper-personalized promotions that boost loyalty and margins. Funds will go toward beefing up AI features, expanding globally, and helping loyalty shift from "marketing afterthought" to strategic growth weapon. 🛠️
From cashback to gamified rewards, Talon.One’s system works with any tech stack and integrates with partners like Shopify and Braze. It’s the only enterprise-grade loyalty engine on Shopify, and it’s scaling fast in the US, UK, Europe, and APAC.
Talon.One Secures $135M to Accelerate Growth and Innovation Through AI
🩺 Tandem Health lands $50 million in Series A funding to build an AI-first OS for clinicians (🇸🇪)
Someone called for a doctor? Tandem Health has raised $50 million in a Series A round led by Kinnevik to make clinicians more accessible to their patients. 🏥
Equipping 200,000+ NHS professionals, Tandem’s AI-generated clinical notes has already generated profound impact — from Sweden to UK to the rest of Europe.
Now, they’re taking it to the next level with a vision of creating a full operating system for care delivery. Its platform will help with real-time documentation, clinical coding, decision support, and care coordination, aiming to ease admin burdens and streamline workflows.
⚡Dexter Energy raises €23 million to supercharge AI for renewable energy trading (🇳🇱)
Dexter Energy just locked in €23 million in Series C funding to make wind, solar, and battery trading way smarter. Klima led the round, backing the startup’s AI-powered Trading-as-a-Service platform.
Dexter’s tech uses real-time data and optimization models to help renewable energy producers squeeze more profit from volatile power markets. The new funds will help them expand across Europe and fine-tune their battery optimization tools, aiming to boost revenues by up to 30 percent for clean energy portfolios.
With energy prices all over the place and subsidies fading out, renewables need an edge — and Dexter is betting AI is it. They're already live in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, and now they're eyeing the rest of the continent for domination. 🌍
🎒 EDURINO raises €17 million to turn screen time into serious brain fuel for kids (🇩🇪)
EDURINO, the Munich-based EdTech startup on a mission to make digital learning actually good for kids, just locked in €17 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Ravensburger Next Ventures and Summiteer, with funds set to double their European retail footprint and expand internationally.
Their tech is a hybrid combo of touchscreen games, tactile toys, and an ergonomic pen. With over 1,000 kids already testing the platform, the results are in: a 35% boost in problem-solving skills. EDURINO’s playful learning tools aim to build reading, coding, and critical thinking skills — without turning kids into screen zombies.📱
EDURINO Snaps Up €17M to Turn Screen Time into Learning Time for Europe’s Youngest Students
🤖 AssetCool raises £10 million to supercharge global power grids with robot-deployed nanocoatings (🇬🇧)
AssetCool just locked in £10 million in Series A funding to roll out robots that slap high-tech nanocoatings on old power lines, making them stronger, cooler, and 30% more efficient without digging up a single pole. The round was led by Energy Impact Partners, and yes, it was oversubscribed — clearly, grid glow-ups are in. 💅
Their bots cruise along existing overhead lines and apply coatings that beat back corrosion, reduce noise, and improve thermal performance. It’s up to 20 times cheaper and infinitely faster than rebuilding infrastructure. Plus, it turns real-time data into insights via embedded AI.
AssetCool Raises £10M Series A to Scale Robotic Grid Upgrade Technology Globally
💊 Liki24 raises $9 million to expand its cross-border health marketplace across Europe (🇺🇦)
Liki24, a Ukrainian-born health and wellness marketplace, just locked in $9 million in Series A funding, led by u.ventures and others. The platform uses AI-powered delivery and price arbitrage to help users score up to 50% off wellness products by bundling purchases across countries into one neat, cheap package.
Already active in nine European countries, Liki24 plans to use the fresh capital to expand into even more markets and upgrade its tech. With over 2.5 million users and a product catalog north of 200,000 items, Liki24 is gunning for the title of Europe’s go-to health marketplace… big Amazon-meets-Ryanair vibes here. 👀
🔥 Up-and-coming startups to watch🤖 Genesis AI emerges from stealth with one of the largest Seed rounds in Europe ever (🇫🇷)
Genesis AI just raised a whopping $105 million in Seed funding to build a the foundation model to rule them all in the field of robotics.
Their aim os to enables robots to perform a wide range of tasks — from lab automation to housekeeping.
Co-led by Eclipse and Khosla Ventures, the company is training its general-purpose robotics model using synthetic data generated by its proprietary physics engine, designed to simulate the real world with high accuracy and efficiency.
By skipping the limitations of real-world data collection, Genesis aims to scale faster and make robotics more versatile and affordable. 🦾
Genesis AI Launches with $105M Seed Funding from Eclipse, Khosla to Build AI Models for Robots
🏭 Bonx secures €7.3 million to modernise ERP exclusively for manufacturers (🇫🇷)
Bonx has raised €7.3 million in Seed funding to reimagine ERP for Europe’s industrial backbone, starting with the overlooked mid-market manufacturing sector.
Led by 9900 Capital, the round supports Bonx’s push for a flexible platform that combines no-code tools, rapid deployment, and deep AI functionality.
Designed to integrate seamlessly with existing CRM and accounting tools, Bonx promises to digitise core operations in “weeks, not years.” 📆
Bonx Raises €7.3M to Champion European Manufacturing with Market-leading AI ERP
👓 Peec AI raises €7 million to help brands win the battle for AI search visibility (🇩🇪)
Peec AI has wasted no time: less than five months after its founding, the startup has secured a total of €7 million, racing from a €1.8 million Pre-Seed round in April to a fresh €5.2 million Seed led by 20VC, all within the same quarter. And, securing the lead Seed investor, 20VC, in just 24 hours. 👀
The team is building a search visibility platform for the AI-powered internet, giving marketing teams insights into how their brands show up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other emerging LLM-native search engines.
Why? Because 27% of users already rely on AI tools for over half of their queries. ✍️
In just four months since launch, Peec AI has hit €650,000 in ARR with €80,000 weekly growth, enough traction to prompt a follow-on round with support from Antler, Foreword VC, identity.vc, Combination Ventures and S20.
Germany’s AI Search Analytics Startup Peec AI Secures Two Funding Rounds in Five Months
🎓 TuringDream raises €6 million to scale its agentic AI for learning and enterprise apps (🇪🇸)
TuringDream has secured €6 million in Seed funding to scale its no-code Agentic AI Platform for education and enterprise, co-led by Adara Ventures and HWK.
The platform lets organisations create multi-agent-based applications (MABAs) with minimal technical overhead.
Its flagship product is a personalised tutoring platform for secondary students that adapts to learning pace, style, and curriculum. With agentic AI gaining traction, TuringDream aims to bring modular, intelligent automation to more domains.
Madrid-based TuringDream Raises €6M to Scale Its Agentic AI Platform for Education and Enterprises
🌊 Mapping the last frontier: Cosma raises €2.5 million to build the “Google Maps” of the ocean floor (🇫🇷)
Cosma just secured €2.5 million to industrialise its underwater drone fleet on a mission to make deep-sea biodiversity as measurable as wave height. The round was co-led by WIND and Ternel, with support from 50 Partners, Caisse d’Épargne Côte d’Azur, and marine science powerhouse IFREMER, which also incubated the project.
Their underwater robots scan up to 100,000 images per hectare, generating high-resolution 3D maps of the seabed, identifying habitats, spotting endangered species, and producing a reliable digital twin of deep-sea ecosystems. Only 25% of the ocean floor has been mapped in detail and less than 1% of marine species are catalogued. 🐠
Cosma’s tech is already helping the French Navy, RWE, EGIS, and the WWF monitor biodiversity, protect seagrass beds, and guide sensitive offshore construction.
French Startup Cosma Raises €2.5M for Underwater Imaging Technology for Marine Biodiversity
📰 Tech news of the week🚦Startups say stop, Brussels says go (🇪🇺)
Despite mounting pressure from the likes of Meta, Alphabet, ASML, and Mistral AI and an open letter signed by over 45 major companies including Airbus and Siemens, the European Commission confirmed on July 4 that the AI Act is moving ahead, no delays, no grace period, no pause.
Key dates? The rules for general-purpose AI kick in August 2025, and high-risk system obligations follow in August 2026. Industry groups have raised alarms over compliance burdens and vague guidelines, but Brussels isn’t budging. While the Commission hinted it may streamline other digital rules (especially for SMEs), the AI Act’s timeline stays locked.
The message? Europe’s not just regulating AI, it’s setting the global pace. 🏃♂️
🩸Irish femtech startup just launched a world-first for real period data (🇮🇪)
Dublin-based Joii is here to change how menstrual health is understood, tracked, and diagnosed in Ireland and beyond. Their launch today marks a global first: an AI-powered system that lets users measure blood volume and clot sizes via a smart pad and app combo.
The startup, founded by Justyna Strzeszynska, is turning vague doctor conversations into quantifiable, data-rich insights. While popular femtech apps like Clue and Flo track mood swings and cycle dates, Joii is the first to go beyond the symptom diary offering actual metrics. Think pad-scanning volume analytics backed by clinical validation, real-world use, and AI.
For the 1 in 3 women who suffer from heavy menstrual bleeding, this could be game-changing. Joii’s tech doesn’t just deliver insights, it delivers agency. And it’s about damn time. ❤️🔥
Belfast Femtech Startup Joii Brings Medical-Grade Period Tracking to the Masses
📰 Product news of the weekAllow Airtable to reintroduce itself: they’re going AI-native, starting with agent Omni 👋
Qonto is going mainstream: the company has just applied for their French banking license 🇫🇷
👔 Internships & job offersInternships
Visiting Analyst - redalpine (Zürich/Berlin)
Internship Investment team - Cherry Ventures (Berlin)
Analyst VC - Ring Africa (Abidjan)
Jobs
Analyst, Marketplaces & Consumer - Speedinvest (Munich/Berlin)
Junior Investment Manager - UnternehmerTUM (Munich)
Investment Analyst - InvestNL (Amsterdam)
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The whole baby vc crew 🖤