Supercomputer chips, copper-powered cancer care, a light-powered AI chip, and much more...
What's Up Tech? #232
Welcome to our 232nd newsletter, written with 🖤 by Annika Bautista, Sarah Luna Mongin, and Aris Sevastianos.
🔍 Topics we'll cover this weekGeneral news from the week: this £500M fund aims to diversify VC, and Europe’s chip game takes on Nvidia 🏁
Fundraising news from the week: cancer-fighting copper, customer service agents, and €160M to modernise old-school industries 💸
Up-and-coming ventures to watch: drivetrain-free EVs, heart health breakthroughs, and a chip that runs on light ⚡
🆕 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🤳 Nzyme bags €160 million fund to uplift traditional Spanish businesses (🇪🇸)
Nzyme, a private equity fund backed by Kibo Ventures, has closed a €160 million fund to back Spanish B2B companies in fragmented sectors.
The fund targets service and software firms with strong growth potential, aiming to build 8–10 platforms through €15–20 million investments.
Nzyme’s strategy blends sector consolidation with tools like AI, big data, and edge computing to modernise outdated industries. Its first deals include a major move in healthcare distribution via Kuma Group. 🏥
Spanish Private Equity Fund Nzyme Raises €160M to Digitalise and Consolidate SMEs
💻 SiPearl raises €130 million to power Europe’s next-gen supercomputers (🇫🇷)
Step aside, Nvidia. There’s a new challenger in town.
SiPearl has secured €130 million to scale Rhea1, its energy-efficient processor designed specifically for Europe's high-performance computing needs. 🇪🇺
The chip features 80 Arm Neoverse V1 cores and over 61 billion transistors, optimised for research, security, and industrial applications within the EuroHPC framework.
Unlike GPU-heavy rivals, SiPearl’s edge lies in reducing energy use without compromising computing power, unlocking the key for Europe's sustainability-focused data centers.
SiPearl Scoops €130M: Can Europe’s Chip Champion Challenge Nvidia?
🩺 Nuclidium raises €84 million in Series B funding to bring copper-based diagnostics and therapies to oncology (🇨🇭🇩🇪)
Nuclidium has closed an €84 million Series B round to advance its copper-powered theranostic platform for diagnosing and treating cancers like prostate, breast, and neuroendocrine tumors. The round was led by Kurma Partners, Angelini Ventures, Wellington Partners, and Neva SGR (Intesa Sanpaolo Group).
The platform uses Copper-61 for diagnostics and Copper-67 for therapy, showing early data with superior lesion detection and high tumor-to-background ratios.
Unlike conventional radiopharmaceuticals, Nuclidium’s approach offers better efficacy, simpler hospital workflows, and a more scalable production model. The company says its lead compounds, NuriPro™ and TraceNET™, show promising results in early clinical studies. 👏
Swiss BioTech Platform NUCLIDIUM Raises €84M for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer
🤖 Gradient Labs lands €11 million in Series A funding to build AI agents for complex customer service (🇬🇧)
Gradient Labs has raised over €11 million in Series A funding to scale Otto, its procedural AI agent for regulated industries like banking and insurance. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures.
Otto learns company-specific processes to handle nuanced customer inquiries with a 98% QA pass rate, cutting support costs by 75%. 🦾
Founded by Monzo alumni, the startup aims to transform high-cost, high-stakes customer service into a scalable, reliable AI-powered operation.
London-based Gradient Labs Raises Over €11M for Its AI Customer Service Agent
🔥 Up-and-coming startups to watch💡 Arago raises $26 million to zap AI’s energy bill with a light-powered chip (🇫🇷)
Founded less than a year ago, French deeptech startup Arago already snagged $26 million in seed funding to bring its light-powered chip, “JEF,” to market. The round was co-led by Earlybird, Protagonist, and Visionaries Tomorrow.
JEF ditches electrons for photons, delivering GPU-level performance while using 10× less energy (woohoo!). The chip plays nice with today’s AI tools, stacks, and manufacturing, so companies don’t need to reinvent the wheel to plug it in.🔌The funds will go toward scaling R&D, growing the team, and fast-tracking commercial rollouts.
Arago Raises $26M to Slash AI Energy Consumption with Breakthrough Photonic Chip
🛞 Donut Lab raises €25 million to reinvent EVs without drivetrains (🇫🇮)
Donut Lab, a Helsinki-based e-mobility startup, just raised €25 million in seed funding to push its modular, drivetrain-free EV platform. The round was led by a group of high-profile investors and comes as the company locks in over 10 OEM contracts across automotive, aerospace, marine, and defense.
Their crown jewel? The Donut Motor, the world’s first in-wheel motor that ditches the bulky drivetrain in favor of torque-packed, lightweight flexibility. With this cash, they’re scaling up R&D in the UK, rolling out new product features, and adding big names from McLaren, BMW, and Nokia to the squad.🔧
€25M Seed Round Fuels Donut Lab’s Vision for Plug-and-Play Mobility Tech
🔥 Tulum Energy raises €22.9 million to bring low-carbon hydrogen to heavy industry (🇮🇹)
Tulum Energy, a Milan-based hydrogen startup spun out of Techint Group, just locked in €22.9 million in seed funding to build its first pilot plant. The round was co-led by TDK Ventures and CDP Venture Capital.
Tulum’s tech repurposes electric arc furnace systems (think industrial-strength plasma reactors) to crack methane and produce hydrogen without the emissions drama. The new funds will go toward building a pilot plant in Mexico that aims to match the cost of dirty hydrogen, minus up to 95% of the emissions and without relying on subsidies. 🏭
🫀 EvlaBio raises one of Germany’s largest seed rounds to tackle heart failure in chronic kidney disease patients (🇩🇪)
EvlaBio just raised a record-breaking seed round in Germany (exact amount undisclosed) to push forward its first-in-class monoclonal antibody that blocks a key disease-driving signal in patients with chronic kidney disease (“CKD”). The round was led by a deep-pocketed crew including Kurma Partners, AdBio Partners, and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.
Their antibody shuts down the FGF23/FGFR4 signaling pathway, a biochemical troublemaker that messes with heart muscle cells and causes Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, a major risk factor for heart failure in CKD patients. With this fresh capital, EvlaBio will wrap up preclinical testing and race toward human trials. 🧪
📰 Tech news of the week💷 British Business Bank launches £500 million fund to back diverse VC managers (🇬🇧)
The British Business Bank just dropped a £500 million funding bomb to shake up the UK’s VC scene. That includes a shiny new £400 million “Investor Pathways Capital” initiative to back diverse and emerging fund managers, plus £100 million now earmarked for female-led funds. 💁♀️
The idea is to dismantle the “old boys’ club” by backing microfunds, solo GPs, and new entrants, especially women and underrepresented talent. With only 2 pence of every £1 in UK VC going to female founders, this push strives to unlock untapped commercial firepower!
British Business Bank Backs Diverse and Emerging Fund Managers with £500M Package
📰 Product news of the weekKeir Starmer signed up for a Monzo account? 😬 the neobank got hit with £21 million fine after onboarding sus customers listing Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street as their official address
AI agents are getting a distribution boost: AWS is launching a new marketplace dedicated to this tech
👔 Internships & job offersInternships
Visiting Analyst - Super Capital (Paris)
AI VC Analyst - Emerald Technology Ventures (Zurich)
Visiting Analyst - Gateway Ventures (Vienna)
Jobs
Analyst - Partech Seed (Berlin)
Operations Associate - Systemiq Capital (London)
Investment Analyst - Climate Founders (Berlin/Munich/Cologne)
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 🖤