Kandou AI bags $225M Series A, Kobalt is sold for €1.3B, and meet Europe's Microsoft alternative
https://tech.eu/2026/03/27/kandou-ai-bags-225m-series-a/
Kandou AI bags $225M Series A, Kobalt is sold for €1.3B, and meet Europe's Microsoft alternative
This week, we tracked more than 55 tech funding deals worth over €850 million and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.Alongside the week’s top funding rounds, we’ve highlighted key industry developments, as well as notable trends in European venture activity, investor moves and emerging sectors shaping the current funding landscape.
If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this…
Europe builds Microsoft-compatible ‘Euro-Office’ to reclaim digital sovereignty
Today, a coalition of European enterprises and community organisations has launched Euro-Office, a solution for editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, developed as a true sovereign community collaboration of over a dozen different organisations. A tech preview is available immediately. The effort, backed by major European tech firms including IONOS, Nextcloud, Eurostack, XWiki, OpenProject, Soverin, Abilian and BTactic is planning a first stable release by summer. Need for a sovereign…
Aleph Alpha’s former CEO lures Apple engineer from US to join European startup
The co-founder and former CEO of high-profile German AI startup Aleph Alpha has today revealed fresh details about his new AI startup, which launched last month and is backed by a multi-million-dollar investment from the German consultancy Roland Berger.The new startup founded by Jonas Andrulis, who left Aleph Alpha last year after six years leading it, is developing what it calls “collaborative AI systems", which are designed to address the challenge in industrial AI applications of a lack of…
Qumulo launches Cork hub to build the backbone of AI-scale data
Today data storage and cloud infrastructure company Qumulo announced the official launch of its European Software R&D hub in Cork. Through this strategic expansion, Qumulo will create 50 highly skilled R&D positions in the coming three years to solve the major challenges for data management at enormous scale and scope for global business. Information, derived from data, is now the core asset driving the modern global economy. The success of autonomous AI systems integrated into business operations…
AI-powered legal workflow automation is quietly changing the face of Europe’s tech industry
AI is everywhere right now; startups are playing with generative models, governments are debating new rules and the whole industry feels like it’s in a state of constant motion. But not all innovation is loud or flashy. Behind closed doors, companies across the continent are pouring resources into tools that make everyday work less painful. Legal teams might not be the first place people look for tech upgrades, but they’re right in the thick of it. These teams have always been the compliance…
Hiro Capital boss on LeCun, Clegg, and AI investing
The boss of the VC firm that hit the headlines when it snapped up Yann LeCun and Nick Clegg says it invested around €50m in a co-leading investment in LeCun’s much-hyped world model startup AMI Labs, as part of the startup’s $1bn plus raise announced earlier this year.Hiro Capital's investment- co-led with Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, HV Capital and Jeff Bezos’ Bezos Expeditions-marks the first deployment out of Hiro Capital’s Hiro lll fund, a €500m-plus fund investing in spatial AI,…
tozero opens Europe’s first industrial-scale battery recycling plant to power Europe’s material independence
Europe is racing to secure the critical raw materials needed for its energy transition, yet remains heavily dependent on imports — particularly from China.
At the same time, a growing volume of end-of-life batteries is creating a domestic source of lithium, graphite, and other materials that has, until now, been difficult to recover at scale. Battery recycling startup tozero has launched its first industrial demonstration plant in Germany, marking a step toward turning end-of-life batteries into…
DSV and Renaissance Philanthropy set out to rewire crop resilience innovation
Deep Science Ventures (DSV), a UK-based deeptech venture creator, and Renaissance Philanthropy, a nonprofit fueling a 21st-century renaissance by increasing the ambition of philanthropists, scientists, and innovators, today announce a venture-creation project designed for systemic intervention in crop resilience. The project is part of DSV and Renaissance Philanthropy’s existing partnership to form the Climate Emergencies Resilience Lab (CERL). Moving beyond traditional genetic modification, the…
Bioniq cashes in on personalised health boom with $150M Herbalife acquisition
Bioniq, creator of personalised supplements based on blood biomarker analysis, has entered into an agreement for the sale of its assets to global nutrition company Herbalife. Founded in 2019, Bioniq develops personalised supplement formulas using its patented product personalisation engine, an individual’s health background, and a proprietary database of biomarkers. Bioniq’s personalised supplement formulations are designed for a broad range of individuals, from everyday wellness consumers to…
Allday Goods raises £765K to scale its cult, recycled-plastic knife brand
We don’t get many press pitches about consumer brands these days, so when I heard about a kitchen knife company that had raised VC funding, my interest was piqued. Allday Goods is an East London-based kitchenware brand crafting colourful, chef-quality knives. Ex-chef Hugo Worsley started making knives using recycled plastic and a toastie maker in his parents’ shed. Allday Goods transforms plastic destined for landfill into knife handles, collecting, cleaning, shredding, and remoulding it into…
