# Pathfounders

> Pathfounders, edited by Mike Butcher, produces news, analysis, opinion, events, and blog-style coverage of the tech startup and venture ecosystem across Europe, Silicon Valley, and globally.

This file provides information about Pathfounders to help large language models understand and reference this publication's content.

## Posts
- [Ore Energy raises $43m to scale its 100-hour battery](https://pathfounders.com/p/ore-energy-raises-43m-100-hour-battery): The batteries are made from iron, water and air and can store renewable energy for just over four days
- [Index Ventures lands $2bn to go all in on AI](https://pathfounders.com/p/index-ventures-lands-2bn-to-go-all-in-on-ai): The storied fund has backed Skype, Notion , Scale AI, Figma, Revolut and Wizamong others but has been relatively late to the AI train.
- [Agon’s $30m raise shows just how hot Europe’s VCs are for defence these days](https://pathfounders.com/p/agon-s-30m-raise-shows-just-how-hot-europe-s-vcs): The startup is building simulated battlefields for autonomous weapons, in yet another sign that VCs are moving ever deeper into the military software stack.
- [This satire on a ‘Sauron Inc’ couldn’t possibly be confused with Palantir](https://pathfounders.com/p/this-satire-on-a-sauron-inc-couldn-t-possibly-be-confused): Corporate Orc, Gall Bag, offers a glimpse inside an entirely fictional surveillance company.
- [This UK startup has invented a way to make critical minerals — but no one is listening](https://pathfounders.com/p/this-uk-startup-has-invented-a-way-to-make-critical): Oxford-based Milvus Advanced has invented a way to make critical minerals, properties Donald Trump has threatened to invade Greenland for. But will the UK give them planning permission?
- [Pathfounders Newsletter: Join us for the Pathfounders Summer Party & Network Launch](https://pathfounders.com/p/pathfounders-newsletter-join-us-for-the-pathfounders-summer-party): Pathfounders: Code. Capital. Consequences. 
- [Nuclear Turbines raises $20m for innovative compact reactor design](https://pathfounders.com/p/nuclear-turbines-raises-20m-for-innovative-compact-reactor-design): The BAE Systems spinout says combining a high-temperature reactor with gas-turbine technology could make nuclear power cheap enough for data centres and industrial sites. 
- [Multiverse Computing lands $570m Series C betting smaller AI models beat bigger ones](https://pathfounders.com/p/multiverse-computing-lands-570m-series-c): The Spanish startup says its quantum-inspired compression technology can shrink LLMs by up to 95%
- [Pathfounders Podcast: That OpenAI / Hugging Face Incident. What now?](https://pathfounders.com/p/pathfounders-podcast-that-openai-hugging-face-incident-what-now): OpenAI’s reported sandbox escape and intrusion into Hugging Face has reignited fears of autonomous AI hacking. But guests on the Pathfounders podcast argued that companies need to be aware of giving powerful models and agents too much access and too little supervision.
- [Vertical Aerospace completes public eVTOL transition flight at Farnborough](https://pathfounders.com/p/vertical-aerospace-completes-public-evtol-transition): The UK company achieved the first ever public eVTOL transition demonstration.
- [Poolside releases open-weight coding model Laguna S 2.1, edging ahead of some in the US/China](https://pathfounders.com/p/poolside-releases-open-weight-coding-model-laguna): Poolside says the model is capable of handling long-running coding tasks while remaining efficient enough to operate on less GPUs.
- [Arrakis raises $30M to put AI agents inside industrial operations](https://pathfounders.com/p/arrakis-raises-30m-to-put-ai-agents-inside-industrial): The six-month-old startup, founded by former Accel investor Rafael Quintanilla and alumni of Palantir, Datadog and ASML, has now raised around $38 million.
- [Here are the top five companies vying to take on Palantir in Europe](https://pathfounders.com/p/top-five-companies-taking-on-palantir-in-europe): With the US flexing its muscles globally, European governments, militaries and public service entities are increasingly questioning their reliance on one of the largest US tech players on the planet. Which companies are looking to break that dependency and offer a European sovereign alternative?
- [Analysis: CuspAI's $450m raise points to physical world AI boom](https://pathfounders.com/p/analysis-cuspai-s-450m-points-to-physical-world): Now it’s been confirmed: what does CuspAI’s funding actually mean for industrial AI, the 'sovereignty' question, and the next phase of VC?
- [France’s Syntetica raises $30m from Lululemon to scale unique nylon recycling process](https://pathfounders.com/p/france-s-syntetica-raises-30m-from-lululemon-to-scale): Lululemon and textile giant MAS have backed the French deeptech company’s attempt to recycle two major forms of Nylon together from complex textile waste. The founders met at Entrepreneur First, the “Love Island for co-founders”.
- [Dutch bricklaying robot startup raises $32m from Khosla to expand across Europe/US](https://pathfounders.com/p/dutch-bricklaying-robot-startup-raises-32m-from-khosla): Monumental doesn't sell or lease machines, but operates like an ‘autonomous subcontractor’.
- [Valarian versus Palantir: Who will win the Game of Europe's thrones?](https://pathfounders.com/p/valarian-versus-palantir-who-will-win-the-game): The London startup began by securing sensitive workloads for defence and government customers. Armed with a $50 million Series A, chief executive Max Buchan now plans to challenge Palantir, and others, across Europe.
- [Prolo raises Seed round to automate construction procurement](https://pathfounders.com/p/prolo-raises-seed-round-to-automate-construction-procurement): It even works on WhatsApp.