Pathfounders Newsletter: She's our model, and she's looking good

In this issue:
• The top 6 stories in European Tech
• Join our Pathfounders Network
• Other stories this week that were worth noting
• “LUSH”, a Pathfounders Founder/Investor curated winter-sun retreat, will now run in late January. Apply now!
• This week Pathfounders is at Istanbul Slush’d
• (Apologies that this week’s newsletter was delayed)

Coming Soon:
• Our report from World Summit AI last week in Amsterdam
• Learnings from Wave by Vento in Turin (we have the tapes…)
• A video report from IT Arena in Ukraine

Events to look out for this week:
12-10-2026 — 17-10-2026 — UK Black Tech Experience London
13-10-2026 — 14-10-2026 — SaaStock Europe Dublin
13-10-2026 — 18-10-2026 — Blue Earth Summit, London
13-10-2026 — 13-10-2026 — AI-Pulse, Paris
13-10-2026 — 15-10-2026 — Techcrunch Disrupt San Francisco
14-10-2026 — 15-10-2026 — Norrsken Impact Week, Barcelona

1. Mistral unveiled Large 4, a one-trillion-parameter model, and said it beats every open-weight rival
Mistral released its largest and 'most capable' model to date, a one-trillion-parameter multimodal system nicknamed 'le Chonk'. No, it’s not a new brand of chocolate bar. The French lab said the model can compete with the strongest open models in the world and 'significantly outperforms' any open-weight model built in the US or Europe. TechCrunch framed it as an attempt to leapfrog both American and Chinese rivals. Also this week, Germany's Aleph Alpha released Kolibri, a specialised 'sovereign' model designed specifically for public administration and industry. Kolibri-1 Kolibri-1's model card compares it to Qwen3.5, GLM-4.7 Flash and other MoE models and it is built specifically for German and English (hear that, Mistral?). 
Why it matters: The sovereign-AI issue for Europe is an important one, and this news show that the continent has labs capable of producing frontier-scale open-weight models.
Read: Tech.eu ·  TechCrunch ·  Sifted ·  Sifted (2) ·  EU-Startups

2. Universal Quantum raised $100M, the largest quantum Series A in UK history
The Sussex University spin-out, founded in 2018 and based in Brighton, raised more than $100M (about €89M) in a round co-led by DCVC and Firgun Ventures. The company building large-scale quantum computing systems for real-world use, will expand into Singapore, the US, Japan and Germany while building modular quantum computers. It says it is delivering on a $77M contract from the German Aerospace Center. Firgun has now joined three UK quantum rounds this year, each backing a different technology, and is the first UK VC firm focused on Series A/B Quantum Scale-ups. In May DCVC co-led a $160M round for silicon-chip quantum company Quantum Motion.
Why it matters: European quantum is becoming a multi-horse race, and it’s interesting to see US specialist VCs coming over to make hardware bets. Government contracts for these firms are providing early revenue. A round this size also sets a funding benchmark for every European quantum startup currently raising.
Read: EU-Startups ·  Tech.eu ·  Tech Funding News ·  Silicon Republic

3. Spiko's $90M Series B, led by NEA, puts tokenised cash funds on the map
The Paris and London company, founded by a former French Treasury official, raised $90M (€80M) in a round led by NEA, with Index Ventures, Speedinvest and White Star Capital participating. That lifts total funding to $120M after a €18.9M Series A in July 2025. Spiko says its tokenised cash funds now hold $2.7bn, up more than fivefold in 12 months, and are used by over 10,000 businesses and individuals across 25-plus jurisdictions. Their idea is to put money to work: Europe and the US hold around $50 trillion in cash and deposits that mostly earn little or nothing. The company develops its own range of regulated cash funds, from products offering sub-daily liquidity to fixed-term options. Businesses can access them through Spiko’s desktop and mobile app, while companies and financial platforms can integrate the products into their own services through an API.
Why it matters: Tokenisation is becoming a real business after all these years.
Read: Tech.eu ·  Tech Funding News ·  EU-Startups ·  Sifted

4. RobCo becomes Germany's newest robotics unicorn after valuation doubles in nine months
The Munich industrial-automation startup passed a $1B valuation (about €892M) in a transaction combining new investment and an employee secondary share sale. Sequoia, Lightspeed, Greenfield, Kindred, Lingotto and Promus Ventures took part, alongside new backers Cherry Ventures and European Tech Collective. RobCo is preparing to launch Alfie, its autonomous industrial robot, commercially.
Why it matters: It’s a new European unicorn, signalling that European physical-AI investors are now backing companies with product close to commercial launch.
Read: EU-Startups ·  Tech Funding News ·  Silicon Republic ·  Sifted

5. UK confirms it will ban non-compete clauses, a win for startups and scaleups
Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the Innovation Nation Summit in Manchester that the government will look to legislate so that non-competes no longer block hiring for the UK's most promising startup talent. Ministers see the clauses as a 'drag on innovation'. It follows lobbying by London AI-lab founders in the last weeks, who argued that employment restrictions were hampering British companies against US rivals.
Why it matters: Some claim non-competes are a hidden brake on talent mobility and on startup formation in the UK. Other says it could backfire. But a ban moves Britain closer to Bay Area culture. The detail of the legislation, including carve-outs, is still to come following a consultation with industry.
Read:  Pathfounders  ·   Tech.eu ·  Sifted 

6. European defence-tech venture funding hits a record $7.4bn, with $10.5bn projected for the year
A Dealroom and Resilience Media report found VC investment in European defence tech has already reached $7.4bn in 2026, nearly three times last year's $2.6bn, and projects $10.5bn by year-end. Seven rounds of $1bn or more (named as Anduril, Helsing, Saronic, Shield AI, Quantum Systems, ICEYE and Castelion) account for more than 85% of the total. Defence's share of all European venture capital has nearly tripled. But note that several named companies are US-based, so the report's scope looked wider than European-headquartered startups.
Why it matters: European defence tech is on a roll, but the venture money tends to be concentrated in a handful of giant rounds, and winning defence procurement contracts is still a uphill struggle for startups.
Read: Tech.eu ·  AIN.Capital ·  Resilience Media ·  Sifted

NUMBER 7 BONUS:
Leonardo DiCaprio invests in Sweden's Elvy
The Stockholm Energy-as-a-Service company announced an undisclosed investment from the actor and a customer referral platform. Elvy installs smart, integrated energy systems and software, and makes it accessible through the world’s first energy subscription. It is not DiCaprio's first European EnergyTech bet, having backed the German residential solar provider Enpal in 2023.
Read: EU-Startups ·  Sifted

A few months after launching Pathfounders, we’re adding something new.
We will soon launch Pathfounders Network: a curated professional network connecting tech founders, investors and key players across European technology. The benefits will include direct access to key industry players and getting all Pathfounders editorial output first. Plus, we have more announcements coming…

Applications to join are open NOW at Pathfounders.com/network

You can read the longer story here.

Endeavor Catalyst closes a $320M Fund V as Europe becomes its fastest-growing market
This fund is usually aimed at emerging markets, and invests exclusively in companies led by Endeavor Entrepreneurs, and co-invests alongside leading venture and growth firms. A year or so ago it launched a London office but operates Southern and MENA markets from there.  
Read: Tech.eu

SAP buys TechWolf in the largest Belgian VC-backed software deal ever
The German group is acquiring the skills-intelligence startup, founded in 2018, for an undisclosed sum and says it will become a key part of its autonomous AI agents offering. TechWolf raised approximately $54.36 million in venture funding. Investors: Felix Capital, 20VC, Notion Capital, Fortino Capital, Stride.VC, SAP, ServiceNow Ventures and Workday Ventures, among others.
Read: Tech.eu ·  Sifted

Noah closes a $38M seed for stablecoin infrastructure
The UK company, founded in 2020, added $16M to a seed round on top of the $22M it raised last year. LocalGlobe and Felix Capital are investors, along with angels Joe Lonsdale and David Helgason. Its API-based tech infrastructure means that companies can embed stablecoin payment capabilities into their operations. 
Read: Tech.eu

Hadrian raises $40M for an AI hacker policed by a second AI
The London and Amsterdam company runs more than 100 million attack simulations a day. Forgepoint Capital International and Smartfin co-led, with HV Capital, Motive Partners, Picus Capital and Oetker Ventures following on, taking total funding to $65M.
Read: Tech.eu ·  EU-Startups ·  Tech Funding News ·  Sifted

Procuros raises a €20M Series A to be the data layer for autonomous B2B trade
XAnge led the Hamburg company's round with W23 Global joining Point Nine, Creandum and b2venture. More than 300 companies and over €3bn of annualised order volume run through its network.
Read: Tech Funding News ·  EU-Startups ·  Tech.eu

Siena AI raises $17M Series A as an 'agent of record' for consumer brands
York IE led the round for the customer-experience startup, which was co-founded by Romanian entrepreneurs Andrei Negrău and Lisa Popovici.
Read: The Recursive

Pandektes raises €13.5M to build Europe's legal data layer
Alstin Capital led the Copenhagen company's Series A. It aims to take on Karnov, LexisNexis and Westlaw and to license its data to legal AI developers.
Read: EU-Startups ·  Tech Funding News

Vocca raises $20M Series A to answer medical practices' phones with AI
Norrsken VC led the round. The company serves 15,000 practitioners, up from 2,000 at its September 2025 seed, and says its agents resolve 70% of conversations without a human, with top customers above 85%.
Read: Tech Funding News ·  Sifted

Norway moves first on AI glasses
The government proposes a temporary ban on smart glasses in parks, beaches, schools and kindergartens, which the FT calls a test case for wider restrictions. Australia's privacy regulator has opened an investigation into the China-based maker of the app behind Kmart's smart glasses.
Read: FT ·  FT (2) ·  Guardian ·  Guardian (2)

Brussels and the UK regulate platforms
The European Commission is weighing a broad levy on all large companies so as not to single out US tech firms. The EU dropped its sponsorship of a disinformation conference after pressure from Trump officials. Ofcom is investigating whether Meta properly assessed the risks of Instagram Instants. Labour MP Chi Onwurah attacked Apple and Google's 'app tax', and Google faces a £1.2bn UK class action over Play Store charges. The White House also barred Microsoft from sponsoring foreign workers for US residency.
Read: FT ·  Guardian ·  Guardian (2) ·  BBC ·  Guardian (3) ·  FT (2) ·  FT (3) ·  BBC (2)

Finland orders Google to stop work on two data centres
Authorities say Google failed to carry out environmental impact assessments, and the BBC links the order to forest clearance.
Read: Guardian ·  BBC

Drax and Scotland: the pushback against Datacentres spreads
Last year, the energy company Drax unveiled plans to convert part of its biomass power plant in North Yorkshire into a datacentre. It would burn wood for power. This has been touted as a clean way of producing energy that could even result in “negative emissions”, as replacement forests take up CO2 from the air when they are grown. However, scientists and environmental experts strongly contest this accounting approach, with researchers finding such systems could take 150 years to be “carbon negative”.  Analysis suggests Drax's planned North Yorkshire data centre would produce nearly twice the annual emissions of all Gatwick flights by burning 4.9m tonnes of wood a year.  Meanwhile, campaigners want a public consultation before any hyperscale data centre is approved in Scotland. 
Read: Guardian ·  Sky News 

Namespace raises $42M Series B only seven months after its Series A
The Zurich-founded developer-infrastructure startup, which offers fast coding, build and test environments across Mac, Windows and Linux, has now raised $65M in total. Scale Venture Partners led, with 20VC, NEA and Essence participating. While hyperscalers like AWS and GCP optimise for production workloads, Namespace says they optimises for coding, build, and test environments. It designs and deploys its own server racks worldwide, then builds their suite of products on that engineering foundation.
Read: EU-Startups ·  Tech.eu 

PSV Tech closes a €56M Fund II to back Nordic startups before product-market fit
The DTU-born firm added Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker and Nordea-fonden alongside ATP, EIFO and IDA, and has made 19 investments from the new fund after 47 from its first. Tech.eu's second report puts the figure at €55M.
Read: EU-Startups ·  ArcticStartup ·  Tech.eu ·  Tech.eu (2)

Graduate Ventures launches a €125M seed fund for Dutch university spin-outs
€100M is already committed, 56% above the €80M target set in May, with ex-ASML CEO Peter Wennink and ex-Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman among its supporters.
Read: Tech.eu ·  Tech Funding News

NVM Ventures and Fuel Ventures
NVM Ventures launched with a €23.6M first close, targeting €35M, for 10–15 dual-use pre-seed and seed companies in Italy. The British Business Bank put £10M into Fuel Ventures' funds through its Regional Angels Programme.
Read: Tech.eu ·  EU-Startups ·  EU-Startups (2)

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