Europe's AI Moment
Europe's AI ecosystem is maturing fast, and this month, that's never been clearer.
Mistral's acquisition of our portfolio company Emmi AI is a landmark moment: a European AI champion acquiring a European deep tech startup to build out the continent's most ambitious industrial AI stack. It's the kind of outcome that validates the thesis we've held for years, that the best technical founders, building in the hardest domains, create durable and defensible companies.
That's not all. May was a strong month across the portfolio, from Tide crossing 2 million members globally, to new funding rounds, new markets, and new milestones for companies across fintech, climate, and AI.
Company updates, deep-dive content, portfolio job openings, and much more below ⬇️
TL;DR...
→ Have You Heard? Primer raises a $100M Series C, Fifth Dimension closes a $26M Series A, and 9am Health banks $26M in Series B funding.
→ Speedinvest News: We're proud to be ranked #6 in EMEA (Seed to $100M+ Revenue), #16 in EMEA overall, #32 globally (Seed to $100M+ Revenue), and in the top 1% globally cross-stage in Dealroom’s Power Law Investor Ranking. See the full report here.
→ Our Perspective: Unlocking pension allocation in Europe could supercharge growth in key sectors like AI. Our GP, Andreas Schwarzennbrunner, breaks down how on the Follow The Gradient podcast.
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Have you heard?
Before news of Mistral's acquisition of Emmi AI was announced last week, our GP Andreas Schwarzenbrunner sat down with co-founders Dennis Just, Johannes Brandstetter, and Miks Mikelsons for an in-depth conversation about the journey behind one of Europe's most important AI acquisitions to date.
From how an Airbnb stay in the US led to the company's founding, to why joining Mistral was the logical next step to scale, to what it means for the future of industrial AI in Europe.
It's a conversation worth watching.
Primer raises a €86.2M ($100M) Series C, led by Sofina with participation from Peak XV Partners and continued backing from Balderton, Accel, ICONIQ, Tencent, and Speedinvest. The London-based payments infrastructure company will use the capital to accelerate AI development and drive US expansion, targeting over a third of total revenue from the US by 2028. Read more in Sifted and EU Startups.
Fifth Dimension closes a €22M ($26M) Series A led by HV Capital, with participation from Prudence, Mercia, MMC, AFG Partners, and continued support from Speedinvest, Seedcamp, and Anthemis. The London-based startup's agentic AI platform unifies fragmented data for institutional real-assets investors, with firms including BXP, Realty Income, and Madison International Realty already on the platform. Read more in EU Startups.
9am Health raises a $26M Series B, led by Define Ventures, to scale its virtual specialty care platform for chronic disease management. We first backed founders Frank, Anton, Paul, and Bernhard in 2021, and five years on, the company has built a compelling cardiometabolic care model combining clinicians, medication management, diagnostics, and continuous support. The new capital will support expansion into additional chronic conditions and deeper penetration across US employers and healthcare partners. Axios has more.
Portfolio Headlines & Highlights
News and updates from across our portfolio
- BLIQ is the first company in Europe to gain approval for Fully Driverless Public Road Operation Without a Driver Behind the Wheel, beating Tesla and Waymo.
- Gigs takes its embedded connectivity platform to Asia-Pacific, announcing a landmark partnership with ShopBack, the region's leading rewards platform, to launch a native travel eSIM embedded directly within the ShopBack app, live across Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany.
- Tide hits a landmark 2 million members worldwide, with India its fastest-growing market, and over 1.1 million small businesses have joined since its December 2022 launch there. In the UK, Tide holds 15% market share and has helped small businesses access over £1.75bn in credit.
- ABHI, our Pakistani fintech portfolio company, has partnered with Saudi Arabia's cloud-based POS platform TRAY to launch Earned Wage Access services in the Kingdom, bringing financial flexibility to workers in the hospitality sector and advancing Vision 2030 financial inclusion goals.
Our Perspective
Sector-focused expertise and insights on the VC ecosystem at large
Our General Partner Andreas Schwarzenbrunner spoke to Follow The Gradient to discuss a major issue for European tech: pensions. Andy shares how unlocking pension allocation could supercharge growth in key sectors like AI.
- Our Partner Florian Obst is featured in Gründerszene's roundup of the 13 most important deep tech startups in Germany for 2026, selected by Germany's top VCs, as well as their spotlight on 5 German energy startups to watch.
Who's Hiring?
There are more than 1,000 vacancies across our portfolio. Browse open jobs below and on our website.
- GetVocal: Senior Account Executive - DACH - Germany
- ARX Robotics: Staff RAMS Engineer - Munich
- Vocca: Founding Brand & Product Marketing - Paris
- mimic: Robotics Software Engineer - Zürich
- Bitpanda: NetSuite Consultant - Remote
- Gigs: Strategic Partner Manager, US - San Francisco
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See you next month!
