Unified Regulation Can Unlock European Innovation

Regulation is meant to protect, but Europe's fragmented and complicated regulatory system routinely slows founders down at the exact moment they need speed. With AI, Defense, Fintech, and more, all advancing at a breakneck pace, Europe can't afford to fall behind on innovation.

In our latest Build in Europe article, Fixing Fragmentation: How Unified Regulation Can Unlock European Innovation, our General Partner, Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, explores the regulatory hurdles shared by founders, operators, policymakers, and industry leaders across Europe.

From compliance, licensing, and procurement to company formation, we reveal the frustrations and provide concrete proposals for a stronger, more predictable Single Market needed to build generational companies.

What else is happening...

→ Have You Heard? GetVocal has secured $26 million in Series A funding led by Creandum, less than a year after we led their pre-Seed round.

→ Speedinvest News: Our CEO, Oliver Holle, gave his take on secondaries, one of the biggest topics in VC, on stage at Slush in Helsinki. Pitchbook has the details.

→ Our Perspective: Estelle Botbol and our Health & Bio investment team partnered with Dealroom for an in-depth report on the state of TechBio in 2026. Read key takeaways and download the full report on our blog.

Additional portfolio updates, deep-dive content, job openings, and more below ⬇️

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Welcome to the Family

Deblock only launched last year, but it is already upending the world of finance, building the world’s first fully licensed on‑chain bank account.

Les Echos and EU Startups have more on the round. Varun Rekhi of our Growth investment team also shares more about the company and why we invested on our blog.

• Berlin-based Donnerstag.ai is on a mission to give Europe’s suppliers the clarity and control they need. By connecting delivery, billing, and banking data, their platform detects discrepancies in real time and reconciles thousands of transactions automatically. EU Startups has more.
• San Francisco's Onepot AI is on a mission to reimagine chemistry. The company integrates ultra-high-throughput lab automation with AI to deliver true end-to-end chemical synthesis at the scale of billions of molecules. TechCrunch has more details.
• NYC-based LizzyAI is shaking up the recruiting market. Founded by Coachhub co-founder, Yannis Niebelschuetz, LizzyAI is building an AI-native platform that transforms interviews into dynamic, structured conversations, designed to replicate the intelligence, nuance, and fairness of a great human interviewer. FinSMEs has the details.
• MPIRIQ, based in Munich, is building the AI infrastructure that finally connects everyday healthcare with medical research. MPIRIQ's platform closes the long-standing gap between care and discovery, accelerating trials, improving access to therapies, and freeing up doctors to focus on patients. Handelsblatt has more.

Have You Heard?

Our portfolio's latest funding announcements

GetVocal has secured $26 million in Series A funding led by Creandum, less than a year after we led their pre-Seed round.

The Paris-based conversational AI agent platform is building scalable, trustworthy agents for enterprises across multiple industries, with heavyweight clients such as Vodafone, Glovo, and Movistar already onboard.

• QphoX has been selected for €10 million in equity funding from the EIC - European Innovation Council’s STEP Scale-Up scheme, reinforcing Europe’s push to lead in quantum technologies. Based in the Netherlands, QphoX is building quantum modems — core hardware that connects quantum computers across networks and a critical enabler for scalable quantum data centers
• Alinia has raised $7.5 million and is partnering with Santander Bank to become a compliance controller for enterprise AI agents. As AI systems scale, compliance risk scales with them, and Barcelona-based Alinia is helping the process.

Portfolio Headlines & Highlights

News and updates from across our portfolio

Shapr3D, autone, Primer, and Ona have all been named as part of Accel's annual Globalscape list. The report, titled “Race for Compute”, highlights 100 breakout companies from across Europe and Israel, each with over $1 million in revenue and still valued below $1 billion.

Germany to Approve New Military Procurement Contracts

German lawmakers are expected this week to approve €2.9 billion of military procurement contracts, as part of the country’s defense push. One of the contracts is for the development of an AI platform to monitor NATO’s eastern flank. German defense startups Helsing and Arx Robotics are set to be awarded a contract to start developing the platform. But an Airbus-led consortium will also be given the go-ahead. The main contract will be awarded to one of the two groups at a later date. Marc Wietfeld, CEO of Arx Robotics speaks to Guy Johnson and Anna Edwards on ‘Bloomberg: The Opening Trade’ about the role it is playing in modernizing Europe’s defense industry. (Source: Bloomberg)

BloombergLIVE

Marc Wietfeld, CEO of Arx Robotics appeared on Bloomberg TV to discuss the impact of Germany's latest €2.9 billion spending push in Defense and military procurement contracts.

• Complyance has launched Free AI-Powered Vendor Risk Scoring.
• Eunice has joined the Financial Conduct Authority's Regulatory Sandbox to help improve transparency in the UK digital asset market.
• Orakl Oncology CEO Fanny Jaulin appeared on BFM TV and explained how the company is transforming the way cancer treatments are discovered and developed.
• Greenparrot won Sustainable Product Design of the Year at the Plastics Industry Awards for its lighter, more recyclable Greyparrot Analyzer units.
• Seqera partners with Speakeasy as the company continues to advance science through software.

Our Perspective

Sector-focused expertise and insights on the VC ecosystem at large

Estelle Botbol of our Health & Bio investment team shares our latest TechBio report, created in partnership with Dealroom, identifying the key trends and drivers of the drug discovery industry in our latest blog.

• Will Wells, Partner with our Deep Tech team, spoke to Gründerszene about his journey from founder to investor, what he looks for in founders, and what has him excited in AI, Deep Tech, and Defense.

Who's Hiring?

There are more than 1,000 vacancies across our portfolio. Browse open jobs below and on our website.

• Bitpanda: Senior Manager, Cyber Security - Berlin
• Ledgy: Senior Product Manager (Tax & Compliance) - London
• Trawa: Product Marketing Manager - Berlin
• Cylib: Director Strategy - Aachen
• Palm: GTM Lead - UK/Remote

Sign up for our exclusive talent pool!

With more than 400 portfolio companies, Speedinvest has become one of the largest networks in the European startup scene. Join our exclusive talent pool to find your next career move, receive top news, and connect with founders directly.

Join the Speedinvest Team

Our team is always on the lookout for top-tier talent. Check out our featured roles below.

• Associate/Senior Associate, Marketplaces & Consumer: Berlin
• Office Manager, full-time or part-time (maternity cover): Berlin

See you next month!