Fintech Spotlight

Category: Deeptech

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  • DataCrunch raises €55M to scale AI-focused cloud infrastructure in Europe

    DataCrunch raises €55M to scale AI-focused cloud infrastructure in Europe

    The Helsinki startup plans to expand its GPU-powered data centres and pitch itself as a European alternative to U.S. cloud giants.

    Helsinki-based startup DataCrunch has raised €55 million in a mix of equity and debt to expand its AI-focused cloud infrastructure. The funding comes less than a year after its €12 million seed round in October 2023.

    The equity financing was led by byFounders, with participation from Skaala, the family office of Wise cofounder Taavet Hinrikus, Finnish pension fund provider Varma, and sovereign wealth fund Tesi. Debt financing was provided by Nordea, Armada Credit Partners, Danske Bank, Norion Bank, and Lahitapiola (Local Tapiola).

    Founded in 2020 by Ruben Bryon, DataCrunch offers GPU-based cloud services optimized for AI training and inference. The company operates four data centres in Finland and Iceland, with customers including Sony and Freepik. Its main Helsinki facility also recycles waste heat to warm parts of the city.

    Bryon said the company was created to serve early-stage startups priced out of hyperscaler platforms like AWS and Google Cloud. “For me, someone who was hacking away in the basement, I couldn’t find a service that aligned with what I wanted to achieve, the pricing was just completely out of whack” he said.

    Startups often struggle with quota restrictions from larger providers, Bryon added. “If you’re facing annoyances like quotas with the hyperscalers, that is often something that we can help our customers with to be much faster in making sure that the customer is not running out of compute on our platform.”

    The company pitches itself as a European hyperscaler alternative, particularly for security-sensitive clients unable to work with U.S. providers. “We have a growing number of customers which are much more security sensitive and which, by default, cannot really work with the US providers” Bryon noted.

    With the new capital, DataCrunch plans to expand its infrastructure footprint and deploy Nvidia’s latest B300 and GB30 GPU systems.

  • Stripe and Paradigm launch Tempo, a stablecoin-focused Layer 1 blockchain for payments

    Stripe and Paradigm launch Tempo, a stablecoin-focused Layer 1 blockchain for payments

    The $91.5B fintech and the crypto venture firm are building a new blockchain to power stablecoin payments, remittances, and AI-driven transactions.

    Stripe and Paradigm have teamed up to launch Tempo, a Layer 1 blockchain designed specifically for stablecoin payments. The project, long rumored in Silicon Valley, was announced Thursday and marks Stripe’s most direct foray into crypto infrastructure.

    Bonded by Paradigm’s co-founder and managing partner Matt Huang, who also sits on Stripe’s board, the venture already has 15 employees and has secured partnerships with Anthropic, OpenAI, Deutsche Bank, Shopify, and Revolut. Additional partners include Visa, Nubank, Coupang, DoorDash, Mercury, Standard Chartered, and Lead Bank.

    Stripe, valued at $91.5 billion, brings a massive payments customer base to the project. In 2024, it processed over $1 trillion in transactions, positioning Tempo to gain traction with enterprises that until now have hesitated to engage with crypto. “We think of Tempo as the payments-oriented L1, optimized for high-scale, real-world financial services applications” Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison wrote on X.

    Unlike most blockchains that issue native tokens, Tempo will not launch with its own cryptocurrency. Instead, it will rely on stablecoins such as USDC and Tether as “gas” for transaction fees, aligning with its payments-first focus.

    Paradigm said Tempo will target use cases including global payouts, remittances, microtransactions, tokenized deposits, and agentic payments—transactions executed by AI agents. Crypto advocates argue these are areas where blockchain technology can prove essential.

    Stripe incubated the project, but both firms emphasized that Tempo is designed to remain independent and “neutral.” Still, with Stripe and Paradigm as its first investors and customers including half the Fortune 500, Tempo is set to test whether a purpose-built payments blockchain can succeed where earlier networks have struggled.

  • Baseten raises $150M Series D at $2.15B valuation to scale AI inference platform

    Baseten raises $150M Series D at $2.15B valuation to scale AI inference platform

    The company reports 10x revenue growth in 12 months as it expands its infrastructure powering AI applications.

    Baseten, a San Francisco–based AI inference platform, has raised $150 million in Series D funding led by Bond, valuing the company at $2.15 billion. The raise comes just six months after Baseten’s $75 million Series C, nearly tripling its valuation.

    The company provides infrastructure that enables trained AI models to generate predictions and decisions—a process known as inference. Its platform helps enterprises deploy, manage, and scale applications powered by large language models, video generation models, and voice-to-text systems.

    CEO and co-founder Tuhin Srivastava said Baseten is “laying the train tracks so the models can run” supporting customers such as Abridge, OpenEvidence, Clay, Patreon, and Writer. He added that revenue grew more than 10x over the last year.

    New investors CapitalG, Premji, and Scribble joined the round, alongside existing backers Conviction, 01a, IVP, Spark, and Greylock. “Inference will be one of the biggest markets in AI” said Sarah Guo, Conviction founder. “Baseten has the leading product and the happiest customers in the category.”

    Jay Simons, general partner at Bond, described the company’s biggest challenge and opportunity as rapid growth. “Baseten carries an incredible amount of responsibility for its customers. It’s a critical service that needs to be absolutely bullet-proof” he said.

    Founded by Srivastava with Amir Haghighat, Philip Howes, and Pankaj Gupta, Baseten sees inference as the foundation of the AI economy. “We think AI applications are the last great market” Srivastava said. “If the market as a whole wins, we win.”

  • TracXon raises €4.75M seed to scale sustainable alternative to printed circuit boards

    TracXon raises €4.75M seed to scale sustainable alternative to printed circuit boards

    The Dutch startup is developing hybrid printed electronics with 5x lower carbon footprint and 12x less material use.

    Eindhoven-based TracXon has raised €4.75 million in seed funding to advance its sustainable alternative to printed circuit boards (PCBs). The round was led by DeepTechXL with participation from Invest-NL and Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), alongside continued support from TNO Ventures, and the Smart Industries Fund. Brabant Startup Fonds BV and Rabobank also contributed.

    Founded in 2022, TracXon has transitioned from lab research to industrial production of High-Performance Electronics (HPE). Its hybrid printed electronics technology reduces carbon emissions by five times and cuts material use by a factor of twelve compared to traditional PCBs, one of the electronics industry’s most polluting components.

    The company is using the new funding to expand operations and develop patented equipment, including a roll-to-roll VIA Printer expected by 2027. This machine will enable vertical interconnections between circuit layers on both sides of a substrate roll, paving the way for multi-layer and double-sided printed electronics at scale.

    “TracXon is bringing about a fundamental change in electronics manufacturing. From traditional and polluting to efficient and sustainable” said co-founder and CEO Ashok Sridhar. “This investment brings us closer to replacing at least 10% of PCBs with our HPE technology by 2033—about €15 billion worth of circuits annually”

    Hans Boumans, director of TNO Ventures, added: “TracXon is a good example of how TNO innovations can grow into impactful companies. The company contributes directly to a more sustainable future by fundamentally changing how electronics are produced.”

    TracXon’s roll-to-roll production process supports a circular economy and has already attracted more than 20 customers across 10 countries. Its products range from IoT devices and industrial electronics to LED films for displays and lighting.

    The company’s ambition is to make hybrid printed electronics a core part of the industry, contributing to a more sustainable digital economy.

  • Zympler raises €1.5M seed to optimise corporate energy use and tackle grid congestion

    Zympler raises €1.5M seed to optimise corporate energy use and tackle grid congestion

    The Utrecht startup, formerly Simpl.energy, links batteries, solar panels, and charging stations to cut costs and manage power shortages.

    Utrecht-based Zympler, formerly known as Simpl.energy, has raised €1.5 million in seed funding to expand its smart energy management platform. The round was led by Arches Capital, with co-investment from ROM Utrecht Region via its Startup Innovation Fund, supported by the Province of Utrecht and the European Regional Development Fund.

    Founded in 2023 by Jorrit Salverda, Tom Selten, and Reinout de Jongh, Zympler provides a software platform that links separate energy systems—including batteries, solar panels, and charging stations—and enables them to be controlled together. This allows companies to manage energy use more efficiently, reduce costs, and alleviate pressure on the grid.

    The platform is already active at more than 20 sites, including R. Nagel Transport and the TU/e campus, serving clients in the transport, logistics, energy, real estate, and installation sectors.

    “The Zympler team is demonstrating true execution power and is technologically ahead of the market” said Lotte Smit van Ditshuizen, partner at Arches Capital. “Their behind-the-meter optimisation makes electrification possible for businesses struggling with grid congestion—a crucial piece of the puzzle in the energy transition.”

    Arjan van den Born, director of ROM Utrecht Region, added: “Zympler combines technological innovation with direct social impact. Their predictive energy management system makes the electrification of processes, transportation, and real estate feasible and profitable.”

    Co-founder Tom Selten described Zympler as “a digital Chief Energy Officer for your company.” He noted that while grid congestion is unlikely to be solved in the next decade, Zympler helps businesses regain control of energy use while advancing the energy transition.

    The new funding will support product development and expansion with energy suppliers and installers.

  • Alpic raises $6M pre-seed to launch MCP-native cloud platform for AI agents

    Alpic raises $6M pre-seed to launch MCP-native cloud platform for AI agents

    The Streamroot founders’ new venture aims to provide the infrastructure for AI agents to act directly on digital services.

    Paris-based Alpic has raised $6 million in pre-seed funding to build what it calls the first Model Context Protocol (MCP)-native cloud platform, designed specifically for AI agents. The round was led by Partech, with participation from K5 Global, Irregular Expression, Yellow, Drysdale, Kima Ventures, and Galion.exe, alongside angel investors from companies including Mistral, Datadog, and Dataiku.

    AI models have become adept at generating text and ideas, but enabling them to act—such as booking travel or updating records—has been hampered by workarounds like scraping websites or custom plugins. MCP, a protocol now adopted by major AI players, offers a secure and structured way for agents to connect to external services.

    “Agents need infrastructure built from the ground up, not retrofitted” said co-founder and CEO Pierre-Louis Theron. “The real potential of agents lies in their ability to interact with the digital world around them.”

    Alpic provides a developer platform for deploying and managing MCP servers in minutes, with built-in security, analytics, and tooling. The company says this reduces operational complexity and speeds up production for agent-accessible services.

    The founding team previously built Streamroot, a video delivery startup that helped media companies adapt to streaming. With Alpic, they see parallels between the rise of streaming and the coming shift to agent-first computing.

    “Agent-first protocols like MCP could be as foundational to AI as HTTP was two decades ago to the internet” said Boris Golden, general partner at Partech. “Alpic has the deep infrastructure experience and timing to shape how they will be adopted.”

    After deploying dozens of MCP servers with early customers this summer, Alpic has opened its platform to public beta. The funding will support further product development and scaling as the company positions itself as infrastructure for agent-first computing.

  • TrustNXT raises €1.6M pre-seed to protect images and videos from AI manipulation

    TrustNXT raises €1.6M pre-seed to protect images and videos from AI manipulation

    The Basler spin-off will expand its deep tech platform for securing visual data in industries from insurance to public safety.

    Hamburg-based TrustNXT, a computer vision and cybersecurity startup spun out of Basler AG, has raised €1.6 million in pre-seed financing. The round was backed by D11Z.Ventures and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).

    The company is developing a deep tech software platform that combines cryptography, computer vision, and patented trust technology to guarantee the authenticity of image and video data. Its solution ensures data integrity in security-critical B2B processes, a growing concern as AI tools make it increasingly easy to generate convincing forgeries.

    “In a world where AI can generate deceptively real images in seconds, trust and data integrity are crucial” said co-founder and managing director Ariane Scheer-Danielsson. “Our mission is to secure this integrity for companies.”

    TrustNXT’s first industry focus is insurance, where its software helps detect manipulated photos of damages. The startup says its technology can automate claims and underwriting processes without human review—cutting costs and reducing fraud.

    “We are excited about the cryptography technology used by TrustNXT” said Patrick Krönlein, principal at D11Z.Ventures. “It generates a technically unique fingerprint of the sensor data at the point of origin. This prevents manipulation and proves the origin of digital content beyond doubt.”

    Tizian Hoppen, senior investment manager at HTGF, added: “Trust is the foundation of a functioning economy. Today, important decisions are based on digital media such as photos and videos. TrustNXT has impressed us with its digital trust technology, which is based on years of deep tech research.”

    The company plans to extend its platform to real-time protection for industrial video data, with pilot projects slated for 2026. Founded in 2024, TrustNXT combines expertise in image processing and cybersecurity to secure digital business processes and create trust in complex environments.

  • Anthropic raises $13B at $183B valuation as Claude fuels rapid growth

    Anthropic raises $13B at $183B valuation as Claude fuels rapid growth

    Iconiq, Fidelity, and Lightspeed lead the round as Anthropic’s run-rate revenue hits $5B.

    Anthropic has raised $13 billion in new funding at a $183 billion valuation, nearly tripling its worth since March. The round was led by Iconiq, Fidelity Management & Research, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Altimeter, General Catalyst, and Coatue.

    The AI startup, founded by former OpenAI researchers including CEO Dario Amodei, has seen its valuation surge since launching its Claude AI assistant in March 2023. Run-rate revenue has risen from roughly $1 billion at the start of this year to more than $5 billion as of August, with Anthropic serving over 300,000 business customers.

    “This financing demonstrates investors’ extraordinary confidence in our financial performance and the strength of their collaboration with us to continue fueling our unprecedented growth” Anthropic CFO Krishna Rao said in a statement.

    Anthropic is one of the most prominent challengers to OpenAI, which is reportedly preparing a stock sale valuing it at around $500 billion. Backed by Amazon, Anthropic has positioned Claude as a safer, enterprise-focused AI system designed for global deployment.

    The company said it will use the new capital to deepen AI safety research, meet rising enterprise demand, and expand internationally.

  • CHARM Therapeutics raises $80M Series B for next-gen menin inhibitor

    CHARM Therapeutics raises $80M Series B for next-gen menin inhibitor

    NEA and SR One lead oversubscribed round to advance AI-designed AML treatment into clinical trials.

    CHARM Therapeutics has raised $80 million in an oversubscribed Series B round to advance its AI-designed menin inhibitor into clinical development for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The financing was co-led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and SR One, with participation from OrbiMed, F-Prime, Khosla Ventures, and NVIDIA.

    Founded in London, CHARM is developing next-generation menin inhibitors to overcome limitations seen with first-generation therapies, which face resistance mutations, safety concerns, and poor pharmaceutical properties. The company’s lead candidate, discovered through its DragonFold AI protein-ligand platform, demonstrated strong tumor regression in preclinical models while retaining potency against known resistance mutations.

    CHARM said the molecule is expected to work at low human doses without prolonging QTc intervals or interfering with enzymes linked to drug interactions. Clinical development is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026.

    Gary Glick, CHARM’s executive chair, said: “Current menin inhibitors show promise in AML treatment but are fundamentally limited by the rapid emergence of resistance mutations that cause treatment failure. Our next-generation inhibitors, discovered using our proprietary DragonFold AI platform, are specifically designed to overcome these resistance mutations and deliver the durable responses that patients need.”

    To support its transition into the clinic, CHARM has expanded its board. Former Syndax CEO Briggs Morrison, M.D., and oncology leader Kim Blackwell, M.D., have joined as non-executive directors. NEA partner Matthew McAviney, M.D., and SR One senior associate Mahesh Kudari, M.D., will also join the board as part of the financing.

    NEA’s McAviney said CHARM is “well positioned to drive meaningful impact for patients facing treatment-resistant cancers” while SR One’s Kudari cited the DragonFold platform as a differentiator in accelerating next-generation menin inhibitors.

  • Phasecraft raises $34M Series B to advance practical quantum algorithms

    Phasecraft raises $34M Series B to advance practical quantum algorithms

    Plural, Playground Global, and Novo Holdings co-lead investment in the UK quantum software firm.

    Phasecraft, a UK-based quantum algorithms company, has raised $34 million in Series B funding to accelerate development of quantum software aimed at solving industrial-scale problems. The round was co-led by Plural, existing investor Playground Global, and Novo Holdings’ Quantum Fund, with participation from AlbionVC, Latitude, and Parkwalk Advisors.

    The funding brings Phasecraft’s total capital raised to over $50 million, including grant funding. The company said the new investment will support R&D and industrial collaborations, with the aim of making quantum computing useful for real-world applications sooner than expected.

    Founded by Professors Toby Cubitt, Ashley Montanaro, and John Morton, Phasecraft focuses on algorithms designed to work on today’s noisy quantum hardware. Its software is hardware-agnostic and developed in partnership with quantum hardware leaders such as Google Quantum AI, IBM, Quantinuum, and QuEra.

    CEO Ashley Montanaro said the company is already delivering tangible results. “Our algorithms are delivering meaningful results now, whether it’s simulating the physics of complex materials or optimizing the structure of a large energy network” he said.

    Phasecraft works with end-users including specialty materials developer Johnson Matthey, solar cell company Oxford PV, the UK’s National Energy System Operator, and BT. The company’s research has targeted applications in material science, biological research, and energy resilience.

    The company opened a Washington D.C. office last year, led by Professor Steve Flammia, to expand its quantum R&D presence in the U.S. Its team includes veterans from AWS, Johnson Matthey, and Goldman Sachs.

    Ian Hogarth, partner at Plural, praised Phasecraft’s progress. “Its hardware-agnostic approach means it’s been able to work with several of the world’s most powerful computing devices, creating algorithms that are more efficient by factors of millions and that are now helping to solve real-world problems” he said.

    Novo Holdings is backing Phasecraft through its new Quantum Fund, in what marks its first direct investment in quantum software. “Quantum algorithms offer tremendous potential for molecular simulation to predict drug efficacy and optimise design” said Jeroen Bakker, a partner at Novo. “This is why we are excited to make our first quantum software investment in Phasecraft.”