💸 $187M Microgravity Pharma; $51M Zero-Carbon Steel; €2.6M Rare-Earth Recycling; $11.5M Autonomous Mining; $29M Nano-Silicon Anodes | Deep Tech Capital Movements Vol. 26
The Week’s State of Deep Tech Capital: who’s Raising, who’s Betting, and why.
Welcome back to Deep Tech Capital Movements — the weekly report from The Scenarionist that tracks and highlights capital dynamics in deep tech, from early-stage funding rounds to major fund launches.
Dear Friends,
This week’s deep tech capital flows trace a throughline that’s becoming harder to ignore: real industrial bets are no longer just headlines about “next-gen” hardware — they’re increasingly intertwined with serious supply chain rewiring, talent redeployment, and the cold pragmatism of scaling physical systems where software alone can’t bend the laws of physics.
If you skim the rounds below, you’ll see spinouts, first-of-a-kind pilot lines, and new funds that want to tackle problems you can’t solve in a co-working space on a WiFi connection alone. RealSense’s spinout from Intel is a perfect microcosm. The depth-sensing camera team, now independent, is free to run faster in robotics and biometric security — exactly where you need hardware that’s defensible and tight to the edge. Intel hanging on as an investor tells you how legacy incumbents increasingly admit they can’t internalize frontier bets forever; the cost of slowness is too high.
Meanwhile, the energy transition narrative shows up this week in places that aren’t just grid-scale solar or gigawatt-scale battery factories — but in the industrial meat and bones that make these dreams feasible. Tulum Energy’s $27 million to scale turquoise hydrogen via repurposed electric-arc furnaces isn’t some “moonshot” fusion fantasy — it’s pragmatic chemical engineering to crack methane and lock up carbon as a solid co-product, delivering hydrogen at an energy efficiency far better than vanilla electrolysis. It’s the kind of system-level innovation the transition desperately needs: less hype, more process intensification, more repurposing of what industry already does well.
RarEarth’s venture round in Italy is equally revealing: rare-earth magnet recycling is not a “sexy” business to the casual observer, but it’s vital if Europe wants to build more EVs, turbines, and robotics without being handcuffed to China’s upstream mining. The company’s low-temp hydrometallurgical approach cuts CO₂ emissions by 75% versus virgin mining — and, maybe more importantly, anchors a regional supply chain for critical inputs at a time when “localization” is no longer a punchline but a survival plan.
Across the capital map, the gravitational pull toward hardware that closes resource loops is unmistakable. Look at Boston Metal’s $51 million convertible note: their molten oxide electrolysis cell is scaling up in Brazil to recover niobium and tin from mining waste — while the same tech is inching closer to tonnage production of zero-carbon steel in Massachusetts. This is how you get to net-zero with physics, not just policy PDFs: you build new factories that break economic dependencies on extractive, high-carbon legacy methods.
The battery edge of the transition is also deepening. Pure Lithium relocating to Chicago with a $46 million bet on recycled lithium-metal anodes is a play for vertical integration that chips away at Asian dominance in critical minerals. Sthyr Energy’s zinc-air seed round in India — a research team commercializing 100-hour backup storage with water-based electrolytes — is another clue: grid-scale storage won’t hinge on one chemistry alone, and pragmatic founders are stepping up with alternatives that suit different climates and use cases.
And what about AI? The deep tech lens shows a clear divergence: “AI” now means more than text prediction or boardroom decks about copilots. Harmonic’s $100 million Series B is a sharp example: the promise is a “mathematical superintelligence” that formally verifies outputs — a direct rejection of LLM guesswork when you’re building critical code or running high-stakes engineering simulations. PhysicsX in the UK echoes the same principle, blending differentiable solvers with deep learning to model complex mechanical systems with real-world constraints.
That pragmatic theme extends into bio too. Actithera’s $75 million Series A for FAP-targeting radioligand therapies is not a splashy biotech moonshot — it’s a disciplined bet on isotope-agnostic cancer treatments with longer tumor retention and lower off-target toxicity. Likewise, Varda’s $187 million raise to manufacture biologics in microgravity is moving orbital pharma from PowerPoint novelty to re-entry capsules that bring real material home. Space is not the story — the physical advantage of a zero-gravity growth environment is.
On the fund side, capital formation is moving in lockstep with this “atoms-first” approach. Red Dot Capital’s $320 million close shows that defense spinouts and cyber-physical security are not just geopolitical games but investible pipelines for dual-use technologies. Estonia’s Darkstar is proving the same for Europe’s defense readiness: €15 million already closed to test hardware on the battlefield with Ukrainian combat units — a level of operational feedback loops that consumer SaaS will never touch.
OnePrime’s $305 million secondaries fund is another smart read on the changing exit environment. Founders sitting on late-stage deep tech companies can’t afford to be forced into suboptimal exits when the R&D cycle needs time to mature. Structured liquidity for employees keeps the lights on — and the mission intact.
So what should founders and operators take away this Monday?
First, the funding window remains selective — but if you’re tackling physical, defensible bottlenecks with real industrial upside, capital will find you, even at the earliest stages.
Second, the money is moving upstream: critical materials, resilient energy processes, secure compute, and supply chain sovereignty are where the real leverage sits. If you’re layering software on top of legacy constraints, you’re competing with founders redesigning those constraints entirely.
Third, novelty means nothing without execution. In deep tech, traction is a plant that runs, a process that scales, an offtake that locks in revenue before your competitors catch up. A promise is cheap; a pilot line humming at capacity is priceless.
In this market, the penalty for wishful thinking is high — but the upside for those who stay ruthlessly real is generational.
Stay sharp. Think longer than the cycle. And keep building what others still think is impossible.
See you next Monday.
— Giulia
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When Niche Beats Scale: How Top-Tier Deep Tech Startups Thrive in Unsexy Markets
In Deep Tech, the companies that endure often begin in places too narrow, too complicated, or too “unsexy” for the pattern-matching crowd to notice.
HZO, Phononic, and Boston Materials. If there is a lesson here, it is that...
Startup Deal Activities to Watch
🔸 Actithera Collects $75.5 M Series A for Radioligand Cancer Therapies
Headquartered in Oslo and Cambridge, Actithera closed the largest European radiopharma Series A of 2025 to advance its FAP-targeting radioligand into the clinic. The isotope-agnostic platform aims to prolong tumor retention while reducing off-target toxicity. Proceeds also fund expansion of the company’s discovery pipeline and manufacturing partnerships.
Deal: Series A
Region: Norway / USA
Industry: Biotech
Sector: Radiopharmaceuticals
Tech: Covalent Radioligand Platform, Isotope-Agnostic Linkers
🔸 Apolink Bags $4.3 M Seed to Deliver 24/7 LEO Satellite Connectivity
Y Combinator-backed Apolink—founded by 19-year-old Onkar Singh Batra—will deploy a 32-satellite relay constellation offering hybrid RF-laser links with sub-10 s latency. The Palo Alto start-up says its hardware-agnostic network eliminates “dark zones” for Earth-observation and IoT satellites. Letters of intent worth $140 M underpin an aggressive launch schedule starting 2026.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: California, USA
Industry: SpaceTech
Sector: Satellite Communications
Tech: Hybrid RF/Optical ISLs, Micro-relay Constellations
🔸 Graphmatech Wins €2.5 M EU Grant for Graphene-Based Hydrogen Storage
Uppsala-based Graphmatech will build a pilot line to produce polymer-graphene tank liners that cut hydrogen leakage by up to 83 %. The Horizon Europe grant scales annual output from 5 t to 200 t, enabling industrial field tests with pipeline operators. The company targets retrofits as well as new builds in the emerging hydrogen infrastructure market.
Deal: EU Grant
Region: Sweden
Industry: Materials
Sector: Hydrogen Storage
Tech: Graphene-Polymer Liners, Leak-Barrier Coatings
🔸 Green Aero Raises $1.6 M Seed to Develop Hydrogen and Defense Aero Engines
Incubated at IIT Delhi, Green Aero is building fuel-flexible turbine cores that run on hydrogen for zero-emission aviation and defense drones. Funds led by pi Ventures will finance an in-house test facility and expand the engineering team ahead of a small-category engine demo within 12 months. The startup touts twice the efficiency of comparable legacy engines through additive-manufactured superalloy components.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: India
Industry: Aerospace
Sector: Propulsion
Tech: Hydrogen-Ready Turbines, 3-D-Printed Superalloys
🔸 RealSense Spins Out of Intel, Raising $50 M Series A for AI-Driven Computer Vision
The newly independent RealSense will use the fresh capital to scale manufacturing and go-to-market for its depth-sensing cameras and Vision SoC products. Management says the spinout lets the team move faster to serve booming demand in robotics, industrial automation and biometric security. Investors include Intel Capital and MediaTek Innovation Fund, valuing the Palo Alto–based company as a standalone leader in “physical AI.”
Deal: Series A
Region: California, USA
Industry: Artificial Intelligence
Sector: Robotics & Computer Vision
Tech: Depth Cameras, 3D Perception, Vision SoCs
🔸 Mine Vision Systems Raises $11.5 M Late-Stage Equity for Autonomous Mining
The Pittsburgh spin-out from Carnegie Mellon will use the capital to hire engineers and expand globally with partners in Australia and South America. Its FaceCapture mapping cameras provide real-time 3-D models that boost safety and ore recovery in underground operations. The raise follows customer wins with Hecla Mining and Gold Fields.
Deal: Later-Stage Equity
Region: Pennsylvania, USA
Industry: MiningTech
Sector: Autonomous Mapping
Tech: 3-D Lidar/Cameras, Real-Time SLAM
🔸 ServiceUp Lands $55 M Series B to Automate Vehicle Repair Logistics
PeakSpan Capital led the round to scale ServiceUp’s SaaS platform that manages everything from pickup to body-shop selection and invoicing for fleet owners. The company reports 400 % revenue growth as insurers and rental operators push for faster, data-driven turnaround. Funds will grow the U.S. network beyond the current 20 metropolitan markets.
Deal: Series B
Region: California, USA
Industry: AutoTech
Sector: Repair & Fleet Services
Tech: Logistics SaaS, ML Claim-Routing
🔸 SMBC Takes Strategic Stake in Interstellar Technologies for Domestic Launch
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s investment marks its first direct bet on Japan’s private space sector. The alliance will help Interstellar build local supply chains for its small-satellite launch vehicle and turnkey payload integration services. Tokyo aims to double the space-industry market to ¥8 T by the 2030s, reducing reliance on foreign launchers.
Deal: Strategic Investment
Region: Japan
Industry: SpaceTech
Sector: Launch & Integration
Tech: Small-Lift Rockets, In-House Avionics
🔸 Parspec Secures $20 M Series A to Streamline Construction Procurement
AI startup Parspec ingests design specs and supplier catalogs to automate quote requests and compliance checks for electrical and HVAC equipment. Investors led by Lightspeed Venture Partners say the platform cuts bid cycles from weeks to hours, lowering project costs in a tight labor market. Funding will expand sales across North America and add civil and mechanical categories.
Deal: Series A
Region: California, USA
Industry: ConTech
Sector: Supply-Chain
Tech: Gen-AI Spec Parsing, Pricing Optimization
🔸 Varda Raises $187 M Series C to Manufacture Medicines in Microgravity
El Segundo-based Varda Space Industries will increase flight cadence of its re-entry capsules and outfit a 10,000 ft² pharma lab for crystal-growing in orbit. Lead investors Natural Capital and Shrug Capital back management’s plan to commercialize microgravity-derived biologics and run hypersonic testbeds for DoD clients. Total capital raised now tops $329 M.
Deal: Series C
Region: California, USA
Industry: Space-Biotech
Sector: In-Space Manufacturing
Tech: Re-entry Capsules, Microgravity Crystallization
🔸 Harmonic Raises $100 M Series B for “Mathematical Superintelligence” AI
Kleiner Perkins led the round at an $875 M valuation to advance Harmonic’s Aristotle model, which mathematically verifies outputs instead of relying on probabilistic LLMs. The company targets use-cases such as formally-verified code and high-stakes engineering simulations. Funds accelerate hiring of mathematicians and commercialization partnerships.
Deal: Series B
Region: California, USA
Industry: Artificial Intelligence
Sector: Reasoning AI
Tech: Mathematical Superintelligence, Formal Verification
🔸 Neuros Medical Closes $56 M Series D for Non-Opioid Nerve-Stim Device
The oversubscribed round—led by EQT Life Sciences—funds U.S. commercialization of the FDA-approved Altius® system for chronic post-amputation pain. Altius delivers on-demand electrical nerve blocks via an implantable generator and cuff, reducing dependence on opioids. Capital also supports post-market studies and inventory build-out ahead of a 2026 launch.
Deal: Series D
Region: California, USA
Industry: MedTech
Sector: Neuromodulation
Tech: Direct Electrical Nerve Stimulation, Implantable Pulse Generator
🔸 Boston Metal Raises $51 M Convertible Note to Scale Molten Oxide Electrolysis
Existing backers BHP Ventures and Breakthrough Energy extended financing that funds phase-two ramp-up of Boston Metal’s critical-metals facility in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The plant recovers niobium and tin from mining waste while demonstrating the company’s zero-carbon steel cell now producing tonnage at its Massachusetts HQ. Management targets a full MOE steel demo plant by 2028.
Deal: Convertible Note
Region: Massachusetts, USA / Brazil
Industry: Green Metals
Sector: Steel & Critical Metals
Tech: Molten Oxide Electrolysis, Inert-Anode Cells
🔸 Synfini Attracts $8.9 M Expansion Round to Unify AI and Robotic Chemistry
Spun out of SRI International, Synfini’s neuro-symbolic AI platform integrates molecular design, route planning and automated synthesis in a single cloud foundry. Lead investor JSL Health says the system can shrink hit-to-lead timelines from months to days. Funds will grow partnerships in GPCR drug discovery and expand the team’s chem-informatics talent.
Deal: Expansion Funding
Region: California, USA
Industry: Pharma AI
Sector: Drug Discovery
Tech: Neuro-Symbolic AI, Robotic Synthesis
🔸 Sthyr Energy Raises $1 M Seed for Long-Duration Zinc-Air Batteries
Chennai-born researchers from IIT Madras founded Sthyr to commercialize mechanically rechargeable zinc-air cells with water-based electrolytes. The architecture decouples energy and power, enabling 100-hour backup for seasonal storage. Seed cash led by Speciale Invest funds pilot units and grid-scale demonstrations with utilities.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: India
Industry: Energy Storage
Sector: Long-Duration Batteries
Tech: Zinc-Air, Mechanical Recharge
🔸 DOE Awards $15 M to Fire-Resilient Battery Projects Led by Inlyte and Quino
The Critical Facility Energy Resilience program backs non-lithium chemistries, including sodium-iron batteries from Inlyte Energy and quinone flow systems from Quino Energy. Projects will harden hospitals and retreat centers in California wildfire zones. A bio-mineralized mixed-metal phosphate concept at Binghamton University also secured funding.
Deal: Federal Grant
Region: United States
Industry: Energy Storage
Sector: Grid Resilience
Tech: Sodium-Iron Cells, Quinone Flow Batteries, Bio-LFP
🔸 Pure Lithium Invests $46 M to Relocate HQ and Pilot Line to Chicago
The Boston-born battery maker will open a West Loop prototyping facility and create at least 50 jobs under Illinois clean-tech incentives. Its vertically-integrated process converts recycled lithium metal into high-energy anodes, eliminating dependence on Chinese supply. A future manufacturing plant is planned as the company shifts from R&D to commercialization.
Deal: Facility Investment
Region: Illinois, USA
Industry: Battery Materials
Sector: Lithium-Metal Anodes
Tech: Recycled-Lithium Reactors, Pilot Cell Line
🔸 Cerebrium Raises $8.5 Million Seed Round for Serverless AI Infrastructure
Cape Town–founded and New York–headquartered Cerebrium secured $8.5 million to scale its high-performance serverless GPU/CPU platform that lets developers spin up multimodal AI workloads on-demand. Gradient Ventures led the round, joining Y Combinator and Authentic Ventures, to meet surging enterprise demand for low-latency voice, video and avatar applications. Funds will double engineering head-count and add enterprise compliance features as ARR already reaches seven figures.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: New York, USA / Cape Town, South Africa
Industry: Cloud & AI Infrastructure
Sector: Serverless Compute
Tech: On-Demand GPU Orchestration, Multimodal Runtime
🔸 LeoMed Snags $2.75 Million Seed to Expand No-Code Tele-Follow-Up Platform
Montréal-based LeoMed automates post-surgery patient monitoring with a privacy-compliant, no-code workflow builder for clinicians. Lead investor Precicom backed the raise, which brings total funding to $5 million and supports expansion beyond Québec and the addition of AI-driven triage tools. Hospitals using LeoMed report fewer readmissions and faster recovery-plan adjustments.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: Québec, Canada
Industry: Healthtech
Sector: Remote Patient Monitoring
Tech: No-Code Care Pathways, Wearable Data Integration
🔸 Woodchuck AI Collects $3.75 Million to Turn Construction Wood Waste into Biomass Fuel
Grand Rapids-based Woodchuck AI will scale its AI-guided sorting facility that converts contaminated scrap wood into high-quality biomass feedstock. The oversubscribed round—led by board member Mason Fink and CMS Energy’s NorthStar Clean Energy—exceeded the initial $2.5 million target and funds regional expansion. The system diverts tens of thousands of tons of wood from landfills while supplying local bioenergy plants.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: Michigan, USA
Industry: Circular Economy
Sector: Biomass Conversion
Tech: AI Vision Sorting, Mobile Processing Units
🔸 CelluloTech Closes Undisclosed Seed to Replace Plastics with Solvent-Free Cellulose Coatings
Victoria-based CelluloTech raised seed capital from Neglected Climate Opportunities and Meliorate Partners to pilot its patented, dry cellulose-functionalization process. The technology creates PFAS-free, fully recyclable paper barriers for packaging, hygiene and textiles at cost parity with plastics. Funds will finance a demonstration line and first commercial contracts.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Industry: Green Chemistry
Sector: Sustainable Materials
Tech: Solvent-Free Cellulose Functionalization
🔸 Tulum Energy Secures $27 M Venture Financing to Scale Turquoise Hydrogen
Italian climate-tech startup Tulum Energy closed a $27 million venture financing round led by CDP Venture Capital’s Green Transition Fund and TDK Ventures, with participation from TechEnergy Ventures, MITO Tech Ventures and Doral Energy Tech Ventures. The capital will fund construction of a pilot methane-pyrolysis plant, and establish an R&D hub in Milan to industrialize its high-efficiency process that splits methane into emissions-free (turquoise) hydrogen and valuable solid carbon.
Deal: Venture Financing
Region: Italy, Europe
Industry: Hydrogen
Sector: Turquoise Hydrogen (Methane Pyrolysis)
Tech: Electric-Arc-Furnace Methane Pyrolysis, Solid-Carbon Co-Product
🔸 QuiX Quantum Secures €15 Million Series A to Build First Universal Photonic Quantum Computer
Enschede-based QuiX Quantum attracted Invest-NL and the EIC Fund to commercialize a silicon-nitride photonic platform aiming for a 2026 universal gate-set demonstration. The room-temperature system targets data-center deployment for chemistry, machine-learning and logistics workloads while consuming a fraction of superconducting-qubit power.
Deal: Series A
Region: Netherlands
Industry: Quantum Computing
Sector: Photonic Processors
Tech: Silicon-Nitride Photonics, Single-Photon Gates
🔸 Wall Street Bets Big on Quantum as IonQ Prices $1 Billion Equity Offering
IonQ tapped public markets for a $1 billion at-the-market stock sale, valuing the trapped-ion pioneer at a premium despite industry headwinds. Proceeds extend cash runway to 2029, funding Advantage3 system development and multi-chip scaling. Analysts view the raise as a signal of growing institutional appetite for quantum hardware leaders.
Deal: Public Equity Offering
Region: Maryland, USA
Industry: Quantum Computing
Sector: Trapped-Ion Systems
Tech: Multi-Chip QPU Architecture, Error-Mitigation Firmware
🔸 ODOS Raises €680 K Pre-Seed to Decarbonize Agri-Food Supply Chains
Valencia-based ODOS secured backing from CAPSA Food, Mercadona’s Angels Capital and TTAF by Clave for its Mitigation Toolbox platform. The SaaS helps cooperatives measure, verify and fund Scope 1-3 emission cuts at farm level, aligning with CSRD and SBTi frameworks. Funds support data-model refinement and initial international pilots.
Deal: Pre-Seed Round
Region: Spain
Industry: AgriTech
Sector: Carbon Management
Tech: Farm-Level MRV, Decarbonization Planning Engine
🔸 Arago Closes $26 Million Seed to Bring 10×-More-Efficient Photonic AI Chips to Market
Paris deep-tech startup Arago’s “JEF” processor processes neural-network workloads with photons, cutting energy use by an order of magnitude while remaining drop-in compatible with existing AI frameworks. Earlybird, Protagonist and Visionaries Tomorrow co-led the oversubscribed seed, funding tape-out and customer sampling.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: France
Industry: Semiconductors
Sector: AI Acceleration
Tech: Hybrid Photonic-Electronic Architecture
🔸 Electroflow Seeks $8 Million Seed After Demonstrating Trailer-Sized Lithium-to-Cathode Reactor
California-based Electroflow’s electro-chemical cell captures lithium ions directly from brine and converts them into cathode-grade material on-site, slashing water use and production costs to as low as $1,500 per ton. Following a $2.8 million pre-seed, the startup is raising $8 million to deploy pilot trailers in the Salton Sea.
Deal: Seed (In Process)
Region: California, USA
Industry: Critical Materials
Sector: Direct Lithium Extraction
Tech: Brine-To-Cathode Electro-Reactors
🔸 RarEarth Raises €2.6M Funding for Recycled Rare-Earth Magnet Production
RarEarth raised €2.6 million capital increasese to build the country’s first plant producing high-performance NdFeB magnets entirely from recycled electronic waste. The round—led by Primo Capital SGR’s Primo Climate fund with co-lead MITO Tech Ventures —will accelerate plant construction, expand the technical team and industrialize the company’s proprietary rare-earth element recovery and magnet-fabrication process.
Deal: Venture Round
Region: Italy, Europe
Industry: CleanTech / Advanced Materials
Sector: Rare-Earth Magnet Recycling
Tech: Rare-Earth Element Recovery, NdFeB Magnet Manufacturing
🔸 Ionic Mineral Technologies Nets $29 Million Series B for Nano-Silicon Anode Scale-Up
Provo-based Ionic MT will expand production of Ionisil nano-silicon and IonAl high-purity alumina, key ingredients for next-gen EV batteries and separator ceramics. The oversubscribed round positions the company as a domestic alternative to Asian supply chains and supports offtake agreements with U.S. pack makers.
Deal: Series B
Region: Utah, USA
Industry: Battery Materials
Sector: Nano-Silicon & Alumina
Tech: Proprietary Purification & Milling
🔸 Crosstown Raises $3.75 Million Seed to Retrofit Gas Turbines for 100% Hydrogen
Zurich-based Crosstown’s H2R® burner enables existing 100 MW turbines to switch from natural gas to renewable hydrogen, eliminating up to 300 k t CO₂ annually per unit. Investors 2100 Ventures, Climate Insiders and Swiss federal funds back the project, funding commercial pilots with Sulzer and Fortum.
Deal: Seed Round
Region: Switzerland
Industry: Energy Transition
Sector: Turbine Retrofit
Tech: Hydrogen-Ready Burner, NOx-Reduction Coating
🔸 Nuclidium Lands €84 Million Series B for Copper-Based Radiotheranostics
Swiss-German biotech Nuclidium will advance Cu-61/Cu-67 diagnostic-therapeutic pairs into Phase II trials for prostate and neuroendocrine cancers. Kurma Growth Opportunities and Angelini Ventures lead the syndicate, which also funds a global isotope-production network to ensure hospital-scale supply.
Deal: Series B
Region: Switzerland / Germany
Industry: Radiopharma
Sector: Theranostics
Tech: Copper-Isotope Platform, GMP Generator Modules
🔸 Hololight Secures €10 Million to Mainstream Pixel-Streaming for XR
Innsbruck-based Hololight’s cloud pixel-streaming tech beams OpenXR apps to any headset, removing hardware limits and securing IP-grade data protection for industrial customers. Cipio Partners and Bayern Kapital backed the round, enabling global launch of Stream Runtime and deeper ties with Nvidia and Qualcomm.
Deal: Growth Round
Region: Austria
Industry: XR / SaaS
Sector: Enterprise AR/VR
Tech: Cloud Pixel-Streaming, OpenXR Runtime
🔸 AssetCool Raises £10 Million Series A for Robotic Grid-Upgrade Coatings
Leeds-based AssetCool deploys robots that apply nanothermal coatings to live overhead lines, boosting capacity by up to 30% without new conductors. Energy Impact Partners led the investment, which will fund manufacturing scale and U.S. market entry amid surging electrification demands.
Deal: Series A
Region: United Kingdom
Industry: GridTech
Sector: Transmission Upgrades
Tech: CapacityN Robots, Nanothermal Coatings
🔸 Helical Fusion Closes $15 Million Series A to Pursue Stellarator Power Plant
Tokyo spin-out Helical Fusion will advance its Helix HARUKA intermediate device toward the fully steady-state Helix KANATA pilot, leveraging high-temperature superconductors for 24/7 electricity. SBI Investment and Keio Innovation Initiative led the 19-investor syndicate, bringing total funding to $35 million.
Deal: Series A
Region: Japan
Industry: Fusion Energy
Sector: Stellarator Reactors
Tech: HTS Magnets, Liquid-Metal Blankets
🔸 Augmentus Raises $11 Million Series A+ for No-Code 3-D Scan-to-Path Robotics
Singapore-based Augmentus integrates 3-D scanning, AI path-planning and adaptive feedback so non-experts can program industrial robots in minutes. Woori VP and EDBI joined existing backers Sierra Ventures and Cocoon Capital; proceeds fund “Augmented Robotics” modules for high-mix manufacturing.
Deal: Series A+
Region: Singapore
Industry: Robotics
Sector: No-Code Automation
Tech: Scan-to-Path, Adaptive Toolpaths
🔸 Creal Secures $8.9 Million to Advance Light-Field AR Displays
Lausanne startup Creal will miniaturize its light-field micro-display for integration into lightweight AR glasses while licensing vision-care applications to Zeiss, the round’s lead investor. The technology projects true-depth images, reducing vergence-accommodation conflict for medical diagnostics and consumer wearables.
Deal: Bridge Round
Region: Switzerland
Industry: Spatial Computing
Sector: Light-Field Displays
Tech: Micro-LED Light-Field Engine
🔸 PhysicsX Raises $135 Million Series B to Industrialize “Physical-AI” Engineering Stack
London-based PhysicsX combines deep-learning surrogates and differentiable solvers to optimize complex mechanical systems for aerospace, semiconductors and energy. Atomico led the round alongside strategic investors Siemens and Applied Materials; capital accelerates U.S. hiring and vertical-specific modules.
Deal: Series B
Region: United Kingdom
Industry: Engineering AI
Sector: Simulation & Optimization
Tech: Physics-Informed Neural Nets, Differentiable CFD
🔸 Plexāā Closes $4.5 Million Extension to Launch BLOOM⁴³ Breast-Surgery Device in U.S.
London MedTech Plexāā will use the funds to commercialize its wearable BLOOM⁴³ system, which pre-conditions breast-tissue micro-circulation to cut post-operative complications by up to 30%. TCP Health Ventures led the round, positioning the company for a 2026 FDA 510(k) submission and Series A raise.
Deal: Seed Extension
Region: United Kingdom / USA
Industry: FemTech
Sector: Surgical Devices
Tech: Supraphysiological Pre-Conditioning, Wearable Therapy
🔸 ScienceMachine Raises $3.5 Million Pre-Seed for Autonomous AI Bioinformatician
London-based ScienceMachine’s agent “Sam” automates lab-to-clinic data cleaning, analysis and visualization, delivering insights in hours rather than months. Revent and Nucleus Capital co-led the pre-seed, enabling hires in pharma partnerships and scaling cloud infrastructure as paid pilots convert to annual contracts.
Deal: Pre-Seed
Region: United Kingdom
Industry: Bio-AI
Sector: Autonomous Research
Tech: Agent-Based Bioinformatics, Continuous Data Pipelines
Venture Capital & Fund Activities to Watch
🔹 Unmatched Ventures Launches to Scale U.S. Frontier-Tech & Industrial Start-ups
Led by talent-development veterans Todd Gitlin, Simon Casuto, Aaron Zeeb and Holly Rockwell, the Los Angeles firm pairs capital with executive-search capabilities to accelerate Series A-C companies in aerospace, defense, alternative energy, robotics and advanced manufacturing. Its “talent-led” model aims to close leadership gaps quickly, allowing founders to commercialize hardware-heavy innovations that rebuild the U.S. industrial base. Initial investments and fund size were not disclosed, but the firm cites strong inbound LP interest.
🔹 Red Dot Capital Partners Closes $320 M Israel Growth Fund III
With $750 million now under management, Red Dot will lead Series A-C in silicon photonics, cyber-physical security and generative-AI tooling spun out of the Israeli defence ecosystem. Typical checks of $10–20 million let companies leap from $1–5 million ARR to global scale without flipping to U.S. control. New LPs from the Gulf underline how deep-tech commercialisation can create geopolitical bridges even amid regional tensions.
🔹 Estonia’s Darkstar Secures €15 M First Close for €25 M Defense-Tech Fund
The Tallinn-based coalition of founders and investors has raised €15 million of a targeted €25 million vehicle dedicated to offensive and defensive military applications across Europe. SmartCap, an Estonian state-backed LP, anchored the fund with a €10 million commitment, allowing Darkstar to write initial checks of up to €1 million and test products during five-day bootcamps with Ukrainian combat units. The team expects to complete five more deals this year and views battlefield feedback as critical to Europe’s readiness for modern warfare.
🔹 Morgan Stanley IM Closes $280 M+ North Haven Venture Capital Opportunities Fund I
Private Equity Solutions at Morgan Stanley Investment Management wrapped its first stand-alone VC vehicle at more than $280 million, topping a $250 million goal. The global multi-manager strategy will allocate to top-quartile venture and growth investors and co-invest directly in high-growth companies across North America, Europe and Asia. Limited partners include public pensions, corporations, foundations and family offices, all leaning on the bank’s network to access otherwise capacity-constrained managers.
🔹 Nzyme Finalizes €160 M Fund to Digitally Transform Spanish SMEs
Backed by Kibo Ventures and CDTI’s Innvierte program, Madrid-based Nzyme will acquire controlling stakes in profitable, regionally entrenched B2B companies and scale them through technology adoption and roll-ups. The fund plans 8-10 “platform” investments of €15-20 million each, targeting sectors such as healthcare distribution and professional services outside Spain’s major metros. Management will pair cloud, AI and IoT tools with international expansion support to grow firms from 20–40 to 150+ employees.
🔹 VIE Ventures Debuts, Targeting $75 M for Autoimmune-Disease Biotechs
MPM Capital veteran Luke Evnin and former J&J Innovation investor Dr. Steven St. Peter launched VIE Ventures to finance Series B/C rounds for therapeutics tackling immune disorders such as scleroderma and multiple sclerosis. The duo is collaborating with disease-focused nonprofits to tap scientific expertise and patient-registry data that can streamline trial design and regulatory pathways. With biotech IPO windows still narrow, the founders see a capital gap for mid-stage companies that have de-risked science but need runway to pivotal studies
🔹 Boldstart Ventures Raises $250 M Seed-to-Series-A AI Fund VII
Florida- and New York-based Boldstart closed its seventh flagship fund to write $500 k-$15 million checks into “day-zero” founders in AI infrastructure, cybersecurity and crypto tooling. The firm expects to partner with 10–12 new teams annually and will reserve follow-on capital from its $175 million Opportunities III fund for breakout performers. With $1.1 billion under management, Boldstart continues its strategy of leading pre-product rounds and helping technical founders land first design customers within months.
🔹 OnePrime Capital Closes $305 M Technology Secondaries Fund III
The vehicle unlocks liquidity for founders of late-stage deep-tech companies—think quantum networking, neuromorphic compute and industrial autonomy—without forcing premature exits. OnePrime’s underwriting favours intrinsic R&D milestones over markdown-driven IRR optics, aligning with LP appetite for longer-duration hard-tech bets. Family offices, endowments and insurers across four continents rounded out the raise in just eight months.
🔹 Valante Capital Logs $115 M First Close for Ascend Fund II
The private-equity arm of IDC Network reached $115 million toward a $250 million target to acquire family-owned and corporate-divested food and consumer businesses across northern Latin America, with selective U.S. cross-border plays. GP commitment exceeds 15 percent, and the fund’s initial investments—Vitali Alimentos, American Foods and Nutrica—underscore a thesis of operational upgrades, impact focus and regional roll-ups. Returning LPs were joined by new institutions attracted to Valante’s growth-plus-impact track record.
🔹 Cyberstarts Unveils $300 M Employee Liquidity Fund
The early-stage cybersecurity specialist created a $300 million vehicle that lets staff at portfolio companies such as Wiz, Fireblocks and Cyera sell a slice of vested shares during structured annual windows. Founder Gili Raanan says early liquidity will help startups retain scarce technical talent and sustain product focus during longer pre-exit cycles. Cyberstarts has now raised more than $1 billion across six funds while maintaining its seed-first model in Israel and the U.S.
🔹 Rittenhouse Ventures Closes Fund III, Boosting AUM Above $75 M
The Philadelphia-area firm’s third vehicle cements a 15-year focus on capital-efficient B2B SaaS, AI and tech-enabled services in the Mid-Atlantic and other underserved U.S. regions. Fund III continues a disciplined strategy that has produced 20 exits from 30 prior investments and brings new partners David Nevas and Sushma Rajagopalan into leadership roles. Typical checks will range from $1–5 million, with follow-ons as portfolio companies hit sustainable growth milestones.
🔹 R-LABS Secures C$3.5 M to Accelerate Built-World Venture Builder
With backing from engineering heavyweight Hatch, R-LABS will spin out ventures in low-carbon prefab, autonomous site surveying and building-material up-cycling. The Toronto platform unites developers, regulators and deep-tech founders to de-risk pilots inside live construction projects. Existing portfolio companies Assembly Corp. and OneClose showcase how robotics and fintech can compress both build-time and transaction friction.
🔹 Propel Venture Partners Closes $100 M Fintech Seed Fund V
Spun out of BBVA in 2016, San Francisco-based Propel hit its $100 million hard cap for Fund V, lifting firmwide commitments to more than $436 million. The vehicle will invest $1–4 million for 10-20 percent ownership in pre-seed and seed companies modernizing financial infrastructure, insurance and wealth management worldwide. Propel’s portfolio already counts 62 companies (Coinbase, DocuSign, Groww, Neon) and 10 generating $100 million-plus revenue; Fund V has quietly placed its first five bets, including AI-native finance tools and energy-payment rails.