Can Europe build sovereign AI?
Seb Johnson
June 22, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
🌟 QUICK INTRO
Hello and welcome back.
A genuinely wild week. Salesforce acquired Irish-founded Fin (formerly Intercom) for $3.6bn, Cambridge's CuspAI is raising $400m at a $2.6bn valuation with Jeff Bezos on board, and the Anthropic export ban lit a fire under Europe's sovereign-AI debate.
Read on (and follow my new instagram page here).
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💰 BIG ROUNDS
London-based Odyssey raised a $310m Series B at a $1.45bn valuation led by Natural Capital, to build world models for robotics, science, healthcare, education and gaming. Read more here.
UK-based NewCore raised $66m to give AI agents proper digital identities. As agents become employees, identity infrastructure becomes its own category.
London-based Conduct raised a €51m Series A co-led by Index Ventures and Iconiq with strategic investment from SAP to expand its AI operating layer for enterprise software systems like SAP, Oracle and Salesforce. Built by ex-Palantir operators. Read more here.
Paris-based Comand AI raised a €32m Series A from Blossom Capital and Saab to scale its battlefield AI software across NATO markets. Read more here.
Cambridge-based Undo raised €31m to help AI agents identify and fix software issues by providing runtime context. Read more here.
Copenhagen-based Festina Finance secured over €25m to modernise pensions and life insurance platforms across Europe.
Madrid-based Orbio raised a €18.1m Series A to scale its AI workforce platform that helps enterprises automate hiring, onboarding and workforce management for frontline teams. Read more here.
UK-based Monument secured £18m in seed funding for its cloud banking platform. Read more here.
Barcelona-based NeuralTrust raised a €17.2m Seed led by Alstin Capital to help enterprises secure and govern AI agents at scale. Read more here.
UK-based JUNO raised $16m in a seed round led by Atomico to build AI tools designed for NHS administrative teams. Read more here.
Berlin-based Flagright raised a $12.5m Series A to expand its AI-powered financial crime compliance platform and strengthen its US presence. Read more here.
💰 SLIGHTLY SMALLER ROUNDS
Madrid and Munich-based Causa Prima raised $10m pre-Seed led by Creandum to build a network where AI agents automatically handle invoices, disputes and payment terms between buyers and suppliers. AI-to-AI commerce is starting to get the rails it needs. Read more here.
German Tryll secured $600k in pre-seed funding to launch its AI gaming engine alpha. Read more here.
📰 BIG NEWS
Salesforce / Fin (Intercom)
Salesforce has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Fin, the AI customer agent company formerly known as Irish-founded Intercom, for approximately $3.6bn.
Fin's core product is an AI Agent that resolves complex customer queries end-to-end across live chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone and Slack.
It’s one of the most successful examples of a SaaS company pivot to AI that we've seen. it's a great result for the team and for investors, and interestingly the second European software company Salesforce has bought inside a month, after acquiring Berlin's Contentful in early June.
Read more here.
CuspAI
Cambridge-based CuspAI, the materials-discovery AI startup, is reportedly raising a $400m round at a $2.6bn valuation led by Bezos Expeditions and Kleiner Perkins.
If it lands at the reported terms, CuspAI's valuation will have gone from $520m in September to $2.6bn in nine months. The customer roster reportedly includes ASML, Meta and Hyundai.
I've heard from multiple people that the company is growing insanely fast and it's going to be one of the breakout companies for 2026
Read more here.
📰 SMALLER NEWS
Wayve, Uber and Stellantis partnered to deploy Level 4 robotaxis globally. Big commercial moment for Wayve and a serious customer/OEM combo for autonomous driving.
London-based ElevenLabs received an $11m investment from Poland's state-backed Vinci fund as Poland formally launched AI Lab Poland to support the next generation of domestic AI companies. Read more here.
Ukraine launched TrophyLab, a programme turning captured Russian weapons into a battlefield R&D platform. The world's most live defence-tech feedback loop.
European silicon-photonics firms warned that the continent lacks the infrastructure to turn its world-class research into commercial success. A useful counterpoint to all the sovereignty optimism.
💰 M&A
Cologne-based DeepL acquired San Francisco-based Mixhalo for an undisclosed sum to strengthen its real-time voice translation at large-scale events and expand its voice AI offering. The deal also gives DeepL its first office in San Francisco. Read more here.
UK-based The Citation Group acquired PayCaptain to expand its HR-and-payments capabilities.
UK fintech Wise acquired Dutch expat-information business Expatica to deepen its services for international customers.
💶 FUND NEWS
Earlybird and AVP formally launched E2D, a €500m European defence and dual-use growth fund to close Europe's DefenceTech scaling gap. Read more here.
UK defence prime BAE Systems committed €50m to VC funds managed by Lakestar and Expeditions to help European defence startups scale. Read more here.
Amsterdam-based Anterra Capital announced an €86m first close for its third fund to back food and agriculture companies applying AI, life sciences and software innovations. Read more here.
London-based FPE Capital closed the first round of Fund IV with a €46m cornerstone investment from the British Business Bank to back high-growth B2B software, data and services companies across the UK and Ireland. Read more here.
Ukraine and France launched BRAVE FRANCE, a €20m joint defence-tech initiative to accelerate the development of drones, missile technologies and other battlefield innovations. Read more here.
London-based EXANTE launched Gecko Fund, a €1m grant programme to support critical open-source software projects used across trading systems, financial data infrastructure and fintech. Read more here.
🎪 EVENTS
I’m going to be running a Fintech/AI event with the team at Dust in London. It’s early but there’s a placeholder Luma here.
Tickets are available for Wave, the leading tech conference in Turin. Confirmed speakers include Dario Amodei, Jony Ive, Charlie Songhurst, and many more. Get 10% off using discount code SCALINGEUROPE-WAVE10 at checkout here.
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Thank you.
Seb