Cohere is the latest major AI company to make a much bigger bet on London. The $20bn company is now tripling its footprint in the city as it grows its R&D presence in the UK, joining OpenAI and Anthropic who announced large expansions recently. In healthcare, London-based Skin Analytics launched a smartphone tool that can autonomously assess skin cancer, bringing a clinical-grade assessment to a device millions of people already carry in their pocket.
Let’s dive in.
💰 Funding rounds
Berlin-based Cortea raised €12m Seed and launched its first Audit Quality Agents to help audit firms improve audit quality and increase capacity across the audit process. Read more here.
Paris-based Rocapine raised €11.2m Series A to scale its portfolio of AI-native wellness apps and expand its model of building apps designed to improve wellbeing rather than maximise screen time. Read more here.
Madrid and Munich-based Causa Prima raised $10m pre-Seed to build a network where AI agents automatically handle invoices, disputes and payment terms between buyers and suppliers. Read more here.
Ghent-based Rainbow Crops raised €9.7m Seed to advance its AI-powered gene editing platform for developing climate-resilient and high-performing crop varieties. Read more here.
Malmö-based Lightbringer raised €8.6m Series A to expand into the US and develop its AI-powered patent platform, which aims to replace traditional patent firms and help DeepTech companies secure intellectual property faster and at lower cost. Read more here.
Barcelona-based Gate2Brain raised €7m and secured strategic partnership with Shilpa Biocare to advance its brain tumour treatments and expand its technology for delivering therapies across the blood-brain barrier. Read more here.
Prague-based Sloneek raised $6m to expand its AI-powered HR platform across Europe, launch in the UK and Poland, and develop its vision of an agentic HR platform. Read more here.
Helsinki-based eMabler raised €5.5m Series A to expand its EV charging software platform across Europe and develop grid-aware charging solutions. Read more here.
Finland-based GitHits raised €1.5m pre-Seed to build what it calls the “Google of code search”, helping AI coding agents find open-source implementations, inspect software components and reduce retry loops. Read more here.
Berlin-based WhyBrilliant raised €1m pre-Seed backed by Merantix to scale its AI-powered hiring platform, which matches candidates and employers through AI agents instead of traditional job applications. Read more here.
🌱 Startup news
Toronto-based Cohere is tripling its London footprint as the $20bn AI company expands its R&D presence in the UK and continues to position itself as a sovereign alternative to OpenAI and Anthropic. Read more here.
London-based Skin Analytics launched an AI-powered skin cancer assessment tool that can autonomously deliver clinical decisions from a standard smartphone. Read more here.
💡 Other news
Copenhagen-based Good Tape launched Names, a global initiative supporting journalists and media workers, alongside a grant programme offering funding to independent storytellers around the world. Read more here.
📣 Fund news
London-based BAE Systems committed €50m to VC funds managed by Lakestar and Expeditions to help European defence startups scale and bring advanced defence technologies to market faster. 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.
Helsinki-based Wave Ventures closed its third fund at €10m and launched a €240k founder grant programme to support early-stage entrepreneurs across the Nordics. Read more here.
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