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Scaling Europe Daily - 21.5.

Daily · Substack · 21 May 2026

Scaling Europe Daily - 21.5.

Primer has the biggest round today, raising €86.2m to expand its AI payments capabilities and grow further in the US. Deeptech is also strong, with CircuitHub raising $28m for automated electronics manufacturing and Dunia Innovations announcing plans for a €280m GigaLab in Berlin. Deel also named the five winners of its global $15m pitch competition after more than 50,000 applications.

Let’s dive in.


💰 Funding rounds

  • London-based Primer raised €86.2m Series C to expand its AI payments capabilities and grow further in the US. Read more here.

  • UK-founded CircuitHub raised $28m to expand its automated electronics manufacturing platform across the US and Europe, turning circuit board designs into production-ready boards in days. Read more here.

  • Paris-based Prelude raised €17.2m Series A to expand its onboarding and trust infrastructure platform, helping companies verify users, reduce fraud and improve conversion. Read more here.

  • Switzerland-based Neurosoft Bioelectronics raised $7.5m Seed to develop minimally invasive brain-computer interfaces. Read more here.

  • UK-based QuberTech raised £3.4m in combined grant funding and equity investment to develop sustainable natural rubber from engineered dandelions and reduce reliance on tropical rubber imports. Read more here.

  • Newcastle-based Rightbrain AI raised £3m to help B2B services businesses build and deploy AI agents inside the tools their teams already use. Read more here.

  • London-based Infrawatch raised $3m pre-Seed to build infrastructure intelligence technology for cyber threat detection and online fraud prevention. Read more here.

  • Zurich-based AVIAN raised €2.2m pre-Seed to scale its AI thermal monitoring platform that helps industrial operators detect fire risks before they become disasters. Read more here.

  • Freiburg-based Qurie raised €2.2m Seed to develop refrigeration systems that work without compressors or refrigerants. Read more here.

  • Barcelona-based Overwatch AI raised $1.5m pre-Seed to help airline teams access critical flight information and improve operational decision-making. Read more here.

  • Dublin-based Better Futures raised €600k to expand EVA, its AI platform for automating engineering documentation in regulated industries. Read more here.

🌱 Startup news

  • Berlin-based Dunia Innovations announced plans for a €280m GigaLab to industrialise AI-driven materials discovery for sectors including batteries, semiconductors and clean manufacturing. Read more here.

💡 Other news

  • Deel announced Zeely, Smartbricks, nybl, Acceler8 and Alpic as the five winners of its global $15m pitch competition, after receiving more than 50,000 applications and hosting the final in Paris with 84 regional finalists competing for $1m in investment. Read more here.

📣 Fund news

  • Athens-based Skybound Venture Capital secured a $38m first close for its deeptech fund to back early-stage founders building across infrastructure, advanced computing and bioengineering. Read more here.

🎪 Events

  • Latitude59 – May 20–22, 2026, Tallinn, Estonia. Read more here.

  • Deep Tech Momentum 2026 – May 20–21, Wilhelm Studios, Germany. Read more here.

  • Swiss startup days 2026 – May 20–21, Bern, Switzerland. Read more here.


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Originally published on Substack.