Some Good (Startup) News to kick off 2025

Happy New Year everyone!

We hope you had a great start in 2025! To make it even better, here are some fresh insights, news and opportunities related to startups and venture capital in Europe:

🦄 Speaker Announcement: Gero Decker will join us for a fireside chat at the EU-Startups Summit. Gero founded Signavio in 2009 in Berlin, bootstrapped it for several years, mastered Enterprise SaaS sales with his team, then raised about $229 million, scaled the company to unicorn status and sold it to SAP in 2022 for over $1 billion. Signavio today is the leading process transformation provider in the world, and Gero is now the General Manager of SAP Signavio and Co-Managing Director of SAP in Berlin.

⭐ Europe's Rising Startup Stars: As every year, we like to start big! In the following weeks, you’ll see how we dive into the most promising early-stage startups from each European country that you should be keeping an eye on. Last week we started with Austria, and this week, we continued with Belgium and Bulgaria taking the spotlight. Dive right in!

📊 StepUp Startups Report: The European Commission has unveiled a new report, "Beyond Fragmentation," outlining strategies to unify Europe’s startup ecosystems and address challenges such as funding gaps and regulatory hurdles. Download it here.

🤖 AI Funding Boom continues:

• AI-powered drug discovery: Vienna-based biotech startup Graph Therapeutics raised €3 million to tackle inflammatory diseases.

• London-based VitVio secured €1.8 million for AI-powered operating rooms in hospitals.

• Cambridge-based RoboK landed €1.1 million for safety in UK logistics with its AI-powered PALLETS initiative.

 ⌛ You’re never too young/old to start up! A few days ago, we highlighted the journeys of 15 superstar entrepreneurs who launched their very successful ventures before turning 30 and 10 inspiring founders who started their entrepreneurial journeys after 50. 

💸 Fresh Funds: 

• Superhero Capital just launched 4th fund to invest in technology startups in Finland and the Baltics.

• Paris-based 360 Capital announced the 1st closing of its €140 million climate tech fund 360 LIFE II.

• Capricorn Partners secures €51 million for Health-tech Fund II’s first close

🦄 EU-Startups Podcast: In episode 101 we caught up with Bennett Barth, Co-founder and Managing Director of RESPOND, a leading European accelerator for climate tech entrepreneurs. 

In a few days we're going to announce the prize package and jury for our big Pitch Competition. Stay tuned! :) The finals will be held at the EU-Startups Summit, and we're currently accepting applications for the pitch competition.

That's it for this week. We hope you continue having a great start in 2025, and we hope this will be your healthiest, happiest and most successful year ever!

Your EU-Startups Team