M&A and Fundraising Analysis for September 17, 2026 SUBTITLE=== Defense, sovereign AI, and autonomous robotics attract major capital in Europe — while Apollo restructures Bayer and Cohere acquires Aleph Alpha to compete with US giants. ===BODY=== The day reveals three distinct trends: defense and autonomous robotics are attracting significant investments on both sides of the Rhine, enterprise AI is entering a phase of transatlantic consolidation, and private capital continues to devise creative arrangements to refinance industrial companies under pressure. In parallel, a cluster of European fundraisings in cybersecurity, compliance, and automated accounting confirms that the invisible infrastructure of the digital economy is finding buyers — discreetly, but consistently. # 🤝 M&A Transactions ## Thales acquires Exail Technologies: when underwater sovereignty has a price **Thales** is set to acquire **Exail Technologies** for **€3.9 billion**, or €134 per share. The specialist in maritime drones, inertial navigation systems, and underwater robotics reported a 43% increase in recurring EBITDA to €63 million in the first half of 2026. The target was previously controlled by the Gorgé family. The immediate interpretation is simple: Thales is completing its defense portfolio by acquiring an autonomous underwater component at a time when European navies are rearming. Exail offers the capability to map seabeds, detect mines, and conduct surveillance missions without exposing crews — exactly what military commands have been ordering since 2022. *However, the implied multiple deserves attention: €3.9 billion for a company generating approximately €125 million in annualized EBITDA (extrapolating from the first half) represents a multiple of about 30x — generous even for a growing defense asset. What is being acquired is not just the order book, but the technological barrier to entry: inertial navigation algorithms and underwater acoustic sensors cannot be improvised, and once integrated into the operational doctrines of allied navies, they become almost irreplaceable. Thales is paying the price for a potential monopoly, not for a cash flow.* For a French or European defense industrialist, the signal is clear: autonomous robotics assets for military use are now valued as critical infrastructure, not as technology SMEs. The window for premium sales is closing as major groups make their acquisitions. ## TotalEnergies invests €100 million in Mistral AI: the sovereignty of reservoir data **TotalEnergies** formalizes a **€100 million** three-year partnership with **Mistral AI** to develop specialized AI models for geosciences and oil exploration. A joint scientific laboratory will be created; TotalEnergies brings a data heritage estimated at nearly 10 petaflops of seismic and reservoir history. The official narrative is one of sovereign pivot: after Google Cloud in 2018, the group chooses a French partner, signaling an awareness of dependence on American hyperscalers for sensitive industrial data. *What is more interesting is the nature of the asset TotalEnergies brings to the table. Ten petaflops of historical geoscience data is a resource that no one else possesses — neither Mistral, nor OpenAI, nor any competitor. By including them in the training loop, TotalEnergies is not simply outsourcing AI: it is co-producing a frontier model that only it can fully exploit, and for which it implicitly retains strategic intellectual property. The technological partner here becomes a service provider for an asset that the client owns. This is a reversal of the usual power dynamic between a large industrial group and an AI startup — and it explains why €100 million is sufficient where an American cloud would have demanded much more.* For innovation departments of large French groups: the real leverage in negotiations with AI labs is your proprietary data, not your budget. The one who brings an irreplaceable corpus dictates the terms. ## Cohere acquires Aleph Alpha: a European enterprise AI champion emerges **Cohere** (Canada) and **Aleph Alpha** (Germany) announce their merger in a definitive agreement. The combined entity will retain the Cohere brand, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin; Ilhan Scheer, co-CEO of Aleph Alpha, will become Chief Operating Officer. The combined valuation is announced at $20 billion. Crucially: **Schwarz Group** (parent company of Lidl and Kaufland) invests **€500 million** in the company and commits to deploying up to **€13 billion** in compute via its cloud subsidiary **StackIT**. The surface reading: two enterprise AI outsiders merge to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic in the large enterprise and European government segments. *The true architecture of this operation lies elsewhere. Schwarz Group is not a financial investor: it is the world's second-largest retailer, a machine for processing consumer data on a scale few players can imagine. By injecting €500 million and guaranteeing €13 billion in compute via StackIT, it is not seeking venture returns — it is acquiring a captive, sovereign AI infrastructure, sized for its own operational needs, while mutualizing costs with third-party clients. This is the same reasoning as Amazon with AWS: build for oneself, monetize externally. Aleph Alpha brought regulatory credibility and the relationship with German and European governments; Cohere brought technical depth and an Anglo-Saxon customer base. Schwarz brings the compute and the guarantee of demand. The three legs of the stool.* For a French decision-maker evaluating sovereign AI options: this combined entity becomes the most serious European alternative for public contracts and regulated industries. To be watched closely. ## EasyMile joins Alvest to create TLD Robotics: consolidation of autonomous vehicles accelerates The **Alvest** group announces the acquisition of Toulouse-based **EasyMile** and its joint venture **TractEasy** (autonomous airport vehicles) to create **TLD Robotics**, an entity dedicated to driverless ground operations. The amount was not disclosed. The new entity brings together over 35 operational sites worldwide and claims 50,000 autonomous missions completed. *EasyMile was a pioneer but had not managed to cross the threshold of large-scale industrial profitability — a recurring pattern in autonomous vehicles, where technology precedes the business model by several years. Alvest, a specialist in airport ground support equipment, brings what the startup lacked: a captive customer base (airports and airlines it already works with), a seasoned sales force, and operational credibility in constrained environments. The creation of TLD Robotics transforms an innovation into a distributed industrial product — this is the difference between having a technology and having a market.* Three years after the acquisition of Navya in receivership, the French consolidation of autonomous vehicles follows the same scenario: independent pioneers come under industrial ownership. For investors still exposed to unprofitable autonomous assets, the message is clear. ## Apollo and KKR refinance Bayer for €3 billion: the art of selling without selling **Apollo** and **KKR** have finalized a **€3 billion** capital solution for **Bayer**. The mechanism: the two funds invest in equity in a newly created entity that holds the German group's long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) division. Bayer retains a majority stake and full operational control. KKR joined Apollo as a significant minority participant. Bayer carries colossal debt inherited from the acquisition of Monsanto and an ongoing glyphosate litigation. Divesting assets entirely would be costly in terms of valuation and a signal of distress. This arrangement solves the equation: Bayer monetizes part of LARC's value without losing control, without triggering a divestment premium, and by presenting Apollo's entry as strategic validation rather than a forced sale. *This is a sign of the times: when large industrial companies can no longer sell without devaluing themselves and can no longer hold on without suffocating, private capital invents hybrid structures — neither debt, nor divestment, nor merger — that allow value to circulate without transferring control. Apollo calls this "High Grade Capital Solutions"; in reality, it is a quasi-annuity on an asset guaranteed by the strength of an iconic group. For Bayer, the cost of this liquidity is opaque but real: it is in the return Apollo demands, invisible in the accounts but very present in future cash flows.* For financial departments of large groups under debt pressure: this type of arrangement exists, it can be negotiated, and it preserves the strategic narrative. But it comes at a price not mentioned in the press release. ## KKR in exclusive talks for Logoplaste: integrated packaging resurfaces **KKR** is in exclusive negotiations to acquire Portuguese company **Logoplaste** for approximately **€1.7 billion**, after **Apax Partners** withdrew from the process. Logoplaste is a manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging that operates on an "in-house" model: its factories are literally built inside its clients' sites (Unilever, P&G, Nestlé). *This model deserves attention. A Logoplaste factory installed on a client's site cannot be dislodged in six months: the cost of switching suppliers is structurally prohibitive. It is not a supply contract; it is a disguised operational joint venture. KKR is therefore buying not a packaging manufacturer, but an annuity on its clients' production chain — a remarkable defensive position in a sector otherwise under regulatory pressure regarding plastic. The question KKR will have answered is: does the transition to sustainable packaging threaten this model, or is Logoplaste precisely the partner that large FMCG companies will want to keep in-house to manage this transition?* ## Vitruvian acquires Atresmedia's stake in Fever for €227 million **Vitruvian Partners** acquires the entire stake of Spanish media group **Atresmedia** in the events platform **Fever** for **€227 million**. Fever, which operates globally, connects consumers with local experiences (concerts, immersive exhibitions, gastronomy) via a personalized recommendation app. Atresmedia makes a clean exit after a period of strong growth. For Vitruvian, already a shareholder in Fever, this is a consolidation of its position rather than an entry: the fund increases its exposure to an asset it knows, at a time when in-person experience platforms are benefiting from structural post-pandemic consumer appetite. *What is notable: a traditional media group exits a digital events platform with a significant capital gain, while a growth fund deepens its involvement. Capital rotates between two different theses — Atresmedia bet on media/events convergence, Vitruvian bets on the scalability of an experience distribution infrastructure. These are not the same bets, and not the same horizon.* ## Quorum Cyber acquires Ontinue: towards an autonomous Microsoft-centric SOC **Quorum Cyber** announces its intention to acquire Swiss company **Ontinue**, a specialist in threat detection and response (MDR) with an "agentic" architecture and deep integration into the **Microsoft** ecosystem. The amount was not disclosed. The logic is one of ecosystem specialization: in a cybersecurity market fragmenting between generalists and specialists, betting on Microsoft as a single foundation allows for building a depth of integration that a multi-stack player cannot achieve. Ontinue brings incident response automation capabilities that reduce the need for human analysts on the front line — a strong commercial argument in a market where cyber talent is scarce and expensive. ## Hy24 and COFIDES take 29% in Moeve's Onuba hydrogen project **Hy24** (clean hydrogen specialized manager) and **COFIDES** (Spanish public-private financial institution) sign a partnership with **Moeve** to jointly acquire **29%** of the **Onuba** renewable hydrogen project, located in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva). Moeve retains 51% and project leadership; Enagas Renovable and Alter Enersun complete the funding round. This partnership replaces the share initially reserved for Emirati Masdar, which had withdrawn. The replacement of Masdar by Hy24 and COFIDES is itself a signal: Gulf sovereign capital has withdrawn, and specialized European capital is taking over. European energy sovereignty, here, is also financed by Europe — which was not a given eighteen months ago. ## HMS launches friendly takeover bid for Robot S.A. to strengthen its home automation offering **HMS Networks** (Swedish, industrial communication specialist) launches a friendly public takeover bid for Spanish company **Robot S.A.**, a player in building automation solutions. Amount undisclosed. HMS continues to expand its portfolio beyond industrial networks into building automation — a growing market driven by energy efficiency and smart management requirements. Robot S.A. brings an Iberian presence and building automation expertise that HMS complements with its communication protocols. ## Durst Group acquires MPS Printing: digital-flexographic hybridization in labels **Durst Group** (Italian, industrial digital printing) signs the acquisition of Dutch company **MPS Printing**, a manufacturer of flexographic systems for labels and flexible packaging. Effective integration on January 1, 2027, amount undisclosed. MPS's management team remains in place. Durst is building a hybrid offering that combines digital printing and flexography — two complementary technologies that label converters often use in parallel. The acquisition shortens development cycles and allows for offering integrated lines, a decisive argument against large groups seeking to reduce the number of their equipment suppliers. ## Lexit Group acquires Signal Partners Group: Nordic consolidation of enterprise mobile solutions **Lexit Group** announces the acquisition of Finnish company **Signal Partners Group** (Signal Partners Oy and distributor Kauko Oy), a specialist in enterprise mobility solutions, data capture, and EMM management. The Nordic group now reaches **SEK 2.5 billion** in revenue and 450 employees after this third acquisition of the year (following Optidev in Sweden and Norris Print-Tech in Denmark). Lexit is executing a disciplined Nordic build-up: each acquisition adds a complementary geography or skill, and Signal Partners strengthens the Finnish position initiated with Informa Oy in 2023. Sectoral consistency (enterprise mobility, data capture, lifecycle management) maintains the clarity of the offering despite the integration speed. ## Einride and Lidl deploy first cab-less autonomous truck on public road in Germany **Einride** (Swedish) and **Lidl** (a subsidiary of **Schwarz Group**) deploy the first SAE Level 4 autonomous truck without a cab or safety operator on a public road in Germany, under official permit from the KBA (Federal Motor Transport Authority). The vehicle connects a warehouse to a Lidl store in real commercial operation. This is not a pilot: it is a commercial operation under regulatory permit in the European country with the strictest road safety standards. *The real news is not technical — it is administrative: the KBA has granted a permit, which means a regulatory framework now exists for scaling up. The bottleneck was not technology; it was certification. It has just been removed.* ## Septeo acquires Adresio: consolidation of student residence management software **Septeo Hospitality** announces the acquisition of **Adresio**, a French software publisher for student residence management. The combined entity now equips over 150 residences and 30,000 student accommodations in France and Europe, via Adresio and Resalys solutions. Amount undisclosed. Septeo is building a vertical platform for student accommodation by consolidating administrative, rental, and commercial management tools. The integration of Adresio complements Resalys for medium and long stays — a segment technically distinct from short-term bookings. In a fragmented market underserved by specialized software, critical mass is a direct commercial advantage. ## LocaCuisines acquires SERT: from kitchen rental to mobile solutions for Defense **Le Groupe Alvad** (parent company of **LocaCuisines**, French leader in modular kitchen rental) announces the acquisition of **SERT**, the national leader in mobile living solutions (catering, sanitary, laundry) for Defense and Civil Security. The operation is supported by **Bpifrance** and **BNP Paribas Développement**. The industrial logic is clear: LocaCuisines mastered the civilian sector, SERT masters the military and civil security sectors. The new entity covers the entire value chain of mobile catering and hygiene solutions, with two distinct clienteles but common logistical expertise. Bpifrance's presence in the financing anchors the operation in a national industry logic. ## VINCI Energies acquires Heliro in Thuringia: densification of industrial automation in Germany **VINCI Energies** announces the acquisition of **Heliro Steuer- und Regeltechnik GmbH**, a 35-person company based in Ilmenau (Thuringia, Germany), specializing in industrial process automation (PLC, robotics, plant engineering). 2025 revenue: €4.3 million. The integration will be under the industrial brand **Actemium**. VINCI Energies continues its strategy of geographical and technical densification in Germany through small, complementary acquisitions. Heliro strengthens Actemium's presence in Thuringia and adds capabilities for small-series manufacturing and prototyping — a useful niche for industrial clients who need customized solutions without going through a large integrator. # 🚀 Fundraisings ## Helsing raises €600 million: Daniel Ek makes autonomous defense his big bet **Helsing** (Munich), an AI specialist for defense, closes a **€600 million** funding round led by **Prima Materia**, the investment vehicle of Daniel Ek, Spotify's founder. The valuation reaches **€12 billion**. Helsing, which has equipped thousands of strike drones in Ukraine and signed contracts with the UK, Germany, and Sweden, is now expanding its scope beyond software to autonomous drones, aircraft, and submarines. Helsing is perhaps the most coherent player in European technological defense: founded in 2021, it built a real operational reputation on the Ukrainian ground before raising at this valuation. This is not a bet on a future market; it is a valuation of an already established position. *What is structurally remarkable: Daniel Ek, via Prima Materia, becomes the main financier of a European defense company valued at €12 billion. A digital entertainment entrepreneur financing the continent's autonomous weaponry — this is a sign that technological defense has moved out of the niche of specialized funds and into the portfolios of major private allocators. The line between growth capital and sovereignty capital is blurring, and this is likely irreversible.* ## Apollo / Bayer LARC — see M&A section *(This operation is covered in the M&A section above, as the equity structure in a dedicated entity falls under a structured equity investment, not a primary fundraising.)* ## Hackuity raises €16 million: vulnerability management seeks scalability **Hackuity** (Lyon), an AI-powered vulnerability management platform, closes a **€16 million** round led by **Forgepoint Capital International**, with participation from **Bright Pixel**, **Bpifrance**, and **Seventure Partners**. Total funding reaches €32 million. The funds target product innovation, strengthening AI capabilities, and expansion in Europe and Asia. The company protects over 2 million assets for more than 6,000 users. Hackuity addresses a concrete and chronic problem: security teams are overwhelmed by vulnerability alerts and have no rational way to prioritize without a dedicated tool. AI-powered prioritization — which considers business context, real exposure, and criticality — is the core value proposition. Forgepoint, a specialized cyber fund, brings valuable sectoral credibility for commercial openings outside France. ## Delos raises €10 million: AI employees enter business processes **Delos** (Paris), a publisher of "autonomous AI employees" capable of executing end-to-end professional tasks, closes a **Series A of €10 million** led by **Bpifrance**, **C4 Ventures**, and **Founders Future**. The company claims 300 corporate clients, approximately 2,000 active AI Workers, and strong recurring revenue growth. Founded in 2023 by Pierre and Thibaut de la Grand'rive. *The distinction Delos seeks to embody is precise: not an assistant who suggests, but an agent who executes and whose operational results can be measured. 300 clients in less than three years with 2,000 active workers is real traction — but the true test will be retention and expansion within accounts, which will reveal whether the agent delivers on its promises long-term or stops at simple use cases. This is where the difference between a demonstration tool and a work infrastructure is played out.* ## Bpifrance and Multicroissance invest in Fimac **Bpifrance** and **Multicroissance** invest in **Fimac**, a Toulouse-based company specializing in ERP solution integration for SMEs. Amount undisclosed. A classic growth operation in software integration for SMEs — a buoyant segment as industrial SMEs seek to modernize their management tools. The joint presence of Bpifrance and a regional fund like Multicroissance is a well-established growth financing model for this type of target. ## Veridion raises €18 million: real-time business intelligence **Veridion** (Romania) raises **€18 million** in Series A, led by **Hoxton Ventures**, with participation from **Underline Ventures**, **OTB Ventures**, **Gapminder**, **Day One Capital**, and **Launchub**. The company has developed a "living business graph" covering approximately 640 million companies worldwide, continuously updated from billions of digital signals (websites, public registries, product catalogs, social networks, press). *The problem Veridion addresses is structural: traditional business intelligence databases are built on quarterly or annual updates, in a world where a company can change markets, suppliers, or solvency in a few weeks. For banks, insurers, and funds making credit or investment decisions, the gap between available data and on-the-ground reality is a source of unpriced risk. Veridion sells the reduction of this gap — an increasingly valuable asset as economic and geopolitical volatility sets in.* ## Integral raises €18 million: automated accounting with maintained human responsibility **Integral** (Berlin) closes a **Series A of €18 million** co-led by **Mosaic Ventures** and **Reid Hoffman**, with participation from **Cherry Ventures**, **General Catalyst**, and **Puzzle Ventures**. Total funding exceeds €30 million in less than two years. Integral combines an AI accounting, tax, and payroll platform for SMEs with **Integral Tax**, a licensed professional services firm that runs entirely on the platform and whose experts validate, correct, and legally sign every deliverable. *Integral's model is the most intellectually rigorous of the "AI in regulated services" wave: rather than selling a tool to existing firms (who have every reason to resist), Integral creates its own firm and makes it the first client. AI automates, the licensed professional supervises and signs — legal responsibility remains human, but the productivity leverage is real. Since early 2026, each Integral Tax professional serves twice as many clients as before. This is the model that solves the question all firms avoid: not "how will AI help me?" but "who is responsible when AI makes a mistake?"* ## Complir raises €10 million: automating product compliance at SKU level **Complir** (Copenhagen) raises **€10 million** in seed funding, led by **General Catalyst**, with angels and specialized funds. Founded in 2024, the company automates product regulatory compliance for retailers and brands managing large portfolios across multiple markets. The round follows a $2 million pre-seed in December 2025. Product compliance is a discreet operational hell: thousands of SKUs, regulations varying by country and category, continuous updates (safety, packaging, batteries, data). Complir maps each product against applicable regulations and monitors changes at the individual SKU level. The announced savings — 15 hours and approximately $700 per product iteration — is an immediately quantifiable commercial argument for buyers. ## Expanse raises €5 million: predicting GPU needs before waste occurs **Expanse** (Edinburgh, UCL spinout) raises **€5 million** in seed funding, led by **Crane Venture Partners**, with **PXN Group**, **AIP Seed**, and angels from **DeepMind**. The software predicts the GPU, CPU, and memory needs of each AI workload before execution, eliminating over-allocation at the source. *Compute waste in AI environments is massive and structural: operators over-allocate as a precaution, jobs reserve resources they don't use, and no one knows until the job is finished. Expanse reverses the logic: it predicts before, not after. In a single pilot deployment, the company claims to have identified nearly $8 million in idle compute in one month. As AI infrastructure costs become a visible budget line for CIOs, a tool that measurably reduces this waste becomes an almost obvious purchase.* ## Quartz raises €3 million in pre-seed: the personal financial advisor for everyone **Quartz** (London) raises **€3 million** in pre-seed funding, led by **Daphni**, with **Outward VC** and **K Fund**, and angels including Kantox founder Philippe Gelis and former N26 and Kraken CPO Gilles BianRosa. The application aggregates a user's pensions, ISAs, savings, and investments and couples them with "Charlie," an intelligence that monitors markets and alerts the user to what matters to them. Launching in the UK today. Co-founded by André Silva (former Head of Global Expansion at Revolut) and Mateus Mesquita Alves (former N26). The founding team is serious — Revolut, N26, Kraken — and the proposition addresses a real problem: personalized wealth management is reserved for affluent clients, while mass-market products are standardized and offer little guidance. Quartz attempts to bridge this gap. The main risk is monetization: aggregating data without providing regulated advice limits direct revenue, and conversion to a premium model will be the true test of the value proposition. ## AcouBatt raises €1 million: listening inside batteries to manufacture them better **AcouBatt** (London, UCL spinout) raises **€1 million** in pre-seed funding, led by **Creator Fund**, with **Ada Ventures**. The company is developing a battery diagnostic system using acoustic emission and AI, allowing real-time monitoring of formation processes inside cells during manufacturing — a phase where manufacturers currently have almost no visibility. The promise is precise: reduce cell formation time by up to 30% and detect defects before the batch is finished, reducing rejection rates. In a sector where battery manufacturing is a critical bottleneck for the electric transition, any efficiency gain at this stage has direct economic value. Pre-seed ticket consistent with the development stage. 📩 Subscribe to our newsletter to follow daily M&A and fundraising news: https://proplace.co/newsletter ===WHYS=== 1. would strengthen their European presence and expertise in sustainable logistics, following the merger with WDP 2. Their expertise in revitalizing brownfield sites and multi-story warehouses would complement their European logistics expansion 3. the acquirer seeks to expand their offering in autonomous underwater robotics and RaaS services, capitalizing on Exail's expertise 4. Their expertise in high-performance underwater solutions and profiling floats would complement their maritime drone offering, strengthening their positioning 5. the acquirer seeks to expand their offering of autonomous underwater robotics and RaaS services, capitalizing on the acquisition of Exail

September 17, 2026 · Proplace

🌐 Translated from the French original by AI — the French version is authoritative.

Open this edition in the cockpit →Every deal of the day, unfolded, evaluable in one click.

🤝Signed-deals stream · 3636 in the edition · 31 evaluable in the cockpit

LIVEM&ASEPTEMBER 17, 2026

15 deals

2 Md€ closed

1KKR en négociation exclusive pour acquérir Logoplaste (Portugal) pour 1,7 milliard d'euros1,7 Md€

2Vitruvian Partners acquiert Fever (plateforme événements) pour 227 millions d'euros227 M€

3TotalEnergies investit 100 M€ sur 3 ans avec Mistral AI100 M€

4Alvest rachète EasyMile (véhicules autonomes, Toulouse) pour créer TLD Robotics

proplace.co/actualites · +11

• Acciona Energía

  EQT et fonds souverain Norvège forment consortium pour Acciona Energía

  M&ASpainPublic
  peinsights.substack.com
• Adresio

  Septeo acquiert Adresio (logiciels résidences étudiantes) pour renforcer sa position européenne

  M&AFranceExited (Acquired / Buyout)

  Septeo acquires Adresio: consolidation of student residence management software

  Source: tendancehotellerie.fr →

  Septeo Hospitality announces the acquisition of Adresio, a French software publisher for student residence management. The combined entity now equips over 150 residences and 30,000 student accommodations in France and Europe, via Adresio and Resalys solutions. Amount undisclosed.

  Septeo is building a vertical platform for student accommodation by consolidating administrative, rental, and commercial management tools. The integration of Adresio complements Resalys for medium and long stays — a segment technically distinct from short-term bookings. In a fragmented market underserved by specialized software, critical mass is a direct commercial advantage.

• ALATYR

  ALATYR et Scaleway créent premier datacenter orbital souverain

  M&AFranceSeed
  refrance.fr
• Aleph Alpha

  Cohere et Aleph Alpha fusionnent pour marché IA entreprise

  M&AGermany500 M€Exited (Acquired / Buyout)

  Cohere acquires Aleph Alpha: a European enterprise AI champion emerges

  Source: reuters.com → · Sector B2B Software & Cloud — 📬 subscribe to the B2B Software & Cloud newsletter

  Cohere (Canada) and Aleph Alpha (Germany) announce their merger in a definitive agreement. The combined entity will retain the Cohere brand, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin; Ilhan Scheer, co-CEO of Aleph Alpha, will become Chief Operating Officer. The combined valuation is announced at $20 billion. Crucially: Schwarz Group (parent company of Lidl and Kaufland) invests €500 million in the company and commits to deploying up to €13 billion in compute via its cloud subsidiary StackIT.

  The surface reading: two enterprise AI outsiders merge to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic in the large enterprise and European government segments.

  The true architecture of this operation lies elsewhere. Schwarz Group is not a financial investor: it is the world's second-largest retailer, a machine for processing consumer data on a scale few players can imagine. By injecting €500 million and guaranteeing €13 billion in compute via StackIT, it is not seeking venture returns — it is acquiring a captive, sovereign AI infrastructure, sized for its own operational needs, while mutualizing costs with third-party clients. This is the same reasoning as Amazon with AWS: build for oneself, monetize externally. Aleph Alpha brought regulatory credibility and the relationship with German and European governments; Cohere brought technical depth and an Anglo-Saxon customer base. Schwarz brings the compute and the guarantee of demand. The three legs of the stool.

  For a French decision-maker evaluating sovereign AI options: this combined entity becomes the most serious European alternative for public contracts and regulated industries. To be watched closely.

• Bitpanda

  Bitpanda : Christian Trummer revient en tant que co-PDG

  M&AAustria
  trendingtopics.eu
• Docaposte

  Fatima Berral prend la tête de Docaposte

  M&AFrance
  lyon-entreprises.com
• EasyMile

  Alvest rachète EasyMile (véhicules autonomes, Toulouse) pour créer TLD Robotics

  M&AFranceExited (Acquired / Buyout)

  EasyMile joins Alvest to create TLD Robotics: consolidation of autonomous vehicles accelerates

  Source: latribune.fr → · Sector Industrial Tech & Manufacturing — 📬 subscribe to the Industrial Tech & Manufacturing newsletter

  The Alvest group announces the acquisition of Toulouse-based EasyMile and its joint venture TractEasy (autonomous airport vehicles) to create TLD Robotics, an entity dedicated to driverless ground operations. The amount was not disclosed. The new entity brings together over 35 operational sites worldwide and claims 50,000 autonomous missions completed.

  EasyMile was a pioneer but had not managed to cross the threshold of large-scale industrial profitability — a recurring pattern in autonomous vehicles, where technology precedes the business model by several years. Alvest, a specialist in airport ground support equipment, brings what the startup lacked: a captive customer base (airports and airlines it already works with), a seasoned sales force, and operational credibility in constrained environments. The creation of TLD Robotics transforms an innovation into a distributed industrial product — this is the difference between having a technology and having a market.

  Three years after the acquisition of Navya in receivership, the French consolidation of autonomous vehicles follows the same scenario: independent pioneers come under industrial ownership. For investors still exposed to unprofitable autonomous assets, the message is clear.

• Einride

  Einride et Lidl déploient premier camion autonome sans cabine

  M&ASweden

  Einride and Lidl deploy first cab-less autonomous truck on public road in Germany

  Source: tech.eu →

  Einride (Swedish) and Lidl (a subsidiary of Schwarz Group) deploy the first SAE Level 4 autonomous truck without a cab or safety operator on a public road in Germany, under official permit from the KBA (Federal Motor Transport Authority). The vehicle connects a warehouse to a Lidl store in real commercial operation.

  This is not a pilot: it is a commercial operation under regulatory permit in the European country with the strictest road safety standards. The real news is not technical — it is administrative: the KBA has granted a permit, which means a regulatory framework now exists for scaling up. The bottleneck was not technology; it was certification. It has just been removed.

• Exail Technologies

  Thales reprend Exail Technologies (drones maritimes) pour 3,9 milliards d'euros

  M&AFrance3,9 Md€Exited (Acquired / Buyout)

  Thales acquires Exail Technologies: when underwater sovereignty has a price

  Source: renseignementeconomique.fr →

  Thales is set to acquire Exail Technologies for €3.9 billion, or €134 per share. The specialist in maritime drones, inertial navigation systems, and underwater robotics reported a 43% increase in recurring EBITDA to €63 million in the first half of 2026. The target was previously controlled by the Gorgé family.

  The immediate interpretation is simple: Thales is completing its defense portfolio by acquiring an autonomous underwater component at a time when European navies are rearming. Exail offers the capability to map seabeds, detect mines, and conduct surveillance missions without exposing crews — exactly what military commands have been ordering since 2022.

  However, the implied multiple deserves attention: €3.9 billion for a company generating approximately €125 million in annualized EBITDA (extrapolating from the first half) represents a multiple of about 30x — generous even for a growing defense asset. What is being acquired is not just the order book, but the technological barrier to entry: inertial navigation algorithms and underwater acoustic sensors cannot be improvised, and once integrated into the operational doctrines of allied navies, they become almost irreplaceable. Thales is paying the price for a potential monopoly, not for a cash flow.

  For a French or European defense industrialist, the signal is clear: autonomous robotics assets for military use are now valued as critical infrastructure, not as technology SMEs. The window for premium sales is closing as major groups make their acquisitions.

• Fever

  Vitruvian Partners acquiert Fever (plateforme événements) pour 227 millions d'euros

  M&ASpain227 M€Exited (Acquired / Buyout)

  Vitruvian acquires Atresmedia's stake in Fever for €227 million

  Source: inforcapital.com →

  Vitruvian Partners acquires the entire stake of Spanish media group Atresmedia in the events platform Fever for €227 million. Fever, which operates globally, connects consumers with local experiences (concerts, immersive exhibitions, gastronomy) via a personalized recommendation app.

  Atresmedia makes a clean exit after a period of strong growth. For Vitruvian, already a shareholder in Fever, this is a consolidation of its position rather than an entry: the fund increases its exposure to an asset it knows, at a time when in-person experience platforms are benefiting from structural post-pandemic consumer appetite.

  What is notable: a traditional media group exits a digital events platform with a significant capital gain, while a growth fund deepens its involvement. Capital rotates between two different theses — Atresmedia bet on media/events convergence, Vitruvian bets on the scalability of an experience distribution infrastructure. These are not the same bets, and not the same horizon.

• GoodBytz

  GoodBytz lance Emma, robot cuisine autonome

  M&AGermany
  foodinfotech.com
• Grape Up

  Grape Up débute Aiboostr, gouvernance IA et LLM privés

  M&AEurope
  prnewswire.co.uk
• Heliro Steuer- und Regeltechnik

  VINCI Energies acquiert Heliro Steuer- und Regeltechnik (systèmes de contrôle, Allemagne)

  M&AGermanyExited (Acquired / Buyout)
  vinci-energies.com
• IDKIDS

  IDKIDS en redressement judiciaire, encadré par cabinets d'avocats spécialisés

  M&AFrance
  lagazettefrance.fr
• Lidl

  Lidl teste camion électrique autonome pour livraisons

  M&AGermanyPublic
  euronews.com
• Logoplaste

  KKR en négociation exclusive pour acquérir Logoplaste (Portugal) pour 1,7 milliard d'euros

  M&APortugal1,7 Md€Exited (Acquired / Buyout)

  KKR in exclusive talks for Logoplaste: integrated packaging resurfaces

  Source: bloomberg.com →

  KKR is in exclusive negotiations to acquire Portuguese company Logoplaste for approximately €1.7 billion, after Apax Partners withdrew from the process. Logoplaste is a manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging that operates on an "in-house" model: its factories are literally built inside its clients' sites (Unilever, P&G, Nestlé).

  This model deserves attention. A Logoplaste factory installed on a client's site cannot be dislodged in six months: the cost of switching suppliers is structurally prohibitive. It is not a supply contract; it is a disguised operational joint venture. KKR is therefore buying not a packaging manufacturer, but an annuity on its clients' production chain — a remarkable defensive position in a sector otherwise under regulatory pressure regarding plastic. The question KKR will have answered is: does the transition to sustainable packaging threaten this model, or is Logoplaste precisely the partner that large FMCG companies will want to keep in-house to manage this transition?

• Lokalise

  Lokalise lance Vantage, espace no-code localisation marketing

  M&AUnited States
  techintelpro.com
• Micromania

  Micromania (jeux vidéo, France) rachetée par consortium franco-québécois

  M&AFranceExited (Acquired / Buyout)
  presseagence.fr
• Mistral AI

  TotalEnergies investit 100 M€ sur 3 ans avec Mistral AI

  M&AFrance100 M€Series D

  TotalEnergies invests €100 million in Mistral AI: the sovereignty of reservoir data

  Source: zdnet.fr → · Sector Data & Analytics — 📬 subscribe to the Data & Analytics newsletter

  TotalEnergies formalizes a €100 million three-year partnership with Mistral AI to develop specialized AI models for geosciences and oil exploration. A joint scientific laboratory will be created; TotalEnergies brings a data heritage estimated at nearly 10 petaflops of seismic and reservoir history.

  The official narrative is one of sovereign pivot: after Google Cloud in 2018, the group chooses a French partner, signaling an awareness of dependence on American hyperscalers for sensitive industrial data.

  What is more interesting is the nature of the asset TotalEnergies brings to the table. Ten petaflops of historical geoscience data is a resource that no one else possesses — neither Mistral, nor OpenAI, nor any competitor. By including them in the training loop, TotalEnergies is not simply outsourcing AI: it is co-producing a frontier model that only it can fully exploit, and for which it implicitly retains strategic intellectual property. The technological partner here becomes a service provider for an asset that the client owns. This is a reversal of the usual power dynamic between a large industrial group and an AI startup — and it explains why €100 million is sufficient where an American cloud would have demanded much more.

  For innovation departments of large French groups: the real leverage in negotiations with AI labs is your proprietary data, not your budget. The one who brings an irreplaceable corpus dictates the terms.

• Moeve

  Hy24 et COFIDES acquièrent 29% projet hydrogène vert Moeve (Espagne)

  M&ASpain

  Hy24 and COFIDES take 29% in Moeve's Onuba hydrogen project

  Source: reuters.com →

  Hy24 (clean hydrogen specialized manager) and COFIDES (Spanish public-private financial institution) sign a partnership with Moeve to jointly acquire 29% of the Onuba renewable hydrogen project, located in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva). Moeve retains 51% and project leadership; Enagas Renovable and Alter Enersun complete the funding round. This partnership replaces the share initially reserved for Emirati Masdar, which had withdrawn.

  The replacement of Masdar by Hy24 and COFIDES is itself a signal: Gulf sovereign capital has withdrawn, and specialized European capital is taking over. European energy sovereignty, here, is also financed by Europe — which was not a given eighteen months ago.

• MPS Printing

  Durst Group acquiert MPS Printing (systèmes flexographiques, Pays-Bas)

  M&ANetherlandsExited (Acquired / Buyout)

  Durst Group acquires MPS Printing: digital-flexographic hybridization in labels

  Source: globalindepth.com → · Sector Industrial Tech & Manufacturing — 📬 subscribe to the Industrial Tech & Manufacturing newsletter

  Durst Group (Italian, industrial digital printing) signs the acquisition of Dutch company MPS Printing, a manufacturer of flexographic systems for labels and flexible packaging. Effective integration on January 1, 2027, amount undisclosed. MPS's management team remains in place.

  Durst is building a hybrid offering that combines digital printing and flexography — two complementary technologies that label converters often use in parallel. The acquisition shortens development cycles and allows for offering integrated lines, a decisive argument against large groups seeking to reduce the number of their equipment suppliers.

• NUMERYX

  NUMERYX lance une offre combinant leasing informatique et infogérance

  M&A
  cloudmagazine.fr
• NYORDA

  NYORDA lance EMNA AI, marque visibilité IA

  M&AFinland
  inderes.fi
• Ontinue

  Quorum Cyber acquiert Ontinue (MXDR IA Microsoft, Zurich) pour SOC autonome

  M&ASwitzerlandExited (Acquired / Buyout)

  Quorum Cyber acquires Ontinue: towards an autonomous Microsoft-centric SOC

  Source: prnewswire.co.uk →

  Quorum Cyber announces its intention to acquire Swiss company Ontinue, a specialist in threat detection and response (MDR) with an "agentic" architecture and deep integration into the Microsoft ecosystem. The amount was not disclosed.

  The logic is one of ecosystem specialization: in a cybersecurity market fragmenting between generalists and specialists, betting on Microsoft as a single foundation allows for building a depth of integration that a multi-stack player cannot achieve. Ontinue brings incident response automation capabilities that reduce the need for human analysts on the front line — a strong commercial argument in a market where cyber talent is scarce and expensive.

• Payslip

  Payslip lance plateforme transparence salariale UE

  M&AIreland
  prnewswire.co.uk
• Scaleway

  Scaleway et ALATYR préparent datacenters spatiaux

  M&AFrance
  universfreebox.com
• SERT

  Locacuisines rachète SERT, leader français des cuisines pour l'armée

  M&AFrance12 M€Exited (Acquired / Buyout)

  LocaCuisines acquires SERT: from kitchen rental to mobile solutions for Defense

  Source: lacuisinepro.fr → · Sector Food & AgTech — 📬 subscribe to the Food & AgTech newsletter

  Le Groupe Alvad (parent company of LocaCuisines, French leader in modular kitchen rental) announces the acquisition of SERT, the national leader in mobile living solutions (catering, sanitary, laundry) for Defense and Civil Security. The operation is supported by Bpifrance and BNP Paribas Développement.

  The industrial logic is clear: LocaCuisines mastered the civilian sector, SERT masters the military and civil security sectors. The new entity covers the entire value chain of mobile catering and hygiene solutions, with two distinct clienteles but common logistical expertise. Bpifrance's presence in the financing anchors the operation in a national industry logic.

• Signal Partners Group

  Lexit Group acquiert Signal Partners Group (mobilité d'entreprise, Finlande)

  M&AFinlandExited (Acquired / Buyout)

  Lexit Group acquires Signal Partners Group: Nordic consolidation of enterprise mobile solutions

  Source: sceffect.se →

  Lexit Group announces the acquisition of Finnish company Signal Partners Group (Signal Partners Oy and distributor Kauko Oy), a specialist in enterprise mobility solutions, data capture, and EMM management. The Nordic group now reaches SEK 2.5 billion in revenue and 450 employees after this third acquisition of the year (following Optidev in Sweden and Norris Print-Tech in Denmark).

  Lexit is executing a disciplined Nordic build-up: each acquisition adds a complementary geography or skill, and Signal Partners strengthens the Finnish position initiated with Informa Oy in 2023. Sectoral consistency (enterprise mobility, data capture, lifecycle management) maintains the clarity of the offering despite the integration speed.

• Spanish Robot

  HMS Networks annonce une OPA amicale sur Spanish Robot (automatisation bâtiment, Espagne)

  M&ASpainExited (Acquired / Buyout)
  pandct.com
• Vortex

  OHB et Dassault coopèrent sur avion spatial Vortex

  M&AFrance40 M€
  economiematin.fr
• Youtrust

  Youtrust et Dust s'allient pour sécurité documentaire IA

  M&AFrance
  presseagence.fr

HMS launches friendly takeover bid for Robot S.A. to strengthen its home automation offering

Source: pandct.com → · Sector Horizontal & Productivity SaaS — 📬 subscribe to the Horizontal & Productivity SaaS newsletter

HMS Networks (Swedish, industrial communication specialist) launches a friendly public takeover bid for Spanish company Robot S.A., a player in building automation solutions. Amount undisclosed.

HMS continues to expand its portfolio beyond industrial networks into building automation — a growing market driven by energy efficiency and smart management requirements. Robot S.A. brings an Iberian presence and building automation expertise that HMS complements with its communication protocols.

VINCI Energies acquires Heliro in Thuringia: densification of industrial automation in Germany

Source: vinci-energies.com →

VINCI Energies announces the acquisition of Heliro Steuer- und Regeltechnik GmbH, a 35-person company based in Ilmenau (Thuringia, Germany), specializing in industrial process automation (PLC, robotics, plant engineering). 2025 revenue: €4.3 million. The integration will be under the industrial brand Actemium.

VINCI Energies continues its strategy of geographical and technical densification in Germany through small, complementary acquisitions. Heliro strengthens Actemium's presence in Thuringia and adds capabilities for small-series manufacturing and prototyping — a useful niche for industrial clients who need customized solutions without going through a large integrator.

💰Fresh-funding radar · 1616 evaluable in the cockpit

LIVEVCSEPTEMBER 17, 2026

11 raises

3,7 Md€ announced

1Apollo et KKR investissent 3 Md€ dans la division contraceptifs de Bayer3 Md€

2Daniel Ek (Spotify) investit 600 M€ dans Helsing (défense IA, Allemagne)600 M€

3Veridion lève 20 M$ pour sa plateforme IA de renseignements commerciaux18 M€

4Integral lève 18 M€ pour sa plateforme IA de comptabilité et paie18 M€

proplace.co/actualites · +7

• AcouBatt

  AcouBatt lève 1,1 M£ pour améliorer la sécurité de la fabrication de batteries

  FundraisingUnited Kingdom1 M€Seed

  AcouBatt raises €1 million: listening inside batteries to manufacture them better

  Source: tech.eu → · Sector Industrial Tech & Manufacturing — 📬 subscribe to the Industrial Tech & Manufacturing newsletter

  AcouBatt (London, UCL spinout) raises €1 million in pre-seed funding, led by Creator Fund, with Ada Ventures. The company is developing a battery diagnostic system using acoustic emission and AI, allowing real-time monitoring of formation processes inside cells during manufacturing — a phase where manufacturers currently have almost no visibility.

  The promise is precise: reduce cell formation time by up to 30% and detect defects before the batch is finished, reducing rejection rates. In a sector where battery manufacturing is a critical bottleneck for the electric transition, any efficiency gain at this stage has direct economic value. Pre-seed ticket consistent with the development stage.

  📩 Subscribe to our newsletter to follow daily M&A and fundraising news: https://proplace.co/newsletter

• Bayer

  Apollo et KKR investissent 3 Md€ dans la division contraceptifs de Bayer

  FundraisingGermany3 Md€Public

  Apollo and KKR refinance Bayer for €3 billion: the art of selling without selling

  Source: ir.apollo.com →

  Apollo and KKR have finalized a €3 billion capital solution for Bayer. The mechanism: the two funds invest in equity in a newly created entity that holds the German group's long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) division. Bayer retains a majority stake and full operational control. KKR joined Apollo as a significant minority participant.

  Bayer carries colossal debt inherited from the acquisition of Monsanto and an ongoing glyphosate litigation. Divesting assets entirely would be costly in terms of valuation and a signal of distress. This arrangement solves the equation: Bayer monetizes part of LARC's value without losing control, without triggering a divestment premium, and by presenting Apollo's entry as strategic validation rather than a forced sale.

  This is a sign of the times: when large industrial companies can no longer sell without devaluing themselves and can no longer hold on without suffocating, private capital invents hybrid structures — neither debt, nor divestment, nor merger — that allow value to circulate without transferring control. Apollo calls this "High Grade Capital Solutions"; in reality, it is a quasi-annuity on an asset guaranteed by the strength of an iconic group. For Bayer, the cost of this liquidity is opaque but real: it is in the return Apollo demands, invisible in the accounts but very present in future cash flows.

  For financial departments of large groups under debt pressure: this type of arrangement exists, it can be negotiated, and it preserves the strategic narrative. But it comes at a price not mentioned in the press release.

• Complir

  Complir lève 11 M$ pour automatiser la conformité produit

  FundraisingDenmark10 M€Seed

  Complir raises €10 million: automating product compliance at SKU level

  Source: tech.eu → · Sector Horizontal & Productivity SaaS — 📬 subscribe to the Horizontal & Productivity SaaS newsletter

  Complir (Copenhagen) raises €10 million in seed funding, led by General Catalyst, with angels and specialized funds. Founded in 2024, the company automates product regulatory compliance for retailers and brands managing large portfolios across multiple markets. The round follows a $2 million pre-seed in December 2025.

  Product compliance is a discreet operational hell: thousands of SKUs, regulations varying by country and category, continuous updates (safety, packaging, batteries, data). Complir maps each product against applicable regulations and monitors changes at the individual SKU level. The announced savings — 15 hours and approximately $700 per product iteration — is an immediately quantifiable commercial argument for buyers.

• Delos

  Delos lève 10 millions d'euros en série A pour employés IA autonomes

  FundraisingFrance10 M€Series A

  Delos raises €10 million: AI employees enter business processes

  Source: jaimelesstartups.fr →

  Delos (Paris), a publisher of "autonomous AI employees" capable of executing end-to-end professional tasks, closes a Series A of €10 million led by Bpifrance, C4 Ventures, and Founders Future. The company claims 300 corporate clients, approximately 2,000 active AI Workers, and strong recurring revenue growth. Founded in 2023 by Pierre and Thibaut de la Grand'rive.

  The distinction Delos seeks to embody is precise: not an assistant who suggests, but an agent who executes and whose operational results can be measured. 300 clients in less than three years with 2,000 active workers is real traction — but the true test will be retention and expansion within accounts, which will reveal whether the agent delivers on its promises long-term or stops at simple use cases. This is where the difference between a demonstration tool and a work infrastructure is played out.

• DIV Protocol

  DIV Protocol startup française chiffrement défie Proton

  FundraisingFranceSeed
  clubic.com
• Expanse

  Expanse lève 5,3 M$ pour optimiser l'allocation GPU en IA

  FundraisingUnited Kingdom5 M€Seed

  Expanse raises €5 million: predicting GPU needs before waste occurs

  Source: pomegra.io → · Sector Data & Analytics — 📬 subscribe to the Data & Analytics newsletter

  Expanse (Edinburgh, UCL spinout) raises €5 million in seed funding, led by Crane Venture Partners, with PXN Group, AIP Seed, and angels from DeepMind. The software predicts the GPU, CPU, and memory needs of each AI workload before execution, eliminating over-allocation at the source.

  Compute waste in AI environments is massive and structural: operators over-allocate as a precaution, jobs reserve resources they don't use, and no one knows until the job is finished. Expanse reverses the logic: it predicts before, not after. In a single pilot deployment, the company claims to have identified nearly $8 million in idle compute in one month. As AI infrastructure costs become a visible budget line for CIOs, a tool that measurably reduces this waste becomes an almost obvious purchase.

• Fimac

  Bpifrance et Multicroissance entrent au capital de Fimac (intégration ERP PME, Toulouse)

  FundraisingFranceSeries A

  Bpifrance and Multicroissance invest in Fimac

  Source: agefi.fr → · Sector B2B Software & Cloud — 📬 subscribe to the B2B Software & Cloud newsletter

  Bpifrance and Multicroissance invest in Fimac, a Toulouse-based company specializing in ERP solution integration for SMEs. Amount undisclosed.

  A classic growth operation in software integration for SMEs — a buoyant segment as industrial SMEs seek to modernize their management tools. The joint presence of Bpifrance and a regional fund like Multicroissance is a well-established growth financing model for this type of target.

• Hackuity

  Hackuity (gestion vulnérabilités IA, Lyon) clôture 17 millions de dollars

  FundraisingFrance16 M€Series B

  Hackuity raises €16 million: vulnerability management seeks scalability

  Source: gate.com →

  Hackuity (Lyon), an AI-powered vulnerability management platform, closes a €16 million round led by Forgepoint Capital International, with participation from Bright Pixel, Bpifrance, and Seventure Partners. Total funding reaches €32 million. The funds target product innovation, strengthening AI capabilities, and expansion in Europe and Asia. The company protects over 2 million assets for more than 6,000 users.

  Hackuity addresses a concrete and chronic problem: security teams are overwhelmed by vulnerability alerts and have no rational way to prioritize without a dedicated tool. AI-powered prioritization — which considers business context, real exposure, and criticality — is the core value proposition. Forgepoint, a specialized cyber fund, brings valuable sectoral credibility for commercial openings outside France.

• Helsing

  Daniel Ek (Spotify) investit 600 M€ dans Helsing (défense IA, Allemagne)

  FundraisingGermany600 M€Series C

  Helsing raises €600 million: Daniel Ek makes autonomous defense his big bet

  Source: techshotsapp.com → · Sector The Physical World — 📬 subscribe to the The Physical World newsletter

  Helsing (Munich), an AI specialist for defense, closes a €600 million funding round led by Prima Materia, the investment vehicle of Daniel Ek, Spotify's founder. The valuation reaches €12 billion. Helsing, which has equipped thousands of strike drones in Ukraine and signed contracts with the UK, Germany, and Sweden, is now expanding its scope beyond software to autonomous drones, aircraft, and submarines.

  Helsing is perhaps the most coherent player in European technological defense: founded in 2021, it built a real operational reputation on the Ukrainian ground before raising at this valuation. This is not a bet on a future market; it is a valuation of an already established position.

  What is structurally remarkable: Daniel Ek, via Prima Materia, becomes the main financier of a European defense company valued at €12 billion. A digital entertainment entrepreneur financing the continent's autonomous weaponry — this is a sign that technological defense has moved out of the niche of specialized funds and into the portfolios of major private allocators. The line between growth capital and sovereignty capital is blurring, and this is likely irreversible.

• Integral

  Integral lève 18 M€ pour sa plateforme IA de comptabilité et paie

  FundraisingGermany18 M€Series A

  Integral raises €18 million: automated accounting with maintained human responsibility

  Source: fintech.global → · Sector Horizontal & Productivity SaaS — 📬 subscribe to the Horizontal & Productivity SaaS newsletter

  Integral (Berlin) closes a Series A of €18 million co-led by Mosaic Ventures and Reid Hoffman, with participation from Cherry Ventures, General Catalyst, and Puzzle Ventures. Total funding exceeds €30 million in less than two years. Integral combines an AI accounting, tax, and payroll platform for SMEs with Integral Tax, a licensed professional services firm that runs entirely on the platform and whose experts validate, correct, and legally sign every deliverable.

  Integral's model is the most intellectually rigorous of the "AI in regulated services" wave: rather than selling a tool to existing firms (who have every reason to resist), Integral creates its own firm and makes it the first client. AI automates, the licensed professional supervises and signs — legal responsibility remains human, but the productivity leverage is real. Since early 2026, each Integral Tax professional serves twice as many clients as before. This is the model that solves the question all firms avoid: not "how will AI help me?" but "who is responsible when AI makes a mistake?"

• Jack & Jill

  Jack & Jill lève 34,68 M€ pour ses agents IA de recrutement

  FundraisingUnited Kingdom35 M€Series A
  eu-startups.com
• Koalys

  Koalys (Diagamter) ouvre son capital à Siparex Entrepreneurs

  FundraisingFrance40 M€Series B
  bati.zepros.fr
• Okomera

  Okomera renforce son équipe dirigeante avec une nouvelle directrice technique

  FundraisingFrance
  afp.com
• Quartz

  Quartz lève 2,8 M£ pour son assistant bancaire personnel IA

  FundraisingUnited Kingdom3 M€Pre-Seed

  Quartz raises €3 million in pre-seed: the personal financial advisor for everyone

  Source: soapbox.vc →

  Quartz (London) raises €3 million in pre-seed funding, led by Daphni, with Outward VC and K Fund, and angels including Kantox founder Philippe Gelis and former N26 and Kraken CPO Gilles BianRosa. The application aggregates a user's pensions, ISAs, savings, and investments and couples them with "Charlie," an intelligence that monitors markets and alerts the user to what matters to them. Launching in the UK today. Co-founded by André Silva (former Head of Global Expansion at Revolut) and Mateus Mesquita Alves (former N26).

  The founding team is serious — Revolut, N26, Kraken — and the proposition addresses a real problem: personalized wealth management is reserved for affluent clients, while mass-market products are standardized and offer little guidance. Quartz attempts to bridge this gap. The main risk is monetization: aggregating data without providing regulated advice limits direct revenue, and conversion to a premium model will be the true test of the value proposition.

• Universal Robots

  Universal Robots lance Gen 7 prête pour IA

  FundraisingDenmarkPublic
  industrialnews.co.uk
• Veridion

  Veridion lève 20 M$ pour sa plateforme IA de renseignements commerciaux

  FundraisingRomania18 M€Series A

  Veridion raises €18 million: real-time business intelligence

  Source: tech.eu → · Sector Data & Analytics — 📬 subscribe to the Data & Analytics newsletter

  Veridion (Romania) raises €18 million in Series A, led by Hoxton Ventures, with participation from Underline Ventures, OTB Ventures, Gapminder, Day One Capital, and Launchub. The company has developed a "living business graph" covering approximately 640 million companies worldwide, continuously updated from billions of digital signals (websites, public registries, product catalogs, social networks, press).

  The problem Veridion addresses is structural: traditional business intelligence databases are built on quarterly or annual updates, in a world where a company can change markets, suppliers, or solvency in a few weeks. For banks, insurers, and funds making credit or investment decisions, the gap between available data and on-the-ground reality is a source of unpriced risk. Veridion sells the reduction of this gap — an increasingly valuable asset as economic and geopolitical volatility sets in.