European Early-Stage Capital Spreads Across Biotech and AI Deeptech

Founded in 2025 by CEO Guido Gualdoni and CSO Jamie Hackett, the company is developing its CADENCE platform for precision epigenome editing — a method of switching genes on or fine-tuning their activity without changing the underlying DNA sequence. Gualdoni said the financing would let the team advance the platform and work toward selecting a first drug candidate. The raise sits within a broader 2026 European biotech funding wave that, as EU-Startups noted, has channelled capital into gene and cell therapy infrastructure, RNA approaches and AI-enabled drug discovery, including TRIMTECH Therapeutics' €41 million seed round.

Industrial AI and resource efficiency

In Stockholm, deeptech firm Digiclean raised €2.5 million in seed funding, according to Tech.eu. The round was co-led by Unconventional Ventures and Almi Invest GreenTech, with participation from S-E Bankens Utvecklingsstiftelse, Impact Shakers and Feminvest Ventures.

Founded by Charlotte Stigen Låstberg and Andreas Låstberg, Digiclean uses sensors and AI to monitor industrial cleaning baths and automate chemical dosing in real time — replacing manual sampling that many manufacturers still rely on. The plug-and-play system is already deployed at more than 20 Swedish sites, including facilities run by Volvo Group Trucks, SKF and Parker Hannifin. The company says the technology cuts chemical and water waste while improving traceability and uptime, and plans to expand across key European industrial markets. For manufacturing-led economies pursuing greener operations, the resource-efficiency angle has clear relevance well beyond Europe.

Speech AI aims at emerging markets

Lucida AI closed an additional $1.6 million to bring its seed round to $7 million, Tech.eu reported, led by UK-based Velocity Capital alongside Next Tier Ventures, Look AI Ventures, Bogazici Ventures, Yapı Kredi Frwrd Ventures and Ünlü & Co.

Founded by Mustafa Girgin and M. Sait Demirci, Lucida builds speech-to-speech AI around a proprietary Speech Language Model, letting users practise spoken communication through real-time conversations with instant feedback. The platform offers a consumer app and encrypted enterprise deployments. Since launching 15 months ago, it claims more than 3 million users and over 2.2 billion minutes of spoken interaction across Europe, the US and emerging markets. The founders framed AI as a "global race" no longer tied to one geography — a positioning that points toward expansion into new languages and regions where spoken fluency carries commercial weight.

The early backer of smartphone maker Nothing has nearly tripled its fund size and is relocating its founder to London to target Europe's repeat founders.