Leah Hodgson

A total of 11 VC-backed companies have raised funding at a €1 billion-plus valuation this year.

Quantum Motion CEO James Palles-Dimmock, left, with co-founders John Morton and Simon Benjamin Courtesy of Quantum Motion

GERMANY-FRANCE-EU-TECHNOLOGY-ECONOMY-PRESSER France's President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz at a Berlin summit on Europe's technological sovereignty in November

KENYA-AFRICA-COP28-ENERGY-SOLAR Luis Tato/Getty Images Europe has pulled ahead of every other region for climate tech VC funding for the first time, but capital is increasingly concentrated in a handful of deals.

Funding for startups in the vertical of robotics has reached record levels this year, but there are doubts as to the use cases for these machines.

Actor Jude Law is the face of Swedish legal AI startup Legora's new global brand campaign Image courtesy of Legora

peeterv/Getty Images After five straight years of growth, the share of African startups raising capital from outside the continent is on course to shrink, leading founders to rely more on domestic investors.

Dirk Waem/Getty Images After a near-record year for European cybersecurity VC funding, investment has maintained pace in Q1, with the focus shifting to larger early-stage deals.

French retailer Carrefour is among the supermarkets using Freshflow’s AI platform NurPhoto/Getty Images Freshflow, a Berlin-based start-up using AI to cut supermarket waste, has closed a $10 million Series A led by Reimann Investors. European grocers turn over around €720 million (about $837 million) in fresh food every year, and almost a third of that is thrown away. To tackle waste, Freshflow has built an AI platform to automate inventory management, ordering and forecasting, helping to lift s

VCs are looking at supply chain automation and AI-driven waste reduction as areas of interest within foodtech.