📅 Oct 5 – Oct 9, 2026 | Read time: 5 mins
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Mistral released Large 4, its first model with one trillion parameters, and says it beats every open-weight model built in the US or Europe. RobCo passed a $1B valuation selling industrial robots as a service, nine months after its Series C. Isomorphic Labs is in early talks to raise at $40B or more, less than five months after its $2.1B Series B, with no drug yet in clinical trials. Universal Quantum also closed $100M, which it says is the largest Series A raised by a UK-headquartered quantum company.
📰 News of the Week
Mistral unveils Large 4, its first trillion-parameter model
The Paris company released Mistral Large 4, nicknamed “le Chonk”, in preview for developers, with full availability through its API later in October. The multimodal model has one trillion parameters. Mistral says it significantly outperforms any open-weight model developed in the US or Europe, and leads open models on enterprise workloads in cybersecurity, finance and law. The launch follows Mistral’s $3.4B Series D in September at around $24B.
RobCo becomes a robotics unicorn
The Munich company is now valued above $1B, in a deal combining new investment with an employee secondary sale, nine months after its $100M Series C. Sequoia, Lightspeed and Lingotto returned, with Cherry Ventures and European Tech Collective joining. RobCo sells its robots as a service with no upfront cost, for tasks like machine tending, palletising and welding. The US is now its fastest-growing market, and CEO Roman Hölzl has relocated there.
Isomorphic Labs in talks at $40B+
The DeepMind spinout is in early talks to raise at a valuation of at least $40B, according to Bloomberg, less than five months after closing a $2.1B Series B led by Thrive Capital. Round size and investors have not been disclosed. Isomorphic works with Eli Lilly, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson but has not started clinical trials yet. Demis Hassabis expects the first ones by the end of 2026.
🇪🇺 Top Deals of the Week
EnduroSat | $205M | Bulgaria | SpaceTech | Riot Ventures, Atreides Management
Universal Quantum | $100M Series A | United Kingdom | Quantum Computing | DCVC, Firgun Ventures
Spiko | $90M Series B | France | FinTech | NEA
Yazen | €50M | Sweden | HealthTech | Verdane
Hadrian | $40M | Netherlands | Cybersecurity | Forgepoint Capital International, Smartfin
Noah | $38M Seed | United Kingdom | FinTech| Endeit Capital, FJ Labs, LocalGlobe, Felix Capital
Namespace | €37M Series B | Switzerland | DevTools | Scale Venture Partners
Sava | $36M Series B | United Kingdom | HealthTech | Ascensia
Wiremind | €35M | France | Transport Software | IronWave, Bpifrance, Seaya Andromeda
Vates | €30M | France | Cloud Infrastructure | IRIS, Bpifrance
TrueLayer | $27M | United Kingdom | FinTech | CDP Venture Capital
WhiteLab Genomics | $26M Series B | France | BioTech | AVP
🔍 My Personal Favorites
hexafarms | AgTech | €4.8M Seed | Ananda Impact Ventures, Green Generation Fund
Berlin-based startup selling greenhouse sensors and plant-scouting robots by subscription.
Sensors log climate, fertigation, substrate and light every five minutes, and robots scan plants daily for early signs of pests and disease
hexafarms owns and maintains the hardware, so growers pay a subscription instead of buying equipment
More than 50 growers in 13 countries, including SanLucar and Royal ZON
MintNeuro | MedTech / Semiconductors | $5M | Odyssey Ventures
Imperial College London spinout designing chips for devices that connect to the brain and nervous system, aimed at neurological conditions such as stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease.
Neural device makers currently adapt generic components or spend years developing custom chips
Signed a multi-year chip supply agreement with Motif Neurotech, whose neurostimulator targets treatment-resistant depression
Has delivered working chips and reached integration milestones with Amber Therapeutics
Golbriak Space | SpaceTech | €4M Seed | Join Capital, PhotonVentures
Estonian company building laser communication terminals for satellites and aircraft.
Optics, electronics, mechanics and software are all developed in-house
Its terminals depend less on the host platform’s pointing, so several can run on one spacecraft
Already has paying customers and is in advanced talks for programmes covering several thousand systems
🚪 Exits
TechWolf | Acquired by SAP | Belgium | HRTech
Circula | Acquired by Personio | Germany | FinTech
CareMaster | Acquired by Lottie | United Kingdom | HealthTech
StudyStash | Acquired by Kortext | United Kingdom | EdTech
Flowie | Acquired by Sovos | France | FinTech
💸 New Dry Powder
Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund IV & Ventures Fund VIII | €2.3B | Netherlands | Biotech, about 30 companies
Endeavor Catalyst Fund V | $320M | Global | Co-invests in companies led by Endeavor Entrepreneurs, with Europe as its fastest-growing market
Graduate Ventures | €125M (€100M committed) | Netherlands | Seed, Dutch university spinouts in AI, deeptech, health and climate
Vinci Space Tech Fund | €114M | Poland | Growth-stage space tech
PSV Tech Fund II | €56M final close | Denmark | Pre-product-market-fit AI, software and digital infrastructure across the Nordics
NVM Venture | €23.6M first close | Italy | Pre-seed and seed dual-use deeptech
Monte Carlo Capital Fund II | €13M first close (target €26M) | Monaco | Seed deeptech, AI, spacetech and enterprise software
Fuel Ventures | £10M from British Business Bank | United Kingdom | Pre-seed to Series A, new investments and follow-ons
DEPO Ventures | €3.8M (up to €5.8M) | Czechia | Startups from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia expanding into Czechia
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Best,
Agathe