📅 Sep 7 – 11, 2026 | Read time: 5 mins
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Bending Spoons bought Miro at a markdown, its second discounted acquisition in five weeks. Aerospacelab signed a €2.4B EU satellite contract, the largest the company has ever seen, and will now build 264 satellites for the EU’s sovereign connectivity constellation. Nscale is telling IPO investors it has $103B in contracted backlog while posting $100M in quarterly revenue.
📰 News of the Week
Nscale targets $3.5B pre-IPO financing ahead of US listing
The London AI cloud provider is seeking $1.5B in convertible notes, with Third Point expected to lead, and a separate $2B from Nvidia. Total contracted backlog now stands at $103B, up from $51B a month ago, driven partly by a six-year $45B compute deal with Anthropic. Actual Q2 2026 revenue: around $100M.
Bending Spoons acquires Miro for €1.7B
Amsterdam-based Miro’s later-stage investors take a haircut. $600M in ARR, 99% of the Fortune 100 as customers, sold for 90% below its 2022 peak valuation of $17.5B. Bending Spoons closed Airtable at a similar discount five weeks earlier.
Aerospacelab and The Exploration Company win over €3B in contracts at the Paris space summit
At the Paris international space summit on September 10, two New Space startups walked away with contracts the European primes had every reason to expect. Aerospacelab will build 264 satellites for the EU’s IRIS² sovereign connectivity constellation. The Exploration Company signed with ESA for three Nyx cargo capsules, with a first ISS flight planned for November 2028.
🇪🇺 Top Deals of the Week
Fluidstack | $1.5B | United Kingdom - US | AI Infrastructure | Jane Street, Situational Awareness | $18B EV
The Exploration Company | $450M Series C | France | SpaceTech | Bessemer, Atomico, EQT
Limetax | €36M | Germany | AI | €6M pre-seed equity led by Motive Partners + €30M credit facility
Implicity | €35M Series B | France | MedTech | Sofinnova Partners
Jack & Jill | $30M Series A | United Kingdom | HR Tech | Series A | Accel
Ethris | €30M Series B | Germany | Biotech | European Investment Bank
Arlequin AI | €28M Series A | France | DeepTech | redalpine, OTB Ventures
Neurent Medical | $25M Growth Debt Facility | Ireland | MedTech | Claret Capital Partners
CloudNC | $20M Series B Extension | United Kingdom | AI | Nimble Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures
🚪 Exits
Miro | Acquired by Bending Spoons | €1.7B | Netherlands | AI
Normative | Acquired by Greenly | €65M | Sweden | Carbon Accounting
Kivala | Acquired by Verisure | France | IoT
Flex IT + T1A | Merger | Europe | Circular IT
Query Juriste + Praven Intelekt | Acquired by Lexroom | France / Bulgaria | Legal AI
🔍 My Personal Favorites
Ground A | Defence | Pre-Seed | €9.1M | Vsquared Ventures
German startup building laser-based counter-drone systems, founded January 2026 and already in validation phase for its first product eight months later. Quantum Systems is a co-investor.
GA 1000: pallet-sized, mobile, radar-fused laser cUAS system
Loads of German tech heavyweights joined the board: Florian Seibel and Sven Kruck (Quantum Systems), Stefan Roebel (Arx Robotics)
Next round planned for 2027
Anemo Labs | DeepTech | Pre-Seed | £700K | Zinc, SFC Capital
London startup building an electronic nose that detects disease signals in volatile organic compounds from urine, giving AI a sense of smell for non-invasive diagnostics.
5,000 smells per day collected and labelled in-house for model training
84% accuracy in classifying 12 scent categories in early testing
Stellar Alpina | SpaceTech | €160K | Venture Kick
The Swiss RDRE startup (covered in W22) just won a Venture Kick grant, validating its rotating detonation engine approach for in-space propulsion.
First commercial RDRE hotfire in Europe, completed 82 days after founding
€3.8M€ Pre-Seed round lead by Founderful in June 26
💸 New Dry Powder
Claret Capital | €575M | Europe | European tech and life sciences credit, non-dilutive financing
Molten Ventures Growth Fund | £175M first close (target £350M) | United Kingdom | UK growth-stage tech, anchored by British Business Bank
Seed Capital Fund V | €130M | Nordics | Seed to Series A, expanding into Sweden and cybersecurity
Northern Scaleup Fund | £150M | United Kingdom | UK Chancellor initiative backing scaleups in northern England, anchored by British Business Bank
Clean Growth Fund II | €94.5M | United Kingdom | UK climate tech, seed to Series A
Nordic Foodtech VC Fund II | up to €80M | Nordics | Agrifood deeptech
The Techshop Fund II | €43M first close | Italy | Pre-seed and seed, Italian and southern European founders
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See you next Monday.
Agathe