Fundraising of the Week (Week 15): European Startups Raise Over €280M Across AI, Defence and Fintech

Munich-based quantum computing startup Peak Quantum has raised €2.2 million in pre-seed funding to advance a new generation of superconducting quantum processors designed to reduce the overhead of error correction. The round, led by UK-based Cloudberry Ventures, brings the company’s total backing to more than €5 million when combined with non-dilutive public support, and positions the 2024-founded spin-off as one of the European deep-tech names to watch as the continent accelerates its sovereign quantum hardware agenda. Alongside Cloudberry Ventures, the financing drew participation from United Founders, QAI Ventures, and Golden Egg Check, together with a group of business angels with operational backgrounds in semiconductors and deep tech. The capital will be used to scale the engineering team, push the technology through its next experimental milestones, and support the company’s operational role in a European pilot manufacturing programme for quantum chips. A spin-off built around error resilience Peak Quantum is a spin-off from the Walther-Meißner-Institute (WMI) in Garching, one of Europe’s most established research centres for superconducting quantum devices. The founding team combines academic pedigree with production know-how: Leon Koch (CEO), Alexander Schult (CFO), Dr Thomas Luschmann (COO), Dr Max Werninghaus (CSO), Ivan Tsitsilin (Head of Design) and Kedar Honasoge (Head of Production). The company is also embedded in Munich Quantum Valley and has drawn support from UnternehmerTUM, anchoring it within the city’s deep-tech cluster. The thesis behind the company is straightforward but technically demanding. Most superconducting quantum processors today rely on aggressive error-correction schemes, in which large numbers of physical qubits are grouped to form a single, more reliable “logical” qubit. The approach works in principle, but it explodes hardware requirements and energy consumption long before the systems reach industrially useful scale. Peak Quantum is instead developing qubits whose error resilience is built into the physics of the device itself. “More qubits do not help if each individual one is unreliable. We are developing processors where error resilience is an intrinsic physical property,” said CEO Leon Koch. If the architecture performs at scale, it could materially reduce the number of physical qubits needed per logical qubit, simplifying both fabrication and control electronics. Operating SUPREME: the EU Chips Act angle The timing of the round is closely tied to Europe’s industrial policy on advanced semiconductors. Peak Quantum has been selected as the operator of SUPREME, a planned pan-European pilot line for quantum chips funded under the EU Chips Act. Operations are scheduled to begin in April 2026, with the goal of establishing a shared industrial infrastructure for designing and manufacturing quantum processors inside the EU. For a pre-seed company, taking on a pilot-line mandate is unusual, and it reflects both the scarcity of European actors with the relevant fabrication experience and Brussels’ willingness to channel strategic hardware programmes through specialist start-ups rather than incumbents. For Peak Quantum, SUPREME provides privileged access to fabrication capacity and collaboration with research partners across the bloc — a structural advantage that complements the new private capital. Investor view “Europe has a real opportunity to be at the forefront of quantum hardware development. Peak Quantum is making a crucial contribution to this,” said Mahir Sahin, General Partner at Cloudberry Ventures, framing the investment in the broader context of Europe’s sovereignty ambitions in compute. The round also aligns with a wider pattern visible in recent European fundraising activity, in which quantum and photonics-adjacent start-ups have continued to attract capital even as generalist venture budgets tighten. Earlier this week, fellow quantum-photonics specialist Pixel Photonics closed €13.5 million to scale its single-photon detectors, and Qoro Quantum recently secured $750,000 to bridge classical and quantum workloads — evidence that investors remain willing to underwrite hardware-heavy quantum theses when they come attached to credible science and clear industrial roadmaps. What to watch next Three milestones will define whether Peak Quantum can convert scientific promise into industrial traction. The first is execution on SUPREME, where the company’s ability to hit throughput and yield targets will be closely scrutinised by EU stakeholders and future co-investors. The second is experimental validation of its error-resilient qubit designs at increasing qubit counts, which will determine whether the architectural bet translates into a defensible performance advantage. The third is commercial engagement: quantum processors ultimately need customers — from national labs to cloud providers and end users in chemistry, materials and optimisation — and the next twelve months will reveal how quickly Peak Quantum can build that pipeline. With €5 million in total funding, a pilot-line mandate, and a technical bet that sidesteps one of the field’s most stubborn bottlenecks, Peak Quantum enters the next phase of Europe’s quantum race with an unusually concentrated set of assets for a company barely two years old. Source: Tech.eu

Paris- and London-based Convelio has closed a Series C funding round to accelerate the automation of global fine art logistics and expand its storage footprint into the United States. The company, which has shipped an estimated $1.84 billion of art for major auction houses including Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips, intends to use the capital to deepen its AI-driven operations platform and open a flagship warehouse in New York. The round is led by a prominent French entrepreneurial family, with participation from existing backers Forestay, Mundi Ventures and Acton Capital. Terms have not been publicly disclosed. Founded in 2017 by chief executive Edouard Gouin and Clément Ouizille, Convelio set out to modernise a sector long dominated by legacy freight forwarders and bespoke, manual processes. Its proprietary algorithms generate instant quotes for the transport of paintings, sculptures and other high-value objects, while its in-house operations team manages packing, shipping, customs and installation. The company now serves around 3,000 art businesses worldwide. Building the software layer for the art market The global art market moves tens of billions of euros of objects each year, yet logistics remains one of its least digitised functions. Quotes are frequently produced by hand, condition reports live in email threads, and transport coordination happens across dozens of specialist carriers. Convelio’s pitch — and the thesis behind its Series C — is that this fragmentation can be resolved through a single software and operations stack. The company recently became the primary global logistics provider for Phillips, covering shipping, storage and release services in London, New York and Hong Kong. Phillips reported $927 million in global sales in 2025, making the partnership one of the most significant operational mandates awarded in the sector in recent years. According to chief executive Edouard Gouin, the Series C will help Convelio scale storage infrastructure, invest in automation across operations and serve clients with the same precision at global scale as it does locally. Why New York matters Convelio’s planned New York flagship warehouse is a strategic rather than incidental investment. The United States remains the single largest art market, and storage alongside fulfilment services carries significantly higher margins than pure transport. By anchoring a hub in Manhattan or the surrounding boroughs, Convelio positions itself to serve auction houses, galleries and private collectors with release-on-demand services — a capability previously concentrated among a small number of legacy operators. The company also plans to continue investing in its AI-powered collections management product, which helps institutional clients track provenance, condition and location across distributed holdings. A familiar cap table with a new anchor Forestay, Mundi Ventures and Acton Capital have all backed Convelio through previous rounds, including its €30 million Series B in 2022. The introduction of a French entrepreneurial family office as lead investor signals a shift toward longer-horizon capital — a pattern increasingly common among European scale-ups seeking to avoid premature exit pressure. European competitors in adjacent categories include Gander and ArtHaus, while US-listed Cadogan Tate remains a dominant legacy provider. Convelio’s positioning — software-first, vertically integrated, global — gives it room to differentiate even as the sector consolidates. What comes next Beyond the New York expansion, Convelio is expected to continue hiring in engineering and operations, with particular focus on automation of condition reporting, computer-vision-based damage detection and integration with auction house bidding platforms. For a company that began life as a marketplace connecting galleries with art shippers, the evolution into a software-and-services platform for global fine art logistics reflects a broader pattern in European vertical SaaS: starting with a narrow workflow and growing into the infrastructure layer of an entire industry. For more on European fundraising and scale-up stories, visit our fundraising hub. You can also read our recent coverage of Kelluu’s €15M Series A.

Finnish deeptech company Kelluu has secured €15 million in a Series A round led by the NATO Innovation Fund, marking the fund’s first investment in a Finnish startup. The round includes participation from Keen Venture Partners, Gungnir Capital and Finnish state investor Tesi, and will accelerate the commercial deployment of Kelluu’s autonomous hydrogen-powered airships across defence and civil markets. Headquartered in Joensuu and operating what it describes as the world’s northernmost airship factory, Kelluu builds 12-metre unmanned airships that combine the resolution of drones with the persistence of satellites. The aircraft use hydrogen for both lift and propulsion, allowing missions of more than 12 hours while carrying payload modules of up to six kilograms. Typical configurations include LiDAR, hyperspectral cameras and thermal imagers — enabling high-frequency monitoring of industrial sites, borders and critical infrastructure. A different kind of airborne intelligence Where conventional drones struggle with endurance and satellites lack resolution, Kelluu’s airships are designed for persistent, low-altitude coverage. The company sells the capability as a service: customers commission missions and receive processed data rather than purchasing hardware. The model has gained traction among mining operators, border authorities and NATO planners. Finnish mining company Terrafame already uses Kelluu’s fleet to generate 3D digital models of a 60-square-kilometre industrial site, helping monitor slope stability and optimise operations. On the defence side, Kelluu was recently integrated into NATO’s AI-driven command system and participated in REPMUS — one of the alliance’s largest exercises for unmanned maritime and aerial systems. According to chief executive Janne Hietala, the Series A will enable Kelluu to scale deployments, deepen its geospatial AI capabilities and meet demand from both civil and defence partners. NATO Innovation Fund makes its first Finnish bet The NATO Innovation Fund — the €1 billion multi-sovereign vehicle backed by 24 allied nations — has been steadily investing in dual-use deeptech companies across Europe. Its decision to lead Kelluu’s round signals continued appetite for autonomous systems with defence applications, particularly those offering sovereign alternatives to US and Chinese hardware. The fund’s participation also reflects Europe’s broader push to strengthen its defence-industrial base. Kelluu joins a growing roster of European unmanned-systems companies — from Tekever in Portugal to Helsing in Germany — attracting significant capital as governments rebuild strategic capabilities. Keen Venture Partners and Gungnir Capital both bring deeptech investment experience, while Tesi, Finland’s state-backed investor, continues its pattern of supporting domestic champions in critical industries. What the capital will fund Kelluu plans to use the proceeds to expand its autonomous airship fleet and commercial deployments, further develop its geospatial AI platform through Kelluu AI Labs, broaden its defence-sector partnerships across NATO member states, and scale manufacturing capacity at its Joensuu facility. The company positions itself not as a hardware vendor but as an aerial-data provider, and the investment will help it move further along that axis — investing in the software layer that turns raw sensor output into operational intelligence. A maturing European deeptech play Kelluu’s raise lands at a moment of renewed European focus on sovereign aerospace capability. With NATO exercises increasingly featuring unmanned systems and European governments raising defence budgets, persistent aerial monitoring is becoming a strategic requirement rather than a niche capability. For a company founded in a city closer to the Arctic Circle than to any major capital, Kelluu has carved out an unusually distinctive position: part airship manufacturer, part geospatial AI company, and now a NATO-backed European deeptech scaleup. For more coverage of European fundraising and deeptech, visit our fundraising hub.