Octostar raises €6.1 million as European demand for sovereign intelligence platforms accelerates

European neurotechnology attracts growing investor interest as wellness meets wearables The intersection of neuroscience and consumer technology is emerging as one of Europe’s more compelling deep tech investment themes, as advances in brainwave entrainment, biometric integration, and auditory engineering create new commercial pathways for technologies that were previously confined to clinical research settings. With the global wellness technology market expanding rapidly, startups that can bridge the gap between peer-reviewed neuroscience and scalable consumer products are drawing increasing attention from strategic and institutional investors. Helsinki-based Audicin has raised $1.9 million (€1.6 million) to scale its real-time nervous system regulation technology across defence, healthcare, and enterprise applications. The round includes private investment, follow-on backing from Petteri Lahtela and Virpi Tuomivaara — the co-founders of Oura Health, one of Finland’s most successful consumer health companies — and a grant from Business Finland through its Deep Tech Accelerator programme. The capital brings Audicin’s total funding to approximately $3 million. Oura Health co-founders double down on brainwave entrainment technology The continued involvement of the Oura Health co-founders is a notable signal for Audicin’s commercial trajectory. Oura, which pioneered the smart ring category and has become a global standard in passive health monitoring, provides both a strategic reference point and a potential integration pathway for Audicin’s technology. The follow-on investment suggests that the Oura founders see material alignment between Audicin’s nervous system regulation capabilities and the broader ecosystem of wearable health devices. Audicin’s technology draws on brainwave entrainment, music neuroscience, and auditory engineering to deliver audio-based interventions that support nervous system regulation. Unlike mindfulness applications that require active user engagement, Audicin’s approach works through passive background listening — audio sessions adapted to a user’s physiological signals play in the background while they work, commute, or rest, requiring no conscious effort from the user. The company’s SDK, Audicin for Apps, enables third-party digital health, performance, and consumer platforms to integrate the technology directly, triggered by biometric data, time of day, or in-app events. The SDK supports integration with leading wearables including Oura, Apple Watch, Garmin, and Whoop, positioning Audicin as an infrastructure-level technology rather than a standalone consumer application. From wearables to defence: a dual-use commercial strategy Founded in 2022 by an all-female team — Laura Avonius (CEO), Victoria Williamson, and Mariana Sousa Aguiar — Audicin is pursuing a dual-track commercial strategy that spans consumer wellness and restricted-access environments. A new product in development, a standalone offline Sleep Headband, targets healthcare facilities and defence settings where mobile devices are not permitted. The device delivers pre-configured recovery programmes based on low-frequency brainwave protocols without requiring a connected phone, opening addressable markets that most consumer wellness companies cannot reach. The company reports strong early commercial traction, with a €6.9 million ($8 million) sales pipeline spanning defence, athletic performance, and wellness clinic sectors. This pipeline figure, notably large relative to the company’s current funding stage, suggests that Audicin’s dual-use approach is resonating with institutional buyers who value evidence-based nervous system interventions delivered through scalable, passive technology. Finland’s deep tech ecosystem supports neuroscience commercialisation Audicin’s fundraise is emblematic of a broader trend within Finland’s deep tech ecosystem, where companies are increasingly commercialising technologies rooted in peer-reviewed scientific research. The backing from Business Finland’s Deep Tech Accelerator programme underscores the institutional support available to Finnish startups operating at the frontier of applied neuroscience. For a female-founded company operating in a sector where the gap between scientific capability and commercial product has traditionally been wide, Audicin’s progress from laboratory science to a multi-million-dollar sales pipeline in under four years represents a notable trajectory. Company: Audicin HQ: Helsinki, Finland Founded: 2022 Round: $1.9 million (€1.6 million) Key Investors: Petteri Lahtela and Virpi Tuomivaara (Oura Health co-founders), Business Finland Deep Tech Accelerator Total Funding: ~$3 million Use of Funds: Scaling technology across defence, healthcare, and enterprise applications Website: audicin.com

The creator economy meets artificial intelligence as expert monetisation platforms attract investor attention The convergence of artificial intelligence and the knowledge economy is opening new pathways for professionals and public figures to scale their expertise beyond the constraints of time and physical availability. As AI capabilities mature, a growing cohort of startups is building platforms that transform individual knowledge into persistent, interactive digital assets — creating what some in the industry are calling the “expert economy.” Tallinn-based Pickmybrain has raised $2.1 million (€1.8 million) in pre-seed funding to scale its platform that enables professionals, celebrities, and domain experts to create AI-powered “Digital Brains” — personalised AI advisors trained on their specific knowledge and expertise. The round was led by a group of business angels positioning the Estonian startup to expand into new markets and deepen its product capabilities. Angel investors back vision for AI-powered expertise at scale The pre-seed round attracted investment from Garri Zmudze, a longevity and biotech investor who was an early backer of Insilico Medicine, alongside Raison.app and a number of non-disclosed private investors. The capital will be deployed to grow the team, scale into new geographic markets, and accelerate product development. Pickmybrain’s platform works by training AI models on an expert’s structured knowledge — interviews, articles, books, and recorded responses — to create interactive Digital Brains that users can query for practical, domain-specific guidance. Crucially, experts retain full control over the content their AI is trained on, uploading their own media and consenting to the use of any third-party resources. For individuals with limited digital footprints, the platform provides tools to record thoughts directly, which the AI then uses as training material. The model introduces a hybrid approach to knowledge delivery: users can ask Digital Brains questions based on an expert’s insights for immediate AI-generated responses, while more complex or sensitive queries are routed directly to the expert through asynchronous one-to-one video, creating a tiered engagement model. From Paul Pogba to Peter Vesterbacka: building a premium expert roster Founded in 2022, Pickmybrain has assembled a roster of more than 1,000 professionals spanning sports, entertainment, and business. Notable names on the platform include Peter Vesterbacka, the co-founder of Rovio (the studio behind Angry Birds) and founder of Slush, one of Europe’s most prominent startup events; World Cup winner Paul Pogba; and Bozoma Saint John, the former chief marketing officer at Netflix and Uber. The calibre of these early adopters signals the platform’s positioning at the premium end of the expert economy, targeting professionals whose knowledge carries sufficient commercial value to justify the creation of a persistent digital presence. For experts, the appeal lies in the ability to monetise their expertise passively and at scale, without the scheduling constraints of traditional consulting or speaking engagements. Estonia’s AI ecosystem continues to punch above its weight Pickmybrain’s fundraise adds to Estonia’s growing reputation as a disproportionately productive hub for AI-focused startups. The Baltic nation, which has produced more unicorns per capita than almost any other European country, continues to attract founders building at the intersection of artificial intelligence and consumer-facing platforms. With a strong digital infrastructure and a regulatory environment that has historically encouraged technology entrepreneurship, Estonia offers a competitive base from which to scale into broader European and global markets. As AI reshapes how knowledge is packaged, distributed, and monetised, platforms like Pickmybrain represent an emerging category that sits between the creator economy and enterprise AI — one where the value lies not in the model itself, but in the curated expertise it delivers. Company: Pickmybrain HQ: Tallinn, Estonia Founded: 2022 Round: $2.1 million (€1.8 million) Pre-seed Key Investors: Garri Zmudze, Raison.app, private angel investors Use of Funds: Team growth, market expansion, product development Website: pickmybrain.com

Freiburg-based TrustTech startup expands multilingual content moderation platform to 89 languages The regulatory landscape for online content moderation across Europe is shifting rapidly, with the EU Digital Services Act now mandating that platforms and organisations implement protective measures against harmful content. For the growing number of public figures, sports clubs, and media organisations facing a surge in online abuse, the compliance requirement has created an urgent demand for technology that can identify threats in real time — across languages, dialects, and the ever-evolving lexicon of coded hate speech. Freiburg-based Penemue has raised more than €1.7 million to scale its artificial intelligence platform for detecting and countering online hate speech, digital violence, and disinformation. The round attracted a diverse investor base including TION Health, Beyond Tomorrow, 4seedimpact, zigzag, Berlin Angel Fund, CGS Consulting and Beteiligungs GmbH, RLM Beteiligungs GmbH, and ILG Group, alongside prominent business angels from encourageventures e.V., Black Forest Business Angels, and Business Angels Mitteldeutschland. Beyond keyword filters: understanding context at scale What distinguishes Penemue from conventional content moderation tools is the depth of its linguistic analysis. Rather than relying on basic keyword matching, the platform analyses complex linguistic cues to identify harmful content across 89 languages in real time. The system recognises coded language, slang, regional dialects, and even emoji-based communication patterns, continuously updating its models to reflect emerging terms, cultural shifts, and new forms of digital abuse. The platform functions as a live monitoring layer for social media comments and direct messages, enabling organisations to hide or delete harmful content with a single click — or escalate cases directly to law enforcement through integrated legal complaint filing. “It is not just the people affected who are victims, but everyone who reads along,” said Sara Egetemeyr, co-founder and managing director of Penemue. The company was founded alongside Jonas Navid Mehrabanian Al-Nemri and Marlon Lückert, with a mission to make digital spaces safer through technology rather than manual moderation alone. Bundesliga clubs and federal politicians among early adopters Penemue has already built a notable client base across Germany and Europe. Bundesliga clubs in both the first and second divisions use the platform to monitor fan interactions and protect players from online abuse. Federal-level politicians, media houses, artists, and influencers also rely on the service, as do public prosecutors and police authorities investigating criminal online communication. The company’s effectiveness has been independently validated through an impact evaluation conducted by the University of Mannheim, which documented measurable positive effects in reducing digital violence — providing third-party academic credibility that strengthens Penemue’s positioning in a market where claims of AI effectiveness are often difficult to verify. European regulatory tailwind drives demand The fresh capital will fund further AI development, new European and international partnerships, and deeper cooperation with public institutions. Penemue’s timing aligns with a regulatory environment that is increasingly favourable to content moderation technology providers. The EU Digital Services Act creates compliance-driven demand across the bloc, while individual member states are introducing their own frameworks for combating online hate speech. The German startup has already earned recognition as AI Champion of Baden-Württemberg and is a member of Deutsche Telekom’s TechBoost programme. Its partnership with the #NoHateSpeech initiative further anchors it within the broader European movement to address digital abuse systematically rather than reactively. For Penemue, the challenge ahead lies in scaling a linguistically complex product across new markets while maintaining the detection accuracy that has earned it the trust of some of Germany’s most prominent institutions. Company: Penemue HQ: Freiburg, Germany Round: Funding round Amount: €1.7 million+ Key Investors: TION Health, Beyond Tomorrow, 4seedimpact, zigzag, Berlin Angel Fund Use of Funds: AI development, European and international expansion, public institution partnerships