Mind The Gap #W20

European Tech & VC: weekly signal over noise. News, deals, funds, & exits.

May 18, 2026

📅 May 11– 15, 2026 | Read time: 5 mins

From AI biotech and infrastructure to fintech, defence, and semiconductors, capital kept flowing into increasingly large and strategic bets. Hard to ignore the fact that every company in this week’s top 15 raised above €20M.

The UK dominated the headlines once again, pulling capital from US funds, sovereign investors, global banks, and major tech players all at the same time.

Let’s dive into the data.

📰 News of the Week

Isomorphic Labs raises $2.1B Series B

The London-based AI drug design company spun out of Google DeepMind closed the largest AI biotech round on record. Led by Thrive Capital, with Alphabet, GV, Temasek, MGX, CapitalG, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund joining the cap table. No drug has entered human trials yet. Demis Hassabis has committed to dosing the first patient before the end of 2026. Capital from the US, UK, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore all in one round.

n8n doubles valuation to $5.2B via SAP deal

Berlin-based workflow automation startup n8n received a strategic investment from SAP that pushed its valuation from $2.5B to $5.2B in under a year. The two companies also signed a multi-year deal embedding n8n into Joule Studio, SAP’s enterprise AI agent builder.

Charli XCX invests in Nothing

London-based consumer hardware company Nothing named Charli XCX its first Global Brand Ambassador and newest shareholder, off the back of its $200M Series C at a $1.3B valuation. She joins The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia on the cap table. Carl Pei says she is helping shape what they build next, not just fronting campaigns.

Wise lists in the US with $2.5B in annual revenue

The UK fintech is heading to US markets after reaching $2.5B in annual revenue. Another European exit going to New York rather than London.

🇪🇺 Top Deals of the Week

Nscale | €670M | United Kingdom | AI Infrastructure | ABN AMRO, DNB, Eksfin, Nordea, SEB

Paymentology | $175M | United Kingdom | FinTech | Apis Partners, Aspirity Partners

UroMems | $60M | France | MedTech | Ajax Health

Rowden | £25M | United Kingdom | Defence Tech | UK National Wealth Fund

Iceotope | $26M | United Kingdom | AI Infrastructure | Two Seas Capital, Barclays Climate Ventures

Webidoo | €21M | Italy | AI / SMB Automation | Azimut Group (IXC3)

🚪 Exits

Banked | Acquired by National Australia Bank | United Kingdom | FinTech

DC Company (Konbini, Le Gorafi, Herstory, C’est Qui La Boss) | Acquired by Alexandre Yazdi (Voodoo CEO) | France | Digital Media

Glocalzone | Acquired by MovitOn | Turkey | Logistics

Graphcore | $450M+ from SoftBank | United Kingdom | Semiconductors |

Ripetizioni.it | Acquired by Superprof | Italy | EdTech

🔍 My Personal Favorite

Twin Prime | Defence / AI | Pre-Seed | $10M

Twin Prime is building foundation models trained on multi-sensor fusion data: radar, EO/IR, signals intelligence, rather than repurposing commercial vision or language models for defence. That distinction matters both operationally and in procurement conversations. The founding team mixes ML research depth with defence-sector experience, which is what NATO-aligned buyers actually want to see. European defence ministries are under growing pressure to reduce dependence on US-sourced AI systems, and that is opening a procurement window at the model layer.

💸 New Dry Powder

Lansdowne Partners VC Fund I | €129M first close, target €172M | United Kingdom | UK university IP spinouts across healthcare data, quantum, advanced materials, semiconductors, and defence | British Business Bank, Aviva Investors, Lloyds Banking Group

BII AI Lab €7M | Denmark | AI for life sciences startups | Danish Industry Foundation

Eighteen48 Partners Fund I | €175M first close, target €350M | United Kingdom | Mid-market tech buyouts in Europe

Thank you for reading. Don’t just read the market: understand it.

If you enjoyed this edition, share it with someone who should be tracking European Tech.

See you next Monday.

Best,

Agathe

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