Mind The Gap #W23
European Tech & VC: weekly signal over noise. News, deals, funds, & exits.
📅 June 01 – 05, 2026 | Read time: 5 mins
📸 Mind The Gap is now on Instagram: @mindthegap_tech. For daily European tech news, see you there.
Two nine-figure quantum rounds in one week. Anthropic filing for IPO at $61.5B while offering EU regulators access to its most powerful cybersecurity model. Brussels proposing to reserve AI and cloud contracts for European providers. Kpler taking $1B from Sixth Street. A Dutch startup growing wood from tree stem cells in bioreactors. Not every week has a throughline, but this one does: European tech is being taken seriously, by capital markets, by institutions, and by the scientists who keep building things nobody expected to work.
📰 News of the Week
Anthropic files for IPO and offers EU access to Mythos
The Claude maker has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement with the SEC at a $61.5B valuation. On the same day, Anthropic offered EU regulators access to Mythos, its most advanced AI cybersecurity model, previously restricted to Microsoft, JPMorgan, and the UK government. A dual move that reads as both financial preparation and geopolitical positioning.
Oxford Quantum Circuits raises £260M, Europe’s largest private quantum round ever
The UK company builds superconducting quantum computers deployed across the US, Japan, and Spain for customers in finance, defence, and security. Led by Bullhound Capital, with the British Business Bank and J.P. Morgan among the backers. Oversubscribed.
EU unveils tech sovereignty package
The European Commission proposed a package covering four areas: semiconductors (Chips Act 2.0), cloud and AI infrastructure, open source, and the digitalisation of the energy sector. The most consequential policy move for European enterprise tech since GDPR.
🇪🇺 Top Deals of the Week
Kpler | $1B+ | Belgium | FinTech | $3.7B EV | Sixth Street
Oxford Quantum Circuits | €300M Series C | United Kingdom | Quantum Computing | Bullhound Capital, British Business Bank, J.P. Morgan
Twinco Capital | €165M | Spain | FinTech | €15M Series B led by FMO + €150M securitisation facility
Factorial | €129M Series D | Spain | HRTech | €2.1B EV | General Catalyst
Quobly | €115M | France | Quantum Computing | STMicroelectronics, Air Liquide
Wordsmith | €60M Series B | United Kingdom | LegalTech | Series B | Highland Europe, Index Ventures
Innovafeed | €51M | France | AgriTech | Creadev, QIA, Temasek, ADM, ABC Impact
Apoha | $36M Seed | United Kingdom | DeepTech | Singular
Semble | €35M Series C | United Kingdom | HealthTech | Revaia
ICEYE | €28M R&D grant | Finland | SpaceTech | Finnish government
Gigaton | $26M Series A | United Kingdom | IndustrialTech | Plural
Encosa | €25M Seed | Germany | CleanTech | Realyze Ventures
Fuse Energy | €25M Series B extension | United Kingdom | EnergyTech | 20VC; Collaborative Fund
Tilt | $26M | United Kingdom | Live-Video Commerce | Vinted Ventures
Invisix | €20M Seed | Netherlands | Semiconductors | Hitachi Ventures, Transition Ventures, imec.xpand, Doosan
Innovorder | €20M | France | Restaurant Tech | UL Invest
🚪 Exits
Contentful | Acquired by Salesforce | undisclosed | Germany | CMS / SaaS
Vendr | Acquired by Vertice | undisclosed | United Kingdom | SaaS Procurement / AI
Wecan Group | Majority stake acquired by SEALSQ | €5.4M | Switzerland | Post-Quantum Financial Security
Moca Traveltech | Acquired by Entravel Group | undisclosed | Spain | TravelTech
Katalogo.ai | Acquired by CommerceClarity | undisclosed | Europe | E-commerce AI
🔍 My Personal Favorite
New Dawn Bio | BioTech / Cultured Wood | Pre-Seed | €2.1M
Humans have been cutting rectangular boards from round tree trunks for millennia, wasting a significant portion of every log in the process. New Dawn Bio grows wood directly from tree stem cells in bioreactors, producing pre-shaped timber without logging or sawing waste. The technology produces wood up to 10,000 times faster than conventional forestry and could reduce customers’ cost of goods by up to 80%. The company has demonstrated cultured wood across six different tree species and is based out of Wageningen, one of the world’s leading agricultural research ecosystems. Founded in 2024 by Tom Clement and Kianti Figler, both systems biologists. With 5.3 million hectares of tropical forest lost every year and the global timber market valued at nearly $1 trillion, the structural opportunity is real even if the technology is still early. CapitalT led, with Norrsken Evolve and Ontdekkers Group participating.
💸 New Dry Powder
Merantix Capital AI Fund | Merantix Capital | €103M | Germany | Early-stage European AI across logistics, healthcare, robotics, and manufacturing
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See you next Monday.
Agathe