European deeptech funding, September 14–18: Open Cosmos, EUCLYD and Exein lead Europe’s shift to integrated platforms

What does the company develop, who leads it, who is providing the capital, and which milestone does it now need to reach? These four questions offer a more useful way of reading European deeptech funding than a league table of headline amounts. This week’s selection brings together satellite infrastructure, AI chips, embedded cybersecurity, advanced materials, clinical AI, acoustic simulation, food science and neurotechnology. The amounts are unusually large at the top, but the risks being financed remain radically different.

Four rounds move beyond financing a single product

Open Cosmos: turning satellites into an integrated intelligence network

Founded in 2015 and led by founder and CEO Rafel Jorda Siquier, Open Cosmos designs, manufactures and operates small satellites. Its model now extends beyond spacecraft production: OpenOrbit covers satellite missions, OpenConstellation pools infrastructure, ConnectedCosmos provides sovereign broadband and IoT connectivity, and DataCosmos converts imagery and sensor data into operational intelligence.

The company announced €300 million in funding on September 14. The financing is led by European investors and includes Lightrock, ETF Partners, Institut Català de Finances, Entrepreneurs First and two unnamed international pension funds. Convex Group, the National Security Strategic Investment Fund, Phoenix Court and Claret Capital Partners are also participating. The announcement reviewed does not break the package down between equity and debt, an important point given Claret’s role as a growth-debt investor.

Open Cosmos says it can manufacture one satellite a day across four European factories and has signed more than $370 million in customer contracts over the past three and a half years. The new capital is intended to expand manufacturing and deploy its three service layers. The milestone is no longer simply to put another satellite into orbit. It is to reduce the time required to turn orbital data into usable intelligence, while proving that a European operator can deliver the communications, observation and software layers as one system.

Exein: securing the machines on which physical AI will run

Founded in Rome in 2018, Exein is led by founder and CEO Gianni Cuozzo. Its cybersecurity technology is embedded into the firmware and operating layers of connected devices, including industrial equipment, vehicles, medical systems, drones and robots. The company says its technology is now present in more than two billion devices.

Its €234 million ($270 million) financing values the company at approximately €1.4 billion ($1.7 billion). The round is led by Headline, with Sofina, Goldman Sachs, the European Investment Bank Group through ETCI, KfW Capital and T.Capital. Existing investors Balderton, HV Capital, Intrepid Growth Partners, 33N Ventures, Lakestar, Supernova Invest, Blue Cloud Ventures and Geodesic Capital are also involved. Separately, Exein has upsized a revolving credit facility led by J.P. Morgan, with KfW joining as a lender; the amount of that facility has not been disclosed.

The capital is intended to support expansion in the United States and Asia-Pacific and the development of an agentic security architecture for physical AI. Exein plans to introduce that architecture by the end of 2026 and its first specialised foundation models in the first quarter of 2027. The technological test is precise: autonomous machines will need to detect and block malicious behaviour at machine speed, without waiting for a human security team.

EUCLYD: financing an AI-compute architecture before commercial proof

Founded in Eindhoven in 2024 by Bernardo Kastrup, CEO, and Atul Sinha, EUCLYD is developing infrastructure for foundation AI models. Its roadmap combines custom compute silicon, memory architecture and complete data-centre systems. The two announced products are the craftwerk programmable ASIC and the craftwerk station CWS, a system the company intends to position as a low-power exascale AI factory.

EUCLYD has raised more than €200 million in Series A funding. The round is co-led by Samsung, Somerset Capital Partners, the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund and Innovation Industries. EIFO, imec.xpand, Brabant Development Agency and Quadri are also participating. Former ASML CEO Peter Wennink is joining the board as chair.

The proceeds will be used to expand the engineering team, advance the silicon and systems roadmap and build industrial partnerships. Unlike a software company funding faster distribution of an existing product, EUCLYD is financing the design, fabrication and integration of an entire computing architecture. Its next milestone is to turn that architecture into working chips and systems that can be benchmarked on cost, energy consumption and performance.

Tandem Health: moving from an AI scribe to the operating layer of a clinic

Founded in Stockholm in 2023, Tandem Health is led by co-founder and CEO Lukas Saari, alongside Oliver Åstrand, chief technology officer, and Oscar Boldt-Christmas, chief commercial officer. Its medical assistant prepares patient summaries, supports consultations, produces documentation and assists with coding. The company says its scribe, coding assistant and clinical-decision-support products are independently certified as Class IIa medical devices under the European Medical Device Regulation.

The company has secured a $100 million Series B, equivalent to approximately €86.5 million. The round is led by the Scaleup Europe Fund managed by EQT, with existing investors Kinnevik, Northzone, Amino Collective and Visionaries participating.

Tandem says its software is used by more than 10,000 care organisations across 14 European markets. The funding will support expansion, recruitment of clinicians and the transition from a medical assistant to an AI-native clinic operating system that also manages patient flows and additional clinical tasks. The main risk is therefore no longer model performance alone. It is deployment across fragmented health systems, languages, workflows and regulatory regimes.

Hardware and materials: capital must now reach manufacturing

Fortaegis: generating encryption keys from the identity of each chip

Amsterdam-based Fortaegis is led by founder and CEO Boudewijn Wijnands. The company uses the physical variations that make every silicon chip unique to generate and continuously change encryption keys. Because those keys are not stored on the device, the company argues that its architecture provides a hardware-rooted and quantum-safe security layer for data centres, telecoms, defence systems, satellites, autonomous vehicles and drones.

Fortaegis has raised $50 million, equivalent to approximately €43.2 million. The round is led by Serendipity Capital and includes TEL Venture Capital, the investment arm of Tokyo Electron.

The company is working with governments and industrial partners across Europe, the United States and Asia. Its immediate milestone is commercial manufacturing in 2027. That moves the risk from laboratory validation to integration: the technology must be manufactured reproducibly, incorporated into existing semiconductor and computing supply chains, and adopted by customers whose security requirements leave little room for an elegant prototype that only works in controlled conditions.

iGii: taking a carbon nanomaterial from production runs to supply contracts

Scottish advanced-materials company iGii is led by CEO Jean-Christophe Granier. Founded in 2016, it develops Gii, a three-dimensional porous carbon nanomaterial grown at room temperature. The company is targeting applications including multi-analyte sensors, microheaters and flexible printed battery electrodes.

Its €26.5 million (£22.7 million) financing package combines a €13.65 million (£11.7 million) Series B, led by the Scottish National Investment Bank with PXN Ventures and Archangels, and €12.84 million (£11 million) from Scottish Enterprise.

TUSK IC: moving Ka-band chips from prototypes to volume production

Spun out of KU Leuven’s millimetre-wave research group in 2018, Antwerp-based TUSK IC is led by CEO Kathleen Philips. The fabless semiconductor company designs chips and antenna modules for automotive radar, industrial sensing and satellite communications. Its ConnectKa range includes transmit and receive beamformers and a low-noise amplifier for electronically steerable antennas used with low- and medium-Earth-orbit constellations.

TUSK IC has closed a €15 million Series A. The round is led by Matterwave Ventures, FORWARD.one and the Flanders Future Tech Fund managed by PMV. The Schaubroeck family and existing investors are also participating.

The company uses standard CMOS manufacturing rather than specialised semiconductor materials and says this can reduce cost and power consumption. The capital will finance the transition from prototype chips to high-volume production and the integration of its beamformers into a new antenna being developed with an unnamed satellite-equipment manufacturer.

Three scientific platforms approaching a market test

Treble: producing the acoustic data physical AI cannot easily collect

Founded in Reykjavík in 2020 by acoustic engineers Finnur Pind, CEO, and Jesper Pedersen, Treble develops physics-based sound simulation. Its platform creates acoustic digital twins of rooms, vehicles and devices, then produces synthetic, labelled audio data that can be used to design products and train AI systems before physical prototypes or large recording campaigns exist.

The company has raised approximately €15 million ($18 million) in a Series A-2. The round is led by Paladin Capital Group, with existing investors KOMPAS VC, Frumtak Ventures and the European Innovation Council Fund. It brings the total raised by Treble to €36 million.

The funding will support expansion in the United States and the development of synthetic acoustic data for robotics, wearables, autonomous vehicles and voice interfaces.

MicroLub: replacing the function of fat without replacing the eating experience

Founded in 2023 from research at the University of Leeds, MicroLub is led by CEO David Peters and was founded by food scientist Professor Anwesha Sarkar. The company develops protein-based microgels coated with polysaccharides. These molecules are intended to reproduce the lubrication and mouthfeel provided by fats and oils while allowing food manufacturers to reduce calories, increase protein content or simplify ingredient lists.

Its €8.7 million ($10 million) funding round is led by Northern Gritstone, with participation from existing investors including NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, managed by PXN Ventures. The stage and precise instrument were not specified in the announcement reviewed.

MicroLub says it has moved from laboratory to industrial-scale manufacturing and is working with large food and ingredient groups. The proceeds will support international expansion, recruitment and commercial launches.

Phosphoenix: preparing to test a visual prosthesis in humans

Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Phosphoenix is led by CEO Hans Brons. Its founders are Pieter Roelfsema, Xing Chen and Bert Monna. The company is developing a neuroprosthetic system for people with profound blindness caused by damage to the retina or optic nerve.

Its Fountain Probe contains more than 1,000 microelectrodes and is designed to stimulate the lateral geniculate nucleus, a relay centre in the brain’s visual pathway. A camera mounted on glasses sends images to a processor; software converts them into stimulation instructions intended to produce patterns of light that the brain can interpret.

Phosphoenix has completed a €1.3 million financing round. Existing investors TTT Medtech Fund, FIRST Fund and Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland are participating, joined by ROM InWest.

At the edge of the deeptech category: certification and remediation software

Two other transactions are relevant to the industrial and cybersecurity themes of this edition, but their technological risk is primarily carried in software and execution. They are not included in the ten main deals.

Isometric, led by founder and CEO Eamon Jubbawy, uses software and AI agents to verify the data, calculations and evidence behind carbon-removal and other industrial claims. New investors including Intercontinental Exchange, Acario Innovation, BY Venture Partners, Dubai Future District Fund, Earth VC, Motion Ventures, One Capital, Plug and Play and Verb Ventures have added approximately €8.6 million ($10 million) to its Series A. This week’s transaction brings the total Series A to €43 million ($50 million); it is not a new €43 million round. The next stage is expansion from carbon removal into emissions, energy, fuels and materials.

Hackuity, led by co-founder and CEO Patrick Ragaru, aggregates vulnerability data from security tools, ranks risks and orchestrates remediation. Its €16 million ($19 million) financing is led by Forgepoint Capital International, with Bright Pixel, Bpifrance and Seventure Partners participating. The Lyon company plans to develop its AI capabilities and expand in Europe and Asia. The comparison with Exein is useful but limited: Hackuity organises enterprise vulnerability remediation, while Exein embeds runtime protection inside connected machines.

Capital is converging on systems, not isolated components

This week’s largest transactions share a change of scale. Open Cosmos is not merely adding manufacturing capacity; it is combining satellites, connectivity and data services. EUCLYD is attempting to design silicon, memory architecture and complete AI systems. Tandem Health wants to move from a clinical assistant into the operating layer of a clinic. Exein is building security agents for machines, not another dashboard for human analysts.

The investor coalitions reflect that ambition. The Scaleup Europe Fund appears in both EUCLYD and Tandem Health, but alongside very different partners: Samsung and semiconductor investors in one case, existing software and health investors in the other. Public capital also appears at several points in the chain, through the EIB Group, KfW Capital, EIFO, BOM, the Scottish National Investment Bank, Scottish Enterprise, the EIC Fund, PMV and regional Dutch funds.

Methodology

This edition covers ten main deeptech transactions and two software-led businesses at the edge of the category. It is a selected review, not an exhaustive list of every European startup financing announced during the period, and it does not provide a market-wide total.

The reporting period covers announcements identified between September 14 and 18, 2026.

Competitors are selected according to the activity being compared, not merely because companies share a sector label. For companies financing pre-commercial architectures or clinical milestones, the table therefore includes technological comparables whose maturity, products or geographical markets may differ.

Research and analysis: FW.MEDIA. Company profiles: WE INNOVATE.EU