SPRIND and NADI launch €40M challenge to reinvent chip design

This week, we tracked more than 65 tech funding deals worth over €2 billion and over 4 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. ❗ Want to explore the data in more detail? The free, open-access Tech.eu Funding Explorer offers deeper insights into funding rounds, investor activity, company profiles and market trends. Either way, let's get you up to speed. 💸 Notable and big funding rounds 🇵🇹 TEKEVER raises $580M Series D at $6.4B valuation 🇳🇱 Bird raises $450M in debt, headcount cut from 1,000 peak to 120 🇫🇮 Verda raises $189M to advance its AI cloud and expand compute capacity 🫱🏽‍🫲🏻 Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers 🇩🇪 Munich-based agri-PV startup feld.energy is acquiring its Cologne-based competitor AckerKapital 🇪🇸  EYSA acquires Joinup and strengthens its position as a comprehensive mobility operator 🇫🇷 Mistral AI acquires Pimento and continues its move towards business applications 🚀 Interesting moves from investors 💰 DTCP closes €455M defence fund to scale Europe’s strategic tech capabilities 💵 Final Frontier and Myriad unite behind €100M defence tech fund 💸 NewSchool VC closes €10M Fund I to back early-stage B2B tech 💸.Project Ventures launches £5M fund for Imperial-rooted deeptech and AI startups 🗞️ In other (important) news 🇸🇬 Singapore's NUSX is coming for Munich's deeptech crown — with UnternehmerTUM as its partner 🇪🇺  SPRIND and NADI launch €40M challenge to reinvent European chip design 🇨🇭 Switzerland's top-funded tech companies in H1 2026 🇪🇪 Estonian Defence Forces sign three-year defence tech partnership with VC Archangel 📡 Recommended reads and listens <!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;} --> 🇳🇱 Eevi raises pre-seed funding to get language learners speaking from day one 🤖 Adlyse wants AI agents managing ad campaigns 24/7 💪 DiffuseDrive is filling the data gaps holding back Physical AI 🤖 Europeans in Japan raise $1.2M to put modular humanoid robots to work 🔭 European tech startups to watch  🇩🇪 Palma.ai raises $1.8M to bring governed AI agents to more enterprises 🇳🇱 Duqu raises €1.5M to give businesses faster access to working capital 🇮🇹 Gamindo raises €1.4M to make corporate training more interactive 🇪🇸 AI platform Reply Next secures €400,000 pre-seed funding