15 July 2025: EU AI Act rollout continues as planned; EIC requests big budget increase; plans for a 'EU Inc' under threat; and more

Welcome to the bi-weekly “Inside European Deep Tech” newsletter, compiled by Robin Wauters, founder of boutique communications agency Profoundo, board+team member of the European Startup Network, and formerly founding editor and CEO of Tech.eu.

There are now more than 75,100 subscribers to this newsletter; I invite each and every one of you to provide feedback so I can upgrade it over time. 💪🏻

Periodic reminder that I'm always up for a chat about how to upscale your communication and media strategy, so do hit me up if you want to have a conversation.

Before we kick things off: the good folks over at EU Inc have joined hands with European Startup Network and Allied For Startups, and scores of national and regional startup associations, to call for more ambition when it comes to the '28th regime'.

The EU has a real shot at replacing the 27 separate national incorporation regimes with a single, unified, digital-first system that will allow for the next generation of European tech companies to start, scale and succeed.

Yet, a draft report from the European Parliament that's currently circulating in Brussels, and will be presented to MEPs tomorrow (Wednesday 16 July), risks resulting in a 'solution' that benefits no one except for legacy and family-owned businesses, and drive more talent and high-growth startups and scale-ups away.

The proposal would amplify the problem of fragmentation plaguing European startups and investors, instead of solving it.

What’s needed is meaningful, impactful, and bold reform: a true '28th regime' with a single central digital incorporation platform and registry that reduces fragmentation and costs while ensuring equal opportunities for founders across the EU.

You can speak out on this, spread the word, tag your local politicians, and respond to the European Commission's 28th Regime Consultation & Call For Evidence here.

Now, let’s get to it for newsletter issue #13!

Must-reads

• "The smart second mover" - A European strategy for AI

• European Innovation Council Board calls for EIC’s expanded mission and increased budget to boost Europe’s deep tech leadership

• The European Commission indeed hopes to at least double the budget of the EIC, if not triple it, when the agency can only finance 4% of the projects it receives, research commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva recently told MEPs

• European startups and VCs keep pushing for a pause on the AI Act rollout (and not just them) but the EU will stick to its timeline as the European Commission just dropped its General-Purpose AI Code of Practice (which is intended to guide developers of AI systems in complying with the EU AI Act and avoiding potential penalties)

• Inside Helsing: A look behind the curtain at Europe’s AI defence unicorn

• The governing board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is making a last-ditch attempt to save the EU innovation agency following mounting criticism of its role and structure

• WINNING in the US - your definitive guide to US expansion, based on the analysis of over 500 VC-backed companies and over 40 in-depth interviews with founders and operators from globally successful companies

• Tide turners: How startups can shape Europe’s tech future and geoeconomic strategy

• Winners and losers: what’s at stake for research in the next EU budget proposal?

Insights: data, research, interviews and profiles

• EU research Framework Programmes are largely failing to help companies grow, a highly critical report argues, as the European Commission sets out its plans for the next programme, due to start in 2028

• European Innovation Council publishes flagship report on corporate-startup collaboration

• European Tech Reignites: GP Bullhound and Bullhound Capital Launch the 2025 Edition of Titans of Tech Report

• Europe’s defence-focused VC funds in 2025

• Winning in the US: A Conversation with Index Ventures' Martin Mignot

• "Scale or Fail: A Trade Strategy for Europe’s Clean Industry"

• Tech Scaleup Spain 2025 Report - Scaleup, Investor, and Event Landscape

• A dataset of EU legal and policy instruments for the digital world

• "EIC Accelerator and firm scaling-up evidence"

• 9 Core Principles for Building Successful Deep Tech Ventures | Deep Tech Catalyst

• 15 Game-Changing Deep Tech Startups In Germany (2025 Update)

• Norway: Sustainable, data-driven, and digitally ambitious

Opinions worth reading

• Digital sovereignty can’t be bargained away

• "Can Europe’s leading research infrastructures become a commercial springboard for deep tech startups?"

• Europe must think more quickly and streamline regulations to further innovation

• Industrial strategy ‘too broad’, says UK deep tech boss

• The ATTRACT effect: How big science and tech will make Europe more competitive

• Opinion: How Irish deep tech can lead on defence innovation

• TNO’s CEO: Innovate or be left behind

Selected news items

• French artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI is in talks to raise as much as $1 billion in equity from several investors including Abu Dhabi fund MGX

• Swedish AI coding startup Lovable nears $2 billion valuation as it is set to attract more than $150 million in new funding

• The European Innovation Council has announced €230 million in funding support for 40 high-potential start-ups and small businesses through its EIC Accelerator program

• Zurich-based carbon removal solutions provider Climeworks has raised $162 million in a new equity funding round, with proceeds from the financing aimed at further developing its direct air capture (DAC) technology

• SiPearl, a France-based company building high-performance energy-efficient processors for supercomputing and AI, closed its €130 million Series A

• Basel-based NUCLIDIUM, a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing a proprietary copper-based theranostic platform, today announced the successful closing of its Series B financing round, raising €84 million

• The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is investing €63 million to strengthen the role of higher education in building a more innovative, resilient, and skilled Europe

• Ragnar Sass, the Estonian tech entrepreneur behind Pipedrive and the Lift99 startup hub, has announced the launch of Darkstar, a pan-European defence fund that aims to inject wartime urgency – and battlefield pragmatism – into the continent’s defence technology sector

• The European Investment Fund (EIF) is investing €30 million in Quantonation II to strengthen early-stage financing for quantum and deep physics startups, aiming to boost Europe’s role in the global quantum race

• Finnish startup Donut Lab has secured €25 million in seed funding to scale up its in-wheel hub motors for electric land, sea, and air vehicles

• Dutch climate tech firm Dexter Energy raised €23 million

• French DeepTech company Arago raises €22.1 million to slash AI energy consumption with photonic chip

In other links

• ‘There’s very little transparency’: How defence techs are deciding who to sell to

• Helsing’s moonshot incubator is at work on AI agents for warfare

• EU countries and the European Commission aren’t experimenting enough with new ways to fund research, according to a member of the expert group advising the Commission on how to design the next Framework Programme

• The Danish presidency of the EU Council has an opportunity to make “great progress” on negotiations for FP10, the next Framework Programme for research and innovation

• HighTechXL’s XL Day celebrates deeptech success and perseverance

• "Large companies need safety", says Anthropic's European boss

• Experts reveal: How is the UK responding to Switzerland’s deeptech ascent

• Have You Missed CEE’s Deep Tech Awakening in Zagreb?

• Basquevolt: A solid-state leap toward Europe’s energy independence

The scrolled-all-the-way-down extras

• Out of space: Picturing the big, crowded business of satellite internet

• Hungary’s oldest library is fighting to save 100,000 books from a beetle infestation

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