27 January 2026: The EIF's next chapter; EU-INC announced; EIB report on drivers for startup relocation; and more

Welcome back to the bi-weekly “Inside European Deep Tech” newsletter, compiled by Robin Wauters, COO and board member of the European Startup Network, co-driver at EU–INC, investor at Syndicate One and formerly founding editor and CEO of Tech.eu.

There are more than 75,000 subscribers to this newsletter; I invite each and every one of you to provide feedback so I can upgrade it over time. 💪🏻

A word from our partner Deep Tech Momentum (DTM):

Deep Tech Momentum (DTM) is on a mission to strengthen European competitiveness, resilience and technological sovereignty by building the #1 marketplace for deep tech and AI on the continent.

DTM 2026 will bring together 3,000+ Europe's boldest senior innovation leaders, top startup and scale-up founders, and leading investors across energy, defence, manufacturing and robotics, advanced materials, high-performance computing, and space – with a shared goal to accelerate the adoption of commercially-ready, next-horizon technologies.

The program includes an AI Productivity Summit, Venture Clienting & CVC Summit, CXO Sovereignty Summit, LP-GP Marketplace as well as high-level industry and public sector speakers.

DTM also features a unique format of highly-curated 1:1 meetings to accelerate deep tech Go-to-Market where attendees engage directly with Europe’s leading network of 300+ corporate innovation leaders with budgets to deploy deep tech solutions at scale.

To learn more, visit www.deeptech.build

Below, please find a tightly curated list of links for anyone with a vested interest in the European deep tech space:

Must-reads

• Merete Clausen: "the European Investment Fund is gearing up for the next chapter!"

• With the EU’s policy goals at the core and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group’s priorities in focus, the European Investment Fund (EIF)'s Operational Plan 2026–28"

• Here’s what 2026 has in store for European research and innovation policy

• Novo Nordisk Foundation backs BioInnovation Institute with €736M to scale life sciences and deeptech innovation

• Europe’s deep-tech potential: What role for universities?

• Deep Tech Startups in the EU: Revolutionizing Tomorrow’s Industries

• Guillaume Lerouge: Investing Early in Europe’s Defense Tech Wave

• The European Commission launches EU Inc., the long-awaited ‘28th regime’ for startups

• Yann LeCun’s new venture is a contrarian bet against large language models

Insights: data, research, interviews and profiles

• EIB report: "Drivers of relocation by innovative EU startups and scaleups"

• 8 deep tech startup pitching events in Europe in 2026

• EIC Scaling Club: "Our new Policy Report reveals a mismatch between the EU’s long-term regulatory vision and scaleups' immediate capital needs"

• Deep tech’s speed advantage

• War-Proofing Europe's Companies—and Yours

• European tech in 2025: The data, the deals, and what comes next

• The story of the UK innovation economy in 2025, in data

• 🇫🇷 The State of the French Tech Ecosystem 2025

• The six biggest AI leadership trends for 2026

• 10 UK-based deep tech startups solving the world’s hardest problems

• HTGF: Where public mandate meets venture discipline

• Deep Tech IPO Roadmap: Investors, Metrics, Roadshow

• France’s next unicorns? 10 startups riding 2025’s €8.2B funding wave

• Emil Eifrem, Neo4j: Building the AI Infrastructure Layer—Neo4j’s $100M Bet on the Next Wave of AI Startups

• 5 European deep tech scale-ups innovating in space propulsion systems

Opinions worth reading

• Why deep-tech start-ups receive venture capital too late

• Viewpoint: The missing pillar of EU’s start-up strategy is risk

• Are Europe's stock exchanges fit for purpose? Euronext's Mathieu Caron says companies building in AI, defence tech and quantum computing could help ignite the next wave of tech public listings this year.

• Connecting deep tech innovation to markets: A key question for Europe’s industrial future

• Not too late for EU to compete in cloud computing, says Scaleway chief

• AI and other innovations are now key to Europe’s security, writes Sifted founder John Thornhill, so it’s time to get really serious about tech

• Why European defence startups find France ‘almost impossible’ to work with

Major European deep tech startup and scale-up news

• AI voice start-up ElevenLabs in funding talks at $11bn valuation

• Synthesia doubles valuation to $4BN in 12 months, following $200M funding round

• Terralayr secures €192 million to further grow its grid-scale battery storage portfolio

• German sustainability software outfit osapiens becomes unicorn, following $100M raise

• Nvidia in talks to back Yann LeCun’s new AI startup in bumper funding round

• Parloa raises $350M, tripling valuation to $3BN

• Cloover secures over $1.2B to develop an AI operating system for energy independence

• Azimut Group invests $128 million in D-Orbit

• Lausanne-based SWISSto12 secures €73 million to develop its compact satellite HummingSat ahead of planned 2027 launch

• Hydrosat raises $60M for its thermal satellite imaging tech

• Orbital raises $60M Series B to automate real estate law with AI

• Orbem raises €55.5 million for AI-powered MRI technology

• Irish quantum semiconductor startup Equal1 closes €51 million round to scale silicon-based quantum computing

• LatticeFlow AI Acquires AI Sonar, the Leading AI Discovery Platform

• US tech giant Cloudflare acquired London-based AI startup Human Native.

• London-based AI chip manufacturer Fractile has secured $22.5m from Nato Innovation Fund, Kindred and Oxford Science Enterprises

Major European deep tech investor news

• €1.6 billion for innovation: German Ministry for Economic Affairs and EIF expand startup financing through EIF German Equity

• Airbus joins Nazca fund as a strategic investor

• DTCP expands into defence with €20M-per-deal Fund for security and dual-use startups

• Ananda Impact Ventures closes €73m for new deeptech fund. The Munich-based firm is targeting an €100m+ final close this year

• Vanagon Ventures closes €20M fund to fill Europe's deep tech pre-seed gap — TFN

• PROTOTYPE Capital launches Fund III and hits 5.6x returns by backing "crazy ideas"

• Vi Partners marks 25 years with first close of €161M new venture fund

• 2150 closes €210m Fund II, says cities are the answer to de-carbonisation

• QuantumLight, the VC firm started by Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky, is in talks to raise another fund, with a target of $500m

• Footprint Firm closes €76M Article 9 deeptech Fund for the green transition

In other links

• Europe’s planned pioneering AI lab attracts backing of 30 researchers

• Auditors warn against uncertainty in EU plans for more flexible innovation funding

• EuroHPC Regulation amended to strengthen Europe’s AI and quantum capabilities

• Explained: why the EU has launched a virtual worlds partnership

• INNOVA joins EU-backed HARD2SCALE project to scale deep-tech for industry

• Touchwaves brings wearable haptics to the military cockpit

• Finland Hiring Top U.S. Engineers and Researchers to Power its Quantum and AI Ambitions

• Soldera’s 10x growth story: building the Stripe for renewable energy

• 20 top entrepreneurs join Project Switzerland to scale next tech leaders

• The Romanian deep-tech startup .lumen wins the accessibility award at CES 2026

• How is Cork Research linked to a European Space Agency Mission?

• H-FARM Joins ELEVO to Take Deep-Tech From Lab To Global Impact

• January: Bristol welcomes new scale-up lab space as the UK’s top deep tech city outside

The scrolled-all-the-way-down extras

• AI and the Age of Individual Empowerment

• The talent spark: How inventors fire up startup ecosystems | Cornell Chronicle

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