29 July 2025: Big plans and high hopes for Horizon Europe and the 'Competitiveness Fund', how Helsing sees the world, 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 75,200 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 get started: please have your say on the future of EU Inc!

During the next few weeks, you can help turn Europe into a place where ambitious founders actually want to stay and build tomorrow’s leading companies.

How? By sharing your opinions and (horror) stories with the European Commission before the 30th of September. And the EU Inc team wants to help you do that as quickly and efficiently as possible with a step-by-step guide to answering their survey!

The EU has a once-in-a-generation chance to implement - at a foundational level - a unified measure that will significantly boost entrepreneurs' ability to establish, develop, and grow their businesses across Europe. EU Inc has already developed a comprehensive legal proposal for a standardised, pan-European, digital-first company structure.

Now, they are advocating for a EU regulation - not a directive - to pave the way for the creation of a single legal entity that operates seamlessly across borders within the Single Market. This avoids the current patchwork of 27 different systems, which hinder efficiency and growth. Because, let’s be honest, who needs 27+ flavours of the same headache?

The questionnaire is lengthy and can be challenging to complete, but it’s a key part of the crucial public consultation - and that’s why the EU Inc team has prepared step-by-step guidance to help you respond effectively. Please share these pointers freely and widely.

Now, let’s get to it for newsletter issue #14!

Must-reads

• FT: Can Europe break free of American tech supremacy?

• "Horizon Europe 2028 - 2034: twice bigger, simpler, faster and more impactful" - As part of the next long-term EU budget 2028-2034, the Commission is proposing to double the budget of the research and innovation framework programme to €175 billion. The European Innovation Council (EIC) says it is “cautiously happy” with plans to triple its budget in the next iteration of Horizon Europe, but questions remain about how that money will be spent

• It will also seek to create a new European Competitiveness Fund, that will be worth €409 billion, to invest in 'strategic technologies'

• Science|Business is publishing the Commission’s sector-by-sector plans for its Horizon Europe programme

• The European Commission wants to partially suspend Israel from participating in its flagship research and development program, Horizon Europe

• All parts of Horizon Europe may contribute to post-2027 ‘moonshot’ projects, says Commission

• The European Innovation Council (EIC) will pilot a new funding instrument next year based on the US Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) model, according to a draft 2026 work programme

• The Long Read: How Helsing Sees the World

• AI models with systemic risks given pointers on how to comply with EU AI rules

• "Art of the (bad) deal: How the EU’s Trump trade pact hits defence, energy, food and pharma"

• UK urged to set standards for startup accelerators

Insights: data, research, interviews and profiles

• First Momentum's Deep Tech Hardware Napkin

• Scaling European deeptech through startup-corporate collaboration: Interview with Stéphane Ouaki, Director of EISMEA

• "For the past several weeks I’ve been digging into standard spin-out policies of UK and European university tech transfer offices (TTOs). Tl;dr - The system is broken."

• Dealroom: "🦄 83 unicorns have been minted so far in 2025. 🇺🇸 52 of them are in the US"

• SME Tech: Europe’s Hidden Giants

• The EIC Accelerator March 2025 Results

• Europe’s biggest new funds in H1 2025

• "Accelerating Britain’s network of startup support programmes"

• Chronic underfunding of open source software poses strategic risk to Europe’s digital sovereignty

• 12 University-Backed Deep Tech Ventures In Germany

• Jean Schmitt & Rob Blackie on the State of RNA in Europe & the TechBio Opportunity

• 12 robotics startups to watch, according to investors

• Startup Show: How Valarian Is Quietly Rebuilding Europe’s Defense Tech Stack

Opinions worth reading

• Why traditional VC is failing deep tech — and how to fix it

• EU Inc: 'If Europe wants global champions, it must play to win'

• EIF: ‘Europe is better than an incubator for the US’

Selected news items

• US AI-powered customer experience company NiCE will acquire Düsseldorf-based Cognigy, a leader in conversational and agentic AI in a transaction that values the German company at approximately €819 million

• German AI software startup n8n is in talks to raise new funds at a more than $1.5 billion valuation

• Eurazeo holds €650 million first close for Growth Fund IV to back Europe’s AI tech champions

• Ultra-fast electric vehicles charging company Electra has signed a green loan facility of up to €433 million to support its future growth

• A former Sequoia Capital Partner who left the Silicon Valley firm after a bitter boardroom battle at Klarna is set to launch a $400 million UK-based venture capital fund

• London-based Xelix, an agentic AI software company, has secured $160 million in a Series B funding round led by Insight Partners, with follow-on investments from Passion Capital and LocalGlobe

• EIF invests €75 million in Serena Infra II infrastructure fund to support sustainable infrastructures

• Exein, a Rome, Italy-based embedded IoT cybersecurity company, has raised €70 million in a Series C funding round

• Makersite raises €60 million to boost product development with AI lifecycle tools

• Denmark announces €80 million quantum computing initiative

• TechVision Fund closes Fund II at €50 million to support startups in the Rhineland and Euregio Meuse-Rhine regions

• Inditex has its eye on robotics and has acquired a stake in Theker, a Spanish start-up that develops robots to operate in complex and heterogeneous industrial environments, through a vision and control system based on AI

In other links

• European Competitiveness Fund to be jointly run by Commission research and industry directorates

• Ex-Apple engineer brings Silicon Valley tactics to European defence tech

• NATO Innovation Fund appoints these two deep tech veterans as investment partners; founding team partner Kelly Chen departs

• Why defence tech startups are setting up shop in Britain

• Open source industry calls for €350 million EU fund to fix digital potholes

• EISMEA has launched a new call for tenders titled “EIC Community and Ecosystem Partnership Programme”

• Marketing from Zero to One: Deeptech Brand Marketing

• Bavaria sets ‘powerful precedent’ with plans to unlock private capital for VC

• “Someone Might Argue That Investing in a Pen Factory Is Dual-Use”

• Vivian Chan is launching a "10-week virtual residency for Deeptech and Healthtech founder-CEOs to pinpoint the critical answers needed to prove momentum, unlock scalable revenue, and fundraise effectively"

• Dutch quantum computing company QuiX Quantum says it will deliver “the world’s first single-photon-based universal quantum computer,” which it expects to be available in 2026.

Upcoming events in Europe for your calendar

• 27-28 August - TechBBQ - Copenhagen, Denmark 🇩🇰

• 4-5 September - Music Frontiers - Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪

• 5-9 September - IFA 2025 - Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪

• 17 September - FDDay - Paris, France 🇫🇷

The scrolled-all-the-way-down extras

• Fed up with ChatGPT, Latin America is building its own

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