9 February 2026: Mundi Ventures mounts €1B 'Kembara' deeptech fund ; Who will run the €5B Scaleup Europe Fund? push for 'Made in Europe'; 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 about 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

• The VCs who might run the €5bn Scaleup Europe Fund

• New: Relativity Collective, a pan-European academic founder network designed to connect top talent at a formative stage of their entrepreneurial journey

• Poland takes cue from France with billion-euro innovation investment fund

• Europe’s most active LP, the European Investment Fund (EIF), is looking into creating a “more ambitious” defence investing programme as it doubles down on backing pure military investments

• Closing Europe’s deep tech gender gap: women-led startups set to scale

• EIB Group to expand support for future European tech champions

• Europe begins its slow retreat from US dependence

• Northvolt former CEO: "Emotionally tough" raising funds for new venture

Insights: data, research, interviews and profiles

• The Series B Funding Gap in European Climate Tech | World Fund

• New Impact Funds in Europe in 2025

• Inside the numbers: Ten countries leading Europe’s tech investment in 2025

• 27 European spinout labs to watch, according to investors

• What it takes to build and scale companies in Europe

• Inside the future of aviation with the CEO of Grid Aero

• Inside The Lithuanian Startup Ecosystem

• Less Than 50% of CEE VCs Expect a Better Investment Climate in 2026

• Academy report shows shifting trends in UK engineering

• 10 Early-Stage European Robotics Startups to Watch in 2026

Opinions worth reading

• Fragmented single market is ‘number one problem’ for EU research

• The Deutsche Börse wants more scaleups to embrace being a big fish in a little pond and IPO in Europe over the US

• EU must push for 'Made in Europe' strategy, EU industry chief says

• European scaleups are doing more and more secondaries — but we’re still missing a healthy exit environment, says JPMorgan

• An Airbus for quantum? Europe isn’t quite there yet

• European VC is facing a big bang

• More European SPAC IPOs to come, says Einride boss

• AI 'critical' for Germany's future, digital minister warns

• EU Space Act needs clarity on global scope, says Council advisory body | Euractiv

Major European deep tech startup and scale-up news

• AI startup ElevenLabs raised $500 million at an $11 billion valuation, as it eyes a potential IPO

• Germany’s Robco raises $100m to expand growing US presence

• Newcleo, a European developer of advanced nuclear technologies, has announced the close of an $85 million financing round

• Biorce raises $52M to support global rollout of its AI clinical trial platform

• Frankenburg has raised up to $50M at a $400M valuation, say sources

• R3 Robotics raises €20M to automate EV dismantling at scale

• ETH Zurich spinout Chiral bags $12M to scale robotic platform for graphene chip integration

Major European deep tech investor news

• Funding Europe’s “second renaissance”: Barcelona’s Kembara hits €750 million first close for €1 billion DeepTech fund

• Eurazeo targets €500M close for its resilient Future Industries Fund

• daphni Blue completes €260M final close for science-driven European investments

• Voyager Ventures, an early-stage VC firm investing across Europe and the US, closed its third fund at $275m

• Swiss VC B2venture raised €150m for its fifth fund, the firm’s largest to date, focused on deeptech areas like robotics and manufacturing

• Paris-based investor Slate VC has hit a first close of €132m for its first-time fund dedicated to climate tech

• Swiss research institution Constructor Group launches $110m deep tech fund - Global Venturing

• IQ Capital secures £50M boost from British Business Bank for new Fund V

• British defence prime BAE Systems, which builds everything from combat vehicles to naval guns, is expanding its tech investing activities

• Former Volvo and Dyson boss to chair Scottish tech accelerator as it launches £15 million fund

In other links

• EU and India to work together on startups and research

• The next chapter for AI in the EU (OpenAI)

• Serial founder Peter Sarlin has a new startup, Qutwo, which aims to help companies switch to AI infrastructure for the hybrid-quantum computing era

• Cambridge Wireless and DeepTech Alliance Announce Partnership

• First university-designed 7-nanometer AI chip

• From blood tests to orbital labs: Europe’s next generation of cancer tech

• Estonia launches €12.6m deep tech programme with universities and science parks

• New Dutch coalition commits to create ‘Darpa-like’ innovation agency

The scrolled-all-the-way-down extras

• AI music is on a collision course

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