VC Angle Weekly Briefing #12: ChatGPT Hits 700M Users & Ukraine Launches an AI Factory
VC Angle Weekly Update #12
Hey — welcome to the twelfth edition of VC Angle Weekly Updates! As always, we're keeping tabs on what actually matters across 🇪🇺 European tech. If something broke the news this week and it's worth your time, it's probably below. Scroll on for the deals, roles, reads, and events you'll want on your radar.
In This Edition:
OpenAI reports ChatGPT on track to hit 700M weekly users
Global AI VC investment hits $49.2B in H1 2025
Ukraine launches AI Factory and national LLM
European tech investments jump 18% to €9.3B in July
US VCs dominate European AI deals with 73% surge
EU misdirects Horizon funding to low-growth mid-tech firms
📰 What Happened This Week
OpenAI reports ChatGPT on track to hit 700M weekly users, 4x growth since 2024
ChatGPT is set to reach 700 million weekly active users this week, up from 500 million at end-March and representing 4x growth since last year. The surge followed OpenAI's upgraded image-generation feature in March, which saw 130+ million users create over 700 million images within days. Business subscribers reached 5 million while users average 12+ days monthly usage, trailing only Google and X for engagement frequency.
Global AI VC investment hits $49.2B in H1 2025, exceeding all of 2024
Global venture capital investment in generative AI reached $49.2 billion in the first half of 2025, surpassing the full-year 2024 total of $44.2 billion. Average deal size tripled to $1.5 billion as investors pivot toward later-stage companies with proven real-world impact. The US dominates with 97% of deal value.
Ukraine launches AI Factory and national LLM to achieve digital sovereignty by 2030
Ukraine launched its first state AI infrastructure, the AI Factory, aiming to enter the top 3 countries for AI development by 2030. The initiative includes high-performance computing clusters and software ecosystem while keeping all data within the country. Ukraine is also developing a national LLM in partnership with Kyivstar, trained on Ukrainian data. The 9-month project will be funded by Kyivstar and open-sourced after testing.
🔍 Reads & Reports
European tech companies raised €9.3 billion across 355 deals in July, an 18% increase from June's €6.5 billion across 323 deals. Telecom dominated investments, led by London-based CityFibre's £2.3 billion financing round to support network expansion. Fourteen companies raised over €100 million each, while 48 deals remained undisclosed.
US VCs dominate European AI deals with 73% surge in activity, crowding out local investors
US venture capital firms dramatically increased European AI investments in H1 2025, with VCs making 2+ AI deals rising 73% year-over-year. Nine of the top 10 "AI-native" funding rounds included US backers, with eight featuring 3+ US investors. Europe's largest AI deal was Isomorphic Labs' $600M round led entirely by US investors (Thrive Capital, GV, Alphabet), while Synthesia and ElevenLabs each raised $180M from NEA, Iconiq Capital, and a16z. Y Combinator led early-stage activity with 13 investments.
EU misdirects Horizon funding to low-growth mid-tech firms while high-tech outperforms by 3x
European high-tech industries dramatically outperformed mid-tech (2012-2022): R&D growth (191.6% vs 85.6%), CapEx (225.6% vs 63.6%), and sales (133.7% vs 45.0%). Despite this, over half of EU Horizon funding flows to large corporate groups and mid-tech firms through collaborative projects showing no lasting impact. Only SME-targeted grants (SME Instrument, EIC Accelerator) demonstrate sustained positive effects. The report recommends shifting resources toward bottom-up, SME-focused programs to support disruptive innovation.
💶 Where Funds Went (Or Will Go)
Startups
🇨🇭 Energy Vault raises €258M to launch Asset Vault subsidiary and build energy storage projects
🇬🇧 Pulse Clean Energy secures €252.5M to build six new BESS sites
🇪🇪 Sunly raises €85M to build four solar parks across Latvia
🇪🇸 Bit2Me raises €30M for digital asset services (minority stake acquired by Tether)
🇵🇹 Bling Energy raises €15M to accelerate Portugal's energy transition
🇩🇪 Tanso raises €12M to expand environmental compliance platform
🇪🇪 Bisly raises €4.3M to expand AI building automation in Europe
🇬🇧 Tracelight raises $3.6M for AI-driven financial modelling tools
🇧🇬 WiseBee raises $2.5M for autonomous cyber defence to mid-market businesses
Investors
🇩🇪 Smart Infrastructure Ventures launches €30M SIVentures II Fund
🇮🇹 Italian Founders Fund raises €35M (total €90M) from CDP Venture Capital's Digital Transition Fund
💼 Open Roles
Generation → Global Equity Healthcare Analyst in London. Apply here.
Askya Investment Partners → Venture Capital Fellow in Paris, France. Apply here.
Sofina → Investment Intern in Brussels, Belgium. Apply here.
Antler → Investment Intern in Stockholm, Sweden. Apply here.
👋 That’s a wrap for this week.
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