VC Angle Weekly Briefing #22: Merz Backs Centralized European Stock Exchange & Startups Write an Open Letter to von Der Leyen
VC Angle Weekly Update #22
Hey - welcome to the twenty-second 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:
Merz backs single European stock exchange
Finnish company raises an insane $900M round
Startups want a regulative, not a directiveExponentiality myth
📰 What Happened This Week
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for a unified European stock exchange in a Bundestag speech Thursday, abandoning Germany’s longstanding opposition to centralizing EU financial supervision.
“We need a kind of European stock exchange so that successful companies such as biotech firms from Germany do not have to go to the New York Stock Exchange,” Merz said.
Germany will now support transferring supervisory powers from BaFin to Paris-based ESMA, unblocking the EU’s Capital Markets Union project.
The shift matters for startups: European companies face fragmented capital markets across 27 countries with different regulations, making it harder and more expensive to raise growth capital than US competitors. A unified exchange with single supervision could reduce compliance costs and create deeper liquidity pools.
Oura raises $900M at $11B valuation, more than doubles in ten months
Finnish health tech company Oura raised mind-boggling $900 million led by Fidelity, valuing the company at $11 billion—more than double its $5 billion valuation from December 2024. The company reported over $500 million in revenue in 2024 and is on track to hit $1 billion this year. Oura Ring sales have surpassed 5.5 million since 2015, with over half coming in the last year. Rings now account for 75% of fitness tracker revenue, up from 46% a year earlier.
Revolut acquires AI travel agent Swifty in second deal this year… and raises £3bn
Revolut acquired Swifty, an AI travel agent startup incubated by Lufthansa’s accelerator, for an undisclosed sum. The deal marks Revolut’s second acquisition this year after purchasing Argentinian lender Cetelem earlier in 2025. Europe’s most valuable fintech has accelerated M&A activity, having also acquired hospitality point-of-sale business Nobly in 2021 and Indian forex company Arvog Forex the following year.
Swifty’s AI agents autonomously handle travel booking through a conversational interface. The technology and cofounders Stanislav Bondarenko and Tomasz Przedmojski will join Revolut, with the platform integrating into Revolut’s Loyalty program and informing development of its forthcoming AI financial assistant. Revolut entered travel services in 2021 with in-app booking and has since expanded to airline miles products and tour tickets.
Mind you, Revolut just raised £3bn.
European defense tech M&A accelerates as consolidation becomes growth strategy
Europe’s defense tech sector recorded multiple acquisitions this week. German unicorn Helsing acquired underwater autonomous vehicles startup Blue Ocean in its second 2025 deal. Quantum Systems absorbed three companies including UK-based Nordic Unmanned UK. Stark acquired Berlin-based Pleno for autonomous navigation software.
The sector has raised €3.5 billion in 2025—nearly double the €1.8 billion raised in all of 2024. M&A has become the primary growth strategy as startups race to commercialize amid rising European defense budgets.
EU startup groups protest “28th regime” directive as “replacing one patchwork with another”
Twenty-seven startup associations protested to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over plans to introduce the EU-wide “28th regime” company entity via directive rather than regulation. A directive lets member states implement reforms differently, essentially defeating the whole purpose of 28th regime, creating 27 national versions instead of one unified system—contradicting von der Leyen’s pledge two weeks ago to create “something completely new.” The Commission’s 2026 work programme confirming the approach is due Tuesday.
EU launches AI Factories network across 13 countries to expand supercomputing access
The European Commission announced AI Factories Antennas in 7 Member States—Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, and Slovakia—and 6 partner countries including the UK, Switzerland, Serbia, and North Macedonia. The antennas provide remote access to AI-optimized supercomputing through the EuroHPC ecosystem.
The core network expanded to 19 AI Factories across 16 Member States. President von der Leyen announced the Serbia and North Macedonia sites during her Western Balkans visit. The distributed approach prioritizes geographic equity but raises questions about whether scattered antennas can match the scale advantages of concentrated US cloud infrastructure.
🔍 Reads & Reports
UK VC funding hits $9B in Q3, on track for best year since 2022
UK startups raised $9 billion in Q3 2025, the highest quarterly total since 2022 and the second-highest Q3 on record after Q3 2021. The surge marks a 2.4x increase from Q2 and 2.6x year-over-year growth. Year-to-date funding reached $17.3 billion—matching all of 2024—putting the UK on track for $23.1 billion by year-end.
The data from Dealroom and HSBC Innovation Banking shows growth across all stages, not just megarounds. Early, breakout, and late-stage investment all expanded, suggesting broader ecosystem health rather than just a few massive deals driving the headline number. The rebound contradicts the H1 2025 decline reported earlier and raises questions about whether this represents sustainable momentum or lumpy quarterly variation from large rounds concentrating in Q3.
The myth & math behind startup growth: Why hypergrowth is quadratic, not exponential
Jason Cohen’s analysis of Facebook, Slack, Dropbox, and HubSpot reveals fast-growing startups follow quadratic curves—adding incrementally more growth each period—not exponential multiplication. Even “viral” products spend most of their lifetime in linear growth phases. The distinction matters: teams need different strategies for managing declining campaigns, understanding that second products rarely match first-product scale, and recognizing that continuing fast growth requires expanding the market itself, not just market share.
💶 Where Funds Went (Or Will Go)
Startups
🇫🇮 Oura → Secured $900M at an $11B valuation to grow its smart ring health tech business.
🇩🇪 Tubulis → Raised €308M Series C to accelerate development of antibody-drug conjugates.
🇳🇱 Return → Raised €300M in growth capital to scale large-scale battery storage capacity across Europe.
🇬🇧 Dexory → Raised $165M backed by Eurazeo and Lakestar to scale its robotics and warehouse automation systems.
🇬🇧 CoMind → Raised over $100M to develop non-invasive brain-monitoring technology.
🇨🇭 Ecorobotix → Closed €90M Series D led by Highland Europe to scale AI-guided precision spraying in agriculture.
🇩🇰 DreamData → Raised $55M Series B led by PeakSpan Capital to expand its marketing attribution platform.
🇩🇪 HyImpulse → Closed €45M Series B to scale its hybrid-propulsion space technology.
🇦🇹 enspired → Added €15M to extend its Series B to €40M total, boosting AI-based battery optimisation globally.
🇫🇷 Arbio → Closed €36M Series A from Eurazeo and others to modernise property management.
🇨🇿 Resistant AI → Raised $25M Series B led by DTCP with GV, Index, Notion, and Experian to strengthen AI-driven fraud detection in fintech.
🇸🇪 Encube → Raised $23M led by Inventure to reinvent hardware development using AI.
🇬🇧 Jack & Jill → Raised $20M Seed from Creandum and angel investors to expand its AI recruitment tech.
🇫🇷 UPCITI → Secured $20M to expand its smart-city operating system globally.
🇬🇧 Clove → Raised $14M Pre-seed led by Accel to launch its personal finance and wealth management platform.
🤝 M&A
🇨🇭 AirConsole – acquired by KPIT Technologies (India) – Gaming, In-car entertainment
🇩🇪 Lilium – assets acquired by Archer Aviation (US) – Aerospace, Air tax
🇪🇸 Kleta Mobility – business acquired by Cooltra – Mobility, Urban cycling
🇩🇪 Stark – Project A partner Uwe Horstmann appointed CEO – Defencetech pre-IPO pivot
🇩🇪 Cropster – acquired competitor in South Korea – SaaS, Coffee software
🇬🇧🇩🇪 Revolut – acquired AI-travel startup Swiftly (Germany) – Fintech, Travel AI
Investors
🇮🇹 Maia Ventures – €55M Fund I → early-stage Agrifood & FoodTech
🇱🇹 Invalda INVL Private Equity Fund II – €410M – growth equity across Baltics & EU
🌍 Odyssey Ventures – stealth launch of a transatlantic VC
🇩🇪 HV Capital – expanding mandate to multi-stage European VC
🇬🇧 Phoenix Court (LocalGlobe) - early and growth-stage funds
💼 Open Roles
Épopée Gestion → Analyst in Paris, France. Apply here.
Sowefund → Analyst in Paris, France. Apply here.
WENVEST Capital → Venture Capital Internship in Munich, Germany. Apply here.
Enpal → VC Associate in Berlin, Germany. Apply here.
Possible Ventures → VC Associate in Munich, Germany. Apply here.
Versetti Family → FO/VC Associate in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Apply here.
Philips Ventures → VC Director in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Apply here.
👋 That’s a wrap for this week.
If you’ve got a round, role, or resource others should see, reply to this or ping us at hello@patrons.vc or send me a message on LinkedIn. We’re building Europe’s finest scouting network at Patrons. If you have a good deal flow, want to expand yours, or want to reach the right investors, send us a message!
If you found this useful, send it to a founder or friend who’d appreciate it.
Digital euro backed by gold.
Similar to what China is doing.