VC Angle Weekly Briefing #30: UK Deep Tech Hits $406B Valuation, EIB Commits €100B for 2026, Clegg and LeCun Join Hiro Capital
VC Angle Weekly Update #30
Hey - welcome to the thirtieth 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:
UK deep tech reaches $406B combined value
UK and Germany attract $4.3B in defense tech since 2022
EIB Group sets €100B financing target with €4.5B for defense
Hiro Capital adds Nick Clegg and Yann LeCun for new fund
Expedition Growth Capital closes €323M Fund III
TUM researchers propose European AI strategy blueprint
⏱️ 4:54 Reading Time
📰 What Happened This Week
UK and Germany have become Europe’s defense hubs, attracting $4.3 billion into defense startups since early 2022—four times the previous four years. Germany’s Helsing hit €12 billion valuation and Quantum Systems reached €3 billion, while UK’s PhysicsX raised $155 million. Germany’s role as major Ukraine aid donor gives startups battlefield feedback. Challenges remain: slow procurement, clearance bottlenecks, and shortages of security-cleared talent.
Forbes published its 2025 Midas List Europe ranking the top 25 venture capital investors in Europe and the Middle East. Danny Rimer of Index Ventures took the top spot. The list shows geographic diversification beyond London, with new additions including Romanian Dan Lupu of Earlybird and Germany’s Florian Heinemann of Trade Republic.
The list counts investments in private companies that have raised funding at a valuation of $200 million or more, or that have gone public or been acquired for at least $100 million, within the past five years. Extra weight is given to realized and more recent returns.
The European Investment Bank Group renewed its €100 billion financing target for 2026, including €4.5 billion for security and defense (5% of total EU financing). The EIB Group expanded its European Tech Champions Initiative with ETCI 2.0, committing €1.25 billion to support both mega funds and mid-sized funds. Since launching in 2023, ETCI has backed nine tech unicorns.
The European Investment Fund will contribute €15.3 billion of the total €100 billion target. The Boards approved €7.5 billion in new project financing this week for social infrastructure, climate action and global partnerships. The EIB Group signed nearly €89 billion in new financing across over 900 projects in 2024.
London-based Hiro Capital launched Hiro III, a multi-stage fund targeting Europe’s scaleup gap with cheques of €5 million to €50 million. Former UK deputy PM and Meta executive Nick Clegg joined as general partner, while Meta’s outgoing chief AI scientist Yann LeCun joined the advisory board. The fund aims to raise over $500 million for investments in spatial AI, robotics, immersive computing and defense across UK and Europe. Founded in 2018 by Luke Alvarez, Ian Livingstone, and Cherry Freeman, Hiro Capital previously invested in gaming and metaverse companies in UK, Europe and North America.
London-based Expedition Growth Capital raised €323 million for Fund III, focused on bootstrapped European software companies. The oversubscribed fund closed in four months with over half of commitments from US investors. Typical investments range from €8.6 million to €21.5 million. The firm supports companies scaling from €4.3 million ARR toward €43 million ARR with hands-on support in go-to-market expansion, strategic hires, and operational excellence.
🔍 Reads & Reports
Technical University of Munich researchers published a policy paper (back in February) on arXiv proposing a European AI strategy. Europe’s AI venture capital investment is eight times less than the US and 50% of China’s, while semiconductor production sits under 10% globally. Proposals include scaling capacity via EU Chips Act and EuroHPC, establishing a DARPA-style European AI Coordination Council for regulatory sandboxes, and deploying tax credits and matching funds.
The Royal Academy of Engineering’s 2025 State of UK Deep Tech report shows UK privately-held deep tech startups hold a combined enterprise value of $155 billion, reaching $406 billion when including exits and public listings.
UK ranks third globally for deep tech VC at $4.7 billion, with deep tech representing 31% of all UK VC funding. The UK has created 53 thoroughbreds (unicorns or $500M+ revenue companies) from a pipeline of 2,400 VC-backed startups. Defence tech received a boost as the 2025 Defence Industrial Strategy allocates 10% of equipment budgets to novel technology, though the UK holds only a small share of global defence tech startups.
💶 Where Funds Went (Or Will Go)
Startups
🇩🇪 Quantum Systems → Raised €180M Series C extension, lifting valuation beyond €3B.
🇫🇷 Spark Cleantech → Raised €30M Series A to decarbonise heavy industry.
🇨🇭 Assaia → Raised $26.6M Series B to scale AI-driven airport operations.
🇨🇭 Gravis Robotics → Raised $23M to scale autonomous earthmoving technology.
🇧🇪 Qargo → Raised $33M Series B to expand AI-driven transport management.
🇬🇧 Yonda Tax → Raised £11M to simplify global tax compliance for scaling firms.
🇮🇹 Equixly → Raised €10M Series A to tackle API security with agentic AI.
🇫🇷 Evertrust → Raised €10M to expand digital trust infrastructure across Europe.
🇬🇧 Hello Vet → Raised £15M to scale next-gen veterinary care.
🇬🇧 yuv → Raised $12M to scale sustainable smart hair-colour technology.
🇬🇧 Matta → Raised $14M to develop “sentient factory” industrial AI.
🇧🇪 Trendtracker → Raised $7M Series A to scale AI strategic intelligence.
🇫🇮 Gosta Labs → Raised €7.5M Seed to scale its oncology AI operating system.
🇳🇱 Wakuli → Raised €5M Series A to scale sustainable coffee sourcing.
🇬🇧 Track Titan → Raised $5M Seed for AI-powered motorsport analytics.
🤝 M&A
🇷🇴 Tekpon → Acquired TNW to accelerate SaaS marketplace expansion.
🇳🇱 Mollie → Acquired GoCardless in a €1.05bn payments mega-deal.
Investors
🇧🇪 KBC Start it Fund → Launched a €100M fund supporting startups from idea to IPO
🇪🇺 U2V (University2Ventures) → Launched a €60M fund for university spin-offs
👋 That’s a wrap for this week.
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