EUACC Weekly #10

On this page · 5 sections→

01The Big Picture
02Grant World
03Who Got Funded
04Where EU Money Is Flowing
05One Move

The Big Picture

The EU Jurisdiction Premium

For two decades, European defence technology companies accepted a valuation discount. Their customers were slow, procurement cycles ran three to five years, and political risk was extreme. Investors priced accordingly. On July 13, Helsing — the Munich-based defence AI company founded in 2021 — announced a $1.8B Series E at an $18B valuation. That is not a defence multiple: it is a software multiple. Helsing's products are artificial intelligence: the HX-2 strike drone guidance system and Altra, a battlefield decision platform that processes sensor feeds and provides operational recommendations in real time. The metal is the delivery mechanism. The value is the model. Lakestar closed its Resilience I fund the same week at €262.2M — Europe's largest dedicated private defence VC fund, raised without government subsidy and oversubscribed. Three years ago, most European LP mandates formally excluded defence on ESG grounds. Those same mandates have inverted. CPP Investments — the Canadian pension fund managing $675B of retirement savings — backed Helsing alongside Goldman Sachs Alternatives and JPMorgan. This is not patient capital being persuaded to tolerate defence exposure; it is institutional capital actively seeking it. The structural reason: EU-jurisdictioned defence AI now commands a scarcity premium. European governments and NATO have made clear — in procurement policy and political statements — that battlefield AI from US-controlled entities is not acceptable for deployment on European soil. That constraint, once a commercial liability, is now a moat. Helsing's investors are not betting on winning one contract; they are betting on the company being the only entity legally eligible to win most of them.

Grant World

Software, Soil, and Semiconductors

Helsing — Munich, Germany · $1.8B · Series E · Defence AI · Lightspeed, General Catalyst, Dragoneer, Iconiq, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, JPMorgan, CPP Investments, Plural, Accel, Greenoaks Europe's largest defence-startup round on record, oversubscribed with investor demand significantly exceeding available allocation. Helsing's AI software — not the drone hardware it runs on — commands the $18B valuation. Rheinmetall, Kongsberg, and Saab are already collaborating partners. Syntetica — Paris, France · €26.1M · Series A · Circular Economy / Textiles · Bpifrance, SWEN Capital Partners, Lululemon, MAS Holdings, EQT Ventures, EIC Fund, Peugeot family office, Etam family office Syntetica has cracked chemical recycling for nylon blends from textile waste — a barrier blocking circular fashion for a decade. The tell: Lululemon and MAS Holdings, the world's largest apparel manufacturer, are strategic co-investors. Customer capital at this stage is a commercial pre-commitment as much as a financial one. Sightera Biosciences — Antwerp, Belgium · €3M · Pre-seed · AI Drug Discovery · Entourage, Anacura, QBIC University of Antwerp spin-off training AI on proprietary biological material from therapy-resistant oncology and fibrosis patients. The company's data moat — patient-derived tissue from people who did not respond to standard treatments — is its primary asset. NextGO Epi — Berlin, Germany · €2M · Pre-seed · Power Semiconductors · Vireo Ventures, Ultratech Capital Partners, IBB Ventures Spun out of the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth. Europe's only manufacturer of industrial-grade gallium oxide epiwafers up to 4 inches in diameter. Gallium oxide delivers 10× the power efficiency of silicon carbide in high-voltage applications — EV drivetrains, grid infrastructure, data-centre power delivery. Already generating revenue with customers on three continents. 8Layers — Madrid, Spain · €2.5M total · Pre-seed · Cybersecurity · Criteria Venture Tech, Bankinter Madrid cybersecurity startup extending its pre-seed with two Spanish corporate VCs. Criteria (CaixaBank's investment arm) and Bankinter signals a growing pattern: Spanish corporates using venture capital as a strategic intelligence mechanism. Pattern: Five rounds, five countries, five sectors. European deep tech in July 2026 is not a thematic story; it is a capability stack — defence AI, circular chemistry, AI biotech, power semiconductors, cybersecurity — being assembled from the bottom up, city by city.

The EU Jurisdiction Premium

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Software, Soil, and Semiconductors

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