Startup news for the weekend week 40-25

Investments

9.2 million $ Series A for Supernova

Prague-based startup Supernova has closed a $9.2 million Series A financing led by Taiwania Capital with participation from renowned funds such as J&T Ventures, Reflex Capital, Kaya, Credo Ventures, EQT Ventures, Wing VC and Y Combinator. With the capital, Supernova is launching"Portal" (it's really called Portal), an AI-powered vibe coding tool that covers the entire product development cycle from ideation to prototyping to delivery. Portal integrates design systems, code and collaboration in one platform, provides automated documentation, business case generation and real-time AI agents for product teams, and integrates seamlessly with tools such as Figma, GitHub and VSCode. Over 400 companies, including Mozilla, KLM, Air France and Paramount, are already using the platform. Supernova intends to use the funding to accelerate its international growth and expand its access to Asian markets.

Teylor receives 150 million euros from Fasanara Capital

Zurich-based fintech Teylor has secured 150 million euros from Fasanara Capital to expand its factoring business across Europe. The funds will flow into a new pan-European financing vehicle covering several countries and currencies to accelerate international expansion. Fasanara, an asset manager specializing in structured credit, will contribute capital and expertise in complex credit structures. Teylor sees the partnership as a key step in scaling its digital platform for SME financing across Europe and making access to capital more efficient for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Arqh secures $3.8m pre-seed funding for AI optimization of logistics

Zurich-based startup Arqh has closed a $3.8 million pre-seed round, led by Founderful with participation from Merantix Capital, to further develop its AI-powered decision-making platform for complex logistics processes. Arqh combines language models with a proprietary optimization engine that analyzes and reschedules real-time operations while engaging human dispatchers. Initial tests with partners such as Conrad-Storz and Feldschlösschen show savings of over 15% in fleet costs and a reduction in manual planning work of around 80%. The capital will be used to expand the engineering and research teams and for rapid implementation at key customers.

Headmade Materials receives 1.8 million euros in funding

The Würzburg-based start-up Headmade Materials has closed a financing round of EUR 1.8 million. Led by Jet Ventures and supported by Matterwave Ventures, AM Ventures and the European Innovation Council, the capital will enable the further development of the company's proprietary ColdMetalFusion technology. This combines powder metallurgy with 3D printing and makes the production of metals such as stainless steel, titanium and nickel alloys more efficient, cost-effective and scalable. Headmade Materials plans to use the funds to develop new materials, integrate additional printer systems and expand industrial applications.

Awards & Events

Bits & Pretzels 2025 review

The startup conference Bits & Pretzels 2025 brought more than 7,500 participants from 70 countries to Munich under the motto Connecting Europe. With international speakers, over 200 exhibiting startups and targeted matchmaking, the event sent a strong signal for entrepreneurial spirit, open markets and European cooperation. Politicians and businesses alike emphasized the opportunities for startups in times of crisis, while Munich-based robotics startup Sitegeist won the final of the European Pitch Contest with its platform for automated construction processes.

Four startups in the final of the SevenVentures Pitch Day 2025

On October 21, four B2C startups will compete against each other at the SevenVentures Pitch Day 2025 in Munich: the FemHealth platform Evela Health, the digital learning platform EDURINO, the dog food brand HEY HOLY and the AI-based student app Knowunity. Selected by SevenVentures, the investment arm of ProSiebenSat.1, the finalists will pitch live at the New Com Summit for media funding worth EUR 3 million and their own TV commercial. The jury evaluates the business model, growth potential and founder personality. Following the success of The Female Company in the previous year, the TV and digital campaign will also support a startup's sustainable growth in 2025.

LEEF Blattwerk wins the German Sustainability Award 2025 in the Packaging category

Potsdam-based LEEF Blattwerk has been awarded the German Sustainability Award 2025 in the packaging category. LEEF is a provider of compostable, plastic-free and recyclable packaging solutions and sells over 1,000 products for restaurants, catering, events and private customers under the LEEF and wisefood brands. The jury praised the company's innovative strength, circular concepts and corporate responsibility. LEEF also offers interested investors the opportunity to become part of its sustainable mission via crowdinvesting with OneCrowd.

Eternal Power wins German Sustainability Award 2026 for green hydrogen

Hamburg-based scale-up Eternal Power has been awarded the German Sustainability Award 2026 in the fuel industry category. In just four years, the company has developed from a start-up into a European pioneer for green hydrogen and green methanol and already has advance purchase agreements worth over 7 billion euros. With projects such as a planned 380 MW electrolysis plant in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and a pipeline of more than 6 GW, Eternal Power is setting standards for the industrial scaling of renewable energy sources.

Cooperations, partnerships, M&A

Solaris expands partnership with ACI Worldwide for SEPA Instant Payments

Solaris is expanding its cooperation with ACI Worldwide and will consolidate all SEPA instant payments on the cloud-native platform ACI Connetic. By migrating, Europe's leading embedded finance platform aims to future-proof its payment infrastructure, deliver new Banking-as-a-Service offerings faster and better manage regulatory complexity in the European market. ACI Connetic combines account-to-account payments, card processing and AI-powered fraud prevention in a modular architecture to help Solaris scale, secure and innovate.

PeakAvenue acquires OSSENO

PeakAvenue, a provider of software solutions for engineering and quality management, acquires OSSENO Software GmbH, a specialist in requirements management. By integrating OSSENO's solutions, including the reqSuite rm software, PeakAvenue is expanding its offering with collaborative, automated tools for capturing, processing and validating requirements across the entire product lifecycle ("digital thread"). The acquisition strengthens the international presence of both companies and complements the product portfolio. This is the fifth acquisition as part of PeakAvenue's buy-and-build strategy, backed by Main Capital Partners.

Limango launches strategic partnership with Mirakl

Limango, Germany's largest kids and family retailer from the Otto Group, will be relying on Mirakl's marketplace and retail media technology in future. The aim is to efficiently expand the product range, tap into new sales potential through retail media and further improve the shopping experience for families. Over 1 million active products from 550 verified retailers are already available on the platform. With the replatforming, Limango aims to accelerate its growth and expand into Poland in 2026 and the Netherlands in 2027. Mirakl's technology will support scaling, onboarding new merchants and optimizing customer experiences in an increasingly competitive market.

More exciting news

Cargoboard reaches 100,000 customers and continues its growth trajectory

The digital freight forwarder Cargoboard has exceeded the 100,000 customer mark, including 18,000 new clients in the first three quarters of 2025 alone. Founded in 2019, the company bundles transport capacities digitally via its platform and handles transports for clients of all sizes. Growth drivers are the user-friendly booking process, internationalization to Austria, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland as well as close cooperation with transport partners. Over 18,000 positive reviews on Google and Trustpilot reflect the high level of customer satisfaction.