Syndication and co-investment for institutional venture capital.

Spanish identity verification startup Didit has secured €2 million in seed funding to accelerate development of its privacy-focused digital identity and KYC infrastructure platform. The round was led by JME Ventures, with participation from Lanai Ventures, OSS Capital, and several strategic angel investors focused on cybersecurity, fintech, and digital trust technologies. Founded by Sergio García and Alberto Rodríguez, Didit develops decentralized identity verification systems that allow users to securely prove identity online without repeatedly sharing sensitive personal data across platforms. The company combines biometric verification, reusable digital credentials, AI-powered fraud detection, and blockchain-based trust infrastructure to streamline onboarding and compliance workflows. The startup says its platform is designed to help fintechs, crypto platforms, marketplaces, gaming companies, and enterprise platforms comply with increasingly strict KYC and AML regulations while improving user privacy and reducing onboarding friction. Didit positions itself as a next-generation digital identity layer aligned with Europe’s evolving eIDAS 2.0 and digital wallet frameworks. According to the company, the fresh capital will support engineering expansion, AI fraud prevention systems, product development, and broader European rollout of its reusable identity infrastructure. The startup is increasingly targeting sectors where secure identity verification, trust, and regulatory compliance are becoming mission-critical digital infrastructure components. The funding highlights rising investor interest in decentralized identity systems, AI-powered trust infrastructure, privacy-preserving authentication, and digital compliance technologies as online fraud and regulatory requirements continue to grow globally.

Gurugram-based B2B quick commerce startup Fairdeal.Market has secured $15 million in Series A funding to accelerate expansion of its kirana-focused inventory replenishment network across India. The round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), with participation from existing investors WaterBridge Ventures and Incubate Fund Asia. Founded by Prateek Bansal and Yash Bansal, Fairdeal.Market operates a dark-store-led supply chain platform enabling kirana retailers to replenish inventory within 60 minutes. The startup currently delivers more than 1,000 SKUs across Delhi NCR and has scaled to over 20,000 active retailers within the past six months. The company stated that the fresh capital will be used to expand dark-store operations across dense urban clusters, strengthen technology and data infrastructure, deepen retailer engagement, and scale last-mile delivery capabilities. Fairdeal aims to grow its retailer network to more than 100,000 retailers during the current financial year. Fairdeal is positioning itself as a next-generation procurement infrastructure layer for India’s massive kirana ecosystem, where inventory sourcing has traditionally relied on fragmented offline wholesale markets and inefficient distributor networks. The startup says its high-frequency replenishment model helps improve inventory turns, shelf efficiency, and working capital utilization for small retailers. Beyond logistics, the company is also building a real-time retail intelligence platform that provides FMCG and consumer brands visibility into demand trends, inventory movement, and retailer purchasing behavior across local markets. Investors are increasingly viewing B2B quick commerce as a major opportunity within India’s digitizing retail infrastructure ecosystem.

US-based enterprise AI consultancy V4C.ai has received a strategic Series A investment from Databricks Ventures to accelerate expansion of its global data engineering, AI, and machine learning services platform. The investment strengthens the partnership between the two companies as enterprises increasingly scale AI-native data infrastructure on the Databricks ecosystem. Founded by Jeremy Stensland and backed by AI industry veteran Vijay Rao, V4C.ai specializes in helping enterprises deploy large-scale analytics, generative AI, machine learning, governance, and cloud modernization projects built around the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. The company recently surpassed 500 Databricks certifications globally while supporting more than 130 enterprise customers across AI and data transformation initiatives. According to the company, the fresh capital and strategic backing from Databricks Ventures will support expansion of its global engineering workforce, AI implementation capabilities, enterprise delivery infrastructure, and advanced accelerators focused on generative AI and agentic AI systems. Databricks Ventures has emerged as one of the most active enterprise AI ecosystem investors, backing startups and strategic partners building technologies around the Databricks platform. The corporate venture arm focuses heavily on AI infrastructure, data intelligence, analytics tooling, governance systems, and enterprise AI deployment ecosystems. The investment highlights accelerating demand for enterprise AI implementation partners capable of operationalizing large-scale AI systems, cloud data architectures, and production-ready machine learning infrastructure as organizations race to modernize operations around generative AI technologies.

French preventive healthcare startup Lucis has secured $20 million in Series A funding to accelerate expansion of its AI-powered preventive health platform across Europe. The round was led by Singular, with participation from General Catalyst, Y Combinator, and several strategic angel investors. Founded by Maxime Berthelot and Baptiste Debever, Lucis combines advanced blood biomarker testing, longitudinal health analysis, and AI-powered diagnostics to help users proactively monitor health risks before symptoms appear. The platform analyzes more than 110 biomarkers and delivers personalized health insights reviewed by medical professionals. The company stated that the fresh capital will support European expansion, scaling of its AI infrastructure, laboratory partnerships, physician network growth, and product development focused on preventive healthcare intelligence. Lucis is positioning itself as a “preventive health operating system” built around continuous health monitoring and AI-assisted personalized medicine. According to the company, Lucis has already completed more than 500,000 clinical tests and expanded operations across France, the UK, Ireland, and Portugal within its first year. The startup says its AI systems are trained on large-scale biomarker datasets to generate actionable health recommendations and early risk detection signals. The funding highlights growing investor interest in AI-driven preventive healthcare, personalized diagnostics, longevity technology, and digital health infrastructure as healthcare systems increasingly shift toward proactive care models instead of reactive treatment.

DeFi derivatives protocol Variational has secured $50 million in Series A funding to accelerate expansion of its on-chain derivatives infrastructure and real-world asset (RWA) trading ecosystem. The round was led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Peak XV Partners, Hack VC, Brevan Howard Digital, and North Island Ventures. Founded by Edward Yu and Lucas V. Schuermann, Variational is building a decentralized derivatives protocol designed to aggregate liquidity from both crypto-native exchanges and traditional financial institutions. The company aims to modernize derivatives trading by enabling peer-to-peer settlement infrastructure for perpetuals, futures, options, and tokenized real-world assets directly on blockchain rails. The funding coincides with the launch of Variational’s first RWA perpetual markets, allowing users to trade commodities such as gold, silver, copper, and oil alongside crypto assets through a unified cross-margined trading environment. The company says it plans to expand to more than 100 traditional financial markets over the coming months. Unlike many decentralized exchanges that rely on traditional order books, Variational uses an RFQ (Request-for-Quote) architecture that sources liquidity from centralized exchanges, market makers, and institutional dealers to provide deeper and more efficient pricing. The company believes this model can better support institutional-scale adoption of tokenized real-world assets and on-chain derivatives. The startup stated that the fresh capital will support protocol development, institutional onboarding, liquidity expansion, and broader deployment of RWA trading infrastructure as DeFi increasingly converges with traditional financial markets.

Vietnam-based rooftop solar financing startup Stride has secured $15 million in Series B funding to accelerate solar and battery adoption among households and small businesses across Vietnam and Southeast Asia. The round was co-led by Lightrock and TRIREC through the Accelerate7 platform, with continued participation from existing investors Clime Capital and UOB Venture Management. Stride provides financing solutions that allow households and MSMEs to install rooftop solar and battery systems through affordable payment plans rather than large upfront costs. The company’s platform also includes insurance offerings and quality assurance infrastructure designed to simplify access to distributed clean energy systems. According to the company, the fresh capital will be used to scale operations across Vietnam, expand into additional regional markets, strengthen digital infrastructure, and improve project quality systems. Stride says it aims to help an additional 200,000 people gain access to clean energy solutions by 2030. Since its earlier funding rounds, the company has significantly expanded its network of verified EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) partners and nearly tripled its project portfolio across Vietnam. Investors are increasingly viewing distributed solar financing platforms as a critical infrastructure layer supporting Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition. The funding highlights growing investor interest in climate fintech, decentralized energy infrastructure, rooftop solar adoption, and consumer-focused renewable energy financing models across emerging markets.