Institutional Infrastructure
for Venture Capital
Syndication & Co-Investment

Dutch venture capital firm LUMO Labs has secured a €6 million commitment from Spain’s state-owned investment arm SETT (Spanish Society for Technological Transformation) for its €100 million LUMO Fund, an impact-focused venture capital vehicle supporting early-stage technology startups across Europe.The LUMO Fund is designed as a multi-stage VC fund investing from pre-seed to Series A, targeting companies developing innovative technologies that address social and environmental challenges. The fund plans to back around 30-35 startups over the next four years.The newly secured capital from SETT, a public entity under Spain’s Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, aims to strengthen funding access and entrepreneurial support for early-stage startups across Europe, with special attention on Spain’s growing startup ecosystem.LUMO Labs focuses on digital deep-tech innovations, particularly startups building solutions in areas such as artificial intelligence, digital security, and the Internet of Things (IoT). These sectors are seen as key drivers of economic growth, digital transformation, and social progress across Europe.The fund’s impact strategy aligns with several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Well-Being, Quality Education, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Climate Action. Through this approach, LUMO Labs aims to support founders developing scalable technologies that generate both commercial and societal impact.Founded by Andy Lürling and Sven Bakkes, LUMO Labs invests in mission-driven deep-tech startups and also provides founders with coaching programs and ecosystem support to help accelerate early validation and global growth.The fund primarily targets startups in Benelux and Germany, while also exploring opportunities in the Nordics, Baltics, and the Iberian Peninsula.

Agritech company Rainbow Crops has received a $7 million research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate the development of climate-resilient crop varieties.The initiative is aimed at helping farmers adapt to rising climate pressures, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where extreme weather is increasingly affecting food production.The funding will support the advancement of the company’s Trait Foundry™ platform, which combines artificial intelligence, genome editing, precision breeding, and automated plant analysis. This technology enables scientists to identify and stack beneficial genetic traits that can help crops better tolerate heat, drought, and other climate stresses.As part of the research program, Rainbow Crops will focus on improving three major staple crops - corn, sorghum, and rice. These crops play a crucial role in global food systems and are widely grown by farmers in regions vulnerable to climate change. The project will also study how young plants respond to environmental stress during the early seedling stage, a key phase for crop survival and productivity.Rainbow Crops emerged as a spin-off from the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology and continues to collaborate with leading research institutions in Belgium. The initiative will involve partnerships with Professor Hilde Nelissen’s research group, the VIB Transformation Facility, and the VIB Agro-Incubator to advance crop genetics and breeding innovation.According to Giacomo Bastianelli, co-founder and CEO of Rainbow Crops, the grant will strengthen the company’s ability to develop solutions that help farmers grow crops capable of withstanding challenging environmental conditions.Through this effort, Rainbow Crops aims to deliver new genetic insights and breeding tools that can support the development of stronger crop varieties and contribute to improving global food security.

Baltic venture capital firm FIRSTPICK has launched a €25 million early-stage fund aimed at supporting startup founders across the Baltic region, particularly those who may be overlooked by traditional venture capital criteria.The new fund will focus on inception and pre-seed stage startups, with a strong emphasis on AI-first software companies. FIRSTPICK typically invests €100,000 to €500,000 initially, with the ability to provide follow-on investments of up to €1 million as startups grow.The fund is backed by a mix of local entrepreneurs, angel investors, and institutional partners, including founders from companies such as Tesonet, Oberlo, and Kilo Health. Additionally, Lithuania’s Ministry of Economy and Innovation and the state-financed ILTE fund are supporting the initiative, with ILTE committing €9 million as a strategic investor.FIRSTPICK positions itself as a “first-check” investor, supporting founders from the earliest stages of company formation. Over the past seven years, the firm has invested in nearly 100 Baltic startups, helping early-stage founders validate ideas and scale their businesses globally.The new vehicle represents FIRSTPICK’s second fund, following its €20 million fund launched in 2022. With the new capital, the firm plans to strengthen the Baltic startup ecosystem across Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia by providing early capital, operational support, and access to a founder network.FIRSTPICK’s strategy focuses on identifying promising founders early, often before larger investors recognize their potential, helping build the next generation of technology companies in the region.

AI infrastructure startup Nscale has raised $2 billion in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at $14.6 billion. The round was led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries, with participation from several global technology and investment firms.Founded in 2024 by Josh Payne, Nscale develops large-scale AI cloud and data-center infrastructure designed to support the growing demand for high-performance computing required to train and deploy advanced AI models.The Series C round attracted a diverse group of investors including Astra Capital Management, Citadel, Dell, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, NVIDIA, and Point72, highlighting strong institutional and strategic interest in AI infrastructure.With the fresh capital, Nscale plans to expand its AI infrastructure platform and data-center network across Europe, North America, and Asia to meet rapidly growing global demand for AI compute capacity.The company operates vertically integrated infrastructure that combines GPU compute, networking, data services, and orchestration software within large-scale production environments, positioning itself as a key provider of AI computing infrastructure.Nscale’s rapid growth comes amid the global race to build AI computing infrastructure. The company has already secured partnerships with major technology firms and continues to expand its large-scale data-center projects to support next-generation AI workloads.

AI-powered patent workflow platform DeepIP has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round to accelerate the development and expansion of its AI infrastructure for intellectual property (IP) operations. The round was co-led by Korelya Capital and Serena, with participation from existing investors Headline and Balderton Capital. With this latest investment, DeepIP’s total funding now stands at $40 million, underscoring strong investor confidence in AI-powered solutions for the legal and patent ecosystem. Founded in 2024 by François-Xavier Leduc and Edouard d’Archimbaud, DeepIP develops an AI platform that embeds intelligence directly into patent professionals’ everyday tools, including Microsoft Word and enterprise IP management systems. The technology aims to streamline the entire patent lifecycle—from innovation and drafting to prosecution, enforcement, and portfolio management. The company operates between New York and Paris and focuses on integrating AI into existing workflows rather than offering standalone tools. By doing so, it enables patent professionals to maintain context across long and complex processes that often span several years. DeepIP reports strong early adoption. Its platform is already used by more than 400 law firms and corporate IP teams across 25 jurisdictions, including organizations such as Philips, Dexcom, Greenberg Traurig, and Mewburn Ellis. The platform has also supported over 40,000 patent matters, reflecting the growing demand for AI-driven infrastructure in intellectual property management. According to François-Xavier Leduc, CEO and co-founder of DeepIP, the company aims to solve long-standing inefficiencies in the patent process by embedding AI directly into the environments where professionals already work. The newly raised capital will be used to expand product development, strengthen engineering and sales teams, and scale the platform globally, as the company seeks to become a core AI layer for patent operations worldwide.

Boston-based marketing automation company Klaviyo disclosed that Co-CEO Andrew Bialecki has sold a portion of his holdings in the company’s stock through a recent insider transaction. Klaviyo provides a marketing automation platform widely used by e-commerce businesses for email and SMS marketing campaigns, helping brands manage customer data and digital engagement across channels.The transaction involved 200,000 shares of Series A Common Stock, which were sold on March 3, 2026, according to a regulatory filing. The shares were sold through multiple transactions at prices ranging between $17.52 and $19.21 per share, reflecting a structured sale executed across different market trades.The total value of the sale amounted to $3,727,861, highlighting a notable insider stock transaction within the company. Following the transaction, Klaviyo’s shares were trading around $21.18, indicating the market price was above the range at which the shares were sold. Over the past year, however, the stock has remained down 43.76%, reflecting broader volatility in the technology sector.Klaviyo, founded in 2012 by Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen, operates a data-driven marketing automation platform used by thousands of e-commerce merchants globally. The company focuses on enabling businesses to manage customer relationships, marketing campaigns, and analytics through a unified platform.