VC Angle Weekly Briefing #36: EU Inc. launches & Europe pushes tech sovereignty
VC Angle Weekly Update #36
Hey - welcome to the thirty-sixth edition of VC Angle Weekly Updates! We’re moving weekly briefings to Sundays from now on.
As always, we're keeping tabs on what actually matters across 🇪🇺 European tech, as well as relevant global tech news. If something broke the news this week and it's worth your time, it's probably below. Scroll on for the deals, reads, and reports you'll want on your radar.
In This Edition:
European Commission launches EU Inc. for 48-hour pan-European company registration
European Parliament votes to cut 80% dependence on US tech infrastructure
Cloover secures huge financing round
ElevenLabs crosses $330M ARR
European VC funding up 9% to $58B as AI overtakes fintech
⏱️ 3:49 Reading Time
💥 Main Events Past Week
European Commission launches EU Inc., the “28th regime” for startups
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced at Davos the creation of EU Inc., an optional pan-European legal entity allowing 48-hour online company registration across any member state. The initiative, kicked off by Andreas Klinger and backed by 22,000+ signatories, introduces a unified EU legal structure with central digital registry, standardized investment docs, and Europe-wide stock options.
The “28th regime” sits alongside national structures, aiming to match US/China incorporation ease while avoiding the maze of 27 separate country registrations.
European Parliament votes to reduce 80% dependence on US tech
The European Parliament passed a tech sovereignty report 471-68, directing the Commission to reduce reliance on foreign providers across semiconductors, cloud, software, and AI. The EU currently depends on non-EU countries for over 80% of digital infrastructure, with US cloud giants controlling 70% of the European market. The report calls for developing a “Eurostack” of European public digital infrastructure, though analysts warn the transformation will require over a decade.
Cloover secures $1.2B financing for distributed energy platform
Berlin-based Cloover raised $22 million Series A led by MMC Ventures alongside a $1.2 billion debt facility backed by a €300 million EIF guarantee. The AI-powered platform embeds financing into installer workflows for solar, batteries, heat pumps, and EV charging across Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Cloover grew revenues 8x in 2025 to approach $100 million and targets $500 million in 2026.
📰 Other News
ElevenLabs crosses $330M ARR, reaching each $100M milestone in progressively shorter periods (20, 10, then 5 months) [See here]
Andreas Klinger raises €15m for European robotics, automation and AI [See here]
Europe’s Bazooka Could Hit US Tech [See here]
European Commission seeks input on venture capital reform [See here]
Anthropic CEO Says AI Chip Sales to China Like Selling Nukes to North Korea [See here]
Europe can still win with AI. The key is focusing on physical AI [See here]
The 10 Best Startup Events In Europe 2026 [See here]
Nvidia in talks to back Yann LeCun’s new AI startup [See here]
👇🏼 Read some of our previous weekly reports to stay in the loop with 🇪🇺 European tech news:
💶 Where Funds Went (Or Will Go)
Startups
🇩🇪 Sinpex — €10M | AI-powered KYB/KYC lifecycle + KYB automation.
🇫🇷 Pennylane — $200M | Accounting software platform.
🇩🇪 Orbem — €55.5M | AI-powered MRI tech scaling (Series B).
🇫🇷 Stoïk — €20M | Cyber risk / cyber insurance platform (Series C).
🇩🇪 GeneralMind — $12M | “AI autopilot” for operational workflows.
🇪🇸 Fracttal — $35M | AI-driven maintenance for asset-intensive industries.
🇩🇪 Cloover — $1.2B+ | AI operating system for energy independence.
🇺🇦 Preply — $150M | Language learning marketplace (Series D), $1.2B valuation.
🇨🇭 SWISSto12 — €73M | ESA backing to accelerate HummingSat platform.
🇬🇧 Optalysys — £23M | Photonic computing (Series A).
🇭🇺 ABZ Innovation — €7M | Autonomous heavy-lift drones.
🇬🇧 TeamFeePay — £9M | Sports tech payments; European expansion.
🇫🇮 Agileday — €6.4M | AI solutions for professional services.
🇳🇱 Mews — $300M | Hospitality management software (Series D).
🇬🇧 Kraken Technologies — £25M | British Business Bank takes a £25M stake (government-backed investment).
Venture Funds
🇪🇸 Ananda Impact Ventures — €73M | First close of 5th Core Impact Fund.
🇩🇪 Vanagon Ventures — €20M | Closed Fund I (deeptech).
🇨🇭 Vi Partners — €161M | First close of new venture fund.
🇬🇷 Metavallon VC — €5M | Launched “Brain Gain” fund to reverse Greece’s tech talent exodus.
M&A 🤝
🇧🇪 Tourmanagement BV → Beatswitch — undisclosed | Live music software acquisition.
🇬🇧 ClearScore → Acre Platforms — undisclosed | Acquired London mortgage platform.
🔍 Reads & Reports
Anthropic publishes real AI usage data showing software work dominates
Anthropic released data showing 24% of AI use concentrates in just 10 tasks, with coding comprising 35-45% of all usage. Hard college-level work sees 12x time savings versus 9x for simple tasks, though API success drops below 50% after 3.5 hours of continuous work. User prompting skill correlates 0.92 with output quality, and US state-level adoption gaps could equalize within 2-5 years.
European VC funding up 9% to $58B in 2025 as AI overtakes fintech
European venture funding grew 9% to $58 billion in 2025, with AI emerging as the region’s leading sector for the first time at $17.5 billion—up from just $10 billion in 2024—overtaking financial services.
👋 That’s a wrap for this week.
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