SPAIN: Anyformat, the Spanish startup aiming for a new era of collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence, has raised €520,000 in a pre-seed funding round. This round, led by 4Founders Capital, Abac Nest Ventures, and prominent business angels, will allow anyformat to accelerate the development of its generative AI platform, designed to transform how companies manage and analyze unstructured data.

clock.bio, a healthspan biotech, has raised $5.3 million in seed funding led by LocalGlobe, with participation from BlueYard Capital, Onsight Ventures, and Dr. Jonathan Milner, the Founder of Abcam. The company has made significant progress in decoding the biology of human rejuvenation, identifying more than 100 genes that jointly constitute an "Atlas of Rejuvenation Factors."

The Development Bank of Wales has taken an equity stake in Cardiff-based Llusern Scientific as part of a substantial six-figure funding round that is helping the University of South Wales spinout to commercialise its testing for Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs).

Llusern Scientific is one of six University spinouts that have collectively secured £1.7 million in equity funding from the Development Bank of Wales to date in 2024 as the Bank focusses on boosting innovation in Wales. The others include Swansea-based Corryn Biotechnologies and Grove Nanomaterials along with Awen Oncology, a spin-out of Bangor University and Cardiff University. Cardiff Metropolitan University spinout Kaydiar and Cardiff University spinout Optimise.ai have also had equity investments.

DSW Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of DSW Capital, has led a pre-seed investment into TheNextLevel, a Manchester-based innovator redefining mobile commerce through community engagement. TheNextLevel is pioneering "Community Commerce", allowing online brands to leverage the power of social commerce without being reliant on Big Tech.

Richard Hong, the cofounder of e-commerce personal care brand owner, Pangaea Holdings, and technology and logistics platform, OpenBorder, also contributed to the round. Elizabeth Gooch MBE, a prominent non-executive and angel investor, has joined the board as Chair.

Nesti, a platform designed to equip sales development teams to exceed their targets with personalised outbound videos at scale, has secured £250,000 in a competitive pre-seed funding round, led by SFC Capital.

Medtech startup Corryn Biotechnologies Ltd has secured a £150,000 investment from British Design Fund, as part of a £550,000 seed funding round 

Anaphite, which specialises in production technology for battery electrodes, has raised a $13.7 million (£10.4 million) Series A round. The funding was co-led by World Fund, Europe's leading climate VC, and Maniv, a global early-stage VC investing in the decarbonisation of transportation and digitisation of its value chains. A cohort of top climate investors also joined, including EEI and Nesta, with further participation from existing investors Bristol Private Equity Club, Elbow Beach Capital and Wealth Club.

With the FemTech market set to be worth $1trillion by 2027 (McKinsey & Company), impulse, the University of Cambridge's unique entrepreneurship programme, has seen a sharp rise in the number of participants contributing novel innovations to this exciting sector.

ITALY: Inventio.ai has closed a pre-seed round of €555,000 led by the business angels of the Club degli Investitori through Simon Fiduciaria SpA, with co-investment from CDP Venture Capital SGR (via the Acceleratori fund) and Plug and Play Tech Center through the Motor Valley Accelerator, the mobility accelerator of the CDP National Network.

Carlo Tassi, president of Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), was awarded the prestigious Business Angel of the Year 2024 prize, conferred during the Italian Tech Week, one of the most important events in the innovation landscape in Italy, held in Turin. The prize, promoted by the Club degli Investitori, is aimed at recognizing the exceptional contribution of individual investors in supporting the growth and development of high-potential innovative startups. A fundamental recognition for those who, with their commitment, capital and know-how, support the Italian entrepreneurial ecosystem.

NETHERLANDS: Plumery, a digital banking experience platform for true customer-centric banking, has announced it has secured $3.3M in additional funding from early-stage investor DN Capital and funds managed by leading global VC firm QED Investors, alongside others, including business angels. The latest round brings Plumery’s total funding to date to USD 7.8M and is in preparation for a larger Series A round in 2025.

Revolution-ZERO has secured £1 million equity from the South West Investment Fund via appointed fund manager, The FSE Group. The initial £1.6 million round, which includes funding from private angels, will help create 20 new jobs while supporting the overall growth of the business, which is based in Truro in Cornwall.

Founded in 2020, Revolution-ZERO is a medical textile solutions provider, with a strong emphasis on environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Initially focused on reusable masks, the company has since expanded to include surgical textile solutions and decontamination/sterilisation units equipped with an RFID tracking system.