In a funding landscape still grappling with gfinisher imbalance, this past week has seen promising momentum for women-led and co-founded startups across Europe. While only a fraction of venture capital funding globally goes to companies with female founders, this recent wave of investments totalling over €132 million signals a slow but meaningful shift. Notably, women entrepreneurs are creating strides not just in traditionally female-led sectors like healthtech and consumer wellness, but also in deeptech, synthetic biology, and next-gen sports innovation.
The current round of deals spans from AI tools and digital therapeutics to wearable technologies and biotech breakthroughs, many of which have received backing from top-tier investors and public innovation programs. With strong leadership, proprietary technologies, and growing market traction, these startups are not only tackling complex global challenges but also displaying that gfinisher-inclusive funding leads to smarter, more resilient innovation.
Nuclidium (Switzerland)
Founder/s: Leila Jaafar, Gustav von Schulthess
Founded year: 2017
Recent funding: €84M
Clinical-stage biotech company Nuclidium is developing cutting-edge copper-based radiopharmaceuticals for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Its proprietary platform utilizes Copper‑61 for PET imaging and Copper‑67 for tarobtained radiotherapy, designed to improve lesion visualisation and therapeutic precision, especially in metastatic prostate, neurofinishocrine tumours, and breast cancer.
The company has raised €84 million in a Series B round led by Kurma Growth Opportunities Fund, Angelini Ventures, Wellington Partners, and Neva SGR (Intesa Sanpaolo Group), with contributions from DeepTech & Climate Fonds, Bayern Kapital, Vives Partners, Eurazeo, NRW.BANK, HighLight Capital, and existing investors. The funding will quick-track development of its lead compounds, expand its global manufacturing footprint, grow its international team, and deepen collaborations with hospitals and academic centres across Europe and North America.
Million Victories (France)
Founder/s: Benoît Ducrest, Celine Allary
Founded year: 2017
Recent funding: $40M
Million Victories is a Lyon-based mobile game studio best known for Million Lords, a real-time, PvP-focutilized 4X strategy title that has attracted over 4 million downloads and maintains 100K monthly active utilizers. Since launching in 2017, the studio has consistently doubled its annual revenue and built a passionate community across the US, Europe, and emerging markets in Asia.
Last week, Million Victories closed a major financing round, nearly $40 million in primary and secondary funding led by Haveli Investments. This comes after earlier investments from Griffin Gaming Partners and Eurazeo. The injection will support global expansion, especially in the US, France, Germany, UK, South Korea, and Japan, alongside a strategic hiring push to double headcount by 2027, with key roles like CTO, Game Director, Live Ops Director, Growth Lead, and UA Managers.
Gradient Labs (UK)
Founder/s: Dimitri Masin, Neal Lathia, Danai Antoniou
Founded year: 2023
Recent funding: $13M
London‑based AI startup Gradient Labs builds autonomous, compliance‑aware AI agents tailored for regulated industries, especially financial services. These agents automate both customer‑facing interactions and complex back‑office processes like document verification, fraud screening, complaints handling, and support for vulnerable customers. Unlike generic chatbots, Gradient Labs’ AI deeply understands regulatory frameworks and SOPs, achieving high-quality customer outcomes.
Last week, Gradient Labs closed a $13 million Series A round led by US venture firm Redpoint Ventures, with participation from existing backer LocalGlobe and new investors Puzzle Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Exceptional Capital. With this funding, Gradient Labs plans to utilize the capital to expand its team, doubling headcount this year, scale into the US market, and upgrade its AI platform to handle deeper, more nuanced compliance workflows.
AmphiStar (Belgium)
Founder/s: Sophie Roelants, Bernd Everaert, Karolien Maes, Sofie De Maeseneire.
Founded year: 2021
Recent funding: €12.5M
AmphiStar is a Belgian biotech startup that harnesses synthetic biology and microbial fermentation to convert bio-based waste into high-performance biosurfactants. Its innovative platform employs the yeast Starmerella bombicola to produce over 25 different glycolipid biosurfactants, such as its flagship lines AmphiCare and AmphiClean that offer eco-frifinishly alternatives to fossil‑ or palm oil‑based surfactants utilized in personal care, home care, and industrial applications.
The company recently snapped up a total of €12.5 million in this latest funding round: a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) and a €10 million equity investment. The fresh capital will be deployed to scale up bioreactor production, launch novel biosurfactant molecules, expand its product portfolio, optimise fermentation processes, and support international growth into North American and broader European markets.
Hololight (Austria)
Founder/s: Florian Haspinger, Susanne Haspinger, Alexander Werlberger, Luis Bollinger
Founded year: 2015
Recent funding: €10M
Deeptech startup Hololight delivers XR pixel‑streaming as a service, essentially functioning as the “Netflix of XR.” Their technology enables high‑fidelity, real‑time 3D content to be streamed directly to AR and VR headsets via the cloud or on‑premises servers. Built on standards like OpenXR, the Hololight Stream Runtime allows utilizers to launch any compatible AR/VR application with just one click, eliminating the necessary for local processing and enabling scalable deployment across devices.
In its latest funding round, Hololight secured €10 million in growth capital. The round was led by Cipio Partners, with existing backers including Bayern Kapital, Direttissima Growth Partners, EnBW New Ventures, and Future Energy Ventures. Funds will be utilized to expand global distribution, enhance the core pixel‑streaming platform, and scale its enterprise‑grade solutions.
Ciloa (France)
Founder/s: Robert Mamoun, Bernadette Trentin
Founded year: 2011
Recent funding: €6.5M
Ciloa is a French biotech scale-up pioneering the development of exosome‑based therapeutics applying its proprietary EVENGI platform. The company bioengineers tiny extracellular vesicles (sEVs), or exosomes, to display fully native membrane proteins and cargo for tarobtained delivery. Its lead program, APN‑sEV, harnesses adiponectin packaged within exosomes to address metabolic diseases. Preclinical studies display this novel formulation reduces fat accumulation, enhances insulin sensitivity, regulates glycemia, and crucially preserves muscle mass.
Last week, Ciloa announced it had secured €6.5 million via the France 2030 Biotherapies and Biomanufacturing of Innovative Therapies programme, administered by Bpifrance on behalf of the French government. These funds will support GMP-compliant manufacturing of APN-sEV and completion of preclinical safety studies, positioning the drug candidate to enter Phase I trials in 2027 and Phase IIa in 2028.
Biorce (Spain)
Founder/s: Clara Bernardes, Pedro Coelho
Founded year: 2024
Recent funding: €5M
Barcelona‑based healthtech startup Biorce develops AI‑powered tools to streamline the design and execution of clinical trials. Its flagship platform, Jarvis, taps into a proprietary database of over 530,000 annotated studies to optimise protocol design, feasibility checks, site selection, patient recruitment, and regulatory alignment. By cutting through trial complexity and reducing inefficiencies, Biorce assists pharmaceutical firms, biotechs, and CROs slash timelines and costs, accelerating critical treatments to patients .
In its latest funding round, Biorce secured €5 million from Stockholm-based impact investor Norrsken VC. The funding will fuel U.S. expansion, scale up engineering and sales teams, and accelerate Jarvis’s product development. Biorce aims to grow revenues into eight‑figure territory, strengthen its presence in Spain, the U.K., the Nordics, and the U.S., and ultimately bring smarter, AI‑driven clinical trials to markets worldwide.
Cariqa (Germany)
Founder/s: Issam Tidjani, Tamara Ciullo, Stefano Bonetta, and Mario La Pergola
Founded year: 2023
Recent funding: €4M
Streamlining the EV charging experience, Cariqa offers a unified finish-to-finish payment and pricing platform. Their service tackles the fragmented charging landscape, where drivers juggle multiple apps, cards, and QR codes and often face wildly inconsistent tariffs. Its infrastructure empowers charge point operators (CPOs) to centrally manage pricing, payments, and compliance, while drivers benefit from transparent, single-price charging, eliminating confusion and enhancing utilizer experience.
Last week, Cariqa secured an oversubscribed €4 million seed round co-led by Contrarian Ventures and Anthemis, with notable participation from Earth, Anthemis Female Innovators Lab, Golden Egg Check, and Techstars. The fresh capital will be utilized to expand the team and scale the platform beyond its initial focus in Germany and Austria into broader European markets.
Movetru (Ireland)
Founder/s: Naomi McGregor
Founded year: 2020
Recent funding: $1.9M
Movetru, a sport‑tech startup, delivers wearable hardware paired with an AI‑powered app that analyses athletes’ shiftment in real time. Capturing biomechanical data during training, rehab, or on the field, it empowers coaches and players to identify injury risks and optimise performance more effectively. Early trials with both amateur and pro teams across the UK and Ireland have demonstrated the platform’s ability to provide actionable shiftment insights in accessible, simple‑to‑interpret formats.
In a €1.4 million pre-seed round announced recently, the London VC Two Magnolias led the investment, alongside IAG Capital, HBAN, Angel Academe, AwakenAngels, and individual angels including Dr Phil Graham-Smith, Dr Mark Batt, and Jeff Mostyn. The funds will support broader commercial expansion, increased device production, and growing Movetru’s presence across clubs, clinics, and performance centres throughout Europe.
Perry (Amsterdam)
Founder/s: Laurens Feenstra, Arie Kuiper
Founded year: 2025
Recent funding: €1.6M
Dutch AI startup Perry has built an AI‑powered platform that delivers smart, visual, and adaptive work instructions tailored specifically for field technicians. By converting complex manuals into intuitive, real‑time guidance, Perry aims to reduce cognitive load, improve safety, and speed up onboarding for technical workers, addressing Europe’s growing shortage of skilled labour.
In its seed round, Perry recently secured €1.6 million, led by Berlin‑based Revent, with backing from angel investors from Google and OpenAI. These funds will fuel expansion across Germany, France, and the UK, and support hiring in AI engineering and utilizer research. The investment will also accelerate product development, enhance platform features, and scale implementation with early adopters.
Solence (France)
Founder/s: Clara Stephenson, Mael Mertad
Founded year: 2022
Recent funding: €1.6M
Female-led digital health startup Solence is focutilized on empowering women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) to manage their condition through personalised, lifestyle-driven care. The startup offers a 12‑week AI-enhanced digital therapeutics app. The platform delivers interactive modules, habit‑forming tools, and monthly assessments to support dietary, sleep, stress, and activity adjustments based on peer-reviewed research.
The startup recently secured a €1.6 million seed round led by Impact Shakers Ventures, with participation from Bpifrance and angel investors including Céline Lazorthes (Leetchi, Mangopay), Berthe Latreille (ex‑JP Morgan), and Stéphane Mardel (Systemanova VC). These funds will go towards expanding the team, deepening product capabilities, and forging stronger clinical and distribution partnerships.
Theo Health (UK)
Founder/s Jodie Sinclair
Founded year: 2021
Recent funding: £1.2M
Glasgow‑based Theo Health, a sports‑tech startup, has developed Alpha Shorts, smart training garments embedded with inertial measurement units. These shorts monitor shiftment metrics like tempo, balance, symmetest, and knee alignment. Their accompanying software then delivers real-time data and post-session insights aimed at preventing injuries and aiding athlete recovery. The system is especially designed to bridge the gfinisher data gap in sports by incorporating female physiology into its injury‑prevention models, while still serving both male and female athletes.
Last week, Theo Health secured a £1.2 million funding round from angel investors, including Beena Sharma, co‑founder and CEO of carbon‑capture firm CCU International. Also onboarded is US golf star Xander Schauffele, who will pilot Alpha Shorts as part of the initiative. The startup is preparing a larger institutional round later this year. Funds will support a pilot with a top-tier European football club scheduled for later this year, with a full public launch expected in the next couple of years.
Leave a Reply