Sunday 1 November
Enterprise
ApiFirme.dev, an application covered by the Romanian start-up news site start-up.ro, brings the tax and financial data of clients into one place. According to the report, the tool allows users to verify the fiscal and financial situation of any company directly from the applications they already use.
Policy
A column published by Version2 argues that Denmark's latest plan to rescue its ageing state IT systems comes roughly 10 years too late. The piece opens by recalling an earlier moment when a Danish minister spoke in grave terms about the same problem, and it uses that memory to question why action is only being demanded now.
Climate
Poland's Ministry of Development and Technology has sent a draft law into the legislative process that is intended to unlock 5 billion zloty in support for businesses investing in clean technologies. The move marks a formal step towards turning the support scheme into law, although the bill still has to go through the remaining legislative stages before it can take effect.
Enterprise
Olivier Pailhès is back at the helm of Aircall, the French company he previously led, according to Maddyness. The report appears under a headline that translates as Olivier Pailhès back in charge of Aircall, and it carries a quotation attributed to him: he says he feels as though he is restarting a startup.
Funding
Berlin startup Joy_ has brought on a well-known name to support its growth. According to Gründerszene, Lena Gercke is joining the company after it struck a deal on the television show Die Höhle der Löwen. The report describes the move as prominent reinforcement for the young business following its appearance on the programme.
AI
Zefi.ai, a company offering an artificial intelligence platform for coordinating customer data, says the main benefit it delivers to clients is customer lifetime value, according to a report by El Referente. The report describes the product as a platform that brings together feedback that businesses gather from their customers across many different channels.
AI
Swedish AI startup Pixel Systems has raised €2.7 million, equivalent to $3.1 million, in a Seed funding round. The company says it will use the money to accelerate its commercial initiatives and to continue building its technology. That technology is designed to help identify AI-generated and manipulated digital material, a problem that has grown as generative tools become more widely available.
Policy
The European Commission has ordered capitals, starting with Austria, to pause national social media bans while the unified EU law is finalised.
Funding
European defence tech attracts record investment, but funding gaps, reliance on US capital and fragmented procurement remain. Investors discuss whether the boom is sustainable.
Funding
Belgian accelerator imec.istart is extending its acceleration and investment programmes into Spain, Germany and Bulgaria.
Policy
An EUobserver opinion piece by a Polish mother opposing a Palantir contract with Poland, noting Switzerland rejected Palantir's offers over security concerns.
AI
Analysis of Europe's position as the US and China build rival AI blocs, noting the EU still lacks chips, infrastructure and homegrown AI models to compete.
Policy
Critics say the European Commission's impact assessment for the planned Kids Act, which would require age checks online, underplays risks to fundamental rights.
AI
Older Polish people are increasingly turning to ChatGPT for everyday advice, according to Spider's Web.
Chips & Hardware
Prof Paul Townsend describes his plans for the semiconductors research centre within Research Ireland's Rinn Network.
AI
Vienna-based AI startup Digicust has appointed Alexander Miklautz, previously head of marketing at PwC Austria, to lead global partnerships and events from November 2026.
Policy
The European Central Bank has brought Deutsche Telekom and Spain's Telefónica into the digital euro project. According to the sources, the two companies belong to consortia that are meant to provide connectivity services for the planned digital currency. Golem.de describes the decision as the ECB's choice of the two telecoms groups for building the network behind the digital euro.
Climate
For years, European electricity demand has shown a spike every 60 seconds. According to a report from Golem.de, the cause of this periodic peak has now been identified in the Reallabor, a real-world test environment, in Jülich. The finding gives an explanation for a pattern that has been visible in the grid data for a long time.
Cybersecurity
A new study has found that Spain leads Europe in a ranking it would rather not top: the number of solar energy systems left exposed on the internet. The report, titled To See the Wind and the Sun, was produced by Modat Magnify with the collaboration of Bouke van Laethem of the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NL).
Other
A new profession is appearing in Czechia: wedding content creators who film short videos on a mobile phone during wedding celebrations. According to CzechCrunch, these creators have recently started to turn up at weddings in the country, and couples are paying for the service so they can share footage on social media quickly.
Policy
Xavier Niel, the founder of the French telecoms group Free, has sharply criticised the authors of a proposed tax on digital data traffic. Asked about the measure on X, he called its backers "ignares incompétents", which translates roughly as ignorant and incompetent people. His remarks came after the proposal was approved in the French National Assembly on Friday.
Other
Skoda has released a set of printable templates for people who own both a 3D printer and a vehicle from the manufacturer. The files are offered free of charge, and the company presents them as a way for owners to improve their cars with parts they make themselves.
Enterprise
L’éditeur américain BlackLine ajoute une possibilité d’hébergement en France pour ses logiciels comptables. Il vient d’annoncer avoir choisi S3NS pour déployer sa plateforme sur Premi3ns , l’offre de cloud qualifiée SecNumCloud de la co-entreprise entre Thales et Google Cloud. Cette solution permet d’accéder au catalogue de services du fournisseur américain dans un cadre ultra-sécurisé.
AI
Romanian high schools can now add an optional subject called "Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Citizenship" to the courses they offer. According to start-up.ro, the subject is to be taught on the basis of a curriculum approved by the Ministry of Education and Research. The report presents this as a possibility open to schools rather than a requirement, so each school can decide whether to include it in its offering.
Fintech
Klarna is widening its footprint in European e-commerce by entering a new online marketplace, according to Polish startup outlet MamStartup. The working headline names the marketplace as easyShop, and the report describes the move as an expansion of the company's presence on the European market for online retail.
AI
The University of Southern Denmark, known as SDU, is playing a leading role in the Lean Computer Science Library, according to Version2. The project is an international open-source collaboration. Its aim is to build a shared library of verified code and computer science knowledge written in Lean, with every part checked by machine.
Funding
A partnership between Deutsche Bank and the European Investment Bank aims to channel €560 million into European SpaceTech to strengthen sovereign space capabilities.
Other
German holiday rental platform Holidu is cutting eight percent of its staff, around 60 employees, following several acquisitions this year.
Funding
FitnessKPI, a Spanish intelligence platform for fitness operators, closed a €1.3 million round led by Encomenda Capital and Angels Capital.
Climate
Maddyness profiles the career and connections that led Laetitia Carle to become head of Greenly, a French climate tech company.
Policy
Canada is set to join the EU's supercomputing network, a first step toward middle-power cooperation on AI compute.
Funding
A weekly roundup of funding, startup milestones and trends in Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on defence tech.
Climate
Greentech Alliance has agreed to acquire Intermobility, a European transport and mobility network of over 1,000 companies and public authorities.
AI
Mistral says its Large 4 model offers advanced coding and cyber-defence features and can run on an organisation's own computers and servers.
Policy
The European Data Protection Supervisor calls for tighter limits on sharing sensitive police data, especially traveller data, with US authorities under the planned border partnership.
Other
A Spider's Web article, headlined in Polish as "Poland in the European top tier. We pay more than the rest," says Poland ranks among the leading countries in Europe on what people pay. The headline frames the finding as a comparison, suggesting that Polish consumers face higher costs than those in the rest of the continent.
AI
The TEDAI conference will no longer be held in Vienna. According to Trending Topics, this year's TEDAI Vienna was the third and final edition of the event in the Austrian capital. The announcement marks the end of a short run for the gathering in the city, which began with a first edition and continued through to this year's closing event.
Other
Golem.de has published a new episode of its Defense Radar series on YouTube that looks at a Bundeswehr laser system designed to defend against drones. The episode, filed under military and politics, asks how useful the system actually is in military terms.
Policy
A new fee will take effect in early November as part of the European Union's customs reform, according to heise online. The charge applies to direct imports from countries outside the EU, and the source warns that such purchases could become more expensive as a result.
Policy
An EUobserver piece examines how European procurement and sovereign AI ambitions overlook women-led technology firms. Its central argument is that the way the sector is currently structured leaves women at a disadvantage, a pattern the headline describes as male-dominated by design.