Newsletter: VC Breakfast Club

/espresso

• Abound scores €300M from Deutsche Bank to scale AI lending.

• Camgraphic lands €25M to develop graphene chips for AI, space.

• Brainomix raises $18M to expand stroke diagnostics into the US.

/raising (?)

Are you raising? Founders, let me know here. I occasionally angel invest up to $50k in UK-based ventures & connect founders to relevant VCs and angels when I can.

/deals

💸 London-based fintech Abound secured up to €300M from Deutsche Bank to scale its AI-driven lending platform. Using Open Banking data, Abound offers personalised, affordable loans while expanding Render, its proprietary underwriting tech, to other lenders. Total lending capacity now stands at €1.9B.

🔬 Cambridge-based photonics startup Camgraphic has raised €25M in Series A funding co-led by the NATO Innovation Fund. The startup is developing graphene-based microchips to outperform silicon in AI, satellite comms, and radar. Funds will support R&D in Pisa and a new pilot manufacturing line in Milan.

🧠 Oxford spinout Brainomix raised $18M in Series C to expand its AI imaging tech for stroke and lung fibrosis into the US. With 10 FDA clearances and 1.5M+ patients impacted, the company plans to grow its Oxford team and global footprint.

🤖 London-based Paid raised €10M in pre-seed funding from EQT Ventures and Sequoia to launch its AI agent monetisation platform. Founded by Outreach’s Manny Medina, Paid helps AI startups manage pricing, margins, and renewals with tools designed for the emerging “service-as-software” economy.

🧑‍💻 London-based Ethos raised €3M to expand its AI-powered expert-matching platform, which surfaces overlooked talent by analyzing digital footprints across GitHub, papers, blogs, and more. Backers include General Catalyst, 8VC, and angels from Sequoia, a16z, McKinsey, and SoftBank.

💊 London-based insurtech Bluezone has raised £1.5M seed funding to expand its team and launch life insurance for people with Type 2 diabetes. Backers include Insurtech Gateway, AV8 Ventures, Oxford Capital, and top industry angels.

🌍 London-based Maiven raised €1.7M to help businesses navigate complex climate regulations using AI. Its platform offers real-time alerts and personalised insights to identify risks, stay compliant, and unlock new revenue opportunities in the evolving carbon policy landscape.

/funds

🏫 AlbionVC is expanding its successful UCL spinout model across all London universities, aiming to unlock the region’s vast research potential. With 368 spinouts since 2011, London matches Bay Area output but lacked coordinated investment—until now. Corporate VCs are invited to collaborate on commercialising deep tech and healthcare breakthroughs.

📈 ET Capital has launched a £2M seed fund—the Cambridge Venture Index SEIS/EIS Fund—to back 10–15 early-stage Cambridge science and tech startups. Aiming to democratise investment, the fund uses a diversified, index-style model, offers tax incentives, and plans future funds targeting both individual and institutional investors.

🛠️ Antler has invested nearly £1M in eight new UK tech startups spanning AI-powered healthtech, edtech, proptech, and cybersecurity. The firm’s largest and most selective London residency to date reflects growing confidence in early-stage UK tech.

/flywheel

• 🚀 The University of Cambridge has unveiled eight new deeptech startups for its START Accelerator 2.0, tackling challenges in AI, quantum, drug discovery, and health. Backed by Parkwalk Advisors and industry partners, the cohort receives mentorship, funding, and a Demo Day pitch to 200+ investors after 14 weeks.

• 🦄 A new report from Accel and Dealroom reveals UK-born unicorns have spawned 393 startups over the past 25 years — more than any other European country. Despite scale-up hurdles, the UK’s tech ecosystem, led by London, is driving sustained entrepreneurial growth through strong talent and network effects.

• 🤝 Oxford’s Startup Huddle (Apr 17) returns as the UK’s largest monthly founder meet-up, featuring startup showcases and ecosystem networking. Meanwhile, Cambridge’s Disrupt-backed HR Meetup (Apr 30) brings leaders together to explore people-first innovation and pitch for Disrupt Cambridge’s 2025 summit.

• 🎓 Notion Capital has launched Upstarts, a 10-week remote programme for rising startup operators across Europe. Backed by Canva, Sage, and others, the initiative offers masterclasses, mentorship, and a global network to help SaaS leaders scale effectively.

• 🎯 Oxford’s Innovation, Tech & Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (April 7–11) is now open to all students—no age limit! A fully funded, 5-day immersive programme with workshops, mentoring, and pitching.

• ☁️ AWS is backing Innovate Cambridge by offering local startups free office hours, business and technical support, and AWS credits—boosting the region’s innovation ecosystem and helping founders scale breakthrough technologies faster.

/tech

• The UK government has backed a third ChipStart cohort of semiconductor startups with £1.1M in funding. These companies are developing transformative chip technologies, aiming to scale globally and reinforce the UK’s position in the £2T next-gen semiconductor race.

/breakfast

• ETH Zurich, Oxford, Cambridge top 3 for deep tech spinouts in Europe

• London leads as Europe’s deeptech capital, raising $4.2B in 2024

• Cambridge and Oxford alumni have raised $3.34B to build robots

📸 /techbrunch

Every week I use Midjourney to reimagine a TechCrunch story from the week.

This week, Elon Musk says xAI acquired X. I imagine a snake eating itself. The merger strengthens xAI’s access to user data, talent, and distribution, fueling its competition with OpenAI and advancing Musk’s AI ambitions. On the other hand, it does feel a bit weird somehow given the history of the Twitter acquisition being so recent.

• Caption this in comments?