Newsletter: VC Breakfast Club

/deals

🛒 London-based Neurolabs raised $7.8M Series A to scale its Visual AI platform for retail shelf monitoring, using synthetic data to reduce operational costs and boost CPG supply chain efficiency.

🌊 Edinburgh-based CSignum raised £6M Series A to scale its underwater IoT communication tech, enabling electromagnetic wireless data transfer through water, ice, and soil for environmental, marine, and defence applications.

🧑‍💼 Milton Keynes-based WorkBuzz secured £4M from YFM Equity Partners to fuel expansion and AI-driven innovation. The employee engagement platform has doubled ARR to £5M and is scaling leadership for global growth.

🥚 Ovo Labs raised £4M to pioneer egg rejuvenation therapies, aiming to extend reproductive longevity and boost IVF success rates by reducing genetic abnormalities in aging human eggs.

🧠 Capably, a London-based intelligent automation startup, raised $4M to expand its AI-driven platform that enables businesses to automate complex tasks efficiently without technical expertise. Backed by Boost Capital Partners and others.

🛍️ London-based Cloud Retail, formerly Jiffy, raised $3M seed funding led by Somersault Ventures to scale its full-stack e-commerce platform, supporting industries from fashion to pharmaceuticals with AI-driven storefronts, warehouse management, delivery, and analytics.

🌎 51toCarbonZero secured £3M seed funding led by Fuel Ventures to expand its AI-driven climate platform, helping businesses worldwide transition to net zero while boosting operational performance and carbon reduction efforts.

🏗️ Bristol-based Adaptavate raised £2.7M pre-Series A to scale its carbon-negative construction material, Breathaboard. The funding, led by Undivided Ventures and Skreenhouse Ventures, will drive Adaptavate’s industrial demonstrator project, 'Project Crystal'.

🍷 London-based WineFi raised £1.5M to democratise fine wine investing with data-driven portfolio management, offering tax-efficient, low-correlation alternatives to traditional assets for high-net-worth and individual investors.

🤝 Trusted, a UK startup helping B2B enterprises turn customers into brand advocates, raised £1M pre-seed from Fuel Ventures to scale its SaaS platform, boosting retention, deal size, and sales velocity through customer-led growth.

/funds

🚀 Volution VC launched a new $100M fund to back UK fintech, AI, and SaaS startups with $5–20M in revenue, targeting the post-Series A funding gap and strengthening UK-Japan investment ties through its SBI partnership.

/tech

• 🚗 London-based Zego launched "Zego Sense," a smartphone-only telematics insurance rewarding safe young drivers with lower premiums.

• ✈️ OXCCU, an Oxford University spinout backed by Aramco, developed a single-step catalyst converting CO₂ and hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel, aiming to lower costs and scale SAF production globally.

• 🔒 Bristol-based KETS Quantum Security completed a £1.7M contract to miniaturise quantum key distribution tech, enabling secure, interception-proof encryption for telecom networks and critical infrastructure globally.

/flywheel

• 🧬 Biotech firm Oxford Expression Technologies will relocate to Oxford Technology Park.

• 📚 G-Research donates to Imperial College London to fund two new PhD scholarships in statistics, mathematics, and machine learning research.

• 🔬 Imperial College London researchers are developing battery and fuel cell technologies across lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and solid-state chemistries.

/breakfast

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

• When does deeptech become venture-backable?

• NFTs: What happened to sports collectibles?

📸 /techbrunch

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

This week, Brooklyn artist Nim Ben-Reuven’s developed Chat Haus - a satirical “luxury” coworking space for AI chatbots - made entirely of cardboard. The exhibit highlights the fragility of AI’s impact on creative industries, offering a lighthearted yet pointed reflection on rapid tech disruption.

I imagine the water cooler chat.

• Caption this in comments?