Newsletter: VC Breakfast Club

/espresso

• CMR Surgical raised €185M to scale Versius surgical robots and clinical trials.

• Lumai secured €9.2M to scale optical AI accelerators for data centres.

• UK spinouts raised £2.6B in 2024 despite downturn.

/raising (?)

Are you raising? Let me know here.

/deals

👩‍⚕️ Cambridge-based CMR Surgical has raised over €185M in equity and debt to scale its Versius surgical robot globally, with a major push into the U.S. The funds will support product development, clinical trials, and expansion of its data-driven surgical ecosystem enhancing minimal access procedures.

👀 Oxford-based Lumai raised over €9.2M to scale its optical AI accelerators, aiming to cut inference costs by 90% and power usage by 90%. Backed by Constructor Capital, the startup promises to reshape data centre efficiency and accelerate the shift beyond silicon-based computing.

✈️ London-based traveltech startup Unravel raised $7M Series A to scale its AI-powered, shoppable travel video platform. Backers include Nauta Capital, Active Partners, Slingshot Ventures, and ex-Booking.com CFO Olivier Bisserier.

📊 London-based Wealthyhood raised €3.6M to expand its AI-powered investing app into Greece. Backed by Global Wealth Group, the startup helps younger users save, invest, and build wealth through education, automation, and commission-free investing tools.

🌍 Birmingham-based Grid Edge raised €3.3M to scale its AI platform, which helps commercial buildings cut energy costs and carbon emissions by 20% using real-time data and predictive insights.

🎥 Sidemen-backed POCKLA raised £1.6M to scale its AI-powered content platform, helping brands craft authentic, creator-style content. The MarTech startup blends LLMs and human strategy to boost engagement in a short-form, community-driven digital world.

🧪 Oxford-based Diffblue secured a £1M Innovate UK grant to enhance its AI-driven software engineering tools, using reinforcement learning to automate testing and accelerate development within the GENIUS international collaboration.

/funds

• 💼 UK wealth managers report a surge in American clients shifting assets to Britain, citing safety concerns and unease over Trump’s second term. Some are using the UK as a temporary financial “getaway.”

/tech

• 🧬 Beauhurst’s Spotlight on Spinouts 2025 reveals UK spinouts raised £2.6B in 2024 despite a wider 19% drop in high-growth investment, highlighting their resilience and outsized performance in the ecosystem.

• ⚡ Q1 2025 saw strong momentum in the UK’s semiconductor ecosystem. Cambridge GaN Devices raised $32M for next-gen power devices, while photonics leaders Salience Labs and CamGraPhIC secured $30M and €25M respectively to scale optical interconnects for AI and data centers. These rounds highlight the UK’s growing depth in advanced chip innovation.

/flywheel

• 🥂 StrictlyVC is coming to London on May 13, bringing its signature no-filter conversations and top-tier VC speakers to the UK. Expect insider insights, networking, and wine-fueled chats with the venture elite.

• 🚧 Cambridge’s START Accelerator 2.0 reveals eight deeptech startups tackling major challenges—from Sqwish’s real-time prompt compression and Trismik’s faster LLM testing, to Prodromic’s dementia prediction, Pinepeak’s wildfire modelling, and Gastrobody’s new IBD treatments. The cohort receives mentorship, non-dilutive funding, and a Demo Day pitch to 200+ investors over 14 weeks.

• 📉 A worsening funding crisis at UK universities risks shrinking the country’s tech talent pipeline and shuttering spinouts, experts warn. Rising costs, fewer overseas students, and frozen tuition fees threaten academic R&D and entrepreneurship. Without urgent investment, the UK could lose its edge in deep tech, AI, and life sciences.

• 🤝 To help the UK (and EU) ecosystems grow, we need to get better at talking about failure - now hide from it. London-based PropTech Tract, which raised £744k in 2024 to streamline planning permissions using AI, has shut down. Its co-founders released a candid postmortem reflecting on missteps in team structure, spending, and go-to-market strategy. Kudos to Henry and Jamie - looking forward to what you build next.

/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, OpenAI’s models ‘memorized’ copyrighted content, new study suggests.

I imagine GPT’s reaction.

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