Avatar photoMarco Bianchi

Marco covers Southern Europe's vibrant and fast-growing startup landscape. Based in Milan, he reports on funding rounds, product launches and ecosystem developments across Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta and Cyprus, with a keen eye for foodtech, mobility and consumer innovation.

Redis Launches Iris Platform to Handle AI Agent Infrastructure Demands at Enterprise Scale

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Redis launched Redis Iris, a context and memory platform designed to replace RAG infrastructure for enterprise agentic AI. The platform addresses the structural problem that AI agents generate orders of magnitude more data requests than human users, requiring a different retrieval architecture. Iris includes data integration via CDC pipelines, semantic context retrieval with auto-generated MCP tools, agent memory capabilities, and Redis Flex storage engine running 99% of data on SSDs at sub-millisecond latencies.

Portuguese Textile Maker Riopele Partners with John Varvatos for Men’s Fashion Collection

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Portuguese textile company Riopele announced a partnership with American designer John Varvatos to create a men’s fashion fabric collection inspired by textile heritage, vintage aesthetics, and craftsmanship. The collection will be presented at Milano Unica in July as Riopele prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The collaboration aims to strengthen Riopele’s international presence, particularly in the North American market, where it already exports over 98% of its production to more than 50 countries.

Metro Mondego Surpasses Expectations With One Million Validations, Government Plans Regional Expansion

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Metro Mondego, the electric metrobus system serving Coimbra, Lousã, and Miranda do Corvo, reached one million validations since transitioning to a paid system. Demand exceeded expectations by 20%, with April validations up 57.4% from January. The Portuguese Government announced plans to expand the system to serve additional municipalities including Cantanhede and Condeixa-a-Nova, with integration planned around the upcoming high-speed rail station.

Ford Motor Company Eyes Defense Sector Expansion Through Government Negotiations Across North America and Europe

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Ford Motor Company is in early-stage negotiations with multiple governments in North America and Europe to supply commercial vehicles and software technologies for defense and military needs. CEO Jim Farley confirmed ongoing discussions with the US government regarding defense-related requirements. The article also notes that European automakers Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are similarly exploring defense sector production opportunities.

Portuguese Hospitality Giant Pestana Hotel Group Secures 38 Nominations at World Travel and Golf Awards 2026

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Pestana Hotel Group received 38 nominations at the World Travel Awards 2026 and World Golf Awards 2026. The nominations include 33 World Travel Awards and 5 World Golf Awards across properties in Portugal (Porto, Lisboa, Tróia, Algarve, Madeira, Porto Santo) and internationally (Spain, Netherlands, USA, Brazil, Venezuela, Morocco, and São Tomé and Príncipe). Notable nominations include Europe’s Leading Hotel Brand 2026 for the group overall, and multiple category nominations for properties like Pestana CR7 Times Square and Pestana CR7 Gran Vía Madrid.

Google Executive Matt Brittin Takes Helm at BBC Amid Major Restructuring

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Matt Brittin, 57-year-old former Google executive who led the Europe-Middle East-Africa region for a decade and spent 18 years at Google before leaving in autumn 2024, officially took leadership of BBC as Director-General. He replaces Tim Davie, who resigned following controversy over editing of Donald Trump’s speech in a BBC documentary. Brittin assumes command during a challenging period as BBC plans to cut 2000 jobs and save 500 million pounds over two years due to financial pressures. The BBC also faces a 10 billion dollar defamation lawsuit from Donald Trump over the controversial documentary aired before the 2024 US presidential election, with trial scheduled for February 2027.

Spanish genomics startup BioGenómika wins EmprendeXXI Awards for innovation potential in Extremadura

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BioGenómika, certified as an emerging company by Enisa, has won the EmprendeXXI Awards recognizing it as the innovative company with the greatest potential and impact in Extremadura. The awards are promoted by Enisa through the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, and CaixaBank through DayOne, its division specialized in technology companies.

Portuguese Bank Launches First Homegrown Stablecoin Compliant with EU Crypto Rules

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Bison Bank, a Portuguese bank specializing in investment banking, custodial services, corporate advisory and cryptocurrency services, launched the first Portuguese stablecoin with two versions indexed to the euro and US dollar. The stablecoin was designed to enable fast, secure and transparent international payments and transfers in compliance with the EU’s MiCA regulation.

Milan-based Cosmico Raises €12 Million in Series B to Expand Future of Work Platform Across Europe

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Milan-based Cosmico, a future of work holding company, raised €12 million in Series B funding led by P101 SGR. The company operates across Italy and Spain with a network of 35,000+ digital professionals. Alongside the funding, Cosmico completed the full acquisition of Flatmates, a creator agency. The funding will support the company’s expansion strategy and planned acquisitions.