Marco Bianchi 
Natac Biotech, part of Natac Natural Ingredients, secured 1.4 million euros from Spain’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism under the Industrial Value Chain Impulse Program to advance the FRACTAL project.
Cathay Innovation has announced the appointment of Beth Faus as Vice President, strengthening its local presence in Spain during a pivotal moment for the Spanish market.
SpaceXAI, owned by Elon Musk, launched Grok 4.5, an advanced AI model trained on NVIDIA chips with enhanced programming capabilities. The model is now available in Grok Build and Cursor but will be accessible in the EU by mid-July 2024.
Proserve, a Dutch managed hosting company, highlights that only 10-15% of its clients have robust disaster recovery systems. The discussion with Dawn Technology’s CTO Ivo Jansch and others addresses cloud sovereignty, vendor lock-in, and the risks of relying on hyperscalers. A data center fire in Almere is cited as a wake-up call for businesses.
Aardaia, an agritech startup developing new crop varieties from wild plants, secured €5 million in seed funding led by Point Nine. The company uses genomic and computational methods to breed crops without genetic modification, with its first product, the aardaker, designed to reduce reliance on imported protein crops.
D-Orbit, a European space logistics scale-up, signed a contract with Japanese satellite integrator ArkEdge Space to provide launch services via its ION Satellite Carrier for multiple missions between 2027 and 2028. The partnership leverages D-Orbit’s orbital logistics expertise and ArkEdge’s end-to-end satellite solutions, supported by Marubeni Corporation as a key investor and commercial agent in the APAC region.
Madrid-based cybersecurity startup 8Layers raised an additional €1 million in its pre-Seed round, bringing total funding to €2.5 million. Strategic investors Criteria Venture Tech and Bankinter joined to support the company’s digital identity security platform and regulatory compliance solutions.
Powerdot, in collaboration with Octopus Energy, has introduced an unlimited electric vehicle charging subscription for €49.99 per month, integrating home and public charging solutions across Europe.
Fincantieri, an Italian shipbuilding giant, acquires a 61.95% majority stake in WSense, a Rome-based deeptech scaleup specializing in underwater communication systems. The acquisition follows prior investments and a 2026 strategic partnership. WSense will maintain operational autonomy while leveraging Fincantieri’s industrial expertise and global markets.
Sodena provided a 250,000 euro loan to Muxunav, a Navarre-based company specializing in unattended payment solutions, to support its growth and international expansion. The funding follows a 32% sales increase in 2025.