Bulgaria’s first unicorn Payhawk wants to challenge local players Pleo and Mynt in Sweden with its expense services and corporate cards. The company opened an office in Stockholm, partly with help from its Swedish shareholders, and aims for a US listing in a few years. Its main goal is to reach $1 billion in revenue, says founder Hristo Borisov.
Juicebox, backed by Sequoia Capital, is expanding its operations to London to challenge the UK‑based Jack & Jill platform.
The IAB highlighted measurement challenges in the podcast advertising market and cited a new Dutch knowledge platform, Podcastportal.nl, launched by media researcher Peter Wiegman. The platform aims to provide clearer metrics on podcast consumption and advertising effectiveness. It recently welcomed its fourth partner, market research company Markteffect, which will conduct annual comprehensive podcast consumption studies in the Netherlands.
Lithuanian startup Axiology is providing DLT-based trading and settlement infrastructure for digital securities and is part of the initial rollout of the ECB’s Pontes service, which allows settlement in central bank money, marking a step toward pan‑European digital capital markets.
CautAjutor.ro, developed by MSM APPS SRL and announced by Bucharest entrepreneur Adrian Marin, was launched in September 2026 as a commission‑free marketplace for finding reliable tradespeople across Romania. The platform lets customers describe a job once and receive up to five written offers, while service providers only pay when a client opens their offer.
Datablocks secured the top position at the MERGE Startup Contest 2026, held on 21 September in Digitaliza Madrid, beating other international Web3 and crypto projects such as Shellment and Orion Finance.
The article introduces five newly founded European startups – LabThunder, FaceLedger, SURGALFA, Kazimi and VergabeHero – highlighting them as promising additions to the startup scene.
Swedish coffee-tech brand Lykke is expanding into the Japanese market after a chance meeting earlier this year, opening doors to 1,000 stores in Japan and eyeing South Korea and Taiwan next. The founder and CEO Johan Damgaard highlighted the huge potential of the market.
ICEYE has launched a new Satellite Technology Center in Warsaw, marking a major expansion of its Polish operations with a planned investment of more than 120 million PLN over the next three years to boost R&D and manufacturing.
PayPo is considering an IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and may be valued at over 2 billion PLN.