Virginia-based Ethos Technologies announces its plans to go public. The life insurance technology company seeks to raise over $200 million through an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States. Top venture capital firms back this innovative startup. Investors eagerly anticipate its debut on the Nasdaq. Ethos plans to sell about 10.5 million shares. The price range sits at $18 to $20 per share, according to Reuters reports.

London-based venture capital firm Plural prepares to launch a massive new investment fund. Reports suggest this fund could reach €1 billion. If successful, it would rank among the largest ever raised by a European VC firm. This ambitious move highlights Plural's growing influence in the tech investment scene. Plural's New Fund Marks a Milestone Plural plans its third fund since launching in 2022.

Healthcare costs surge nearly 10% in 2026. Experts attribute this rise to increased utilization and soaring prices of specialty drugs like GLP-1 medications. Employers face mounting pressure to manage benefits efficiently. Benepass emerges as a key solution. The platform offers precision control over benefits allocation. Employers direct dollars strategically. Employees access and understand options easily. Benepass announces a major milestone today.

Cyberattacks grow increasingly difficult to track. Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks dominate reported cyber incidents worldwide. These attacks cause over $55 billion in losses over the past decade. Attackers now use AI to mimic human actions swiftly. As a result, these threats strike faster, cost less, and evade detection more effectively. Many companies rely on slow, manual investigation methods. Such approaches often take days or even weeks to uncover details.

Urban centers across the United States grapple with severe delivery hurdles. Traffic congestion slows trucks to a crawl. Last-mile logistics drag on efficiency. Delivery vans spew rising emissions into crowded skies. Yet, consumers demand swift service for food, retail goods, and vital healthcare supplies. The traditional system strains under this pressure. However, innovative solutions emerge to transform the landscape.

Shield Space, a promising UK defence technology company, has raised £2 million in funding. This investment propels the firm's efforts to protect satellites against jamming, interference, and deliberate attacks. Mercia Ventures led the round through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II. Twin Path Ventures, ROI Ventures, and P3A Ventures also contributed. Shield Space now plans several key expansions with this capital.

Europe faces a massive health challenge. Over 200 million adults battle obesity and chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension. Health systems strain under this burden. Oviva steps in with innovative solutions. The company offers fully reimbursed digital therapy programs for weight-related and chronic illnesses. These programs integrate seamlessly into public health systems in Germany, the UK, and Switzerland. Oviva's platform revolutionizes patient care.

Energy demands in the tech sector surge as data centers consume more power. Heat output rises alongside this growth. Therefore, the industry seeks innovative solutions. Leeds-based Optalysys emerges as a leader in this quest. The company champions photonic computing. It uses light to process data efficiently. This approach promises to reduce energy use dramatically. Optalysys recently closed a significant funding round.

Europe's drone market surges with demand in farming and industry. Yet, Chinese manufacturers dominate this space. This dominance raises alarms about supply chain reliability, data security, and access to vital technology. Farmers and industrial operators face mounting pressures. They must work faster, conserve resources, and avoid hazardous tasks for workers. ABZ Innovation steps in to address these issues. This Budapest-based company recently raised €7 million in funding.

Doctors face overwhelming medical information today. New studies emerge daily. Treatment guidelines update frequently. Clinical standards evolve constantly. Keeping up feels nearly impossible. Estimates show doctors spend most of their day just staying current. This leaves little time for patient care. That pressure burdens healthcare professionals everywhere. OpenEvidence tackles this issue head-on. The company builds a system of specialized AI models.

The UK government invests £25 million in Kraken, the innovative technology arm spinning out from Octopus Energy. This bold move aims to anchor fast-growing tech firms in London. Officials seek to position the UK as a prime destination for future stock market listings. Through the British Business Bank, the government supports Kraken's expansion. Consequently, leaders hope to encourage an initial public offering in the UK within the next 18 months.

AI models grow larger and more complex every day. The industry grapples with significant challenges as a result. GPUs accelerate rapidly, yet networks connecting them lag behind. Data centers built for traditional computing now strain under massive AI data flows. For many AI operators, networking emerges as the primary barrier to expansion. Upscale AI steps in to bridge this critical gap.

Madrid-based Demium has rebranded to Mission. This change marks a new chapter for the talent investment company. Mission now focuses on long-term partnerships with Spanish founders. It targets the earliest and riskiest stages of company building. Additionally, the company announced a new fund. This fund aims to raise €35 million. It specifically invests in pre-seed startups across Spain. The new fund receives strong backing.

Education faces challenges in adapting to modern children's learning styles. Schools update programs slowly. Textbooks take years to refresh. Many tools rely on fixed lessons and repetitive drills. Kids turn to AI for help, but they encounter unsafe content or lengthy responses. These issues stifle curiosity. Consequently, screen time increases while learning decreases. Sparkli aims to close this gap. Sparkli, a Zurich-based startup, emerges from stealth mode.

European and Israeli tech companies now mature rapidly. Founders, employees, and early investors seek liquidity options. They avoid full exits. This trend fuels secondary market growth. Flashpoint, a London-based firm, capitalizes on this shift. The company announces the first close of its second direct secondary fund. Flashpoint Direct Secondary Fund II targets $75 million to $100 million. Around 20 limited partners commit early.

OpenAI actively pursues a massive funding round from Middle East investors. The company aims to raise at least $50 billion. This move highlights the growing demand for advanced AI technologies. Investors in the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi show keen interest. Such investments could reshape the global AI landscape. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, leads these discussions. He meets with top sovereign wealth funds and large investors.

Vi Partners, a leading Swiss venture capital firm, recently announced the first close of its new flagship fund. This fund targets CHF 150 million, which equals about $189 million. Existing limited partners primarily backed this initial close. This support shows strong confidence in Vi Partners' long-term strategy and proven track record. Moreover, the announcement coincides with the firm's 25th anniversary. As Switzerland's longest-established venture capital firm, Vi Partners continues to lead in the sector.

In May 2025, Tech Funding News predicted Cast AI's rise. The startup cuts cloud bills by up to 80%. Last week, it crossed the $1 billion valuation mark. This milestone crowns Lithuania's latest unicorn. We interviewed Laurent Gil, co-founder and president. He shared insights on Vilnius's vibrant scene. He explained the local engineering culture's strength. He outlined Cast AI's vision for enterprise GPU access worldwide.

Many hotels struggle with outdated systems. These rigid tools fail to meet modern demands. They hinder seamless guest experiences and efficient scaling. Mews changes this dynamic. The company unites all hotel operations into one intelligent platform. Mews recently announced a major milestone. It raised $300 million in a Series D funding round. EQT Growth led the investment. New backers include Atomico and HarbourVest Partners.

Preply, a leading language learning marketplace, has achieved a $1.2 billion valuation. The company raised $150 million in its Series D funding round. This milestone marks a significant new chapter for the 14-year-old firm. Previous investors include Horizon Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Owl Ventures, and Techstars Berlin. Since its inception in 2013, Preply has connected millions of language learners with expert tutors worldwide.

Cam Badger started his career in sales at a pharmaceutical company. He hoped for structure and mentorship. Instead, he encountered fragmented training and inconsistent coaching. Badger shared this with TechCrunch. No real way existed to scale learning effectively. Badger served four years as a sales rep. He then became a sales trainer. Later, he joined a medical startup. There, he met Dr.

GPTZero, an AI detection startup, recently scanned all 4,841 papers accepted at the prestigious Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS). This event occurred last month in San Diego. The company discovered 100 hallucinated citations across 51 papers. GPTZero confirmed these as fake. The startup shared this information with TechCrunch. The Discovery of Fabricated Citations NeurIPS represents a pinnacle in AI research.

PhonePe, the prominent Indian payments startup backed by Walmart, recently updated its IPO filing. This move offers a clear view into how global investors unwind their positions. Tiger Global and Microsoft plan to sell their entire stakes. Meanwhile, Walmart retains its majority ownership. The filing reveals up to 50.66 million shares available for sale. This event provides liquidity for existing shareholders.

Companies and governments seek tools to run AI locally. They aim to cut cloud costs and enhance sovereign capabilities. Quadric, a chip-IP startup, drives this change. Founders from early Bitcoin mining firm 21E6 established it. The company scales its on-device inference technology beyond automotive. Now, it targets laptops and industrial devices. This expansion yields strong results. Quadric reports $15 million to $20 million in licensing revenue for 2025.

Twenty years ago, Duke University professor David R. Smith pioneered metamaterials. These artificial composite materials created a real-life invisibility cloak. The cloak worked only with microwaves of a single length. It did not match Harry Potter's magic. However, this breakthrough advanced material science. Those advances later influenced electromagnetism research significantly. Today, Neurophos builds on that legacy. This Austin-based photonics startup emerged from Duke University.