Swedish startup Lovable is in talks to raise $150mn at a valuation just shy of $2bn, the Financial Times reports.  The Stockholm-based business has built a generative AI platform that allows non-technical users to build apps or websites based on simple text prompts.  “I decided what we needed to do is build for the 99% who do not create software,” Anton Osika, Lovable’s co-founder, told TNW in April.  Osika founded Lovable alongside Fabian Hedin in 2023. Last week, Osika said the company had generated $75mn in annual recurring revenue (ARR) within seven months of launching the platform, making it one…

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The Dutch government has approved the first electric scooter for public roads and bike lanes, marking a cautious yet significant shift in the country’s tough stance on micromobility. Dubbed Selana Alpha and developed by the startup Selana, the vehicle was recently approved for use on Dutch roads by the national transport authority (RDW). In the process, the e-scooter earned its first blue license plate, which means it’s now legally allowed to be driven as a light motor vehicle.   For co-founders Chingiskhan Kazakhstan and Max Schalow, the plate marks the end of a long regulatory slog to legalise their scooter. “After…

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Funding Focus is a new series analysing cash flow into the European tech ecosystem. This first edition explores the biggest funding rounds raised in the first half of 2025. Despite a cautious VC climate and ongoing geopolitical jitters, European startups are still attracting serious cash.  Covering everything from AI drug discovery and space launches to quantum software and fusion energy, the continent’s startups raised €19bn in the first half of 2025, according to Dealroom data.  We’ve crunched the numbers so you don’t have to. Here are the 20 largest startup funding rounds for H1 2025. (Note: This list includes only startups…

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The EU AI Act is expected to introduce its key rules for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models on August 2. However, amid growing concerns that over-regulation could erode Europe’s competitiveness in artificial intelligence, calls to postpone the roll-out have intensified from some key stakeholders, including Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Bosch CEO Stefan Hartung, and the tech lobbying group CCIA Europe, whose members include Alphabet, Meta, and Apple. At TNW Conference in Amsterdam on June 20, Eoghan O’Neill, senior policy officer at the AI Office of the European Commission, addressed the potential delay of the roll-out. He clarified that the Commission…

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The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) has made its first investment in a biotechnology startup. The alliance’s VC arm announced today that it’s co-leading a $35mn Series A round for UK-based Portal Biotech as it seeks to strengthen NATO’s defences against biological warfare. Portal develops portable, AI-powered diagnostic devices capable of detecting pathogens at the single-molecule level. The system is capable of defending against biological warfare. Ana Bernardo-Gancedo, senior associate at NATO Innovation Fund, told Reuters that this capability is crucial for defence and security. “We believe it is absolutely imperative that we are able to detect, monitor, and create countermeasures,”…

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