25 European start-ups to watch in 2025

16 Jan 2025

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The entrants in this list come from all over Europe, ranging from Ireland to Denmark, and are set to make big waves in the start-up sphere.

Considering the dozens upon dozens of countries and millions upon millions of people which make up Europe, it’s only natural that the technology start-up scene which permeates through this continent is full of talent.

It can be overwhelming to sift through each individual start-up, and while there are countless worthy of recognition, we can’t list them all. The following picks from SiliconRepublic.com have been carefully selected due to their excellent ideas, clear resilience and impressive progress.

Make yourself comfortable and read on to find out about 25 European start-ups which have caught our eye.

Anybotics

Kick-starting our list is this Zurich-based company, which is led by CEO and co-founder Dr Péter Fankhauser. It spun out of ETH Zurich in 2016 and is best known for creating autonomous industrial robots, such as Anymal, a four-legged robot similar to Boston Dynamics’ Spot the Dog. This product is designed to carry out industrial inspection work and improve safety and efficiency. Last month, Anybotics raised an additional $60m as part of its Series B funding round, following on from raising $50m in 2023.

Axial3D

Bouncing onto this list from Belfast, Axial3D was founded in 2015 by Daniel Crawford. The start-up has created an AI-powered service which can turn 2D medical images into patient-specific 3D models. Last month, it raised $18.2m as part of a funding round to drive expansion of its AI-powered 3D medical imaging tech. And before that, in 2022, the business managed to secure $15m in an investment led by Israeli company Stratasys to bring 3D printing to hospitals.

Bolt

Estonia-based start-up Bolt is going from strength to strength, with a possible IPO on the horizon. This start-up was established in 2013 by its CEO and founder Markus Villig. It specialises in providing mobility services and its services already assist the citizens of dozens of different countries, including Ireland. Last July, it announced that it would expand the use of Tesla ride-hailing fleets across Europe.

Cytidel

Moseying on in from Mayo, this start-up was founded by Matt Conlon and Conor Flannery in 2021. Cytidel is an intelligence-led vulnerability management platform that enables organisations to better manage and prioritise cyberthreats. In 2023, the business secured €1.35m in seed funding to expand its team and develop its services. More recently, last November, Cytidel was named as the Grand Prix winner at the 2024 National Startup Awards. It also earned a first-place position in the fintech category.

Deciphex

Founded in 2017, Deciphex is based in the Dublin City University (DCU) Alpha campus and is headed by Donal O’Shea, its founder and CEO. Deciphex’s products use AI-powered digital pathology, with the aim of allowing pathologists to work up to 40pc faster while also maintaining diagnostic accuracy. Last week, it found success in a €31m Series C funding round spearheaded by venture capital firm Molten Ventures. In 2023, it was crowned Irish Medtech Company of the Year and has also collaborated with Swiss pharma giant Novartis.

Draupnir Bio

Copenhagen-based biotech start-up Draupnir Bio specialises in creating protein degradation drugs, and its technology platform targets lysosome receptors. Draupnir Bio is led by CEO Andrew Hotchkiss and made headlines last year after it managed to bag €12m in seed funding to revolutionise extracellular protein degradation. The start-up also has research operations centred in Aarhus, Denmark.

Dryad Networks

Hailing from Berlin, Dryad Networks was founded by Carsten Brinkschulte (who is also its CEO), Marco Boenig and Cherian Mathew. It has developed wildfire detection technology, which makes use of solar-powered, AI-driven networks. Last year, it enjoyed success when it secured €5.6m in a funding round in March and again in October when it secured €6.3m.

Ephos

Operating from the Italian city of Milan, Ephos is a start-up led by CEO and co-founder Andrea Rocchetto. It is currently working to develop a new glass-based quantum photonic chip facility in its home country and managed to raise $8.5m in order to create this facility last September. Unlike traditional chip manufacturers, which use silicon-based technologies, Ephos’s chips are built on glass substrates, which act as a better electrical insulator than silicon.

Equal1

Led by CEO Jason Lynch, Equal1 is a spin-out of University College Dublin (UCD) that has developed a quantum system-on-a-chip processor that integrates a full quantum system onto a single chip. Last June, it won an Institute of Physics award, while in September, it announced it would be collaborating with tech giant Nvidia in relation to quantum computing. To cap off 2024, last month it revealed the “world’s coldest” quantum computer chip.

LaNua Medical

This medtech spin-out from UCD is led by CEO and co-founder Tom Fitzmaurice. LaNua Medical’s main product is ‘Ecore’, an umbrella-shaped device which intends to modernise embolisation procedures – a technique used by surgeons and radiologists to control the flow of blood in certain areas of the body. Last May, the company was crowned the winner of the Enterprise Ireland Big Ideas Award and represented Ireland in the Pegasus Start-up World Cup. It also secured €6m in seed funding last month.

Marama Labs

This deep-tech business, which is based in both New Zealand and Ireland, is a spin-out of Victoria University in Wellington and was founded by Dr Brendan Darby, Dr Matthias Meyer and Prof Eric Le Ru. Marama Labs has developed an upcoming device, CloudSpec UV-Vis spectrophotometer, which is focused on spectroscopy – the study of the absorption and emission of light and other radiation by matter. Last month, the company opened a new life sciences applications lab at DCU’s innovation campus, DCU Alpha.

Monta

Danish start-up Monta is developing a platform for EV charging services via an app that helps to connect EV charging point owners with EV drivers. It is led by CEO Casper Rasmussen, who founded the business alongside Anders Pedersen. Monta also has bases in Ireland and the US. In early 2024, the company notably raised €80m and announced its intention to invest further in R&D, alongside expanding its partner network.

Mbryonics

This Galway space-tech start-up develops optical systems for high-speed, secure communication infrastructures – specifically, its technologies are used in satellite communications, datacoms and 5G. Mbryonics is led by CEO John Mackey, who founded the business alongside his siblings Ruth and David. It enjoyed success last year when it bagged €17.5m from a European accelerator, along with being named among the winners at the latest annual Technology Ireland Industry Awards. Moreover, the trio were named the 2024 EY Established Entrepreneurs Of The Year.

Nua Surgical

This medtech firm is also based in Galway and was founded by Padraig Maher, Marie-Therese Maher and Barry McCann (who is also the CEO). Nua Surgical has developed a device known as the SteriCision C-section retractor, which aims to increase the safety of C-section surgery. Last month, the company secured €6.5m in Series A funding to develop and commercialise this product. In addition, last March it received the honour of being the only non-US start-up selected to participate in an accelerator aimed at addressing the issue of maternal mortality in the US.

Oasys Now

Not to be confused with the English rock band Oasis, this start-up originates from Delft in the Netherlands. It was set up by Nima Salami, a former bioinformatics researcher, and Sara Okhuijsen, an expert in DNA and precision medicine. Oasys Now provides an AI-powered clinical trial patient identification and recruitment platform. It achieved success last November when it won €1m at the 2024 Slush 100 competition.

Pasqal

Paris-based Pasqal is a quantum computing start-up founded by Georges-Olivier Reymond (who is also its CEO), Christophe Jurczak, Dr Alain Aspect (who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022), Dr Antoine Browaeys, and Dr Thierry Lahaye. Pasqal’s research is based on Aspect’s award-winning findings. In 2023, the company raised €100m in funding to build a 1,000-qubit quantum computer in the short term and fault-tolerant architectures in the long term. It went from strength to strength in 2024 too when the company, along with tech giant IBM, announced plans to expand their quantum-centric supercomputing collaboration.

Peri

This Dublin start-up created an AI-powered wearable device to help manage perimenopause symptoms. Peri was established in 2022 and is led by CEO Heidi Davis, who founded the start-up alongside Donal O’Gorman. Last October, Davis was awarded the prestigious Enterprise Ireland High-Potential Start-Up (HPSU) Founder of the Year Award. Also, earlier this month, Peri was selected as one of this year’s CES Innovation Awards honourees.

Reliant AI

This Berlin-based business acts as a provider of generative AI-powered data analytics software that accelerates secondary research in biopharma. Reliant AI was co-founded by CEO Karl Moritz Hermann, alongside its chief scientific officer Marc Bellemare and head of commercial Richard Schlegel. Last August, the business managed to raise $11.3m in seed funding.

Riverlane

Coming all the way from Cambridge, this quantum start-up was founded in 2016 and is led by CEO Steve Brierley, who is also its founder. The company’s mission is to achieve 1m error-free quantum computer operations by 2026. Specifically, Riverlane is working on an error correction system for quantum computers, which is a large hurdle in making the technology a reality. In 2023, Molten Ventures led a funding round for Riverlane. And in a huge boost for the business, last year it raised $75m in funding.

Sateliot

Sateliot comes all the way from sunny Barcelona. This IoT start-up was founded in 2018 and last year launched what it said was the first low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation. It intends to offer real-time global IoT connectivity by 2028 for different industries, such as agriculture and logistics. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Jaume Sanpera. It achieved success last September when it raised €30m in a Series B funding round.

Scayl

Stockholm start-up Scayl was established in 2023 and is led by Medjit Yalmaz, its CEO and one of its founders. This business provides a debt financing platform for fintech companies. Known as a ‘fintech for fintech lenders’, the platform aims to offer fintechs building credit products access to transparent funding structures, in addition to more flexibility and speed compared to banks or credit funds. Last year, Scayl made €100m immediately available to fintech lenders across Europe to address a significant funding gap in the sector.

Swave Photonics

Despite only being established in 2022, this Belgium-based start-up has certainly been busy. Led by CEO Mike Noonen, Swave Phototonics specialises in creating holographic extended reality (HXR) technology with the goal of inserting lifelike reality into AR products. In 2022, it raised €7m in funding and the following year it raised a further €3m in funding. And it doesn’t stop there – earlier this month, Swave Phototonics managed to raise €27m in Series A funding in order to further its HXR platform.

Vertical Aerospace

Coming from Bristol, this start-up is a sustainable electric aviation company and is led by CEO Stuart Simpson. In November, Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 aircraft prototype underwent piloted, untethered vertical takeoff and landing (otherwise known as VTOL) for the first time. That same month, the business also secured up to $50m, which it aims to use to strengthen its balance sheet, reduce its debt, and provide the financial stability necessary to support the company’s Flightpath 2030 Strategy.

Xocean

This Louth-based company was established in 2017 by James Ives. Xocean develops uncrewed surface vessels capable of remaining offshore for extended periods of time to map and monitor the marine environment and collect large quantities of ocean data. Operators and data analysts then connect with the vessels via satellite link while staying safe onshore. Just last week, the company closed a €115m funding round in order to support the platform’s growth across a range of blue economy sectors. And last October, it was listed as one of the finalists for the Business and Finance Awards.

Zen Educate

For the last but certainly not least entry on our list, this London-based start-up was founded by Slava Kremerman (who is also its CEO) and Oren Cohen in 2017. An edtech company, Zen Educate acts as an online marketplace for teacher recruitment. It aims to solve the problem of finding substitute teachers without needing to go through expensive recruitment agencies and avoiding bad matches. It previously featured on prestigious lists such as the FT 1000 and Deloitte Fast 50 and has seen a steady trajectory of funding in the last five years, with one notable jump in 2024 when it raised $37m in a Series B funding round.

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Ciarán Mather was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com