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European Tech Dealflow Highlights (2026.05.25)
30 notable rounds from European tech this week — including Viktor, Lexroom, Dust, Pivot, Overwatch AI, and AVIAN.
AI application-layer startup radar — week of May 19–26, 2026
Seven application-layer AI companies closed rounds this week, from Hark's $700M Series A for secretive personalized AI hardware (founder: Brett Adcock, ex-Figure AI) to Rely's $4.5M PropTech seed in Portland. European highlights include Viktor's $75M Accel-led round in Rotterdam and two Paris-based B2B AI tools at $40M each.
Early-stage AI founders building at the application layer had an unusually deal-rich week to watch. Seven companies closed application-layer rounds between May 19 and 26, ranging from a $4.5M seed in proptech to a $355M Series C in serverless infrastructure. Below is the weekly breakdown by stage and geography, with founder backgrounds and capital sources.
Largest deals: application-layer AI, $75M–$700M
Hark closed the most-discussed application-layer round of the week: $700M Series A at a $6B valuation, led by Parkway Venture Capital, with Nvidia, AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, ARK Invest, Salesforce Ventures, and Align Ventures participating 1. The company, based in San Jose, is building what it describes as "advanced personalized intelligence and next-generation hardware." Founder and CEO Brett Adcock previously founded robotics company Figure AI and electric aircraft builder Archer — two hardware-centric ventures that suggest Hark's product direction before the company has shipped anything. A hardware/software product reveal is expected later this summer.
Modal Labs (New York) raised $355M Series C at a $4.65B valuation, led by General Catalyst and Redpoint, with Bain Capital Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Accel participating 2. CEO Erik Bernhardsson (former Spotify ML engineering head, co-founder with Akshat Bubna) told Reuters that ARR has risen to $300M from $60M in September — a 5× jump in eight months — as enterprise AI coding demand pulls through their serverless GPU infrastructure.
Viktor (Rotterdam, Netherlands) raised $75M Series A, led by Accel, with Bek Ventures, Kaya VC, Inovo VC, and Tenacity Capital participating. Angels include Slack co-founders Stewart Butterfield and Cal Henderson, Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli, and executives from Google DeepMind, Figma, and ElevenLabs 3. Founded in 2023 by Fryd Wiatrowski and Peter Albert, Viktor builds a no-code application development platform targeting engineering and construction professionals. Three months after public launch in February, it reports $15M ARR across 2,000+ organizations.
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Mid-stage: legal AI, procurement AI, and enterprise AI assistants
Lexroom (Milan) closed a $50M Series B led by Left Lane Capital, with Base10 Partners, Eurazeo, and Acurio Ventures participating 3. Founded in 2023 by Paolo Fois, Martina Domenicali, and Andrea Lonza, the company builds a generative AI legal research engine for corporate law firms. Italy-headquartered, Left Lane Capital-backed — notable given that US legal AI leaders Harvey and Legora have mostly drawn US and London-focused capital.
Dust (Paris) raised $40M Series B co-led by Sequoia and Abstract, with Datadog and Snowflake participating 3. Founded in 2022 by Gabriel de Broglie and Stanislas Polu (Polu is a former OpenAI researcher), Dust builds enterprise AI assistant infrastructure that connects LLM agents to internal data silos — an increasingly crowded space where Datadog and Snowflake co-investing signals the infrastructure play.
Pivot (Paris) closed $40M Series B led by Forestay Capital and Notion Capital, with Greyhound and Hedosophia participating 3. Founded in 2023 by Marc-Antoine Lacroix, Romain Libeau, and Estelle Giuly, the company automates B2B procurement and spend management workflows.
Early-stage: seed and pre-seed rounds
Exa (San Francisco) raised the week's largest search/retrieval round: $250M Series C at a $2.2B valuation, led by Andreessen Horowitz 4. Exa builds AI-native search infrastructure optimized for LLM agents rather than human queries. The round brings total funding to $357M and comes as competition among AI retrieval tools intensifies, with Perplexity, OpenAI, and a range of RAG infrastructure providers all competing in adjacent territory.
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Searchable (London/New York) raised $14M at an $85M valuation, led by Headline (the early Semrush backer) 5. Founded in 2025 by Chris Donnelly, the company builds an agentic co-pilot for AI search visibility (AEO — Answer Engine Optimization), helping brands track and improve their presence in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Clients include Amex and KPMG; the company reports 22% average AI traffic increases for customers within 90 days.
Rely (Portland, Maine) raised $4.5M seed led by 2048 Ventures, with Range Ventures and Better Tomorrow Ventures participating 6. Founded by George Matelich and David LoBosco, both former PropTech operators, Rely builds AI-native transaction diligence software for multifamily real estate. One of the few application-layer AI deals this week outside enterprise software or legal/procurement verticals.
European deep-tech context
The European deals digest from May 25 covered 30 rounds, of which several are worth flagging for founders tracking application-layer entrants 3:
| Company | HQ | Stage | Amount | Lead investor | Application layer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viktor | Rotterdam | Series A | $75M | Accel | No-code app builder for engineering orgs |
| Lexroom | Milan | Series B | $50M | Left Lane Capital | Legal AI research |
| Dust | Paris | Series B | $40M | Sequoia + Abstract | Enterprise AI assistant infra |
| Pivot | Paris | Series B | $40M | Forestay + Notion Capital | Procurement AI |
| Searchable | London/NY | Growth | $14M | Headline | AI search visibility / AEO |
| AVIAN | Zurich | Pre-Seed | $2.6M | Founderful | AI fire-risk detection (factories) |
| Overwatch AI | Barcelona | Pre-Seed | $1.5M | United Airlines Ventures | AI operations platform for airlines |
AVIAN (Zurich) is particularly early: founded in 2023 by Drew Hanover and Thomas Laengle, it deploys AI to predict fire disasters in paper, wood, and recycling factories. Bootstrapped and profitable for two years before taking this $2.6M pre-seed — the company reports it is on track to exceed $1M ARR in 2026 3.
Overwatch AI (Barcelona) raised $1.5M pre-seed with United Airlines Ventures co-leading 3. Founded in 2025 by Leo Kotil and Nikita Kaeshko, the company builds operational intelligence for airline flight preparation and live operations. United Airlines Ventures as a lead investor at pre-seed is a signal worth noting — corporate strategics rarely lead at this stage unless the product is already in live operations, which Overwatch says it is (30,000+ flights/month).
Week in capital sources
Several patterns visible in this week's deals that are worth tracking for founders positioning in this space:
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- Accel led or co-led two application-layer rounds this week: Viktor ($75M, Rotterdam) and Modal Labs participated alongside GC and Redpoint.
- a16z led Exa's $250M Series C — their second significant AI retrieval bet after backing Perplexity.
- 2048 Ventures, Range Ventures, Better Tomorrow Ventures — the seed-stage institutional triad behind Rely signals early-stage fintech/proptech AI continues to attract specialist seed firms rather than generalist multi-stage funds.
- Datadog and Snowflake co-investing in Dust (as strategic investors, not lead VCs) follows a pattern of infrastructure players backing the LLM orchestration layer above them — a competitive hedge rather than pure financial return.
- United Airlines Ventures leading a $1.5M pre-seed for Overwatch AI illustrates how corporate venture arms are deploying at earliest stages when the use case maps directly to their operations.
Coverage window: May 19–26, 2026. Includes rounds publicly announced during this period; some earlier-closed rounds with announcements in this window are included where confirmed dates fall within the window.
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