Atomico

EU Launches Scaleup Europe Fund, Backs ICEYE

The European Commission announced the Scaleup Europe Fund is fully operational and expects investments soon. The public-private growth vehicle, managed by Swedish asset manager EQT, aims to deploy €5 billion into EU-based or partnering-country growth-stage startups in strategic sectors. ICEYE, a Finnish satellite intelligence company valued above $11 billion, was disclosed as the fund’s first portfolio company after Scaleup Europe co-led its Series F. The Commission anchored the fund with a €1 billion commitment alongside a group of institutional founding investors. Fundraising is expected to continue into 2027 and the Commission has allowed flexibility in eligible sectors, including deep tech, life sciences, clean tech and digital technologies.

Top VCs Warn of AI 'Groupthink' at StrictlyVC

At TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in Athens (part of the Panathenea festival) three venture capitalists — Niko Bonatsos (Verdict Capital), Andreas Stavropoulos (Threshold Ventures) and Ben Blume (Atomico) — discussed the current venture landscape. They debated the market impact of reported mega‑IPOs such as SpaceX (reported $1.75 trillion valuation), the concentration of AI funding, and where durable opportunity remains. Panelists warned of intense investor groupthink (noting the majority of recent VC went to a handful of companies), rapid startup velocity enabled by AI tools, and possible short-to-medium-term corrections. They also raised concerns about metric gaming (e.g., token-based billing inflating ARR) and highlighted white-space areas like consumer AI, AI interacting with the physical world, and robotics.

Founders Should 'Maxx' LinkedIn for Early Growth

This Speedrun newsletter argues early-stage founders can drive meaningful distribution and high-quality leads by doubling down on LinkedIn before the channel becomes saturated. The piece highlights LinkedIn's professionally-qualified audience and a generous algorithm that rewards original personal posts. Using examples from Speedrun alumni and founders, it recommends tactics such as sharing real metrics, building a serialized narrative, leveraging pre-founder industry credibility, and keeping formats simple and authentic. The newsletter also references related topics and people (e.g., Andrew Chen, Yusan Lin) and promotes upcoming Speedrun events and community activities.