83North vs Atlantic

Valley National Bank to acquire fintech Bluevine for $340M

83North portfolio company Bluevine is being acquired by Valley National Bank for $340M.

Lightspring Raises €3.5M for Photonic Chip Manufacturing

French startup Lightspring has secured over €3.5 million in financing, including a €3.1 million seed round led by Atlantic and OVNI Capital, with participation from Concept Ventures, Ixcore, Plug and Play Ventures, and business angels, plus a €350,000 grant from France's i-Lab competition. The Besançon-based deeptech company uses 3D lithography (two-photon polymerization) to manufacture optical coupling structures directly on photonic integrated circuits, targeting coupling losses below 0.5 dB per interface and aiming to reduce packaging costs, which currently account for about 50% of a PIC's cost. The funding will support the development of a Process Design Kit, expand the team to 12, and qualify the fabrication process for industrial use, particularly for co-packaged optics in AI infrastructure. The technology originates from research at FEMTO-ST Institute.

• Lightspring raised €3.1 million in a seed round led by Atlantic and OVNI Capital, with participation from Concept Ventures, Ixcore, Plug and Play Ventures, and business angels.
• Total financing exceeds €3.5 million, including a €350,000 grant from France's i-Lab competition.
• Lightspring uses 3D lithography (two-photon polymerization) to fabricate optical coupling structures directly on photonic integrated circuits, targeting coupling losses below 0.5 dB per interface.

Cygrid exits stealth with €2.66M for AI identity security

Berlin-based cybersecurity startup Cygrid has emerged from stealth with a €2.66 million pre-Seed funding round. The round was led by Atlantic, with participation from D11Z and angel investors including Boris Gorin (VP Product at Zscaler), Andreas Bermig (CEO of bonify), and Vlad Tropko of AmberVale Capital. Cygrid, founded in January 2026 by Dmitry Kharchenko and Dekel Paz, both former Israeli Military Intelligence, offers an identity-enforcement platform that continuously checks and controls actions taken by AI agents and other identities within enterprises. Unlike traditional IAM tools that grant access at sign-in, Cygrid maps human, non-human, and AI agent identities into a unified intelligence graph, enabling real-time blocking or narrowing of risky actions. The startup already serves 19 design partners across FinTech, e-commerce, and SaaS, with six in production. It aims to become the European alternative to US and Israeli providers in AI identity security.

• Cygrid raised €2.66 million in pre-Seed funding.
• The round was led by Atlantic, with participation from D11Z and angel investors.
• Cygrid was founded in January 2026 by Dmitry Kharchenko and Dekel Paz.

Atlantic launches Activated Intelligence for data, AI, apps

Atlantic, a North American technology and managed services provider, announced the launch of Activated Intelligence, a new division designed to help mid-market organizations integrate data, AI, and business applications to drive measurable business outcomes. Activated Intelligence unifies Atlantic's expertise in data and analytics, AI and intelligent automation, business applications, AI governance, and Microsoft Modern Work. The division offers a foundational managed AI program called AI Launchpad, which guides organizations through AI maturity assessment, governance and security gap identification, employee enablement, and high-value use case prioritization. The launch builds on Atlantic's acquisitions of BrainSell and Interloop, bringing their data, analytics, and business applications expertise under one integrated division. Atlantic CEO Jason Weiss, who also served as 'Client Zero' for the initiative, emphasized the importance of trusted data and governance in realizing AI's value. The announcement cites IBM Institute for Business Value's 2025 CEO Study, noting that 50% of CEOs feel their technology investments are disconnected, and 72% say leveraging proprietary data is key to AI value.

• Atlantic launched a new division called Activated Intelligence to help mid-market organizations turn data, AI, and applications into measurable advantage.
• The division unifies expertise in data and analytics, AI and intelligent automation, business applications, AI governance, and Microsoft Modern Work.
• AI Launchpad is a foundational managed AI program within Activated Intelligence, designed to move organizations from AI experimentation to a secure, governed, scalable AI strategy.