What did Europe get done last week? #5

This is a weekly newsletter curated by @roberjet following the EU/Acc movement and the progress made by European companies.
My goal is to showcase all the good things being built in Europe with an optimistic view and unite against all the inefficiencies and bureaucracy and towards a better building environment.

📌 The Competitiveness Compass: Underwhelming but Honest
Last week, Ursula von der Leyen presented more details on the Competitiveness Compass, which she initially introduced in Davos. Many of us in the EU/Acc movement and the startup ecosystem had high expectations, but the presentation felt weak. The consulting-style slide deck and vague framework aren’t what Europe needs right now—we need decisive, concrete action.

That said, there was one positive takeaway: the EU openly admitted that Europe has a competitiveness problem. They acknowledged the need to simplify regulations and create a true single market. While no concrete measures were announced, these are the two biggest obstacles for European innovation.

AI and data battles - Chinese AI company DeepSeek is facing regulatory pressure in Ireland and Italy, with concerns over its handling of European user data. But this isn’t just a European issue—hundreds of companies globally are blocking DeepSeek over China-related data risks.

The power of startup mafias - The story of how Alan’s (insurtech) CEO played a role in Mistral AI’s early days

First EU/ACC branded summit - Entrepreneur Christian Reber is creating the European Builders Summit which will take place in Berlin in a few months. 

🎙️ €180M for AI voice tech – Eleven Labs raised €180M at a €3.3B valuation, cementing its leadership in AI-generated voices. The company has strong European ties (polish founders and company operations in UK/remote) and is redefining speech synthesis globally.

🧠 €100M for quantum computing – French startup Alice & Bob has raised 100M€ while is racing to build the world’s first practical quantum computer by 2030.

🔬 €50M for AI in medical imaging – Spain’s Quibim is developing AI-powered radiology models to revolutionize disease detection.

💰 €50M for fintech infrastructure – French Swan is expanding embedded finance solutions across Europe.

🌩️ €42M for fintech cloud services – French Formance is building an “AWS for fintech,” providing scalable banking infrastructure.

🌤️ €21.1M for precision weather prediction – Swiss Meteomatics is improving climate risk forecasting for critical industries.

🛠️ €21M to clean wastewater – Swiss Oxyle is tackling industrial water pollution with a next-gen treatment system.

🥬 €5M for vertical farming – Norwegian Avisomo is developing high-efficiency indoor farming solutions.

Europe needs to be united toward innovation, value, and job creation. Here’s how you can help: