Tapaya Raises €1 Million Pre-Seed to Modernize In-Person Payments Through Software Infrastructure
Prague-based fintech startup Tapaya has secured €1 million in pre-seed funding to transform how businesses accept in-person payments by replacing legacy payment terminals with software-based infrastructure. The round highlights growing investor demand for fintech platforms simplifying merchant payments, embedded finance, and next-generation checkout systems.The funding round was led by Passion Capital, with co-lead participation from Depo Ventures, alongside follow-on investment from BADideas.fund. The backing from early-stage European investors signals confidence in Tapaya’s vision to remove hardware dependency from offline commerce.Founded by Laura Ďorďová, Roman Kuchařík, and Petr Zahradník, Tapaya is building a software layer that combines compliance, processor integrations, and card-scheme connectivity into a single SDK. This allows developers to embed payment acceptance into Android devices, tablets, kiosks, iOS systems, and enterprise hardware without relying on dedicated card terminals.The company aims to significantly reduce integration timelines from many months to just days by abstracting complex certification and regulatory processes. As global merchants increasingly seek flexible omnichannel payment systems, Tapaya is entering a fast-growing market where software-first payment acceptance is becoming standard.Fresh capital will be used to secure PCI MPoC certification, expand proprietary payment infrastructure across Central and Eastern Europe, and prepare for emerging trends such as AI-powered agentic payments and the digital euro.As physical commerce digitizes rapidly, Tapaya’s funding round reflects a wider shift where payment hardware is being replaced by scalable software platforms.
Windmill Raises $12 Million to Reinvent Performance Reviews With AI-Powered HR Tech
U.S.-based HR technology startup Windmill has secured $12 million in combined pre-seed and seed funding to modernize employee performance reviews through AI-powered talent management software. The raise highlights growing investor appetite for enterprise tools helping organizations make performance tracking more objective, continuous, and defensible in an AI-shaped workplace.Windmill is focused on transforming the traditional annual review model into a more data-driven and real-time performance system. As companies face increasing pressure around fairness, retention, productivity, and workforce planning, startups like Windmill are building next-generation HR infrastructure for modern teams.According to Axios, the company sees a significant market opportunity as AI increases job anxiety and reshapes expectations around employee measurement, productivity, and accountability. Enterprises are now looking for smarter people-ops platforms that support transparent feedback, better manager decisions, and stronger documentation.The new capital is expected to support product development, engineering expansion, go-to-market growth, and deeper enterprise adoption. Windmill enters a large global HR software market where businesses continue investing in tools for employee engagement, talent retention, and performance intelligence.As workforce technology rapidly evolves, Windmill’s funding round reflects how AI is not only changing jobs but also changing how companies evaluate, develop, and retain talent.
Redpine Raises €6.8 Million Seed Round to Build Licensed Data Infrastructure for AI Agents
Stockholm-based AI infrastructure startup Redpine has secured €6.8 million in Seed funding to accelerate the development of licensed data rails for AI agents and enterprise AI systems. The round highlights rising investor demand for startups solving one of artificial intelligence’s biggest bottlenecks: trusted, rights-cleared access to premium data.The funding round was led by NordicNinja, with participation from Luminar Ventures and node.vc. According to reports, the latest raise brings Redpine’s total funding to around €9 million, reinforcing strong confidence in Europe’s emerging AI infrastructure ecosystem.Redpine is building a real-time API platform that allows AI companies and autonomous AI agents to query and pay for premium licensed datasets on demand. The company focuses especially on scientific, financial, legal, healthcare, and other non-public datasets where accuracy, compliance, and provenance are critical.Its model is increasingly relevant as enterprises move AI agents from experimentation into production environments. Many organizations now need reliable data sources that reduce hallucinations, copyright risk, and regulatory exposure. Redpine aims to become the infrastructure layer connecting proprietary data owners with AI builders.The new capital is expected to support international expansion, new enterprise partnerships, deeper security features, and broader access to exclusive data providers. As AI competition intensifies globally, startups building foundational data infrastructure are emerging as high-value players in the next wave of enterprise AI.Redpine’s latest round also reflects Europe’s growing momentum in AI infrastructure, where founders are increasingly building core technologies rather than only end-user applications.
TriFetch Raises $1.9 Million Pre-Seed to Automate Specialty Clinic Operations With AI
San Francisco-based healthtech startup TriFetch has secured $1.9 million in pre-seed funding to build an AI-powered automation platform designed for specialty clinics. The round was led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from strategic angel investors connected to Google, Hippocratic AI, Mercor, MIT, and healthcare technology ecosystems. The raise reflects growing investor interest in AI solutions that reduce administrative overload in healthcare.Founded by Varuni Sarwal and Rosemary He, TriFetch is focused on solving some of the most time-consuming workflows in independent specialty clinics: patient calls and scheduling, referral processing, and prior authorizations. These manual processes often create staff burnout, revenue delays, and poor patient experience.TriFetch’s platform includes multilingual voice AI for patient communication, automated referral routing, eligibility verification, booking coordination, and prior authorization management. The system integrates with existing healthcare software such as NextGen, eClinicalWorks, and Athenahealth, enabling rapid deployment without costly migrations.The startup is already running pilot programs in California across ophthalmology, cardiology, and GI clinics. In one example, the platform reportedly handled around 100 referrals daily, freeing significant staff time and creating meaningful annual savings for clinics.The fresh capital will be used to scale product development, expand customer success teams, deepen integrations, and enter broader healthcare segments including multispecialty groups, primary care, and hospital networks. As healthcare systems increasingly adopt AI for operations rather than only clinical use cases, TriFetch enters a high-demand category with strong expansion potential.
Sereact Raises €93 Million Series B to Scale AI Robotics Across the U.S. and Global Markets
Germany-based robotics startup Sereact has secured €93 million in Series B funding to accelerate the expansion of its AI-powered robotics platform across the United States and other international markets. The funding round highlights growing investor confidence in industrial automation companies building next-generation physical AI solutions for logistics, warehousing, and manufacturing.Headquartered in Stuttgart, Sereact develops advanced AI software that enables robots to autonomously pick, sort, inspect, and handle objects in dynamic real-world environments. Unlike traditional rule-based automation systems, Sereact’s platform allows robots to adapt to new products and changing workflows with minimal retraining.The company already counts major enterprise customers such as BMW and PepsiCo, demonstrating strong traction with global corporations seeking to modernize supply chains and warehouse operations through intelligent robotics. These deployments position Sereact among Europe’s most promising applied AI hardware-software startups.The fresh capital is expected to support U.S. market expansion, hiring, product development, and deeper enterprise partnerships. As labor shortages and fulfillment pressures continue worldwide, AI robotics platforms like Sereact are becoming increasingly strategic infrastructure for large industries.Europe’s robotics sector has seen accelerating momentum, and Sereact’s latest raise reinforces Germany’s growing leadership in industrial AI innovation. With real customer traction and global expansion plans, the company is entering a major scale-up phase.