iwell, IXI, and Arondite

🚀 Welcome to the 11th edition of the Who Got Funded newsletter in 2025.

I'm Onofre, an entrepreneur based in Aarhus (Denmark), and as you know, I dedicate 3–4 hours each week to reading European startup funding stories and summarizing the most exciting ones for you — so you can save some of your valuable time.

Thank you so much for reading. If you could share this newsletter with your friends, it would mean the 🌍️ to me.

Estimated reading time: ⌛️  5 min 25 sec.

SPONSORED

This week’s edition is sponsored by… EUDIS Hackathon Denmark 2025 – Final Call.

Do you have a product or idea for the defence sector or with dual-use potential? Whether you’re bringing in an existing project or pitching something entirely new, you’ll benefit from expert mentorship, constructive feedback and real opportunities.

Connecting defence innovators across the EU. Don’t miss out – registration closes soon! Sign up now.

SERIES B AND LATER
Utrecht-based iwell raises €27 million to expand its AI-driven smart energy storage solutions

🇳🇱 Utrecht-based iwell, an energy-tech company developing AI-driven smart Energy Management Systems (EMS) and modular Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) for commercial and industrial clients, has successfully raised €27 million.

Founded in 2016 by Jan Willem de Jong, this startup has developed an intelligent system that stores energy when it's clean and cheap—such as solar power—and releases it when demand and costs are high. This helps lower energy bills, reportedly reduces strain on the grid, and maximizes on-site use of renewable energy.

The company's mission is to facilitate the transition from centralized, fossil-fuel-based grids to a more decentralized, cleaner, and dynamic energy system.

With offices in Belgium, Germany, and the UK, the company has experienced rapid growth and now serves over 400 partners.

👉️ Read more.

More Series B (and later) funding stories:

🇨🇭 Neuchâtel-based Hilo (formerly Aktiia), a company developing AI-driven, cuffless blood pressure monitoring and analytics platform, has raised €37 million.

🇬🇧 London-based Navro, a FinTech startup simplifying international business payments through a single API, has raised €36 million.

🇩🇪 Berlin-based Pliant, a B2B payments platform offering physical and virtual credit cards with automation tools, has raised €35.1 million.

SERIES A
Espoo-based IXI raises €32.2 million to expand its autofocus glasses with dynamic, real-time adaptive lenses

🇫🇮 Espoo-based IXI, a startup developing the world’s first autofocus glasses with dynamic, real-time adaptive lenses, has successfully raised €32.2 million.

Founded in 2021, this startup is developing eyewear that provides optimal vision in every situation. According to the press release, their technology offers a strong value proposition, especially for progressive lens users and people who currently wear reading glasses and constantly have to put them on and take them off.

IXI has developed low-power eye-tracking technology that fits into eyewear frames and runs continuously. By measuring eye convergence, it detects viewing distance and adjusts optical power in real time—like autofocus in a camera, but based on eye orientation. That sounds very interesting.

This startup has secured 12 patents across various technologies, with around 50 more patent applications currently in the pipeline.

👉️ Read more.

More Series A funding stories:

🇩🇪 Munich-based ARX Robotics, a defence robotics company developing the first AI-powered operating system for legacy military vehicles, has raised €31 million.

🇩🇪 Münster-based eeden, a fashiontech startup developing chemical recycling to recover cellulose and polyester from textile blends for circular fibres, has raised €18 million.

🇫🇷 Paris-based Chipiron, a DeepTech startup developing portable, ultra-low-field MRI scanners to democratise access to MRI imaging, has raised €14.9 million.

🇳🇴 Oslo-based Pistachio, an AI-powered cybersecurity awareness platform delivering personalised, continuous training via email, Slack and Teams, has raised approximately €6.2 million.

🇵🇹 Lisbon-based OSCAR, a home-services app offering on-demand repairs, cleaning, laundry and beauty tasks with 30-minute arrivals and fixed prices, has raised €6 million.

🇫🇷 Paris-based Reelevant, a martech startup offering AI-driven, real-time personalisation across email, SMS, websites and mobile apps, has raised €6 million.

SEED
London-based Arondite raises €8.8 million to enhance human-machine cooperation

🇬🇧 London-based Arondite, an AI defense-tech startup developing a unified platform for human-machine cooperation across autonomous systems, has successfully raised €8.8 million.

Unsurprisingly, this startup was founded by Will Blyth, a former British Army officer. The company is developing a platform to tackle the challenge of integrating autonomous systems like drones and ground robots.

Imagine being a soldier on the front line, and a miscommunication causes one of your own drones to mistakenly attack friendly positions… What a nightmare.

The global defense market was valued at over $2.4 trillion in 2024, and it’s expected to grow at a 5% CAGR over the next eight years. Unfortunately, it’s a gigantic market.

👉️ Read more.

More Seed funding stories:

🇨🇭 Monthey-based DePoly, a cleantech scaleup developing chemical recycling to turn PET and polyester waste back into their original building blocks, has raised €20.3 million.

🇩🇪 Berlin-based Solda.AI, an AI telesales startup building fully autonomous, multilingual voice agents to close deals over the phone, has raised €3.5 million.

🇬🇧 UK-based Materials Market, a digital marketplace for building materials connecting buyers with over 750 supplier branches, has raised €2.3 million.

🇸🇪 Malmö- and Stockholm-based ELVA11, a software and AI developer building solutions to streamline operations and enhance customer experiences, has raised €1.8 million.

🇬🇧 Belfast-based AMPLY Discovery, a Queen’s University spin-out developing an AI-driven drug discovery engine to accelerate treatments tailored to genetic variations, has raised €1.5 million.

🇨🇿 Czech Republic–based Kardi AI, a medtech startup developing an AI-powered chest strap for continuous arrhythmia detection, has raised €1.1 million.