Plural

Exciting news! 💥 Thrilled to share that we’ve raised a fresh €400M fund to continue backing the most ambitious founders on consequential missions to change the world through technology. This new fund signals a strong belief in the quality of founders and companies emerging from Europe by some of the most sophisticated LPs on both sides of the Atlantic. In our first 18 months, we’ve invested in 26 transformative companies across 6 countries, including Denmark, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and US. These exceptional teams are making important progress across a range of sectors, including AI (e.g. Robin AI or Unitary) frontier tech (e.g. Proxima Fusion or VSPARTICLE ), climate & energy (e.g. Field or Isometric)) and health & tech bio (e.g. Sano Genetics or Teton), and we’re honoured that they’ve chosen Plural to join them on their transformative journeys. We’ve now raised €660M in total to back important missions and have a GDP-level impact in Europe, address systemic risks and reduce the opportunity gap worldwide through the companies we back. Thanks to everyone who has been part of the Plural journey so far. We’re just getting started! https://lnkd.in/epxdmQAG

I've published an extended version of my FT essay: "How can Europe build its first trillion dollar start-up?" on my blog here: https://lnkd.in/eZsRvAqP Here's what's in the uncut version: - beyond DeepMind, a love letter to early Skype and what it could have become... - more data on tech companies & GDP growth - Taiwan vs EU is pretty stark... - Why the German notary system is damaging to start-ups - The problem with spinouts, and Oxford vs Stanford

Nuclear fusion may be the biggest industry of the next century, says Proxima Fusion's CEO Francesco Sciortino on the Sifted Podcast — and Europe needs to seize the opportunity. It’s an area that Europe has already invested hugely in — and could become a world-leader in, Sciortino tells the Sifted Podcast. “Fusion [offers an] opportunity of building a more-than $100bn company, and we just have to get into it,” he says. “There aren't that many opportunities like that.” The company, which spun out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, employs about 50 people and has attracted engineering talent from the likes of Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Tesla, SpaceX and Google X. 🎧 Listen to the full interview with Amy Lewin here: https://lnkd.in/ew5Ywrkw 👀 Read a short recap of the interview here: https://lnkd.in/etkhN4me

Software increasingly defines defence, assurance needs to follow   Helsing’s mission has a clear ethical dimension: the importance of building technology to defend democracies, and the importance of building this technology the right way.   Today we are sharing a white paper that provides a proposal for the defence industry to formulate and adopt a model that we call software-defined assurance. It is the basis for the approach we at Helsing have adopted to ensure that our defence capabilities are reliable and safe.   Assurance is crucial to our mission and a cornerstone of building responsible artificial intelligence, in line with NATO’s principles.   You can find the white paper on our website: https://lnkd.in/eSzPWTzG

📣 Bay Area friends and family: Don't miss a lively discussion this evening on the book "Mastering AI" with the author, Fortune's Jeremy Kahn, and Bloomberg Businessweek's Brad Stone at Book Passage Bookstore & Cafe. 5:30pm in the Ferry Building.📚

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) announced today that Isometric has been approved as a Carbon Crediting Program. Isometric is the first registry specifically focused on carbon removals to receive this endorsement. This follows Isometric’s accreditation by ICROA earlier this year and conditional approval by CORSIA earlier this week. Isometric has been robustly scrutinized by three independent accrediting bodies within the past 12 months and in all cases found to have met their requirements. Isometric has been able to receive these accreditations in a relatively short time-frame due to its commitment to scientific rigor and only issuing carbon removal credits of the highest quality. This means Isometric can now issue CCP-eligible credits under any protocol that receives approval under ICVCM’s Category Assessment process. This is an ongoing process where ICVCM reviews specific protocols against their quality requirements. If you’re interested in finding out more about what CORSIA or CCP-labelled credits could mean for your business, let us know at the link below and we will be in touch. https://lnkd.in/givZG_ci

🚀 Exciting news: Our Net Zero Roadmap Tool just got even better! We’re thrilled to announce the release of the latest version of our Net Zero Roadmap Tool, designed to empower real estate investment managers of all sizes—and stakeholders of all skill levels—with cutting-edge decarbonization planning capabilities. What’s New? ✨ Revamped UI: A sleek and intuitive design for a seamless user experience.  📊 Expanded Inputs: Incorporate new variables, retrofit measures, financial insights, and carbon savings into your roadmap.  🔎 Advanced filtering & grouping: Dive deeper into your data for better analysis.  📈 Dynamic visualization: See the live impact of new or adjusted retrofit measures, helping you make informed decisions in real time.  🔗 Integrate technical audits: Link your roadmap with the technical audit results necessary for actionable planning. Why It Matters: 🚀 This tool isn’t just an upgrade; it’s a reflection of our mission to enable meaningful, actionable, and iterable decarbonization strategies. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or new to ESG, we’ve got you covered. What’s Next? We’re already hard at work on the next iterations, which will introduce scenario planning, comparison tools, and machine learning insights—taking this already market-leading tool to the next level. #NetZero #RealEstateESG #Decarbonization #CRREM

"The AI for Fusion Engineering project will accelerate the stellarator design process, reduce costs, and improve the reliability and performance of these devices—which offer the clearest, most robust path to commercial #fusionenergy.” We're excited to announce that Proxima has been awarded a €6.5M grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany to partner with the The University of Bonn, Forschungszentrum Jülich, and the Technical University of Munich to advance the design and optimization of stellarator fusion power plants using #AI. By integrating #machinelearning with traditional engineering techniques and applying recent technological advances in scalable computation to stellarator design, we can optimize critical components of stellarators—including HTS magnets, plasma-facing materials, and cooling systems. Read more from Proxima AI Lead Dr. Markus Kaiser, TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology Chair of Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence Dr. Daniel Cremers, the University of Bonn and the Lamarr Institute's Dr. Zorah Lähner, and Forschungszentrum Jülich's Dr. Dirk Reiser: https://lnkd.in/esgi8zpi

"If you can do something big in construction, you’re doing something big for global GDP.” Salar al Khafaji, cofounder & CEO, Monumental It's worth digging into Éanna Kelly's Construction Robots special report in Sifted, which gives an overview of the landscape, prominently features Plural portfolio company Monumental and shares insight from Sten Tamkivi. "You expect investors to hype the companies they’ve backed — but rarely do VCs talk so enthusiastically about a founder as they do with Salar al Khafaji. (...) Al Khafaji is the man behind Monumental, a Dutch company that raised $25m in February 2024 — a large sum for a robot construction company — to develop bricklaying bots. Despite the company only existing for three years, it already has wheels on the ground. Right now, these bots are helping to build 14 houses in a Rotterdam suburb." Find the full report here: https://lnkd.in/ebc3kSa8

Can you create more time when there are no more hours in the day? At Avery Wandsworth Common Care Home, they have been able to "create" more time for their residents by identifying when and where support is needed most. ⏱️ “We have been able to release time for the carers. We know that the residents are safe, and that means the carers are now able to spend time with other people who also need support.” - Thomas Holden, Avery Healthcare In this video, the team at Avery Wandsworth Common Care Home discusses their experience with Teton and the tangible value it has brought to their residents, staff, and operations. #AveryHealthcare #Teton #AI #HealthcareTech