Executive-level intelligence on the trends, people, and deals shaping the technology sector
News and Exec Appointments
- Bryan Batista, former Head of Commercial at Skyscanner, has returned as Chief Executive Officer of the global travel search platform, now owned by Trip.com Group. His appointment comes as the company looks to capitalise on the post-pandemic travel boom and accelerate product innovation.
- Lokdeep Singh, previously CEO of Aptos and a retail tech veteran, has become Chief Executive Officer of Unily. Unily is a digital employee experience platform used by major enterprises and backed by CVC and Silversmith Capital Partners.
- Ben Betts, ex-CEO of Learning Pool, has become Chief Executive Officer of Agilio Software, a compliance and workforce platform serving the healthcare sector. Backed by August Equity, Agilio is expanding across the UK medical and dental markets.
- Jennifer Sherman has become Chief Product Officer of Unit4. Unit4, a cloud ERP provider with a strong focus on people-centric industries, is backed by TA Associates and serves customers across higher education, public sector, and professional services.
- Jesper Zerlang, former CEO of LogPoint, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of ProMark (part of Mark Information), a workforce management software firm backed by Main Capital Partners. Zerlang is expected to drive ProMark’s international expansion and product roadmap.
- Michel Robert, previously CEO of Claranet, has taken over as Chief Executive Officer of Indigo Telecom Group, a UK provider of telecoms and digital infrastructure services. Backed by Growth Capital Partners, Indigo serves major carriers and data centre operators across Europe.
- David Critchley, former Ivanti sales leader, has joined as Chief Revenue Officer of Totalmobile. Totalmobile provides mobile workforce management software and is backed by Bowmark Capital. The appointment is part of a broader commercial scaling strategy.
- Sebastian Grimm has been named Chief Financial Officer at LucaNet, a German provider of financial performance management tools. LucaNet, backed by Hg Capital, is expanding into the UK mid-market enterprise segment.
- Andreas Thorsheim, founder of solar marketplace Otovo, has joined as Chair of plancraft. Plancraft is a German SaaS startup focused on digitising workflows for tradespeople. It is backed by HTGF, BitStone Capital, and other European seed investors.
- Apple has been fined €1.8 billion by the European Commission for abusing its dominant position in the music streaming market. The Commission concluded that Apple restricted app developers like Spotify from informing users about cheaper alternatives outside the App Store.
- Builder.ai, the high-profile London-based AI startup that aimed to automate software development, has gone bankrupt. The company had raised over $250 million from SoftBank, Insight Partners, and others but struggled with burn and monetisation challenges.
- Apple has released its Liquid Glass interface update, a subtle but comprehensive redesign focused on transparency effects, fluid animation, and tactile responsiveness. The move underscores Apple’s ongoing shift toward immersive UI as a differentiator in the iOS ecosystem.
Fundraising
- Anysphere, the AI research lab behind coding tool Cursor, has raised a $900m Series C led by Thrive Capital, with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, and DST Global. The round values the company at nearly $10bn, cementing its position as a major player in developer-focused AI.
- Helsing, the European defence AI startup, secured €600m in a Series D round led by Prima Materia (Spotify’s Daniel Ek), with participation from Lightspeed, Accel, Saab, General Catalyst, and others. Its valuation hit €12bn, making it one of Europe’s most valuable VC-backed firms.
- Dream Games, the Turkish mobile gaming company behind Royal Match, is now valued at $5bn following a strategic investment by CVC Capital Partners, with Blackstone also providing debt financing. Existing backers such as Index Ventures and IVP exited the business.
- Spectris, a UK FTSE 250 industrial tech group, has agreed to a £3.8bn acquisition by Advent International, representing an 85% premium. Rival bids from KKR and others may follow.
- Multiverse Computing, a Spanish quantum and AI startup, raised €189m in Series B funding to scale its CompactifAI compression tech, which helps dramatically reduce the size and cost of large AI models. Investors include GP Bullhound, Santander, HP Tech Ventures, and Toshiba.
- Finom, a fintech platform for European SMBs, closed a €115m Series C led by AVP (AXA Venture Partners), with support from General Catalyst, Northzone, Headline, and Cogito Capital. The funding will fuel expansion across the EU.
- The British Business Bank has been allocated £6.6bn in growth capital to support early-stage and scaling tech businesses across the UK.
- Project A, the Berlin- and London-based venture firm, has raised a new €325m fund to invest in early-stage European startups.
- Zeelo, the UK-based smart bus platform, raised €19.8m in Series B funding from Blue Earth Capital, Direttissima Growth, and Peter Bauer’s family office. The company plans to scale across the UK, South Africa, and beyond.
- Definely, a legal AI platform, raised $30m in Series B funding to enhance its contract review and risk analysis tools.
Hiring Trends
As VC and PE firms are increasingly keen to become AI-native themselves, we are seeing an increase in demand for technology and product leaders to join investors to both build AI applications and infrastructure in-house as well as advise their portfolios on best practice.
Top 30 CTOs
Our most recent list of the top CTOs for PE backed software companies can be found here
The Fastest-growing PE backed portfolio companies
We analysed 248 PE backed portfolio companies, backed by 30 of the world’s leading PE firms to find the fastest growing companies in EMEA. The full report can be found here
About Neon River
Neon River is an executive search firm with deep experience supporting VC and PE-backed technology businesses around the world. We focus on senior hires across all key functions.