🇪🇺 Weekly Dose of European Optimism #3

Hi friends,

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to our Weekly Dose of European Optimism.

While most startups are chasing the next app idea, some European companies are thinking bigger. Much bigger.

From quantum AI revolutionizing drug discovery to literally redefining death itself, this continent continues to tackle humanity's biggest challenges with characteristic ambition and precision.

Top stories this week:

• Paris overtakes London as Europe's leading tech ecosystem

• Tomorrow.Bio raises €5M to bring cryonics to America

• Qubit Pharmaceuticals unveils quantum AI to revolutionize drug discovery

• EIF backs first-ever defense tech fund with €40M commitment

• ReproNovo secures $65M Series A for reproductive medicine breakthroughs

Let’s dive into it.

Paris Officially Claims Europe's Tech Crown

The data is in. Paris has surpassed London as Europe's leading tech ecosystem, claiming fourth place globally while London drops to sixth, according to new Dealroom research. Paris now stands as the only European city in the global top five.

The numbers tell a compelling story:

Between 2017 and 2024, Paris startups achieved 5.3X growth in combined enterprise value compared to London's 4.2X. Nearly half of Paris's $7.8B in VC funding last year flowed to AI companies, including significant rounds for Mistral AI, Poolside, and Electra.

Last week's Revolut announcement (a €1B investment establishing Paris as their Western European headquarters) reinforces the momentum. Station F's Roxanne Varza notes: "More international funds are building strong teams to cover the French market because they're excited about the potential here."

UK fintech CEO Virraj Jatania called the findings "a wake-up call" for London, emphasizing the need for "better access to capital, championing growth and encouraging investment."

Tomorrow.Bio Takes Death Disruption Global

Step aside, Bryan Johnson. Berlin's Tomorrow.Bio is taking the ultimate long-term approach. The cryonics company just closed the first tranche of a €5M funding round to expand operations into the United States, proving that European startups aren't afraid to tackle humanity's final frontier.

Founded in 2020, Tomorrow Bio offers cryopreservation services that cool bodies to minus 196°C in liquid nitrogen, essentially pausing biological processes with the hope that future medical advances will enable revival and restoration of bodily functions.

The company operates with impressive efficiency. Specialized "standby teams" deploy cryo-ambulances to begin preservation immediately after legal death, performing chest compressions and cooling during transport to their Swiss facility.

They've already cryopreserved 20 humans and even 10 pets (!) in their liquid nitrogen tanks, who hope to one day be brought back to life when the science is ready.

Over 800 Europeans have signed up for a total contract value exceeding €160M. Who’s in??

Qubit Pharmaceuticals Cracks Drug Discovery's Biggest Challenge

Paris-based Qubit Pharmaceuticals has built an AI system that could dramatically speed up how new medicines are discovered. Working with Sorbonne University, they've created FeNNix-Bio1, a "quantum AI model" that can predict how drug molecules will behave in the human body with unprecedented accuracy.

Here's why this matters…

Currently, developing new drugs requires years of expensive lab experiments to test whether potential medicines will actually work. Qubit's system can simulate these interactions digitally first, allowing researchers to identify promising candidates before spending millions on physical testing.

The key breakthrough? Their AI has mastered simulating how molecules interact with water, historically the hardest thing for computers to model accurately. Professor Jean-Philip Piquemal explains:

"The model is as accurate as the experiment. We can generate many new ideas, failing quickly and cheaply digitally before moving on to laboratory testing."

Built using European supercomputing infrastructure, this represents the kind of fundamental research advantage that could give European biotech a lasting edge over Silicon Valley's software-first approach.

EIF Finally Backs European Defense

The European Investment Fund has crossed a significant threshold, committing €40M to its first-ever defense tech fund. The investment in Amsterdam-based Keen Venture Partners represents more than just capital. It's Europe finally acknowledging that relying on American defense technology isn't a sustainable long-term strategy.

For decades, European defense procurement meant buying American systems and hoping for the best. But with geopolitical tensions rising, that approach looks increasingly naive. The EIF's €175M Defence Equity Facility signals that Europe is serious about building its own capabilities.

Keen's fund will invest in 20-25 European startups focusing on cyber defense, robotics, AI, and autonomous systems. The firm has assembled a 13-person advisory board including former NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Partner Giuseppe Lacerenza frames it perfectly: "Europe's security can no longer rely on legacy systems or distant allies alone." Translation: it's time to stop outsourcing our security to Silicon Valley and the Pentagon. With unicorns like Quantum Systems and Helsing proving European defense tech can scale, the money is finally following the strategic logic.

ReproNovo Tackles Fertility's Biggest Challenges (and Men's Declining T-Levels)

Swiss-Danish biotech ReproNovo raised $65M Series A to advance Phase 2 clinical trials addressing critical gaps in reproductive medicine. Led by Jeito Capital and co-led by AXA IM Alts, the funding will support two programs targeting male infertility and adenomyosis.

The company's lead candidate, RPN-001, addresses male infertility linked to low testosterone. Apparently even younger men's T-levels are plummeting faster than crypto token prices in a bear market.

This isn't just a middle-age crisis anymore: it's becoming a genuine public health concern contributing to declining male fertility rates globally.

Their second program, RPN-002, targets adenomyosis, a painful condition affecting nearly one in four women yet lacking any approved treatments. Unlike endometriosis, which gets more attention, adenomyosis remains largely ignored by Big Pharma.

With approximately 1 in 6 people worldwide facing infertility issues, the market opportunity is substantial. The company's pan-European structure spans Lausanne, Copenhagen, and Barcelona, reflecting the collaborative approach that's becoming European biotech's secret weapon against Silicon Valley's winner-take-all mentality.

I wrote this thread about some intriguing shifts I found in Europe after reading the DealRoom 2025 Global Tech Ecosystem Index.

YT VIDEO: I used Cursor to build an app on the train, made $30K, and quit my job. Let’s not forget about all the cool indie hackers throughout the EU.

To all the entrepreneurs, builders, and readers out there:

Thanks for joining us for edition #3! As we continue refining this weekly dose of Euro optimism, I'd love to hear what's landing well and what you want to see more of.

Drop me a line with your thoughts and ideas. I read all replies!

Keep building, investing, and accelerating Europe to new heights.

See you next week,

Ole

P.S. If you want to sponsor this newsletter and get in front of 3,000+ high-earners interested in European tech and business, DM me on X here.