Hello and welcome back.

In this week’s edition n8n closed its round at a whopping $2.5bn, ABB Robotics got acquired for $5bn and Sequoia Capital doubled down on Europe.

On a personal note I am starting to post new content direct to X - if that’s of interest please follow along here.

Last week on the The Scaling Europe Show I spoke to:

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ABB, the Swedish-Swiss company that’s a global leader in electrification and automation, announced it’s selling its Robotics division to SoftBank for $5.4bn.

ABB Robotics has long been one of Europe’s strongest players in industrial robotics so there has been a lot of push back against this sale.

It was originally planning on being listed as an independent company so by selling the division to SoftBank, ABB is effectively ceding one of Europe’s few global-scale robotics assets to a non-European owner. Read more here.

UK-based BVNK is one of the leading stablecoin startups in Europe. Its main product offering is effectively a payments rail to facilitate transactions in stablecoins.

This week it was announced that Citi had invested into BVNK at an undisclosed valuation.

Then, a day later, it was revealed that Coinbase and Mastercard are in a bidding war to acquire the company at a valuation of up to $2.5bn, a large increase over its $750m valuation that it achieved in December 2024. Read more here.

Sifted editor Amy Lewin sat down with London-based Sequoia Capital partner Luciana Lixandru at Sifted Summit.

Lixandru said that the firm is looking to expand in Europe and is currently hiring as she believes that “generational businesses” will be built here. Great stuff - read more here.

Aleph Alpha founder Jonas Andrulis has stepped down as CEO after six years leading the company.

The company was once seen as Germany’s answer to OpenAI, a national champion comparable to Mistral in France that raised a $500m Series B in 2023. However, it struggled to compete and eventually pivoted to advising governments and other businesses on how to use the technology.

The business will be headed up by current co-CEO Reto Spörri and Chief Growth Officer Ilhan Scheer (now promoted to co-CEO). Read more here.

Revolut founder Nik Storonsky has officially moved his residency from the UK to the UAE. It's well known that he spends a lot of time in Dubai, but it's now been confirmed that he has officially moved.

Official filings to Companies House state that he has changed his residency to the UAE, however he will remain a UK citizen.

There's been lots of rumours that this was going to happen but it's a shame to see it confirmed. The biggest loss is likely to be in any capital gains he would have paid when Revolut IPOs (estimated to be in the billions). Read more here.

The UK fintech just announced that it has recorded its first EBITDA positive quarter, operating in the black in the final three months of FY25 (April to June 2025).

This was attributed to strong cost discipline and sustained growth and comes after strong FY2024 results:

£132m of annual revenue (+41% YoY) £35m losses before tax (vs £78m the year before) 74% gross margin

The company has been talks to be acquired by Mollie but there's been no updates since August. Read more here.

THAT’S ALL. Thank you.

Seb