Gravis Robotics’ $200M raise leads Tech.eu’s European tech roundup

Cate Lawrence’s weekly Tech.eu roundup brought together three stories spanning European robotics, youth-focused marketplaces, and fintech leadership: SoftBank’s $200 million investment in Swiss startup Gravis Robotics, 14-year-old Sasha Bagrov’s effort to build a safer marketplace for teenage odd jobs, and Monzo chairman Gary Hoffman’s planned departure after nearly eight years.

The biggest funding story: SoftBank backs Gravis Robotics

The roundup led with SoftBank’s $200 million investment in Swiss robotics startup Gravis Robotics. The deal was presented as a major European robotics funding story and sits alongside earlier coverage of Gravis Robotics raising $23 million to scale its autonomous earthmoving technology.

A safer way for teenagers to find odd jobs

Another highlighted story focused on Sasha Bagrov, who was 14 at the time of the coverage. Bagrov was working on a marketplace intended to make it safer for teenagers to find odd jobs.

The available evidence supports the existence and broad purpose of that effort, but does not provide enough detail to describe the marketplace’s launch status, features, business model, or safety procedures. Those specifics should therefore be treated as unconfirmed here.

Monzo chairman Gary Hoffman to step down

The roundup also reported that Gary Hoffman, chairman of Monzo’s board, planned to stand down after nearly eight years. The story was listed among Tech.eu’s fintech coverage and was framed as a leadership change at the digital bank.

More than 45 funding deals across Europe

Beyond the three lead stories, Tech.eu said it had tracked more than 45 European technology funding deals worth over €684 million during the week. It also reported more than five exits, mergers and acquisitions, rumours, and related news stories across the region.

That figure describes the scope of Tech.eu’s weekly monitoring rather than a single investment trend: the roundup combined financing activity with company exits, M&A, and other ecosystem developments.

Newsletter and Funding Explorer resources

The expanded email newsletter gave readers another way to receive Tech.eu’s European technology coverage. The roundup also pointed to Tech.eu’s free, open-access Funding Explorer, which it described as a resource for founders, investors, operators, researchers, and other ecosystem participants exploring European tech funding data.

The supplied material does not specifically substantiate broader claims that the Explorer can examine investor activity, individual company profiles, or market trends. The defensible takeaway is that it provides an open-access way to research European funding information.