Following Tech Funding News’ recent coverage of VC predictions for 2025, we spoke to the founders and executives representing companies from Series A to unicorn status. Here’s what they told us.
AI continues to shape the tech landscape
According to recent research by Antler conducted in December 2024, artificial intelligence will maintain its dominant position in the European tech ecosystem throughout 2025. Several key trends are emerging as AI companies integrate with and disrupt major industries.
“In 2025, AI capabilities will increasingly move from heavily centralised servers to low-cost, low-power consumption devices, such as wearables, IoT gadgets, and embedded systems. This will make intelligence accessible, affordable, and sustainable, with it processed directly on devices rather than relying on cloud servers,” told TFN Dr Liucheng Guo, Co-founder and CTO of TG0, which grabbed £4.5m in Series B from NetMind this December.
Dr Leslie Kanthan, CEO at TurinTech AI, continued: “Next-generation AI will move beyond simple pattern matching to true contextual understanding. These systems will build comprehensive models of your codebase, architecture, and development patterns, ensuring every suggestion fits seamlessly into your existing ecosystem. This deep context awareness will dramatically reduce the current effort required to adapt AI-generated code to production environments.”
In a conversation with TFN, Tim Weil, CEO and co-founder of UK deep tech startup Lumai, explained: “AI is an evolutionary shift in technology and is here to stay. Once the hype subsides, AI’s broad technical application will focus heavily on costs — specifically the cost of inference, which could make or break the business case for AI deployment. Once inference costs decrease, we expect AI to become embedded in the mainstream, similar to how we view the internet today.”
The gaming sector is also experiencing AI-driven transformation. Denis Timokhin, Portfolio Director at TonTon Games, reports that developers increasingly adopt professional AI tools like Stable Diffusion while maintaining manual oversight for quality control. This leads to cost reductions: “By training AI to match their unique style and customising it to their specific needs, game developers can achieve originality and reduce art production costs by 30–40%.”
However, challenges remain. Tamas Kadar, Co-Founder and CEO of SEON, which secured €87.1M in Series B funding from Creandum, IVP, and PortfioLion in April 2022, cautions that “AI is still in its infancy, excelling in specific areas but falling short of being universally reliable. Current systems prioritise fluency over accuracy, limiting broader utility. As AI improves, it could revolutionise industries, shifting global workforce dynamics and reducing the need for human labour in many sectors.”
RJ Schuurs, Antler Partner in Amsterdam, emphasises that while AI makes startup creation more accessible, it also intensifies competition: “2025 is all about AI front, right and centre. These components make it easier to start but harder to stand out. So you need an amazing vision backed up by capabilities and a product velocity that is off the charts.”
Shivani Shah (ex-CEA), founder of Samp, which raised €6 million in funding from Promus Ventures, which backed Recycleye and The Exploration Company, and Kvanted, which backed Buddywise and Cozero.’, concluded: “In 2025, we’ll see the rise of digital twins and Shared Reality, driven by the need to streamline data. They will act as the foundation for successfully adopting important technologies like vertical AI agents, energy efficiency, and predictive maintenance. For example, in the water sector, which has an extremely complex supply chain, we expect to see major organisations shift their focus to the benefits of shared reality and invest in platforms that can streamline and simplify their operations.”
Agentic AI is on its way to reaching its full potential
A notable development in the AI landscape is the emergence of agentic AI, which is expected to become mainstream by 2025. Industry projections suggest that 25% of companies using generative AI will launch agentic AI pilots by the end of 2025, potentially doubling to 50% by 2027.
Richard Potter, co-founder and CEO of Peak (which raised $75M in Series C funding from MMC Ventures, SoftBank, Praetura Ventures, Octopus Ventures, OxxArete Ventures, and Vision Fund), describes practical applications: “LLMs will get better at reason and acting as agents, which will have the ability to change the way we work and live. For example, rather than searching through AirBnB for the right accommodation for a trip, agentic AI will be able to produce recommendations based on exact requirements and complete the booking process for you.”
At the same time, Zsuzsa Kecsmar, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of Antavo, sees agentic AI as a catalyst for brand growth: “Brands are entering a new growth frontier underpinned by AI, as adoption and the rise of agentic AI are on its way to reaching their full potential. The integration of AI empowers them to foster deeper, more meaningful relationships with customers.”
Karli Kalpala from Digital Workforce Services Plc outlines three key transformations expected in 2025: advanced cognitive task handling, from underwriting to legal document review; new service possibilities in healthcare scheduling and portfolio management; and a shift from Software-as-a-Service to “Service-as-a-Software,” where AI-powered systems take over traditionally human tasks.
Personalised medicine leaps forward
The healthcare sector is witnessing significant transformation through personalised medicine. Vadim Fedotov, CEO and co-founder of Bioniq (recently valued at $82M following Christian Ronaldo’s investment), highlights how AI analysis of biomarker data, genetic information, and real-time health metrics enables precise, individualised health recommendations.
Fedotov explained: “The biggest transformation will come with the rise of hyper-personalised supplements tailored to address specific micronutrient deficiencies, chronic conditions, and other medical needs. New algorithms and prediction systems continue to unlock increasingly precise treatments based on individual genetic and microbiome profiles.”
Open banking and the rise of tokenisation
The financial services sector is evolving rapidly and is driven by open banking and tokenisation. As of March 2024, 13% of digitally active UK consumers and 18% of small businesses were using open banking services, with growth expected to continue.
In a conversation with TFN, Luke Trayfoot, CCO of Brite Payments (which secured $60M in Series A funding from Dawn Capital and Incore Invest in October 2023), predicted: “In 2025, we’ll see a notable shift toward lower-cost, more efficient and secure account-to-account payment options enabled by open banking. This transformation will benefit cross-border transactions through improved FX capabilities and faster settlement.”
Furthermore, the EU’s upcoming Payment Services Directive 3 (PSD3) will further reshape the landscape through enhanced consumer rights, broader data access, and stronger security measures. Lisa Edström, Compliance Director at Brite Payments, noted: “PSD3 is set to address some of the biggest barriers to open banking adoption, particularly around API performance, standardisation and – importantly – user experience. With these improvements, open banking will become more reliable and seamless, setting the stage for widespread consumer and merchant adoption.”
Similarly, tokenisation becomes increasingly important in the context of open banking. As Timokhin explained: “Tokenisation lets players own their in-game assets. This trend will keep growing because it takes time and fine-tuning to get it right. We’re not just talking about Web3 gaming — everything can be tokenised, from real estate to trees planted on the street.”
For startups and established companies alike, 2025 promises to be a year of opportunity and challenge — where the ability to harness these trends while delivering tangible value will separate the leaders from the followers in Europe’s evolving tech landscape.
