welcome to our august newsletter
- Matteo Emmanuello
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
August brought major milestones across the redalpine portfolio, including exits for Daedalean and Beams, a new investment in 9fin, and strong momentum from Mistral AI and vivenu. Read on for all of our news and highlights this month...
portfolio funding + exits
We doubled down on 9fin
We first backed 9fin (RAC VI) in their 2021 Series A and have supported every round since. Through our multi-stage, evergreen Summit Fund, we recently increased our stake, making us the company’s largest shareholder. Why the conviction? Because 9fin is on track to become the leading AI-native player in debt capital markets, one of the world’s largest asset classes, worth $135 trillion.
Since 2023, 9fin has more than doubled its recurring revenue and customer base, grown to 170+ institutional clients, including all top 10 global investment banks, and acquired Bond Radar, adding 20 years of proprietary data, investment grade & EM coverage, and entry points into Asia & LatAm.
We’re proud to keep backing 9fin with conviction, with Harald, Lezama, and Marc supporting founders Steven and Huss as they bring the debt capital market into the 21st century.
For more insights, watch Harald's recent interview with Steven, where they discuss building a leading European FinTech company, what makes a complimentary co-founder, and how investors can keep founders happy, among many other topics.
Daedalean exits to Destinus in $225M deal
Daedalean AI has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Destinus in a $225M cash-and-stock deal. We first invested in Daedalean (RAC III) in 2019, backing a vision that many considered too ambitious: an AI-powered autopilot system that could one day outperform human pilots. From day one, the company set out not just to push technology forward, but to meet the highest standards of aviation safety and certification.
In just a few years, the team delivered remarkable progress. Daedalean became the first company to engage both EASA and the FAA on certification for AI in the cockpit, built partnerships with leading aerospace OEMs, and developed one of the world’s most advanced autonomous flight systems. This exit marks one of the largest transactions in aviation AI to date. By joining forces with Destinus, Daedalean’s technology will accelerate the deployment of intelligent flight systems across civil and defense applications, advancing the future of air mobility at scale.
Read more in Silicon Canals.
Beams acquired by Comply365 - supercharging aviation safety with AI
Beams (RAC IV) turned a bold vision into a category-defining platform: applying AI to transform aviation safety data into predictive insights. The team has not only introduced advanced AI automation into a previously manual industry, but also built deep trust with leading carriers and regulators worldwide in record time.
This acquisition is a testament to Beams’ relentless execution and to the growing importance of AI-first solutions in mission-critical industries. Congratulations to the Beams team on this milestone.
Read more here.
portfolio news
The latest updates from our portfolio, in no particular order:
Mistral AI (Summit Fund) is reportedly preparing to raise $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation. The funds would support the commercial rollout of its Le Chat chatbot and further development of its large language model. The Paris-based company has quickly become one of Europe’s leading contenders in generative AI. Read more in the FT.
vivenu (RAC IV) is the new ticketing partner for the Nürburgring, Germany’s largest sports venue and one of the world’s most iconic racetracks. The partnership will modernize ticketing for over two million annual visitors, driving efficiency and enhanced fan experiences across more than 80 events per year. Read more here.
redalpine "summer" party
Even though this year’s Summer Party turned into more of a wash-out than the sunny, lakeside event we'd envisioned (thanks, European summer!), we still had an incredible time bringing our three offices together in Switzerland. Instead of hitting the stand-up paddles, we dived into good food, plenty of drinks, and great company to close out a packed week of portfolio review. We're already looking forward to our next event!
what we're reading
Why it matters: Solving International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) problems has long been considered out of reach for AI – requiring multi-page proofs, long attention spans, and reasoning that goes far beyond quick answers. OpenAI has announced that one of its experimental reasoning models achieved a gold-medal score at the 2025 IMO, correctly solving 5 of 6 problems under competition rules.
While the model is not being released publicly yet, the achievement signals a new frontier for AI in mathematics, following OpenAI’s recent coding competition success and Grok’s record performance on AIME benchmarks. For fields like research, cryptography, and engineering, this level of reasoning could be transformative.