welcome to our february newsletter
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
From Proxima Fusion’s €2bn agreement to build Europe’s first commercial fusion plant, to Sanity Group's successful exit, plus news from Albatross, Hilo, Memo Therapeutics, and Mistral AI, along with plenty of events - it’s been a packed February for us and our portfolio companies! Read on for these updates and more.
portfolio updates
Proxima Fusion’s €2B agreement to build Europe's first commercial fusion power plant
Proxima Fusion (RAC VII) has signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding with the State of Bavaria, RWE, and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics to develop Europe’s first commercial fusion power plant.
The program totals €2 billion, with 20% contributed by Proxima and the remainder backed through non-dilutive state and federal funding. It sets out a clear roadmap toward fusion electricity on the grid, beginning with the Alpha demonstrator in Garching to validate key technologies and demonstrate net energy gain, followed by the planned Stellaris power plant in Gundremmingen.
In parallel, Proxima has launched the Alpha Alliance, an industrial consortium of more than 30 European companies to accelerate the path to commercial fusion.
This is a decisive signal for Europe. The program is expected to create thousands of jobs, strengthen energy sovereignty, and translate decades of scientific leadership into real-world deployment.
After a multi-year deep dive into nuclear fusion, we pre-empted Proxima’s seed round 2.5 years ago with the largest cheque in redalpine’s early-stage fund history, driven by a strong conviction in the team and their approach. Since then, Proxima has continued to move stellarator technology closer to commercial reality. Read more in the Financial Times.
portfolio exits
From Series A to exit: Sanity Group joins Organigram Global
We first backed Sanity Group (RAC IV) in their Series A with the conviction that a science-driven, fully compliant approach would help shape the future of medical cannabis in Europe. Today, that vision continues to unfold. Sanity recently entered a strategic agreement with Organigram Global to accelerate international expansion, strengthen R&D, and broaden patient access across the continent.
Founded in 2021, Sanity set out to build a category leader from Germany - navigating one of the world’s most complex regulatory environments while advancing cannabinoid-based therapies and products. Since then, the team has grown into one of Europe’s leading platforms in the space, combining scientific rigour with strong execution.
Congratulations to the entire Sanity team on this exit! Read more here.
portfolio updates
Albatross AI (RAC VII), the platform for real-time product discovery, partnered with Wallapop to power adaptive, context-aware recommendations for one of Europe’s leading marketplaces. Early results show strong lifts in engagement, interactions, and purchase intent, highlighting that dynamic discovery can outperform static search and legacy recommendation systems. The partnership marks another major milestone following the company's recent $12.5M Series A. Read more in Forbes.
Aktiia's Hilo (RAC III) band received an 8/10 review from WIRED, which called it a potential “game changer” for hypertension care. Hilo's discreet, cuffless band measures blood pressure up to 25 times a day, including overnight, to deliver clinically validated readings that can be shared directly with doctors. As WIRED summed up: “In a sea of wearables that purport to be helpful medical devices, the Hilo actually is one.” Read the review in full in Wired.
Memo Therapeutics (RAC II) has signed a collaboration and option agreement with CSL worth up to $328M to develop next-generation immunoglobulin (IgG) therapies. The deal validates Memo’s technology and supports the development of new treatments for rare and serious diseases, while giving CSL the option to exclusively license resulting products. Read more in Fierce Biotech.
Mistral AI (Summit Fund) is scaling rapidly across Europe, with yearly revenues now surpassing a $400M run rate along with additional investments into sovereign AI infrastructure, including new data center capacity in Sweden. Driven by strong demand from European enterprises and governments seeking alternatives to US providers, Mistral is expanding across both corporate and public sector clients while building more vertically integrated compute capabilities. Its momentum reflects a broader push to strengthen Europe’s independent AI ecosystem. Read more in the Financial Times.
event highlights
SYNC 2.0 at the University of Cambridge
We spent time with the SYNC 2.0 cohort at Cambridge, where we focused on what makes strong founding teams: similar values, complementary working styles, and shared pace. Thanks to the Founders at the University of Cambridge team for hosting such an open and thoughtful exchange.
Deploy 26 London
At Deploy 26 in London, our Partner Bettina joined a curated group of LPs and GPs to discuss building durable venture platforms across cycles. The format, selecting only the top 5% of GPs from hundreds of applications, created space for focused conversations on strategy, fundraising, and long-term value creation.
TUM Entrepreneurial Masterclass
Our GP Oliver joined the Entrepreneurial Masterclass at TUM for a session with an impressive group of founders and fellows, exploring what it takes to build strong teams and navigate uncertainty. Discussions ranged from operating under constraints to the mindset shift from “hero” to continuous learner, and much more.
what we’re reading
Egoscale - NVIDIA research
Why it matters: NVIDIA’s EgoScale project explains why humanoid robots may scale much faster than expected. The team trained a humanoid robot with highly dexterous hands to assemble model cars, operate syringes, sort poker cards and fold shirts, just using 20,000+ hours of egocentric human video (first-person footage recorded from the perspective of the person performing the task). Crucially, no robot was used during data collection. The key insight: performance improves consistently as more human video data is added, which directly translates into real-world robot success. If this approach continues to scale, it could dramatically lower the cost of training robots and accelerate the path toward capable humanoid machines.