The Vilnius based startup just closed a €2.6 million seed round led by FIRSTPICK VC, with participation from First Degree, NGL.VC, Scalewolf.VC, BADideas.fund, Nectolabs, Plug and Play, and several angel investors. The round signals growing investor confidence in AI driven digital identity verification as a serious and maturing category.

How The Platform Works:

WhiteBridge.ai aggregates data from social media, news sources, and other online records, organizes it, and provides structured reports that include career history, social media activity, behavioral insights, and publicly reported events. Users simply enter a full name or a social profile link to get started.

The platform pulls from 100 or more live data sources in real time, delivering reports in minutes rather than days, at a fraction of the cost of traditional background checks. Reports cover a digital footprint overview, career and education history, social media sentiment, behavior patterns, leisure interests, and media appearances. Each section is structured so a recruiter, a sales rep, or an investor can act on the information without wading through noise.

Who Is Using It:

WhiteBridge.ai is trusted by over 23,000 professionals and has been used to research more than 4 million people. The platform holds a 4.8 rating on Product Hunt. Users include background screening companies, sales teams doing pre meeting research, and founders running due diligence on potential hires or business partners.

The business use case is especially practical for sales teams. Rather than spending time manually searching a prospect across LinkedIn, Google, and news sites, teams get a consolidated view before an outreach call. If you are exploring AI tools for business due diligence, WhiteBridge fits naturally into that stack.

The €2.6 Million Round:

Founded in 2024 by Tomas Martūnas, Irmantas Motiejūnas, Justinas Barauskas, and Paulius Taraškevičius, the team has moved quickly since launch. The €2.6 million seed funding will go toward expanding data sources, improving the accuracy and verification layer, and accelerating platform development for both individual and business users.

As Tomas Martūnas put it, most people do not realise how much information about them is already circulating online, and even fewer understand how it can shape their personal and professional opportunities. The platform is essentially making that existing public data accessible and structured rather than creating anything new from scratch.

The Market Behind It:

The online reputation management service market was valued at $230 billion in 2023 and is expected to nearly double to $440 billion by 2030. Most of that market has operated through legacy tools, manual research, or expensive agency led services. A platform that automates the core research layer opens the category to a much broader set of users who previously could not afford or access these services.

WhiteBridge sources its data from publicly available information across professional networks, social media platforms, public records, and other open data platforms. The company is transparent that results may include AI generated content and that reports should not be used as the sole basis for employment, credit, or housing decisions

Reports and What They Cover:

Each WhiteBridge report is built on publicly available data only. Reports include an overview of digital presence, career history, behavioral tendencies, leisure interests, and any publicly reported negative media.

The platform includes a 30 day money back guarantee on all plans. Businesses looking to test before committing can book a demo call to receive free testing credits. Pricing is available directly at whitebridge.ai.

A Practical AI Research Tool:

WhiteBridge is a clear example of AI doing the grunt work in a process that previously consumed significant time. The AI-powered people research engine category is growing alongside the broader push for faster, more reliable decision making in hiring, sales, and partnerships.

For startup teams managing lean operations, tools that compress hours of manual research into minutes earn a permanent spot in the stack. With €2.6 million in fresh funding, WhiteBridge now has the runway to go deeper on data quality, expand its source coverage, and sharpen the platform for both individual users and enterprise teams.

Date: April 15 and 16, 2026
Location: CityCube Berlin, Germany
Tickets: Register here

FIBE Berlin 2026 brings together over 200 international speakers, 120 sessions, and 2,000 attendees from more than 40 countries. It is one of the most concentrated two-day fintech gatherings in Europe right now.

Here is what the event covers:

Who It Is For:

• Fintech founders and scaleups
• Venture capitalists and angel investors
• Banking professionals and operators
• RegTech and digital finance decision-makers

What Is on the Agenda:

• Digital banking and open banking
• Stablecoins and private markets
• AI in financial services
• Cross-border growth and RegTech
• Fund MY Fintech pitch competition for startups

Notable Speakers Include:

• Dan Schulman, former CEO of PayPal
• Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro
• Raman Bhatia, Group CEO of Starling Bank
• Margrethe Vestager, former EU Commissioner

The company operates across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Its dispensers filter tap water on-site and mix it with flavor concentrates at the point of pour. No bottles come in. No bottles pile up. Each Re:Drink point saves an estimated 59,000 bottles per year. Across all active units, the company reports more than 1.9 million bottles saved to date.

The Real Office Problem:

HR teams and office managers know this friction well. One HR generalist at Tensordyne, a Munich AI chip startup, described losing 2 to 3 hours every week managing bottle deliveries, with four employees spending 30 minutes each just carrying bottles to the basement. That’s a recurring operational drag that doesn’t show up on any productivity metric but absolutely affects it.

Re:Drink solves this by removing the supply chain entirely. The dispenser connects to the building’s water supply, filters it through a multi-stage system including activated carbon, UV-C disinfection, and silver mesh antibacterial technology, and then mixes fresh concentrate per drink. The whole process is packaging-free and on-demand.

How the System Works:

The hardware is produced in Austria in partnership with BWT, a water technology company with certified filtration standards. Maintenance and hygiene checks are included in the service package. A biannual deep disinfection by technicians is standard. Between visits, a 10-minute hot water cleaning cycle runs every two weeks automatically.

The software layer is where Re:Drink adds real operational value for office managers. A real-time dashboard shows fill levels, usage preferences per location, and maintenance status. The system auto-reorders concentrates before they run out and schedules technician visits before issues arise. The company estimates that managing the system takes around 10 minutes per week for the office team. That’s the total.

60 Varieties, One Dispenser:

One consistent friction point with office beverage solutions is variety. Re:Drink offers over 60 flavor options including sparkling water, still water, lemon, mate, organic apple spritz, watermelon, elderflower, and rhubarb. Employees can adjust carbonation and flavor intensity per drink.

This matters for employee satisfaction in a practical way. The canteen manager at Tunap, a lubricants company in Germany, noted the team’s satisfaction with both the quality and the diversity of drink options available. For companies tracking office perks as part of retention and culture, a functional and varied drink setup contributes to daily experience in a way that a basic water cooler simply doesn’t.

Offices Across Industries Use It:

Re:Drink’s customer base spans tech scale-ups, corporate offices, hotels, care homes, and production facilities. The system is modular and can fit into small kitchen setups as well as large canteens. For companies with multiple office locations across Germany, one dashboard covers all points centrally. This matters for businesses managing 5 or 10 offices simultaneously, where decentralized drink procurement creates inconsistency and unnecessary admin overhead.

The service package covers the full geography with a partner network across DACH. If something breaks, a local technician handles it. The hardware monitors itself and flags issues before they become outages.

The Environmental Side:

The plastic reduction argument for a solution like Re:Drink is straightforward. A single dispenser unit saves roughly 59,000 bottles annually. Multiply that across dozens of corporate locations and the number scales quickly. The company’s mission, stated directly on its website, is “drink more, waste less.” It’s a simple framing, but the numbers behind it are concrete.

For companies with sustainability reporting requirements or ESG commitments, switching from bottled beverages to a filtered on-site system like Re:Drink produces a direct and measurable reduction in single-use plastic. That’s a data point that fits into annual reporting without any additional effort.

Why This Startup Deserves Attention:

Re:Drink is solving a problem that most SaaS-focused startup communities overlook because it’s physical, not digital. But the model combines hardware, software, and a subscription service layer that maps cleanly onto how modern B2B startups are built. The dashboard, automated reordering, and usage analytics are all software behaviors sitting on top of a physical product. If you’re interested in how startups are building in the office infrastructure space, Re:Drink is a strong example of what that looks like in practice.

The company is based in Munich and available for consultation and demos for businesses across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. If your office still runs on bottled water deliveries, the operational math on switching is worth running.

The Core Product:

IQONIC.AI offers a white-label AI platform that beauty brands can plug directly into their existing store or in-store setup. The platform runs skin analysis, hair analysis, and lip analysis from a smartphone or iPad camera. It captures high-resolution images from multiple angles and runs them through algorithms trained on over 100,000 images, achieving a 95% reliability rate.

The platform measures parameters including skin type, skin tone, skin age, wrinkles, and skin irritation for skincare use cases, and hair structure, hair health, and hair age for haircare. After the analysis, the customer receives fully personalized product and routine recommendations tailored to their specific results. The platform connects cleanly with Shopify, WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and other common eCommerce systems. All algorithms are GDPR-compliant and have been developed with dermatologists.

Real Results Across Channels:

The numbers behind IQONIC.AI’s product come from actual client deployments, not projections. One of the clearest examples is FIT & ALIVE Cosmetics, a D2C skincare brand expanding from Turkey into the European market. After integrating IQONIC.AI’s skin analysis into their online store over nine months, their conversion rate from the AI scan was 3.47 times higher than the average conversion rate from any other traffic source. Their average order value increased by 30% among scan users, and over 87% of cold leads were converted into their CRM system.

A luxury beauty brand using the platform saw a 44% increase in conversion. A hair salon, Wieghorst Hair and Beauty, saw product sales increase by up to 16% after deploying the AI hair analysis as an in-salon consultation tool. For a local pharmacy, Glückauf Apotheke, the tool operates largely as a self-service station, easing staff workload while still delivering a personalized skin consultation experience to customers.

How the B2B Model Works:

IQONIC.AI does not sell directly to end consumers. It sells to the brands and businesses that serve those consumers, which is what makes it a practical tool for operators in the beauty and health space. A brand subscribes to the platform, customizes it to their visual identity and product catalog, and deploys it wherever their customers are, online or in-store.

The platform also feeds data back into the brand’s CRM system. Each analysis generates a rich user profile that includes skin or hair condition, preferences, and product interactions. This means brands are not just getting a recommendation tool. They are getting a first-party data engine that lets them retarget users, personalize follow-up campaigns, and track customer skin or hair health over time. IQONIC.AI reports that this approach can reduce cart abandonment by up to 35% and increase marketing efficiency by up to 15%.

Inclusive AI as a Technical Standard:

IQONIC.AI’s algorithms are trained on diverse datasets and built to work across any skin color, hair structure, age, and gender with over 85% accuracy. This is a functional requirement, not a marketing note. For a beauty AI tool to work globally, the underlying model has to perform reliably across a wide range of inputs. Bruckert has been direct about inclusive AI being a technical and ethical baseline for what IQONIC.AI ships.

The team itself reflects this approach, with over 50% female representation and five nationalities. The startup has participated in multiple international accelerator programs including the German Accelerator US Market Access program, ScaleUp4Europe Health Lab, and Shinhan Square Bridge’s Bridge2Korea program, which reflects an expansion strategy aimed at scaling the platform across markets beyond Germany.

For beauty brands and retailers thinking about how to build a personalized customer experience with real conversion data behind it, IQONIC.AI is a practical example of what that infrastructure looks like in production. You can explore more profiles on women founders building in AI and health tech in our Women in Tech section.

Five Months, Real Numbers:

Miria reached €130K ARR with 30 coaches actively using the platform. In that same period, the product processed over 400,000 messages. Those are not projected numbers or pipeline figures. They are live metrics from a product that coaches are already paying for and using daily.

The impact on individual coaches is also concrete. Top performers on the platform are now generating €100,150K per year in revenue and serving three times more clients than before. A fitness coach who previously spent two hours a day answering repetitive questions about programs and macros can now let their AI twin handle that volume entirely, freeing them to focus on clients who need direct attention.

What Miria Actually Builds:

The product is a coaching-specific AI cloning service. A coach trains their AI twin using their own knowledge, frameworks, and content. That AI then responds to client questions in a way that reflects the coach’s actual methodology, not a generic response. Clients get fast, personalized answers. Coaches stop answering the same question for the hundredth time.

This is different from a general-purpose chatbot. The value is in the specificity. An AI twin trained on a specific coach’s nutrition philosophy or sales framework gives responses that feel relevant, not templated. That specificity is what drives the message volume Miria is already seeing, over 400,000 in five months from just 30 coaches on the platform.

The Antler Backing:

Antler is one of the most active early-stage investors globally, known for running structured founder programs before cutting checks. A €500k pre-seed from Antler at this stage, combined with the traction Miria already had, puts the company in a strong position to scale the team and the product.

Miria’s stated target with this funding is to reach €2M ARR by 2027. Given that the company hit €130K ARR in its first five months with just 30 coaches, that trajectory is grounded in real momentum rather than speculation. Scaling from 30 coaches to a few hundred while improving the AI twin training pipeline is the clearest path to that number.

Who This Is Built For:

The platform is designed for coaches who already have demand but are running out of time to serve it. If you are a coach with a waitlist, a growing community, or a content library that clients keep asking questions about, Miria’s model fits. The [AI twin for coaches] concept is particularly strong for knowledge-heavy niches like fitness, sales, business strategy, and career coaching, where the same core questions come up constantly across a large client base.

For operators and founders building in the [creator monetization tools] or coaching tech space, Miria is a useful benchmark. The company shows that a tightly scoped AI product, built for one specific professional category, can generate real ARR quickly when the pain point is well understood.

The Vision Behind the Product:

Miria’s stated vision is straightforward: remove the time ceiling from coaching. Let expertise scale without limits. That framing resonates because the problem it describes is universal across knowledge-based professions. The €500k from Antler gives the team the runway to expand the coach network, improve the product, and prove out the €2M ARR target with the same data-first approach they used in their first five months.

Regulations Are Tightening Now:

The EU Methane Regulation is in force since August 2024 and now requires gas importers to report emissions with site-level data. The OGMP 2.0 framework has moved from voluntary to near-mandatory for energy operators doing business in Europe. Most existing monitoring approaches still rely on annual snapshots and outdated estimates. AIRMO is built around something different: actual measurements.

Energy operators who cannot produce measurement-based emissions data face fines, reporting delays, and growing ESG scrutiny from investors.

The Tech Behind It:

AIRMO’s core product is a proprietary sensor that combines a shortwave infrared (SWIR) imager with micro-LiDAR technology. According to the company, the system is twice as accurate as existing monitoring technologies and can detect a methane leak roughly the size of a car from 500 kilometers above Earth.

The company is already running commercial operations on aircraft and drones across Europe, Central Asia, and the MENA region. The satellite mission, planned for 2027 through a partnership with EnduroSat, is the next step in scaling from site-level campaigns to continuous global monitoring. CEO Daria Stepanova, a rocket scientist who has completed 12 satellite launches and founded three companies, leads the company’s technical and commercial direction.

How AIRMO’s Services Work:

AIRMO offers operators a full stack for LDAR (Leak Detection and Repair) and OGMP 2.0 compliance. Drone-based surveys use a UAS-mounted TDLAS sensor that weighs just 850 grams, can detect leaks as small as 1 gram per hour from 50 meters, and mounts on standard DJI drones. Aircraft-mounted systems cover over 200 square kilometers per flight hour using SWIR and LiDAR sensors, making them practical for pipeline corridors and large upstream fields.

On the fixed-site side, AIRMO’s continuous monitoring system uses a 2D SWIR spectral imager with AI-powered quantification, designed for terminals, tank farms, and flare systems that need real-time, verifiable data. The company also provides Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) using FLIR cameras, and Flame Ionization Detectors (FID) for regulatory-grade spot checks. All of these feed into AIRMO’s proprietary reconciliation software, which aligns source-level and site-level data into UNEP OGMP-ready reporting templates.

Who Is Running It:

The leadership team carries meaningful technical depth. Co-founder and CSO Dr. Errico Armandillo spent 28 years as ESA’s Head of Optoelectronics and is a LiDAR expert. CTO David Vilaseca brings 15 years building space optical instruments. Board Chairman Christoph Grobbel co-founded South Pole, the carbon markets company that scaled to unicorn status.

AIRMO currently operates out of three offices: Weßling (Germany), Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg), and Abu Dhabi (UAE) through its MENA entity at Hub71. The new funding will expand that Abu Dhabi presence further, given the density of oil and gas infrastructure across the Gulf region.

The Road Ahead:

The OGMP 2.0 Gold Standard at Level 5 requires reconciling component-level measurements with independent site-level surveys. Most operators are not set up to do that in-house. AIRMO’s full stack, from drone surveys to satellite monitoring, gives energy companies a single workflow to meet those requirements without building internal capability from scratch.

For anyone working in ClimateTech, energy compliance, or satellite-based earth observation, AIRMO is a useful company to follow. The combination of an operational airborne business, a growing client base, and a clear satellite roadmap puts them in a strong position to scale EU Methane Regulation compliance from campaign-level to continuous infrastructure-wide coverage.

This is not another wellness app with loose science behind it. GlycanAge is backed by partnerships with institutions including Harvard, Oxford, Johns Hopkins, Yale, and King’s College London, and its research has been published in journals like Nature Communications and Science Advances.

The Science Behind It:

Glycans are complex sugar molecules and one of life’s four essential building blocks, alongside proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. They coat every cell surface in the human body and are attached to more than half of all human proteins. At GlycanAge, the focus is on a specific group of glycans attached to Immunoglobulin G (IgG), the body’s main protective antibody.

These IgG glycans act as switches that regulate immune activity. In younger, healthier bodies, anti-inflammatory glycans dominate. As a person ages or develops unhealthy habits, the balance shifts toward pro-inflammatory glycans. This shift is measurable, and it reflects what researchers call “inflammaging,” a persistent low-grade chronic inflammation that drives many age-related conditions.

One Biomarker That Stands Out:

There are several ways to measure biological age today. Epigenetic clocks track DNA methylation. Telomere tests measure cellular wear. Metabolomic tests analyze circulating molecules. What sets IgG glycan analysis apart is that it is currently the only biomarker that directly reflects chronic inflammation, which is recognized as one of the 12 hallmarks of aging.

Chronic inflammation also captures the combined influence of genetics, epigenetics, environment, and lifestyle in one measurable signal. That is a meaningful distinction for anyone trying to understand not just how old they are biologically, but why.

How The Test Works:

GlycanAge analyzes a blood sample through a five-step lab process. The team isolates IgG antibodies, releases the attached glycans, labels them with a fluorescent dye, measures each type, and then compares your glycan profile against a large reference database to calculate your biological age.

The result is a number that reflects your immune system’s biological age, which can differ significantly from your chronological age. And importantly, glycan profiles can shift in a matter of months in response to lifestyle changes, meaning the test is not just informational but actionable.

The Team Driving It:

GlycanAge was co-founded by Professor Gordan Lauc and his daughter Nikolina Lauc. Professor Lauc is a globally recognized glycobiology researcher who spent decades establishing the link between glycans and chronic inflammation. Nikolina, serving as CEO, leads the company’s strategy and commercialization, with a focus on translating complex science into a product individuals can actually use.

The company also includes CTO Filip Lauc, who built the digital platform, and a medical advisory board with longevity physicians and researchers such as Professor Tim Spector, a leading microbiome expert, and Professor Ronald Schnaar from Johns Hopkins. The scientific advisory board adds another layer of credibility to a space where it matters most.

Built for Prevention:

GlycanAge’s mission is straightforward. The company wants glycan analysis to become a standard part of preventative HealthCare globally, integrated into clinics and hospitals alongside routine assessments. Their work spans individual consumers, HealthCare providers, and research institutions.

The company is also hosting clinical events, including an upcoming “Inflammaging in Clinical Practice” event hosted within ISABS and Mayo Clinic, designed to help clinicians and researchers turn chronic inflammation data into real-world decisions.

For founders and builders working in the longevity, HealthTech, or diagnostics space, GlycanAge represents a model worth studying. It combines deep scientific credibility, a clear use case, and a product that produces results people can act on. That combination is still rare in health innovation.

If you are exploring biological age testing or looking to understand how glycan science applies to preventative health, GlycanAge is a strong starting point for that research.

A Brand, Reimagined:

Rollei GmbH & Co. KG, the company behind rollei.de, is based in Norderstedt and has operated under this name since 2015. It was formerly known as RCP-Technik GmbH & Co. KG, which had been selling Rollei-branded products under license since 2007.

This Rollei doesn’t manufacture film cameras. It operates as a modern imaging accessories brand, building a product catalog across tripods, LED lights, filters, lenses, and creator gear. It’s also worth knowing that Rollei Analog, which sells film and chemicals, is a completely separate company. So is the Rollei 35AF camera made by MiNT. Three different companies. One name.

Tripods that Travel:

Rollei’s tripod lineup is one of the most developed parts of its catalog. The Rock Solid and Lion Rock Pro series target photographers who need stability without sacrificing portability.

The Lion Rock Pro, for example, ships with a ball head included and is priced at €349 (down from €499). It’s built for landscape and travel photographers who want a professional-grade setup without a professional-grade price.

The Easy Traveler series sits at the lighter end, carbon models aimed at content creators and travel shooters who prioritize pack weight. For smartphone creators, Rollei LED lighting and tripod combos are bundled under the Easy Creator line, which now includes AI tracking quadpods starting at €39.99.

These Rollei tripods cover a wide range, from mini table-top mounts at €18 all the way to full carbon travel rigs, which makes them accessible to hobbyists and working photographers alike.

LED Lighting for Creators:

Rollei camera accessories now include a well-developed lighting segment. The LUX Series and LUMIS Series cover both bi-color and full RGB output, with compact form factors designed for on-location use.

The LUX Compact 40W RGB is a pocket-sized continuous light with full RGB color control, priced at €69. The LUMIS Mini RGB starts at €9.99, making it one of the most affordable RGB lights on the market for content creators and streamers.

For studio work, the HS Freeze X flash series covers everything from on-camera speedlights to battery-powered studio strobes. The HS Freeze 6X studio strobe with built-in battery is listed at €799, positioned as a mid-tier option for professional shooters who need portability.

The Candela series focuses on portable studio setups, and the VIBE series targets video work specifically. Rollei LED lighting is now a core pillar of the product range, not an afterthought.

Lenses Entering the Conversation:

In 2025, Rollei made a notable move: it launched its first branded autofocus lenses. The VAF 85mm f/1.8 for Sony E and Nikon Z mounts was the debut, followed in January 2026 by the VAF 24mm f/1.8 and VAF 35mm f/1.8, completing what Rollei describes as a full prime trio.

Rollei has expanded its VAF autofocus lens series with these two new full-frame prime lenses, designed for mirrorless cameras and available in Sony FE and Nikon Z mounts.

The lenses are competitively priced and target photographers who want modern autofocus performance without paying flagship prices. Rollei has an established collaborative relationship with 7Artisans, the Chinese optics manufacturer behind the VAF lens designs, and the VAF series reflects that partnership. Rollei also separately resells Viltrox-branded lenses through its store.

For filters, the F:X Pro magnetic circular filter system is a consistent seller. The full CPL + ND8 + ND64 + ND1000 set with magnetic base ring is currently listed at €99, down from €199. The 100mm rectangular filter system rounds out the lineup for landscape and long-exposure shooters.

Creator Gear and Smart Home:

Beyond Rollei camera accessories, the brand has expanded into creator-specific tools. The Easy Creator series includes AI-tracking quadpods, selfie monitors, and MagPod all-in-one mounts, all aimed at solo content creators shooting for platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

There’s also a growing smart home and energy category, including smart power sockets, thermostats, and a newly launched Smart Beamer 4K (SB-502) at €79.99. Rollei photography equipment has clearly broadened its definition of what “equipment” means.

What to Keep on Your Radar:

Rollei has teased its upcoming C-Serie tripod line, described as “smarter, more stable, lighter.” Sign-ups for early access are live on rollei.de. It’s a signal that the tripod range, already one of Rollei’s strongest categories, is getting a meaningful refresh in 2026.

The VAF lens lineup is also expanding. With 24mm, 35mm, and 85mm now available, wider and telephoto focal lengths are a logical next step for a brand that has stated it wants to build a full prime system.

For anyone building a creator or photography setup from scratch, Rollei photography equipment offers a wide range at a variety of price points, from entry-level LED lights under €10 to professional studio strobes approaching €800. That range is both a strength and a reason to be specific about what you actually need before browsing.

Founded on Purpose:

SHIFT was started by brothers Carsten and Samuel Waldeck with a straightforward idea: build technology that respects people and the planet. The company operates as a purpose-driven company with no outside investors, meaning no pressure to chase short-term growth at the expense of its model. Their marketing budget is less than 0.1 percent of revenue – a number that rounds to zero on their own balance sheet.

They design and develop products at their headquarters in Falkenberg, northern Hesse, and manufacture in China with a stated focus on fair working conditions.

What Modular Means Here:

Modularity is a word that gets used loosely in hardware. At SHIFT, it means something specific. The SHIFTphone 8 has over 15 user-replaceable components – battery, display, charging port, and more – all accessible with a standard screwdriver. No adhesives. No voiding your warranty if you open it yourself.

SHIFT says this design approach reduces CO2 emissions by up to 40 percent compared to conventional smartphones over the full device lifecycle. That figure covers the use phase, not just manufacturing.

The SHIFTphone 8 is also the first modular, repairable smartphone to achieve IP66 dust and high-pressure water resistance, Bundespreis-ecodesign, which addresses a longstanding criticism that modular phones are fragile or hard to weatherproof. That combination earned it the IFA 2025 Innovation Award in the Best in Sustainability Tech category.

Privacy Built into Hardware:

Software-level privacy tools are useful. Hardware kill switches are more direct. The SHIFTphone 8 includes physical switches that fully disconnect the camera and microphone at the hardware level – not just muted in software, but cut from the circuit entirely.

The phone ships with ShiftOS, SHIFT’s own Android-based operating system. It also supports custom ROMs, including PostmarketOS, giving developers and privacy-focused users full control over their software stack. A partnership with Murena launched in September 2025 brings a deGoogled version running /e/OS – a fully open-source Android fork with no Google services or tracking built in. By 2025, nearly 100,000 people will be using /e/OS to protect their private data from Big Tech surveillance.

This hardware-software combination puts the SHIFTphone 8 in a distinct category from both mainstream Android phones and other privacy-first alternatives like the Purism Librem 5.

The Product Range:

Smartphones are the core, but SHIFT has expanded the lineup significantly. The SHIFTbook is a modular, detachable notebook powered by an Intel Tiger Lake processor, with swappable M.2 SSD modules and a replaceable mainboard. The SHIFTbook 2, currently in crowdfunding, upgrades the internals to an Intel Ultra Core 7.

The SHIFTsound SP is a Bluetooth speaker made from 90 percent recycled materials with 10 user-serviceable parts. The SHIFTsound BNO is a modular over-ear headphone with noise cancelling and over 30 hours of battery life – with user-replaceable batteries.

There is also a SHIFTbike, an e-mountain bike with a 120 Nm mid-drive motor and a 900 Wh battery, extending the modular repair ethos into electric mobility.

Recognition and Traction:

SHIFT has won the German Sustainability Award, the Bundespreis Ecodesign 2025, and the IFA 2025 Innovation Award. The SHIFTphone 8 pre-orders set a company record before launch – a concrete sign that demand for repairable, privacy-respecting devices is growing beyond a niche audience.

SHIFT guarantees spare parts and repair availability for 5 years after purchase, Murena, and offers a device deposit program where users can return their old phone for a refund plus residual value. SHIFT then refurbishes it or repurposes working modules. That circular loop is rare in consumer electronics.

What to Explore Next:

If you’re evaluating the SHIFTphone 8 as a daily driver, the modular smartphone comparison between it, the Fairphone 5, and the Murena SHIFTphone 8 version is a useful research path. Developers interested in the software side should look at SHIFT’s ShiftOS documentation and the PostmarketOS compatibility page. For businesses, SHIFT has a dedicated B2B program worth reviewing if sustainable procurement is on your agenda.

The broader direction SHIFT is building toward is what they call “universal computing” – a model where the smartphone handles all processing, and other devices like monitors and smartwatches act only as displays. That is still early-stage, but it is the clearest signal of where the product roadmap is heading.

The Vilnius-based startup connects professional kitchens directly with verified food suppliers on a single platform. The platform consolidates supplier catalogues, ordering, payments, and logistics into one interface, available through both a browser and mobile app. That means a chef can browse products, compare supplier prices, place an order, and track delivery without leaving the platform.

Founded by Marketplace Veterans:

Saltz was founded in 2022 by Tomas Šlimas, Andrius Šlimas, and Reinis Strodahs. Tomas and Andrius previously built Oberlo, the drop shipping service that was acquired by Shopify. That background matters. Building a B2B marketplace at global scale requires deep knowledge of supplier relationships, logistics coordination, and cross-border payment infrastructure, all areas where the founding team already had hands-on experience.

Co-founder Andrius Šlimas put it directly: restaurants and suppliers still rely heavily on intermediaries, which wastes time and pushes margins up. Saltz is focused on building a transparent, simple marketplace that connects chefs directly with suppliers across Europe and beyond.

A €20 Million Series A Round:

The Series A round was supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inovo.vc, Lifeline Ventures, and Change Ventures, with participation from Mantas Mikuckas (co-founder of Vinted), Miki Kuusi (founder of Wolt), several Shopify executives, and other strategic angels.

That investor lineup reflects real confidence from people who have built category-defining marketplaces before. Wolt transformed food delivery logistics across Europe. Vinted reshaped secondhand retail. Having founders of those companies back Saltz.app points to the size of the opportunity the team is targeting in the food supply sector.

Operating Across 20 Countries:

Saltz currently operates in 20 countries, providing chefs with access to a range of fresh and frozen meat and seafood products. That geographic footprint, built before this funding round, reflects solid early traction for a startup founded just three years ago.

Early restaurant and hotel clients have included Hilton, Marriott, and several independent dining groups. Signing enterprise hospitality clients at the seed stage is a strong signal of product-market fit in a category where trust and reliability are non-negotiable.

How Saltz Approaches Food Procurement:

The core problem Saltz targets is fragmentation. Restaurants often rely on multiple distributors, deal with hidden pricing, and use manual ordering processes. Suppliers also struggle to reach customers efficiently or provide additional services such as payment terms and logistics.

Saltz.app addresses both sides of that equation. On the buyer side, chefs get a single platform with verified supplier catalogues and transparent pricing. On the supplier side, they get direct access to professional kitchens across Europe without depending on regional intermediaries. This type of B2B food procurement model has worked well in adjacent categories, and Saltz is applying it specifically to fresh and specialty food distribution.

Plans for the New Funding:

With this funding, Saltz plans to accelerate expansion across Europe, invest in cross-border food trade technology, and grow its team by over 100 people by the end of 2026. Hiring will span engineering, product, sales, and operations.

The focus on cross-border infrastructure is worth noting. Moving food across European borders involves currency differences, regulatory requirements, and cold chain logistics. Building technology that handles those layers cleanly is a real technical challenge, and it is the kind of infrastructure that, once built, becomes hard for competitors to replicate quickly.

The Bigger Picture for RestaurantTech:

The restaurant industry has seen digital tools move into areas like reservations, point-of-sale systems, and delivery apps. The procurement side of the business has lagged. Most food sourcing for professional kitchens is still highly manual, especially for fresh and specialty products like meat and seafood.

Platforms like Saltz.app that address restaurant supplier relationships are becoming a growing category in FoodTech. For startup operators and investors tracking where B2B marketplace infrastructure is still underdeveloped, food distribution in Europe is one of the clearest remaining gaps. You can explore other funded B2B marketplace startups making moves in Europe for broader context on this trend.

Saltz.app is now one of the better-funded players in that space, with a team that has marketplace-building experience, institutional and strategic investors behind it, and a live product already operating across 20 markets. The Series A gives it the resources to move from regional traction to continental infrastructure.