Investor insights: April 2026 portfolio updates

April was a busy month across the portfolio, with companies announcing new partnerships, product launches, conference appearances, and continued market expansion. Teams kept moving, from European capitals to Chicago and Tokyo.

Here's a snapshot of what's been happening. 🚀

Adastec

Adastec had an active month on the autonomous mobility front. The company announced that its Level-4 automated driving software will power MAN Truck & Bus's electric Lion's City 12 E bus as part of the MINGA research project in Munich, funded with approximately €13 million by Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport. Testing is ongoing at MAN's facilities ahead of deployment on a designated route in the city's public transport network.

In Stavanger, Norway, a Karsan Autonomous e-ATAK bus running on Adastec's platform received approval to operate without a safety driver - a first for autonomous public transport - and is now carrying passengers on a 10 km route between the hospital and the university. The system was also validated in winter conditions at the Sälen ski resort in Sweden, operating across a 4.8 km route in low temperatures and dense pedestrian traffic.

Alcatraz AI

Alcatraz AI published findings from a new survey on workplace access and biometric authentication. Key findings include that nearly one in three employees (30%) would prefer to use biometrics instead of traditional badge-based access, and that 46% of employed U.S. adults expect biometrics to replace most security requirements within the next five to ten years. The survey also identified a generational divide, with 72% of Gen Z respondents reporting comfort with biometric authentication compared to 54% of Boomers. The data reflects growing mainstream acceptance of the technology that underpins Alcatraz's platform.

Ambr AI

Ambr AI announced the launch of a redesigned website, reflecting the company's growth and the evolution of its platform and offering. The team described the new site as intentionally quieter than what might be expected from an AI company, in line with Ambr AI's positioning: technology that improves human-to-human communication rather than replacing it.

Bright Spaces

Bright Spaces introduced Archie, described as the first agentic, conversational space planning tool. Archie allows users to speak directly to a space and see it respond in real time navigating, modifying, and redefining it within the same environment. The launch marks a shift in how space planning works, moving from static outputs reviewed after the fact to a live, interactive environment where decisions can be shaped in the moment.

dotLumen

dotLumen published a detailed update on the first half of its national testing roadshow across Romania, covering 27 cities and more than 400 live demonstrations over five weeks. The roadshow brought the .lumen glasses to people between the ages of 8 and 91, gathering direct feedback on the device's performance across different user groups and environments. The company shared candid reflections on what worked, what requires further development, and the recurring themes that emerged, including the importance of crosswalk guidance and the need for a real adaptation period with haptic feedback.

Dronamics

Dronamics announced its entry into Japan, alongside a strategic investment from Asia Air Survey, a company with operations in more than 30 countries and a long track record in geospatial innovation. As part of the move, Dronamics is establishing a local subsidiary, Dronamics Japan Holdings Co., Ltd. The two companies plan to collaborate on integrating Dronamics' Black Swan unmanned aircraft platform into aerial surveying, disaster prevention, and civil protection applications. Asia Air Survey becomes the first Japanese backer of Dronamics.

Druid AI

Druid AI announced a partnership with the American University of Antigua College of Medicine (AUA) to deploy AI-powered agents across student recruitment, admissions, and retention. AUA becomes the first medical higher education institution to adopt Druid AI's enterprise platform. Deployments will include a proactive outbound agent engaging prospective students via WhatsApp, text, email, and chat, as well as a student success tool that identifies enrolled students who may be at academic risk and connects them with advisors. The deal moved from first conversation to signed contract in 45 days and integrates with AUA's existing Salesforce and Vonage systems.

Finqware

Finqware announced a strategic partnership with Ebury, integrating Ebury's multi-currency accounts and payment capabilities directly into the FinqTreasury platform. The integration is designed to reduce time spent on manual treasury operations, like reconciliations, account statement management, and payment execution, by up to 90%. The platform provides a single dashboard aggregating real-time cash positions, removing dependency on next-day account statements and fragmented banking data.

FlowX.AI

FlowX.AI announced a formal partnership with NTT DATA to bring agentic AI into mission-critical operations across banking, insurance, and logistics. FlowX.AI contributes the platform and production-ready agentic foundation; NTT DATA brings system integration strength and enterprise transformation capabilities. The partnership targets measurable outcomes in areas such as mortgage document validation, commercial lending preparation, freight invoice reconciliation, and insurance claims processing — workflows where the gap between AI pilots and actual production deployment remains significant.

Income Marketplace

Income Marketplace welcomed two new lending partners to its platform in April. Mocasa, a Philippine fintech founded in 2021 with over 200,000 active users, is now offering business loans on Income with yields of 12–13% per year and expected maturities of 1–3 months. Pinjam Yuk (PT Kuaikuai Tech Indonesia), an Indonesian fintech licensed by the OJK and backed by global tech-fin group Surfin, is offering instalment loans with a yield of 15% per year and expected maturities of 94 days. Both additions expand Income's exposure to Southeast Asian markets.

inHeart

inHeart was present at two major cardiology conferences in April. At EHRA26 in Paris (April 11–14), the company showcased its advanced 3D cardiac imaging technology at Booth E400, with a dedicated session on imaging-guided ablation of ventricular arrhythmias drawing significant attendance. Later in the month, inHeart exhibited at HRS26 in Chicago at Booth #528, reconnecting with physician partners and contributing to presentations on cardiac arrhythmia treatment. The company closed out HRS26 noting strong engagement and is already looking ahead to HRS27 in San Francisco.

KFactory

KFactory participated in two industry events in April. On April 21, Vlad Cazan, the company's co-founder, attended the DeepTech Romania Forum at Cotroceni Palace, where Techcelerator officially launched Vanguard, the first integrated accelerator in South-East Europe focused on DeepTech, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure resilience, held in the presence of the President of Romania. KFactory also served as a sponsor of the Confederation of British Metalforming's Annual Dinner & Awards in Birmingham, where it was present alongside representatives from across the UK manufacturing community.

Kinderpedia

Kinderpedia's co-founder Daniel Rogoz was invited to the European Commission in Brussels for the High-level European EdTech Dialogue, alongside 14 EdTech founders from across Europe. The meeting was convened by Executive Vice-Presidents Roxana Mînzatu and Henna Virkkunen as part of shaping the EU's 2030 Digital Education Roadmap. Kinderpedia's message focused on the need for coherent, GDPR-compliant European platforms in public education systems, and the risks of short-term "free" solutions that create long-term dependency on non-European providers.

Mewery

Mewery's founder Roman Laus was named a finalist of the Creative Heroes Award Czech Republic 2026 in the 1:1,000,000,000 impact category recognizing ideas with the potential to make a meaningful difference for up to a billion people. The recognition reflects Mewery's positioning in sustainable protein production through cultivated meat technology.

QuarkXR

QuarkXR shared two product updates in April. The company expanded its 3D viewer with collaboration features, including annotations, measurements, bookmarks, guided tours, and shareable links, moving the tool from a visualization layer toward a shared working environment for teams. In a separate update, QuarkXR announced that NVIDIA Omniverse applications can now be streamed to VR headsets directly through the browser, without requiring additional client installations.

Swisspod

Swisspod's CEO Denis Tudor joined a Rockefeller Capital Management panel in Palo Alto, where the company shared progress on its AI-powered, self-driving hyperloop pods. The presentation covered the state of development of ultra-fast, safe, and sustainable transport technology, and explored how AI is becoming the operating system of the physical world.

SWIPE

SWIPE opened its eighth store in Bulgaria, at Paradise Center, described as the most developed mall in the country. The opening marks continued expansion of the company's retail network, which started in 2021 as an online marketplace with a single service partner.

Yarooms

Yarooms launched the YAROOMS MCP server, enabling AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT to connect directly to the YAROOMS platform and perform workplace management actions: booking rooms and desks, checking availability, setting work status, registering visitors, finding colleagues, and approving or rejecting booking requests, through natural language, without switching applications. The integration uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard for connecting AI agents to external tools and data sources.