Scale Capital

The MQS journey started around a kitchen table in a shared flat, with Mark writing quantum chemistry code. It almost sounds like a different reality, just before Covid, when few people had heard the term "WFH" and meetings happened in person by default. And importantly, there were no AI agents around that kitchen table 🤖 For our latest founder spotlight, we spoke with Mark Nicholas Jones, co-founder of Molecular Quantum Solutions (MQS), about building a deep tech company and getting ready for the day quantum computers are good enough to take over its calculations. He also talks about a habit of figuring things out yourself, which goes back much further than MQS. As a teenager, Mark got hooked on Linux and on the idea of not depending on anyone else's systems. Today that same instinct shows in how MQS runs, on European infrastructure right down to its internal tools. ➡ Swipe through for a few highlights, and read the full interview on our website via the link in the comments.

Today, Lars Jensen writes in Dagens Industri about who ends up owning Europe's defence technology. Sweden is in its biggest defence build-up since the Cold War, and a lot of what Europe will rely on is being built by European companies. The money behind them is often American, though, and we saw the same thing happen in cloud and enterprise software, where Europeans built it, and American investors ended up owning it. We believe ownership belongs where the technology gets built, which is particularly important for industries like defence and security. That means European funds and institutional investors have to write the cheques 🇪🇺

August roundup is here 💫 All Gravy and Bsure were both named on this year's Sifted 100 Nordics among the fastest-growing startups and scaleups in the region. 👉🏾 Swipe through for more updates from Sonair, Sparrow Quantum, ARX Robotics and Blykalla.

We have invested in INLEAP Photonics GmbH. The €20M round was led by UVC Partners, with participation from HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds, Balnord and Sentris Capital. INLEAP is a German company building lasers that neutralise drones in under a second, without any ammunition. Drones have made attack cheap and defence expensive, and it is no longer only a battlefield problem. Airports, energy facilities and military bases all need protecting, and the missiles and rounds fired at drones can cost many times more than the drone itself. The system is built around an eye-safe beam, so it can be used in civilian environments and not only in a military conflict zone. Spun out of Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) in 2023, INLEAP is already working with the German Federal Ministry of Defence and the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub, with its technology being integrated into STARK's unmanned platforms. We're glad to be backing Marius Lammers, Felix Wellmann, Katharina Haas and the team. Read more via the link in comments 🇪🇺

We almost did it. The mandatory wrap-up-style TechBBQ post. The stage photos, the selfies, a line about the amazing energy and the many great conversations, and a healthy handful of tags. It’s the default and it works, so it’s the go-to for good reason. But you've seen these posts at least 143 times since last week, so we’ll do it just a little bit differently (some might say it’s just laziness from the person creating this post). The biggest thing for us was spending the week together as a team in Copenhagen. From the DHL Run on Monday through TechBBQ with all of its beautiful madness and side events. Having everyone in one place, we got the excellent Mads Joakim Rimer in for a photo shoot – the team photo here is a first look at the results. And because we couldn't resist entirely, the rest of the week (the stage time, the run, our side events, the people we got to spend the week with) is in the GIF below 🎞️

The case for building Europe’s critical technologies has never been stronger. And next week, when many of the people backing and building these technologies are all in our backyard at TechBBQ, the whole Scale team will of course be there. You’ll find Lars Jensen, Joachim Schelde, Terkel Douglas, Alexander Bangsund, Vika Marszalek, Boje Thosti and Frederik Barsøe at the conference and in Copenhagen throughout the week. At 2pm on 26 August, Lars is on the main stage panel “Continental Conviction and the VC case for Europe’s critical decade”, alongside Madelene Larsson (Giant Ventures), Oliver Holle (Speedinvest) and Matthieu Vallin (BREEGA). It’ll be a conversation on where Europe’s next category leaders are emerging and what it takes to back them early. And on Day 0, we’re hosting our annual investor breakfast at Soho House, this time with our good friends from Sandwater. We’re also hosting our Europe First founder dinner with DTCP, bringing together founders working across defence, AI, robotics, quantum and critical infrastructure. Safe to say we’re excited for what we know will be a busy, fun and inspiring week. If you’re at TechBBQ, or just in Copenhagen, come find the team! 🇪🇺🤝

As we’re increasing our efforts across Northern Europe, we’re now looking for Investment Analysts in Stockholm and Munich 🇸🇪🇩🇪 We can promise that you’ll get close to the action. That means sourcing founders, mapping emerging markets, meeting ambitious teams, and helping us identify the technologies that matter for Europe’s future. We’re a small team with high standards and low egos, and we’re looking for someone proactive and genuinely interested in what's next. You don't need VC experience, but you do need initiative, sharp thinking, and an appetite for learning. As an Investment Analyst, you’ll be part of a team investing in companies building critical technologies – from advanced computing to robotics, energy and defence. Does it sound like you? Or do you know someone who should see this? Full role and how to apply 🔗 Stockholm: https://lnkd.in/eVwFb2mQ 🔗 Munich: https://lnkd.in/eB8r-X_y

“Europe's security depends on our tech companies” 🛡️🇪🇺 Our founding partner, Lars Jensen, wrote in Børsen over the weekend on defence technology, physical AI, capital, and who ends up owning Europe's security. Venture funding into European defence, security and resilience grew 55% last year, against 16% for the broader market, according to a report from Dealroom.co and NATO Innovation Fund (NIF). But when Helsing and STARK raised earlier this year, American funds led the rounds. "If the companies that deliver Europe's satellites and unmanned systems end up under foreign control, we will have used our own money to make ourselves dependent again," Lars writes in the piece. It’s worth noting, however, that we saw early signs last week that European capital is stepping up. The EU's new Scaleup Europe Fund made its first investment as it co-led ICEYE's €1bn round along with the American fund General Atlantic. If you want to read the full Børsen piece in Danish, there’s a link in the comments 🔗

Europe is currently living through a horrifying summer of wildfires, with drought and heat forcing evacuations across the south. The warming climate is also driving heavier rainfall, and flooding is becoming one of the continent’s most threatening climate risks. For our latest Founder Spotlight, we spoke with Helge Jørgensen, co-founder and CEO of 7Analytics. His starting point is that most urban flood models are built around property lines or cropped datasets rather than the full hydrological system, and water doesn’t follow those boundaries. So he set out to model flood risk the way water actually moves, down to the level of a single building. In the interview, Helge talks about building from Bergen, expanding into the US, and why he sees climate resilience belonging in the same conversation as defence and AI. 👉🏾 Swipe through for a couple of highlights, and read the full interview on our website via the link in the comments.

Your “read later” list is probably at its shortest all year. Which makes summer the perfect time to catch up on ‘The Quarterly | Summer 2026’ — now in your inbox. 📩 Q2 was anything but quiet. Europe accelerated its focus on resilience, defence, AI and critical technologies, while our portfolio kept building through it all. In this edition: 📌 Joachim Schelde shares why we invested in Six Robotics and what it says about the next chapter of European defence innovation. 📌 Portfolio updates recap from the quarter, such as Sparrow Quantum welcoming Anne Marie Engtoft Meldgaard as Chief Commercial Officer. 📌 A warm welcome to Alexander Bangsund, who joined Scale Capital as an Oslo-based Analyst. 📌 Highlights from the events, such as Mesh Community and The Foundry. 📌 More interesting reads, including Lars Jensen’s opinion piece in Børsen and his new Rewiring Europe column at our Substack. Whether you’re interested in venture, defence, AI or Europe’s industrial future, there’s plenty to dive into. 🔗 Happy summer reading — and if you’re not subscribed yet, now’s a good time to change that (link in comments).