Circeus closes equity funding led by EBRD with support from QED Investors
Circeus, the AI-native holding company formed from the group behind Shop Circle, has closed a growth equity round led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the company announced. The equity injection is intended to scale a central AI engineering capability and fund further acquisitions of vertical software businesses, a strategy Circeus says turns AI into an operational platform across its portfolio.
Why it matters
Circeus is positioning itself not as a single product but as a platform operator that buys and integrates vertical software businesses, then embeds shared AI capabilities across them. That approach aims to convert standalone software products into what the company calls systems of action, automating workflows and reusing data and models across acquired assets. For investors and buyers of B2B software, a repeatable acquisition-plus-AI playbook could change the cost and speed of product improvement and post-acquisition performance.
The size of the round, and the involvement of a multilateral institution such as the EBRD, signals growing institutional appetite for AI-led consolidation in essential business software, at a time when enterprise AI adoption remains patchy across Europe and the US.
Inside the product
Circeus says it has completed 18 acquisitions in four years and serves more than 200,000 businesses worldwide through divisions including Shop Circle, its retail and commerce software arm. Its operating model rests on a central engineering team that builds agentic workflows and reusable "skills" once, then deploys them across portfolio companies.
The group reports consistent, portfolio-level outcomes from that approach, including:
- double-digit share of net new bookings attributed to AI-enabled features;
- up to about 80% customer experience automation in some products;
- more than 100% improvements in developer productivity through AI-assisted workflows.
Circeus frames these metrics as evidence that embedding AI across multiple vertical products creates compounding improvements in product performance and post-acquisition EBITDA, rather than isolated pilot successes.
Who are the investors?
The round is led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with participation from other investors. Circeus also cited existing backers that have taken part in prior financings or support the group, including NFX, QED Investors, Nextalia, 645 Ventures, 3VC and CDP Venture Capital. In addition, the group has previously secured a credit facility of more than £75.8m from i80 Group.
The company says the new equity commitment is intended to accelerate the deployment of its central AI capability and to fund further acquisitions of vertical software businesses that power commerce and specialist industries.
In the announcement, Bruno Lusic, Investor at EBRD, said:
We are backing a team bringing AI to the essential software that businesses across our regions rely on every day, and Circeus’s compounding model aligns closely with EBRD’s long-term mandate. The market for bringing AI to the real economy is enormous, and we look forward to supporting Circeus, alongside a strong group of investors, across the journey.
If you're researching potential backers in this space:
- Explore our list of AI venture capital firms in the UK
- Browse our directory of AI angel investors in the UK
Founder perspective
In public comments, Circeus leaders framed the raise as strategic rather than necessary for liquidity, and as validation of a long-term platform approach.
In the announcement, Luca Cartechini, Founder and CEO of Circeus, said:
As AI evolves software from passive tools into systems that act and execute, the addressable market for technology is expanding several-fold. We are building the platform to capture this shift. We were not running a fundraising process, as we are profitable and well capitalised, but we chose to make space for EBRD given their institutional standing and to lean further into a market that presents several attractive opportunities.
In the announcement, Gian Maria Gramondi, Founder and COO of Circeus, said:
Across different businesses, we have proven that evolving a product into its AI-native form can drive a step-change in the market it can address. The hard part is doing this repeatedly, and that is what we have built: a central engineering capability that turns each transformation into the foundation for the next.
In the announcement, Robin Hardt, CFO of Circeus, said:
We have raised more than £166.7m ($220m) of total capital to date and have substantial firepower to deploy in a highly attractive acquisition environment, with several acquisitions expected to complete over the coming months. Deal after deal, we are proving a repeatable operating model capable of generating EBITDA uplift and strong returns on the assets we acquire and operate.
The bigger picture
Circeus is betting that the next wave of enterprise software value will come from products that execute work rather than merely record it, by combining domain-specific workflows, proprietary data and shared AI agents. The company points to low baseline adoption—Eurostat and US surveys show roughly one in five enterprises reporting AI use—as evidence that there is room for growth if AI can be embedded into everyday business software.
For the UK and Europe, the deal is notable for pairing institutional capital with an acquisitive, AI-first operating model targeting vertical software. If Circeus can replicate improvements in bookings, automation and developer productivity across multiple acquisitions, it could set a template for how AI is industrialised in the real economy. The involvement of the EBRD also underscores how development and institutional investors are engaging with commercially driven AI deployment across markets in and beyond Europe.
Circeus operates from London, Milan and Sarajevo, and its progress will be one to watch for anyone tracking consolidation, AI adoption and the future of vertical software in the UK and European tech ecosystem.
They've invested in Circeus
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