Newsletter - May 2026

Welcome to the 27th edition of the AFI Ventures’ newsletter.

As a reminder, AFI Ventures (fund managed by Ventech) is an impact VC fund that invests in pre-seed/seed startups with a strong environmental and social ambition, producing a systemic change. We invest once a month in France & Europe tickets ranging from €250K to €500K.

Each month in this newsletter, you’ll find:

1. 🔍 A focus or key resources on an impact-related theme

2. 📰 Our Top must-read articles on the impact ecosystem

3. 🌱 Even more news from the AFI: portfolio updates, and (new) where we’ve been spotted (at events) & where you can catch us next, plus a job board featuring open roles at our amazing startups.

More insights, more opportunities, more ways to connect. Let’s dive in! 💚

We're thrilled to spotlight NEX Health Intelligence, our newest investment at the intersection of AI and hospital infection control, one of healthcare's most critical and underserved operational challenges.

Healthcare-associated infections affect 1 in 10 hospital patients in Europe, while antimicrobial resistance is projected to cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050. Yet most hospitals still manage infection risk reactively, with fragmented systems and manual workflows. The status quo, best represented by legacy tools like ICNet, offers basic case queues and simple dashboards. No prediction. No network analysis. No AI.

NEX is building the first generation of proactive infection intelligence, developed from research at Imperial College London and validated on over 90,000 patients.

The tech take

The platform integrates microbiology data, patient movement, antibiotic prescriptions, genomics, and clinical notes into a continuously updating network view of infection risk across the hospital.

The core technical differentiator is Graph-based Machine Learning (GML) — a fundamentally different approach from the tabular methods used by legacy players. Rather than assessing individual patient risk in isolation, NEX models the hospital as a dynamic network: it captures how infections actually propagate through temporal contact patterns between patients and wards, enabling contextual risk assessment at patient, bay, and ward level. This is how NEX can predict where the next infection will likely appear, not just flag what already happened.

The platform also integrates genomic surveillance directly into hospital workflows — a first in the market — enabling molecular-level strain identification to support outbreak containment. And it deploys LLMs to process unstructured clinical notes, detecting infections with 99.98% sensitivity from textual reports and automating what currently takes more than one full-time nurse per hospital.

Three concrete layers of operations

Surveillance — a central workspace for infection prevention workflows, automating bloodstream infection tracking, MDRO colonisation monitoring, contact tracing, and compliance reporting.

Infection Intelligence — AI-assisted identification of who is most at risk, where to focus attention, and when to act, including risk-based MDRO screening and patient, bay, and ward-level risk visibility.

Outbreak Intelligence — AI-assisted cluster detection, transmission network construction, and patient movement analysis to support faster outbreak containment.

The results from early pilots are compelling: up to 68% reduction in active surveillance testing required, 85% of MDROs detected before hospital screening policy triggers, 44% increase in screening compliance within 4 months, and 87% reduction in time required for case review. At one dollar invested, the OECD estimates infection prevention generates a 7x ROI — making the business case for hospitals structurally strong.

📥 If you’re a hospital / health corporates representatives and want to be in touch with the founder, please send us an email at sarah@afi.ventures

One year after Spain and Portugal's historic blackout, investigations confirm the outage was multifactorial — Spain has since deployed 14.5 GW of voltage-controlled assets including 6 GW of renewables, but the "reinforced operation" regime has already cost €711M, said PV Magazine.

BNEF's New Energy Outlook 2026 finds that successive energy shocks — Covid, Ukraine, Iran — are accelerating the energy transition, with solar set to become the world's largest electricity source within six years as countries race to cut fossil fuel dependency, said BloombergNEF.

The IEA described the Iran conflict as the world facing its biggest-ever energy crisis — but experts argue such shocks historically accelerate clean energy deployment as energy security tops the policy agenda, said World Economic Forum.

G7 trade ministers met in Paris on May 6 to align on critical mineral supply chains dominated by China, but fresh US tariff threats against EU cars risked fracturing the coalition before agreement, said Reuters.

High energy prices could derail Europe's AI race with the US and China — European electricity costs are 50% higher than in the US, and data centers now consume 2% of the world's electricity, putting Europe at a structural disadvantage in the AI infrastructure race, said CNBC.

Critical minerals need more than capital to become investable — rising demand is not translating into scaled investment as long as project risks, long timelines, and uncertain revenues remain hard to underwrite without targeted de-risking instruments, said World Economic Forum.

The US has completed final deliveries for the central solenoid magnet at ITER — the 18-meter, 3,000-tonne magnetic system, 15 years in development, brings the world's largest fusion reactor a step closer to first plasma, now expected in 2033–2034, said Génération NT.

Nvidia's venture fund NVentures has invested in French quantum startup Alice & Bob — announced on May 22 alongside Macron's pledge of an additional €1B for France's quantum plan, and the US government's $2B commitment to nine American quantum companies, said Les Echos.

French airlines are finally turning to sustainable aviation fuels to reduce their dependence on kerosene — the Iran-driven 70% surge in jet fuel prices is forcing the shift, but SAF still costs 3–4x conventional fuel and France produces almost none, said Le Monde.

Fitness wearable Whoop announced on May 8 it will offer on-demand clinician access to US users — marking a significant step toward making preventive health monitoring actionable beyond the device itself, said CNBC.

The EU AI Act's high-risk compliance deadline in August 2026 is forcing European universities to overhaul how they deploy AI — tools used for student assessment or academic monitoring now require transparency and human oversight that most current platforms don't meet, said Pursuit.

Eli Lilly is extending its partnership with Insilico Medicine to identify drug targets and design molecules via AI, as Novo Nordisk deploys OpenAI across its entire R&D and manufacturing pipeline — signaling AI is shifting from pilot to infrastructure across Big Pharma, said Full Intel.

We are thrilled to announce our investment in NEX Health Intelligence, an AI-powered infection intelligence platform helping hospitals detect and prevent healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance. The round of over €1M was led by Brighteye Ventures, with participation from AFI Ventures, Momentous, and the Conception X Angel Syndicate. Learn more

vorteX-io closes a €8.5M Series A led by Seventure Partners and daphni, with participation from Banque des Territoires and existing investors including AFI Ventures — to accelerate deployment of its hydrological monitoring infrastructure across France and internationally. Learn more

Co-Reactive officially opened its demonstration plant this month, marking the transition from lab to continuous industrial operation — turning CO₂ and mineral by-products into carbon-negative construction materials at scale. Learn more

Estuaire announced a partnership with Jackson Hole Airport, the only US commercial airport inside a national park, to monitor flight emissions with precise LTO and full in-flight non-CO₂ data based on actual engine types and real trajectories. Learn more

Nova Carbon announced that its recycled carbon fiber materials are now integrated into real marine applications by nlcomp — including a custom skipper seat for Vendée Globe finisher Stéphane Le Diraison. Learn more

Prolong announced a partnership with Messika Paris, deploying its platform across 200+ boutiques and workshops worldwide to orchestrate repair, personalization, and service journeys for the luxury jewelry maison. Learn more

SpotLight Earth joined the Centre for Geophysical Forecasting at NTNU as an industry partner, collaborating with Aker BP, Equinor, and NORSAR on cost-effective seismic monitoring for CO₂ storage sites. Learn more

Sirona Technologies unveiled Project Furu, its first European DAC+S project in Norway — powered by Norwegian hydro, storing CO₂ via the Northern Lights terminal, with credits already available and CRCF eligibility in sight. Learn more

Special mentions to Stokelp, Co-Reactive, Ed.ai, Blify and Paladin currently on a strong hiring ramp with multiple roles open. More than 50 open roles this month!

👉 Job board accessible here

Don’t hesitate to reach out to the teams to unlock great opportunities.

• Climate Drinks – May 5, 2026, Paris 🌿 AFI Ventures co-hosted an intimate evening with Contrarian Ventures and Hexa, bringing together climate founders and investors. Despite the Paris weather, the whole team was there and the room was packed.

• Paris Apéro with Voyager & Daphni – May 19, 2026, Paris 🥂 A curated evening for founders and investors in Paris. Sarah attended to connect with the broader VC and startup ecosystem.

• Deep Tech Momentum – May 20–21, 2026, Berlin 🔬 Europe's #1 deep tech marketplace, gathering 3,000+ corporate leaders, investors, and founders across energy, defence, advanced materials, space, and AI. Constantin attended to meet deep tech founders and explore dealflow across frontier sectors.

• Paris-Saclay Spring – June 2, 2026, Paris ⚙️ A one-day event giving investors and companies privileged access to researchers, pre-maturation projects, startups, and industrials from Europe's largest deeptech cluster. Axel will be there.

• HEC Speed Dating DeepTech/VC – June 9, 2026, Paris 🎓 The 6th edition of the HEC DeepTech/VC speed dating, connecting founders and investors from the HEC ecosystem. Constantin will be there.

• VivaTech – June 17–19, 2026, Paris 🚀 Europe's biggest tech and innovation event, bringing together startups, investors, and corporates from around the world. The whole AFI team will be there!

🗣️ Feel free to reach out if you’d like to connect onsite!

• Charles Fourault - charles@afi.ventures

• Constantin de Chaudenay - constantin@afi.ventures

• Sarah Laznowski - sarah@afi.ventures

• Axel Chaumel - axel@afi.ventures

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re an impact entrepreneur or just interested in any of these topics. 🍃