The group behind Shop Circle will launch Circeus as a holding company brand with the support of a new equity investment from the EBRD. Shop Circle will continue as the group’s retail and commerce software division. This investment will accelerate the deployment of AI across our portfolio and fund our continued acquisitions of software businesses that power our everyday economy.
LONDON, June 29, 2026 (Globe Newswire) — Circeusan AI-native holding company for mission-critical software, today announced its formation with an equity investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with the participation of other investors.
The announcement introduces Circeus as the group’s holding company brand, reflecting the extensive B2B software portfolio it currently operates with AI embedded across the group. This investment will help expand the group’s core AI engineering capabilities and support continued acquisitions.
AI native holding company
Circeus has completed 18 acquisitions in the past four years and serves more than 200,000 businesses worldwide. The group is expanding profitably, making more money this year than the previous two years combined, and expects to complete further acquisitions in the coming months.
From strategy to results
Over the past three years, AI has moved from experimentation to large-scale deployment across the portfolio. Now this is showing up in performance.
- Double-digit share of net new bookings with AI-enabled features
- Automate up to 80% of the customer experience across several products
- AI-assisted workflows increase developer productivity by more than 100%
These results are consistent across multiple businesses and represent a repeatable model for improving product performance, operational efficiency, and post-acquisition EBITDA, rather than isolated successes.
Composite model using AI as an operating system
Circeus grows through repeatable models. This means selectively acquiring software businesses and connecting them to a central AI capability by building agents and skills once and deploying them across the portfolio. Following the acquisition, Circeus will embed AI into its products, automate operations and reuse infrastructure, data and insights across the group.
Each improvement adds up to create structural benefits that are difficult to replicate in a standalone software business. AI is not a layer added on top of each product. It is the group’s operating system, moving software from a system of record to a system of action, turning tasks into results.
Founder’s permanent residence
Founders who sell to Circeus get a permanent home for their business. The brand, team and customer relationships will be maintained, while the group brings AI engineering, growth expertise and centralized back-office support.
what they said
“As AI evolves software from passive tools to systems that operate and execute, the addressable technology market is expanding several times. We are building a platform to capture this change. We have not undertaken a financing process as we are profitable and well capitalized, but we have chosen to hold space for the EBRD given our institutional position and lean further into markets that offer some attractive opportunities,” he said. Luca Cartechini, Founder and CEO of Circeus.
“Across businesses, we’ve proven that evolving products to be AI-native can drive significant change in the markets they serve. The challenge is doing it iteratively, and that’s what we’ve built: a central engineering function that turns each transformation into the foundation for the next.” Gian Maria Grammondi, Founder and COO of Circeus.
“With more than $220 million in total capital raised to date, we are well positioned to deploy in a highly attractive acquisition environment, with several transactions expected to close in the coming months. With each transaction, we are demonstrating a repeatable operating model that delivers EBITDA growth and strong returns across the assets we acquire and manage,” he said. Robin Hart, CFO, Circeus.
“We are supporting teams to bring AI to the essential software that businesses across the region rely on every day, and Circeus’ compound interest model aligns closely with the EBRD’s long-term mission. The market for bringing AI into the real economy is huge, and we look forward to supporting Circeus along with our strong group of investors in the process.” Bruno Lusic, EBRD Investor.
EBRD’s long-term view is consistent with Circeus’ approach of building a compounding platform over decades rather than quarters. This investment brings the Group’s total capital raised to more than $120 million and its total capital raised to more than $220 million. NFX, QED investors, Nextalia, 645 Ventures, 3VC, endeavor catalyst, CDP Venture Capitalalong with a more than $100 million line of credit from . i80 group.
Looking to the future
Despite the pace of AI innovation, adoption across the real economy remains in its infancy. Currently, only about one in five companies in Europe and the US are using AI to generate reports. [1]
Circeus exists to bridge the gap in AI adoption by building frontier capabilities into the mission-critical software that enterprises rely on. Everyday economies are powered by software that moves goods, drives commerce, and supports specialized industries. Circeus believes that AI will be most complex where domain knowledge penetrates deepest, and that vertical software with unique workflows and data will be central to the group’s portfolio.
The next generation of platforms will do the work, not just provide the tools, and that transition has already begun.
About Circeus
Circeus is an AI-native holding company for mission-critical software. The group acquires and evolves vertical software businesses that power everyday economies, embedding AI through central engineering teams and moving software from systems of record to systems of action. Circeus operates from London, Milan and Sarajevo. The company’s commerce software division, Shop Circle, serves retailers, wholesalers, and brands around the world.
About EBRD
The EBRD is one of the world’s leading multilateral development banks, with a portfolio of approximately 62 billion euros and more than 220 billion euros invested in more than 7,800 projects since 1991. The bank also has a dedicated equity function that supports private sector growth, innovation and sustainable development across the region.
Note to editor
[1] Source: Eurostat, “20% of EU companies use AI technology”: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20251211-2;
U.S. Census Bureau, “AI Use in U.S. Businesses”: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2026/05/ai-use-businesses.html.
Both reports show that business AI usage is around 20% in the EU and 17-20% in the US.
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