EUVC E634 | EUCVC Summit 2025: Christian Tang (Acme) & Claus Gregersen (Augustinus Fabrikker): Global Ambition in an Age of Sovereignty
Welcome back to the EUCVC Summit Talks, where we bring you candid conversations with Europe’s leading founders, corporate leaders, and investors shaping the future of venture collaboration.
In this session, Christian Tang, Partner at San Francisco–based Acme, and Claus Gregersen, CEO of the 275-year-old evergreen investor Augustinus Fabrikker, explore what global ambition really means in today’s venture landscape.
From recalibrating US expansion strategies to navigating sovereignty, trade tensions, and structural resets, they unpack how investors and founders must adapt to thrive in a more complex—but still interconnected—world.
🎧 Here’s what’s covered:
00:00 Setting the stage: Cycles, crises, and why this downturn feels different.
02:00 Structural reset, not just another downturn—why waiting for “normal” is not an option.
03:30 Investors as navigators, not moral arbiters—what it means in practice.
04:15 Why the US remains critical: learning, scaling, and surviving tough competition.
06:00 Page nine of every pitch deck: the inevitable US expansion slide.
07:20 Trade tensions vs. venture building—why early-stage models aren’t derailed by politics.
08:30 The importance of value-adding capital—choose partners for impact, not geography.
09:15 Lessons from COVID and defense: building lean, fast, and resilient.
10:00 Closing thoughts: capital may be scarcer, but ambition must remain global.