EU-Startups Podcast

This episode of the EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. The trust management platform helps more than 12k companies, including Nando’s, Allica Bank and Granola, start and scale their security programmes while building trust with buyers. It saves security teams time and improves programme visibility by automating over 35 compliance frameworks, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, as well as GRC workflows like risk management.

This episode of the EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. The trust management platform helps more than 12k companies, including Nando’s, Allica Bank and Granola, start and scale their security programmes while building trust with buyers. It saves security teams time and improves programme visibility by automating over 35 compliance frameworks, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, as well as GRC workflows like risk management.

This episode of the EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. The trust management platform helps more than 12k companies, including Nando’s, Allica Bank and Granola, start and scale their security programmes while building trust with buyers. It saves security teams time and improves programme visibility by automating over 35 compliance frameworks, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, as well as GRC workflows like risk management.

This episode of the EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. The trust management platform helps more than 12k companies, including Nando’s, Allica Bank and Granola, start and scale their security programmes while building trust with buyers. It saves security teams time and improves programme visibility by automating over 35 compliance frameworks, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, as well as GRC workflows like risk management.

This episode of the EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. The trust management platform helps more than 12k companies, including Nando’s, Allica Bank and Granola, start and scale their security programmes while building trust with buyers. It saves security teams time and improves programme visibility by automating over 35 compliance frameworks, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, as well as GRC workflows like risk management.

After 100+ episodes over two years, this is Marcin Lewandowski’s final episode as host of the EU-Startups Podcast. We flipped the script: this time Marcin is interviewed by David Cendon Garcia (News Editor at EU-Startups) — who will be taking over the podcast going forward. We recorded it live on a padel court, in one take, while playing. It’s a fun behind-the-scenes look at: → Marcin's story and how it all started → the conversations that made the biggest impact → the toughest moments → favorite guests + lessons learned → and what’s next Thank you, Marcin. David — welcome to the mic. If you haven't already.... Subscribe to the EU-Startups Podcast on YouTube! Or follow along on your other favorite podcast platforms... Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4QU85dN... / Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast... Follow EU-Startups on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eu-startups-menlo-media/ Visit our Website: https://www.eu-startups.com/ Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.eu-startups.com/newsletter/

Most people talk about AI in the cloud. Karim Saleh is putting it on the factory floor. This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Karim Saleh — Co-Founder & CEO of Cerrion, the company building agentic AI that watches factory lines 24/7 and intervenes in real time to prevent safety incidents, scrap, and costly downtime. Cerrion plugs into standard cameras, understands production flows like an expert operator, and can instantly take action — slowing conveyors, shutting down machines, or triggering alarms. Factories using Cerrion resolve issues 50% faster, cut downtime and scrap in half, and run operations with far less stress. Karim’s journey is unreal: → Grew up in a manufacturing family in Egypt → Professional athlete & captain of Egypt’s national water polo team → Electrical engineering at ETH Zurich → Founder building AI across 15 countries and 3 continents → Just raised an $18M Series A from Creandum, Hanel, YC, 10x Founders, Robin Chan, Justin Kan, Harry Stebbings and others We cover: • The moment on a factory floor that shaped the mission behind Cerrion • Why frontline teams everywhere face the same structural problems • How agentic AI can safely intervene during production • Real stories where Cerrion caught what humans couldn’t see in time • The surprising similarity between factories in 15 different countries • What elite sport teaches you about building a hypergrowth startup • What the factory of the future feels like for a shift leader in 2030 • And the “one myth about factories” Karim wants the world to forget This is one of the most grounded, mission-driven, high-clarity deep-tech conversations we’ve had. Takeaways: 1. Frontline teams are overwhelmed; AI reduces stress, not jobs. 2. Agentic AI is shifting factories from firefighting to foresight. 3. Real-time AI intervention works when humans stay in the loop, not out of it. 4. Elite sports taught Karim the founder superpower: discipline beats adrenaline. 5. The factory of the future is calm, predictable, and safe — not chaotic. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction: Karim’s story & Cerrion’s mission 02:13 – Growing up in manufacturing & seeing frontline pain 06:59 – What’s broken in factories today 10:39 – How Cerrion’s AI agents work in real time 12:34 – Human–AI partnership on the shop floor 15:40 – Success stories from 15 countries 18:22 – Athlete mindset → founder mindset 21:29 – Hypergrowth: what broke first 24:50 – The factory of the future 26:42 – Rapid Fire with Karim Saleh If you haven't already.... Subscribe to the EU-Startups Podcast on YouTube! Or follow along on your other favorite podcast platforms... Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4QU85dN... / Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast... Follow EU-Startups on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eu-startups-menlo-media/ Visit our Website: https://www.eu-startups.com/ Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.eu-startups.com/newsletter/

Is Europe really at an AI crossroads — or are we already picking a lane? This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Emmet King, Founding Partner at J12, VC with presence in Stockholm, London, and Paris, backing founders early at the frontier of AI, to unpack what the AI moment actually looks like on the ground for European founders. Emmet argues that Europe has world-class AI talent, but faces real constraints in capital deployment, energy capacity, and regulatory timing. The question isn’t “can Europe build iconic AI companies?” — it’s whether we’ll move fast enough on energy, compute, and policy to let them scale here. Together, we dig into: • What “Europe at an AI crossroads” means in practical terms for founders today • Where talent density is an advantage — and where capital, energy, and regulation still bite • Why calling AI a “bubble” is lazy, and where the froth really is (application layer) • Where the real compounding value lies: infra (DataCrunch, etc.) vs applied AI (Dropcode, Kovant, Pistachio, Dema…) • Energy reality: China’s lead, US flexibility, and how Europe can close the gap • The non-negotiables for building an AI startup in Europe in 2026 • What kind of regulation timing helps, instead of smothering, AI scaleups • Signals that the tide is turning: talent flows, new strategies, infra investment • A concrete “order of operations” for Europe: capital, energy, compute, data, visas We also run through a quick rapid-fire round: • Europe’s AI superpower — and kryptonite • One regulation to keep, one to rewrite • How to spot the copilot mirage (shiny but 0.2% impact) • What proves an infra startup can actually compound • And Emmet’s finish to: “AI isn’t a bubble if we…” Takeaways • Europe has the AI talent to build global leaders — but still underpowers them with capital, energy, and policy. • The AI “bubble” narrative is lazy; froth is in shallow apps, while infra quietly compounds. • Energy capacity and compute access are now strategic levers, not back-office concerns. • Winning AI startups in Europe will be trust-first, productivity-proven, and talent-dense. • Europe’s path is clear: align capital, energy, compute, data, and visas around its best teams. Chapters 00:00 – Introduction to AI in Europe 03:10 – Europe at an AI Crossroads 08:16 – Energy Infrastructure and AI 10:41 – The AI Bubble Debate 18:01 – Non-Negotiables for AI Startups 22:55 – J12’s Investment Lens & Thesis 26:22 – If Europe Led for a Day: What to Fix First 31:16 – Contrarian Bets, Safe Bets & Myths 35:14 – Rapid Fire with Emmet King If you’re building AI in Europe — or thinking about where to found your next company — this conversation is a roadmap, not a hot take. If you haven't already.... Subscribe to the EU-Startups Podcast on YouTube! Or follow along on your other favorite podcast platforms... Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4QU85dN... / Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast... Follow EU-Startups on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eu-startups-menlo-media/ Visit our Website: https://www.eu-startups.com/ Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.eu-startups.com/newsletter/ #ai #technology #startup #investing #business

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Zuzanna Stamirowska, CEO & Co-Founder of Pathway — the company building the world’s first post-transformer AI model. Transformers took us far, but they’re showing real limits: they recite instead of reason, freeze instead of adapt, and break under real-time complexity. Zuzanna’s team is rewriting the foundations. Pathway introduces a new architecture with native memory, temporal awareness, and glass-box visibility, enabling models to adapt on the fly—more like humans, less like static prediction engines. Backed by the minds behind Transformers and GPT o1, and trusted by organizations like NATO, La Poste, and Formula 1 teams, Pathway might be the most important AI company you haven’t heard of yet. In this conversation, we dive into: • Why AI’s next leap requires new foundations—not bigger transformers • How Pathway updates reasoning mid-stream as new evidence arrives • Visibility as a feature: what “glass-box AI” actually looks like • How long-range context can survive without latency or cost exploding • Why post-transformer models need far less data to specialize • The operational patterns across NATO, La Poste & F1 that justify a new paradigm • What Pathway’s #1 ranking on Hugging Face opened up • The next 12 months: the capability Zuzanna is most excited to ship If you care about where AI is really going — not incremental tweaks but a genuine architectural shift — this is the episode. Takeaways: • AI’s next leap is architectural, not incremental. • Memory + time unlock adaptation transformers can’t touch. • Context beats parameter count. • Glass-box visibility will become an enterprise requirement. • Less data, more reasoning — the future is efficiency over scale. Chapters: 00:00 – Meet Zuzanna & Pathway 02:57 – Why AI Needs New Foundations 05:58 – Memory & Time: The Missing Ingredients 09:09 – Adaptive Reasoning in Real Time 11:57 – Less Training, More Understanding 15:06 – NATO, La Poste, F1: Field Proof 18:01 – Building Teams at the Frontier 21:09 – Hugging Face #1: The Ripple Effect 23:58 – What Comes Next If you haven't already.... Subscribe to the EU-Startups Podcast on YouTube! Or follow along on your other favorite podcast platforms... Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4QU85dN... / Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast... Follow EU-Startups on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eu-startups-menlo-media/ Visit our Website: https://www.eu-startups.com/ Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.eu-startups.com/newsletter/ #ai #technology #startup

Most healthcare only really starts when something goes wrong. Even is trying to flip that. Recorded live during Italian Tech Week in Turin, this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast features Matilde Giglio, Co-Founder of Even, India’s leading healthcare startup redesigning access to affordable, high-quality care for over 1.3 billion people. Backed by Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Lachy Groom, Alpha Wave and others, Even has raised over $60M since launching in 2021, grown to a 400+ person team, and built a unique membership that gives Indians unlimited, cashless access to primary care, diagnostics, specialists, and hospital cover – all wrapped around a strong preventive model. We talk about: – Why Matilde chose India and what she saw in the system – Why most “prevention” models fail – and how Even makes it work at scale – How they redesigned incentives so doctors, patients and Even are aligned – What it means to build hospitals that feel like part of life, not a last resort – Where AI is genuinely useful today – and what stays deeply human – The hardest founder moments building in a complex, regulated system – And the headline Matilde wants Even to make five years from now Takeaways: – Even blends care + cover in one model, not two separate worlds. – The core bet is prevention first, not “wait for sickness then pay big.” – Incentives are redesigned so patients, doctors and Even win on better outcomes, not more procedures. – AI augments care, handling workflows and insight – but trust and empathy stay human. – Success is measured in health outcomes and satisfaction, not just ARR or procedure volume. Chapters: 00:00 Understanding Even Healthcare's Model 02:21 The Decision to Operate in India 05:05 Innovative Healthcare Solutions and Prevention 06:19 Redesigning the Hospital Experience 09:17 The Role of AI in Healthcare 12:40 Challenges Faced by Founders 16:21 Future Aspirations for Even Healthcare 19:07 Rapid Fire Questions and Closing Thoughts If you haven't already.... Subscribe to the EU-Startups Podcast on YouTube! Or follow along on your other favorite podcast platforms... Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4QU85dN... / Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast... Follow EU-Startups on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eu-startups-menlo-media/ Visit our Website: https://www.eu-startups.com/ Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.eu-startups.com/newsletter/ #startup #health #healthcare