Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology

Lee Veitch, Co-founder and Managing Director of SuperAwesome, shares insights on creating a safe digital space for kids, combating inappropriate online content. He discusses the evolution from TV to digital advertising, emphasizing child safety and ethical branding. Lee reflects on the company's growth, the impact of regulatory measures like COPPA and GDPR-K, and the decision to buy back the company from Epic Games. He reveals plans for Awesome Intelligence and fostering a mission-driven culture, highlighting humor as essential for team dynamics.

Dan Lifshits, Co-founder and CEO of Dwelly, an innovative AI-focused property management platform, shares insights on revolutionizing the UK rental market. He highlights the efficiency of the roll-up model, acquiring traditional agencies to scale rapidly. Lifshits discusses integrating AI for improved lettings, maintenance, and communication. He also reflects on the challenges of investor skepticism, the importance of relocating for operational synergy, and the unique criteria for agency acquisitions. Explore how AI roll-ups are set to redefine industries!

Hector is joined by Gauthier van Malderen, Founder and CEO of Perlego, the “Spotify for textbooks” and one of Europe’s leading edtech scale-ups.Gauthier shares the remarkable journey of building Perlego from a personal frustration with expensive university textbooks into a global subscription platform transforming access to educational content. He reflects on early failures, the turning points that led to success, and how COVID accelerated the company’s growth.The discussion dives deep into topics including:Solving the chicken-and-egg problem of marketplace growthThe power of B2B partnerships in edtechBuilding a resilient and mission-driven cultureHiring mistakes, founder evolution, and staying authentic as a CEOLessons from scaling internationally and the differences between European and US venture ecosystemsGauthier also shares his thoughts on leadership, founder ambition, and why being “more American” changed his mindset on growth and success.A candid and inspiring conversation about persistence, humility, and global ambition from one of Europe’s standout founders.

This week on Riding Unicorns, we’re joined by Paul Becker, Co-Founder & CEO of re:cap, a fintech platform helping digital businesses unlock capital and understand their financial position through intelligent forecasting, real-time data insights, and flexible financing.In this wide-ranging conversation, Paul walks us through re:cap’s journey from an idea for automated due diligence software to becoming one of Europe’s fastest-growing capital platforms, recently securing over €125M in debt financing to power its next phase.We explore the intricacies of fintech business models, investor expectations, the realities of growing a company during AI hype cycles, and what it takes to build enduring value in modern financial infrastructure.In this episode, we discuss:💰 How re:cap evolved from an underwriting tool to a full capital + finops engine 📊 Why Paul obsesses over gross margin more than revenue — and how that influenced product decisions 🚨 Lessons from building through hype: “growth at all costs” vs quality of revenue 🧠 The role of AI in financial tooling — and why re:cap built its copilot carefully and quietly 🏗️ Building a remote-first, values-aligned company from day one 📍 What it’s like starting multiple companies with the same co-founders — and how friendship and complementary skills helped them scale 🔁 “Back to the future”: how re:cap is returning to its original thesis, now with product-market fit 🌍 Vision: re:cap as the capital allocation engine for the modern CFO 📉 How investor expectations flipped 180° in 18 months — and why Paul sticks to economic logic over trend-following

Ali first joined us in January 2022, when Babylon was still one of the most ambitious healthtech companies in the world. Today, he returns with a new mission, building Quadrivia and its clinical AI assistant, “Qu”, designed to automate millions of repetitive healthcare workflows and rebalance the global shortage of clinical labour.In this episode, Ali reflects candidly on the rise and fall of Babylon, the structural challenges behind its collapse, and the lessons he’s applying to his new venture. He also explains why he believes AI finally offers the chance to create abundance in healthcare, and how Quadrivia’s technology can deliver trusted, autonomous support for doctors, nurses, and patients alike.🧠 Key topics discussed: 💡 The structural imbalance between global healthcare supply and demand and how AI can finally fix it 🏥 Babylon’s story: what went right, what went wrong, and what Ali learned from the SPAC era 🤖 Introducing Quadrivia’s “Qu”: a clinical AI that can handle patient calls, follow-ups, and real‑time triage 🔐 Building trust in AI: safety, guardrails, and how to design human‑in‑the‑loop autonomy 🎧 Live demo — a real patient conversation handled entirely by AI 📈 Why the future of healthcare lies in clinical process outsourcing powered by intelligent agents 🧩 Building small, fast, focused team, and why scale isn’t the goal (yet) 💬 Lessons on leadership, luck, and surviving the infinite game of entrepreneurshipAli also shares his candid reflections on failure, resilience, and what it really takes to build world-changing technology in one of the hardest industries imaginable.A fascinating, raw, and inspiring conversation with one of the most visionary founders in global healthtech and a glimpse into how AI could redefine the future of care.

Sam Jacobs is the Co-Founder of Go Places, the operating system for social commerce.In just 18 months, Go Places has become a trusted partner to some of the world’s biggest brands including Samsung, Mars, The Body Shop, and Trip. Backed by deep experience from Amazon and Coca-Cola, Sam and his co-founder Jack are building the infrastructure layer for TikTok Shop, combining performance, content, live shopping, affiliate management and analytics into a single high-performance engine.Go Places runs 9 in-house live shopping studios (growing to 25 next year), manages 60+ trained presenters, and has developed AI-powered tools like One Place - a real-time data platform that helps brands understand the full impact of social commerce beyond the TikTok checkout.We dive deep into:📈 The rise of TikTok Shop and why social commerce isn’t just a trend — it’s becoming a core pillar of brand distribution 🎥 Lessons from China’s live shopping boom and why it’s just getting started in the West 🛠️ Building infrastructure: from creator training to studio logistics and custom AI tooling 💡 How enterprise brands are learning to think like challenger brands in social commerce 🤖 AI’s role in content generation, performance analysis, and dynamic presenter optimisation 🚀 Scaling a startup from 6 to 35 people in 12 months — while maintaining speed and culture 🧠 The underrated skill every founder needs: how to sell 🌍 Why luxury brands are coming to TikTok Shop — and how Go Places helps them adaptPlus, Sam shares his North Star vision, the wildest stat from TikTok Shop, his dream dinner guests (including Mourinho and Ryan Reynolds), and his future unicorn pick in AI-powered finance support.This is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of commerce, creator-led brands, or scaling complex operations at speed. Sam brings clarity, ambition, and sharp execution to one of the most exciting spaces in consumer tech right now.

Akash Bajwa, Principal at Earlybird VC, one of Europe’s longest-standing early-stage funds.Akash shares his journey into venture and how he helped launch Earlybird’s London office, now a core hub for the firm. We dive into the state of AI investing, how to distinguish enduring companies from short-term hype, and what traits define the next wave of outlier founders.With experience backing companies like Briefcase (AI for accountants) and Spatial (3D generative AI), Akash offers a deep and practical perspective on both infrastructure and application-layer AI—and how to evaluate founder-market fit in the era of LLMs.In this episode, we discuss:🧠 What “the art of early-stage” really means at Earlybird🤖 AI-native founders vs experienced SaaS veterans – who wins?💡 Infra vs apps – where to invest, and how to spot defensibility🚀 Why velocity and learning rate matter more than credentials⚠️ Red herrings in AI and why some infra startups vanish overnight🛠️ From vector DBs to prompt tooling – what survives when labs move fast🔎 Deep dive on recent Earlybird investments including Briefcase and Spatial💬 Why go-to-market insight is more valuable than tech alone🔮 How to underwrite GenAI founders in an environment that’s changing monthlyWhether you're building at the frontier of AI, trying to raise your seed round, or navigating a product roadmap in a fast-moving category, this conversation offers frameworks you’ll want to revisit.

Lexi Novitske, General Partner at Norrsken22, a $205m growth-stage fund backing transformative tech companies across Africa.Lexi has spent over a decade living and investing in Nigeria, backing breakout African startups like Paystack, Flutterwave, and Smile Identity. As one of the continent’s most respected VCs, she shares how her team is building a truly Pan-African platform — with partners on the ground in Lagos, Johannesburg, and Nairobi — and why local presence and context are essential for investing in emerging markets.Norrsken22 is on a mission to scale the outliers — high-growth companies tackling infrastructure, financial inclusion, identity, healthcare and more — and Lexi pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to win in this market.🦄 In this episode, we discuss:🌍 Africa’s startup boom and what global investors often get wrong 📈 Why Africa’s massive, mobile-first population is a global tech superpower 💸 The rise of Fintech, remittance, and payments infrastructure across the continent 🧠 Building trust in low-trust environments and how tech is solving for identity & access 📊 Valuation discipline and why applying Silicon Valley multiples doesn’t work in Africa 🛠️ Infrastructure before apps and how context shapes investment strategy 🤝 Partnering with international funds  - the good, the bad, and the nuanced 🚀 Recent investments like Tyme Bank and what makes a Pan-African breakout 🇪🇬 Egypt, DRC, and beyond and which next-gen markets Lexi is most excited about 📚 Why VCs need empathy, not just capital, to invest in complex environmentsLexi also reflects on her evolution as an investor, the importance of local talent, and why venture success in Africa isn’t just possible, it’s already happening.

Please note: The topics covered in this episode should not be taken as investment advice.This week on Riding Unicorns, we’re joined by Rupert West, the founder and Managing Director of Puma Growth Partners, a UK-based growth equity investor backing companies at Series A with cheque sizes of £4–10m. Puma invests across consumer brands, B2B SaaS, and scalable business services, with a hands-on approach to helping founders scale sustainably and successfully exit.Rupert shares the story of building Puma from scratch, starting with the core mission: to deliver true value-add support to founders using his team’s operational and financial expertise. He also dives into the firm’s unique structure (including VCTs), investment thesis, and deep operational involvement with portfolio companies like Pockit and YASO.🦄 In this episode, we discuss:📊 Why Puma takes a multi-sector approach and how it helps reduce concentration risk 🧠 What makes a founder truly “venture-backable” and how Puma assesses founder psychology 🚀 Case study: Why Puma backed social commerce infra startup YASO to help brands scale in China 🧰 Exit readiness: How VCs should focus on DPI, not just deployment 📍 Why “next round ready” is as important as product-market fit 💥 Lessons from navigating crises from 2008 to COVID to today’s inflation squeeze 🏦 The power of VCTs and permanent capital in turbulent markets 🌱 Why every venture firm needs resilience and empathy to support founders in hard times 💬 Rupert’s take on customer obsession and why the best founders keep buyers front and centreWhether you’re raising your Series A or building a growth fund yourself, this episode offers deep insight into what great VC support should look like and how fund managers can stay close to the action while scaling.

This week on Riding Unicorns, we’re joined by Manny Medina, the visionary founder behind Outreach — the $4B sales engagement unicorn — and now co-founder & CEO of Paid.ai, a startup pioneering how AI agents get priced, paid, and scaled.We dive into Manny’s remarkable journey from zero to $250M+ ARR with Outreach, the gritty early days of selling door-to-door with no cash, and how he turned that experience into a masterclass in category creation. Now, with Paid.ai, Manny is laser-focused on building the financial stack that will power the next wave of autonomous agents — and helping AI-native businesses build real, durable revenue.🚀 In this episode, we cover:🧠 What an AI Agent really is — and why it changes everything 💸 Why the old SaaS pricing models don't work for agent-native businesses 📊 Outreach’s year-by-year revenue climb — and how they avoided collapse 🪙 Why durable growth matters more than fast growth 🔥 How Paid.ai is redefining payments, margin tracking, and monetisation for agents 🛠️ Building new infra for a world where humans no longer press the buttons 📈 Creating categories — and why most startups get it wrong ⚠️ Why many startups confuse market pull with product genius 👀 Insights into retention challenges at tools like Lovable, Cursor, and Bolt 💰 Manny’s fundraising advice — why sometimes raising less is more dangerousManny is one of the most respected builders in SaaS and now sits at the bleeding edge of the agentic future. If you’re building with agents, selling B2B, or navigating a shift from software to automation, this is a must-listen.