EUVC

Welcome back to EUVC Live in Malmö, where we bring you unfiltered conversations and reflections from the people shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.As the day closed, Andreas Munk Holm, co-founder of EUVC, took the stage for the final word — a candid reflection on where real power comes from and what Europe’s venture community must do next.Throughout the day, speakers discussed sovereignty, collaboration, and Europe’s industrial future. Andreas’ message cut through with urgency: if we want Europe to lead, we can’t stop at innovation — we must step into politics.He pointed to the example of the United States, where the tech ecosystem has rallied around political power, influenced policy, and put its candidates into office. The takeaway? Values matter, but influence requires engagement — and Europe’s founders and investors need to find their voice in the political arena.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:30 Closing thanks — to Sophia for orchestrating EUVC Live, to Jeppe for bringing it to life, and to Nicole and Team Woven for backing Team Europe.01:00 Europe’s mood — sovereignty, collaboration, and the belief that unity is power.01:30 The missing ingredient — understanding that real power doesn’t just come from technology or capital, but from politics.02:00 Lessons from the U.S. — how tech rallied around a candidate, won power, and now shapes national policy from within the system.02:30 The power of lobbying — Andreessen Horowitz’s largest internal team today isn’t marketing or hiring — it’s policy and lobbying.03:00 The challenge for Europe — we have the values and the vision, but not yet the political infrastructure or courage to act collectively.03:30 The call to action — for VCs, founders, and ecosystem leaders to step up, take a side, and engage politically to secure Europe’s future.

Welcome back to EUVC Live in Malmö, where we bring you unfiltered conversations with the voices shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.In this session, Nick de la Forge, Partner at Planet A Ventures, takes the stage to share insights from an eye-opening field trip through China’s climate and hardware startup ecosystem.Nick’s story begins with a simple question: what if we’re wrong about China’s advantage? — and ends with a humbling realization of just how fast and how efficiently the world’s largest manufacturing ecosystem now moves.Joined by fellow investors from 2150, Energy Impact Partners, and Compass, Nick toured factories, startups, and hyperscalers like CATL and BYD, witnessing firsthand what “scale” really looks like. The takeaway? Europe’s biggest competitor isn’t just cheaper — it’s faster, leaner, and far more integrated.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:30 Why China — what sparked the trip, who joined, and how a week-long “Disneyland of hardware” tour changed everything.01:30 Inside the factory visits — from solid-state batteries to precision fermentation, startups founded just 3–5 years ago already hitting $30–60M in revenue.02:30 The myth of state subsidy — why cheap labor and government handouts aren’t what’s driving China’s success.03:00 The real drivers of scale04:30 Capital efficiency at another level — $20M raised, $40M revenue, full-scale factories operational within 24 months.05:00 What Europe can learn — humility, realism, and the need to choose its battles wisely.05:30 Competing with China = playing Djokovic at tennis — pick a different game. Find niches in ultra-high-precision manufacturing and advanced polymers where Europe still leads.06:30 The founder takeaway — every European hardware founder should go to China, see it, and learn from it firsthand.07:00 Managing IP risk — why sourcing below component level is the new best practice for protecting innovation.07:30 The role reversal — 20 years ago, China came to Europe to learn. Today, Europeans visit China in awe.08:00 Europe’s opportunity — use China’s speed as leverage: source smarter, integrate faster, and turn dependency into advantage.08:30 Final message — be humble, be smart, and keep perspective: Europe has world-class science and talent — but must learn to play to its strengths.

Welcome back to EUVC Live in Malmö, where we bring you unfiltered conversations with the voices shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.In this session, Daniel Wiegand, Founding Partner at World Fund, takes the stage with a powerful message: Europe’s strength has always been its ability to turn crisis into collaboration — and it must do so again.Daniel traces Europe’s journey from the coal and steel community of 1951 to today’s climate and geopolitical challenges. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to COVID and the war in Ukraine, he reminds us that Europe’s greatest leaps have always come from unity, resilience, and investment in shared progress.Now, as Europe faces an era of “polycrisis” — encompassing war, climate change, supply chain fragility, and tech disruption — Daniel calls for a new act of radical innovation: rebuilding Europe’s industrial leadership through collaboration, deep technology, and climate investment.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:30 The Coal and Steel Treaty of 1951 — when Europe chose collaboration over conflict.02:00 From war to unity — Daniel’s personal story of a continent rebuilt through cooperation.03:00 The “Age of Polycrisis” — or, as Daniel reframes it, the age of opportunity for those who collaborate.04:00 Europe’s new sovereignty — not armies and flags, but semiconductors, raw materials, data, and AI.04:30 The hard numbers: 98% of rare earths and 97% of lithium imported; 80% of solar panels made in Asia.05:30 Europe at risk of becoming a spectator in a game it helped invent — and why collaboration is the antidote.06:00 Lessons from history — how Europe expanded prosperity after 1989 and launched the NextGenEU fund during COVID.07:30 Real transformation: cutting Russian gas dependency from 40% to 11% in two years — with renewables as resilience.08:30 The venture challenge — Europe raises 7x less VC than the US, and only 11% of climate startups reach Series B.09:00 Hope in motion — from €300M climate funds to €1B+ deep tech and climate vehicles driving the next wave.09:30 European champions10:30 The next phase — Europe needs ambitious scale-up capital, public–private partnerships, and a shared mission.11:00 The call to action — Europe’s story isn’t stagnation; it’s reinvention through unity and belief.

Welcome back to another EUVC Podcast, where we gather Europe’s venture family to share the stories, insights, and lessons that drive our ecosystem forward.Today we dive into the corporate venturing journey of Georg Reifferscheid, Head of Climate Tech at REWE Group, one of Europe’s largest retailers with €94B in revenue and 350,000 employees. With supermarkets, discount brands, travel agencies, hotels, DIY markets, and more under its umbrella, REWE is a powerhouse — but also a company with massive sustainability challenges.Georg walks us through how REWE Ventures is structured across four focus areas (Retail Tech, E-Grocery/Mobility, Food Tech, and Climate Tech), why his team is prioritizing cooling, HVAC, and green construction materials, and what it really takes to get startups and corporates to collaborate effectively. From investment strategy and deal stages to the psychology of expectation management, this is a candid look at how a €100B cooperative builds innovation for the next century.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:10 Introduction: Jeppe welcomes Georg and sets the stage on REWE’s scale and Georg’s unique background.05:00 Inside REWE Ventures: the four focus areas and how each ties directly into REWE’s business units.10:00 Climate Tech mandate: from Scope 1 and 2 emissions to why cooling and HVAC are priority #1.15:00 Investment approach: Series A+ sweet spot, why hardware is front and center, and REWE’s role as a strategic co-investor.20:00 Diligence process: how technical validation, strategic fit, and M&A teams all come together.25:00 Strategic vs. financial: Georg on why strategic value add trumps pure returns.30:00 Building trust inside a corporate: expectation management, psychology, and anecdotes from warehouses and stores.35:00 Climate Tech Challenge: how REWE screens startups efficiently and generates pilots.40:00 Portfolio highlights: Project Eden in Food Tech, plus upcoming pilots in cooling technology.45:00 Lessons for corporates: defining your “why,” building with psychology in mind, and learning that startups and corporates live in different time zones.

Welcome back to EUVC Live in Malmö, where we bring you unfiltered conversations with the voices shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.In this session, Jamie Rowles, Partner at Regeneration VC, takes the stage to explore Europe’s role in the global climate transition — and why consumer climate tech might just be the continent’s hidden superpower.Regeneration VC is a transatlantic early-stage fund investing in what they call consumer climate tech — the intersection of sustainability, circular systems, and the products we touch every day. From fashion and food to electronics and personal care, these industries account for over half of Europe’s GDP and are ripe for climate-driven reinvention.Jamie makes the case that Europe is the world’s “conscious consumer lab” — home to 450 million affluent consumers, global brands with long-term outlooks, and cultural leadership in taste and sustainability. In a world divided by politics and partisanship, Europe’s climate leadership might emerge not from regulation or tech — but from what people choose to buy.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:30 From California to Europe — why Regeneration VC shifted its center of gravity across the Atlantic.01:00 Climate Tech 2.0 — five years in, why the sector still battles skepticism and political headwinds in the US.02:00 What China has won — manufacturing scale in renewables and batteries — and where Europe still has an edge: brands, culture, and consumers.02:40 Europe’s $17T consumer market — 450 million developed consumers representing half of Europe’s GDP across food, fashion, electronics, and home care.03:30 The overlooked industries — fashion’s carbon footprint beats shipping and aviation combined, yet remains underfunded in climate solutions.04:10 The Regeneration thesis — investing across the value chain “from the molecule to the product and back,” with circularity and regeneration at the core.04:30 The “movie” metaphor — brands as directors, climate technologies as actors, and consumers as the audience. Changing the script from extractive to regenerative.05:30 Europe’s unique role — home to the world’s most influential consumer brands, from IKEA to Adidas, that define global taste and culture.06:00 Taste as system change — when European design and lifestyle drive demand for better, circular products, the world follows.06:30 Partnerships that matter — why the next decade of climate progress will be built on collaboration between startups and corporates.07:00 Next-gen materials — microbes dyeing clothes, enzymes digesting plastics, and circular chemistry reshaping trillion-dollar industries.07:30 The European consumer advantage — more conscious, regulation-aware, and quality-driven than anywhere else in the world.08:00 Human health = planetary health — how awareness of PFAS and microplastics is shifting mainstream behavior and regulation.08:30 Regulation as tailwind — why Europe’s high standards and strict product rules accelerate innovation, not stifle it.09:00 The takeaway — Europe as a living experiment in regenerative consumer capitalism, where culture, capital, and conscience align.

Welcome back to EUVC Live at Malmö, where we bring you unfiltered conversations with the voices shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.In this episode, Rokas Pečiulaitis, Founder & Managing Partner at Contrarian Ventures, joins Andreas on stage to unpack one of the most fundamental questions in climate and deep tech: why the technology of today becomes the infrastructure of tomorrow.Rokas takes us from Rockefeller’s Standard Oil to today’s climate transition, explaining how every technological revolution ends in infrastructure and why venture capital must evolve to bridge the gap between innovation and deployment.From energy transitions and the rise of China’s solar dominance to why investors must learn to fund the “missing middle” between venture and project finance, Rokas lays out a vision for Europe’s climate future — and a roadmap for how to fund it.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:30 Standard Oil & the Tech-to-Infra ThesisHow Rockefeller’s oil refinement monopoly explains why technology success always ends in infrastructure dominance.03:00 From Fossil Fuels to ElectronsWhy the next 150 years of global growth will be powered by electrons — and why infrastructure, not IP, will capture the value.04:30 Bridging Venture and InfraWhy 80% of capital in climate tech will flow into infrastructure — and how founders and VCs must learn to speak both venture and project finance.05:10 Risk Discipline: Product or Market — Not BothRokas’ hard-learned rule for climate investing: if you take both technology and market risk, you end up “in the cemetery.”06:00 The Wedge StrategyHow to enter consolidated industries like pulp & paper or agriculture — solve one problem, give the solution away, and monetize through embedded transactions.07:40 Vertical Integration WinsFrom Amazon to climate tech: why owning the full stack from technology to infrastructure creates the real moat.09:00 From Rockefeller to GoogleWhy today’s tech giants mirror Standard Oil — accumulating monopoly power until the system forces a break-up.10:30 The Missing Middle in Climate CapitalWhy Europe doesn’t have a “growth gap,” but an “emerging infra gap” — and how to fill it with blended venture and project finance.13:00 China’s Lesson in ScaleHow China captured solar’s value by building, not inventing — and what Europe must learn about owning deployment.14:30 Long Cycles, Real ImpactWhy true infrastructure transitions take decades — and why those who get it right redefine economies and history itself.

Welcome to a new episode of the EUVC podcast, where our good friends Dan Bowyer and Mads Jensen from SuperSeed in a discussion with Andrew J. Scott, Founding Partner at 7percent Ventures, cover recent news and movements in the European tech landscape 💬They debate whether governments should backstop industrial giants, what Germany’s lithium find really means for European sovereignty, and how the venture model itself is being reimagined with AI, secondaries, and multi-product funds.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:10 Welcome & Quick NewsUS government shutdown symbolism, Labour’s fading momentum, Apple’s backdoor standoff, OpenAI’s half-trillion valuation, and EF’s pivot to the US.09:45 Entrepreneur First’s US ShiftWhy EF’s consolidation westward feels emotional for Europe — and why Lomax calls it validation of stronger European founders who still need US DNA early.15:30 Germany’s Lithium FindA 43-million-ton discovery worth an estimated $600B could cover 50 years of EU demand — if energy costs, extraction tech, and permitting don’t stall it.22:20 London’s IPO CrisisThe UK drops to #23 globally — behind Mexico, Singapore, and Oman. How pensions, regulation, and lack of tech listings hollowed out the market, and what real fixes look like.30:20 Governments, Bailouts & Moral HazardJLR’s £1.5B loan guarantee and Germany’s €500B stimulus spark debate: when should governments step in, and how to ensure taxpayers get upside and discipline in return.40:15 Reinventing VentureDan’s bugbear topic: are new VC models emerging? RIAs, revenue-share hybrids, AI pickers, and Europe’s path to multi-product platforms.50:00 Deals of the WeekFrom Periodic Labs’ $300M seed to Cusp AI, legal tech’s boom, and a surge of defense and deep-tech capital — including Black Forest Labs’ $4B valuation rumor.57:30 Defense MomentumInside London’s Resilience Conference: NATO’s new funds, European urgency gaps, and why founders must think faster to keep pace with US counterparts.

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 episode, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Simon Boas Hoffmeyer, Global Head of Sustainability & ESG at Carlsberg, and Kasper Hulthin, serial entrepreneur and investor at Future Five (co-founder of Peakon, Podio, and more).With ESG facing political backlash, accusations of greenwashing, and shifting investor sentiment, the question looms: is ESG still a lever for real change—or does it need a reset? Simon and Kasper explore what’s broken, what still works, and how corporates and startups can embed sustainability into real business value.🎧 Here’s what’s covered00:10 ESG under fire — political pushback, greenwashing, and regulatory flip-flops.01:00 Carlsberg’s take: facts, faith, and fear as the drivers of sustainability.02:00 Why startups must reframe ESG as financial return, not a premium add-on.03:00 Culture vs. compliance — how corporates integrate ESG into decision-making.05:00 Born-green startups vs. legacy corporates: different pressures, same imperatives.06:00 Where opportunities lie: inputs for future food systems, alternative coffee and chocolate.07:00 From “sustainability” funds to “energy transition” — reframing the narrative.08:00 Partnerships in practice: pilots, off-take agreements, and startup collaborations.09:00 The investment paradox — more money into NFTs than climate at ESG’s peak.

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 episode, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Hampus Jakobsson, General Partner at Pale Blue Dot, one of Europe’s leading climate-focused funds. With shifting U.S. politics, renewed uncertainty around climate policy, and growing skepticism of “green hype,” Hampus shares why he defines climate investing as simply “not dumb investing.”From Donald Trump’s return to the White House to Europe’s resilience, China’s role, and the gritty reality of scaling “boring but effective” solutions, this conversation is a masterclass in how investors, corporates, and founders can navigate climate risks — and seize opportunities.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:10 Political whiplash — Trump, vibes, and the stress test for climate policy.02:41 Why Europe must stop looking to the U.S. and start managing risk at home.04:55 Climate investing = not dumb investing — the overlooked opportunities in obvious inefficiencies.06:50 Case study: last-mile delivery — why disruption often comes from solving “boring” problems.08:15 Advice to corporates — how CFOs should think about risk and resilience.09:30 Advice to founders — why no more free pilots, and how forward-deployed engineering wins.

Welcome back to EUVC Live powered by Woven Capital at The Drop, where we bring you the candid conversations with the investors shaping Europe’s venture ecosystem.In this episode, Nicole LeBlanc, Partner at Woven Capital, joins us on stage in Malmö to share why Toyota’s $800M global fund is doubling down on Europe. From talent pools and global mindsets to climate tech leadership, Nicole explains why Europe is the testbed for scaling climate, mobility, and automation solutions worldwide.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:00:30 Why Europe matters: 15% of global VC and growing deal sizes.01:00 Diversification — why global funds can’t rely on just one market.01:30 Talent in Europe: strong engineering pools and founders thinking global from day one.02:30 Climate tech in Europe’s DNA — regulation, partnerships, and net-zero by 2050.03:30 Inside Woven Capital: Toyota’s $800M LPGP fund, financial-first approach, and global mandate.04:30 Toyota Open Labs: Europe-exclusive program giving startups structured access to Toyota.05:30 Portfolio spotlight: Corvus, zero-emission shipping with batteries + hydrogen.06:30 What’s next: circularity, advanced materials, and figuring out AI.