In a vibrant discussion, Oliver Holle, a seasoned venture capitalist, joins Severin Zugmeyer, who specializes in culture startups, alongside Hazel Savage, a music AI expert at SoundCloud, and Uli Schmitz, a digital media innovator. They delve into the investment landscape of creative tech, revealing the growing role of AI in music creation and the legal hurdles facing generative platforms. The panel highlights Europe’s unique position in nurturing creative talent amid funding challenges, showcasing how innovation can reshape the future of music and cultural industries.

Lomax Ward, General Partner at Outsized Ventures, and Mads Jensen, Partner at SuperSeed, join Dan Bowyer to explore pressing themes in European tech. They discuss the significance of AI in the latest Nobel Prizes, scrutinize Google’s monopolistic tendencies, and assess the impact of rising UK borrowing costs on startups. Additionally, they delve into the evolving landscape of venture capital, focusing on Limited Partners’ strategies for 2025 and the role of regulation in fostering innovation. It's an insightful look at the challenges and opportunities within the ecosystem!

In this engaging conversation, Hannah Seal, a Partner at Index Ventures specializing in B2B software and AI applications, shares her insights on navigating the European venture landscape. She discusses the critical role of talent in startup growth and how AI is reshaping professional services. Hannah also explores the evolution of founder dynamics as companies scale, the rise of breakout founders, and the benefits of remote work in tapping global talent. Her passion for empowering entrepreneurs tackling tough industry challenges shines throughout the discussion.

Nicola McClafferty, a Partner at Molten Ventures and former venture capitalist, shares her dynamic transition from investment banking to entrepreneurship. She discusses her unique insights as a founder of a luxury fashion marketplace, emphasizing the importance of empathy in investing. Nicola highlights the critical phases of startup growth, focusing on product excellence and effective distribution. She also offers perspectives on the evolving European entrepreneurial landscape and reflects on potential opportunities beyond investing, including her passion for tennis.

Dorothy Chou, Director of Policy & Public Engagement at DeepMind, is an angel investor with a focus on diversity and women's health. She shares her journey transitioning from major tech firms to angel investing, emphasizing the need for diverse founding teams. Dorothy discusses the unique challenges in women's health investment, her own first experiences with angel investing, and the importance of leveraging networks. She also touches on AI's potential to drive social change and the significance of public-private partnerships for innovation.

Today, we welcome the amazing duo Salomon Aiach, co-founder & General Partner, and Blaise Matuidi, General Partner from Origins Fund.Origins is a new type of venture capital fund backing legendary consumer founders with an unfair advantage from pre-seed to series A. They invest $100k to $500k in consumer tech startups and come with the power of influence of LP’s community and their 160,000,000 followers.We invite you to listen to this discussion below for some inspiring stories; besides the actionable advice, you can have a sneak peek at the below.Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀Chapters:00:02:05 - From Athlete to Investor00:04:13 - Starting your first investment journey00:06:18 - The Journey into Venture00:07:59 - Adding Value as a GP at a Fund00:09:53 - Strength in Numbers00:12:00 - Angel Investing for Athletes00:14:10 - Changing Landscape of the Sports World00:16:09 - The Glamour and Resilience of Successful Entrepreneurs00:19:38 - Investing in Mental Health and Education00:21:36 - The Mental Challenges of High Performance00:23:42 - Raising Awareness for Mental Health00:25:23 - The Impact of Supportive Individuals and Entities in Entrepreneurship00:27:44 - The Influence of Soloman on Entrepreneurs00:29:35 - The Challenges of Consumer Investing00:31:31 - Investing in Consumer Companies in Europe00:33:26 - The Importance of Building the Best Team00:35:49 - Trust and Accessibility in the Industry

Gina Domanig, Managing Partner at Emerald Technology Ventures, discusses her pioneering role as founder of Europe's first independent cleantech venture capital fund. She shares insights into engaging corporate investors and the challenges of startup collaboration. Gina highlights the importance of technical expertise and thorough due diligence in fostering successful partnerships. The conversation delves into leveraging AI for efficiency, the evolving landscape of corporate venture capital, and how to build trust with entrepreneurs for impactful investment outcomes.

In this episode of the EUVC podcast, Andreas discusses with David Meiborg, General Partner at First Momentum Ventures.First Momentum Ventures, with their €30M fund, specializes in backing deeply technical founders at the pre-seed stage. Their focus spans deep tech, industrial climate tech, dev tools, data, and enterprise SaaS across the DACH region and beyond.In today’s discussion, David introduces us to the Deep Tech Hardware Napkin framework they recently launched, which includes the latest benchmarks on funding, team, product, and commercialization, broken down by stage. The Napkin and full report are based on a survey completed by 30 DeepTech VCs from 8 countries.Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀Chapters:00:02 Meet David Marburg from First Momentum Ventures00:28 Deep Tech Heartware Napkin05:48 Deep Tech Napkin Collaboration06:17 Inspiration and Data Sourcing09:34 Deep Tech Hardware Napkin Breakdown10:54 Pre-Seed Stage Insights14:18 Seed Stage Insights16:40 Series A Insights24:07 Series B Insights26:59 Founding Teams and Commercial Savviness35:46 Technology and Product Stages44:12 Tech Maturity and Valuation49:06 Common Hardware Business Models

Welcome to a new episode of the EUVC podcast, where our good friends Dan Bowyer and Mads Jensen from SuperSeed cover recent news and movements in the European tech landscape 💬Go to eu.vc to read the core take-aways.Chapters:00:06 Microsoft's Nuclear Energy Plans00:13 Energy Context in Europe00:22 UK's Energy Challenges02:34 Three Mile Island and Energy Needs06:24 UK's Energy Strategy 09:18 Amazon's Office Return Policy11:37 Chip Manufacturing in the UAE13:56 Future of AI by 203014:57 Healthcare and AI16:27 AGI and AI's Impact on Jobs18:33 Telegram's Privacy Concessions20:26 Mark Zuckerberg's Orion Glasses21:48 Neuralink and Future Interfaces25:44 Foundations Paper on UK Stagnation

In this episode of the EUVC podcast, Andreas discusses with Fatou Diagne, Founder and Managing Partner at Bootstrap Europe.Bootstrap Europe is a venture investment firm currently raising the fourth fund, aiming for €350-400M, after closing Fund III with €157M. With €250M in assets under management, Bootstrap Europe is headquartered across London, Luxembourg, and Zurich.Bootstrap Europe targets companies in the post-Series A+ or Series B stage—those with venture capital already on their cap table, solid KPIs, or valuable patents and assets in place. The firm’s sweet spot? European HQ’d companies, or those with European founders or VCs, with an upcoming allocation to support U.S. expansions. They even have 10% of their fund reserved for other exciting regions, like Africa.Bootstrap Europe specializes in geeky, transformative sectors: Deeptech, Life Sciences, Cleantech, Fintech, and SaaS, and some of their notable investments are:Scandit (Swiss Unicorn) in Machine VisionBlueprint Genetics (exited investment, Finnish tech used by Quest Diag during COVID - 1 of 2 largest labs in US)Telensa: largest installed base of smart city lighting wordlwide, bought by SignifyRecent undisclosed exciting investments in robotics, AI healthcare, foodtech, RNA techGo to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀Chapters:00:03 Meet Fatou Diagne and Bootstrap Europe00:26 Bootstrap Europe's Investment Focus 01:25 Diving Deep with Fatou: Trends and Growth02:51 The Origin of Bootstrap Europe04:11 Venture Debt vs. Venture Capital11:11 The Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank20:27 The Role of Venture Debt in Europe28:29 Sector Focus: Life Sciences and AI36:45 Momentum in Business and Financing37:00 Regional Preferences in Venture Debt38:16 Germany: Cultural Challenges and Progress 39:17 Spain: A Unique Venture Debt Market40:43 Nordics and European Investment Bank47:33 Macroeconomic Influence on Venture Debt54:05 Innovative Financing Structures56:54 Future Predictions for Venture Debt01:02:09 AI's Impact on Venture Debt and Beyond