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Prior to Molten Ventures, Christoph was with Rocket Internet in Asia and Australia, where he helped build The Iconic and Lazada. Previously, Christoph worked as an Investment Manager at Seven Ventures, where he focused on consumer and e-commerce investments. Responsible for Molten Ventures' activities in the German-speaking market, a strong pull for Christoph are both the deep tech and industry tech sectors. Posting the largest number of deals closed within the firm, he sits on eight boards, has done nine investments in the past two and a half years, and on average aims to make three to four investments per year. He also lays out his two favourite questions to ask a potential hire at Molten. So if you're looking to get into the world of VC, you won't want to miss this episode. All this and more, with Molten Ventures' Christoph Hornung.

Immediately following last week's announcement of London and Berlin-based fintech giant SumUp's €590 million round, we had a chance to talk to one of the company's co-founders about the capital injection, which values it at €8 billion.That valuation reportedly came in much lower than initially projected, which is a topic Marc-Alexander Christ didn't shy away from discussing (pointing out that the valuation is still 20 times higher than its last one).Have a listen/watch to learn more about SumUp's early days, its plans to become the financial services partner for millions of small businesses around the world, its international expansion, and M&A strategy, and the likelihood of the company pursuing an IPO in the future.The video that accompanies this audio can be found at Tech.eu

Nicola McClafferty, partner at the London-based VC firm Molten Ventures, estimates that it would've taken at least a decade to see as many people switch from brick-and-mortar to online shopping experience across the world if not for the lockdowns that saw a big part of the global population confined to their dwellings for months on end.While presenting a huge opportunity for the companies who were ready to handle this shift, this shift has also emphasised the shortcomings and issues of today's e-commerce and adjacent industries."We're looking at a large volume of retail and a change in purchase behaviour happening online that's leveraging an infrastructure, be it software or physical infrastructure, that has been built to service previous generations of retail," McClafferty said.This and similar issues in the field of consumer tech — or rather the startups that can solve them — is what McClafferty focuses on at Molten. We sat down to discuss what the future holds for this segment, and what trends are the most important to follow.

Founded in 1995, Menlo Park-based TCV specialises in providing growth-stage capital. The firm has raised over $19 billion and invested over $16 billion in more than 350 tech companies over the last 27 years, accounting for some 145 IPOs and acquisitions.Having established, and operating out of TCV's London office, General Partner John Doran shares his thoughts on how the firm has been so successful, where they're heading next, and the health of the European tech ecosystem.All this and more on today's episode!

Alexa. To trust or not to trust: That is the question.While you might be quite well versed in most things Amazon, just how much do you know about Amazon's Alexa service? It's benefits for the blind and deaf? For an aging population?Moreover, what do you know about the safeguards the company has baked into the device since day one, asking consumers to allow, ney, invite their technology into and become a part of their homes?And Tech.eu founder Robin Wauters also reveals a few fun facts that are sure to impress your friends and neighbours, and perhaps even Alexa, at your next dinner party.All this and more on today's episode!

In today’s episode, Andrii sits down with Cristobal Alonso, Global CEO & El Patron at Startup Wise Guys.Cristobal talks us through Startup Wise Guys' acceleration of investments during the pandemic, up to 60 to 80 per year, expanding beyond the Baltics and across Europe, entering Africa, and the challenges associated with each.With 212 active portfolio companies, Startup Wise Guys is shifting away from its primary Europe focus, and actively working to establish links to the US to, "help companies who, even from the beginning" want to go to the US.Alonso helps position Startup Wise Guys as Europe's premier accelerator through three key factors: the ability to follow on, recognising and partnering with "brand name" syndicates and angel investors through co-investments, promoting a global mentality.All this and much more ...

In today’s episode, Andrii Degeler sits down with application security provider Snyk President and Founder Guy Podjarny to discuss why the speed of execution matters when it comes to app security, and a whole lot more!We hope you enjoy(ed) the podcast! Please feel free to email us with any questions, suggestions, and opinions to podcast@tech.eu or tweet at us @tech_eu.

In today’s episode, Robin sits down with Christian Reber from Pitch.Christian walks us through his journey with Wunderlist (acquired by Microsoft), to an investor, to being unable to resist the urge to start another company, this time not reinventing the wheel, but doing presentations better with Pitch.We hope you enjoy(ed) the podcast! Please feel free to email us with any questions, suggestions, and opinions to podcast@tech.eu or tweet at us @tech_eu.

In today’s episode, listen to an interview with Marianne Hyltoft, DeepTech Fund Director at PreSeed Ventures.Andrii Degeler sits down with Marianne to discuss the first deep tech fund in Denmark, university research commercialisation and much more.The conversation took place in Copenhagen, at TechBBQ in September.We hope you enjoy(ed) the podcast! Please feel free to email us with any questions, suggestions, and opinions to podcast@tech.eu or tweet at us @tech_eu.

In today’s episode, listen to an interview with Frontline Ventures' Partner Finn Murphy.We hope you enjoy(ed) the podcast! Please feel free to email us with any questions, suggestions, and opinions to podcast@tech.eu or tweet at us @tech_eu.