Tech.eu

Security and privacy frameworks are not your everyday topic of conversation, but the minute either of these fails, it's the talk of the office. On the back of a just-days-ago-announced $40 million Series B extension to an already impressive $110 million round, we sit down with Vanta Chief Revenue Officer Stevie Case to discuss just what advantages the company offers organisations, and what this rock solid compliance certification can mean when it comes to speed of execution, growth, and ultimately the bottom line.Stevie also highlights, in 90 words or less the top three most requested compliance certifications, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and how Vanta works closely with auditors to ensure that every client that walks through their doors leaves fully compliant.The company has recently opened offices in Dublin and Sydney, with Stevie confirming that the company is currently scouting locations to open operations in South America. When asked about any future M&A activities, Ms. Case remains ... politely silent. All this and more with Vanta Chief Revenue Officer Stevie Case.

In this 🇹🇷 Türkiye 🇹🇷 special edition both Dan and Robin are dusting off their boots from a trip out to Istanbul and the Webrazzi Summit, but never the less ....We discuss the rumoured Getir/Gorillas merger.Which of course evokes memories of one of the biggest shopping expeditions of all time: Ford vs. Ferrari.Robin weighs in on the fast-delivery space and who's next on the M&A consolidation action.Philly!We discuss CNBC's Ryan Browne reporting on N26's, "net revenue increased 67% in 2021 to 120.3 million euros as the bank benefited from growth in subscriptions, stronger customer engagement and higher interest rates. However, the company continued to lose money that year, with its net loss climbing 14% to 172.4 million euros."BaFin and Wirecard, with a tangent to kebab and The Gamestop Saga.ABC = Always Be Cobbling.Bonus: be the first to tweet us first with the addendum to the ABC's and you'll win a free t-shirt from Tech.eu.And last by not least, Dan recaps the Big Deal this week and the rationale behind Grover's numbers. While he wanted something dark and dirty to be going on, in fact, the $2.1 billion in debt funding does, in fact, check out.Teşekkürler! 

Woof, what a week it was. Pony up to your favourite beverage of choice, and let's recap what caught our eyes here at Tech.eu❗ Tech.eu is expanding! We're looking for some new crackerjack news tellers to join our editorial team. If you've got the chops, or know someone that does, hit us up at work@tech.eu.🎮 London-based Improbable did NOT, in fact, close a $100 million round this week, as confirmed by Tech.eu, but rather, they're in the process of closing the round. Robin reports on how very strange this news is.❗ The Tech.eu Summit is 24 May 2023. In Brussels.🛒 Spotify snaps up Kinzen / Reddit acqui-hired (Robin hates that term with a passion) Sweden's Oterlu.🤖 Dublin-based Tines extended its Series B round by $55 million, and we find out just how Lee Fixel quit Tiger Global. Hint: Reuters.🪑 An Austrian pr0n company proposes to buy Home24 for $250 million. In Robin's words, "F*ck you Home24". (XXXLutz is actually a furniture retailer that was founded in 1945).🦷 Maki.vc sunk €5.3 million into Düsseldorf-based at-home orthodontics device maker K Line. Of interest as the IoT investment space has cooled dramatically.📉 Tech.eu Insider members have exclusive access to our quarterly report where we outline the shape of the European landscape.🥄 Dan recaps the Big Deal article that went out earlier this week, diving a bit deeper into Bending Spoons' recent $340 million funding round. We got revenue numbers direct from the horses mouth, uncovered that H14 is the family office of the Berlusconi family (Bunga bunga!), and how and why the company's name is tied to The Matrix.📱 One more thing: The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of enforcing USB-C as a common charging port across a wide range of consumer electronic devices. Hallelujah. F*ck you dongles.🍻 That's it, now get out there and have a fantastic weekend.❓ Leave it, I don't care. 

Having recently closed an €11.6 million Series A funding round, Jobbatical founder Karoli Hindriks joins the show today to discuss the hows and whys of pivoting the platform from a recruitment service to a talent relocation one; and how she hasn't looked back since."As a startup, you want to be a painkiller, not a vitamin." - Karoli Hindriks.We also discuss the ins and outs of digital nomadic life, why and how governments need to recognise that worker patterns and expectations have changed dramatically in the past 50 years, and what country is the toughest to deal with in terms of relocations. Hint, it's the United States of America.In the signature Tech.eu Lightning Round, we get to know Karoli as a person and find out that she is (for the purposes of this podcast) related to one of the greatest guitar legends of all time.Closing out the show, Dan digs into Karoli's CV (yes, she once worked for Fox, but at the same time, also held a position as a cabaret dancer), and she leaves the youths with some sage advice.All this and more on Episode 303 of the Tech.eu podcast!

In what turned out to be the Week d'Italia Robin jetted off to TechChill Milano and brought home a head cold, so good friend of the show Nick Stevens stepped in on a wing and a prayer.🇮🇹 (2:25) This week we cover Ryan Reynolds' involvement in a $340 million investment in Bending Spoons, their video editing tool Splice, photo editor Remini, how and why mobile tech has plateaued, why everyone shouldn't be a creative genius, DALL E2, and why Brad Pitt's Bullet Train is the greatest worst greatest film of all time.🇩🇪 (7:27) We glossed over Grover (to an extent) as Dan's planning on taking a deeper look at the tech rental platform in the Big Deal segment next week, but spoiler alert, of the $2.3 billion that the Berlin-based company has raised, $2.1 billion of it is in debt funding.🇮🇹 (10:40) Slimming the show down ever more, we blazed through Satispay, their €320 million Series D round, and after Scalapay (I'm detecting a theme here 🤔) the startup takes the second ever unicorn title home for Italy.🇩🇪 (11:00) Nick chimes in with a subject near and dear to his heart and how Berlin's one • fıve is out to save the world. To spice things up, we do it in pub quiz trivial style with me not having the article open and seeing just how much of my own reporting I can remember.🇬🇧/🇺🇸 (13:55) And last, but certainly not least, Nick and I cover why mayonnaise is the ultimate condiment, what I've got my eye on for the after work beverage of choice (hint: Guinness), and why Nick is taking drugs (hint: the clue is in the intro).All this and more on Episode 8 of Tech.eu's Drive at Five! 

Despite skipping the legendary opening party at OMCLUB as part of DMEXCO in Cologne, and smelling quite lovely, I might add, Robin's back in the studio to discuss what went down across the European technosphere this week.🇵🇹 Robin weighs in on Dan's "tech-light, but a good read" piece highlighting the shaky legal system in Portugal and what it means to the investment and startup scenes.🎙️ > 🎤 After a blip in the audio recording, we're pleased to announce that we're going through Robin's audio setup with a fine-toothed comb, and let's see if we can get him sounding just as good as Dan. Or at the very least, remove all the technical barriers.⚛️ Dan finally received the opportunity to pen a headline he's been waiting his entire life for it involves "pet food and supplements" and a quantum leap in innovation.👑 Robin recaps the funding numbers of the week, noting that of the top 10 investments none of them were from the UK. A rarity indeed. What's going on? Hint: Salve Regina.📱 Berlin/San Francisco-based telecom-as-a-service platform Gigs raised $20 million from a number of notable investors including Gradient, Google’s early-stage fund, YC Continuity, etc., but neither Robin nor Dan can figure out just who their customers are and/or what industries/segments they're targeting. Stay tuned...🐝 Robin waxes poetic about the buzz surrounding the Instabox and Budbee merger.💸 And there's one more thing - Robin takes note that investors tend to like the $300 million number. This week Swisscom Ventures, DTCP, and Extantia all clocked in at 300 million.😂 Last but certainly not least, after 5 episodes hosted together, Robin finally loses it and we almost have to stop the show due to uncontrollable laughter.All this and more on Episode 7 of Tech.eu's Drive at Five.

After having extended its Series C round to $160 million this past June and set a record as the fastest fintech company in Europe to reach unicorn status, Zilch is now taking the show on the road and angling to conquer the U.S. Market.I sat down with the company's CEO and co-founder Philip Belamant to discuss how he might possibly be the most successful failed games developer and how this venture eventually led to the creation of Zilch, including his decision to disagree with the board of a listed, multi-national payments provider and strike out on his own.With the industry currently experiencing some significant down-rounds, Philip takes me through a lesson in economics, and how Zilch's unique model isn't necessarily bulletproof, but how the company has been able to forge ahead while others are regrouping.We also get into the nitty gritty on expanding to the U.S. market, including Zilch's decision to set up its HQ in Miami, and whether or not a crypto play is in the company's future. 🤔And last, but certainly not least, Philip sits in on the trademark lightning round where we get to know him as a person and not as the head of a business. Hint: Bobotie, you should try it too!All this and more with Zilch's CEO and co-founder Philip Belamant.

Over the past decade, Amsterdam-HQ'd accelerator Rockstart has backed upwards of 280 startups, seen nine exits, and €150 million raised by portfolio companies culminating in an alumni value of approximately $1 billion.Traditionally focusing on Energy and AgriFood startups, in April of this year the firm opened the application process for its newest fund, Emerging Tech.We sat down with Rockstart's man at the helm for this fund, Michael Bjørnlund to define what exactly Rockstart views as emerging tech, what unique selling points Rockstart offers above and beyond other accelerators on the market today, and how and why he'll be swimming to Rockstart's inaugural event, Forward 2022 in September.All this and more with Rockstart's Managing Partner Emerging Tech Fund Europe - Michael Bjørnlund!

In a special post-TechBBQ episode, Dan sits down with  Neil S W Murray, founder of The Nordic Web, founding partner at The Nordic Web Ventures, and co-founder and CEO at Playmaker.Up first, Neil and Dan weigh in on the rise of the east and how the CEE region, east to west, north to south is finally experiencing what Western Europe saw in the VC scene some 15 years ago, particularly in regard to what 500 Emerging Europe, LauncHub Ventures, VentureFriends, and Vitosha Venture Partners are up to.Zooming out, we discuss U.S. investors' increased interest in the European startup scene, particularly this week's announcement of New York City-based Energy Impact Partners' €390 million commitment to EU-based startups, all with a healthy round of keyword bingo.And last, but certainly not least, Neil doesn't shy away from talking about the failure of his startup, Playmaker, and provides both insight and three key takeaways that any starry-eyed founder should take note of before setting pen to paper.All this and more on episode 6 of Tech.eu's Drive at Five.

Well alright, alright, alright, everyone's back from holidays, and it's time to get down to business.First this week we look at Northzone's appointment of World Economic Forum sustainability expert and programme creator, Anna Skarborg as Head of Sustainability and the growing trend of ESG officers in-house at VC firms.Former Revolut execs Alan Chang and Charles Orr have assembled a mighty impressive list of investors for their startup Tesseract which aims to disrupt the energy market. What and how they plan on doing this is still a bit ambiguous, as is where the $78 million came from. We discuss.UK-based OneWeb took a $229 million writedown due to Russia taking 36 of the company's satellites hostage indefinitely. Deliveroo's got more legal troubles when it comes to the treatment of its labour force, Instagram f*cked up in terms of data protection rights when it comes to minors, and last but certainly not least, Cazoo has called it a day across continental Europe, resulting in 750 jobs out the window.All this and more on episode 5 of Tech.eu's Drive at Five.