EU-Startups Podcast

In this special episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, we kick off a five-part interview series recorded during Leonard Launch Day in Paris, in partnership with Leonard, the innovation and foresight platform of the VINCI Group. Leonard supports startups and internal projects shaping the future of construction, infrastructure, energy, and mobility, and during their Launch Day we sat down with five com...

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, host David Cendon Garcia sits down with Friedrich Schwandt - founder of Statista and CEO of ECDB - to unpack nearly two decades of building one of the world’s most trusted data platforms, and why he decided to step back as CEO to start again. Friedrich founded Statista in Hamburg in 2007 with a simple idea: make reliable data accessible. Seventeen years...

After 100+ episodes over two years, this is Marcin Lewandowski’s final episode as host of the EU-Startups Podcast. We flipped the script: this time Marcin is interviewed by David Cendon Garcia (News Editor at EU-Startups) — who will be taking over the podcast going forward. We recorded it live on a padel court, in one take, while playing. It’s a fun behind-the-scenes look at: → Marcin's story and...

Most people talk about AI in the cloud. Karim Saleh is putting it on the factory floor. This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Karim Saleh — Co-Founder & CEO of Cerrion, the company building agentic AI that watches factory lines 24/7 and intervenes in real time to prevent safety incidents, scrap, and costly downtime. Cerrion plugs into standard cameras, understands...

Is Europe really at an AI crossroads — or are we already picking a lane? This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Emmet King, Founding Partner at J12, VC with presence in Stockholm, London, and Paris, backing founders early at the frontier of AI, to unpack what the AI moment actually looks like on the ground for European founders. Emmet argues that Europe has world-c...

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Zuzanna Stamirowska, CEO & Co-Founder of Pathway — the company building the world’s first post-transformer AI model. Transformers took us far, but they’re showing real limits: they recite instead of reason, freeze instead of adapt, and break under real-time complexity. Zuzanna’s team is rewriting the foundations. Pathway intro...

Most healthcare only really starts when something goes wrong. Even is trying to flip that. Recorded live during Italian Tech Week in Turin, this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast features Matilde Giglio, Co-Founder of Even, India’s leading healthcare startup redesigning access to affordable, high-quality care for over 1.3 billion people. Backed by Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Lachy Groom, Alph...

If your coffee tastes the same delicious every morning, there’s a good chance Cropster is involved. In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Andreas Idl, Co-Founder & CEO of Cropster, the quiet tech force behind the global specialty coffee boom. Founded after Andreas spent time in Colombia and saw how hard it was for small farmers and roasters to access the glo...

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Rebecka Löthman Rydå, General Partner at Norrsken Evolve. Rebecka calls herself a nerd at heart passionate about supporting early stage founders building transformative companies that tackle meaningful problems. She's an investor in over 30 companies like Truecaller, through Zenith (IPO $2b), Funnel (series C $66m), TrusTrace...

Abacum is the all-in-one FP&A platform helping CFOs forecast revenue, plan headcount, and model financial scenarios—so finance can drive efficient growth in tough markets. With 100+ employees across Barcelona, New York, and London, Abacum is used by hundreds of mid-market companies in 31 countries—trusted by Strava, Trilogy, Abridge, JG Wentworth, Mastercam, and more. The company recently closed a...

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Vidya Peters, CEO of DataSnipper—the Dutch unicorn automating document-heavy audit and finance with enterprise-grade, traceable AI. Founded in 2017, DataSnipper is used by 600,000+ professionals across 2,000+ customers in 175 countries—including the Big Four (Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC) and enterprises like Volkswagen, Morgan Sta...

This is the best time to build a startup ever. To young people thinking whether to build something: Start Now. This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Laura Modiano (Startups EMEA at OpenAI) to turn her “love letter to European founders” into a build-now playbook. We break down OpenAI’s latest platform updates—Apps in ChatGPT + Apps SDK (a brand-new distribution cha...

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Scott van den Berg, founder of HotStart VC, to unpack how celebrity and creator-led brands actually win. HotStart VC's team has been involved in 55+ celebrity-founded brands, including investments in companies founded by Selena Gomez, DJ Khaled, Jake Paul, and more. They also co-founded two of the most successful celebri...

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Rocío Alcocer Magirena, Managing Director of Norrsken Barcelona — Europe’s largest hub for tech & impact startups — during Impact/Week (Oct 1–2). We dig into Norrsken’s “infrastructure for hope”, the Impact/100 2025 list (where AI tops tomorrow’s impact unicorns), and why Spain’s startup economy is surging (📈 €3.8B). Rocío br...

Most growth teams run on incentives. Most incentives run on… spreadsheets, guesswork, and disputes. In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Sergio González, CEO & Co-Founder of Remuner—the AI-powered sales compensation platform that turns commissions from confusion into a growth system. Fresh off a €5.5M Seed (led by Seaya, with Pear VC and others), Remuner is...

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Beth Susanne, global pitch coach trusted by over 3,950 startups and clients across 60 countries. She has helped entrepreneurs raise over $10 billion to date! Her work spans industries from medtech and biotech to fintech, AI, and cleantech, and she has collaborated with organisations such as Singularity University, Oxford Found...

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer, Founder & CEO of EGYM, the German fitness tech unicorn transforming how the world approaches health. EGYM’s mission is simple yet bold: make fitness accessible to everyone. By rethinking the traditional gym experience and integrating fitness into healthcare, EGYM is pioneering a shift from rep...

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Des Traynor, Co-founder of Intercom, creators of Fin. AI, to unpack what it takes to transform a unicorn into an AI-first company. Des shares the story of how Intercom embraced AI at its core, building Fin. AI, a customer service agent now handling millions of conversations. He explains the challenges of creating an AI-f...

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Marco Trombetti, seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and Co-Founder & CEO of Translated and Pi Campus. Translated provides translation services in more than 200 languages with over 500.000 professional translators working in symbiosis with the best translation AI ever created. Marco’s story is one of curiosity, long-term vi...

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Joe Seager-Dupuy, Partner at TRUE, the $1bn consumer-specialist VC and innovation advisory firm that’s reshaping the retail, leisure, and consumer tech sectors. Joe shares his unique journey from a family of firefighters to venture capital, explains why brands today need a strong point of view, and reveals the “superpowe...

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Jens Wohltorf, CEO & Co-Founder of Blacklane — the premium global chauffeur service that’s transforming the way business travelers move through the world. Jens shares the journey from concept to becoming a trusted name in luxury mobility. We discuss how Blacklane scaled across continents while maintaining exceptional ser...

What does it take to build one of world's highest-performing sales teams — fully remote? In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Maxime Chareton, Head of Sales at Revolut, to explore what makes the fintech giant’s sales engine run. Revolut's powerhouse of products helps 50+ million customers get more from their money every day. They have 10,000+ people working...

Airbnb? Timeshare? Nope. This Is Better. In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Nikolaus Thomale, Founder & Managing Director of MYNE Homes. MYNE Homes is building Europe’s leading co-ownership platform for vacation homes. They make buying, owning and selling your dream vacation home more accessible and hassle-free. While more than 20 million vacation homes a...

🎙️ Skills Over Signals: TestGorilla CEO Wouter Durville on the Future of Hiring In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Wouter Durville, Co-Founder and CEO of TestGorilla, to discuss the shift from traditional hiring to skills-based recruitment. With over $80m in funding TestGorilla is placing people in dream jobs with talent assessments that identify the best...

In this special edition of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski is joined by the editorial team behind EU-Startups: Antonio Escarzaga (Head of Content) and David Cendon Garcia (Head of News). Together, they unpack the evolving world of startup media — from AI-generated content and traditional journalism to what actually makes a startup story land in today's crowded feed. Whether you're a fo...