EU-Startups Podcast

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski hosts Bennet Barth, Co-Founder and Managing Director of RESPOND, a leading European accelerator for climate tech entrepreneurs, focused on responsible leadership and transitioning towards a net-zero economy. They discuss the startup pitches that have inspired Bennet, the recurring blind spots in climate tech, and the importance of focu...

This week, the EU-Startups Podcast celebrates a huge milestone—our 100th episode! To mark the occasion, we’ve created a special edition featuring the best moments from an incredible lineup of founders, investors, and changemakers shaping the world. We cover a range of topics including the importance of hiring for purpose, the urgency of addressing climate change, the future of communication throug...

In this episode we catch up with Jan Lozek, Founder and Managing Partner of Future Energy Ventures. Future Energy Ventures is a unique venture capital and collaboration platform that brings together corporate partners and world-class startups to shape the future energy landscape. The fund managed by Future Energy Ventures already has a volume of 110 million euros and a target size of 250 million e...

In this episode, we catch up with Maya Raichoora, UK's leading mental fitness expert who's building the Nike of mental fitness to help C-suites, founders & elite athletes become the top 1% by mastering their mind and performance. Maya also has her new book "VISUALISE" coming in March 2025. She was diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis- an incurable inflammatory bowel disease. She endured crippling phy...

In this episode, we catch up with Marcus Behrendt and Kasper Sage, Managing Directors of BMW i Ventures. BMW i Ventures has offices in San Francisco and Munich and invests in high-performance companies and helps them execute quickly by delivering agile precision ensuring real-world impact on hardware, software, sustainability across manufacturing, transportation, and services. Marcus and Kasper sh...

In this episode, we catch up with Julia Hawkins. Julia is General Partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude, having previously set up Universal Music’s corporate venture arm, as well as being stationed at Goldman Sachs, Last.fm, and BBC Worldwide. LocalGlobe is a London-based venture capital firm that seeded impactful founders since 1999 at places like Citymapper, Improbable, Lovefilm, Moo, Wise and Zoop...

In this episode, we catch up with Sophia Velastegui, former Microsoft Chief AI Officer and Fortune 100 Executive who worked with companies like Google and Apple. Sophia was named ‘The Most Powerful Female Engineer’ from Business Insider. Additionally, her roles as Co-chair at the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council and as a board director at BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ: BL) highlight her enga...

In this episode, we catch up with Paulo Rodriguez, Head of International at Vanta, who's on a mission to secure the internet and protect consumer data. Funded in 2018, Vanta is the leading trust management platform that helps simplify and centralize security for organizations of all sizes and has customers in 58 countries with offices in Dublin, New York, San Francisco and Sydney. Last summer, Van...

In this episode, we catch up with Gerard Grech, Managing Director of Founders at the University of Cambridge, a new strategic initiative focused on accelerating the formation and scaling of new deep technology-based companies. Gerard is also the founder, advisor and former Chief Executive of Tech Nation before it was acquired by the Founders Forum Group. Under his leadership, Tech Nation went on t...

In this episode, we catch up with Diyala D'Aveni, Head of Vento, an Italian chapter of Exor Ventures. With $520M invested in 76 startups globally, Exor Ventures is focusing on discovering exceptional founders with the ambition to build great companies and backing them from pre-seed to pre-IPO. Diyala is also the organizer of Italian Tech Week, the leading tech conference in Italy that has attracte...

In this episode, we catch up with Peter Hirsch, Head of Sustainability at 2150. 2150 is a London-based venture capital firm investing in technology companies that seek to sustainably reimagine and reshape cities and the industries that power them. 2150’s mission to deploy ‘Constructive Capital’ is centered on the conviction that sustainability provides both superior returns and meaningful impact i...

In this episode, we catch up with Sander van de Rijdt, Co-Founder and CEO of PlanRadar. Based in Vienna, PlanRadar has emerged as a leading player in the construction and real estate project management software industry. Since its inception in 2013, the fast-growing scale-up has grown to approximately 500 team members and has raised over €100 million in funding. PlanRadar’s success is a testament...

In this episode, we catch up with Steve Chen, Co-Founder & former CTO of YouTube. Steve shares his insights and lessons learned from building YouTube. He shares his perspective on selling YouTube to Google for $1.65B and talks about his journey from Silicon Valley to Asia. Steve spills the beans on the evolution of YouTube from a dating platform to a video giant, and the challenges faced during it...

In this episode, we catch up with Tony Jamous. Tony is the CEO and Co-Founder of Oyster, a unicorn and hyper-growth company that empowers companies to hire, pay, and care for team members globally. He believes in providing opportunities for everyone anywhere. Over the last decade, Tony has built and scaled Oyster to become a global employment platform valued at over $1 billion. He raised $150 M in...

In this special episode, we present to you The AI Innovator Spotlight, which is part of the Innovation Radar Bridge initiative, unveiling some of Europe’s most exciting AI startups backed by EU initiatives. This session served as a crucial platform for these emerging companies to present their innovative technologies and engage with leading venture capitalists for invaluable feedback, driving forw...

In this episode, we catch up with Jan Reichelt, Founding Partner of 10x Founders. Jan is an entrepreneur at heart who has spent his professional career in tech startups, online businesses, professional information services, and digital media. He started and exited two companies and he has been awarded "European Founder of the Year" by TechCrunch / The Europas. Now he's a Founding Partner of 10x Fo...

In this episode, we catch up with Andre Retterath, Partner & EagleEye Lead at Earlybird Venture Capital and Author of Data-Driven VC. Earlybird VC was founded in 1997 and is a European early-stage VC firm that invests in all development and growth phases of technology companies. With more than EUR 2 billion under management, eight IPOs and 31 trade sales, Earlybird is one of the most established a...

In this episode, we catch up with Madeline Lawrence, CBO of Aikido Security, former Partner at Peak, and one of the most colorful voices in the European tech and venture capital scene. Aikido recently raised $17M to bring “no BS” security for devs. This round comes just 6 months after they raised $5.3M in seed funding. Aikido is the get-it-done security platform for developers that centralizes all...

In this episode, we catch up with Joaquin Cuenca, Co-Founder and CEO of Freepik. Located in the center of the sunny Malaga, Spain, Freepik is a leading global tech company with a goal to help anyone create great designs faster by producing and distributing high-quality graphic and audiovisual resources. Freepik has over 500 employees and more than 800 freelance designers collaborators and 52,000 r...

In this episode, we catch up with Martin Schilling, Managing Director of Techstars Deep Tech Berlin Accelerator; author of the book "The Builder’s Guide to the Tech Galaxy – 99 Practices to Scale Startups into Unicorn Companies"; former COO of the FinTech N26 where he scaled operations from 100 full-time employees to 900 full-time employees and scaled up an international team for 25 markets; and a...

In this episode, we catch up with Pablo Pedrejon, Partner at Seaya. Seaya has closed Seaya Andromeda, the first Article 9 climate-tech fund based in Southern Europe, at €300 million. Seaya’s new fund will invest anywhere between €7-40 million as a first cheque, and will retain capital for follow-ons. It plans to make 25 investments in total between now and the end of 2027, including around five mo...

In this episode, we catch up with Benedikt von Schoeler, General Partner of VSquared Ventures, Europe’s leading early-stage Deep Tech fund, backing some of Europe’s most promising Deep Tech companies, including Isar Aerospace, Zama, IQM Quantum, Inbrain Neuroelectronics and The Exploration Company. Vsquared recently announced the successful closing of their latest fund, Vsquared II, which got over...

In this episode, we catch up with Rob van den Heuvel, Co-founder and CEO of Sendcloud. With access to 100+ carriers, 7000+ shipping methods, and 400,000+ parcel points across Europe, Sendcloud enables online merchants of any size to own their shipping from checkout to returns. With a growing ecosystem of 60+ webshop integrations and 750+ partners, they make it easy for online shops to scale cross-...

In this episode, we catch up with Thomas Rebaud, Co-founder and CEO of Meero. Meero has become a unicorn and the worldwide leader in AI-powered photography in 3 years. Having fundraised 300+ million euros, Thomas discusses his journey in building Meero and his new venture, Blast Angels. With Blast Angels Thomas is on a mission to build the largest pre-series A startup investment vehicle in the wor...

In this episode, we catch up with Dominik Angerer, Co-Founder and CEO of StoryBlock. Storyblok is a content management system (CMS) that empowers developers and marketers to create better content experiences across any digital channel. Leading brands such as Adidas, Tesla, Oatly and 200,000+ other developers and marketers love Storyblok. Dominik discusses the company's remote-first approach, their...