Scaling Europe

European founders are still going to the US earlier than ever, but AI is now changing how the companies they build actually operate. Martin Mignot, Partner at Index Ventures, looks at this shift from inside a global firm working with founders on both sides of the Atlantic. For founders and CEOs, AI is becoming much bigger than a tooling question. The challenge is to rethink how the company works b...

AI data centres are running into a network bottleneck as models demand more bandwidth, more connected processors and dramatically more power. James Regan, CEO of Oriole Networks, thinks the industry is still trying to scale architectures that fundamentally do not work at the size AI is heading towards. Oriole’s approach replaces electrical packet switches with photonic switching technology designe...

Founders can spend years building valuable companies while paying themselves almost nothing, with all of the upside locked away until an exit that may still be years off. Kevin Smith, CEO at Venture Comet, is building a platform that helps founders release a small amount of equity earlier in the journey instead of waiting for a single make-or-break outcome at the end. One of the biggest shifts he...

Most people running multiple roles have no clear way to price their work or decide what is actually worth their time. June Angelides MBE, Founder of the Portfolio Method and Venture Partner at Samos Investments, is building a product around that problem after seeing it play out in her first workshop, where most participants realised they were underpricing themselves once they broke everything down...

Earlybird raised a €360 million early-stage fund, its largest yet, after extending the hard cap during the raise to bring in an additional institutional LP. Andre Retterath, General Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital, talks about how that number is decided before the fund is even raised, with ownership targets and follow-on reserves shaping the size more than anything else in a market where liqu...

Stefan Bader is a the co-founder and CEO of Cello, a tech company focused on user-led growth through referral-based marketing for B2B software companies. He is also running the GTM10 awards - an awards programme for the best GTM operators. Check it out here: https://thegtm10.com/ The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:] https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjkAlso by:Mishcon:...

Deel has grown into one of the fastest scaling SaaS companies globally, building a fully remote organisation of over 7,000 people and reaching more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Dan Westgarth, COO at Deel, shares how he went from customer support at Revolut to leading operations at Deel, and why scaling a company at that speed comes down to constant reinvention, high talent density and a cult...

Rivan has just raised a £25 million Series A to scale its synthetic fuel technology, after building and operating the UK’s largest synthetic natural gas plant in under a year. Harvey Hodd, Founder at Rivan, shares how the company built and proved its first plant and is now focused on scaling manufacturing to bring synthetic fuels into the grid at costs that compete with fossil fuels. The Scaling E...

Station F has become one of the defining institutions in French tech, housing 1,000 early-stage startups in Paris and launching F/ai, a new AI programme bringing together major labs, top funds and a sharper focus on commercial acceleration. Roxanne Varza, Director at Station F, shares how Station F grew alongside the rise of the French ecosystem and why the focus is now shifting toward helping str...

tozero is building Europe’s first industrial battery recycling demonstration plant, taking lithium-ion battery recycling from research to a live facility running in the real world. Sarah Fleischer and Ksenija Milicevic Neumann, Co-founders at tozero, share how the team built and launched the plant from scratch, now processing end-of-life batteries into critical materials like lithium and graphite,...

Arbio is acquiring holiday home portfolios across Europe and using AI to turn highly manual property managers into much more scalable businesses. Constantin Schröder, Co-founder at Arbio, shares how the company has completed 30 acquisitions so far and is using AI to automate pricing, guest communication and operations, turning property management into a far more scalable, software-like model, with...

Connectd has grown to 17m ARR, building a cross-border network of senior talent and enabling companies to access specialised expertise on a flexible basis. Roei Samuel, CEO at Connectd, says the shift to fractional work is accelerating as companies rethink how they hire, increasingly relying on flexible, high-skill operators to support and augment teams, driven by strong UK–US growth and network e...

Dwelly is acquiring traditional lettings and real estate agencies across the UK and integrating them into an AI-enabled platform to automate workflows and scale them more efficiently. Dan Lifshits and Ilia Drozdov, Co-founders of Dwelly, talk about Dwelly entering the London market, which represents around 40% of the UK rental market, marking a major step in scaling their model and consolidating t...

Light is replacing fragmented finance stacks and traditional ERPs by bringing payments, accounting and reporting into one AI-native platform. Jonathan Sanders, CEO at Light, says this shift is only possible now because AI changes how software works, moving beyond fixed SaaS tools towards “organic” systems that learn, adapt and operate more like a team member inside the company. The Scaling Europe...

Eka Ventures has just closed its second fund at £80m, doubling down on early-stage investing across health, wellbeing and sustainability. Jon Coker, Founding Partner at Eka Ventures, says the firm’s edge comes from backing companies before they become obvious, using a data platform that has sourced around half of its deals and a founder assessment approach focused on how quickly founders can devel...

Technology is becoming a bigger part of how art is created and experienced, from immersive formats to AI-driven tools. Mark Ball, Artistic Director at the Southbank Centre, says artists are increasingly using technology to create new types of experiences, with a new Creative Intelligence festival exploring how AI is shaping creative work and raising questions around ownership and copyright. Image...

Investing has shifted from backing products to backing teams, and now increasingly to backing execution, as building products becomes easier. Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Managing Partner at Seedcamp, says the focus today is on founders who can attract strong teams and execute clearly from the start. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk S...

The UK has updated its EMI stock option scheme, bringing more companies back into eligibility as startups raise larger rounds and stay private longer. Isaiah Baril-Dore, Reward and Talent at Index Ventures, says stock options remain the main lever for hiring, with secondary sales becoming more common as employees look for liquidity before an IPO. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - chec...

Planet A Ventures is an early-stage fund investing in companies building within planetary boundaries, using internal scientists and lifecycle assessments to analyse the real impact of each investment. Nick de la Forge, Co-founder and General Partner at Planet A Ventures, highlights that angel money is returning to European startups and that companies are getting better at monetising. The Scaling E...

Armis Security builds software that helps organisations understand and secure everything connected to their environment, from devices to critical infrastructure. The company has grown past $300 million in ARR, with customers expanding usage as new products are added, and was acquired by ServiceNow in a $7.75 billion all-cash deal, at a time when AI is increasing both the scale of what needs to be...

Orrick has just released its latest Deal Flow report, analysing over 400 venture and growth deals across Europe worth more than $10 billion. Liquidation preferences have moved back to 1x, and secondaries are now happening more often from Series B as a way to take liquidity before exit. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: S...

American funds are moving fast in the Nordics, with some flying in and pushing term sheets within 24 hours, forcing European investors to keep up. Sara Rywe, General Partner at byFounders, says speed and community now decide the best early-stage rounds. More experienced founders are also paying closer attention to values alignment and local support, not just brand. The Scaling Europe show is prese...

IQM reported around $30 million in revenue and $100 million in bookings, and announced plans to become the first listed European quantum company, showing how far quantum computing has moved into real commercial use. Jan Goetz, Co-founder and CEO of IQM, says the company builds full-stack quantum computers with its own chip factory, assembly line and data centre. That makes access to capital a cent...

Defence, security and resilience startups in Europe have grown 4x over the past five years, with funding now reaching nearly $9 billion as larger rounds start to emerge. Sander Verbrugge, Partner at the NATO Innovation Fund, says the ecosystem is now producing companies with real revenue and scale. He argues the bigger issue is awareness. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them o...

Pay-by-bank is becoming a serious alternative to cards in Europe, as merchants look for cheaper and faster ways to process payments. Lena Hackelöer, Founder and CEO of Brite Payments, says that shift is being driven by how expensive and fragmented payments are for merchants. She describes how Brite expanded into markets where demand already existed, while staying profitable early to keep control a...