EUVC

EUVC
EUVC

The home of European tech. Connecting the people, capital and companies building Europe. EUVC features conversations with the founders, investors, operators and policymakers shaping the continent's future. We explore venture capital, startups, AI, deeptech, defense, industrial policy, entrepreneurship and the ideas driving European competitiveness. From emerging managers and unicorn founders to institutional investors and government leaders, EUVC documents the people building Europe's next chapter.

  1. 2 days ago

    Marc Thom (Henkel Ventures): Why resilience is a muscle for growth

    Uncertainty is uncomfortable, but Marc Thom, Head of Henkel Ventures, argues that it can also create the conditions for new businesses, technologies and growth. Marc describes resilience as a muscle: not simply surviving disruption, but learning how to turn challenges into commercial opportunities. He connects that idea to sustainability, resource dependency and demographic change, and explains why he believes material science can play a major role in reducing emissions and reshaping industries. He also explores how AI could accelerate innovation by helping companies and researchers work with vast amounts of knowledge and data, and why Europe may be better positioned than it often assumes. From established corporates and universities to scientific expertise, venture capital and entrepreneurial talent, Marc argues that many of the ingredients are already here. The bigger question is whether Europe can use those strengths with enough optimism, long-term thinking and willingness to act. Highlights Why resilience is about turning challenges into opportunitiesHow sustainability can become a source of growthWhy material science could have an outsized climate impactHow AI can support innovation in materials and formulationsWhy Europe may be more competitive than it thinksWhat startups can teach established companies about responding to uncertaintyWhy optimism only matters if it leads to actionThis session was recorded at the Love Tomorrow Summit, where EUVC curated the investor-focused programme. Timestamps (00:00) Intro(01:00) Why startups make Marc optimistic(02:00) Finding opportunity in uncertainty(03:55) Why resilience is a muscle(04:20) Sustainability and material science as growth opportunities(05:05) How AI could accelerate material innovation(06:05) Why Europe is more competitive than it thinks(06:35) How startups turn long-term trends into businesses(07:25) Turning challenges into opportunities

    Marc Thom (Henkel Ventures): Why resilience is a muscle for growth

  2. 3 days ago

    Hans Söhngen (KPN Ventures): Rebuilding a CVC that stopped serving the mothership

    A CVC can stay active on paper while becoming increasingly irrelevant to the company that owns it. That was the situation Hans Söhngen stepped into at KPN Ventures. After years of early-stage investing, the fund lacked strong internal anchoring and had too little evidence of the value it was creating for KPN. In this conversation, Andreas Munk Holm and Jeppe Høier speak with Hans Söhngen, Managing Director at KPN Ventures, about how he helped turn the fund around. The new approach starts with a simple test: why does this investment make sense for KPN? Hans explains how that question reshaped the portfolio, the companies KPN Ventures backs and the way the team works with business units across KPN. He also reflects on what he would change about the legacy portfolio, why internal sponsors need to genuinely want a partnership and how strategic relevance can be tested through real commercial activity. The financial side still matters. Hans discusses how KPN Ventures looks for companies that can contribute strategically while remaining strong investments in their own right. Portfolio partnerships generated more than €20 million in revenue for KPN last year, and Hans says that figure could nearly double this year. Highlights Why KPN Ventures needed to rethink its original modelHow Hans rebuilt the fund around value for KPNThe logic every new investment needs to passWhat he learned from managing the legacy portfolioWhy commercial revenue is an important measure of strategic impactHow KPN balances strategic and financial returnsWhy internal sponsors need to pull opportunities into the businessWhat made KPN relevant to ElevenLabsWhy fewer, higher-impact partnerships can create more value Timestamps (00:00) Intro(02:20) Why KPN Ventures was created(05:40) Where the original CVC model stopped working(09:20) Rebuilding the fund around value for KPN(12:15) The logic every new investment needs to pass(14:45) What Hans would change about the legacy portfolio(21:10) Building the new KPN Ventures strategy(24:50) How KPN measures strategic value(26:30) Why KPN invested in ElevenLabs(31:45) Balancing strategic value with financial returns(38:00) Moving faster and giving founders a clear answer(40:15) Why every deal needs an internal sponsor(41:50) Why KPN reduced innovation noise and focused on fewer deals

    Hans Söhngen (KPN Ventures): Rebuilding a CVC that stopped serving the mothership

  3. 4 days ago

    Daniel Betts & Christian Hernandez Gallardo (Blue Frontier): How climate hardware earns trust

    For climate hardware, technical performance is only the start. Commercial viability depends on risk-averse buyers trusting the product, industry recommenders backing it and manufacturers being able to reproduce it reliably at scale. Blue Frontier’s journey from pilot units to commercial deployments shows how much of that work happens outside the lab. More than 90,000 hours of field operation and the training of over 1,000 sales engineers have helped build confidence in the company’s cooling technology, while its manufacturing strategy relies on established partners rather than building its own gigafactory. In this EUVC episode, Blue Frontier Co-Founder and CEO Daniel Betts and Executive Chair Christian Hernandez Gallardo discuss what it takes to move beyond pilots, scale manufacturing and turn cooling into grid infrastructure. They also explore how energy storage changes the economics of air conditioning and whether Europe could leapfrog conventional cooling technology. Highlights Why HVAC sales partners and contractors shape adoptionHow field deployments turn performance into market trustWhy hardware companies risk “death by a thousand pilots”When engineering teams need to freeze a production versionHow outsourced manufacturing can reduce the capital needed to scaleWhy cooling and energy storage could free up grid capacityWhat Europe would need to leapfrog conventional cooling Recording note: This episode was recorded before the public announcement that Christian would step back from his role at 2150 to become Executive Chair of Blue Frontier. He remains an investor across the firm’s funds. Join us for Luxembourg Venture Days on October 14–15 at Luxexpo The Box. Explore the agenda and register here. Timestamps (00:00) Intro(02:35) What changes for Blue Frontier now(03:15) How Blue Frontier’s cooling technology works(05:05) Why cooling is a grid capacity problem(09:15) What building owners are actually buying(15:10) From science and engineering to sales and service(19:25) Winning trust in a risk-averse HVAC market(23:20) Moving from prototypes to scalable manufacturing(27:35) Why Blue Frontier does not need its own gigafactory(31:10) When hardware founders need to stop tinkering(32:17) Why air conditioning can be a venture-scale business(33:17) Scaling supply, financing and commercial growth(36:17) Can Europe leapfrog conventional cooling?

    Daniel Betts & Christian Hernandez Gallardo (Blue Frontier): How climate hardware earns trust

  4. 18 Sept

    This Week in European Tech: Europe’s venture market still leans on public capital

    Europe’s venture ecosystem has grown, but how durable is the capital supporting it? Government and sovereign funding remain significant while European pension fund participation is still limited. In this episode, Dan Bowyer, Mads Jensen and Priyanka Savjani of SuperSeed examine what Europe’s reliance on public capital means for the long-term strength of its venture market. They also share their takeaways from the All-In Summit, discuss why Langdock reversed its Delaware structure, assess how higher rates could affect AI infrastructure spending and explore Europe’s role in physical AI and advanced manufacturing. Highlights Why public funding can leave European venture politically vulnerableWhat limited pension fund participation means for long-term capitalWhy Langdock moved its corporate structure back to EuropeWhether independent evaluation can address AI safety concernsHow rising rates could reshape the AI infrastructure boomOpenAI’s advertising opportunity and the economics of conversational AIEuropean technology’s role in physical AI and manufacturingThe companies and technologies worth watching this weekTimestamps (00:00) Cold open(01:13) Introduction(02:39) Inside the All-In Summit(15:00) Closer ties between Canada and the EU(17:59) Why LangDock moved its corporate structure to Europe(20:38) Who funds European venture?(23:44) AI safety: Slow down or audit the models?(35:53) How higher rates could affect AI infrastructure spending(42:45) OpenAI’s advertising and monetisation opportunity(46:39) European IPOs and the OpenAI–Anthropic model race(49:41) Physical AI, humanoid robots and industrial software(55:37) Deals and companies of the week(58:48) The week ahead

    This Week in European Tech: Europe’s venture market still leans on public capital

  5. 18 Sept

    Summit | Krishna Visvanathan (Crane): From contrarian view to a consensus bet, twice and counting

    What changes when an investor encounters a founder who expands their sense of what is possible? Krishna Visvanathan, Co-Founder and Partner at Crane Venture Partners, reflects on meeting James Dacombe in 2019. At 19, James was proposing a non-invasive brain sensor inspired by the experiences of two grandparents with dementia. Krishna could not yet know whether the technology behind CoMind would work, but he believed James had the qualities to build more than one consequential company. Crane backed that potential. Several years later, the firm became the only institutional investor in the first round of James’s second company, now OLIX. In this conversation, recorded during the EUVC Summit & Awards Show in April 2026, Krishna shares how working with James sharpened Crane’s approach to identifying outlier founders. He explains why the firm considers whether every investment could return half or all of a fund and why a founder’s humility, self-awareness and capacity to learn can matter as much as the initial idea. The discussion also explores how exceptional founders attract people with deeper specialist expertise, why Crane continues to increase its appetite for ambitious technical bets and what investors should search for when the next outlier will not resemble the last one. Highlights Why Krishna backed James before he could assess whether CoMind’s technology was achievableHow James changed Crane’s expectations of founders and potential outcomesWhy Crane underwrites investments for fund-returning potentialThe qualities that suggest a founder can keep learning and developingWhy searching for another version of a past success can obscure the next outlierHow founders without conventional credentials can assemble world-class technical teamsWhat gave Crane the conviction to back James’s second company Timestamps (00:00) Intro(01:29) Meeting James Dacombe and backing CoMind(04:05) Betting on the founder before the product(05:42) How James raised Crane’s investment bar(07:23) Why Crane refuses to hedge(08:55) What another outlier founder looks like(10:03) Humility, self-awareness and maturity(11:46) The founder at the back of the room

    Summit | Krishna Visvanathan (Crane): From contrarian view to a consensus bet, twice and counting

  6. 15 Sept

    Alex Bakir (Norrsken Evolve): Europe’s AI ambitions need a new electricity system

    Europe can invest heavily in AI, but without enough cheap, reliable electricity, its ambitions will eventually hit a physical limit. Data centres, industry and digital infrastructure all need power, making Europe’s energy system an increasingly important part of its technology strategy. Alex Bakir, General Partner at Norrsken Evolve, argues that electricity is becoming a question of competitiveness, resilience and sovereignty, not only climate. Alex traces how Europe became dependent on imported energy and why electrification now requires changes to grids, costs and supply chains. He also explains why Europe may already have the technology and capital it needs, if it can overcome fragmentation and build enough momentum to act. Highlights Why Europe’s AI ambitions depend on electricityHow energy became a competitiveness and sovereignty issueWhy grid infrastructure is becoming a bottleneckThe risk of swapping one dependency for anotherWhy Alex believes Europe already has the technology and capital to actThis session was recorded at the Love Tomorrow Summit, where EUVC curated the investor-focused programme. Timestamps (01:00) Why Europe should run on cheap, clean electricity(02:00) How Europe’s postwar model shaped its energy system(03:00) From industrial power to dependence on imported energy(04:00) Why this is bigger than climate change(05:00) Energy, geopolitics and economic power(06:00) Europe’s vulnerability to energy price shocks(07:00) Why AI raises the stakes for Europe’s electricity system(08:00) Grid bottlenecks, high costs and new dependencies(09:00) Why Europe already has the technology and capital to act(10:00) The case for a more electrified Europe

    Alex Bakir (Norrsken Evolve): Europe’s AI ambitions need a new electricity system

  7. 12 Sept

    This Week in European Tech: Europe has the talent. Can it own the upside?

    What Europe lacks is not necessarily talent. The bigger challenge is keeping ambitious founders here, financing them at scale and capturing more of the value created by European technology. In this episode of This Week in European Tech, Dan Bowyer and Priyanka Savjani of SuperSeed are joined by Andrew J Scott of 7percent Ventures to discuss what needs to change if Europe wants to build and retain more global technology leaders. They cover EU Inc., European pension capital, AI sovereignty and access to frontier models, as well as Europe’s space ambitions and the wider economic impact of AI. The conversation also looks at what happens if AI shifts more value from labour towards capital, and whether Europe is positioned to benefit from that shift. Highlights Why Europe’s talent may not be the real constraintWhether EU Inc. can reduce fragmentationWhy domestic capital matters for European techWhat AI sovereignty really meansWhy access to frontier models could become a strategic riskWhat Europe needs to unlock in spaceHow AI could reshape the balance between labour and capitalDeals of the week across AI and space

    This Week in European Tech: Europe has the talent. Can it own the upside?

  8. 11 Sept

    Summit | Chris Preston (ZEREN) & Rishabh Kaul (Hoxton Ventures): Building AI-native leadership teams

    What does it really mean to be AI-native when hiring or backing a leadership team? Chris Preston, CEO at ZEREN, a global technology recruitment firm, and Rishabh Kaul, Venture Partner at Hoxton Ventures, discuss how AI is changing the signals that matter in senior talent, from curiosity and hands-on experimentation to judgement and functional expertise. Recorded at the EUVC Summit & Awards Show in April 2026, they explore the trade-off between proven experience and AI-native thinking, how founders can rethink hiring and how investors can better assess and support leadership teams as expectations evolve. Highlights What AI-native leadership looks like in practiceHow founders and investors can assess AI capabilityWhy curiosity and experimentation matter alongside experienceWhen deep domain expertise still matters moreWhy interim executives can help shape evolving rolesWhy early-stage teams should focus on standout strengths rather than perfection Timestamps (00:00) Intro(02:00) How AI is changing leadership hiring(04:00) Why experienced leaders need to stay close to how AI is being used(06:00) How to test for genuinely AI-native thinking(07:00) Balancing proven experience with AI curiosity(09:00) The investor perspective on AI adoption across portfolio companies(11:00) When deep domain expertise still matters more(12:00) Using interim leaders when roles are still evolving(13:00) Why founders should hire for standout strengths, not perfection

    Summit | Chris Preston (ZEREN) & Rishabh Kaul (Hoxton Ventures): Building AI-native leadership teams
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About

The home of European tech. Connecting the people, capital and companies building Europe. EUVC features conversations with the founders, investors, operators and policymakers shaping the continent's future. We explore venture capital, startups, AI, deeptech, defense, industrial policy, entrepreneurship and the ideas driving European competitiveness. From emerging managers and unicorn founders to institutional investors and government leaders, EUVC documents the people building Europe's next chapter.

Information

  • Channel
    EUVC
  • Creator
    EUVC
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    783
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © EUVC
  • Show Website
    EUVC

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