Scaling Europe

Sebastian Johnson
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  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated weekly

Every week Seb Johnson sits down with 5 of Europe's best builders and investors to talk about what's going on in European Tech. Prior guests include the founders of Lovable, Cleo, Voi an Zilch, as well as top VCs from 20VC, Index, Balderton and Creandum.

  1. 21 hr ago

    Jonathan Godwin, CEO at Orbital: Orbital raised $50m Series B

    Orbital recently raised a $50m Series B led by Plural to scale its AI platform for developing advanced materials. Jonathan Godwin is Co-founder and CEO at Orbital Industries. The company is using AI to discover a new GPU cooling material for data centres, with plans to apply the same technology to hardware and manufacturing across sectors such as semiconductors, energy and aerospace. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:20 - Orbital’s $50m Series B 1:50 - Discovering a new GPU cooling material 3:45 - The long-term vision for AI industrials 5:50 - Raising deep tech before the AI boom 8:20 - Why Plural backed Orbital 11:20 - The Orb open-source model 14:05 - Why Orb is open source 15:15 - Why Orbital builds hardware, not just AI models 20:40 - Building a mission-driven company

    21 min

  2. 5 days ago

    Seltz raised $12.5M seed: Antonio Mallia, CEO at Seltz

    Seltz just raised a $12.5m Seed as it launches its first product and looks to build a new generation of web infrastructure for AI. Antonio Mallia is Founder and CEO at Seltz. The company is building for a world where AI agents become a new type of web user, requiring a completely different way to access information online. Instead of returning a list of links, Seltz is rebuilding the entire search stack so agents can access trustworthy, citable information and run hundreds of queries in parallel to complete tasks independently. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:25 - $12.5m Seed announcement 1:15 - Why AI needs a different type of web search 3:20 - Why Seltz rebuilt the entire stack 5:00 - Why investors backed the company 7:20 - Building a research-heavy team 11:50 - Early traction and customer use cases 15:40 - The next 12 months 16:25 - Rethinking retrieval for AI agents 18:30 - Running hundreds of queries in parallel

    20 min

  3. 22 Jun

    Will Bennett, Principal at Seedcamp: BREAKING: Seedcamp closed $220M + $100M Funds

    Seedcamp just closed $220M + $100M funds as it looks to support European founders from their first cheque through to later stages of company building. The new $220M core fund will continue backing early-stage companies, while the $100M select fund allows Seedcamp to double down on breakout portfolio companies from Series B onwards. Will Bennett is Principal at Seedcamp. He believes the definition of pre-seed is changing rapidly, with founder profiles becoming increasingly diverse and companies achieving more at an earlier stage. As more founders move to the US earlier in their journey, Seedcamp is expanding its presence there to help companies build customer, talent and investor networks. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:25 - Seedcamp’s $220M + $100M funds 1:40 - Why the funds are getting bigger 2:30 - Why Seedcamp launched a select fund 3:50 - European founders moving to the US 6:30 - How founder profiles are changing 8:15 - What pre-seed means today 10:00 - Defence and frontier technologies 13:00 - What founders get from Seedcamp 15:20 - Building a stronger US presence 19:30 - The secret behind Seedcamp’s success

    21 min

  4. 19 Jun

    Matteo Benedetti, Founder at Debtist: Debtist scaled to €15M ARR in just 3 years

    Debtist scaled to €15M ARR in just 3 years as it builds an AI-powered receivables management platform across Europe. Matteo Benedetti is Founder at Debtist. The company started from identifying a gap in traditional debt collection and built an end-to-end software platform that automates receivables management using AI across email, calling, document handling, and legal workflows. It now serves around 500 clients across Germany, the UK, Scandinavia and other European markets. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:25 - $60m Series A announcement 3:01 - What Debtist does 5:39 - Novesta partnership 6:56 - Enterprise adoption and go-to-market 8:41 - Scaling across Europe 9:02 - AI in receivables management 10:37 - Building organisation and learnings 15:18 - Expansion strategy 20:37 - Hiring and culture

    19 min

  5. 18 Jun

    Jacob Houlberg, Co-founder of Evertrace: Evertrace helps early stage funds identify new investment opportunities

    Venture funds are becoming more systematic about finding founders before anyone else has seen them. As more firms build internal sourcing tools, the real advantage is shifting from collecting signals to knowing which opportunities are actually worth chasing. Jacob Houlberg is Co-founder of Evertrace, which helps more than 220 venture funds identify founders at the earliest stages of company creation. He believes sourcing is becoming table stakes for early-stage investors, while the real job of a VC is still deciding which founders can build exceptional companies. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:32 - Why Evertrace was created and the sourcing problem 2:13 - Finding founders before anyone else 4:44 - How VCs use Evertrace and data signals 6:44 - AI agents in sourcing 10:34 - Building vs becoming a VC fund 14:53 - Expanding the platform beyond sourcing 16:43 - Competition and acquisitions 20:25 - Future of data-driven investing

    23 min

  6. 17 Jun

    JP Haas, Co-Founder & CEO at Conduct: BREAKING: Conduct just raised $60m in a Series A

    Conduct just raised $60m in a Series A co-led by Index Ventures and ICONIQ, with strategic investment from SAP and participation from existing investors. JP Haas is Co-Founder and CEO at Conduct. The company builds an AI operating system for enterprise software that maps heavily customised systems like SAP and Salesforce and helps enterprises execute changes across them faster. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:25 - $60m Series A announcement 3:01 - What Conduct does 5:39 - SAP partnership and validation 6:56 - Enterprise adoption and go-to-market 8:41 - Partner ecosystem 9:02 - SAP as starting point 10:37 - Why enterprise systems are complex 12:05 - Working with large enterprises 14:23 - Building organisation and learnings 15:18 - Global expansion 16:29 - SAP distribution and co-selling model 18:34 - Growth and ambition 20:37 - Hiring and culture

    21 min

  7. 12 Jun

    Pablo Palafox, CEO at HappyRobot: HappyRobot helps enterprises run core operations with AI

    Many of the industries that keep the economy running still rely on emails, phone calls and manual coordination between people. AI is starting to change that, allowing companies to automate work that previously required large operational teams. Pablo Palafox, CEO at HappyRobot, believes the biggest opportunity in AI is not building better chatbots, but helping businesses actually get work done. As more companies move from experimenting with AI to deploying it across their operations, the question is becoming less about what the technology can do and more about where it can create the most value. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:32 - Building AI agents for the real economy 3:43 - How AI is transforming logistics 7:47 - Why enterprises are adopting AI faster than expected 10:47 - Finding product-market fit 14:03 - Hiring and international expansion 15:49 - Building in San Francisco 17:33 - Maintaining startup urgency 18:51 - Scaling through rapid growth 20:02 - The future of AI agents

    21 min

  8. 11 Jun

    Judith Dada, General Partner, Visionaries Club: How Europe can stay competitive in the age of AI

    AI is becoming one of the most important questions facing Europe, yet many leaders still underestimate both the speed and scale of the transformation. Judith Dada is General Partner at Visionaries Club and one of the authors behind Europe 2031, a new scenario exploring how Europe could fall behind in an AI-driven world over the next five years. The solution, she believes, is for Europe to move faster, make difficult trade-offs and focus on building leverage rather than pursuing sovereignty alone. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:19 - Europe 2031 3:39 - Where Europe went wrong on AI 7:23 - Who needs to hear this message 9:16 - Can Europe change course? 11:36 - The trade-offs Europe may need to make 13:17 - Who is responsible for Europe’s future? 15:06 - Sovereignty vs leverage 20:21 - What success looks like for Europe 2031 21:37 - Five proposals for Europe’s AI future 23:43 - Can Europe still get this right?

    25 min
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About

Every week Seb Johnson sits down with 5 of Europe's best builders and investors to talk about what's going on in European Tech. Prior guests include the founders of Lovable, Cleo, Voi an Zilch, as well as top VCs from 20VC, Index, Balderton and Creandum.

Information

  • Creator
    Sebastian Johnson
  • Years Active
    2k
  • Episodes
    211
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sebastian Johnson
  • Show Website
    Scaling Europe

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