EUVC

EUVC is your go-to podcast for everything European VC. Co-hosted by Andreas Munk Holm and David Cruz e Silva, EUVC features some of the most prominent people from the European VC industry, giving you a fresh new perspective on the industry and geo we love. Follow us and stay in the loop with everything European VC on eu.vc

  1. E687 | Axel Deniz, CEO Bosch Business Innovations: Venture Building, Spinouts & How Corporates Can Power Europe’s Deep Tech Wave

    8 HR AGO

    E687 | Axel Deniz, CEO Bosch Business Innovations: Venture Building, Spinouts & How Corporates Can Power Europe’s Deep Tech Wave

    Welcome back to the EUVC Corporate Podcast. This week, Jeppe sits down with Axel Deniz, CEO of Bosch Business Innovations and Head of Venture Building at Bosch. Axel is building Bosch’s venture-building engine with a clear mandate: get Bosch technology out into the world, through founder-led spinouts, joint ventures, and seed rounds that can stand on their own with external investors. With ~80,000 active patents, 20 new patents per day, and 20,000 researchers globally, Bosch has the assets. Axel’s job is turning them into investible companies. 🎧 Here’s what’s covered: 02:30 Bosch’s unfair advantage: 80k patents, 20 patents/day, 20k researchers 04:10 Horizon 2/3: building for 2030–2035 where incumbents can’t reach 05:30 Hybrid execution: not all in-house, not all studio but a blended model 06:25 Problem definition: Bosch theses + founders bringing problems from outside 08:25 Stage gates: “get to no fast” + external validation early 09:05 Gate #1: attracting “triple-A founders” before anything else 10:35 Founder-led 80/20 vs joint ventures when tech risk is still high 13:10 Venture market fit: choosing where to build is a venture builder superpower 16:20 Founder acquisition: why mediocre pre-seed talent is the biggest risk 23:05 Working with scale-ups: co-create instead of buying or minority investing 24:15 University engine: 5–6 deep partnerships (Carnegie Mellon example) 27:15 Biggest surprises: founder scarcity and portfolio restructuring complexity 29:05 Axel’s advice to founders: don’t start deep tech from scratch 30:30 Axel’s advice to VCs: don’t underestimate corporates’ learning curve 32:00 Axel’s background: founder → Silicon Valley → PWC CVC → Bosch 35:15 Career advice: no cookie-cutter route and trust your gut sometimes 37:10 How founders can engage: programs + direct outreach on LinkedIn

    33 min
  2. E686 | Jan Hofmann, Viessmann Generations Group and Christian Hernandez, 2150: From Climate Hype to Industrial Reality

    2 DAYS AGO

    E686 | Jan Hofmann, Viessmann Generations Group and Christian Hernandez, 2150: From Climate Hype to Industrial Reality

    In conversation with our very own Andreas Munk Holm, Christian Hernandez, founding GP of 2150 and Jan Hofmann of the Viessmann Generations Group, look at how climate investing is moving from narrative to industrial reality, where cities, energy, materials, and manufacturing become venture-scale markets, and execution matters more than slogans. Today, 2150 officially launched its €210M second fund, bringing total assets under management to €500M and reinforcing its position as one of Europe’s leading investors backing the technologies shaping future cities and industrial systems. Fund II reflects growing institutional conviction in 2150’s thesis: that cities generate around 80% of global prosperity, and that the next wave of venture-scale outcomes will come from making urbanisation and industrial activity sustainable at planetary scale. The fund attracted a diversified LP base across Europe, Asia, and North America, including Viessmann Generations Group, Novo Holdings, EIFO, Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker, Carbon Equity, and Church Pension Group. Momentum is already underway. 2150 Fund II has already invested into seven companies, including AtmosZero, GetMobil, Metycle, Mission Zero Technologies and three further unannounced deals. Across both funds, 2150’s 27 portfolio companies generate more than $1B in annual revenue, employ 4,500+ people globally, and deliver megatonne-scale climate impact. Key takeaways: Urban and industrial systems are now venture-scale markets.Energy, cooling, industrial heat, mobility, materials, and circular economy solutions are no longer niche climate bets — they are core infrastructure categories with global demand. Impact and returns are converging.2150’s portfolio demonstrates that companies tackling planetary-scale problems can also generate outlier financial outcomes, measured in real revenues, jobs, and deployment at scale. Institutional capital is leaning into climate infrastructure.The breadth of Fund II’s LP base signals a shift: long-term institutions are increasingly backing strategies that combine sustainability with durable, industrial cash flows. Execution matters more than narratives.2150’s analytical, problem-first approach targeting the hardest bottlenecks in cities and industry is translating into faster scaling and earlier commercial traction across the portfolio. Europe can build global category leaders.With platforms spanning energy, materials, and urban systems, 2150’s portfolio shows that European-founded companies can scale globally without compromising ambition.

    52 min
  3. E685 | This Week in European Tech with Dan, Mads & Lomax

    3 DAYS AGO

    E685 | This Week in European Tech with Dan, Mads & Lomax

    Welcome back to another episode of Upside at the EUVC Podcast, where Dan Bowyer, Mads Jensen of SuperSeed, and Lomax Ward of Outsized Ventures go behind the headlines shaping European tech, capital, and power. This week’s episode starts, as ever, with tech failing spectacularly, planes landing late, and VCs reminding each other they really should be doing deals. Then it gets serious. From a billion-pound UK data center stopped in its tracks, to Davos and Mark Carney’s quietly devastating diagnosis of the global order, to Europe’s long-awaited 28th regime finally getting real momentum, this is a conversation about whether Europe can still act at scale or whether fragmentation will finish the job. Along the way, the trio digs into China’s AI strategy, whether SaaS has quietly peaked, why defence IPOs are suddenly everywhere, and whether science in the US is really “collapsing” or just being reshuffled under Trump. This is Upside, where optimism is earned, not assumed. Share What’s covered: 00:02 Mads back from the Gulf + Lomax in Nazaré 00:04 UK data centre blocked: what happened + why it matters 00:07 Fast-tracking data centres: national infrastructure vs EIAs 00:12 Davos standout: Mark Carney and the end of nostalgia economics 00:18 Middle powers and fragmentation: why Europe can’t go solo 00:24 AI and jobs: are entry-level roles really disappearing? 00:27 EU Inc / the 28th regime: momentum, labour law, and risk 00:34 Has China already won AI? redefining what “winning” means 00:43 SaaS, defence IPOs, and Europe’s capital reset

    49 min
  4. E684 | Max Schertel, finmid & Tim Rehder, Earlybird: Powering European SMBs with the cash they need

    20 JAN

    E684 | Max Schertel, finmid & Tim Rehder, Earlybird: Powering European SMBs with the cash they need

    Welcome back to the EUVC Podcast, where we bring you the people and perspectives shaping European venture. This week, Andreas Munk Holm is joined by Max Schertel, co-founder & CEO of finmid, and Tim Rehder, General Partner at Earlybird, to unpack the rise of embedded lending infrastructure for B2B platforms. From food delivery and PSPs to ride-hailing and fleet platforms, finmid lets marketplaces offer financing directly to their merchants – with a single integration, across 30+ European markets. Together, they break down why embedded lending is often new capital, not just smoother UX; how better data lets you underwrite the “invisible” SME segment; and what it really takes to scale regulated infra across a fragmented Europe. Here’s what’s covered: 01:03 – What finmid does: One integration for platforms to offer any financing product to business users across Europe 02:02 – Why embedded wins: Tim on data access, risk scoring, and turning platforms into “banks in all but the balance sheet” 04:05 – Owning infra, not capital: Regulation, operations and data engine vs outsourcing pure funding to institutions 06:43 – Economics & margins: Market size, 60%+ gross margins, and why net income beats headline spread 10:47 – Customer examples: How Wolt Cash works, proactive offers in the merchant dashboard, and +80% retention uplift 12:32 – Impact on the market: New capital for underserved SMEs vs just smoothing the bank journey 17:57 – Ticket sizes & duration: Typical loans of €10–20k, up to ~12 months, 85% renewal and the path to larger, longer credit 21:15 – AI & risk: Using generative and agentic AI in ops (adverse media) and data science (millions of data points, daily model iteration) 29:20 – Scaling to 30 countries: U27 + UK, CH, IS – regulation, payments rails and why “ugly detail work” is the real moat 40:17 – Partner alignment: Making financing core to platform metrics (GMV & retention) and hard-won lessons on incentives

    47 min
  5. E683 | This Week in European Tech with Dan, Mads & Lomax

    19 JAN

    E683 | This Week in European Tech with Dan, Mads & Lomax

    Welcome back to another episode of Upside at the EUVC Podcast, where Dan Bowyer, Mads Jensen of SuperSeed, and Lomax Ward of Outsized Ventures cut through the noise shaping tech, venture, and geopolitics in Europe and beyond. This week starts lightly, as all good episodes do, with kids, illness paranoia, and the small joys of enforced medical naps. It escalates quickly. From OpenAI’s new health-focused ChatGPT and the FDA’s sudden sprint toward deregulation to Trump’s Greenland fixation and what it really signals about European sovereignty, to Meta buying its way into the AI application layer, pension funds destroying value at scale, and Nvidia’s push into physical AI. This is one of those episodes where everything connects. The common thread is power. Who has it. Who’s losing it. And who’s still pretending nothing has changed. This is Upside, where the takes are sharp, the systems are breaking, and the optimism is… cautiously conditional. What’s covered: 03:00 ChatGPT Health launches and why Europe is locked out 05:00 The FDA’s pivot to deregulation and what it means for health startups 10:00 Using multiple LLMs as a “second medical opinion” 13:00 Trump, Greenland, and the slow collapse of Pax Americana 18:00 Sovereignty, defence spending, and Europe’s strategic wake-up call 23:00 France moves to ban social media for under-15s 27:00 Meta buys its way into the AI application layer 30:00 Kraken spins out of Octopus at multi-billion scale 34:00 Revolut’s Turkey move and the march to 100 million users 37:00 UK pension funds, catastrophic underperformance, and broken incentives 45:00 Why venture returns matter more than fees 49:00 FTSE hits 10,000 and why it doesn’t mean what you think 56:00 CES, Nvidia’s autonomous ambitions, and physical AI 01:04:00 Grok’s $230B valuation and free speech trade-offs 01:07:00 Deals of the Week

    1h 3m
  6. E682 | Sean Mullaney (Seapoint) & Will Prendergast (Frontline Ventures): Rebuilding Europe’s Startup Financial Stack with an AI-Native Playbook

    15 JAN

    E682 | Sean Mullaney (Seapoint) & Will Prendergast (Frontline Ventures): Rebuilding Europe’s Startup Financial Stack with an AI-Native Playbook

    Welcome back to the EUVC Podcast where we go behind the craft of building and backing venture-scale companies in Europe. Today, we’re joined by Sean Mullaney, Founder & CEO of Seapoint, and Will Prendergast, as the Founding Partner at Frontline Ventures. Seapoint has just come out of stealth with a $3M pre-seed to rebuild the fragile and fragmented financial stack that European startups (and later: mid-market companies) rely on. With a Stripe-forged team, AI-native development culture, and operators from Revolut, Tines & more on board, Seapoint wants to become the financial home for European startups. This conversation dives deep into founder pain, broken tooling, AI-native product building, engineering culture, the changing shape of startup teams, syndicate-building, and why Frontline backed Sean with high conviction. Here’s what’s covered: 01:07 The Mission: “The financial home for European startups” 03:32 Frontline’s conviction moment 06:24 The founder pain: 5 tools, 5 accounts, zero clarity 08:07 The invisible tax: fragmentation, reconciliation hell, no real-time view 10:14 Why this problem is structurally important 12:19 European vs US lens: why Seapoint is ahead 13:18 AI-native engineering: “We rebuild the stack from processes, not accounts” 15:19 AI agents allow senior engineers to ship full-stack features alone — compressing timelines that previously required 2–3× more engineers. 17:19 Rethinking teams: fewer people, more senior, more generalist 19:33 Productivity does NOT reduce funding needs — it increases ambition 21:27 Culture: curiosity, experimentation, and founder-led technical push 36:11 Syndicate design: Angels as a go-to-market weapon. 40:23 From startup financial home → to powering Europe’s mid-market backbone: lending, treasury, automation, embedded finance.

    45 min
  7. E681 | Emil Eifrem, Neo4j: Building the AI Infrastructure Layer: Neo4j’s $100M Bet

    14 JAN

    E681 | Emil Eifrem, Neo4j: Building the AI Infrastructure Layer: Neo4j’s $100M Bet

    Welcome back to another episode of the EUVC Podcast. Today, Jeppe sits down with Emil Eifrem, founder & CEO of Neo4j, the world’s leading graph database and a core infrastructure layer for AI applications used by all 20 of the top US banks, 9 of 10 global pharma giants, and every major automotive OEM. Emil recently announced a $100M global startup program to back founders building the next generation of AI-native products on top of graph technology — from knowledge graphs to hallucination-free LLMs. We delve into why graph thinking matters now, how Neo4j came of age during the Panama Papers investigation, and why Europe is better positioned than people think to compete in the AI platform shift. Here’s what’s covered: 02:00 — The Panama Papers “Coming Out Party” How journalists used Neo4j to uncover 7-layer-deep financial relationships invisible to traditional databases — and why it triggered a wave of global adoption. 06:40 — Why Graphs Are the Missing Link for AI Knowledge, meaning, context, and relationships: why LLMs without structured knowledge graphs hallucinate. 08:50 — The $100M Startup Program Why Neo4j is returning to its roots to support AI-native founders — and why the packaging for startups had to change. 12:00 — What Founders Get Free Aura credits, dedicated graph engineers, joint GTM, and access to the world’s largest graph developer community. 14:30 — Early Traction: 300+ Startups in Weeks Why early demand is far ahead of expectations — and the kinds of companies applying. 16:10 — Community as a Strategic Moat 500+ annual global events, deep developer love, and why skill availability is now a CIO-level buying criterion. 19:00 — Building Deep Tech in Europe Why Neo4j kept engineering in Europe, how the ecosystem matured, and what today’s founders can learn. 22:00 — Regulation & Competitiveness Will Europe overregulate itself out of the AI race? Emil’s perspective on models vs infrastructure vs applications. 23:40 — The Future of AI Infrastructure Why every company must rethink its stack — and why the biggest threat is assuming your business will survive without change.

    25 min
4.5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

EUVC is your go-to podcast for everything European VC. Co-hosted by Andreas Munk Holm and David Cruz e Silva, EUVC features some of the most prominent people from the European VC industry, giving you a fresh new perspective on the industry and geo we love. Follow us and stay in the loop with everything European VC on eu.vc

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