Scaling Europe

Sebastian Johnson
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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. 4d ago

    Jordi Romero, Founder and CEO at Factorial: Factorial raised $150m at a $2.5b valuation

    Factorial just raised $150m from General Catalyst at a $2.5bn valuation as the company enters its next phase as an AI-native business. The new capital will be used to accelerate growth through acquisitions across Europe. Jordi Romero is Founder and CEO of Factorial, which recently turned 10 years old. He believes AI is changing how software companies serve their customers and sees Europe as one of the best places in the world to build a technology company. 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 0:21 - General Catalyst invests $150m in Factorial 1:10 - Why raise capital now? 2:28 - The relationship with General Catalyst 3:55 - How the Customer Value Fund works 5:24 - From HR software to AI-native workforce operations 9:00 - Leading AI transformation inside a company 11:18 - Why Europe is a great place to build 13:16 - Barcelona’s startup ecosystem 15:52 - Lessons from Silicon Valley 18:21 - Building a company for the long term 19:57 - What Factorial looks for when hiring

    22 min

  2. 4d ago

    Oliver Molander, Founding General Partner of Inception Fund: Europe needs to build indispensable technology.

    European investors are moving faster, while global funds are becoming increasingly active across the Nordics. As competition for the best founders intensifies, technical talent is attracting more attention than ever at the earliest stages. Oliver Molander is Founding General Partner of Inception Fund, which recently expanded to €30 million. Drawing on his experience as both a founder and investor, he believes technical founders build the biggest outcomes, and that Europe should focus on creating indispensable technologies rather than simply talking about sovereignty. 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 0:18 - Why Inception Fund was created 1:42 - Backing technical founders at inception 2:25 - Why European investors need to move faster 4:17 - The rise of a new generation of European funds 5:25 - Working with Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia and Lightspeed 7:08 - Building the LP base behind Inception Fund 9:31 - Convincing LPs to back a first-time fund manager 12:02 - Why Inception invested in Recursive 15:42 - Stockholm, Finland and the future of Nordic tech 20:52 - EQT and the €5 billion European scale-up fund 22:20 - Why Europe should focus on indispensability, not sovereignty

    25 min

  3. May 28

    Alex McCracken, Head of Venture Capital Relationships, EMEA at J.P.Morgan: European AI startups are raising bigger rounds than ever

    European AI startups are raising billion-dollar rounds, while defence and deep tech companies are attracting far larger rounds than the market was seeing a few years ago. Alex McCracken is Head of Venture Capital Relationships, EMEA at J.P. Morgan, where he is seeing US investors move into Europe earlier and more technical AI founders raise capital across the market. 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 0:16 - The biggest shifts in European venture 0:48 - Billion-dollar AI seed rounds 2:45 - Why mega rounds are increasing in Europe 3:55 - The impact of large AI rounds 5:37 - Where capital is flowing in deep tech 6:43 - Defence, space and European resilience 8:20 - Why defence investment is accelerating 9:49 - The rise of US investors in Europe 12:25 - How European VCs are adapting 14:43 - Growth at all costs vs sustainable growth 18:24 - New financing structures for deep tech

    21 min

  4. May 27

    David Helgason, Co-founder at Transition Ventures: Raising $150m Fund II

    Transition VC raised a new $150m fund to back highly technical founders building the next generation of energy, compute and industrial companies. David Helgason, Co-founder at Transition VC, says AI is increasing demand for compute, power and industrial systems at a time when venture is moving beyond traditional software. The new fund will focus on companies building across energy, hardware and industrial infrastructure. 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 0:22 - Transition VC’s new $150m fund 0:58 - Backing founders rebuilding industrial systems 2:01 - Climate tech, AI and resource constraints 3:47 - Raising Fund II 6:09 - Investing in photonics chip company Olix 9:16 - The founders the firm wants to back 10:26 - Nuclear, hardware and industrial innovation 12:47 - Why venture is moving beyond traditional SaaS 14:00 - Europe vs the US for deep tech 15:45 - Building the investment team 18:13 - What makes a great founder

    21 min

  5. May 26

    Ashley Paulus, VP of Revenue (UK & EEA) at Checkout.com: Checkout.com reached 78% growth in the UK and 60% in Europe

    Checkout.com is one of Europe’s leading payments companies, powering transactions for some of the world’s biggest digital businesses. Ashley Paulus, VP of Revenue (UK & EEA) at Checkout.com, is leading the company’s growth across two of its most important markets after 78% growth in the UK and around 60% growth in Europe last year. As merchants look for better acceptance rates, global coverage and faster access to capital, Checkout.com is becoming a bigger part of how companies grow across borders. 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 0:16 - Checkout.com’s growth in the UK and Europe 1:51 - Why major merchants choose Checkout.com 3:40 - Scaling payments across global markets 5:12 - Growth targets for 2026 7:01 - New merchants and existing customers 8:14 - Europe vs Southeast Asia in payments 10:16 - AI in payments infrastructure 13:50 - Using AI in revenue teams 16:26 - Agentic commerce 18:04 - Stablecoins and faster merchant settlement

    20 min

  6. May 21

    Philipp Schröder, Co-founder and CEO at 1KOMMA5°: Delivering the cheapest and cleanest electricity in the world

    1KOMMA5° is working to deliver the cheapest and cleanest electricity in the world, at a time when energy is becoming one of the biggest questions behind the AI boom. Philipp Schröder, Co-founder and CEO at 1KOMMA5°, has grown the company from home electrification into one of Europe’s most important energy players. It is already managing one gigawatt of capacity, with a much larger ambition: making millions of homes part of the energy infrastructure Europe now needs. 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 0:28 - 1KOMMA5° 2:27 - Business model 5:30 - Subscription model 13:11 - Virtual power plant 16:27 - One gigawatt of managed capacity 21:11 - IPO plans 24:38 - Energy and AI 27:21 - Europe vs NASDAQ 29:32 - International expansion 33:25 - Building from Germany 36:03 - Entrepreneurs and politics 39:08 - Taking pushback 41:24 - Energy abundance in Europe 43:41 - What governments are missing 47:38 - Lessons from Tesla 48:54 - The future of energy companies

    50 min

  7. May 19

    Jonathan Low, CEO at Scope: BREAKING: Scope raised $20m

    Scope is building AI for the people who inspect the physical world, from factories and industrial equipment to the assets companies rely on every day. Jonathan Low is CEO at Scope, and the company has just raised $20m led by Index Ventures after growing more than 10x since relaunching last year. Much of this work still runs on pen, paper, Word and Excel, and Scope is turning inspection work into usable data about the physical world. 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 - The inspection industry 1:34 - How Scope works 2:20 - Scope’s $20m round 3:08 - Growing more than 10x 5:08 - Scaling to $15m ARR 8:14 - Why inspection is ready for AI 10:06 - Building close to customers 13:13 - International expansion 18:48 - Hiring talent in London

    20 min

  8. May 19

    Manuel Silva Martinez, GP at Mouro Capital: BREAKING: Mouro Capital closed $400m fund

    Mouro Capital is a fintech-focused venture firm investing at the intersection of financial services and technology. Manuel Silva Martinez is a GP at Mouro Capital, and they just announced a new $400m fund backed by Banco Santander, giving the firm more capital to back fintech entrepreneurs across the US, Europe and Latin America. Mouro’s thesis has stayed close to financial services, but the opportunity now looks much broader as AI pulls more horizontal companies into the category. 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 0:28 - Mouro Capital’s new $400m fund 0:52 - The history of Mouro Capital 2:33 - How AI fits into fintech 4:04 - Raising from Banco Santander 5:55 - Liquidity and exits 8:15 - Creating liquidity in Europe 11:00 - Growth in fintech 13:10 - InsurTech 15:55 - New markets in financial services 17:49 - The next generation of fintech founders 19:18 - Mouro Capital’s portfolio

    20 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
    199
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Sebastian Johnson
  • Show Website
    Scaling Europe

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