E539 | EUVC Summit 2025 | Oliver Holle, Speedinvest: Europe's Counter-Offensive: A VC-Led Response to the US Tech Agenda

0:00While Trump, Musk and the MAGA machine double down on a US-first tech agenda, Europe faces a deciding moment. Joining the counter-offensive is Oliver Huller, founding GP at Speedinvest, one of Europe's most active early-stage VCs, managing over 1 billion euros in capital and backing over 360 startups. As geopolitical tensions and economic realignments redefine the global order, can Europe take control of its own tech destiny or will it remain a supporting act in a U.S.-dominated world? Let's get into it. Please welcome Oliver Huller. Thank you, David. Thank you, Andreas. Really great to do this together.

0:43And the title is fun, I think. So I hope we can live up to it. So Europe's counter-offensive. Let me start with a very personal observation. I've been in venture and in startups for more than 25 years. First 10 years as a founder, now as a VC. and pretty much all my life I've looked up to the US. Why? Pretty obvious, right? That's where the pioneers are coming from. That's where the big thinkers come from. That's where the big companies come from. We all have been there. Personally, I think, I don't know how you feel, I'd love to talk to you about this. Things have changed a bit in the last couple of months, haven't they?

1:25So for me, when I think about soft power and what it actually means in terms of aligning with values, with our values, aligning actually where we want to take this industry, where we want to be, I think there is a pretty interesting shift. What is that shift? Actually, strangely, I feel so proud to be European than never before in my life. So I think that's something useful, that's something important. Why? Because it's actually very, very refreshing these days. It's very healthy. it's very positive for all of us if we think about being modest being fact driven raising our voice for democracy and actually seeking consensus that's something that was very very uncool for many many years I think nowadays we actually see the value in it and what is this?

2:13for me that's European and that actually gives us a pretty unique opportunity so don't quote me on this well I guess you do but I mean ultimately if I talk to founders, I see an opening. I see founders that are actually interested to align with capital that is also aligned with the values that they seek for. And I think this is something, this is a wake-up call for us. This is an opportunity for us that we now need to go into. So let's look at the facts. Can we actually take this opportunity? Can we make it happen? The numbers, I think, are so simple, it's almost painful. It's actually so painful because there's no excuse for us not to do it.

2:57If we look at the population, if we look at total wealth, and if we look just at the capital available from insurance funds and pension funds, yes, maybe there's a little bit of a gap, but not a big gap. There is no reason why we cannot significantly increase the size of this industry. We have more people, we have a little bit less money, but plenty of money in total. European venture, 426-something billion euros or dollars AUM. So in comparison, if you just compare this to pension funds and insurance money, it's still a tiny fraction, it's less than 2%. So obviously, just looking at these capital pools, there's tons and tons of room to grow.

3:46Side note, we are ready to exit our industry. We often forget this. Everybody still talks about, we love to talk about the crisis of European venture and how slow we are. We actually outpaced the US significantly, more than double in terms of growth of this industry. We have grown from tiny, tiny 43 billion in 2015 to, yeah, more than 400 billion last year. So that's a 10x. That's something that we actually look for our founders to do. So I think that's an ambition that is quite interesting. So what do we do? Let's just do it again, right? So if we take the$426 billion and 10x that again, then actually we're in a very, very meaningful dimension.

4:36How? Okay, let's first look at the money. Where does the money come from? The first way to look at it, again, is at our own markets. If you look at, and let me quickly guide you through the thought experiment. It's very simple. Again, let's look at the$426 billion that we have currently in the bank. So that's roughly 1.6. I know we don't have only pension insurance money in Europe, obviously, but it's a good benchmark. U.S., a lot bigger,$3 ,000 billion, 10.3 % of pension insurance money. If, and let's say if we would 10x that amount, 4.2 trillion in venture capital AUM, that would still be, if we assume a modest growth in terms of increasing the AUM for pension insurance money, that it would still be at the equivalent percentage of capital in relationship to pension funds and insurance.

5:38So even if it 10x our industry, we would still be at US level. So there is no reason that our industry, our continent cannot do it. The only reason we shouldn't, we are not there yet, is us and to some degree our politics. So let's be clear about this. but obviously there's not only European capital right there's a lot of other capital pools and that brings me to a second point I wanted to make because I saw it myself in the last two three years and it's very very interesting let's speak about new alliances again coming back to the gentleman and actually I think is the biggest force of good for European venture Mr.

6:17Trump There are a lot of people that are currently reshifting focus. They are reshifting in their ways to look for new partners, look for new partners innovation. And Europe is perfectly positioned to be this partner. We can look at GCC in Africa, very, very close markets. I mean, the time zone difference is almost nothing. It's growing markets. There's a lot of capital to deploy. And there are a lot of people there that actually are very, very keen to engage with us, diversifying away from an unreliable partner overseas. Similarly, Asia, Southeast Asia, a lot of players, and we've seen it ourselves, are now looking to Europe to engage, diversifying away their asset allocations.

7:06The amount of capital that is available there to be invested in Europe is gigantic. So in total, I think we have a unique opportunity that actually was served to us on a silver platter, so we just have to make use of it. So what's stopping us? I guess the last point I want to make is let's look at ourselves. Obviously, the capital is there. Obviously, the opportunity is there. So maybe there's something missing. Personally, I think we also need to get our act together. I would not say that the venture community, especially a group here in the room, is lacking or is relaxing. We're all working really, really hard.

7:45But I think it needs a bit of a mindset change. Why? Because if we're serious about 10xing our industry, it will not be done as lifestyle businesses. And that is a point I want to stress. I want to also stress that my very best friends run lifestyle businesses, and there are many, many reasons why doing that is actually very good for yourself, for your family, for your health, and also for your personal finances. But it's not what we need to get this community and to get this industry and our continent to the next level. We need to move on. We need to build at scale. And we don't need more fragmentation in Europe that we already have.

8:27What does this mean? For me, it means a couple of things. We need to build. We need to move away from a mindset that is only investor-focused. we as investors, we as being the best investors in the world, to actually being builders. We need to be entrepreneurs, just as we have the people that we work with on a daily basis, and to really think like a founder. That also means, by the way, reinvesting the fees that we get into the firm, into our business, expanding our teams, not contracting them, and actually investing in the future in a vision of 10xing this industry. what it also means means i think is consolidation i've been saying this for a while and i still believe it will happen dramatically we need to consolidate there is no need to have thousands of small seed funds in europe we need to consolidate and the one thing that stops many of us is ego there is this vision or this perspective that there's only one one firm can only tolerate one ego one one big mind one one smartest person in the world i don't think so i I think we can build firms, we can build companies that can accommodate many, many, many of these people and that can actually become scalable operations.

9:43And lastly, we need to collaborate. There is a lot of things to be done on the political side. I think we all have been too silent, including myself. We should actually, despite all the competition that we do on a daily basis, really work together and actually put joint pressure on all those big players that actually have huge amounts of leverage with the capital and the regulation that we need to move on. So I think that's very clear what needs to happen. Let's build. I think we have a very good reference point with all the founders that we ask to build and to invest and to spend their time. So I guess we really have to ask ourselves, what is the response from us, from this industry?

10:26I think if you're honest about it, we know that we are very, very, so to say, we need to, if we look at our kids and we need our society in Europe, we actually need to do it. Otherwise, other people will do it. The Americans will do it. I don't think that should be the future that we want for us. So let's do it together. Let's build. Let's look at our founders and take reference from them and do it together. Thank you. Before you go, I just want to give a massive shout out to the partners who made the EAVC Summit and awards possible. So please do not tune out. We're partnered with these firms because they're great people with offerings that we know from our friends in the ecosystem are truly world class.

11:08First up, I want to give a big thanks to HSBC Innovation Banking. They helped us incept the awards in the very beginning. And truly, they are the leading bank for anyone in European venture. There's a reason why everyone knows them. Google Cloud, they were our venue, hosted the summit. What a team, what a big effort they put on to help us. We're hugely grateful. Make sure to reach out to Arabella or Oksana at the Google Cloud team to hear how they can help you as well as your portfolio. Massive credits goes to them. Ace Alternatives, we have so many friends in the Berlin ecosystem partnered with these guys.

11:43Just the best fund ops team around. And as with any good restaurant, where the locals are is also where you get the best service. And now they're expanding across Europe, so they're definitely someone to talk to. Hainspoon, they're longtime partners of ours in both our own legal work. They're great supporters of us here at EUEC, and I definitely think that they are one of the go-to legal teams to have in your corner. CW Communications, our dear friends who helped us secure CNBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times, and many more for this summer. It's a joy working with Dan and Kathy and the team. the Fundcraft, Digital Native, Full Suite, Lux Headquarter, and a great partner as you grow your firm out of Luxembourg.

12:24Definitely a fund admin to consider in your stack. I can only say that the team are incredible to work with. I'm very thankful that I've gotten to know them. I think they're one of the up and coming fund admins that you want to be thinking about. Portfolio IQ by Synaptic. You may know them for the Discover tool, which is branded under Synaptic, But PortfolioIQ is absolutely a product you should know because there's no one that understands intelligence better than this team. And finally, Goodwin. They are a truly world-class legal partner you can trust. They're hands-on, business-oriented, and expert in everything and anything transatlantic.

13:00So those were our partners for the summit and awards. I know this might have been a bit long and boring, but really, if you have these guys on your side, I don't think your firm could be in any better hands. and also they're helping us do what we're doing every day for you.