Podcast · 251 episodes
Scaling Europe, page 3
by Sebastian Johnson · English
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.
All episodes, page 3
Michael Bajwa, CEO and Co-founder of Zaro: BREAKING: Zaro just raised $5.1m pre-seedZaro’s $5.1m pre-seed (led by Cherry Ventures) and its “memory/context layer for agents” that enables long-horizon, more accurate enterprise automation without technical setup.9 Jun 2026 · 20 min · 9 chapters
Hadrien Canter, CEO and Co-founder of Alta Ares: BREAKING: Alta Ares just raised $50mAlta Ares, a European defense “capacity provider,” announces a $50m funding round and explains how it builds air-defense systems (software + hardware + training/maintenance) to intercept mass, cheap…9 Jun 2026 · 20 min · 10 chapters
Jordi Romero, Founder and CEO at Factorial: Factorial raised $150m at a $2.5b valuationFactorial’s 10-year journey and shift to an AI-native workforce operations platform, highlighted by General Catalyst’s $150m equity investment at a $2.5b valuation, plus expansion of a non-dilutive…3 Jun 2026 · 22 min · 12 chapters
Oliver Molander, Founding General Partner of Inception Fund: Europe needs to build indispensable technology.Oliver Molander (Inception Fund) argues Europe must build “indispensable” technology, not performative “sovereignty.” He explains why his inception-stage VC fund is designed to move fast like U.S.2 Jun 2026 · 25 min · 10 chapters
Alex McCracken, Head of Venture Capital Relationships, EMEA at J.P.Morgan: European AI startups are raising bigger rounds than everAlex McCracken (JPMorgan) discusses the “radical shift” in European venture—especially mega rounds into AI—plus where capital is flowing (defense/security, space, quantum, deep tech) and how…28 May 2026 · 21 min · 10 chapters
David Helgason, Co-founder at Transition Ventures: Raising $150m Fund IITransition VC’s second $150m fund (Fund II) and its investment thesis for founders rewriting the physical world—focused on climate-adjacent “planetary boundaries” problems like energy, hardware,…27 May 2026 · 21 min · 11 chapters
Ashley Paulus, VP of Revenue (UK & EEA) at Checkout.com: Checkout.com reached 78% growth in the UK and 60% in EuropeAshley Paulus (Checkout.com VP of Revenue, UK & EEA) discusses Checkout’s UK/Europe growth, why enterprise merchants choose Checkout, revenue-share alignment, AI use for acceptance rate and support,…26 May 2026 · 20 min · 11 chapters
Philipp Schröder, Co-founder and CEO at 1KOMMA5°: Delivering the cheapest and cleanest electricity in the worldPhilipp Schröder (co-founder/CEO of 1KOMMA5°) explains how 1KOMMA5° aims to deliver “the cheapest and cleanest electricity” by electrifying homes/buildings and using Heartbeat AI to automate energy…21 May 2026 · 50 min · 21 chapters
Jonathan Low, CEO at Scope: BREAKING: Scope raised $20mScope (CEO Jonathan “Jonny” Low) announces raising $20m to build AI software for testing, inspection, and certification workflows across a $300B inspection industry, replacing pen-and-paper and…19 May 2026 · 20 min · 10 chapters
Manuel Silva Martinez, GP at Mouro Capital: BREAKING: Mouro Capital closed $400m fundManuel Silva Martinez, GP at Mouro Capital, announces the firm’s third fund closing at $400m to invest in fintech/financial-services technology globally.19 May 2026 · 20 min · 14 chapters
Martin Mignot, Partner at Index Ventures: How founders are building and leading companies in the AI eraHow European founders and CEOs should expand globally (especially to the US) and reorganize for AI-era product building; Index Ventures’ approach to investing in AI by backing frontier talent and…12 May 2026 · 50 min · 23 chapters
James Regan, CEO of Oriole Networks: Building radically faster networks for AIJames Regan, CEO of Oriole Networks (UK), explains how the company is building radically faster, lower-power optical switching to replace electrical packet switching in AI data centers.8 May 2026 · 27 min · 11 chapters
Kevin Smith, CEO at Venture Comet: Helping founders unlock equity earlier in their startup journeyVenture Comet helps startup founders unlock equity earlier via “NIBL” secondary sales, releasing up to 5% of illiquid equity (capped to avoid early cash-outs) to fund years 3–6 when founders often…7 May 2026 · 22 min · 12 chapters
June Angelides MBE, Founder of the Portfolio Method and Venture Partner at Samos Investments: Building a platform to manage multiple roles and income streamsJune Angelides MBE explains her new venture, the Portfolio Method, a “decision-making engine” for people with portfolio careers (multiple roles/income streams).6 May 2026 · 18 min · 11 chapters
Andre Retterath, General Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital: Earlybird’s €360m fund and the future of European deep techEarlybird Venture Capital’s €360m largest early-stage fund and how European deep tech/AI can scale, with discussion of sovereignty and Earlybird’s “perpetual ownership” governance.4 May 2026 · 23 min · 10 chapters
Stefan Bader: CEO on Cello on automating growth and GTMStefan Bader, co-founder/CEO of Cello, explains how Cello automates in-product referral growth and why AI-era GTM is breaking (higher CAC payback, “AI product channel fit collapse”).30 Apr 2026 · 22 min · 9 chapters
Dan Westgarth, Chief Operating Officer at Deel: From Revolut to Deel: inside two hypergrowth companiesDan Westgarth, COO at Deel, compares his scaling lessons from Revolut to Deel, discusses building hypergrowth operations, remote-first culture, and why “getting value from AI” remains difficult.21 Apr 2026 · 18 min · 12 chapters
Harvey Hodd, founder at Rivan: Rivan raised a £25 million Series ARiven’s synthetic fuel push—announcing a £25m Series A to scale synthetic natural gas production in London and inject it into the UK grid.20 Apr 2026 · 21 min · 12 chapters
Roxanne Varza, Director at Station F: Station F became a launchpad for Europe’s top startupsRoxanne Varza, director of Station F in Paris, explains how the startup campus became a European launchpad, what Station F invests in, and how its new FAI AI program is designed to accelerate…17 Apr 2026 · 42 min · 24 chapters
Sarah Fleischer & Ksenija Milicevic Neumann, Co-founders at tozero: Building Europe’s first battery recycling planttozero co-founders Sarah Fleischer and Ksenija Milicevic Neumann discuss launching Europe’s first industrial demonstration battery recycling plant for lithium and graphite, aimed at European…16 Apr 2026 · 21 min · 8 chapters
Constantin Schröder, Co-founder at Arbio: How Arbio built an AI-enabled rollup machine for holiday rentalsArbio’s AI-enabled rollup strategy for holiday home property management—acquiring mid-scale managers and using AI agents for pricing, distribution, guest communication, and operational orchestration…15 Apr 2026 · 21 min · 13 chapters
Roei Samuel, CEO at Connectd: Connectd is one of the fastest growing companies in Europe with 17m ARRRoei Samuel, founder/CEO of Connectd, explains how the company enables senior professionals to build and manage fractional careers using technology, and why it’s scaling cross-border.14 Apr 2026 · 23 min · 17 chapters
Dan Lifshits & Ilia Drozdov, Co-founders of Dwelly: Entering the London market.Dwelly, an AI-enabled property lettings/real-estate roll-up, is entering London to capture ~40% of UK industry GMV and scale acquisitions there.14 Apr 2026 · 25 min · 13 chapters
Jonathan Sanders, CEO at Light: Light replaces fragmented finance tools with one platformLight replaces fragmented finance/ERP stacks with an AI-native, end-to-end finance platform for global scaling, consolidating payments, accounting/bookkeeping, consolidation, and regulatory reporting…13 Apr 2026 · 25 min · 11 chapters