Podcast · 251 episodes
Scaling Europe, page 5
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 5
Backing Alan from 2017 to €785M ARR at a €5B valuation: Jan Hammer, Partner at Index VenturesIndex Ventures partner Jan Hammer discusses Alan’s growth from a 2017 France startup to €785M ARR and a recent $100M raise at a $5B valuation, explaining how international expansion and AI-driven…12 Mar 2026 · 19 min · 8 chapters
Jentic builds the missing layer between AI and enterprise systems: Sean Blanchfield, CEO at JenticJentic’s “enablement layer” that securely and reliably connects enterprise AI agents to complex internal systems, arguing the bottleneck is integration/security—not model quality.11 Mar 2026 · 23 min · 10 chapters
Entrepreneurs First raised $200M: Jonny Clifford, Partner at Entrepreneurs FirstEntrepreneurs First (EF) announces a $200M capital raise and explains its “invest in people before teams/ideas” cohort model, including new programs like residencies and the “Bridge” US residency.11 Mar 2026 · 22 min · 11 chapters
From U.S. Navy pilot to CEO of Cloudsmith: Glenn Weinstein, CEO at CloudsmithGlenn Weinstein, CEO of Cloudsmith, discusses Cloudsmith’s artifact management and software supply chain security platform, its pivot to enterprise, cloud-native architecture, and how it fits…10 Mar 2026 · 21 min · 13 chapters
Wordsmith AI grows 100% quarter-on-quarter: Ross McNairn, CEO at Wordsmith AIWordsmith AI’s growth and scaling strategy for in-house legal teams, including UK-to-US expansion, product-led growth, and internal tooling/AI workflows.10 Mar 2026 · 21 min · 16 chapters
Harmonic is the startup discovery engine: Darri Atlason, Head of Growth at HarmonicDarri Atlason (Head of Growth at Harmonic) explains Harmonic’s “startup discovery engine” for sourcing, screening, and evaluating startups for investors and other buyers, plus growth tactics used at…9 Mar 2026 · 7 min · 6 chapters
Europe’s future GDP growth needs tech: Niklas Zennström, CEO at AtomicoEurope’s future GDP growth depends on tech scale-ups; Europe must capture more value by closing late-stage funding gaps, especially from European pension funds and life insurers, and by raising…9 Mar 2026 · 44 min · 17 chapters
QuantumLight applies Revolut lessons as a venture firm: Dora Zikouli, Investor at Quantumlight VCDora Zikouli (Quantumlight VC) explains how QuantumLight is “the first AI-driven VC,” using proprietary models on publicly available data to rank startups for fast, high-conviction Series B+…9 Mar 2026 · 13 min · 8 chapters
ElevenLabs grew from 10 people to 400 in 3 years : Victoria Weller, Operations at ElevenLabsHow ElevenLabs scaled from 10 to 400 people in ~3 years while keeping a “no job titles” structure, and how Operations (including People and Talent Acquisition) adapts to rapid growth toward 900+ by…6 Mar 2026 · 22 min · 13 chapters
Valla's smart legal platform identifies workplace issues: Danae Shell, Founder and CEO of VallaValla (Valor) is a consumer employment-law AI platform that detects workplace issues, helps individuals assess legal options, and delivers faster, cheaper legal guidance using generative AI plus…6 Mar 2026 · 21 min · 12 chapters
ROCSYS enables charging robotaxis without humans: Crijn Bouman, CEO & Co-founder at ROCSYSROCSYS (CEO/co-founder Crijn Bouman) discusses how to enable hands-free charging for autonomous robotaxis by fixing the “interface” mismatch between driverless vehicles and built infrastructure.5 Mar 2026 · 14 min · 9 chapters
Lawhive raised $60m Series B: Pierre Proner, Co-founder and CEO at LawhiveLawhive’s Series B raise and strategy for scaling consumer-focused legal AI and regulated law-firm operations, especially via U.S. expansion and acquisition-led growth.5 Mar 2026 · 21 min · 8 chapters
From AXA to $2.5B AUM at AVP: François Robinet, Founder & managing partner at AVPFrançois Robinet (AVP) explains AVP’s evolution from AXA Venture Partner to an independent, transatlantic investor, how European-to-US (and US-to-Europe) expansion should be timed and staffed, and…5 Mar 2026 · 25 min · 11 chapters
How a16z WON ElevenLabs Series A: Bryan Kim, Partner at A16ZBryan Kim (a16z) explains why a16z backed ElevenLabs’ Series A and what European VC can learn—speed, urgency, and matching domain expertise to multi-modality companies.4 Mar 2026 · 14 min · 5 chapters
Real leather without animals in a $100bn market: Michael Newton, CEO at QoriumCorium (Qorium) is building animal-free “real leather” by culturing bovine skin cells (bovine fibroblasts) to produce uniform collagen tissue that can be inserted into existing tannery supply chains,…4 Mar 2026 · 19 min · 11 chapters
Alpine Eagle builds air-to-air defence: Jan-Hendrik Boelens, Founder and CEOAlpine Eagle builds counter-drone systems for air-to-air defense, likened to an AWACS radar plane but miniaturized as drones; they’re extending from “drone equivalent of AWACS” to a “fighter jet”…3 Mar 2026 · 18 min · 9 chapters
Sisyphus Ventures €20m fund backing defence founders: Louise Boucher, Founder and Managing Partner.Louise Boucher, founder/solo partner of Sisyphus Ventures, explains why defence investing is shifting from taboo to mainstream hype, and argues for a “defence-first” venture thesis focused on…3 Mar 2026 · 23 min · 9 chapters
Revolut's formula for high performance: Georgian Andrei, GM at Revolut PeopleRevolut People’s performance management framework and how Revolut scaled it from an Excel-based process to an AI-assisted HR product, plus why Revolut built it for Europe and what cultural lessons…3 Mar 2026 · 16 min · 6 chapters
AI agent Fin nearing $100m revenue: Des Traynor, Co-founder at Intercom.Des Traynor (Intercom) discusses Intercom’s AI agent Fin, its rapid growth toward $100M revenue, and how to scale AI agents across customer service, sales, and success.2 Mar 2026 · 24 min · 14 chapters
Gilion offers intelligent funding with AI precision: Henrik Landgren, Co-founder & CPTO GilionGilion’s AI platform for data-driven company understanding to improve both equity and non-dilutive funding decisions.2 Mar 2026 · 21 min · 10 chapters
ivee has just raised £1m Seed: An interview with Amelia Miller, Co-founder of iveeivee’s first close of a $1m seed round and its expansion from recruitment for career-break returners into AI upskilling and an “AI talent network.” Amelia Miller explains why companies must…2 Mar 2026 · 23 min · 12 chapters
Bloom & Wild has 20% YoY growth: Aron Gelbard, Co-founder and CEOBloom & Wild’s growth turnaround and strategy, including COVID-era expansion, post-2021 profitability focus, international scaling, gifting diversification, and heavy AI adoption.27 Feb 2026 · 24 min · 9 chapters
Unitary AI agents deliver ROI day one: Sasha Haco, CEO & Co-founderUnitary’s “unitary AI agents” automate back-office operations by integrating with customers’ legacy tools and following their processes to remove manual, investigative admin work.27 Feb 2026 · 19 min · 11 chapters
George Davis, CEO at Lorum: 80% month-to-month growth for 6 monthsGeorge Davis (CEO, Lorum) explains building a “clearing bank” for emerging markets to enable real-time cross-border payments without relying on lending banks’ liquidity/float.27 Feb 2026 · 21 min · 9 chapters