EUVC

Luca is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Una Terra, a €200M Venture Capital fund to accelerate European scale-ups fostering solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss, and targeting the removal of 2 Gtons of CO2 and 1Mtons of plastic waste per year from the environment by 2030. In this episode you’ll learn:- The value that the WEF network and Una Terra’s involvement in the Uplink challenge for Innovative Funds For Our Future- Why Una Terra have tied their carry to impact metrics, how they’ve thought about it and implemented it- Why Luca has dedicated himself not only to VC but also to advising the world’s leading PE funds- The importance of governance in the Climate Tech sector and how Luca and Una Terra have built their setup to protect against greenwashing

This is a special episode, recorded on the snowy mountains of Villars-sur-Ollon during the WEF's Uplink & Villars Institute Summit, where we had the pleasure to talk to Rokas Peciulaitis, Founder & Managing Partner of Contrarian Ventures, a Seed stage VC mobilising resources for climate action in Europe & Israel with a founders-first approach, and Christian Jølck, Co-founder and Partner of 2150 VC, a venture capital firm investing in technology companies that seek to sustainably reimagine and reshape the urban environment.What you will learn in this episode: - The role of venture capital in shaping and saving the future and why impact will give birth to Venture 2.0- Reflections on the application of the VC & Startup creation playbook and it's applicability for the challenges of the future- Why the military is incredibly important for climate investing & why the next trillionaire will be made in climate- Exactly what Climate50 is and how you can get involved as a VC or LP

Today we are happy to welcome Isabelle O'Keeffe, partner at Sure Valley Ventures, an AI-focused VC firm which helps early-stage software entrepreneurs in the UK and Ireland grow and scale. Isabelle joined SVV in 2018 and was involved in building out the fund as well as relationships with founding teams innovating in immersive tech, e-sports, Metaverse, Enterprise AI and cybersecurity.In this episode you’ll learn:- Raising fund 3 in the current market- LP environment in Europe, where it’s evolving to and the growing collaboration- How to think about balancing two funds with similar mandates but different geos- Dry powder turning wet and the timing of a new fund in today’s market

Today we are happy to welcome Eleanor Kaye, Executive Director at Newton Venture Program, a joint venture of LocalGlobe and London Business School. Newton trains aspiring and practising venture capital professionals with an explicit mission to diversify the VC Ecosystem. Previously, Eleanor worked at Palantir Technologies across multiple operational roles during Palantir’s period of hyper-growth before Direct Listing. A passionate hiker, mother and now, gardener, Eleanor also dedicates time to mentor, encourage local impact initiatives, and supporting those in need. In this episode you’ll learn:- Why & how LSE & Local Globe are involved in the Newton Venture Program- How blind recruiting and evaluation leads to more diversity in VC- The impact of the Newton Venture Program and who it’s for- Why Eleanor believes VC could do with a little less naïvety amongst emerging managers- There’s no right way to do venture, so how does the Newton Venture Program teach?- Reflections on role models and who to learn from

Today's episode is one for the geeks! 🤓 We are happy to welcome Dmitry, General Partner at Runa Capital in Berlin. He invests in cloud infrastructure, deeptech and quantum computing. He has a PhD in physics, was a visiting researcher at the University of Ulm and Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany. Come and join us as he discover what the hell photonics are.What you will learn in this episode: The importance of patience and why your career path in VC must tie closely to your expertise and backgroundHow deep tech thesis can evolve over time to incorporate new topics and technologies as they emergeWhy the majority of VC investments in quantum computing go to creating more powerful machines, but applications remain important to keep an eye on

Today we are happy to welcome Thomas Otter, General Partner at Acadian Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that helps founders around the world build enduring companies. Recent European investments include Techwolf, Fifty, and Figures. Thomas has an operator background in HR Tech and the Future of Work, having been a Research VP at Gartner, and led Product at SuccessFactors.In this episode you’ll learn:- A deep dive on The Future of Work vertical and why it’s vertical special to its own- Why there’s a need for a specialised VC like Acadian for Future of Work- How Acadian wins as a global, but small investor

Today we are happy to welcome Matthias Engel and Sven Heiligtag, Managing Partner and Partner of Vireo Ventures, an early-stage VC investing in seed and pre-seed highly scalable start-ups that drive electrification, in the energy, mobility and smart city space. Matthias has served 5 years as Managing Director of innogy’s corporate venture capital activities building and managing an investment team and portfolio with a dedicated investment volume of €130m with investment activities in Europe, Israel and North America. And Sven has been 20 years with McKinsey & Company in the Electric Power & Natural Gas practice, leading practices in Germany and Japan.In this episode you’ll learn:- How the Vireo team think about the energy vertical and why electrification plays such a big role- The Vireo team’s take on the energy crisis and it’s affect on the startup and LP landscape- How big firms don’t always follow through as you would expect

Today we are happy to welcome Siim Teller, Founder and General Partner of Lemonade Stand. After 20 years growing products in a number of startups (most notably at Skype) in Tallinn, London and Berlin, Siim set up Lemonade Stand in 2019 to invest in early stage Baltic and East European startups. Lately he’s being looking for AI and Machine Learning applied to boring business problems.In this episode you’ll learn:- A deep dive on the Baltic ecosystem and the VCs to know in the region- Family Office motivations to do venture and how Siim used LP investments to guard against adverse selection- Reflections on the limitations of the solo GP model

Today we are happy to welcome Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Managing Partner at Seedcamp, arguably, Europe's leading seed fund, first launched in 2007 to support European entrepreneurs truly compete on a global scale. With investments in over 460 companies including publicly listed Romanian-founded, UiPath, Wise and unicorns Revolut, wefox and Pleo. Carlos is a published author, fellow podcaster and made it onto Forbes Midas List of 2022 as one of the most influential VCs in Europe in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. You are in for a treat.In this episode, you will get a rare look into the top four funniest objections that Seedcamp and Carlos have had to endure from LPs on their journey to building Seedcamp to the hallmark it is today. Objection #1: "Your fund model will break when it goes from 5M to 20M€"Objection #2: "You're just spraying and praying and your portfolio will be far too big for you to manage"Objection #3: "Why don't you just invest in the winners?"Objection #4: "Who led deal X, Y and Z and how will you retain that person and keep him/her motivated?" And some extra reflections by Carlos on opportunity funds, VC decision-making and incentive structures and firm management.

Today we are happy to welcome José, Founding Partner of Samaipata. Before joining the early-stage pan-European VC fund, José was the co-founder of La Nevera Roja, the leading food-delivery platform in Spain. José has also worked at PWC and Accenture in Strategy and M&A Advisory.In this episode you’ll learn:- VC Brand building from one of the best brands in the space- Why you must build your brand for founders and not LPs & how to balance personal and firm brand- What’s behind Samaipata’s ethos of go beyond, think big and stay real- How José thinks about building LP relationships from first touch to conversion and beyond

Today we are happy to welcome Anne Solhaug Tutar, Partner at Antler Nordics, former entrepreneur and startup expert. At Antler, Anne has made more than 40 investments in early-stage startups and was named Company Builder of the Year in 2021 as well as top 10 Leadership Talents 2021 in Norway by E24. Anne's entrepreneurial background comes from Turkey where she founded one of the country's first health food FMCG with customers such as Starbucks and Carrefour. In this episode you’ll learn:- How relocating to Turkey led Anne into entrepreneurship and then VC- How hustling as an entrepreneur carries into the hustle of being an emerging VC- How Antler Nordics has built a model to optimize collaborating with industry

Today we are happy to welcome Jon Coker, Founding Partner of Eka Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm that invests in Seed and early Series A consumer technology companies building sustainable economy. Jon founded Eka alongside Camilla Dolan to build a leading venture firm that integrates impact investing with mainstream venture. Prior to Eka, Jon has spent 11 years at MMC Ventures, ultimately as Managing Partner and led venture investments in 17 companies, been the investor representative at the board of 21 companies.In this episode you’ll learn:- Everything about assessing founder development capacity and the pillars of self-awareness, impact awareness, systems and process thinking and speed of self-development- Jon's views on coaching and coaches in venture capital and the difference between looking for A players and Growth Mindset founders- How Jon and Eka build their founder assessment around honest interviews that uncover the story and person behind the startup- Why Jon has seen more value taken away by VCs than added by VCs

Today we are happy to welcome Diana Florescu and Piyush Puri. Diana is the CEO and Founder of mediaforgrowth, a media for equity advisory firm, specialised in Series A to pre-IPO media capital fundraising. Piyush leads the Brand Capital International team in Silicon Valley as Vice President of BWI, the strategic investment arm of The Times Group – India’s largest multimedia conglomerate. In this episode you’ll learn:- How media for equity came to existence as a category of venture investing and why media companies are increasingly active in the space- The story of Times Group of India and its journey to investing media capital in more than 900 brands over the last 18 years- What the typical media for equity deal looks like and how media is priced in such deals

Today we are happy to welcome Edward van Wezel, Founding and Managing Partner of BioGeneration Ventures. Launched in 2006, BGV has managed over 250 million euros across four funds. They invest in medical and healthcare innovations that have high potential to positively impact patients.In this episode you’ll learn:- Edward’s route from chemical engineering to VC- How BGV thinks about sourcing from all of Europe and why certain geos have risen to be their core focus- On working with universities, research institutes, TTOs and the status of IP ownership in Europe- On building your ideal LP base and the importance of designing for diversity

Today we are happy to welcome Sara Rywe, Partner at byFounders - a €110m early-stage, community-powered, founders-led VC fund. Sara is an entrepreneur at heart with experience from a range of tech startups and has also worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and led the global strategy implementation at Danske Bank.In this episode you’ll learn:- Going from a simple town in Sweden to partner at one of the leading funds in the Nordics- The story behind the framework and building of a fund pioneering true founder friendly terms- Why impact awareness has become central to byFounders even though it’s not a full-fledged impact or climate fund- An exciting look under the hood of building and running the byFounders Collective to leverage their Angel LP base

Today we are happy to welcome Ali Karabey, Founding Partner at 212, a venture capital firm that backs B2B tech startups with 85 million dollars of commited capital and 170 million dollars in Assets Under Management. This year are launching their Fund III aiming for 70 million in size.In this episode you’ll learn:- How the Turkish ecosystem has developed since 212 launched as the first fund in the region back in 2012- How understanding LPs and having a long-term approach to the relationship can make a real difference in your fundraise- How Ali thinks about investing in emerging markets and scale to invest outside of your region of comfort- How Ali has dealt with geopolitical risk and how - in that light - VC’s fluctuations can seem relatively small

Today we are happy to welcome Rune Hven-Jensen and Andreas Green Rasmussen, Co-Founders and General Partners of Ugly Duckling Ventures, a VC firm that invests in Nordic companies at the pre-seed, seed and early stages, currently raising their first fund and about to announce their closing.In this episode you’ll learn:- How they pivoted their raise from the tech ecosystem to family offices- Raising through the best and the worst time possible to raise a fund- The rationale behind allocating 75% of their fund to follow-ons- Why the team targets the layer just below the consensus layer of normal VC and how this led an LP to refer to Ugly Duckling as “the PE firm of VC”

Today we are happy to welcome you to our favorite type of episode: our memo episode! That means we’ll be diving deep on a fund that the EUVC LP Syndicate is investing into together with the GP team. So, please welcome Borys and Diana, Founding Partners of SMOK Ventures, an operator-led VC fund focusing on top serial founders from the CEE region.At EUVC, we’re hyped about this investment because SMOK Ventures have risen to become the first-choice fund among many serial entrepreneurs in less than two years of operation by delivering on their promise of connecting the CEE and Global venture ecosystems with more than 80% of the money raised by portfolio startups coming from outside the region.What is more, Borys and Diana are amazing human beings who our syndicate investors can count on to not only deliver returns, but also insights, learnings and access to the region. We hope you’ll enjoy meeting Borys and Diana in this episode and invite you to reach out if you wanna learn more about how to join the EUVC LP syndicate.

Today we are happy to welcome Premysl Rubes, Founder and Managing Partner of Presto Ventures, a Prague-based VC firm investing in early-stage (pre Series A) startups built by exceptional founders from Central and Eastern Europe.In this episode you’ll learn:- Premysl’s journey from entrepreneurship, to angel investing to VC- Learnings going from a single GP & LP firm to multiple-partner team with a large LP-base- The importance of alignment of interests in a single LP set up- Why Presto Ventures double down on a high velocity investment strategy with multiple deals done per month and investment cycles of 2 years

Today we are happy to welcome Annie Theriault, Managing Partner at Cross-Border Impact Ventures (CBIV), an impact venture capital firm investing in health technology companies addressing large international markets. Cross-Border focuses on expanding access to world class technologies within North America and Europe as well as to reach people living in emerging economies. Prior to founding CBIV, Annie worked with high impact companies to mobilize more than $100 million in non-dilutive capital as a venture capital investor and advisor.In this episode you will learn:- How come Cross-Border is one of the funds selected for the Innovative Funds at WEF and what's to come on the Program- Why the only way to make money is with great co-investors- And why any VC telling you they did it all by themselves is full of sh*t

Today we are happy to welcome Michiel Kotting, Partner at Northzone, a venture capital fund shaped by lives as entrepreneurs and investors. He leads Northzone’s investments focusing on SaaS, marketplaces, healthcare and AI.In this episode you’ll learn:- The journey from entrepreneur into VC- How Northzone have managed to be relevant to founders as they’ve far outgrown their Nordic outspring- The importance of culture and why the art of investing lies in mentoring people- What emerging themes Michiel sees coming in VC- How Michiel thinks about the tech crash, Northzone’s role and going forward from here

Today we are happy to welcome Monik Pham, co-founder of Pact VC, an early stage tech fund backing mission driven founders with global ambitions. They have over 40 years’ experience building businesses in Asia, Middle East and India, and a strong track record investing in them in the UK and Europe. Pact invests in seed-stage companies under three themes which they call their ABCs - Access, Betterment, and Climate.In this episode you’ll learn:- On Pact’s origin story and raising a fund, the route to their name and having Anne Hathaway as an LP- Everything about Pact’s ABC thesis and how it connects and leverages the team’s track record and experience- Why Pact enters with large initial tickets and how it impacts their operational setup- A deep dive on impact & diversity in VC

Today we are happy to welcome Fridtjof Berge, Chief Business Officer and co-founder of Antler, a day zero investor and early-stage venture capital firm. Fridtjof works with a global team dedicated to developing the next generation of world-changing technology companies. He oversees external activities across the firm globally and serves as a member on its investment committees.In this episode you’ll learn:- The founding story of Antler, where the name came from & where the team drew inspiration from- Why and how Fridtjof and the team built a rapidly scaled global VC firm- The Antler GP Talent Thesis- How Antler thinks about marrying local and global and the role of process and systems in doing so efficiently- How Antler thinks about building GP teams for new locations- Why Antler launched out of Singapore

Today we are happy to welcome one of Europe's true OG LPs: Chris Wade, co-founding Partner of Isomer Capital. With an extensive career as a founder, startup mentor and LP with more than 50 Venture fund investments under his belt, Chris is a guy you should want to know. At Isomer, Chris co-leads their fund investments and leads their co-investment program - and has a weekly section in the EUVC newsletter where he shares his perspectives and learnings from the week gone by. Tune in for the second of a two-part episode where we reflect on the year that has gone by and predict what is in stock for 2023.In this episode you’ll learn:– Why Chris believes 2022 was a year of landmark achievements in technology that we should all remember and why perseverance and necessity are key to innovation– Why 2022 was also a year of tears, how Chris thinks about the war in Ukraine and it’s impact on society and venture capital– What gives Chris hope going into the year of 2023

Today we are happy to welcome one of Europe's true OG LPs: Chris Wade, co-founding Partner of Isomer Capital. With an extensive career as a founder, startup mentor and LP with more than 50 Venture fund investments under his belt, Chris is a guy you should want to know. At Isomer, Chris co-leads their fund investments and leads their co-investment program - and has a weekly section in the EUVC newsletter where he shares his perspectives and learnings from the week gone by.Tune in for the first of a two-part episode where we, in this instalment, explore .In this episode, you will learn: How Chris’ path as an entrepreneur has formed his thinking and behavior as a limited partnerWhy Chris chose to devote his life to found and build Isomer CapitalWhat guides Chris as an LP and how it informs you in your work with LPsWhy venture capital is like the road to enlightenment for a buddhist monk

Today we are happy to welcome Patrick Newton, co-founder of Form Ventures, an early-stage VC focused on investing in startups that are disrupting regulated markets, or building in new markets that will face regulation. Patrick helps founders break down policy barriers and shape winning regulatory strategies.In this episode you’ll learn:- How Patrick got to found Form Ventures to fund the future regulated markets- The surprising story about how Form was started as a 1M€ fund I to a 30M€ fund II- How Patrick thinks about VC brand building from a strategic and tactical point

Today we are happy to welcome Sergey Jakimov founding partner of LongeVC, a venture capital company supporting early-stage biotech and longevity-focused founders that are changing the world. Sergey is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded 3 deep-tech ventures and raised more than $40 million in venture funding for his own ventures and as an entrepreneur in residence.In this episode you’ll learn:- How Sergey ended up doing longevity from a non-medical background- How to think about longevity as a vertical and the frontiers of the space- A deep dive on longevity techs frontiers: 1) Consumer adoption, 2) Age-related diseases (therapeutics and non-therepeutics), 3) Systemic rejuvenation of the human-being- An usually light-hearted deep dive for the EUVC show on how we can all live longer and have better lives

Today we are happy to welcome Sasha Kaletsky, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Creator Ventures, a firm that invests and collaborates with content creators. This year they closed their first $20m fund, to invest globally in early-stage companies innovating in consumer-internet.Together with his partner Caspar Lee, Co-Founder of influencer.com, a content creator with an audience of over 10 million across social channels, they help founders navigate the social media and influencer marketing landscape.In this episode you’ll learn:- All about how Creator Ventures leverages a strong network of celebrity co-investors- Why Sasha has opted for a model with celebrity co-investors rather than celebrity LPs- The direct & indirect value-add of celebrities, influencers & athletes for founders as well as VCs- What Sasha’s advice to other emerging managers is and why quality LP updates are high on his agenda

Today we are happy to welcome Enis and Kaan, General Partner and Investor at 500 Emerging Europe, who the EUVC syndicate is investing into. In this episode, we dive deep on their recent rebrand from 500 Istanbul to 500 Emerging Europe, their emerging talent thesis and the value chain drift that’s causing emerging Europe to be such an overlooked opportunity. It was an absolute pleasure to meet up with the guys at How To Web and experience exactly how hot the ecosystem and the support for what Enis is building is.**In this episode you’ll learn:– How to think about growing a 10M€ fund I to a 70M€ fund II– Why brand is the only competitive advantage in VC and how to build it– The 500 Emerging Europe Talent thesis & it’s connection to the value chain drift that 500 is leveraging– How Enis thinks about building a truly sustaining firm that may rise to dominance

Today we are happy to welcome Jean Bourcereau, President and Managing Partner at Ventech. He has joined the company in 2000, acting as a facilitator of the Partners Committee defining Ventech’s global development strategy and is a veteran driving investments notably in hardware and communications. In this episode you’ll learn:- The founding story of Ventech and how it grew out of a large bank- Why Jean and Ventech said no to 150M€ from a single LP but rather built a diversified LP base- The importance of having a solid shareholder agreement in place when there’s a cornerstone LP with big impact on the fund- Jean’s thoughts around the concept of CLPs vs CVCs- Why Ventech grew to China rather than the US & the centrality of being an active and relevant dealmaker in the region- How and why Ventech has expanded via a distributed partnership model

Welcome to a very special episode of EUVC where we dive deep with Oliver Holle, founding and managing partner of Speedinvest, for a one-of-a-kind (and super nerdy) discussion on Speedinvest’s newly launched fund 4 of 500M€! Speedinvest is one of Europe’s hands-down best seed stage investors and a household name in the industry that takes a perfectly oiled and scaled investing machine to be able to achieve. So stay tuned for some unique insights from the man who’s built it and who continues to pioneer innovation in our ecosystem.In this episode, you will learn: - Why Oliver believes a new model is needed to deliver on the promise of Seed at Scale- A rare look under the hood of Speedinvest talking everything from carry, remuneration, decision-making structures and much more- Why and how Oliver has built Speedinvest around five core beliefs: 1) VC is a team sport, 2) Expertise is essential, 3) Being pan-European has a lot of perks, 4) VC is more than picking, 5) Large portfolios managed well offer better diversification and top performance.

Today we are happy to welcome David Peterson and Gil Dibner, from Angular Ventures.Gil is the General Partner and Founder of Angular. He has been an active venture investor focused on enterprise technology companies born in Europe and Israel since 2005. As a venture investor and angel, he has backed over 30 companies. Prior to founding Angular, Gil was a Partner at DFJ Esprit and a Principal at Index Ventures in London, where he helped manage their pan-European seed portfolio.David is a partner who, prior to joining Angular, was employee #16 at Airtable, where he led growth and partnerships, developing full-stack GTM strategies and scaling the company to over 500 employees, grew from zero to 200,000 customers, and reached a $5.77B valuation.In this episode you’ll learn:– The founding story of Angular Ventures and how Gil & David think about complementarity in their partnership – How Gil & David think about navigating the current market climate & why they leaned into their biggest bet ever this July– Why Gil advises that alignment is kept front and center for emerging managers raising their fund

Today we are happy to welcome Guillaume Fournier, partner at Credo Ventures, a venture capital company focused on early stage investments in Central Europe. His mission is to identify and back the most interesting early stage companies in the region, support them in their growth plans (including expansion to the U.S. and global markets) and help them to achieve their objectives.In this episode you’ll learn:- The founding story of Credo, what’s behind the name and what took Guillaume from London to Prague - and what’s made him so happy about that move- Why Guillaume would rather spare on a deal that he ends up competing with than forego the honest conversations with fellow VCs- How Guillaume thinks about building strategic VC relationships and the role of strategic LP investments- All about how Guillaume thinks about succession planning in VC

Today we are happy to welcome Alan Poensgen, Partner at Antler, a global early-stage VC active in the major startup ecosystems across six continents. Alan has an extensive experience in building and scaling technology businesses. He was previously MD and Co-Founder at Westwing, a home & living e-commerce company, and one of Europe’s few e-commerce IPOs of the past years. Before Westwing, he built the software development hub at Rocket Internet, and was CEO of a SEA e-commerce company, along with working for a VC and starting his own company in Spain.What you will learn in this episode: - The story behind Antler Berlin & how they institutionalize the friends and family round- How Alan found his way into venture and how he thinks about building founding teams- Why Antler isn't a hypothesis-driven investor and what this mean for their strategy & operations- How Alan navigates the thin line between helping and meddling- A deep dive on the multiplier effect and flywheel of serial entrepreneurs

Today we are happy welcome Charlie Graham-Brown, CIO & Co-Founder of Seedstars, a platform that educates thousands of tech founders each year and facilitates the scale-up of high growth companies. Charlie is an investment professional and entrepreneur focused on emerging and developing markets, responsible for global seed stage VC investments.In this episode you’ll learn:- Exactly what Seedstars is and how it’s grown to become one of the dominant global players in creating and funding entrepreneurs in emerging markets- How Charlie has put together an investment strategy to double down on the emerging markets and how that differs from developed marked investing- How Charlie thinks about geo-political and currency risks as a VC- How Charlie has thought about putting together his LP base to serve his goals

Today we are happy to welcome a real legend to the show; Reshma Sohoni, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Seedcamp. With Seedcamp, Reshma has not only pioneered seed stage investing in Europe, but also built what’s become one of Europe’s consistently highest performing funds. Consequently, we thought we had no choice but to dive deep with Reshma on firm building to tease out some learnings from one of the greats. In this episode you’ll learn:- Origin story, where the name SeedCamp came from- The importance of staying true to your north star and building an ever stronger flywheel around your firm- How to think about brand building, recruiting & onboarding new talent and keeping the brand lived by all team members- How Reshma thinks about their LP base, why they’ve doubled down on small ticket LPs and requiring value-add and not just money- How Reshma thinks about follow-on investments and raising opportunity funds vs single-opportunity vehiclesWith a special guest on the Quick Fire Round: Jeroen van Doornik from Pacenotes

Today we are happy to welcome Romain Diaz, Founder and CEO of Satgana, a Climate Tech Venture Capital firm, investing in early-stage pre-seed with follow-on reserves for the seed round up to €500k. Romain is a passionate entrepreneur, a pragmatic idealist, and genuinely a nice guy! In this episode you’ll learn:- How Romain’s journey into VC took him from Rocket Internet in Germany, to a venture studio in South Africa and finally now to finally land in Lisbon- How Romain thinks about the venture studio model for an emerging VC and how his own path has made him smarter- How Romain thinks about their value add to founders and ability to pick and win the best in a time with increasing competition in Climate Tech- How Romain has thought about building Satgana from scratch to now announcing it to the world

Today we are happy to welcome Frederik Groenewegen, Co-Founder and General Partner of 415 CAPITAL. He has been an investor in more than a dozen of innovative medical technology companies and currently serves as a Board Director at Cardiac Success and R3 Vascular.In this episode you’ll learn:- How Frederik and his family’s experience and position in MedTech led them to building 415 Capital- How 415 Capital is leveraging a proprietary commercialization and distribution platform to win the best deals- What Frederik has learnt from Fund I and how the team is adapting for Fund II- How Frederik thinks about COVID as well as the current market’s impact on the MedTech space

Today we are happy to welcome Bogdan Iordache, General Partner at Underline VC. Bogdan is also the founder of HowToWeb, the go-to conference for startups and investors in CEE. This year’s event in Bucharest Romania was amazing, we were able to do a shit load of live interviews and host some of the craziest EUVC dinners. Will we be seeing you in the next ones?In this episode you’ll learn:– How sticking to the vision of a fund for 5 years can lead you to become one of the best emerging funds in Europe– How asking friends “Who would invest in my fund?” can pop the “well I would!” answer if your timing is right– How fundraising is an exercise of building trust and identifying & expanding circles – How Bogdan’s fund is tailored specifically to access the best deals in Underline’s target geo and verticals– Why the most important element of selection is the team and what that means in reality

Today we are happy to welcome Julia Padberg and René Savelsberg, partner and managing partner at SET Ventures. Julia's mission is to reduce the climate impact of the energy sector through digital innovation, together with industry-leading entrepreneurs. René co-founded SET Ventures in 2007. He has 25+ years of experience in technology investing in both deeptech and in energy transition with a background in corporate venturing and venture capital.In this episode you’ll learn:– The origin story of SET Ventures, where they got their name from – How the climate VC landscape has evolved over time and where we are headed– What allowed SET to survive - even thrive - through the big CleanTech wipeout in the early days– Culture & firm building and its importance to building and retaining talent

Welcome to a very special episode where we've brought the founders of Vauban, Rémy and Ulric on for a deep dive on the story behind the acquisition of Vauban by Carta. You'll hear all about the founding story of Vauban, how they continue hustling to create the infrastructure for European venture and what's to come.In this episode you’ll learn:- The love story of Rémy and Ulric and what the future has in store for them as founders, investors and people- The big reveal of the story behind the sale to Carta - and where Vauban will go to next- How Ulric and Rémy see the future of private markets in Europe and beyond

Today's episode is a special one, as we are happy to welcome John Dutton, Head of UpLink at the World Economic Forum, as our co-host. John will tell you all about the Innovative Funds for our Future. And as our guest, we welcome Sandra Osborne Kartt, Managing Director of Investments at ImpactAssets.– A rare peak into how the WEF’s Uplink supports the VC ecosystem – How Sandra as an important LP in multiple climate funds thinks about their investments– How the funds were selected for the Innovative Funds Program and what's to come– An opinionated but loving run-through of the selected funds by Andreas, John and Sandra

Today's episode is a special one, as we share with our audience the amazing content from Nada, from the Braving Innovation Podcast. Nada hosts conversations with global leaders in the field of Innovation, Technology and Leadership. She dives into transformational stories from startup founders and thought leaders in Innovation and Venture Capital. And this time, the tables were flipped, as David and Andreas acted as her guests.In this episode you’ll learn:– Why David and Andreas found their way into venture and hooked up to build EUVC– Why we need to preach VC to the wider ecosystem more and how it might be done– How syndicated LP investments can help build your career in venture and get you ready for greatness at any stage of your journey– Why and how skill, network and diversification are the key factors that the EUVC LP syndicates focus on building

This is a special EUVC episode straight from the Engaged Investments conference in Prague, hosted by our friends from Depo Ventures. Shout out to Petr who was kind enough to invite us. This is the recording of the panel “Perspective of LPs and VCs on the current market situation” which had the participation of our hosts Andreas and David; Ondřej, general partner at Credo Ventures; Vuk, venture capitalist at RSJ Investments; Michal, managing partner at DEPO Ventures; and Michal, principal at VentureFriends.In this episode you’ll learn:– How have the panelists have adapted their thinking and actions to fit the current market situation – Why Ondrej & Credo chose to bring their fund size down from 100M€ to 75M€ for fund IV & How Vuk as their LP thought about that– The contrarian theses that the panel holds on how to win big in the current market– What the panel thinks investors should be most wary of when it comes to investing into VC funds and startups these days

Today, we are happy to welcome Tim Draper, founder of the Draper Venture Network, a global network of venture capital funds. He funded Baidu, Tesla, Skype, SpaceX, Twitch, Hotmail, and numerous other well-known unicorns at the seed stage. He is a supporter and global thought leader for entrepreneurs everywhere, and a leading spokesperson for Bitcoin, Blockchain, ICOs and cryptocurrencies.In this episode you’ll learn:– The origin story of the Draper empire and why Tim built and scaled via a completely different model - including a TV show that now has 11 million viewers! – How Tim thinks about succession and partnership structures as well as putting his name behind the business – How Tim thinks about Europe and what our biggest opportunity and challenge is– Why Tim thinks the EUVC LP Syndicate model is “very interesting”!

Today we are happy to welcome Bo Ilsoe, managing partner of NGP Capital. From his current base in Geneva, Switzerland he has developed NGP Capital from initial commitments of $25M to more than $1.6B investing in the US, Europe, and China. Bo has through his portfolio exits created more than $3.0B in shareholder value during his time as an investor. A technologist at heart, he believes in the positive transformative effects technology has on society.In this episode you'll learn: - The origin & development story of NGP, the highly successful global VC, backed by Nokia- Why NGP has focused on the Series A and onwards stage - How Bo thinks about innovation horizons and how it affects the investment thesis of NGP- How Bo thinks about firm building, decision making and winning as a global team of 25 of which 15 are investors and 5 partners- Why Bo believes VCs owe founders to push them and be wary of becoming too founder friendly

This is a special EUVC episode straight from the Engaged Investments conference in Prague, hosted by our friends from Depo Ventures. Shout out to Petr who was kind enough to invite us. This is the recording of the panel “Why should business Angels invest in VC?" which had the participation of our host Andreas Munk Holm; Petr Sima, partner at DEPO Ventures; Mikk Orglaan, founding partner at Fstage.vc; Vojta Rocek, partner at Presto Ventures; and Tobias Rataj, who is an angel investor.

Today we are happy to welcome Borys Musielak, Founding Partner at SMOK Ventures. They help fund top early stage entrepreneurs (checks from €50k to €1M) based in Central & Eastern Europe, focusing on software and gaming startups. We were fortunate to record live with Borys during this years edition of How To Web.In this episode you’ll learn:– Why Borys is in love with Bucharest and the How To Web (hint: it’s not only coffee!) – The hilarious story behind the name SMOK and how it ties into a small kiss, a hairy ball AND a dragon – What the Silicon Valley roots of SMOK impacts how Borys and his team acts, works and invests– How Borys thinks about growing from a 10M€ Fund I to a 50M€ Fund II and its impact on SMOK- Borys’ views and insights on the state-backed VC programs that have been run in Poland and the CEE region. - How Borys thinks about the Russian/Ukranian crisis and how the VC market is reacting to it.

In this episode, we’re happy to welcome Juan Alonso-Villalobos, Partner of Startup Wise Guys. This year, we had the pleasure of recording with Juan at How To Web in Bucharest.In this episode you’ll learn:– How the SWG accelerator works and interplays with their funds – How Juan thinks about LP profiling and why nailing this is so central – How SWG builds their ecosystem around verticalized accelerators and funds– What FinTech solutions Juan sees coming to the venture industry and how it’ll impact us

Today we are happy to introduce you to Mick Halsband, Founding GP of Lunar Ventures, a deep tech seed stage investor, backing technical founders solving problems in big markets.Mick is a past CTO and a software architect. He has two decades of key roles at startups and multinational leading tech firms. Led software development for embedded mobile, realtime systems, computer graphics, computer vision, and trading infrastructure.In this episode you’ll learn:– What's happened at Lunar Ventures since their launch last year and how founders have reacted to their position as the most technical VC in Europe – How Mick thinks about the state of deeptech in Europe and the technologies he’s most excited about – Why Mick sees Bucharest and Romania as one of the most promising deeptech hubs in Europe