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Aug 2026

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The home of European tech. Connecting the people, capital and companies building Europe. EUVC features conversations with the founders, investors, operators and policymakers shaping the continent's future. We explore venture capital, startups, AI, deeptech, defense, industrial policy, entrepreneurship and the ideas driving European competitiveness. From emerging managers and unicorn founders to institutional investors and government leaders, EUVC documents the people building Europe's next chapter.

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August 14, 202617 min

Award winner - Summit | Firm of the Year 2025 (€200M+): Creandum (represented by Staffan Helgesson)

Staffan Helgesson takes the stage following Creandum being named Firm of the Year 2025 (>€200M AUM) at the EUVC Summit & Awards Show 2026.The award goes beyond returns, recognising how a VC performs across the full stack: portfolio outcomes, founder support, LP value creation and contribution to the ecosystem, from backing emerging sectors to setting standards on transparency, diversity and fairness.Staffan founded Creandum in 2003 and is now a Partner based in Stockholm. His work has focused largely on SaaS, alongside leading the firm’s climate practice with a particular focus on electrification.In the discussion, he reflects on how Creandum has evolved over more than two decades, why the firm treats venture as a team sport and how it thinks about fund size, performance and Europe’s changing venture ecosystem.He also returns to a principle Creandum has carried with it: “the price always increases”. What was enough to win a deal, recruit someone or build a firm last year will not be enough next year, especially as AI reshapes venture.The EUVC Summit & Awards Show returns in 2027. Find out more and secure your spot here.

August 12, 20269 min

Award winner - Summit | Impact Leader of the Year 2025: Eka Ventures (represented by Camilla Dolan)

Camilla Dolan, General Partner at Eka Ventures, joins a conversation following Eka being named Impact Leader of the Year 2025 at the EUVC Summit & Awards Show 2026.The award recognises exceptional positive impact alongside strong financial performance, with impact intention, measurement and reporting integrated throughout the investment process.The recognition follows the close of Eka’ $107 million second fund, focused on health, wellbeing and sustainability as long-term drivers of value.In the conversation, Camilla explains Eka’s shared value thesis and why the firm believes impact investing can drive outlier returns while bringing more commercial capital into the market.In Fund I, she says every pound invested by Eka has been followed by roughly £10 of additional capital, much of it from commercial investors.She also explains how Eka assesses founders, looking for people who learn at an exceptional rate, show high intentionality and have evidence of outlier achievement.Camilla connects that approach to investments including Runna, which Eka backed in 2022 before its acquisition by Strava.The discussion explores what it looks like to treat impact as part of the investment discipline itself, rather than something separate from commercial performance.The EUVC Summit & Awards Show returns in 2027. Find out more and secure your spot here.

August 9, 202659 min

This Week European Tech: What happens when AI starts deceiving humans?

What happens when AI agents begin doing more than following instructions and start actively deceiving the people around them?In the latest episode of This Week in European Tech, Dan Bowyer and Mads Jensen of SuperSeed are joined by Sion Evans, Managing Director at VenCap, to discuss a new AI security test where models created fake identities, tried to manipulate an open-source maintainer and attempted to hide what they had done when challenged.They look at what this means for cybersecurity, why increasingly autonomous systems create new attack vectors and how AI itself may become part of the defence.The episode also covers the wider shifts shaping European tech and venture this week.HighlightsAI agents, deception and the next cybersecurity challengeGoogle DeepMind’s shift from research towards executionWhy venture returns remain dominated by a handful of outliersEurope’s growth capital challenge and who should manage itWhy US investors are finding more opportunities in European techThis week’s notable deals in AI chips and energy storage

August 7, 202614 min

Award winner - Summit | Hall of Fame 2025: Accel’s Sonali De Rycker

Sonali De Rycker, Partner at Accel, is inducted into the EUVC Hall of Fame 2025 in this awards presentation from the EUVC Summit & Awards Show 2026.The award recognises individuals who have shaped European venture over more than a decade through the founders they backed, the firms they helped build and the ideas they advanced.Sonali joined Accel in 2008 and invests across consumer internet, software and fintech. Her investments include Spotify, one of the companies that helped establish what a globally significant European technology business could look like.In her acceptance remarks, she reflects on choosing Europe at a time when the ecosystem was fragmented and widely considered far behind Silicon Valley. What she saw instead were founders building without much infrastructure or support, often far beyond the continent’s established technology hubs.She also discusses how Europe has strengthened as founders recycle talent, experience and capital into new companies, and why AI gives the continent another opportunity to build global leaders. Throughout, she returns to the belief that has shaped her career: exceptional European founders can build companies with global impact.The EUVC Summit & Awards Show returns in 2027. Find out more.

August 3, 202654 min

This Week in European Tech: Is AI’s spending boom creating real value or hiding bigger risks?

AI infrastructure investment continues to accelerate, but the gap between technical progress and sustainable returns is becoming harder to ignore.In the latest episode of This Week in European Tech, Dan Bowyer and Mads Jensen of SuperSeed, Lomax Ward of Outsized Ventures and Andrew J Scott of 7percent Ventures, discuss volatile tech markets, the economics behind data centre expansion and why stronger AI models do not always translate into meaningful automation.HighlightsWhy AI and tech stocks are experiencing sharper volatility than the wider marketWhether today’s infrastructure spending can produce sustainable returnsNvidia’s expanding role in financing the AI ecosystemWhy engineering, not model capability, may now be the main bottleneckWhat AI is revealing about post-quantum securityHow sovereignty is reshaping technology supply chainsThis week’s standout deals across nuclear energy, robotics, defence and quantum computing

July 30, 202646 min

Episode #4: Consumer Tech Napkin | Building great products in consumer tech

When software can be built and copied faster than ever, what still makes a consumer product stand out? Episode #4 of Consumer Tech Napkin, produced in partnership with True, explores how strong teams create an edge through user love, distribution, experimentation, learning loops and human judgement.Host Andreas Munk Holm is joined by Neil Tanna, Co-Founder and CEO of Howbout, Graham Paterson, Co-Founder and CEO of Jitty and an angel investor in Howbout, and Mike Martin of True, a consumer and retail-focused investor and an investor in Jitty.Howbout is the shared calendar app for keeping up with friends and has grown to more than seven million users across 125 countries. Jitty is the search engine for finding your next home.They discuss why features rarely create lasting defensibility, what separates a genuine experiment from simply shipping and hoping, how teams balance data with product taste and how AI is changing the speed of product development.HighlightsBuilding great products when features are easy to copyDistribution, user love and learning loopsIdeas versus executionWhat makes a genuine product experimentIncremental improvements versus bigger betsHow Howbout tests higher-risk changesWhere human judgement remains essentialTimestamps(01:00) Building great products when software is easy to copy(04:00) Does a unique founding insight still matter?(08:00) Ideas versus execution(11:00) The rising bar for consumer startups(13:00) Distribution as a moat(17:00) Why learning loops create an advantage(19:00) What makes an experiment?(20:00) Hypothesis-led product development(22:00) Product bets and building for remarkability(25:00) Where to test risky ideas(28:00) How Howbout runs experiments at scale(32:00) Lessons from Deliveroo’s logistics experiments(34:00) How AI accelerates shipping and analysis(37:00) Can AI run experiments autonomously?(39:00) Why human taste still matters(43:00) How audience size compounds learning(45:00) Closing thoughtsSubscribe to EUVC, the home of European tech, for more insights.

July 28, 20261 hr 7 min

Pascal Wittet & Sandy Farmer (Orca Equity Partners): Why Orca backs first-time CEOs to buy their own business

Many talented professionals never realise there are investors willing to back them to buy and run an established small business, even if they have never been a CEO or worked in that sector before.In this episode of Unsung, host ⁠Will Maunder-Taylor⁠ speaks with ⁠Pascal Wittet⁠ and ⁠Sandy Farmer⁠, Co-Founders of ⁠Orca Equity Partners⁠, the UK’s first and most active fund of search funds. They explain how Orca backs first-time CEOs across Europe, what they look for in aspiring business owners and why stable, cash-generative and often “boring” companies can offer compelling acquisition opportunities and large returns.They also explore what happens after a deal, from building the management team and introducing better systems to professionalising the business for its next stage of growth. Pascal shares the story of Water Direct, which grew from roughly £3 million to around £10 million in EBITDA and delivered a return of more than five times invested capital in under three years.HighlightsWhy investors back first-time CEOs with no sector experienceHow the search fund model worksWhat Orca looks for in aspiring business ownersWhy stable, cash-generative and “boring” businesses can be attractiveHow succession creates opportunities to acquire strong companiesWhat new CEOs should prioritise after taking overWhy empathy and humility matter when buying from a founderHow Water Direct delivered a return of more than 5xFor more on entrepreneurship through acquisition, small business ownership and Unsung events, ⁠subscribe to the Unsung newsletter⁠⁠.Timestamps(01:22) Introducing Orca Equity Partners(02:16) How Sandy moved from private equity into search funds(06:32) Why backing first-time CEOs can work(10:07) Search fund returns and CEO incentives(13:42) What makes a strong acquisition target(17:40) How searchers find overlooked small businesses(21:07) Using technology and professionalising acquired companies(29:28) What Orca looks for in future CEOs(36:14) The Water Direct story(42:23) Adam Johnson’s first year as CEO(46:13) Building the right management team(51:51) Water Direct’s growth and liquidity event(58:23) What the story means for aspiring business owners(59:22) Leadership, humility and lessons from the military(1:07:23) Closing thoughts

July 24, 202657 min

This Week in European Tech: Can the UK restore growth and stay competitive in AI?

What would it take to get the UK economy moving again without losing ground in AI and technology?In this episode of This Week in European Tech, Mads Jensen and Dan Bowyer of SuperSeed are joined by Lomax Ward of Outsized Ventures to discuss what the UK’s new government should prioritise, from lowering industrial energy costs and reforming planning to cutting regulation and encouraging more pension capital to back productive UK assets.They also examine possible US restrictions on Chinese open-source AI models, the Hugging Face breach, Alphabet’s rising AI infrastructure spending and Tesla’s bets on Robotaxi and Optimus.In addition, the conversation covers capital concentration in European venture, PayPal acquisition rumours, Travis Kalanick’s Atoms and the week’s major deals, including CuspAI, Arrakis and Delivery Hero.HighlightsWhat the UK’s new government should do to restore growthHow regulation, planning and energy costs are holding back investmentWhether pension capital should be encouraged to back more UK assetsPossible US restrictions on Chinese open-source AIWhat the Hugging Face breach shows about AI and cybersecurityAlphabet’s growing AI infrastructure spendTesla’s Robotaxi and Optimus strategiesWhy venture funding is becoming more concentratedThe week’s major deals, including CuspAI, Arrakis and Delivery Hero

July 19, 20261 hr 7 min

This Week in European Tech: 100 episodes in, Europe’s tech reality check and what comes next

In the 100th episode of This Week in European Tech,Mads Jensen and Dan Bowyer of SuperSeed are joined by Lomax Ward of Outsized Ventures and Andrew J. Scott of 7percent Ventures.Two years after the show began, they reflect on how much the technology and venture landscape has shifted. They compare the surge in AI funding, hyperscaler investment and trillion-dollar technology companies in the US with Europe’s progress in company creation, venture activity and strategic technologies.The conversation also explores where Europe continues to lag, from pension capital and scale-up funding to energy, defence and access to space, and whether the continent can reduce its reliance on the US while building globally competitive companies.They then turn to 2028, sharing their views on the next phase of AI, robotics, smart glasses, quantum computing, sovereign technology and the infrastructure needed to support them.Key highlightsHow European venture has evolved over the past two yearsWhy Europe is creating more unicorns and decacorns while its global funding share remains under pressureThe increasing concentration of capital around AI and the largest US technology companiesWhether Europe can unlock more pension and institutional capital for ventureWhy every AI strategy is increasingly becoming an energy strategyEurope’s position in defence, sovereign technology and space infrastructureThe next wave of robotics, autonomous vehicles and physical AIPredictions for AGI, quantum computing, smart glasses and the companies that could shape 2028—————Love Tomorrow Summit - July 23, 2026, Tomorrowland, BelgiumThe Impact Circle Investor Lounge - July 24, 2026EUVC is curating the investment stage.Register ⁠here⁠.

July 17, 202643 min

Ahmed Achchak (Qevlar AI) & Réza Malekzadeh (Partech): When AI attacks, can AI defend?

AI is giving attackers cheaper, faster ways to target organisations at scale. On the defensive side, security teams are starting to replace rigid playbooks with AI systems that can investigate incidents, adapt to new attack paths and support faster response.In this episode, Andreas Munk Holm speaks with Ahmed Achchak, Co-founder and CEO of Qevlar AI, and Réza Malekzadeh, General Partner at Partech, an investor in Qevlar AI.They discuss how Ahmed and his co-founder approached cybersecurity without coming from traditional security backgrounds, why that outsider perspective helped them rethink static playbooks and how Qevlar AI is moving security teams beyond manual triage.The conversation also covers why organisations should assume breach, how automated remediation can be governed without turning the system into a black box, how young startups earn trust with major enterprise customers, Europe’s cybersecurity opportunity and why founders need to build security into their products from day one.HighlightsHow AI is reshaping cyberattacks and cyber defenceWhy static security playbooks are falling behindHow an outsider perspective shaped Qevlar AIHow Qevlar AI investigates and responds to incidentsWhy organisations should assume breachHow startups build trust with enterprise customersEurope’s opportunity to build global cybersecurity leadersWhy security must be built in from day one---Learn more about the Love Tomorrow Summit and the programmes EUVC is curating, and secure your tickets here.---Timestamps(02:00) Introduction to Qevlar AI and Partech(03:00) How AI is changing cybersecurity(05:00) From cloud security to the AI shift(07:20) Why small businesses are increasingly exposed(09:00) Building Qevlar AI without a traditional security background(12:00) Why outsider founders can rethink established industries(14:20) How Qevlar AI investigates cyber incidents(18:30) Why organisations should assume breach(21:30) Governing AI-driven security decisions(26:00) Winning trust with enterprise customers(30:30) Europe’s cybersecurity advantage(34:00) Why European companies still need to think globally(37:00) Qevlar AI’s long-term vision(39:00) Why Partech backed the team(40:30) Why security can no longer be an afterthought(43:00) Closing thoughts