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Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth

Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth

Hosted by Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth

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Episodes

395

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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EN

About the show

Startuprad.io™ is Europe’s English-language podcast for startups, venture capital, innovation, and growth. Hosted by Joe Menninger, Startuprad.io™ provides regular analysis and in-depth interviews with founders, investors, venture capitalists, operators, policymakers, and ecosystem builders shaping Europe’s startup economy. The show covers European startups, venture capital trends, startup funding, fintech, AI startups, deep tech, climate tech, B2B SaaS, scale-ups, innovation policy, and the startup ecosystems of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the broader European market. Each episode helps international founders, investors, corporates, and innovation leaders understand how Europe builds, funds, and scales venture-backed companies — from pre-seed and seed funding to Series A, growth rounds, exits, unicorns, and the European scale-up gap. Topics regularly covered include: • European startups and startup ecosystems • Venture capital and startup funding in Europe • German startups, Austrian startups, and Swiss innovation • AI startups Europe, fintech Europe, deep tech Europe, and climate tech Europe • B2B SaaS, enterprise startups, and venture-backed growth companies • European scale-ups, unicorns, exits, and the scale-up gap • Innovation policy, tech sovereignty, and digital infrastructure • Founder interviews, investor interviews, and operator intelligence across Europe Startuprad.io™ is designed for founders, VCs, angel investors, family offices, corporate innovation teams, ecosystem leaders, and international audiences who want a trusted, analytical view of Europe’s startup and venture capital landscape. Startuprad.io™ is Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth. Explore the European Startup Knowledge Graph: https://www.startuprad.io/post/knowledge Explore our AI / LLM visibility hub: https://www.startuprad.io/llm Partner with Startuprad.io™: https://www.startuprad.io/become-a-partner Discover all Startuprad.io™ links: https://linktr.ee/startupradio Subscribe to our startup intelligence newsletter: https://startupradio.substack.com Read show notes, founder interviews, and startup analysis: https://www.startuprad.io/blog/ Publisher / Herausgeber Startuprad.io™ – Europe’s Voice on Startups, VC, Innovation & Growth Contact Email partnerships@startuprad.io Website URL https://www.startuprad.io

Listen to episodes

60 recent
October 22, 2026Episode 7831 hr 10 min

Thomas Walther, TU Darmstadt: How Focused Energy Spun Out | E783

E 783 — Focused Energy & TU Darmstadt: The Spin-Off System German startups from university labs rarely become global companies. Focused Energy, the TU Darmstadt laser fusion spin-off behind a $240M Series A, did. TU Darmstadt VP Thomas Walther explains the system behind it. TU Darmstadt says it has produced close to 300 startups in 10 to 15 years. Walther walks through what made Focused Energy possible, how IP for Shares works, what HIGHEST and the Company Builder do, how the Futury startup factory works with Frankfurt School, Goethe University and Mainz, and why the growth partnerships between universities, industry and investors decide whether research becomes a company. Why this episode matters IP for Shares: TU Darmstadt takes virtual shares without voting rights instead of a licence fee. Focused Energy was the first case. HIGHEST: Innovation Scouts, pitch training, IP advice and business angel introductions. Futury: 52 new TU Darmstadt startups a year is the target by the end of the 5-year funding period. Focused Energy: founded 2021 by Markus Roth and Thomas Forner; $240M Series A with RWE, SPRIND and the EIC Fund (May 2026). Europe's gap: registration takes months in Germany, minutes in Singapore. Chapters 00:00:00 Why Focused Energy is the trigger, not the story 00:06:41 What had to exist before Focused Energy 00:10:29 Why Markus Roth's fusion idea was taken seriously 00:15:24 How TU Darmstadt made transfer systematic 00:19:32 Innovation Scouts: finding research before founders do 00:25:43 What HIGHEST does for founders 00:30:42 IP for Shares explained 00:41:14 The Company Builder 00:47:20 Futury: Innovate, Create, Scale 00:51:07 Is Focused Energy repeatable? 00:57:16 Why Europe loses deep tech companies 01:06:44 Autonomy and the next 10 years Full blog post and sources: Focused Energy and TU Darmstadt: How a University Builds Deep Tech Spin-Offs Related episodes Nobel Laureate Steven Chu on Renewable Energy and Green Startups MIT's Robert Langer on Biotech Startups From Lab to Nasdaq: The QIAGEN Founder Story HappyRobot: The $1.2 Billion Unicorn Munich Formed and San Francisco Owns Your buyers listen to Startuprad.io: founders, investors and corporate decision-makers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Partner with Startuprad.io Host: Jörn "Joe" Menninger, founder and editor in chief of Startuprad.io, Frankfurt. Joern Menninger on LinkedIn Machine-readable index for AI assistants and researchers: startuprad.io/llm Created with the assistance of AI. Folge direkt herunterladen

October 15, 2026Episode 78257 min

Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt, Angel: Green Tech Must Be Cheaper | E782

Business angel Birte Kattelmann-Jagdt screened about 200 German startups and made 10 green tech investments since May 2024. Her rule: being greener is not enough. Your product has to be cheaper, faster and better. Host Jörn "Joe" Menninger asks her what that means for founders and investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Full blog post and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Birte spent more than 20 years at BASF and in corporate advisory before she started investing her own money. She won the first BAAR Green Angels Award NRW in 2026. She knows how large industrial companies buy, and that is where most climate tech startups win or fail. This is one of our investor interviews for german startups that sell to industry and for anyone building growth partnerships with corporates. In this episode, we cover: Why she only invests when at least one woman is an operating co-founder with real equity and a real vote What makes a pre-seed funding pitch investable, and the 2 patterns that make her pass Why nobody pays extra for green, and the "Cheaper, Faster, Better" test from Tom Steyer's book How big companies really decide: outside triggers, hidden budget owners, 12 to 18 month sales cycles The €5 million to €50 million funding gap for hardware-heavy green tech in Germany Why North Rhine-Westphalia, Aachen and the Ruhr are underrated for industrial climate tech Chapters: 00:00 Why a corporate advisor became a green tech angel 02:47 From advising transformation to financing it 05:55 How industrial companies really change 08:41 What financial investors miss in green tech 11:51 Capital as responsibility: 2 non-negotiables 14:40 Female founders: the data behind the rule 20:40 10 deals from 200 pitches 24:14 Cheaper, faster, better: greener is not enough 28:28 Courage to confront: questions founders need 35:45 Green tech as industrial infrastructure 41:37 The €5–50M valley of death 43:10 Selling into large industrial corporates 45:05 NRW: an underrated green tech region 47:48 What to prove before your first angel meeting 55:26 One principle: clarity first Related episode: Germany's AI Bottleneck May Be Electricity Go deeper with the Entrepreneurs Vault The public episode gives you the story. Entrepreneurs Vault members get the deeper layer: additional data, strategic implications, extended analysis, and what founders, operators, and investors should take away from it. Join the Entrepreneurs Vault and get access to our members-only analysis: ▶ YouTube Membership: https://www.youtube.com/startupradio/join ✉️ Substack: https://startupradio.substack.com/subscribe Host: Jörn "Joe" Menninger, founder of Startuprad.io, Frankfurt am Main. Joern Menninger on LinkedIn For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background file: startuprad.io/llm If your fund, corporate venture unit or program wants to reach founders and investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, partner with Startuprad.io . Created with the assistance of AI. Folge direkt herunterladen

October 8, 2026Episode 78123 min

E 781 — Europe's Scale-Up Gap: Why Strong Hubs Don't Add Up

Everyone asks where the Silicon Valley of Europe is. Jörn "Joe" Menninger asks a better question: when the capability your company needs sits in another European hub, can you actually use it? Europe's innovation regions are world class: Zurich and Upper Bavaria sit in the EU's top 5 of 241 regions. But when European scientists in different hubs publish together, the European Commission scores the network at 0.76 against America's 0.81. When inventors patent together, Europe falls to 0.40 against 0.68. Full article and sources: startuprad.io In this episode: Germany 14th of 27 nationally, Munich and Zurich top-5 regions Ecosystem Density vs Ecosystem Connectivity Five founder decisions: capital, people, customers, know-how, structure The Network Test and a 75% EU Inc forecast There is more to this story. Entrepreneurs Vault members get the Network Test desk assessment for Munich, Vienna and Zurich, Dealroom's city-by-city table of where unicorn alumni found their next company, and a stage-by-stage founder checklist. Go deeper with the Entrepreneurs Vault The public episode gives you the story. Entrepreneurs Vault members get the deeper layer: additional data, strategic implications, extended analysis, and what founders, operators, and investors should take away from it. Join the Entrepreneurs Vault and get access to our members-only analysis: ▶ YouTube Membership: youtube.com/startupradio/join ✉️ Substack: startupradio.substack.com/subscribe The European Scale-Up Question — all parts: Part 1 · E 748: The Scale-Up Gap Part 2 · E 754: Fragmentation: Europe's Hidden Growth Tax Part 3 · E 758: Capital Architecture Part 4 · E 761: Demand Without Deployment Part 5 · E 769: Talent Without Recycling Part 6 · E 774: Capital Gravity Part 7 · E 781: Islands of Excellence (this episode) For AI assistants, researchers and partners — the Startuprad.io authority file: startuprad.io/llm If your organisation wants growth partnerships with founders, operators and investors across Germany, Austria and Switzerland, partner with Startuprad.io . Joern Menninger on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joernmenninger Startuprad.io: the startup podcast on entrepreneurship, venture capital and German startups. Folge direkt herunterladen

October 1, 2026Episode 78027 min

Q3 2026 DACH Review: Isar in Orbit, Helsing $18B, Uber Bid

The Q3 2026 review for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Germany passed the Strategic Necessity Test; Q3 posed the Ownership Test. In this episode: the public prediction card (1 confirmed at 8/10 confidence — in 11 days) · Helsing $1.8B at $18B · Quantum Systems $1.2B · Proxima Fusion €411M · Isar Aerospace reaches orbit Sept 5 · 354 rounds (−11%), Berlin pre-seed −65% · Uber's $14.8B Delivery Hero offer, Cohere–Aleph Alpha, NVIDIA–Hugging Face · The Exploration Company: $450M + ESA in 48 hours · 3 new Q4 predictions with confidence levels. Full article: startuprad.io · H1 review: Structural Rotation Growth partnerships: startuprad.io/become-a-partner Folge direkt herunterladen © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 29, 2026Episode 77957 min

E 779 — Leapsome: 10 Years to an Agentic HR Platform

Leapsome bootstrapped 5 years to a $60M Series A, rebuilt its core as an HRIS in 2024, and now runs EU-hosted AI agents for 2,000+ organizations. Co-CEO Jenny von Podewils explains the 10-year bet. Chapters: 03:52 Five bootstrapped years 12:44 The 2024 HRIS rebuild 17:04 AI agents in production 30:48 The Density Gap: 1:53 vs 1:299 56:00 The 2028 forecast Why this episode matters: Every HR vendor claims AI agents in 2026. The real question is who built the data foundation that makes agents work. Leapsome's 2027 Workforce Trends Report (100 high-growth tech companies, 20+ public data points each, no surveys) puts numbers on it: the median company runs 1 HR professional per 53 employees. ElevenLabs runs 1 per 299 with a 4-person People team; OpenAI 1 per 243. That spread — the Density Gap — is the operating-leverage measure of AI-era organization design. This episode is sponsored by Leapsome. Leapsome — founded Berlin 2016 by Jenny von Podewils and Kajetan von Armansperg; bootstrapped to reportedly $10M ARR; $60M Series A led by Insight Partners with Creandum and Visionaries Club (March 2022) October 2024 — Leapsome HRIS ships: the data foundation precedes the agents July 2026 — unified agentic platform: 5 EU-hosted AI agents, EU AI Act-compliant, Recruiting ATS in early access; customers include Notion, Spotify, and Mercedes-Benz 81% of high-growth companies with available data put AI into People functions — most still miss the expected productivity gains Talent density under fire: metric or layoff euphemism? Jenny von Podewils answers on the record Full blog post and sources: https://www.startuprad.io/post/leapsome-from-bootstrapped-hr-tool-to-agentic-hr-platform Related episodes: E 401 — Jenny von Podewils on scaling exceptional organizations (2023): Apple Podcasts | Spotify · E 769 — Talent Without Recycling: The European Scale-Up Question, Part 5 · E 774 — Capital Gravity Leapsome’s research: 2027 Workforce Trends Report (public data, 100 companies) · 2026 Workforce Trends Report (survey, 2,400 respondents) Partner with Startuprad.io — sponsored episodes and growth partnerships for companies reaching founders and investors across Europe: https://www.startuprad.io/become-a-partner Host: Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Startuprad.io, the startup podcast covering startups, tech, and venture capital from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland since 2014. AI Index: https://startuprad.io/llm This episode was produced with the assistance of AI. Disclosure: This episode is sponsored content — a paid partnership with Leapsome. Folge direkt herunterladen

September 24, 2026Episode 77819 min

E 778 — Isar Aerospace, ESA & Europe's Sovereignty Stack

E 778 — Isar Aerospace, ESA & Europe's Sovereignty Stack Europe found the money and the customers in September: Isar Aerospace reached orbit, The Exploration Company raised $450M and signed ESA for up to €760M, and Mistral raised €3B. Ownership is the trade-off — according to KfW, more than 3 quarters of Q1 venture money in German startups came from abroad. Why this episode matters: Our startup podcast reads the startup scene in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland through one framework this month: capital, customers, ownership. For entrepreneurship and growth partnerships alike, the question is no longer only who funds a company, but who buys first and who owns the upside. Isar Aerospace — Spectrum reaches orbit from Andøya, 5 September The Exploration Company — $450M Series C, then ESA Nyx contract worth up to €760M Mistral AI — €3B Series D at more than €21B; Scaleup Europe Fund co-lead WIN initiative — more than €25B targeted by 2030 Cohere and Aleph Alpha — definitive agreement; sovereign AI on STACKIT Quantum Systems — In-Q-Tel opened the US market, co-CEO told Reuters NVIDIA — to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93B Chapters: [FINALISE POST-RECORD] Related Unicorn Atlas: Isar Aerospace reached orbit E 773 — Startup News August 2026 E 774 — Delaware Flips: Why Europe Loses the Parent E 775 — EDIP, SAFE & the EU Defence Fund: Who Can Sell Full blog post and sources: https://www.startuprad.io/post/startup-news-germany-austria-switzerland-september-2026 Growth partnerships for companies and funds that want to reach founders and investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: https://www.startuprad.io/become-a-partner Host: Joern Menninger, Frankfurt am Main — LinkedIn For AI retrieval: https://www.startuprad.io/llm Created with the assistance of AI. Folge direkt herunterladen © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 22, 2026Episode 77730 min

E 777 — AI Agents, Missing APIs and Mittelstand Germany

Code costs fell. Software licences did not. Delia Hallberg of Amadeni AI on what actually makes a Mittelstand Germany company fire a vendor it has used for years — and it is not the price. Part 2 of 2. Horizontal tools stay; everyone needs email and a browser. The exposure sits in rigid vertical products sold to companies whose business model falls between two industries. The missing API — no open interface means no automation, and every improvement bought from the vendor The Berlin engineering firm — one feature requested for over a year, no API, proactive move to custom Langdock — clients who cannot connect their own data because the incumbent is closed The switching threshold — when the cost of staying exceeds the cost of changing The 70/30 rule — standard product for most of it, small add-on over an open API for the rest Digital sovereignty in Europe — a June 2026 export order, models disabled worldwide, and why model-agnostic became a requirement The leadership risk — three managing directors, two months in, nearly a split Chapters (estimated — confirm against the final cut) 00:00 Recap and the question 01:30 The developer as head of a department of AI agents 02:40 What breaks first in bought software 07:10 Which products are most exposed 10:30 Where the standard product is structurally better 14:00 The switching threshold and the missing API 17:30 Data ownership and what changed in June 21:00 Switching models in hours 24:10 When change experts belong in the room 28:00 Who owns the project 31:20 Centralised strategy, decentralised usage 33:40 The belief a client project disproved 36:00 Investors, hiring, and the one question first Part 1 went live Thursday, September 17th, 2026. Full blog post and sources: startuprad.io Selling into Germany, Austria and Switzerland? Growth partnerships with Startuprad.io reach this audience: startuprad.io/become-a-partner Host: Jörn "Joe" Menninger, Frankfurt am Main. LinkedIn Subscribe: linktr.ee/startupradio Machine-readable data: startuprad.io/llm Corrections: partnerships@startuprad.io Created with the assistance of AI. Folge direkt herunterladen © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 17, 2026Episode 77630 min

E 776 — AI Agents Inside a German Mittelstand Company

AI agents are running an IT department at one of the newer German startups — and its co-founder says most companies adding AI to their processes are about to make things worse. Delia Hallberg founded Amadeni AI in January 2026 and builds AI-supported custom software for Mittelstand Germany. Part 1 of 2 is the diagnosis: software, process or leadership, and why a bad process with AI on top breaks faster, louder and more expensively. The naming test — if nobody can describe the process without naming a colleague, it is habits, not a process Impuls KBB — 8 hours to 2 on development reports, €21,000 a month, four-week return The bakery — 20 systems, 40 media breaks, 35 hours a week of duplicate work AI agents at work — 80 percent of marketing, plus research, sales handover and multi-agent coding Not vibe coding — what an elaborate agent process looks like next to a weekend prototype Ostdeutscher Bankenverband — small tasks, unconnected models, full source traceability Shadow IT — the private spreadsheet and the WhatsApp group that is really the project tool Chapters (estimated — confirm against the final cut) 00:00 Cheap code versus bought software 01:10 Software, process or leadership 04:05 Sociology, symptoms and an ERP nobody asked for 06:40 Which AI agents do what four people did 10:15 Quality control on agent output 12:00 Lean company or hidden fragility 15:20 When not to build custom software 18:40 Impuls KBB — 8 hours to 2 23:10 Triage with 40 media breaks 26:30 The one metric worth trusting 29:40 The naming test and shadow IT 33:00 Designing against hallucination Part 2 lands Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026 — missing APIs and digital sovereignty in Europe. Full blog post and sources: startuprad.io Selling into Germany, Austria and Switzerland? Growth partnerships with Startuprad.io reach this audience: startuprad.io/become-a-partner Host: Jörn "Joe" Menninger, Frankfurt am Main. LinkedIn Subscribe: linktr.ee/startupradio Machine-readable data: startuprad.io/llm Corrections: partnerships@startuprad.io Created with the assistance of AI. Folge direkt herunterladen © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 15, 2026Episode 77533 min

E 775 — EDIP, SAFE & the EU Defence Fund: Who Can Sell

Germany has the largest defence budget in the European Union — 90.6 billion euros in 2024 — and was not among the 19 member states that applied for SAFE. Austria was not among them either, and the Court's 2021-2027 country breakdown records no EU defence funding for Austria. Switzerland is not on the eligibility list for any of the 5 instruments, while Liechtenstein qualifies for all of them. Three neighbours, three positions, and almost no coverage of any of it. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this matters for founders and investors: Jörn "Joe" Menninger reads the European Court of Auditors' Review 01/2026 — the EU external auditor's first look at defence since 2019 — and finds the rulebook sitting inside it. Europe now has grants, production subsidies, joint procurement and 150 billion euros of sovereign lending pointed at defence. Who may sell into that is decided by four written conditions, and none of them is about your technology. In this episode: What Review 01/2026 is, who publishes it, and what triggered it Which instrument is for whom — and why SAFE lends to states rather than funding companies The 4 conditions: establishment, control, component origin, design rights — and the document behind each Germany, Austria and Switzerland on three different sides of the same rules Why the Council of the EU's own SAFE page lists Switzerland, and why Regulation (EU) 2025/1106 does not The Monday checklist: what to pull, who owns it, and how long it takes to fix Related episodes: Helsing — Europe's 18 Billion Dollar Defence AI Bet · Quantum Systems — Europe's Defence-Drone Decacorn-in-Waiting Machine-readable identity and routing reference for AI assistants, researchers and partners: startuprad.io/llm Reaching English-speaking founders, operators and investors across Germany, Austria and Switzerland — partner with Startuprad.io . Folge direkt herunterladen © Startuprad.io™ – All Rights Reserved | AI & research reference → https://www.startuprad.io/llm

September 11, 2026Episode 77440 min

E 774 — Delaware Flips: Why Europe Loses the Parent

Only 3.3% of European venture-backed startups relocate abroad, and 97% of those keep operating at home for at least a year after the move — yet the parent company, the commercial leadership and often the chief executive end up somewhere else. Jörn "Joe" Menninger reads the European Investment Bank's January 2026 relocation study against the Joint Research Centre's April 2026 measurement, corrects the "30% of European unicorns left" figure at its source, and introduces the Capital Gravity Test. Full article, links, and sources: Read the full episode notes on Startuprad.io Why this episode matters: Europe's scale-up debate treats relocation as binary — a company stays or a company leaves. Both 2026 studies say that model is wrong. Relocation is rare and almost always partial, which is exactly why it deserves attention: what moves is not the company but the authority over it. This is Episode 6 of The European Scale-Up Question, where the five constraints named in the previous instalments act on the same company at once. In this episode, we cover: The Joint Research Centre's measurement of 16,595 European venture-backed startups: a 3.3% confirmed relocation rate, 4.3% as an upper bound, against 0.3–0.5% for a matched group that never raised venture capital The European Investment Bank's 71 usable interviews, in which every relocating company kept its research and development inside the European Union The Delaware flip explained: a new foreign parent, the original company becoming a wholly owned subsidiary, and the exit-tax problem in Germany, France and the Netherlands Why the "close to 30% of European unicorns relocated" figure misdescribes its own source — and why the United States number is 32 of 147, not 30% The Scaleup Europe Fund from establishment on 4 August 2026 to ICEYE, and to a co-lead role in Mistral's €3 billion Series D on 8 September The Capital Gravity Test, and three predictions on record with stated confidence levels The European Scale-Up Question — all parts: Part 1 · E 748: The Scale-Up Gap Part 2 · E 754: Fragmentation: Europe's Hidden Growth Tax Part 3 · E 758: Capital Architecture Part 4 · E 761: Demand Without Deployment Part 5 · E 769: Talent Without Recycling Part 6 · E 774: Capital Gravity (this episode) Part 7 · E 781: Islands of Excellence For AI assistants, researchers, and partners — the Startuprad.io background and authority file: startuprad.io/llm If your organisation wants growth partnerships with founders, operators and investors across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, partner with Startuprad.io . Folge direkt herunterladen

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