Airbnb? Timeshare? Nope. This Is Better.In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Nikolaus Thomale, Founder & Managing Director of MYNE Homes. MYNE Homes is building Europe’s leading co-ownership platform for vacation homes. They make buying, owning and selling your dream vacation home more accessible and hassle-…

🎙️ Skills Over Signals: TestGorilla CEO Wouter Durville on the Future of HiringIn this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Wouter Durville, Co-Founder and CEO of TestGorilla, to discuss the shift from traditional hiring to skills-based recruitment. With over $80m in funding TestGorilla is placing people in dream jo…

In this special edition of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski is joined by the editorial team behind EU-Startups: Antonio Escarzaga (Head of Content) and David Cendon Garcia (Head of News). Together, they unpack the evolving world of startup media — from AI-generated content and traditional journalism to what actually makes a startup story…

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski is joined by Trevor Neff, Partner at Headline Growth, a global VC firm with offices in San Francisco, Berlin, and Paris. Headline raised $865M for its fourth growth fund, with half of it dedicated to Europe. Headline’s portfolio includes powerhouses like: Sonos, Farfetch, goPuff, Bumble…

How do you turn travel into a cure for loneliness?In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Erika De Santi, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at WeRoad. With over 125 destinations worldwide and $36m in funding, WeRoad is one of the fast-growing travel startups that's redefining what it means to explore the …

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Charlie MacGregor, Founder & CEO of The Social Hub – a bold reimagination of what hospitality, connection, and community can look like in the 21st century.Starting from a personal desire to improve student housing, Charlie went on to build a hospitality powerhouse that bl…

Most AI startups don’t fail because of the tech.They fail because they don't know how to go to market.Enter Carles Reina, the first investor and GTM strategist at ElevenLabs — the voice AI juggernaut redefining what product-market fit sounds like.In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin and Carles talk about the real playbook for scaling …

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski speaks with Miki Yokoyama, Managing Director and Partner at Aurum Impact – an investment firm working at the intersection of family offices and climate innovation.Miki breaks down the unique role family offices can play in funding a livable future and why we need to rethink how we defin…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski chats with Niklas Terrahe, the CEO & co-founder of Pick’em — the D2C brand reinventing one of the most unsexy products on the market: the toothpick.It started as a student project. Now it’s chewing gum’s worst nightmare. With millions of views on TikTok, influencer shoutouts from people like …

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski interviews Antonia Eneh, CEO of Wave Ventures, the trailblazing Gen Z-led VC fund that just launched Wave III — their boldest fund yet to invest in the world’s most ambitious Gen Z founders backed by the people behind Bolt, Slack, Wolt, and Supercell.We dive deep into what makes this generati…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski interviews Zoltan Vardy, a seasoned B2B sales advisor, author, and speaker with over 30 years of experience in driving revenue growth. Zoltan has generated $2 billion in sales throughout his career, serving as a C-suite executive at major media companies like NBCUniversal International and Pr…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Ash Arora, the youngest Partner at LocalGlobe — the #1 early-stage VC fund in EMEA and a backer of legendary companies like Wise, Canva, Twitter, Robinhood, and more.In this episode, Ash shares her journey from Delhi to leading investments in frontier tech across London and bey…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski interviews Meiran Galis, Founder & CEO of Scytale, a global leader in security compliance automation, helping companies get compliant and stay compliant with security frameworks like SOC 1, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR and PCI-DSS and more, without breaking a sweat. They serve hundreds of cu…

This week on the EU Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sat down with Christian Noske, Partner at NGP Capital. NGP is a global VC investing in technology companies across Europe and the US. For two decades, NGP has invested in more than 120 companies, of which 19 became unicorns and 11 went on to IPO. Some of the companies NGP has backed include L…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Co-Founder and CEO of Alan.Alan is your one stop health partner giving everyone access to a healthy & productive life, empowering the body and the mind. Alan's services include the most intuitive health insurance offering, Alan Clinic to navigate t…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with David Nothacker, Co-Founder & CEO of Sennder, the leading digital freight-forwarder platform in Europe. Sennder recently made a game-changing deal and signed an agreement to acquire C.H. Robinson’s European Surface Transportation operations. With this move, their combined busin…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski interviews Claudia de la Riva, CEO of Apolo Kids. Claudia is a mother of two and a serial entrepreneur. Apolo for our kids means a new way of learning following their own paths and interests. Apolo for parents means tool to conciliate while better preparing their kids for the future. Apolo is…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Yaron Valler, Founder & Partner at Target Global. Yaron is responsible for Target Global's growth stage investment practice where he led the investments in well-known companies including Wefox, DocPlanner, Delivery Hero, Bird, and numerous others. In this episode, Marcin and Ya…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Tim Draper, a legendary billionaire venture capitalist. Tim founded Draper Associates, DFJ and the Draper Venture Network, a global network of venture capital funds. He funded Baidu, Tesla, Skype, SpaceX, Twitch, Hotmail, Focus Media, Robinhood, Athenahealth, Box, Cruise Automa…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast our host Marcin Lewandowski sits down with the amazing Anna Alex, entrepreneur & investor in sustainability and nature. Anna's a Co-Founder of companies such as Nala Earth, Planetly, Outfittery and a SPIEGEL Bestselling Author. Her latest venture, NALA Earth, is at the forefront of measuring biodiversity and nat…

This week on EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski hosts Nicole Buttner, Founder & CEO Merantix Momentum, Founding Partner at Merantix Capital and WEF Digital Leader for Europe. Nicole is an entrepreneur, economist and tech optimist. She believes artificial intelligence will create deep positive impact on individuals, businesses and society as a …

This week on EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski hosts Yoram Wijngaarde, Founder & CEO of Dealroom, to talk about "Startups backed by the EU's Framework Programmes" report. A first-of-its-kind report compiled by Dealroom, with Dealflow.eu and EU-Startups, reveals that a €12 billion investment made up of EU grants and Framework Programmes such a…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski hosts Hannah Leach, Partner at Antler. Antler is known for investing in founders on day zero and is now the most active private early-stage investor in the world. In Europe, Antler has backed more than 500 tech startups in the last five years. In 2024, Antler was more selective than ever befo…

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski hosts Filip Kozera, Founder and CEO of Wordware, a startup that enables anyone to build complex AI Agents and applications. Wordware recently raised $30M seed round, which was one of the biggest rounds in the Y Combinator history, before graduating the program. In this episode, Filip talks ab…

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski hosts Bianca Zwart, the Chief Strategy Officer at bunq. bunq has raised a total funding of $373M and is valued at $1.85B and is making mobile banking that makes life easy. They call themselves the bank of THE FREE and are know for their extreme attention to users. Bianca shares her unco…

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski interviews Robert Gaal, Founder of Vesper, a growing library of unique narrative games made by your favorite creators. They discuss Robert's entrepreneurial journey, the challenges of finding product market fit, entrepreneurship as a lifestyle, and the opportunity behind ethical AI. Rob…

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski catches up with Michael Hurnaus, CEO of Tractive, a leading GPS tracker for pets that recently achieved $100 million ARR. They discuss the journey of building Tractive, the challenges of bootstrapping, the importance of company culture, and the innovative health monitoring features of t…

In this episode of the EU Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski interviews Paulina Jansch, one of the youngest Founding Partners in Europe at Leanox Impact Capital. Paulina is a mentor at various startup organizations, NGOs, and universities. She is a voice for female empowerment and is known for her inclusive and empathic leadership style. She has …

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski hosts Bennet Barth, Co-Founder and Managing Director of RESPOND, a leading European accelerator for climate tech entrepreneurs, focused on responsible leadership and transitioning towards a net-zero economy. They discuss the startup pitches that have inspired Bennet, the recurring blind…

This week, the EU-Startups Podcast celebrates a huge milestone—our 100th episode! To mark the occasion, we’ve created a special edition featuring the best moments from an incredible lineup of founders, investors, and changemakers shaping the world.We cover a range of topics including the importance of hiring for purpose, the urgency of addressing c…

In this episode we catch up with Jan Lozek, Founder and Managing Partner of Future Energy Ventures. Future Energy Ventures is a unique venture capital and collaboration platform that brings together corporate partners and world-class startups to shape the future energy landscape. The fund managed by Future Energy Ventures already has a volume of 11…

In this episode, we catch up with Maya Raichoora, UK's leading mental fitness expert who's building the Nike of mental fitness to help C-suites, founders & elite athletes become the top 1% by mastering their mind and performance. Maya also has her new book "VISUALISE" coming in March 2025. She was diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis- an incurable inf…

In this episode, we catch up with Marcus Behrendt and Kasper Sage, Managing Directors of BMW i Ventures. BMW i Ventures has offices in San Francisco and Munich and invests in high-performance companies and helps them execute quickly by delivering agile precision ensuring real-world impact on hardware, software, sustainability across manufacturing, …

In this episode, we catch up with Julia Hawkins. Julia is General Partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude, having previously set up Universal Music’s corporate venture arm, as well as being stationed at Goldman Sachs, Last.fm, and BBC Worldwide. LocalGlobe is a London-based venture capital firm that seeded impactful founders since 1999 at places like Ci…

In this episode, we catch up with Sophia Velastegui, former Microsoft Chief AI Officer and Fortune 100 Executive who worked with companies like Google and Apple. Sophia was named ‘The Most Powerful Female Engineer’ from Business Insider. Additionally, her roles as Co-chair at the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council and as a board director …

In this episode, we catch up with Paulo Rodriguez, Head of International at Vanta, who's on a mission to secure the internet and protect consumer data. Funded in 2018, Vanta is the leading trust management platform that helps simplify and centralize security for organizations of all sizes and has customers in 58 countries with offices in Dublin, Ne…

In this episode, we catch up with Gerard Grech, Managing Director of Founders at the University of Cambridge, a new strategic initiative focused on accelerating the formation and scaling of new deep technology-based companies. Gerard is also the founder, advisor and former Chief Executive of Tech Nation before it was acquired by the Founders Forum …

In this episode, we catch up with Diyala D'Aveni, Head of Vento, an Italian chapter of Exor Ventures. With $520M invested in 76 startups globally, Exor Ventures is focusing on discovering exceptional founders with the ambition to build great companies and backing them from pre-seed to pre-IPO. Diyala is also the organizer of Italian Tech Week, the …

In this episode, we catch up with Peter Hirsch, Head of Sustainability at 2150. 2150 is a London-based venture capital firm investing in technology companies that seek to sustainably reimagine and reshape cities and the industries that power them. 2150’s mission to deploy ‘Constructive Capital’ is centered on the conviction that sustainability prov…

In this episode, we catch up with Sander van de Rijdt, Co-Founder and CEO of PlanRadar. Based in Vienna, PlanRadar has emerged as a leading player in the construction and real estate project management software industry. Since its inception in 2013, the fast-growing scale-up has grown to approximately 500 team members and has raised over €100 milli…

In this episode, we catch up with Steve Chen, Co-Founder & former CTO of YouTube. Steve shares his insights and lessons learned from building YouTube. He shares his perspective on selling YouTube to Google for $1.65B and talks about his journey from Silicon Valley to Asia. Steve spills the beans on the evolution of YouTube from a dating platform to…

In this episode, we catch up with Tony Jamous. Tony is the CEO and Co-Founder of Oyster, a unicorn and hyper-growth company that empowers companies to hire, pay, and care for team members globally. He believes in providing opportunities for everyone anywhere. Over the last decade, Tony has built and scaled Oyster to become a global employment platf…

In this special episode, we present to you The AI Innovator Spotlight, which is part of the Innovation Radar Bridge initiative, unveiling some of Europe’s most exciting AI startups backed by EU initiatives. This session served as a crucial platform for these emerging companies to present their innovative technologies and engage with leading venture…

In this episode, we catch up with Jan Reichelt, Founding Partner of 10x Founders. Jan is an entrepreneur at heart who has spent his professional career in tech startups, online businesses, professional information services, and digital media. He started and exited two companies and he has been awarded "European Founder of the Year" by TechCrunch / …

In this episode, we catch up with Andre Retterath, Partner & EagleEye Lead at Earlybird Venture Capital and Author of Data-Driven VC. Earlybird VC was founded in 1997 and is a European early-stage VC firm that invests in all development and growth phases of technology companies. With more than EUR 2 billion under management, eight IPOs and 31 trade…

In this episode, we catch up with Madeline Lawrence, CBO of Aikido Security, former Partner at Peak, and one of the most colorful voices in the European tech and venture capital scene. Aikido recently raised $17M to bring “no BS” security for devs. This round comes just 6 months after they raised $5.3M in seed funding. Aikido is the get-it-done sec…

In this episode, we catch up with Joaquin Cuenca, Co-Founder and CEO of Freepik. Located in the center of the sunny Malaga, Spain, Freepik is a leading global tech company with a goal to help anyone create great designs faster by producing and distributing high-quality graphic and audiovisual resources. Freepik has over 500 employees and more than …

In this episode, we catch up with Martin Schilling, Managing Director of Techstars Deep Tech Berlin Accelerator; author of the book "The Builder’s Guide to the Tech Galaxy – 99 Practices to Scale Startups into Unicorn Companies"; former COO of the FinTech N26 where he scaled operations from 100 full-time employees to 900 full-time employees and sca…

In this episode, we catch up with Pablo Pedrejon, Partner at Seaya. Seaya has closed Seaya Andromeda, the first Article 9 climate-tech fund based in Southern Europe, at €300 million. Seaya’s new fund will invest anywhere between €7-40 million as a first cheque, and will retain capital for follow-ons. It plans to make 25 investments in total between…

In this episode, we catch up with Benedikt von Schoeler, General Partner of VSquared Ventures, Europe’s leading early-stage Deep Tech fund, backing some of Europe’s most promising Deep Tech companies, including Isar Aerospace, Zama, IQM Quantum, Inbrain Neuroelectronics and The Exploration Company. Vsquared recently announced the successful closing…