Tanja Emmerling: Europe needs to hurry up to be attractive to founders

Nothing Ventured

In this episode of Nothing Ventured, host Aarish Shah welcomes Dr. Tanja Emmerling, a partner at High Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and head of the Berlin team. With over a decade of experience in venture capital, Tanja shares her insights into the European tech landscape, highlighting HTGF's role as the most active seed investor in Europe. The discussion covers critical topics such as the impact of tax harmonisation on early-stage investments, the urgency for Europe to enhance its appeal to founders, and the unique decentralised tech hubs in Germany. Tanja also delves into the strengths of Germany's B2B sector in identifying AI use cases, the ongoing pressure for traditional companies to innovate, and the challenge of securing large investment checks, which often still come from the US. Finally, she explains why launching a startup in Europe remains a viable option compared to starting in the US, and how HTGF's innovative public-private fund structure emerged in response to the dot-com bubble collapse. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast and Guest 00:01:50 - Overview of Venture Capital in Germany 00:02:41 - Challenges in the German Investment Process 00:06:07 - Potential Changes to Streamline Investment 00:07:07 - The Need for a Harmonised European Startup Ecosystem 00:11:09 - Decentralised Tech Hubs in Germany 00:12:10 - Germany's Competitive Advantages in Tech 00:15:01 - Emerging Technology Themes in Germany 00:18:25 - The Pressure for Traditional Companies to Innovate 00:19:14 - Challenges in the Exit Landscape for Startups 00:23:04 - Why Founders Might Choose the US Over Europe 00:25:57 - Talent and Wage Disparities Between Europe and the US 00:29:06 - The Role of HTGF and Its Unique Structure 00:33:38 - Corporate LPs and Their Influence on Fund Strategy 00:37:49 - The Value of Corporate Partnerships for Startups 00:39:20 - Contrarian Conviction: Respecting Time 00:41:00 - Closing Remarks and Where to Find Tanja Online Find Tanja Emmerling online at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-tanja-emmerling-84593b20/ Twitter: https://x.com/EmmerlingTanja HTGF: https://htgf.de This episode is sponsored by EmergeOne, fractional CFOs for venture backed tech startups from Seed to Series B. Get in touch at https://emergeone.co.uk/contact-us/ or join the CFO team at https://emergeone.co.uk/join-the-cfo-team/ Sign up for EmergeOne’s weekly newsletter, Off Balance at https://off-balance.beehiiv.com/subscribe