Tech.eu

Latest Episodes:

🎙️ The Drive at Five with Fiona Alston, Cate Lawrence, Dan Taylor and Robin Wauters - Episode 25 Mar 17, 2023

Show notes

Post-SVB drama, this week might just go down as the week that the world woke up to AI, as GPT-4 dropped, Microsoft and Google unleashed the beast, and people both cheered and feared.

Up this week:

01:38 - GPT-4, Microsoft, and Google, oh my!.
02:55 - Climate Policy Radar and GPT-4.
04:16 - Tech.eu's collective thoughts on AI.
06:47 - is SXSW best in show and best in entertainment, media, and content winner PentoPix killing creativity? Cate finds out. And explains Cocaine Bear.
11:47 - Dan visits a lot of sketchy places on the interwebz; Cate helps us all stay private in our travels via Gener8.
16:08 - Robin's still burning dead dinosaurs with his kid transportation device, and it looks like the UK's EV developer Arrival isn't arriving any time soon.
19:12 - Speaking of delistings - Just Eat Takeaway.com and Rocket Internet.
20:50 - Happy St. Patrick's Day, what's what with Manna Drone Delivery, and Fiona dives deep with Starship Technologies.
25:56 - Robin's One More Thing - International law firm Orrick has analysed 500+ transactions it closed for European clients last year, with an aggregate value of more than $12 billion, and released a very comprehensive report based on all that useful data.

All this and a whole lot more on this week's episode of the Drive at Five!

What's the deal with deal flow in European tech? A data-driven interview with Orrick experts Mar 16, 2023

Show notes

International law firm Orrick has analysed 500+ transactions it closed for European clients last year, with an aggregate value of more than $12 billion, and released a very comprehensive report based on all that useful data.

We caught up with the firm's partner Jamie Moore, and Raph Crouan, who is Orrick's Managing Director for 'Tech Clients' in Europe, to learn more.

You can and should check out the report proper, but both gentlemen did a great job summarising the main findings of the research, which includes things like term sheet terms have become 'more investor-friendly' (so, less founder-friendly) in recent times, the average deal size in Europe declining, the rise of debt funding in these parts, and more.

You can also watch the interview directly on YouTube.

Zooming in on European tech VC and LP trends with Target Global's Pedro Barros Mar 15, 2023

Show notes

We caught up with Pedro Barros, Partner and Head of Fundraising & Investor Relations at Target Global, the pan-European technology investment firm with more than €3 billion in assets under management.

Last Friday was an interesting day to talk to Pedro Barros, a Partner at multi-billion euros VC firm Target Global who's in charge of fundraising and investor relations at the investment company, as the SVB saga started unfolding.

So of course the first questions were about Silicon Valley Bank, but it quickly turned to how the past 3.5 years after Pedro joined Target Global have been for the man, given that there wasn't a dull moment in European tech and VC in recent history.

Target Global is focused on Europe and Israel, and has made investments in the likes of Delivery Hero, Grover, WeFox, Revolut, Cazoo, Auto1, Omio, and plenty more.

Pedro discussed the current trends in the European tech innovation and investment space, given the downturn and market volatility that's defined it in the past 15 months or so, and what the sentiment is like in LP and fund manager circles these days.

We also talked about interesting sectors and geographies that are on Target's, well, target list, and how long it will be before things get back to 'normal' (whatever that means).

You can also watch the interview directly on YouTube.

🎙️ The Drive at Five with Dan Taylor and Robin Wauters - Episode 24 Mar 10, 2023

Show notes

The overarching, and still developing story of what's going on at Silicon Valley Bank has overshadowed pretty much every piece of news that came out this week. And perhaps many more stories to come. But as we watch events unfold ...

Up this week:

00:25 - Moody's downgrades Silicon Valley Bank, stock price falls 60%, and all hell breaks loose.
05:03 - International Women's Day: European tech startups – a long way off gender pay equality, UK Women tech founders are taking a bigger share – 24 percent capital increase in 2022 compared to 2021, and Geraldine MacCarthy, Chief Revenue Officer at Personio offers her advice on how we bring more females into the tech sector.
07:38 - Meet the rising female founders building the Metaverse.
10:58 - Once looking at a unicorn valuation, UK fintech Railsr has been sold to a consortium of investors.
12:52 - Is this the same Nigerian prince?
13:23 - Italian unicorn Scalapay pays out as it acquires Cabel IP.
15:11 - UK Government unveils £360 million plan to ‘cement the UK’s place as a science and technology superpower by 2030’
17:00 - Would you keep your money in SVB?

All this and a whole lot more on this week's episode of the Drive at Five!

🎙️ The Drive at Five with Dan Taylor and Robin Wauters - Episode 23 Mar 03, 2023

Show notes

And that's a wrap on February this week folks! While it might be cold and grey out of doors, as expected, it's hunting season and the M&A activities have been off the charts, this week in particular.

Up this week:

01:38 - German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon is to buy GaN Systems of Canada for $830 million in cash.
02:12 - Helsinki's cash flow management SaaS Nomentia was acquired by Inflexion for a rumoured €300 million.
02:20 - Milan’s Nexi to purchase 80 percent of Sabadell's PayComent for €280 million.
02:32 - Britishvolt finds a new owner in the Australian firm Recharge Industries.
03:45 - Summa Equity has acquired a majority stake in cybersecurity firm Logpoint.
03:53 - Shell struck a deal to acquire the evpass EV charging network in Switzerland.
04:49 - QDNL Participations announced the launch of a €15 million early-stage Dutch quantum fund. (With commentary from Managing Director Ton van 't Noordende).
06:40 - High-Tech Gründerfonds closed a new fund at €493.8 million.
08:21 - Payfit to part ways with 200 people, or 20% of its workforce. Or is it more like 290 people?
09:36 - Swedish payments group Klarna aims to return to profit by the summer after posting record losses.
10:05 - Revolut has posted its first annual profit of £26.3 million in 2021. And is there something fishy going on over at The Columbus Building?
10:47 - Bunq released numbers and claims to now be the first EU-based neobank to report a quarterly profit.
11:04 - Starling Bank achieved its first full year of profitability, just five years after launching in app stores, and Monzo clocked up a loss of £119 million.
11:36 - Wise announced that it has “reached 16 million customers served worldwide”, and revealed plans for further global expansion.
12:58 - Robin's one more thing: London and Berlin account for more than 51 percent of European VC job listings
14:25 - Robin checks his agenda, rustles some papers, and yes, the Tech.eu Summit IS happening on the 24th of May in Brussels! If you act now (operators are standing by) you can save €150 on our early bird tickets.
16:02 - Dan runs out of breath.

All this and a whole lot more on this week's episode of the Drive at Five!

🎙️ The Drive at Five with Dan Taylor, Robin Wauters, and special guest Dima Shvets - Episode 22 Feb 24, 2023

Show notes

On the one-year anniversary of the Russo-Ukrainian war Tech.eu has dedicated our coverage to the Ukrainian ecosystem. In addition to this week's news recap, we heard from Reface co-founder and CEO Dima Shvets about how the company has survived and is growing.

Up this week:

00:31 - Interview with Dima Shvets of Reface
14:40 - Lay-offs at Zalando and Ericsson
16:43 - Quantum Motion computes new UK record with £42 million raise
19:02 - Robin's 'quick' rundown of a whole lotta other news
20:55 - Europe's AI industry's set to confound market expectations, generating 25% CAGR through to 2026

Slava Ukraini.

A deeper look inside the Not Optional campaign with Dominic Jacquesson Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

Spearheaded by Index Ventures and supported by more than 700 CEOs, the Not Optional campaign is spurring policymakers across Europe to reform outdated rules and regulations that limit employee ownership.

We recently reported on new analysis by Not Optional which found that over the past six years, the 2017 average of 12 percent of European employee ownership has climbed to 16 percent.

Not quite the 20 percent still enjoyed across the pond, but a 4 percent increase is better than a no percent increase, and figures continue to go up.

Looking at 2021 and 2022 numbers, years that saw the crowning of 124 new venture-backed unicorns, the increase in percentage equates to some €5+ billion more that’s been put into the hands of European startup employees.

We had a catch-up with Dominic Jacquesson, VP of Insight and Talent at Index Ventures, to learn more about the campaign and the report that was released last week, and what will need to happen to maintain the momentum.

Also, a good reminder to check out the handy resources Index makes available to all, including the OptionPlan app that helps founders get employee ownership right from the get-go.

Going the distance with GetYourGuide with Johannes Reck Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

GetYourGuide, the Berlin scale-up that enables people to book excursions and tour guides worldwide through an online marketplace, has a few difficult years behind it, in large part because of the global coronavirus pandemic and its extreme effects on global travel.

But, co-founder and CEO Johannes Reck tells me in a recent video interview, there's a profound belief within the company that the best years for the travel tech unicorn are still to come.

With close to $900 million in financing received to date, GetYourGuide has seen more than 80 millions tours booked through its platform since its inception, and its focus is now on helping people personalise their travel experiences while helping tour operators, guides, and others on the supply side run their businesses online more efficiently.

Reck talked about how the company weathered the Covid-19 storms, how big its TAM is (and can become in the future), what happened to its 'Originals' product, how GetYourGuide deploys AI and machine learning to innovate, and the strategic partnerships it's currently building to expand its reach.

He also discussed future plans for funding or a potential IPO or acquisition for GetYourGuide, and shared his insider take on the evolution of the Berlin tech ecosystem.

Every end is a new beginning: Tech Nation CEO Gerard Grech Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

Tech Nation will reach the end of its journey on 31 March, and after that it will be up to Barclays Eagle Lab to provide similar, perhaps complementary services to the UK tech community's startups and scale-ups.

We had an interesting chat with Tech Nation's CEO, Gerard Grech, on the impending closure, how it came to pass, and what happens next with regards to the non-profit's activities, its team, and, of course, himself personally.

Grech explained why Tech Nation was unable to continue operating without the UK government's core funding, and called into question Barclays' ability to serve the UK tech ecosystem's needs at the same level as Tech Nation has in the past nine odd years as a private, commercial organisation rather than a non-profit, a sentiment echoed loudly by others as well.

Grech also pointed out that Tech Nation will be continuing its work bringing global tech talent to the UK through the 'Global Talent' visa scheme in the immediate term, despite the impending cease of operations and the fact that Barclays will not be taking this over. The organisation has helped bring more than 6,000 tech workers to the UK with the visa endorsement process to date, and will continue to do so until further notice.

Grech also commented on a potential future for Tech Nation's assets and body of work, this week's launch by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of an all-new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in the UK, and whether or not he will ever bank with Barclays. :)

🎙️ The Drive at Five with Dan Taylor and Cate Lawrence - Episode 21 Feb 03, 2023

Show notes

Up this week:

03:00: Scaling startups showcase cutting-edge Industrial tech at the Sixth Sense Summit
09:10: The end of an era as Tech Nation to cease operations as of March 31st
17:33: Robots aren't representing us in court but here are 7 legal tech startups transforming the legal system
21:56: In no way boring, spacetech startup The Exploration Company lands €40.5 million

And this doesn't even dive into our conversation about dongles, being left-handed, the Mac Mini M2 vs. the Mac Studio M1, Italy, and a whole lot more on this week's Drive at Five!

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