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This week's happenings in startup and investing land. Getting underneath VC, and discussing how to better support the European startup eco-system.
Every week we share what's been on our mind and get under the skin of VC, investing, startups and founder psychology.
From the team behind SuperSeed who invest in technical teams solving difficult business problems.
The network is run on LinkedIn so join me there - https://www.linkedin.com/in/danbowyer/
With full interview audio and video uploaded to all major outlets.
Love to hear from you - dan@superseed.com
77 Episodes
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00:59 — Saudi surprises, NEOM shrinks, Vision 2030 = Europe takes notes. 02:58 — Europe: zero vibes, zero mission. 03:55 — War bonds?! Saudi winter games postponed. Reality intrudes. 🤖 AI Corner 07:32 — Clawdbot → Moltbot now OpenClaw?! AI intern… with admin rights. 09:19 — Early wins: negotiates car deals, plans diets, orders Tesco shops. 10:38 — Early fear: unconstrained agents + inbox access = mild terror. 12:22 — It wakes itself up and takes action. Cool. Also horrifying. 13:17 — Security...
01:35–10:24 — UK data centres: blocked… but a way through A £1bn London-area data-centre project gets halted after a planning/EIA mess-up → delays of 9–12+ months, potentially worse. The twist: data centres are being upgraded to “nationally significant infrastructure,” enabling central-government fast-track (DCO route) instead of local NIMBY planning. Still: EIAs + judicial reviews can keep slowing everything down. Core complaint: the system keeps “deciding whether to build” after we’ve alrea...
BBC yeets kids shows onto YouTube, EU does a mega trade deal, Open Cosmos tries to be European-ish Starlink, Meta buys nuclear vibes, UK bins digital IDs (again), Anthropic’s “CoWork”, Grok vs governments, plus Deals of the Week. Basically: geopolitics, space, energy, AI, and British admin disintegration. (00:34) BBC on YouTube: “iPlayer walked so Netflix could run” Dan: YouTube is enormous; BBC is adapting for younger audiences (and maybe… survival mode).Mads: iPlayer was genuinely visionar...
Hosts: Dan Bowyer, Lomax Ward, Mads Jensen Episode summary This week we cover Trump’s Greenland rhetoric and the broader implications for NATO, European defence spending, and sovereignty. Then we dive into the tech and markets that (quietly) moved: Meta’s acquisition of Manus, Octopus/“Kraken” spinning out as a major energy-software player, Discord’s IPO momentum, Revolut’s Turkey expansion via license acquisition, and why UK pensions are underperforming (plus what reform could actually fix)....
Guests: Dan Bowyer, Mads Jensen, Lomax Ward and Dan Gray Part 1 — 2025 predictions: what hit, what missed? 02:59 — OpenAI “dethroned”: debate, but mostly “yes” 04:47 — China/Taiwan “decisive year”: mostly no 05:46 — Defence tech surge: yes 06:46 — Europe/UK tech sovereignty: yes-ish but hard to measure 07:25 — Space enabling tech keeps attracting capital: yes 07:30 — US recession H2 2025: nope 09:07 — Stock correction early 2025: correct-ish 09:45 — M&A rebounds: yes 10:24 — IPO window re...
With European VCs Lomax, Mads, Andrew and Dan 2025 year-in-review for European tech: capital, unicorns, geopolitics, AI, health, defence, and space space spaaaace. 01:25 – European tech in numbers $45bn into European startups (flat vs 2023–24, still ~½ of 2021 peak).28 new unicorns in 2025 (up from 14 in 2024).US dominates: ~$250bn private tech funding.VC fundraising still tight (~$10bn into European funds).Exits are back: Wiz–Google, Klarna IPO, SMG IPO.04:16 – 2025 in one sentence Dan: “Ext...
Upside is a weekly pod that looks at the global news headlines and works out what really matters for European tech, venture, startups and investing. With European VCs - Lomax Ward, Dan Bowyer and Mads Jensen What’s on the docket this week: •SpaceX mega-raise / IPO noise: “what are you really buying?” •“Europe’s euro success”: North–South polarity flipping •China’s $1T+ goods trade surplus + what it means for Europe •US defence spend reality check •AI corner: chips, models, and AI bubble chatt...
Upside #69 - For the real news behind the headlines affecting European venture, startups and investing. Every week Mads, Lomax, Andrew and myself (Dan) get together and chat. Bending Spoons 01:27 Berkshire-like roll-up; mostly debt-funded; big integration/tech-debt execution risk. 3:30 “US→Italy arbitrage”—cut expensive US costs, rebuild with top Italian talent + high-efficiency culture; cash-cow ops; high employee satisfaction. 05:13 Success likely hinges on better distribution/ops than prev...
Upside #68 w/ Robin Haak (Robin Capital), Lomax (Outsized), Mads and Dan (SuperSeed). Topics: Germany’s slowdown • Social media bans • UK budget • Solo GPs • N26 • Europe vs Big Tech • AI Corner 01:21 – Robin’s Background 100+ investments, 8 unicorns. Co-founded SmartRecruiters → sold to SAP ($100M ARR). Former GP at Revaya (€600M AUM). Now building a 50-year solo GP franchise. 03:58 – Social Media Ban for Under-16s Mads: EU Parliament pushes advisory resolution; strong evidence social media ...
This week in Upside #67 Mads returns from Slush with 24 one-to-ones under his belt and a head full of insights. Dan and Lomax dig into Germany’s €35B space strategy, the surprising data behind immigrant-founded unicorns, and Europe’s defence-IPO boom. They break down Vinted’s huge secondary, the EU’s attempt to kill cookie banners, and the UK’s sudden wave of AI investment initiatives. In AI Corner: why 70% of AI startups now ship on open-source models, Google’s new TPU-trained Gemini 3, and ...
Each week a small bunch of us try and makes sense of the latest news affecting European venture. Upside #66 - The theme this week is back to tech sovereignty, what that really means, what’s trade, what’s security - and ultimately will we all become full stack nations? 01:04 – UK exit tax: what it was and why it was dropped The mooted UK “exit tax” (tax on unrealised gains when leaving the country), why it would be disastrous for founders, political “pitch-rolling” before budgets, and T...
Upside Ep #65 - A Baltic Boom, Matt Clifford Rouses, A Tale Of Two Quants A weekly show that unpacks the shenanigans affecting European venture. Dan (host), Mads, Lomax, Special Guest: Jone (Yo neh) — Managing Partner, First Pick (Lithuania) 3:26 — Pre-seed vs Seed in the Baltics •Why pre-seed fits: seed still feels early; when companies inflect, foreign funds out-gun local check sizes. Funds in region typically €10–€100M AUM, so Series A+ is handed off. 05:39 — Foreign funds’ interest &...
The pod that unpacks the real news behind the clickbait affecting European venture. Hosts: Dan, Mads, Lomax, Andrew 02:41 — Bending Spoons deep dive Debt-fuelled roll-up, “Berkshire of consumer apps” analogy; Ukrainian peer Gentek noted; why more post-COVID roll-ups didn’t materialise. 04:34 — US debt vs Europe risk Market’s view on capital allocation/dynamism; Decacorns vs unicorns; power-law returns reinforce Botha’s point. 06:01 — “VC isn’t an asset class” debate Power-law concentration...
Upside - the weekly pod exploring the real news behind the clickrage affecting European venture, startups and investing. Hosts: Dan, Mads, Lomax, Andrew 04:56 - Amazon, Robots & Europe’s Automation • Amazon aims for 75% robotised operations by 2033 in the US. • Automation = productivity growth, not mass layoffs. • Europe: >80% of warehouses still manual; Germany highly automated. • Debate: displacement vs. growth; Europe can't fall behind. 18:50 - AI & Europe’s Industrial Revolu...
Upside #62 w/ Dan and Mads from SuperSeed plus Ben from Bullhound Capital Key Topics • Fundraising climate in European for VC - friend or foe? • Goldman Sachs’ Industry Ventures acquisition - getting into alternatives?! • Nobel Prize in Economics: Why does this matter to VC and Europe? • What's fuelling the AI bubble headlines? Hype vs fundamentals • China’s physical AI advantage - have they won AI already? • Europe does have a strategic path • Deal of the Week: ecoRobotix 03:01 – VC Fundra...
Voices: Nicholas Nelson (Archangel) • Dan • Lomax • Mads TL;DR Defence-first wins on capability and returns; primes are partners and channels.Helsing: buys platforms/revenue for access; layers AI—different from Anduril’s buy-TRL-tech + scale model.Beyond drones: biggest gap/opportunity is tactical EW.Procurement: more fast lanes (SOF, pilots); primes getting easier to work with.AI: real profits exist (esp. NVIDIA), but value chain is fragile; expect a correction, not a collapse. Picking win...
🎧 Upside Ep #60 — “White Gold, Red Ink, and Reinventing VC” Hosts: Dan · Lomax · Andrew Recorded: Oct 2, 2025 01:00 – Quick News Highlights 🇺🇸 US Shutdown — $15B GDP loss per week; political theatre more than fiscal risk.🇬🇧 Labour Party Conference — Starmer’s 13% approval, OBR to cut productivity; £10B headroom could flip to £20B deficit.💰 UK recovers $5B from Bitcoin fraud (FT)🔐 UK demands Apple backdoor again (TechCrunch)🤖 OpenAI $500B valuation (FT)🌉 EF exits Europe, launches “Bridge” Bay...
Yes we're European VCs so YES we're talking AI and defence! But there's still more of the pie to eat, so dig in. 02:00 🇬🇧 UK in the doldrums * Little to no growth (1.5% vs US 3.8%). * Inflation stubborn at 3.8%. * 130k jobs lost since last budget. * Housing, Heathrow, HS2 — stalled megaprojects. 06:30 📉 Structural weaknesses * UK pensions: only 4.4% in UK equities (vs 50% in past). * FTSE = $2.8T — smaller than Apple alone. * R&D spend at 1.7% vs US 3.5%. 10:00 🚀 Reasons for optimism * ...
This week we chat with Mike the ex editor of TechCrunch, getting his take on the past, present and future of all things Euro-startup. Mads shares his thoughts on the All In Summit. We chat about defence strategies, pension funds and Euro cash injections, Germany moving and shaking their startup scene, Draghi's anniversary, the EU Inc guys / 28th regime - and what this all means for us in venture, for founders, investors and startups. 00:35 – TechCrunch Europe → reset Redundancies post-Yahoo ...
Let markets drive early-stage VC; fix EU growth/IPO capital via pension reform. Win AI as power users, not model builders. Geopolitics demands EU/ally coordination. Quantum’s having a moment. This week it's Mads, Lomax and Dan. All European early stage VCs looking behind the headlines to explore what's affecting venture, founders and investors. 00:00–03:07 — “28th regime” for EU VC?Dan proposes a structured EU venture vehicle 03:07–07:46 — Let chaos reign- Bottom-up or top-down? governments ...
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