A podcast interview with the president of Robinhood UK. In the podcast, we discuss how the UK app is performing, the growth of the UK team, and future plans.Oleh John Raynolds

Interview with Maria Rotilu, founder and general partner, Openseed, a fund which is raising $10m to invest in startups at the earliest stages in Europe and Africa. Rotilu discusses-The the birth of Openseed, The benefits of being a solo general partner, What type of investments Openseed is interested in, Why startups should partner up with Openseed…

Enline is the winner of the EIT Venture Award for their vegetation and landslide predictive forecast programme. The company develops tech such as dynamic line rating and digital twins to help utilities get more out of their existing infrastructure.Oleh Tech.eu

Altris AB is the winner of the EIT Innovation Team Award for their sodium-ion batteries. The batteries enable high performance batteries to accelerate the energy transition, without increasing the cost to the environment or to customers. https://www.altris.se/Oleh Tech.eu

We talked with Mohamed Elamir and Dr. Andreas Bittner. Mohammad is the winner of the EIT Changemaker Award and co-founder of Woamy, which develops biodegradable plastic-free biofoam for protective packaging to replace harmful plastic foams. https://www.woamy.com/ Dr. Andreas Bittner is the winner of the Public Award winner from HiQ-CARB, a team tha…

Around 25 per cent of fintechs pitching a top VC for funding are AI-first startups, according to a top VC. Asked what per cent of fintechs pitching Breega, a European VC which backs UK savings and investment app Moneybox and UK card-consolidator Curve, are AI-first startups, Breega partner Benjamin Deplus said: “I guess in fintech, it. Is still pre…

“It’s never too late and it’s never too early” to launch a startup, according to the co-founder and co-CEO of Enfuce, the payment startup and one of Finland’s biggest fintech. Monika Liikamaa, co-CEO & co-founder of Enfuce, was speaking along with Michaela Berglund, CEO and founder of Feminvest, an events and education platform for women which has …

The CEO of a European neobroker startup recently acquired by Dutch financial services giant ABN AMRO says it’s his job to keep BUX protected from “too much influence from the larger organisation”. In the Tech.eu podcast, Yorick Naeff, BUX CEO, gives us the background to ABN AMRO’s purchase of BUX, announced in December last year. The Dutch giant wa…

“There is no entrepreneurial gene, I don’t think,” says James Wise, partner at VC firm Balderton Capital and author of Start-Up-Century. He adds: “I don’t think it is in your DNA. But certainly, your upbringing and the role models you have around you do make a big difference.” Wise gives us the full skinny on his new book, Start-Up Nation, which of…

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is “horrible” and will “continue to create concerns” across the world, including the investment community, according to Jaidev Janardana, CEO of UK fintech lender Zopa. The CEO pointed out that the Middle East was where the world gets a lot of its oil from. Janardana said: “What happens in the Middle East? It’s hard…

Last month, Singapore-based Nium announced that it had chosen London as its European HQ while US fintech Plaid has dual European headquarters in London and Amsterdam. The two executives discuss the virtues of their international fintechs having European headquarters and why they chose the cities they are located in. Sandhofer says: “London is provi…

Lucas Timberlake, general partner at Fintech Ventures Fund, the US VC that has a focus on fintech and insurtech, and Ricardo Schäfer, early-stage investor and partner at Revolut backer Target Global, discuss the differences between European VC and US VC funds while also offering insights into the European fintech market. Timberlake, though, says th…

Scandinavia is home to some of the most celebrated tech companies in recent years: Skype, Spotify, and Klarna. Cities like Stockholm and Copenhagen are also home to a new generation of startups creating waves across Europe. In this podcast, we talk to Henrik Rosvall, chief operating officer of Stockholm-based climate fintech Doconomy and Emil Stigs…

This week the seldom talked about world of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) came into the spotlight after Nigel Farage claimed the banks did not want him as a customer due to him being a PEP. The row between Farage and NatWest bank has already accounted for the heads of the CEOs of NatWest and Coutts, the prestigious private bank for the wealthy …

Founded in London back in 2012, Onfido has become one of the global leaders in the digital identity verification and authentication services. We caught up with Mike Tuchen, who joined the company almost three years ago after stints as CEO of companies like Rapid7 and Talend, and was brought on board to lead the scale-up and supercharge global growt…

Bulgarian cargo drone manufacturer Dronamics today extended its pre-Series A funding round to raise €2 million euro from private investors exclusively via SeedBlink, the Romania-based crowdfunding platform. A few months back, the company raised $40 million right before completing the first successful flight of its flagship aircraft, the Black Swan.…

Up this week: The AI wars are heating up: During London Tech Week Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set the goal of establishing the UK as the global home of artificial intelligence. This week OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, announced that it would open its first international office in London, and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis went on record statin…

Shhhh. Can you hear it? Listen in. Very carefully. Yes, yes, that's the unmistakable sound of an ecosystem that's staring down a summer full of iced tea and days by the lake. Or, is that just me? Either way, due to popular demand stemming from her appearance at our Summit just last month, we're welcoming Earlybird Venture Capital's Marieke Gehres t…

Founded two decades ago, Argentinia-born Globant has become a technology partner for some of the world's leading organisations. Increasingly, it's looking at Europe to expand its business and grow its now 28,000-strong workforce. Globant may not be a household name in the global tech field, but arguably it should be. Founded in Buenos Aires by four…

In case you weren't paying attention, a whole boatload of activity happened across the European tech scene this week. So much so that we had trouble whittling down what to discuss and what to let slide. In discussion: - The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2023 (GSER 2023) - German autonomous trucking company FERNRIDE announces it has raised $31 mil…

Acquired by Germany-based Ratiodata in November 2020, Romania-born tech solutions giant Accesa is a perfect example of how 'IT outsourcing' has evolved in the last 20 years. Accesa CEO Andrea Marliere explains. Accesa is a leading technology services company headquartered in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), with offices in Zurich, Oradea and Munich. Over the…

The fintech industry- and the business world- is grappling with generative AI, which experts say has the potential to revolutionise financial services. Spearheaded by the rival of ChatGPT, fintechs are being wooed by generative AI’s potential to transform their way of working, from back to front office. In this podcast, we chat with Alexandra Mousa…

We caught up with Mathias Wikström, CEO of Sweden's Doconomy, to learn more about its platform to measure climate and social impact in the financial services industry. The Stockholm-based scale-up, which recently acquired fellow Swedish financial wellbeing fintech Dreams Technology for an undisclosed sum, last raised funding back in September 2021.…

On this Drive at Five editione speziale the omnipresent community builder/angel investor/and now Solo GP, Sarah Drinkwater sits in to discuss her newly announced fund, Common Magic. Tune in, turn it up, and start taking notes, because this week we're talking: - What is a Solo GP fund? - Angel speed, less structure, more access. - Nightclub term she…

With the team finally recovered from anything and everything that was the Tech.eu Summit, we're back guns a-blazin'. This week we're talkin': - Sex tech - it's not what people think it is. - Quinky is a company that's developing an app providing sex education through gamification for Gen-Z’s - "We are after all the IP branch of the oldest industry …

Niknam set up bunq in 2012, inspired to reinvent banking in the wake of the financial crisis. Today, bunq is one of the most well-known challenger banks across Europe, with millions of users across the Netherlands, Germany, France, and other European contrives. Next up, it is launching in the US market, a tough nut to crack where other European fin…

Alright meow, listen up, because we've got a whole lotta content to recap and a whole lotta people to thank. If you missed us in Brussels earlier this week, you missed a day full of networking, great talks, and a party that saw music selections by our very own resident DJ, Mr. Robin Wauters. Meow, to those of you who've already asked - we haven't s…

It's all happening man! The Tech.eu Summit is coming up next week, and on a personal note, I can't wait to see and meet and have a beer with each and every one of you. No seriously, buy me a drink, I'll show you. It's been a crazy week and the editorial team is in fine spirits, give a listen to this one folks! Up this week: - Cate throws us a bone …

Should anyone tell you that preparing for an event is a piece of cake, run. Run far and fast. In case you don't know what I'm alluding to, it's crunch time here at Tech.eu as we gear up for our annual Summit in just 12 days' time. We've got an incredible roster of speakers lined up, and I personally can't wait to geek out on the quantum computers a…

Aaaaaand we're back! Due in part to the Tech.eu editorial staff being here there and everywhere last week, the Drive at Five took a breather, but to make up for the absence Nick Stevens sits in to provide a comprehensive rundown of what went down in the world of AI this week and what the implications are. But that's not all: 02:21 - Sky News report…

Hey, you did it! You made it through another week, but did you catch all the European tech news that's fit to print? If the answer is no, well you've come to the right spot. Now kick off those shoes, grab an icy (or steaming) beverage of your choice, and let us get you up to speed on everything that went down. Note: Please take care when removing s…

It’s not every day that we hear of a new automotive startup. Automotive accessories, parts, innovations, sure, but a full-blown tyres-to-top, bumper-to-bumper creation? Not so much. But in less than three months since announcing the acquisition of another French EV specialist, one that’s built upon the legacy of the Mini Moke, a lesser-known cousin…

Live and direct from the Tech.eu newsroom, it's been a short week, but topics abound. This week we're talkin': 00:57 - Spotted Zebra raised a seed round of $1.8 million for its workforce platform. Fiona sees this as great news for the skills gap sector, as the 'zebras are 'powering the shift to skill-based organisations’. 01:24 - Lithuania’s SME Fi…

Up this week: 01:10 - Tech startup tackles Ireland's housing crisis by connecting buyers with vacant properties. 08:27 - Quantexa raises a $129 million round at a $1.8 billion valuation. 09:37 - Acorns has acquired GoHenry. 11:49 - Parisians have voted to ban rental electric scooters in their city. 12:32 - Fitfck, the dating app for ‘fit as’ single…

As to be expected, lots of wheeling and dealing this week with a news cycle that was ringing off the hook. To put it mildly, if we discussed everything that happened this week, this show would run well into the wee hours of the morning. Up this week: 01:10 - No Label Ventures - the new VC Firm for immigrant founders 02:55 - Ireland has a new sustai…

Well alright, alright, alright. Spring has sprung and what would a week without a little controversy be? This week we're looking at Hedonova and Carbonomy, or not, the JET and some not-so-nice labour actions, ridiculous funding round names, SerenityNow, DeepDrive's neck breaker of a new EV drivetrain, and Ferrari getting h4x0r3d, again. And one mor…

Digital currencies. Love 'em, hate 'em, or ambivalent about 'em, the financial instruments are here to stay. But for all the volatility that we've seen in the markets, where exactly does Europe stake its claim in the ecosystem? And what's the deal with MiCA? I sat down with Membrane Finance co-founder and CEO Juha Viitala, and Maki.vc Partner Paavo…

Providing one of the biggest language learning platforms on the planet, Berlin-based veteran tech scale-up Babbel has only raised a little over $30 million to date. An IPO attempt in 2021 failed to materialise, but that doesn't leave the company desperate for funding - at all. We saw down for a good (remote) chat with CEO Arne Schepker to learn mor…

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 i…

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 Eu…

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…

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…

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 flo…

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…

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…

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 …

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…

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 C…

Tech.eu caught up with sustainability advisor Kristine Nagle and Elodie Broad, the recently appointed Head of Impact and ESG at Balderton Capital, to have a chat about what 'sustainability in VC' actually means, whether 'greenwashing' is a thing in that industry as well, and how investment firms can (should?) approach the implementation of ESG stra…

After an extended holiday break, the Drive at Five is back! Helping to celebrate its return, Dan and Robin are joined by Cate and Callum this week where we call tech support, discover who the founder of the Bauhaus school was, talk about death (or however you want to call it after your heart stops beating), Walt Disney, qubits, and how supply chain…