Explore every episode of the podcast Scaling Europe

Singular is a Paris and London based venture firm backing some of Europe's most exciting early stage companies, from Basecamp Research to Aikido.

Raffi Kamber is General Partner and Co-Founder at Singular. Europe is especially strong at combining AI and science, and a new generation of researchers is now starting companies of their own. Singular has made this one of its biggest bets and helps turn the research into businesses, and it's now growing its team in London to find more of them.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:19 Backing Basecamp Research

3:17 Europe's edge in AI and science

4:58 Helping researchers become founders

9:11 Why Singular is betting on London

11:33 Vibe's sale to Walmart

13:27 What an early win means for Singular

14:29 Thinking about a third fund

15:57 Staying open to any industry

18:08 Running their own firm

19:27 Competing with bigger funds

Atomico is one of Europe's best known venture firms, backing tech companies from their early days all the way to going public. Europe now produces as many new tech companies as the US, and a lot of them will need big funding rounds as they grow.

Laura Connell is a Managing Partner at Atomico, where she works with founders at the growth stage. More investors from the US, Asia and the Middle East are now backing these companies, while Europe's own growth funds are still too small to take a big share of the biggest rounds.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
0:08 Laura's role at Atomico
0:45 How Europe's growth stage has changed
4:03 Why outcomes are getting bigger
6:06 What growth investing means now
9:46 Backing The Exploration Company
11:37 Investors from outside Europe
14:10 Why Europe needs bigger growth funds
15:17 Her article on AI infrastructure
17:46 What she looks for in founders
20:10 From brain research to investing

Metaview just raised a $60m Series C led by Insight Partners, only a year after their previous round, bringing total funding to $110 million.

Siadhal Magos is Co-founder and CEO of Metaview, which has grown from a tool for making sense of hiring conversations into a full set of AI agents for recruiting. They just launched their newest agent, fillmore, which finds and reaches out to candidates and books them into meetings. It takes on the time-consuming parts of hiring, so recruiters can focus on the people they want to hire.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction0:09 The new $60m Series C0:29 What changed since the Series B2:27 Millions of hiring conversations4:33 Plans for the new funding6:37 Launching fillmore9:38 Could AI make 10x recruiters12:08 Why recruiting is high stakes15:06 Early results from fillmore17:40 How to tell if hiring is going well20:31 How fast Metaview hires

Zenithon AI just raised $10m from Backed, Lunar, Seraphim, MMC, SOSV and others. It's building AI that runs complex physics simulations a million times faster than today's tools, so engineers can test far more designs before building anything.

Alex Higginbottom is Founder at Zenithon AI. With the new funding, his team is training larger AI models and getting them into the hands of their first customers in fusion and chipmaking. Both fields have trillions of possible designs to explore, which is where that speed matters most.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
0:13 What Zenithon AI does
0:46 Leaving a PhD to start a company
3:19 Working with fusion companies
5:24 A million times faster
6:40 Where the product is today
9:01 What won investors over
10:28 Where the money goes
12:18 From researcher to founder
16:13 What's next
17:06 Using it for chipmaking
18:33 The bigger mission

Basecamp Research just raised a $140m Series C led by S32. It's teaching AI to read and write DNA, using huge amounts of genetic data it collects all over the world. It has been working with NVIDIA and Anthropic on its models, and both have now come in as investors too.

Oliver Vince is Co-Founder at Basecamp Research, which is using this AI to design new medicines for cancer, rare genetic diseases and infections. The next step is getting the first ones to patients, which he expects within the next couple of years.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:21 What Basecamp Research does

1:17 The new $140m Series C

1:57 The Eden models and the Trillion Gene Atlas

4:13 Why NVIDIA and Anthropic invested

5:35 Why they want investors who are realistic and optimistic

7:56 Which diseases it could help first

10:10 How close they are to treating patients

14:03 Drug company or pharma partner

15:19 A different approach from other AI biology companies

19:46 What could make it fail

21:42 Scepticism from traditional pharma

Morphotonics just raised over €40m Series B to build the machinery behind AI smart glasses and data center optics.

Hugo da Silva is CEO of Morphotonics, and they make equipment that imprints microscopic displays onto AI smart glasses, combining high precision with mass manufacturing scale. The new funding will go toward delivering their next-gen equipment and growing across Asia.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:21 What Morphotonics actually do

1:38 The new €40m Series B

4:31 Moving into AI data centers

7:50 Building local teams in Asia

10:22 Shipping fast vs spending 10 years on perfection

12:25 Why they are turning away new customers

13:58 When will 500 million people wear smart glasses

15:57 Main bottlenecks to mass scale

Skin Analytics has built AI technology that can spot skin cancer from a photo, and health systems use it to check patients faster and catch more cases early. Earlier this year, it got approval across Europe to check for skin cancer using just a smartphone camera, with no doctor needed to review each case. It has already found more than 25,000 cancers across the NHS.

Neil Daly is Founder and CEO of Skin Analytics. His goal is to make sure no one dies from skin cancer, because caught early enough, it's almost always curable.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:15 What Skin Analytics actually does

1:00 How Neil started the business in 2012

2:21 How the AI boom changed adoption

4:04 The smartphone-only breakthrough and European clearance

8:11 What the smartphone clearance unlocks

11:24 How patients and clinicians have reacted

12:54 The mission and the numbers behind it

16:35 What's next for Skin Analytics

Skin Analytics helps detect skin cancer using a phone

Complir just raised an $11m Seed led by General Catalyst, with new and existing investors joining the round, just eight to nine months after its pre-seed round. They are growing rapidly and the revenue has grown 40% month over month for the last six months.

Gustav Bang is Co-founder and CEO of Complir. It helps retailers and brands sell physical products anywhere in the world, handling the compliance work that would otherwise fall on the retailer itself.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
0:07 The $11m Seed round and what Complir does
1:14 Building the product inside Flying Tiger's offices
4:00 Quadrupling revenue at YC
6:43 Lessons from Legora and picking bold bets
8:53 Why General Catalyst led the round
11:10 Becoming the compliance layer for global commerce
12:37 Expanding into the UK and Germany
14:14 The pivot to enterprise and the path to a Series A

Jack and Jill just raised a $40m Series A led by Air Street Capital with Madrona joining the round, and participation from existing investors. This brings total funding to $60m, just ten months after their $20m Seed. Revenue has grown 40x since the seed round.

Matt Wilson is Co-Founder and CEO of Jack & Jill. They are two AI agents, where Jack works for the person looking for the next step in their career, while Jill works for the company hiring. When they agree it's a good match, the candidate is introduced directly to the decision maker instead of filling in an application. The new funding will go toward growing the business further across the US.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:13 What Jack and Jill actually do

2:37 The new $40m Series A and who's backing it

4:03 Expanding into San Francisco and New York

7:24 A founder success story from Entrepreneurs First

8:53 Why Nathan Benaich joined the cap table

11:14 Raising engineer pay to £360,000

14:14 Balancing high pay with mission-driven hires

15:50 How US pay is reshaping London hiring

18:13 What makes ex-founders great engineers

20:12 What's next for Jack and Jill

Exein just raised $270m at a $1.7bn valuation. The round was led by Headline, with participation from Sofina, Goldman Sachs, European Investment Bank Group ETCI, KfW Capital and T.Capital, with involvement from previous investors.

Gianni Cuozzo is Founder and CEO of Exein. It builds on-device security software for connected systems, running on everything from coffee machines to satellites. The company has grown 400% year on year for the past three years, and it's now become one of Europe's most valuable private cyber security companies.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
0:37 Announcing the $270m round
0:51 Why Exein is moving into physical AI
3:57 Running on 2 billion devices
5:27 The growth behind the new valuation
5:53 The trends driving that growth
8:56 Who backed the round
11:49 Expanding into San Francisco
14:14 Why physical AI is the next battlefield
17:50 Building a global business from Rome

Tandem Health just raised a $100m Series B led by the Scale-up Europe Fund, managed by EQT. Its AI medical assistant handles clinical documentation and admin work for doctors, from transcribing patient visits and drafting medical notes to handling referrals, coding, and prescriptions.

Lukas Saari is Co-founder and CEO of Tandem Health. The company has grown from three co-founders to about 230 people in three years, and now works with over 10,000 care organisations across 14 European countries. With the new funding, they'll deepen their work with care providers and build a full AI-native operating system for clinics.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro and the new $100m Series B
0:38 Where the round came from and what it unlocks
2:04 Selling AI tools into Europe's biggest healthcare providers
3:51 Why clinicians are actually pushing for this5:27 A day in the life with Tandem's AI
7:32 The four levels of clinic automation
9:59 Growing from 3 founders to 230 people in 3 years
13:01 Why Europe's fragmented healthcare system is a strength
16:34 Why no US competitor has come to Europe
17:55 What the $100m will fund next
18:47 Stockholm's founder community and momentum

Antler just released a new report recently on the state of European tech. It shows the biggest companies scaling faster and raising more money than ever, while funding for new companies at the earliest stages keeps shrinking.

Christoph Klink is General Partner at Antler, an early stage venture firm. To him, the funding gap is one of the best opportunities in venture right now. Plenty of good companies can't get funded, and that's exactly where new investors could step in.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:42 - Two sides of European tech right now
1:54 - Europe's early stage funding gap
3:43 - Why new early stage investors have dropped
6:14 - Rocket ships reaching unicorn status in under 3 years
7:04 - Jets and juggernauts explained
9:54 - How juggernauts raise much bigger rounds
13:11 - Why investors are backing Europe's deep tech bets
15:00 - London's growing share of Europe's biggest companies
16:13 - Europe's startup hubs spreading beyond the biggest cities
18:03 - Why Europe's funding gap is also its biggest opportunity

EU-INC is a grassroots initiative pushing to establish a unified corporate law framework across Europe. By creating a virtual "28th regime," the movement aims to eliminate fragmented national bureaucracy and simplify how tech startups are founded, scaled, and funded.

Simon Schaefer is a co-initiator of EU-INC who has been driving the movement from the ground up. They just launched a new campaign to get its policy passed within the next 100 days. It's pushing for a single European legal structure that would let startups incorporate and scale across the EU without dealing with 27 different national systems.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:19 - Where EU Inc stands today
0:57 - How the EU process for passing this works
1:44 - Why the original proposal got watered down
3:44 - What's still up for negotiation
5:03 - Why EU Inc wants one shared company registry
7:06 - Pushback from notaries and trade unions
9:53 - Germany's resistance and the fight over insolvency rules
13:28 - Working with EU officials and politicians
16:16 - The moment EU Inc got its name from Brussels
17:44 - How people can help in the next 100 days

HelmGuard just raised a $7.3m Seed round led by Infinity Ventures and Frontline. Its AI agents handle a company's security and compliance work automatically, checking everything all the time instead of relying on manual paperwork and periodic reviews.

John Daley and Jack Miller are HelmGuard's co-founders, John as CEO and Jack as CTO. It took them just nine months to hit a million dollars in run rate with a three-person team.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:20 - HelmGuard's $7.3m seed round

0:45 - What HelmGuard's platform does

1:15 - John's eight years at Palantir

2:24 - Jack's background in AI research

5:48 - How HelmGuard reacts to new model releases

8:45 - HelmGuard's work with Callosum

12:27 - HelmGuard's plans for the new funding

14:12 - Why legacy security platforms can't keep up

15:54 - What the OpenAI incident means for AI oversight

20:57 - How the OpenAI incident changed HelmGuard's thinking

General Catalyst has built one of the most active investment theses in Europe around artificial intelligence transforming massive service industries like law, property management, accounting, and insurance. Their portfolio features companies tackling this shift from different angles, including Legora selling software directly to law firms and Dwelly scaling through hands-on growth in real estate.

Zeynep Yavuz-Willson is a Partner at General Catalyst, where she focuses on early-stage investing across Europe. Before venture she worked in private equity and operating roles, and she says learning from founders is still her favourite part of the job.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:06 - Why General Catalyst is betting on AI transforming services

4:04 - Why Dwelly was worth the risk despite being burned before

8:39 - Which other service industries General Catalyst is watching

11:08 - Why customer trust is becoming the real advantage in AI

13:50 - The rest of the AI stack, open source and data

20:35 - Why concentrated industries adopt AI faster than fragmented ones

26:31 - How General Catalyst's capital model is changing

28:51 - Is General Catalyst still a venture firm

30:46 - How the venture industry has changed since 2020

Dominic Raab, the former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, has just joined IndexLaw as a founding advisor.

IndexLaw helps businesses and individuals handle legal work, review contracts, and build legal strategies using artificial intelligence. The platform automates routine tasks while connecting users with real lawyers for final review.

Quddus Pativada is founder and CEO , and Dominic Raab is a founding advisor at IndexLaw. They believe AI can make legal help simple and put people directly in control of their own legal matters.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex:

https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeuropeLovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:21 - What IndexLaw is building

1:06 - Dominic Raab's new role at IndexLaw

3:18 - The personal story behind IndexLaw's founding

6:00 - How IndexLaw differs from Harvey and Legora

9:14 - Why the legal industry is ripe for disruption

11:54 - The UK's unusually open rules for legal AI

14:17 - Dominic's day-to-day role as advisor

15:18 - How Quddus and Dominic's partnership began

17:56 - IndexLaw's goals for the next 18 months

Primer gives merchants one place to manage and optimise every part of their payments. Through a single integration, businesses can connect payment providers, payment methods, and fraud tools, then control how payments are routed and processed. By bringing payment data and AI-powered intelligence together, Primer helps businesses reduce failed payments, lower costs, and expand into new markets.

Gabriel Le Roux is Co-founder and CEO at Primer. He believes that as payments get more automated and complex, merchants need one connected system with full data behind it.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:13 - What Primer does

1:15 - Primer's new $100m round

3:38 - Why Primer built its AI agent, Companion

6:52 - How customer research shaped Companion

9:45 - Companion's surprising adoption

11:59 - How culture shapes Primer's approach to selling

16:16 - Primer's plans to double down on the US

18:02 - Why Primer has been data-driven from day one

Modal gives AI startups the computing power they need to run their products, and a safe way to run code their AI writes on its own. Its revenue has grown 5x this year and is now closing in on $1bn annually, backed by a recent $355m raise to keep up with demand.Erik Bernhardsson is CEO at Modal. He's certain AI startups will keep needing more computing power than anyone expects, and that demand is contributing to Modal's growth.The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjkSponsors:SurrealDB: ⁠https://surrealdb.com/⁠Airwallex: ⁠https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope⁠Lovable: ⁠https://lovable.dev/⁠Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/Conveo: https://conveo.ai/NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/WWT: https://www.wwt.com/Timestamps:0:00 - Introduction0:21 - What Modal does0:57 - Modal's $355m round and revenue growth1:51 - How Modal forecasts and buys computing power ahead of demand3:40 - Why most of Modal's growth comes from AI-native startups7:04 - Modal's biggest use cases: inference, sandboxes and coding models9:07 - The shift toward cheaper Chinese and open-source AI models12:21 - Modal's expansion into London and Stockholm19:44 - What Erik learned building Spotify that he's applied at Modal23:14 - The one part of the job Erik still can't delegate27:19 - Why Erik expects capital efficiency to matter again33:32 - Modal's path to $1bn in annual revenue

Conveo just raised a $50m Series A from DST Global, Balderton Capital, Visionaries, 6 Degrees Capital and Y Combinator, bringing its total funding to $55.8m.

Conveo helps large companies understand what their customers want, using AI to run the research and get the findings to the teams that need them. The company has grown from 12 to 80 people in less than a year.

Hendrik Van Hove is Co-founder of Conveo. He believes the real value of AI for big companies comes from pairing it with people, and that's the part most competitors miss.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: ⁠https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026⁠

SurrealDB: ⁠https://surrealdb.com/⁠

Airwallex: ⁠https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope⁠

Lovable: ⁠https://lovable.dev/⁠

Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/

Conveo: https://conveo.ai/

NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/

WWT: https://www.wwt.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:13 - Conveo's new $50m Series A
0:24 - The investors behind Conveo's round
1:53 - What Conveo builds
4:03 - Customers like Google and Unilever
5:06 - Why investors backed Conveo over rivals
6:52 - Conveo's case for pairing AI with people
12:04 - What Conveo got wrong early on
15:34 - How Conveo won its first major clients
18:16 - Conveo's plans for the new funding
19:14 - Why Conveo is building a new category

Callosum just raised $100m led by Atomico, Plural and DCVC. It's one of the largest seed-stage rounds in UK history, coming just five months after Callosum came out of stealth. Callosum builds software that lets AI run across many different types of chips at the same time, making it faster, cheaper and more capable.

Danyal Akarca is Co-founder at Callosum. He believes AI can only have a real economic impact once it becomes cheaper and faster to run, and that's exactly what Callosum is built to do.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:09 - Callosum's approach to AI infrastructure

5:56 - How Callosum's technology works for customers

8:48 - Callosum's new $100m round

12:33 - How Callosum built partnerships with chip companies like Cerebras

17:14 - Why Callosum wasn't built just to make chips work together

20:03 - What the $100m will fund next

24:54 - Why cost is becoming as important as speed for AI buyers

28:03 - Who Danyal thinks will win the AI stack over the next three years

33:03 - Why London has become a serious AI hub

Plug and Play Ventures invests in startups across Europe and runs a platform connecting them with large corporate partners. It has grown from a family office into an institutional investor with nine funds, and now runs 65 offices with more than 700 people worldwide.

Thomas Bigagli is EMEA Partner at Plug and Play Ventures. He believes Europe already has the talent and ideas, and just needs investors willing to move faster and write bigger checks to keep its best startups from leaving.

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:28 - What Plug and Play's EMEA role involves

2:29 - How Europe's startup landscape has changed

3:20 - Why deep tech is such an exciting opportunity right now

5:05 - Where Europe's hardware and deep tech hubs are emerging

6:07 - Plug and Play's early bets in Lithuania and Italy

9:56 - The one question every founder gets asked

12:32 - Why more European founders are thinking globally

15:52 - US investors' growing presence in Europe

17:15 - Why European VCs still move slower than American ones

18:41 - The European firms closing the gap

Orqa is a Croatian company that designs and manufactures drones, components and ground stations entirely in Europe, a rare setup in an industry that mostly relies on China. Orqa now builds primarily for defence customers across NATO and the West, and shipped 250,000 products last year, a number it's on track to double in 2026.

Srdjan Kovacevic is CEO and Co-Founder of Orqa. He believes most Western militaries aren't ready for drone warfare yet, and that needs to change fast.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:15 - What Orqa builds

1:07 - Why Orqa set out to build Europe's answer to Chinese drone brands

2:36 - Why Orqa builds everything in Europe

5:03 - Orqa's current production scale

6:41 - How the war in Ukraine pulled Orqa into defence

8:05 - Why Orqa builds for NATO's future needs, not Ukraine's immediate ones

10:19 - Orqa's production numbers: 250,000 products shipped last year

13:16 - Orqa's biggest supply chain bottleneck

15:40 - Why the AI boom is causing a new chip shortage for Orqa

19:10 - Ukraine's drone warfare numbers

20:36 - How drone warfare has transformed the battlefield

Metaview just acquired Reval, a recruiting agency built to run entirely on AI. The deal brings more talent and technology into Fillmore, Metaview's AI recruiting co-worker. Metaview's platform is already used by more than 5,000 companies, and Fillmore works by researching, sourcing and reaching out to candidates without any human involvement.

Shahriar Tajbakhsh is Co-founder and CTO of Metaview. He expects Metaview to become the single platform for end-to-end hiring within a year, handling everything from a company opening a role to someone being hired.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:12 - Metaview's AI-first approach to recruiting
1:07 - Metaview's traction across more than 5,000 companies
2:10 - What Fillmore is and how it works
6:22 - Why Metaview built Fillmore as a co-worker, not an agent
8:08 - Fillmore's early results since its soft launch
12:24 - Why Metaview acquired Reval
14:14 - How the Reval and Metaview teams came together
15:39 - How mission-aligned teams speed up Metaview's hiring
20:02 - What success looks like for the Reval acquisition

TidalSense has built a handheld device that diagnoses COPD, a common lung disease, in under four minutes. It's already used across the NHS and has drawn interest from more than 60 countries since launching last year. The Cambridge-based company just raised $19m to expand into new markets.

Ameera Patel is CEO of TidalSense. She believes what matters most to healthcare providers is a better patient experience and more efficient care.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:19 - TidalSense's $19m round and what problem it solves
1:08 - Why the standard diagnostic test hasn't changed since the 1800s
2:44 - What TidalSense has built
3:35 - TidalSense's rollout across the NHS
4:21 - The demand TidalSense has seen since launching
5:16 - Ameera's personal journey to founding TidalSense
9:48 - Inside TidalSense's $19m round and its lead investor
12:02 - TidalSense's plans to expand into the US and China
14:47 - TidalSense's biggest bottleneck right now
15:59 - What's needed for TidalSense's next raise

Aspire11 invests European pension money into some of the world's biggest private tech companies, unlocking capital that's historically stayed on the sidelines. Its first fund raised €500m, and backs both early-stage VC funds and late-stage tech companies such as Revolut, Databricks, ElevenLabs and Vinted.

Zaya Kadyrova is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Aspire11. She believes much of the value created by Europe's biggest tech companies currently goes to US pension funds, and is trying to change that by putting pension money directly into companies at that scale.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction0:20 - What Aspire11 does
1:31 - Why pension funds matter for venture
4:37 - Why Europe's pensions have stayed on the sidelines
8:51 - Tribes: backing the next generation of fund managers
12:07 - Why Aspire11 backed Revolut, Vinted and Eleven Labs
15:14 - The case for investing in Databricks
18:22 - How the fund is driving demand from young savers
19:35 - How Aspire11 wins access to the best deals

n8n is a workflow automation platform that frees employees from repetitive, boring tasks. SAP recently made a strategic investment in the company, valuing it at €5.2bn, more than double what it was worth seven months ago.

Jan Oberhauser is Founder and CEO of n8n. He believes the real value isn't the time saved, but the chance to give employees more meaningful work instead of repetitive tasks.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

0:41 – n8n's €5.2bn strategic investment from SAP

2:41 – How valuable the SAP partnership could be

4:04 – What drove the valuation jump in seven months

5:03 – The real value customers get from n8n

11:38 – Balancing community users with enterprise customers

14:23 – How n8n's community has evolved

18:19 – How Jan's role has changed as CEO

22:44 – What Jan is seeing across the AI ecosystem

28:20 – What n8n looks for when hiring

29:11 – Why n8n rejects hustle culture

29:54 – Flexible hours and company values

31:49 – Balancing being CEO and a father

33:43 – Staying European

35:47 – US vs. European investors

37:33 – Quickfire round

Tapestry VC backs repeat founders who are already building their second or third company. Around 60% of Europe's new unicorns in the past couple of years have come from exactly that group, and Tapestry just closed an $80m third fund to keep backing them.

Patrick Murphy is a Partner at Tapestry VC. Seven of the roughly 70 investments he's made in his career have grown into $100m+ revenue companies, a track record few investors can match.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:04 - Tapestry VC's new $80m third fund
0:24 - Why Tapestry backs repeat founders
2:01 - Inside Tapestry's portfolio
6:44 - Patrick's move back to London
9:02 - The psychology of investing in repeat founders
12:45 - What Patrick's most successful investments have in common
15:38 - British Business Bank as Tapestry's anchor investor
17:48 - Competition among European VCs
20:44 - Why US LPs are reshaping European venture
23:07 - Europe's growing exit market

Dwelly just raised a $170m Series B led by EQT Growth and General Catalyst, five months after its last round, taking total funding to around $250m. Dwelly acquires traditional letting agencies across the UK and moves them onto a shared AI system. The AI handles compliance and admin work, so staff can focus on landlords and tenants instead.

Dan Lifshits and Ilia Drozdov are Co-founders of Dwelly. The company has grown from around 10,000 lettings under management five months ago to more than 15,000 today, already making it one of the UK's ten largest letting agencies.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:21 - Dwelly's new $170m Series B
1:07 - Why AI is transforming the services industry
1:35 - What Dwelly does and how much it's grown
2:25 - Acquiring and integrating letting agencies
6:33 - Dwelly's underlying business fundamentals
7:12 - The size of the UK market and expanding into Europe
9:55 - Dwelly's biggest bottleneck: hiring
12:58 - Inside the Series B round
16:09 - Dwelly's north star metric

TechCredit Partners helps tech founders raise debt capital to fund growth without giving up more of their company. The firm has raised close to $1 billion for clients across more than 20 countries in the last three years.

Linus Eriksson Noren and Resat Ozutok are Co-founders of TechCredit Partners. Most founders don't realize how much of their business, like contracts or equipment, can be used to raise debt instead of equity, which is exactly the gap the two are trying to close.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:21 - What TechCredit Partners does
0:53 - The boom in European venture debt
1:37 - Why founders turn to debt over equity
3:43 - Why more capital-intensive businesses are turning to debt
6:24 - How founders know they're ready to raise debt
9:21 - The industries TechCredit Partners works in
11:01 - How founders should balance debt and equity
13:25 - Why Linus and Resat built TechCredit Partners
16:46 - Europe's debt landscape and standing out in the market

Dexory builds robots that scan warehouses and track everything inside them in real time. Companies use that data to know exactly what stock they have and where, resulting in massive savings.

Oana Jinga is Co-founder of Dexory. The company has scanned over 1.3 billion warehouse locations so far, using real data collected directly from customer sites. Dexory recently raised a $165m Series C to scale up its commercial team, now tripling its growth year after year.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:24 - What Dexory's robots do
1:27 - The value Dexory delivers to customers
3:04 - Dexory's biggest customers
5:41 - How Dexory expands into new countries
9:56 - Will warehouses change to be built for robots?
12:31 - Dexory's data and the future of physical AI
15:20 - Inside Dexory's Series C round
19:29 - What's next for Dexory

Onstage has just been acquired by Sifted. The company runs Demo Day, an early-stage pitch event that connects founders with VCs, backed by a network of 350 venture capital partners who select the finalists.

Issie James is Co-founder at Onstage. Onstage's strategy has always been to build an audience its founders and VC partners can use to reach more customers, and joining Sifted was the natural next step for that.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:17 - Onstage's acquisition by Sifted

1:36 - What changes and what stays the same

4:10 - What the acquisition means for Issie

6:03 - What happens to Deploy

6:52 - Issie's career journey at Onstage

11:51 - What makes a great event

13:16 - What success looks like after the acquisition

14:27 - Lessons from thousands of startup pitches

Expeditions is one of Europe's only venture funds dedicated to defence and security startups. The firm recently closed its second fund at €197m.

Stanislaw Kastory and Mikolaj Firlej are Co-founders and General Partners at Expeditions. The firm backs early-stage teams across defence, cybersecurity, quantum and space technology. The new fund plans to make around 40 early-stage investments, with half its capital reserved for follow-on rounds.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: ⁠https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk⁠

Sponsors:

Chargebee: ⁠https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026⁠

SurrealDB: ⁠https://surrealdb.com/⁠

Airwallex: ⁠https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope⁠

Lovable: ⁠https://lovable.dev/⁠

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:08 - Expeditions closes its €197m second fund

1:04 - How raising fund two differed from fund one

4:23 - Fund one's early bets in defence tech

7:10 - What's different about fund two's strategy

9:40 - Where Europe's biggest defence gaps are

12:36 - How Expeditions finds and evaluates startups

16:20 - Do European countries compete for their own defence champions?

19:52 - Financing war vs. financing European defence

PhysicsX helps companies design and manufacture industrial products faster, using AI instead of traditional physics simulation.Jacomo Corbo is CEO and Co-Founder of PhysicsX. Its technology helps manufacturers cut defects and lower costs, from casting aerospace parts to smelting aluminum more efficiently. The company recently raised a $300m Series C at a $2.4bn valuation, more than doubling its Series B valuation in under a year.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:16 - What PhysicsX does

2:24 - Real-world use cases

4:32 - PhysicsX's $300m Series C

6:50 - The scaling laws behind PhysicsX's models

7:46 - Scaling up to meet demand

9:51 - Selling to incumbents vs newer manufacturers

15:02 - Selling to Europe vs the US

19:00 - The Deutsche Telekom and NVIDIA partnership

20:46 - What industrial engineering will look like in five years

Proxima Fusion recently raised €411m at a €2.4bn valuation, the largest funding round in European fusion. The company is building a fusion reactor designed to produce clean, safe energy continuously, without the risk of a runaway reaction.

Francesco Sciortino is Co-Founder and CEO of Proxima Fusion. The company has around 200 people working across Munich, Zurich and Oxford. Proxima's next milestone is a full-scale magnet that will prove the reactor design works, expected by the end of 2027.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Lovable: https://lovable.dev/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:09 - Proxima Fusion's €411m raise

0:50 - What fusion actually is

4:04 - Why Proxima bets on stellarators over tokamaks

9:29 - What's changed to bring investors on board

11:42 - Inside the Bavarian government partnership

16:12 - The next milestone: the Stellarator Model Coil

18:29 - Publishing the Stellaris power plant design

20:38 - Supply chain risk for fusion magnets

Valarian has raised a $50m Series A led by NEA, just over a year after a $20m Seed. The company built Acra, an infrastructure layer that lets organizations run sensitive AI systems securely on any cloud, from public cloud to on-prem or the edge.

Max Buchan is Founder and CEO of Valarian. The company signed $43m in contracts in its first quarter alone and expects to do about $100m this year.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:16 - Valarian's $50m Series A led by NEA

2:06 - What Acra actually does

2:51 - Enterprise and defence customers

4:52 - Why sovereignty matters to customers

6:44 - Where the growth is coming from

7:49 - Inside the Series A round

9:37 - UK government support and new investors

11:38 - Plans for the next 6 to 12 months

16:09 - The biggest risk: hiring and execution

18:01 - Bringing on a new head of revenue

Marker just came out of stealth and raised a $13m Seed led by Index Ventures. Marker is an AI editor built to help writers develop their ideas and get feedback throughout the writing process.

Jon Steinback is Co-Founder and CEO of Marker. He and co-founder Ryan Bowman built it to support the whole writing process, from thinking through drafting to editing. The result is a modern word processor made for people who believe in the craft of writing.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:20 - Marker's seed round and coming out of stealth

0:57 - What Marker actually is

1:41 - Who Marker is built for

3:33 - How Marker's product took shape

4:39 - Finding the balance between AI and human writing

6:52 - Why these investors backed Marker

9:20 - Jon's time at DeepMind

10:52 - How Marker will use the funding

13:04 - The goal behind coming out of stealth

14:33 - Marker's long-term vision

Singular is a European early-stage venture capital firm investing from Seed through Series B, with portfolio companies including Aikido, Vibe, Basecamp and Spore.Bio.

Laura McGinnis is joining Singular as a Partner. She previously spent several years in venture at Balderton Capital. In London, she'll focus on building out the firm's presence and backing UK and Ireland founders earlier in their journey.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:10 - Laura's move to Singular

0:58 - Why Singular appealed to her

2:22 - How the opportunity came together

3:33 - The type of founders Singular backs

5:31 - Moving from a large firm to a small, nimble team

8:21 - What success looks like in her first months

10:10 - Why Singular is doubling down on the UK and Ireland

13:33 - Finding an edge to meet founders earlier

15:38 - Advice for operators breaking into VC

Nyobolt is building fast energy storage systems for AI infrastructure, where data centres and robotics require far higher power density and faster charging than conventional technologies can provide.

Sai Shivareddy is Founder and CEO at Nyobolt. The company spent years developing its technology before AI infrastructure created demand for it, and is now deploying its systems in robotics, with data centres as its next target market. The company recently raised a $60m Series C at a $1 billion valuation, making it one of the UK's newest unicorns.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:18 - Nyobolt's $60m Series C at a $1bn valuation

0:56 - What Nyobolt builds

2:52 - Real-world results and use cases

7:22 - Working with Symbotic

8:30 - Inside the Series C round

11:53 - Scaling manufacturing while growing fast

14:11 - Biggest bottlenecks to growth

18:40 - Raising hardware-focused venture capital

22:06 - Building a deep tech company from Cambridge

THEKER Robotics builds robots that takes over the hardest physical labor inside heavy factories.

Carla Gómez Cano is Co-founder at THEKER. Their robots that do manual, physical work, like moving packages, assembling parts and folding garments, and use smart software to handle any task or material on a single platform. The company recently raised an $85m Series A, one of the largest robotics rounds ever in Europe.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction
0:12 - THEKER's $85m Series A
0:54 - What THEKER's robots do today
4:11 - Why THEKER skips pilots
5:03 - Building a robotics company from Barcelona
7:10 - Reconfigurable robots vs. humanoids
10:02 - Biggest bottleneck: hiring
13:01 - The robotics-as-a-service model
16:14 - Biggest lesson: staying focused
17:15 - What's next for THEKER

Rig just raised $2.8 pre-Seed led by Emerge Capital to build infrastructure that helps companies use their internal data with AI. The platform connects existing data systems so teams can build AI apps, workflows and agents more easily.

Toby Mather is Co-founder of Rig. He says the biggest challenge is no longer building AI applications, but giving them secure access to the right internal context. Rig is designed to solve that problem by connecting data from across a business without teams having to stitch together dozens of systems themselves.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:12 - Rig’s $2.8 pre-Seed

0:48 - What Rig is building

1:37 - AI workflows in practice

3:56 - Why Toby started the company

6:37 - Why investors backed the round

8:29 - Lessons from building a second company

10:03 - Building an AI-native startup

11:37 - Hiring for speed and learning

14:11 - How AI is changing careers

17:06 - Toby’s view on vibe coding

19:34 - Priorities after the raise

Orbital recently raised a $50m Series B led by Plural to scale its AI platform for developing advanced materials.

Jonathan Godwin is Co-founder and CEO at Orbital Industries. The company is using AI to discover a new GPU cooling material for data centres, with plans to apply the same technology to hardware and manufacturing across sectors such as semiconductors, energy and aerospace.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:20 - Orbital’s $50m Series B

1:50 - Discovering a new GPU cooling material

3:45 - The long-term vision for AI industrials

5:50 - Raising deep tech before the AI boom

8:20 - Why Plural backed Orbital

11:20 - The Orb open-source model

14:05 - Why Orb is open source

15:15 - Why Orbital builds hardware, not just AI models

20:40 - Building a mission-driven company

Seltz just raised a $12.5m Seed as it launches its first product and looks to build a new generation of web infrastructure for AI.

Antonio Mallia is Founder and CEO at Seltz. The company is building for a world where AI agents become a new type of web user, requiring a completely different way to access information online. Instead of returning a list of links, Seltz is rebuilding the entire search stack so agents can access trustworthy, citable information and run hundreds of queries in parallel to complete tasks independently.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:25 - $12.5m Seed announcement

1:15 - Why AI needs a different type of web search

3:20 - Why Seltz rebuilt the entire stack

5:00 - Why investors backed the company

7:20 - Building a research-heavy team

11:50 - Early traction and customer use cases

15:40 - The next 12 months

16:25 - Rethinking retrieval for AI agents

18:30 - Running hundreds of queries in parallel

Seedcamp just closed $220M + $100M funds as it looks to support European founders from their first cheque through to later stages of company building. The new $220M core fund will continue backing early-stage companies, while the $100M select fund allows Seedcamp to double down on breakout portfolio companies from Series B onwards.

Will Bennett is Principal at Seedcamp. He believes the definition of pre-seed is changing rapidly, with founder profiles becoming increasingly diverse and companies achieving more at an earlier stage. As more founders move to the US earlier in their journey, Seedcamp is expanding its presence there to help companies build customer, talent and investor networks.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:25 - Seedcamp’s $220M + $100M funds

1:40 - Why the funds are getting bigger

2:30 - Why Seedcamp launched a select fund

3:50 - European founders moving to the US

6:30 - How founder profiles are changing

8:15 - What pre-seed means today

10:00 - Defence and frontier technologies

13:00 - What founders get from Seedcamp

15:20 - Building a stronger US presence

19:30 - The secret behind Seedcamp’s success

Debtist scaled to €15M ARR in just 3 years as it builds an AI-powered receivables management platform across Europe.

Matteo Benedetti is Founder at Debtist. The company started from identifying a gap in traditional debt collection and built an end-to-end software platform that automates receivables management using AI across email, calling, document handling, and legal workflows. It now serves around 500 clients across Germany, the UK, Scandinavia and other European markets.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:25 - $60m Series A announcement

3:01 - What Debtist does

5:39 - Novesta partnership

6:56 - Enterprise adoption and go-to-market

8:41 - Scaling across Europe

9:02 - AI in receivables management

10:37 - Building organisation and learnings

15:18 - Expansion strategy

20:37 - Hiring and culture

Venture funds are becoming more systematic about finding founders before anyone else has seen them. As more firms build internal sourcing tools, the real advantage is shifting from collecting signals to knowing which opportunities are actually worth chasing.

Jacob Houlberg is Co-founder of Evertrace, which helps more than 220 venture funds identify founders at the earliest stages of company creation. He believes sourcing is becoming table stakes for early-stage investors, while the real job of a VC is still deciding which founders can build exceptional companies.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:32 - Why Evertrace was created and the sourcing problem

2:13 - Finding founders before anyone else

4:44 - How VCs use Evertrace and data signals

6:44 - AI agents in sourcing

10:34 - Building vs becoming a VC fund

14:53 - Expanding the platform beyond sourcing

16:43 - Competition and acquisitions

20:25 - Future of data-driven investing

Conduct just raised $60m in a Series A co-led by Index Ventures and ICONIQ, with strategic investment from SAP and participation from existing investors.

JP Haas is Co-Founder and CEO at Conduct. The company builds an AI operating system for enterprise software that maps heavily customised systems like SAP and Salesforce and helps enterprises execute changes across them faster.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:25 - $60m Series A announcement

3:01 - What Conduct does

5:39 - SAP partnership and validation

6:56 - Enterprise adoption and go-to-market

8:41 - Partner ecosystem

9:02 - SAP as starting point

10:37 - Why enterprise systems are complex

12:05 - Working with large enterprises

14:23 - Building organisation and learnings

15:18 - Global expansion

16:29 - SAP distribution and co-selling model

18:34 - Growth and ambition

20:37 - Hiring and culture

Many of the industries that keep the economy running still rely on emails, phone calls and manual coordination between people. AI is starting to change that, allowing companies to automate work that previously required large operational teams.

Pablo Palafox, CEO at HappyRobot, believes the biggest opportunity in AI is not building better chatbots, but helping businesses actually get work done. As more companies move from experimenting with AI to deploying it across their operations, the question is becoming less about what the technology can do and more about where it can create the most value.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:32 - Building AI agents for the real economy

3:43 - How AI is transforming logistics

7:47 - Why enterprises are adopting AI faster than expected

10:47 - Finding product-market fit

14:03 - Hiring and international expansion

15:49 - Building in San Francisco

17:33 - Maintaining startup urgency

18:51 - Scaling through rapid growth

20:02 - The future of AI agents

AI is becoming one of the most important questions facing Europe, yet many leaders still underestimate both the speed and scale of the transformation.

Judith Dada is General Partner at Visionaries Club and one of the authors behind Europe 2031, a new scenario exploring how Europe could fall behind in an AI-driven world over the next five years. The solution, she believes, is for Europe to move faster, make difficult trade-offs and focus on building leverage rather than pursuing sovereignty alone.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:19 - Europe 2031

3:39 - Where Europe went wrong on AI

7:23 - Who needs to hear this message

9:16 - Can Europe change course?

11:36 - The trade-offs Europe may need to make

13:17 - Who is responsible for Europe’s future?

15:06 - Sovereignty vs leverage

20:21 - What success looks like for Europe 2031

21:37 - Five proposals for Europe’s AI future

23:43 - Can Europe still get this right?

More people than ever before can now build software, as AI removes many of the technical barriers that previously stood in the way. Lovable is helping lead that shift, with two-thirds of its builders coming from outside the tech industry.

Nad Chishtie is Founding Designer and Head of Design at Lovable. He believes the next generation of software will be built by far more people than ever before, with AI helping turn ideas into products while giving both generalists and specialists new ways to create and operate.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:22 - Why Lovable is expanding its presence in London

1:21 - Building a London hub alongside Stockholm

3:19 - Scaling from startup to 50 million projects

5:02 - Why empowerment sits at the centre of Lovable

6:22 - How AI is changing who gets to build software

7:23 - The simplest way to think about design

10:15 - Why AI could benefit both generalists and specialists

11:44 - Why Lovable focused on the 99% who are not developers

13:21 - Building products for both beginners and experts

14:14 - Nad’s proudest moments building Lovable

15:04 - Building Lovable’s new creative engine

UVC Partners is a European venture capital firm investing in early-stage deep tech companies in Europe, including Proxima Fusion and Isar Aerospace.

Johannes von Borries and Benjamin Erhart, GPs at UVC Partners, back companies working on fusion energy and space systems, where development takes long cycles and requires high capital and coordination between research and industry.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:32 - UVC Partners

1:10 - Proxima Fusion

3:41 - Isar Aerospace

8:21 - Deep tech investing in Europe

13:15 - Fusion energy

16:08 - Space systems

20:02 - Germany’s deep tech ecosystem

24:27 - Berlin vs Munich

27:04 - Germany’s deep tech ecosystem