Upside
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
Upside
Upside #52 - More Chips Please - Be More German - No Easy A?
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Upside #52 The weekly podcast for all things European venture, startups and investing. Each week we look behind the headlines for the real news affecting our ecosystem.
VC Hosts: Mads, Andrew & Dan
This week:
Seed-to-Series A: harder or hype?
Germany’s €100B Deutschlandfonds
UK interest rate cut
OECD’s corporate investment warning
EU Chips Act 2.0 - 1.0 #fail
AI Corner – GPT-5, Anthropic’s advances, open-source wars
Deal of the Week
00:50 – Series A: Out of Reach? Really?
US: Avg. 2.5 years to Series A, down to 11% graduation rate. UK/Europe: ~18 months, higher graduation rates, but smaller rounds. AI reshaping funding pace; bridge rounds at record levels. Overhang from 2021–22 funding glut being flushed out. Carta data shows improving graduation rates. Labels distort. Under-capitalisation as a European challenge.
07:59 – Germany’s €100B Deutschlandfonds - Be More German
Fund to secure strategic sectors: defence, energy, raw materials. Leverages €10B public → target €100B private. Germany’s growth stagnation since 2019 needs reversal.
18:35 – UK Autumn Budget Of Misery
Likely tax rises despite Labour’s pledges - risk making UK unattractive for VC & startups. Millionaire exodus, low PE carried interest returns signal concern.
22:09 – UK Interest Rate Cut Says What?
BOE cuts from 4.25% → 4% despite sticky inflation (3.6% → rising to 4%). Growth fears outweigh inflation fight – signals economic fragility. Will lower rates make VC relatively more attractive?
23:29 – OECD: Weak Corporate Investment Is Bad News
Investment still 20% below pre-GFC trends; physical asset investment lagging. Productivity stagnation since 2008. Corporates prioritising dividends over long-term growth.
40:11 – EU Chips Act 2.0 - Can We, Should We?
Act 1 mega fail: Missed 20% market share goal; may hit only 5% by 2030. Intel exit, focus on low-end chips, global oversupply, poor US trade terms. Need to attract TSMC/Samsung for cutting-edge fabs. Europe must avoid “please everyone” industrial policy. Chip demand will keep growing; still time to compete.
50:35 – Mega AI Corner
GPT-5 “soon” Anthropic’s Claude 4.1 leading in reliability. OpenAI launches first open-source model since GPT-2. Mega-rounds: OpenAI $8B, Mistral $10B, Perplexity raising. Open vs. closed source. IP & “decomposition” debate:
1:04:04 – Deal of the Week
Clay – $100M at $3.1B; widely used contact intelligence tool.
n8n – Valuation surges past €2B amid investor frenzy.
Voltrac – Spanish autonomous electric tractor; 70% fewer parts, strong ROI.
AI in politics: Sweden’s PM admits using ChatGPT for second opinions.
Recorded 7 August 2025
