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 #53 - EU vs US Wealth Creation, Energy Breakthroughs, M&A Boom Means?
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
For the real news behind the headlines affecting European venture.
Hosts: Dan Bowyer & Mads Jensen, with Joe Knowles from Smedvig Ventures
(01:15) US vs. Europe in Wealth Creation
US dominates wealth & compounders due to internet hyperscalers.
Europe: strong talent, growing startups, but weaker late-stage funding & exits.
Pension fund restrictions and lack of capital allocation are core structural issues.
(12:10) AI Race & Europe’s Challenge
US likely to win again; Europe risks falling far behind.
Strategic gaps: compute, energy costs, slow policy response.
(13:05) M&A Boom
H1 2025: ~$100bn in deals (+155% YoY), led by Google–Wiz ($32bn).
Hot areas: AI code gen, security, vertical apps.
Europe well-placed in application-layer M&A and AI-enabled services.
Exits recycle capital → critical for VC ecosystem health.
(21:21) Defence Tech Awakening
Porsche & Deutsche Telekom launching €500m fund; Lakestar raising €250m.
Cultural shift in Germany: mainstream corporates backing defence/dual-use.
Small monetarily, but signals a tide change.
(31:21) Energy & Batteries
Breakthroughs: lithium recycling (97%), sodium-ion at $10/kWh, EU gigafactories planned.
Europe must cut energy costs (4x US levels).
Nuclear, deregulation, and better storage key for AI competitiveness.
(35:06) AI Corner
GPT-5: Faster, unified model, free to ChatGPT’s 700M users. Incremental but strong in coding.
Perplexity vs. Chrome: DOJ may force Chrome divestiture; Perplexity rumored buyer (PR stunt?).
Economics: OpenAI at $500bn valuation despite $5bn losses; Anthropic ARR exploding ($1bn → $5bn in 7 months).
(42:15) Chips & Geopolitics
US restricting Nvidia chips to China; Trump proposes tariffed exports.
Europe’s Chips Act stuck with outdated tech; Intel project canceled.
Urgent need for “Chips 2.0” and partnerships with TSMC/Nvidia/ASML.
(48:03) Closing Notes
Italy’s record H1 (€655m raised).
Europe’s momentum building across defence, energy, and venture.
