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
We Get Slush’d - Germany Gets Space’d - As TPU’s Crush
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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 another blowout quarter from Nvidia. Plus: Deal of the Week — Voize, the AI tool transforming nursing-home documentation.
03:15 — Slush Deep Dive
Mads on Helsinki’s neon-lit founder festival, matchmaking tables, and why Slush still beats Web Summit.
07:45 — Germany’s €35B Space Strategy
Why Berlin is going big on space-as-defence — and whether Europe can ever compete at scale.
12:10 — Immigrant Founders Powerhouse
The surprising stats: 50–90% of US unicorn founders are immigrants; half of the UK’s fastest-growing companies too.
26:10 — Cookies Out, AI Regulation Rolled Back
The EU’s Digital Omnibus: fewer cookie banners, looser GDPR for AI training, and a major regulatory U-turn.
46:40 — AI Corner: TPUs vs GPUs & Open Source Wins
70% of startups using open-source LLMs; Google’s TPU-trained Gemini 3 beats benchmarks; Nvidia still sold out through 2026.
