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
Your AI Intern With Root Access - Masa Goes Massive - Europe's Midlife Crisis
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
00:59 — Saudi surprises, NEOM shrinks, Vision 2030 = Europe takes notes.
02:58 — Europe: zero vibes, zero mission.
03:55 — War bonds?! Saudi winter games postponed. Reality intrudes.
🤖 AI Corner
07:32 — Clawdbot → Moltbot now OpenClaw?! AI intern… with admin rights.
09:19 — Early wins: negotiates car deals, plans diets, orders Tesco shops.
10:38 — Early fear: unconstrained agents + inbox access = mild terror.
12:22 — It wakes itself up and takes action. Cool. Also horrifying.
13:17 — Security stories emerge. Nobody gives it their bank login (yet).
💰 AI Mega-Rounds
14:19 — SoftBank doubles down on OpenAI. Masa swings hard. Again.
16:06 — Anthropic: hotter growth, $20bn round chatter, IPO whispers.
16:50 — OpenAI ads incoming. Users threaten to… switch? Maybe.
🧠 China Swarms
18:01 — Moonshot drops “Swarm” models: 100 agents, one brain.
19:34 — Parallel thinking = faster, not cheaper. Tokens go brrrr.
20:55 — Open source as geopolitical side-eye.
📊 Earnings Season
21:40 — ASML prints money: AI capex not slowing, China still ~20%.
23:05 — Memory beats logic: HBM crunch, chipmakers fully booked.
25:38 — Meta vs Microsoft: ads + AI good, capex + slowing Azure bad.
26:44 — Tesla: sales, “physical AI” story saves the stock.
30:22 — Klarna –30%: credit nerves. Everyone shrugs.
🇪🇺 Europe, Again
32:19 — “United States of Europe?” Telegraph panics. Reality unimpressed.
35:15 — Europe only moves when scared enough. Not there yet.
39:35 — Integration: go wide, go deep, or argue forever.
43:05 — Starmer in China: finance, vibes, low expectations.
43:21 — EU–India deal > UK deals. Market size still matters.
🪖 Defence
45:49 — Europe rearms: drones, satellites, ISR, startups rejoice.
51:21 — US spends ~$900bn; Europe debates what it actually needs.
53:09 — Bull case: Ukraine = Europe’s defence tech lab.
📱 Society
54:23 — Social media bans for kids: messy science, real concern.
56:47 — US sues, EU regulates. Meta lawyers busy.
59:21 — Design-choice lawsuits = tobacco vibes.
🧾 Deals
1:01:34 — UK plans to train 10m people in AI. Ambitious. Necessary.
1:03:12 — Deal of the Week: Sword Health buys Kaia for $285m.
1:04:24 — Synthesia hits ~$4bn. Regret levels spike.
1:04:45 — Wrap. Brains emptied. See you next week.
