Europe’s moment is now

From clinical trials to infrastructure - what Europe’s best founders are building now

Mar 23, 2026

Hi friends,

This week’s edition steps beyond our usual VC focus to spotlight founders building at the frontier.

Andreas sat down with three of them—alongside some of their lead investors—who are pushing the boundaries of AI across healthcare, life sciences and infrastructure. Following Rivia’s recent funding announcement, Erik Scalfaro and Earlybird’s Dr. Christian Nagel explored how clinical trials are being rebuilt around unified data and embedded agents. FYLD’ Shelley Copsey and Partech’s Rémi Said showed how AI is finally reaching the frontline, bringing real-time intelligence to critical infrastructure. And at Basecamp Research, Oliver Vince outlined the ambition to build the “internet of biology”—a new data layer to power AI-designed medicines.

Across all three conversations, a clear pattern emerged: the real breakthroughs aren’t just in the models, but in the combination of proprietary data, deep domain expertise, and tight workflow integration. AI is no longer a layer on top—it’s becoming core infrastructure.

From our webinar with Fundcraft, one takeaway stood out: for emerging managers, fund domicile is a fundraising strategy—not a back-office decision. As Shapers demonstrated, choosing Luxembourg enabled a faster launch and removed LP friction from day one, an increasingly important advantage for managers raising across borders.

And a quick note—congrats to Rémi Said and the Partech team on the close of their new €300 million Partech Impact Fund, backing the next generation of European B2B impact tech leaders.

If you—or founders in your portfolio—are building at the frontier, we’d love to hear from you.

Hope you enjoy,
with 💖
David & Andreas

Virtual | Wednesday, April 1 | 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM GMT

Master the metrics that drive VC fund success.

In this 2-hour workshop on VC Fund Terms & KPIs, we’ll cover what to measure (TVPI, DPI, IRR, MoIC), when to measure it, and what LPs truly care about. You’ll also learn how GPs track performance internally and how to build a clear, practical dashboard for fund and portfolio monitoring.

Designed for both emerging and experienced investors, with a strong focus on real-world application and decision-making.

Get your ticket now

Events and Community Gatherings

Insights of the Week

Why Luxembourg Wins for Emerging Managers

In our recent webinar with Fundcraft, one point stood out. For emerging managers, fund domicile is a fundraising decision, not a back-office detail.

Shapers shows this in practice. They chose Luxembourg to reduce LP friction and move quickly, launching in under six months with no pushback from institutional investors.

The takeaway is simple. Your domicile shapes access to capital and signals credibility from day one. For managers raising across borders, Luxembourg often wins because it removes friction and clears the path forward.

Watch a sneak peek below, and the full recording here.

Podcast of the Week

This Week in European Tech with Dan, Mads and Lomax

In this episode of Upside, Dan Bowyer and Mads Jensen of SuperSeed and Lomax Ward of Outsized Ventures unpack a week where AI infrastructure, enterprise adoption, and market risk all started pulling in different directions.

Nvidia lays out a path toward $1T in AI demand, while hyperscalers ramp spending to unprecedented levels, increasingly funded by debt. At the same time, the real battleground is shifting from models to distribution and enterprise control.

Key insights:

• The AI race is moving from models to distribution
• Hyperscaler capex is scaling faster than revenue
• Enterprise AI is becoming the primary battleground
• OpenAI faces a monetisation vs enterprise dilemma
• Market risk is rising as concentration and leverage build

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or queue it up with chapter markers ready to go.

Serving Europe’s Builders with Live Interviews

FYLD’s Shelley Copsey and Partech’s Rémi Said on the Startup’s Recent $41M Series B to Bring AI to the Frontlines of Infrastructure

FYLD recently announced a $41 million Series B to bring AI to the frontlines of infrastructure—one of the world’s largest yet least digitised industries. In this episode, Andreas sits down with CEO and co-founder Shelley Copsey and Partech’s Rémi Said, to unpack how FYLD is transforming utilities, construction, and energy by embedding AI directly into field operations. With near 100% adoption, real-time decision-making, and clear ROI, FYLD is rapidly becoming the intelligence layer for the physical economy.

Rivia Raises $15M Series A to Build the Agentic Data Engine Powering the Future of Global Clinical Trials

Rivia has raised a $15 million Series A led by Earlybird to scale its agentic data engine transforming global clinical trials. Its platform unifies fragmented data, embeds AI agents into workflows, and is already powering 40 trials across the US and Europe while driving up to 50% cost reductions, with 4x ARR growth in 2025.

To mark the raise, Andreas sat down with co-founder and CEO Erik Scalfaro and lead investor Dr. Christian Nagel, Partner at Earlybird, to discuss the vision ahead.

Oliver Vince, Basecamp Research On The Missing Data Layer in Biology—And Basecamp’s Plan to Build It

Basecamp Research is building the “internet of biology”—and it could redefine how we design medicines. In this live conversation, co-founder Oliver Vince breaks down why today’s biological AI is limited by data, and how Basecamp is generating entirely new genomic datasets to unlock “prompt-to-medicine” systems. If successful, this could mark the shift toward truly programmable biology.