EUVC newsletter - 07.04.2025
We’ve been slightly more quiet last week—here’s why.
We’ve been slightly more quiet last week—here’s why.
You might’ve noticed fewer emails from us lately. That's intentional. In a world full of AI-generated content, clickbait, and constant notifications, respecting your inbox matters to us. While our daily updates aimed to highlight individual podcast episodes, we realized there's a better way to respect your attention.
Moving forward, we'll focus our emails around fewer, more impactful communications:
Weekly Newsletter: A roundup of the latest EUVC podcast episodes and featured guest articles.
Occasional Updates: Timely announcements and key thought leadership pieces, especially those aligned with our mission of shaping European innovation and competitiveness.
All this said, we’re heading into a crazy busy period with the EUVC Summit & Awards, so maybe you’ll actually end up seeing much more from us 🦚. We hope you welcome this shift and continue to engage with the insights we curate. Your support means the world to us. Thank you!
with 💞 David & Andreas
Table of Contents
🎧 Podcasts of The Week
VC This Week in European Tech with Dan Bowyer, Lomax Ward, and Andrew J. Scott
LP: Willgrow’s Justinas Milasauskas on Turning Peripheral Roots into a Global Advantage
VC: The Art and Science Behind Effective GTM Strategies for Startups and Scale-ups
LP/VC: IMD’s Jim Pulcrano on Educating Europe’s LPs & Fixing the VC Funding Gap
✍️ Insights Articles of The Week
Diary of an Emerging Manager - Part 4: T FOR TEAM (OR TROUBLE)
UK & Nordics: Life Sciences & Healthcare 2024 Venture Financing
AI drives trend of increasingly lean start-ups, Notion Capital research finds
Let’s get into it.
🎧 Podcasts of The Week
This Week in European Tech with Dan Bowyer, Lomax Ward, and Andrew J. Scott
Welcome to a new episode of the EUVC podcast, where our good friends Dan Bowyer from SuperSeed, in discussion with Andrew J. Scott, Founding Partner at 7percent Ventures, and Lomax Ward, General Partner at Outsized Ventures, cover recent news and movements in the European tech landscape 💬
Here’s what’s covered:
03:18 European Space Launch and Tech News
10:51 Defense Spending and Economic Implications
23:59 Toyota's Lean Production Methodology
24:57 AI Adoption: Europe vs. US
27:06 The Interface Revolution and AI Compute
30:19 Physical AI and Europe's Potential 34:47 Tariffs and Their Impact on Startups
Adventures and Deep Connection Await 💞
Step beyond the ordinary into a retreat that challenges and transforms you—as a partner and as an individual. Ten couples will embark on an adventure of reflection, connection, and shared resilience, guided by nature and a like-minded community. Traverse mountains, navigate the sea, and embrace stillness under the Corsican sky. This is not an escape—it’s a chance to be fully present, together, in adventure & in life.
Willgrow’s Justinas Milasauskas on Turning Peripheral Roots into a Global Advantage
In this episode, David Cruz e Silva talks with Justinas Milasauskas, a single-family office based in Lithuania. Justinas outlines how Willgrow approaches venture investments across the US and Europe, focusing on early-stage managers and long-term portfolio construction.
Here’s what’s covered:
09:45 The Role of Senior Advisors and Fund of Funds
12:09 The Importance of Diversification and Long-Term Commitment
13:56 Understanding WillGrow's Investment Approach
14:28 Investment Strategy and Risk Profiles
18:10 Active vs Passive Investment Approach
20:54 Biggest Learnings in Venture Investing
22:43 The Importance of Proper Benchmarking
Meet Key LPs and GPs Focusing on CEE in Budapest this May
If you’re looking to meet key players in CEE’s private markets, this is the conference you don’t want to miss. Join us for the 14th edition of the premier networking event in CEE for the private equity and venture capital industry.
You'll meet investors from firms like Antenna Digital Ventures, EBRD, EIB, Erste Group, IFC, PFR Ventures, Tibas Ventures and many others.
Get a ticket with the EUVC Discount Code - EUVC15CEE.
The art and science behind effective GTM strategies for startups and scale-ups [Seedcamp Podcast]
In this Path to Market episode, Natasha Lytton and Micah Smurthwaite (Partner, Pipeline Ventures) sit down with Tim Bertrand, seasoned CRO behind scaleups like Acquia, Project44, and HAProxy. With decades of GTM experience, Tim breaks down what it really takes to build high-performing sales teams and execute effectively in early-stage environments.
Here’s what’s covered:
01:04 - 02:20 The Importance of Alignment
02:20 - 03:39 Art vs. Science in Sales
03:39 - 05:02 Real-World Sales Challenges
05:02 - 06:10 Common Founder Pitfalls
06:10 - 07:37 The Sales Playbook Myth
07:37 - 09:23 Hiring the Right Sales Talent
09:23 - 10:40 Advice for Founders on Market Strategy
Maersk Growth’s Ida Christine Brun on How to Use Corporate Collaboration to Accelerate Decarbonization in Logistics
In this episode of our CVC series, Andreas Munk Holm and our CVC in-house expert, Jeppe Høier, talk with Ida Christine Brun, Venture Investments and Partnership Director at Maersk Growth.
With over 13 years at Maersk, Ida brings experience from commercial business development and supply chain management to her current role in corporate venturing. She explains how Maersk Growth invests in early-stage startups focused on decarbonizing and digitizing supply chains, using a well-rounded approach that blends equity investments with strategic partnerships.
Here’s what’s covered:
03:32 Ida's Journey in Maersk Growth
04:51 Maersk Growth's Corporate Venturing Strategy
05:48 Investment Focus: Supply Chain and Climate Tech
07:35 Challenges and Opportunities in Corporate Venturing
09:24 Value Creation and Strategic Partnerships
14:25 Decarbonization and Climate Tech Investments
37:52 Global Investment Strategies and Collaborations
Where operational expertise and innovation work for you.
End-to-end coverage of Fund Admin, Tax, Accounting, Compliance, ESG, and more—enabling you to focus on what matters most: supporting visionaries and maximizing LP returns.
Jim Pulcrano (IMD) on Educating Europe’s LPs & Fixing the VC Funding Gap
In this episode, Andreas Munk Holm talks with Jim Pulcrano, an entrepreneur turned venture capital educator and professor at IMD Business School. Jim joins us to share the story behind launching the Venture Capital Asset Management program — a first-of-its-kind initiative helping European LPs understand VC and make better investment decisions.
Here’s what’s covered:
01:38 Building the VC Asset Management Program
06:20 Challenges and Strategies for Pension Funds
15:37 Insights from the IMD Starter Competition
25:09 The Startup to Scale-Up Program
26:13 Challenges and Leadership in Scaling Up
26:58 Venture-Backed vs. Bootstrapped Startups
27:53 VCs and the Founder Leadership Debate
✍️ Insights from the trenches
📊 Diary of an Emerging Manager - Part 4: T FOR TEAM (OR TROUBLE)
Guest post by Venture Whisperer (aka the VC Gossip Girl)
After crunching numbers in the last chapter, this time it's all about the humans behind the hustle. In Part 4, Venture Whisperer gets real about team dynamics, what happens when the dream team doesn’t quite...dream together.
Key insights from the article:
👀 Team 1.0 = great individuals, shaky squad – Talented folks, but the rhythm just wasn’t there. Missed deadlines, ghosted calls, and a lot of "let’s circle back."
🤝 Clean breakup, no drama – Like a startup flashback from uni days—excitement fizzles, and everyone walks away still friends (thankfully).
💥 Cue the advisory board wisdom – “Why are you even adding another person?” Turns out, it wasn’t a capacity issue—it was a validation thing. Boom.
💫 The real revelation? – Sometimes, you’re already enough. The co-founders had the skills, the track record, and the drive. All they needed was to trust it.
🏅Shoutout to all the solo GPs out there – It’s not for everyone, but massive respect to those who rock it solo.
📊 Life Sciences & Healthcare Venture Funding in the UK & Nordics: 2024 Outlook
Guest post by Michael White, Head of Life Science and Healthcare at HSBC Innovation Banking
Michael White dives deep into the 2024 venture financing landscape across Biopharma, Dx/Tools, and Healthtech in the UK and Nordics — a year that may mark the turning point after a post-Covid slowdown.
Key insights from the report:
💰 Biopharma & Dx/Tools rebounded with $3.3B in funding, up 14% YoY
🚀 Platform, oncology, and obesity therapies drew major investment; TechBio had a breakout year
🇬🇧 The UK’s Golden Triangle led activity; Nordic VCs drove 50% of first-time biopharma financings
🔄 Crossover funds led 35% of large deals — a signal of potential IPO resurgence in 2025
🧠 Healthtech split between the “haves” and “have nots”: while down 9% in value, women’s health and AI-driven provider ops stood out
🏥 Alternative care models gained traction, powered by AI and system savings
📊 The SME Manufacturing Tech DACH 50
by SME Tech Leaders, in collaboration with Fortino Capital and āltitude
SMEs are the backbone of the DACH economy — yet digital adoption in manufacturing still lags. This new market map and deep-dive report profiles the 50 most promising SME-focused industrial tech startups across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and outlines the opportunity waiting to be unlocked.
Key insights from the article:
🇩🇪 Germany dominates the space with 42 of the top 50 startups
🧠 Strong focus on AI-driven Predictive Maintenance, MES, and Quality Control
💸 Nearly €1B raised across the 50 startups, with two-thirds founded since 2020
📉 Adoption still lags due to complexity, risk aversion, and lack of internal resources
🤝 GTM in industrial tech is not SaaS as usual – trade shows still beat outbound
💡 Winning startups treat GTM as a product, iterate ICPs, and avoid premature scale
🌍 Regional nuances and buyer skepticism require deep trust and local grounding
🔧 Investors, founders, and industry leaders all have a role in bridging the tech gap
AI drives trend of increasingly lean start-ups, Notion Capital research finds
by Notion Capital
Notion Capital’s 2025 Cloud Challengers 100 Report reveals a seismic shift in how Europe’s top early-stage software startups are built — smaller, sharper, and AI-native. The report tracks the 100 most promising B2B startups across Europe and paints a clear picture: the “two-pizza team” is shrinking fast.
Key insights from the article:
🤖 50% of this year’s CC100 are AI-native — up from 25% last year
🍕 Median team size is just 14, down from 25 — ultra-lean is in
👨💻 Dev tools lead the list at 18%, followed by Sales & Marketing (12%)
🏦 Fintech falls to just 5%, while Energy (10%) and Health (6%) gain traction
🚀 Efficiency > headcount — team size is no longer a proxy for startup quality
🔍 AI is transforming not just the product, but how the companies themselves operate
📈 Last year’s CC100 outperformed: 37% raised their next round within 12 months, vs. a 19% 36-month benchmark
Up next in the EUVC community, we’ve got exclusive AMAs, expert-led workshops, and insider discussions you won’t want to miss. If you are not a member already, join now to connect and learn!
💬 Community event | LP AMA with Herve Cuviliez | ⏰ April 23, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM GMT+2 | 💻 Online
Know what’s going on inside LPs heads can be difficult some times. Our series of LP AMAs allows you to ask all the questions you normally hold back. Join our exclusive AMA with Hervé Cuviliez, co-founder of ID4 Ventures, in a small-group, interactive setting where you can ask real questions and get real answers.
Why attend?
Get direct insights from a seasoned LP with 20 years of experience
Learn practical tips and strategies to elevate your fundraising game
Build connections with fellow VCs and LPs in an intimate setting
Available for Members Only, Subscribe below
Join us at the EUVC Summit & Awards Show
🗓️ The VC Conferences You Can’t Miss
There are some events that just have to be on the calendar. Here’s our list, hit us up if you’re going, we’d love to meet!
0100 Emerging Europe 2025 | 📆 14-16 May 2025 | 🇭🇺 Budapest, Hungary
GITEX Europe 2025 | 📆 23 - 25 May 2025 | 🇩🇪 Berlin, Germany