In this episode of Finscale, I welcome Yoram Wijngaarde, Founder and CEO of Dealroom.co, for a sharp, data-backed conversation on what is really happening in the global tech and venture capital ecosystem. 

Beyond headlines and hype, this episode offers a rare, factual look at how innovation, capital and power dynamics are shifting.

We discussed:
• Yoram’s journey from investment banking at Lehman Brothers to founding Dealroom, and how the financial crisis and M&A work with startups shaped his entrepreneurial path.
• How Dealroom evolved from a deal-making idea into a global data platform used by VCs, tech giants and more than 100 governments to understand and benchmark innovation ecosystems.
• The unique methodology behind Dealroom’s data, combining public sources, deep human-led research and contributions from a global community of investors, founders and universities.
• What the last 18–24 months really look like for venture capital, with global investment still far below 2021 peaks despite massive AI rounds, and Europe stabilising around €60bn per year.
• The growing gap between the US and Europe, driven by AI mega-deals, rising valuation multiples in the US, and Europe’s relative absence from the largest funding rounds.
• Sector-level shifts beyond AI, including the return of fintech through incumbents and infrastructure plays, and the explosive rise of deep tech and defense, security and resilience.
• How Dealroom is preparing for the next wave of AI, from transforming its internal development processes to building a shared global data layer for cities and startup ecosystems.

A clear, insightful episode that replaces speculation with data — and offers essential perspective for anyone navigating tech, venture capital or innovation today.

Yoram’s recommendation :
• Odd Lots, the Bloomberg podcast.

Useful links:

Yoram Wijngaarde: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoramdw/

Dealroom.co: https://dealroom.co/ 

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Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

This is an excerpt of Solenne's conversation with Yoram Wijngaarde, Founder and CEO at Dealroom.co.

Finscale is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@finscale.

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Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

2025 has been a dense and deeply structuring year for Finscale.
A year of powerful conversations, new formats, and meaningful encounters — from fintech to private markets, from crypto to financial infrastructure, from governance to the new faces of investing.

But above all, a year of learning: learning to find the right rhythm, to create for the long term, to stay demanding without burning out, and to protect what makes a point of view truly singular.

2025 also saw the emergence of new paths:

• From Within, to explore the inner life of leadership.
• The FinTech Masterclass, to transmit and share.
• Finscale Private Talks, to go deeper.

And one conviction has only grown stronger: depth, nuance, and clarity still very much matter.

2026 opens with clear intentions:

• Less dispersion. More depth. 
• More podcasts in English.
• More focus on AI and agents, new financial infrastructures, governance, and the silent transformations of the financial system.
• And the continuation of coaching sessions, intentionally in small cohorts 

2026 will be a year of “better.”

Thank you to everyone who listens, shares, and supports Finscale.
Finscale is entering a new phase — more mature, more grounded, yet still just as deep.

Wishing you all a beautiful start in 2026.

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This episode is produced and hosted by Solenne Niedercorn, founder of Finscale.

Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

In this episode, Bleuzenn Pech de Pluvinel, Managing director for Private Equity at Accenture, Leader within the Global Private Equity Practice, shares how technology and AI are reshaping the private equity industry from the inside out.

We explore how the role of investors is shifting - from financial engineers to value creators - and how operational excellence, data, and digital capabilities are becoming the real differentiators in driving growth and returns.

Key Topics:

• Bleuzenn’s journey from public service to two decades in strategy consulting at Deloitte, BCG, and Accenture.
• How private equity has evolved from a purely financial model to one focused on operational transformation.
• The rise of operating partners inside funds - bridging strategy, execution, and expertise.
• Accenture’s positioning: from due diligence to post-acquisition transformation.
• The growing impact of AI on portfolio company performance.
• How to “operationalize” AI: starting small with use case by use case.
• The integration of ESG criteria as true value levers, beyond compliance.
• The mid-market as a fertile ground for innovation and sustainable impact.

A rich and forward-looking conversation about the new generation of private equity where strategy, technology, and purpose converge to redefine performance.

Recommendation from Bleuzenn:
🎧 Goldman Sachs Podcasts : https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/podcasts .

Useful links

Bleuzenn Pech de Pluvinel:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/bleuzennpech/

https://www.accenture.com/us-en/industries/private-equity

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Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

This is an excerpt of Solenne's conversation with Bleuzenn Pech de Pluvinel, Managing Director for private equity at Accenture.

Finscale is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@finscale.

********************

Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

In this episode, Gerry Afentakis, Managing Director Europe at Zodia Custody, walks us through what it really means to offer institutional-grade custody for digital assets. We discuss Zodia’s origins within Standard Chartered’s futurist lab, the operational and regulatory layers needed to gain trust from banks and asset managers, and how custody today goes far beyond storing keys.

Key Topics:

• What custody means in the crypto world (vs TradFi)
• Who the clients are: banks, funds, family offices, trading houses
• Zodia’s hybrid tech stack: proprietary + partners like DFNS
• Regulation: VASP registration and why it matters
• The difference between service providers like Fireblocks vs regulated custodians
• How custody providers are evolving beyond safekeeping toward utility and scale
• Why “not your keys, not your crypto” doesn’t work for institutions

An essential episode for anyone navigating the complex and often misunderstood infrastructure behind institutional crypto adoption.

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Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

This is an excerpt of Solenne's conversation with Gerry Afentakis, MD Europe at Zodia.

Finscale is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@finscale.

********************

Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

I met Winter Mead earlier this year and was fascinated by his approach to supporting emerging fund managers. As the founder of Coolwater Capital, he is building a unique platform that combines training, operational infrastructure and investment to help the next generation of GPs succeed.

In this conversation, we unpack:

• Why institutional LPs often overlook small funds despite their alpha potential.
• What really defines an “emerging manager” and why it depends on the perspective.
• The hidden operational challenges of launching and scaling a fund.
• How Coolwater helps GPs move from Fund I to a sustainable, long-term platform.
• The evolving dynamics between LPs, spinouts, and non-traditional “diamonds in the rough.”

A must-listen for fund managers, LPs, and anyone curious about the future of venture capital.

Finscale is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@finscale.

********************

Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

This is an excerpt of Solenne's conversation with Winter Mead, Founder of Coolwater Capital

Finscale is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@finscale.

********************

Finscale is much more than a podcast.

It’s an ecosystem that connects key players in the financial sector through networking, coaching, and strategic partnerships.

📢 With Finscale Private Talks, I bring together investors, entrepreneurs, and institutions for high-value private exchanges – I have zero tolerance for bullshit.

🎯 Through my coaching and advisory support, leaders and finance professionals can better structure their vision and accelerate their impact.

🤝 As for partnerships, they create unique opportunities to position yourself at the very heart of the industry’s transformation.

🔗 Discover all the initiatives on the Finscale website : https://finscale.business

Enjoy listening!

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Revolut Business. If you’re a business owner or just getting started, Revolut is offering you EUR 20 free when you open a Revolut Business account - exclusively through Finscale here: https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/finscale

In this episode, James Gibson, Partner & General Manager in charge of Revolut Business, walks us through his journey from studying PPE at Oxford to consulting at Oliver Wyman and ultimately diving into the fast-paced world of FinTech.

He shares how joining Revolut in 2017 was less a calculated move and more a response to the energy and ambition of the company. Over the years, he evolved through multiple roles from strategy to product to leadership, learning to adapt, let go of linear paths, and lead through clarity and curiosity.

James also unpacks how Revolut Business is redefining business banking at scale, balancing automation with personalisation and navigating product strategy in a high-growth, global environment.

Throughout, one theme stays central: building real impact by empowering businesses with smart, intuitive tools - and doing it with intentionality.

Finscale is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@finscale.

Produced by Gokyo Sàrl-S, hosted by Audiomeans©. Visit the Privacy Policy of Finscale and Audiomeans for more information.