A new report from the European VC redalpine (with Sifted) argues that Europe’s next wave will not come from copying Silicon Valley consumer internet playbooks, but from sectors where Europe has genuine structural advantages: intelligent enterprise, digital health, new energy, space, biology and robotics. But can Europe capitalise on these? One of the report’s Sebastian becker, general partner at reldapine, joined Pathfounders Editor Mike Butcher to discuss its findings.

Is Europe's ‘tech bro renaissance’ really happening, or is AI about to level the game for women? Recently the European tech world has been debating both the apparent - to some eyes - rise of a more masculine culture in the industry in the shape of (to take one example) the male domination of hackathons, in contrast to the continued paucity of female participation in the industry, across all areas of sectors.

But does this debate mask what is really happening underneath the culture wars? Pathfounders Editor Mike Butcher spoke to Agata Nowicka of Female Foundry for Pathfounders about her recent survey of 1,000 women founders.

Europe is facing a 6 trillion Euro infrastructure transformation over the next decade, with over €2 trillion already committed. But that leaves a leaving a €4 trillion private capital gap. At the same time intelligence warnings suggesting Russia could invade NATO territory some time before 2029, putting Europe’s defence systems are under massive pressure. So could infrastructure be the next big category for VC and startups? Pathfounders’ Editor Mike Butcher spoke to Nikolas Zamios, Partner with Berlin-based VC PT1, to unpack the issues.

AI is leaving the chat window and entering the real world, showing up in factories, energy systems and in construction sites. This is the new era of Physical AI. UK-based VC fund SuperSeed is betting big on this next era with a new fund, which has just hit a first close of $50m. Pathfounders’ Mike Butcher spke to Dan Bowyer, co-founder of SuperSeed, about why he thinks will be a big arena for the next wave of AI startups.

Yesterday something big happened in Europe. The EU Commission is putting its weight behind a proposal to create a cross-EU company structure (similar to a Delaware Corp) dubbed “EU Inc”. In fact, that idea and the name emerged from a lobby group made up of founders and investors literally called EU Inc. However, EU President Ursula von der Leyen has, so far, stopped short of fulfilling all the wishes of the movement. Pathfounders’s Mike Butcher caught up with Andreas Klinger, founder of Protoype Capital, an EU Inc co-organiser, to discuss the latest developments.

Clinical trials for new drugs involve some of the most expensive and complex processes in modern industry yet, remarkably, much of the infrastructure still runs on spreadsheets and manual reviews. AI has begun to flood into this sector, but the question is which startups can seize the opportunity to reduce costs and speed up this sector? Erik Scalfaro, CEO and Co-Founder of Rivia, thinks they have the answer, and joined Mike Butcher of Pathfounders to discuss their $15M Series A funding round.

Can you leverage media and community into an early start startup funding platform? That’s the bet that UK-based OPUS plans to make with its international membership network of founders and operators. The project, dubbed Day Zero, will be a venture investment platform aimed at backing technology startups from their earliest days across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, combining capital from individual investors with access to the OPUS network. Mike Butcher of Pathfounders spoke to OPUS founder Sam Tidswell-Norrish about how they think they can make it work, and where it might end up.

Cross-border commerce has never been larger, but for companies trying to sell internationally, it has rarely been more complicated. London-based Outpost has raised a $17.5 million Series A round to help companies sell across borders without building an expensive patchwork of legal entities. CEO Will Mahon-Heap unpacks his strategy with Mike Butcher, Founder & Editor of Pathfounders.

Component manufacturing is a trillion-dollar-a-year market, but in Europe it’s an area dominated by small, often family-run businesses that are rapidly dwindling as the owners retire. Isembard is a UK startup that manufactures high-precision components, operating both its own, and franchisee factories. Following its $50 million Series A funding, Mike Butcher of Pathfounders caught up with Alexander Fitzgerald, Isembard Founder and CEO.

Dr Ari Kristinn Jónsson has just stepped into the newly created role of President of the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), the €1 billion venture fund backed by 24 NATO countries to invest in technologies that strengthen defence, security, and resilience across the alliance. Pathfounders caught up with him to unpack how he plans to steady the NIF ship after a turbulent period. Correction: In the video, we say Dr Ari Kristinn Jónsson replaced Klaus Hommels at head of NIF. Hommels has Klaus stepped into a new advisory role at the Fund’s Geopolitical and Strategic Advisory Council, focused on providing the NIF with guidance on industrialisation and scaling challenges. Dr Jónsson's role as President is a new one, and he will be reporting to the NIF Board.