Fresh off a massive $20M Series A, Mikkel, a repeat founder who sold his last company at age 26, breaks down how at spektr they are completely automating compliance for tier-one banks, and why building an AI company is both vastly more complex and wildly more fun.

Fred Soneya of Haatch talks about how they scaled from a small angel group to a powerhouse firm. This is a masterclass in B2B SaaS and the "operator-led" fund model. We discuss the mechanics of pre-seed investing, why "boring" industries are goldmines, and how they run the firm 24/7.

Berhan is a serial founder who practically invented the on-chain lending vertical with ARV and is now tackling the $4 trillion "trapped cash" problem in global finance. This is a masterclass in the invisible plumbing that powers the world economy and a rare look into the future of programmable money.We break down the evolution of Keyrails, the strategic power of the "Genius Act," and how AI is changing compliance with Berhan.

From teenage horse trading to managing a $107M fund, Camilla Dolan’s runs a masterclass in the "obsession" required to build category-defining brands. This conversation pulls back the curtain on how she and the Eka Ventures team are deploying their second fund to reshape the future of consumer health and sustainability.We discuss the launch of Eka Fund II, the evolution of consumer behavior, and how Eka is building an AI-first firm to identify the next generation of founders.

It's Thursday 16th April & today on VENTURES we have a stellar slate.

On the show today:

Stephen Johnson: Investor, Mercia Ventures

Camilla Dolan: General Partner, Eka Ventures

Berhan Kongel: Co-Founder and CEO, Keyrails

Mikkel Skarnager, Co-Founder and CEO, spektr

Rishabh Kaul: Venture Partner, Hoxton Ventures

Fred Soneya: Co-Founder and General Partner, Haatch

Ollie Bone: Vice President, Evolution Equity Partners

Jarek Pilarczyk went from building and selling multi-million dollar companies in Poland to funding the next generation of European “tech sovereignty.” He reveals why hardware is now a safer bet than software and how Poland’s education system accidentally created a global hub for math genius.

We dive into the “energy bottleneck” of AI, the future of drones with Balnord, and why selling to Scandinavia is often easier than selling at home.

Partner at Balnord and a veteran entrepreneur who successfully exited his computer vision and infrastructure companies in 2012 and 2021. He is now focused on “dual-use” technologies that ensure European independence in space, defense, and industrial resilience.

Timestamps

0:00 – The New Investment: 10-to-1 Drone Efficiency

2:15 – The Edge AI Power Problem: Low Power vs. High Compute

4:30 – Industrial Resilience and European Tech Sovereignty

6:05 – Poland’s History: Why Independence is Deeply Personal

8:15 – Selling Outside Poland: Mentality Shifts in the Baltics

9:40 – The “Math Secret”: Why Polish Technical Talent is World-Class

11:15 – Lessons from First Exits: Fighting IBM in Norway

13:40 – Why Deep Tech? Moving the Needle vs. Software Commodities

17:40 – AI in Deep Tech: Does Every Product Actually Need It?

21:00 – Hardware vs. Software: Defensibility in the Post-ChatGPT World

23:20 – The Energy Bottleneck and Space Data Centers

24:35 – The Story Behind the Name “Balnord”

Mio Fagerhäll is the co-founder of eve, an AI matchmaker that’s removing the swipe entirely and is now Sweden’s fastest-growing dating app. We dive deep into why 80% of users are burnt out on swiping and how AI is finally fixing the "endless choice" paradox.

Timestamps:

0:00 - From Pokemon expert to AI matchmaker

2:27 - The 12-year stagnation of dating app innovation

4:35 - Decoding the "stickiness" of Tinder and Hinge

6:14 - How Eve uses AI to build your profile for you

8:34 - Why prompting is dead and generative UI is the future

10:45 - The GTM strategy

12:18 - The "Lunch Box" lore that captured 50% of Sweden's population

14:09 - Why symmetry and "Eve" define the brand's aesthetic

6:06 - Developing the "Love Algorithm" with math geniuses

18:27 - Enhancing the "Butterfly Effect" with synchronised daily match drops

21:50 - The "Picky" advantage: How Eve balances the gender ratio

24:45 - Finding a co-founder in Hong Kong and the Antler VC story

Boris Paskalev is the co-founder of Logicstar AI and the former founder of Deep Code, which was successfully acquired by snyk. A x5 serial entrepreneur, he is currently building predictive maintenance to fix the "leaky bucket" of modern software applications.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction to Boris Paskalev and Logicstar AI

02:21 - Building ML for code in the pre-GPT era

03:40 - The "Mythos" of AI and identifying obscure attack vectors

06:18 - Staying ahead of foundational models through deep analysis

08:44 - The architectural map: Why LLMs ignore important data

11:10 - Running it back: Re-uniting the Deep Code founding team

12:40 - The barometer for business leverage in software fixes

15:15 - The "Leaky Bucket" of customer NPS and app crashes

18:24 - The intensity of the @snyksec acquisition process

21:36 - Why Zurich and ETH are unfair advantages for deep tech

26:07 - Boris's $100M+ goal for childhood brain cancer research

Andrea Gennarini is the Co-Founder and GP of 2100Ventures, a €30M micro-VC proving that Italy is the place to build. This conversation dives into why the world’s 8th largest economy is currently the biggest untapped opportunity in the European tech ecosystem.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 - Introduction to Andrea and the launch of 2100 Ventures

• 2:12 - Why Micro VCs are better for early-stage alignment

• 4:04 - Building an industrial network of 50+ corporate LPs

• 7:10 - The "8th Largest Economy" mismatch: GDP vs. VC per capita

• 8:50 - Leveraging Italy’s massive SME backbone for startup growth

• 11:15 - Defining "Italian DNA" in the venture capital world

• 12:50 - Sourcing founders through Y-Combinator events and hubs

• 14:50 - Vertical focus: B2B SaaS, Physical AI, and Climate Tech

• 19:15 - Why AI is enabling younger founders to build generational companies

• 22:50 - Why the name "2100"?

• 27:00 - Italy’s first Decacorn and the shifting narrative for talent

George Darrah, partner at Systemiq capital and a biologist by training, is revolutionizing how we invest in the intersection of nature and technology. We discuss the future of AI-driven biotech, the cost curves of genomic sequencing, and the portfolio companies transforming everything from soybeans to lab-grown fat.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction and George’s roots in industrial farming.

0:51 - The investment thesis: Where tech meets the physical world.

2:17 - Defining "Decoding Nature" and moving biology out of the lab.

3:47 - Human genome cost curves and the shift to profitability.

4:23 - Case Study: InnerPlant and DNA-sensing soybeans.

7:40 - Hoxton Farms: Lab-grown pork fat and modular manufacturing.

11:21 - VC as a commercial proposition and returning money to LPs.

12:15 - AI as machine learning for unstructured nature data.

13:07 - Basecamp Research: Mapping remote ecosystems for new medicines.

18:24 - Why farming is the ultimate unhedged business risk.

24:07 - The future: GLP-1s and the convergence of food and health.