Last September we hosted our 2024 Portfolio Day in Berlin, gathering our portfolio companies, investors, and friends and partners from across the industry together for a day of discussion and networking on the topics driving our portfolio companies and the industry as a whole.
We filmed the day and have been uploading highlights and complete sessions to our YouTube channel over the past few months. They make for great viewing, so I thought I’d dedicate a newsletter update to running through them.
Can Europe compete in AI?
A pertinent question back in September 2024 that’s only become more urgent in recent months and weeks – Steven Schlenker moderated a great panel of AI experts to discuss how Europe can stay competitive, and safe AI development: Tobias Schweiger from Hawk and Philipp Heltewig from Cognigy , two of our brilliant applied AI portfolio companies, Itxaso Araque from Google Cloud, and AI development and safety experts Heiko Hubertz and Yasmin A.: Watch here
Raising growth capital in tough markets
One of the most challenging times in any early-stage startup is raising growth capital, at Series B and beyond – especially when markets are less forgiving. There were some fantastic insights shared by Philipp from Cognigy once again, who raised a $100m Series C in 2024, Veit Blumschein from Lanes & Planes which raised a €33.2m Series B in 2023, investors Raluca Ragab from Eurazeo , Zoé Fabian from Noteus Partners , and POELLATH Partner Dr. Michael Inhester: Watch here
Expanding from Europe to the US
Tapping into the US market is key for nearly every European startup, and it’s something we specialise in at DN with our transatlantic footprint. To discuss how to approach this, Thomas Rubens was joined by investors Ludwig Ensthaler and Henrik Persson, as well as our portfolio companies Job&Talent represented by co-founder Felipe Navío and Leapwork, represented by founder Christian Brink Frederiksen: Watch here
What do angel investors really want?
Good early stage investment and guidance is critical for nearly all startups – so understanding the mindset of angel investors is key. To unpack this, DN’s Ragnar Jongen sat down with a panel of experienced angels: Videesha Boeckle from āltitude, Oskar Hartmann, Dr. Tanja Emmerling from HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds, Konstantin Urban from G-FUND, and Alexander Brand from superangels 😇: Watch here
There was a lot more from the Portfolio Day to showcase, including some fantastic keynote speeches and elevator pitches from our portfolio companies, so I’ll share these in a subsequent update.