Podcast
EU-Startups Podcast
Hosted by Thomas Ohr · EN
The official Podcast of EU-Startups.com - the leading online magazine about startups in Europe.
17episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
From Skype to Delivery Robots
3w ago00:39:10Tap to summarizeInterview with co-founder of Starship Technologies Athi Heinla Key Points Ahti’s early start in programming and how it influenced his long-term approach to building technology Key lessons from Skype that directly shaped how he built and scaled Starship Why last-mile delivery stood out as a high-impact, unsolved problem worth tackling How autonomous delivery is reshaping (not simply replacing) jobs in the logistics ecosystem The balance between innovation and regulation when deploying robots in public spaces Ahti’s vision of future cities where autonomous delivery is seamlessly integrated into daily life
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The Travel Startup that Beat Covid
Apr 1600:55:10Tap to summarizeInterview with Patrick Andrae, co-founder & CEO of HomeToGo Key Points The original bet behind HomeToGo: aggregating fragmented vacation rental supply into a seamless, user-first marketplace How travel behavior evolved post-Covid - and what trends reverted faster than expected The rise of “soulcation” and why modern travel is shifting toward rest, wellness, and slower experiences Why nature-based and rural destinations are outperforming traditional city breaks The impact of AI across TravelTech—from discovery to booking and property management
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How Factorial Became Barcelona's HRTech Unicorn
Apr 900:33:18Tap to summarizeInterview with Founder & CEO Jordi Romero This interview features Jordi Romero, Founder and CEO of Factorial, offering an in-depth look at the evolution of one of Europe’s leading HRTech scaleups. Based in Barcelona, Romero shares his journey from engineer to entrepreneur, reflecting on his early experience at Redbooth and the founding of Factorial in 2016. The conversation explores how Factorial has grown into a global business software platform serving thousands of companies across more than 90 countries. Romero discusses the company’s mission to eliminate manual administrative work through automation, enabling organisations to focus more on people and decision-making. With increasing investment flowing into AI-driven workforce management tools, Romero provides perspective on how automation, data insights, and integrated platforms are reshaping HR, finance, and IT operations. The discussion also highlights Spain’s growing role in this space, as well as the competitive dynamics emerging across Europe. His insights provide valuable context for understanding how modern companies are rethinking workforce management in an increasingly digital and AI-enabled environment. Key Points - The role of AI in automating recruitment, onboarding, and employee lifecycle management - Challenges and opportunities in scaling a SaaS company internationally - The shift from fragmented tools to integrated, all-in-one business management platforms - How startups can identify and solve inefficiencies in traditional business processes - The competitive landscape of European HRTech and emerging innovation trends
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Why Female Founders Are Still Overlooked
Apr 200:44:23Tap to summarizeInterview with Ropa Popat, Founder & Managing Partner at Arāya Ventures In this episode, Rupa Popat, founder of Arāya Ventures, shares her vision for redefining early-stage venture capital. Rupa discusses the persistent under-allocation of capital to diverse founders, highlighting that female-led teams in the UK still receive less than 1% of VC funding - even though data shows diverse teams consistently outperform. Rupa also dives into the world of AI investing, focusing on workflow-native, human-centred AI rather than headline models. She shares her perspective on the UK’s positioning as a European AI hub, the growing opportunities in Health x AI, and how early-stage founders can prepare for fundraises that go beyond technical spectacle to execution-led, scalable businesses. Throughout the conversation, Rupa explores what it means to be a value-add VC today, the importance of domain expertise in building defensible startups, and the systemic challenges in the venture ecosystem. She highlights emerging sectors, including preventative healthcare, precision medicine, and FemTech, while providing actionable insights for founders, investors, and policymakers. Key points covered in this interview: - The persistent funding gap for female founders and why inclusivity drives performance, not just values. - What makes a founder or founding team stand out at pre-Seed stage: lived experience, resilience, and clarity of vision. - Emerging opportunities at the intersection of Health x AI, including preventative care, precision medicine, and FemTech. - How Arāya Ventures trains investors through its Investment Academy to broaden who writes cheques and build a more inclusive ecosystem.
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Europe's Journey to Tech Autonomy
Mar 2600:27:42Tap to summarizeInterview with Founder and CEO of n8n, Jan Oberhauser In this interview, Jan Oberhauser, Founder and CEO of n8n, talks about how a personal frustration with repetitive coding led him to build one of Europe’s best-known workflow automation platforms. From the early pain point of constantly rewriting the same code to creating a fair-code automation tool used by developers and enterprises worldwide, Jan shares the thinking behind n8n and the principles that shaped it from day one. Jan explains the meaning behind the company’s unusual name, why openness and community-driven technology matter, and how flexibility, self-hosting, and control over data have become major priorities for businesses, especially in Europe. He also discusses why companies want to avoid being locked into a single model, provider, or ecosystem as AI adoption accelerates. The interview also looks at the broader AI landscape, including Europe’s position compared to the US and China, the areas where the region still needs to improve, and what may separate long-term winners from the flood of startups building “just another AI tool”. Beyond company building, Jan also reflects on surprising use cases of n8n, how users have stretched the platform in unexpected directions, and what he looks for when backing founders as an angel investor. Key Points - How Jan’s frustration with repetitive coding became the starting point for n8n - The story behind the name n8n and the company’s fair-code, community-driven philosophy - Why data ownership, self-hosting, and flexibility matter more than ever for European businesses - Europe’s strengths and weaknesses in AI compared with the US and China - Jan’s thoughts on the AI bubble, unexpected n8n use cases, and the founder traits he values as an investor
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Inside the Tech Hacking Brain Health
Mar 1900:35:12Tap to summarizeInterview with the CEO & co-founder of Neuroelectrics, Ana Maiques This episode features Ana Maiques, CEO and co-founder of Neuroelectrics, a Barcelona-based neurotechnology company pioneering non-invasive brain stimulation for neurological and psychiatric conditions. Founded in 2011 as a spin-off from Starlab, Neuroelectrics has grown into a global digital brain health company operating in over 74 countries, with a presence in both Barcelona and Boston since 2014. Their tech enables clinicians to both read and influence brain activity in real time, offering applications in epilepsy, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and anxiety disorders. The conversation explores how the neurotechnology landscape has evolved over the past decade - from a niche research field into a rapidly growing sector attracting significant investment. Maiques also discusses Neuroelectrics’ collaboration with NASA, where its technology has been used to measure cognitive fatigue in pilots. The interview examines the structural challenges of scaling DeepTech companies in Europe versus the US, including access to capital, talent, and regulatory pathways. Maiques shares insights from her role as President of EsTech, an organisation representing leading Spanish scale-ups. Key Points: - Why Neuroelectrics was founded to address the lack of personalised, effective brain disorder treatments - How non-invasive brain stimulation works and why it offers advantages over surgical approaches - How COVID-19 accelerated adoption of remote brain treatment and telemedicine solutions - Challenges of scaling DeepTech companies in Europe and the funding gap compared to the US - The current state of gender diversity in STEM and where progress is still needed Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:30 - Sponsor 2:43 - Interview
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Meet the startup turning e-waste into Millions
Mar 1200:38:07Tap to summarizeInterview with Refurbed founder Kilian Kaminski In this interview, we speak with Philipp Heltewig, Refurbed founder Kilian Kaminski. The Austrian scale-up is turning e-waste into Millions.
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AI and the Moral Question of our Time
Mar 500:37:19Tap to summarizeInterview with GM of NiCE Cognigy Philipp Heltewig In this interview, we speak with Philipp Heltewig, Chief AI Officer at NiCE and General Manager of NiCE Cognigy, about the journey of building Cognigy from a startup in 2016 to a $1 billion acquisition by NiCE Ltd. in 2025. Philipp reflects on the early frustrations that inspired the company, the rapid evolution of enterprise AI adoption, and how customer service is shifting from chatbots to agentic AI systems capable of acting autonomously within enterprise workflows. Cognigy was founded in 2016 by Philipp Heltewig, Sascha Poggemann, and Benjamin Mayr with the goal of transforming how enterprises engage with customers. In the conversation, Philipp looks back at Cognigy’s early years and the key milestones along the way, including the ~€36 million Series B in 2021, the €93 million Series C in 2024, and the strategic acquisition by NiCE in 2025. A major theme of the discussion is the rise of agentic AI — systems that can understand intent, take actions across enterprise systems, and orchestrate complex customer interactions. Philipp breaks down how these AI agents differ from traditional chatbots and why enterprises are increasingly adopting them to automate routine tasks while allowing human agents to focus on higher-value interactions. The conversation also explores the limits of current AI systems and the situations where human support is still essential, particularly when empathy, complex judgement, or sensitive decision-making is required. Key Points - Cognigy was founded in 2016 and acquired by NiCE Ltd. for $1 billion in September 2025. - Philipp explains the shift from basic chatbots to agentic AI, capable of acting autonomously within enterprise systems. - Enterprises increasingly use AI to augment human agents, handling routine interactions while humans focus on complex cases. - The interview explores how the founder role evolves after a major acquisition, and how AI strategy is shaped within a larger global company. Chapters 00:00 - Intro 01:26 - Sponsor 02:39 - Interview
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How He Built a €1.1B Giant
Feb 2600:38:40Tap to summarizeInterview with Enrico Giacomelli, the Founder of Namirial In this interview, Enrico Giacomelli, Founder and Chairman of Namirial, reflects on building one of Europe’s leading Digital Transaction Management and Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) groups - from a small Italian software house founded in 1991 to a pan-European digital trust leader valued at approximately €1.1 billion. Founded in 2000 in Senigallia, Namirial now operates in 90+ countries, employs over 1,300 people, and serves enterprises, SMEs and public administrations across Europe, Latin America and Asia. In 2020, Ambienta acquired a majority stake, accelerating international expansion. In July 2025, Bain Capital acquired a majority stake. Later that year, Namirial merged with Signaturit (backed by PSG Equity), creating a leading pan-European QTSP with strong positions in Italy, Spain, France and Germany. We discuss regulation as both constraint and catalyst, what “AI-first” means in a highly regulated environment, scaling through M&A, and the future of European digital identity. Key Points: - How Enrico identified the original problem in 1991 - and why it still matters - Building a global tech leader from outside Europe’s main startup hubs - Regulation as both constraint and competitive advantage - What “AI-first” means in a trust-heavy, compliance-driven sector - Practical advice for founders making their first steps - Avoiding the AI hype cycle while building long-term value
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Tackling Europe's Skills Crisis
Feb 1900:28:44Tap to summarizeInterview with the Founder and EC of Talent Garden, Davide Dattoli In this episode, we speak with Davide Dattoli, Founder and Executive Chairman of Talent Garden, about building one of Europe’s largest digital skills and EdTech platforms — from its launch in 2011 as a coworking experiment in Italy to a pan-European education group operating across 12 markets in Europe, Brazil, and Singapore. Today, Talent Garden trains 25,000 professionals and students annually, connects 4,500 startups and tech professionals, and attracts more than 500,000 campus visitors each year. We also discuss Davide’s role as Venture Founder at Italian Founders Fund, Italy’s founder-backed VC supporting pre-seed and seed startups, as well as his broader involvement in the European tech ecosystem. The conversation explores how the EdTech sector is evolving amid growing AI-driven learning investment (with roughly €52.7 million disclosed in European digital-skills funding rounds in 2025–2026), why physical learning communities still matter, and what “future-proof” skills really mean beyond the buzzwords.
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