EU-Startups Podcast

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.

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

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

In this interview, we speak with Philipp Heltewig, Refurbed founder Kilian Kaminski. The Austrian scale-up is turning e-waste into Millions.

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