EU CVC | E058 | Axel Deniz, Bosch Business Innovations: Venture Building & How Corporates Can Power Europe’s Tech

EU CVC | E059 | Alex Dang, The Venture Mindset: How Corporates Can Beat VCs in the AI Race – The Venture Mindset in Action

Welcome to another episode of the EUVC Podcast! Today, we’re diving into How Corporates Might just be able Beat VCs in the AI Race. Or maybe more importantly, how we can collaborate. Our guest is Alex Dang [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leadingchange/], co-author of the bestselling book The Venture Mindset: How to Make Smarter Bets and Achieve Extraordinary Growth [https://thevcmindset.com/]. Alex is a seasoned technology executive and innovation advisor with over two decades of experience. He was a product leader at Amazon, where he launched new businesses across e-commerce, supply chain, and AI; a partner at McKinsey, helping Fortune 500 companies build digital ventures; and today advises corporate leaders and investors on AI strategies, venture building, and applying VC principles to large organizations. In this conversation, Alex shares provocative insights on why the venture mindset is now non-negotiable for corporates in the AI era, where incumbents hold hidden advantages over VCs, and how to avoid “innovation theater” while turning data, distribution, and scale into real venture wins. Let’s jump in! Here’s what’s covered: * 01:56 | The Venture Mindset in one frame with nine principles from 20 years of Stanford VC research: uncertainty → portfolios → outliers * 03:44 | The post-book update Alex wishes he had added time compression: “days, not weeks,” and the rise of the “one slice team” * 05:53 | Venture mindset applied to AI * 07:34 | Why “adding AI” is the wrong framing; start customer-backward, not tech-backward * 08:43 | “AI theater”, innovation theater and press release strategies vs real product value * 11:19 | The European corporate trap: regulation, consensus, and downside protection as the enemy of transformation * 11:56 | The right AI rollout sequence with start in back office to learn and protect trust, then go customer-facing at scale * 15:21 | Why CVCs die after 3.7 years: incentives, leadership fear, and why corporate venturing fails structurally * 17:24 | AI is now the world’s most democratized intelligence: everyone has the same tools; the gap is execution * 18:47 | Where corporates fit in venture + startup ecosystems: strengths: data, distribution, enterprise scale * 20:38 | When corporates should build in-house, when to partner, and why AI must become an internal muscle * 25:24 | Incentives drive behavior: why executives won’t take venture-style risks unless failure is structurally safe * 28:18 | AI-native teams and corporate reskilling among smaller, senior teams + digital workers replacing junior tasks * 35:24 | What happens to the average corporate employee: tasks disappear, workflows evolve, but people still matter * 38:50 | If Alex were CEO: how to move a workforce into an AI-safe future and target 25% profit uplift through AI * 44:01 | Most counterintuitive venture principle — “drop bad ideas fast” and why persistence is sometimes the wrong discipline * 46:05 | What top CEOs are doing right now: coding with Claude, learning by building, and staying close to users * 49:00 | The compounding effect: “what was impossible 6 months ago is normal today” and why constant feedback loops win

EU CVC | E058 | Axel Deniz, Bosch Business Innovations: Venture Building & How Corporates Can Power Europe’s Tech

Welcome back to the EUVC Corporate Podcast. This week, Jeppe sits down with Axel Deniz, CEO of Bosch Business Innovations and Head of Venture Building at Bosch.Axel is building Bosch’s venture-building engine with a clear mandate: get Bosch technology out into the world, through founder-led spinouts, joint ventures, and seed rounds that can stand on their own with external investors. With ~80,000 active patents, 20 new patents per day, and 20,000 researchers globally, Bosch has the assets. Axel’s job is turning them into investible companies.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:02:30 Bosch’s unfair advantage: 80k patents, 20 patents/day, 20k researchers04:10 Horizon 2/3: building for 2030–2035 where incumbents can’t reach05:30 Hybrid execution: not all in-house, not all studio but a blended model06:25 Problem definition: Bosch theses + founders bringing problems from outside08:25 Stage gates: “get to no fast” + external validation early09:05 Gate #1: attracting “triple-A founders” before anything else10:35 Founder-led 80/20 vs joint ventures when tech risk is still high13:10 Venture market fit: choosing where to build is a venture builder superpower16:20 Founder acquisition: why mediocre pre-seed talent is the biggest risk23:05 Working with scale-ups: co-create instead of buying or minority investing24:15 University engine: 5–6 deep partnerships (Carnegie Mellon example)27:15 Biggest surprises: founder scarcity and portfolio restructuring complexity29:05 Axel’s advice to founders: don’t start deep tech from scratch30:30 Axel’s advice to VCs: don’t underestimate corporates’ learning curve32:00 Axel’s background: founder → Silicon Valley → PWC CVC → Bosch35:15 Career advice: no cookie-cutter route and trust your gut sometimes37:10 How founders can engage: programs + direct outreach on LinkedIn#EUVC #VC #VentureCapital #Investing #TheEuropeanVC #Podcast #Tech #Startup

EUCVC | E057 | Emil Eifrem, Neo4j: Building the AI Infrastructure Layer: Neo4j’s $100M Bet

Welcome back to another episode of the EUVC Podcast. Today, Jeppe [https://dk.linkedin.com/in/jeppehoier] sits down with Emil Eifrem [https://www.linkedin.com/in/emileifrem/], founder & CEO of Neo4j [https://neo4j.com/], the world’s leading graph database and a core infrastructure layer for AI applications used by all 20 of the top US banks, 9 of 10 global pharma giants, and every major automotive OEM. Emil recently announced a $100M global startup program to back founders building the next generation of AI-native products on top of graph technology — from knowledge graphs to hallucination-free LLMs. We delve into why graph thinking matters now, how Neo4j came of age during the Panama Papers investigation, and why Europe is better positioned than people think to compete in the AI platform shift. Here’s what’s covered: * 02:00 — The Panama Papers “Coming Out Party” How journalists used Neo4j to uncover 7-layer-deep financial relationships invisible to traditional databases — and why it triggered a wave of global adoption. * 06:40 — Why Graphs Are the Missing Link for AI Knowledge, meaning, context, and relationships: why LLMs without structured knowledge graphs hallucinate. * 08:50 — The $100M Startup Program Why Neo4j is returning to its roots to support AI-native founders — and why the packaging for startups had to change. * 12:00 — What Founders Get Free Aura credits, dedicated graph engineers, joint GTM, and access to the world’s largest graph developer community. * 14:30 — Early Traction: 300+ Startups in Weeks Why early demand is far ahead of expectations — and the kinds of companies applying. * 16:10 — Community as a Strategic Moat 500+ annual global events, deep developer love, and why skill availability is now a CIO-level buying criterion. * 19:00 — Building Deep Tech in Europe Why Neo4j kept engineering in Europe, how the ecosystem matured, and what today’s founders can learn. * 22:00 — Regulation & Competitiveness Will Europe overregulate itself out of the AI race? Emil’s perspective on models vs infrastructure vs applications. * 23:40 — The Future of AI Infrastructure Why every company must rethink its stack — and why the biggest threat is assuming your business will survive without change.

EU CVC | E056 | The CVC Wind-Down Playbook: Martin Scherrer, Redstone VC

Corporate venture capital isn’t just having “a bit of VC on the side.” Done well, it’s a strategic lens on the future. Done badly, it’s a short-lived pet project with a half-life of 3.7 years and a trail of confused founders and annoyed co-investors.In this episode, we sit down with Martin Scherrer, Partner & Head of Managed Funds at Redstone, alongside our own CVC lead Jeppe Høier, to unpack what really happens when corporates leave venture — and how to do it without destroying value or reputation.Redstone runs a dual model: classic VC funds + “VC-as-a-Service” for corporates and family offices. Martin himself has lived three lives:Inside Swiss Re’s CVC (later shut down)As a founder of an insurtech in SwitzerlandNow as VC & fund manager at Redstone across multiple corporate mandates.🎧 Here’s what’s covered:01:37 Why Martin? Why now? — Jeppe on Redstone’s VC-as-a-service role, his history with them, and why Martin is the go-to voice on CVC secondaries.02:50 Redstone in both worlds — Martin explains Redstone as a VC + CVC-as-a-service platform with deep corporate, VC, and founder roots.06:12 Portfolio thinking 101 — Why corporates underestimate startup investing, ignore the J-curve, and must commit to true portfolio construction + financial KPIs.09:37 Runoff vs. selling the bag — Score case: options to sell the whole portfolio at a 50–80% NAV discount vs. patient value-maximising runoff.13:54 Spin-outs & resilience — How CVCs can evolve into mixed-LP or fully independent VC funds (Swisscom Ventures, Berliner Volksbank → Redstone Fintech III).18:27 Follow-ons in “shutdown mode” — Why corporates sometimes should still fund follow-ons in runoff to unlock new investors and protect upside.20:25 Designing the partnership — Governance, IC design, reporting (e.g. IFRS 9), and performance-based structures that align Redstone and corporates.31:41 Managing vs. buying portfolios — How Redstone runs CVC runoff as an external manager with fees + carry, versus secondary buyers who acquire the assets outright.44:02 How to avoid a wind-down — The “gold standard”: bring in third-party LPs, avoid annual-budget setups, ringfence capital in a dedicated entity, and keep exec sponsors close.

EU CVC | E055 | EUCVC Summit 2025: Christian Tang-Jespersen (ACME) & Claus Gregersen (Augustinus Fabrikker): Global Ambition in an Age of Sovereignty

Welcome back to the EUCVC Summit Talks, where we bring you candid conversations with Europe’s leading founders, corporate leaders, and investors shaping the future of venture collaboration. In this session, Christian Tang-Jespersen [https://www.acme.vc/people/christian-tang-jespersen/], Partner at San Francisco–based ACME [https://www.acme.vc/], and Claus Gregersen [https://dk.linkedin.com/in/claus-gregersen], CEO of the 275-year-old evergreen investor Augustinus Fabrikker [https://augustinusfabrikker.dk/en/], explore what global ambition really means in today’s venture landscape. From recalibrating US expansion strategies to navigating sovereignty, trade tensions, and structural resets, they unpack how investors and founders must adapt to thrive in a more complex—but still interconnected—world. 🎧 Here’s what’s covered: * 00:00 Setting the stage: Cycles, crises, and why this downturn feels different. * 02:00 Structural reset, not just another downturn—why waiting for “normal” is not an option. * 03:30 Investors as navigators, not moral arbiters—what it means in practice. * 04:15 Why the US remains critical: learning, scaling, and surviving tough competition. * 06:00 Page nine of every pitch deck: the inevitable US expansion slide. * 07:20 Trade tensions vs. venture building—why early-stage models aren’t derailed by politics. * 08:30 The importance of value-adding capital—choose partners for impact, not geography. * 09:15 Lessons from COVID and defense: building lean, fast, and resilient. * 10:00 Closing thoughts: capital may be scarcer, but ambition must remain global.