When will Europe have a Trillion Dollar company?
Plus: Which questions to ask in reference calls
· 788 words
Melanie Gabriel & Christian Woese
December 03, 2024 • Read time: 4 minutes
Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
Just when you think tech is wild, crypto raises the bar. Crypto founder Justin Sun ate a banana attached to an artwork which he bought for $6.2M last week (the banana was bought on the day before and cost 35 cents). Maybe it’s all just prep for his next NFT stunt. Meanwhile, the rest of us are busy solving actual problems. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.
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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party
A new German AI unicorn
Generative AI startup Black Forest Labs is closing in on a $200M funding round, setting its valuation north of $1B just four months after raising $31M in seed funding. Known for its cutting-edge text-to-image generation models (reportedly outperforming Midjourney), this new unicorn could shine a light on Europe’s AI ambitions.
Artists vs. OpenAI
OpenAI has pulled access to its text-to-video model, Sora, for a select group of artists after complaints about “art washing”. Sora, which can generate complex moving picture scenes, was announced earlier in the year and is currently in early-access testing. The situation highlights increasing rift between AI model developers and the creative community.
What do you meme?
Food for thought
More patents for Europe?
Europe falling behind on innovation has been the story of the last months. In some areas, this may be due to an outdated application of rules. Enter, the European Patent Office: its grant rates have been sharply low in international comparison in the field of Gen AI and neural networks.
Patent grant rates for Generative AI are low in Europe
No granny to prank
An AI impersonating your… grandma? Phone giant O2 has pulled off just that. In order to protect against fraudsters, the company has released Daisy - an AI designed to trick phone scammers into thinking they are talking to an actual target. We are waiting for the day where a “Fraudster AI” will be talking to a “Victim AI”…
Underexposed to venture capital?
While US pension funds channel some 1.9% of into venture capital, the allocation of their European peers is significantly lower, standing at around 0.007%. Access to capital has been named as one reason why moonshots like 11x relocated to the US. Europe: be bold!
AI eats the world
Tech analyst Benedict Evans rolls out a presentation each year to explore Tech trends. This year is all about the massive impact Generative AI will have on traditional software. Read here, or watch his presentation.
The next tech platform: Generative AI
Mark your calendar
Denmark
Visionaries Tomorrow x Pale Blue Dot: Copenhagen Climate Dinner, Copenhagen, 11 December 6.30pm [Apply here]
Switzerland
Fuckup Nights, 10 December [Register]
UK
Women in FinTech Meet Up in London, 11 December 6pm [Register here]
Online
SSA: Webinar: Unlocking Growth: Why Startups Should Embrace ESG for Sustainable Success, 3 December 12pm CEST [Register here]
SSA: Webinar: Finding Your Market: How Early-Stage Startups Can Validate Product-Market Fit, 4 December 12pm CEST [Register here]
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Smart hack
Early hires can make or break a company (more about this in this week’s podcast episode👀). After a long search and interviews, reference calls can feel like a formality, but asking the right questions - despite potential discomfort or legal concerns - can yield specific feedback to evaluate fit and address potential issues. Former Stripe COO put together eight questions that help you get the information you really need to hear:
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