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The NZZ recently highlighted an unusual Swiss AI story: a Basel-based association called Macroscopic Ventures is reportedly among the early investors in Anthropic, the company behind Claude. What makes the story remarkable is not only the potential financial return, but also the background and motivation of the investor. Macroscopic Ventures reportedly invested in Anthropic as…

For years, the venture-capital playbook seemed remarkably straightforward: build software, scale quickly and benefit from attractive margins. In the age of artificial intelligence, that logic is beginning to change. The reason is almost paradoxical. Software has never been easier to build. AI-assisted development tools allow founders to launch products faster, with smaller teams and significantly…

AI startups are growing faster than any software generation before them. At least on paper. Behind some of the most impressive revenue announcements, however, lies a surprisingly flexible interpretation of ARR. Founders and investors should take a closer look. The headlines sound spectacular: an AI startup reaches $10 million in Annual Recurring Revenue within months.…

There is a strange new rhythm in venture capital. Not long ago, a startup funding cycle followed a fairly predictable cadence. A company would raise capital, execute against milestones, show progress, and then return to market twelve to eighteen months later. Over time, that cycle compressed. Eighteen months became twelve. Twelve became nine. Nine became…

Physical AI is becoming one of Europe’s most exciting deeptech fields. It refers to artificial intelligence that does not just generate text, images or code, but acts in the physical world: in robotics, industrial automation, autonomous vehicles, chips, advanced materials and other hardware-driven sectors. A recent analysis by Sifted shows how much momentum Europe already has in…

This week on the Burn Rate podcast, we discussed a shift that is becoming impossible to ignore: the seed market is not dead, but it is changing dramatically. We looked at the latest numbers from the U.S. venture market, because the U.S. is often a leading indicator for what may later show up in Europe.…

This week on our podcast Burn Rate, we discussed a listener question that goes straight to one of the biggest debates in the startup and AI world right now: is the one-person unicorn still a myth, or are we seeing the beginning of a fundamentally new startup model?  The case that triggered the discussion was Medvi, a telehealth company…

The venture capital market looks healthy again, at least from a distance. In Europe, fundraising is picking up. In the US, investment volumes are exploding. On paper, that sounds like a recovery. In practice, it looks more like a market that is healing for a small minority while staying brutal for everyone else. That distinction…

A notable shift is emerging in the venture capital landscape. Capital is moving away from traditional software startups and toward hardware. What was once seen as unattractive, capital intensive, slow, and complex, is now becoming a key focus for investors. Europe is unexpectedly at the center of this trend. The Numbers Behind the Shift The…