Episode Details

Earlybird raised a €360 million early-stage fund, its largest yet, after extending the hard cap during the raise to bring in an additional institutional LP.

Andre Retterath, General Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital, talks about how that number is decided before the fund is even raised, with ownership targets and follow-on reserves shaping the size more than anything else in a market where liquidity has been tight.

The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here:

https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk

Sponsors:

Mishcon: https://www.mishcon.com/pop-ups/scaling-europe

Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026

SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/

Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:19 - €360m fund announcement

0:55 - Fund size and portfolio strategy

2:29 - Fundraising in today’s LP market

3:54 - IPOs and liquidity returning

5:39 - Deep tech focus

8:13 - What founders look for in investors

10:03 - Aleph Alpha and Cohere

12:24 - Sovereignty in Europe

15:39 - Ownership structure and long-term setup

20:14 - Advice for getting into VC