Europe may be having a Renaissance... again!

Top News

• EU rising? TWiST covered Project Europe last week, an effort to bolster capital and mentorship inflows to new European founders. This week, more movement from the continent after 100 companies pitched EU leaders on reducing “reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure,” as TechCrunch put it. No singular effort will overnight change Europe’s technology fortunes, mocked in recent years for earning more regulatory points than startup wins. Europe has hardly been twiddling its thumbs — see our notes on Klarna’s IPO below — but if it wants its own trillion-dollar champion, recent efforts will prove a great start, but perhaps not a full redress to past missteps.

• Rippling sues Deel: In a bombshell suit, HRtech unicorn Rippling alleges that Deel, a rival HRtech unicorn, used an embedded spy to keep tabs on customers that might churn, and observe internal Rippling operations. Eventually, Rippling claims it set up a honeypot of sorts, which led to the internal mole exposing themselves in concrete terms. There’s hilarious spy-craft in the suit — the spy might have tried to flush a phone down the toilet, leading to Rippling checking the pipes — but more to the point, Deel has huge backers including YC and a16z. What they knew, and when they knew it, will loom large in tech circles over the coming weeks.

• Quantum rising: The WSJ reports that Microsoft spends around $300 million on quantum computing research each year. The nugget comes after Microsoft detailed a new quantum chip that it called a breakthrough, while some critics dissented regarding their claims. Recall that Google and Amazon have each shown off quantum progress in recent weeks. The world is focused on AI, yes, but it’s also worth keeping in mind just how active work on making quantum computers a market reality remains.

TWiST500

Today we’re celebrating the public filing of Klarna, a TWiST500 company and a European technology giant. The company’s funding history saw its valuation soar during the pandemic, only to come crashing down later.

The good news is that Klarna’s IPO shows a company with revenue growth that reaccelerated last year, the same period in which the BNPL giant reached full profitability. As I wrote this morning, Klarna’s growth rate in 2024 compared to 2023 was impressive; doubly so when we examine its historical costs. In the last two years, Klarna managed to slow, or reduce entire line items while still expanding its top line. That’s impressive, and could help the Swedish fintech company earn a comfortable IPO valuation.

There’s more good news for Klarna, too. I was a bit confused why they would file now, given the market’s up-and-down gyrations and trade concerns? Well, today we found out:

That’ll do it. A customer win of that size implies secure future growth for Klarna. Affirm shares are off more than 10% as I write to you.

While it is great that Klarna is going public, the fact that it is doing so with tailwinds implies that other unicorns without impending public wins might delay pulling the S-1 trigger. Still, with CoreWeave and Klarna working towards debuts, we’ve got IPO movement at last. — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2098: We had to record early before Jason got snowed in! So on a special Sunday night This Week in Startups, hear Jason, Alex, and Lon talk Klarna’s big IPO, and whether their interest rates are usurious… PLUS is $300 million too much for a Netflix Original movie? Is the era of remote work, and even remote job interviews, over for good? AND was Mark Rober’s Tesla self-driving experiment entirely fair? All that and MORE on a brand new TWiST!

E2097: Jason and Alex chat with British VC Harry Stebbings about his Project Europe initiative, hoping to return good vibes to the European startup space. PLUS Jason digs into his 2024 startup funding strategies and angel investment advice, and gives his unfiltered thoughts on Sam Altman and OpenAI’s latest maneuver to get around copyright protections.

E2096: This was an episode SO PACKED with fresh news, we needed 3 co-hosts. Jason, Alex, and Lon take on the return of Gawker’s Nick Denton, who now has “skin in the game” and lots of thoughts about EVs. Then there’s serious disagreement about Project Europe: an exciting moment for continental innovation, or just another Y Combinator riff? PLUS Anthropic’s huge revenue jump, Pokémon Go heads to Saudi Arabia, why are X and xAI still different companies, and much much more.

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Angel University

Angel University is back! Jason and Mike, President at LAUNCH, are hosting our next live Angel.University workshop in person on Wednesday, April 23rd, in NYC. Jason will be teaching the strategies he’s used to invest $100M+ in 300+ startups over the past decade. Register at: angel.university.

Founder University

Applications are open for Founder University Cohort 10, a 12-week remote pre-accelerator program tailored towards navigating early-startup practices, building an MVP, and growing traction. Submit your application at Founder University— Cohort 10 will kick off Spring 2025!

LAUNCH Accelerator

Applications are open for the 34th cohort of the LAUNCH Accelerator; a 14-week program focused on fundraising and growth. We invest $125K in our accepted companies and help them raise their pre-seed or seed round. Submit your application at LAUNCH Accelerator.

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