Just to follow up on the numerous exchanges I had about the NASDAQ yesterday and why Europe won't participate (not to mention win!) in the AI race: Take Mistral, the now (hopefully) famous French rock-star AI startup. They are still legally registered in France and, on paper, 75%
Yesterday, I was interviewed by André, a Master’s student in Lisbon, about Kodak vs. Fujifilm as a lens to explore why some companies survive strategic shifts while others don’t. His sharp questions led to a focused discussion. Here’s a condensed transcript of the key points.
TechCrunch recently listed all nineteen $100M+ AI startup rounds so far in 2025. While heavyweights like OpenAI and Anthropic raised multi-billion-dollar rounds, many emerging players in healthcare, defense, legal tech, and creative tools also secured major funding. Beyond the usual top-tier VCs (Lightspeed, General Catalyst, Sequoia), investment was notably driven
Working on long-term trends is obviously getting tricky since a few months ago, and I guess I don't have to explain why anymore. Whether some key events will have long-term negative or positive impacts, businesses and innovators need some level of stability to invest in the future. Knowing