Balderton 
- Portfolio News
- 06 May, 2026
This season of What’s Next took us from lunar landers to defence drones, from world-leading AI agents to the story behind the invention of Viagra. Across deeptech, AI, fintech, health, and energy, one theme was constant: Europe is entering a new era of ambition.
Below are 10 key takeaways from the founders leading that charge — and the episodes where you can hear their stories firsthand.
1. AI is redefining who gets to build — but technical fluency matters
Barney Hussey-Yeo, Cleo
Barney argues that while AI lowers barriers to starting a company, the bar for building something enduring has never been higher. Technical intuition — even if you’re not writing every line of code — is becoming essential.
2. Europe can’t compete in space without moving faster
Hélène Huby, The Exploration Company
Hélène’s mission is clear: build Europe’s “SpaceX moment.” That requires political courage, public–private partnerships, and a willingness to move at startup, not institutional, speed.
3. The future of health will be personal, not prescribed
Jonathan Wolf, ZOE
Jonathan believes personalised nutrition is the next frontier in preventative health. The microbiome, large-scale data, and behaviour change — not calorie counting — will shape how we understand our bodies.
4. Science moves slowly — but AI can accelerate it (if we fix the bias)
David Brown, Healx
From the serendipity behind Viagra to today’s AI-driven discovery, David highlights a hard truth: much of science suffers from flawed methods and irreproducible data. AI can help — but only if the inputs are trustworthy.
5. Defence tech is no longer a dirty word — it’s a democratic necessity
Florian Seibel, Quantum Systems
Drones on the frontlines of Ukraine have shown that European security now depends on startups as much as on governments. Procurement, partnerships with primes, and a rebuilt industrial base will define the next decade.
6. Autonomous agents will redefine knowledge work
Marvin Purtorab, Convergence (acq. Salesforce)
In one of Europe’s fastest deeptech acquisitions, Marvin’s team proved that agents capable of navigating real software (not just APIs) are closer than we think. The next leap: reliability and human trust.
7. AI infrastructure matters as much as AI models
Meryem Arik, Doubleword
Generative AI gets the headlines, but Meryem reminds us that inference, sovereignty, and open-source architectures will determine who actually benefits from AI — enterprises, nations, and users.
8. Startups can rewrite legacy industries — if they control the full stack
Alan Chang, Fuse
Alan argues that the UK energy grid is fundamentally broken — and only a software-plus-hardware rebuild can fix it. AI will drive demand through the roof; the winners will be customer-first and cost-driven.
9. Tabular data is AI’s biggest untapped opportunity
Professor Frank Hutter, Prior Labs
Most of the world’s economic systems run on structured data, not language. Prior Labs’ breakthrough tabular models — and Freiburg’s rising deeptech scene — show where the next AI frontier lies.
10. Europe’s frontier founders are taking bigger swings
Across the season, one message rang clear: Europe is defining the next era of global innovation.
Whether in space, defence, energy, healthcare, or AI infrastructure, founders are choosing ambition over incrementalism. And governments, investors, and universities are finally joining the movement.
Thank you to all the incredible founders who joined us this season for sharing their journeys!
