Dinika Mahtani
10 Jun 2026Live from Cherry Ventures Summit
1:19:0415 min
Filip Dames & Dinika Mahtani (Cherry Ventures): Why Now for Europe
Cherry Ventures' Filip Dames and Dinika Mahtani join mid-AGM to explain why now is Europe's moment: global founder ambition, top engineering talent, and a closing capital gap (with growth-stage funding still lagging). They describe backing founders with a unique edge and unfettered ambition, from repeat entrepreneurs to young university research teams, and how they separate real enterprise signal from innovation-budget experiments while weighing durability. They note rising Series A bars (companies approaching $10M revenue in year one) and argue Europe must build in sovereignty, defense, energy and AI infrastructure this decade, citing portfolio companies like Zaro and their first defense investment.