24 Sep 2026Live from Human [X]
4 Sep 2026Muse Spark 1.3 | AI Proof Assets | OpenAI Device | Wayve Launch London
17 Apr 2026Allbirds Does AI, Snap Layoffs, SovAI’s £500M, Jensen Not A Loser, UK Stablecoins
Patrick Ryan (Odin): Delaware Expansion + VC Trivia
Patrick Ryan, co-founder of Odin, joins for a segment on the show's VC trivia game. He discusses Odin's Delaware expansion and rebrand for cross-Atlantic venture fund administration, the hot secondary market and private-company access tokens, UK versus US fund regulation, then competes in a true-or-false quiz on round sizes, solo founders, and founder age.
James Wise Launches UK Sovereign AI Fund
James Wise, chair of UK Sovereign AI, officially launches the government's £500 million AI fund, explaining its independent investment committee, matched commercial terms, GPU compute allocation, and founder support levers. He fields quick-fire questions on whether £500 million is meaningful, the state of UK compute, frontier labs including DeepMind and ElevenLabs, and whether anyone can best Anthropic and OpenAI.
19 Jan 2026Europe’s Newest Unicorn, Hiro Capital Deep Dive, Thinking Machines Drama, Listen Labs does $100M
James Wise on Revolut's Win and the UK Sovereign AI Unit
Balderton partner James Wise returns after US trips to react to Nick Clegg joining Hiro Capital and to the FT front-page story on Balderton's roughly $9B Revolut stake, calling it rare positive front-page coverage for European tech. He then explains his new role as inaugural chair of the UK government's Sovereign AI Unit, helping set up its structure, team, and strategy; the interview continues past the end of this part.
James Wise: Chairing the UK's Sovereign AI Unit
James Wise, inaugural chair of the UK's Sovereign AI Unit, explains the unit was set up under the AI Opportunities Action Plan (the Matt Clifford work for government) to help the best commercial AI companies anchor in Britain and keep the UK resilient across the AI stack "from electron to token." It will operate like a fund — investing hundreds of millions directly into cap tables on commercial terms, offering compute and data access, and using advanced market commitments where government pre-commits to buy from companies hitting targets. He says he's hiring a managing partner and hopes the unit returns money to the taxpayer and leaves 5-10 leading AI companies with a strong UK base.
Why 'Sovereignty' Is Everywhere in Tech Right Now
Wise says he doesn't want to overplay sovereignty — it isn't nationalism or "drawing up drawbridges," but about growing the global AI pie with Britain keeping a slice. He attributes the surge in sovereignty talk to governments recognising the resources AI requires (energy, data) and its disruptive economic impact that will force legal and regulatory change. He notes tech founders historically ignored government, but the community now engages, citing White House CEO roundtables and technologist appointments in the UK.
AI Job Fears, Sadiq Khan & UK Early Adoption
Responding to Sadiq Khan's FT warning that AI could cause mass unemployment in London, Wise argues the real risk is blocking access to AI tools — that's how you'd actually cause job losses. He cites polling (Focal Data) showing Brits are among the world's earliest adopters of new technology per capita, from e-commerce and neobanking to AI products, and says the priority is access plus clear guidance. He adds that government should capture and champion internal AI successes — like a doctor or teacher using it productively — rather than fuel alarmism.
Balderton's Record Year & 2026 Hiring Plans
Wise reports 2025 was Balderton's best year in its 25-year history by distributions returned to investors, with strong portfolio momentum and announcements from Fuse, Quantum Systems, GoCardless, Dream Games and Revolut. He stresses the firm stays "paranoid" to keep winning the best European founders. He plugs open roles — investment professionals for the sovereign AI unit team and a hire covering the DACH region — and teases "a couple of big announcements" in the next month.
18 Oct 2025Jack and Jill raise $20m, Oura hits $11bn, UK IPO Market, IPO push for Nscale, Waymo announce London
Stockholm's top founders join the defense race
The hosts dig into a Sifted story on Sweden's leading founders — from Klarna, Voi and Spotify — rallying around defense tech, with the sector raising $3.5 billion this year versus $1.8 billion in all of 2024. They discuss Daniel Ek's backing of Helsing, the debate over whether defense bets amount to "going long war," and how the asset class has shifted from taboo to a patriotic, pro-national investment.
Dom Hallas on UK tech policy & the budget
Startup Coalition's Dom Hallas, joining from rural Wisconsin at 6 a.m., unpacks Jensen Huang's UK visit and the wave of AI infrastructure commitments from US tech giants, questioning how much of the money is real. He argues the UK shouldn't copy US or Chinese industrial policy but should find leverage points in the AI stack (pointing to ARIA's moonshot bets), supports EU Inc-style work to complete the digital single market, and previews Startup Coalition's priorities ahead of the UK budget — stock options reform on offense, tax rises on defense. He also weighs in on Revolut founder Nik Storonsky's Dubai tax move and calls Trump's $100,000 H-1B fee a major talent opportunity for the UK.
James Wise on European venture, bubbles & UK IPOs
Balderton partner James Wise calls this the most exciting period in his 15 years of European venture, noting Balderton will return more capital this year than ever in its 25-year history. He says London — the largest ride-hailing market in the Western world — can easily support both Waymo and Wave, and describes the widening range of sectors he's seeing, from drones and nuclear fusion to space logistics and green energy. On markets, he argues a financial bubble is inevitable but AI is not a technological dead end, warns about the top 10 US companies nearing 25% of global equity value, and pushes back on Chamath's "British IPOs are dead" tweet — blaming UK pension funds' collapsed equity allocations (from ~40% in 2000 to ~5-10%) for starving the market of capital.