Nadir Izrael
Co-founder & CTO at Armis Security
8 Nov 2025Armis raises $435M, Attio updates, Sequoia shifts, Google Maps joins, Palantir dips Big Short 2 more
Nadir Izrael (Armis): $435M Pre-IPO Raise & AI Cybersecurity
Armis co-founder and CTO Nadir Izrael breaks down the $435 million pre-IPO round led by Goldman Sachs at a $6.1 billion valuation and why the firm was the right partner for a planned IPO. He describes Armis as a 'Google Maps' of an organization's attack surface, now past $300 million ARR with a $1 billion target, and explains the role of its three acquisitions. He also covers scaling from a couch idea to nearly a thousand families, why mission, values and transparency keep startup energy alive, AI-driven attack platforms versus defenders' data advantage, and closes with a bet that the future of devices is no device at all.
George Robson (Sequoia): Leadership Change, $950M Funds & Kickstart
After some technical difficulties, Sequoia partner George Robson explains Roelof Botha stepping down after 23 years and the handover to Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, plus what he learned from Botha's culture of excellence and polymath investing. He recounts joining Sequoia at 25 during COVID after co-founding the Kickstart accelerator at LSE and meeting Revolut through it, and walks through the $950 million seed and venture funds, his Europe/US focus, and how AI has changed company building versus five years ago. He closes with advice for young people — don't go into VC, seek agency, become a student of industry — and the hosts read Sean Maguire's tweet praising Botha's embrace of risk.
Palantir Dips as Michael Burry Opens a Big Short
The hosts discuss Michael Burry opening a large short position against Palantir (and Tesla) and Palantir shares dropping 8% shortly after, alongside Burry's cryptic meme tweets and his history of early or wrong calls. They react to Alex Karp's fiery CNBC response calling the short thesis 'batshit crazy' and praise Karp's combative, victory-lap energy on earnings calls.
Lars Rasmussen: Panathenia 2.0 & the Google Maps Origin Story
Lars Rasmussen joins live from Athens with the Parthenon as his backdrop to explain Panathenia, a modern reboot of the ancient Greek innovation festival, returning May 27–29 after a 3,500-person, 44-country first edition built by a student-run team modeled on Slush. He tells the Google Maps origin story — the dot-com crash, a killed VC deal, and 'Where 2' being bought by Larry Page — and the lessons he brings to Athens: people can do more than they think, belief matters, and failure often means something better is waiting. He also mentions his new enterprise-AI seed fund Florent and the view that Athens is at an ecosystem inflection point.
Inception Fund's €21M Nordic Micro Fund & Lovable × OpenAI in Schools
The hosts break down the Inception Fund's €21 million micro fund backed by founders of Lovable, Sana, Lagora, Silo AI's Peter Sarlin and others, and its thesis that Stockholm can become Europe's epicenter for application-layer AI startups. They also cover Lovable's partnership with OpenAI providing $1 million in credits so schools can use Lovable for free, and discuss the value of kids getting hands-on time with AI tools.
Marcus Behrendt (BMW i Ventures): Corporate VC & European Exits
BMW i Ventures managing director Marcus Behrendt explains how the corporate fund operates like a financially driven VC with BMW as a single LP, why it's headquartered in Silicon Valley with a Munich office for Europe, and how its ~€300 million funds write €1–10 million checks from Series A to C. He says BMW has no acquisition agenda — about 95% of portfolio companies become suppliers — and outlines an AI focus on B2B applications rather than new LLMs, alongside material science and sustainability. He also argues Europe needs one big trading hub so startups get exit routes that don't force them abroad.
Chess.com × ElevenLabs PlayCoach, Matt Clifford Buzz & the Google Logo Redesign
The hosts cover Chess.com's PlayCoach launch powered by ElevenLabs text-to-speech and voice cloning, calling it a smart distribution play for the European AI company. They react to Harry Stebbings pledging $100,000 to back Matt Clifford's viral 'Make Britain Rich Again' speech ahead of Clifford's upcoming appearance on the show. They finish by weighing in on a viral unofficial Google logo redesign, the brutal comment section, and Google's search position versus ChatGPT.
Ricardo Amram (Point Nine): P9 Land & Project Europe
Point Nine partner Ricardo Amram introduces the firm — Berlin-based seed investors for 15-plus years, three to four investments per partner per year, global from day one and focused on software-centric, largely AI companies. He describes Point Nine's early LP support for Project Europe with Harry, Kitty, Jade and the 20VC team, calling it a cause close to the firm's heart as the interview gets underway.