It began with a long walk in Berlin. Hemant and I walked through the city for hours, discussing what would be needed to truly activate Europe towards its full potential.

Two years ago, that vision took a decisive step forward when La Famiglia combined with General Catalyst. I made the decision because I firmly believed that GC was serious about meeting founders where they are. That together we could activate true leverage points required to change the trajectory of the continent. It starts with great talent, then you need to shape ecosystems, which in turn gives you the license to transform industries.

This aligned perfectly with the promise of La Famiglia that a “Famiglia” and depth of relationships were required to drive meaningful transformation on the continent and beyond.

A Journey of Conviction

I've always believed that Europe's story isn't one of decline, but of untapped potential. I authored this vision in my book, Europe's New Renaissance, outlining how Europe could reclaim its historical ambition and innovative spirit. We live in a region unparalleled in historical, social, cultural, and inventive diversity. Walking through the industrial heartlands of Germany or the ancient streets of the Marais in Paris, speaking with brilliant founders and minds across the continent, I've felt it viscerally: it's now about bringing Europe back to the table as a global innovation leader and reclaiming our place in shaping the technological future.

This conviction has guided me through doubt and uncertainty. When we founded La Famiglia, many questioned whether Europe's traditional industries could truly dance with its startups. When I spoke of European tech giants breaking into the global top ten by 2040, I was met with polite skepticism. But our then-founded GC Famiglia is not just theorizing: we're building. We're actively moving the pieces on the board, creating the connections, deploying the capital, and driving the transformations that will make this vision reality—all in the service of the brilliant founders who are the true drivers of Europe's renaissance. They are the ones doing the hard work of building, and our role is to amplify their impact in every way possible.

What We've Built Together

In only two years, we have:

• Built GC Famiglia in Europe: The La Famiglia idea, a community built on deep relationships, trust, and shared ambition, is now the nucleus of GC Famiglia, connecting founders, industrial leaders, and policymakers globally with one mission: turning innovation and shared creativity into resilience. 
• Scaled our seed muscle in the true spirit of grassroots and a seed-minded firm, which is our DNA. We continue to back exceptional founders early and support them all the way through growth with a team that cares deeply about the ambiguity and builder spirit at seed. We are tracking 48 seed and 24 growth investments in Europe since the merger.
• Backed founders who share our vision and are driving resilience and abundance across Europe: Companies like Helsing, building the digital backbone of Europe's defense capabilities; Mistral, defining Europe's frontier in applied AI and setting new global standards for open innovation; and others like Deel, Legora, and Parloa proving that European founders can scale globally without losing their roots. Today, the most valuable AI companies in Europe are part of the GC portfolio, and with Helsing, Mistral, and Deel, we’ve helped build three decacorns with European DNA.
• Brought our Creation Strategy to Europe, investing in AI-enabled rollups that are transforming service industries—from Integral in accounting to Dwelly in property management—and hatching new companies by partnering with exceptional founders to turn bold ideas into thesis‑driven ventures. 
• Deployed more than $1.8 billion in Europe in this fund cycle, making us one of the largest and most committed backers of technology companies on the continent. We do this because we see founders stepping up and we want to match their growing ambition with the scale of our capital and conviction.
• Brought our Customer Value Fund (CVF) proposition to Europe: an innovative capital model that pre-funds sales and marketing like an asset rather than equity, giving companies such as Finom, Flatpay, and Factorial the scale and leverage to match their growth ambitions without the dilution of traditional growth capital so they can preserve equity for R&D and fuel product innovation.
• Partnered to accelerate transformation in action. Together with Guy’s & St. Thomas’s NHS Trust, NVIDIA, and our portfolio companies Sword Health and Hippocratic AI, we are rethinking entire patient pathways end-to-end with AI at the center, from referral to recovery.
• Expanded Percepta to Europe to help European businesses work through GC's framework for AI adoption at scale, embedding AI engineers, researchers, and product managers directly within organizations.
• Organized a movement for Europe to lead in AI, bringing together policy, tech, and capital, which is core to drive real transformation at scale.
• Engaged with key nations on a framework for strategic autonomy that addresses deterrence, health assurance, AI diffusion, and reskilling, the building blocks of long-term resilience.

Beyond Capital: Building Bridges

What moves me most isn't the capital deployed or valuations achieved, but the bridges we've built. Between the engineer with decades of manufacturing expertise and the 22-year-old founder with a revolutionary algorithm. Between the American investor who sees Europe's potential and the European executive who's ready to take bold risks again.

While headlines often focus on large funding rounds and unicorns, our heart remains in the earliest moments of company building. Our seed team writes first checks and works alongside founders when the path forward is uncertain. Through high-touch community work that often goes unseen, we're helping rebuild Europe's innovation ecosystem from the ground up. We want to create conditions where ambitious founders feel supported to take the leap. That matters more than the capital itself.

We are sitting with founders at 2 am as they wrestle with existential decisions. We’ve watched industrial leaders set aside decades of competitive instinct to build something larger than themselves by leaning into co-creation with founders. These moments of genuine human connection remind me why we do this work.

A Movement, Not a Moment

Along the way, our global talent team has enabled us to bring exceptional European talent back to Europe: engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs who once shaped AI and deep tech in the U.S. and are now building new European champions. This flow of talent is a quiet but powerful signal: belief is returning.

And with that belief, new ecosystems are taking shape.‍

By backing companies like Helsing, which began by developing AI-based defense software and now builds drones and other critical systems, we’re witnessing how radical collaboration can create entirely new industrial frameworks, where startups, manufacturers, and governments co-develop technologies that strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy. Similar shifts are happening across sectors: founders and corporates are joining forces to build the connective tissue of Europe’s next industrial era.

Yet one truth remains: this mission cannot succeed in isolation. Europe's renewal will take a movement, not a single firm or fund. We need many investors, founders, and policymakers pulling in the same direction. If Europe is to build a more resilient, confident, and innovative future, we all have a role to play. This is why we expanded our fund-of-funds muscle to Europe and have since become proud backers of some of the most vibrant seed-fund managers, who we are also partnering with. Additionally, we have recently launched our scout program, Genesis, to empower exceptional builders to invest in and strengthen local ecosystems.

What Lies Ahead

Europe’s biggest, most visible challenges are, in fact, its greatest opportunities. Over the past five decades, we have outsourced our digital supply chain and defense capabilities to the US, our hardware supply chain to China, and our energy security to Russia. Today, all of these dependencies are being tested at once, which unlocks urgency at all levels. And technology may be the only lever we can pull fast enough to rebuild strength and sovereignty. ‍

Urgency + Technology = Opportunity to shape

But this moment demands a new approach to innovation, one that stretches beyond the traditional venture playbook. Unprecedented problems require unprecedented innovation.

Here is our playbook: 

1. Talent
2. Flexible capital
3. Flywheel of relationships

The path forward is clear yet challenging. We must continue to strengthen Europe's technological sovereignty while fostering radical collaboration across borders. We need to accelerate AI adoption in traditional industries while ensuring the benefits are widely shared. And we must nurture the next generation of founders who will build the European tech giants of tomorrow.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to Hemant and the coolest and most fun GC team for delivering on this promise every day.