Meetup In 3 weeks
December
Thursday
17:30–21:00 2026 · Zurich time
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For years the story went like this: the US builds, Asia scales, Europe regulates. In 2026, that story is being rewritten.
Europe-based AI startups raised a record $9.2B in a single quarter this year, more than half of all European venture funding. Paris saw the continent's largest seed round ever.* And right here in Switzerland, open, sovereign models and a world-class research ecosystem are producing a new generation of AI companies that are no longer "the European version" of anyone.
So for our season finale, we're asking the big question: Can Europe build its own global AI champions, or will we mainly buy AI from elsewhere?
To answer it, we're bringing four builders from across the European AI stack to the stage:
🔬 Damian Borth, Founder & Chairman, Weight Space Labs
⚡ Max Niroomand, Co-Founder & CTO, Lyceum
🇨🇭 Imanol Schlag, Co-Lead Apertus, ETH AI Center
🧠 Aldo Podestà, Co-Founder & CEO, Giotto.ai
Expect an honest conversation about research, reasoning, open models, compute, sovereignty and capital: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Agenda
17:30 Doors open & welcome drinks
18:00 Welcome from Google Cloud
18:15 Panel: AI Made in Europe, with live audience Q&A
19:15 Season finale apéro & networking
21:00 End
Who should join?
Founders, builders, investors and operators in the Swiss and European startup ecosystem, from pre-seed to scale-up.
About The Founder's Story
Now in its fifth season, The Founder's Story by Google Cloud is where founders share the stories behind the success: what worked, what didn't, and what they'd do differently. What started with 10 founders has grown into a community of 2,000+ people. Catch past episodes on YouTube: @TheFoundersStoryGoogle
📸 The event will be recorded and photographed.
*Sources: Crunchbase News, European venture funding Q1 2026 (April 2026); Crunchbase data on AMI Labs' $1.03B seed round (2026); Atomico, State of European Tech 2025.
Full text on Luma .
Founders pitch
Investors in the room
Investors in the room
Investors in the room