European Sovereignty Playbook
The hosts:
Maxi Pethö-Schramm, HV Capital
Christian Bogatu, SRPIND
What is this Ripple about?
A new generation of European companies is emerging across energy, critical minerals, semiconductors, robotics, defence, and compute: built not just to win markets, but to become strategically indispensable to the continent. This roundtable unpacks the founder and investor playbook for building these "European primes": organizations whose strategic relevance extends far beyond traditional venture outcomes.
Why this topic timely or urgent in 2026
Amid geopolitical fragmentation, European governments are racing to rebuild resilience and secure local supply chains for critical goods and infrastructure. This unlocks generational contracts and nondilutive financing for startups, but it also demands a new playbook for engaging public stakeholders across procurement, policy, and public finance.
Key questions or challenges being explored
What does the "right" cap table look like for companies expected to become critical national or continental assets
How should founders and investors build government relationships and secure contracts, navigate policy, and shape political agendas?
How do you build a company that is strategically indispensable at continental scale when sovereignty is still largely defined and funded at the national level?
The key tension or debate at the heart of this discussion
European startups building sovereign technology and infrastructure face a fundamental question: raise foreign private capital, or anchor in European public funding. Can they tap into both "European sovereignty" and "American dynamism," or must they pick a path? And is deep engagement with public stakeholders, often slow and laden with strings, a distraction from speed or a prerequisite to scale? The deepest tension pits European sovereignty against global integration, since the very companies the continent needs to remain independent often require global capital and customers to reach competitive scale. A second tension pits reliance on governments against founder control of destiny, because the contracts and funding that enable these companies to grow can also slow them down or constrain their strategic choices.
Who would get the most value from attending this Ripple?
Founders building in dual use technology, energy, critical minerals, industrial supply chains, compute infrastructure, manufacturing, and robotics. Public sector operators, sovereign investors, and policymakers shaping Europe's industrial future. Investors focused on sovereign and strategic technologies.