Is Europe really at an AI crossroads — or are we already picking a lane?

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Emmet King, Founding Partner at J12, VC with presence in Stockholm, London, and Paris, backing founders early at the frontier of AI,
to unpack what the AI moment actually looks like on the ground for European founders.

Emmet argues that Europe has world-class AI talent, but faces real constraints in capital deployment, energy capacity, and regulatory timing. The question isn’t “can Europe build iconic AI companies?” — it’s whether we’ll move fast enough on energy, compute, and policy to let them scale here.

Together, we dig into:
• What “Europe at an AI crossroads” means in practical terms for founders today
• Where talent density is an advantage — and where capital, energy, and regulation still bite
• Why calling AI a “bubble” is lazy, and where the froth really is (application layer)
• Where the real compounding value lies: infra (DataCrunch, etc.) vs applied AI (Dropcode, Kovant, Pistachio, Dema…)
• Energy reality: China’s lead, US flexibility, and how Europe can close the gap
• The non-negotiables for building an AI startup in Europe in 2026
• What kind of regulation timing helps, instead of smothering, AI scaleups
• Signals that the tide is turning: talent flows, new strategies, infra investment
• A concrete “order of operations” for Europe: capital, energy, compute, data, visas

We also run through a quick rapid-fire round:
• Europe’s AI superpower — and kryptonite
• One regulation to keep, one to rewrite
• How to spot the copilot mirage (shiny but 0.2% impact)
• What proves an infra startup can actually compound
• And Emmet’s finish to: “AI isn’t a bubble if we…”

Takeaways
• Europe has the AI talent to build global leaders — but still underpowers them with capital, energy, and policy.
• The AI “bubble” narrative is lazy; froth is in shallow apps, while infra quietly compounds.
• Energy capacity and compute access are now strategic levers, not back-office concerns.
• Winning AI startups in Europe will be trust-first, productivity-proven, and talent-dense.
• Europe’s path is clear: align capital, energy, compute, data, and visas around its best teams.

Chapters
00:00 – Introduction to AI in Europe
03:10 – Europe at an AI Crossroads
08:16 – Energy Infrastructure and AI
10:41 – The AI Bubble Debate
18:01 – Non-Negotiables for AI Startups
22:55 – J12’s Investment Lens & Thesis
26:22 – If Europe Led for a Day: What to Fix First
31:16 – Contrarian Bets, Safe Bets & Myths
35:14 – Rapid Fire with Emmet King

If you’re building AI in Europe — or thinking about where to found your next company — this conversation is a roadmap, not a hot take.

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