Visionaries Club

✨ The next wave of visual intelligence won’t be built by the biggest teams. It’ll be built by the those who already changed the game once, and know how to do it again. Before the world realised what diffusion models could unlock, a small team of researchers in Europe quietly rewrote the rules of image generation: pioneering Latent Diffusion to make visual AI powerful, Stable Diffusion to make AI accessible, and FLUX models to make AI controllable. Those same minds are now building what comes after… and they’re doing it in Europe. Today, we’re proud to back Black Forest Labs as part of their $300M Series B, joining an extraordinary group of partners to support one of the most advanced independent AI research labs on the planet. Why we believe this matters: - 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 & 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: over 400M+ downloads of their open models, used by millions of developers and creators - A 𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘆, 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 (~50) rivalling Big Tech results - 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲, with customers from Adobe to Meta and Canva - A blueprint for 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱-𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀, 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 Visual AI is shifting from beautiful outputs to systems that understand creative intent — unifying perception, generation, memory, and reasoning. That is the infrastructure BFL is building, and we believe it will shape how the world designs, builds, and imagines. This new round unlocks the next chapter of research, infrastructure, and talent, including the work behind 𝗙𝗹𝘂𝘅 𝟮, their next-generation model family. We’re so proud to partner with Robin Rombach, Andreas Blattmann and the BFL team on the road ahead. From the Black Forest to the rest of the world. Europe can and is competing on a global stage, including at the foundational model layer. 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱. Cc: Judith Dada, Robert Lacher Read more about why we invested here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eVg3rhXK

I wrote a longer thing. You may find it controversial. I fully stand behind every line. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝. As a venture capitalist, three sayings have shaped the way I look at my work. They helped to give me the stomach for it, teaching me to take investing very seriously on the one hand, while also holding it lightly enough to take the risks required to back outlier companies. “Do not be a surgeon who cannot see blood.” “Whatever correction the market brings, fear cannot have a seat at the table.” “We are not saving lives here.” Now, they are utterly failing me and our entire industry. On inviting fear back into the room: Please follow the below link to read the post on Substack. Some things wish to be read in full, not as a shortened LinkedIn-clickbait-version 🫡. https://lnkd.in/eRWYNKGs

Europe’s ambition feels very much alive after 48 hours in HEL 🔥 It was cold, we were low on sleep and somehow Slush felt more relevant this year than it has in a long time. You could feel the tension between the highs and lows of European tech in 2025, but also a palpable sense that we're just getting started. A few standout moments from the Visionaries world: *Lovable turned one.* Twelve months ago Anton and Fabian shipped something that sounded totally impossible. Today it’s one of the most addictive products in tech. We sang happy birthday and ended the night trading our favourite Lovable builds on the dancefloor 🤓 *We love to host.* Thank you to everyone who squeezed in, queued in the cold, found old friends, made new ones, and helped turn an underground cellar network into a very special night. We never take it lightly when builders choose to spend their limited time with us. HUGE thanks to our co-hosts: Anton, Hanno, Aino, Miki, Ilkka, Laura, Thomas, Eléonore, Taavet, Sten, Elin & Robin Rombach! *Judith x Stefan (Parloa)* Exactly the energy we needed on Thursday morning after a late night 😅 Stefan and Judith talked openly onstage about taking on incumbents from Berlin, why small, focused teams can deliver more and faster than ever before -- even without massive funding -- and how 2026 will be the year agents go vertical and become proactive workers rather than assistants. *Robert x Thomas (Vay)* AV may be catching on frustratingly slowly in Europe, but Vay is moving fast. Thomas broke down their “90 percent autonomy, 10 percent remote drivers” approach and shared the thinking behind Vay’s hot new partnership with Grab. His advice to founders was straightforward --> true zero-to-one innovations happen when founders stop waiting for perfect conditions. “Just start. Take the shot. Get your product in front of customers as fast as possible.” 💪 And honestly, it was brilliant seeing our founders everywhere — onstage, in side rooms, at breakfast briefings, giving secret demos. Slush has always been a pressure cooker for European tech, but this year it's spark felt properly alight. Huge congratulations Aino, Elin, Noora, Camilla, Robin and the whole Slush team for delivering such an exceptional experience! Thanks so much for having us 🙏

A lot is moving in HR tech right now: Lattice is sunsetting its HRIS, Personio is withdrawing from the US. Here's our answer: We're leaning into both — the US and Leapsome HRIS. (And yes, heavily into AI too, but I talk about that enough already.) Why we're building Leapsome HRIS Here's what we believe: People deserve better than transactional HR platforms. Work represents 80,000 hours of a person's life. Companies need a platform that doesn't just digitize processes. They need one that helps make those hours meaningful, energizing, and impactful. That means combining efficient core HR with the people enablement that actually builds high-performing, highly engaged teams that drive real results. The last generation of HR platforms (Rippling, BambooHR, Personio) were built for transactional HR. They get that job done. But here's what they can't do: deliver cohesive talent strategies that drive performance, engagement, alignment, and growth. That's not a nice-to-have. That's the whole point. This gap is exactly why Leapsome exists. But small and mid-market companies don't need a stack of disconnected tools. They need one strong platform that does it all: HRIS foundations plus integrated people enablement strategy that transforms cultures. And because all employee data, HR processes, and talent workflows live in one place, and because Leapsome is built for broad adoption across HR, managers, and employees, it becomes the natural home for the central AI copilot that serves everyone. User adoption isn't an afterthought for us. It's been core to our product principles from day one. So we're not leaning out of HRIS. We're leaning in — combining best-in-class people enablement with everything HRIS. Leapsome has more customers in the US than any other market. We're growing faster in the US than anywhere else. And we remain firmly committed to Germany and Europe. What both markets have taught us: Leapsome brings the ease-of-use that US users demand — loved by employees and managers, not just HR. And we bring the scalability, flexibility, and data security grounded in German engineering — trusted by customers across Europe with complex, multi-location teams. We're not retreating. We're not pivoting. We're building what the market actually needs. And we're doing it for the long term. If you're a customer of Lattice or Personio and need a new solution now, reach out. We'd love to show you what we're building. If you're an employee affected by these changes, let's talk. We're hiring across multiple roles and not all of them are live yet. If you're passionate about making work fulfilling for everyone, just send me a connection request and message! If you're hearing about Leapsome just now and are as excited about what we're building as we are, let's connect. The future of work should be built together. The market is clarifying. We're building the HR platform that puts people at the center — because that's where they belong.

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗕2𝗕 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀. That’s like trying to run paid ads from a fax machine 😆 It’s why we’ve partnered with introw.io, the AI platform that re-engineers how companies sell through partners. Instead of clunky portals, spreadsheets and months of onboarding, Introw connects directly to your CRM and gets partners revenue-ready in minutes. It’s platform: - Trains and activates partners instantly - Shares real-time data and sales tools - Turns partnerships into an actual growth engine 100+ companies — including Factorial, Parloa, and Coder — already use Introw to generate millions in additional pipeline. So we’re excited to share that we’re leading their $3M seed round with Pitchdrive to help Andreas Geamanu, Laurens Lavaert, and Simon Van Hende build the category-defining platform for AI-driven partner enablement. Partner sales shouldn’t feel stuck in 2005, and Introw is making them intelligent. Introw is hiring! Check out their open positions here: https://lnkd.in/eh7y_KAW And try the product here: https://lnkd.in/ez7eVjGN Cc: Robert Jäckle, Robert Lacher