E73 [AI-Translated] Flexion | Swiss Spin-Off Nation | Gemini 3 | VC M&A 26 | European Tech | Distal | SpaceTek

In this episode, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi break down the most exciting developments of the week in the startup and VC ecosystem. We discuss Flexion’s impressive $50M Series A to build the “brain” of humanoid robots, the new European Spinout Report 2025 where Switzerland dominates Europe’s deep-tech spin-off landscape, and Google’s strong return to the AI frontier with Gemini 3. Our deep dive focuses on M&A as the megatrend of 2026: together with our guest Bernhard Trösch (Everstride Partners), we analyze how buyer profiles, price levels, and “silent M&A” have shifted — and what founders must do now to prepare for professional exit processes. In this week’s listener question, we unpack the State of European Tech Report 2025: why optimism is returning, why deeptech is accelerating, and why Europe still struggles with its persistent exit gap despite a multi-trillion-dollar ecosystem. We also spotlight the transactions of the week, including DEXTER’s $150M raise, Sunflower Labs’ recent milestones, the new Spacetek financing, Vivent Biosignals (€7.5M), and Tasteomics.