All episodes

In this episode, Season 4 of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast officially launches. From now on, there are two episodes per week: the Saturday episode with news, listener question and deal of the week, and Burn Rate Intelligence on Wednesdays with a focus topic or guest.

In the news segment, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi discuss the latest PitchBook numbers: 87.5% of all US VC dollars are going into AI megadeals, and the Anthropic IPO could reach a $2 trillion valuation. The second news covers new research on fraud in VC-backed startups and why certain market conditions create...

In this final episode before the summer break of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi discuss a new Swiss growth fund, the old VC math and whether payments in Switzerland have become an invisible tax.

In the news segment, they cover the new Swiss Champion Fund targeting CHF 100M for Series A and B, Swisscom closing its Silicon Valley office after 28 years, and new PitchBook data showing experienced European founders raise 72% more capital than first-time founders.

In the focus topic, they examine Max's new Bilanz column: Does the old venture capital math...

In this episode of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi discuss European billion-dollar rounds, a new AI venture studio and whether European venture capital faces a structural correction.

In the news segment, they cover the eight European startups that have each raised over USD 1 billion in 2026 – accounting for nearly a quarter of all European funding. They then look at the Swiss Founders Fund's new SFF Studio, which aims to systematically build AI-first startups in Zurich. And they congratulate Nicole Herzog on being named Business Angel of the Year 2026 by SECA....

Burn Rate Episode 100! In this anniversary episode, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi go behind the scenes of the podcast: how Burn Rate started, how the format evolved since 2023, and why they're still doing this every week after 100 episodes. Along the way: numbers on more than 250 funding rounds covered, over CHF 3 billion in disclosed funding volume, and listeners in 103 countries.

Then it's back to the regular news segment: the >>venture>> Awards 2026 were handed out in Lausanne, with EPFL spin-off Edwatec taking the Grand Prize and AI dominating four of six category winners. OpenAI burned...

In this episode of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi review the Swiss and European venture market in May 2026, discuss the SpaceX IPO and address why so many exits are communicated far too positively.

In the news segment, they cover the W.A. de Vigier Award 2026 with five winning startups across healthcare, dental robotics, nano-semiconductors and energy. They then analyze a new Dealroom study on the Swiss startup landscape: internationally relevant and highly productive, but with a clear scaling problem. Finally, they discuss Merantix Capital's new EUR 103M fund and its "customers before...

In this episode of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi discuss Swiss startup sentiment, the shift from SaaS to Physical AI and the new Swiss Startup Agenda.

In the news segment, they cover the new Swiss Startup Days sentiment barometer showing slightly improved optimism, the Technology Fund's 13 new portfolio companies as an example of growth financing beyond equity, and the structural VC shift from software to hardware, chips, robotics and Physical AI – with global investments rising from USD 4.2B to USD 26B between 2019 and 2025.

In the focus topic, Michael Stucki,...

In this episode of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi discuss the state of the Swiss ecosystem, Nvidia's role as an AI financier and the biggest fundraising mistakes founders make.

In the news segment, they cover the Swiss Startup Days 2026 in Bern with 1,500 attendees and the question of how accessible the Swiss startup ecosystem really is. They then look at two new deep-tech investments from the HSG START Accelerator: Aithon Robotics and Surface Cleantech. Finally, they analyze Nvidia's massive venture engagement of USD 18.6 billion in a single quarter and whether it's...

In this episode of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi discuss mega seed rounds, fast follow-on financings and whether Legal AI still has a future.

In the news segment, they cover five Swiss scale-ups awarded the SEF.Growth High Potential Label, the recovery of the Swiss crowdfunding market to CHF 629 million in 2025, and the phenomenon of billion-dollar seed rounds in the AI sector.

In the focus topic, they analyze fast follow-on financing rounds. What used to take 12 to 18 months now happens in weeks. They discuss the drivers, the signaling effects on...

In this episode of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast, Max Meister and Guy Giuffredi discuss the Swiss and European venture market in April 2026.

In the news segment, they cover the ZKB Pionierpreis Technopark 2026, won by RTDT Laboratories with a sensor system for wind turbines, the bankruptcy of Farmy as a cautionary tale about pandemic booms and missing unit economics, and the launch of AcceleratorX, a new European AI accelerator focused on market access rather than coaching.

In the focus topic, they analyze the Burn Rate Market Snapshot for April 2026. Around CHF 222 million was invested...

In this special episode of Burn Rate – The VC Insider Podcast – we record live for the first time: at the BEA Expo in Bern, as part of the KMU-Impulsprogramm.

Guy Giuffredi talks with Sebastian Betschen, founder of Almer Technologies and now CEO of Realwear, about building a hardware startup from Bern that reached global relevance. Almer was founded in 2021 and developed lightweight augmented reality glasses for industrial applications. In early 2025, Almer was acquired by Realwear, a global leader in industrial AR and wearable technology. Shortly after, Sebastian took over as CEO of the combined company.

The...