Moving forward requires the courage to take risks and to continue investing in and researching technology that has the potential to impact business and society. Jarek Kutylowski Founder & CEO, DeepL Overall, it is an incredibly exciting time to be working and researching in the technology 昀椀eld, and even more so in the AI landscape. If you want to create truly groundbreaking technology, taking risks is the only way to do it. In that, you should consider competition as both an encouragement and an existential threat. In Europe we are in a unique position where we can harness new, up-and-coming talent while incorporating the lessons learned by our predecessors in the US tech scene. European companies can also leverage strength through embodying European values—such as data security—to be successful on a global scale. Product wise, I would advise that found- ers keep quality top of mind when developing digital products. This will keep customers engaged and will solidify their trust for years to come. There are so many talented tech innovators who have a solid business foundation—ensuring quality transforms a sound business idea into a truly great product. Round sizes realign with historical averages, talent costs soar Unsurprisingly, capital investment volumes are also being shaped by changes in round sizes and not just the absolute count of rounds taking place. At the later stage, following a reduction in the latter half of 2022, there are now observable signs of stabilisation in round size over the course of the past four quarters. As a conse- quence, these changes have brought round sizes back in alignment with the longer-term, 5-10 year averages for the later stages. The trend at the earlier stages, however, is somewhat different. At Seed and Series A, median round sizes have also seen a period of stabilisation following rapid increases during 2020 and 2021, but remain elevated at levels signi昀椀cantly above 5-10 year averages. For late-stage founders in particular, this inevitably translates to having to achieve more with less capital for an extended period of time, despite the ongoing in昀氀ationary pressures on wages that are keeping talent costs elevated. US Seed stage companies raise signi昀椀cantly larger rounds, roughly twice as large as their European counter- parts. This delta start narrowing as companies mature, disappearing by Series C. | 42