Europe’s new live show sparks fierce demand for guest spots
▼ Summary
– The European Technology Network (ETN), founded by Luke Knight and Ronan Chambers, will expand from a two-day to a five-day-a-week live show starting June 27.
– ETN raised a $1.6 million seed round from investors including Powerhouse Capital, Axel Springer SE, and angel investors from OpenAI and DeepMind.
– The network is moving to a larger studio in London’s Kings Cross, expanding its team, and launching a newsletter.
– ETN aims to fill a gap in UK media by covering the fast-paced European tech ecosystem, which has seen London startups raise $14.7 billion this year.
– The show generates revenue through ads, with sponsors like Polymarket, Base, and ElevenLabs, and plans to host debates, roundtables, and a Shark Tank-style segment.
Europe’s answer to TBPN is officially expanding to a five-days-a-week live show, starting June 27. Luke Knight and Ronan Chambers first launched the European Technology Network (ETN) from London last October, broadcasting tech trends and news twice weekly on X and YouTube. The show has already racked up over 5 million views.
On Monday, ETN announced a $1.6 million seed round backed by major media players: Powerhouse Capital, Axel Springer SE (owner of Business Insider and Politico), a co-founder of LadBible, and angel investors from OpenAI and DeepMind. This capital injection fuels the network’s biggest expansion yet.
ETN is moving into a large studio in Kings Cross, the epicenter of London’s AI startup scene. The team, currently just eight people, is growing. A newsletter is launching. And starting today, the show goes live five days a week. Upcoming guests include George Robson, a partner at Sequoia, and Rishi Sunak, former UK Prime Minister and senior advisor to Anthropic and Microsoft.
Speaking to TechCrunch, Chambers and Knight revealed ETN has already become a must-stop on the press tour for European startups. They’ve interviewed the founder of Synthesia, the CFO of Legora, the founder of Granola, and Kanishka Narayan, the UK’s first AI Minister. Even American investors, including one from Andreessen Horowitz, have stopped by when in London.
“ETN was born out of a gaping hole in the industry,” Chambers told TechCrunch. “It’s centered around pace.” He argued the UK’s current media ecosystem can’t keep up with the speed of the tech scene. So far this year, London startups have raised $14.7 billion according to Dealroom. Six companies have raised over $500 million: Wayve, Superintelligence, ElevenLabs, Recursive, Ineffable Intelligence, and Isomorphic Labs , the latter three founded by DeepMind alumni.
“These are things that have never happened in Europe before,” Chambers said of the capital flow. As the show’s popularity grew, they received around 70 pitches a week from potential guests. They tried cramming 12 interviews into two hours, twice a week, but it became unsustainable. “We needed an outlet that could move at the pace of that,” he explained, “which is the reason we’re going from two days a week to five days a week.”
The new five-day format mirrors the old one. A live show runs from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. UK time, breaking down trending stories. Then, for two hours, guests discuss their work. Chambers also plans to introduce debates, roundtables, and a Shark Tank-style pitching session.
“We want to make it as useful as we can for the ecosystem,” Chambers said. “There needs to be more discourse around AI in Europe. There needs to be more discourse around venture capital and cash flowing into the ecosystem. There needs to be more discourse around the amazing things that are happening in the tech ecosystem, and our role is to be the stage in which people can shout about all the amazing things they’re doing.”
Revenue comes from advertising, with big-name sponsors including Polymarket, Base, and ElevenLabs. When asked about TBPN’s influence, Knight and Chambers acknowledged John Coogan and Jordi Hays as pioneers of this new tech media ecosystem. TBPN recently sold to OpenAI for a reported nine-figure sum. “My thinking was, if we can have an ITV and a BBC, why wouldn’t we have a regional version of this?” Chambers said.
Europe is vast, with over 40 countries and 200 languages. Chambers said ETN will report from London but actively bring on guests from across the continent. They’ve broadcast from the Panathenaea Conference in Athens and inside the Louvre in Paris for the RAISE AI Summit. “You have all these different cultures, these different minds coming together and creating different products,” Chambers said. “You get a taste of what makes [Europe] a superpower.”
They also welcome American founders. “It’s a European technology network, but we think there’s massive [global] opportunities,” Chambers said. Knight added that conversations often pit Europe against the U. S. “We are globally optimistic,” Knight said. “We are pushing global prosperity from Europe. Wherever you want to go and build your company, wherever is the best place to go and build that company, go and do that, and we will shout for you to go and do that.”
Knight and Chambers don’t view themselves as journalists but as tech insiders curious about what’s happening and why. They don’t aim to replace traditional media; instead, they intend to work alongside it. “We rely on traditional media,” Chambers said, noting that’s how they find much of the news they discuss.
Ultimately, the duo hopes to document stories from Europe’s new wave of success , from ElevenLabs in London to Lovable in Stockholm , to inspire the next generation. “It riles up the next generation to the point where it’s no longer cool to finish university and go into banking or consulting,” Chambers said. “People want to leave university and go straight into building a startup, and I think that’s an amazing thing.”
(Source: TechCrunch)