For the ninth time, PT1 brought together more than 100 investors, founders and innovation leaders in Berlin for our annual Family Day. It started with the Founders Camp, where our portfolio founders discussed questions that are currently top of mind for entrepreneurs, and ended late into the evening with flying dinner, drinks, and the kind of conversations that only happen when the right people are in the same room.
In between, a day full of insights and real debate: Marcel Fratzscher, President of DIW Berlin - German Institute for Economic Research, set the tone, explaining how Europe is navigating three simultaneous transformations: in globalization, technology, and society. The biggest obstacle, he argued, isn't capability; it's mindset. "Mentality is 70% of the economy," he noted, emphasizing individual action and change-ownership as the very essence of entrepreneurship.
PT1 Managing Partner Nikolas Samios took the stage to explain the PT1 playbook, distilled out of more than 7,000 companies analyzed, more than 35 investments done, the collective wisdom of more than 100 industry experts on our platform, and a portfolio that raised more than €1 billion after our initial investments: Europe's resilience won't come from policy or subsidies, but rather from founders building institutional-grade companies, in close collaboration with specialist VCs and open-minded fellow investors from banks to PE, infrastructure and real estate funds.
Nine portfolio founders — all PT1 investments done in the last 12 months — then made that notion concrete. What struck the room wasn't just the range of problems being attacked, but how consistently the same pattern emerged: industries that have operated on manual processes are becoming addressable because AI is mature enough to replace dull human work in white-collar jobs, and physical AI / robotics is on the verge of providing efficiency gains unseen before. Both lead to superior operations that are not just more profitable, but also enable E, S and G cases to scale without a "green premium."
Two panels rounded out the afternoon. The first discussed the continuing journey from a fossil to an electrified world, including all current hiccups and chances. The second closed with the fundamental question: Who is actually going to finance Europe's infrastructure transition at the scale it requires? Our panelists gave a surprisingly positive answer: capital and willingness to invest are present, but venture and infrastructure investors still speak very different languages. Founders and funds that manage to build the bridge can get to the next level, literally raising billions to upgrade the physical world.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined, and in particular to all the founders, panelists and speakers who made the day what it was. Already looking forward to seeing you at Family Day X!