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Founder

Mike Sigal

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For modern startups, building for a single market first is a legacy constraint. Operating with an international mindset from inception isn't just about expanding reach - it fundamentally shapes your product architecture, talent strategy, and go-to-market engine. In this panel, we'll be discussing how early-stage founders can successfully navigate global expansion right out of the gate,

Thinking global from day one

Europe’s emerging AI hardware, robotics and industrial automation sectors require massive upfront capex, yet traditional venture capital is ill-equipped to fund physical infrastructure and risk-averse commercial banks refuse to extend debt to unproven technology models. Burning dilutive equity to build factories or buy machinery is a structural mistake that bleeds founder control and stalls scale. Bringing together deep tech investors, robotics founders and debt infrastructure pioneers, this session explores the financial mechanics needed to fund Europe’s reindustrialisation, from asset-backed securitisation to performance-guaranteed equipment debt, without surrendering founder equity.

Mike Sigal

Founder

Sigal Ventures

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