Kai Künne

Last week, I had the chance to speak at SuperVenture 2025 in Berlin on venture secondaries, and the energy around this topic was amazing to see. Every single panel seemed to touch on secondaries in some way. It's clear this market has moved from niche to necessity. Some striking data points that came up: → Venture secondaries now account for over 50% of VC liquidity in the US market → With just 38 median IPOs annually over the past decade, traditional exits aren't meeting demand → The secondary market is still only 0.6% of total venture (vs 1.8% in broader PE), massive growth potential ahead → Europe is still catching up to US liquidity levels → Israel remains a standout in the global tech landscape What struck me most was the shift in mindset. Secondary has become a strategic tool for keeping great companies growing longer and keeping founders motivated through extended value-creation cycles. Thank you SuperVenture for bringing together such a thoughtful community around these critical topics. Thank You Olaf Neubert from TopCap Partners and the distinguish panel Omolade (Rachel) Adebisi from Isomar Capital, Thomas Fitzherbert-Brockholes from StepStone Group and Jérôme Chevalier from Quadrille Capital ISF Israel Secondary Fund

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 We’ve completed our first acquisition: Whisper AI Whisper AI has been one of the most exciting players in our space – building smart tools to identify promising founders early and gaining strong traction in the DACH region. From today, Whisper is part of Evertrace (formerly Signal). The product and data will now live inside Evertrace, strengthening our platform and making DACH our largest market to date. Nik (the founder & CEO of Whisper AI) + team, not only built a great product but also proved that the region is ready for this technology. On top of that, they’re simply great to work with. This acquisition marks an important step in our strategy to build the #1 founder detection engine in the world. And we’re only getting started. More acquisitions are on the way 👀 Thanks to Tech.eu for covering. Link to article in the comments.

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Is Switzerland a good place to build a startup? 🇨🇭 This is one of the most common questions I get asked. It's also the question we had to answer ourselves when we returned to Switzerland after YC. The short answer: it depends. 🙂 We ultimately decided to stay in Zurich because of one major factor: Talent. Since we all dropped out of ETH Zurich, we had a strong existing talent network, allowing us to build a team that would have simply not been possible in San Francisco. 🤝 On the other hand, San Francisco is unmatched in its easy access to capital, opportunities, and network. For the average startup, it's the best place to maximize your chances of success. You can see this just by looking at the data. 🇺🇸 In my opinion, Zurich is great if you're solving a HARD problem where building a strong team is the most important factor for success. This is why you see most successes in robotics, AI, or bio. 😎 Overall, location is just one of many factors for success. It shouldn't distract you from building a great company :)

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