European sovereignty takes centre stage at Berlin spinout event Stage Two
Sifted reported from Stage Two in Berlin, where academic founders from across Europe pitched their companies to venture capitalists and the question of European sovereignty framed the annual gathering.
The event took place at Radialsystem, an arts centre housed in a former pumping station on the bank of the River Spree, according to a first-person account published by Sifted on 26 October 2026. The reporter wrote that he had been in Berlin for the annual spinout event, and Sifted described Stage Two as a fixture at which academic founders from across the continent pitch their ideas to VCs.
Sifted headlined its dispatch "Sovereignty comes to pan-European spinout event Stage Two", placing the ownership and control of Europe's research-based companies alongside the fundraising pitches that make up the core of the programme.
The account was written in the first person by a Sifted reporter who attended in person, rather than compiled from company announcements, and the gathering it describes is one that draws founders and investors from several countries to a single Berlin venue each year.
The report did not set out in its published form a full list of the teams presenting, the amounts they were seeking or the investors they met, and no figures from the event were confirmed in the text available.
Stage Two returns to Berlin annually, and its 2026 edition was held in the week before Sifted's account appeared, at Radialsystem on the Spree.
Editor's Summary
Sifted reported from Stage Two, an annual pan-European spinout event held at Berlin's Radialsystem, where academic founders pitched their companies to venture capitalists. The outlet framed its coverage around European sovereignty, putting the ownership of research-based companies alongside fundraising. The published account did not disclose presenting teams, amounts sought or investor details."