“You need to tell a grand narrative”
Berlin AI start-up Parloa is on the road to success - and now valued at three billion US dollars. Co-founder Malte Kosub talks about ambition and resilience.
Mr Kosub, what sets a good entrepreneur apart?
First, huge ambition. If other people aren’t telling you you’re crazy, you’re not thinking big enough. Second, hard work. If you want to achieve global success, you have to make sacrifices. And third, resilience. You face challenges every day - yet another failure, problems left, right and centre. You won’t be able to cope with all that if you’re not resilient.
Do people in Germany and Europe need to become more ambitious?
I said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that I wanted to build a 100 billion dollar company in Germany. People then look at you as if you were from outer space. In the US, on the other hand, the response is “Let’s go!” Goals create the reality. You’ll never get where you want to be without big ambition.
We show that world leading companies can be built in Europe.
Is that something you can learn?
Yes. You have to believe in yourself and experience that things work out. What made all the difference for me was that I was never an employee but always involved in some entrepreneurial activity - from the age of 16. I was always busy building teams, convincing people and telling a grand narrative. That’s one of the most important skills you need as an entrepreneur.
Parloa wants to use an agentic AI platform to revolutionise the customer service offered by large companies. The start-up is headquartered in Berlin and now employs around 300 people. In January 2026, Parloa closed a round of funding worth 350 million US dollars, bringing its valuation to three billion US dollars.
Have you ever experienced failure?
It took us seven years to reach our first funding round. There were some very tough times during that period. We came close to an exodus and had to put our own money into the company. Often it all looks so picture-perfect to those on the outside. But the path is much less linear than you might think.
Parloa is a German start-up, but has also maintained a presence in the US since 2024. Why?
If you want to become a world market leader in software, you have to be in the US. It’s not enough to stay only in Europe if you want to be perceived as the number one globally. But we are keeping our headquarters in Berlin.
Is your move to the US also related to funding, which isn’t so easy to obtain in Europe?
Yes. The capital is there, but to a significantly lesser extent than in the US. And investors in the US are of a quite different quality. The German ecosystem also lacks a catalyst like Y Combinator.
The venture capitalist in Silicon Valley that supports start-ups during a very early phase…
Success stories help young start-ups, but they first have to be created.
What is your goal for Parloa?
We want to become the world market leader. And we show that world leading companies can be built in Europe.
About: Malte Kosub
Malte Kosub, born in 1993, grew up in Hamburg and initially wanted to go into the shipping business. After starting businesses and studying in Hamburg and in Cambridge in the USA, he founded the agency Future of Voice in 2017, which became Parloa in 2018.
