From Burger King to Germany's Fastest-Growing AI Startup: The European Alternative to Silicon Valley's Meeting Tools

Raphael Allstadt, co-founder of Germany's fastest-growing startup, tl;dv, argues that European tech needs to be "bold but secure" to win the enterprise AI race.
When Raphael Allstadt was working shifts at Burger King, few would have predicted he'd go on to build one of Europe's fastest-growing AI companies. But today, as co-founder and CEO of tl;dv, he leads what has been recognized as one of the Fastest Growing Startups in Germany, also securing a top three place for the Fastest Growing Startup in Europe. This is based on tl;dv's 736.66% revenue compound annual growth rate, according to Sifted [https://sifted.eu/leaderboards/sifted-250-2025]. As of 2026, tl;dv serves more than 2 million users globally.

But Raphael's shift from Burger King to AI startup wasn't just down to luck.

He says, "Before founding tl;dv, I studied programming - mostly Python - and numerical modelling during my geophysics degree." While that degree gave him a technical grounding in "numerical modelling, a cousin of AI," Allstadt credits his time in fast food for the company's marketing edge. "Burger King taught me about brand power," he explains. It was that blend of Python and positioning that initially helped tl;dv win ProductHunt's Product Video of the Year in 2021 [https://www.producthunt.com/stories/announcing-the-golden-kitty-awards-2021-winners]. Now, tl;dv rakes in tens of millions of impressions across LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok every month, something practically unheard of among its Silicon Valley alternatives.

But for Allstadt, that was just the beginning of a much bigger ambition.

The European Challenge: Building Software That's Bold

As the AI meeting assistant market becomes increasingly crowded with US-backed platforms like Otter, Fireflies, and Fathom, Allstadt sees a structural gap in how European companies compete.

"American companies have traditionally been better at packaging technology in a way that feels bold and aspirational" Allstadt argues. "But Silicon Valley may have more engineering talent on paper; Europeans care far more about data, security, and privacy. That means our builders pay closer attention, build compliance in from the start, and are ultimately better suited to serve the enterprise market, especially here in Europe."

That philosophy is the driving force behind tl;dv's current positioning. They see a massive window of opportunity as European enterprises wake up to the realities of GDPR, the EU AI Act, and data sovereignty; requirements that many US AI note taker [https://tldv.io/blog/free-ai-note-taking/] tools still treat as afterthoughts.

tl;dv is capitalizing on this shift by positioning itself as the privacy-first alternative. Built in Europe, the platform offers the same AI-powered transcription and summarization as its Silicon Valley rivals, but with a transparency and compliance framework tailored for European businesses.

Yet tl;dv's rise cannot be explained by regulatory positioning alone.

From Transcription to Organizational Memory

While many tools in the space remain as simple transcription bots, tl;dv has identified something even more important.

"It's not about the single meeting," Allstadt explains. "What matters is building memory that spans tens or hundreds of meetings, even giving you access to conversations you weren't part of. That's where real organizational intelligence begins."

This shift reframes meetings from one-time records to strategic assets.

For a sales leader, this means visibility across an entire team's customer calls, identifying common objections, best practices, and coaching opportunities. For product teams, it offers insight into what customers are actually saying in live sales conversations. For leadership, it creates a searchable, cross-departmental knowledge layer that extends beyond your own personal participation.

Rather than simply summarizing conversations, tl;dv aims to transform them into structured, analyzable intelligence.

That vision distinguishes tl;dv from many transcription-first competitors.

Looking Ahead

"Every major tech player has either built or invested in a product competing in this space," Allstadt acknowledges. "That tells you the opportunity is massive. Meetings are one of the largest untapped sources of knowledge inside any company."

As tl;dv scales, Allstadt's mission remains twofold: to prove that a European startup can out-execute the US giants on product, while maintaining the privacy standards Europe demands.

"tl;dv should be bold, fun, and bold, but also secure, mature, and privacy-aware," he says. "Combining those pillars is what makes us different, especially for European companies."

Learn more at tldv.io or contact Raphael Allstadt at raphael@tldv.io

Media Contact
Company Name: tl;dv
Contact Person: Raphael Allstadt
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Country: Germany
Website: https://tldv.io/

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