The EU-Startups Podcast | Interview with Davide Dattoli, Founder and Executive Chairman of Talent Garden

Feb 19, 2026 - 14:00

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, we sit down with Davide Dattoli, Founder and Executive Chairman of Talent Garden, one of Europe’s leading digital innovation platforms, offering a network of coworking campuses, a digital skills academy, and event spaces designed for tech professionals, startups, and companies.

Launched in 2011 as a coworking experiment in Italy, Talent Garden has grown into a pan-European education group operating across 12 markets in Europe, as well as Brazil and Singapore. Over the years, it has evolved from a single campus concept into a multi-market platform focused on digital skills, innovation, and community-driven learning.

Today, Talent Garden trains 25,000 professionals and students annually, connects 4,500 startups and tech professionals, and attracts more than 500,000 campus visitors each year. Its hybrid model blends physical learning communities with digital education, positioning the company at the intersection of EdTech, upskilling, and startup ecosystems.

In the interview, Davide reflects on his journey from launching a grassroots coworking space to building an international education platform, and shares insights from his role as Venture Founder at Italian Founders Fund, Italy’s founder-backed VC supporting pre-seed and seed startups. We explore how the EdTech sector is evolving amid growing AI-driven learning investment, including roughly €52.7 million disclosed in European digital-skills funding rounds from 2025 to 2026, why in-person learning communities still matter in a digital-first world, and much more!

Key Points

Talent Garden was founded in 2011 and is now active in 12 international markets
Trains 25k learners yearly and hosts 4,500+ startups/professionals
Receives 500k+ annual visitors across its European campus network
Davide also helps lead early-stage investing via Italian Founders Fund
Discussion covers AI in education, European EdTech funding trends, and future workforce skills

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