Interesting post. I spent most of last summer touring Europe working with early stage private equity investors (mostly angel investors), and I wish I'd had more exposure to the entrepreneurs.
Given the segmented nature of the markets and the different language barriers, I think entrepreneurs have a great opportunity to get proof of concept before deciding to bootstrap the rest of the way or to seek private/institutional money.
Whats the EU VC market like? Is it a common strategy to find tech working in one country, and then expand it to the others?
Ville Vesterinen
· 1 year ago
Hi evbart,
I can't talk for the whole EU VC market, but based on my experience it seems to vary A LOT. Take e.g. UK (if you accept that it's part of the EU ;)) where the VC scene is very active and then look at the Nordics where there are a few big players looking from the distance and yes, they can be found if one is really looking for one, but where you can't really talk about a dynamic and sexy VC ecosystem.
It might also be that there are many VCs and Angel investors, but they are not chasing the limelight or pushing their brand to same extent as the likes of Sequoia Capital etc. Maybe it's because there is less competition or just less to compete for, European funds don't have so colorful histories with sexy investments, there is strong culture of investing in the stock market instead of the two-guys-and-a-garage phenomena and then you have the chicken and egg problem of where you'd need to have an abundance of startups to get the VC ecosystem blooming and the other way around. I believe it's a combination of these depending on where about in the EU you look at. Of course I might have mistaken and hope someone can prove me wrong about this. Moreover, I think that we're off to a good start and heading to the right direction but the starting level was just way below where the Silicon Valley operates.
Having said that there are investors who are on top of their game and have been pushing the VC scene forward. A few that I have come to know of include Danny Rimer, Saul Klein, Niklas Zennstrom, Mattias Ljungman, Paul Fisher, Martin Varvasky and some names that stand out specifically from Finland include Risto Siilasmaa, Artturi Tarjanne, Jussi Harvela, Moaffak Ahmed and Pekka Roine.
All in all, I believe Silicon Valley is more of a state of mind than a definitive place and there are more and more people in Europe who are figuring that out.
We at ArcticStartup are organizing a VC panel in the near future and will surely be posting about it if not uploading the whole panel on video to the blog. So should be wiser about the situation after that.
What comes to the 'find tech working in one country, and then expanding' I believe there a companies trying out everything and mixing it up depending on their resources and the existing network. Nevertheless, I believe most are launching in their home market (due to resources and home court advantage) before expanding abroad. Would love to hear if someone has different experiences tho.
All Comments
Given the segmented nature of the markets and the different language barriers, I think entrepreneurs have a great opportunity to get proof of concept before deciding to bootstrap the rest of the way or to seek private/institutional money.
Whats the EU VC market like? Is it a common strategy to find tech working in one country, and then expand it to the others?
I can't talk for the whole EU VC market, but based on my experience it seems to vary A LOT. Take e.g. UK (if you accept that it's part of the EU ;)) where the VC scene is very active and then look at the Nordics where there are a few big players looking from the distance and yes, they can be found if one is really looking for one, but where you can't really talk about a dynamic and sexy VC ecosystem.
It might also be that there are many VCs and Angel investors, but they are not chasing the limelight or pushing their brand to same extent as the likes of Sequoia Capital etc. Maybe it's because there is less competition or just less to compete for, European funds don't have so colorful histories with sexy investments, there is strong culture of investing in the stock market instead of the two-guys-and-a-garage phenomena and then you have the chicken and egg problem of where you'd need to have an abundance of startups to get the VC ecosystem blooming and the other way around. I believe it's a combination of these depending on where about in the EU you look at. Of course I might have mistaken and hope someone can prove me wrong about this. Moreover, I think that we're off to a good start and heading to the right direction but the starting level was just way below where the Silicon Valley operates.
Having said that there are investors who are on top of their game and have been pushing the VC scene forward. A few that I have come to know of include Danny Rimer, Saul Klein, Niklas Zennstrom, Mattias Ljungman, Paul Fisher, Martin Varvasky and some names that stand out specifically from Finland include Risto Siilasmaa, Artturi Tarjanne, Jussi Harvela, Moaffak Ahmed and Pekka Roine.
All in all, I believe Silicon Valley is more of a state of mind than a definitive place and there are more and more people in Europe who are figuring that out.
We at ArcticStartup are organizing a VC panel in the near future and will surely be posting about it if not uploading the whole panel on video to the blog. So should be wiser about the situation after that.
What comes to the 'find tech working in one country, and then expanding' I believe there a companies trying out everything and mixing it up depending on their resources and the existing network. Nevertheless, I believe most are launching in their home market (due to resources and home court advantage) before expanding abroad. Would love to hear if someone has different experiences tho.