EUVC

Welcome to today’s roundtable on raising in a bear market. We have some of Europe’s best and most active LPs with us to discuss the following three topics: LP views on the state of the current market and when you see the light at the end of the tunnel?The most important considerations the panel sees managers having today and the tactics they employ to be successfulAdvice from the panel to managers thinking about embarking on the raise of their first fund today.Speakers:David Dana - Head of VC Investments at EIFJoe Schorge - Founding Partner of Isomer CapitalChristian Roehle - Head of Investment Management at KFW CapitalMichael Sidgmore - Co-Founder & Partner at Broadhaven Ventures by Broadhaven Capital PartnersAnd finally, we just wanna give a massive shoutout the sponsor of this roundtable: Affinity without whose continued support we couldn’t dedicate all our time to create content like this roundtable for you. So if you’re not yet a client, our message is clear: do reach out, say thx and consider if they’re the platform for you!

Today we're happy to welcome Agate Freimane, Founding Partner of Norrsken, one of Europe's leading impact venture capital funds born out of Norrsken Foundation, which hosts events, operates co-working spaces, and runs accelerator programmes across the Nordics, Iberia, and Eastern Africa.Their fund is dedicated to investing in early-stage startups focusing primarily in climate tech and they've led the investments into almost 50 companies, highlights including Northvolt, Einride, 1komma5 and Matsmart.Jump to the parts that matter to you 🎧00:00:00 - "Tear down this wall"00:01:04 - Disclaimer and Introduction00:03:10 - Journey into venture00:12:00 - Impact Investing in Europe00:15:24 - The Decline of Opportunity Funds and LP Appetite00:17:52 - Shifting Topics in the Impact Space00:18:27 - LP Appetite & The Challenging Environment 00:22:09 - The Drive for ESG Reporting in Europe00:24:49 - The Challenge of Impact as a Business Model00:28:19 - The Importance of Finding the Right Problems00:31:02 - Agate’s Core Learnings in Life 00:36:12 - Building Team and Culture as a VC Firm00:38:23 - Assumptions and Feedback in Team Building and Culture00:39:38 - Capital Deployment and Small Bad Bets00:40:31 - Ego in VC & Professional Development 00:45:19 - Regrets and Priorities00:45:35 - Top Tips for Fundraising In Europe

Today we are happy to welcome Niels Fritze, Head of Scale Invest, a young Single Family Office, where he oversees all aspects of the family's financial affairs, including investment management, estate planning, and wealth preservation.Niels utilizes his expertise in financial analysis, risk management, and strategic decision-making to optimize the family's wealth and ensure their long-term financial security.Jump to the parts that matter to you 🎧 and watch the highlights below 👀00:00:00 - European VC on Marc Penkala’s Rooftop Terrace00:02:26 - Transitioning to a Family Wealth Management00:05:25 - The Black Swan Year and Market Uncertainty00:07:18 - Diversifying Your Portfolio with Alternative Assets00:09:13 - The Popularity of Alternative Investments in the US00:11:18 - Family Offices and VC Investment00:14:23 - Understanding Family Office Investment Approaches00:16:54 - The Benefits of Slow and Steady Growth in Startups00:19:07 - The Importance of Deploying Capital Efficiently00:22:17 - The Role of Fees in VC Fund Investing00:23:42 - Assessing the Return on Capital Efficiency in Family Offices00:28:23 - Commitment to Impact Investments00:30:00 - Active vs Passive Investment Strategies00:36:01 - The Importance of Brand Building in the Family Office Space00:36:57 - Co-investment Opportunities and the LP Perspective00:40:06 - Family offices vs venture capitalists00:45:18 - Lessons Learned from LP Investing00:46:45 - Quickfire Round and Tips for Emerging VCs🔫 The Quickfire Round 🔫Q: What advice would you give to your own 10 year younger self?A: Enjoy your life to the fullest.Try to look left and right all the time. Do something else than just VC, like physically, some sort of handcraft work. Q: What advice would you give to VCs fundraising? A: Know how to pitch your VC and get expert help.Q: What is the most counterintuitive thing you've learned since you've started investing in venture?A: Sometimes it really pays out way more when you reinvent an old idea which is already in place, than invent something new which has no use.Watch the full episode on eu.vc

Today is a special one as we have three guests with us, Joe Schorge and Chloe Dagnell from Isomer Capital (Europe’s hands-down best Fund of Fund — full disclaimer, we’re VP at Isomer! lol) and Benjamin Notlev, COO and CIO at TechBBQ, the leading tech conference in the Nordics - and also (announcement alert!), EUVC’s Country Ambassador in Denmark 🚀.As anyone would expect, EUVC is a community play and part of that is being super close with the best people in each ecosystem and Benjamin is one of the best around in Denmark, so we were super excited to have Benjamin invest with us and get closer with him (as well as the TechBBQ gang) as we of course share the same passion for connecting the industry.

Today we have Chris Smith with us, a repeat offender here at the EUVC podcast. If you’re a loyal long time listener you may recall Chris from our episode #14. Chris is a Managing Partner at Playfair, a generalist VC fund with a contrarian approach to pre-seed technology investing.Based in London, Playfair invests across the UK and Europe with an intentionally high conviction, low volume approach: making 6-8 investments a year and preserving time, capital and resource to help companies post-investment. Playfair is investing out of their $70m Fund 3 and has an established portfolio of **100+ companies across two funds including AeroCloud, Thought Machine, Andela, Mapillary, Recycleye and Orca AI.At Playfair, Chris is focused on pre-seed opportunities in the UK, Europe and Israel. He loves finding companies operating in overlooked sectors that are ripe for disruption and is particularly interested in autonomous transportation, business and industrial automation (especially through AI, ML and computer vision), HealthTech (except diagnostics and therapeutics) and B2B SaaS.

Today, we're happy to welcome David Nothacker, angel investor, CEO & co-founder of Sennder, a digital truck freight forwarding business. Together with his co-founders, David has built up a team of over 1,000 employees across eleven offices in Europe. In the process, they have been supported by strong investors such as Scania, Accel and Project A, and have secured over €300 million in funding. They are quite active angels, particularly in the German ecosystem.In this episode you will learn:Why David considers his investments into Gorillas and Cargo 1 his most memorable angel dealsDavid’s learnings from managing startup boardsWhy David has two different, yet synergistic, investment strategies: investing early in logistics & supply chain startups and co-investing with VCs in opportunistic dealsHow LP investing can complement your angel activities when starting to do more international investmentsHow angel investing makes you a better, more experienced business leader

Today we happy to welcome Emma Steele from Ascension VC. Emma is a Partner at Ascension’s Impact Fund a Seed-stage venture fund focused on creating resilient societies by backing impact driven founders that are driving commercial value and, hopefully, on their way to become the next impact dragons.Ascension has an established portfolio of more than 180 companies and notable investments led by Emma including Wagestream, Credit Kudos and Tembo.

Today we are happy to welcome Ameer Awadiyeh, VP of Investments at AlphaQ Venture Capital, a founder-led VC Fund of Funds. Prior to joining AQVC, Ameer was part of the investment team at Israel-based Vintage Investment Partners, where he developed deep expertise within the global VC fund ecosystem through sourcing, conducting in-depth due diligence, and modeling primary and secondary VC investment opportunities in both established and emerging managers, overseeing the fund of funds pipeline and budget allocation, and establishing a broad network of VCs and VC allocators across the U.S., Europe and Israel.Alph Q has 9 funds and counting, Whitestart Capital, Scale Venture Partners, Abstract Ventures, Nucleus Capital, Signature Ventures, Pale Blue Dot, Maple Capital, Symbol Ventures. AlphaQ is becoming the European gateway to a diversified venture capital fund portfolio via one single stock.

Today we are happy to welcome Simone Brummelhuis, Founding Partner & Fund Director of Borski Fund, a VC fund investing in technology leaders and diversity. Simone is Supervisory Board Member of Royal Schiphol group, Rabo Amsterdam and Media Huis Nederland. She previously founded The Next Women, providing access to capital, programs, resources and networks for female entrepreneur and is Founding Investor and Director of The Next Women Crowd Fund.

The U.S. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), which regulates the country's financial markets, just changed the game for private equity, hedge fund, private credit, and venture capital funds registered in the U.S.Yesterday, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler (above) announced the commission Enhances the Regulation of Private Fund Advisers, a set of rules originally proposed in February 2022. And Europe would never be “out-regulated”, so…Dive in to learn what the meaning and implications of this is!

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Manolis Manassakis, CEO of Qogita, a leading global wholesale supplier revolutionizing the market through technology. He was formerly the Director of Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Uber. Earlier in his career, he worked at Google as an Industry Manager, helping European businesses boost their online sales and make the most out of the web.Parallel to his work, Manolis co-founded Lawspot, providing openness and transparency to the law, to all citizens. Lawspot is now Greece's no1 open online hub for all things legal, trusted by 1M monthly users. Through Cloud Nine Ventures, Manolis is also an active angel investor, passionate about the European tech ecosystem, and loves helping startups and mentoring founders on operations, scaling and international expansion.

Today we have Omar Hassan with us. Omar is a General Partner at MENA Tech Fund (MTF), a $25m, Pre-seed/Seed stage venture fund in Dubai to back Middle Eastern & North African AgriTech, FinTech & B2B SAAS businesses in Egypt, Israel, UAE, Saudi Arabia or UK tech with market fit into the MENA region.MTF are investing out of Fund One with a total 25 AUM and an established portfolio of 9 companies including Soos Lenkie Wuilt Selectika. At MTF, Omar focuses on SAAS and AgriTech in MENA and have led the investments into Wuilt, SwftBox, Selectika, Lenkie.As warm-up for eu.vc delegation going to Dubai for the Expand North Star Conference, we sat down with Omar for a dedicated episode on raising capital in the region.

Today we're happy to welcome Anna Brandt and Noor van Boven, two amazing angel investors, co-founders of Invested. They accelerate growth through consulting and investing, being focused on the Future of Work, specifically when Fintech meets HR Tech.In this episode you’ll learn:- How to think about joining forces as angels, what it takes and the superpowers it can give you- Why Anna & Noor pick their investments based on the problem the startups target, the disruption they can bring about and the connection, belief and match they have with the founding team- How Anna & Noor think about scaling their investment activity and what it takes from them as a team and individuals- Reflections on having invested through the boom and the bust cycle- How the team think about working with the European Venture ecosystem and to optimize their role in it

Today we are happy to welcome Kushal Shah, Managing Director of e&, a global technology and investment group. Previously, he was the Senior Partner at Roland Berger's Dubai office and a Managing Partner for the Middle East. Prior to joining Roland Berger, he spent 12 years with a leading consultancy in London and Dubai.This episode is co-hosted by our good friend Omar Hassan from MENA Tech Fund.

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Michael Wax, Co-Founder and CEO of Forto, Europe's digital freight forwarding pioneer.Forto drives the vision to deliver a highly transparent, frictionless, and sustainable digital supply chain. With more than 600m USD in funding, they are Europe's largest log-tech company.Michael is a true entrepreneur with a strong passion for innovation in global trade and e-commerce. He was part of the founding team at KONUX, an early pioneer in industrial IoT.This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today we are happy to welcome Daniel, founding partner at Speedinvest. one of Europe’s most active early-stage investors with more than €1 billion AuM and 40+ investors based in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, and Vienna. At Speedinvest, Daniel covers limited partner relations and fundraising both on the fund and portfolio levels.Daniel started his professional career as a stockbroker and private banker with ErsteBank in Vienna and Credit Suisse in Zurich. In 2000, he teamed up with Oliver Holle and Werner Zahnt in their Fintech startup, offering mobile payments to the media, entertainment and information industries. In 2006, they sold their startup NASDAQ listed VeriSign in a €55 million exit.This episode is co-hosted by our good friend Omar Hassan from Mena Tech Fund.

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Julia Morrongiello, an ex VC, turned operator, turned angel investor. She is the Head of Growth Europe for Zero Hash, a crypto-as-a-service provider who's clients include the likes of Stripe, Moonpay, Curve and Interactive Brokers. Julia spent most of her career working as a VC investor at Point Nine and GFC and now continues to invest in fintech and crypto as an angel and scout for Accel. Since starting her career as an angel investor a little over a year ago, she's invested in 10 companies and 1 fund. In this episode you’ll learn:- Julia’s journey from VC to Operator to Angel & the value it brings to her both professionally and personally- How investing in women can be a better investment on both the hard and soft metrics- Why angel investing is the most giving hobby in the world!- Reflections on power law investing, upside maximization and why you can only get as much as you give- The importance of paying attention to unconscious biases and how to create processes that protect you

Today, we're happy to welcome Sara Rywe, partner at byFounders, a Nordic and Baltic's early stage tech investor with a difference.They stand toe to toe with founders and have a community driven approach to investing. Founders know exactly what they're getting into when they engage with byFounders from the metrics they're looking for to ticket size, investment terms, and the fund standard term sheet. It's all published on their website.Portfolio founders also have access to the wisdom of the byFounders collective, a group of experienced founders, tech experts, and more who can help them through the company building journey. The firm has two funds under its belt and invests across tech sectors. Sara joined in 2019 as an associate with a focus on finding funding and having the back of founders across the new Nordics.But for someone who's had a meteoric rise through VC, Sara describes herself as someone completely ordinary. In many ways, Sara's prior experience at McKinsey, her MBA and the fact she's a Kauffman Fellow gloss over the fact she did not originally pursue a conventional path. She'll talk more about her journey starting work in her teen years at McDonald's through to her entrepreneurial journey, starting up a dance school, and how this led her to catch the founder bug and lead to opportunities in tech.Sara's deep interest is in impact aware startups. She's mentored and invested in startups in sectors that combine profit with purpose and has a particular focus not just on responsible companies, but responsible founders. In this episode, we'll hear more about Sara's journey into VC, her path to partner, and how she's turned her interest and impact into a core pillar of the investment strategy and decision making process at byFounders.

Today we’re excited to introduce you to Stefan Walter, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Cavalry Ventures, one of Europe’s leading early stage funds or as they say themselves:"Rather than focusing on a particular vertical, we focus on a specific stage, which is the “as early as it makes sense for the company” stage. We invest early, often pre-product and pre-revenue."And the Cavalry stable is full of champions, counting the likes of Afilio, Aleph Alpha, AMPECO, Anyone, BRYTER, Charm, Clarisights, Flip, Forto, Kinnu, Lhotse, Loctax, McMakler, Nory, Oblivious, Origin, Patronus, PlanRadar, Plantura, Planetly (acq. by OneTrust), REKKI, Rouvia, SERA Intelligence, ShowHeroes, Sofía, SPREAD, Upper, Usercentrics, WhenThen (acq. by Mangopay), and many more incredible companies. Check out their Crunchbase profile for a full overview.Dive in for an episode covering:Stefan’s Journey into VentureThe Birth of Cavalry: A New Kind of Fund Taking a stance on "VC is a people's business, and it's not scalable"The Deep DiveThe Origins of the Cavalry name & how to turn your LP base into a CavalryThe Cavalry SystemStefan’s shout-out to some special people in the ecosystem 💌Stefan’s Three Biggest LearningsTeam Beats Idea.Conviction Over Hype.If It Seems Too Good to Be True, It Probably IsThe Quickfire Round 🔫Think about the difference between urgent and importantEmbark on your fundraise with eyes open and realistic expectationsVC can be a surprisingly tough balancing actVertical consumer software is super exciting.

Today, we're happy to welcome Ellen Moller, Watershed’s Head of Europe. Watershed helps companies measure, report, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Some of its clients include organizations like Walmart, Klarna, and Spotify.Prior to joining Watershed, Ellen spent a decade scaling technology businesses, including more than six years leading EMEA Partnerships and Operations at Stripe out of London. Prior to joining Stripe in 2015, Ellen worked in business development at Marqeta and at Visa.This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today we are happy to welcome Anubhav, Founder and CEO of Tactyc. Anubhav founded Tactyc in 2019 combining his passions for engineering and finance to solve the major pain points fund managers face with portfolio management and fund modeling. They work with 250 VC clients globally and have a large and growing European presence including clients such as Anthemis and Atomico. At Tactyc they believe in empowering all GPs to be more data-driven.In this episode we will deep dive into the exciting world of portfolio construction and best practices.

Welcome to the next episode of “At the Cap Table”! In today's episode, we are speaking with a remarkable individual who needs no introduction. Her name is Check Warner, a prominent figure in the venture capital industry in the UK.Check is the co-founder of Ada Ventures, an inclusive venture firm. Ada Ventures finds and funds extraordinary talent building breakthrough ideas for the hardest problems we face. Check invests £250,000-1m in UK technology companies across climate, economic empowerment and healthcare & ageing. One of Check's notable contributions to the venture capital industry has been pioneering initiatives like Diversity VC and Future VC. These initiatives aim to drive positive change and foster inclusivity within the industry. Check also received an MBE for services to diversity and inclusion in Venture Capital for her work with Ada Ventures and Diversity VC in the King's New Years Honours 2022. In this episode of At the Cap Table:- We explore Check's journey into venture capital and what makes her excited about the current state of entrepreneurship in the UK and the opportunities it presents, - We will discuss the origins of Diversity VC and Future VC and explore the impact they have had on creating a more diverse and equitable ecosystem. - We’ll hear about Check’s work with Ada Ventures, a venture capital firm she is dedicated to right now- And finally, raising a fund can be a complex and opaque process, so we'll discuss Check's experience in starting a fund and gaining and maintaining the trust of limited partners. She'll also share key learnings from her years in the VC industry and highlight common mistakes that investors make when embarking on the fundraising journey.

Today we are happy to welcome Fred, Founder and Partner at Stride. Stride is investing out of Fund II with a total £123M AUM (Fund I was £100M) with an established portfolio of 25 companies per fund and notable investments including Triver, Conceivable.Life, TechWolf and Hofy. At Stride, Fred focuses on late seed in London and Paris, in companies that "reinvent the UX of the world" by going deep on the areas founders care about: strategy, brand, culture, talent, leadership and fundraising.

Today we are happy to welcome you to Alexandre Berriche, one of Europe's absolute premiere Super Angels and Sequoia scout with more than 80 seed investments under his belt. Alex is also the CEO and co-founder of Fleet, a french B2B startup focused on simplifying the equipment, management and renewal of computers and cellphones for startups and SMBs.In this episode you’ll learn:- How Alex has leveraged Fleet in his angel investing and vice versa- How humbly Alex, as one of Europe’s very top angels, present himself, his investing and thinking. Truly remarkable!- The role of round leads, trust, networks and trends in Alex’s investing- Why Alex is finding himself more focused on founder ambition level, and the ability to attract the best of the best, articulating their vision and thinking.

Today we are happy to welcome Daniel Schex, Private Equity & Venture Capital Investment Professional at FINVIA, a leading Multi Family Office in Germany, serving the special needs of high-net-worth individuals. FINVIA has 4,5bn EUR in Assets Under Management on their platform, investing in funds and building a global portfolio across different strategies and verticals. This episode was recorded on a very special location, our dear friend from Altitude and special co-host Mark Penkala's house, while we were at SuperVenture in Berlin.

Welcome to At The Cap Table podcast, a new series that shines the spotlight on the investors who are changing the vc industry in Europe. Today your host Savs Tan welcomes Deepali Nangia, Partner at Speedinvest. Speedinvest is a hands-on, pan-European early stage tech investor, partnering with founders from their early stages and helping them to grow game changing businesses. The Speedinvest team is one of the most active investors in Europe and last year announced 500m€ of fresh capital to invest in new ventures, and to continue to back their existing portfolio. The firm manages more than €1 billion in AuM and although it started in Austria, counts a team of over 40 investors based in Berlin, London, Munich, and Paris.Deepali joined Speedinvest as a Partner with a focus on finding, funding, and supporting investment in underrepresented founders but the majority of her time in venture capital has been as an angel investor, supporting startups from day 1.In this episode you’ll learn:– About how Deepali’s thesis in investing in female founders came through her own experiences of being underestimated in the workplace – How cleaning up the cap table is a myth: angels can continue to add value beyond capital and are a vital support for founders in a way that VCs cannot be, particularly in the early stages– Demystifying investment for operators could create a better angel ecosystem and is just as important as access to deal flow– Deepali’s move from independent Angel to Partner at Speedinvest was not planned - she got to know the team and look at deals together before they developed a Venture Partner role for her, and she gradually became more and more involved with the firm before joining full time

Today we are happy to have Tobias Schirmer with us, Founding Partner of Join Capital, a 150m€ early stage venture capital investor in European technology startups providing access to industrial companies.Join Capital has an established portfolio of 20 companies and notable investments including Flexciton, Valispace, Opteran Technologies, Digital Spine, Frenetic.Joining Tobias as a guest on this episode we have someone who'll need little introduction to all of you: Joe Schorge, founding and managing partner of Isomer Capital, one of Europe’s absolute strongest Fund of Funds.

Today, we're happy to welcome Joe Cross, early stage angel investor, with a portfolio of around 25 companies so far, and LP in Cocoa. He focusses on companies with the potential to make a positive impact at scale, and helps founders on growth & marketing challenges across a whole mix of sectors. Previously, he was employee #12 at (Transfer)Wise, where he wore various marketing & growth leadership hats from 2012-2020. In this episode you’ll learn:- How Joe thinks about applying his ex-operator skill set to add value to founders & why it’s often operations and tactics over strategy!- Why Joe’s investment thesis is centered around Good, Big & Fast and how he thinks about impact investing.- Why Joe is changing strategy from having done 25 investments in just 2 years to doing fewer more concentrated bets in the time to come- How Joe thinks about building valuable networks to access and win the best deals

Today we are happy to welcome Sabina Wizander, partner at Creandum, one of Europe’s leading early-stage venture funds with offices in Stockholm, Berlin, London and San Francisco. Creandum backs European Enterprise and Consumer Companies and are currently investing out of a 500m€ Fund. Creandum have made more than 100 investments including notable companies like Spotify, Pleo, Kry, Depop, iZettle, Kahoot!, Vivino, and Klarna. At Creandum, Sabina focuses on Climate & Health in the Nordics and DACH region, and has invested in the likes of Passionfroot, Scapin' and Prewave.In this episode you'll learn:- Europe & late-stage capital- Startup funding — a marathon, not a sprint- VC & Founder relationship misconceptions

Today we are happy to welcome Keith Grose, Head of International for Plaid, an open finance platform and data network that powers over 3,000 digital financial apps and more than 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Keith leads the strategy and operations for Plaid’s international products. In this episode you’ll learn:- How Keith thinks about solo founders and why he believes having angels & VCs around you is even more important for these- Why Keith thinks grit is the number one thing to look for and how he tests for it- Why establishing trust and psychological safety is so important to angel investing- Why Keith prefers Whatsapp and email to regular reporting and how that can save communications from going bad

Welcome to "At The Cap Table" podcast, a new series that shines the spotlight on the investors who are changing the VC industry in Europe.Our second guest is Judith Dada, General Partner at La Famiglia. La Famiglia is a Berlin based European seed stage venture capital fund that invests in B2B technology companies disrupting or enabling large industries.Earlier this year, La Famiglia raised €250 million for its combined third seed fund (which is €165 million) and its first growth co-investment fund (€90 million).Judith's focus areas include the future of work, data-driven business models, and machine learning. In addition to this, she serves as an advisor to the German government on technology, diversity, and migration matters.Before joining La Famiglia VC, Judith was at Facebook where she managed Amazon Europe's marketing strategy and worked on Facebook's VC Initiative.In this episode of "At The Cap Table," Judith will be sharing her insights and experiences in a dynamic and wide-reaching discussion.The topics covered will include:- Judith’s background and personal journey into investing, including her route into VC- The current state of entrepreneurship into the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) and Europe given the abundance of talent moving into the space solving big problems and wanting to have a bigger impact in the region- Building and strengthening a strong ecosystem in Europe- La Famiglia's investment focus- A quick fire round of final and probing questionsStay tuned for an engaging and informative conversation!

Today we are happy to welcome Seda Ambartsumian and Peter Roos, from Target Global.Target is one of the largest and most successful technology investment firms in Europe with more than €3bn AuM and a portfolio of well-known industry champions including Revolut, Wefox, Delivery Hero, Auto1 and many others. Seda is the Head of Marketing & Comms. She joined in Jan 2022 (while 2 months pregnant) and is responsible for ensuring that Target and its portfolios shine at every opportunity. Prior to Target she spent 12 years advising private equity firms and hedge funds like Apollo and Pershing Square on their brand, positioning, and corporate reputation.Peter is the COO of Target, joined the firm 3 years ago to build out its Middle East activity. Since then Target has made several investments in the region including Fresha & Tarabut Gateway + helped their portfolio expand to the region with companies like Rapyd opening up local offices and most recently, Target opening an official office in Abu Dhabi. Peter is an experienced operator, having held senior role at Johnson & Johnson as well as having led diversified industrials businesses in both Germany and Austria. He also had brief stints in Hong Kong, London and Switzerland and is a truly cosmopolitan individual holding down the forts in the Middle East while ensuring teams across London, Berlin, Tel Aviv and Barcelona are happy and thriving!In this episode you'll learn:- Why parental leave policy is so important in VC- How you can learn from Target’s process and findings- The importance of building a culture to back up the policy- Why being small shouldn’t be an excuse for not having thought things through

Today, we're happy to welcome you to the second episode diving deep on the story of a Super Angel on EUVC! Say hi to Charley Ma, the man responsible for building and scaling multiple enterprise software startups and leading their marketing, sales, and customer success teams from $0 to $200m dollars as the first revenue hire for companies such as Plaid, Ramp, and Alloy. But Charley's career as an operator is definitely matched by his career as an angel having been an early investor in breakout companies such as Stytch, Unit, Codat, Moov, Finch, and many more which have gone to raise from giants like A16Z, Bain, Benchmark, Coatue, First Round Capital, Founder’s Fund, Index and Sequoia.In this episode you'll learn:Charley's journey from JP Morgan to Plaid and into angel investing despite "not having that much money" at the time - in fact he decided to invest his B-school savings on building his angel career instead of academic rap sheet!How Charley thinks about building relationships in angel investing and the importance of being opinionated and selective at the same time as maintaining a broad networkHow Charley employs his experience from his angel investing to make him a better operator and how that allows him to navigate the current market betterHow Charley thinks about portfolio construction, ownership and how he has gone from being purely founder centric to now being more thematically focusedThis episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today we are happy to welcome Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, Partner at Speedinvest, one of Europe’s most active early-stage investors with more than €1 billion AuM and 40+ investors based in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, and Vienna. Andy found his way into Venture via politics - and is always up for a debate. This gave him an exceptionally good eye for promising ideas and trends.In this episode you’ll learn:- Andy’s journey from politics to VC and the edge having a different background gives him today- What 6000+ VCs say about how they make decisions- A discussion of how the European results differ from the US results- Where funds choose to domicile, why and the implications of this on a policy level- A discussion of why IRR and MOIC requirements are the same for US and EU VCs and why that surprises Andreas- Why 90% of EU VCs say Europe is fragmented and what the causes of this is

Today we have a special episode, because it’s the very first Super Angel episode launched on EUVC. We’ve got so much great feedback from people hearing this pod and many of them are regular EUVC listeners so we realized we had to bring it on to the EUVC main playlist. We are trilled to welcome you to Roxanne, Director of Station F, the world's biggest startup campus located in Paris, where she is recognized as one of the most influential figures in the French startup ecosystem. French media have called her the "young empress of startups", the "queen of tech", and "the new pope of high-tech and startups in France." Roxanne is an Iranian-American who grew up in Silicon Valley, was formerly a journalist and startup ambassador before being personally selected by Free founder to spearhead the development of Station F. In this episode you’ll learn:- All about Roxanne's angel journey- What's been Roxanne's most memorable moments investing- What angel investing has given Roxanne professionally and personally- How Roxanne thinks about investing cross borders and being a "baby LP" in VC funds

Earlier-than-expected first close of Isomer Capital’s third flagship fund continues proven strategy of investing in Europe’s best venture capital funds and their breakout companiesThe TL:DRIsomer Capital’s track record and reputation as a ‘partnership’ investor has enabled the firm’s third flagship fund to reach a substantial first close ahead of schedule, despite headwinds in the macro-environment.Since inception, Isomer Capital has invested in more than 70 early-stage venture capital (VC) firms across Europe, gaining exposure to 29 unicorns to date, including the likes of UiPath in Romania, Tractable, Deliveroo, Oyster in the UK, ManoMano, Sorare in France, Wefox in Germany, and Dune Analytics in Norway.Isomer’s proven hybrid fund of funds strategy is one of the best ways for institutional investors to access the high potential of European technology venture capital, by supporting European entrepreneurs creating the technology products of tomorrow. As a testament to this, IC II saw its net asset value (NAV) continue to increase in Q4 2022 against macro headwinds, maintaining its ranking in the top 5% of its kind globally.Isomer Capital has attracted investment from British Business Investments, the European Commission, and a range of endowments, pensions, corporates, and family offices from across Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Rana Yared, General Partner at Balderton Capital - one of Europe's most successful venture capital firms, that has raised almost $5BN, across 10 funds over the past 21 years. Balderton has backed some of the continent's most incredible companies including Revolut, CityMapper, Workable, Go Cardless, amongst other global tech leaders! Before Balderton, Rana was a Partner at Goldman Sachs, first in the Principal Strategic Investments Group where she led the bank's fintech strategy and then later in GS Growth.In the first episode of “At the Cap Table”, we discussed the state of entrepreneurship in Europe and why the startup scene is booming like never before, Balderton’s investment strategy and why being a great investor involves producing returns while also improving the world around you, how Rana has supported founders from seed to successful exit, lessons and reflections on every founder should consider, plus more!In this episode you’ll learn:• The thriving European startup scene and the drivers behind its unprecedented growth.• Unveiling the distinctions between US and European investors and founders, and identifying opportunities across Europe.• Delving into Balderton's investment strategy, emphasizing the significance of generating financial returns while creating a positive impact.• Rana's invaluable journey in supporting companies from their early stages to successful exits.• Lessons and reflections on driving impact as a board member and the qualities that define elite performers.• Exploring strategies for making informed investment decisions in a highly competitive startup landscape.

Welcome to "At The Cap Table," the exciting new podcast series brought to you by your hosts, Sarah Finegan from Antler, Savitri Tan and Chloe Dagnell from Isomer Capital. Coming to you from London to showcase the top European female investors who are making waves in the VC industry.In this episode, we want to give you a glimpse into what this podcast is all about, who it's for, and why it stands out from the rest.As the European VC fund ecosystem evolves and diversifies, 'At The Cap Table' is dedicated to amplifying the voices of top female investors who are driving the VC industry forward.Each episode will feature a different leader who will share their insights, experiences, and strategies for backing the next generation of unicorn founders across Europe. We aim to cover a wide range of VC profiles, including partners at established funds, emerging managers, angels-turned-VCs, operators, and family offices.Expect fascinating stories from Balderton's Rana Yared about her invaluable experiences taking companies from seed through to successful exit, hear from industry experts like Deepali Nangia, who will share what it's like to make a move from angel investing into VC. And Check Warner who will discuss building a global movement to address barriers to entry in the industry, amongst many others.This podcast will bring you perspectives from investors all across Europe and beyond. We'll hear from investors in the UK, Germany, France, and more!This podcast series is proudly supported by our respective VC funds; Antler and Isomer Capital and brought to you by EUVC.Antler is the world's leading day zero investor and the most active early-stage VC firm in Europe, making 102 investments into European startups in 2022. We are committed to further increasing our investment rate this year to support the emerging world-class founder talent in Europe.Isomer Capital, on the other hand, is an LP supporting entrepreneurs throughout Europe through VC fund commitments, co-investments, and providing liquidity via secondary purchases of funds and companies. We’ve backed over 70 funds across Europe, and counting!Whether you are an investor seeking to learn from top investors across Europe or a founder looking to raise capital, this podcast is a must-listen for all early-stage investing enthusiasts.So, let's dive into the exciting world of venture capital and uncover the stories behind the success of Europe's most influential investors.Let's go!

Welcome to a very special feature of one of our Super Angel Episodes that we did together Anthony Danon from Cocoa and have gotten so much great feedback on from VCs that we wanted to give it a special feature here on EUVC.Today, we're happy to welcome you to Eduardo Ronzano, a Spanish tech entrepreneur and angel investor. He founded KelDoc, one of the top online booking platforms for hospitals in France and sold it to NEHS insurance group. Eduardo is the managing director of Secret Fund - an undercover entrepreneur fund based in Paris.In this episode you’ll learn:- How Eduardo’s mom got him into angel investing following the sale of his first company- How to stay aligned with your entrepreneurs and the importance of being authentic- How Eduardo follows a strategy of only doing initial investments and what this gives him as an angel- Why reputation is the number one thing in angel investing- The importance of asking yourself why you are angel investing and how connecting with founders has been the biggest personal take-away for Eduardo- Why angel investing is like being a boxing coach, not a football coachThis episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today we are happy to welcome Chris and Alexis.Chris Wade is an all-time favorite guest here at the EUVC Podcast, the co-founder of Isomer Capital is undeniably one of Europe's true OG LPs. With an extensive career as a founder, startup mentor and LP with more than 50 Venture fund investments under his belt, Chris co-leads Isomer's fund investments and leads their co-investment program.And we brought along for this episode Alexis Houssou, the Founder & Managing Partner of HCVC, an community-first early-stage venture capital firm that helps hardtech founders tackle problems with capital, resources and collaboration.In this episode, you'll learn: - The origin story of the relationship between Isomer and HCVC- Reflections from both sides of the table on managing LP relations in co-investments- Why Alexis thinks it's paramount that you only do co-investments with LPs/GPs when there's a lot of trust on both sides.- Why Chris thinks the overwhelming most important thing an LP can ask of a GP is to be transparent and trustworthy.- Reflections on the inconvenient yet fundamental truth: Funds don't make money, companies make money.

Today we are happy to welcome Umerah Akram and Martijn De Wever.Umerah is Head of Private Markets at the London Stock Exchange, helping grow the Group’s offering for private companies. Martijn is CEO & Founder of Floww, a digital platform connecting start-ups, venture capitalists, investors, and business partners. LSEG works in collaboration with Floww to create a new standard for data in private markets and connecting the innovation ecosystem to traditional private capital on a single transaction platform.And we must say, we’ve seen quite a few firms come up in Europe lately trying to disrupt exactly this. And some have looked quite similar, if not indistinguishable. So when we first heard about Floww, we were suspicious. But we do actually think there’s something to pay attention to here. ‘Cos Floww has partnered with LSEG, yes - that LSEG. The London Stock Exchange Group. And they’re not playing the game of building a centralized platform for private markets, but rather the game of empowering the decentralized nature of private markets.So what’s the stock exchange getting into this for? Well nothing less than the ushering in of a new type of wholesale market in the UK. An ambition which the government is committed to and is referred to as the Intermission Trading Venue by the UK Treasury, which, in short, is about giving private companies opportunity to access periodic liquidity. Exactly that is what the LSEG is leveraging their public market assets to deliver. Tune in for a deep dive that will paint a journey from today's private market to the future’s.This episode is brought to you in partnership with LSEG and Floww.

Today we are happy yo welcome Bruno Raillard, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Frst, a “Day 1” VC focused on founders building global-scale companies out of the French ecosystem. Launched in 2015, Frst now has over 200m€ under management and has invested in the likes of Payfit, Owkin, Pigment, Electra and Shippeo. Before launching Frst, Bruno has built his career in financial consulting and general management working with startups, SMBs and large enterprises across a broad spectrum of industries.In this episode you’ll learn:-The journey from financial consulting, to running a family office and finally launching Frst- Bruno’s reflections on the French tech and VC ecosystem, why it’s considered closed by many and why an old adage would have said that French startups are destined to max out before unicorn status- Bruno’s reflections on pivoting from running an FO to running an independent fund- A deep dive on Frst’s recently launched paper “Appel au Génie Français” (loosely translated to “Call to French Genius”) and how it relates to their investment thesis and strategyThe paper discussed in the episode can be read in English on episode page on eu.vc and in original French on https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/appel-au-génie-français-bruno-raillard

Today we are happy to welcome Enrique Alvarado Hablitzel and Christin ter Braak-Forstinger, Co-Founders of Chi Impact Capital, the conscious impact investor that is creating strong financial returns by investing in core-regenerative business models that advance the most burning Sustainable Development Goals in Europe. Through the Burning Issues Impact Fund, Chi is scaling early growth stage companies using breakthrough technologies to transform the sectors they operate in.In this episode you'll learn:- An honest discussion of SFDR and the reason why it’s at risk of being more red tape than real change- Reflections on the future of vertical farming and the business models and technology being applied in the space- TTying fund carry to positive impact and the design of governance bodies

Today we are happy to welcome Augustin Sayer, General Partner at OVNI Capital, a VC seed fund specialising in France-based tech startups. Based in Paris, Augustin manages the company's investments in France and Israel. He was previously Partner at Newfund, a french-american fund, overseeing 20 investments in companies such as FairMoney, the largest African neo-bank, and Umiami, a plant-based texture technology company.In this episode you will learn:- From Banking to PE, to founder to VC to now emerging manager- How Gus’ journey as monoentrepreneur made him realize that VC was the way to go- Everything about the French ecosystem and how to think about it- Why OVNI’s thesis of backing French founders who are international from day-1 positions them incredibly

Today we are happy to welcome Kim Lundberg, Senior Portfolio Manager at the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark, formerly known as Vækstfonden, a Danish Growth Fund that he joined in 2017. Kin has been supporting numerous Danish startups with venture debt and growth loans in collaboration with both investors and other venture debt lenders, offering a great overview on tech lending.In this episode you’ll learn:- Everything about tech lending in Europe, it’s history, role and who it’s for (and not!)- The core terms you need to know and how to think about them- The intricacies and nuances of Venture debt and Revenue-based financing and how to employ these services as a VC for your founders- Kim’s take on the effect of tech lenders not having an equity reward as part of their deal structure- Where to seek more knowledge and key resources about venture debt

Today we are happy to welcome Nick de la Forge, Co-Founder and General Partner of Planet A, a leading European GreenTech Fund looking to invest into scalable, sustainable innovation. Before following the calling of building Planet A, Nick worked in different roles at leading firms at European deep-tech startups and funds, his own company Scalewonder, and he has a long-ranging track record as an angel investor in the WEB2.0 and WEB3.0.In this episode you will learn:- Nick’s surprising journey from his university studies to Web 3 to finally launching Planet A- Nick's views on ReFi as investment vertical and solution to our climate issues- How to build from a theory of change when building your fund and why causing systemic change is a success criteria for Planet A- The importance of ensuring that prospective LPs understand and accept the core assumptions of your fund- How Planet A employ Life Cycle Assessments to measure impact and use science in your investment decision making

This is the second part of Miguel Pinho's episode. Today we will explore the common misconceptions about the VC techstack and check his top tips for emerging VCs building their techstack. Miguel is the head of technology at Seedcamp, the European seed fund launched in 2007 that helps European entrepreneurs to compete on a global scale. He works on internal and public-facing projects ensuring they leverage the right tool suite to continue to identify, invest and support the most exciting companies out there.In this episode you will learn:- Why following the herd and FOMO is the worst, yet one of the most pervasive way to select tools for your VC tech stack- Why Airtable is an absolute power tool for VCs and Miguel’s perspectives on leveraging it’s power- Why Miguel believes there’s too little deep thinking about the VC tech stack and too many looking for a magic bullet rather than making the effort to build their own path- How to think about the organizational development to leverage the power of data and tech as a VC - when to hire a Miguel!? Should you even?- How Miguel thinks about the trend of data driven VC and if it’s more than just big words

Today we have a special episode, brought to you by Latitude 59, the flagship startup and tech event of the world’s first digital society taking place in Tallinn, Estonia, from the 24th to the 26th of May. Latitude59, in collaboration with a syndicate by Estonian Business Angels Network and TeraVC, is looking for bold and promising startups that are shifting paradigms and changing the world for the better, to compete for €1 million in 2023. The application deadline is April 9th. Make sure not to miss it!And on that note, we are happy to welcome Andrus, Founding Partner of Tera VC, and Martin, Head of Business Development at TEHNOPOL, member of EstBAN and co-lead of the 1M€ investment during Latitude59 conference.In this episode you’ll learn:– Why you should consider having Latitude59 on your event plan this year– Why Andrus and Martin have committed to the 1m€ prize pot for the Latitude59 Pitch competition– A look behind the scenes of the process, deliberations and decision criteria behind the 1m€ prize pot – A discussion of the Estonian venture scene and how it’s positioned in relation to the New Nordics and Baltics

If you are a EUVC regular listener you know we've had a few of Seedcamp's stars on the show, but this will be a whole new ride. This is the first of a two-part special episode. Today we are happy to welcome Miguel, head of technology at Seedcamp, he works on internal and public-facing projects ensuring they leverage the right tool suite to continue to identify, invest and support the most exciting companies out there.In this episode you will learn:- Miguel’s journey to becoming one of Europe’s leading voices on the VC Tech stack & the path to being a truly data-driven VC- How Seedcamp’s journey with tech took Miguel from a Fireman-phase, through a Gandalf-phase, then MacGiver-phase to finally arrive at the Architect-phase- Why simple and unsexy things like Password managers are things VC managers need to think about when building their tech stack and why- Why, how and when VCs should think about hiring a head of tech- Why FOMO might be a good thing in venture, but a terrible thing in building the VC tech stack - and pervasive in the industry nonetheless

Today we are happy to welcome Bryan Duarte and Keyona Meeks, the CoFounder and Managing Partner and the General Partner of BlackTech Capital, a Toronto based pre-seed fund that invests in Black and other Underrepresented Founders focused on CleanTech, leveraging partnerships with top organizations, universities & accelerators and the managers’ expertise, networks and track record in growing several companies to 9x valuation increases.In this episode you'll learn:- The story about how BlackTech Capital’s founders decided to build their firm together without ever having met in person- Why there’s a true need for funds focused on minorities and how doing so can give an edge to your fund- How fighting consumerism and fast fashion presents a venture investment opportunity- A discussion of how we can collaborate across the pond to promote CleanTech founders from diverse backgrounds