EUVC #257: Greg Dewerpe of A/O on building Europe's biggest solo GP with 250m€ AUM and the opportunity of the Built World 🧱

Today we have Greg Dewerpe with us. Greg is a founder & CIO at A/O, a venture firm in London backing European founders that are building innovative technology companies that directly and indirectly solve mission critical problems in the Built World with a unique access to some of the largest B2B customers in the industry.

A/O has a total of 250€ MN in AUM, an established portfolio of 23 companies and notable investments including SPAN, Passivelogic, SatteliteVu, Plentific and Enter.

At A/O, Greg focuses on building world technology and positive transformation (like decarbonisation, climate resiliency and digitalisation), in Europe & the US, late seed to series B.A/O is also the first VC to ever join as a Global Innovator at the WEF which the attentive listener will know we are big supporters of given our involvement with the UpLink Initiative.

Watch the whole interview and our key take-aways on eu.vc 💖

Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction to the European VC Podcast
00:04:12 - Overcoming Challenges in Career Transition
00:07:55 - The Power of Visualization and Positivity
00:11:44 - The Challenges of the Industry
00:15:34 - Building Europe’s biggest Solo GP
00:19:25 - Keyman Risk vs. Team Risk
00:22:54 - The Journey towards Growth and Improvement
00:26:34 - On Bullying, Balancing Work and Parenthood
00:33:59 - Being Present in Relationships
00:38:02 - Confidence, Humility, and Growth in Entrepreneurship
00:41:58 - The Challenges and Opportunities of VC in Real Estate
00:45:44 - The Impact of Technology Transformation on Asset Prices
00:49:32 - Aligning Doing Good and Making Money
00:53:35 - Risk Tolerance and Acceptance of Failure in Venture Capital
00:57:14 - The Benefits of Being a Specialist in Venture Capital