EUVC

Stephan Heller, Founding Partner at AQVC, discusses their investment approach, evaluating emerging managers and first-time funds. They explore the hustler mentality in venture capital, fund performance evaluation, and DPI creation in third-time funds. Dive into the challenges and unique strategies in the VC industry, emphasizing discipline, alignment, and the European VC fund raising Bible promotion.

Carina Namih and Sten Tamkivi from Plural discuss Europe's evolving VC landscape, Plural's unique investment strategy, adding value for founders, changing the status quo in VC practices, and their vision for Europe's tech ecosystem. They also delve into their follow-on investment approach, innovative decision-making in investment committees, and strategic fundraising tips for emerging VCs in Europe.

Angel investor Mikko Silventola discusses his journey, strategic angel investing, following on investments, challenges in venture capital, identifying potential unicorns, selecting the right VCs, life design, and work-life balance. Insightful reflections on investing and navigating the startup ecosystem.

The landscape of venture capital is evolving, and Isomer Capital is at the forefront with its new fund designed to meet the dynamic needs of the European venture capital market.We sat down with Joe Schorge and Omolade Adebisi from Isomer to talk through the market, the strategy and the future. Well-worth a watch as we open up the deck that raised the fund and tap the brains that incept and run it. But let’s get the headline numbers in place:100 M€ Fund dedicated to secondaries exclusively.65-75% of dedicated to acquiring Limited Partner (LP) interests in existing VC funds.An additional 15-25% is earmarked for direct secondaries in companies, providing crucial liquidity to stakeholders.The remaining funds, up to 15%, are reserved for discretionary investments, which may include buying stakes or carry from general partners.This strategic distribution of funds is a response to the current market conditions where many European VCs have yet to realize significant returns from their investments. These circumstances often necessitate liquidity solutions for personal reasons—such as purchasing homes or funding private education—or professional requirements like meeting General Partner (GP) commitments for raising new funds.Typical ticket sizes range from €1 million to €10 million injecting much-needed flexibility and liquidity across Europe's venture capital ecosystem and broadening Isomer’s impact beyond the traditional fund of funds model to include any Europe-based fund or startup 💖Hope you’ll enjoy the read and watch on eu.vc and the listen here on your pod player 🙏

Rainer Märkle, General Partner at HV Capital, shares his journey from a CVC to venture capital, discussing key topics like raising funds in a challenging market, maintaining trust with LPs, and balancing liquidity vs. value potential. He highlights the importance of keeping principles against market hype and strategies for achieving fundraising goals.

We continue our discussion on Fundraising during and after the tech reset, as part of our little hype parade ahead of the launch of the State of European VC Fundraising Report. Today, we have with us two close friends of the pod: Carlos Eduardo Espinal from Seedcamp and Bogdan Iordache from Underline Ventures.Carlos Eduardo Espinal is a Managing Partner at Seedcamp, arguably, Europe's leading seed fund, first launched in 2007 to support European entrepreneurs truly compete on a global scale. With investments in over 460 companies including publicly listed Romanian-founded, UiPath, Wise and unicorns Revolut, wefox and Pleo. Carlos is a published author, fellow podcaster and has been on the Forbes Midas List as one of the most influential VCs in Europe for more or less as long as yours truly has been alive.Bogdan Iordache is the Founding GP of Underline Ventures, a $20M seed fund in Romania and the first solo GP in the region. Bogdan and his team are focusing on backing Eastern European founders with global ambitions, and though I just said vertical-agnostic, Underline does pay extra attention to enterprise automation, AI, cybersecurity, industrial tech, defense, and climate-related startups 🌳.Chapters:00:14 Shifting Sands and the Rise of New LPs00:32 Seedcamp and Underline Ventures04:52 Shifting Sands and Impact on Emerging Managers05:43 Bogdan's Journey Through the Tech Reset07:58 Carlos's Insights on Supporting Emerging Managers10:23 The Challenges of Fundraising12:00 The Tech Reset on VC Funding17:10 Raising Fund Six and the Importance of Fund Size21:02 The Art of Fundraising and Learning from LPs26:27 Exploring Overlooked Geographies in Venture Capital39:00 The Role of Community and Background in VC47:44 Reflecting on the Evolution of the Venture Ecosystem50:02 Closing Thoughts on GPLP Relationships and Emerging Managers

Daniel Keiper-Knorr, Founding Partner at Speedinvest, shares insights on raising 500M€ during the tech reset. He discusses unique fundraising approaches, navigating market cycles, and adapting to economic changes. Tips on building LP relationships and creating urgency in fundraising. Impact of tech reset on European VC fundraising also explored.

Today, we are meeting with Ertan Can, the Founding General Partner of Multiple Capital, a venture capital fund based in Luxembourg.Ertan has just closed his third fund with a target of $50M after investing already in companies like NP-Hard, Angular, Airstreet (1), Lunar, Fly, Inflection, Foreword by Declan, and Remote First Capital by Andi Klinger, Nomad by Marc McCabe.Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀Chapters:00:54 Deep Dive into Ertan Can's Third Fund and Investment Strategy04:07 Ertan's Journey from Family Office to Micro VC06:04 Challenges and Learnings from Raising Fund III08:13 Navigating the European Fundraising Landscape13:47 Strategic Shifts in LP Engagement and Fundraising Realities21:29 Understanding the Micro VC Ecosystem and Fund Size Dynamics35:42 Evaluating Emerging Managers and Fund Performance37:50 The Role of Randomness in Fund Success and Investment Strategy39:55 Evaluating Investment Consistency and Strategy40:34 The Importance of Building a Strong Network41:07 Performance Metrics: Beyond Early Success43:14 Assessing Portfolio Company Progress and Entry Valuations53:23 The Rise of Fund of Funds in Europe54:03 The Role of LPs in the Venture Ecosystem01:03:02 Advice for Emerging Managers and Fundraising Challenges01:13:42 Personal Reflections and Future DirectionsKey Learnings from the episode Acceptance of Power LawOne must acknowledge that not all VC funds, especially first-time funds, will be outperformers. Ertan works from an expectation that a minority, perhaps 10 to 20 percent, will become outlier funds, with the remainder performing average or below average.Role of RandomnessErtan Can notes the randomness in fund success, citing that outliers in his experience have come from unexpected places, suggesting a belief in the potential rather than the certainty of each fund being a standout.AssessmentBeyond Immediate PerformanceThe transition from a first to a second fund often does not provide sufficient time to demonstrate real performance in terms of markups or DPI. Early successes or markups are seen as unsustainable for predicting future performance.Consistency and FocusErtan values the consistency of the emerging manager with their initial strategy and approach. He looks favorably upon GPs who remain focused on their initial thesis and do not chase current market hypes or trends without a well-thought-out reason for any strategic shifts.Networking and Co-investor QualityThe ability of a GP to build a network, attract follow-on investments from reputable names, and be invited to competitive rounds is viewed as more important than early performance metrics.Entry Valuations as KPIsAn important KPI for Ertan is the range of entry valuations a fund manager secures. Investing at lower entry valuations, indicative of conviction and an earlier investment stage, is preferred over higher entry valuations that might follow market signals or competitiveness.Brand Building and RecognitionBuilding a recognizable brand and becoming the go-to GP in a specific region, vertical, or niche is deemed more crucial than first-fund numbers. Recognition in the ecosystem can be a more significant indicator of future success than immediate performance data.Advice for Emerging ManagersErtan advises maintaining consistency, having a well-defined market thesis, and resisting the urge to significantly upscale the fund size or pivot strategies to follow current hypes. Managers should focus on being recognized as experts in their specific focus areas, which is seen as vital in a competitive market.Q: Advice for your 10 year younger self.Take advice more seriously.Dont underestimate the fundraising part.10y ago was my inflection point, so did right, but than after…Q: Advice for fundraising managersTry to identify the most realistic LPs for you. And that might be the closest, people in your network, like other angel investors, founders who invest in funds, smaller family offices, and also corporates as they might be strategic and strategic partners. So try to think before you're reaching out to everyone in a broad sweeping approach. I think most of that will be noise and will not be helpful.Try to use intros. If people who are well-considered in the market makes an introduction to a fund that increases the probability that someone looks at your fund from a different view.Try not to change your strategy every six months. Don’t adapt to a new strategy just because it is easier to raise capital. Just try to be very focused on what you do. And if that focus does not lead to raising a fund. So be it, I think that's better than raising a fund with a different focus just because of raising a fund.Q: The most counterintuitive thing learned in venture.Invest in people you don’t like.

In this roundtable, we pull the curtain back on some of the core insights from our upcoming State of European VC Fundraising-report and dive deep on the impact of the tech reset for fundraising managers, discuss GP/LP dynamics and uncover how VCs best navigate the current fundraising environment. For the conversation, we brought together some of the most respected investors in our ecosystem:Daniel Keiper-Knorr, Founding GP at SpeedinvestJoe Schorge, Founding GP at Isomer CapitalEkaterina Almasque, General Partner at OpenOceanChristian Hjort Pedersen, VC Fund Investor at IIP Denmark..And to moderate the whole thing; Tom Hughes Ellis & eu.vc’s Andreas Munk Holm.Watch it on eu.vc 👀 Get the full report before anyone else on floww.io/raise ! 👀Together with our good friends at Isomer Capital and Floww, we’ve spent the winter digging into 300+ interviews as well as the latest market data and Isomer Capital’s vaulted data treasures to uncover how the tech reset has impacted the fundraising market in Europe and how leading VCs across the continent have changed their strategies, tactics and operational handbook.Filled with graphs, beautiful narratives and video interviews providing an entirely new and engaging experience, we’ve created an unparalleled learning experience you won’t just sift through, but actually spend real time with.

Join us as Tom Wilson from Seedcamp and Anthony Danon from Cocoa talk to Eva Spannagl, co-founder & Managing Director of Climatos.Eva is a builder. She loves to build things and see their outcomes come to life, and she loves to work with people who are building something. Previously, she worked at McKinsey and at Moss, an early-stage FinTech startup from Berlin.Now, Eva is leading Climatos, a company that builds mini solar panels for urban spaces while nurturing her passion for angel investing.Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀Chapters:00:48 Eva's Journey from Consulting to Angel Investing03:04 Eva's First Investment Story03:55 The Motivation Behind Becoming an Angel Investor05:25 Eva's Approach to Angel Investing05:32 Memorable Deals and the Impact of Angel Investing08:52 Eva's Investment Thesis and Strategy11:03 Portfolio Diversification and Founder Support18:46 The Value of Collaboration with VCs and the Angel Community22:05 Core Learnings from Angel Investing26:42 Testing for Founder Drive and Attitude