EUVC

Ertan Can is the founding managing partner of Multiple Capital, one of Europe's truly visionary Fund of Funds pioneering micro-VC and Seed fund investing. It's no coincidence that Ertan has named his fund Multiple, as the word holds the key to his strategy; democratize access to a diversified portfolio of multiple managers across multiple geographies, multiple sectors, and multiple vintages. In this episode you'll learn:- Why Ertan started Multiple & what it's like to raise for an FoF in Europe- Why Ertan focuses on emerging managers and what he looks for- Why track-record cannot be your main criteria when evaluating Emerging Managers- The role of KPIs and reporting for emerging managers- Why investing is more about being a cockroach than a hero

Cyrus Shey is the managing partner of Bregal Milestone, a 500 M€ growth fund investing all across Europe. Bregal Milestone pioneers a sourcing strategy focused on people, process and technology that allows them to engage nearly 100 companies weekly & has resulted in Bregal having closed all deals without a competitive process. Bregal Milestone stands out as a value-add investor with a hands-on team that Cyrus refers to as both a SWAT-team and in-house M&A department. In this episode you’ll learn: – The differences between the EU and US growth-stage markets – The benefits of raising a fund embedded in an established investment firm – Bregal Milestone’s use of data to create a competitive advantage – Bregal Milestone’s endemic diversity and how that helps scale-ups grow in Europe – M&A as a core tactic to fast-track European expansion.

Vinoth Jayakumar is a Partner at Draper Esprit - one of Europe's very few publicly listed VC firms. They were first founded in 2006 and now manage more than a billion euros, they've made more than 125 investments and have created more than 5 billion in returns for their investors. At Draper Esprit, Vinoth focuses on the future of finance, Insurance, fintech, proptech and cybersecurity. He's interested in all of it, but what gets him truly excited is companies that aren't afraid of targeting the whole stack of financial products and services. No easy pickings for Vinoth.In this episode you’ll learn:- The anatomy of Draper Esprit, why they IPO’d their fund and the benefits it brings- Why Draper Esprit’s investment strategy includes a FoF & secondaries focus- Vinoth’s take on the recent changes in the European VC market- Why ESG is more than a box ticking exercise to Vinoth and how to work with portfolio companies on it.

Lara Koole is the co-founder of Carbon Equity, the first global alternative climate investment platform and one of the most ambitious attempts to democratize access to VC investing. In this second part of our talk, Lara Deep dives with us on the plans to make Carbon Equity a force to be reckoned with, aimed at helping to re-define the Climate VC space. Lara shares with us how she draws on her experience at Phillips to make her vision and dream job come true, what she looks for when evaluating funds to invest in, or how the European Union is helping to pave the way to more transparent climate investing.In this episode you’ll learn:-How evaluating funds in the climate VC space is influenced by the sense of purpose of the team-How Lara views carry distribution models and other alignment tools-Carbon Equity’s plans to become a beacon in the LP community-The GP commit controversy and Lara’s take on it-Greenwashing in the VC scene and the European Union’s contribution to end it.

Lara Koole is the co-founder of Carbon Equity, the first global alternative climate investment platform and one of the most ambitious attempts to democratize access to VC investing. Lara is also a former partner of Phillips Ventures where she set up their Corporate Venture fund, doing both direct investments and Fund investments. Lara and her team have just closed their first financing round and are in the midst of building their first Fund of Funds-feeder fund. In this first part of our talk, Lara takes us behind the scenes of Carbon Equity and to how they’re changing the way VC works.In this episode you’ll learn:-How Lara and her team are unleashing the power of VC to tackle climate change-How retail investors are going to be able to invest in VC through Carbon Equity-Why and how the VC model is adapted by Carbon Equity, including a “no carry” policy (!)-Perspectives on Feeder Funds and why Carbon Equity are using them

Joe Schorge is the founding and managing partner of Isomer Capital, one of the most formative Fund of Funds in the European ecosystem. This is the second part of a two-part episode and this episode focuses on Joe’s views on disruption in the VC space, the current state of The European ecosystem and how he assesses emerging managers. To top it off, Joe also left us with some clues of what’s coming next for him and for Isomer Capital.In this episode you’ll learn:- What it takes to start a VC firm and get interest and money from the best LPs. - Why GPs attempting to disrupt VC rarely catches Joe’s interest.- Why being the first and the only is a bad strategy to be fundraising on in VC - How and why Joe and the Isomer team worked close with the founders of First Entrepreneur. - Why LPs should consider investing in a Fund of Funds instead of directly into VC funds.

Joe Schorge is the founding and managing partner of Isomer Capital, one of Europe's absolute strongest Fund of Funds. Joe started his career in technology management positions that got him up close with M&A which led Joe to a whole string of accomplishments in PE and VC doing direct as well as fund investments. To top it off, Joe has also made Angel investments. In this first part of a two-part episode we're truly talking to one of the greats as we dive deep on the origin story of Isomer Capital, Joe's investment thesis and what it takes to be a great VC.In this episode you’ll learn:- What made Europe so unique that Joe, as an American, had to start his fund here.- What profiles make up the VC dream team – the VC hackers, hipsters and hustlers.- Why innovation requires an open minded attitude while searching for past patterns.- How Isomer Capital creates value for their portfolio of VC funds.

Chris Smith is the managing partner at Playfair Capital investing in seed & pre-seed in the UK, Europe and Israel. This is the second part of a two-part episode with Chris. If you haven’t done it yet, we strongly recommend you go back and listen to episode 14 with Chris on being a single-LP firm, post-Covid market dynamics . In this episode we dive deep on deal flow, founder profiles, and Playfair’s value add strategies.In this episode you’ll learn:– Ways to get privileged access to stellar first-time founders.– How Playfair’s value add strategy goes way beyond the ordinary and draws on every partner at their team.– Why and how Playfair goes beyond the headline grabbing capital injections and actually cares for their founders’ well-being.– What led to the creation of the female founder office hours and its impact in Playfair’s deal flow so far.

Ryan Floyd is a Founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures based in Silicon Valley but investing globally. He focuses on early stage enterprise SaaS and has a true love for applications and cloud/infrastructure related companies. Ryan is dedicated to making VC more accessible and is doing important work on this via his YouTube channel Ask A VC. In this episode we put the spotlight on how to think about startup advisors and strategies for breaking into VC.In this episode you’ll learn:• The role of advisors and how to use them best in building success• How to think about compensation for advisors• What skills are most important in a venture investor and how to build and prove it • Strategies for breaking into venture, including shadow portfolios and angel investing • How Storm Ventures think about go-to-market strategies for early stage companies

Chris Smith is the managing partner at Playfair Capital where he focuses on seed (and pre-seed) deals in the UK, Europe and Israel. Chris 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. But what gets Chris truly excited is when he can find companies operating in unloved/overlooked sectors that are ripe for disruption.In this episode you’ll learn:•The impact of being a 1-LP fund & how Playfair brings their heart with them into VC.•Strategies for VCs and founders to win in the current bull market•Why globally distributed teams are more resilient than traditional businesses•The post-COVID effects on deal sourcing strategy and VC operations•How PlayFair thinks about value add as a hands-on pre-seed & seed investor