Congratulations to the busy bees over at Index Ventures for closing their €400m growth equity fund. With new funds targeting mature technology companies also from Carlyle, Fidelity Ventures and Wellington among others, this is the strongest sign yet that European tech investing is coming of age.
Index's Giuseppe has a thesis that there is a crop of sucessful VC-backed startups in Europe that would normally sell out early, but could in fact become global market leaders given the right backing. And he's right. If we look at home-grown tech companies of the past 5 years -- like MySQL, Cramer Systems, Cartesis, Qliktech, FRSGLobal, Smartstream, DocMorris, Trema, Ion Trading -- they have proven that it's possible to build financially and operationally successful market leaders from Europe. Now, less than 15 years after venture capital set root in Europe, we have specialised investor capital available for each stage of a company's development: seed (eg Samwer brothers, Howzat) - startup & expansion (Spark, Amadeus, Advent, Sofinnova, Iris, et al) - growth equity (Kennet, Index) - buyout (HgCapital, General Atlantic, Hellman & Friedman).
This maturation of the industry is good news for European entrepreneurs, and for the European economies that benefit from their successes.
I've read conflicting opinions on the motivations behind the fund. Some sources stated Index's intent to invest in new startups, others say Index will be focused on their existing portfolio. Did you have any insights on this, Max?
Posted by: Neil | January 23, 2008 at 09:18
I am closely following the development of VC and startup scene in Russia. It should be also coming of age. Please see my insights on http://blog.quintura.com
Posted by: Yakov | January 23, 2008 at 10:58
Max,
I'll be in London Feb 5-7, and would love to meet you and your partners to get your perspective on the European startup ecosystem. Amazon Web Services is making a significant impact on the startup ecosystem here in US, and has recently started expanding into EMEA.
Martin
Posted by: Martin Buhr | January 23, 2008 at 19:10
About these guys at Index Ventures ... WOW! HAVE THEY ASSEMBLED A DREAM TEAM OR WHAT? They are really ready to make some intelligent moves in life sciences and biotech. I can't help noticing that Index Ventures hired Guido Magni, former global head of medical sciences at Roche, to head up the investment teams for the new technology and biotechnology fund. Guido Magni had a world class pedigree, even before joining Roche in 1993. But it doesn't end there. I decided to rummage through their personnel and see what that revealed. They have an analyst, Daniel Bach, with a Master's Degree in Start-up Business Administration and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Universitat de Barcelona. One foot in science and one foot in business. PERFECT! When it comes to results, these dudes are going to set the world on fire.
REG CROWDER
http://www.RegCrowder.com
http://www.journalistdirectory.com/journalist/TgTQ/REG-CROWDER
Posted by: REG CROWDER | January 26, 2008 at 11:36