EUVC

Cornerstoned by Isomer Capital, very early Ventures is built to capture the opportunity in three foundational Web3 pillars: Decentralized Infrastructure, Real World Impact, and Public Markets Opportunity.

The very early team has already established a solid initial portfolio in lockstep with leading web3 funds like a16z, Dragonfly, and 1kx. This is evidence that the best founders choose to work with the very early team not just for the capital, but for the value add.

At the core of Web3 lies the possibility of separating money from state. Creating a new global monetary system that transcends borders, redefines property rights, and empowers individuals like never before. This transformation may represent the biggest opportunity of our lifetimes, and we are thrilled to be part of this paradigm shift.

With the speculative excess and hype cleared from much of the Web3 ecosystem, the emerging Web3 bull market appears to be driven by applications that genuinely add value and are built on robust foundations, rather than fleeting fantasies. We believe Web3 is finally reaching the level of maturation we’ve all been waiting for, leading to the founding of projects with tangible benefits and sustainable models instead of mere speculation. And it is these projects that the very early team is helping to bring about.

If you would like an intro to the very early team, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Welcome to a new episode of our special series At The Cap Table.

Today, we are joined by Sarah Finegan, an Investor at Antler, in a conversation with Susan Lin, a Partner & Investor at Felix Capital.

Susan is an investor at Felix Capital. Over the past 10+ years, Susan has advised, invested, and worked in a range of consumer and technology companies in their journeys to grow and scale. Susan joined Felix Capital from HgCapital, a London-based private equity fund where she focused on software investments and portfolio companies. Prior to HgCapital, Susan was a management consultant at Bain & Company in San Francisco, Singapore, and London, advising private equity and growth capital funds on potential investments and CPG and e-commerce companies on go-to-market, M&A, and growth strategies.

Felix Capital is a venture capital firm for the creative class, operating at the intersection of technology and creativity. The fund focuses on digital lifestyle across multiple verticals, investing in authentic consumer-facing brands and platforms and related enabling B2B technologies. Their mission is to be a partner of choice for entrepreneurs with big ideas and help them build category-defining companies that move the world forward.

Chapters:00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:02:16 Susan's Journey into Venture Capital
00:02:51 The Impact of Parents' Entrepreneurship
00:04:31 Susan's Career Path and Experiences
00:05:34 Transition into Investing and Joining Felix Capital
00:06:54 Understanding Felix Capital and Its Approach
00:12:44 Opportunities in Consumer Investing
00:18:22 Impact and Positive Change in Investments
00:20:47 Outlook on Investing and Advice for Founders
00:26:10 Diversity in Europe's Tech Ecosystem
00:29:35 Advice to Younger Self and Conclusion

Today, we are joined by Jonathan Sibilia, Partner at Molten Ventures and one of the judges at the European VC Awards. He is an important player in our ecosystem as one of the main LPs. He has made over 80 fund investments, 2200 underlying portfolio companies with Molten Ventures, and 2B in AUM.

Jonathan joined Molten Ventures in 2009. Prior to joining the company, he was a senior associate in the technology group at Jefferies International, advising on high-profile cross-border M&A, debt & equity offerings.

Previously, he worked at Rothschild & CIE in Paris. He also worked at Apax Partners Corporate Finance in France. Jonathan holds an MA in Management from EM-Lyon and the University of St Gallen in Switzerland and an MA in Advanced Corporate Finance from the University of Paris IX Dauphine.

Molten Ventures is one of the most active venture capital firms in Europe, developing and investing in disruptive, high-growth technology companies.

Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀

Chapters:

00:01:42 The Journey into Venture Capital
00:06:08 The Role of a Public Model
00:13:43 The Future of AI in Venture Capital
00:19:46 The Importance of Exit Strategies
00:20:13 The Role of Founders and VCs in Exit Strategies
00:33:07 Understanding the Importance of Realizing Gains
00:33:43 The Philosophy of De-risking Investments
00:35:03 The Reality of Today's Investment Environment
00:35:45 Shout Out to Collaborative Partners in the Ecosystem
00:36:45 The Importance of Collaboration and Sharing in the Ecosystem
00:38:51 The Role of LPs in Building the Ecosystem
00:42:06 The Challenge of Making Venture Capital Understandable to All
00:42:27 The Mission to Democratize Retail Investing
00:44:26 The Importance of Trusting Your Instincts and Talent
00:55:58 Tips for Emerging VCs: Differentiation and Discipline
00:58:20 The Counterintuitive Truth about Venture Capital
00:59:51 Closing Thoughts and Uncommon Beliefs

Join us for a new episode of the NEUVC series dedicated to those embarking on their journey in the VC. In this episode, Freddie Macpherson, Associate at Isomer Capital, and Linda Võeras, Investment Manager at Karma Ventures, are joined by Ondrej Bartos, General Partner at Credo Ventures.

Ondrej is the Founding GP at Credo Ventures, a 75m€ Seed stage venture fund in Prague (and a bit elsewhere!) to back Central Eastern European Tech Startups.

Credo is investing out of Fund IV with a total €250M AUM and an established portfolio of 60 companies and notable investments, including UI Path, ProductBoard, PriceFX, Resistant AI, and Eleven Labs.

Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀

Chapters:

00:02:00 - Focus on Early Stage Investments
00:04:10 - Spotting Patterns in Venture Capital
00:06:17 - The Beginning of Venture Investing in the Region
00:08:39 - The Growth of Tech Talent in the Region
00:11:00 - The Growth and Progress of the CE Region
00:12:59 - Building Relationships through Networking
00:15:08 - Finding Great Deals in the Startup World
00:17:25 - Learning from Investments and Founders
00:19:49 - Evaluating the Right Investment
00:21:50 - The Risk of Investing in Startups
00:24:13 - The Role of Luck in Success
00:28:26 - The Importance of Founder in Startup Investment
00:30:45 - The Importance of Respect and Honesty in Relationships
00:35:16 - Listening and adding value in boardrooms
00:37:38 - The Role of a Board Member
00:39:53 - Skills for Success in Venture Capital
00:41:53 - The Importance of People in Venture Capital

Today, we are joined by Tej Panesar. Tej is a Partner at Prism Ventures, the UK-based institutional investor focused on the life sciences and healthcare sectors.

Prism invests in the best-of-breed funds managed in the US, UK, and Europe through fund of funds and co-investment programs. He previously worked as an Investment Director at British Patient Capital, a UK government-backed institution very similar to the EIF and one of the largest investors in UK venture capital.

With +425M pounds invested in the UK and Europe, Tej led investments into famed firms like IQ Capital and SV Health. Tej and his team have a wide lens across the life sciences and healthcare industries but a strong focus on traditional biopharma and areas like tech bio.

Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀

Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction about Prism Ventures
00:03:55 - From Crowdfund Platforms to Venture Capital
00:11:09 - LP Perspective on High-Tech Work
00:14:50 - The Non-Binary Nature of the Life Sciences Sector
00:18:34 - The Exciting Opportunities in Biotechnology and Healthcare
00:26:28 - Adoption Challenges in the Health Sector
00:30:23 - The Value Equation of Learning Technologies
00:34:01 - Symbiotic Approaches in Life Sciences
00:37:50 - Focus on Life Science and Healthcare
00:41:36 - Investing in Europe vs the US
00:45:18 - Portfolio Construction and Diversification
00:49:18 - Building a Long-Term Institution
00:53:04 - Diversity and Culture in VC Firms
00:56:50 - Evaluating Team Culture and Portfolio Construction
01:00:29 - The Importance of a Viable Business Plan
01:04:04 - Scaling the Fund Size
01:07:48 - Investing as a Team

965 joined us for yesterday's roundtable on acing LP relationships - in case you missed it, listen here or rewatch on eu.vc 👀

Whether you're navigating the complexities of LP expectations, leveraging digital tools for onboarding, or aiming to strengthen trust and transparency, this roundtable covers it all. Watch it here or add it to your episodes on Apple or Spotify.Our esteemed speakers:

• Alexander Langholz-Baikousis, CFO at Cherry Ventures.
• Simon Lohmann, Head of Platform & IR at Cavalry Ventures.
• Chloe Dagnell, Principal at Isomer Capital.
• Sophie Heijenberg, Investor at No Such Ventures.
• Enrico Ohnemüller, Founder & CEO of bunch

What You Will Learn:

• Key strategies for VCs to effectively manage and nurture relationships with LPs.
• Insights into the expectations and preferences of LPs in their partnerships with VCs.
• The importance of transparency, communication, and alignment of interests in LP-VC relations.
• Innovative tools and services that can facilitate stronger LP-VC connections.
• Real-world experiences and lessons from leading professionals in the field.

This roundtable is brought to you in collaboration with bunch.capital 💖 Being the operating system for private markets, bunch goes beyond the ordinary, reshaping the investment experience by digitising every aspect of the investment process from onboarding to reporting & compliance. They focus on elevating the quality of GP-LP relationships and are trusted by over 1,500 customers who have invested more than €950 million through the platform. Join us if you are interested in exploring how cutting-edge technologies can transform your LP experience. Check them out on bunch.capital 💖

In this episode of our NEUVC series dedicated to those embarking on their VC journey, Freddie Macpherson, Assoicate at Isomer Capital, and Linda Võeras, Associate at Karma Ventures, are joined by Helery Pops, co-founder and Honey Pot Guardian at Honey Badger Capital. However, things move quickly in this world, so since the recording of the episode, Helery has joined Practica Capital as an Investment Manager whilst still working with and supporting the Honey Badger Capital portfolio and team 🦡 .

Helery has mastered the customer's language by doing sales and customer research in Pipedrive before moving to the product team to help build the tool that Pipedrive is today. With a love for good product design for both software and hardware, she joined the ranks of Ampler Bikes with the mission to help make the cities less car-centered.

Speaking to about 20 start-ups every week, Helery has seen pitch decks in all shapes and sizes and will definitely ask how much research went into figuring out the problem space that the start-up is solving.

Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀

Chapters:
00:00:00 - A Conversation On Investing in Sustainability and Impact
00:01:42 - Helery’s Professional Background and Evolution in Career
00:03:05 - Discovering a Superpower in Starting from Zero
00:06:05 - The Importance of Inbound Deal Flow
00:07:36 - Providing Value without Control
00:09:10 - Flexibility and Expectations in VC Investments
00:10:36 - Leveraging Value in Product Management
00:13:29 - Understanding What Partners Want
00:15:03 - Making Money and Impact
00:16:33 - Combining Science and Business to Make an Impact
00:17:59 - Supporting Founders without Investment
00:19:25 - Learning from Others' Knowledge of Geothermal Energy
00:20:52 - The Importance of Having Like-minded People
00:24:01 - Impact Investing in Green Tech
00:25:35 - Constraints on Impact Investing and the Future
00:27:15 - Creating a Deel Flow for Ourselves
00:28:39 - Crucial Skills in the VC Industry

Today, we have Nicholas Nelson, who recently joined MD One Ventures as Partner.

Nicholas is an important and active player in building Europe’s first defence and national security venture capital fund, supporting the growing portfolio of over a dozen defence and dual-use tech companies. Nicholas is an internationally recognised defence investor and thought leader, with over 17 years of experience across the national security and defence tech sectors. His National Security career has spanned roles in the US Government, management consulting, and leading defence and dual-use tech companies.

Nicholas was an early investor in defence tech as we know it today, having made his first investment in 2020, and has been advising within the dual-use sector since 2015. He has become a leading advocate for the nascent European national security technology ecosystem- contributing to multiple publications and communities, including the US Army War College, the NATO Review, National Defence Magazine, Munich Security Conference, Defence Disrupted, College of Europe, University of Cambridge, and Kings College London.

We invite you to listen to this discussion below for a refreshingly honest talk on the defence tech sector, where we stand vis a vis the US and China, as well as actionable advice on how the ecosystem can change for the better.

Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀


Chapters:
00:02:24 - From Aerospace Defense to Government Services
00:04:24 - Transitioning from Government to Tech Startups
00:06:24 - The Role of Tech in a Changing Geopolitical Landscape
00:08:36 - Investing in European Defense Tech for Returns and Impact
00:10:36 - The Declining Tech Valuation Delta between Europe and the US
00:12:38 - Increase in European Defense Spending and Private Capital Engagement
00:14:51 - The Blurring Lines Between Defense Technology and Commercial Use
00:16:51 - The False Sense of Long-term Security
00:18:55 - Trends in Military Spending
00:21:04 - Exclusion Lists for Aerospace Defense Companies
00:23:05 - Europe at risk of being left behind in defense innovation
00:24:59 - The Role of European Primes in the Defense Economy
00:27:02 - Investing in European Defense Tech
00:33:14 - Successful Defense-First Tech Companies
00:35:30 - The Role of Defense Experience in Investing
00:37:34 - The Value of Military and National Service in Tech
00:39:41 - Defense Tech in Eastern Europe
00:41:40 - European Unity and New Beginnings

Today, we're happy to be joined by Edwina Johnson, Head of Global at Alloy, leading company strategy to expand their product into key markets worldwide and launch a GTM team in the UK/EMEA.

Previously Head of Global at Alloy, leading company strategy to expand our product into key markets worldwide and launch a GTM team in the UK/EMEA. Before that, COO at Alloy in NYC, taking the team from Seed to Series C and $1.55B valuation. Edwina is also an active angel investor, primarily through Ada Ventures, under the Economic Empowerment thesis, a mentor through Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation program, and an Expert in Residence for Sie Ventures.

We invite you to listen to this discussion below for some wonderful stories; besides the actionable advice, you can have a sneak peek at the below.

Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀

Chapters:

00:02:08 - Building and Investing in Startups
00:03:51 - The Importance of Strong Founders in Startups
00:05:30 - Taking the First Step into Angel Investing
00:06:57 - Angel Investing and Building a Network
00:08:29 - Tangental Benefits of Angel Investing
00:10:13 - Angel Investing Qualifications
00:11:57 - Evaluating Investment Opportunities
00:13:31 - Investing in Founders with a Clear Mission and Vision
00:15:07 - Providing Value to Founders After Investment
00:16:45 - Providing Value and scaling challenges
00:18:16 - Collaborating with VC's and Diversifying Portfolio
00:19:49 - Diversifying Deal Pipeline
00:21:22 - The Importance of Networking in Angel Investing
00:23:09 - The Herd Mentality in VC Investment
00:24:44 - Balancing Objectivity and Excitement in Investing
00:26:21 - Excitement for Investing in Familiar Industries
00:28:01 - Being Open to Changing Business Models
00:29:32 - Expanding Networks and Diversity in Angel Investing
00:31:09 - The importance of founders in early-stage businesses

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with our friends at Isomer Capital, HSBC Innovation Banking and SuperVenture to launch The European VC Awards on Day 1 of SuperVenture 🏆

When we set out to build eu.vc our mission was to connect and champion The European VC industry, so coming together with three good friends and partners to launch The European VC awards is nothing short of a dream come true 💗. We’ve so looked forward to this day when we can finally invite you all to join us in the endeavor and you can do so by nominating to the awards, joining in the conversation on social media, and inviting your peers to nominate 🌟. We will of course also cover select nominees as well as all the finalists and winners here on the eu.vc pod as well as host virtual fireside events so that you can get up close and personal with the European VC champions. Stay tuned 👀.And last but not least, you’ll of course also be able to attend the awards in person as they’re the concluding session at this year’s SuperVenture in Berlin 🏆.


Your Voice Matters - Nominate Now!

Now, let’s get into the categories, the process and the judging panel ⚖️. Five Awards to Celebrate Our ChampionsDesigned to celebrate change-makers in European VC, the awards are dedicated to recognize and honor the firms and individuals that truly stand out and make a difference. We will do so across five categories:

• Hall of Fame: Celebrating a lifetime of achievement in European Venture, this award is for those who have shaped the industry through their investments, contributions, and thought leadership over 20+ years and is stepping back from an active investing role and/or entering into a portfolio career of multiple firms.
  Nominate here 🏆.
• Firm of the Year: This accolade recognizes a firm from a fully holistic view, including pure financial performance and portfolio performance as well as innovation, impact on the ecosystem, diversity, transparency and fairness as well as team and culture.
  Nominate here 🏆.
• Newcomer of the Year: Honoring emerging managers, this award goes to a fund that has had its first close in the past year, recognizing their remarkable success in bringing something new and innovative to the European Venture market while building traction around their fund and vision.
  Nominate here 🏆.
• Achievement of the Year: This category is for the outstanding achievements and contributions in the European VC ecosystem in the given year, whether from an individual, company, or fund. This is the wild one where anything can happen.
  Nominate here 🏆.
• Exit of the Year: Honoring the firm that has had a company that has exited and created the most value back to the VC and therefore back to the European Venture ecosystem. This is about venture capital returns as opposed to “the biggest exit” and will also encompass strategic aspects of the exit such as timing in relation to market conditions and exit strategy.
  Nominate here 🏆.

The judging panel
In assembling the judging panel, we’ve looked for LPs with decade-long investing excellence and experience that together would form a panel all of the European ecosystem will recognize as capable and just.

• Thomas Kristensen, Partner at LGT Capital Partners
• Jonathan Sibilia, Partner & Head of FoFs at Molten Ventures
• Giulia Van Waeyenberge, Member of the Executive Committee at Sofina
• Stephen Lowery, Head of Investor Coverage & Business Development at HSBC Innovation Banking
• Joe Schorge, Founding Managing Partner at Isomer Capital (co-chair)
• Chris Wade, Founding General Partner at Isomer Capital (co-chair)

Read much more on eu.vc and go nominate on isomercapital.com/awards