EUVC

Today we are happy to welcome Keith Grose, Head of International for Plaid, an open finance platform and data network that powers over 3,000 digital financial apps and more than 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Keith leads the strategy and operations for Plaid’s international products.

In this episode you’ll learn:


- How Keith thinks about solo founders and why he believes having angels & VCs around you is even more important for these

- Why Keith thinks grit is the number one thing to look for and how he tests for it

- Why establishing trust and psychological safety is so important to angel investing

- Why Keith prefers Whatsapp and email to regular reporting and how that can save communications from going bad

Welcome to "At The Cap Table" podcast, a new series that shines the spotlight on the investors who are changing the VC industry in Europe.

Our second guest is Judith Dada, General Partner at La Famiglia. La Famiglia is a Berlin based European seed stage venture capital fund that invests in B2B technology companies disrupting or enabling large industries.

Earlier this year, La Famiglia raised €250 million for its combined third seed fund (which is €165 million) and its first growth co-investment fund (€90 million).

Judith's focus areas include the future of work, data-driven business models, and machine learning. In addition to this, she serves as an advisor to the German government on technology, diversity, and migration matters.

Before joining La Famiglia VC, Judith was at Facebook where she managed Amazon Europe's marketing strategy and worked on Facebook's VC Initiative.

In this episode of "At The Cap Table," Judith will be sharing her insights and experiences in a dynamic and wide-reaching discussion.


The topics covered will include:

- Judith’s background and personal journey into investing, including her route into VC

- The current state of entrepreneurship into the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) and Europe given the abundance of talent moving into the space solving big problems and wanting to have a bigger impact in the region

- Building and strengthening a strong ecosystem in Europe

- La Famiglia's investment focus

- A quick fire round of final and probing questions


Stay tuned for an engaging and informative conversation!

Today we are happy to welcome Seda Ambartsumian and Peter Roos, from Target Global.

Target is one of the largest and most successful technology investment firms in Europe with more than €3bn AuM and a portfolio of well-known industry champions including Revolut, Wefox, Delivery Hero, Auto1 and many others.

Seda is the Head of Marketing & Comms. She joined in Jan 2022 (while 2 months pregnant) and is responsible for ensuring that Target and its portfolios shine at every opportunity. Prior to Target she spent 12 years advising private equity firms and hedge funds like Apollo and Pershing Square on their brand, positioning, and corporate reputation.

Peter is the COO of Target, joined the firm 3 years ago to build out its Middle East activity. Since then Target has made several investments in the region including Fresha & Tarabut Gateway + helped their portfolio expand to the region with companies like Rapyd opening up local offices and most recently, Target opening an official office in Abu Dhabi. Peter is an experienced operator, having held senior role at Johnson & Johnson as well as having led diversified industrials businesses in both Germany and Austria. He also had brief stints in Hong Kong, London and Switzerland and is a truly cosmopolitan individual holding down the forts in the Middle East while ensuring teams across London, Berlin, Tel Aviv and Barcelona are happy and thriving!

In this episode you'll learn:

- Why parental leave policy is so important in VC

- How you can learn from Target’s process and findings

- The importance of building a culture to back up the policy

- Why being small shouldn’t be an excuse for not having thought things through

Today, we're happy to welcome you to the second episode diving deep on the story of a Super Angel on EUVC! Say hi to Charley Ma, the man responsible for building and scaling multiple enterprise software startups and leading their marketing, sales, and customer success teams from $0 to $200m dollars as the first revenue hire for companies such as Plaid, Ramp, and Alloy. But Charley's career as an operator is definitely matched by his career as an angel having been an early investor in breakout companies such as Stytch, Unit, Codat, Moov, Finch, and many more which have gone to raise from giants like A16Z, Bain, Benchmark, Coatue, First Round Capital, Founder’s Fund, Index and Sequoia.


In this episode you'll learn:

• Charley's journey from JP Morgan to Plaid and into angel investing despite "not having that much money" at the time - in fact he decided to invest his B-school savings on building his angel career instead of academic rap sheet!
• How Charley thinks about building relationships in angel investing and the importance of being opinionated and selective at the same time as maintaining a broad network
• How Charley employs his experience from his angel investing to make him a better operator and how that allows him to navigate the current market better
• How Charley thinks about portfolio construction, ownership and how he has gone from being purely founder centric to now being more thematically focused

This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today we are happy to welcome Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, Partner at Speedinvest, one of Europe’s most active early-stage investors with more than €1 billion AuM and 40+ investors based in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, and Vienna. Andy found his way into Venture via politics - and is always up for a debate. This gave him an exceptionally good eye for promising ideas and trends.

In this episode you’ll learn:

- Andy’s journey from politics to VC and the edge having a different background gives him today

- What 6000+ VCs say about how they make decisions

- A discussion of how the European results differ from the US results

- Where funds choose to domicile, why and the implications of this on a policy level

- A discussion of why IRR and MOIC requirements are the same for US and EU VCs and why that surprises Andreas

- Why 90% of EU VCs say Europe is fragmented and what the causes of this is

Today we have a special episode, because it’s the very first Super Angel episode launched on EUVC. We’ve got so much great feedback from people hearing this pod and many of them are regular EUVC listeners so we realized we had to bring it on to the EUVC main playlist.

We are trilled to welcome you to Roxanne, Director of Station F, the world's biggest startup campus located in Paris, where she is recognized as one of the most influential figures in the French startup ecosystem. French media have called her the "young empress of startups", the "queen of tech", and "the new pope of high-tech and startups in France." Roxanne is an Iranian-American who grew up in Silicon Valley, was formerly a journalist and startup ambassador before being personally selected by Free founder to spearhead the development of Station F.

In this episode you’ll learn:
- All about Roxanne's angel journey

- What's been Roxanne's most memorable moments investing

- What angel investing has given Roxanne professionally and personally

- How Roxanne thinks about investing cross borders and being a "baby LP" in VC funds

Earlier-than-expected first close of Isomer Capital’s third flagship fund continues proven strategy of investing in Europe’s best venture capital funds and their breakout companiesThe TL:DR

• Isomer Capital’s track record and reputation as a ‘partnership’ investor has enabled the firm’s third flagship fund to reach a substantial first close ahead of schedule, despite headwinds in the macro-environment.
  
  
• Since inception, Isomer Capital has invested in more than 70 early-stage venture capital (VC) firms across Europe, gaining exposure to 29 unicorns to date, including the likes of UiPath in Romania, Tractable, Deliveroo, Oyster in the UK, ManoMano, Sorare in France, Wefox in Germany, and Dune Analytics in Norway.
  
  
  
• Isomer’s proven hybrid fund of funds strategy is one of the best ways for institutional investors to access the high potential of European technology venture capital, by supporting European entrepreneurs creating the technology products of tomorrow. As a testament to this, IC II saw its net asset value (NAV) continue to increase in Q4 2022 against macro headwinds, maintaining its ranking in the top 5% of its kind globally.
  
  
  
• Isomer Capital has attracted investment from British Business Investments, the European Commission, and a range of endowments, pensions, corporates, and family offices from across Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Rana Yared, General Partner at Balderton Capital - one of Europe's most successful venture capital firms, that has raised almost $5BN, across 10 funds over the past 21 years. Balderton has backed some of the continent's most incredible companies including Revolut, CityMapper, Workable, Go Cardless, amongst other global tech leaders!
Before Balderton, Rana was a Partner at Goldman Sachs, first in the Principal Strategic Investments Group where she led the bank's fintech strategy and then later in GS Growth.
In the first episode of “At the Cap Table”, we discussed the state of entrepreneurship in Europe and why the startup scene is booming like never before, Balderton’s investment strategy and why being a great investor involves producing returns while also improving the world around you, how Rana has supported founders from seed to successful exit, lessons and reflections on every founder should consider, plus more!

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The thriving European startup scene and the drivers behind its unprecedented growth.

• Unveiling the distinctions between US and European investors and founders, and identifying opportunities across Europe.

• Delving into Balderton's investment strategy, emphasizing the significance of generating financial returns while creating a positive impact.

• Rana's invaluable journey in supporting companies from their early stages to successful exits.

• Lessons and reflections on driving impact as a board member and the qualities that define elite performers.

• Exploring strategies for making informed investment decisions in a highly competitive startup landscape.

Welcome to "At The Cap Table," the exciting new podcast series brought to you by your hosts, Sarah Finegan from Antler, Savitri Tan and Chloe Dagnell from Isomer Capital. Coming to you from London to showcase the top European female investors who are making waves in the VC industry.

In this episode, we want to give you a glimpse into what this podcast is all about, who it's for, and why it stands out from the rest.

As the European VC fund ecosystem evolves and diversifies, 'At The Cap Table' is dedicated to amplifying the voices of top female investors who are driving the VC industry forward.

Each episode will feature a different leader who will share their insights, experiences, and strategies for backing the next generation of unicorn founders across Europe. We aim to cover a wide range of VC profiles, including partners at established funds, emerging managers, angels-turned-VCs, operators, and family offices.

Expect fascinating stories from Balderton's Rana Yared about her invaluable experiences taking companies from seed through to successful exit, hear from industry experts like Deepali Nangia, who will share what it's like to make a move from angel investing into VC. And Check Warner who will discuss building a global movement to address barriers to entry in the industry, amongst many others.

This podcast will bring you perspectives from investors all across Europe and beyond. We'll hear from investors in the UK, Germany, France, and more!

This podcast series is proudly supported by our respective VC funds; Antler and Isomer Capital and brought to you by EUVC.

Antler is the world's leading day zero investor and the most active early-stage VC firm in Europe, making 102 investments into European startups in 2022. We are committed to further increasing our investment rate this year to support the emerging world-class founder talent in Europe.

Isomer Capital, on the other hand, is an LP supporting entrepreneurs throughout Europe through VC fund commitments, co-investments, and providing liquidity via secondary purchases of funds and companies. We’ve backed over 70 funds across Europe, and counting!
Whether you are an investor seeking to learn from top investors across Europe or a founder looking to raise capital, this podcast is a must-listen for all early-stage investing enthusiasts.

So, let's dive into the exciting world of venture capital and uncover the stories behind the success of Europe's most influential investors.
Let's go!

Welcome to a very special feature of one of our Super Angel Episodes that we did together Anthony Danon from Cocoa and have gotten so much great feedback on from VCs that we wanted to give it a special feature here on EUVC.

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Eduardo Ronzano, a Spanish tech entrepreneur and angel investor. He founded KelDoc, one of the top online booking platforms for hospitals in France and sold it to NEHS insurance group. Eduardo is the managing director of Secret Fund - an undercover entrepreneur fund based in Paris.

In this episode you’ll learn:
- How Eduardo’s mom got him into angel investing following the sale of his first company

- How to stay aligned with your entrepreneurs and the importance of being authentic

- How Eduardo follows a strategy of only doing initial investments and what this gives him as an angel

- Why reputation is the number one thing in angel investing

- The importance of asking yourself why you are angel investing and how connecting with founders has been the biggest personal take-away for Eduardo

- Why angel investing is like being a boxing coach, not a football coach



This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc