EUVC

In this episode, we’re happy to welcome Juan Alonso-Villalobos, Partner of Startup Wise Guys. This year, we had the pleasure of recording with Juan at How To Web in Bucharest.

In this episode you’ll learn:
– How the SWG accelerator works and interplays with their funds

– How Juan thinks about LP profiling and why nailing this is so central

– How SWG builds their ecosystem around verticalized accelerators and funds

– What FinTech solutions Juan sees coming to the venture industry and how it’ll impact us

Today we are happy to introduce you to Mick Halsband, Founding GP of Lunar Ventures, a deep tech seed stage investor, backing technical founders solving problems in big markets.
Mick is a past CTO and a software architect. He has two decades of key roles at startups and multinational leading tech firms. Led software development for embedded mobile, realtime systems, computer graphics, computer vision, and trading infrastructure.

In this episode you’ll learn:

– What's happened at Lunar Ventures since their launch last year and how founders have reacted to their position as the most technical VC in Europe

– How Mick thinks about the state of deeptech in Europe and the technologies he’s most excited about

– Why Mick sees Bucharest and Romania as one of the most promising deeptech hubs in Europe

Today we are happy to welcome Marvin Liao, Partner at Diaspora VC and Board member at Game Groove Capital, an International Gaming Holding Company. He was previously a Partner at VC Fund 500 Startups. Marvin has invested in over 414 Pre-seed & Seed stage startups and we were lucky enough to record this episode with him during How To Web.

In this episode you’ll learn:

– Why Marvin as a successful Silicon Valley investor doubles down on Europe and what he brings to his founders

– A very honest conversation about the collaboration environment in Europe and the US

– How the best European founders can get juiced up by seeing the US ecosystem and experiencing that they're just as good as those backed by the world renowned firms

– Learnings from investing in 414 pre-seed & seed startups over the last decade and why Marvin calls himself the Forest Gump of Silicon Valley

Today, we are happy to welcome Hampus Jakobsson, General Partner at the early stage climate tech venture fund Pale Blue Dot. Prior to co-founding Pale Blue Dot, Hampus was a Venture Partner at science fund Blue Yard and a prolific angel investor with more than 100 angel investments. He is a software engineer turned founder, turned angel investor, turned VC. When not working with ambitious climate people Hampus cooks and reads.

In this episode you’ll learn:
– The hilarious story behind Hampus’ first entrepreneurial ventures and route into venture, all the way to founding one of the signature climate funds in Europe
– The magic of being focused and absurdly curious as a VC
– How Hampus walked into his first VC meeting dressed up in a suit thinking he’d fit in, only to be proven that VC is actually a group of cool people doing amazing things
– How Hampus thinks as a thesis driven investor, first with BlueYard and then with Pale Blue Dot

This is the last of a four episode long special on the MENA region here at The European VC. This special series of episodes focuses on everything MENA VC, bridging the gap with its European counterparts. We intend to shed light on the ins and outs of venture in the region and promote collaboration between Europe and MENA.

For this special series of episodes we welcome our dear friend and special co-host Mostafa Gado.

And as a guest, we welcome Sharif, Chief Executive Officer of the Dubai Future District Fund, the evergreen venture capital fund of funds of Dubai, anchored by the Dubai International Finance Centre and the Dubai Future Foundation with an initial 1 billion Dirham in committed capital.

In this episode you’ll learn:

– How Sharif built a stellar operator career in Silicon Valley and came back to the MENA region with the ambition, skills and network to make a true difference

– The most complete overview of what Dubai Future District Fund as one of the region’s most powerful LPs have in store for us

– Sharif’s views on the state of VC in MENA, where we’re headed and how European VCs should think about raising from MENA-based LPs

Today, we are happy to welcome Peter Sandberg, Founding Partner & Managing Director of Nordic Secondary Fund, the first and only fund in the Nordics to exclusively invest in secondaries. Peter has 35 years’ experience from investments and asset management; 5 years’ experience as an early-stage investor and 30+ investments in a.o. LegalDesk & Sky. We had the pleasure to be together with Peter, recording this episode during TechBBQ in Kopenhagen.

In this episode you'll learn:

– The origin story of Nordic Secondaries Fund

– The inner workings of one of Europe’s first secondary funds and how they think about pricing, investment strategy and negotiation

– Why Peter Sandberg sees a future with much more secondary activity in Europe

– Fundraising advice from a natural talent solidly rooted in the angel world

– The importance of karma in venture capital and especially the secondaries market

Welcome to yet another Memo-episode where we dive deep on one of the funds that we’re raising an EUVC community syndicate for - in other words; one of the funds that you can join us in backing, with minimum tickets at just 1k€.

For this, we’re talking to Cristobal Alonso from Startup Wise Guys. You’ve met him before in past episodes, so you know he’s quite a personality and that it’s an incredible mission they’re in. Join us as we look behind the scenes of the Startup Wise Guys investment into Fractory and the journey from pre-seed to series A leading to a 120x multiple.

This episode is completely different. Actually, it’s not even an EUVC episode! We’ve just launched a new partnerpodcast “The UrbanTech VC” which is hosted by KJ and Mark. This is the go-to podcast for European Founders in the UrbanTech space. So give it a listen and if you don’t think it’s for you - share it with someone else!

For this debut, we're happy to welcome you to Thibault Chavanat, Senior Project Manager at the SIGNA Group. He is in charge of the development project ‘Karstadt am Hermannplatz’ in Berlin and shared some super interesting insights about the project, Circular Construction and sustainable buildings.

In this episode you’ll learn:

– Why “waste” in old buildings is of surprising high value

– How challenging it is to find architects who don’t see the re-use of materials from the building itself as limitation, but as opportunity

– How discussions about future regulations like the outlook of the CO2 tax coming can lead to creating something new beyond known paths

– How the availability of historical, detailed plans of a building can come with both advantages and disadvantages for developers

Today we are happy to welcome Audrey Soussan, General Partner at Ventech in its Paris office. The firm is deeply implicated in the evolution and diversity of European tech. Audrey focuses on Product Led Growth, Retail Tech, HR Tech and Marketplaces. She has unique insights on entrepreneurs’ business development, impact investing, and women in tech. She has joined the company since 2011, starting as an analyst and grew all the way through to General Partner.

In this episode you’ll learn:

– All about Audrey’s journey from analyst to partner inside Ventech

– How long term orientation has shaped every part of Audrey’s life and path as a VC

– How Audrey thinks about culture, carry and leadership in VC

– Succession preparation in VC firm-building

This is the third of a four episode long special on the MENA region here at The European VC. Today, we’re welcoming Laila Hassan, General Partner at Algebra Ventures. She has joined their second, $90 million fund, and her appointment marks progress in Egypt’s VC ecosystem, becoming the country’s second female partner at a VC.

This special series of episodes focuses on everything MENA VC, bridging the gap with its European counterparts. We intend to shed light on the ins and outs of venture in the MENA region and promote collaboration between these two beautiful regions.

For this special series of episodes we welcome our dear friend and special co-host Mostafa Gado.

In this episode you’ll learn:

- The conditions that give the Egyptian Market a kind of crystal ball effect

- The trends and opportunities in the MENA region through the eyes of a first-time fund manager

- Why relationship-building is key in such a small ecosystem like VC

- Laila's values, core learnings and suggestions for emerging managers