The VC Scene in Europe
A stage filled with European angels and VCs (and $1 billion-plus in investment capital at the ready) gave a rundown of the current state of startup investing in Europe. Not surprisingly, the topic of an overheated market in the Internet space came up here at Innovate Europe. "There is froth without a doubt," says Mark Tluszcz, managing partner with Mangrove Capital Partners, "and the exit market doesn’t justify it."
Simon Levene, at partner at Accel went so far as to call the Web 2.0 market in Europe (and by extension the U.S) a bubble. Not one driven by public markets, but by the billions in capital that the VC and corporate funding world are throwing around at Internet companies. So while it may be a tough time to be a VC, it’s a great time to start a company in Europe, Levene says. Here is his advice to would be entrepreneurs in Europe and elsewhere. "If you can deal with the price of failure, capital is very cheap ," he says. "It’s talent that is rare. If you have that talent , you should go for it, and don’t sell it cheaply. If you have a good idea, capital will find you."