The European Startup Market

At USV, we’ve been investing in European startups since 2008. Currently 22% of our active portfolio is in Europe. Since 2010, we’ve invested in 47 companies (roughly 8 per year) and 11 of them have been in Europe (roughly 2 per year). So over the past six years, roughly 25% of our investments have been in Europe. In 2015, we have made nine investments to date (a few have not yet been announced) and four of them have been in Europe (45%).

So what’s happening here?

Well first, we have developed an investment presence in Europe. While we don’t have an office in Europe we do have fourteen portfolio companies and every USV partner has at least two European portfolio companies. So we all travel to Europe regularly and we look at new investments when we are over here.

Second, we have developed a number of strong relationships with European venture capital firms. Serving on boards with other VCs is the number one way you build relationships in the VC business and we’ve done a lot of that with European VCs.

Third, European entrepreneurs have, for the most part, abandoned the approach of building domestic businesses in their home markets and are now targeting global customer bases from day one. That means the potential scale of European startups is as large as US startups.

Fourth, there has been a wave of new European VC firms started in the past couple years. Most of these VCs got their start in older legacy VC firms and they are now opening up shop on their own and operating in a more entrepreneurial “silicon valley” style. This reminds me very much of the period ten years ago in the US when USV, Emergence, Foundry, Spark, First Round, and a number of other high quality VC firms opened their doors in the US. This post by a leading venture fund investor in the US talking about the new European VC funds is right on the mark.

Fifth, European entrepreneurs have made money for VCs. There have been 24 billion dollar plus exits in Europe in the last five years.

When you take all of that and combine the fact that there is probably a hundredth of the VC dollars at work in Europe vs the US, you get a great market to invest in.

The Gotham Gal and I are here for the next few weeks of mostly vacation but we will get to see a few of our portfolio companies. Yet another reason to invest in Europe!

#VC & Technology

Comments (Archived):

  1. Matt Kruza

    Two thoughts: The US and the EU are basically the same GDP (around 17-19 trillion), but Europe has only 15-20% of the VC dollars, but probably still half the number of deals (going off this chart, so VALUATIONS are 40-60% less on average – 2014 rough numbers)http://blog.pitchbook.com/w… 2. The largest VC market by far in Europe is the UK. Also the country with cultural, economic, political, and legal structures most closely related to the US. There is something about our economy / overall capitalist system which is undeniably responsible for the majority of innovation in the world. People will hate on the US (and I can give you a dozen major policy reforms in 2 minutes that I would enact), but we still are an “economic city on a hill” (to mangle the quote a bit!)http://blog.pitchbook.com/v…

    1. fredwilson

      the golden triangle in Europe is Berlin/Stockholm/London. there are other good cities to invest in (Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Barcelona, etc) but those are the top three and I think Berlin and Stockholm will really shine in the coming years as they now have the scale that London has had for a while

      1. Matt Kruza

        Nice perspective. Appreciate the insight!

      2. JimHirshfield

        I’m off to Dublin tonight. The startup scene there is great. Being the European headquarters of just about every successful US internet company has made it a magnet for talent.

        1. JLM

          .Why? One might ask.Corporate tax policy which seeded the mine initially for big corporation European manufacturing subs and HQs.JLMWWW.themusingsofthebigredca…

          1. JimHirshfield

            Yes, favorable tax situation, as far as I’ve heard. Also favorable visa program for tech talent.

          2. awaldstein

            Know a few companies that have their content development arm there as it is made and ready before the day starts on the east coast. Proved to be a huge advantage.

          3. JimHirshfield

            Makes sense

          4. JLM

            .Both policy issues.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

          5. JimHirshfield

            Yes

          6. Matt Kruza

            We agree again. Its almost like policy matters or something ? ๐Ÿ™‚ I am sure France’s 75% top tax rate and insane firing policies do it wonders…

          7. PJ Camillieri

            Matt, I know in *some* circles French bashing is still a thing :-), but for the record:- there is no 75% tax in France. It got killed right after it got introduced. http://uk.businessinsider.c…- they have introduced an R&D tax credit that’s very, very aggressive, making R&D researchers “among the most efficient in the world”.http://www.twobirds.com/en/…For some reasons, the world pays a lot of attention when the French introduce laws and rules that might be perceived as “anti business”. Not so much when they introduce pro-business ones. But it’s worth reading between the lines :-).

          8. Matt Kruza

            In pretty much all quarters french bashing is a thing ๐Ÿ™‚ guilty! Will say I appreciate the update on the tax rate, but still important that they could pass such a law (will not happen ever again a rate near that in pro business country I profer) Lastly they are ranked 33 out of 43 EUROPEAN countries in business environment… so I still stand mostly by my conclusion that France is comparatively a crappy place to start a business. http://www.heritage.org/ind… But i do appreciate being updated on the facts even if the story is still pretty much the same!

          9. PJ Camillieri

            I don’t think it’s the place for this debate, and I agree with you that France need to fix several things, but Matt: this index measures Economic Freedom, not “business environment”. Correlation between the two is still a question mark (cf “Reception” here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/… for many (not French ๐Ÿ™‚ ) specialists.

          10. Matt Kruza

            Agree to disagree for now I guess, but i have never done business in Europe but know many that have and pretty much Germany and UK are the powerhouses and a lot of negative things are said about france and from the evidence I have seen it surely is not an ideal environment. I am assuming you are / might be from France? If so I get defending your country and I mean no offense, just sharing my thoughts which have at least pretty good evidence behind them, whether they are absolute or not.

          11. Cam MacRae

            Ireland’s corporate tax policy is only part of the puzzle. No one would be in Ireland without the global transfer pricing racket enabled by various tax treaties amongst OECD countries.

        2. jason wright

          the tax regime is so favourable in Ireland. it’s a big issue in the EU. tax harmonisation is high on the policy agenda.

          1. JimHirshfield

            Yes

        3. feargallkenny

          The http://www.digital.irish group showcases interesting Irish startups in NYC every 2 months or so

        4. Donna Brewington White

          I wonder how much Guinness has influenced this. Really. Years ago had a U.S. based consumer tech client that was a division of a Dublin-based company started by a few guys that made their fortune at Guinness and were making tech investments.

          1. JimHirshfield

            I don’t know. But “Brewington” leads me to believe you do.

          2. Donna Brewington White

            Ironically not a beer drinker. Plenty of coffee and tea so live up to the name. ๐Ÿ˜‰

          3. Paul Williams

            So you met the infamous Guinness four ;)https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…Guinness is brewed in Dublin but the company is based in London since 1932 when they opened their brewery at Park Royal.Nobody got rich working in a brewery in Dublin.http://www.economist.com/bl

      3. Stockholm IT Region

        Will you be visting Stockholm? Happy to show you around the startup scene!

        1. fredwilson

          Not on this trip

      4. Nico Lumma

        Hamburg. The combination Hamburg and Berlin makes for a great startup community, the two biggest largest cities are only 1:30 h away by train. And there’s wifi on the train. ๐Ÿ™‚

        1. jason wright

          would you say Hamburg is significantly more expensive than Berlin? i always have that impression.will Deutschland cope well with the many new arrivals from Syria?

          1. Nico Lumma

            Hamburg is a very wealthy city and it tends to be more expensive than Berlin. Prices in Berlin have been going up steadily for the last 5 years, but I doubt that they will ever reach the level here in Hamburg. We had a severe housing shortage in Hamburg, but now the mayor is heavily stimulating the housing market.Hamburg is still the media capital of Germany – Google, Facebook, Twitter and Dropbox chose to open their German HQ here and not in Berlin – there is just more money to be made here.I always have the feeling that startups in Hamburg think about monetarization earlier than startups in Berlin – because it is more expensive here than in Berlin.I actually think that Germany will grow stronger because of the refugee crisis. The population is too old and we need more people who want to change things for the better here. This will change our society profoundly. And yes, we can handle this, Germany is rich, and we have lots of places where not enough people live anymore due to demographics.

      5. jason wright

        and London is just so horribly expensive. great for fintech though.i’m planning a trip to Stockholm via Copenhagen to see what’s what up there. i’m channelling the Scandinavian zeitgeist by watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the David Fincher version), but it’s a bit dark.i do like the portrayal of Sweden’s old money families (steel, railways, lumber et.c. – Carlota Perez comes to mind), and i’m sure in the real world they are investing in Stockholm’s web tech scene too. I wonder though how Stockholm has managed to become such an important hub?

        1. Simone

          You can add the Vikings tv series to the mix

      6. Mehrdad Piroozram

        In my view Tel Aviv did & is doing an amazing job!

      7. Jani

        Respectfully, those cities may be the focus for startups to raise $$, though definitely not the case to attract human capital to even get to the point of MVP. Finding decent, affordable, engineers in the “big three” is almost as hard as silicon valley.If you broaden your catchment area to some of the less ‘glossy’ nations like Latvia, Poland and even Romania.. it is astounding as to the traction some of these bootstrapped startups are getting simply because there are developers actually looking for work with any half decent firm that would hire them.In London competing companies are fighting to gain access to good developers.. where as in some cities in Poland or Romania, developers are fighting to get a job at the small number of good startups.Quick example, check out tawk.to from latvia, these guys are exploding right now.. totally bootstrapped, 100,000+ business users, & they have a line of developers wanting to work for them.. because in cities like Riga, its either you work for Accenture, do jobs on Elance.. or you join one of the very very few reputable startups with decent prospects for growth.In london, berlin and stockholm.. a mediocre developer can get multiple job offers in an afternoon.This trend seems to be the case in all of the eastern block capitals, bar Estonia.. which seems to have a talent shortage simply because half the IT students all get shipped off to work in Sweden after graduating..Try hiring a developer in Berlin? or London? If you are lucky enough to get 2-3 to an interview, the cost vs talent ratio is absurd.. And Fred, you know of all people.. If the team isn’t right, and talent isn’t available to scale.. Then no amount of $$ is going to make a startup successful.I’d be putting my $ in places where startups can actually access a pool of developers.. East London will never be “silicon valley” no matter how hard the City tries to push that agenda.

        1. Vlad Gidea

          Eastern Europe is also pretty cheap compared to the nordics or London. Berlin is manageable, but also a bit over-hyped. If you’re building global scale companies or you have ambitions to focus on the “european single market” don’t ignore the possibility of hiring developers remote. Besides a multicultural view which will be needed when shaping the product for different cultural fluctuations around Europe, hiring devs remote can solve the whole talent issue for your startup for a fair cost.

      8. Luis

        Barcelona up and coming. Pros: vibrant startup scene, increasing liquidity / exits, plenty of creative, affordable talent, awesome food and culture… and can’t beat the weather! Cons: (for founders) limited local VC money, but international players like us are changing that ๐Ÿ™‚

      9. Simon Edhouse

        Hi Fred.. we are in London now.. ๐Ÿ˜‰ I took part in the recent ‘New Music Industry with Imogen Heap’ as a panelist on the 2nd day of the event. Our solution is in stark contrast to the other systems that took part in that they are either built on Ethereum and/or are trying to engage with the existing legacy Music industry to various extents. ~ We are taking a very disciplined disruptive approach, to be ‘not good enough’ for main stream usage, but to grow slowly, while building a loyal user base, (now in over 40 countries) and run very lean while doing so. We are small, but have created a platform that is effectively: One global marketplace, using one global currency and uses only one rights system..see: https://medium.com/@simoned… (and http://www.bittunes.co.uk)

  2. pointsnfigures

    What’s the strategy on not announcing investments?

    1. Matt Kruza

      And on that note, is reporting in Europe mandatory through some sort of system similar to Reg D through the US with the SEC? Or would USV’s european investments also fall within since USV is headquartered in the US? Not sure it really matters too much in terms of startup success, but curious if anyone has insight!

    2. fredwilson

      The portfolio companies dictate that. Some of it is recent closes that will be announced shortly. A few others want to remain in stealth. Kickstarter waited 2+ years before announcing the investment we made in them in 2009

  3. JimHirshfield

    Enjoy the vacation. Let’s see some Instagram shots.

    1. fredwilson

      I’m not using Instagram anymore. I mostly post photos to Swarm

      1. JimHirshfield

        I was wondering why the Instagram posts dropped off.

  4. William Mougayar

    Venture Capital and Vacation with Companies. It’s a good combination,- still “VC” with a touch of lifestyle added to the mix.

    1. JimHirshfield

      “European VC-cation” starring Chevy Chase as Fred Wilson.

  5. awaldstein

    Two things have changed how I’ve worked with Europe over the last ten years:-English as a common language for developers and business discussions. True today no matter how far east you go in Europe from a developer perspective. When I ran Europe for creaf in the mid 90s, I needed a translator to do business in certain countries– no longer the case.-Smart platforms like Veespo (yes I’m biased!) that can handle input cross language because at a consumer sentiment level, language barriers still do exist).Enjoy your vaca!

    1. David Semeria

      Well played Arnold! Yes, multi-lingual UGC is one of the few areas where European companies have a natural advantage over those in the States.

  6. William Mougayar

    London and Berlin are clearly at the top in Europe. What other the next 2 ecosystems there in your opinion, and any thoughts on London vs. Berlin?

    1. fredwilson

      Stockholm is the equal of London and Berlin. I mention the next tier in another comment in this thread

    2. Henrik Torstensson

      London and Berlin are strong, but I’d add in Stockholm as well in that league (Spotify, King, Klarna as billion dollar businesses).There are some differences. Berlin has SoundCloud and Rocket Internet and affiliated companies.London a mix of companies and a strong presence of US tech co’s and the strongest investor community.Stockholm has Spotify, King and Klarna and a bunch of other companies.

    3. ESeufert

      I’d put London, Berlin, and Stockholm in tier 1. In tier 2, I’d place Helsinki, Amsterdam, and Paris and in tier 3 I’d place Dublin, Tallinn, Barcelona, and Copenhagen.As for Berlin vs. London, I wrote some of my thoughts in a Quora answer here: https://www.quora.com/Out-o

      1. William Mougayar

        Thank you!

  7. Steve Amara

    Europe is also uniquely positioned to access opportunities in many emerging markets because of its historic ties with these countries: UK -> SE Asia, Middle East, Anglophone AfricaFrance -> French Speaking Africa.Many entrepreneurs are building products targeting their “native” markets and their diaspora (the most successful is probably World Remit) so Europe will be a good bridge for VCs looking at these new markets!

  8. jason wright

    a friend in Goettigen (Deutschland) rang me last night to talk, and she mentioned driving one of these from Goettigen bahnhof to her flat yesterday evening using an app;https://yourcar-carsharing.de/i've not seen this in action before, and certainly not in England. Swipe with a credit card to unlock the car door and access the ignition switch, and drive away. i like the sharing (renting) economy.

    1. Donna Brewington White

      This sounds petty rad. Excited to see some movement to disrupt the car rental space (beyond ride sharing because sometimes you need a car in your possession while traveling). Watching a company called Skurt in the U.S., but only at LAX for now.

  9. OurielOhayon

    Glad you point that out Fred. There is one more thing you should mention: unlike 10 years ago, more and more young graduate want to work in a startups. There is a fluke of talent, which is cheaper, more loyal (maybe blame the employment regulation) than what you can find in the USA which gives a serious advantage to entrepreneurs willing to build large companies.Also i don t know if you include Israel in that package (which technically shouldn’t). But there is a case for USV to make some investments over there ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. fredwilson

      Israel is a lot farther from NYC. My partner John did a two day one night trip to London last week. It’s a lot harder on your body to do that to Tel Aviv

      1. OurielOhayon

        NYC paris 7 hours. NYC tel aviv 10 hours. doable imo.

        1. fredwilson

          We got to Paris in just over six the other night.Our investment geography is a seven hour air travel radius around NYCI know that is subjective but it works well for us

          1. OurielOhayon

            I am surprised Fred, but missing some great investments (and Israel has a lot more than EU all combined) because of 3h additional lag seems like a no reason to me. Specially when you know the amount of Israeli startups that come to NYC open an office very early on

          2. fredwilson

            We’ve done that with Boxee and YouNow/Oddcast

          3. OurielOhayon

            there you go ๐Ÿ™‚

          4. handelaar

            But getting here, of course, takes 60-90 mins less time than getting home again…

          5. pointsnfigures

            Hence, nothing in Asia. That flight takes a wear and tear on the body….

  10. aminTorres

    My prediction ( and Personal goal ) for 15 to 20 years, I basically replaced “Europe” and “European” with “Latin America” and added 10 years to each year you listed:The Latin America Startup MarketAt USV, weโ€™ve been investing in Latin America startups since 2018. Currently 22% of our active portfolio is in Latin America. Since 2020, weโ€™ve invested in 47 companies (roughly 8 per year) and 11 of them have been in Latin America (roughly 2 per year). So over the past six years, roughly 25% of our investments have been in Latin America. In 2025, we have made nine investments to date (a few have not yet been announced) and four of them have been in Latin America (45%).So whatโ€™s happening here?Well first, we have developed an investment presence in Latin America. While we donโ€™t have an office in Latin America we do have fourteen portfolio companies and every USV partner has at least two Latin America portfolio companies. So we all travel to Latin America regularly and we look at new investments when we are over here.Second, we have developed a number of strong relationships with Latin America venture capital firms. Serving on boards with other VCs is the number one way you build relationships in the VC business and weโ€™ve done a lot of that with Latin America VCs.Third, Latin America entrepreneurs have, for the most part, abandoned the approach of building domestic businesses in their home markets and are now targeting global customer bases from day one. That means the potential scale of Latin America startups is as large as US startups.Fourth, there has been a wave of new Latin America VC firms started in the past couple years. Most of these VCs got their start in older legacy VC firms and they are now opening up shop on their own and operating in a more entrepreneurial โ€œsilicon valleyโ€ style. This reminds me very much of the period ten years ago in the US when USV, Emergence, Foundry, Spark, First Round, and a number of other high quality VC firms opened their doors in the US. This post by a leading venture fund investor in the US talking about the new Latin America VC funds is right on the mark.Fifth, Latin America entrepreneurs have made money for VCs. There have been 24 billion dollar plus exits in Latin America in the last five years.When you take all of that and combine the fact that there is probably a hundredth of the VC dollars at work in Latin America vs the US, you get a great market to invest in.The Gotham Gal and I are here for the next few weeks of mostly vacation but we will get to see a few of our portfolio companies. Yet another reason to invest in Latin America!

    1. fredwilson

      Nice work. Most of Latin America is much further time wise than western Europe. But not the Caribbean

  11. Humberto

    Visit Porto and the Douro valley!!!

    1. fredwilson

      We have one portfolio company from Porto – Veniam

      1. Humberto

        yes, i know, but i was referring that for resting time. the douro valley has no tech. just gorgeous vineyards, amazing hotels and great food on top of a Unesco prized river-view.

  12. Paul Jozefak

    Fred, here’s a question. How much of your European presence has to do with having a GP from the EU (German) verses actually having the insight to be there?

    1. fredwilson

      My partner John sat on the board of a big public European company, was a partner in a french internet classifieds business, and ran the Paris office of a big NYC law firm 20+ years ago. His influence has likely been stronger than Albert’s. But I sourced the first two European investments

      1. Paul Jozefak

        Interesting, I forgot that John was at DPW (I was there too). I wonder whether other VC’s who are in US but are active in Europe have either EU GP’s or GP’s with European experience. I am presuming yes. Thanks for clarifying. Enjoy your vacation.

  13. jason wright

    London is EU but not euro.Stockholm is EU but not euro.Berlin is EU and euro.London is planning a referendum for the UK in the next eighteen months, Brexit, on whether to stay in or to exit the EU. If the vote is to exit do you think it will damage London as an investment destination for US venture capital?

    1. fredwilson

      No

      1. jason wright

        all three cities are capitals. are regional cities disadvantaged?

        1. Henrik Torstensson

          Not necessarily. That’s probably more historical development and chance.

  14. trog

    I’m curious to know what was the catalyst for getting into the European space in the first place?In Australia we have a capital shortage. Any promising startup that is looking to raise money will almost inevitably end up moving overseas, typically to the US, simply due to the fact that the VC scene is so much more mature and the opportunities greater (not to mention the size of the market).There is a lot of talk in various startup circles at the moment about how we can encourage more international investment to keep our startups and our talented people on shore. This is a big talking point for our government at the moment, although it kind of feels like they’ll be flailing around for a while.The best way to get American VCs interested in investing in Australia seems to me to just have awesome startups – and we’re working on it! – but at the moment VCs can just wait for them to turn up in the US and become part of the normal dealflow, which is presumably much easier to manage.I was hoping the recent tanking of the AUD against the USD might serve as some incentive, but I’m sure the overheads of operating in an entirely new environment are significant.I’d love to get some insight into what drove you to Europe to see what we can do to make Australia a target as well.

    1. fredwilson

      It was the realization that western Europe is as close as Silicon Valley to NYC

      1. trog

        Heh, we’re all too aware the tyranny of distance. Is that pretty much a showstopper?

      2. Paul Williams

        Top travel tip when flying from Western Europe to JFK, stop off in Dublin ;)Why ? 1. Us immigration preclearance, skip that big queue at JFK2. If you fly AerLingus you land at JetBlue’s T5, a much more pleasant JFK experience.

  15. jason wright

    open an office in Berlin. buy a space. rent some of it out to cover costs. it would be a good real estate play in the long run too.

  16. jason wright

    http://www.theguardian.com/…”At the moment Tech Startups are little more than Financial Products. Most Tech companies created inside the Startup sphere are themselves the actual product.”

  17. Wyatt Brown

    @fred@fredwilson:disqus Question on #3″Third, European entrepreneurs have, for the most part, abandoned the approach of building domestic businesses in their home markets “Why? Is there truly a fundamental lack of demand and weak distribution potential, or are there other infrastructure and political weaknesses?

    1. David Semeria

      In the beginning many European startups were thinly-veiled clones of successful US startups (cf the Samwer brothers). They were basically already-proven business ideas tailored for a European market. Very frequently tailored boiled down to translated.This phase is now largely over, and many European startups are genuinely innovative.

      1. Wyatt Brown

        Fascinating. Is it just a “maturity” affect? Or did something else end the copycat era?

    2. fredwilson

      I think it’s a TAM issue ultimately

  18. gdibner

    As an American VC based in Europe, I agree with a lot of this. For the data behind the excitement, check out this 55-page slide deck on 3Q15 European VC data: http://t.co/TfCAla1NKd

    1. fredwilson

      Great deck Gil

  19. jason wright

    i wonder what phone the average Euro VC carries around in her or his pocket?i need a new Android. maybe the 5X.

  20. Kihong Bae

    Fred – when are you going to start investing in Asian startups? ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. fredwilson

      I am not. It is too far from NYC for me

  21. maxniederhofer

    Say hi if you’re coming through Berlin!

  22. Alex Stillwell

    What European city would be the best bet for someone looking to escape the SF startup scene?

    1. ESeufert

      As a founder or employee? Assuming you can get a visa together, I’d go to Berlin as a founder or London as an employee.

    2. fredwilson

      Berlin or Stockholm

  23. Frederic Court

    Thanks Fred, this is a great post and as you know we are delighted to be working together at La Ruche Qui Dit Oui. There is an incredible energy at the moment in Europe around entrepreneurship and emergence of new VC platforms, at all stages of the value chain in fact. Another point to add is that in the background we are also seeing an emergence of a new generation of LPs who are both committed to the asset class and also very knowledgeable about ut, of then through experience of investing in US VC. The combination of the emergence of 1) role models of entrepreneurial success, 2) maturing ecosystems, 3) new venture capital firms, 4) LPs with appetite for EU Venture mean that we have many of the ingredients required to build our industry successfully. The piece that is lagging behind is EU-led exits but that’s another topic…

  24. John Revay

    And NYC is a snap dap in the middle – 5-6 hr plane ride East or West

    1. fredwilson

      Yuppp

  25. Julian Carter

    At EC1 we have a similar triangle thesis too Fred but smaller, between London, Edinburgh and Dublin. We focus in London mainly to build our brand, dealflow and co-investor network, you need to be a much, much larger fund/larger fee structure/more manpower to be able to service Continental Europe and build those three things. Even in Dublin as we are not on the ground we would only invest alongside an Irish lead investor. Startups are hard if I invest just next door, we don’t need additional layers of complexity like business law, culture, geography and language especially when investing between Seed and Series A.London might be expensive but it’s often the first stop before the US and it has a benevolent UK Government that encourages startups with tax breaks for angel investors, a plethora of grants, rebates and reliefs and the highest density of VC firms in Europe, GMT timezone as well as a global leader in several verticals inc Fintech and a global transportation hub.

  26. RichardF

    6th the valuations are more realistic

    1. fredwilson

      That’s my point near the end about supply and demand which ultimately determines price

  27. Donna Brewington White

    Since my business is dependent on what happens in the venture world, more and more I’ve been wondering if adding European business is necessary to hedge against fluctuations in the U.S. venture market. Or are the two markets too closely intertwined to really make a difference in that regard?

  28. Donna Brewington White

    This explains why GG’s posts lately are from Europe. I gain weight reading her blog.Thanks for sharing this. Fascinating and helpful. Have a great vacation!

  29. george

    Could you elaborate a bit more on the differences between Europe and US companies – deal structure, type of funding, cultural aspects…Obviously, USV has figured this out, would appreciate any insights.

  30. Douglas Crets

    While I know you are not active in Asia, from what I can tell, I would love to see your thoughts on China, and SE Asia. Several of the accelerators have been over here visiting. There is a lot of buzz around the investments space here. Hong Kong is still waiting for its massive exit and proof of life, but…1. One of the co-founders of Duolingo was educated in Hong Kong2. DJI founders are from Hong Kong and currently work in Hong Kong and Shenzhen3. 9Gag was founded by a Hong Kong grad4. Notey.com was recently featured on CNBC and has received over US$1 million (I don’t know the valuation) from investors in Asia and North America.That’s just Hong Kong. Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul and Hanoi have drawn equal attention.

    1. fredwilson

      I don’t know enough to be credible on this one

  31. Vlad Ciurca

    Hi Fred,any plans to visit Eastern Europe during your trip? we’d love to have you check out the scene in Cluj-Napoca (Romania).Vladhttp://techsylvania.co

  32. Vlad Gidea

    Copenhagen has a growing scene and is perfectly placed in the triangle between nordics/uk/berlin. There’s VC involvement directly into the grass roots community and entrepreneurs have showed that they can build global companies (Zendesk, Skype, Podio, Endomondo, Realm). Romania and eastern europe has a lot of talent that is starting to work with european companies and remote work, I think that trend will grow as outsourcing becomes more about quality rather than price (while sitl being balanced).

  33. Roberto Magnifico

    Fred, you must make a stopover in Rome! We set up shop here and have been building a high quality pipeline through one of the most compelling acceleration programs in Europe, http://www.luissenlabs.com (as per YC and JVP comments). Not to mention CBInsights 2014 report on Eurotech VCs having put Italy as the fasted growing tech scene and @LVentureGroup amongst the 20 most active VCs in Europe. Please do drop a line.. ๐Ÿ™‚

  34. David Duckworth

    For those interested, here’s an interesting primer to venture funding in the UK..https://medium.com/@growthp

  35. Jenna Abdou

    Thank you for writing this, Fred and for sharing Elizabeth’s article. I’m excited to start interviewing more companies and VCs in Europe!

  36. Eden

    Hi Fred, thank you for such greatful article.I am actually working for a business angels firm in Barcelona and we have not only spanish projects but also we have started to expand our activity abroad. However, we are seen that many investors are a bit reticent to invest far away of their home. Therefore I was curious to know: 1. How do you actually manage to keep control on investments you do outside NYC, especially Europe? 2. What is the main driver that pushed you to come to Europe and start investing in it? 3. Haven’t you notice a difference in culture and mindset compared to the US?4. Where are you focusing your dealflow investment and which kind of startups are you targeting?Thanks and a pleasure to e-meet you. Eden Djanashvili

  37. Eden

    Hi Fred, very greatful insights.I am currently working in a business angels firm in Barcelona and we started to expand our activity abroad as we believe there are many opportunities there. However, we have realized that some of our investors are a bit reticent to invest outside of their homes. So, I am actually curious to know: 1. How do you manage to control your investments outside NYC area, especially when it comes to do investments in Europe / Israel? 2. What is the type of startup profile you are looking for and what is the main ingredient you are looking at when deciding whether to invest in one startup rather than another? 3. As your experience as a VC, haven’t you see some cultural differences between investing in Europe and the US? If so, how do you manage to control these differences?Thank you and nice to e-meet you. Eden Djanashvili

  38. FX

    @fredwilson:disqus Hi Fred, curious to know what are the down sides (if any – i.t.o. deal sourcing, investing, mentoring) of not having a local presence in EU?

  39. PhilipSugar

    My wife is from Alabama and my father is from Upstate NY.You know I agree with you about outsourcing.When I view the “bleakness” factor it is no contest, Upstate NY is much bleaker.I was in London all of last week. I don’t know how people do it with the prices.