European VC Digest: Selling Your Startup. LTV Mysteries. Conviction. Vulnerability. Two New European Unicorns.
Capital Call #20
This is Capital Call, a weekly newsletter highlighting what investors in European startups are thinking—in their own words. We are Willy Braun, Nicolas Colin and Vincent Touati-Tomas. Hit reply if you want to send us feedback!
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter to be kept in the loop at all times: @CapitalCall_. Also follow our two Twitter lists: Featured in Capital Call & Female VCs in Europe.
Oussama Ammar 🇫🇷🇱🇧, a director at The Family, writes about how founders should assess an investor’s behavior—and not tolerate what’s out of line: There's hope for investors' behavior.
Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷, also a director at The Family (and co-host of Capital Call), writes about why the market is everything, and the team accounts for the rest: Market beats team every time.
Christoph Janz 🇩🇪 of Point Nine Capital writes about the trickiest and most mysterious metric of all in the SaaS world: Why your LTV might be higher (or lower) than you think.
Robin Klein 🇿🇦🇬🇧 of LocalGlobe advises founders on when to sell their company, and also when not to sell: How to sell your startup — and when not to.
Nick Nigam 🇬🇧, who’s with Samsung Next in Berlin, acknowledges that investors are enthusiastic about synthetic media but notes that they should reflect on the ethical and commercial challenges first: The ethics and commercial potential of synthetic media
Yannick Oswald 🇱🇺 of Mangrove Capital Partners emphasizes the importance of “high conviction” in the early stage of investment: Conviction Driven Investing.
Bruno Raillard 🇫🇷 of Frst wants to help people wondering which startup they should join as an employee: How to pick your startup job?
Leo Ringer 🇬🇧 of Form Ventures writes about the need to pay attention to what policymakers are about to decide when it comes to end-to-end encryption: End-to-end to end? The lesson we need to learn from the encryption policy debate.
Sonali de Rycker 🇮🇳🇬🇧 of Accel looks back at Hopin’s “meteoric rise” and the underlying reasons for success in crazy times: Hopin’s quantum leap: backing the lightning growth of virtual events.
Sophia Bendz 🇸🇪 of Cherry Ventures gives an in-depth interview to Scandinavianmind, and dives into career paths, angel investing in Europe and how to embrace personal loss: Angel eye.
Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas 🇪🇸, who was previously with GoCardless, is joining Index Ventures as partner and answers Steve O’Hear’s questions in TechCrunch: Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas, angel investor and COO of GoCardless, is joining Index as partner.
Vinoth Jayakumar 🇲🇾 of Draper Esprit, Alice Albizzati 🇫🇷 of Gaia Capital Partners, and Fred Destin 🇧🇪 of Stride VC spoke with Sifted: Covid has put VCs under the spotlight, and exposed their vulnerabilities.
Natasha Lytton 🇬🇧, Reshma Sohoni 🇮🇳🇺🇸 and Sia Houchangnia 🇨🇭 just announced that their firm Seedcamp has raised their Fund V. They shared the slide deck with Sifted’s Amy Lewin: See the pitch deck Seedcamp used to raise £78m fund.
Also check out Seedcamp’s official announcement about it: Introducing Seedcamp V.
Nino Marakovic 🇭🇷 of Sapphire Ventures explains why the former SAP Ventures is returning to its European roots: Sapphire returns to European roots with its London office.
Alice Albizzati 🇫🇷 Co-Founder, Gaia Capital Partners, Paris 🇫🇷 LinkedIn | Twitter
Oussama Ammar 🇫🇷🇱🇧 Co-Founder & Director, The Family, Europe 🇪🇺 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Sophia Bendz 🇸🇪 Partner, Cherry Ventures, Berlin 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 Co-Founder & Director, The Family, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Fred Destin 🇧🇪 Founder, Stride.VC, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas 🇪🇸 Partner, Index Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn
Sia Houchangnia 🇨🇭 Partner, Seedcamp, London 🇫🇷 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Christoph Janz 🇩🇪 Partner, Point Nine Capital, Berlin 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Vinoth Jayakumar 🇲🇾 Partner, Draper Esprit, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter
Robin Klein 🇿🇦🇬🇧 Co-founder, LocalGlobe, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Natasha Lytton 🇬🇧 Head of Marketing & Network, Seedcamp, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Nino Marakovic 🇭🇷 Chief Executive and Managing Director, Sapphire Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter
Paul Murphy 🇺🇸 General Partner, Northzone, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter
Nick Nigam 🇬🇧 Principal, Samsung Next, Berlin 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter
Yannick Oswald 🇱🇺 Principal, Mangrove Capital Partners, Luxembourg 🇱🇺 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Bruno Raillard 🇫🇷 Co-Founder & Partner, Frst, Paris 🇫🇷 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Leo Ringer 🇬🇧 Founding Partner, Form Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
Sonali de Rycker 🇮🇳🇬🇧 Partner, Accel, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter
Reshma Sohoni 🇮🇳🇺🇸 Founding Partner, Seedcamp, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog