3 ms·

> EMEA investors Thats a pretty broad sweep

• alephnerd 2y ago
  Absolutely, but it's been my general experience. A lot of the European "VCs" are basically rebranded Family Offices or PEs, and aren't staffed with former operators. The European office of an American fund tends to be decent though, as they tend to filter for people with domain experience. Index Ventures is a notable exception to this rule imo, but they actually worked at adopting the SV model.
  • waihtis 2y ago
    i dont think you're wrong btw. Just was curious if there were specific pockets within EMEA that are better or worse
    • alephnerd 2y ago
      In general, it's better to move to the US if you want better terms fundraising. That said, London is probably the closest in Europe due to strong dealflow, more capital, ease of access for American funds, and easier business operating conditions. Before the war and sanctions, Russia+Ukraine were decent - they had a very active and American style VC ecosystem, plus diaspora VCs in the US investing in startups in the old country Romania and Czechia have a decent startup scene as well, and former operators who are alumni of companies that exited (eg. Avast, BitDefender, UIPath) along with the diaspora investors in the US are fairly active. Also, I need to add Munich Re Ventures to my list of notable exceptions, but then again, they're almost entirely in North America.
      • waihtis 2y ago
        I'm very oblivious to Russian VC even though I live next door. Now its a closed door obviously.
        • alephnerd 2y ago
          Russian+Ukrainian VC doesn't really exist anymore. It's all moved to London. The outflow began in 2014 when the war began, and helped spark the startup boom in Poland, Czechia, Romania, Bulgaria, and other CEE nations due to the Golden Visa programs, but became a waterfall by 2019-20 due to COVID plus a worsening political situation.