The venture capital market in Europe has, over the past thirty years, produced some extraordinary success stories. From the rise of global companies such as Skype and Autonomy, to the development of now-ubiquitous technology such as Bluetooth, there is much to celebrate within this industry.
But time and again we hear the industry denigrated as lagging behind our cousins in the US, with no shortage of views put forward as to why this is the case.
How often do we hear the despairing cry of ‘where is the European Facebook’ without hearing a counterbalancing recognition of the many successful European companies that have flourished as a result of venture investment?
The retelling of these performance myths – whether they contain a measure of truth or not – has become received wisdom within the investment community and, as is to be expected, this has had a depressive impact on venture in Europe as a whole. And what impacts venture in Europe directly impacts the businesses
that rely on the early stage high-risk investment that venture is best placed to provide. That is the sad irony - the myths we cling to harm our chances to grow the businesses that will dispel those very myths.
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