The second VC champion I had the opportunity of chatting with was Stephan Morais. Stephan is the founder and Managing Partner of Indico Capital Partners, a leading early-stage deep tech VC firm. We chatted about: How Stephan tackled raising a VC fund and what to should look for in LPs How European VCs can push …
Will remote working become the new normal for everyone?
Everyone experiences feelings of isolation or increasing distractions when embracing remote working. Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), which account for the major part (99%) of the European economy, have been particularly impacted by recent events. Dealing with increasingly restrictive liquidity reserves, SME owners are facing particular difficulties in this ongoing pandemic outbreak. The economic and …
Meeting European VC Champions: Cross-border Life Sciences investing
Recently, I had the opportunity of chatting with Marc Lohrmann, the Managing Partner of Vesalius Biocapital Fund III (VBC III). VBC III is a 120M€ venture capital (VC) fund investing in late-stage companies in drug development, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health, across Europe. We chatted about: How Marc and Vesalius work as a country …
In Europe, the startup funding graduation rate is also surprisingly low
In this post we: Present a primer on the startup funding graduation rate in Europe; Find that both European and US VC-backed companies show a steep drop off rate between Seed and Series A; Find that the startup graduation rate in Europe and the US shows exponential decay; Find evidence suggesting that Seed investments have been increasing …
Retirement and the silver economy
Societies are experiencing a problem upon retirement. People feel stripped of their meaning and purpose, which is often strongly connected to their career. This feeling of emptiness is provoked not only by the fact that someone lost his/her job, but by the fear of losing friends and a place in society. A study published in the Journal …
Safeguarding SMEs mental health in future outbreak situations
Europe has around 25 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that together represent the backbone of Europe’s economy. These account for more than 99% of all businesses in the EU. SMEs are responsible for more than half of EU-28 GDP, employ around two-thirds of the European workforce and are responsible for 85% of job creation. …
Is the 4-day workweek as foolish as it sounds?
Recent events have upended working life, changing how and where we work and live, and inspired many to guess on how economies and our lives will forever change. Some argue everything will go back to normal. Others that everything will change. I believe some things will change, to a certain extent, but that many things …
8 books for Humanity in the Era of AI
It’s safe to say we’ve gone digital. It’s around us every moment of every day. Internet, smartphones, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Zoom videoconferences, Siri and Alexa, Google Chromecast, Big Data, Internet-of-Things, Cloud Computing, Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Chatbots. You name it. This is a highly fast-paced era we live in, both at home …
Should you apply for an incubator or an accelerator?
The startup arena has its own vernacular. Navigating through it isn’t always obvious. All the hype around entrepreneurship and innovation doesn’t help either. Often, so-called “experts” use terms erroneously, potentially misleading unaware first-time founders. Data show that entrepreneurs who get help in building their startups have increased chances of attracting investment. Both incubators and accelerators …
Human Resources as a catalyst for Innovation
Workforce engagement is low in Europe Recent stats show that up to 86% of the workforce in Europe is not engaged or actively disengaged from their work. This has serious implications for the bottom line of companies and the economy. Disengaged employees are disconnected from their companies and may be working against employers’ interests. This …