Atomico; Creandum; Kindred Capital; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider
- European venture capital investors have had a blockbuster year, thanks to successes such as Spotify, Dutch payment firm Adyen, fashion firm Farfetch, and many others that went public or sold.
- Business Insider has listed some of the continent’s star VCs, who are well-respected by founders and peers and won big from smart early bets on firms that floated or were acquired.
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There is more money sloshing around Europe for tech startup founders than ever before — a sign of a strong and growing ecosystem (or a bubble, depending on your pessimism levels).
Navigating different investors can be a daunting task for founders. Business Insider has tried to make the job a little easier by putting together a list of some of the most interesting and well-regarded investors in Europe right now.
It isn’t totally comprehensive, but features people who have made obviously smart bets in the past 12 months and are name-checked by peers and founders as great people to work with. The list has a UK bias in part because some of the biggest pan-European funds or global funds are headquartered in London.
In no particular order, here are the VCs in Europe every tech founder needs to know:
Suzanne Ashman Blair, partner at one of the UK’s most prolific seed investors
LocalGlobe
Ashman Blair is a partner at LocalGlobe, the seed investor founded by legendary father-and-son investment duo Robin and Saul Klein.
The Kleins have been trying to step away as the sole "faces" of their fund and make way for new talent. Ashman Blair is popular with her peer investors, and has backed farming network WeFarm and security firm Tessian.
Like the Kleins, Ashman Blair has strong connections to the UK’s political establishment — her father-in-law is ex-prime minister Tony Blair.
Location: UK
Twitter: @SuzanneAshman
Christoph Janz, the angel VC
Point Nine
Christoph Janz is the managing partner at Berlin-based Point Nine Capital, the self-described "angel VC" which tries to be a little friendlier and more approachable to startups than the average investor.
Janz, a successful entrepreneur-turned-investor, has been trying to make the process of fundraising more transparent since Point Nine started, pushing simple term sheets and simpler due diligence checklists.
Location: Germany, but invests globally.
Twitter: @chrija
Luciana Lixandru, who spotted Deliveroo and UiPath for Accel
Accel
Lixandru is one of Accel’s newer senior stars, having been promoted to partner in 2017. She has made a number of smart bets both in enterprise and consumer software, leading the firm’s investments into UK food delivery startup Deliveroo, and Romanian robotics software company UiPath.
Location: UK, but invests across Europe
Twitter: @LucianaLix
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – sghosh@businessinsider.com (Shona Ghosh)