European VC Digest: Upside. Burning Equity. Virtual Events. Risk and Reward. Gut Feeling. Long-Term Goals.

Capital Call #22

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.

Christian Angermayer 🇩🇪 talks to Sifted’s Michael Stothard about the psychedelic renaissance: Brunch with Sifted: psychedelic investor Christian Angermayer.

Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 of The Family (and co-host of Capital Call) writes about their portfolio company Fairmint and the democratization of upside: Why Don't Uber Drivers Own Shares? Now They Could.

Robin Dechant 🇩🇪 of Point Nine Capital makes the point that you can build communities in enterprise, too: The Rise of Communities — Building Communities in B2B.

Norman Fiore 🇬🇧 of Dawn Capital invites founders to beware the abundance of cheap capital and avoid excessive dilution: Burning your Equity. 

Balthazar de Lavergne 🇫🇷of The Family writes about the conditions in which founders can take risks as their company grows: Risk for lunch. Reward for dinner.

Marc Rougier 🇫🇷and Gabriel Levy 🇫🇷 of Elaia Partners offer a deep dive into the cloud, the backbone upon which the digitalization of the world relies: Why we invest in Cloud Infrastructure.

Jonathan Sibilia 🇫🇷 of Draper Esprit comments on a VC firm’s deck: The VC “Strips off” – Silicon Roundabout Ventures VC Fund Deck Reviewed Live by Draper Esprit LP.

Vincent Touati-Tomas 🇫🇷 of Northzone (and co-host of Capital Call) explores the problems with the concept of “virtual events”: Virtual events are the future: they just need a rebrand

Eze Vidra 🇦🇷🇮🇱🇬🇧 of Remagine Ventures writes about how he and his VC peers make decisions: FOMO, YOLO and Analysis Paralysis - the role of gut feeling in VC decision making.

Carmen Alfonso Rico 🇪🇸 talks about her firm, Blossom Capital, and her vision of investing: Relentless passion and insane customer love, a portrait of Blossom Capital.

Eric Archambeau 🇫🇷 and George Coelho 🇺🇸 of Astanor Ventures just announced they raised a large fund to invest in the next generation of founders focused on food and agriculture: Spotify's early investors raise Europe's largest agritech fund.

Alexandre Barbosa 🇵🇹 talks about raising a new fund and what’s going on in the Portuguese and Spanish startup communities: Portugal's Faber reaches $24.3M for its second fund aimed at data-driven startups from Iberia.

Simone Brummelhuis 🇳🇱 of the Borski Fund, Thea Messel 🇩🇰 of Unconventional Ventures, William Reeve 🇬🇧, an angel investor, Aline Vedder 🇩🇪 of Ananda Impact Ventures, and Gregoire Vigroux 🇫🇷, also an angel investor, share tips that founders might want to pay attention to: What do investors look for? 5 tips from seasoned European investors.

Marie Ekeland 🇫🇷 just revealed the next stage of her already impressive career: Marie Ekeland launches 2050, a new fund with radically ambitious, long-term goals.

Sebastiaan Debrouwere @sebvc

These are just a few examples of questions that I'd ask prior to agreeing an investment. There's no right or wrong answer to any of them - it's more a thought experiment. Similar to the NYT article on marriage: nytimes.com/interactive/20… Founders, what questions do you ask?

nytimes.com13 Questions to Ask Before Getting Married (Published 2016)There are certain intimate and awkward topics couples should discuss before the wedding — unless you prefer to be surprised years later.

Christoph Janz @chrija

Following up on a daring discussion yesterday, here's a challenge for y'all: Write the copy for a VC website without using any of the terms below. It's hard, trust me. ;-) Who DARES to take up the challenge? 🤣

Beata 👾 @axeliaklein

"Heads down building" OR "Open to talking to investors" Maybe it doesn't have to be either or? 5 suggestions on how to balance fundraising vs getting stuff done:

• Carmen Alfonso Rico 🇪🇸 Partner, Blossom Capital, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Christian Angermayer 🇩🇪Founder, Apeiron Investment Group, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Eric Archambeau 🇫🇷Co-Founder, Astanor Ventures, Brussels 🇧🇪 LinkedIn

• Alexandre Barbosa 🇵🇹Managing Partner, Faber Ventures, Lisbon 🇵🇹LinkedIn | Twitter

• Simone Brummelhuis 🇳🇱Fund Director & Partner, The Borski Fund, Amsterdam 🇳🇱LinkedIn

• George Coelho 🇺🇸 Co-Founder, Astanor Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn

• Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 Co-Founder & Director, The Family, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Sebastiaan Debrouwere 🇧🇪 Associate, Balderton, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter

• Robin Dechant 🇩🇪 Associate, Point Nine Capital, Berlin 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Marie Ekeland 🇫🇷Founder, 2050, Paris 🇫🇷LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Norman Fiore 🇬🇧 General Partner and Founder, Dawn Capital, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter

• Christoph Janz 🇩🇪 Partner, Point Nine Capital, Berlin 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Beata Klein 🇸🇪 Associate, Creandum, Stockholm 🇸🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Balthazar de Lavergne 🇫🇷 Director, The Family, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Gabriel Levy 🇫🇷Analyst, Elaia Partners, Paris 🇫🇷 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Thea Messel 🇩🇰Founder & Managing Partner, Unconventional Ventures, Copenhagen 🇩🇰 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• William Reeve 🇬🇧 Angel Investor,  London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Marc Rougier 🇫🇷Partner, Elaia Partners, Paris 🇫🇷 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Jonathan Sibilia 🇫🇷Partner, Draper Esprit, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn

• Vincent Touati-Tomas 🇫🇷Director of Marketing, Northzone, London 🇬🇧LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Aline Vedder 🇩🇪 Investment Manager, Ananda Impact Ventures, Munich 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter

• Grégoire Vigroux 🇫🇷 Angel Investor, Bucharest 🇷🇴 LinkedIn | Twitter

• Eze Vidra 🇦🇷🇮🇱🇬🇧 Managing Partner, Remagine Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog