European VC Digest: Virtual Events; Loops; Liquidation Preferences; Moving Firms

Capital Call #5

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, and you can find out more about the newsletter and who’s featured in it here: About Capital Call.

⚠️ First of all, follow our two ever-growing Twitter lists 👍

• 📝 Featured in Capital Call 🔍

• 👩🏾‍💻 Female VCs in Europe 👩🏼‍💻

And now on to today’s edition 👇

Maren Thomas Bannon 🇺🇸 writes about diversity in tech entrepreneurs and shares a long list of Rising Startups To Watch With Diverse Founders.

Alexandra Baranowski 🇬🇧 writes about her first six months as an analyst at a VC firm: Why I joined Playfair Capital & what my internship has been like so far.

Sophia Bendz 🇸🇪 shares some exciting news: she’s joining Cherry Ventures (from Atomico) as Partner! Here’s the context and what she’s looking forward to: I have some exciting news to share. 

Brett Bivens 🇺🇸 looks into the importance of identifying the right opportunities in the right markets when there’s not much to see: How to Identify Underrated Markets.

• Also by Brett, check out this more recent piece in which he emphasizes the virtuous cycle of empowerment loops, drawing examples from three landmark companies: Empowerment Loops.

Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 (co-host of this newsletter), writing in Sifted, discusses the false dichotomy between greedy capitalists and conscious social entrepreneurs: Capitalists aren’t always the bad guys.

Henrik Grim 🇸🇪 of Northzone shares the principles underlying product-led growth in the gaming world and what SaaS founders can learn from it:  Keen on product-led growth in SaaS? Look towards gaming.

George Henry 🇧🇪 of LocalGlobe took to his keyboard to write about what platforms have to offer small and midsize businesses: Platform tools: the SMB playbook.

Daniel Korski 🇬🇧 of PUBLIC analyzes the fiasco with the contact tracing app deployed by the British government and draws lessons for the future: NHS Covid app didn’t pass the test.

Julia Morrongiello 🇨🇭 of Point Nine Capital discusses the impact of the pandemic on bringing people together and Why Virtual Events Are The Future 🔮.

Anna Ottosson 🇸🇪 and her Trellis Road co-founder Erik Byrenius are starting a series on the State of the European Foodtech and Agtech Investment Landscape (Part I).

Erik Stadigh 🇬🇧, from London’s Crane VC, shares the key takeaways from a panel he moderated about Serverless and the future of computing.

In a podcast discussion with Gonz Sanchez, James Wise 🇬🇧 discusses how he became a VC, what kind of startups he’s interested in, and the government’s contribution to innovation: James Wise from Balderton – Productivity, Innovation and Government.

Willy BRAUN @WillyBraun

1/ Yesterday, @SocieteGenerale announced the acquisition of @shine_tools societegenerale.com/en/Newsroom-So… As a very proud investor and lucky observer from the front-row seat, I wanted to share a couple of observations about the journey 👇

societegenerale.comSociete Generale announces the acquisition of Shine, the neobank for entrepreneurs30/06/2020

Fred Destin @fdestin

Good opportunity for a quick primer on Liquidation Preferences.

Doug Scott (Self isolate save others lives) @doug_scott

@fdestin We both know that touting the billion valuation is for press coverage, as they all are. A bit of honesty about how preferred stock work within the pr spin would be nice, but alas I live in my bubble of transparency and openess. xxxx

Gil Dibner @gdibner

1/ Purely anecdotal...but over the past few months, nearly every time I have seen a cap table that reflects truly abusive pre-seed terms by unscrupulous/unprofessional pre-seed funders - the founder involved has been female.

• Maren Thomas Bannon 🇺🇸 Co-Founder & Managing Partner, January Ventures, Amsterdam 🇳🇱 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Alexandra Baranowski 🇬🇧 Off-Cycle VC analyst, Playfair Capital, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Sophia Bendz 🇸🇪 Partner, Cherry Ventures, Berlin 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Brett Bivens 🇺🇸 Venture Investor, TechNexus, Paris 🇫🇷 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Willy Braun 🇫🇷 Operating Partner, Gaia Capital Partners & Founder, .exe, Paris 🇫🇷 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

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

• Fred Destin 🇧🇪 Founder, Stride.VC, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Gil Dibner 🇺🇸 Founder & General Partner, Angular Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Henrik Grim 🇸🇪 Investment Manager, Northzone, Stockholm 🇸🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• George Henry 🇧🇪 General Partner, LocalGlobe, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Daniel Korski 🇬🇧 Co-Founder & CEO, PUBLIC, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter

• Julia Morrongiello 🇨🇭 Associate, Point Nine Capital, Berlin 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Anna Ottosson 🇸🇪 Co-Founder, Trellis Road, Stockholm 🇸🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Erik Stadigh 🇬🇧 Investor, Crane VC, London 🇬🇧LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• James Wise 🇬🇧 Partner, Balderton Capital, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

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We are Willy Braun 🇫🇷, Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 and Vincent Touati-Tomas 🇫🇷. We work as investors and operators in the European VC industry. Hit reply if you want to send us feedback Just reply to this email with your thoughts!