European VC Digest: Outgrowing Software. Developers as Rockstars. London IPO. Microfunds. Seed Funds.

Capital Call #37

This is your 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!

Welcome to all our new subscribers 🤗 If, like us, you’re interested in everything that’s happening in European VC, 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.

Shamillah Bankiya 🇺🇬 and Virginia Pozzato 🇬🇧 of Dawn Capital write about a constituency no SaaS founder should neglect: Developers are the new rockstars of SaaS. You either sell through or to them.

Stephanie Chan 🇦🇺of Samaipata shares a few ideas about unlocking the power of consumer networks: Cheat sheet #2: Key Metrics to track for Consumer Apps and Networks.

Benedict Evans 🇬🇧 of Mosaic Ventures and Entrepreneur First discusses what happens when software starts to eat more tangible industries: Outgrowing software.

Christoph Janz 🇩🇪 of Point Nine Capital thinks his firm has picked a contributor to having better meetings in a remote setting: Whereby — where better meetings happen.

Beata Klein 🇸🇪 of Creandum explores how influencers are slowly changing the retail world in the West: Shopify for Creators?

Balthazar de Lavergne 🇫🇷 of The Family makes the point that there’s a spectrum between founder and employee, and that you need to incentivize everyone accordingly: Employees vs. founders

Tom Lovelace 🇬🇧, who just joined Forward Partners, wants to bridge the gap between investors and operators: Mind the gap - how VCs and operators think.

Clara Ricard 🇫🇷 of Balderton is diving into why Covid could be the insurtech magic wand: Why insurtech enablers are fairy godmothers. 

Gabrielle Thomas 🇫🇷 from Balderton looks at weekly fundraising activities amongst European countries: BlackFin Tech Weekly — March 20th.

Jeppe Zink 🇩🇰 of Northzone celebrates a remarkable exit, share the firm 2011 investment memo and tells the backstory: Trustpilot and Northzone: a 150x success story 10 years in the making.

Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 (co-host of Capital Call) tells the story of his firm The Family to Patrick Ryan 🇮🇪 of Odin: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.

Pauliina Martikainen 🇫🇮 of Maki.vc had a conversation about her experience as a venture capitalist with the hosts of the Associated podcast: click here to access and listen.

Edouard Treccani 🇨🇭 of Wingman explains why students might be the best scouts for a VC firm like his: Swiss VC Wingman to launch new student-run fund.

Carlos Trenchs Sainz de la Maza 🇪🇸 of Aldea Ventures shares his recipe for bringing more specialists into the VC industry: “Fund of Microfunds” Aldea Ventures completes €60m first close.

Eze Vidra 🇦🇷🇮🇱🇬🇧 of Remagine Ventures was recently a guest of the Bootstrap podcast to share more about his job as an investor: E10: Our first VC guest!

Gil Dibner @gdibner

I'm not sure this is true, but I am starting to think it might be. Thesis: seed funds and "accelerators" basically can no longer work together. Choose one path and you self-select out of the other.

Fredrik Cassel @_fredrik

There's clearly something about the @creandum () @northzoneVC venn diagram I'm counting @Spotify, @ZettlebyPayPal, @GetKahoot & with more to come Thanks for great coopetition over the years @pjparson @mkotting & team

Northzone @northzoneVC

👏 Stoked to see @GetKahoot uplisting on the Olso Stock Exchange main list this morning. 📈 In 2020, over 250 million games were played with more than 1.5 billion participating players in 200 countries 💥 https://t.co/b65xwCYb5z c/@mkotting

Clément Parramon @cparraam

Buy now Pay Later schemes increase your purchasing power at no cost. Thread/

Patrick Newton @Patrick_Newton1

Great too see @passioncapital open part of its fund III to retail investors. 💯 it'll be way oversubscribed. But this is a policy problem, and while @Seedrs are doing a good job, it really needs a policy solution. 👇

Bérénice Magistretti @BMagistretti

1/ We often talk about operators/execs becoming VCs, but many journalists also made the transition: @mgsiegler wrote for @TechCrunch and @VentureBeat before joining @GVteam @chrissyfarr wrote for @VentureBeat, @FastCompany and @CNBC before joining @OMERSVentures ...

Leo Ringer @leoringer

The UK regulatory rules around VC funds need a big overhaul, for 3 reasons: 1 Retail access: as my partner @Patrick_Newton1 sets out, it's harder for reg reasons to invest in a fund than in a single company. Incentive against diversification - crazy 1/4

Patrick Newton @Patrick_Newton1

Great too see @passioncapital open part of its fund III to retail investors. 💯 it'll be way oversubscribed. But this is a policy problem, and while @Seedrs are doing a good job, it really needs a policy solution. 👇

• Shamillah Bankiya 🇺🇬 Vice-President, Dawn Capital, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter

• Fredrik Cassel 🇸🇪 General Partner, Creandum, Berlin 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter 

• Stephanie Chan 🇦🇺 Associate, Samaipata, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 Co-Founder & Director, The Family, Munich 🇩🇪 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

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

• Benedict Evans 🇬🇧 Venture Partner, Entrepreneur First & Mosaic Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

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

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

• Carlos Trenchs Sainz de la Maza 🇪🇸 Co-Founder & Managing Director, Aldea Ventures, Barcelona 🇪🇸 LinkedIn | Twitter

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

• Tom Lovelace 🇬🇧 Investment Associate, Forward Partners, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn

• Pauliina Martikainen 🇫🇮 Investment Director, Maki.vc, Helsinki 🇫🇮 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Bérénice Magistretti 🇨🇭 Angel Investor, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Patrick Newton 🇬🇧 Founding Partner, Form Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Clément Parramon 🇫🇷 Venture Capital Analyst, Lyon 🇫🇷  LinkedIn | Twitter| Blog

• Virginia Pozzato 🇬🇧 Associate, Dawn Capital, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter

• Clara Ricard 🇫🇷 Analyst, Balderton, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Leo Ringer 🇬🇧 Founding Partner, Form Ventures, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Patrick Ryan 🇮🇪 Co-Founder, Odin, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Gabrielle Thomas 🇫🇷 VC Investment Director, Blackfin, Paris 🇫🇷 LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog

• Edouard Treccani 🇨🇭 Venture Partner, Wingman Ventures, Lausanne 🇨🇭 LinkedIn

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

• Jeppe Zink 🇩🇰 General Partner Northzone, London 🇬🇧 LinkedIn | Twitter