'europe' Tag
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Europe to entrepreneurs worldwide: You are welcome here
July 1, 2020Long-time readers of this blog know that two recurring themes that I often harp on about are Silicon Valley No Longer Has A Monopoly On Innovation, and Immigrants Often Make The Best Entrepreneurs. So whenever I see data which reinforces these convictions, I have a tendency to amplify it. While the US government relentlessly tightens […]
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Europe’s challenger bank landscape
September 16, 2019In follow up to last week’s post on my favorite consumer fintech products, here’s an illustration of the challenger banking landscape in Europe.
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Playing nice when capital is abundant
January 25, 2019I bet you wish you never burned that bridge (oh nooooo, ‘cause now you’d like to cross it) — Shaggy alongside Chronixx There is loads of VC money sloshing around the startup ecosystem these days. if you need proof, the recent reports from both CB Insights and Crunchbase bear this out. With just over 34,000 […]
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Consent is King: GDPR arrives
May 16, 2018Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becomes enforceable on May 25th. Intended to ensure data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union, GDPR is essentially a law about consent. GDPR aims primarily to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data. GDPR applies to any company that processes personal data […]
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欧州スタートアップが日本市場に熱視線 その理由は？
March 31, 2018[Increasingly, and encouragingly, corporate Japan is demonstrating an interest in European innovation. Often I am asked why a European startup would even consider Japan. I believe that this interview I recently gave to Softbank’s ITmedia News accurately captures my rationale.] あなたの知らない欧州スタートアップの世界： 欧州スタートアップが日本市場に熱視線 その理由は？ 世界で注目を集める欧州のスタートアップが、新たな市場として日本に熱い視線を送っている。AIや仮想通貨といったDeep Techへ前向きに取り組む日本は、欧州スタートアップにとって「自分たちのビジネスが飛躍できる場所」と捉えられているからだ。 本連載の第1回では、日本企業が欧州スタートアップと相性がいい理由を探り、前回の記事では、欧州のスタートアップ隆盛の背景を説明した。今回は、欧州スタートアップがいかにして日本市場を注目するようになったかに迫っていく。 会社のさらなる成長を求めて国外へ目を向けた欧州のスタートアップは、近隣諸国、米国への参入を経て、日本という金脈を見つけることになる。 グローバル志向が芽生えて近隣諸国、そして米国へ 初期のベンチャー投資でお金を集めた、野心的なとある欧州のファンドマネジャーは気付き始めていた。本来、私たちは投資家から預かったお金を運用する立場。これまでの節税を全面に押し出したコミッション重視のファンドに慣れきった周囲は、投資家から成果を求められないのをいいことに何もしない。「投資先のスタートアップを成長させるには国内だけではマーケットが小さい。大きくするなら国外へ行こう」 早速、ファンドマネジャー指示のもと、投資先のスタートアップは手始めに電車で行ける距離の国への参入を試みる。同じ欧州だからという気軽さはどこへやら、ローカライズの手間や体制作りなど思った以上にパフォーマンスを出すことの難しさに直面する。それを逆手にとってか、同じくらい大変ならと、憧れの地・米国へ進路を突如変えていく。 スタートアップは米国に会社毎移転するようになったが、大きな壁に直面する。資本力だ。米国は利益よりもまず初めに莫大な資金を調達し、マーケットシェアをできるだけ確保する、“圧倒的に勝つ”戦略をとっている。対する欧州は、少しずつだが安定的かつ利益を意識し、持続可能なビジネスを作る方法をとっている。似たようなジャンルの会社たちが市場と共に成長していくのがよく見られるのも欧州の特徴といえる。
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Japanese AI investors coming to Europe
February 15, 2018Our VC friends behind Japan’s AI Tech Leaders Summit will return next week for another mini-European scouting tour. They’re looking for investment opportunities in advanced technology areas such as deep learning, machine learning, robotics, and RPA in particular. There remains some space open at the informal meetups as follows [updated]: London: fully booked Berlin: fully […]
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Why Europe should be on Japan’s corporate innovation agendas
January 21, 2018[This post paraphrases an interview I gave last week to Japan’s ITmedia group. The original interview is here.] Over the past decade Europe has witnessed such a dramatic transformation in innovation and entrepreneurship that I submit that the region now represents one of the most compelling areas of the world for investment from Japan. This […]
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State of European Tech 2017 (spoiler: it’s male)
December 5, 2017If you haven’t had an opportunity to review Atomico’s annual report on the State of European Tech, I encourage you to take a look. The brief is loaded with valuable insight into Europe’s innovation ecosystem, a sector no longer overlooked by entrepreneurs and investors globally. Two incontrovertible conclusions leapt out at me from this analysis: […]
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Brexit not our problem? Think again.
June 27, 2016I received a few intriguing comments on Friday’s fretful post about the worrisome consequences of Brexit for Europe’s innovation ecosystem. One person affiliated with LaFrenchTech believes England’s departure from the EU will prove a boon to France’s tech scene. Another purported that Paris will now become the Continent’s rightful hub of Fintech. I hope such […]
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5 smart European VC predictions for 2016
January 13, 2016Last year’s Predictions on the State of VC in Europe 2015 proved so popular that I decided to do it again. Here are some insightful predictions for 2016 from five of my more prophetic peers. Dmitry Chikhachev, Runa Capital, Russia I would predict 2 trends for VC in Europe in 2016: 1) a growing number […]
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2016 Will Be The Year Of The European Entrepreneur
January 4, 2016Making predictions are hard, especially about the future. I may be underestimating the time horizon, but for me the trend is unmistakable. The European entrepreneurial ecosystem is poised to enter the major leagues, and I predict that this will happen in 2016. Our vieux continent already boasts a burgeoning collection of tech unicorns, with the […]
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Europe’s tech IPO market: Where’s Santa?
December 10, 2015Just when it felt like the market for European tech IPOs was opening, the events of the past few weeks have dashed those hopes. Days after Deezer announced the delay of its initial public offering, HelloFresh drew the same conclusion. In France, the only notable IPOs of late were Amundi and ShowroomPrivé. The asset management […]