Introducing: The Lowdown 🗞️
The Newsletter that wraps up the week in European Venture 👀.
We've been playing around with our dear friend Dan Bowyer from Superseed lately and cooked up a hot new thing; The Startup Lowdown - the show that wraps up the week in European Venture 🗞️ and the accompanying newsletter “The Review”.
Catch next week live here and make sure to connect with Andreas & David for news on the European VC scene 👀.
And don’t forget to join us in the EUVC community if you’re up for investing in the hottest European VC funds 💸 .
But let's get into the meat of the show 🥩 prepare for a blunt and at times provocative rundown of the week's major headlines.
"The Crying CEO"
We've all had to fire people. It's never fun. It hurts. We get that. But if you've got the balls ⚾ to go and film yourself afterwards, there's probably good cause to think your empathy isn't all that heartfelt. A handful of rotten tomatoes 🍅 and a kick in those big balls for that performance 🎊.
Read the original article in The Guardian & watch the replay here.
More stories on VC funding drying up
That's bollocks. There's plenty of dry-powder in the market. However, that doesn't mean venture funding is readily available to all. Many VCs are (rightfully) slowing deployment rates as they reassess the situation and dedicate extra time to helping portfolio companies think and work through a difficult time.
However. Angels do act very differently right now -- and they're an important part of the European early stage scene. As such, while early stage VCs in Europe still have cash available, there's an important funding source that's in no rush to invest right now.
Read the original article in Fortune & watch the replay here.
Adam Neumann raises 350M$ from a16z
Always good to know that unicorns are still born pre-product. Let's celebrate that. But other than that, there's a lot of unanswered questions left:
- What happened to Flow Carbon the weird ass blockchain startup that Adam raised 70M for in the spring!?
- a16z loves Adam for going back to his roots of real estate. But isn't that like a bank robber going back to a bank!?
and finally:
- who the hell funds Adam Neumann!?
VC of the Week: Contrarian Ventures
We first met Rokas and Tomas, the two GPs behind Contrarian ventures a year or so ago. They were running a small, 12 m€ fund and hustling to build the leading climate tech community in Europe if not the world. And they were on good track. Some time after, we did an episode with them on the European VC and now, we're super happy to see them announcing their 100m€ fund.
Absolutely amazing 👏
Read the story on Techfundingnews & watch the replay here
Chelsea Clinton raises new fund
Loved this one. Big things to come from all the new high-powered people coming into VC. Network is everything - and these guys and girls bring network. In this connection, remember to check out Jason Esseboom who's building Joyned Capital where he's helping athletes transition into angel investing. Love this guy. Great things to come I'm sure 🤞.
There is more...
Had a great ambition to give you the written rundown on all the news we covered, but damn. That was a lot. So here's a quick drop of the news we covered in the show, but I failed to comment on here. Bear with me 🐻
Founderpath raises 145m€ to provide non dilutive financing to bootstrapped SaaS founders
London based VC 2xn unveil 120 mn fund to back quantum computing startups in Europe
Vladimir from academyocean.com was highlighted by Dan as an amazing founder building an amazing company. And a huge shoutout was given to Lyobov from International Founders/Blue Lake VC.
You’re invited to invest with us 🤗
We can't leave you without inviting you to join us in the #euvc community where we're constantly bringing on new great VC funds for you to back with your money, skills and network.
Wait what?
Yup. 1k€ minimums, awesome people, the greatest route to connect with venture investors all over Europe. All in one place 💞
Does it get any better? Well, we hope 🤞 as we keep working hard on making it just that! But we do hope you'll join us in making it so! 🤗