Munich Becomes the European Hub for Venture Capital
by Remy Goldstein, Partner for Europe at Venture University & VU Venture Partners.
Guest post by Remy Goldstein, Partner for Europe at Venture University & VU Venture Partners.
VU Europe aims to educate, train, and develop the next generation of investors to boost the European VC/PE Ecosystem.
US-American Venture University (VU), based in San Francisco, is launching a new subsidiary, VU Europe, to bring its Investor Accelerator for Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Angel Investing to the European market, including VU’s Education Programs & Investment Apprenticeship Program. The European office will be headquartered in Munich, Germany, led by successful serial entrepreneur and investor Andy Goldstein and his Partner Remy Goldstein.
Europe has quite a number of startup accelerators. However, to build a strong innovation ecosystem, there needs to be an equal counterweight to increasing the quantity and quality of investors providing “smart capital” to founders.
“Every day, immense sums of money are invested worldwide in a variety of Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Angel investments,” says Andy Goldstein, Partner of Venture University Europe & VU Venture Partners. “Given these large sums of capital, one would think that these investors have undergone solid education and
training for such responsible tasks. However, this is rarely the case, which is reflected in most investment outcomes, as statistically less than 25% of all Venture Capital funds ever pay out a profit to their investors. Surprisingly, very few investors have undergone a structured program exclusively dedicated to the task at hand - we will change that with Venture University Europe.”
Launched in 2018, Venture University is the world’s leading Investor Accelerator across Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Angel Investing, and has graduated over 750+ alumni across 42 global cohorts with HQ offices in San Francisco and Hong Kong. At the same time, Venture University’s global venture capital fund, VU Venture Partners, has made over 100 investments in startups globally, including unicorns such as Wayflyer, Flyr Labs, Figure AI, and OpenAI, and has a history of making European investments which represents ~10% of its portfolio. VU also has an established alumni group of 100+ European cohort members who have graduated from the program previously and now with VU Europe, VU is looking to scale the number of cohort members in Europe each quarter to increase the quantity and quality of investor talent in Europe. Venture University is designed for individuals entering the VC/PE industry at the Analyst to Partner level, as well as for emerging fund managers, family offices, angel investors, and fund of funds.
All applicants who manage to get a seat in this competitive program join the investment team of VU Venture Partners, a global VC fund, as Analysts to Venture Partners, for 3-12 months where they learn through an intense academic curriculum and gain high quality hands-on investment experience. Cohort members join one of the six vertical investment teams (Consumer, Enterprise, FinTech, Frontier, Healthcare, and PropTech) and present their top 1-2 sourced opportunities each week at Partner Meetings, participate in weekly management meetings and vertical team meetings, and have the ability to select opportunities to present to the Investment Committee and vote.
Each quarter VU Venture Partners invests in 2-5 new portfolio companies as well as select follow-on investments, enabling cohort members to build a track record of making investments with real attribution. For cohort members who join VU’s Investor Accelerator for up to 12 months they can build a portfolio track record of making up to 25 investments. Each investment ranges on average from $200€ to 1M€, sometimes more, with capital coming from VU’s investor syndicate (Bonded Capital) of 5,000+ accredited investors and VU’s global committed funds.
All cohort members also receive a profit-sharing agreement to share in the financial upside on their cohort’s investments, enabling them to receive back some, all, or more than tuition of the program. For example, one of VU’s portfolio companies, Bear Flag Robotics, was acquired for $250M 13 months after VU invested, yielding a 9x return, a 685% IRR, and cohort members received back over 1/3rd of their tuition.
VU cohort members get to learn from and work alongside senior investment professionals with over 100+ years of venture capital and private equity experience, who have deployed over $2B in venture capital and $7B in real estate private equity, and have been some of the earliest and largest investors in over 25+ unicorns, including Facebook (Meta), Uber, Twitter (X), Beyond Meat, FabFitFun, Oculus, Oscar, Pinterest, Palantir, Wish, etc.
J. Skyler Fernandes, Founder & General Partner of Venture University and VU Venture Partners, shared, “The launch of VU Europe marks an inflection point in the evolution of Venture University and for the Venture Capital Ecosystem in Europe. We believe that by investing in people, we can unlock unprecedented opportunities for growth, innovation, and sustainable success. Our focus on Europe is a testament to our belief in the region's potential to lead on the global stage. VU Europe, we will build a stronger, more vibrant, more profitable, and more successful future for the European investor and startup ecosystem.”
Andy Goldstein, Partner of VU Europe and VU Venture Partners, says:
"We’re excited to launch VU Europe, a huge step forward in connecting and empowering the venture capital ecosystem across Europe. With 40 years in the trenches of entrepreneurship and investment, deeply rooted in the art of cross-pollinating European companies with global markets, I’m looking forward to leveraging this experience to foster a vibrant and talented community of venture capital investors, family offices, and LPs, dedicated to propelling European startups and the European investor ecosystem to the forefront of the global stage. Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of the European venture capital and private equity landscape.”
“VU Europe will cultivate talent from individuals looking to break into the VC/PE industry, first-time fund managers, and people wishing to accelerate their VC/PE careers. VU’s Investor Accelerator is designed to empower and educate the next generation of investors, providing them with the tools, knowledge, and networks needed to drive innovation and economic growth across Europe. We have to educate and induce confidence into individuals, particularly those who have private capital so that they feel encouraged to invest in the European Ecosystem.”
Explains Remy Goldstein, Partner of VU Europe and VU Venture Partners.
Starting in Q4 of 2024, VU will have a dedicated group of European cohort members each quarter attending VU’s Investor Accelerator program. As part of this expansion, VU is adding a third headquarter location in Munich, Germany, in addition to its current headquarter locations in San Francisco and Hong Kong.
