November update from Isomer Capital

Nov 16, 2024

Here is a snapshot of the top European funding rounds and exits in October:

315 funding rounds were completed in September
€4bn was invested into European Startups
47 exits occurred, 44 undisclosed, 3 were valued at €1.1bn
The UK raised €1.1bn across 74 deals

Isomer Portfolio Highlights

🇬🇧 Dexory, a robotic warehouse firm, raises £60m Series B
🇬🇧 TrueLayer, pay by bank network, raises £50m Series E extension
🇫🇷 La Vie, plant-based meat company, raises €25m Venture
🇪🇸 Paack, tech-enabled delivery solution, raises €21m internal round
🇬🇧 Omnea, AI procurement orchestration, raises $20m Series A
🇬🇧 Autone, AI inventory platform, raises $17m Series A
🇬🇧 Shift Bioscience, biotech for age-linked diseases, raises £12.5m Seed
🇫🇷 DinMo, data activation company, raises €5m Seed
🇳🇱 Plumery, banking experience platform, raises €3m Seed

With that, let’s get on to the big events and what they left us with 👇

Inpho 2024 (Bordeaux) & GVC Connect (Frankfurt)

Inpho 2024

Inpho 2024 ( Bordeaux) Investor conference deep tech including tech-bio, renewable energy, decarbonisation, quantum technology.
Chris Wade spoke on the pros and cons of investing in deep tech.
Key takeaway: The European deep tech technology opportunity compares well to the US, and, as a result, European VCs are investing in heavily in this sector.

GVC Connect (Frankfurt)

Global Corporate Venturing ( GVC) with PWC held a conference with 100 European corporate venture Capitalists (CVC) to discuss the investment environment.
Chris Wade spoke on selecting the suitable VC Fund for your corporate strategy.
Key takeaway: Investing in a VC fund requires deep knowledge of the Venture ecosystem and experience in determining if the selected VC will be a good partner.

Places to Meet Isomer's Team

🇺🇸 SuperVenture North America (NY, 11th of November) - Joe is hosting a panel on North America and Europe's evolving relationship.

🇬🇧 BVCA (London, 13th November) - Freddie is speaking on a panel for an Emerging Managers workshop.

🇫🇮 Slush (Helsinki, 20th November – 21st November) - Chloe, Joe and Harry will be attending and meeting VCs and LPs. Chloe is judging the RAISE: Emerging Manager pitch event.

🇯🇵 🇰🇷 Road trip to Japan and Korea (3rd to 13th of December) - Chris and Isomer's venture partner Hiroshi Baba will meet investors and participate in the Hello Tomorrow Japan conference and Global Corporate Venturing Asia Summit.

🇦🇪 Road trip to Dubai and AbuDhabi (Week of the 25th of November) - Joe and Harry will travel to the region to meet investors.

🇹🇼 Trip to Taipei (Week of the 13th of January) - Thomas and Chris will attend the quarterly corporate meeting of an existing LP and meet other investors in the region.

🇫🇷 IPEM (Cannes, 28th to 30th of January) - Thomas will attend the event and speak at a panel on venture capital.

Is the horizon for exits beginning to brighten?

The result of the presidential election is already affecting the markets with the so-called "Trump Trade". For instance, amid speculation of more favourable crypto regulations, Bitcoin’s price reached an all-time high of $89,995. But what does this mean for the broader VC industry, and what impact can we expect in the European VC sector?

The most immediate effect will be an improvement of DPI. The removal of uncertainty and the clear election result should increase corporate confidence to plan and invest in the long run. President's Trump light-touch approach to regulation should ease the antitrust scrutiny on big tech companies, which would enable them to resume their M&A activities and buy smaller firms. We already see this in the Isomer portfolios, with several good exits planned in Q4 2024. Another example is Klarna, a Swedish "Buy-now pay later" decacorn has just announced that they filed for IPO in the US next year.

LPs have been slow to re-commit to new vintages, mainly due to the lack of liquidity from their previous investments. As M&A and IPO resume, it should provide liquidity back to investors, enabling them to commit to the newest vintages, which will be positive for the entire private equity industry.

For Europe, despite the possibility of reduced US-European cooperation, we believe that it will create many opportunities for the continent. On the one hand, Trump's election might affect the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council which aimed to discuss tech policy and coordinate on semiconductors and artificial intelligence standards. We could expect stricter data transfer policies and pressure on national security grounds. Also, Trump's protectionist policies could lead to more stringent measures, potentially affecting and slowing cross-border collaboration.

However, on the other hand, European tech start-ups might benefit from the flow of capital being redirected toward clean energy companies, creating European champions that could dominate this multi-trillion-dollar industry. It might be a catalyst for Europe to rely less on the U.S. as a partner, diversifying suppliers and markets. Also. the EU’s proactive stance on regulating AI, cybersecurity, and data privacy might make it a global leader in these areas, particularly if American companies face limited restrictions under President Trump.

Ultimately, on our side, nothing changes... we will continue to back Europe's VC champions early and double down on their breakout companies!

Isomer Insights

Isomer in the News

ION Analytics: Joe Schorge, Managing Partner of Isomer Capital, on secondaries trends in venture capital
EUVC: Mid Year Review 2024: European Fundraising Sentiment with Chris Wade, Isomer Capital
EUVC: Achievement of the Year Finalist: On resilience and making difficult decisions - Tour Radar story
Isomer Report: Commercial Opportunities for Venture Capital with Artificial Intelligence
EUVC: The deep dive on Isomer's 100M€ Secondaries Fund with Joe Schorge and Omalade Adebisi
SuperVenture Interview: What's Hot in European Tech?
European VC Awards Interview: Celebrating excellence in venture capital: The European VC awards!
Vestbee: Chris Wade, Founding Partner of Isomer on Mastering the VC game