When we set out to build eu.vc our mission was to connect and champion The European VC industry, so coming together with three good friends and partners to launch The European VC awards is nothing short of a dream come true 💗.
We’ve so looked forward to this day when we can finally invite you all to join us in the endeavor and you can do so by nominating to the awards, joining in the conversation on social media, and inviting your peers to nominate 🌟.
We will of course also cover select nominees as well as all the finalists and winners here on the eu.vc pod as well as host virtual fireside events so that you can get up close and personal with the European VC champions. Stay tuned 👀.
And last but not least, you’ll of course also be able to attend the awards in person as they’re the concluding session at this year’s SuperVenture in Berlin 🏆.
Now, let’s get into the categories, the process and the judging panel ⚖️.
Five Awards to Celebrate Our Champions
Designed to celebrate change-makers in European VC, the awards are dedicated to recognize and honor the firms and individuals that truly stand out and make a difference. We will do so across five categories:
Hall of Fame: Celebrating a lifetime of achievement in European Venture, this award is for those who have shaped the industry through their investments, contributions, and thought leadership over 20+ years and is stepping back from an active investing role and/or entering into a portfolio career of multiple firms.
Nominate here 🏆.Firm of the Year: This accolade recognizes a firm from a fully holistic view, including pure financial performance and portfolio performance as well as innovation, impact on the ecosystem, diversity, transparency and fairness as well as team and culture.
Nominate here 🏆.Newcomer of the Year: Honoring emerging managers, this award goes to a fund that has had its first close in the past year, recognizing their remarkable success in bringing something new and innovative to the European Venture market while building traction around their fund and vision.
Nominate here 🏆.Achievement of the Year: This category is for the outstanding achievements and contributions in the European VC ecosystem in the given year, whether from an individual, company, or fund. This is the wild one where anything can happen.
Nominate here 🏆.Exit of the Year: Honoring the firm that has had a company that has exited and created the most value back to the VC and therefore back to the European Venture ecosystem. This is about venture capital returns as opposed to “the biggest exit” and will also encompass strategic aspects of the exit such as timing in relation to market conditions and exit strategy.
Nominate here 🏆.
The European VC Awards are about community and collaboration, and your involvement is key. Nominate before February 28th and you’ll join in our raffle for a free ticket to SuperVenture. Your nominations will help shape the awards & ensure they truly represent the best of European VC.
Now, we know every award lives and dies with the integrity of the process, the quality of the judging panel, and of course the final decisions. We know we won’t all agree on the final outcome of every award, but we promise to do our very best to live up to the weight of the responsibility 🫡. Let’s dive in.
The process
The process is run by Isomer Capital and everyone across the ecosystem will be able to nominate for the awards. We will be transparent about the selection criteria and all who are nominated will be notified.
The judging criteria are described on the nominations page.
The nominations are open as of today and will be so until March 31st.
Evaluation and deliberation will happen from then and the finalists will be announced when identified.
The final winners will be announced at Day 1 of SuperVenture on June 4th.
The judging panel
In assembling the judging panel, we’ve looked for LPs with decade-long investing excellence and experience that together would form a panel all of the European ecosystem will recognize as capable and just.
Thomas Kristensen, Partner at LGT Capital Partners
Jonathan Sibilia, Partner & Head of FoFs at Molten Ventures
Giulia Van Waeyenberge, Member of the Executive Committee at Sofina
Stephen Lowery, Head of Investor Coverage & Business Development at HSBC Innovation Banking
Joe Schorge, Founding Managing Partner at Isomer Capital (co-chair)
Chris Wade, Founding General Partner at Isomer Capital (co-chair)
Listen to the pod with the founding partners 🎧
For the full story and background, tune into the pod here on eu.vc or on Spotify/Apple for a sit-down with the founding partners behind the Awards. We cover:
Behind-the-Scenes Insights: Gain a behind-the-scenes look into thoughts and deliberations behind the design and planning of the awards.
Vision and Inspiration: Learn why recognizing excellence is so important in propelling our industry forward and how we hope the awards will create a ripple effect of success and interest in our wonderful world of venture.
Impact on the Industry: What’s the vision behind the awards and what’s the anticipated impact on our ecosystem and what’s the road ahead?
And finally, cheers to a hopefully successful event! 🥂
Say Hello to the European VC Awards 👋