Practices of European venture capitalists

The European venture capital (VC) market picked up and proliferated after the 2008 economic breakdown but faced a sharp slowdown in the second half of 2022 and 2023. Starting the recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine elevated geopolitical tensions and caused a global economic slowdown. As for many other industries, the increasing macroeconomic volatility, with rising inflation and supply disruptions, has severely affected the venture capital market. At the same time, groundbreaking changes are taking place in society, not least the emergence of new technologies, that create opportunities for VC investors. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, and deep-tech are just a few. The investor landscape for startups is also changing rapidly, with new types of investors entering the scene, such as new forms of corporate VCs, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), and super business angels. To get a better understanding of the VC landscape, leading European business schools and universities have joined their efforts and conducted a broad study of VC practices in Europe. In this report, we present our findings on how European venture capitalists select, value, and structure investment deals, what type of value added activities they provide, and how successful they are with their investments. We highlight similarities and differences among various types of VCs, of different sizes, investment focuses, and locations. For thorough statistical analysis as well as elaborate discussions and academic explanations behind the results, we refer to the research papers being developed based on the data from this study