European VC "stronger now than in 2000"

Kimberly Romaine
18 September 2012

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Venture capital is on an upward trajectory, with phenomenal exits and a handful of fund closes building momentum. Kimberly Romaine interviews John Holloway, director at European Investment Fund, Europe's largest venture backer, about the industry's decade of progression.

"Twelve years ago I'd have had a lot of difficulty believing where we are now," Holloway confesses. "There has been lots of negative changes since I started out: the Iraq war, stock market crashes, the euro debacle and the enormous regulation that has come to be attached to the industry."

Fortunately, things are looking up. "I do believe in 2012 the European VC industry is much stronger than it was in 2000. The industry raised far too much in 2001 – and much of it was just lost."

But much has changed since then. "Since then we've seen some individuals come together, combining strong technical and financial expertise – these will prove tomorrow's generation of VC.

"Where they're investing now gives me lots of confidence. Those VCs will be able to sell what they've bought at reasonable valuations in three or four years' time. Then European VC will be back in the press for the right reasons – we'll be talking about strong performance."

Holloway goes on to stress selectivity is the most important thing and it wasn't happening at the turn of the century. "Those teams able to raise money today are pretty damn good."