Jaap Vriesendorp

🌟 Interesting yet unsurprising findings from the latest VC performance report: 📈 Established European venture capital funds (fund 5+) are delivering 2x the IRR of New (fund 1-2) and Developing (3-4) funds. 🌍 European VC funds consistently outperform their US counterparts, underscoring Europe's strength in the global investment landscape. Read the article at sifted https://lnkd.in/eZYF4THT

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Ask my partners Evan Allen Blair Merlino JT Benton and they'll tell you I'm a glutton for asking and figuring out not just what works, but how things work, and why. Perhaps it's the researcher side of me, but I get uneasy relying on heuristics/patterns without knowing what's causing it, not just for an intellectual curiosity standpoint, but because it introduces uncontrolled risk into the business. Power law is a classic example of this. Sure, it tends to work for large enough funds over a long-enough duration. To the degree that trend holds, everything is fine. If the trend all of a sudden breaks (some evidence suggests that may be happening in real time), then all of a sudden a lot of GPs and LPs are going to get crushed and no explanation or understanding as to why. As studio builders we don't rely on power law. We constantly develop and fine-tune our ventures to learn and master what is driving their value. We are by no means perfect, but in our estimation we're asking the right questions and seeking the right answers versus relying on a trend and hoping for the best.

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Since there is currently speculation about whether the "Valley of Death" for European climate tech startups even exists (the investment gap in Series B): unfortunately it does, the data is clear. 📊 The numbers are based on the most extensive database about European climate tech companies (i3 Connect; part of the Cleantech Group). Read more about it in World Fund's whitepaper "Investing in Climate Tech - An Opportunity for Europe" 🌍 https://lnkd.in/ehJK2Twu 🌍

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I’m pleased to have contributed to Arianee’s position paper, "From A Production-Based to A Service-Based Economy: The Role of Tokenization in Decoupling Growth." This insightful paper tackles a topic close to my heart. This paper outlines numerous practical strategies for companies to progress on tackling overproduction while creating new economic opportunities. Thank you Arianee, Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel and of course my friend Francois Souchet for the opportunity to collaborate. #circulareconomy #technology #circularbusinessmodels #sustainability

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Pro-rata as a service? The concept is quite simple, but a bit more difficult in practice. Early stage investors (pre-seed/seed) typically have limited reserve capital for follow-on rounds at Series B and beyond. Therefore, they need to be selective in picking their winners. Companies like SignalRank, another data driven investor in the market, uses their proprietary algorithms to identify top Series B companies and partner with early-stage funds to get access to pro-rata rights. They deploy capital in the later rounds and share the incentives with the early-stage fund managers who would otherwise forego those rights. A classic win-win scenario 🤝 You can read more about pro rata funds in the full article below!

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Great interview with one of the best VCs out there. Lot's of good stuff in this article. One point worth highlighting on the eternal debate whether there is enough growth capital in Europe: great companies will always manage to raise money, no matter where they are based.

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In recent years, the amount of capital raised in the Dutch private equity (PE) landscape has accelerated significantly. ➡️ This growth seems driven by both increased fund sizes and a rising number of funds. ➡️ Across specific asset classes (buy-out, early-stage, venture, growth, mezzanine, etc.), this pattern holds. ➡️ In fact, 2023 has been another record-breaking year despite the rough investment climate during and after the pandemic. ❓What do you think this implies for entrepreneurs, companies, LPs, and GPs? What are the crucial observations and nuances at a more granular level? 🤗 There's more behind these numbers. Let me know or reach out if you wish to discuss further!

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Y-Combinator Guide: How to Split Equity between Cofounders & When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Split… https://buff.ly/3WoVkav The Y-Combinator Guide delves into the intricate process of splitting equity among cofounders, outlining the crucial considerations and scenarios where equity division is warranted. Understanding the dynamics of equity distribution is essential for fostering a fair and sustainable partnership. By exploring real-world examples and statistics, cofounders can navigate this challenging aspect of startup collaboration more effectively. It is crucial to establish clear guidelines and agreements to prevent potential conflicts in the future. This guide provides valuable insights for entrepreneurs embarking on new ventures. #StartupEquity #CofounderCollaboration #venturecapital #startups

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When in Rome… write a blog Since changing the side of the table from entrepreneurship to VC I long resisted the established practice of content generation. After a year and sharing similar stories and tips with dozens of start-ups time to scale the approach   Time for Barbarians at the (Golden) Gate blog. This is a practical guide of scaling to the US by companies rooted in the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe). Loosely inspired by Booksy experience and discussion with leaders from other companies who are scaling successfully from the CEE    I start with structural advantages of CEE start-ups that make conquering global tech markets possible. Next episodes go through the lists of hoops and traps (in most of which you fill find my footprints 😱 ) – I will do my best to warn and give my $0.02 on these.   Many thanks for those of you have contributed to this (often unknowingly 😉 ) by sharing your experiences, thoughts, comments or reviewed early drafts. The list clearly includes Booksy mafia (Stefan Batory, Konrad Howard Dorota Machaj), those who built even bigger tech businesses out of CEE (Peter Bialo), those who will soon make it (Agata Mroczkowska, Wojtek Rokosz, Dhruv Agrawal), and shepherds of other cohorts of global challengers out of CEE (Andris K. Berzins).   Episode 1 here. The only rosy episode in the season. Enjoy responsibly, comment, disagree, trash or encourage

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Reading this article about the "horror"(1) of the current VC fundraising climate due to the paucity of funds raised in Q1 - especially the below sentence …. "Honestly, it is hard to see how VC firms can argue to their LPs that they really need fresh capital in a market where dealmaking remains slow, exits are few and far between and they are sitting on a massive amount of dry powder." …. spurred the following thoughts: Our fundraising success to date at Emmeline Ventures is extra incredible At Emmeline, we are investing in “uncharted terrain” and thus require fresh capital to invest in those sectors and founders that have been under-funded and over-looked by traditional investing mandates and pattern matching. Once our "uncharted terrain” investment thesis gets noticed for its promising returns (Unrealized MOICs above 2x for our 2021 vintage year fund and other good news that I can't yet share), i predict this massive amount of dry powder will start migrating towards our sectors. I see this as both good and bad news for us. ➕ On the good side, these increased funds will pull our companies beyond Series A, and ultimately to an exit when markets open up - which they have to do. If not, it’s bad not only for venture ➖ On the bad side, once traditional players become aware of our lucrative sectors and formidable founder types, this will increase competition for deals at pre-seed and seed rounds. Bring it on. We’re already seeing traditional players enter the women’s health spaces. And we're seeing players like Midi Health successfully raise massive amounts of capital in record time since they're creating scalable solutions in new categories that customers desperately need and want. Let's go! (1) personally I can think of many other stories in the world that deserve to be termed a "horror." The record level lack of VC funds raised isn't on par. https://lnkd.in/d3TrfEPc #femalefounders #femalefunders #womenshealth #menopause #careeconomy #womeninfinance #venture Show Her The Money Thanks for the nudge La Keisha Landrum Pierre

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At our VC firm, we don't just fund companies, we fund your existential crises. Every investment comes with a complimentary philosophy book. #vc #startups #investment

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Venture capital investors are going through a tough time with fundraising, and US GPs are getting hit particularly hard. In the first quarter of this year, a meager 100 VC vehicles closed, worth a total of $9.3 billion, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, with last year seeing the lowest fund count since 2015. On a percentage basis, the number of closed VC vehicles in the US fell further last year than in Europe, Asia and Africa. US-based LPs are still feeling the impact of the imbalance in their portfolios from the public market downturn over the past couple of years. Additionally, the lack of capital being returned to LPs due to muted exit activity for VC-backed companies has meant that for some, putting more cash into VC is not an attractive option. #investment #VentureCapitalists #fundraising #funding #fundmanagers #Generalpartners #limitedpartners #USFunds #familyoffices #EUfunds #institutionalcapital #GPs #LPs #VCs

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📰 Great to be featured on the latest Sifted article by Amy Lewin Joe Schorge, Maria Rotilu and I share our thoughts on the topic of ''How many new #VC funds does Europe need?'' and the ''rise in solo GPs across Europe'' 💭 TLDR: In my opinion, Solo GPs are fantastic! They truly do care and are super useful with great networks, hunger and high-speed. However many solo GPs don’t lead deals at pre-seed, and the European ecosystem could do with a few more funds that do. But there are exceptions, such as Germany’s Gloria Baeuerlein, Finn Murphy, and Max Claussen, to name a few. Full article here: https://lnkd.in/dWXUFsWb

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June 9 2024 – 5 Notable Articles To Read Article: More VC money than ever is going into impact-driven start-ups Takeaway: Europe's VC sector is dedicating a growing portion of its investments to companies developing products or services that support sustainable development goals. The proportion of total VC funding directed towards these "impact start-ups" has risen from 18% in 2019 to 37% in 2023, during which European VCs raised €53B. Source: Science|Business Link: https://lnkd.in/dfZ5Mihm Article: Mena AuM rises by 13% to $2.3T Takeaway: According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the asset management sector experienced a 12% increase in assets under management (AuM), reaching $120T, recovering from the previous year’s decline. Source: Funds Europe Link: https://lnkd.in/d8nDjkmm Article: High-Flyer Capital Management: the Chinese quant fund-turned-AI pioneer Takeaway: Since its launch in 2015, it has grown into an asset manager with approximately Rmb60B ($8B) under management, utilizing AI and algorithms to identify patterns or variables that could impact stock prices. Source: Financial Times Link: https://lnkd.in/djrXTBUP Article: Billionaires Mittal and Ambani take on Musk in India’s internet space race Takeaway: India’s largest telecom companies are set to launch satellite internet services, positioning themselves to compete with Elon Musk’s efforts to introduce Starlink in the country. Source: Financial Times Link: https://lnkd.in/dyn2arfU Article: Charities create fund to invest in spinal cord injury companies Takeaway: SCI Ventures has begun with $27M in commitments and aims to raise $40M by year-end. Five spinal cord injury charities have collaborated to establish this investment vehicle, which will support companies developing innovative treatments for those affected by the condition. Source: Financial Times Link: https://lnkd.in/du8eZHJe #news #business #research

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VC world can be cruel and unforgiving. With LPs more and more pushing for distribution and liquidity, fund managers in the mid-tenure of their fund with zero DPI and TVPI around 1.0 would have much more difficulty to raise new fund. The ability to fundraise is one of the crucial indications and validation of the job for VCs. Key highlights from the article below: Thirteen percent of venture General Partners (GPs) no longer plan to raise another fund due to LP pullback. This rate has doubled since H1 2023 when only 6% of GPs had no plans for another fund. Nearly 44% of venture firms surveyed in mid-2023 had previously postponed their fundraising plans due to concerns about overexposure to the asset class. Many emerging managers entered venture capital in 2019 or 2020 when the LP market supported more funds. However, slow exits in the first half of 2024 have led to challenges in raising second funds without significant cash distributions to LPs. Some venture GPs are now actively participating in the secondaries market to demonstrate returns. Despite the challenges, GPs who secured fresh capital remain optimistic. They expect the 2023 and 2024 vintages to be the strongest return years since 2019. 🚀📈 #VC #VentureCapital #Fundraising #LPs #EmergingManagers #TechInvestment #MarketTrends #CountdownCapital #IndustryInsights #JetVentures #JetInvestment‍‍‍‍‍‍

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Check out this article from Carta on venture deal terms featuring some quotes from yours truly.

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Building psychological safety is critical for VCs, in our relationships with founders, and within our investment teams. 🤔 Sifted's concerning latest figures show:  - 71% of startup leaders said their relationship with their VCs had worsened over the past year, and   - 76% (!) said their investors had negatively impacted their mental health. 🤝 My experience working with founder teams is that they are not asking for an easy or comfortable environment.  They want to feel safe asking for support, to be able to admit when they don’t have an immediate solution to a problem, and to openly discuss learnings they made - especially if they earned them the hard way. 👉 The same applies to our investment teams. We need to make decisions in uncertainty, and with limited data. That’s why we need to make sure that all the diverse viewpoints in the team are heard, and that it is safe to take risks. Only then will we unlock the benefits of diversity. 🗣 At CommerzVentures, one approach we use is assigning a “devil’s advocate” to every investment team. Their role is to tease out divergent views, ensuring that every voice is heard. Sometimes just a single person in the group understands the potential of a big idea, and it must be safe for that person to speak up. 👂 We formalised updates to our decision-making process as part of our efforts to free it from biases, which included why psychological safety is so important. I’ve added a few slides for those who may be curious. What is your experience with psychological safety in the workplace? Do you have ideas what we can do to promote it? 

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https://lnkd.in/epFgH79T You’ve probably read tons of articles about the different rounds of VC funding and all the associated terms, but how often do you come across something that really breaks down the numbers? Ever wondered how to keep track of your startup’s equity as you grow? Dive into our hands-on guide to cap tables, where I break down everything from your first seed round to that exciting exit moment.  By walking you through various scenarios and terms with comprehensive examples and visual aids, I offer a solid foundation for managing equity financing in startups. While real-world cap tables can be intricate, this primer ensures fair ownership and proceeds distribution, helping you maintain investor confidence and support your startup’s long-term growth.Let’s get your cap table game on point!