Speaker: Mr Richard Anton Place: Claridge's, Brook Street, London W1K 4HR
Date: Thursday 30 April 2009
Time: 12.00 - 15.00 pm
Venue: St. James & Kensington Rooms, 6th Floor, Claridge's, London
Speaker: Richard Anton - Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners & Chair of the BVCA Venture Capital Committee
The speech - 'Venture Capital Investment during the Downturn'
State of the Nation
1,100 VC backed companies, 20% in profit, 80% pre-profit
Strong flow of new opportunities
Sea change in environment versus 10 years ago
Positives:
Most companies have learned discipline and how to manage themselves in a structured way
We have serial entrepreneurs
Product management which was not in place 10 years ago.
Markets are now international
Sunrise sectors - clean tech, broadband comms
Minuses:
IPO market dead, acquirer universe contracting and not being replenished
Average investor period 7 years
Dearth of finance - companies need equity finance which isn't there anymore. Hard fundraising environment going forward.
Fallacies:
US VC good/European VC bad - US venture much more mature with good history of returns. Europe has a shorter history.
No-one has ever made money in European VC - after the dotcom bubble period was tough in both US and Europe. After bubble period there were strong similarities between the US and Europe
BVCA actions:
Learning for companies
Recommendations:
Join lobbying effort - UK innovation fund
Capital efficiency
Don't get involved in middle of the road companies - a good time to invest in early stage and a great time to build a company.
Date: Thursday 30 April 2009