Europe's tech IPO market: Where's Santa?
Just when it felt like the market for European tech IPOs were opening, the events of the past few weeks have dashed those hopes. Days after Deezer announced the delay of its initial public offering, HelloFresh drew the same conclusion. In France, the only notable IPOs of late were Amundi and ShowroomPrivé. The asset management […]
VC Shenanigans, Chapter 1 (of Volume I, Book 1…)
“Never a dull moment,” one on my favorite co-investors would like to quip. After practicing the business of venture capital for almost a decade and a half now, I’ve witnessed my share of moments that were anything but dull. Someday I’ll write a book, I used to think to myself. Maybe someday. But until then, […]
How I'm Coping
These acts of terrorism in Paris have me shocked, sickened, and I admit it, scared at times. Never before have I felt such intense patriotism for my adopted country. The last thing I’m qualified to give is any kind of certainty on how to process these tragic events. I’m even skeptical of diagnoses and prescriptions […]
An ode to the expat
I spent a fair bit of my childhood in a very comfortable expatriate life overseas, but once I entered the workforce I never really felt inclined to become a proper expat in the original sense of the term. Growing up as an expat kid couldn’t be more cozy. Generally, the parent’s multinational company, at least […]
A global, dream team workforce that doesn't cost a cent
Fans of Elon Musk know that in addition to his primary projects of Tesla and SpaceX, the seemingly tireless Musk has also espoused the construction of a hyperloop. The hyperloop is a vacuum-like transportation pod that if successful, could whisk passengers from say, San Francisco to Los Angeles in just over half an hour. Pretty […]
Nikkei acquires FT, and debunks several myths
As rather recursively reported in the FT last Thursday, Japan’s largest media company, Nikkei, will acquire the Financial Times Group from Pearson for a handsome £844 million. The eleventh hour offer for the London-based global news organization stunned rival bidders, and debunked several myths along the way in my opinion: Myth #1: Japanese acquirers are […]
Is corporate VC a KPI for a bubble ?
It feels like there are an awful lot of corporations setting up venture capital departments these days. I say ‘feels’, because my evidence was purely intuitive and anecdotal… until now. Compiling the data for global corporate venture deals all the way back to 1995 proved challenging. In fact, there were so many conflicting sources that […]
For FirstMark's Matt Turck "Investing in early stage hardware ventures is not for the faint of heart"
Raising VC money has been a daunting challenge for hardware startups for years. However, with 25+ billion connected devices expected to come online by 2020, VCs are starting to venture back into the world of hardware. Matt Turck, Managing Director at FirstMark Capital, has long been an advocate of the potential of IoT, and sees the rapid […]
Aerospace and defense giant Safran launches €50 million venture fund
Looking to reinforce their innovation and transformation focused strategy, French aerospace and defense leader Safran has announced that they’re launching a €50 million corporate venture fund. The investment period of the fund will span 3 years and will focus on innovative startups aerospace, defense and security industries. Safran Corporate Ventures will seek to invest in startups […]
Hotel Tonight's growth accelerates in France and beyond (Part II)
This is the second installment in a two part series about Hotel Tonight. In the first installment we spoke with co-founder and COO Jared Simon. In this installment we’ll also be speaking with VP International and Paris office head Amir Segall and French Market Manager Marie Hardel. How is the Airbnb phenomenon affecting what you […]