I have this notion that most VCs in Europe think alike. Don’t know how many times I’ve given a similar example in my keynotes to illustrate how venture capital works. But… Talking about hunting unicorns in Europe is like trying to hunt a polar bear on a Subsaharian desert. Yes we see that Atomico was able to track a bunch of EU Unicorns proving that they do exist but how does that translate to EU venture capital as an asset class?

There are thousands of VC funds across Europe and there is definitely not enough Unicorns to feed everyone. Is a fund lost if is unable to hunt a unicorn? Venture Capital as any market is uneven and segmented. There are larger funds but also hundreds of micro funds. I think the true question is how do we create a liquid exit market for European tech companies of all shapes and sizes. EU IPOs are rare. Many very small companies cannot find ways to exit thus a lot of VC equity is tied up in these illiquid companies.