This is the second part of a two-part series of articles which looks back on the dynamics of venture capital, Fintech and blockchain under the assumption that we are currently transitioning into a new economic cycle. If you have not done so, I encourage you to read the first part to get a full picture of my line of reasoning.
In any case, following is a summary of the findings of the original article, which looked into venture capital as an asset class and how it fared in Europe. Its conclusions were fairly rosy:
- European Venture capital “finally made the…
It is quite surprising to find out that it took Blackstone, the quintessential private equity firm, 15 years to figure out that market cycles mattered. In the book King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone, authors D. Carey and J. E. Morris describe some of the lousy picks that Blackstone had made in the late nineties and which went bust in the early 2000s, 15 years after the firm’s incorporation in 1985:
“With hindsight, there was a pattern to failures. All were highly cyclical companies whose fortunes seesawed with the economy. […]…
“It is going to be worse than 2008”, “I’ve never seen something like this in my life, and I’ve seen sh*t”, “brace yourselves, winter is coming”. If you are remotely connected to the financial industry, you must have been hearing this sweet lullaby during the last few days and weeks. I am not one to judge if those comments are justified (yet) or if they are a mere release of the tension accumulated by waiting for “the big one” during the last couple of years… In any case, fears of an upcoming recession are undoubtedly mounting. …
Schema Capital
Schema Capital is a European VC investment and advisory company dedicated to supporting founders from idea to seed.
