European VC Community alive and kicking!

by Johan Feenstra

Last week on Monday and Tuesday I had the honor of being part of the European Venture Summit in Dusseldorf, organized by Europe Unlimited. This meeting is a gathering of the best 120 ventures in Europe pitching to a large group of investors. Of course, with all these entrepreneurs and investors present also other companies, such as investment bankers, valuation companies and headhunters made sure they were present, making the whole thing a very lively meeting.

Besides the fact that I once again experienced how short 8 minutes really is :-) I also took home the feeling that the VC community in Europe is still alive and kicking. There were many impressive companies presenting their visionary ideas and work and the general feedback from the investors present was that there seemed to be a large group of new and interesting companies. Also, these companies are not just based in the larger Western countries (UK, Germany, Italy), but I also saw very interesting work being done in Hungary, Poland and other east-European countries.

At the end of the meeting, 20 companies received the honor of a “best presentation award”. The work presentation was judged not just in terms of the actual presentation but also from the point of view of investability, team, competitive advantage and potential. Clearly, I was very pleased to be chosen as one of these 20 companies! This reward clearly reflects the very positive view that the outside world has on the work that is currently on-going at Liquavista and the direction that we have chosen. Without a doubt a great compliment for everyone within the company that is part of building a great company!

Oh, and the beer at the local Brauerei was certainly worth the try...