Index expecting $10bn EU startup
LONDON’S top venture capitalists expect the European startup scene to continue turning out hit tech firms, with a partner at Index Ventures predicting Europe will produce a $10bn (£6.2bn) firm within three years.
“We will likely see a couple of European $10bn exits in the next two or three years. The pipeline of European companies that are capable of exiting for three, five or $10bn, is really building up,” said Saul Klein of Index, which backed two billion dollar firms in Just Eat and King Digital this year.
Speaking at Techcrunch Disrupt yesterday Eileen Burbidge, partner at early stage venture capital firm Passion Capital, said European startups could succeed even without access to the US market. “There are a lot of reasons why it might make a lot more sense for people to focus on what they are doing here without the distraction, noise and competition for talent going on in the [US],” said Burbidge, who added there were regulatory reasons why financial tech startups might prefer London. “Nutmeg was a business that got funding from US investors and was starting off in the US, moved over to the UK because actually the Financial Conduct Authority has a much more lenient, flexible and progressive view on regulation than the US,” she said.