Apr 22 2024 53 mins 4
We continue our discussion on Fundraising during and after the tech reset, as part of our little hype parade ahead of the launch of the State of European VC Fundraising Report. Today, we have with us two close friends of the pod: Carlos Eduardo Espinal from Seedcamp and Bogdan Iordache from Underline Ventures.
Carlos Eduardo Espinal is a Managing Partner at Seedcamp, arguably, Europe's leading seed fund, first launched in 2007 to support European entrepreneurs truly compete on a global scale. With investments in over 460 companies including publicly listed Romanian-founded, UiPath, Wise and unicorns Revolut, wefox and Pleo. Carlos is a published author, fellow podcaster and has been on the Forbes Midas List as one of the most influential VCs in Europe for more or less as long as yours truly has been alive.
Bogdan Iordache is the Founding GP of Underline Ventures, a $20M seed fund in Romania and the first solo GP in the region. Bogdan and his team are focusing on backing Eastern European founders with global ambitions, and though I just said vertical-agnostic, Underline does pay extra attention to enterprise automation, AI, cybersecurity, industrial tech, defense, and climate-related startups 🌳.
Chapters:
00:14 Shifting Sands and the Rise of New LPs
00:32 Seedcamp and Underline Ventures
04:52 Shifting Sands and Impact on Emerging Managers
05:43 Bogdan's Journey Through the Tech Reset
07:58 Carlos's Insights on Supporting Emerging Managers
10:23 The Challenges of Fundraising
12:00 The Tech Reset on VC Funding
17:10 Raising Fund Six and the Importance of Fund Size
21:02 The Art of Fundraising and Learning from LPs
26:27 Exploring Overlooked Geographies in Venture Capital
39:00 The Role of Community and Background in VC
47:44 Reflecting on the Evolution of the Venture Ecosystem
50:02 Closing Thoughts on GPLP Relationships and Emerging Managers
Carlos Eduardo Espinal is a Managing Partner at Seedcamp, arguably, Europe's leading seed fund, first launched in 2007 to support European entrepreneurs truly compete on a global scale. With investments in over 460 companies including publicly listed Romanian-founded, UiPath, Wise and unicorns Revolut, wefox and Pleo. Carlos is a published author, fellow podcaster and has been on the Forbes Midas List as one of the most influential VCs in Europe for more or less as long as yours truly has been alive.
Bogdan Iordache is the Founding GP of Underline Ventures, a $20M seed fund in Romania and the first solo GP in the region. Bogdan and his team are focusing on backing Eastern European founders with global ambitions, and though I just said vertical-agnostic, Underline does pay extra attention to enterprise automation, AI, cybersecurity, industrial tech, defense, and climate-related startups 🌳.
Chapters:
00:14 Shifting Sands and the Rise of New LPs
00:32 Seedcamp and Underline Ventures
04:52 Shifting Sands and Impact on Emerging Managers
05:43 Bogdan's Journey Through the Tech Reset
07:58 Carlos's Insights on Supporting Emerging Managers
10:23 The Challenges of Fundraising
12:00 The Tech Reset on VC Funding
17:10 Raising Fund Six and the Importance of Fund Size
21:02 The Art of Fundraising and Learning from LPs
26:27 Exploring Overlooked Geographies in Venture Capital
39:00 The Role of Community and Background in VC
47:44 Reflecting on the Evolution of the Venture Ecosystem
50:02 Closing Thoughts on GPLP Relationships and Emerging Managers
