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n this episode of the EUVC podcast, Andreas discusses with Carlos Eduardo Espinal , Managing Partner at Seedcamp.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.In today's discussion, we're talking about the third edition of the "Fundraising field guide" the latest startup founder's guide to all things fundraising launched by Carlos. This third edition captured a very interesting period in VC, marking the completion of VC market's full fundraising cycle.The first edition of the book was written during the linear growth curve of the post-2008 era. The second during the “bubble” in valuations formed post-COVID where we saw large injections of capital into private markets leading to an exponential growth period for startups. This third edition covers the collapse of that “bubble”, and highlights common pitfalls you should avoid as an early-stage founder (such as taking too much money).Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview
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
In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Managing Partner at Seedcamp, a European based seed stage fund that invests everything from Angel Rounds all the way to Seed capital, about being an ‘OG' in the European tech economy, and how it has emerged as a leading hub of innovation on the world stage. Carlos talks about the differences in access to and availability of funding for firms in the US and European markets, how that has shaped the firms and founders who operate there, and why the future of funding looks more global. We also speak about Carlos' career in engineering and how that led him to the startup funding space, key structural differences in the European and US funding system that give rise to different capital cultures, and key strategic insights for tech startup founders wherever they choose to seek the financial support they need to bring world-changing innovations to market. Topics Discussed: Carlos' background in the world of finance engineering, and what it was like behind the scenes of big capital The different developments of capital markets in Europe and the US, and how accessibility and availability of funding drive divergent economic cultures Why founders need to recognise that failure is part of the process of success, and what that means in terms of dedication, commitment and learning Why support from a community of founders can be key to building success for all of them How having a global impact, as well as promising returns, is becoming more important for those seeking funding Why the nature of leadership in a booming market needs to change if a business is to survive through more challenging times Favorite book: New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future
Today we are happy to welcome Carlos Eduardo Espinal, 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 made it onto Forbes Midas List of 2022 as one of the most influential VCs in Europe in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. You are in for a treat.In this episode, you will get a rare look into the top four funniest objections that Seedcamp and Carlos have had to endure from LPs on their journey to building Seedcamp to the hallmark it is today. Objection #1: "Your fund model will break when it goes from 5M to 20M€"Objection #2: "You're just spraying and praying and your portfolio will be far too big for you to manage"Objection #3: "Why don't you just invest in the winners?"Objection #4: "Who led deal X, Y and Z and how will you retain that person and keep him/her motivated?" And some extra reflections by Carlos on opportunity funds, VC decision-making and incentive structures and firm management.
In der Nachmittagsfolge geht es weiter mit unserer Rubrik “VC Talk – die angesagtesten Investoren im Porträt”. Dazu begrüßen wir heute Lauren Lentz und Otto Birnbaum, Founding Partners von Revent. Revent gab am Dienstag den Abschluss eines Fonds in Höhe von 60 Millionen Euro (68 Millionen Dollar) bekannt – Ziel waren ursprünglich nur 50 Millionen Euro gewesen. Der Berliner Impact-Fonds bekam dabei Unterstützung von einer Vielzahl von Investorinnen und Investoren und Beraterinnen und Beratern. Beteiligt haben sich unter anderem die Otto Group, Beiersdorf, der European Investment Fund (EIF), die NRW.Bank und die LfA Förderbank Bayern. Auch die Business-Angels Luis Hanemann, Verena Pausder, Marie Fabiunke, Zoé Fabian, Anna Alex, Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Florian Heinemann, Sascha Konietzke, Maximilian Tayenthal und Benjamin Roth haben investiert. Revent unterstützt Startups, die sich auf Zukunftsthemen wie Gesundheit, Klima, Ernährung und Soziales spezialisiert haben, in ihrer Frühphase. Das Unternehmen hat bisher in Unternehmen wie Tomorrow, Sylvera, Net Purpose, electricityMap, Breakroom und Avelios Medical investiert.
Raising external capital is perhaps the most common – and some might argue the most efficient – way for startups to finance their growth. Thus, almost every company with dreams of scaling has to learn the craft of fundraising. Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Managing Partner of Seedcamp, is not only one of the most experienced early stage investors in Europe, but also the author of Fundraising Fieldguide. He'll be taking us through the fundamentals of fundraising. What does it really mean to fundraise, both for you and your company? How much should you aim to raise? How to leverage the human element in the fundraising process?
Carlos Eduardo Espinal is the Managing Partner at Seedcamp, a European seed fund investing in early stage startups. To date Seedcamp has backed over 400 companies, 6 of whom went on to become unicorns. Carlos is one of the most experienced investors in Europe having worked at numerous high profile companies before joining Seedcamp in 2010.Carlos dropped by to talk about how Seedcamp started, how and why they invested in Hopin before lockdown and what gives Europe the edge when it comes to FinTech and Privacy. Make sure to like and subscribe to the Riding Unicorns podcast to never miss an episode. Also don't forget to give Riding Unicorns a follow on Twitter and LinkedIn to keep on top of the latest developments.
Work-related stress is something we're all familiar with, as with any career comes the pressure to perform well. Whilst these pressures can be good for us, there are times when it can have negative effects on our mental health. So, how do we recognise when these pressures cross a healthy boundary, and what measures can we put in place to prevent it from becoming overwhelming? In this episode, we spoke to Carlos Eduardo Espinal, managing partner of Seedcamp, a company which helps build startups. Over his years of experience, he's led the investment of over 200 companies. In this episode, he spoke to us about how he has come to understand the importance of pressure for growth, what he believes the key traits of an entrepreneur are as well how having a set of values is essential for any business to attain success. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In our second episode of W talks: tech, James Shaw, our Global Head of Withers tech speaks to another key player in the European tech ecosystem, Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Managing Partner at Seedcamp. Carlos shares his knowledge and experiences of working through two economic downturns at both a start-up and a fund, and provides advice on how entrepreneurs and founders can adapt and strive. James and Carlos also discuss the hot new tech sectors and the new waves of innovation emerging from this crisis. Seedcamp started during the 2008 financial crisis by a group of investors who wanted to support the ecosystem. At that time, Seedcamp made the decision to back exciting companies like TransferWise and Revolut, spotting Fintech as the next wave of innovation coming out of the financial crisis. Seedcamp is Europe's seed fund, investing early in world-class founders attacking large, global markets and solving real problems using technology. Find Carlos Eduardo Espinal's blog mentioned in the podcast here: Weatherproofing your startup for any financial climate — the 3rd way
We believe the time is now for the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to fuel new innovation, empower a new breed of startup and disrupt industries. That’s why we’ve already made several investments in the space including re:infer, ThirdEye, AI Build and Legit Patents who all participated in our 'AI is Now' event in collaboration with Northzone. If you missed the event, tune in to hear all from the lively panel discussion featuring an incredible panel of experts on artificial intelligence including Dr. David Barber, UCL Computer Science, Founder of re:infer, Ed Challis, VC Michiel Kotting, from Northzone, and Seedcamp partner Carlos Eduardo Espinal. Read more from Carlos on the topic of artificial intelligence and its potential to become 'the new mobile' here: http://sdca.mp/AIisnow And check out our Facebook page for the live video of all the panels from the even: www.facebook.com/seedcamp Show notes: Carlos Medium: sdca.mp/2entVR3 Seedcamp: www.seedcamp.com Northzone: www.northzone.com re:infer: www.reinfer.io UCL: http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/home/ Related bio links: Carlos: linkedin.com/in/carloseduardoespinal / twitter.com/cee Michiel: linkedin.com/in/kotting / https://twitter.com/mkotting
Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas is an entrepreneur, founder and executive focused on growth-stage tech businesses. Until recently Carlos was the Chief Product Officer at Skyscanner, the travel search engine. Previously he was founder and CEO at Fogg, a hotels metasearch startup that was acquired by Skyscanner. He also served as deputy CEO of the IT service firm Netfocus, where he led digital security before the company was acquired by Hewlett-Packard. Speaking with Seedcamp partner Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Carlos provides an unparalleled insight into the art of product management and scaling tech businesses, as well as a first-hand view of the acquisition process – a process he went through at both Skyscanner and Netfocus. Carlos addresses some of the biggest scaling challenges he faced when helping grow Netfocus, and discusses how at Skyscanner he saw just how important it was to empower product managers by removing obstacles and giving them freedom to meet goals – a tendency not, he argues, second-nature for engineers used to controlling all variables. Learn more about product management as a discipline, and what sets it apart from engineering and design roles – and why ‘Running Team Operations’ and ‘The Rhythm of the Business’ would be essential chapters in any book on product management. Show notes from the episode: Carlos Espinal Website: www.carlosespinal.com Seedcamp: www.seedcamp.com Skyscanner: www.skyscanner.net Related bio links: Carlos Espinal: uk.linkedin.com/in/carloseduardoespinal / twitter.com/cee Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas: linkedin.com/in/carlosgonzalezcadenas
In this episode we added a twist to our traditional podcast format, as the Seedcamp Partner Carlos Eduardo Espinal is our guest! Neil Murray founder and journalist at Tech.eu hosts our weekly podcast series, and interviews Carlos about his recently released book, the "Fundraising Field Guide”. The book aims to help founders reach out to investors, deal with rejections constructively, prepare materials and financials, understand valuations and deal terms, and manage the legal process. After discussing the motivations and the story that led to this project, Carlos gives an in depth overview on how he structured his book, highlighting the key take aways founders should keep in mind during their fundraising journey. The most highlighted quote from his book? "Analyzing what was said during your meetings and learning how to improve on your mistakes is the most crucial step in finding the right investor more quickly” Carlos Eduardo Espinal is partner at Seedcamp. Prior to Seedcamp, Carlos was an Associate at Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, an early-stage investment firm based in London. There he honed his understanding of what investors look for when considering an investment. Before his time as an investor, Carlos was an engineer for the Advanced Communications Technologies group of The New York Stock Exchange (SIAC). Carlos holds an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University. He was awarded with Wired Europe’s100 Most Influential in Digital, British Interactive Media Association’s Hot 100 Digital People, and TechCityInsider’s 100 List. Recently, Carlos published the “Fundraising Field Guide”, which aims to elucidate the secrets to raising capital from investors for early-stage, high-growth startups and therefore provide those ambitious founders with the right information to take their company to the next level. Get it now at the fundraisingfieldguide.com
Carlos Eduardo Espinal, partner at Seedcamp talks with us about the state of tech, what they're looking for in companies, and what he's looking forward to in the future. He stresses the importance of building local relationships, no matter where in the wo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Carlos Eduardo Espinal is a Partner at Seedcamp, Europe's leading micro-seed investment and mentoring programme with over 100 of Europe's most promising startups.