An interview by Cherry Zheng from last September (with a nice photograph to boot!):
*** INTERVIEW BEGINS ***
European venture capital firms universally hold a prudent attitude towards the entry into Chinese market. As a result, only a few of them entered China. On the other hand, quite a large number of them, which include Amadeus Capital Partners Limited (“Amadeus”), are always observing the Chinese market actively and forming relationships with local VCs and major corporations
Amadeus invests venture capital in new technologies from offices in London and Cambridge, UK. Since its inception in 1997, Amadeus has backed more than 60 companies in the UK and continental Europe, covering computer hardware and software, mobile and fixed communications technologies and medical technologies. Amadeus manages a total of GBP288 million of assets, raised through five funds including two seed-stage funds.
In his role as Business Development Partner for Asia at Amadeus, Shantanu Bhagwat (“Shantanu”) has 18 years of broad international experience in the broad technology sector, in Europe as well as in Asia, where he once worked in Japan and India. Shantanu has already visited China several times and continues to find opportunities to get familiar with this country and understand the developments even better.
Keep Reading…
May 18th, 2008
Posted by
Shantanu |
China, Globalization & VC Firms, India, Interviews, Venture Capital in Europe |
2 comments
I was going to check out The Funded* today but discovered that Jason has beaten me to it!
The site does not have many European funds but does briefly mention London Seed Capital, Atlas and Index - sadly nothing on Amadeus.
I have nothing to add to what Jason has written except to re-emphasise the following (this is for entrepreneurs and start-ups):
If you’ve dealt with (and preferably received funds from) a VC, I would recommend you post your experience on The Funded.
As for me, I will try and see if we can get a nice entry for Amadeus 
.
P.S. Thanks to Barak for a great title and to Loken for the link (in response to my earlier post)
May 8th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
FAQs for Entrepreneurs, Venture Capital, Venture Capital in Europe, What VCs really do |
2 comments
In my last post, I mentioned about how overseas VC investments in China have now out-paced US VC investments in UK.
That however was only part of the story…
In one of its March print editions, Red Herring published ”Europe’s Next Wave“ which showed that in spite of the rush to China and India, innovation, VC money and deals are thriving in Europe like never before.
The article mentioned the recent research by INSEAD towards creating a “global innovation index” which “identified five European countries in the top 10—the U.K., France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands—and 11 in the top 20″.
Anne was quoted in the article as saying, “Deals are getting larger and more like U.S. deals finally, and that is giving European entrepreneurs a better chance of winning in the global game” and Hermann mentioned: “The deal flow is better than I ever dreamed of”.
Keep Reading…
April 19th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Venture Capital in Europe |
no comments
…yes, we are talking of VCs!
On a more serious note, there is some pretty *hot* discussion going on at Vecosys (Sam Sethi’s post on VCs, Innovation ecosystem etc) and on Fred’s site re. the Broken Ecosystem for innovation etc..
Compelling read for anyone interested in the startup and VC scene in UK/ Europe…
Fred is also soliciting first-hand experiences of entrepreneurs and start-ups while dealing with VCs/ Investors….Jump in here…
March 29th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital in Europe |
no comments
A few days ago, Shefaly sent me this link of a BBC News story: From Oxford to Silicon Valley.
In her own words, it is, “Very interesting (and)…although nothing new, but to see it being said again by a young man in 2007 makes it worth paying attention to. “
The piece is written by Kulveer Taggar, CEO of boso.com and he writes about why he moved to Silicon Valley and why California is the place for those with entrepreneurial spirits.
Kulveer cites a few reasons behind his move:
• Chance meetings and chance conversations
• Expensive London
• Competition for talent in London (with I-Banks and consulting firms)
• Difficulty in raising capital
He also mentions how in California:
• The spirit of co-operation is strong.
• ”Networking” isn’t something that has to be organised or encouraged, it just happens.
• The weather is great and the vibe is friendly, optimistic and ambitious!
• Big thinking is encouraged and not frowned upon as is sometimes the case in London
While Silicon Valley no doubt is “a great place to start a company because there is more capital, a bigger talent pool , and because the most important companies and people are here”, I really think that Kulveer is a bit harsh at times, e.g. “The risk appetite amongst British investors is low, and it was also frustrating that I often ended up educating investors about the internet in general.”
While composing a response to this, I chanced upon this post by Saul Klein, “Y Europe can seed growth of its new stars”…After reading that, there was really nothing left to say…
Below are some excerpts from Saul’s excellent post…but do try and read the original in full and also the comments….lots and lots of good thoughts there… Keep Reading…
February 25th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital in Europe |
one comment
Simon Cook (Esprit) forwarded a couple of interesting insights from the latest EVCA report on European VC and BuyOut returns:
- “(on a)…5 year rolling IRRs, Euro Buyout +6.1%, US Buyout +5.4%, Euro VC -3%,US venture -6.7%”…so European VC performance appears better than US although still negative (presumably because of the J curve effect)
- “…with a net IRR of 36.5% the venture funds returned BETTER results than the buyout funds at 31.7% on this one-year horizon”…wow!
I know, I know there is a lot you can quibble about but there is at least some cause to cheer…!
Nic has written a more thoughtful post about this here.
January 24th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Venture Capital in Europe |
no comments
