The European Investment Fund (EIF) published the results of the second EIF VC Survey. The study provides a detailed overview of the respondents’ state of business and market activity as well as their general perception of the European venture capital market, including policy recommendations.
This largest-ever survey carried out on European venture capital firms (774 responses from 538 firms), has revealed many interesting figures about the future of VC in the CEE region. Let's look at some of them:
1. Based on the headquarter location of the VC firm, 7 in 10 VC managers in CESEE and the South expect an improvement in their state of business over the next 12 months.
2. VC managers in DACH, France and Benelux evaluate the current fundraising environment relatively more positively, as opposed to VC managers in CESEE and the South where only 1 in 10, on balance, exhibit a positive perception. Interestingly however, when it comes to future prospects, it is fund managers from the same two regions who demonstrate the most optimistic outlook.
3. Availability of funding appears to be better in France, DACH and Benelux and worse in CESEE and the South (in CESEE, the availability of funding is perceived positively by only 1 in 3 GPs, on balance).
4. GPs in France are the only ones who expect, on balance, finding co-investors to become more difficult in the future; while the easiness in finding co-investors is expected to improve the most in CESEE.
5. VC managers in the South (39%, on balance) and CESEE (31%, on balance) appear to be the most optimistic regarding future investment prospects, as opposed to VCs in France (only 5%, on balance) and in the UK & Ireland (who actually expect a deterioration of investment activities in the European VC market).
6. GPs who undertake cross-border investments are more in favour of harmonisation and simplification in taxation and other regulations compared to GPs who only invest domestically. Furthermore, when the headquarter location of the VC firm is taken into account, while there is general consensus across regions that regulations should be simplified, there is greater variation in the responses concerning the element of harmonisation.
Interested in getting more insights about the future of VC in the CEE region?
Then join us at Prague's opening panel discussion and learn from Guillaume Fournier (Credo Ventures), Hristo Stoykov (EIB), Rumen Iliev (LAUNCHub Ventures), Henri Tilloy (Partech Partners) and Dusan Sevc (Deloitte).
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