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Unleashing investment in innovative firms in Europe

Date and time: 21 February 2013 09:30

Innovative young firms create jobs and economic growth – greatly needed in Europe today. At the same time, the internet has provided unprecedented new opportunities for entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses. However, the recent financial crisis has heightened funding gaps for innovative young firms, particularly in Europe. Access to bank loans has dropped and availability of venture capital and angel investment in Europe significantly lags behind the U.S. How can European firms, particularly in the ICT and internet sectors, attract more venture and angel investment? What are the barriers to investment in Europe? What policies should be addressed to unleash greater investment in innovation in Europe?

Speakers

Brad Burnham is a Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures in New York City. He began his career in information technology with AT&T in 1979. He held a variety of sales, marketing and business development positions there until 1990 when he spun Echo Logic out of Bell Laboratories. As the first AT&T "venture," Echo Logic was a catalyst for the creation of AT&T’s venture capital arm, AT&T Ventures. When Echo Logic was sold in 1993, Brad joined AT&T Ventures as an Executive in Residence. He became a principal at there in 1994 and a General Partner in 1996. At AT&T Ventures, Brad was responsible for 14 investments including, Argon Networks, Audible, Avesta Technologies, Classic Sports Network, Multex Systems, Physicians Online, and Paytrust. Brad currently serves on the boards of Indeed, Pinch Media, Tumblr, Wesabe, Adaptive Blue, SimulMedia, UpCompany, Meetup, and Bug Labs. Brad has a BA in Political Science from Wesleyan University.

Dr. Hendrick Brandis is Co-Founder and Partner of Earlybird. His current domain focus is web-enabled services. Hendrik is board member of the EVCA (European Private Equity & Venture Capital Association) and past Chairman of the EVCA Venture Capital Platform Council. He was a board member of element 5 AG, where he was a driving force behind the sale to Digital River (NASDAQ:DRIV), dooyoo.de AG (Berlin) which was sold to leguide.com S.A and Dianoema S.p.A., which listed on the Borsa Italiana (Milan: NOE.MI). Hendrik currently serves on the boards of Earlybird portfolio companies B2X Care Solutions GmbH (Munich), carpooling.com GmbH (Munich), Simfy AG (Cologne) and nfon (Munich). Earlier in his career, Hendrik was Co-Founder of GMM, a Project Manager in the Technology Department of Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm (now Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace) and a Partner with McKinsey & Co., in their Munich and Madrid offices. He attended the Technical University of Munich and holds a Dipl.-Ing. (MSc equivalent) and PhD degree in Aerospace Engineering.

The discussion was moderated by Karen Wilson, Visiting Fellow at Bruegel.