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Foreword
James Brocket discusses Quarter 2 Investment Analysis Deal Highlights US
Deal Highlights Europe Investments
North America United Kingdom France DACH
BENELUX
Northern Europe Ireland
Southern Europe Eastern Europe Israel
Executive Moves Communications Internet Software Hardware
Business Services Cleantech
Welcome
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Established in 1999, Calibre One is a leading, international Executive Search firm based in Europe and North America.
Calibre One specialises in building main board and senior management teams for Venture Capital and Private Equity backed software, hardware, business services, communications, cleantech and internet businesses. We work with investors in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, South Africa, and Israel.
The Calibre One Index is a comprehensive review of the investment ecosystem in Europe and North America. The Index details the VC investments made in technology firms and some of the moves made by the people that lead those firms. Published in Europe and North America every January, April, July and October, the Calibre One Index is compiled by Calibre One – the world’s leading technology Executive Search firm.
James Brocket Managing Partner – Europe
As the US and Eurozone governments continue to wrestle with some of the biggest economic challenges faced in modern times, Q2 2011 has been a bumper quarter all round in the world of tech investment. I have always maintained that this market is somewhat countercyclical, and this seems truer today than ever before.
In Europe there has been an enormous turnaround in activity and we have had the biggest quarter in terms of amount of VC investment in tech since we started the Index way back in 2003 – nearly $1.3bn. Europe has never before had this many high-growth companies closing investment at this scale. Bigpoint leads the way with a $350m round, Spotify closed $100m and rounds in excess of $20m were closed by; Enecsys, Shazam, Next Performance, Mediastay, Wimdu, Wooga, KupiVIP in Russia and Siano in Israel. One swallow does not make a summer but in relative terms this is an astonishing picture. In Europe we have eaten our fair share of humble-pie over the years and there has been plenty of VC-bashing and soul-searching on why US companies are so much more successful than their European counterparts. In Europe the baseline is lower but there is a groundswell of optimism and confidence out there. I loved reading about Heiko Hubertz, CEO of Bigpoint, in an article published recently where he described how he had declined the opportunity to cash out in their massive investment round as he felt that there was a clear opportunity to become a $multi-billion company. With that attitude and commitment, you wouldn’t bet against him.
On the subject of betting, as I write this, one of the poster children of the European tech scene, and a company we have enjoyed a very long and successful association with; Betfair, is trading at around 50% of its IPO price. There are some regulatory issues that give some cause for concern, but this is a high-growth business that has developed unique technology that has disintermediated a major market. If they were a NASDAQ company today, what would their market cap be? Food for thought. Things are improving in Europe but we still have some way to go.
The Quarterly Transatlantic Tech Investment Review
Calibre One : International Executive Search
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