Venture capital returns in Europe and the US tend to be low on average, but are highly skewed towards a small number of outlier deals. In an increasingly competitive European VC market with more choice and experienced entrepreneurs, VCs need clear positioning strategies like focusing on building reputation, niche industries, operations involvement, or access to deep pockets to systematically access these outlier deals. Contact details are provided for the author.

1. Why VCs/Investors Need
Clear Positioning – Thoughts For
A More Competitive Landscape
Florian Heinemann
European Venture Market, Berlin, June 15th 2016

2. AVERAGE VC RETURNS TEND TO BE LOW – IN EUROPE
BUT ALSO IN THE US
1

3. HOWEVER, EXITS TEND TO BE HIGHLY SKEWED
TOWARDS A SMALL NUMBER OF FIRMS
2

4. 3
AND THE STRONG PERFORMANCE OF ALL TOP FUNDS IS
BASED ON A FEW OUTLIERS

5. So the key task for VCs is:
Somehow try to systematically get
into outlier deals across Europe (-;3
4

6. At the same time3
• There is a lot more choice of German and
European VCs
• More VCs from the US (and beyond) are seriously
looking at deals in Germany/Europe
• A more active and potent angel scene
• German/European entrepreneurs have become a
lot more informed/conscious with regard to investor
quality/reputation
5

7. SOME VIABLE POSITIONINGS IN A MORE COMPETITIVE
SPACE – IT IS BECOMING AN “ENTREPRENEURS’” MARKET3
Reputational/
“Sparkle“ VC
Focused/
“niche“ VC
Operational
VC
“Deep Pocket“
VC
?

8. Kontaktdaten
Dr. Florian Heinemann
Founding Partner & Managing Director
Project A Ventures GmbH & Co. KG
Julie-Wolfthorn-Straße 1
10115 Berlin / Germany
eMail: florian.heinemann@project-a.com
Twitter: @fheinemann