Quote of the day: “If you get tired learn to rest not to quit.” Banksy
Dear Friends of European Women in VC,
2024 is moving at full speed but we need to keep the learnings from 2023!
Will it or will it not be a good year for VC? That’s the nagging question. We don’t claim to have the answer but we sure love to keep you in the loop and help you succeed!
🔮 Predictions for 2024
“With forty countries going through election cycles, we anticipate increased uncertainty in the markets and geo-political friction, which will further exacerbate bias in the field. Fund managers will need to be especially resilient and hold true to their strategies to address bias while ensuring optimal impact and returns.” - Daryn Dodson, Illumen Capital. Another reason for it being so important to continue striving for DEI even when big tech companies have made significant cuts in their programs. Perspective above all!
AI will remain the topic of year with emphasis in LLMs becoming smaller and faster, this will have major impact in all the infrastructure needed to keep the response to increasing demands of these ever faster computers.
AI-generated and human-created content will continue facing a battle and with better models, tools that block AI from training on human created content will surge.
EdTech will also undergo major transformation thanks to developments in AR and VR.
When you think of search engines you most likely think of Google, but Apple is planning on expanding its subscription service with ad-free search engine, which will greatly impact many existing business models. Also, don’t forget that a younger generation is moving to search within TikTok itself. So search as we know it is bound to massively change this year.
Financial safety solutions are increasing as digital transactions are poised to grow at a CAGR of 16% between 2023 and 2030.
And new government requirements for calculating emissions will be out in 2024, making every business run to the best carbon accounting solutions.
Bridge rounds will see a decrease in 2024, with the economy picking up new founders will have to make or break. This means that M&A will likely be the salvation for many.
“2024 will be the year of the hyper-specialist VC. Where conviction is hard to come by, and FOMO isn't driving investment decisions, specialists who know how to pick in this market will shine.” - James Heath, dara5
For more predictions head to a16z brilliant round up.
Being AI THE topic of 2023 and likely 2024, we need to give credit where it’s due. NY Times unfortunately completely left out all the female trailblazers that are pushing AI forward and should definitely have been included in their list of 12 key figures shaping AI. Ignoring tech women leaders without addressing it will just keep sending the wrong message that women’s contributions are less important in the field, which is far from true. Find out who these women are here.
This is what we’ve been up to 🤸🏽♀️
We’ve just returned from 2 amazing days at DLD Conference of Hubert Burda Media in Munich 🇩🇪. DLD stands for Digital – Life – Design and explores how the digital age fundamentally changes our life, society and business. We heard everything about innovation, digitisation, science and the effect all these aspects have in our culture. And we had the pleasure of speaking about Female entrepreneurship, investment and inclusivity.
Where you can find us 🌍
Here’s a small list of where we’re headed soon and later events for which we have special discount links for you!
South Summit in 🇩🇪 Munich tomorrow
S4Industry in 🇪🇸 Madrid 19th of January - EWVC will participate in a firechat about Europe's gendered VC landscape. Our Head of Growth, Marcia Maciel, will be on stage with David Dana, Head of VC investments (EIF)
Kinga Stanislawska will be speaking at Tech Arena in 🇸🇪 Sweden (February)
4YFN in 🇪🇸 Barcelona (February)
SuperVenture in 🇩🇪 Berlin (June) - 10% discount with VIP code: FKR3549EWVC
TechBBQ in 🇩🇰 Copenhagen (September)
In other news 📺
In case you still had doubts, women-led portfolio managers outperformed male peers in 2023.
Some of the top-performing women-led portfolios this year included Ariel Investments Global Equity, which outperformed the core benchmark by an impressive 11.6 percentage points! Also shining bright were Walter Scott Global Equity (3.5), Clearbridge Global Growth (2.7), Hardman Johnston Global Equity (2.3), and Epoch Global Shareholder Yield (1.9). Great job! 👏 Source
Also, a new study by Margarethe Wiersema and Marie Louise Mors came out, featured in Harvard Business Review, where in-depth interviews with directors of major US and European corporations concluded that women influence board work positively.
Their key findings were that:
🌟 Having women on board significantly enhances corporate governance and contributes to more informed decision-making.
Wondering how?
🌟 Women directors bring valuable preparation and a strong commitment to accountability to board meetings.
🌟 Their behavior often diverges from traditional norms, injecting fresh perspectives and fostering a dynamic approach.
Boards are sometimes compared to exclusive clubs where it is frowned upon to "rock the boat."
But here's a refreshing perspective: Women directors seem to be less concerned about how others perceive them. Their focus is on steering the board towards the best decisions possible. Read the full article here.
"Tech investing is not a national sport. Founders are not building businesses to dominate their country.", Joe Schorge. This newfound understanding has sparked a positive transformation in how funds function. Instead of concentrating solely on their home turf, funds are now venturing into neighbouring territories that perfectly match their investment goals. Listen to EUVC full episode here.
Female investors who made it to Partner in 2023 🎉
Congratulations to all!
🚀 BaoY Van Cong — Target Global
🚀 Stine Mølgaard Sørensen — Alliance VC
🚀 Felicia Nordgård - Peak
🚀 Hillary Ball - Atomico
🚀 Gloria Baeuerlein - Puzzle Ventures
🚀 Sanne de Jongh - Oxford Science Enterprises
🚀 Evelina Anttila - Wellstreet
🚀 Olivia Mark - Dastore
🚀 Anna Fredrixon - Norrsken VC
You might also like 📚🎧
Blackstone’s unexpected holiday video
Find out what investors do, post their VC journeys. - Sifted article
Jennifer Keiser Neundorfer just launched a podcast series - the first interview is with Allison Baum Gates of SemperVirens Venture Capital 🎧
Listen to Lucile Cornet, partner at Eight Roads, an $11BN global venture fund with offices across the globe. Lucile primarily focused on SaaS and Fintech series B and was one of the youngest female partners in Europe at the age of 33.
Susan Su’s new climate podcast talking about what really matters! - Learn more
Zoe Jervier Hewitt (Sequoia Capital) insights on how to get into VC - Read here
21 important people in European Tech in 2023 - Read here
We're a squad of over 1000 senior female venture capital wizards from all over Europe and beyond. We're here to flip the script and make things right.
Join us in shaking up the VC world!
See you next month,
European Women in VC
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