1
June 2018
"Which investors should I be talking to?"
It's an everyday question for founders,
executives and limited partners (LPs). The
Most Prominent ranking makes it easy to
find the answer.
The ranking determines the order of
search results on Dealroom.co similar to
Google
search
results. This makes
navigating thousands of investor profiles
more manageable, whatever your search
goals are (see page 9 for more).
The ranking criteria
Like last year, the 2018 ranking is only
based on quantitative criteria, using
Dealroom.co data. We've analysed over
22,000 firms globally and compared them
based on eight indicators. Each indicator
is discussed in the appendix of this report.
But broadly speaking, they measure (i) the
level of European investment activity in
the last 12 months, (ii) total number of
meaningful European exits and (iii) the
number
of
successful
European
companies still in the portfolio.
The ranking is not purely a measurement
of investment performance; that's just
one of the factors. After all, historical
performance is not the only important
factor for a founder, especially if the
investor hasn't been very active lately.
Objective
The appendix (see last page) of this report
explains the methodology and changes
compared to last year in more detail.
About Dealroom.co
Founded
in
Amsterdam
in
2013,
Dealroom.co is a global database to
discover and track innovative companies
and identify investment opportunities.
World-leading tech firms, multinational
corporations and investment funds use
Dealroom's software, API and custom
research to stay at the forefront of
technology and innovation. Founders use
Dealroom.co for market research and
finding potential investors.
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Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
The number of active venture
investors in Europe has
dramatically increased in recent
years. As a result, navigating the VC
landscape can be a daunting task
for founders, LP's and corporates.
This ranking, based purely on
quantitative criteria, is meant as a
useful guide.
Yoram Wijngaarde
Founder Dealroom.co
The 25 most prominent investors in 2018
Over 22,000 investors were analysed for this report, of which over 10,000 have been ranked.
The table below presents the top 25. On page 9 you can learn more about how to access the
entire list and use the ranking to your advantage.
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Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
Rank
Investor
Country
Notable investments
#1
Index Ventures
United Kingdom
#2
Accel Partners
United Kingdom/US
#3
HV Holtzbrinck Ventures
Germany
#4
Northzone
Sweden/UK
#5
Balderton Capital
United Kingdom
#6
Insight Venture Partners
United States
#7
Atomico
United Kingdom
#8
LocalGlobe
United Kingdom
#9
Lakestar
Switzerland
#10
Rocket Internet
Germany
#11
Goldman Sachs
United States
#12
Creandum
Sweden
#13
Sofinnova Partners
France
#14
idinvest Partners
France
#15
Point Nine Capital
Germany
#16
Naspers
South Africa
#17
General Atlantic
United States
#18
Sequoia Capital
United States
#19
Intel Capital
United States
#20
SoftBank
Japan
#21
Summit Partners
United States
#22
Target Global
Germany
#23
KKR
United Kingdom
#24
Founders Fund
United States
#25
Vitruvian Partners
United Kingdom
View over 10,000 results online
The rise of European big tech
4
The current wave of big exits is the result
of investments made (and work done) in
the past ten years.
Looking ahead, Dealroom has already
identified another 485 potential future
unicorns, valued at 200 million or more,
with a combined value of 85 billion.
Furthermore, private equity firms are
invested in European tech companies
worth
an
additional
51
billion.
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
In the tech world where borders
are increasingly irrelevant, the next
generation of large companies will
be global by default, no matter
where they're born. That gives
European founders, who operate
internationally almost from day
one, an edge. The new wave of
giants emerging from the continent
-- from Adyen to Farfetch and
Spotify -- shows just how vital that
deep-rooted competitive
advantage is.
Jan Hammer
GP, Index Ventures
April
24B IPO (now 28B )
June
7B IPO (now 12B)
May
2.0B acquisition
April
1.3B acquisition
Pending
~4-5B IPO
Pending
~4B IPO
So far 2018 already saw the birth of 15
new unicorns (i.e. startups valued over $1
billion). This brings the current number of
unicorns to 37, worth a combined 57
billion ($62 bn, see page 7). Two
companies achieved decacorn status:
Spotify and Adyen. Europe now has five
VC-backed companies surpassing this $10
billion mark
(the other
three are
Supercell, Zalando and IHS Markit).
Meanwhile, the exits Spotify, Adyen and
Farfetch return more capital to investors
than all
VC-backed exits of
2017
combined. With a 24 billion ($28 bn) IPO
valuation, Spotify is Europe's largest
VC-backed exit
and most
valuable
VC-backed company ever. Spotify
is
ranked in Europe's top-ten most valuable
tech companies of all-time. Adyen's
market valuation of 12 billion ($14 bn)
instantly places it in the top-15 most
valuable European tech companies.
Selected big exits in 2018
No other investor has put its mark on the
advent of European big tech and venture
capital more than Index Ventures. This
year's ranking places more emphasis on
unicorns than last year. And by this metric
Index Ventures also leads by far: It backed
17 European unicorns (of which ten $1B+
exits and another 8 confirmed unicorns
currently in portfolio). And it continues to
be among Europe's most active investors.
It's followed by Accel Partners, which
climbed to #2 from #7 last year. Accel was
an early investor in Spotify, plus 10 other
European unicorns. It has also been highly
active in the last 12 months.
Special mention is deserved for seed
stage investors who've backed unicorns
early on. LocalGlobe has been among the
most active European seed investors and
backed three European unicorns.
It
leaped to a #8 position this year.
Punching above their weight
Unicorn hunters
5
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
After twenty years of development,
European startups are really
starting to consistently show that
their mindset, ambition and ability
to execute is world-class. Skype
may have started the race but
these days the list of European
unicorns grows every year with 9 in
just London alone. There's never
been a better time to be investing
early in Europe and Israel.
Saul Klein
Co-founder LocalGlobe
Seed Investors
European unicorns
LocalGlobe
Seedcamp
Point Nine
Hoxton Ventures
Point Nine, Seedcamp and Hoxton
Ventures are other examples of seed
investors punching above their weight.
Some new players entered the top ranks,
such as Softbank which leaped to #20
from #189. Other top ranked late stage
investors
include
General
Atlantic,
Goldman Sachs, Vitruvian and KKR.
The ranking also
includes corporate
investors
(idinvest,
Naspers,
Intel,
Tencent),
angels,
accelerators
(Seedcamp, Entrepreneur First), and
crowdfunding platforms.
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Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
United Kingdom
Notable Investments
#1
Index Ventures
#2 Accel Partners
#3 Balderton capital
#4 Atomico
#5 LocalGlobe
France
#1
idinvest partners
#2 Sofinnova
#3 Elaia Partners
#4 Bpifrance
#5 Oleg Tscheltzoff
Netherlands
#1 BOM Capital
#2
Forbion
#3 Prime Ventures
#4 Endeit
#5 BioGeneration
Italy
#1
Innogest
#2 United Ventures
#3
LVenture Group
#4 Digital Magics
#5
Invitalia Ventures
United States
#1
Insight VP
#2 Goldman Sachs
#3 General Atlantic
#4 Sequoia
#5
Intel Capital
DACH region (1)
Notable Investments
#1 HV Ventures
#2
Lakestar
#3 Rocket Internet
#4 Point nine
#5 Target Global
Sweden
#1 Northzone
#2 Creandum
#3
Industrifonden
#4 Kinnevik
#5 EQT Ventures
Spain
#1 Nauta Capital
#2
Ysios Capital
#3 Kibo Ventures
#4 Seaya Ventures
#5 Cabiedes
Russia
#1 DST Global
#2 Baring Vostok
#3 Runa Capital
#4
InVenture Partners
#5
IIDF
Asia
#1 SoftBank
#2 Horizons Ventures
#3 Temasek
#4 Tencent
#5 Rakuten
Country ranking
1) DACH region = Germany, Switzerland, Austria.
Source: Dealroom.co estimates based on public reports and comparable valuation methods.
European unicorns
7
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
Complete your investor profile
8
Dealroom.co
Kabelweg 43
1014 BA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Yoram Wijngaarde
Founder & CEO
yoram@dealroom.co
Dominik Vacikar
Head of Investment Solutions
dominik@dealroom.co
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
Contact us about premium access, research, API
a) Add directly online
Visit
app.dealroom.co
to
lookup & claim your profile.
Then simply edit your portfolio
and exits directly. We're always
happy to assist you. Talk with
us directly using the customer
contact tool in the bottom
right.
b) Send it to us
Get in touch via email (see
below) or talk with us on the
customer contact tool online.
We will be happy to receive
your data in any format you
have it ready, and make sure
your profile is updated.
The prominence rank will be regularly re-balanced, based on the latest data. Dealroom
continuously updates the database with new investment activity, using automated and
manual processes. To make sure your investor profile is complete, you can provide us
information in two ways:
Using the ranking online
Visit app.dealroom.co/investors to explore all 22,000 investors, sorted by rank. Use the filters
to narrow down your search (as shown below). View detailed investor profiles (portfolio,
exits, focus, fund size and more). Bonus tip for founders: use the investor matching tool to
find the most suitable investors for your company's next round, in an instant!
9
Dealroom.co
Kabelweg 43
1014 BA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Yoram Wijngaarde
Founder & CEO
yoram@dealroom.co
Dominik Vacikar
Head of Investment Solutions
dominik@dealroom.co
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
Appendix: methodology
10
Europe's Most Prominent Venture Capital Investors, 2018
The ranking is based on eight indicators, with equal weighting
1.
Portfolio size in Europe
Number of portfolio companies in Europe (incl. Israel), all time.
2.
Number of rounds in last 12 months
Number of rounds which investor participated in during last 12 months.
3.
Amount raised via participated rounds in last 12 months ( millions)
This measures the total amount raised in each round that the investor participated in. For example, if the investor
invested 1M in a 20M round, the full 20M is counted. However if a portfolio company raised 20M in a round where the
investor did not participate, then this is not counted.
4.
Number of exits > 100 million (total firm value, all time)
5.
Number of exits > 500 millions (total firm value, all time)
6.
Number of exits > 800 million (i.e. unicorn exits total firm value, all time) NEW
7.
Number of portfolio companies valued > 500 million (i.e. potential unicorns)
8.
Number of portfolio companies valued > 800 million (i.e. current unicorns) NEW
These factors were also used last year, except number 6 and 8, which are new. The effect is
that more emphasis is placed on unicorns - both currently in portfolio and realised exits
(over $1 billion 800 million).
Indicators from last year that were excluded this year:
1.
Exits number
Number of exits, global. This was removed to reduce the weighting of age of a fund (older funds have more exits)
2.
Exit score
Number of exits relative to total portfolio, all time. This was removed because it was impacted by too many outliers.
3.
Capital efficiency
Total amount of all exits relative to the amount of capital invested, all time.
The effect of removing these three is less emphasis on total size (exits number) and less
emphasis on non-meaningful exits (exits without any disclosed value). As a result, the
ranking gives slightly more room for early stage and emerging funds.
This year's ranking still is relatively underweighted on first-time funds, as they tend to have
far fewer realised exits. We are considering launching a separate "emerging funds" ranking
later this year.