First Tuesday Luxembourg / paperJam panel
Venture Capitalists in Luxem bourg and the greater region O n the occasio n o f First Tuesday Luxem bourg's first birthday and the issue of paperJam 0 3 /20 0 1, a round table discussion on the sub ject of "Venture Capitalists in Luxembourg and the greater region" was organised, on February 14th, at the Cercle M unicipal in Luxembourg. The guests: Julie Meyer, co founder o f First Tuesday Central and Ariadne Capital. D anny Lein, co-founder of First Tuesday B ru ssels and founder o f Venture Bay. Philippe Netter, director of the Technopôle Metz. Carlo Rock, Luxem bour-gish business angel. Vincenzo Rau, co-foun der o f the start-up euSign, financed with venture capital. The panel was moderated by Carlo Schneider, who is finan cial analyst at Le Foyer Asset M anagem ent and freelance writer for many national and international media. C arlo S c h n e id e r: V e n tu re c a p i ta l is m o n e y p ro v id e d by p ro fe s s io n a l in v e s to rs w h o in v es t m o n e y in y o u n g , fa s t-g ro w in g a n d h ig h -p o te n t ia l c o m p a n ie s . O b v io u s ly , w h e n I look
a r o u n d , F ir s t T u e s d a y L u x e m b o u rg is th e p la c e w h e r e a g ro w in g n u m b e r o f h ig h -p o te n tia l p e o p le w ith g o o d id e a s m e e t, so w e a re rig h t a t th e h e a rt o f th e m a tte r. V e n tu re c a p ita l is a c tu a lly n o t n e w ; th e re h a v e a lw a y s b e en p e o p le w h o in v e s t in th e id e a s a n d th e d re a m s o f o th e rs . M a y b e o n e o f th e m o s t fa m o u s v e n tu r e c a p ita lis ts w a s t h e K in g o f S p a in . T h e id e a h e in v e s te d in w as b r o u g h t to h im by C h r is to p h e r C o lu m b u s , w h o h ad a v e ry n ic e b u s in e s s p la n , based on a v e ry s im p le co n c e p t: to fin d th e s h o rte s t s e a w a y to In d ia . T o d a y w e k n o w th a t h e h ad to c h a n g e his b u s in e s s p la n a fte r w a rd s . I'm n o t s u re th a t th is is th e re a s o n w h y it to o k so lo n g b e fo re v e n tu r e c a p ita l a r r iv e d b a c k in c o n tin e n ta l E u ro p e . O b v io u s ly , th o u g h , th in g s h a v e b e en c h a n g in g in th e la st c o u p le o f ye a rs . So, m y firs t q u e s tio n is: W h a t has re a lly c h a n g e d s in c e 1 9 9 8 /1 9 9 9 ? W h y h a s t h e r e b een a g ro w in g n u m b e r o f v e n tu r e c a p ita lis ts a r riv in g o n th e scene? A q u e s tio n fo r C a rlo Rock.
C a rlo R ock: I can obviously not talk for other people, other ven ture capitalists, but I would like to rem ind you that Lux embourg has nevertheless had a long tradition of investing in risky projects. One of those projects is today a very famous com pany called Société Européenne des Satellites. When they started business 15 years ago it was considered a very highly risky b u sin ess. Another example in Luxem bourg that is worth m entioning is Utopolis. Utopolis grew out of the m inds of some people who were ju st interested in movies, who managed to make a very successful business out of what had been just a hobby. So I would say venture capital in Luxembourg has always exis ted, but it has existed in a dif ferent way — a more, let's say, traditional investment way, and the risk has always been on the side of the investors, in my view. C a rlo S c h n e id e r: Julie M e y e r... Is v e n tu re c a p ita l a tr e n d , o r is it m o re ? Julie M e y e r: Certainly there is