
European start-ups in the aftermath of COVID-19
Europe’s start-up fabric was taking shape at last: in 2019, Germany and France attracted $7b and $5.2b in venture capital respectively, according to Dealroom, far behind the UK though ($13.2b). This was before the massive disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic wiped revenues out of a number of start-ups while putting venture capital investors on edge.
To be fair, governments have dashed to the rescue of their tech start-ups:
- France launched a €4b liquidity plan, a mix of short-term refinancing, investment into already-planned funding rounds and early payment of some tax credits;
- Germany has earmarked €2b to this effect, to be followed by a longer-term fund of €10b for bigger start-ups;
- Though the British government has put an emergency loan into place to support smaller businesses, it may not apply to start-ups: seven industry lobby groups have therefore called for a “runway fund” that would allocate loans convertible into equity stakes at a company’s next financing round.
Incidentally, many start-ups are taking cues from the crisis and pivoting to healthcare: Hexigone (originally in chemical manufacturing), Archangel Imaging (originally in large-scale monitoring of remote areas), to name but a couple.
In light of the above considerations, we thought it was time to take stock of the impact of the pandemic on European start-up ecosystems.
The following experts have agreed to help figure out how it might look like in the fallout of COVID-19:
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- Peteris Zilgalvis, Head of Unit, Digital Innovation and Blockchain, Digital Single Market Directorate, DG CONNECT & Co-Chair, FinTech Task Force, European Commission
- Isidro Laso, Deputy Head of Innovation Ecosystems at European Innovation Council
- Leonard Bukenya, Partner at Aim for the Moon
- Fabrice Moizan, General Manager & VP Sales US, EMEAI and Pacific at Graphcore
- Benedikt Blomeyer, Director, EU Policy, Allied for Startups
- Jacopo Losso, Director of Secretariat at EBAN
- George Windsor, Head of Insights at Tech Nation
Moderated by Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General, DIGITALEUROPE.
Agenda
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08:30-08:45
Setting the scene by the Moderator
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08:45-09:40
Views of our experts
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09:40-10:00
Q&A session and closing words
The debate will be held under the Chatham House rule.
For more information on our Digital in Practice Programme (DiPP) click here.
