11–20 of 27 posts
Zoom and the pandemic have had an effect here, but so has the success of companies not based in the US. Atlassian, Canva, SafetyCulture (to name a few) in Australia has not only helped grow the local VC ecosystem, but also made US VCs recognize that Australia punches above it's weight. VCs new they had to make investments in Asia and South America as they saw more successes come out of those regions. Technology is gl…
Zoom and the pandemic have had an effect here, but so has the success of companies not based in the US. Atlassian, Canva, SafetyCulture (to name a few) in Australia has not only helped grow the local VC ecosystem, but also made US VCs recognize that Australia punches above it's weight. VCs new they had to make investments in Asia and South America as they saw more successes come out of those regions. Technology is gl…
It's the Golden Rule: who's got the gold (money), makes the rules.
Zoom and the pandemic have had an effect here, but so has the success of companies not based in the US. Atlassian, Canva, SafetyCulture (to name a few) in Australia has not only helped grow the local VC ecosystem, but also made US VCs recognize that Australia punches above it's weight. VCs new they had to make investments in Asia and South America as they saw more successes come out of those regions. Technology is gl…
This is rapidly becoming less true. YC stopped requiring/recommending a Delaware corp back in W20.
There are countries that are more "investor" friendly where the laws about corporate ownership, governance and investment are clear, and enforceable. Singapore being one such. (Last thing an investor wants is to send money and not get any ownership that the courts will respect).
As long as you're setup in one of those countries, lack of Delaware is not a true blocker anymore. Mostly it's whether the fund is comfortably focused in the region.
As a founder who has raised in Canada and is now raising in America: the cultural difference is night and day. America has significant advantages in willingness to take risk and the amount of capital to deploy. I have data showing, population adjusted, dollars per time, that American VC outclasses Canadian VC by at least two orders of magnitude. Likely much more.
An anecdote from a friend I was discussing this with:
"A former partner of mine was turned down by [every Canadian firm he went to.]
Went to the US for a weekend and came home with US$10M.
4 years later, that company is valued at US$35B"
It is an amazing experience talking to people who understand technology, understand risk taking, and put their money where their mouth is.
I'm bullish on American's performance in a globalized VC market.
Zoom and the pandemic have had an effect here, but so has the success of companies not based in the US. Atlassian, Canva, SafetyCulture (to name a few) in Australia has not only helped grow the local VC ecosystem, but also made US VCs recognize that Australia punches above it's weight. VCs new they had to make investments in Asia and South America as they saw more successes come out of those regions. Technology is gl…
I would say the most common after Delaware is Hong Kong and Canada.
There's some jurisdictions where we still expect the company to form in Delaware, like our African or Latam investments.
Globalization of VC is great for America, American investment firms, and startups in other countries. America gets a slice of the best, worldwide, and it helps companies that are often fighting uphill in their local markets. As a founder who has raised in Canada and is now raising in America: the cultural difference is night and day. America has significant advantages in willingness to take risk and the amount of cap…
Globalization of VC is great for America, American investment firms, and startups in other countries. America gets a slice of the best, worldwide, and it helps companies that are often fighting uphill in their local markets. As a founder who has raised in Canada and is now raising in America: the cultural difference is night and day. America has significant advantages in willingness to take risk and the amount of cap…
> It seems to me that about half of our “new deal activity” right now is happening outside of the US. And very little of it is in western Europe where most of our non-US investing has been for the last decade. I always thought the problem with European startups was lack of a VC critical mass and risk taking ethos. So I thought the globalization of VC would help, but this sounds like it’s bleaker than ever. Is it the…
However, the founders have to comply with backup withholding and all that jazz if they live overseas and are not U.S residents.
> It seems to me that about half of our “new deal activity” right now is happening outside of the US. And very little of it is in western Europe where most of our non-US investing has been for the last decade. I always thought the problem with European startups was lack of a VC critical mass and risk taking ethos. So I thought the globalization of VC would help, but this sounds like it’s bleaker than ever. Is it the…
I have a lot of friends and acquaintances in Europe. From the ones who tried to start a business I have been told the issue is taxes and regulation. It is nearly impossible for someone with limited initial income to maintain the appropriate legal entities. The overhead you pay just for existing in Europe makes small European businesses noncompetitive. There are other valid issues highlighted here, but first and forem…
From what I heard from others, the main issue is access to credit and funding. European investors are risk-averse and ask for too much in return, probably because their experience is in traditional low-margins sectors; sadly that's a vicious circle, where low margin begets low margin and things never improve. Also, people just don't like to pull the insane working hours that are normal in the US.