Midas List Newcomer Investors Share Top Trends To Watch In Europe’s

As the COVID 19 coronavirus spread across the globe in early 2020, Europe's tech ecosystem was flying high. Then came the shutdowns and concerns. Startups globally were facing a black swan event instead, as an annual State of European Tech report from venture firm Atomico, event host and law firm Oric found investment in European startups reached record highs in 2020, though barely. And with the UK grandmother the first to receive a vaccine earlier in December, some investors and entrepreneurs are looking to the future even as they brace for short term challenges. Forbes spoke to the two newcomer investors to break through onto the Midas list Europe in 2020, as well as several other notable repeat list makers to hear how their portfolios weathered a turbulent year and what they expect in 2021 and beyond. Johann Brenner remembers the dot com bubbles crash all too well. The entrepreneur had just sold his startup to E trade in the 1999 peak, only to launch his investor career in mid 2000 as the ecosystem came crashing down. It was a nuclear event for the European tech ecosystem, worse than in the US Everybody got burned. There was very little money going around. Today at Crandom, the Midas Europe debutante at no. 23 says the region's startups were better equipped to weather lean months due to a few the cost of operating a business, the the breadth of cities churning out promising tech companies and the better depth of talent. The Stockholm resident notes that years ago, Nordic startups like Skype and Spotify were the talk of the industry. Now they're a proving ground in the startups we look at across Europe. Somewhere on the team there's a Spotify developer or something, brenner says. I think on the talent side you can satisfy yourself with what's in Europe. Pitching over zoom in the pandemic, meanwhile, has made it easier than ever for US funds to explore Europe's startup offerings. But Brenner says in practice, that accessibility goes two ways. It's an exciting moment because you have global access to any startup and founder team, argues Brenner. That can also be reversed. We look at companies across the pond as well to try to find out that when we are looking at a company in Europe, we're backing the best company in the world. At sequoia, Midas list no. 12 Luciana Luxandru says she and her new firm, which she joined from Accel earlier in 2020, are banking that soon enough Europe's entrepreneurs will want boots on the ground again to provide in person advice, support and networks of qualified candidates to hire. That also includes their expansion to other regions like the US And Asia, where Sequoia hopes its local funds can prove an advantage for European founders looking to establish sales presences. What Luxandru sees as having changed permanently during 2020 for Europe's tech the return of the consumer startup.