Last Wednesday the #CPHFTW initiative held the first informal VC arrangement, an initiative announced earlier that it wanted to help bring to life. The VC in town was Fidelity Growth Partners Europe. The plans are to arrange two dinners every month, to make good introductions between different VCs and startups.
It’s an informal arrangement, where the investor receives a list of startups, usually curated by the organizers, and then the VC selects the most relevant entrepreneurs to them at the current stage.
The VC arrangements focus both early and later stage, depending on what VC it is and what their preferences are. This is the determining factor as to what startups are invited. VCs differentiate in many ways – stage, investment area etc.
Events like these are really high value, and can make investments for international VCs in the region a lot easier. It also brings great indirect network, which is just as valuable for business angels as entrepreneurs.
Fidelity Growth Partners
This first event was with Fidelity Growth Partners Europe. FGPE are not amongst the most familiar names of VCs in Copenhagen, but they have offices all over the world, and have an impressive portfolio that includes NotOnTheHighStreet, Alibaba, Neverfail and Wahanda.
They have over € 1.2 trillion under management and typically invest €1m to €10m, but for the right opportunity – capital is not a constraint for them.
One of three initiatives by CPHFTW
Informal VC arrangements is one of the three initiatives that #CPHFTW will kick-off in the new year. Apart from the VC arrangements, a second initiative is to create small recurring meet-ups for “c-level” management at startups (CMOs, CTO, COO, CEOs etc). The third initiative is to help make it easier to find good talent for startups, by hosting recruiting events especially for startups. This hopes in the long term to make startups in Copenhagen and the region the most attractive work-place – Copenhagen is already voted the best place to live, it should also be seen as the best place to work.
“Our aim is to create networks that bring high value to all parties involved. All these three initiatives can make growing a startup easier – especially those that already have one or two rounds of funding. They are often the ones who are in a position that requires lots of hard work and good connections to succeed.” says Jasenko Hadzic, MD at CPHFTW
