But there’s one problem: Pre-seed funding rounds are sorely needed but don’t have much recognition or supporters.
Why Europe’s Institutional VC Funding Is Great
This analysis comes from ecommerce-centric VC firm Forward Partners, which states that the amount of European VC funding capital available to founders has seen a considerable rise in recent years. They have the numbers to back this claim up:
Why Pre-Seed Stage Funding Is a Problem
Pre-seed problems aren’t limited to Europe. Across the board, VCs have high expectations: They want to see a variety of metrics like product, experienced team, go-to-market plan, early revenue, and proof of traction before they’ll invest. This puts a huge burden on founders to bootstrap everything before they’ll see any European VC funding. No one can succeed on just a pitch slideshow and their dreams. […] According to CrunchBase, deal volume in Europe at seed stage grew at a compound rate of 45% pa between 2011 and 2014 with average round size growing by 65% to c $500k over the period.” The result? Forward Partners ends with a call for those who see a market gap and have an idea to fill it to check in with them. But for the rest of Europe and beyond, the tension between bootstrapping to succeed and failure due to bootstrapping remains a real problem.
