Nov 30, 2023

You'll be asked to sign into your Forbes account. Got it In a year when the exit markets remained closed and more companies struggled to raise financing at increased valuations, the top European VCs – including both incumbents and newcomers to the Midas List Europe – managed to stay at the top of their game. Early 2022 marked the end of an extraordinary time for the VC ecosystem that was characterized by several years of robust growth and lofty valuations in the technology sector. A less predictable economic and geopolitical environment caused a major shift, leading to a decline in valuations, a marked slowdown in the deployment of venture capital into startups and a surge in down and insider-led rounds. This stretch of uncertainty has lingered throughout 2023, making high-profile exits for VCs few and far between. For many of those on this year’s Midas List Europe, navigating market cycles is par for the course. These investors have a talent for finding value both in and outside of the mainstream – many of these VCs earned their spots on this year’s list because of early investments in tried-and-true areas within the venture-backed framework: payments, peer-to-peer e-commerce platforms and fintech. Importantly, these dealmakers are standing out by delivering returns amidst the ongoing frozen IPO market. Below is our list of European Midas trendsetters for 2023, whose early funding in some of the best startups in Europe and around the world helped land them a spot on the 2023 Midas List Europe. Midas List Europe Trendsetters 2023 TrueBridge Capital Partners Philippe Botteri, Accel Partners (London) (#3) Philippe Botteri returns to the Midas List Europe on the back of his investments in Chainalysis, Crowdstrike and Snyk. He joined Accel over a decade ago as a partner focusing on cloud and security companies. Prior to working in Accel’s London office, Botteri was at Bessemer Venture Partners in the U.S., where he helped build the firm’s cloud practice. He also has a history of making strong picks in multiple sectors – he invested in BlaBlaCar, a long-distance ridesharing service that connects people looking to split the cost of travel to cities throughout Europe that are not connected by public transportation networks. In fintech, he led investments in Melio, a provider of digital payments tools, which was recently rumored to be in talks to be acquired by Bill Holdings at a nearly $2 billion valuation, as well as PayFit, a payroll software provider. Relevant Investments: Luciana Lixandru, Sequoia (#10) Luciana Lixandru joined Sequoia as the storied firm’s first partner in Europe in 2020. Since then, she has come to lead European operations for Sequoia's seed-stage catalyst program, Arc, which has funded more than 40 companies since its launch in March 2022. One of her biggest wins, carried over from her time at Accel, was a $20 million early investment in UiPath, which went public in 2021. She also made an early bet on Vinted, a peer-to-peer clothes and home goods marketplace contributing to sustainability in fashion that last raised money at a pre-money valuation of €3.5 billion in 2021. Recently, the Financial Times reported that the company was exploring a €200 million share sale on the secondary market as the sustainable fashion trend continues. Prior to Sequoia, Lixandru spent time on the investment teams at Accel, Morgan Stanley Michiel Kotting, Northzone Ventures (#14) Amsterdam-based Michiel Kotting first landed on the Midas List Europe over six years ago. After following the well-worn path from founder to VC in the early aughts, he has individually notched a fourfold return for Northzone with $1.5 billion in gains on his investment in German HR software firm Personio. In his previous role at Accel, Kotting invested in Fiverr, a peer-to-peer creative services marketplace based in Tel Aviv, which went public in 2019 and saw its shares climb 90% in the first day of trading, a handsome exit for its early backers. Originally from the Netherlands, Kotting spent the early years of his career at BCG. He then founded Digital Jones, an artificial intelligence company in the Bay Area, which he sold to Shopping.com in 2003. Relevant Investments: Rahul Mehta, DST Global (#16) Rahul Mehta co-founded DST Global alongside a group of prominent investors and has made half a dozen appearances on the Midas List. Along the way, he has written early checks for at least eight companies that have reached $10+ billion valuations. His biggest exits include DoorDash, one of the largest venture capital success stories of the past decade, for which he led three consecutive funding rounds leading up to its 2021 IPO. He also invested in Robinhood well before the pandemic-induced day-trading craze swept the nation, delivering huge gains when the company went public in 2021. And he backed Cars24, an online used car marketplace, which is regarded as one of the biggest players in the used car market in India. Mehta was also an early backer of StockX, a peer-to-peer sneaker and apparel marketplace that has transformed the high-end sneaker market and has been rumored to be weighing an IPO in recent years. Relevant Investments: Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Seedcamp (#18) Carlos Eduardo Espinal is managing partner at Seedcamp, a firm that focuses on identifying and supporting the world’s most promising seed-stage founders across industries and throughout Europe. Since 2010, he’s helped lead the firm’s investments in a staggering 450+ startups. One of the largest bets he made was in Revolut, arguably one of the biggest names in fintech worldwide and certainly one of the biggest startups in Europe. Although the company hasn’t reached the public markets yet, it’s rumored to be close to clearing a big hurdle – obtaining a coveted U.K. banking license. Espinal has also been closely involved in Seedcamp’s investments in Curve, a London-based fintech that combines multiple cards and accounts into one app, as well as Monese, a British-Estonian company that offers mobile accounts and money transfer services as an alternative to traditional banks. Espinal and Seedcamp cofounder Reshma Sohoni (who was also a regular on the Midas List Europe until her relocation to the U.S.) were awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by the U.K. government in 2021 for their contributions to the British tech entrepreneurship ecosystem. Relevant Investments: Sonali De Rycker, Accel (#20) Accel Partner Sonali De Rycker, long considered the "queen" of European VC, joined Accel in 2008 with a focus on early-stage consumer, software and financial services businesses. While her biggest win remains her early 2011 investment in Spotify, De Rycker has stayed at the top of her game and again landed on the Midas List Europe with her investments in companies like Calastone, Monzo and GoCardless. In a recent interview celebrating Accel’s 40th anniversary, De Rycker touted Accel’s investment in Monzo, a digital-only bank platform based in the U.K. She co-led a $134 million investment round in 2018. Fast forward to 2022, and Monzo announced a massive $500 million Series H funding round valuing the company at $4.5 billion. Relevant Investments: Johan Brenner, Creandum (#21) Johan Brenner is a general partner at Stockholm-based Creandum. Since 2010, he has focused on investing in SaaS and consumer marketplaces, but he is especially passionate about fintech. He led the firm’s investment in homegrown Klarna, one of the largest global names in fintech over the past few years that was at one time Europe’s most valuable private tech company. Brenner has a long list of notable investments and exits in European fintech, including iZettle, which was acquired by PayPal in 2018 for more than $2 billion. More recent investments include Pleo, an expense management platform based in Copenhagen, and Zopa, which was founded as the world’s first peer-to-peer lending platform in 2005 and received a U.K. banking license in 2020. Another seasoned investor on this year’s Midas List Europe, Brenner founded and sold his first company in the late 1990s. Prior to joining Creandum in 2010, he got his start in venture capital at Benchmark. Relevant Investments: