What I dislike about Euro VC is not so much this focus, it is their insistence on risk reduction in the above way coupled with low valuations not properly accounting for said derisking.
Amen. 100% agree. I've been in a few meetings were these VCs play the dumb-I-don't-know-corporate-finance card. These VCs do not create value, but solely profit by buying into a business which is already making serious money, without the "genuine startup risk", with the "genuine startup risk" priced in. This situation has been created thanks to the lack of competition at the investor level.
I can only say that other financing players in Europe are starting to wake up. I've already seen two European startups making serious money go on to raise considerable capital via debt financing, one via a bank syndicate and the other via an institutional investor. Terms are less strict on management, capital cost is a fraction of VC equity, no equity/board seats are given away, avoiding the abusive-VC free ride. On the other hand, debt-finance does require considerable financial discipline (which can be good and bad). As long as you have a clear idea of how that capital is going to be used and how much cash is going to come back to the business, startups with user traction and free cashflow should go the debt financing road.
I can only say that other financing players in Europe are starting to wake up. I've already seen two European startups making serious money go on to raise considerable capital via debt financing, one via a bank syndicate and the other via an institutional investor. Terms are less strict on management, capital cost is a fraction of VC equity, no equity/board seats are given away, avoiding the abusive-VC free ride. On the other hand, debt-finance does require considerable financial discipline (which can be good and bad). As long as you have a clear idea of how that capital is going to be used and how much cash is going to come back to the business, startups with user traction and free cashflow should go the debt financing road.