Europe Shouldn’t Be Content With Boring IPOs

European Straits #142

Hi, it’s Nicolas from The Family. Today, I’m following up on the importance of exits in a startup ecosystem and the reasons why boring European IPOs are not a reason to celebrate.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a column in Sifted to discuss the issue of exits in Europe. To make a long story short, we don’t have enough of them (either IPOs or acquisitions), and that creates problems for everyone: entrepreneurs who have to scale back their ambitions; venture capitalists who can’t generate returns for their limited partners; employees who never cash in on their equity; and Europe as a whole, as it lags further behind the US and China in today’s Entrepreneurial Age.

Then there was some pushback, with insiders such as James Clark from the London Stock Exchange pointing out that, despite the lack of liquidity, there are indeed tech companies that go public in Europe—actually even more than in the US 😮! And so I realized it was worth digging a bit deeper and exploring the conflicting perspectives. He…