DISQUS

The Equity Kicker: Big European exits

  • Shantanu · 3 years ago
    Nic,
    good one...I made a similar point in this post: http://global-themes.com/what-ails-european-ven...
  • alan patrick · 3 years ago
    Nick, I have a McKinsey survey somewhere thats shows that no Silicon Valley VC hat got into "Web 1.0" after (I think it was 1998) made any money, in fact most lost money iirc. I suspect Europe was not much different. Must dig it out....but the lesson was clear - get in early, and get a portfolio.
  • nic · 3 years ago
    Shantanu - thanks for the comment and yours is a good post. I will update mine to link to yours.

    Alan - getting in early is always - if you call the market right.... The other thing about post 1998 deals is that they wouldn't have had enough time to exit before the bubble burst. That begs the question of where we are in the current cycle.
  • Rory · 3 years ago
    Nic - great post, and excellent point. I know its not an exhaustive list, but there have been even more $100m+ exits recently. A few others in 05/06:
    eDreams acquired by TA Associates (€153m)
    Bookings.com acquired by Priceline ($133m)
    Inventel acquired by Thomson (€146m)
    OASIS SiliconSystems acquired by SMSC ($135m)
    Couldn't help pointing out the last two deals (ours), and apologies for the shameless self-promotion ;-)
  • Max Bleyleben · 3 years ago
    Great point Nic. Let's keep this list going - I would add:

    - Poliris (seloger.com) - just floated on Euronext
    - Chipcon AS - acquired by TI
    - Eontec - acquired by Siebel
    - Gate5 - acquired by Nolia
    - Mobile.de - acquired by eBay
    - Musiwave - acquied by Openwave Systems
    - NetCentrex - acquired by Comverse
    - VideoIsland merging with Love Film - maybe?
  • nic · 3 years ago
    Thanks everyone. I will make a new post with a longer fuller list shortly. I might try and get the life sciences plays in their too.
  • mathias · 1 year ago
    are there any news on this list?
    im looking for the biggest vc-backed exits of the last 10 years

    can someone help me out with resources or links?
    thank you very much