There’s been quite a lot of talk recently about the state of the European venture capital industry. European VCs somehow often get labeled as timid, risk averse…or even bad. Atlas Venture’s Fred Destin nicely outlined his view and hinted at the need for a bit of “revolution” – and the fact that some of the European VCs simply do not have the same DNA as the entrepreneur-turned-investor crowd in the US. That being said, Europe is not void of American-style investors – like the European branch of Accel Partners.
While the Accel team in London is very international, it is one of the local teams with a stronger American presence. But oddly enough, the team has now added a French hire to the team: Philippe Botteri, who was previously the Vice President of Bessemer Venture Partners in Silicon Valley has joined the London office as a Principal.
Philippe – who has led a number of investments, including Bessemer’s investment in France-based Criteo – will focus primarily on cloud, Saas and internet products. But the fact that Accel has also brought a French native on board also naturally underlines the region’s growing importance in the European startup scene. Naturally, he will not be focusing only on France and French-speaking countries, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Accel turns a bit more attention to the area.
Some of Accel’s most recent European investments include Stylistpick, Supercell, Rovio and Spotify – some of the names that made Mike’s “real European innovation” list.
In addition to London, Accel maintains non-US offices in China and India – and also expanded its US footprint with an office in New York earlier this year. And just in case you missed it, US-based Partner and “comeback kid” Jim Breyer was also named this year’s tech investor of the year by Forbes.
It’s interesting to see Philippe leaving the Valley to return to Europe. He may not be an exact match of the entrepreneur-turned-investor DNA that Fred was talking about in his post, but he’ll hopefully be one we can count on locally for a Silicon Valley investor style.