The event was sponsored by Taylor Vinters and Silicon Valley Bank, and took place at the Soho Hotel, London last week.
Companies represented ranged from VC-backed high-growth ventures to listed companies. Delegates attended from across the UK representing companies including Red Gate, Raspberry pi, Graze.com, Oxford Photovoltaics, UltraSoC Technologies, SDI Technologies plc and Bglobal plc. Investors attended from Northstar Ventures, Octopus Ventures, x.Millions Capital Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise, Martlet & Cambridge Innovation Capital.
The event was chaired by Laurence Garrett, Partner at Highland Capital Partners. Adrian Rainey, Partner at Taylor Vinters gave an insightful talk on Growing Global, sharing his experiences of working with a portfolio of international clients.
Key points emerging from the talk:
- “Growing Global” is increasingly relevant to all stakeholders in the venture capital and high growth tech industries
- To VCs, who have to balance the risk vs reward profile of a country they invest in, there is a larger number and variety of countries to look for returns in than ever before. It is no longer just US, Europe and Israel that provide fertile hunting ground. The emerging economies have addressed some of the systemic fiscal and other risk factors that have plagued them for decades and have been speeding ahead at rates of GDP growth that have left the West behind.
- To entrepreneurs, it is about finding growth, finding customers. If you are in the UK (2012 GDP growth – 0.3%; or France – 2012 GDP growth 0.0%!), before too long you are going to be thinking about markets in other jurisdictions, particularly jurisdictions with fast GDP growth, high populations and a rapidly expanding pool of middle class consumers. And, it is easier than ever before to reach those markets with rapid advances in communications and information technology and transportation over the last 5 to 10 years.
- The growth may not be happening in Europe right now but the quality of our tech and our VC ecosystem means that our companies are actually very well positioned to take their share of the growth where it is happening.
Bailey Fisher’s Chairman Dinners launched in 2010 as roundtable discussion events for 20 – 25 guests and have grown to quarterly events in Cambridge and London regularly attracting 40 – 50 Chairmen/NEDs. Feedback has been incredibly positive:
“Thank you very much for such a superb dinner. Thanks to your impeccable planning, the generosity of your sponsors and your network of remarkable people, this was one of the most fruitful networking events I have attended.”
“The Chairman Dinner is an exceptional event with high quality members enthusiastic about being involved in a screened, credible network.”
Bailey Fisher Executive Search is a leading independent executive search firm specialising in the technology and high-growth sectors. The company was founded in 1998, and has offices in Cambridge and London. www.baileyfisher.com
Taylor Vinters
With offices in London, Singapore and Cambridge Taylor Vinters is the law firm of choice for technology businesses, from fast-growth tech start-ups to established investor-backed companies and multinationals. www.taylorvinters.com
Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank is the premier bank for technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine businesses. Silicon Valley Bank and its affiliates within SVB Financial Group provides industry knowledge and connections, financing, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide through 27 US offices and seven international operations in China, India, Israel and the UK. (Nasdaq: SIVB) www.svb.com/uk
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For further information please contact Helen@baileyfisher.com
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