A group of US venture capitalists laid it on the line for European hopefuls at the Etre conference in Vienna a couple of weeks ago: there’s no way they will get US venture funds unless they move to the US. Venture capitalists like to keep close tabs on their investments, going down to the offices of the fledgling chief executives once a week, putting their feet up on the desk and playing father confessor – and they can’t do that if the person is in Europe. The failure of any European venture capital base to materialise outside the UK, the flight of European money into US funds and European tax codes continue to cripple European entrepreneurs, they say. And they had no interest in anything coming out of Russia or the old Eastern Bloc.
