I’m typically not much of a gambler, espcially when I don’t know the odds – but if I had to put my money on the line, I’d say that the trend of international investments will only grow in the coming years.
VentureBeat reports that venture capital investments in the U.S., Europe, China and Israel in 2007 are on pace to hit their highest levels in six years. The good news are, that there’s plenty of money available for entrepreneurs (which inevitably results in higher valuations since VCs compete against each other in the chance to fund a good idea).
According to the article:
More than $40 billion is expected to be invested this year, according to Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young, one of the most respected research teams on the topic of venture capital. Already, more than $30 billion was invested during the first three quarters.
In the third quarter of 2007 alone, 108 Israeli high-tech companies raised $414 million from venture investors – both local and foreign. The quarterly amount was 9 percent above the $381 million raised in the third quarter of 2006.
The companies that are seeing the largest increases in investment are Cleantech and medical devices companies. More than anything else, the reason for investing is allowing the company to establish itself in the global marketplace.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
