Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 90% certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Brown: Early investors in European unicorns were not US multi-stage funds

Ophelia Brown · Ophelia Brown: How We Raised $432M in a Pandemic; What's New in European Venture Capital | E990 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Mar 17, 2023 · at 37:28

Ophelia Brown is the founder and General Partner at European early-stage firm Blossom Capital. She addresses the perception that European VC firms lack a track record compared to US multi-stage funds.

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“If we look back at the history of European unicorns that have been built and look at who supported them as seed and Series A, it wasn't US multi-stage fat.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

European unicorns were historically supported at the seed and Series A stages by local European venture capital firms rather than US multi-stage firms.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim asserts that European unicorns were historically supported at the Seed and Series A stages by local European venture capital firms rather than US multi-stage firms. Data from multiple independent research reports (including Atomico, GoingVC, Sifted Intelligence, and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre) confirm that historically, 70–80% of early-stage rounds for European startups that became unicorns were led by domestic European early-stage funds and local angel investors. US multi-stage venture capital firms overwhelmingly entered European capitalization tables at Series B or later rounds.

Atomico's State of European Tech reports show local European VC funds and angel investors captured 70–80% of historical early-stage deal counts in Europe.
Sifted Intelligence analysis of European unicorns founded after 2005 shows local European early-stage funds (e.g., Global Founders Capital, Point Nine Capital, Cherry Ventures, LocalGlobe) dominated the Seed and Series A lead lists.
European Commission JRC study found foreign/US multi-stage investors were heavily concentrated in late VC rounds (Series B+), while early VC rounds were overwhelmingly dominated by European private VCs.

Checked against

[1] delorscentre.eu [2] goingvc.com [3] stateofeuropeantech.com [4] sifted.eu [5] europa.eu [6] researchgate.net [7] europa.eu [8] europa.eu

"European unicorns" "Seed" "Series A" European vs US lead investors "European unicorns" seed series A "local" vs US multi-stage firms European unicorns seed series A investors European vs US VCs study report State of European Tech seed series A lead investors US European unicorns European tech unicorn seed series A led by European VCs vs US VCs European tech unicorns early stage investors local European vs US venture capital dealroom atomico European unicorns early stage funding European vs US investors dealroom report "State of European Tech" seed series A lead investors US European

assessed as of 2026-07-31

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

European unicorns US multi-stage fat

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More from Ophelia Brown

Assertion Not checkable as stated

BPI asked Ophelia Brown where her older male partner was

“The French, what's the French equivalent of EIF? BPI. BPI. They asked me where my older male partner was.”

Ophelia Brown Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 48:03 Ophelia Brown: How We Raised $432M in a Pandemic; What's New in European Venture Capital | E990 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Insight

Brown: Reserving capital for follow-on rounds damages overall venture fund returns

“I think actually like the follow on can really damage fund returns in that you should buy your ownership at the lowest possible cost, which is the initial cost of seed or series A.”

Ophelia Brown Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 11:04 Ophelia Brown: How We Raised $432M in a Pandemic; What's New in European Venture Capital | E990 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Insight

Brown: Startups unable to raise 36 months post-Series A lack viability

“And when we fund them at Series A, we say, you know, here's enough capital for 24, 36 months post our investment. And let's be honest, if you can't raise capital after that point, you probably aren't building a viable business.”

Ophelia Brown Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 13:08 Ophelia Brown: How We Raised $432M in a Pandemic; What's New in European Venture Capital | E990 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Disclosure

Blossom Capital eliminated investment committees from its decision-making process

“That's why we did away with the IC at Blossom.”

Ophelia Brown Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 16:08 Ophelia Brown: How We Raised $432M in a Pandemic; What's New in European Venture Capital | E990 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Prediction Didn’t hold up

Blossom Capital will stick exclusively to Series A investments

“We're just going to stay to our swim lane and just do Series A.”

Ophelia Brown Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 25:04 Ophelia Brown: How We Raised $432M in a Pandemic; What's New in European Venture Capital | E990 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Disclosure

Blossom Capital shuns Series A board seats and caps annual deals

“Not at the A stage. So, our model, because we only make five investments a year, coming back to the concentrated approach, we have three partners, and we say, all of us support you at that stage.”

Ophelia Brown Mar 17, 2023 ▶ 26:58 Ophelia Brown: How We Raised $432M in a Pandemic; What's New in European Venture Capital | E990 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Brown: Early investors in European unicorns were not US multi-stage funds

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