The mid- to long-term prospects for the European venture industry are determined by the fact that the growth of the demand for qualified venture capital funding is exponential and surpasses the more linear growth of venture capital supply. The key driver for this is the exponential growth of technology creation, while the VC supply tends to grow more linearly. In addition to this long-term trend, there are more short-term overlaying capital market cycles. These cycles induced a sharp downturn starting in the fall of 2021, reaching a bottom in 2023, and are now beginning to recover. The combination of these factors is expected to positively drive the venture markets in 2024 and 2025.
Hendrik Brandis is co-founder and partner at Earlybird. He served as a board member of the European Venture Capital Association for several years. Prior to co-founding Earlybird, Hendrik was a partner at McKinsey. He studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich and holds a PhD in the field of aerospace engineering. His investment focus is on industry 4.0, IoT and Enterprise / Consumer Internet. Some of his more recent investments include Lilium, Isar Aerospace, and Marvel Fusion. Hendrik is board member of several Earlybird portfolio companies including Aiven, B2X Care Solutions GmbH and MyDataModels. He is a passionate sailor and has won several world championships with his team.