One of the questions from the floor after Nigel Verdon´s talk at the EU-Startups Summit in Barcelona today was whether, given today´s harsh economic conditions, companies should still seek to fundraise.
Nigel, who had just given his talk, Ramblings of a 3x fintech founder, said that investors were always on the lookout for quality, no matter what the conditions, but that the situation in Ukraine and the fact that the pandemic was still an negative influence on world economies, meant that fundraising was now harder.
He also pointed out that most senior economists were also uncertain as to when conditions will improve.
Nigel made a number of observations in his talk to the EU-Startups audience, including that raising capital is not an art, it's a slog and there are no shortcuts.
What's more, and this was sobering for all would-be entrepreneurs in the auditorium, that founders need to get over the fact that investors don't really care that much about the idea. Ideas are the easy bit - scaling those ideas and making a viable product for customers, which then can raise money, is the hard bit.
Nigel, who´s on his third successful fintech (his previous two having been sold to major international companies), spoke to an enthusiastic audience who had gathered in Catalonia´s capital to hear the latest on the startup scene. The summit is billed as the place where some 1600 of Europe's top founders, investors and innovators come to talk about the continent´s thriving startup ecosystem.
A large number of startups were represented at the event and of notable interest was a panel discussion on the current state of fintech as viewed by four female fintech disruptors: Lupina Iturriage, Fintonic founder and CEO; Miriam Wohlfarth, Banware founder and Co-CEO, Kristina Walcker-Mayer, Nuri CEO and CPO, and, Albertine Lecointe, Qonto VP Strategy. The discussion centred on how fintech is disrupting the traditional payment and banking services industries, and how women are increasingly playing leadership roles in the fintech space.