This week has proven that Europe is a bad place to build and run a tech company.
First of all Shazam decides to list in the US and now the French government has stepped in to prevent the sale of Dailymotion to Yahoo!
The major problem Europe has is that it does not have any real exit opportunities. The continent's largest tech companies are either in dire straits (Alcatel Lucent), telcos that act like utility companies or are legacy companies that have yet to get to grips with the cloud based future (SAP). the tech deal flow in Europe is tiny compared to the US and the only real exit open is either to an American tech giant or to a US market since the European secondary markets have long been discredited for lack of liquidity and profile.
So, the French have yet again shot themselves in the foot and can only be encouraging the conveyor belt of entrepreneurs who go first to London and then California.
If they want to make a difference then they should work on establishing a liquid European tech share marketplace.
First of all Shazam decides to list in the US and now the French government has stepped in to prevent the sale of Dailymotion to Yahoo!
The major problem Europe has is that it does not have any real exit opportunities. The continent's largest tech companies are either in dire straits (Alcatel Lucent), telcos that act like utility companies or are legacy companies that have yet to get to grips with the cloud based future (SAP). the tech deal flow in Europe is tiny compared to the US and the only real exit open is either to an American tech giant or to a US market since the European secondary markets have long been discredited for lack of liquidity and profile.
So, the French have yet again shot themselves in the foot and can only be encouraging the conveyor belt of entrepreneurs who go first to London and then California.
If they want to make a difference then they should work on establishing a liquid European tech share marketplace.