#BETECH STARTUPS The good, the bad & the ugly

Omar Mohout

SILICON VALLEY

LONDON

PARIS

BERLIN

STARTUP DELTA

FOUNDING YEAR

1981 2014

TYPE

B2B

B2C

69%

31%

TOP 5 INDUSTRIES

1. HealthTech

2. AdTech

3. Manufacturing

4. FinTech

5. HRTech

31% of total

TOP 5 BUSINESS MODELS

1. Marketplace

2. Hardware

3. Data Analytics

4. Apps

5. Social Media

56% of total

STARTUPS WITH FOREIGN BRANCHES: 11%

31% 11% 11% 7%

USA France Netherlands UK

4%

Luxembourg

FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE

20152014TEST

#BETECH VENTURE CAPITAL RAISED

#BETECH ACQUIRED in 2015

EURONEXT

• 1965 Zenitel

• 1997 Option, Barco, Melexis

• 1998 EVS, IBA

• 1999 Ubizen, I.R.I.S.

• 2000 Arinso, Keyware Technologies

• 2005 Zetes

• 2006 Metris

NASDAQ

• 1995 Lernout & Hauspie

• 1997 Icos Vision

• 2014 Materialise

• Netherlands 10 companies

• Israël 63 companies

GO GLOBAL OR STAY LOCAL

RES

OU

RC

ES

MARKET POTENTIAL High Low

Low

High

Offshore 8%

Open branch 11%

Partners 38%

Online/remote 43%

PAIN

Low

High

FREQUENCY High

Playbook 1 – STAY IN BELGIUM

• Market big enough to become sustainable

• Bootstrap or less than € 1M capital required to grow

• Not attractive for VCs

• Defensible market position, i.e. not-winner-takes-all market

• Once growth slows down, consider international expansion or adjacent domain

• Cash cow strategy, not an exit strategy

Playbook 2 – LOCK-IN BIG 3 EU

• Become dominant in UK, FR & GE

• > € 10M in series A & B required – European investors • Example: Mailjet raised € 16M

• Challenging: P/M Fit per country differs

• Local office required

• Exit strategy horizon 3 - 7 years

Playbook 3 – SCALE FROM BELGIUM

• Local ecosystem available • i.e. B2B, Manufacturing, HealthTech, FinTech, Hardware

• Series A, B & C / IPO required – International investors

• Business model that requires boots on the ground • i.e. sales, support, service – follow the sun capabilities

• Very few people have this experience

• Consider partnership model

• Exit strategy horizon 7 – 10 years

Playbook 4 – MOVE FROM BELGIUM

• B2C: marketing driven consumer services

• Pay Never cash flow model

• No local ecosystem available

• > € 10M in series A & B required – International investors

• Decide based on market potential and access to talent & capital

• Proven Product/Market Fit in target market

Tips, tricks and advice

• Market with fastest adoption

• Non-obvious countries: Turkey, Brazil, Nigeria…

• Working with partners requires a certain price level

• Support: follow the sun capabilities is expensive

• Test markets with localized landing page

• Brand protection (domain, trademark…)

• Localize content, interface & payment methods

• Plan your holidays & conferences in function of expansion

• Hire somebody who comes from the target country

#BeTech competitive advantage • Global mindset

• Internationalization starts only at series B in the US

• Fragmented domestic market offers loads of cultural differences and multiple languages to localize for

• Access to talent and technology capabilities

• Growing confidence that the region can produce global tech giants

• Thriving ecosystem and vibrant community

Get support

#BETECH