20 VC 062: Shaking Up London's VC Scene with Fede Pirzio-Biroli, Founder @ Playfair Capital

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2015

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fede Pirzio-Biroli is Founder @ Playfair Capital, a leading investor in seed level, technology based startups. Fede founded Playfair Capital from his first investment in December of 2010 and the portfolio quickly grew to 20 investments by the end of 2012, including the likes of Duedil, AppearHere and On Device Research. During this period, Fede was an angel in residence at White Bear Yard. After working closely with Passion Capital, he built the Playfair Capital team and moved into Warner Yard, Playfair's current home. Prior to Playfair, he spent several years in Africa working for the UN, Oxfam and PharmaSecure, after which he lobbied government and large aid organisations to increase the transparency of aid flows.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Fede made his move into angel investing and then transitioned to form his own fund?

2.) What is the mission at Playfair? What is the average ticket size? Does Playfair have any preferred sectors?

3.) What do startups need to have to get the Playfair stamp of approval? What are Playfair looking for?

4.) How has Fede seen the seed funding environment change in London?

5.) How does Fede and Playfair stave off competition for the 'hot' startups looking to raise VC money?

6.) What benefits do founders get for working in a co-working space? How important is it for VCs to offer this service?

7.) How does Fede create a united company culture in a co-working space with so many different companies?

Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:

Fede's Fave Book: The Circle by David Eggers

Fede Fave Newsletter or Blog: Dojo, AngelList

Fede's Most Recent Investment: Knytton (Techstars London W14)

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Fede on Twitter right here!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello everybody, you're listening to Episode 62 of the 20-minute VC with your host, Harry Stebbings.
0:06.0	And on today's incredible episode of the 20-minute VC, we are welcoming Feday Perziobiroli, founder at Playfair Capital to the show.
0:15.6	Playfair have made quite a splash to London's investment scene over the last few years and are now considered a leading investor in the seed-level technology-based start-up scene.
0:25.6	FedE founded Playfair Capital from his first investment in December of 2010, and the portfolio has grown quickly to 20 investments by the end of 2012, including the likes of due deal, appear here, and on-device research.
0:41.6	During this period, Fede was an angel in residence at White Bear Yard, with our friend Stefan Gleinzer,
0:47.8	who was a previous guest on the show, and after working closely with Passion Capital,
0:52.3	he built the Playfair Capital team and moved into Warner Yard, Playfair's current home.
0:58.0	But before we delve into today's amazing episode with FedE, I'd like to draw your attention to a product that I've used to build out the 20-minute VC team, and that is HiringScreen.
1:08.3	As startup founders, time is incredibly limited and HiringSscreen
1:12.6	analyzes all your candidates' profiles and then compiles an in-depth analysis of all of their
1:19.6	individual strengths and weaknesses making a clear assessment before building your shortlist.
1:24.6	Check them out at www.hiringscreen.com. But ladies and gentlemen, without further ado,
1:31.3	it's time to welcome FedE from Playfair Capital.
1:39.5	You have now arrived at your destination. Well, FedE, it's absolutely fantastic to have you on 20-minute VC.
1:47.4	I've been dying to interview you for a while now.
1:49.7	It's my absolute pleasure. I'm very happy to be here.
1:52.0	Can you start off by telling us how you made your move into the venture industry
1:56.4	and a little bit about yourself in your background?
1:59.8	Absolutely.
2:00.3	So my move into the venture industry really didn't,
2:04.3	I mean, I didn't come to this from a traditional background.
2:07.4	I had actually spent pretty much a total of, I think, about four years,
	...

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