Year of the Eurocorn: Europe and the Growing Global Private Market Opportunity

There are already over 650 unicorns and pre-unicorn companies based in Europe that may provide interesting opportunities for global investors to access private company value creation*. But there are challenges to building efficient, compliant and effective global markets that span geographies.

Blythe Masters of Motive Partners hosted Forge CEO Kelly Rodriques and Deutsche Börse's Christoph Hansmeyer for a conversation about the growing European unicorn breeding ground and opportunities for building an efficient global market that spans the US, Europe and beyond.

Topics covered:

  • What characterizes the unicorn universe in Europe?
  • What are the opportunities for investors today to access pre-IPO stocks?
  • What trends are driving the need for liquidity by unicorn companies in Europe?
  • What are the trends that signal increased geographically agnostic bets by private market investors?
  • What hurdles are there to developing an efficient, global private market to deliver geographically diverse opportunities to investors in Europe and beyond?
  • What other global markets are compelling institutional players looking to invest in private tech?

*A unicorn is defined as a private company with an enterprise valuation of $1 billion or greater. A “potential” unicorn is defined as a private company with a valuation of $250 million or greater. Source: Dealroom as of 7/12/22.

The Panel
Host
Blythe Masters
Founding Partner, Motive Partners, Independent Director, Forge

Ms. Masters has served as a Founding Partner of Motive Partners since 2019, where she also serves as President of Motive Capital Corp II. She formerly served as CEO and a Director of Motive Capital Corp. Ms. Masters was the former CEO at Digital Asset from 2015 to 2018. She held senior executive roles at J.P. Morgan over a 27 year tenure.

Guests
Kelly Rodriques
CEO, Forge

Mr. Rodriques has served as CEO of Forge since July 2018. He formerly served as CEO of PENSCO Trust Company from March 2010 to September 2016. Since September 2016, he has been the Managing General Partner of Operative Capital, an early stage investor in FinTech companies. He was previously an Operating Partner at Ignition Growth Capital from October 2006 to January 2010, where he led the investment in mFoundry, a leading mobile banking software company. 

 
Christoph Hansmeyer
Managing Director, Deutsche Börse Group, Independent Director, Forge

Mr. Hansmeyer is a Managing Director at Deutsche Börse in Pre- / Post Trade. He formerly served as Deutsche Börse's Head of Group Strategy and M&A as well as Chief of Staff since 2018. He was previously with Allianz SE, based in Munich, Germany from 2012 until 2018. Mr. Hansmeyer has been a director of Forge since January 2020.

Legal Notices and Disclosures

The opinions expressed are those of the speaker and are subject to change. There is no guarantee the stated results will occur.

The information and material presented in this video is provided for your informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer by Forge to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities and may not be used or relied upon in connection with any offer or sale of securities. An offer or solicitation can be made only through the delivery of final offering document(s), purchase agreement(s), and other applicable documentation, and will be subject to the terms and conditions and risks delivered in such documents.

This article does not constitute an offer to provide investment advice or service. Registered representatives of Forge Securities do not (1) advise any member on the merits or prudence of a particular investment or transaction, or (2) assist in the determination of fair value of any security or investment, or (3) provide legal, tax, or transactional advisory services. Securities referenced in this article may be offered by Forge Securities, and certain Forge affiliates may act as principals in such transactions.

Investing In private company securities is not suitable for all Investors. An Investment In private company securities is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and you should be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly Illiquid and there Is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities. Each Investment also carries Its own specific risks and Investors should conduct their own, Independent due diligence regarding the Investment, Including obtaining additional Information about the company, opinions, financial projections and legal or Investment advice. Accordingly, Investing In private company securities Is appropriate only for those Investors who can tolerate a high degree of risk and do not require a liquid Investment.

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