Entrepreneurs in Europe often lament the lack of venture capital flowing into early-stage businesses in these parts, and it’s true that access to smart seed money leaves much to be desired across the continent, overall.

Today sees the formal launch of a new early-stage VC firm called Connect Ventures (not to be confused with CollegeHumor Network owner Connected Ventures). The firm will be based in London, make investments across all of Europe, and is currently managed by two partners, an American and an Italian.

Connect Ventures is today announcing the close of an initial €16 million ($21.2m) for its first fund. The target for the fund is roughly €43 million ($57m), we’re told.

The goal is to invest between 250,000 and 1.25 million euros ($330k-$1.7m) in consumer web, digital media, e-commerce, entertainment and gaming startups, across seed and Series A rounds. The firm aims to make investments in early-stage businesses across Europe, but initially focus primarily on the larger tech hubs like London, Berlin, Stockholm and Tel Aviv as it is still limited in resources.

The fledgling VC firm was founded by Pietro Bezza (an Italy-born serial entrepreneur, angel investor and Seedcamp mentor) and Bill Earner (originally from the United States, a former startup tinkerer and an investment manager at Amadeus Capital Partners before starting Connect Ventures).

The firm has already announced one investment (participating in London-based Secret Sales’ £6.3 million round in January 2012) but Earner tells me there have been two more investments already, which will be announced shortly.

One is an e-commerce startup based in Berlin, the other one is a company focused on mobile applications based in Berlin.

I’m here in Mexico City representing The Next Web at an event called Apptualizate, where I’ll be speaking about Internet culture and entrepreneurship tomorrow. I’ve never been to Mexico City, but from what I’m hearing there is quite a tech scene developing around here lately.

The focus of the tech scene seems to be around developing applications for mobile devices, which makes complete sense since it’s the hottest trend globally right now. What has been holding Mexico City back from surfacing innovative ideas and building killer apps? I’m told that it might be as “simple” as the lack of an ecosystem that we see in San Francisco and New York City.

By ecosystem, I mean a few things; developers helping other developers, angel investors taking chances on small teams, and the lack of VC funds and culture that we enjoy in the states.

Having said that, there are ways around what’s lacking, and that’s to cut through the noise with something amazing. Instead of worrying about when and if a company will get funded, developers here in Mexico City first need to realize that if they’re not completely passionate about what they’re doing, they will fail. Everything else will take care of itself in the long run. It’s a mindset that is second nature to us in Silicon Valley, but not so much here.

The Apptualizate event is part conference and part hackathon. The interesting spin on the hackathon is that companies who are sponsoring the event might just come out of it with a new product, or at least the team to build one. The tagline for the event (in English) is:

Develop a mobile application for a customer and earn their business in 48 hours.

For 48 hours straight, teams will be hacking away on ideas for these sponsoring companies, in hopes that it can land them a contract to see the product all the way through. The developers can’t leave the venue, the gorgeous World Trade Center here in Mexico City, and this is their big chance to shine.

The over 140 developers will also get the chance to talk to folks from the sponsoring companies, as well as speakers like Norberto Ortigoza, Ryan Bruels, Michael Silverwood, Clint Nelsen, and Tugce Ergul.

I’m told that this is the first time that Mexico City has had this type of in-depth speaker lineup when it comes to tech and venture capital. It’s an honor to be a part of it and I’ll be bringing you updates on what I see, hear, and learn at the event.

With many suggesting that Facebook could go public as early as Monday of next week, people are already starting to look ahead at what the next hot things will be to invest in. Not that going public is the end of the line for former Facebook President Sean Parker, who was mum on the IPO details yesterday, but huge exits for those that have invested big in Facebook are expected.

One of those who should see big returns is founder of Digital Sky Technologies, Yuri Milner. The firm was a part of a $500M direct investment into Facebook last January. Bloomberg discussed Facebook’s impending IPO with Yuri Milner and asked him point blank if he’d be inclined to cash out and take his money elsewhere. Milner replied and shed some light on his long-term investment strategies at DST:

Another significant ingredient of our strategy is really stick with the founders as long as they’re pushing the envelope, and pretty much all of them are really doing that, and we don’t really have a reason to exit at this point.

Watch the full interview below:

Along with Facebook, other Digital Sky Technologies investments include; Spotify, Twitter, Zynga, Airbnb, and Groupon. Needless to say, Milner is someone who we can trust as a gauge of what’s next in technology. And according to him, countries like China are going to skip physical stores altogether and go right to the web:

If I can make a forecast, the Wal-Mart of China is actually going to be an online company.

While Mark Zuckerberg and Ashton Kutcher may have been the most “famous” guests at Startup School 2011, the best talk at the conference had to be Ron Conway‘s.

Not only is Conway a prominent figure and name in Silicon Valley, having been a powerful player in funding a slew of startups, he is an entrepreneur himself.

In the talk, Conway starts off with recognizing the fact that Silicon Valley might not be the “epicenter” of innovation anymore, with half the audience coming from places like NYC. What stood out in Conway’s talk was that he tells his stories from the vantage point of the entrepreneurs that he works with, rather than from a pure VC perspective.

His comments on culture in the companies that he personally started are words to live by, so sit back and learn a thing or two from Ron Conway:

From time to time I come by videos of talks that VC’s or entrepreneurs have done, and they’re absolute boring snoozefests. Although, once in a while I find a true gem like this one.

In a talk last month with the Stanford University Technology Ventures Program, Dana Mead from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers breaks down everything from how venture capital works to how firms deal with founders and scaling its investments.

Mead provides some awesome insights into what it takes to turn a newsworthy investment into a huge return for a firm like KPCB. Of course, being the group that placed a big bet on Google, they know a thing or two about the subject. This video is great for people on both sides of deals in tech.

At the 40 minute mark, Mead discusses a touchy subject, bringing outside management into a company to take it to the next level. This is of course the part where some founders end up leaving the company out of frustration.

Sit back and learn from one of the masters.

In a 2009 talk, here’s what he has to say about what it’s really like to start a tech company. Watch the whole thing, especially for the part about his conversation with Michael Jackson on a specific moment in the movie “The Wiz”.

Horowitz also discusses what it was like during the dot-com bubble and eventual burst, blaming it on technology not being quite there yet to support all of the great ieas.

It’s a fascinating must-watch for entrepreneurs at any stage of their career.

Last night, I attended a gathering of some of the smartest technology minds focusing on Education for grades K-12. I didn’t know what to expect, other than Newark Mayor Cory Booker and LinkedIn‘s Founder and Chairman Reid Hoffman being there to listen to seven companies from the ImagineK12 startup incubator in Palo Alto.

In a small office within the Palo Alto aol building, teams with big hearts (and sometimes very nervously) discussed their views on the future of Education for children all over the world.

I’m going to be doing a few interviews with some of the companies in the near future, which include Goalbook, educreations, and Eduvant. This is a space that I’m very passionate about.

Each team had one thing in common, their belief in the importance of technology to make change happen in a system that hasn’t changed in decades.

That change could very well come out of the ImagineK12 incubator, which says this about itself:

We believe technology is transforming K-12 education. The infrastructure, hardware, software, and platforms are either available or being developed that will change the nature of how we teach our children in profound and far-reaching ways. A high-tech wave is beginning to sweep through the educational world largely driven by technology entrepreneurship. But the impact of those entrepreneurs will depend on the quality of their ideas, their ability to execute, and their ability to get funded.

Imagine K12 is a for-profit enterprise looking to invest time, experience, energy and resources in entrepreneurs who have a passion for education and the technical know-how to create their vision. Over a three-month period, we will draw on our extensive entrepreneurial experience, understanding of the Silicon Valley ecosystem, and knowledge of the education industry to help bring your idea to life, get your company funded, and to get your company on the road to success.

Last night wasn’t a pitch session for funding, although I’m sure most of the startups hoped that Reid Hoffman would take interest, as he is an extremely prolific VC now. Most of the nearly three hours were spent on presentation of the products, and Q&A by Mayor Booker on the nuts and bolts of education, and business advice and guidance from Reid Hoffman. For these companies, this type of audience is nearly unheard of, and each one took notes and paid full attention. And of course, vice versa.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker shared that he can no longer watch the way school systems have worked, there has to be change. Technology, he believes, can bring that change.

The theme of the night appeared to be data. Educational institutions have a huge flow of data, some not even digitized, and have no way to pour through it to make smart decisions for their schools or more importantly for their students. Some of the companies have come up with ways to use data to incentive students with behavioral issues, make better use of a Principal’s time by giving them a dashboard of student and financial data in real-time, as well as share lesson plans all over the world.

A few of these companies seemed to intrigue both Booker and Hoffman, causing Booker to set up meetings between the companies and schools in Newark immediately.

Why isn’t there more of a focus on technology in education? Lack of money. Schools are notorious for having financial issues, even though technology can help with that, and there isn’t a steady flow of VC funds for those who want to focus their efforts on the education space. It seems as if ImagineK12 is set to change all of that, and having Booker and Hoffman involved certainly doesn’t hurt its cause.

Let’s also not forget that if we put more technology in schools, we’ll have more technologists like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs for years to come.

You can view more photos from last night below:

One of the main drivers of attending any conference are the people that are attending. Meeting someone face-to-face makes a big difference and a conference helps you to meet many people in a short period of time. Well that is at least if it is a good conference (like TNW).

Take this example: You’re an investor and constantly searching for potential startups and teams to invest in. You get a 1000 business plans per year on your desk. Scanning those opportunities is not only very time consuming, but also very inefficient. Many startups seem interesting on paper, but the team behind it is the most interesting aspect to you. So you need to meet them anyway. All these meetings take a lot of time. Why not put all those meeting in 2 days at a conference?

Same goes for startups that are looking for investment, it makes sense to meet multiple investors in person at one place.

Networking and bringing people together for (future)business is one of the main things we enable during The Next Web Conference. In our case, for startups and investors we’ve scheduled a special coffee meeting on Thursday for startups and VC’s only (this doesn’t coincide with other conference content).
The meeting is called “Lets talk business” and lasts 45 minutes. The idea is to meet multiple startups/investors in 45 minutes. Short talks, long enough to gain interest for a follow up appointment later on in the day, but short enough to make sure you don’t get stuck on one person that might not be in your interest at that point.

Hey, and we happen to have the coolest startups, the most talented teams and VC investors from all over Europe at our conference. Coincidence…

The deal:
So if you want to join this session sign up here. The first 10 startups and investors get 42% discount on a conference pass (550 in stead of 999). Normal tickets sell at 35% discount at the moment.

The Next Web Conference is the place where the international Internet scene comes together for inspiration, business and fun.

See you in April in Amsterdam, see you at The Next Web.

Yunoo, the public choice winner of The Next Web Startup Rally 2009 raised more than 1 million euros a significant amount in series A today from Sanoma Digital Netherlands (a big publisher). Yunoo was looking for a million euros, Sanoma stated that they invested a big amount and although the exact amount officially hasn’t been communicated you can take my word for it that it is a figure with 6 zeros. (They called me to ask if I could erase the amount raised because that wasn’t communicated)
This is good news for the talented Dutch entrepreneurs (and we’re of course a little bit proud that they won the Startup Rally).

Yunoo, launched in March 2009, is an online personal finance management application that helps consumers and small businesses keep track of their spending. As co-founder Kevin Voges explains: “Yunoo consolidates your financial life in one place and shows you exactly where your money is being spent. With Yunoo you can add all your bank accounts, savings accounts and credit cards so that you get a complete overview of your finances.”

Their American counterpart Mint (who won TC50) was sold for 170 million dollars to Intuit in September 2009 and as this space requires deep understanding (and development) of the local financial system it is no surprise that a European startup can have as much success as Mint.

Yunoo is only available for Dutch customers at this point, but they have plans to expand their services to other EU countries (although we don’t expect that to happen any time soon).

Check out their presentation during TNW 2009 that got them the public choice award.