Bending Spoons’ Luca Ferrari says capital is no longer Europe’s big barrier

Bending Spoons co-founder and chief executive Luca Ferrari says access to capital is no longer the main obstacle for European founders. Strong companies can now raise at scale in Europe, he said on Wednesday. He was speaking on a panel at Wave by Vento in Turin.

“I think if you have a great project and you’re credible and persistent, you can get as much money here as almost anywhere,” Ferrari said.

A founder who blames a lack of funding may be missing problems in the idea, credibility or execution, he added. Or that founder may not be persistent enough.

“Complaining is not part of the solution,” he said.

The panel was called Proof from Elsewhere. All three founders on it were told to move to Silicon Valley, and all three stayed in Europe. Linda Rottenberg, co-founder and chief executive of Endeavor, led it. Ferrari sat with Rafal Modrzewski, co-founder and chief executive of ICEYE, the Finnish satellite maker. The third was Aleksandr Konotopskyi, founder of Ajax Systems, the Ukrainian security company, and chairman of its supervisory board.

Why they stayed

Ferrari said Bending Spoons chose Milan after a location study that considered many cities. The reasons were great talent and less competition to hire it. The company has since opened a Warsaw office too. Some of them would otherwise have had to emigrate for an interesting job, he said, but would rather stay.

Bending Spoons listed on the Nasdaq in July. Ferrari said life as a public company chief executive had been “almost the same” so far. The interest in the company, however, is constant, and he tries to keep the focus on the work.

Modrzewski said ICEYE faces far less competition for engineers than it would in the Bay Area. He said people now call from Seattle and California asking to move home to Europe.

Konotopskyi said Ajax builds teams in other countries purely on efficiency. Its engineering stayed in Ukraine through the full-scale war, and it has customers in 130 countries. On why the EU is losing to the US and China in technology, he pointed to regulation and taxes. He also said governments should be more positive towards entrepreneurs.

Capital and focus

Rottenberg said there was almost no venture capital outside the US when Endeavor started in 1997. The network now works in 50 countries. It has selected more than 3,100 entrepreneurs whose companies generate over $100bn in revenue, she said. Its venture arm closed a $320M fund on Wednesday.

Modrzewski said there is more capital in Europe now. But the game has become more competitive, so founders also need to raise more. A fast-growing company needs money in the bank to absorb mistakes, he said.

“You need a lot of money sitting on your bank account so that you know that you can make mistakes,” he said.

Konotopskyi told founders not to obsess over fundraising. What matters, he said, is whether the product is great and whether people want to pay for it. If they do, he said, founders can find the funding.

Ferrari said the best way for founders to give back is to do their own job as well as possible. He compared it to Steph Curry, who he said has inspired more people than anyone coaching children at weekends.