We have now heard many times a question, why would people use Grow VC to make international investments when many investors want to invest only locally. It is totally okay to invest locally, for some people local is the same country, for some others 10 miles. It is anyway difficult to see that it is and will be the only model to make successful investments. An investment focus is not only a location, it can be an industry, competence, or business model. And it is absolutely fine to invest locally and use Grow VC to find companies, but we are the leader and really unique to offer match-making to find companies and investors around the world. And we see that it is a big new opportunity.
Many web and mobile companies are immediately global when they launch their service. And many companies look for smart money and many investors also claim that their offer much more than money, e.g. business competence and contacts. So, it definitely makes sense for companies to look for best resources and contacts around the world. If you set up a web business in Sweden, and you want to reach also the US and Indian market, it makes sense to find some investors in those places too. And if you are mobile apps investor in the UK, probably it doesn’t make sense to invest in the UK based companies only.
Of course, some things are easier locally. You can go to see entrepreneurs and control what they are doing. But the Internet and social networks have enabled many other things globally, even more complex things. So, it is not too difficult anymore to communicate, get information, or local contacts to help, when you find an interesting company in another country. And our service is mainly for the people who are Internet native; they are known in Internet communities and able to use the communication tools and communities. A year ago I said that one good opportunity in our service will be that American and European can, for example, find interesting Indian companies to invest in. Now many Indian investors have said to me that it will be vice versa, many Indian investors have a lot of money and have started to look for opportunities in the US and Europe.
Why people are still so local when they think start-up investments, when they make so many other things around the world. And if you buy listed shares or funds they are anyway around the world. Why would not you also consider interesting start-up companies in another country or continent?
