"Venture investors are desperate," says Web Summit's Paddy Cosgrave

“Venture investors are desperate,” says Web Summit’s Paddy Cosgrave | Technology

Posted On: July 1, 2023

Among all the figures announced by Paddy Cosgrave during its press conference on Tuesday, what caught the most attention was the 30% increase in the number of investors present at the Collision. “Venture capital funds are desperate,” said the founder and CEO of WebSummit, which organizes the Canadian event. “After years of easy investing, writing checks and seeing valuations skyrocket, they now have to look for the right startups to ensure a return on investment,” he told the group of reporters gathered at the Enercare Center. of Toronto.

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According to him, more than 900 fund representatives are present at the event, which will bring together more than 40,000 people from 18 countries – about 30% of the audience are women. There are 1,700 startups (36% with women among partners), 700 speakers from 42 countries, exhibiting companies from 60 locations and partners from 35 communities. “The expected profit for the City of Toronto over three years is expected to reach $188 billion.

Like the Web Summit, Collision serves a basic formula: to present the main innovation trends of the moment, while promoting intense networking between the actors present, stimulating the growth of the ecosystem where the conference takes place. Here you can feel the enthusiasm of the Canadian founders and leaders in the air with the possibility of closing hundreds of deals with new partners found at the event.

“About 20% of all startup capital in the country goes to companies that went through the crash first,” Cosgrave said. In addition to supporting local startups, the conference – supported by the Canadian government – is also trying to attract innovative companies here. Yesterday’s announcement by Sean Frases, Canada’s immigration minister, is part of that effort, which has reduced the number of restrictions for those who want to work or do business in the country – a reminder that the laws were already much calmer than in countries like the United States, for example.

Responding to a question about innovation, Cosgrave made a troubling diagnosis for businesses in the Western world. “We are losing a lot to China. Out of a list of 44 sectors, China has exceeded the innovation capacity of the United States in 37 of them – in some cases it is up to 500% ahead. This, he says, raises fundamental questions about how the Western world pursues innovation: “We have to admit that our model is inferior and discuss what can be done to change that.”

*Marisa Adán Gil traveled at the invitation of the organization of the event