EUVC #248: Ben Topor on Growth & Secondaries Investing & The Beauty of Flexible Mandates

Today we have Ben Topor with us. Ben is a Founder & Managing Partner at Titan Capital, an investment firm in Israel backing Israeli, European and American companies by providing growth equity & secondary capital to world-class internet, software, consumer, and financial technology companies, with a bottom-up approach to secondary and growth.Titan is raising a 50m USD Fund, investing in companies and venture capital partnerships directly and via secondary transactions and is backed by top-tier global investment firms, leading corporations and family offices. And, of note, Tiger Management, which is a well-known investment firm that built an impressive track record in seeding some of the world's best fund managers, backed Titan.Chapters:00:00:00 - Introduction and Event Announcement00:02:47 - The Future of European Venture Capital00:05:50 - The Pivotal Book: Crossing the Chasm00:08:51 - The Importance of Solving a Pressing Need00:11:57 - Factors affecting investment strategies00:14:50 - Timing the Market and Spreading Your Bets00:17:58 - Different Considerations for Selling Shares00:20:48 - Strategies for Secondary Investments00:23:50 - Finding Bargains in the Secondary Market00:26:56 - Investing in European Startups00:29:57 - LP secondary deals00:36:21 - Winning with a Data driven approach00:39:21 - The Flexibility of Investing in Growth Companies00:42:37 - Fundraising Challenges for VCs00:45:48 - VC Strategies: Long-lasting businesses vs. Threatening categories