Podcasting and Venture Capital in Europe

The status of European venture capital investment in technology start-ups is not a pretty picture. Key American cultural/economic traits, such as high-risk/high-reward, which serve as the foundation for such investment, are lacking in Europe. In Europe, investment mentality is conservative, and podcasting, like many other internet activities, does not always have a clear business model, not to mention proven revenue streams. This deters European investors.

European investment in internet companies does happen. For example, German television Sat1 did invest in MyVideo, the leading German version of YouTube. However, no known investments have been made in podcast-only companies.

A few podcast-too companies have generated investment, such as Mobuzz of Spain. A small company based in Madrid, Mobuzz produces high-quality video content for its podcast, as well as for mobile devices and on-line viewers. The most investment in podcast-too companies has been made in startups in the mobile arena such as Bamboo MediaCasting (mediatoob.com) and Spodtronic.

One exception to the overall bleak non-U.S. VC environment is Israel. In 2006, Israeli high-tech companies raised $1.6B from VCs, and Israel has about 75 companies traded on Nasdaq, second only to Canada. Most of these public companies are VC-backed high-tech companies.