Rise of PE firms rattles VCs

EVERY SINGLE Etre we've been to, and we've been to many, is completely different and the jamboree in Barcelona over the weekend was no exception to that rule.

We're not quite sure why Alex Vieux, the founder, lets us in. Perhaps he's not sure, either.

This time round we had a heavy emphasis on the finance and VC community, with presentations from Silver Lake, the Carlyle Group and others. We also had lengthy panels on funding from the likes of Eric Benhamou, while the tech presence was minimal and the semiconductor community only really represented by Qimonda, the Infineon spin off.

The concensus view of the large number of VCs we talked to was that the private equity firms have so much money swilling about that they're nearly unstoppable.

The conference coincided with a story on the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the Department of Justice has started an investigation into whether the PE firms are engaging in anticompetitive activities. That said that Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and others have had letters asking for info about deals they've made.

There is something special about Etre. It throws together diverse communities of people who rub shoulders on buses en route to the fantastic venues Alex Vieux manages to pull out of the hat.

The second evening, we were bussed to the weird but wonderful Bell Reco at a gig sponsored by BT and Microsoft where I met a guy who told me about how his firm was printing chips on paper which could then be put together like wallpaper to display information.

And I listened to two guys from different companies chatting to each other before their "corporate presentations" started. It turned out that both, while not competing with each other, had technology products that complemented but didn't compete with each other, meaning there was a real possibility the firms could work together in the future.

Developers, start ups, corporate end users and others all jostle together in a whirlwind event that rapidly exhausts your stock of business cards. By the third day, you end up having so few of your own left you run the risk of giving away the pile you've collected from others.

I sat next to a venture capital guy on the way to a dinner sponsored by UBS at the stunning Palau Nacional de Montjuic, who it turned out knew and had worked with quite a few of my friends in the industry and able to put me back in touch with them. This is Etre serendipity and this makes the conference continue to be a must. µ

L'INQ
Etre

See Also
Etre 2006 full coverage
Etre 2005 full coverage
Etre 2003 full coverage