16 founders launched the European Venture Club (EU VC) on 25 February in Lisbon at a founding Round Table, hosted by Caixa Capital.

The founders are 360° Capital Partners, Aescap, Atlante Ventures Intesa San Paolo, Caixa Capital, Capricorn Venture Partners, Cisco Systems, Earlybird Venture Capital, Newion Investments Management, NGN Capital, Octopus Ventures, Philips, Sofinnova, SRIW, ST Microelectronics, Sunstone Capital and Veraventure, in alphabetical order.

The EU VC will optimize access to capital for its Members and aim to increase their investment returns through smart networking and cooperation.

The timing of the launch of the EU VC could not be better now that the EU Council meeting of Heads of State of 4 February invited "the European Commission to present proposals by the end of 2011 for putting in place an EU-wide venture capital scheme building on the EIF and other relevant financial institutions and in cooperation with national operators".

The European Venture Club is lead by its Council composed of Jorge Tomé (Chair) of Caixa Capital, Peter Benson of Sunstone Capital, Christian Nagel of Earlybird, Diana Saraceni of 360° Capital, Jean Schmitt of Sofinnova, Diogo Vasconcelos of Cisco, and Erik Vermeulen of Philips.

The EU VC is not a new legal entity but arranged as a collaborative arrangement between Members, who each engage in a member agreement and operate a Charter and Annual Plan.The EU VC is supported by Innovation Unlimited SA executing the services of the member agreement.

The Membership is open to active and well-performing international venture investors if nominated by at least 5 Members and discretionally approved by the Council.

Dated 27 February 2011

For further information, please contact William Stevens of Europe Unlimited SA

Tel + 32 2 644 6580 or Mobile + 32 495 273 41  at william@e-unlimited.com:

Or visit the website: www.europeanventureclub.com (being updated)