Traditionally, and in the layman’s view of the word, venture is defined as high risk/high reward, early-stage investment. The model comes from Silicon Valley where the maturity of the eco-system makes early-stage a reasonably predictable activity. In Europe however, this part of the market is now left to business angels, government-subsidised funds, and a handful of the larger VCs which can afford to subsidise this largely money-losing activity to feed their larger later-stage funds. VCs have largely deserted early-stage and are now focusing their attention on expansion capital.