EU Industry days in Rzeszów

At European Women in VC, together with Pensions for Purpose, we’re currently working on one of Europe’s most urgent financial challenges: how to catalyse pension funds into growth and venture capital. This is not just a policy ambition - it’s a capital markets imperative.

A throwback to recent conversations at EU Industry Days in Rzeszów, under 🇵🇱 Poland’s 🇪🇺 Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union.

Kinga Stanisławska joined the discussion about the future of European funding with: Marjut Falkstedt (European Investment Fund (EIF)) Piotr Matczuk (Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. (PFR)), Ronald Wuijster (APG Asset Management), Przemek Ben PACZEK (Nevomo, moderated by Maive Rute (European Commission)

Three themes continue to resonate:

• Competitiveness

Let’s boost revenues, customer growth, and market share for European startups - and accelerate corporate-startup collaboration. The EIC Business Acceleration Services are a great model. We need more like it.

• Liquidity

Investors need exits. It’s time for public institutions to anchor venture secondaries and to make progress on the long-promised Capital Markets Union.

• Diversification of Asset Classes

Pension funds need robust, risk-adjusted returns. Fund-of-funds - especially privately managed ones - are a vital piece missing in Europe’s venture stack. Can public capital act as an anchor for private fund-of-funds and crowd in institutional investors?

‍#ChooseEurope - because it’s time to turn policy into capital.