A perfect time to invest, a challenging time to grow and a miserable time to exit – that, in a nutshell, is what recession means to VCs. In this kind of environment, we were very happy about the acquisition of our portfolio company Q-Layer by Sun Microsystems in January. But to be honest, attractive exits like this will be the exception in 2009. Our daily business will be to invest in and accompany our portfolio companies through the downturn. We are impressed by the execution skills of many of our entrepreneurs as they have acted very swiftly and rigorously to make their organizations recession-proof.

Some of them have also started to extend their competitive edge by sharpening their profile or by playing an active role in consolidating their markets. Others are even enjoying momentum as their products and services help companies to improve their own efficiency. And, in fact, there are even some companies, especially in the cleantech area and in some online sectors, that experience little impact from the recession at all (for the time being).
2009 and 2010 undoubtedly are and will be very challenging years for our ecosystem. Yet we should never forget that a shake-up can also deliver tremendous opportunities for the survivors. This is often because of reduced competition and the result of creating more efficient organizations.

We at Wellington Partners have expanded our London team even further during recent months, emphasizing our pan-European ambitions. After Daniel Waterhouse joined us from 3i as a Partner last year, we have now brought on board two associates, Arun Jayadev and Chirag Patel. You will find their resumés on our website. Our enhanced pan-European investment team will be doing its utmost to support our portfolio for tomorrow’s growth.