I'm just back from a three weeks trip to wintry Germany. Besides the marketing stunt for Kinkaa at ITB we also used the time speak to potential investors for Kinkaa.

So far Kinkaa is financed by business angels namely Stefan Eisold, Peter Kabel, Stefan Eisold, Sarik Weber, Stefan Wiskemann, Stefan Glaenzer, Christoph Linkwitz, nils Weitemeyer, Jan Andreesen.

An obvious choice for us was to speak to some Europe's (re-emerging) Venture Capitalists.

So far the feedback has been encouraging - it seems European VCs are swinging back into action. We spoke to 10 different firms mostly in Germany but also in Spain, France and UK. The partners and investment managers we encountered were way more experienced than at the golden times in 2000. Most have weathered the last 8 years with its ups and downs.

While Europe as very careful with investments in the last 5 years many funds have raised fresh money are are ready to invest again. Internet companies are no longer a no-go - after such exits like StudiVZ they might even be a welcome mix to the portfolio. Valuations still seem to be a little lower than in the US but the spread is more and more diminishing.

So things are looking up in general and European start-ups get the chance to develop more capital intensive business models again from their home turf. More competition is always a good thing :)