Award winner - Summit | Exit of the Year: Balderton (represented by Rob Moffat)

<p>A great venture exit is not necessarily the biggest headline transaction. The better test is whether it returns meaningful capital while allowing the company to keep building.</p><p><a href="https://www.balderton.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Balderton Capital</a>’s exit from <a href="https://www.dreamgames.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Dream Games</a> offers one model. CVC acquired the VC investors’ stakes, creating liquidity for early backers while Dream Games continued building the Royal universe and pursuing its ambition to create world-leading games.</p><p>After Balderton received EUVC’s Exit of the Year award, Partner <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/robmoff" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Rob Moffat</a> reflected on the investment and why venture investors should think beyond the traditional IPO path.</p><p>Balderton backed Dream Games in 2019 when it was just two months old, with five founders, no employees and, as Rob recalls, around 12 slides. </p><p>The conviction came from an exceptional team with product obsession, ambition and competitiveness, including experience building Toon Blast and Toy Blast.</p><p>Rob also explains how secondaries and private equity can provide liquidity without requiring founders to sell the company or give up control.</p><p><strong>Key takeaways</strong></p><ul><li>Exceptional teams can justify very early conviction</li><li>Product obsession can be a powerful investment signal</li><li>IPOs are not the only route to venture returns</li><li>Private equity can create liquidity while founders keep building</li><li>Exit structures can align investor returns with founder control</li></ul><p><strong>Timestamps</strong></p><ul><li>(00:00) Why team quality matters at the earliest stage</li><li>(01:00) Backing five founders with zero employees</li><li>(02:00) What makes an exceptional founder</li><li>(03:00) Dream Games’ obsession with product quality</li><li>(04:00) Why “IPO or nothing” is the wrong approach</li><li>(05:00) Finding the right liquidity route</li><li>(06:00) Preserving founder control in the CVC transaction</li><li>(07:00) Why private equity is moving into mobile games and tech</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.eu.vc/newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Subscribe to EUVC</a> for more insights.</p>