This study systematically documents the perceptions of LPs, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs and their views of the trends and challenges facing the European venture capital market. The interest from LPs in European venture capital funds was found to be neutral to marginally negative because of historical returns. However, buoyancy in the supply of high quality opportunities at reasonable valuations has the potential to improve this outlook. The findings suggest that European venture capitalists still face structural barriers in the form of heterogeneous consumer preferences, improving but weak exit and fundraising environments, and the scarcity of LPs of significant size. The study revealed that successful venture capitalists tended to build scaleable businesses, either global or European which improve the potential for returns. In addition to having an aspiration to build global companies, venture capitalists with entrepreneurial, industry and investment experience with access to a rich professional network were top performers.