Hightech Ventures

“High tech” or “deep tech” sits, by definition, at the intersection of research and entrepreneurship. Leveraging both domains' complementarities is key for successful innovation. That is why we invited Prof. Dietmar Harhoff to join this week's episode to shed light on some of the most important questions around how to make tech transfer happen. Dietmar is, first and foremost, the Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. He has been observing global invention and innovation activities for decades through the lens of a researcher and gained a very rich understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Due to his outstanding expertise, Dietmar has been invited to be an advisor for and board member at several public and private organizations, such as the German government through the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI), Angela Merkel's “innovation dialogue”, the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND), the German Accelerator, or the Siemens Technology Accelerator. He truly understands deep tech innovation from a scientific and very practical perspective. In this episode, we talk about what levers to pull in a deep tech ecosystem to increase entrepreneurial activity in general, how to fix the role of tech transfer offices, the need for more private capital to fund deep tech innovation and incentive systems that are conducive for tech transfer.

Jacinto is Chief Science and Innovation Officer and most importantly founder and brain behind the technology of Peafowl Plasmonics as well as Professor at Uppsala University in Sweden. We learn about his journey from research to startup and he gives us an understanding of plasmonics, the physics of solar cells and the new opportunities his research brings. With a platform technology like his, Jacinto shines light on how he thinks about finding the best use case for your technology.We learn about the specialties of the Swedish tech transfer system, how they think in a circular manner but also about the moral responsibility that Jacinto thinks lies on scientists to make use of their technology. And most importantly, we get to know Jacinto as someone who is a master at separating his ego from the success of his company. We hear the story of how he found an external co-founder and CEO and built a trustful relationship with him to make Peafowl Plasmonics succeed.

This episode is with Silvio Bonaccio, the Head of ETH transfer at ETH Zurich. Silvio is a chemist by training with an outstanding experience in technology transfer and years of industry expertise from Nestle. He is the kind of person not seeking to be in the spotlight although he deserves it way more than many others in the world of high-tech innovation. Silvio is humble, kind and lets facts speak. Since the ETH Zurich is a global leader in education, science and tech transfer, we dive deep into ETH's magic formula and special ecosystem. A key ingredient is the incredible amount of smart people from all over the world. For Silvio technology transfer is “all about the people”. Another focus of this conversation is how to structure tech transfer deals. There is quite some debate what actually makes a deal spin-off and venture capital friendly. Silvio outlines ETH's policy in detail and also stresses why expectation management is key.

Lamin has been in various roles in the hightech venturing ecosystem and in this episode, we will almost cover them all. As a mechanical engineer by training, he has been keen to pursue projects surrounded by uncertainty since the very start of his career. And after several business-oriented roles in small and big companies, he naturally ended up in the innovation ecosystem. Especially in roles that required building cooperative models between different players: business development and tech transfer at Fraunhofer and Oxford, Siemens Next 47, or his current position as Head of Start-Up Cooperation & Partnerships at Infineon. Due to all these different perspectives, we will learn from Lamin what is important when building the interface between big organizations and small ventures. We dive deeper into the recipe for success of the Oxford ecosystem and why it excels many others, globally. He also helps us understand the two fundamental cooperation models between startups and Infineon and Lamin also outlines concrete examples of ventures working on a more sustainable future.

Marc Sedam is the Vice President for Technology Opportunities and Ventures at NYU Langone Health. Marc, a biochemist by training, gained an outstanding experience in technology transfer through several leadership roles in academic settings as well as as a COO for a biotech company. His expertise includes oversight of hundreds of intellectual property collaborations and more than 50 startup companies, including 2 as a founding member. Marc explains why "serve the idea" is his guiding principle for technology transfer and how to collaborate with industry players in an effective manner. He has also clear advice for KPIs when building up or improving performance of tech transfer units. As a visionary thinker, he has implemented standardized deal terms already and envisions a digital platform for automated tech transfer - the Amazon for IP licensing. We also touch upon company formation, the ideal founding team for spin-offs and the power of alumni networks.

Mark is CEO & Founder of bit.bio, a UK-based startup on the path to creating every human cell type at scale, and Co-Founder of Meatable, a NL-based startup creating cell-based meat. For Mark it's both an “insane opportunity” as well as “a privilege” to work on both these human and planetary health challenges. We talk about Mark's journey from neurosurgeon to stem cell researcher and his conviction to stick with his research although he nearly ran out of money and credibility with no one believing their initial data. With a huge opportunity at his hands and neither his TTO interested nor a founder to be found, he got stuck with starting the company himself and getting his research out of the lab. His biggest learnings to date revolve around the people involved in and around the startup and how to design an organisation that fits the goals and current phase of the journey.

Rick, a computer scientist by training, most probably does the type of startup investments with the highest risk profile: early stage and deep tech only. He is a partner at one of Europe's top venture capital firms: Speedinvest. Rick can really tell the difference (and the similarities) between investing into tech startups vs. deep tech ventures with significant tech risk involved. We discuss Speedinvest's approach of embracing the early stage of deep tech investments and why ecosystems are crucial for nurturing the power of new technologies through ventures. Rick is also an expert in artificial intelligence and gives us his perspective on the most exciting developments in this very field.

Fernando is the Director of Runway and Spinouts at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech. Located in a beautiful building on Roosevelt Island, New York City, he is on a challenging mission: find highly talented, yet highly frustrated researchers globally and support them in discovering their inner entrepreneur. He has built a program that serves as a runway for postdocs on their path towards a spin-off. The package includes significant funding, mentorship, a tailored MBA and even emotional support. Fernando can show today that the program delivers on its promise to build intellectual property, turn scientists into entrepreneurs and wipe away frustration.We talk about what he sees in an empty lab and how this motivated him to dedicate his career to building startups. He also tells us the „dirty little secret“ of how he became the Director of Runway and Spinouts. His program is unique since it is tailored to a very specific target group. The uniqueness lies in its flexible support system, a carefully designed cohort of individuals in order to keep the pressure and emotional support high, plus an easy as well as transparent tech transfer deal. The conversation with Fernando is also fascinating because he is crystal-clear about his values and ambitions.

João Barros is CEO & Co-Founder of Veniam, connecting all mobile things – from car to drone to dash cam – to the internet. We talk about what it takes to make that seemingly simple step of connecting moving objects to the internet happen and where this could take us once millions of devices use Veniam. And João knows what he is talking about; having been deeply curious and excited about the future of the internet since the 90s and having an active role in building it starting with 2G and 3G phones.João has always been driven by his curiosity to try out new things and the serendipitous connections to passionate people that inspired him. We hear his story of how in 2011/12 a lot of those ingredients came together perfectly to build Veniam from the research and IP created at University of Porto. João traces back a lot to a sabbatical at MIT and the on-going cooperation with US universities that fueled his own interest in entrepreneurship with the conclusion that the only way to really learn it is to do it. Serendipity brought him together with his co-founder and necessity in an economically dire situation propelled him to build a company to create a future for his students at the time.After nearly a decade of building Veniam, we talk about the ups and downs of creating and scaling a company, the scientific method applied to business, making tough decisions and having to let go a third of your company and how to ultimately accept that the saying “the technology is only 5% of your business” might be true although tough to swallow as a professor.

As Director Venture Capital for Micron's $100M AI Fund, Gayathri, or just „G“, is actively investing in startups that apply AI to solve critical problems in the areas of manufacturing, healthcare and automotive. She brings over 20 years of multi-disciplinary experience across product management, product marketing, corporate strategy, M&A and venture investments in large Fortune 500 companies such as Dell and Corning and in startups. She has also worked as an early stage investor at Earlybird Venture Capital, a premier European venture capital fund based in Germany. G has seen the development of AI from day one of her career and understands the field from a technical as well as a business perspective.We dedicate a major part of our conversation to the current state of AI ventures: the issue of „AI wash“, specific challenges for AI-based ventures and in which applications AI can already create significant value & impact. Wa also try to understand how the „crystal ball“ of venture capitalists works and whether AI might help here as well. Finally, we touch upon the benefits of corporate-startup-partnerships and the key lessons that G derives from her current role at Micron.

Dejan Hušman is CEO & Co-Founder of denovomatrix – a life science spin-off out of TU Dresden founded in 2018. Denovomatrix is a key enabling technology to manufacturing stem cells at high quality and quantity with application fields in cell therapy, cell-based meat or vaccine production. They are innovating in an area that hasn't seen much change for the past 30 years but has huge potential for our future.From a young age, having grown up with entrepreneurs as parents, Dejan felt that being an entrepreneur himself was the only path to follow. He talks about his love for science, building a personal competitive advantage and the role of the other people along his path: in particular, his mentor and his professor and how they helped focus his curiosity, provided the breeding ground for innovation and startups during his PhD and brought together the initial founding team and supporters for denovomatrix. We speak about the most important lessons he learned in these first three years of building the company. And although the journey is far from over Dejan is incredibly clear not only about the vision but also the limitations of the company and the ultimate end goal, the exit scenario for denovomatrix. Dejan has benefited greatly from mentors in his last couple of years but also sees the flaws and limitations in the German or European research ecosystem in producing high quality startups. Thus, we hear about his biggest wish for the ecosystem that is to include more experienced former entrepreneurs and other people that direct “these engines of curiosity, i.e. PhD students just researching something” to get to the core question around the value of someone's research more quickly.

Jan Schnorr co-founded C2Sense as a spin-off from MIT and served both as CTO and CEO before leaving his company in 2019. He now spends his time as “management consultant for startups”, helping scientists build their companies and initial teams – both in the US and Germany, amongst others as a Startup Scouting Consultant at the Max Planck Foundation. We learn about the first steps of building C2Sense, the support of the MIT ecosystem and differences and similarities between the Boston ecosystem and Germany, Jan's home turf.Jan shares his learnings and reflections on his time in various roles building up his company, jumping from researcher to CTO to CEO. He talks about the importance of knowing yourself to be at home in every role and designing it to fit your own personality and skillset. We talk in-depth about his understanding of leadership, the valuable lessons he learned as a cub scout leader in his home state around motivating people to join a cause and the role of empathy and unfiltered feedback. Jan has a deep motivation for building teams, and he shares his learnings on choosing the right people, the importance of clearly defining roles in advance, and talks about how investing enough time and energy into good hiring pays off for a startup.

This episode is with the former Partner & Managing Director and Co-Leader of the Deep Tech unit at BCG, Chairman at Hello Tomorrow, author, deep tech investor & advisor Massimo Portincaso. Massimo has studied the deep tech landscape internationally like no other. As a co-leader of BCG's „Deep Tech Mission“ he has gained an extraordinary rich perspective on emerging technologies, those startups building businesses out of them as well as investors helping to grow deep tech ventures. In partnership with Hello Tomorrow, Massimo has published several reports on deep tech related topics, such as: Nature Co-Design, Deep Tech - The Great Wave of Innovation as well as The Deep Tech Investment Paradox. All of them are true thought leadership and based upon outstanding analyses of the international ecosystem.In our conversation, Massimo shares his view on what constitutes deep tech and why now is the time for the big wave of deep tech ventures. In particular, we discuss the most relevant findings from the Deep Tech Investment Paradox report: why venture capital needs to get back to its roots, how the investment game needs to change in order to help deep tech ventures being built and grow as well as why the limited partners are key for making this change happen. Massimo also tells us what technologies excite him the most and why it is up to all of us to discuss how we want to implement them in our everyday lives.In case you want to read the report yourself, here is the link: https://hello- tomorrow.org/bcg-the-deep-tech-investment-paradox/You should also follow his thought leadership & work via The Antidisciplinarian:https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the- antidisciplinarian-6635292802584457216/

Ask Ravikumar is an Entrepreneurship Development Officer at CERN - the world-famous research organization where the World Wide Web originated from and the Higgs Boson was discovered - and manages the Business Incubation Center there. He is also one of the rare individuals possessing twenty years of experience in technology transfer from three different continents. He gained his expertise in the US, Australia and now in Europe. Ash is definitely a forward thinker with clear values and a true gentleman. His rich collection of deep tech stories makes him the ideal guest for our podcast.We touch upon the skillset needed for becoming a good tech transfer officer and what motivated him to get on this path. Ash outlines his understanding of how new inventions make it to market and can change the world, if we put them into the right hands. For him, tech push is not dead. This also brings us to CERN's strategy for building and collaborating with startups and how to put the right incentive system in place - on both the micro level (e.g. cap table of a single spin-off) and the macro level (KPIs for research organizations). Finally, we get Ash's perspective on how to measure the impact of a startup.

Luuk Eliens is Partner and Chief Commercial Officer of XNode, the leading Chinese platform for global innovation with offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Singapore. XNode is on a mission to build a global platform for innovation connecting China to the rest of the world by empowering innovators and entrepreneurs to build businesses with global impact. To realize it's mission, XNode consists of five business units: (1) XNode Community – a physical space where innovators can connect, (2) XNode Innovation service – where XNode works together with its corporate partners to realize innovation through consultancy, accelerators and training services, (3) XNode Launch China – where XNode supports startups and scaleups to grow, (4) XNode Venture Building – where XNode takes equity stakes in selected companies and (5) XNode Labs – where moonshot projects are explored.Luuk is definitely a pioneer with regard to bringing professional startup activities to China - he is heading the venturing activities of HightechXL there since 2017 - and meanwhile extended his activities to Singapore by co-initiating the Singapore Deep Tech Alliance. As an entrepreneur and investor himself, he does understand what it takes to build a startup and at the same time is a thought leader in the field of deep tech venturing, its specific challenges and approaches to enable it.In this episode, we take a closer look at the Chinese startup landscape and what makes venture building so hard in this ecosystem. Luuk also explains the idea behind the Singapore Deep Tech Alliance and how exactly venture building is being done there. We also discuss the main challenges of deep tech venturing, why methods such as the Lean Startup possess a limited value for this type of innovation and Luuk proposes a radical approach for changing thew rules of tech transfer in order to pave the way for more startups in collaboration with research organizations.

Dr. Andreas Olmes is THE expert at HTGF - the most active early-stage VC in Europe - for industrial tech ventures. Since 2008, Andreas has been financing companies in hardware-related industries. Seven successful exits have covered over half of the investment outlay for his portfolio. He also enjoys programming Excel and CapTable tools to make the lives of his HTGF colleagues easier. Not too long ago, he co-initiated an expert circle at HTGF focusing on product-market-fit. Andreas Olmes holds a PhD in physics and has always enjoyed working on the strategic development of companies. In the first ten years of his professional career, he handled the transformation of an eye-surgery practice into a clinic, set up his own VC-financed technology firm and helped the owner of a sales company to establish his firm in the laser market, in a move that proved highly successful. With Andreas, we not only discuss why there are so many physicists among successful VCs and tech transfer officers, but also what triggered him to become a VC. Also, he has a very clear picture of how a successful startup team looks like: he advocates for more „product teams“ instead of the dominant model of rather management-driven teams. This is also due to the fact that for him product-market-fit is the key enabler for successful venturing. We also touch upon the role of research organizations in forming new ventures and his perspective on the right deal structure. Since Andreas is a passionate supporter of the sustainability movement, he also outlined why deep tech is the solution for addressing many of the relevant issues.

Paulo Marques is CTO & Co-Founder of Feedzai - a company using machine learning to make banking and commerce safe by combining fraud prevention and anti-money laundering under one platform to manage financial crime. Feedzai is Portugal's newest unicorn raising a $200m Series D round in April and now looking to further grow internationally.Paulo has always been fascinated by computers and the possibilities to create and simulate new things with them and at the same time he loves trying out every new thing he comes across and "living different lives within his life". So the jump from his research career to becoming an entrepreneur was probably inevitable. We talk about the difference between technology and product, running initial experiments as a company until the pivotal moment of finding product-market-fit and the first type of clients you need to discover after that. We learn how they keep the company at the top of its game by constantly asking what could put themselves out of business. After twelve years of building and growing Feedzai, Paulo's role today is as much about technical roadmaps as it is about the operating system of people - and it remains all about teaching, what he loved doing as a professor and what he does now with his employees. Talking about his alma mater we also learn how you can set up an extremely valuable win-win-relationship with your university even without any kind of contracts and negotiations. Join us on a rich conversation on everything from technology to business execution to the human factor - everything it takes to build an internationally successful product company.

Ben Soffer is a distinguished expert in technology transfer, hightech venture building and investing. Among others, he headed the technology transfer department of the renowned Technion university for 13 years, has co-founded and led the Technion DRIVE accelerator and was the Chairman of the Israel Technology Transfer Organization for many years. Through helping various spin-offs to get off the ground as well as through his roles in investment management, Ben understands how to build, scale and exit hightech startups. Beyond that, life sciences and healthcare are at the core of his expertise. Until recently, he was the Head of Strategic Industry Partnerships at King's College London. Having worked not only on Israel, but also in the US and the UK, he gained a rich understanding of the international startup ecosystems.Ben will share with us his perspective on why small nations, such as Israel, or Singapore excel at innovation, explain why the startup itself is the best vehicle for innovation as well as why a certain amount of paranoia is beneficial for entrepreneurship. We also discuss the difference of deal structures between life sciences and engineering-based ventures and how alignment of interest is done right. Ben also outlines his view on the future of healthcare, the new role of hospitals and what makes him stick to the hightech ventures ecosystem.

Max Gulde is CEO & Co-Founder of ConstellR - a space data and services company leading the way in delivering daily, global land surface temperature maps for the agritech industry - to help provide 50% more food in the next 30 years. Max has only recently made the jump from researcher to entrepreneur and is now running a company with 15+ people, they'll send their first payload to the ISS in 2022 and have just closed their first financing round. We talk about his journey from deep technological research to running a company and his motivation to do the work he's doing on a daily basis. Additionally, we hear about his journey from institute to company and discuss the mindset it needs for a successful negotiation between a spin-off and their research institute.

Jörg Sperling, a passionate mountaineer, has been a hightech investor for more than two decades. His investment expertise ranges from the very early stage as an angel investor, institutional & corporate venture capital, to private equity. He was directly involved in almost 50 transactions as an investor, buyer or seller. As an electrical engineer by training, we talk about Jörg‘s transition into the investment space and his insights from three of the world‘s leading ecosystems for hightech ventures: the Silicon Valley, Israel and Munich. We also elaborate on the difficulty of creating spin-offs from a research organization and how the founding team needs to be composed in order to be investment-ready. Jörg also gives very helpful advice on how a healthy relationship between founders and their investors should look like.