Podcasts about european vcs

In this episode, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Oliver Holle, Founding Partner at Speedinvest, to unpack Europe's current position in the global venture landscape. Fresh off the EUVC Summit and gearing up for GITEX, Oliver brings the heat — calling out flawed narratives, making the case for political engagement by founders and VCs, and breaking down the strategic implications of geopolitical capital shifts.Oliver shares how Europe is better positioned than its reputation suggests, why AI represents a public narrative opportunity for tech, and how learning from private equity could help European VCs build durable winners. From silent fund shutdowns to the rise of solo GPs, this episode is a crash course in navigating the new European venture normal.Here's what's covered:03:46 Key Relationships in the Founder-VC Dynamic09:56 Navigating Power Dynamics in Founder-VC Relationships22:03 The Importance of Team Dynamics in Startups26:05 Building Effective Communication and Culture in Growing Teams28:44 The Challenge of Team Dynamics in VC Firms32:36 Addressing Ego Issues in Leadership38:32 The Evolving Role of Founders47:12 Self-Reflection and Personal Growth55:12 The Importance of Energy Management

The landscape of venture capital is evolving, and Isomer Capital is at the forefront with its new fund designed to meet the dynamic needs of the European venture capital market.We sat down with Joe Schorge and Omolade Adebisi from Isomer to talk through the market, the strategy and the future. Well-worth a watch as we open up the deck that raised the fund and tap the brains that incept and run it. But let's get the headline numbers in place:100 M€ Fund dedicated to secondaries exclusively.65-75% of dedicated to acquiring Limited Partner (LP) interests in existing VC funds.An additional 15-25% is earmarked for direct secondaries in companies, providing crucial liquidity to stakeholders.The remaining funds, up to 15%, are reserved for discretionary investments, which may include buying stakes or carry from general partners.This strategic distribution of funds is a response to the current market conditions where many European VCs have yet to realize significant returns from their investments. These circumstances often necessitate liquidity solutions for personal reasons—such as purchasing homes or funding private education—or professional requirements like meeting General Partner (GP) commitments for raising new funds.Typical ticket sizes range from €1 million to €10 million injecting much-needed flexibility and liquidity across Europe's venture capital ecosystem and broadening Isomer's impact beyond the traditional fund of funds model to include any Europe-based fund or startup

Fintech start-up Neverless has embarked on an innovative launch strategy with five euro notes hanging on trees across the city of Dublin. The money on trees concept comes by a team of ex-Revolut executives, Neverless aims to democratize strategies traditionally reserved for the elite, and they're making their mark with an attention-grabbing approach. Neverless, Money on Trees The famous saying that money doesn't grow on trees asks us to be careful with our spending habits and be mindful of how difficult it is to make money. However, Nevertheless are are on a mission to make it easier to share in the earning potential of investments. Perhaps money in the future really will grow on virtual trees. The campaign was planned to surprise the wider public and ignite their imaginations by placing mock banknotes on smaller trees to planting an actual money tree in Peace Park. But what exactly is Neverless, and how does it turn trees into money-making machines? At its core, Neverless employs a blend of trading and arbitrage opportunities within the cryptocurrency markets to generate significant returns for its users. Since its release in December, the platform has garnered over 3000 downloads, signaling its impact in the fintech world. "Neverless has been in stealth mode for the past year," reveals head of marketing Rita Riera Pastallé. "But now, we're ready to show the world what we're made of - one money tree at a time." But Neverless isn't just about catchy marketing stunts. It's a serious player in the world of wealth management. Registered as a Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) in the EU and in the process of obtaining its Mifid license, Neverless is committed to operating within regulatory frameworks while delivering innovative solutions. The app's success speaks for itself. With a pre-seed funding round of $6.7 million from leading European VCs in 2023, Neverless has positioned itself as a significant player in the European fintech landscape. Gorilla aka guerrilla marketing has the ability to disrupt, engage, and resonate with audiences. Firstly, its unconventional approach grabs attention in a crowded marketplace, ensuring that the brand stands out amidst the noise. By filling Dublin's trees with cash, Neverless created a spectacle that captured the imagination of passersby and garnered widespread media coverage. Secondly, guerrilla marketing is highly cost-effective, allowing brands to achieve maximum impact with minimal financial investment. It naturally fosters high engagement by inviting audience participation and interaction, as demonstrated by the intrigue surrounding the "money trees" planted across the city. This level of engagement not only increases brand awareness but also fosters a deeper connection with the target audience. With plans to expand beyond Dublin's borders, the app is poised to bring its disruptive approach to wealth-building to a global audience. Earning more doesn't always have to mean doing more. Neverless stands out by offering a simpler path to financial growth. With its blend of innovation, accessibility, and a touch of whimsy, Neverless is changing the game one money tree at a time. See more breaking stories here.

✅ My fully comprehensive dtc course - how to build an e-commerce brand from scratch - https://www.learnrealcommerce.com/full-course-enroll-now-ogI Raised £2.5m Seed Funding from Top Tier European VCs, Here's Why I Did it - Doc The Journey Ep 61❤️ Thanks for watching - please SUBSCRIBE to the channel here ❤️https://www.youtube.com/c/MidnightPodcastChannel?sub_confirmation=1✅ All my links in one place! ✅https://linktr.ee/matthucius

In this episode, we shine a spotlight on the concerns of European VCs and CEOs, who are vigilant about the specter of AI over-regulation. Join the dialogue as we navigate the evolving landscape of AI governance and its implications for the European tech industry. Invest in AI Box: ⁠https://Republic.com/ai-box⁠ Get on the AI Box Waitlist: ⁠⁠⁠https://AIBox.ai/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠AI Facebook Community⁠ ⁠Learn more about AI in Music⁠ ⁠Learn more about AI Models

Red flags are raised as European VCs and CEOs express concerns over the looming threat of over-regulation in the AI sector. Dive into the discussions surrounding the potential impact on AI innovation and the delicate balance between regulation and progress. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: https://AIBox.ai/Join our ChatGPT Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189/Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaeden_ai

Join the conversation on AI governance as European VCs and CEOs express their concerns, warning against the potential pitfalls of over-regulation in the artificial intelligence sector. Explore the multifaceted discussions shaping the future landscape of AI. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: https://AIBox.ai/Join our ChatGPT Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189/Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaeden_ai

Join the chorus of concern as European VCs and CEOs issue a warning about the potential threat of over-regulation in the AI landscape. Explore the nuanced discussions surrounding the delicate balance between regulatory measures and fostering innovation. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: https://AIBox.ai/Join our ChatGPT Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189/Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaeden_ai

Explore the cautionary signals from European VCs and CEOs as they raise alarm bells about the looming threat of over-regulation in the field of artificial intelligence. Delve into the potential consequences and the ongoing discourse surrounding AI governance. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: https://AIBox.ai/Join our ChatGPT Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189/Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaeden_ai

In this episode, we dissect the cautionary messages from European venture capitalists and CEOs who are raising red flags about the dangers of over-regulating artificial intelligence. Invest in AI Box: ⁠https://Republic.com/ai-box⁠ Get on the AI Box Waitlist: ⁠https://AIBox.ai/⁠ ⁠AI Facebook Community Learn About ChatGPT Learn About AI at Tesla

In this episode, we dissect the red flags raised by European VCs and CEOs signaling potential AI over-regulation, unraveling the intricacies of their warnings and examining the delicate balance between innovation and regulation. Invest in AI Box: https://Republic.com/ai-box Get on the AI Box Waitlist: ⁠⁠https://AIBox.ai/⁠⁠ AI Facebook Community Learn more about AI in Video Learn more about Open AI

In this podcast episode, we dive into the concerns voiced by European venture capitalists and CEOs about the potential over-regulation of artificial intelligence. Explore the discussions on how excessive regulations could impact AI innovation and the tech industry's growth. Gain valuable insights into the delicate balance between regulation and fostering AI advancements. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: https://AIBox.ai/Join our ChatGPT Community: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189/⁠Follow me on Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/jaeden_ai⁠

In this episode, we delve into the growing concerns raised by European venture capitalists and CEOs about the potential over-regulation of AI technologies. Join us as we explore the complexities of striking a balance between fostering innovation and safeguarding ethical and responsible AI use in Europe. Gain valuable insights into the evolving landscape of AI regulation and its potential impact on the tech industry. Get on the AI Box Waitlist: https://AIBox.ai/Join our ChatGPT Community: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189/⁠Follow me on Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/jaeden_ai⁠

Lucas Timberlake, general partner at Fintech Ventures Fund, the US VC that has a focus on fintech and insurtech, and Ricardo Schäfer,early-stage investor and partner at Revolut backer Target Global, discuss the differences between European VC and US VC funds while also offering insights into the European fintech market.Timberlake, though, says the most prominent difference is between US West Coast VCs and US East Coast VCs, which are more aligned to European VCs.Timberlake says, generally speaking, US West Coast VCs are looking for binary outcomes, while US East Coast and European VCs are more focused on revenue and loss aversion.Schäfer said it was difficult to generalise about the differences between US and European VC funds, given fund-to-fund differences.That said, he said European VC funds tend to be a little smaller in size.The pair also discuss the trend of US VCs, such as Sequoia and General Catalyst, opening London offices, Schäfer said: “When I first went to the US ten years ago, I remember talking to funds on Silicon Valley's Sand Hill Road and they wouldn't even fly to Los Angeles. Europe was really kind of far away.“Of course, if you are on the ground and you can play at seed, and if you hit the winners you will obviously be a lot better at deploying capital because you have to build relationships.”He said this strategy of US VCs ploughing more resources into Europe was seeming to work.Timberlake says: “I think it makes sense specifically for the multi-stage funds to have a presence in Europe from seed onwards.”On whether the trend of US VCs investing heavily in Europe would continue, Schäfer said: “Obviously what you have seen over the last couple of years is big fintechs emerge out of Europe. If you look at Wise, if you know look at Revolut, obviously Klarna and a bunch of others. That has definitely created a lot of attention.”

Kevin Muller is the CEO and co-founder of Passbolt, a security-first, open-source password manager, and he joined me to talk about the risks of having too much time and money, the value of getting trashed on social media and why he values in-person interactions with the team. There were a lot of interesting pieces to pick apart from this episode. First of all, Kevin talked about the importance of not commercializing too early. I think he's the only founder I've ever heard say something along those lines, but he makes a good argument. (Also, Tim Chen and I talked about the timing of commercialization last week, my takeaway is that no one feels like they commercialized at precisely the right moment). Second, we had a good discussion about how the different priorities of European versus American investors can push companies to make different decisions. The subtext that we didn't address directly is make sure you are aware that your investors priorities are going to influence how your company evolves, choose your investors with that in mind. (and check out the episode with Markus Düttmann if you want more on the EU vs US investment environment for open source startups). Lastly, password managers have been in the news, and not in a good way — and how to best react to a super embarrassing situation for a competitor is not always obvious. So we talked about how Passbolt has tried to steer the conversation about password management in light of recent high-profile hacks in the ecosystem. Highlights: Kevin introduces himself and describes his work at Passbolt (00:26) How Kevin got the idea for Passbolt and the story of how he brought his idea to life (01:07) The mistakes that Kevin and his co-founders made when launching Passbolt (05:03) What happened when Kevin and his co-founders officially launched Passbolt in 2016 (08:12) How Kevin and his co-founders decided to move from a purely open-source product to a commercialized product (09:32) Why Passbolt is a hybrid company and the value Kevin sees in having employees spend time in the office (12:41) Kevin describes why it was so important for Passbolt to be an open-source company (15:58) Why Kevin feels it's important not to commercialize an open-source product too quickly (19:07) The different priorities of European VCs versus U.S. VCs (21:58) Why honest feedback is so valuable and how Kevin and his team evaluated the feedback they got at the launch of Passbolt (24:26) Kevin's reaction to data breaches that happen to other password management solutions (27:09) The biggest challenges that Kevin and the team at Passbolt are working on currently (31:09) Kevin's advice to open-source founders (32:47) Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmuller80/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passbolt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/passbolt Company: https://www.passbolt.com

This week we discuss:01:07 Johnny Boufarhat steps down as CEO of Hopin04:55 Prima Materia makes third startup investment — into longevity08:31 European VCs see exodus of women investors11:58 The ‘crazy' £20bn subsea cable to bring Moroccan solar power to the UK22:38 Can French startups overcome their elitist image?

In this episode, we delve into the open letter signed by European VCs and tech firms, warning about the potential stifling impact of over-regulating AI as per draft EU laws. We explore their concerns, the implications for innovation in the AI space, and how a balance might be struck between regulation and technological progress. Inflection AI Report Get on the AI Box Waitlist: https://AIBox.ai/ Investor Contact Email: jaeden@aibox.ai Facebook Community: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189/⁠ Discord Community: https://aibox.ai/discord

Elon Musk blames AI companies for new paywalls on reading tweets. European VCs and tech firms warn against over-regulation of AI in EU la. GPT-4's big secret is revealed: it's a mixture of 8 smaller models using a 2-year-old technique. AI research papers discussed include Preference Ranking Optimization for Human Alignment, ChatGPT for Robotics, and Large Language Models are Effective Text Rankers with Pairwise Ranking Prompting. Contact:  sergi@earkind.com Timestamps: 00:34 Introduction 01:36 Elon Musk blames data scraping by AI startups for his new paywalls on reading tweets 02:51 European VCs and tech firms sign open letter warning against over-regulation of AI in draft EU laws 04:43 GPT-4's Secret Has Been Revealed 06:06 Fake sponsor 08:18 Preference Ranking Optimization for Human Alignment 09:49 ChatGPT for Robotics: Design Principles and Model Abilities 11:25 Large Language Models are Effective Text Rankers with Pairwise Ranking Prompting 13:34 Outro

» Die Themen der Folge 225: (00:05:25) NASDAQ: die besten ersten sechs Monate seit 40 Jahren https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/01/nasdaq-had-its-best-first-six-months-in-40-years-heres-the-next-test.html Erfolg von Kreuzfahrt-Betreibern https://twitter.com/almarrone/status/1674667310399778816 (00:07:54) Twitter sorgt mit seinen neuesten Änderungen für Aufsehen https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/30/23779764/twitter-blocks-unregistered-users-account-tweets https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/1/23781198/twitter-daily-reading-limit-elon-musk-verified-paywall https://waxy.org/2023/07/twitter-bug-causes-self-ddos-possibly-causing-elon-musks-emergency-blocks-and-rate-limits-its-amateur-hour/ https://mashable.com/article/twitter-api-elon-musk-developer-issues-apps https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/1/23781417/bluesky-halted-sign-ups-joining-twitter (00:19:27) Meta auf der Suche nach ihrem Platz im Tech-Ökosystem: Transparenzoffensive bei Algorithmen https://www.thestreet.com/technology/facebook-and-instagram-make-a-big-reveal-that-their-users-will-love Facebook will in Europa zum App Store werden - die Regulierung macht es möglich https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/29/23778928/meta-eu-facebook-plans-app-install-android-ads (00:25:05) Verbot von Payment for Order Flow und seine Konsequenzen https://archive.fo/027Dy https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-30/eu-to-ban-payment-for-orders-in-blow-to-digital-stock-brokers (00:33:10) Goldman Sachs & Apple https://www.golem.de/news/american-express-als-alternative-goldman-sachs-will-offenbar-partnerschaft-mit-apple-beenden-2307-175456.html (00:35:37) Google weigert sich, 'Link-Steuer' in Kanada zu zahlen und beabsichtigt die Nachrichtenlinks zu entfernen https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/29/23778820/google-search-news-discover-canada-links https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/06/google-tells-canada-it-wont-pay-link-tax-will-pull-news-links-from-search/ https://blog.google/intl/en-ca/company-news/outreach-initiatives/an-update-on-canadas-bill-c-18-and-our-search-and-news-products/ (00:41:11) European VCs and tech firms sign open letter warning against over-regulation of AI in draft EU laws https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/30/european-vcs-tech-firms-sign-open-letter-warning-against-over-regulation-of-ai-in-draft-eu-laws/ (00:49:42) Neues in Generative AI: Finanzierungsrunden bei Inflection & Runway https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/29/inflection-ai-lands-1-3b-investment-to-build-more-personal-ai/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2023/06/29/inflection-ai-raises-1-billion-for-chatbot-pi/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/29/runway-a-startup-building-generative-ai-for-content-creators-raises-141m/ GPT4 vs Project Gemini https://www.wired.com/story/google-deepmind-demis-hassabis-chatgpt/ https://thealgorithmicbridge.substack.com/p/gpt-4s-secret-has-been-revealed https://ai.googleblog.com/2022/11/mixture-of-experts-with-expert-choice.html Marc Andreessen zu AI bei Lex Fridman https://lexfridman.com/marc-andreessen/ (00:58:30) Erstes vollständig von KI generiertes Medikament startet in klinische Studien https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/29/ai-generated-drug-begins-clinical-trials-in-human-patients.html ByteDance Musik-App "Ripple" https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-owner-bytedance-debuts-ripple-music-creation-app-130023602.html Apple Vision Pro mit Produktionsproblemen https://archive.fo/ayDUZ

In der Mittagsfolge sprechen wir heute mit Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, Partner von Speedinvest, über die Ergebnisse einer der bisher größten Umfragen unter europäischen Investoren zum Status Quo der Wagniskapitalindustrie.Speedinvest ist ein Risikokapitalfonds mit einem Anlagevolumen von mehr als 1 Milliarde Euro, der in Pre-Seed-, Seed- und Early-Stage-Tech-Startups in ganz Europa investiert. Speedinvest wurde im Jahr 2011 von Daniel Keiper-Knorr, Erik Bovee, Michael Schuster, Oliver Holle und Werner Zahnt in Wien als Mikrofonds gegründet. Mittlerweile hat der VC ein Team aus über 40 Investorinnen und Investoren in Berlin, London, München, Paris und Wien. Das Portfolio umfasst über 300 Unternehmen, zu denen 6 Unicorns zählen, wie u.a. Bitpanda, GoStudent und Wefox. Zukünftig will der Wagniskapitalgeber einen noch größeren Fokus auf die branchenspezifische Strategie und auf die operative Support-Plattform richten, um bestehende Portfoliounternehmen neben dem Kapital noch weitergehend zu unterstützen. Die Fonds konnten für die institutionellen Investoren bisher mehr als das Fünffache der Bruttorendite erbringen.Speedinvest hat zusammen mit der Technischen Universität München in einer Umfrage die Sichtweisen von 437 Einzelinvestoren in ganz Europa erfasst und gibt damit Aufschluss über die Herangehensweise europäischer Wagniskapitalgeber an Startup-Investitionen und ihre Einschätzung zum Ökosystem in Europa im Vergleich zum US-amerikanischen Pendant. Nun hat der Risikokapitalfonds die Ergebnisse in dem Bericht "Inside the Minds of European VCs" veröffentlicht. Diese zeigen, dass die Branche nach wie vor vom Networking dominiert wird. Es gibt zwar zahlreiche Möglichkeiten für Wagniskapitalgeber, sich über Startup-Deals zu informieren, aber nur wenige werden als wirklich wertvolle Quellen wahrgenommen. Bei Investmententscheidungen ist das Managementteam des Startups laut 49 % der Befragten der entscheidende Faktor. 64 % der befragten Investoren sagen, dass das Managementteam der wichtigste Aspekt für den Erfolg eines Startups ist. 87 % der VCs betrachten Europa als ein fragmentiertes Ökosystem mit regionalen Zentren und unterschiedlichen Regulierungsverfahren, die Investitionen zunehmend komplexer machen würden. Außerdem glauben 84 % der Investoren, dass Europas Einhorn-Unternehmen überbewertet sind. Die Mehrzahl von 87 % analysiert die Finanzkennzahlen des Startups vor einer Investition. Mit Blick auf die finanzielle Rendite streben Investoren laut der Umfrage von Speedinvest im Durchschnitt eine Rendite von 5x und eine IRR von 30 % an. Im Vergleich zu den USA gaben 70 % der befragten Investoren an, dass die größte Stärke Europas in seinem Bildungssystem und seinen akademischen Einrichtungen liegt.

Top-tier European VCs are still attracting capital to deploy, Director of Biopharma Intelligence Stephen Hansen said on the latest BioCentury This Week podcast, with LPs looking at funds' track record and the track record for biotech. Hansen discusses how Forbion and Gilde will deploy their newly announced funds as well as what's new in their strategies as they raise some of the biggest VC vehicles ever in Europe. BioCentury's editors also discuss the U.S. Supreme Court's mifepristone ruling and comments filed by the biopharma industry about CMS's draft guidance on implementing the Inflation Reduction Act.

Ophelia Brown is the Founder of Blossom Capital, one of Europe's newest but leading early-stage venture firms. Ophelia and the Blossom team have invested in stand-outs including Checkout, Duffel, Tines, and Moonpay. Prior to Blossom, Ophelia was a GP at LocalGlobe and a Principal at Index Ventures where her investments included Robinhood and Typeform. In Today's Episode with Ophelia Brown We Discuss: 1.) From Restaurant-Owning DJ to Leading European VC: How Ophelia made her way into the world of venture and came to found Blossom? What does Ophelia know now that she wishes she had known when she entered venture? What does Ophelia feel she is running away from? 2.) Venture Capital: The Market: Why does Ophelia believe the best venture firms focus either by stage/theme/geography? Why does Ophelia believe that marketing in venture has no substance? How can founders determine between what is real and what is false? Why does Ophelia believe that growth investors have ruined the venture market? When does Ophelia believe VCs will realise that FOMO investing is not a good strategy? 3.) Ophelia Brown: The Investor and Fund Manager: What has been Ophelia's biggest investing mistake? How did it change her mindset and approach? In a world where everyone does seed investing, why does Ophelia not? How was raising the first Blossom fund? What were some of her biggest lessons? Why does Ophelia believe that follow-on investing can damage returns? How does Ophelia reflect on her own relationship to price? When has she paid up and it worked? When has she paid up and it not worked? Does Ophelia think it is fair that many find her curt and abrasive to work with? 4.) Europe: Is Now Really The Right Time? What would Ophelia like to see change in the way European VCs act? If Ophelia could invest in one seed firm, one Series A firm and one growth firm in Europe, what would they be? Why? What are 1-2 of the biggest barriers Europe must overcome in the next 5 years?

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today's episode of Alt Goes Mainstream features someone who is building a vertical SaaS solution for fund managers and LPs.Today's guest is Michel Geolier, the Co-Founder and CEO of Betterfront, a b2b vertical SaaS company dedicated to private markets. He's building a comprehensive solution to enable fund managers to more efficiently and effectively fundraise trade secondary market fund interests.Betterfront's mission is to transform the way alternative fund managers engage, win, and retain investor by using technology, data, and analytics. Betterfront is already trusted by a number of top European VCs, including Cherry Ventures, Partech, Episode 1, and more.Michel comes at the problem of fundraising with a very unique perspective. He was previously on the LP side, where he led due diligence and fund manager selection for the Siemens' pension fund in Germany. And he started Betterfront out of frustration for poor solutions for analyzing alternative investment funds.Michel and I had a thought-provoking conversation about the current challenges that GPs have with fundraising and how Betterfront was built to provide better solutions for GPs. We discussed how much of private markets technology is ripe for disruption and why it's historically been difficult to build modern specialized software for private markets. We then look to the future about how Michel believes that the placement agent and secondaries businesses can be disrupted with technology and data.Thanks Michel for coming on the AGM podcast. We hope you enjoy.

Integration coach and change catalyst, Marcus Antonius Druen, joins Paul F. Austin to discuss the Psychedelic Map for Change. Over the last 20 years, Marcus Druen optimized his career to play the ‘success game' as a self-employed executive coach and organizational development consultant who worked for corporations such as Microsoft, Adobe, KPMG, Sanofi Biologics, EON Energy and Lidl, as well as European VCs and start-ups like Future Energy Ventures, Xempus, and Desolenator. For the next 20 years, he endeavors to play the ‘impact game'. He is a bridge-builder between the existing system and the new one that clearly wants to emerge. Accelerated by the pandemic, Marcus is on an exciting yet daunting journey of stepping into his purpose with love and power. Marcus is committed to elevating the consciousness of business people to co-create the regenerative renaissance. His current contribution to this movement is the Psychedelic Map For Change, which he uses as the basis for his practice as a psychedelic integration coach. Find episode links, summary, and transcript here. Highlights: The impactful events in Marcus's life that led him to coaching and consulting. How Marcus bridges his “two strengths in life,” psychedelics and business. The Psychedelic Map For Change: ‘Tool, Tribe, & Token' Marcus's current projects, including his breathwork course. Episode Links: Psychedelic Map For Change Marcus on LinkedIn Marcus on Twitter Marcus's 6-Week Transformational Breathwork Course Marcus's Leading Audacious Change Podcast Brave Earth, Costa Rica Ken Wilber's Integral theory Spiral Dynamics Teal Organizations Hawkins Scale of Consciousness Frédéric Laloux Book, Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, by Dr. David Hawkins This episode is brought to you by MycroDrops™ Powerful Micro-Elixirs made from Adaptogen and nootropic herbs and mushrooms. Get MOTIVATED, FOCUSED & GROUNDED! Use code THIRDWAVE and take $10 off your first purchase of $30 or more.  

This is the last of a four episode long special on the MENA region here at The European VC. This special series of episodes focuses on everything MENA VC, bridging the gap with its European counterparts. We intend to shed light on the ins and outs of venture in the region and promote collaboration between Europe and MENA.For this special series of episodes we welcome our dear friend and special co-host Mostafa Gado.And as a guest, we welcome Sharif, Chief Executive Officer of the Dubai Future District Fund, the evergreen venture capital fund of funds of Dubai, anchored by the Dubai International Finance Centre and the Dubai Future Foundation with an initial 1 billion Dirham in committed capital.In this episode you'll learn:– How Sharif built a stellar operator career in Silicon Valley and came back to the MENA region with the ambition, skills and network to make a true difference– The most complete overview of what Dubai Future District Fund as one of the region's most powerful LPs have in store for us – Sharif's views on the state of VC in MENA, where we're headed and how European VCs should think about raising from MENA-based LPs

Today's episode marks the 100th episode of The European VC so we've shifted things up and turned the tables on your usual hosts. This time, David and Andreas are the interviewees, lifting the covers on the vision behind The European VC and how an incurably optimistic former Danish bodybuilder and over-thinking Portuguese VC protégé ended up betting everything and tying themselves and their families' fortunes together by the hip. To interview them, nobody better than Tom, Affinity's European Regional Director and one of EUVCs long-standing supporters and friends. Besides that, Tom is a Data and Technology leader with 18 years experience in the European Venture Capital and Private Equity industry. We cannot wait to bring you this story and hope you'll enjoy hearing a bit more about your usual hosts. In this episode you'll learn:– The vision and origin story of The European VC – Why angels, VCs and ecosystem champions should connect around LP syndicates– What's been learnt from 100 interviews with European VCs and which episodes are the hottest!?– How the team behind The European VC is working to connect and democratize European VC - and what the pitfalls are.

“Create an anxiety balance sheet with the things you have control over and the things you don't have control over. Put the things that give you anxiety into these credits and debits and you'll realise that actually there's a lot more that's in your control than you think.” Kicking off our VC feature series, we're joined by Leila Zegna, the Founding General Partner of Kindred Capital. Kindred are building a new model for Venture Capital where every Founder they back becomes a co-owner of the fund. Launched in 2015, Leila and her Co-Founders are on a mission to create the venture firm they would have wanted to work with when they were running Startups themselves. Leila tells us more about their Equitable Venture model in today's episode, along with some candid mentorship, including: How she made the transition from Operator to VC [10:55] Why more Operators should work in VC [19:18]What European VCs can learn from their US counterparts [22:22]How Kindred's Equitable Venture model works [25:27]What advice Founders should keep in mind as they face the economic downturn [29:00]What Leila and the Kindred team are looking for when assessing businesses and their Founders [32:25]How Leila does everything she does all while having three kids under the age of 6 [37:21]And why she wants Kindred to be the best of its kind and not the biggest [41:36] ⛳️  Helpful links: ➡️ More about Leila: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leilazegna/➡️ More about Kindred Capital: https://kindredcapital.vc/ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm

We're excited to bring to you the EUVC LP roundtable! We've gathered three of Europe's master minds in VC fund investing for a candid, upfront discussion about topics core to European VCs. In this episode, we're joined by Chris Wade, exited entrepreneur and founding partner of Isomer Capital, David Dana, head of ICT Investments at the EIF, and Ertan Can, founding partner of Multiple Capital. In this episode you'll learn:- What the GP of the future will look like- What trends are driving the EUVC landscape today- Why secondaries are on the rise and likely to grow stronger- What bad LP behavior our panelists see in the market and which GPs should pay attention to and be wary of

Kevin Withane is the founder of Diversity-X: a community to help underrepresented founders who are trying to make a positive impact in the world thrive, scale, and grow. Chad talks with Kevin about giving underestimated founders connections and access, creating a venture fund, and creating a platform via DiversityX. Follow City DiversityX on Twitter (https://twitter.com/diversityx_vc). Follow Kevin on Twitter (https://twitter.com/KevinWithane) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwithane/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel. And with me today is Kevin Withane, founder of Diversity-X. Kevin, thanks for joining me. KEVIN: Chad, thank you so much for having me on this show. CHAD: Kevin, I know you have deep expertise and background in law and ethics and compliance, particularly when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. And that has led you to create Diversity-X. And so what is Diversity-X? KEVIN: Diversity-X is a community for underestimated founders trying to make a positive impact in the world. We're working on creating a VC fund for it. And also, it's an ecosystem to support those underestimated founders and help them thrive and scale, and grow. CHAD: That's great. What kind of support and community are underestimated founders lacking, and how does Diversity-X fill in that gap? KEVIN: I think it's a mix of connections and access. I use the term underestimated rather than what many people term as underrepresented because there are plenty of people of color founders, plenty of LGBTQ+ founders, plenty of female founders, disabled founders, veteran founders. There are lots of them in the world, so they are represented. They're just underrepresented in the equitable allocation of capital and particularly venture capital at early stage, which sees many of these founders not necessarily succeed or have to work that little bit harder just to get a starting place where many others get funding a lot earlier and a lot easier in their journey. And I'm not saying raising capital is easy at all for anybody, but it's easier for certain groups of people than it is for others. CHAD: What makes it easier? KEVIN: I'm going to be candid in my views. I think it makes it easier if you're a white male; nothing against white males, but it's easier. There's that privilege. But also, you look, sound, probably have a lot of similar backgrounds to the people who are allocating the money who have control over whether they invest or don't invest in the startups. And I think; also, they tend to have better connections or better ins. It is a generalized statement, but data shows that 93% of VC money typically goes to white male founders. So it's backed up by data to an extent. CHAD: Right. And it doesn't even need to be ill intent. In some cases, there might be, but it doesn't need to be. So much of the VC world is about connections, and what you've done previously, and who you know, and the intro you're able to get. And then, when you finally get the meeting, if you're out pitching something that just isn't even on the radar of the typical VC, they're not going to connect with your idea in the same way that you do. When we're building products, having a diverse team of people allows us to see all the different aspects of that product and have people saying, "Well, what about this? From my background or my perspective, I understand that this is a particular concern for women around the safety of this," or something. And people say, "Oh yeah, I didn't even realize that." KEVIN: Yeah, that's a great point. Within the Diversity-X community, very early on, I realized one of the probable flaws for VC is, let's be honest, it's a very male-dominated industry. I think they are making real strides to change it, make it more open, more accessible to females and people of color. But essentially, for the most part, it is people who look and sound the same and typically are a white male. And there's no disrespect, but sometimes you can get a pitch about femtech. And while she may go, "Yeah, I can see that this could be a problem," you don't know because the fact is you're not a woman. You just don't know. And I experienced that very early on speaking to a female founder who's part of the community, and she's really trying to do some amazing stuff. But at first, I was like, "I can empathize with the issues you're trying to address here and the problem, but that's as far as my knowledge goes." And it made me wonder if VCs who are getting this sort of pitch will probably turn them down. They can't understand the problem. So, therefore, they can't understand what the solution that the founder is trying to come up with is really trying to address. And so pushes it by because they don't have that expertise, and that's not their fault; it's just there's a lack of diversity in the VCs themselves to be able to address that. But then you hear these stories about male founders coming with a femtech solution almost on the back of a cigarette packet. And they're getting X amount of dollars to go and do some research and try and start building a product around what their idea is. And yet many of the female founders are scratching their head; well, we didn't have an in to that VC, so we never got in. And yep, so we don't get funding for what is a problem that we actually experience ourselves, and we're trying to address. CHAD: This conversation reminds me of a conversation that I had in 2018 in Episode 279 with Alex Friedman, the co-founder of LOLA, which is a feminine products company. And she talked about how it was clearly uncomfortable for the people that they were talking to to talk about these kinds of things. So even that can have an aspect to it where like...and then men may be more comfortable talking with men about feminine products than they are to women about them. And it just permeates the whole conversation when you're trying to launch a product that you need money for if it's uncomfortable, or it's foreign, or all of those things. KEVIN: Absolutely. The industry needs to change in a couple of ways, I see. There needs to be greater emphasis on VCs building networks and connections into the communities and to the founders that are underestimated people of color, female from different socioeconomic backgrounds that may not have been able to afford to go to MIT or Harvard but super-smart people solving real-life and real-world problems. And VCs themselves need to look at their own diversity, like, it is not diversity just for the sake of well, we need X number of women now with investing power, or we need more people of color to invest. It's because those people bring their lived experiences, which is the same for any business. It's no different if you're a big corporate. The reason for diversity is the same. It's to get that cognitive diversity, that cognitive difference of lived experience, which in the end, bring into your field. It's something as human beings we can't detach ourselves from. We can't detach ourselves from our lived experience. We take that everywhere we go. CHAD: So what's involved in creating a venture fund? KEVIN: A lot more work than I thought. CHAD: [laughs] KEVIN: I don't have a venture background, so I'm already 700 steps behind everybody else that is doing it. Even the good guys who are trying to actually address this problem, many of them actually come from a venture background. But I'm looking out there, and I'm seeing people like Matt the VC, Arlan Hamilton, and they inspire me that I can do this. Because, ultimately, I had a soft conversation with a family office just to try and explain what I'm doing and see if there'd be interest. And they actually liked the idea. But they said to me, "Who are your competitors out there?" And I said, "Look, you can think of me as naive, but the reality is I don't think I have any competitors." And the reason is because we have a mission. Our vision is a world where you don't have underestimated founders. Our mission is to grow the world's biggest community of underestimated founders and support those that are VC-ready and the right fit for funding that are going to be successful with capital. And whilst there are other companies and funds doing this, they have niches where they focus on certain areas. We're much broader. But ultimately, no matter how much I raised in the fund, it's never going to be enough. It's never going to be enough to meet the gap that there is right now and the opportunity. So when you say competitor, every time an underestimated founder gets funded and gets given the opportunity to really address the problem that they're trying to tackle, that's a win for me because it's helping my mission and the vision. So that's the way I look at it. And yes, that is a little bit naive, maybe. But you look at Elon Musk, and you look at founders who are trying to do amazing things. And you don't really knock them down for their grand visions. You have to aim high, and that's what we're trying to do at Diversity-X. CHAD: So I noticed that you are particularly focused on the UK and Europe. And in my experience, the investment community tends to be different between the United States and Europe. How have you found that, and has that been adding a challenge on top of a challenge? KEVIN: Yeah, it is adding a challenge on top of a challenge. It is different. I think the U.S., in some senses, is much more progressive, much more open. It's funny, I was talking to a friend, and I was saying...I can't really talk numbers because I don't want to get in trouble with the FCA. But I said to him, "This is the sort of size of the fund I'm looking to raise." And he is an American. And he just looked at me and said, "Why?" And I said, "Well, you need sort of skin in the game. You need this, this, and this." He looked at me and said, "You are the skin in the game. Your passion comes through." Guys in America, people will be looking at you, saying, "You're way too small. You need to go much bigger than this." And I said, "But skin in the game, skin in the game, skin in the game." He said, "Don't tell me about that. Go big and see if people will buy into it." And that's I think much more of the view across the pond. There's much more appetite. And I think for European VCs and particularly those probably starting out trying to address some of the issues that Diversity-X hopes to address, we've got to move probably and work hopefully in tandem with the more progressive, more open, more solution-oriented VC funds that are coming from the U.S. Because quite frankly, they are coming here now. They're coming to UK and Europe. But the reason I wanted to start in the UK and focus on the UK and Europe is that's where I'm based. That's where the best part of my knowledge is. Although interestingly, I guess my network is probably from the LP side, probably stronger in the U.S. So we'll see how that pans out. CHAD: I assume that there are some legal requirements to starting a venture fund. Or can anybody do it, I guess is the...[laughs] KEVIN: Maybe this is part of the problem as well as, the bar for entry just to start a fund is high, and it's expensive. So I guess I'm blessed that I've had the opportunities I've had in the past to be able to build something to be able to start this. But yeah, it's a myriad. And as a lawyer and someone who's even done transactional work on private equity and even helping some startups on fundraising and seeing how it works, it is very difficult. And you could be dealing with multiple jurisdictions depending on where your limited partners are. So there's a lot to factor in. And then it's not just the legal fees; it's the fund administration and the fund management. For instance, in the UK, are you going to be regulated if your fund doesn't need to be regulated? Or are you going to be authorized on your own, or are you going to use an umbrella? What does that mean? So it's a real steep learning curve. And I've got to admit, in my personal journey, there have been too few who have responded to my request just for help and advice, including what I would consider...I use this as the good guys, but the people trying to address the same problems that I am either focused on female. You reach out, but there's no return call. But there is one person who's a traditional fund; he is a white male VC. But honestly, he came back. We had a call. We talked about stuff. He said, "Keep in contact. Let me know how it's going," and he's tried to help me. A couple of weeks later, I didn't hear from him, and then all of a sudden, an email popped up, or a message popped up saying, "Oh yeah, sorry it's taken me a couple of weeks to get back to you. But I just wanted to make sure that here's an introduction. This could be the partner you're looking for blah, blah, blah." I was blown away by that, that kind gesture. Somebody who just literally could have had a call with me said, "Yeah, not interested in this, never going to go anywhere. Why exert any effort?" CHAD: That's great. You mentioned it is difficult. It's always difficult to start something new. But you're doing it alone. You don't have a partner. KEVIN: No. I'm on the hunt for a partner. It's like dating, I guess. You keep trying to kiss a lot of frogs to find that person. Ultimately, knowing that I'm going to get challenged, rightly so, on track record, I would like to find a partner who has VC experience, who buys in deeply to the concept, and the mission, and the vision that we have and is looking to build a VC firm, not a fund, i.e., this is not a one and done exercise. This is about creating over multiple funds and, hopefully, generationally growing this to something really special. CHAD: Well, if you're listening, and that describes you, get in touch with Kevin. [laughs] KEVIN: Absolutely. Mid-roll Ad I wanted to tell you all about something I've been working on quietly for the past year or so, and that's AgencyU. AgencyU is a membership-based program where I work one-on-one with a small group of agency founders and leaders toward their business goals. We do one-on-one coaching sessions and also monthly group meetings. We start with goal setting, advice, and problem-solving based on my experiences over the last 18 years of running thoughtbot. As we progress as a group, we all get to know each other more. And many of the AgencyU members are now working on client projects together and even referring work to each other. Whether you're struggling to grow an agency, taking it to the next level and having growing pains, or a solo founder who just needs someone to talk to, in my 18 years of leading and growing thoughtbot, I've seen and learned from a lot of different situations, and I'd be happy to work with you. Learn more and sign up today at thoughtbot.com/agencyu. That's A-G-E-N-C-Y, the letter U. CHAD: In the meantime, while you're working on building this venture fund, you said, okay, I'm going to start building a community right away, right? KEVIN: Yep. CHAD: And when it comes to platform, how are you doing that? Are you using something off the shelf? Are you piecing it together? How's it going? KEVIN: It's such hard work. Who would have thought? My wife laughs at me because since she's known me, every time we go into a town, or a village, or a shop that has a community board, I'll stop and read it. And she would laugh. She's like, "It's such a geeky thing to do." And I was like, "I love community. I like to know what's going on, what's happening." I presumed that it's, therefore, relatively easy to build one. Then I was very nervous, and I was like, I don't know how to get started. And somebody who's in the community but also just an amazing person, Amy, she said to me, "Dude, just get started. Stop procrastinating. Just start a WhatsApp group," so I did. And then I invited a couple of friendly faces, i.e., friends, and said, "Please, can you join this group?" And then I invited a couple of founders that I had just connected with and just started having conversations with. And from that moment...and this was early October, and then my son went into hospital. But from that moment, it started growing. So beginning of October 2021 to date, we have about 60 founders, which I think is not bad. And we use a WhatsApp group. Then I had some conversations and got some feedback from the founders. And they said, "Look, we need some more organization because our feed is blowing up with the amount of traffic going through it. So we need some sort of structure. We need some resources and different things." So I was looking around, and I was like, by the end of day, what can I get for free? Because I'm not making any money on this. And what can I get for free? So we moved it...we didn't move it. We set up on Slack. But I've got to say despite having more organization, the bulk of the activity still works around WhatsApp. But I will say this; I'm not a tech person, so I do need support on this. So if there's anybody who wants to volunteer to give me some advice, or help, or just come onboard maybe in some capacity, I am trying to build a platform that's web-based, maybe even app-based, that can help facilitate conversations, learning, investor matching. Because part of what I'm doing, whilst I haven't raised a fund yet, is that there are members in this community who need support right now, financially. I can't give that to them, but there are good people out there, good angels, or even some of them, probably VCs that would. And so it's trying to create a platform where we can connect those founders, those underestimated founders, and I think predominantly angels. But if any VCs want to join, that'd be great too, just to help these guys get started. They need to start moving forward, and they can't wait for me to get a fund up and running. So whatever I can do. So I am looking at building a platform. It's just in the question of how do I do this? And is there anybody to help me? CHAD: If you're a founder who wants to get involved in this community and think it would be beneficial to them, where do they go to do that? KEVIN: I'll say reach out to me either email me kevin.withane@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn, two best Places. We'll chat. But generally, the community is open. If you're an underestimated founder, if you just tick that box, you're in. Come and learn, grow, support, be supported. You'll see that. We've had some new members in the last week who have just said, "This is a really interesting community." And I spoke with one today that said, "I'm generally very wary, particularly about being around people who have similar businesses to what I have, you know, competitors." And I said, "Why? Why are you scared of competitors?" And she's in a field which relates to sustainability. I said to really deliver the sustainability you want to deliver, it's about collaboration, and that's what this group has. It has that in spades, people working together, people supporting each other, e-platform. They are going gangbusters on sharing information. This is what we use. This is a great book. This is a great resource. These are great people to go and speak to. And so it takes the pain and reduces the stresses of being a founder, which you've got to do so many different things. And generally, you've got to do all of those things on your own with a very few number of people supporting you. CHAD: And I imagine that a lot of the people in the community so far are people who invite each other in. KEVIN: Yeah, and there are other people that I've met who have contacted me and said, "Look, we've got this startup. We're looking for an advisor, or we're just looking for a bit of support," or even someone saying, "We're looking for investment." So I'm very upfront where we are at the stage we are. But I'll introduce him to the community, and they start embedding themselves in it. And it's growing. As I said, the mission I don't know if it's bold enough, but I think it is bold. CHAD: [laughs] KEVIN: It is to be the world's largest community of underestimated founders. And I actually asked a question with the group yesterday was, "How do I go from, say, 50 to 500 in a few months but real genuine people that want to be community members like actually contribute and be active?" I'm still waiting for the answer to that question. I'm hoping it's going to come next week. [laughs] CHAD: [laughs] So I'm curious, given your work in, and correct me if this is wrong, but I would say a more corporate space, in your work in international law firms and global public companies and that kind of thing. How has that experience either been different or the same as what you're trying to do now? And how do traditional companies approach issues like this? KEVIN: So I get to work with...I have a day job, as I call it, but Diversity-X and supporting diversity is my passion. To address some of the passions that I have, the reality is not every workplace can or chooses to allow that to happen for employees. In certain companies, your role is your role. And if you want more, then go outside. So for me, there are things I wanted to do that I don't get the opportunity to do in my workplace or in the way I want to do it in my workplace. So I started looking outside; well, who can I help that needs someone like me to help them with this sort of thing? And that's how I fell into helping startup founders. And that's where I found this absolute passion. I think everybody who works with founders and startups is always energized in a way that incorporates the energies that sits in pockets in my experience. And you don't tend to see huge organizations. And this is not to say they don't exist; there are some that do but who are energized and focused on a purpose. I think those that have purpose that's really, really clearly defined and embedded do have this energy of drive and innovation and disruption and even go as far as trying to have radical change. Others are trying to learn. And to be fair, to many organizations, some of this stuff is new to them. And they're learning, and it takes time, and you have to give them time, and you have to give them the opportunity to fail and make mistakes. So there are a lot of companies that are trying to do the right thing, trying to be better, trying to embrace their people and the issues, and the things that their people care about but as well as balancing with the wider stakeholders because they have multiple stakeholders; it's not easy. It's a tough balancing act for anybody in a leadership position in the corporate to say, "Well, look, we've got to deliver financial results. But also, we've got to think long term, but we're measured on short term." How do you do that? It takes a lot of work and effort, which is why I see the opportunity for startups, in particular, to operationalize this stuff early on. So that becomes embedded because retrofitting is very expensive and very time-consuming, and resource-heavy. CHAD: Having lived and worked in the UK, China, Hong Kong, Russia, The United States, how are things different in all those places when it comes to work and issues like this? KEVIN: Let me just quickly ask you a question see what you think. Where do you think was the hardest place of those locations to live and work? CHAD: Hmm. Russia? KEVIN: It's interesting. CHAD: I don't know. KEVIN: No, no, no. People would usually say, and people do say to me, "Oh, China must be really hard, or Russia must be really hard." CHAD: Well, I went to visit China about two and a half years ago. And it completely changed my perspective on what China is like, and so that's why I didn't answer China. But I don't want to invalidate your perspective if China was the most difficult place for you. [laughs] KEVIN: Actually, no. The United States was the hardest place, which is why in 2020, we made that decision, for multiple reasons, to return home back to the UK. It's the land of opportunity, but it's slipping by. They've got so much resource. They've got so much of everything. But there's such disunity in my perspective and in my lived experience. But if you're an American, you might see it differently. If you're someone, an immigrant who got naturalized there, you may see it differently. But in my personal experience, and that's all I can talk to, was that this is a deeply divided country that's frittering away the opportunity to truly be the greatest country in the world. And they talk about being the land of the free. I used to joke with my Canadian colleagues because I was in Detroit, so you look north. You look south, sorry, you look south to Detroit, which is the only place...and I use this as my pop quiz question of it's the only place in America, I believe, that if you look south, you're looking at Canada. But I used to say that's the land of the freer because truly, I actually felt more strict in the United States than living in Russia or in China. You get told what to do. It's just done in a different way in the United States, and that's just my experience. But look, I lived there for three and a half years. It's not a lifetime by any stretch of the imagination. And it was a time when I guess many of the people I love and care about in America probably said, "Kevin, you are here at the worst time to be here. CHAD: [laughs] Right. KEVIN: And this is not the real America." But unfortunately, that was the America I experienced. So it was the hardest place for me. CHAD: I think that that's actually where America gets into trouble is by continually saying, "This isn't the real America." And you can only say that for so long when we've been saying it for a long time. And so I think it's important to ask ourselves, isn't that actually the real America then? Sort of to your point of the VCs and not changing the demographics despite saying something is a problem and working at it over time. And, oh, we've made a percentage point of progress means that you're not really working on the problem or willing to change because you're probably not focused on the right things. KEVIN: Yeah. And you think about the United States of America it's funny, the house I'm living in is 172 years old. It is older than so many places in the States, and yet I remember someone saying, "Oh, you're living in a 1950s house. That's a really old house." [laughs] It's like, it's almost a new build in the UK. America has this rich history to still create. CHAD: And I think that's what lends us to being more aggressive when it comes to investment and more willing to take risks. So like you said, there are tons of opportunity and some tons of potential at the same time as there are probably real big problems. KEVIN: You know that saying about the rising tide benefits all? CHAD: Yeah. KEVIN: I think in VC, it has had a negative connotation because from the industrial gaslighting is yeah, there has been an increase in funding, but everybody got it. So the percentages of allocation didn't change. But also, America has that opportunity, in my view, to really rise everybody. Just take the education system; it should be the greatest education system in the world, bar none. The resources are there, the talent is there, the people are there, and they're hungry for that education. Heck, people from other countries scramble to get America to have a piece of that. But why is it not? And I think it's because there's too much protection of certain groups and an unwillingness to be more open. But the more open you are to the different ideas, to the different viewpoints, to then finding the best place for us, I think it presents America with a huge, huge opportunity. So, you know, I'm probably [inaudible 29:14] [laughter] because really you should be the best. You say you're the biggest and the best, but people don't care about the size of your army, really. The everyday Joe in the UK, we don't think about that. I grew up thinking America was paved with gold, and I got there, and it's like, this is not quite the way I grew up. [laughs] CHAD: Well, inside of America, there's a lack of that perspective, though, because when you can self believe that that's the case. And because you don't have a perspective on what it's actually like elsewhere, it's very easy to say, "Oh, we are the best." KEVIN: Yeah, that's true. And look, who cares what country is the best in reality? [laughter] Sometimes I like to think I've got these three children. Right now, as children, they don't care. They just want to get on with people and have more friends and more relationships, and that's what they care about. But at some stage, I don't know where it starts or how it starts; we lose that. We lose that. But you see that in founders, this ability to get past that, and they're trying to address it. At least the founders I'm trying to support they're really trying to break past these barriers of we're different, and we need to remain different to we are different. Let's embrace that. And how can we use that to our advantage? CHAD: Yeah. And I think that to take a step back, I'm a big believer in continuous improvement and always trying to be better. And I think that when you find yourself in a position where you've stopped doing that, it's no good for anybody. And it's very clear to me that there's the next frontier for improving ourselves, and the companies that we work at, and the world in which we live is all of these things that we've talked about today. And so I really wish you the best with Diversity-Xand with what you're trying to do. And please keep in touch, and we should talk further, maybe offline after this recording, about how we might be able to help more. KEVIN: Brilliant. And thank you so much for having me on this podcast. I'm so, so grateful. Thank you. CHAD: Kevin, if folks...you said your email address before, but do you want to say it again or other places where people can reach out to you? KEVIN: Yeah, so it's kevin.withane that's W-I-T-H-A-N-E @gmail.com. Or you can find me on LinkedIn. I'm very visible there. CHAD: And you can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a transcript of this entire episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Twitter @cpytel. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success.

In this episode, Giovanni and Jen discuss how she got involved in the space, what her fund invests in, contrasting time to exit for Biotech vs. Medtech, failure rates of an investment in Medtech, the MDR and how it is affecting deal flow in Europe, the Medtech ecosystem in Ireland, women in Medtech and more. Jennifer McMahon LinkedIn Seroba Life Sciences Website Giovanni Lauricella LinkedIn Project Medtech LinkedIn Project Medtech Website

In this episode, Giovanni and Jen discuss how she got involved in the space, what her fund invests in, contrasting time to exit for Biotech vs. Medtech, failure rates of an investment in Medtech, the MDR and how it is affecting deal flow in Europe, the Medtech ecosystem in Ireland, women in Medtech and more. Jennifer McMahon LinkedIn Seroba Life Sciences Website Giovanni Lauricella LinkedIn Project Medtech LinkedIn Project Medtech Website

We've learnt about Venture Capital within the US, but how does it differ across the pond?  Let's Shape The Future is back for Season 3! Kerstin Cooley, Managing Partner at Brightly Ventures joins host Ben Dickinson to discuss all this related to European VCs! Topics include why the number of European startups is growing at such a rapid pace, the keys to a successful funding round and Kerstin's thoughts for what the future looks like.  If you enjoy listening, please leave a review! Feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn - and don't forget to share the podcast with friends, colleagues, family and anyone else you think would also enjoy!

1.30 - how David began his career in the cleantech industry back in 2007, talking with a electrical engineer about wind turbines and solar panels at his daughter's school3.30 - the uniqueness of the cleantech sector and its disruptive nature and the culmination of many technologies that are coming to fruition (batteries, solar power, grids, etc.)-how digitalization is clearly fundamental to  enabling much of the innovation that's going on4.10 - disruption in cleantech is faster than in other high-growth sectors in the past, which can create challenges for policymakers because things move so quickly in this sector5.00 - how a decentralized sector, like solar power, impacts policy decisions and strategies6.20 - the differences that David has noticed through his work between the Canadian cleantech sector and other markets like the UK; a lot of innovation coming out of Canada, but initially companies struggled to find funding outside of the local market, although European VCs and accelerators are now actively engaging with Canadian companies, not just US ones7.30 - Canadian companies are less internationally focused, or less European-focused because of a massive market on the doorstep, even though European markets, particularly around energy and mobility are quite a lot more advanced than the North American markets9.08 - how organizations and accelerators like Foresight and Alacrity are supporting startups to grow11.00 - how GDPR and other regulatory differences from jurisdiction to jurisdiction add another layer of complexity for cleantech companies, even though the opportunities are there12.40 - thoughts on the next upcoming cleantech sector? Cleantech is quite a broad umbrella, but solar, energy storage and batteries, emobility has really evolved because of this14.00 - areas that are critical in decarbonizing the world that don't get much airtime, like buildings and construction and the built environment, smart cities, agritech and foodtech15.00 - the hydrogen sector, where it currently is and where David thinks it's going17.20 - “The technologies exist to achieve what we need to achieve, it's just about making sure we're using the right ones in the right place at the right time… and that's not always straightforward and, as a policymaker, that's a really tough call.”18.00 - IPCC report and how policy, industry, and cleantech entrepreneurs are advancing the transition that's needed “The report was both not surprising unfortunately, but was shocking also.” -hopeful that the IPCC report is a wake up call that governments will heed 19.45 - innovation comes from small companies and startups and then it butts heads against policy and traditional industry20.20 - next critical steps in boosting cleantech adoption around the world? getting out of the cleantech bubble, disconnect between what people know and understand inside of the sector versus outside of it-consumers need to also understand that these technologies are just better, both from an environmental perspective, but also efficiency-wise and a more educated population about the technologies will help drive policy change23.40 - recycling, or the lack thereof, with 9% of consumer recycling being recycled26.00 - plastics also contributing to the problem26.45 - "We sit at the intersection between technology and entrepreneurship" and more about the Leaders in Cleantech podcast that David hosts

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangué Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following:  Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessye's experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast. Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us:  Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow:  Please subscribe,  stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangué Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following:  Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessye's experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast. Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us:  Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow:  Please subscribe,  stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangu Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessyes experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast.Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast.https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangué Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg.As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global.The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies.Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessye's experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details.Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast. Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com.Where to find us:  Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Help us grow:  Please subscribe,  stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues.Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzieJoin us for the next episode!--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Jessye Mouangué Bimono is the CEO & co-founder of Stark Ai LABS a Design & Software development company enabling small and medium-size businesses digital transformation. A tech entrepreneur turned emerging fund manager out of the challenges she alongside diverse tech founders experienced in raising capital in France and Luxembourg. As an emerging fund manager at Audax Ventures, a $15 million upcoming fund, Jessye believes that diverse tech entrepreneurs are the most untapped and undeserved asset management classes in Europe. She primarily leads Audax Alliance, the capital enablement platform backbone of her fund that is enabling access to European VCs and normalizing investment allocation into Black & PoC led seed-stage tech ventures across Fintech, Media, and Software verticals. In that line of work. She is hosting the first capital enablement summit the Audax Alliance Virtual Summit | Diversity Venture Capital Allocation - France | Luxembourg | Global. The Audax Alliance Summit sheds light on a diverse set of capital allocators from Europe and the US intentionally investing in diverse founders in these geographies. Key interview highlights: When looking for funding do the following: Outbound research of the right VCs that are investing in your sector. Look for alignment If you are a diverse founder look for diverse fund allocators who can bring relevant experience and expertise to your business, e.g., women founders looking for women fund allocators who might have experience in their sectors In Europe, there is a misunderstanding of the market potential for funding diverse founders specifically in France and Luxembourg which is why Jessye is raising funds to address that market opportunity. Jessye's experience as a founder of color led her to organize the Audax Alliance to the VC fund that she is in the process of raising to capitalize diverse BIPOC founders who are solving global problems and bringing value to global consumers. Register for free to Audax Alliance Summit, September 18th, 2021: https://bit.ly/3ghz9ha Contact: Jessye Bimono on LinkedIn for more details. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the WTF podcast. We would love your feedback on the show and how we could improve so please complete this short survey. Guest/sponsorship request: If you would like to be a guest or sponsor the podcast, please contact us at whereisthefunding@gmail.com. Where to find us: Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us grow: Please subscribe, stream, or download, leave a rating or review and share your favorite episodes with family, friends, and colleagues. Social Media: Follow the WTF podcast on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/whereisthefunding_podcast/ Follow me on LinkedIn: Michelle J. McKenzie Join us for the next episode! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

The Commissioner for Digital and Startups In this interview we talk to Thomas Jarzombek (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-jarzombek-a4227183/) a member of the German Parliament Bundestag, also the Commissioner for Digital and Startups of Germany and in charge of the newly started 10 bn startup program. Thomas is a member of the CDU, Christian Democratic Union, the party of chancellor Merkel. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany). Thomas has also been an entrepreneur before he was an elected official. He started out with implementing Windows 95. Note: In the name tag in the YouTube video, we shorted this to “Digital commissioner”, due to the available space. We want to get better in the commercialization of German innovations. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups How the money will be invested Note: There is a general election coming up in Germany on September 26th, 2021. This will lead to a new government since chancellor Merkel will retire. Therefore, another government may change this allocation. We also invest in rocket technology. We have been looking at what Elon Musk does with SpaceX and adapted some of his strategies. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Investing Indirectly (as LP) The new investment program is looking to invest 50% together with private investors, who also chip in the other half. The program will invest in European VCs, focusing on Germany. They are looking for VCs, investing in Germany approx. the money they receive from the program. The largest single investment will be as LP of the European Investment Fund, which will get 3 bn Euros (https://www.eif.org/). HTGF will start the 4th fund with money from the program. Look in our show notes below for the interview with the CEO of HTGF. They raise funds with half of the money coming from the Government and half from private investors, which include already household names like Bosch, BASF, B. Braun, Boehringer, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post DHL, Lanxess, RWE, SAP, and many others. You can learn more about HTGF in our interview, see links below. We have patient money and I expect the money to be spent over the next 10 years. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Investing Directly: Deep Tech Future Fund The Deep Tech Future Fund (https://deeptech-future-fonds.de/) is aiming to commercialize innovations from Germany. They are even investing in startups directly, who do not have a business model yet, for example working in quantum computing. 2 bn Euros will be managed by KfW in discretionary accounts to set up specific investment vehicles and their subsidiary Coparion (https://www.coparion.vc/). Part of the money will be managed in discretionary accounts. These vehicles can invest directly in startups. We expect with our investment to double – with private investors approximately 2x – in the German startup scene. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups https://www.startuprad.io/blog/meet-the-person-in-charge-of-germanys-e10-bn-startup-program/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/deeptechgermany/message

We are not only spending 10 bn € on startups, but we also have 5-6 bn € from older programs. … in total 15 – 16 bn Euros Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups The Commissioner for Digital and Startups In this interview we talk to Thomas Jarzombek (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-jarzombek-a4227183/) a member of the German Parliament Bundestag, also the Commissioner for Digital and Startups of Germany and in charge of the newly started 10 bn startup program. Thomas is a member of the CDU, Christian Democratic Union, the party of chancellor Merkel. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany). Thomas has also been an entrepreneur before he was an elected official. He started out with implementing Windows 95. Note: In the name tag in the YouTube video, we shorted this to “Digital commissioner”, due to the available space. How the money will be invested Note: There is a general election coming up in Germany on September 26th, 2021. This will lead to a new government since chancellor Merkel will retire. Therefore, another government may change this allocation. We also invest in rocket technology. We have been looking at what Elon Musk does with SpaceX and adapted some of his strategies. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Investing Indirectly (as LP) The new investment program is looking to invest 50% together with private investors, who also chip in the other half. The program will invest in European VCs, focusing on Germany. They are looking for VCs, investing in Germany approx. the money they receive from the program. The largest single investment will be as LP of the European Investment Fund, which will get 3 bn Euros (https://www.eif.org/). HTGF will start a 4th fund with money from the program. Look in our show notes below for the interview with the CEO of HTGF. They raise funds with half of the money coming from the Government and half from private investors, which include already household names like Bosch, BASF, B. Braun, Boehringer, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post DHL, Lanxess, RWE, SAP and many others. We have patient money and I expect the money to be spent over the next 10 years. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Investing Directly: Deep Tech Future Fund The Deep Tech Future Fund (https://deeptech-future-fonds.de/) is aiming to commercialize innovations from Germany. They are even investing in startups directly, who do not have a business model yet, for example working in quantum computing. 2 bn Euros will be managed by KfW in discretionary accounts to set up specific investment vehicles and their subsidiary Coparion (https://www.coparion.vc/). Part of the money will be managed in discretionary accounts. These vehicles can invest directly in startups. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/germanstartupnews/support

We are not only spending 10 bn € on startups, but we also have 5-6 bn € from older programs. … we will spend in total 15 – 16 bn Euros Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Startups with a significant presence in Germany – from abroad – also can receive money from the funds. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups The Commissioner for Digital and Startups In this interview we talk to Thomas Jarzombek (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-jarzombek-a4227183/) a member of the German Parliament Bundestag, also the Commissioner for Digital and Startups of Germany and in charge of the newly started 10 bn startup program. Thomas is a member of the CDU, Christian Democratic Union, the party of chancellor Merkel. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany). Thomas has also been an entrepreneur before he was an elected official. He started out with implementing Windows 95. Note: In the name tag in the YouTube video, we shorted this to “Digital commissioner”, due to the available space. How the money will be invested Note: There is a general election coming up in Germany on September 26th, 2021. This will lead to a new government since chancellor Merkel will retire. Therefore, another government may change this allocation. We also invest in rocket technology. We have been looking at what Elon Musk does with SpaceX and adapted some of his strategies. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Investing Indirectly (as LP) The new investment program is looking to invest 50% together with private investors, who also chip in the other half. The program will invest in European VCs, focusing on Germany. They are looking for VCs, investing in Germany approx. the money they receive from the program. The largest single investment will be as LP of the European Investment Fund, which will get 3 bn Euros (https://www.eif.org/). HTGF will start the 4th fund with money from the program. Look in our show notes below for the interview with the CEO of HTGF. They raise funds with half of the money coming from the Government and half from private investors, which include already household names like Bosch, BASF, B. Braun, Boehringer, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post DHL, Lanxess, RWE, SAP, and many others. You can learn more about HTGF in our interview, see links below. We have patient money and I expect the money to be spent over the next 10 years. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Investing Directly: Deep Tech Future Fund The Deep Tech Future Fund (https://deeptech-future-fonds.de/) is aiming to commercialize innovations from Germany. They are even investing in startups directly, who do not have a business model yet, for example working in quantum computing. 2 bn Euros will be managed by KfW in discretionary accounts to set up specific investment vehicles and their subsidiary Coparion (https://www.coparion.vc/). Part of the money will be managed in discretionary accounts. These vehicles can invest directly in startups. https://www.startuprad.io/blog/meet-the-person-in-charge-of-germanys-e10-bn-startup-program/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fintechgermany/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/fintechgermany/support

The Commissioner for Digital and Startups In this interview we talk to Thomas Jarzombek (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-jarzombek-a4227183/) a member of the German Parliament Bundestag, also the Commissioner for Digital and Startups of Germany and in charge of the newly started 10 bn startup program. Thomas is a member of the CDU, Christian Democratic Union, the party of chancellor Merkel.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany). Thomas has also been an entrepreneur before he was an elected official. He started out with implementing Windows 95. Note: In the name tag in the YouTube video, we shorted this to “Digital commissioner”, due to the available space. We want to get better in the commercialization of German innovations. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups How the money will be invested Note: There is a general election coming up in Germany on September 26th, 2021. This will lead to a new government since chancellor Merkel will retire. Therefore, another government may change this allocation. We also invest in rocket technology. We have been looking at what Elon Musk does with SpaceX and adapted some of his strategies. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Investing Indirectly (as LP) The new investment program is looking to invest 50% together with private investors, who also chip in the other half. The program will invest in European VCs, focusing on Germany. They are looking for VCs, investing in Germany approx. the money they receive from the program. The largest single investment will be as LP of the European Investment Fund, which will get 3 bn Euros (https://www.eif.org/). HTGF will start the 4th fund with money from the program. Look in our show notes below for the interview with the CEO of HTGF. They raise funds with half of the money coming from the Government and half from private investors, which include already household names like Bosch, BASF, B. Braun, Boehringer, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post DHL, Lanxess, RWE, SAP, and many others. You can learn more about HTGF in our interview, see links below. We have patient money and I expect the money to be spent over the next 10 years. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups Investing Directly: Deep Tech Future Fund The Deep Tech Future Fund (https://deeptech-future-fonds.de/) is aiming to commercialize innovations from Germany. They are even investing in startups directly, who do not have a business model yet, for example working in quantum computing. 2 bn Euros will be managed by KfW in discretionary accounts to set up specific investment vehicles and their subsidiary Coparion (https://www.coparion.vc/). Part of the money will be managed in discretionary accounts. These vehicles can invest directly in startups. We expect with our investment to double – with private investors approximately 2x – in the German startup scene. Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Commissioner for Digital and Startups https://www.startuprad.io/blog/meet-the-person-in-charge-of-germanys-e10-bn-startup-program/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/deeptechgermany/message This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podder -...

[1:28] - Which of the various roles you have had - consultant, entrepreneur, board member, CEO, investor, and now VC - have you enjoyed the most, and why? [4:14] - What is “Indico powered by Google Startups” initiative? [9:10] - How can European VCs get better at identifying the next big Airbnb or Uber in Europe? [14:50] What is the Portuguese startup scene like?  Where are the opportunities in Portugal? [17:54] - What are some of the areas of opportunity Indico Capital is focusing on? [21:35] - How can Europe make its startup ecosystem better?  What is still missing to produce more successful startups out of Europe? [29:30] - What do entrepreneurs need to have before they look for seed or Series A funding from your point of view [35:18] - What are the top 5 lessons or advice you would have for entrepreneurs? Links Indico Capital Partners Google for Startups by Indico Capital Partners Book Recommendation 1984 by Orson Wells Bad Blood MDB the Malaysian scandal Follow meLinkedin: Anita MoorthyTwitter: anitamirchiInstagram @european_podcast

Show Notes [1:46] - Why BlueYard and the vision for the fund [3:33] - How the thesis received by the LPs and people you were trying to raise funds from? [5:10] - Is there a breakdown of where the current funds come from and does it impact your investments? [6:22] - Your investments by region [9:44] - What stage do you invest in and why are there no multi-stage VCs today? [12:06] - What kind of VC are you and how many investments do you make? [13:53] - How do you develop depth and expertise in niche areas you invest in? [16:40] - What kind of companies and entrepreneurs are you finding across Europe and Why? [18:58] - Why has entrepreneurship in Europe gone native and what is still missing?  [25:00] - How has the crisis impacted your business? What are you doing differently now? [30:35] - Are US VC doing something different? [32:51] - In the short term will money from the US and Asia continue to flow into Europe or will European VCs have to come together more? [34:35] - Effect of Brexit [35:56] - As an entrepreneur looking for funding, does your pitch need to be different in today's environment?  What should entrepreneurs know? [37:46] - What should entrepreneurs look for in a VC? [40:56] - What are the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when looking to raise money? [43:26] - Talk about 3 of the portfolio companies - protocol labs, Pitch.io, Bitbio Links:Book recommendation: The Road, Blindness