Maria Raga

🚀 Today's E2E Tech 100 panel with Chris Blackhurst from The Independent was eye-opening! We discussed the vast impact of AI across industries, from finance to gaming and beyond. Hayley Roberts passionately stressed AI's accessibility and debunked stereotypes in tech—empowering change is what truly matters, regardless of gender. 💡 We delved into real-world challenges like fundraising and AI ethics, sparked by cases like Cambridge Analytica. Franklin Asante painted a vivid picture of AI's reach in finance, pharmaceuticals, and beyond, showing its incredible versatility. 🎓 Education emerged as a key theme—how do we prepare for AI's future influence? The debate on workforce dynamics was intense, highlighting both efficiency gains and ethical dilemmas. 🌍 Dhaval Patel reminded us of tech's power for good—continuous learning and innovation drive progress. Gavin Dein shared how tools like Chat GPT streamline work, while Peter Yeung pondered AI's evolution and its impact on future generations. The future is AI-powered, and discussions like these pave the way for a balanced, informed approach. Let's harness technology responsibly for a brighter tomorrow! A BIG thank you to our partners Coutts, Universal Partners, Lioncroft Wholesale Ltd, Virtuoso Legal - Intellectual Property Specialists, Go Live Data- Intellectual Property Specialists Champions UK plc Experian 🌟 #AI #TechInnovation #EthicsInTech #E2E #Future #Business

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When the first alphabet in these conversations changes from 'M" to 'B', you know the funding winter is transforming into spring 🌱 #VC #VentureCapital #Earlystagefunding Read more about the latest monthly funding report for VC funding in July 2024 here: ttps://https://lnkd.in/dhdWF8fP

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The latest isssue of HPC Today is published by the great tks | publisher, event organiser, media agency. Here's the surfactants insights column. "Will LAS be Replaced?" This is a really easily readable online magazine format. Check it out. Many peer reviewed articles in here also (not my opinion pieces, I hasten to add) #surfactants #alkybenzene

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A few reflections on last week's Budget, from me, and a bunch of our fabulous FieldHouse Associates' clients. https://lnkd.in/exrefrpt #tech #innovation #investment #venturecapital #startups #scaleups #regulation #government #PR #publicaffairs #consultancy

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Interesting to see how the Corporate VC world of Saleforce Ventures has ended up feeding acquisitions through to the main Salesforce. The notable exception in this chart is Slack, where SV did not invest in Slack (but probably wished they did), but adopted a partnership over a period of 5 years. #corporatevc #MandA #strategy

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Fresh out of the oven!! Check out this post I have written to find out more about the story and the history behind our new Acurio Ventures name https://lnkd.in/dv3vNdNk

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I'm pleased to share that Lightrock has continued to support Thomas Doering and Distribusion Technologies in their $80 million Series C funding round. Distribusion is the leading global B2B ground transportation marketplace, addressing inefficiencies in this €700 billion market. The industry’s progress has been hindered by legacy technology, making multi-modal travel planning and booking difficult and time-consuming. This increases costs for consumers and negatively impacts sustainability as travellers opt for private cars and taxis over less polluting transportation options. Using a single API, Distribusion connects transport carriers like National Express LLC, Amtrak, and Deutsche Bahn with retailers such as Expedia Group, Google Maps, and Alipay. This allows consumers to seamlessly compare and purchase tickets on trusted platforms. There's a high likelihood that Distribusion has facilitated your travel without you knowing it. We led the company's Series B in 2022, and since then Distribusion has grown tenfold, creating the largest global B2B network of ground transport operators. This growth, combined with achieving profitability, has encouraged us to reinvest and continue with this company on this exciting journey. We look forward to continuing our work with this team. Learn more about #Distribusion via the link in the comments. #TravelTech #FutureOfTravel

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Insightful look into bioplatform strategy, and what it takes to raise a Series A from my partner, Omri Amirav-Drory: https://lnkd.in/dFv7GbF6

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Proud to announce the first investment of Brilliant Minds: To&From by Bridget Johns-Pavlopoulos. 🎉 A retail powerhouse turned visionary entrepreneur, she's taking on the e-commerce world and redefining it with AI. As she says, "Success doesn’t require a sanitized version of yourself; it thrives on authenticity." You can read more about her vision and journey here: https://lnkd.in/eQd4wt54. More to follow soon! #investments #startups #brilliantminds #longevity

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Survival of the Fittest in a Shifting Funding Landscape Founders are adopting a low-key approach, focusing their energy on internal growth. Armed with capital secured in 2021, many are strategically revitalising their businesses. But the big question remains: What will the dealmaking landscape look like in 2024? "Overall, capital infusion will be concentrated on a narrower spectrum of companies than in all. The private capital raising landscape is anticipated to be robust, showcasing significant improvement from 2022. However, the capital infusion will be concentrated on a narrower spectrum of companies compared to the prolific scene of 2021." Read More: https://lnkd.in/d3536qvA In the meantime, share your thoughts! Are you a founder facing a funding crunch? How are you adapting your strategy? #StartupFunding #Founders #Growth #DealMaking #SibaPanda

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AI Tech in Focus   Brain Scans and AI Used to Detect Dementia Nine Years Before Conventional Diagnosis Researchers at Queen Mary University in London used machine learning to assess cognitive communication between 10 areas of the brain that have been shown to be vulnerable to dementia. The study involving 1,100 people found that using AI analysis of the MRI brain scans of these neural networks accurately predicted about 80% of cases of dementia nine years before a formal diagnosis was actually made. Further, the AI technology was able to predict within two years exactly how long it would take before the onset. The test takes 10 minutes. Dementia is caused by certain proteins in the brain, but patients can live for years with those proteins and show no signs of dementia. Current methods used to detect dementia involve memory tests and measurements of brain shrinkage. It’s hoped that the early detection using the AI trained scans will help identify people who are going to develop dementia and benefit from early treatments. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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The secondhand and alternative goods market is growing at a clip. Think Facebook Marketplace and Depop. Shopfront one of Antler's recent investments, is capitalising on this growing market, with a new platform that enables users to do everything from creating listings and selling products across multiple marketplaces in one place. Launching within the APAC region where competition is still limited and green, Shopfront is striking at the right time to succeed. With already 50 users using its MVP and plans to secure 500 sign-ups for its waitlist and roll out its beta platform next month, this business is certainly one to keep an eye on. Read more via Startup Daily👇 https://lnkd.in/gyD5St6e

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Cambridge Future Tech builds DeepTech ventures and last week we hit another milestone; we're co-founding our 15th venture 🤘 It's awesome building new ventures from the ground up. It's why we started CFT in the first place. It always feels great to be at the start of the build phase, helping founders articulate a new venture’s tech and potential, building a strong narrative. We’re collaborating closely with founders to transform groundbreaking ideas into companies. 🚀🚀🚀 More to come on this. I'm hyped to share what we're building 🤘 #venturebuilder #deeptech #startups #cambridge

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We've officially announced the start of our new 100M€ fund, the LUMO Rise Fund. We continue to invest in European #startups focused on the development and application of emerging digital technologies for a greener and stronger society. LUMO Labs focuses on emerging digital #technologies that are pivotal for achieving the impact United Nations #SustainableDevelopmentGoals: Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Sustainable Cities & Communities, Climate Action and Digital Security. #goodthingsarecoming Through its previous fund, LUMO Labs invested in 23 impact-driven technology and digital #deeptech startups such as HULO.ai, Roboat, AirHub, Autoscriber, alphabeats and Healthplus.ai Beyond Weather, CityLegends, EnlivenHealth , Aiosyn, Protyon, chunkx, Cordys Analytics, Enatom, Fimo Health , FruitPunch AI, Linksight, Maaind, MedicalVR, Metacampus, Whispp #fundraising #impactinvesting #venturecapital Sabine Schoorl MBA 🏳️‍🌈 Meron Mekonnen, Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen, Pim Hollestelle, Federico Pisano, Britta Gruenig, Professional Certified Coach, Henk de Jong, Lorna Goulden, Andy Lurling, Sven Bakkes, Thomas Hannes https://lnkd.in/dAwyuZ36

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Lots of activity in the Media for Equity space in this autumn, and just in the last two days we have had some great news, one coming from the UK and second from Australia. 🫡 dmg ventures has announced the launch of their new fund with 50M GBP in cash capital, as well as their traditional media credits. They plan to invest into European as well as US-based startups, from two separate funds: "The Headline Fund will target startups between seed and series A, while the second, the Scale Fund, is for more established startups. The Scale Fund has already made two investments, into Trip, a UK maker of sparkling drinks that contain CBD, and Blue Stripes, which makes cacao-based products by reusing the fruit that is wasted by the chocolate industry." - Global Corporate Venturing The second announcement is coming from the Scaleup Mediafund, "backed by investors including News Corp Australia, NOVA Entertainment, Foxtel Group, REA Group, and oOh! Media and has committed over $45 million in advertising and marketing inventory to support the Australia's startup ecosystem. The two new investments are, Naked Life, a non-alcoholic cocktail drinks business, and Settle Easy, an online property conveyancing platform. 💪 These are great news for the media for equity, media capital, media credits or may you call it media investments, and great new set of proof points for the investment model. #MediaForEquity #MediaCapital #MediaCredit #MediaInvestments cc: Flavius Floare Borderbridge

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"Funding Collapse sends investment in start-ups to six year low" The Times today covering the shocking stats that VenturePath uncovered, with our partner Beauhurst. Great quotes from supporters Michael Moore CEO, BVCA and Julian David CEO, techUK. * UK VC funding at Series A is -44% from last year, and worsening * Q3 24 is down a staggering 57% from Q2, itself down from Q1 * 9 in 10 seed funded startups cannot access Series A VC funding, the next 'rung on the funding ladder' * Just 32 future scaleup companies across the whole of the UK were able to access their first VC funding round in Q3...a 6 year low * Half a billion less capital is going in to UK scaleups at Series A, than just 2 years ago! As the UK scaleup funding gap widens, we are losing ground against other countries, at both startup stage (a position the UK worked hard to achieve, since 2011), and for scaleup support. OECD data: 13th in the world for scaleup support, and that's before Series A funding access dried up. I get that its confusing. Another report (BBB, Nations & Regions) released this week spoke of positive trends in private investment, stating "The data for Q2 2024 shows that investment value has continued to grow". Great, I love to see optimistic data. But under analysis that bundles venture with private equity (later stage), where a few megadeals skew the numbers. Otherwise the exact opposite is true. Our independent research here, for the UK ScaleUp Investment Mission, is laser beam focussed on Series A. The funding round where companies move from the c.1m startups launched each year, through the 2,179 that access seed funding, into the rarefied category of being recognised as future scaleups, attracting Series A funding (£2-10m). The UK venture landscape is currently funding just 248 pa of these companies, and declining. We've been sharing this urgent call for support with the new Government since the day after the election. I've personally met with several Ministers, and spoke to all the relevant Government departments. I will shamelessly repeat loudly what is at stake. UK scaleup funding at Series A has nearly halved in a year, and continues to decline steeply, more than halving in the last quarter. VenturePath developed The UK ScaleUp Investment Mission to convene the scaleup support ecosystem and £7bn of funders to help address this problem, to improve nationwide access to VC investment, and create more venture-backed successes. We have clear support, clear recommendations to reverse this decline in UK scaleup investment, and have made a clear ask of Government for participation in this, to ensure immediate action is taken to create the conditions for success for UK scaleups, ensuring the focus on growth isn't undermined by lack of capital, or equitable access to it. Government decision makers, we'd love your interest, to progress to action. HM Treasury: Rt Hon Rachel Reeves Spencer Livermore James Murray & CC Poppy Gustafsson (welcome to the debate).

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Our mission is clear: to make top-tier services affordable and accessible to the mid-market. Freelancers were often the only viable option in the past, while consultancies came with high costs and other downsides. Our experience shows that a small integrated team of senior operators delivers the best results. A rapidly growing number of repeat customers agrees. Reach out to learn how we can help you accelerate growth affordably yet through a best-in-class delivery model. #operatingpartner #commercialexcellence #privateequity #freelancer #managementconsultant Mitul Ruparelia Pedro Correia Krishna Chaitanya Simon Blackburn

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On note: Content provenance is a potent and emerging market.

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Generative AI and competitive advantage https://buff.ly/4aZ6WVM by @sanguit competitive advantage beyond the hype: 🤖to leverage Generative AI 🤖to create new sources of intelligence advantage 🤖that help strengthen their position 🤖and commoditize partners’ positions #rafAIgual

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