Joselyn Lai

I’m thrilled to be announcing that Notion Capital is leading the $15m Series A investment in Cogna today. In the industry, we like to think that software has been eating the world. But when you look at the data a better description would be more of a nibble. Depending on what source you look at the software industry represents between 5-8% of global GDP. Contrast that with the services industry that represents between 60-70% of GDP and worth around $25 trillion on a global basis. Most services have been out of reach for the software industry. They have either been too complex or too specialized for off the shelf software to access in any economically viable way. But that’s beginnning to change with GenAI leading to the emergence of ‘service as a software.’ Cogna is at the forefront of this opportunity - building precision software at scale and delivering huge productivity gains for traditional industries. We know Ben Peters & Lars Mennen well having backed their previous company Five AI that was acquired by Bosch in 2022. And we’re very excited to be backing them again together with Hoxton Ventures & Chalfen Ventures Read my full blog post on why we invested here. Radu Bozga Ben Peters Lars Mennen Bryan G. Mike Chalfen Hussein Kanji Kirsten Connell https://lnkd.in/eh8mhcJb

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Go Gaurav Sharma and Capitalize! If you have a 401k from a previously employer, check out Capitalize.

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Breaking down our latest newsletter section by section, starting with our expanded focus in Deep Tech: --- We have built expertise in the robotics sector, and will continue to double (and triple) down on investing in this category, but we have been increasingly finding that robotics is naturally steering us into two exploding adjacent areas: Aerospace, and Advanced Manufacturing (which we define as industrials, semiconductors, materials science, and energy production). Stepping back, this expansion makes perfect sense. Robotics is an inherently horizontal platform - meaning it can be applied productively across multiple industries. This quality, paired with the fact that robotics has long shown the highest TRLs of any deep tech technology, makes it a kind of “gateway” to other sectors in the hard sciences. Now with the recent breakthroughs in AI for robotics, growing semiconductor demand, and the resurgence of aerospace and defense tech, we are seeing a dramatic uptake of robotics and relevant technologies in both advanced manufacturing and aerospace. As an added bonus of the expansion, many of the founder (and funder) networks across these landscapes have natural overlaps and linkages. For AlleyCorp Deep Tech this means that we can be extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and engaged across all three sectors right away, and continue to be the best-in-class investing team across these categories.  --- More in our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ewiTuYq6

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Reminder that the Unusual Ventures Fall 2024 Academy application is OPEN! Deadline for submissions is 9/9. Are you a Founder who wants to: 1. Learn from world class leaders the best practices of building from insight to product-market fit? 2. Receive up to $2M in a SAFE to accelerate company building? 3. Join an unmatched community of founders who are eager to support and learn with you? 4. Dive deeply into the latest pricing, go to market, and infrastructure choices founders are making for their AI-native startups? Unusual Academy is for you and your team. Each cohort consists of a small group of hand-picked Founders who are in the early stages of building Enterprise Software businesses. Over eight weeks Founders will participate in a highly personalized set of workshops that drive the building of the foundation of a successful startup. Founders will work very closely with our team on how best to execute Customer Discovery and validate the insight for your startup. We then explore the nitty gritty details of doing customer outreach and working through the Design Partner phase. We take you through proven tactics on how to navigate early customer engagements through to contract conversations. Throughout Unusual Academy we work closely with each team to align product strategy with the optimal go to market approach for their market segment and product. With the advent of AI, Founders are faced with new challenges with regard to pricing, ROI, data security, and managing infrastructure costs; we share best practices and the latest adaptations from the leading startups. Unusual Academy is a program for Founders who want to learn from exceptional teachers and get hands-on with specialized examples and tools. For those who want to maximize their probability of building a successful startup, this program is for you. https://academy.unusual.vc

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Manufacturing and the use of traditional fertilizer accounts for 5-7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Founders Nicolas Pinkowski, Joshua McEnaney, Jay Schwalbe and the Nitricity team utilize air, water, and clean energy to make fertilizer that has a meaningful impact on climate change. Nitricity’s breakthrough technology decarbonizes the production, distribution, and application of nitrogen fertilizers. Change Forces invested in Nitricity to help decarbonize an essential industry, create jobs, and deliver an economical and sustainable solution to farmers and communities. Watch Nitricity’s journey to support local communities and promote a more resilient food system, part of “Reinventing Tomorrow,” presented by Change Forces and Pique Action. https://lnkd.in/epPA6G43

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Over the years, we at GFR Fund have solidified our investment thesis, which is that we invest in "emerging digitally native communities." These communities can be built around games, social media, and any consumer applications. Now, founders have many easy-to-use tools to build user communities, such as Discord, X/twitter, Instagram, etc, and we believe the founders should start building communities even before they launch a product. The communities can help founders: - reach PMF faster - acquire users cheaper - retain and engage users longer - build better UX/UI, and - hire early employees Below, you can see how RTFKT and Omeda Studios built the community and then worked with them to create a product the users really wanted. We would love to talk to the founders who think the community is essential in building a product!

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Founders (Seed, Series A) and CoS/Ops folks - my wife Britney is building a cool offering to support on the blocking and tackling at growing startups. She's helping with two core things: 1. Process definition, improvement, documentation (think: employee onboarding, sales pipeline and onboarding, operations, etc.) 2. Leadership coaching for new and middle managers (she's an ICF-certified coach) It's a pretty cost-effective 3-4 month sprint with a ton of deliverables that solve directly (and immediately) for some of the biggest growing pains you're facing. Here's the test of whether or not you should work with her: do you have a fully thought-out (and documented) process for what you do when you hire a new employee? If you just raised capital and you're about to hire, you'd better have this nailed. She helps execute this for/with you to take these process-focused problems off your plate. She can help serve founders/mgmt team directly or run this through CoS/Ops. I probably would have melted into a puddle of founder reality distortion field a long time ago if it weren't for her. Let me know if you'd like an intro!

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WE DID IT! After 2 years of pushing through the biggest downturn in VC in decades, Matthew Stotts 🌐 and I made it to the finish line with Fund I! We couldn't have done this without One Small Planet (Will Peterffy and Jack Wielebinski 🙏), Regen Network and Regen Foundation (Austin Wade Smith Gregory Landua and Will Szal), and a dozen other family offices and angels who believed that we can build a nature-positive economy utilizing our eye for software and our history as founders from day 1 A shout out goes to all of our founders (only four announced today, but watch this space - there are multitudes!) who trusted us enough to give us a spot on their cap table for this 10-15 year journey. This is the best job in the world, and it's because we get to work with people like you who have weird ideas in the best possible way. Using Bitcoin as anchor base load to decarbonize residential housing in America's most expensive energy market? Make every complex supply chain legible to machines so we can find and eliminate deforestation in commodity supply chains? Build deeply liquid environmental asset markets to price ecosystem services, on a blockchain, that no one needs to know is a blockchain? I'm so excited to get to work on this stuff for the next 10-15 years minimum, and to see what we can accelerate with our tiny fund in the next 5-6 years as we approach 2030 Onward! https://lnkd.in/gy3B-DFe

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After the first deep dive discussion w/ founders I often hear a comment "I wish I had heard about this alternative [to all-in must-become-a-unicorn] way to build a startup earlier as I have wasted years in pursuing the wrong thing". Our mission is that no founder would ever need to say that again as it is such a waste. Us preaching the gospel 1:1 just doesn't scale, hence we use mass media to multiply our efforts - that's how Gorillacast came to be. The 1st episode is out, featuring yours truly. "How can you know what food you like unless you taste everything" said a chef. How can founders make informed choices about the best strategy for them to follow unless they know of all alternatives? This might not be of interest to you but pls spread the word so that the founders who should hear it can find it. I have a dream!

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🎃 Ready to carve out your path to Product-Market Fit?🎃 Join Companyon Ventures’ Behind the Curtain roundtable tomorrow (Oct 30) with Michael Ho, Firas Raouf, Eric Morgan, and Hersh Tapadia as they 'exorcise' the mysteries of PMF. Don’t ghost us—RSVP in the comments 👻 https://lnkd.in/emCJcn4w #emergingmanager #venturecapital #productmarketfit

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118 VCs (one hundred eighteen!) are gathering in San Diego next week - to meet with 30 SD startups. But it's so MUCH bigger than just those 30 co's. It brings VCs back - when they see quality companies. It helps those who are next-in-line and adjacent. It enables us to send deal flow all year 'round. It attracts talent and other companies. It inspires entrepreneurship. Connect is working for SD. Together, we're building the best damn innovation ecosystem on the planet. Year over year. Five.Ten.Thirty.

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A big day for us at Contrarian Ventures, as we launch The Climate Brick alongside our friends at EQT Ventures, and 50+ investors, founders and experts joining our mission to create the missing manual for the climate journey.     90% of CO2 emissions are estimated to be abatable by technology over the next 25 years. However, most innovations that shape modern life were built on common frameworks.    Climate doesn’t have one, yet. Today marks a call to change that, with the creation of a new initiative, involving a wide range of stakeholders.    Decarbonisation is the greatest economic transition in a century – the signatories of our open letter have pledged to create The Climate Brick, the missing manual for scaling climate technologies.    The Climate Brick's co-builders include several of Europe’s largest climate technology companies and financial institutions, as well as leading academic experts and policymakers.    The manual comprises seven playbooks, that we call ‘Bricks’: from Gigascaling to Product Disruption.    We’re only getting started, and The Climate Brick is an open community being co-built by members together.   Join us – become a co-builder and check the Bricks out!   Read our open letter via the link in the comments below. https://climatebrick.com/

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About a year ago, in September 2023, I left full-time employment to start working on Openseed VC 💜 This decision came during what is arguably the toughest --- fundraising environment for emerging managers since 2015. It was a leap of faith, driven by conviction and supported by an army of backers who, through their capital 💰, well-wishes 🤗, and goodwill, made this venture a reality. A LOT can happen in a year. As I reflect and journal co-incidentally on today, my birthday, I’m struck by how much we have achieved so much in just twelve months: In the spirit of counting my blessings, I spelt it out; - Built a compelling fund brand and strategy 📈 - Fundraised from LPs 🤝 - Structured and incorporated the fund - Received regulatory approval and incorporated - Reached the first close of the fund 🔒 - Had a strong public launch 🎉 - Built a lean team and onboarded advisors 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 - Recruited 60+ operators for the operator network 👥 - Received 850+ founder applications 📑 - Conducted 200+ founder calls 📞 - Made two investments in Europe 🌍 & Africa 🌍 Just a year ago, Openseed VC as a fund didn't exist, and I am so excited for what's to come! We aren't just building a fund; we are creating an innovative financial institution that is the first investor in talented, experienced, and diverse operators from day zero. This is just the beginning; it's day zero for us too. ✨ If you're hesitant to take the leap to pursue something you know you were born to do. Something you realise has a high opportunity cost and high upside, yes- high risk of failure, but if not pursued you know you’ll regret it—maybe this is a sign. A year from now, a year will have passed anyway. A LOT can happen in one year. It’s also coincidentally my birthday today, so I will be celebrating on two fronts! :) Grateful, and thanks again to every single person who contributed to my journey🎊 #openseedvc #operators #founders #europe #africa #futureofcommerce #futureofwork #futureofhealth #oneyear

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Excellent blog post on the realities of Climate & VC. While these are "tough times for the transition," there are also many opportunities. Significant capital will continue to flow, with Corporate VCs playing a larger role in financing this transition. Through this process, they will strengthen their LP positions in funds tackling climate challenges. I receive weekly calls from large Holding & Corporate VCs seeking introductions to Climate / Energy / Infra VC Funds. When I ask about their target sub-verticals within Climate / Energy, they often mention that they default to focusing on specific regions due to limited resources and coverage. In other words, rather than evaluating whether a DACH VC is better positioned for solar or grid-tech compared to a Nordic or US VC, they simply pursue whichever regions they can access—a haphazard approach at best. I always advise LPs to evaluate VCs within their operating market context. Since sourcing is crucial in venture capital, Holding Cos. and Family Offices should carefully assess a VC's location, regulatory context, and market environment before investing and building a portfolio of Funds. I've heard "I wish I had discovered this VC / region sooner" far too many times... * At ComposeVC's Built World Fund, we do not invest in Climatetech or Energytech directly, only as it relates to our Built World thesis.

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It was an honour to unveil Molten Ventures’ short film, 2054, at the London Stock Exchange this morning as Molten Ventures’ new CEO.   This film, created using 14 separate generative AI applications, formed the core of the theme for this year’s CEO summit: “what if you succeed?”. A question which we should ask ourselves every day – and urge every entrepreneur and investor to do the same.   By diving thirty years ahead into a fictional future, we can get a glimpse of what may be possible if the capital, support, expertise and energy is injected into businesses and ideas at the right time. Something that we’ve been doing at Molten Ventures for many years.   We have already built a portfolio of Europe’s most forward-thinking companies who have developed technology that changes lives, now.   You can find out more about the story behind the film, including films made by our portfolio companies here: https://lnkd.in/ezNbeEPu

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BIG ANNOUNCEMENT from the #Dirt #King Cliff Fetner. Extremely proud of my father for his continued devotion and dedication to helping aspiring entrepreneurs in the #ConstructionTech ecosystem. I especially agree with his thesis regarding a HUGE gap in the market for #international #ConTech startups seeking GTM advice and networks to successfully launch in the US. Check out Cliff's medium post and tag #founders & #CEOs who you think would benefit from engaging with him. #ConTech #Founders #GTM

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The Context VC team has been in Seattle for our offsite for the last 2 days. We exist to support veteran entrepreneurs & executives - here's how/why 👇 HOW 1. We host the Military Veteran Startup Conference in February each year. This event draws 450 - 500 veteran founders, VCs, and early-stage operators. 👉 Register at milvetstartups [dot] com 2. We invest in Military Veteran led teams. We do seed and pre-seed investments across industries. This is a venture capital fund, so not a perfect fit for most businesses, but if you're building a venture scale company, 👉 Reach out to startups@contextvc [dot] com 3. We host happy hours around the country. We have 6-10 HHs that we'll host around the country in the coming months. 👉 Sign up for our newsletter at themilvet [dot] org to stay up to date on our happy hours! ---------------------------------- 👉 Venture-backed founders, we can help you hire amazing talent. Reach out to me via DM. WHY WE DO THIS: We believe in veterans. We think veterans are incredibly smart, capable, hard-working, gritty founders and businesspeople. This belief drives all of our actions. Leave a comment if you've attended one of our events or to share your perspective on veteran entrepreneurs

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Today, Cashmere announced that Canapi Ventures has led their $3.6M Seed round. We’re thrilled to partner with Farbod Nowzad and Eshan Govil, who continue to demonstrate their visionary approach to transforming the wealth management space. Growth is a major priority for financial advisors, yet tools for identifying and managing new customer leads are often inadequate. Cashmere addresses this challenge by leveraging internal and external data sources to help advisors identify potential clients who align with their strategy, geography, and social graph, and who are at the right stage in their lives to be acquired. We frequently hear from our banking partners that growing their wealth management business is a key objective. Whether it’s converting existing banking customers into wealth clients or finding new clients who might also bring deposits to the banking side, there is a strong market need for what Cashmere offers. This is why they are collaborating with advisor groups at some of the largest banks and why the future for them is bright. Read here for more on why we invested: https://lnkd.in/e4uY7gjz And yes, Canapi is now investing at the seed stage. Looking forward to chatting with other small teams who are looking to build tech for the future! CC: Harrison Kioko

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