Chris Hitchen

An INTJ Fund conversation with Sofie Marien (Co-Founder + CTO of NoMi). NoMi aims to be the Duolingo for self-help. NoMi was in A16Z GAMES SPEEDRUN's recent cohort and backed by Jorge Mazel (previously Chief Product Officer at Duolingo). Sofie is an award-winning mobile developer and marketer with over eleven years experience in games at PlayStation and Hasbro.  She's worked on multiple top-charting games including Horizon Zero Dawn and Monopoly. She's now taking her experience to turn relatable Gen-Z experiences into playable games. I think a lot of people simply need more repetitions in order to learn how to deal with social situations. In the future, I can see people simulating everything from tough conversations to dates in game like experiences. What's a social situation you wished you could have simulated in a game as practice? Want to make friends with people like Sofie? Apply to join the INTJ Fund community - https://lnkd.in/g9tcUZVg #selfhelp #mentalhealth #gaming #INTJFund #INTJ #A16Z #INTJwomen #womeninstem

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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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The fall of seat based & the the rise of usage based pricing is a major trend in SaaS. Hear more about it from the experts at m3ter at Money20/20.

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🌟 Interesting yet unsurprising findings from the latest VC performance report: 📈 Established European venture capital funds (fund 5+) are delivering 2x the IRR of New (fund 1-2) and Developing (3-4) funds. 🌍 European VC funds consistently outperform their US counterparts, underscoring Europe's strength in the global investment landscape. Read the article at sifted https://lnkd.in/eZYF4THT

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As an investor at Fabric Ventures, it’s always exciting to see portfolio companies collaborating. Such partnerships are a win-win-win, addressing one of the biggest challenges for early-stage businesses: securing pilot projects to scale. This is especially the case when such collaboration is transformative — like the recently announced Argent Kulipa Mastercard debit card which is needle moving for on-chain finance meeting the real world. Enjoy learning why: https://lnkd.in/dVNQtzK6

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Three biggest learnings from a fundraising journey. Shared by Rainer Märkle, General Partner at HV Capital at EUVC 1/ Have a time box with a deadline attached. Have a defined horizon & create a clear plan. Have some urgency to get things done at some point. Execute very transparently and reliably. 2/ Stick to your narrative. But don't do it blindly. Tweak it when necessary. Adapt it. Don't let yourself be surprised by major changes. Keep focusing on delivering according to your strategy & plan. 3/ Fundraising is a marathon with many sprints. There are moments when you'll ask yourself - Why do I do this? Is it gonna work out? But don't get too negative during the down phases. Adapting and pivoting is part of our job. As it is for the founder of a company. How about you? What fundraising lessons have you learned? Join the conversation. 🔽 #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

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Imagine speaking without saying a word! Sci-fi? Not Anymore 🧠🗣️ Rubén Domínguez Ibar and I had the chance of interviewing Vasco Pedro, the CEO & Co-Founder of Unbabel, who demoed their mind-blowing product, Halo Halo is a revolutionary technology that combines hardware, software Gen AI and a non invasive neural interface to translate brain signals into words hence - "speaking without saying a word" 🤯 Early usage is transforming the lives of ALS patients who haven't been able to speak in years. Seeing it in action is absolutely jaw-dropping 📽️ You've got to see the demo in the interview below 👇 AI For Good 🤖💖 - It's here ✅

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FirstPartyCapital has been tracking European adtech exits since 2021. During this time we have seen nearly 50 noteworthy deals, totalling over $10bn!! Roughly 1/3 of the companies were purchased by PE firms, with MiQ leading the way when it partnered with Bridgepoint at a $900M valuation. The majority of the transactions were trade sales in the $50-200M range, with Teads as the $1bn outlier. There have only been a handful of IPOs, including Azerion which listed with an enterprise value of $1.4bn. Hopefully we will see a few FPC portfolio companies joining the list in 2025! Comment below if you'd like a copy of our M&A tracker. #adtech #liquidityevents #exits #IPO #tradesale #mergersandacquisitions #europe

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Excited to share what I learned from Sandro Stark, founding partner at Vanagon Ventures backing FrontierTech from Munich/DACH 🚀 to the World at the YUVC video podcast (links in comments) 💡 Above all, Sandro is a super nice person to get along with and has a great NPS from founders 👋 Here 3 Core Takeaways ✨ 1. Vanagon’s approach to startup evaluation 👀 - Distribution capability is now the key differentiator, not just technical innovation - Customer "stickiness" and deep industry understanding - The solution must demonstrate both climate impact and profit potential 2. Why is Munich's ecosystem strategic? 🇩🇪 - Part of DACH region - third-largest market globally after China and US - Rich concentration of technical talent and corporate headquarters - Untapped potential in Mittelstand venture engagement 3. What's the philosophy behind sustainable success? 😉 - Don't postpone happiness for future achievements - True leadership creates more leaders, not followers - Consistent effort matters more than breakthrough moments Now listen in for more insights! ❤ Kudos to his great co-founders/GPs @Vanagon: Susanne Fromm Axel Roitzsch Shoutout to their amazing portfolios: Senken Particula Renoster youba The Landbanking Group LoopID heartstocks Learn.xyz ExoMatter and more

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How do investors price pre-seed rounds?  This is perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of fundraising.  Oftentimes, founders want some framework to better understand what market value is when raising capital into their business.  Public equities and later stage privates have a well defined matrix of revenue/margin profiles that dictate valuation, surely there must be some framework for arriving at a pre-seed valuation. So how do investors price startups that are pre-revenue, or have maybe one of two early customers? In reality, pricing is more a byproduct of a VC fund’s portfolio construction model than any metric of the underlying business.  VCs model out portfolios to include a certain number of companies with an ownership target in each startup.  There are variations to portfolio construction, and the chosen strategy will have a direct impact on the types of rounds a fund will participate in. For example, an early stage fund might raise a $60M fund to lead investments in 30 companies and target 12.5% ownership.   After management fees, there is ~$48M in investable capital.  Assuming a fund holds back ~30% for reserves(this number varies across funds) that leaves ~$30M to invest in initial checks.   In this case a fund must average $1M checks at $8M valuations to reach their intended ownership target of 12.5%.   When you are in diligence with a fund, they are first and foremost trying to get to a yes on the investment opportunity.  When arriving at a valuation though, the math outlined above is the determining factor, more so than any multiple of revenue on the business, or the stated desires of where a founder wants to raise capital.  At the end of the day, a VC is trying to arrive at a valuation that works within their portfolio strategy. This means they are very unlikely to price a deal at $15M cap given the aforementioned portfolio construction, as they would either not own enough($1M = 6.67% ownership) or have to cut too large a check( $1.875M = 12.5%). The thing that is most likely to move an investor off their target valuation is another investor in the picture that is driving the price higher, but even then there are upward bound limits of how high an investor is willing to price a deal. I always advise our port cos to ask an investor early in conversations what their ideal check size/valuation is to make sure there is alignment with the founder's objectives.    

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+++ exits exist +++ Last week Cobee 🇪🇸 from Speedinvest portfolio signed an agreement to join Pluxee (fka Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services) 👏 😎 quick recap: 2019 375k pre-seed round ESC Venture Capital SGEIC (antes Encomenda Smart Capital), LANAI Partners 2020 2.1m seed round Speedinvest and Target Global 2021 14m seriesA Balderton Capital DILA Capital 2022 40m seriesB Notion Capital Octopus Ventures 2024 trade sale To Borja Aranguren and everyone at the fantastic team Cobee: All the best for the next stage of your journey of redefining employee benefits and thank you for trusting us with your seed round!!! 🙏 Some personal observations and thoughts: 🔸 Pluxee spun out from Sodexo (roots dating back to 1892!!) and listed on Euronext (EPA: PLX) in January 2024 to form a pure player and the global leader in employee rewards & benefits. Pluxee serves 1.7m partner retailers, 500k corporate clients and 36m consumers. A large base for scale. 🔸 It took Cobee (only) 5yrs from pre-seed to exit. They started from scratch to build a digital player in the space. 🔸 The avantgarde of smart european corporates is actively driving the digital transformation of their industries and business models by M&A and investing in startups. With this acquisition Pluxee is going FFD in mastering the digital transformation of its industry. 🔸 If the economics make sense and the strategic and cultural fit is there then swift action pays off for all: 1) for the founders and the startup's employees who get the unique chance to grow and see their "baby" adding value to the economy 2) for the acquiring corporate to leapfrog digital transformation And last but not least for the VCs involved and all their LPs underpinning the attractiveness of the asset class VC. 🔸 We all need more of this! Esp in Europe. It produces full-cycle experienced founders in under a fund's lifespan. This is so crucial to the whole tech & VC ecosystem. And to the wider economy! Good Luck team Cobee for your onward journey!! EU-Startups has more: https://lnkd.in/eSZDKPXm Invest Europe invest.austria #venturecapital

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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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Streamline your fundraising roadshow with edeck by Versible eu🚀 🔗https://lnkd.in/ekQxJZem With Versible's edeck you can create a data-driven, tailored and personalised one pager deck and share it with any one. You can even test it now: https://lnkd.in/eTUsGed8 ✅ Create unlimited links and set permissions for entry ✅ Set Password, 2FA, Invitation only & Expiration date ✅ Your viewers don't need to signup on Versible ✅ Track the movement of every viewer ✅ Track the minutes spent of your deck ✅ Send and receive live messages ✅ Receive Feedback ✅ Add your calendly link ✅ Receive Data room requests ✅ Access the top european VC database ✅ Create unlimited Data rooms ✅ Access fundraising CRM ✅ & so much more

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I'm speaking at SuperVenture 2024 on the 5th of June in Berlin. The topic of the panel is emerging VC managers: time to shine or out of their depth? Are LPs fleeing to established names and those that cut their teeth during previous cycles? Or is now the time for emerging managers to bring something different to the table? Is volatility leading to true innovation and disruption? We’re on track to see approximately 44% of the total LP capital committed to US VC funds since the start of the year go to just two large established VC platforms, according to PitchBook data. While many established VCs maintain their allure, there is a subset of LPs who are making a deliberate choice to increase their allocations to specialist emerging VC managers - managers who have spun out from established funds and have an attributable track record, founders with deep operational experience turned funders or academics with deep domain expertise. There is non-trivial added complexity when it comes to emerging VC selection – given the large number of funds needed to be screened and the more complicated referencing and DD process. Data highlights how important it is for GPs to identify & back ‘big winners’ early on to drive fund returns. Typically, ~5% of invested capital in a few winners drives most of the return (>50%). The VC model is built around investing in early-stage companies each with the potential to more than return the whole fund. Who has the right to win? Who will the best founders (and LPs) decide to partner with? #SuperVenture #VC SuperReturn

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"Platform" in VCs often feels undefined, and different at every firm. But one thing is clear: firms with dedicated platform teams are seeing higher investment returns. What is 'Platform' in VC? Think of it as a support engine for portfolio companies. Platform teams accelerate growth by providing: 1) Strategy & Growth 2) Talent Partner 3) Marketing & Brand Partner 4) Business Development & Partnerships Lead 5) Community Manager 6) Operations & Scaling Partner 7) Fundraising & Capital Advisor Platform in Venture Studios vs. VC Funds: The big difference? Timeframe. Venture Studio Platform: Involved from concept to exit, guiding startups from the very first spark of an idea. VC Platform: Steps in after the startup is funded, focusing on scaling and growth but not the initial concept phase. Both play critical roles—but understanding these distinctions helps founders and investors make the most of their platform relationships.

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Industrial players in Europe face a critical build vs. buy decision in the coming years, one that could massively impact profitability. Startups need to understand the decision-making process by those industrial players and stack-rank their carbon savings solution against all other abatement options across sectors. If they get the timing wrong, they run out of money before seeing real offtake demand. https://lnkd.in/gWeqRCVe

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