Mario Barosevcic

Taavet Hinrikus and I made the Financial Times Due Diligence email. https://lnkd.in/ez2AuGQx One 'unintended consequence' is that if there is a 45% tax on carry and CGT (raising £40m per year, remember) it for all intents and purposes closes the door on new VCs in the UK. Especially started by teams from non-traditional backgrounds. To meet the GP commit, you need to be already part of the 'wealthy' as you cannot rely on the value you create - nearly half of it will disappear - to fund it. We have both had extremely successful startups which are few and far between. The smaller number of new VCs will therefore more likely increasingly be for people who have inherited the capital or can draw it from their already rich family. Probably not want they have in mind with this policy.

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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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I couldn’t be prouder to be a Venture Partner at Isomer Capital (aka the best European FoF - at least for me) as we just announced the launch of our pioneering £100m secondaries fund. This fund is dedicated to acquiring stakes from LPs in various VC funds, tapping into a massive and largely unexplored market. 🌟 Key Highlights: - Focused Investment: Primarily targeting stakes in VC funds, with selective investments in private companies. - Robust Funding: Already over 20% funded, thanks to strong support from Nordic family offices and a German foundation. - Market Potential: With a growing number of private tech companies and a VC liquidity crunch, Europe's VC secondaries market is poised for rapid growth. - Track Record: This isn’t Isomer’s first foray into the secondaries market. As a firm we’ve done several secondaries deals with portfolio companies and VC firms, including early-stage VC Seedcamp (in 2021) and mobility giant Bolt (in 2023). - Expert Team: Welcoming the amazing Omolade (Rachel) A., formerly of Coller Capital, as a principal to lead this initiative. 💡 Investment Strategy: - 65-75% of the fund will buy "LP interest" stakes in VC funds. - 15-25% will be directed towards stakes in companies. - Up to 15% reserved for flexible investment opportunities. 📈 Looking Ahead: We're targeting returns of 2-3x, with significant distributions expected in the next 4-7 years. As one of the few players in this space, we're not just participating in the market—we're driving it forward. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/dc7sbC3G #VentureCapital #SecondariesFund #EuropeanVC

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Great interview with one of the best VCs out there. Lot's of good stuff in this article. One point worth highlighting on the eternal debate whether there is enough growth capital in Europe: great companies will always manage to raise money, no matter where they are based.

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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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Always capitivating the audience with your strategies.

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Excited to invest in Capsa AI, who have just raised £1.7m seed funding round led by Outward VC together with Cornerstone VC and Antler, as well as top angels! I was really impressed by Danyal Özdüzenciler and Callum Downie and their speed of execution and tenacity! Capsa AI streamlines due diligence for Private Equity firms by automating manual tasks like creating company profiles, consolidating financial data, and reviewing contracts. Since launching, their technology has helped leading PE funds reduce due diligence time by 20% and achieve a 90% customer satisfaction score, by enhancing their ability to assess deals and make smarter investment decisions. Link in the comments below👇

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☀️ Summer Update: Freshly announced VC funds - €4bn+ since April! ☀️ The VC market is back, great time to build great companies in Europe! 🚀 Due to PitchBook, "The venture capital market (globally) has already bottomed out, with signs that a gradual rebound is underway." (https://lnkd.in/e7G6cQEH) "The venture industry is more active than any time pre-2021. Q2 venture capital investment in Europe is up 14% on Q1, and 12% year on year, and European startups raised $15.6B in Q2 2024." Dealroom.co (https://lnkd.in/egYHgkNg) Here are a bunch of fresh funds: <100m Funds: 💰 Carbon Equity 🇳🇱 - €60m (https://lnkd.in/e6trwJup) 💰 BlackWood 🇩🇰 - €15m (https://lnkd.in/ed__M4Np) 💰 Italian Founders Fund 🇮🇹 - €50m (https://lnkd.in/ehfZpuF8) 💰 Kfund 🇪🇸 - €70m (https://lnkd.in/eWVGi-xE) 💰 Dreamcraft Ventures 🇩🇰 - €66m (https://lnkd.in/eYaRm7WT) 💰 identity.vc I Backing LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurs 🇩🇪 - €15m (https://lnkd.in/eKTSVPXa) 💰 Openseed VC 🇬🇧 - €9m (https://lnkd.in/e_hPphrY) 💰 Pitchdrive | Early-stage VC 🚀 🇳🇱 - €40m (https://lnkd.in/e6r49mMz) 💰 14Peaks Capital 🇨🇭 - €28m (https://lnkd.in/eBSjW-cw) 💰 Elevator Ventures 🇦🇹 - €70m (https://lnkd.in/eahGkeXM) 💰 BOOOM💥🇩🇪 - €17m (https://lnkd.in/eJqWt2MH) >100m Funds: 💰 13books Capital 🇬🇧 - ￡121 (https://lnkd.in/eXhaydg9) 💰 MiddleGame Ventures 🇱🇺 - €150m (https://lnkd.in/eGd69gSx) 💰 Wind 🇫🇷 - €130m (https://lnkd.in/eeaNHZJm) 💰 Vsquared Ventures 🇩🇪 - €214m (https://lnkd.in/eNFj9rGf) 💰 Suma Capital 🇪🇸 - €125m (https://lnkd.in/efk7QJGk) 💰 Creandum 🇸🇪 - €500m (https://lnkd.in/e7ztHAU9) 💰 ETF Partners 🇬🇧 - €285m (https://lnkd.in/eKPdGPkJ) 💰 Norrsken VC 🇸🇪 - €320m (https://lnkd.in/ewxTh7zD) 💰 Alpine Space Ventures 🇩🇪 - €170m (https://lnkd.in/e3SQQwwf) 💰 Accel 🇬🇧 - €600m (https://lnkd.in/eYewqRqj) 💰 imec.xpand 🇧🇪 - €300m (https://lnkd.in/e-S-TyhW) 💰 Lakestar Early+Growth 🇨🇭- €560m (https://lnkd.in/e_SeFicE) 💰 Armira Growth 🇩🇪 - €200m (https://lnkd.in/efVRktgx) 💰 Index Ventures 🇬🇧 - $2.3bn (https://lnkd.in/eVzF5ncE) Forgot one? Feel free to comment! 👇 Link to Dealroom.co's Q2 Report: https://lnkd.in/eAVxFHGx

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A great insight for those interested in learning more about our secondaries activities and venture secondaries in Europe generally.

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As a Partner at Antler, one of the most active early-stage investors in the world, I’m thrilled to announce our latest round of investments—£840k across seven exciting new British startups! The eleventh UK residency brought together over 2,400 applicants from across the globe, with 78 founders making the cut. This group reflects incredible diversity, representing 24 nationalities and 18% female founders. After a rigorous selection process that included over 200 hours of due diligence per company, we’re backing just under 1% of applicants, confident in the impact they’ll have. Here are the seven ventures joining the Antler family: 🔎 Vente AI: Changing the recruitment game by automating how agencies discover roles and optimize their candidate pipelines. 💡Distillery: Unlocking rapid insights for businesses, providing crucial product and marketing data 25x faster than traditional methods. (Vasil Yakov, Edward Louth) 🏦 Banqora: Uses AI to automate document processing and streamline post-trade operations, saving financial institutions significant time and money. 🏠 AskVinny: Simplifying property management with AI, making tenant-landlord interactions effortless and improving service delivery. 🪲 Omma: Supporting sustainable farming with AI-driven insect incubation, reducing the need for pesticides in large-scale horticulture. 🧑‍🏭️ Tradestack: Helping trades businesses quote quicker and win more jobs with an AI-backed productivity tool. 🏨 Inntelo AI: Transforming hotel operations with AI that automates guest services, making every stay smoother and more personalized. With some of them already speaking to follow-on investors and closing investment rounds, I’m personally excited about what lies ahead for them all. If you’d like to connect with any of the founders or learn more, drop me a message! 🚀 🦄 #VentureCapital #Investments #Founders #TechStartups

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Great to speak at Alma College: Lessons on Due Diligence today alongside the fantastic Rupa Ganatra Popat of Arāya Ventures. This is one of a series of events run by Alma Angels to help angel investors who want to learn more about investing. If you are an angel investor interested in supporting female founders, please check out Alma. Link in comments shortly. #founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic More at unbundled dot vc.

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Welcome to the club! At Antler, we are proud to announce that we have just invested over £1m into nine new British tech startups. Our tenth residency in the UK attracted more than 1,100 ambitious founders, with 66 founders taking part. Representing 27 different nationalities, with women comprising 24% of the cohort, it was truly a diverse group of amazing people. Spending 10 weeks with us allowed us to undertake over 200+ hours of due diligence, helping us make high-conviction investment decisions, in which we end up investing in 1% of all applicants. We are delighted to welcome the following eight startups to Antler’s portfolio, and we’re excited to be on this journey with you! ⚙️ AlphaLoops - Automating investment management operations using AI ⚠️ BankBridge - Bridging the due diligence gap between financial institutions 🔎 Capsa AI - AI Operating System For Private Equity 📝 Falco - powered platform that empowers financial firms to identify and translate regulatory changes into actionable insights 🚚 Fleevo - The AI-driven Operating System for Modern Commercial Fleets. Driving Efficiency, Uptime, and Sustainability 🛍️ frnt - Optimising retail operations with digital workers 🎯 Intriq - Transforming businesses with the power of AI through the use of private equity playbook strategies 🦾 RoboMinder - Elevating industrial robot uptime with AI-powered computer vision In addition, Antler has made one seed investment in the first quarter of 2024, into a tech startup that is currently in stealth mode. Check out the press release in the comments section! #VentureCapital #Investments #Founders #TechStartups

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Enjoyable listen / watch this 20VC podcast where Harry Stebbings gets Cem Sertoglu of Bek Ventures to open up. Cem led, very likely the single best European seed deal thus far - the UiPath investment, $16.5m invested becoming $2.1b. Whoa! Notes on what stood out for me: *Play the game on the field. Cem: “I think our job is to play the game. Our business structure is defined by timelines. We raise 10-year life funds, so our job is to expose our fund to the strongest opportunities in every vintage, not to try to time the market.” *Cem: “the early rounds are not real rounds. They are contracts where you’re demonstrating alignment around a target that is very far out ahead. Every early stage check, you’re buying a very out of the money call option on these businesses.” Interesting point about how, unlike PE, Venture outcomes are correlated more to global outcomes than the local macro environment.Cem: “My outcomes are American outcomes, LSE outcomes, acquisitions by global tech companies. They’re not outcomes that are subject to the turbulence of whatever country that founder team may be coming from.” *Cem: “Our reserves are for those companies that will be misunderstood by the market or overlooked by the market because they don’t fit into the mold. And we were able to write that check with conviction.” They played a $2.5 bridge as a convert note following the seed round, when they saw that most of the Series A investors were not willing to step upCem: “We ended up then showing the company to about 40 firms. Everybody passed. The feedback was OK, keep us posted. Not enough traction for us to care at the moment. We had to bridge the company. The numbers were not exceptional, but it was certainly headed in the right direction.” *Cem: “Founders usually underestimate the leverage they have on their cap table. They negotiate things for very obscure situations. Experienced founders know that it’s their company. They will have a lot of flexibility around managing things when it happens, when the opportunity comes down the road.” I kind of agree. The amount of time that gets wasted on termination for cause is not funny. It is clearly a red flag when founders negotiate too much on this clause, per me, and I have begun to share this specific clause earlier in the discussion now. *Being quiet on the board. Cem: “We believe in being quiet on the board.….there’s this enormous pressure to demonstrate value add. We think that you, of course, learn from your experiences in other journeys, but then synthesize that and distill that to very carefully chosen moments to provide input to the founder. I think your job as a board member is to understand the company, be very well prepared on any interaction, like the board meetings, etc. We’re obsessive about preparing for board meetings, but we are very careful in choosing when we share strong opinions.” https://lnkd.in/g3K788Qx

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We don't spend enough time thanking the teams that enable the engine to run under the hood. Thanks Kasun De Silva & team for the great work and interesting article for anyone that wants to know more about what happens behind the curtains of hedge funds, venture debt funds and Bootstrap Europe!

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Get ahead of the seismic forces within Digital Transformation with our interactive Academy. Navigate the most pressing digital topics across Europe, including AI and data governance, AI and copyright, AI and cybersecurity, and digital payments. Our interactive modules put you in control. Make your selection, click to read further insights and analysis, and immerse yourself in the topics you care about most. Dive into our Digital Transformation Academy: https://lnkd.in/gxjKEH2X Enabling you to thrive in a digital world.

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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Two weeks of climate investment journey in the United Kingdom! First in London for British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA)'s ESG conference. Thank the great presenters who shared the current interaction between ESG and the venture capital industry Hannah Leach with VentureESG. I look forward to future climate-related co-investments with Ed Phillips Matthew Chagan, and Henry Hamilton and the perspective from LPs Laura Callaghan Nina Kraus Lucia Mancisidor David Vyravipillai Chloe Dagnell. Also, the conference touched upon a few important topics related to empowering diversity in investment and the founder field. Thanks so much to the BVCA team for organizing this wonderful event to connect the dots. Harriet Assem Chris Elphick The conversation focused on several key areas: 🔍 Reliable Data Collection Challenges in collecting dependable ESG data and the necessity for a contextual narrative. 🛠️ Materiality and Trust The critical importance of materiality and building trust in ESG reporting. 📊 Theory of Change and KPI Frameworks Starting with a clear theory of change and developing practical KPI frameworks aligning with limited partners' expectations. 🔄 Consistency and Standardization Emphasizing consistency and standardization in ESG reporting, especially for LPs with multiple investments. 🌿 Sustainability Reporting in Private Equity The significance of transparency, accountability, and incorporating stakeholders in the reporting process. Action Items: 📈 Develop customized impact frameworks for new funds based on intended outcomes and LP feedback. 🗂️ Aggregate ESG data from portfolio companies and schedule roundtable discussions to review results and identify challenges. 📝 Provide narrative context alongside ESG data reports to explain performance and plans for improvement. 📣 Consider reporting requirements and communicate intended direction of travel even with incomplete or estimated data. 🤝 Involve investment teams in ongoing ESG data collection, reporting, and stakeholder engagement. This discussion underscores the importance of a structured and transparent approach to ESG reporting to meet the growing expectations of stakeholders and drive meaningful impact. #ESG #Sustainability #PrivateEquity #Reporting #Transparency #Accountability #StakeholderEngagement Meredith Zhang

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Welcome ecoLocked to the Climentum Capital portfolio! We are proud to have led the €4M funding round together with Matterwave Ventures, and delighted to have existing investors Counteract, Startup Family Office, Sabancı Building Solutions, and VOYAGERS.io joining the round. The investment will support ecoLocked’s mission to revolutionize the construction industry with carbon-negative building materials. Concrete production accounts for 8% of global CO2 emissions, making innovations in this field crucial for achieving net-zero goals. ecoLocked is leading the change by converting carbon captured from biomass into functional, carbon-negative building materials. This funding will accelerate ecolocked's efforts to turn buildings into carbon sinks, scaling their innovative biochar-based solutions and enabling 1Gt carbon removal by 2040. Doerte Hirschberg Morten Halborg Stefan Maard

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