Toby Lywood

Looking forward to joining this panel to discuss the fine balance between growth and burn for SaaS companies in the current funding environment alongside some great investors and operators:Jaysri, Julia, Rasika & Eva!

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Well done everyone involved! Qureight is a great investment and looking forward to seeing their growth! Echoing Joe - more announcements coming soon from Guinness Ventures so watch this space! 👀 #venturecapital #eis #vct #healthtech #investment #fundraising

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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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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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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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Some great insights on what 2025 could look like from Constanza Diaz! We're still heavily investing into B2B SaaS companies (with ARR from £2m-£20m). If you have an interesting proposition and are looking for funding now or in the future, do reach out. #saasventure #saas #venturecapital #octopusventures

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#DeepThoughts Once a week the #deeptechbio team at Octopus Ventures share a topic which we have been thinking about. We want to create conversation, meet founders and experts, and share our excitement! 🤓 OV is a generalist fund of specialist teams. Internally we’re split into six different groups - or ‘Pods’: Deep Tech, Biotech, Consumer, B2B, Health and Fintech. You might notice that Climate Tech is missing from that list. We’ve experimented with a Climate Tech Pod in the past, but it became clear that Climate was a motive force more than a domain specialism and that Climate Tech entrepreneurs could run businesses that straddle any number of our Pods. So instead we've embraced a Pods and Tribes model (thanks Spotify) forming a team of Climate Tech investors that sit across our Pods, making sure we always have the right mix of people sourcing and reviewing Climate opportunities. I'm sharing this structure because it highlights how challenging it can be to categorise a Climate Tech startup. The consensus online is that a Climate Tech startup is one whose trading activity supports either the mitigation of, or adaption to, climate change. The breadth of potential activity within this definition makes it very hard to evaluate a given company’s Climate Tech credentials however. In response I’ve been developed a mental model for Climate tech classification that I thought I’d share today. First Order These companies have a direct effect on atmospheric warming. They might do this through Point-Source Capture, like Seabound; through the replacement of fossil fuels with green alternatives, like DRIFT Energy Ltd or copenhagen atomics; they could focus on the capture and sequestration of atmospheric CO2, like Brilliant Planet; or they might offer low emission alternatives, as Arda Biomaterials does with leather and SCiFi Foods does with beef. Second Order These startups engage in commercial activities that have an indirect effect on atmospheric warming. Remote monitoring services, such as AIRMO's methane monitoring solution, or Solaris Suborbital Inc.'s wildfire monitoring service, are good examples of this type of Climate Tech. Third Order These companies vital to accelerate our transition towards net zero emissions. Companies like Metris Energy, who are accelerating the deployment of solar energy by commercial landlords; Kita, whose insurance offering accelerates the maturation of the carbon markets; and Origami who offer Battery Energy Storage System owners a way to optimise the yield on their assets. NB. Whilst it’s true that there is an increasing bias towards Bits over Atoms as you move outwards from a direct interface with our Atmospheric composition, I don’t believe classification it’s as simple as an Atom vs. Bits distinction. How do you think about the divisions within Climate Tech space? Are there any exciting Climate tech startups we should be looking at? Let us know in the comments below.

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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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Thinking 🤔 out loud - one of the biggest beneficiaries of GenAI in the enterprise and agentic worfklows will be software PE firms There are so many beaten down SaaS 🦄 they can buy on the cheap and with a GenAI playbook can now reduce costs even more dramatically And as the AI gets better and moves from just the easy stuff like support and code to more complex workflows, the profitability created is going to be 📈 We are going to see a ton of PE buyouts in the months ahead...

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A timely round up on US Femtech (and female health) funding by Leah Hodgson published yesterday, following the $200m Series C/growth equity round raised by Flo Health Inc. There is a helpful link into further analysis on deal value v. deal count, and PitchBook also tracks the founding teams; female v. co-female/male. #femtech #femalecategory #femalehealth

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💡 SaaStock Reflections: 5 Fundraising Insights for Early-Stage Founders. Last week at SaaStock, I found myself bouncing between two extremes—presenting to early-stage founders navigating their first fundraise on Monday and tee-d up to discuss the high-stakes challenges of CEOs with >£1bn valuations on Wednesday. The contrast reminded me of one thing: the learning curve never stops, whether you're just getting started or leading a unicorn. For founders getting started, the world of fundraising can be one of the biggest learning curves. So, I’ve pulled together the top takeaways from Monday’s session to help demystify the process for those thinking about raising for the first time. Here’s what I’ll break down this week: ❓What’s happening in VC fundraising? ❓The ‘Power Law’ and why VC isn’t right for 99% of businesses. ❓Alternatives to VC and when they make more sense. ❓How to choose the right VC for you. ❓How much to raise and when is the best time to do it. 1️⃣ So, what’s happening in VC fundraising?? 😕 Still stress in the system. It is hard to speak with conviction (markets hot, markets not, valuations back up, valuations down, down rounds over…a lot of pain still to come etc). The reality is 2020/21 were anomalies (unfair yardsticks to measure against) BUT covid, gov stimulus, inflation, monetary policy, political uncertainty and war have and still massively impact fundraising. 🪟 IPO window closed and M&A activity weak. Public SaaS multiples are way down relative to a couple years ago - 80% of SaaS companies that went public in 2020/1 are trading below their issue price. The IPO window has been closed and M&A activity weak. ⌛Liquidity for VCs has stretched to longer time horizons. According to Carta only 9% of 2021 funds have seen any return vs 25% for the 2017 vintage at the same checkpoint. 3 years in is early for a fund, but it is an important mark as it is when GPs start looking to raise their next funds. 🫰So, LPs are more selective. Whilst returns are stretching out to longer time horizons, the NASDAQ is on a rip and interest rates are high, so alternatives to VC have become relatively more attractive to LPs. So, LP capital is being more selective. Less money is going to fewer VCs compared to a couple of years ago (“flight to quality” for LPs). ✈️ What does this mean for founders? It is relatively harder to raise now than a few years ago. Seed to A conversion had dropped to 15% from 30%+. Ultimately, VCs have refocussed on finding companies best suited to “traditional VC return profiles” (“flight to quality” for VCs, too). Founders raising VC are held to an incredibly high bar. Tomorrow I will cover the mathematical reality of the ‘Power Law’ and why VC isn’t right for 99% of businesses. #VC #fundraising #saastock #albionVC

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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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The game has changed in healthcare and digital health companies need to take note. Incumbents have more than doubled in size since the start of the pandemic so that means their expectations for acquisition have shifted. It's time to build more "steak" than "sizzle" and play the game differently than ever before. Thanks to my co-author Christina Farr for letting me jump onto Second Opinion Media to share some of our thoughts about how to re-write the playbook when it comes to scaling in #digitalhealth. More 👇 https://lnkd.in/gvu7siaB

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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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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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Femtech has been in the headlines this week, as London-based Flo Health cracked a US$1 billion valuation following its US$200m Series C raise backed by General Atlantic – making it Europe’s first femtech company to achieve unicorn status. This has been controversial news on two fronts. First, the news that first place was taken out by a women’s health app run by an all male founding team, which stands in stark relief to the lack of capital going to women-led businesses - with only 2-4% of VC funding going to women-led companies. Second, Flo is still facing an ongoing Canadian class action claiming that it shared intimate health information – including details about users’ menstrual cycles, pregnancies and sex lives – to companies like Facebook, without their knowledge (and it’s not the first time, either - links in comments). This reflects consumers’ very real concerns about data, safety and trust when accessing essential health care that touches on highly personal aspects of our lives. In my favourite conversation yet, Rachel Yang and I recently sat down with Ida Tin, Danish entrepreneur, author and co-founder of the pioneering menstruation tracking app Clue, who coined the term ‘femtech’ back in 2016, to discuss the intersection of data, power and trust. Some highlights from our conversation? Although funding levels into femtech are not nearly as high as we’d like to see, Ida shared that the sector has evolved dramatically since she started Clue over a decade ago. We’re no longer faced with the barrier that women’s health is a niche area, and this shift has encouraged more women founders to start businesses solving the problems they themselves face. That said, there’s still a long way to go in terms of investors believing the scale of these problems and not subjecting women and gender diverse founders to a higher bar. Femtech solutions like Clue go a long way to addressing inequity in health care by empowering people with menstrual cycles with their health data in three ways – to give you the data to know when something isn’t right with your health, to help collect data to share with your doctor to help your experience carry more weight (although it shouldn’t have to be this way!), and helping healthcare providers connect broader datasets to identify key diagnostic gaps. In the post-Roe v Wade world, transparency on data privacy in the femtech space is more concerning than ever – and the risk here really comes down to the ethics of the people making decisions. Consumers are scared of data leaks and tech companies misusing their trust. Against this backdrop, data regulation in the health space is very necessary, and founders need to make sure they’re treating users’ data with the care it deserves. Check out the link to full interview in the comments below👇 Do you know an amazing founder building in the femtech space? I'd love to chat!

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It's been a busy week for emerging managers. As we start paying more attention to emerging funds in VC, I'm making it my mission to keep track. Want a more detailed analysis? Click on the link at the bottom of the post. I'll be posting every week. Did I miss your fund launch or close? Comment FEATURE in the comment box and send me a invitation request. 🚀 🇫🇷 & 🇬🇧 Noteus Partners Fund I- launching Former Eurazeo partners Yann du Rusquec and Nathalie Kornoff Brüls have announced they are launching Noteus Partners a EUR 600M pan-European Tech Growth fund. 🚀🇫🇷 Deepbright Ventures Fund I (aka Hello Tomorrow)- launching  The France-founded global #deeptech ecosystem is preparing to launch it’s own venture fund. The fund will focus on early-stage deeptech startups, scouting from it’s own deep network of 5,000+ startups 🎉 🇭🇺 Impact Ventures Fund III- closed European Investment Fund (EIF) and Hungary’s state-backed National Capital Holding (NCH) invested EUR 40M into Impact Fund III. This latest fund is 10x in size from it’s previous 2018 vintage (EUR 4M). 🎉🇪🇸 Acurio Ventures Fund III- closed Bilbao-based Acurio Ventures has not only rebranded from All Iron Ventures, but just closed a EUR 150M continuation fund. The fund will invest across 50 follow-on deals in EU-based seed and Series A tech startups, taking between 3%-10% stakes. 🔊🇪🇪 Estonia Defense Fund- extended In May 2024, the government of Estonia announced a EUR 50 million fund that will invest in defense-related or dual-use technologies, managed by SmartCap. It announced yesterday it would double the fund size to EUR 100M. 🎉 🇺🇸 Cerulean Ventures Fund I- closed This USD 10M climate-focused micro-fund founded by Jahed Momand and Matthew Stotts 🌐 has just announced it’s final close. The fund will invest in approximately 40 pre-seed software startups devoted to reducing the human impact on climate change. 🎉 🇺🇸 Avid Ventures Fund II- closed Avid Ventures led by Addie Lerner, a former Principal at General Catalyst has just announced a USD 87M close for it’s second Fund.  Fund II has already completed 5 investments and will back Seed through Series A software and fintech plays, with check sizes starting from USD 500K to USD 2M- with double-down follow-on for select Series B portfolio companies. #venturecapital #emergingmanagers #investmentmanagent #technology Adam Sah Dan Engel Kim Pochon Bob Mason Mohammed AhmedAbduljabar Totonji Myrto Lalacos VC Lab

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HNY! Hope everyone had a great break. Quiet on here as head down. Such a lot of exciting things coming up: - More Tools for all scaleups to improve their growth trajectory - More Founders using VenturePath to secure their Series A-B investment rounds - More VCs joining VenturePath's VC Network - More Events (including a VC dinner for 50 on the 22nd and SuperScalers female founders event on the 30th) - More Partners joining our scaleup support ecosystem - More Data to publish on 2024 VC trends for the UK ScaleUp Investment Mission Busy January! We'll share more on these when we have a minute... If you can play a part, as a founder, VC, investor, partner, sponsor, data provider etc., there's still room for a conversation or coffee with you though 😉

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