Mike Brennan

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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There has to be a fair and transparent process to any change to taxes and a coherent plan for the future. Unfreezing fuel duty would raise £3bn to absolutely dwarf these taxes on ambition and value creation. And benefit the environment.

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In the Norrsken Accelerate Fund we have made 20 investments this year in super exciting impact tech startups that are tackling some of the big issues on the planet.🌍 I’d like to the spotlight on the amazing founders behind these companies. 📸 First out are Sébastien Fiedorow and Steven Bardey, PhD who are the founders of Aerleum. What they are doing is defossilizing heavy industries which is crucial for reducing GHG emissions globally. Sectors like shipping, road transport, and aviation need clean fuels with high energy density, cost-efficiency, and supply chain compatibility. How they address this is be having a unique technology that produces e-methanol from captured CO2 and low-carbon hydrogen. It burns cleanly, has high energy density, and integrates with current supply chains. By doing this they strive to remove giga-tons of carbon dioxide from the air and transform it into clean alternatives for fossil-based products which will be massive win for the planet.💚 Read more about Aerleum here: https://www.aerleum.com/ and ping me if you want to get in touch with them.

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What's been happening in Mental Health innovation this week? ⭕ Virtual Therapeutics and Akili announce a merger. Akili were in big trouble, losing about $10m a quarter after failing to generate revenue for their digital therapeutics products. ⭕ Seven Starling, a maternal mental healthcare startup, raises $12.6m ⭕ Irish startup Spectrum.Life raises €17m in a round led by Act Venture Capital ⭕ Orygen receives an additional $6.4m of funding from the Victorian Sate Goverment for their youth digital mental health service MOST ⭕ Workplace wellbeing provider Habit Health is acquired by Five V Capital for over $200m ⭕ Optum acquires outpatient mental health providers Refresh Mental Health and CARE Counseling ⭕ Acadia Healthcare appoints Nasser Khan, MD as COO to expand their comprehensive treatment centres, grow their outpatient segment and improve quality of clinical care __ Want more insights and trends on mental health innovation? Feel free to follow myself and The Hemingway Report.

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"What we are saying is, hey, right now you have this unified infrastructure that allows you to do payment experimentation. And guess what, if you want to try and test different services, now you have access to an app store of services, you go in, in the Primer dashboard, they can just like toggle on and off, like the services you want to use. You can add test them, AB testing in the world of payments is simply impossible, right?" - ⁠Gabriel Le Roux The Asia Tech Podcast welcomed Gabriel Le Roux, a co-Founder and the CEO of Primer back to the show for a quick catch up. Gabriel had written a post on how Stripe's new openness would change the payment space and I wanted to record about it. Check it out on the Asia Tech Podcast YouTube channel as well...and subscribe! Listen to the full episode here... #payments #openpayments #fintech #platforms #interoperability #SME

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💼 Ready to take your startup to the next level? Explore our extensive list of 220 #VCfirms in New York! Get all the details you need to connect with potential investors. Dive in: https://lnkd.in/d_mb-2n9 #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #managementconsulting

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Tomorrow is the summer edition of SaaStock Local London and we've a great entrepreneur sharing his story of how he orchestrated an exit (to Zuora). If your building a SaaS with a view to a future exit (most folks except Basecamp), Or your currently thinking about M&A Then this is the inside story from a great founder, James Henderson, who got a fantastic outcome. The content will not be recorded, so you have to be there to get the insights such as: Why selling was right for James and Zephr - How do you plan an exit - What forces did James consider before he sold - How he managed his team and board through the process - What happens when you make a deal and sell All these questions and you get to ask your own. So make sure you're there if you're serious about building a SaaS company to sale. Around 17 tickets remaining. Link in the comments. #exits #M&A #founders #saas #london #CEO #saastocklocallondon

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This week, Phuong Ireland and I dive into one of the most crucial yet often perplexing aspects of startup formation: cap table construction and equity distribution. If you're setting up a startup or restructuring your cap table, this conversation is a must-listen. We discuss the essentials of how to navigate structuring equity so that the cap table aligns with industry norms, aiming to attract investors while motivating founders and early employees. From understanding equity splits among co-founders to planning an option pool for future hires, we cover actionable insights that can help founders avoid common pitfalls. This is a tough topic for new entrepreneurs. Hopefully this episode can help folks build a balanced and adaptable ownership structure that supports growth and long-term success. https://lnkd.in/emWEer9B

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I recently had two days in Dublin that demonstrated the amazing efforts to drive and facilitate innovation in Ireland. The first was the results of a grand experiment to create new startups at Dogpatch Labs, and the second was a government policy event at Dublin Castle. At Dogpatch Labs, there were 15 fantastic startups presenting (including the latest NDRC cohort). The experiment at the root of the Dogpatch cohort was incredible. Led by Jane Dillon, a talent-focused process began last year to find the best founders, with Dogpatch providing the structures and inputs for successful startup creation. The result was an incredible cohort in a matter of weeks (with ongoing tweaks to the programme as the team learnt along the way). Congratulations to Jane and the team - I'm very excited to see how the second year of this grand experiment goes. I'd write more about the amazing startups, but then this post would an unreadable length...! Second, it was a priviledge to be invited to join the Irish government's Digital Ireland Conference as an industry delegate. This was a rare occasion to hear the policy concerns of the world's top tech companies alongside the plans (and live rebuttals) of multiple government ministers and the European Commission. A few top take-aways: - On regulatory sandboxes - There was a call for focus here so startups could more cost-effectively test their tech. This would vastly reduce legal fees. Ministers made commitments to deliver on this. - On AI regulations - Karan Bhatia of Google had a startling stat. There were 1,300 new regulations on AI to come out of Asia alone in the past 3 years. He compared the challenges of doing business internationally to asking an airliner to reduce their wingspan by an inch before landing in a different country. It would be impossible for a startup to scale faced by these challenges. -On harmonisation of regulatory frameworks - a startup having to file tax returns in every EU country is one of the many things that need to be fixed. On a macro level the OECD - OCDE explained how they were trying to push for standardisation in AI globally to ensure interoperability but admitted the US, EU and China probably would only accept gentle nudges. -On trends in LLMs and Gen AI - Sandro Gianella of OpenAI said future product features would invalidate the need for prompt engineering as their platform became more intuitive. Patricia Scanlon, Ireland's AI Ambassador, tried to goad him into revealing more future plans for GPT-5, but alas that's all we got. Fair play for trying anyway, Trish! Overall, it was amazing to be part of the Dublin innovation ecosytem again for a brief time, and made me proud to see the big (but realistic) ambitions of my small country.

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The Vanta EMEA team brought the 🔥 to QBRs this week in Dublin! We have an incredible team on the ground here in Europe. I’ve also had many insightful conversations this month with folks who have built some of the greatest SaaS businesses on the continent. A few of their bits of advice and wisdom include: - Every business, country, and segment comes with its own nuances. Don’t copy someone else’s strategy. Leverage benchmarks but know your business will be unique. - Many SaaS companies entering Europe repeat the same mistakes time and time again. Leverage your local friends, investors and contacts to see around corners. - Compliance and regulation are taken very seriously in Europe. This should mean our opportunity here is tremendous. - Don’t settle. Go big, think broad, be ambitious. If you don’t, someone else will. Thank you EMEA team for your hospitality! Can’t wait to be back soon.

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As investment flows continue to drive growth in tech and innovation, startups in Ireland 🇮🇪 and the UK are seizing the opportunity to scale, innovate, and disrupt. From AI-driven diagnostic solutions to platforms reimagining corporate interactions and offshore energy innovations, the startup ecosystem is humming with fresh funding and new milestones. Here are some standout deals this month that signal the ongoing strength and potential of startup and scale-up ventures. Needi Investment: £1.4 million Investors: Clarendon Fund Managers, Techstart Ventures LLP Ventures, several angels What they do: needi is a Manchester-based startup redefining corporate gifting by connecting businesses to unique, sustainable products from local suppliers. Founders: Louise Doyle and Steph Scholes Ooodles Investment: €2.5m Investors: āltitude, UK family office Traditum Private Investment Office What they do: Ooodles offers tech leasing solutions to SMEs, allowing them to access the latest tech equipment without significant upfront costs. This latest round is to help expand flexible tech leasing for Irish SMEs Founders: Leonardo Poggiali and Kannan Reghu Gazelle Wind Power Limited Investment: €11.4 million Investors: Indico Capital Partners, DST Global, August One, Wah Kwong, and E2IN2, among others. What they do: Irish based Gazelle Wind Power is developing next-generation floating offshore wind platform technology. Founder: Jon Salazar iFAST Diagnostics Investment: £5 million Investors: KHP Ventures, QantX, UKI2S (managed by Future Planet Capital), Kadmos Capital Ltd, EInk, Raw Ventures, OKG Capital, and angels What they do: iFast Diagnostics has developed technology to determine the most effective antibiotics for different bacteria. Founders: Toby King, Hywel Morgan and @Daniel Spencer RESEARCH GRID Investment: £5 million Investors: Fuel Ventures 🚀, Arve Capital, Ada Ventures, Morgan Stanley Inclusive Venture Lab, Arāya Ventures, Ascension, Plug and Play Ventures, and Atomico What they do: Research Grid is an AI/health tech company focused on improving research processes. Founder: Dr Amber Michelle Hill Paloma Health Investment: €2.3 million Investors: TriplePoint Capital and James Allgrove Company: Paloma Health aims to reduce the long waiting times for children's autism assessments by utilising technology and artificial intelligence to cut the diagnosis time from over two years to just four weeks. Founder: Guillaume ("G") Cohen-Skalli

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Scale-up business guide to getting investor-ready: THE FINANCIALS (2/7) Before approaching investors, you need to get your management accounts and everything associated with how you make money and spend money in order. This article explains the essentials of your business’ financials. #Business #investorready #financials

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Ever wondered how top B2B SaaS founders scale their companies from zero to millions? Unlock the Secrets of B2B SaaS Success with SaaS Academy's Leadership Duo 🚀 In this eye-opening episode of The Expertise Economy, I sit down with Johnny Page (CEO) and Matt Verlaque (COO) of SaaS Academy - the premier coaching program for B2B SaaS founders. Key insights you'll gain: > The power of extreme focus in scaling a SaaS business > Why knowing your numbers is crucial for making smart decisions > How to attract and retain top talent as you grow > The importance of founder-led branding in today's market > Practical frameworks for identifying your biggest growth levers Johnny and Matt share their inspiring journey from SaaS Academy clients to company leaders, offering a unique perspective on what it takes to build a transformational coaching business. Whether you're a SaaS founder looking to scale or an aspiring entrepreneur, this episode is packed with actionable advice and inspiring stories. Don't miss out - watch the full episode on YouTube now to take your SaaS game to the next level! https://lnkd.in/dju-Be2u #SaaS #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #StartupAdvice #SaaSAcademy

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ANNOUNCEMENT: We just launched our diversified fund investments feature on Mainshares 😲 Starting today, accredited investors can invest in SMB acquisitions managed by sophisticated investors via Mainshares I’ve been telling you all that we’re here to change the game of SMB investing for the better, and this is a huge step for us. Before, SMB investing was commonly done on a deal-by-deal basis, and depending on who you are, you may not have the time to spend parsing out every deal. Well now, investors on our platform have access to deals across a variety of industries, geographies, and deal structures in this (traditionally) inaccessible and fragmented asset class. Invest in ~20 SMBs, all with a single investment. Join the Mainshares train before we take off like a 🚀 Link below for diversified SMB investing 👇

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VC Platform explained, in apples. By the nature of what I do, I think about social systems a lot: how do we build a platform of founders supporting other founders? It’s so easy to get caught up in complexity here, that I make myself think about it, quite literally, in apples. Give it a try: * If I have two apples, and give you one, how many do I have left? One less than I had, so down to one apple. * But in real life the correct answer is that I now have an apple and a relationship with the culture of sharing with others when you can. I‘ll be able to lean back on that relationship when in a twist of fate it’s now me standing with no apples. I am now part of a system. * Can I rely on someone else to start this system? Yes, I can. But apples in life are a bit more complicated: — Maybe the person in front of me doesn’t share the apple with me, because she has already committed it to someone else. — Maybe she borrowed the apple from someone else in the past, and now wants to return it. — Maybe she hasn’t eaten in a while, and now needs not one, but both apples to sate herself. — All these people might be generally willing to share an apple with me—but maybe not this exact one, the timing may be not right at the moment, they are part of a bigger group where they have agreed to only share apples inside the group etc. Yes, the analogy with deal-sharing is intended, too. :) * When we factor in real-life circumstances, it’s hard to tell if the person, in fact, has a spare apple or not. Besides, when I wait for someone else to share an apple first, I make myself dependent on an external factor over which I have no control. I shouldn‘t, therefore, be surprized to find myself in a situation when I would want someone to share an apple with me, but the system is not there yet. * So, in reality, the only sure way to become part of a system like that is to wait for a moment when I have a spare apple and share it. * For this to work, the person I am sharing the apple with should actually need the apple. Let’s imagine I try to share an apple with someone who has just had two, doesn’t like apples, or has an apple tree. In the best case, it just won’t work. In worse cases, if let’s suppose I insist on giving the apple, the person might grow irritated. So, I need to share my spare apple with someone who actually needs an apple at this point in time. * This example is fabulous, as it helps answer other questions as well. For example, should I then give both apples, so that the relationship is 2x stronger? My answer will follow in the next post. PS. The artwork frivolously used by me to illustrate my thoughts is by a generative artist @dmitricherniak on inst who considers automation his artistic medium. He makes it seem easy, but after spending an hour in DALL•E and getting a bunch of really ugly apples in webs, I am a raging fan.

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In today’s competitive landscape, many SME businesses and early-stage startups struggle to afford the full-time expertise needed to create & execute robust marketing strategies. Enter the Fractional CMO - an agile solution providing top-tier marketing leadership on a part-time (fractional) basis. With decades of experience, a seasoned ’chief marketing officer’ (such as myself) delivers strategic insights and operational excellence without the overhead of a full-time hire. Whether you’re launching a new product or trying to solve complex brand issues, a Fractional CMO offers the flexibility and expertise to propel your business forward efficiently and effectively. This article perfectly outlines the rise of the Fractional CMO: https://loom.ly/cyyLicg Discover how fractional marketing leadership can revolutionize your growth strategy. Visit my website https://lnkd.in/daT_yEcQ or book a discovery call to discuss your business needs directly. #MichaelHCowan #FractionalCMO #MarketingROI

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If you're looking for inspiration and advice on how to grow your business from its early stages to scaling it at incredible rates, have a listen below. The Hiveway Inc. founders sit down with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine to discuss the highs and lows, and perseverance required - to take an idea to becoming a leader in a global partner ecosystem.

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