Christina Caljé

Fascinating data about the VC investments per capita by now in 2024 that Yoram Wijngaarde and his team at Dealroom.co brings. As we get stuck in our mindset on the big advanced ecosystems that are making lots of noise, there are incredible places where resiliency in terms of capital raised is remarkable. Singapore 🇸🇬 (Jacqueline Poh, YC Choy) is at the top of the charts followed by the UAE 🇦🇪, right ahead the US! Switzerland 🇨🇭 is the leading European country with the most VC money invested per capita, followed by Israel 🇮🇱 (Michal Freeman-Shor). My take is, watch for small countries that put tech, AI, startups and the private capital market in their priorities as a leading economic growth driver. Those are the tech exporters of talent, tech and capital and will attract investors globally. #capitalmarkets #privatecapital #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #AI #economy #growth #entrepreneurship #privateequity

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This Monday, I kicked off a project to validate the Dutch market for Metris Energy, a London-based startup that’s reshaping solar asset management. Backed by VCs Octopus Ventures and AENU, Metris is building a powerful new platform that addresses a pain point in the solar industry. 🌞 Currently, many PPA funds and solar asset managers rely on Excel for tracking and reporting - a method that’s often slow, inefficient, and difficult to scale. 🐢💻 Metris is solving this problem with its software, automating key processes like monitoring, reporting, billing, and payments. Making solar asset management faster, easier and scalable. 📈⚡️ ️ With 240+ sites already live in the #UK, Metris is now looking to expand into new markets. And that’s where I come in. Over the next weeks, I’ll be: - Validating market demand - Assessing needs to support a potential entry 🇳🇱 Through targeted interviews and research, we aim to confirm a potential product-market fit and identify essential features for a potential launch. So, do you know anyone in the #solar asset management space? If so, tag them below or send me a DM - I’d love to connect! 💬

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Trusted Investors Network #venturecapital 1️⃣ Facilitating co-investment opportunities to fuel the growth of Europe’s next generation of deep-tech champions.   2️⃣ Offering a platform for investors to collaborate, share insight and help drive Europe’s innovation agenda forward.   3️⃣ Building stronger investment communities around critical technologies.

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You maybe never heard the backstory why I entered into the (c)VC industry as an ex-entrepreneur, intrapreneur & startup operator. I wanted to support amazing entrepreneurs, learn about new business models & technologies, invest in the companies that matched with the corporate mothership (insurance CVC) and help those businesses scale. But there is another reason .... ⚡ It's an industry wide-open for evolution and disruption by ... technology. Really? Yes ... "The VC investment process is broken It’s manual, inefficient, non-inclusive and biased." 💡 Excel has been the preferred tool for ages 💡 Human bias is all over the process 💡 Only the top 20% of VC's is datadriven (with a set of very advanced funds leading the pack like Moonfire, EQT Group, Redstone , ... ) ..... I have been considering the #VC industry as another industry that was in an urgent need for their 'digital transformation'. The acceleration of AI and GenAI was clearly THE momentum to leapfrog. 📢 "VCs need to become data-driven in search for efficiency, effectiveness, and inclusiveness" Over the last 4 days, I attended the first Data-Driven VC Summit 2024. A 4-day summit, +20 sessions and 600 investors/startups discussing the Datadriven VC across multiple domains and topics (sorry numbers are important 😎 Some (incomplete) snippets from 4 days packed with content:  * The different phases in the Investment process require different solutions & data (panel discussions) . No monoliths possible. * Getting the data and normalizing, maintaining, updating, ... them is a massive job (all sessions) * " I don't have to do every good deal, but every deal needs to be good" Mike Arpaia on deal quality versus adding sources * 'Buy or build' is clearly still a debate, with build taking the lead at the moment, with deal sourcing being an exception (buy)? Differentiation is a key motivation to build. * AI will have an impact on the investment process, but 'core people and leadership challenges' will be just as pressing (in scaling up) (Martin Mignot - Index Ventures) * Founder relationships and their impact on succes can be researched and evaluated using the same research on married couples (excellent insights by Prof. Dr. Theresa Treffers on conflict handling being the most predictive dimension) .... There was a LOT more content across all the talks, but hard to summarize here, even using #GenAI ;-) >------------- LET'S TALK 💬 If you consider upgrading your VC or CVC fund to become more data-driven (VC Platform roles), don't hesitate to reach out below to discuss: 💬 https://lnkd.in/e6kjakzF #VentureCapital #DataDrivenVC #GenerativeAI

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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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Erik Noyes writes on how entrepreneurs should consider using AI tools to analyze customer data at scale, extract valuable insights, and make informed decisions. At risk of repeating others, here’s the quick take: 🔷Otter.ai - for transcribing focus group sessions or interviews in seconds 🔷Microsoft Azure - detects emotional cues and tones in customer conversations, by aggregating this data over time we can more deeply understand how customers feel about the brand, product or service. 🔷MeaningCloud - voice of the customer (feedback at scale) aggregated from social, product reviews and customer support tickets. 🔷Claude - iterate/generate variations on messaging based on customer feedback 🔷Copy.ai - to create product descriptions that resonate with a target audience It has become clear that the future belongs to those who understand how to leverage AI effectively. Onwards! #AI #Entrepreneurship #CustomerExperience #DataManagement #Marketing

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Exciting to see the growing landscape of early-stage climate tech investors supporting Dutch and European startups! Connect with these any many more investors (700+) for free on the Startup Fountain website. (Feel free to tag any climate startup that is raising in the comments) This investor map from Startup Fountain highlights over 60 firms and angels investing €50K-€5M in climate solutions. Key players include: • 4impact VC • ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund  • ASIF Ventures • Cottonwood Technology Fund • Energy Transition Fund Rotterdam Many anonymous angels are also active in this space. The diversity of investors - from corporate VCs to university-linked funds - shows the momentum building in climate tech. Founders working on climate solutions in the Netherlands and across Europe, there's capital out there to support your vision! Let's connect if you're working in this space. #ClimateInvesting #StartupFunding #Sustainability #DutchStartups Jorn Eiting van Liempt Eline de Haan Sybo Zijlstra Elizabeth Kleinveld Dorus Olgers Victor Straatman Tommy Hurley Claire Tange Joyce Houterman Abdul Afridi Alex Menn Martin Schreurs Sem Foreman Stefan Bary Thorsten Wittmuetz Emily Kegels Therese Angel François-Xavier Fanard Bart van den Heuvel Filip Celen Rob Haenen Alain le Loux Andy Lurling Max Schalow 👨‍🚀 Chingiskhan Kazakhstan 🤠"

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Congratulations and many thanks for this work First Momentum Ventures, Dr. Maximilian Ochs, David Meiborg, Lena Späth, Reinhardt Karpenko ! Tach2yone GmbH as a Growth Equity investor in the Green Energy Transition and related areas is looking to invest in more mature Deep Tech companies (Series B and later). One of our most important investment criterion is (positive) EBITDA: we believe, that in industries with high CapEx, EBITDA is useful because it eliminates the distortions caused by significant depreciation and amortization expenses, providing a clearer view of operational profitability. Thus, EBITDA is an essential tool for us to assess a company’s core profitability and financial health. First Momentum Ventures and community: what are your thoughts on this approach and would you consider to take also EBITDA into your napkin for later stage companies?

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Empirical evidence for our Industrial Transformation & Supply Chain Technology investment thesis at REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund increases daily: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions & Great Power Competition; The Climate Crisis & Severe Weather; Consumer Behavior & Demographics. Join us. #IndustrialTransformation #SupplyChain #Innovation #Technology #Startups #VentureCapital

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🦄 Are you following Survival to Thrival on Linkedin? We’ll be sharing excerpts (like the one below) from 𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙡 and 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝘽𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 that you won't want to miss out on. "Building an enterprise startup from an idea on a whiteboard into a sustainable industry-leading business is every entrepreneur's dream. The Survival to Thrival series delves into the critical stages of building a successful enterprise, mirroring the journey depicted in the graphic above. Every startup journey goes through distinct stages - from figuring out the Founding Idea and early product, to figuring out Go-To-Market and driving growth, all hoping to build a sustainable valuable business that fulfills the mission. Yet, it’s insanely hard. It requires the right idea, the right people, painful setbacks, intense learning— and an immense amount of work and a good dose of luck. Book one’s four main themes: • 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁: For enterprise entrepreneurs maniacally focused on their current major startup milestone, practical advice from the battlefield to help win now and anticipate what’s next along the path from initial startup idea to sustainable industry leader. • 𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸” 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵: Go-ToMarket Fit. Product-Market Fit is a well-known and incredibly important milestone for enterprise startups, but for enterprise startups, PMF doesn’t unlock growth. There is a missing link that doesn’t really have an identity, yet it’s very real and very important. We call it Go-To-Market Fit. • 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: Once a startup achieves GTM Fit, it’s no longer about Survival; it’s about Thrival. Everything changes. Execution changes. Mindset changes. Investors change. It’s maddening and really hard. Much of what used to work no longer works. The very things that used to work for the startup now hold it back. • 𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼, 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁: The enterprise startup journey is fraught with painful situations, difficult changes, and situations for which there is just no good answer." Want all the info now? Both books are available for FREE download here: https://lnkd.in/gCWWH48 #EnterpriseStartup #GoToMarketFit #Entrepreneurship #StartupJourney #BusinessGrowth

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The trend is picking up. Investing in #deterrance & #defence to further support competitiveness and resilience of #European countries. This time Netherlands Ministerie van Defensie is joining other #EU MoDs and national development agencies to facilitate access to funding for #defence #DualUse and #security innovations. Our fund Coinvest Capital was the first in the region, fully authorised to invest in pure #defense already back in March 2023, shortly joined in April by Baltic Sandbox Ventures with #DeepTech focus and the launch of dual-use accelerators by ScaleWolf in October. Just our fund alone already coinvested 6.8mEUR in #aerospace and #defense, including one of the largest regional #VC rounds in Unmanned Defense Systems. Today we will be watching and supporting two teams from #Lithuania - winners of our joint prizes with DEPO Ventures - pitching on stage at #DefSec innovation challenge hosted by Dr. Kristina Soukupova with their solutions for #cyber #security and #drone enhancement, that enables all drone makers to get faster time-to-market. Wishing the best of luck and a solid pitch to the teams of AI Drone.Tech with co-founders Laurynas Česūnas and Domantas Brucas, winners of our prize at the defence #hackathon The Flaming Shield of Lietuvos šaulių sąjunga , and CBRX with co-founder Kazimieras Sadauskas, winners of our prize at the Startup Lithuania annual event #StartupFair

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🚀 Entrepreneurial Insight: Build a Painkiller, Not a Vitamin 🚀 One of the key lessons I shared in my recent keynote speech at the University of the Witwatersrand was all about focusing on solving real problems. Here’s why it’s crucial: 🔍 Painkillers vs. Vitamins: In the world of startups, your product or service should address a pressing need—a "pain" for your customers. A painkiller provides immediate relief, while a vitamin is a nice-to-have but not essential. 💡 Why It Matters: When you solve a significant problem, you create real value and a strong demand for your solution. This approach not only drives growth but also ensures you’re meeting a genuine need in the market. 🔥 Actionable Tip: Always ask yourself, “What problem am I solving?” Make sure your solution is indispensable, not just an enhancement. Stay tuned for more insights from my keynote! For a deeper dive into this and other key lessons, check out the full video https://lnkd.in/d34JfAFY ! #Entrepreneurship #Startups #Innovation #BusinessAdvice #PainkillerNotVitamin

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Understanding the Rule of X for SaaS Scaleups For SaaS scaleups, the Rule of X offers a straightforward framework to estimate revenue multiples. It was originally developed by Bessemer Venture Partners and supplemented with data last week by Dealroom founder Yoram Wijngaarde. It emphasizes that growth significantly outweighs profitability, even amid VC crunches. However, when growth is constrained, profitability becomes essential. Framework Overview: The Rule of X combines growth rate and free cash flow (FCF) margin to evaluate company value, using a multiplier (typically 2-3x) on growth. Datadog Example: With a 25% growth rate and a 25% EBITDA margin, Datadog achieves a Rule of X score of 100%, implying a 15x revenue multiple for 2024. Importance of Growth: Growth has a compounding impact on valuation, significantly outweighing FCF margins. Subscribe to ‘Siliconnector’ Telegram channel for insights and news from Tech world and Silicon Valley: https://t.me/siliconnector

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📰 Great to be featured on the latest Sifted article by Amy Lewin Joe Schorge, Maria Rotilu and I share our thoughts on the topic of ''How many new #VC funds does Europe need?'' and the ''rise in solo GPs across Europe'' 💭 TLDR: In my opinion, Solo GPs are fantastic! They truly do care and are super useful with great networks, hunger and high-speed. However many solo GPs don’t lead deals at pre-seed, and the European ecosystem could do with a few more funds that do. But there are exceptions, such as Germany’s Gloria Baeuerlein, Finn Murphy, and Max Claussen, to name a few. Full article here: https://lnkd.in/dWXUFsWb

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Enjoyed your article Ian Hogarth. A couple of points to add: 1/ We need the IPO market to return as a financing event for younger companies. The valuation thresholds and regulatory burdens in the U.S. are just too high. Fixing this issue leads to a higher probability these young companies can stay independent and not fall into the hands of an acquirer. 2/ The fund cycle expiration for VC firms should extend beyond 10 years. This was always an arbitrary length of time for partnerships to achieve full liquidity. But to build a trillion dollar company will take time and patience and relieving the pressure for institutional venture firms to return capital to limited partners will help.

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𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆: 𝗔 𝗗𝗜𝗬 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 (𝗡𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗅) 👇 I compared all successful startup ecosystems and found common approaches for governments eager to create their own. So, I’ve prepared a DIY quick handbook for them to read and implement on their own. No extra tools needed—everything is included in the package! However, the European Union needs a different approach, so their DIY manual is a bit unique. I’ll share it next week—they have an interesting mindset that requires special attention! Politicians are elected because they know everything better than anyone else, so why would they need advice or be questioned? That’s democracy—they were chosen by the people, after all. Countries are competing to attract talent, and it seems the best way is to have lots of regulations, bureaucracy, and notaries, and to make sure everything is signed multiple times. Just look at history—innovation always comes from places where tradition comes first. The secret to progress? Obey the rules and never ask questions! When it comes to technology that’s changing the world, just copy it! No need to innovate—just pretend you are. If there’s a place called Silicon Valley, you can easily replicate it. Copy the buildings, colors, and even the chairs, call it “Station Valley,” and voilà, you have your very own "Silicon Valley." Everyone will believe you’ve made a better version! Forget about needing talent—they’re everywhere, so why waste time trying to persuade them? Remember, in this age of technology, machines should do the work; people are just a burden if they don’t follow your lead. After all, if it’s good enough to be called innovation, you don’t actually need to innovate—just make sure everyone believes you are.

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Inspiration for entrepreneurs: : 'If you’re starting something on your own, you better have a passion for it, because this is hard work.' @Sallie Krawcheck, Co-founder of Ellevest #Entrepreneurship #Passion Ignite your passion for entrepreneurship with The Cantillon's inspiring programs.

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📚 Holiday weekend reading: “Plurality.” This philosophical approach applies open technologies to foster diverse collaboration and coordination and solve our societal challenges. Technology can and will bring diverse viewpoints together with the transparent debates needed to come to coordinated solutions. These open technologies today encompass the powerful capabilities in our innovation systems today: open source #AI models, permissionless #blockchain, community #web3tokens, interoperable #metaverses, among the many public goods enabled by emerging technologies. Our social relationships provide the universal values and effective direction for such innovations to impact our world towards positive sum growth. “Plurality” is the central subject of a new book by Microsoft’s internal economist Glen Weyl and Taiwan’s former Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang. That book collects ideas in a donation supported ebook.

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We are living in a world that embodies our Industrial Transformation & Supply Chain Technology investment thesis at REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions & Great Power Competition; The Climate Crisis & Severe Weather; Consumer Behavior & Demographics. Join us. #IndustrialTransformation #SupplyChain #Innovation #Technology #Startups #VentureCapital 

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