Sebastien Guillaud

Join for free 500+ family offices, VCs, venture studios, founders & angels on Zoom at the 𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐂 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 & 𝐕𝐂 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟 on Sept 20th. Buy network & recordings: inniches.com/apac. Must-attend if you’re investing/fundraising/partnering with Singapore, Australia, India, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines & other Asia-Pacific countries. 1. How does our Single Family Office evaluate venture funds & startups? – Nitesh Aggarwal, CIO @ SFO Fund, AUM $130M, invested in 38 funds & 27 startups. 2. Panel "VC Trends in APAC in 2024" with Nruthya Madappa, Partner @ 3one4 Capital, $520M+ AUM; Ashwin Raguraman, Co-Founder and Partner @ Bharat Innovation Fund, Fund I - $100M. 3. How GPs can leverage and work with their LPs to drive more value to the investment portfolio? – William Bao Bean, Managing GP @ Orbit Startups, Chinese VC with $180M+ AUM. 4. Why and How I Invested in 315 YC Companies? – Yotam Rosenbaum, Partner @ Access Fund, raised 6 funds and invested in 315+ Y Combinator startups. 5. How to fundraise from Family Offices? – John Milanovich, Director @ Family Office Club, #1 ultra-wealthy investor club incl. 7,500+ investors: Family Offices & UHNWIs. 6. Panel "Ways to Partner between Family Offices, VCs, and Venture Studios" with Sheetal Khullar, Growth Lead & Sustainability Expert @ FutureLabs Ventures, Venture Studio & VC with 30+ multi-$100M high-growth ventures. 7. How to fundraise for the venture studio and set up relationships with investors? – Farhad Alessandro Mohammadi, CEO @ Mamazen Startup Studio & IH1, Italian venture studio with €4,5M raised and €6M own funds. 8. Venture Building and Investing in the New Economy for Traditional Family Offices – Harshit Joshi, Founding Partner @ Favcy Venture Builders, venture-builder with 30+ portcos and go-to platform for 5,000+ angel investors and family offices. 9. Panel "Family Office Allocation Strategies: in What Assets do APAC Family Offices invest?" with Shiraz Poonevala, Director Investment @ GP Group. 10. Panel "How AI is changing venture building" with Toby Cox, Partner & Chief Venture Technologist @ Paloma Ventures , portfolio valued at $250M+. 11. The Transformation Factor for Breakthrough Startup-Team Performance – Ariya Chittasy, Director @ Engenesis Ventures, Australian Venture Builder that has worked with 800+ startups. 12. Why venture studios might be interesting to Family Offices in the APAC region? – Keirn O'Connor, Single Family Office. Other speakers and moderators: Kate Park, Reporter @ TechCrunch; Leesa S., Managing General Partner @ R3I CAPITAL; Jeremy Au 区汉辉, COO of Lucence & Host of BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech podcast; Sunil Goyal YourNest Venture Capital; Subham Panda @ Xartup. More speakers will be announced soon. Tag relevant VCs, family offices & founders in APAC.

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You don't need to be an impact fund to create impact Today, at The Global Impact Investing Network conference in Amsterdam, Saison Capital's parent, Saison International Pte. Ltd. launched our inaugural impact report For us, we don't need to call ourselves an "impact fund" to make a difference. It is already embedded in our everyday operations. We do not stay on the sidelines, but to get our hands dirty in creating positive impact   Featuring companies like BroilerX and StepChange, we believe doing good and making money can mutually co-exist. With US$2.5B of debt and equity capital disbursed to 28M SMEs, of which 69% are women-led - we let the numbers do the talking Read the report at: https://lnkd.in/dPQJfHWs Towards the next 28M & more! Marie Anna Bénard / Rie Mizuno / Visa Kannan / Ziheng Li / Uday P. / RJ Balmater / Sharvin Baindur / Cheng Siong Soon / Lup Soon Soo / Claire Yong / Nicol Ng / TAN PEILING

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In my opinion everything is correct for the finance teams, espescially controlling, However, the role of the CFO, among many other tasks, is to initiate and execute strategic initiatives enabling the finance teams to do their jobs efficiently - like implementing Farseer 😀 Based on solid planning data, the CFO can efficiently act as a sparring partner at board level.

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If LPs want co-invest rights, we got them. When we started iSelect Fund in 2014, we saw a future in which LPs would need to access many more co-invest rights to get proper portfolio returns. So, we built a platform that generates co-invest optionality. But here is the catch in optionality, you have to buy the opening contract. If you are an LP looking for zero-fee co-invest rights, you need to ante into a sector pool in the early stage to generate the companies with the rights. You can't find the top high school basketball players if they were never born. Nor will you find the best players searching with some AI portal. I am unsure if more than 2 or 3 venture firms are alive today with iSelect Fund experience, and network, in the thesis "Food is Health". That is why, on behalf of our portfolio of 70 companies, I was in the Senate last week testifying on Food is Health. This thesis targets the $1.9T annual healthcare cost of poor nutrition ($14T globally). It is a large and growing market, which also means 283 people die every day in the US from #T2D). To be good at this sector means you needed to start in 2014. It means you need to have looked at 5,000 startups. The returns have been wobbly, as they always are in a new category. But as with all phases of Creative Destruction, an "Unlock" appears, in this case GLP-1. What has been happening slowly, now happens all at once. Throw in repricing from interest rates, and you may find now is the time to fund mid stage companies, as other VCs tap out. iSelect Fund has access to many of the relevant deals with large co-invest rights. We are glad to make them available at no Fee to Qualified Institutional Buyers, but those LPs will also have to step in to fund early stage to buy the option contract. Frankly a win for everyone in the end. https://lnkd.in/gDbfaZNe

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Asia can show the West how to integrate tech with societal needs "E. Glen Weyl and Audrey Tang are co-authors of "Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy." Weyl is founder of the RadicalxChange Foundation and the Plurality Institute. Tang was the first Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan. Slow economic growth. Inflation. Geopolitical decline. Disinformation and polarization. So many of the West's leading problems are partly traceable to the fraying relationship between technology and society. Concerns seem to be contradictory, with some arguing for technological acceleration and others suggesting technology has become reckless and destructive. Yet if we look on these events from the remove of Asia, the maladies seem like symptoms of the same underlying problem: the alienation between the people and cultures developing technology in the West today from the societies they serve. This alienation helps fuel both the regulatory backlash against technology and the lackluster investment in tech development by Western governments, as well as the irresponsible and antisocial ways many technologies are developed today. One of the authors of this piece grew up and spent most of his career within the segment of Western culture that overwhelmingly develops the world's technologies. It's a culture that revolves around a small number of coastal, cosmopolitan geographies (Silicon Valley, the Puget Sound, Boston, New York, London) and is grounded in a radical secularism and scientism, dominated by young, white, globalist, nerdy men and pervaded by a mix of libertarian and technocratic ideologies that venerate technologists as the rugged heroes and/or planners of the future. This forms a sharp contrast to the societies these technologists supposedly serve. Even in the West, and especially globally, most people are far more distributed, religious, nationalistic, rainbow colored, female and grounded in more traditional political attachments than the aforementioned cohort. Most people on Earth consider religion important to their lives, half are women, less than a fifth are white, less than 1% live near one of the tech hubs, and while nerdiness is a bit harder to define precisely, it is likely the most minority trait of all these. On the other hand, the group from which most tech leaders are drawn constitutes probably less than 1% of the population of the West and 0.1% of the global population. Furthermore, as recent reporting by journalists such as Linda Kinstler and Meghan O'Gieblyn highlights -- and as the "closeting" of Christians in the popular television series Silicon Valley dramatizes -- the dominant atmosphere of the tech world is to suppresses traditional religiosity, often resulting in technologists themselves holding their worldviews close to their chests."

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I am pleased to see Alitheia IDF (AIF) highlighted by Jessica Espinoza, CEO of 2X Global, at the SuperReturn Emerging Markets 2024 event in Amsterdam! Jessica showcased AIF as an example of how Gender Lens Investing (GLI) strategies drive commercial and social impact. Since closing AIF (a 2X Flagship Fund) at $100M in 2021, we have invested over $50 million in 12 companies, with 75% women ownership. As the first and largest GLI fund in Sub-Saharan Africa, we developed the industry’s first comprehensive GLI toolkit, inspiring broader adoption across private equity. Our commitment to putting women as key success drivers across the investment value chain has become a model for the industry, inspiring others. It’s rewarding to see AIF’s impact and approach recognized as a model for sustainable, inclusive investment in emerging markets. Check out the slides from Jessica’s presentation for more insights: https://lnkd.in/dpGiraPU #GLI #ImpactInvesting #SustainableFinance #AlitheiaIDF #SuperReturn2024

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I had a masterclass in Finance from one of our sharpest Limited Partners (LPs) this morning. We had a joint discussion with a to-be portfolio company where we dived deep into their model, revenue vs cost, debt-to-equity mix and how to scale their business. Simultaneously, been having conversations around the ideal portfolio construction for India at Seed, Series A and onwards. The reality of the Indian market is we are solving for very existential infrastructure solutions, be it logistics, real estate, mobility, commerce, manufacturing etc. With the growing public market interest in Indian stocks from retail investors, there's a very realistic exit possibility through public markets via SME IPOs + Main Board listings. The most important factor here is to benchmark biz metrics to public market comparables when modelling. Starting with Valuation (always a thorny topic) to operating margins, cost structures, % of revenue spends etc My personal opinion is that there's a massive scope for outcomes in the range of ₹5000-12,000 crore ($550 million to $1.5 billion) companies to be built through venture backing. Shooting for ₹20,000 - ₹30,000 outcomes (~$3 billion range) IPOs are significantly fewer. There are loads of arguments around 'Power Law' and 'Outliers'. I fully agree that Venture Capital is an outlier driven business. Where I disagree is the degree of outliers. Given rising domestic & global public markets, where returns in the ~12-15% IRR range are VERY realistic, a similar private market illiquid investment MUST generate a minimum of a ~30% IRR return to justify the risk. The second reality we must face is that it takes ~10+ years to build a strong 'real' business in India, longer than the US, which needs factoring in. A ₹635 crore ($75 million) early stage fund, standard 2% management fee (scales down to 1% for 2nd 5 year period) means the fund only deploys ~₹540 crores ($64 million) into startups. Assume equal drawdowns across 4 years - ~$18.5mn If the fund returns $300 million - That's 4x TVPI, to achieve that, the fund needs 4.6x MOIC (to turn invested capital into $300mn) Assume ~10% stake at initial investment, reserves for follow ons to maintain stake, ~7% at exit. Two winners - $~2 billion exit each - 7% stake gives ~$300mn Three greats - $350mn exit each - 7% stake gives $75mn Few more return capital - ~$5mn more Total - ~₹3,200 crore ($380mn) Assuming 1 great exit in year 6, one 1 winner in year 7, one decent in year 8, remaining in year 10, this still results in a net IRR to investors of ~21%. Sounds amazing? Not adjusted to the risk! Nifty 50 returned ~12.2% IRR Motital Oswal's Nifty 500 Index Fund returned ~19%! I love the startup space, this isn't me dissing VC. It's showcasing how hard it is to return capital to investors with meaningful returns. I'm also showcasing how important it is for funds and startups alike to focus on the capital efficiency it takes to generate returns. #venturecapital #startups

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No one can go it alone in climate. It was very special to bring together our portfolio companies, investors and partners at Systemiq and Purpose Venture Group at our Annual Investor Dinner and AGM last month. My highlights:   1. Spending the afternoon with Basecamp Research who leverage the power of nature's genetic diversity to solve global challenges. A small group of us got to see up close how they use advanced biotechnological methods to discover and develop new enzymes and bioactive compounds from natural sources, making significant strides in sustainable solutions. 2. Being reminded about the power of community. Over dinner at the National Portrait Gallery which holds portraits of many innovators through time, we heard from Paul Polman, and some our extraordinary founders, who shared their vision for how to keep accelerating the transition. 3. Hearing from the ever-dynamic Greg Jackson, CEO and founder of Octopus Energy, who spoke with honesty about the challenges of building a climate company. He highlighted the current state of the energy system transition and Octopus' mission, emphasizing the realism of the obstacles we face. However, his optimism shone through as he discussed the changes possible in the next 10-15 years, reinforcing that with continued innovation and collaboration, we can achieve a sustainable energy future. 4. Discussing solutions with our community around the role that data is playing in accelerating Electrification in the Built Environment, and how big of an opportunity we see in investing in the solutions providing the base data layer in this space, and on that foundation establish vertical operating systems. 5. Celebrating how far we’ve come with those who are on the journey with us. Over the last year, we have made seven new investments and our portfolio companies have raised over $730m of additional capital. We have also expanded our team to include nine dedicated members and grown our pool of climate advisors and partners. Our latest climate report highlights the significant strides we've made in our efforts to combat climate change.

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BSV Ventures is the newest addition to the NIF Fund of Funds portfolio! 🎉 Coming back from their LP day in Vilnius, we’re ready to find unicorns together 🦄 The true alpha of a fund is often felt before it is seen. Intangible at first — it is a capability that often precedes visible results. Having gone through several months of DD with BSV, I can confidently say BSV embodies their alpha through their unique insights, and complementary dynamics of the GPs. This is combined with an unwavering commitment and track record in transforming the Baltics into a leading hub for deep tech and dual-use innovation, critical to European sovereignty.

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Thanks to Kavitha N. and DealStreetAsia for featuring Collyer Capital in this interesting piece about secondaries. Glad to have contributed to the discussion as the secondary toolkit, if used right and in full transparency, can really benefit all parties involved, particularly in #ASEAN. #CollyerCapital #CCPL #ASEAN #secondaries #liquidity #transparency

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🚀 Unlocking Global Growth: A Deep Dive into Fundraising for Expansion 🌍 Yesterday's '#Fundraising for #International #Expansion' session as part of the Scaleup Globally program was incredibly insightful and packed with valuable information! 🌟 It offered a full 360-degree view of the fundraising landscape - including #public funding options, fundraising #stages, #VCs view, #private equity - in order to help to navigate the #challenges and #opportunities of scaling businesses internationally. 🌍💰 Many thanks to the organizers and all the presenters ✨ Renate Schnutt, Rosin Iscen, Elena Frauenlob Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, Female Founders #ScaleupGlobally #StartupExpansion #WKÖ #EEN #FFG #aws #InternationalBusiness #Entrepreneurship #InternationalExpansion #Fundraising #Collaboration #Learning #Growth #Innovation #PersonalDevelopment #Investors #BusinessAngels #VentureCapital #LPs #GPs #PublicFunding #Startup #Scaleup #InnovaticGroup InnovaticGroup. Create the Future Now Innovaticgroup.com

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In a weird way, market adversity and cash constraints faced by the growth-stage founders in Brazil and some other emerging markets are their golden ticket to the billion dollar startup club 🦄 The ‘foie gras effect’ sees startups in the US force-fed capital only to collapse under the weight of hyper growth (HBR). Today we see it happening with AI startups - they scale pre-maturely, burn tons of cash and raise at crazy valuations they won’t be able to justify in the future rounds of financing. We’ve seen this show before with crypto, D2C brands etc. Well that’s almost never (cuz forget 2021 funding craziness) the case in Brazilian tech investing especially at growth stage. While I don’t have data on LatAm, in 2022, in emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region, there was over 5 times as much capital deployed in early stage VC than in Growth Equity. I imagine its pretty comparable. So what does it mean? That means that founders in Brazil & certain emerging markets are more financially savvy, long-term focused and bake resiliency and adaptability into their mode of operations. Businesses they build tend to be problem-driven, faster to profitability and more complex than your average B2B SaaS. That also means that global Series B+++ investors should pay more attention to Brazil, LatAm and certain other emerging markets. Loggi CEO Thibaud Lecuyer who joined me on this week’s episode of The J Curve talked a lot about the opportunities that Brazilian market has to offer. Short snippet of that conversation 👇 To watch / listen to the full episode head over to our channels on Apple, Spotify and YouTube 🎙️

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Setting up right and strong foundations when creating a company, is a must; more important than ever before. A company needs to have a PURPOSE and VISION. These have to be set as clear as possible by the founder(s) since its inception. Then VALUES. These will trickle down and used as the guidelines for everyone in the company to think and act. These are the backbones that will set the culture of the company. Founder/CEO cant just rely on those written and framed on the office wall. Purpose, Vision, and Values should not be something the team have to memorize. Rather, something they need to do. So, as the Founder/CEO, what you need to do is to LEAD BY EXAMPLE by always WALK THE TALK. As a VC, i would love to back this kind of company and founder. Maven Asia Capital (www.maven.asia) #mavenasiacapital

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Johan Attby, thank you for being part of 'The Investor Talk' podcast! Appreciate the time taken to generously share your insights and expertise on investing and supporting Founders with me. Your words will definitely empower many Founders to understand the world of Venture Capital. Norrsken #equitymatch #growth #startups #investment #venturecapital #startupfunding #fundraisingforstartup #startupinvesting #seedinvest #earlystagefundingforstartups #privateequity #tech #technology https://lnkd.in/d_TvKkj5

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😲 AGI may be coming soon. Are we ready for it? Here are 8 key points from Leopold Aschenbrenner (ex-OpenAI) taken from its report on AGI development👇 💡 Emergence of AGI and Super-Intelligence: AGI could arrive by 2027, leading to rapid advancements in AI capabilities. The jump from GPT-2 to GPT-4 shows how fast AI is progressing, and there's no signal it's about to slow down. 💸 Massive Investments: In 2023, GenAI startups raised over $25 billion globally and projections for 2024 are $45 billion (we're on track to reach them). This funding supports the needed computing infrastructure and pays the talents driving AI progress. 🌍 Geopolitical Implications: AGI and superintelligence will impact national security and global power dynamics. The competition for AGI supremacy could redefine military and economic advantages between democratic nations and authoritarian regimes. 🔍 Security and Challenges: Improving security in AI labs is urgent to protect against espionage and risks of superintelligence misalignment. The technical and ethical challenges of controlling these systems are significant. 🎓 Industrial and Academic Mobilization: Hundreds of billions of dollars are being invested in AI infrastructure. American companies lead the way, with universities and major tech firms in San Francisco playing key roles in training GenAI startup founders. 📈 Economic and Societal Impact: AGI could automate many cognitive jobs, speeding up scientific and technological progress and restructuring the global economy. This rapid transformation could lead to an "industrial explosion", potentially compressing a century's worth of advancement into just a few years. 🛠️ Call to Action: Leopold advocates for coordinated action between governments, tech companies, and researchers to ensure safe AGI development. He proposes a "Manhattan Project"-type initiative for AGI, emphasizing that liberal democracies must lead to preserve their values and global influence. 🔮 Caution on the Timeline: These predictions are fascinating, but some experts doubt the short-term feasibility of truly autonomous AGI. However, if not achieved this decade, Leopold think it's going to take much longer and I 100% agree with him. 🤗 For those interested in AI's future and its practical implications, this report is a must-read, so I've shared it right below. ♻️ Repost or tag someone who could find these perspectives beneficial

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Embarking on A New Chapter with Fortress Investments 🚀 I'm thrilled to announce my new role as Managing Director and Head of Growth Investing at Fortress Investment Group. What does ‘Growth Investing’ look like for us at Fortress? We will look to provide capital solutions in the form of structured investments to unlock growth situations across industries. Our mandate will be flexible, focusing on partnering with leading investors and companies that can benefit from a structured capital infusion where plain-vanilla growth investment is less attractive (i.e. too dilutive) or just unavailable. The timing couldn’t be more opportune. The era of infinite, commoditized low-cost capital is behind us. The world of 2024 and beyond presents new challenges with heightened geopolitical risks, elevated and volatile interest rates, high risk-premia and a cautious IPO and M&A scene. Yet, the demand for capital by growth-stage companies remains robust, underpinning the need for innovative financial solutions including debt,  structured equity and convertible debt to fuel their expansion with minimal dilution. Large corporates are also looking for opportunities to divest  and spin-off businesses that may consume capital or are non-core to their core strategy. We at Fortress will be well positioned to be a great partner in this new environment. Reflecting on my 25 years of professional experience, I believe they have prepared me exceptionally well for this moment. I'm grateful for my years as a Partner at Goldman Sachs in the TMT Group, and my subsequent role as a Managing Partner at Softbank's Vision Fund. These experiences were crucial, providing me with a deep understanding of investment frameworks and structures through cycles. My subsequent experience as co-founded and President of Branded where I led an aggressive growth strategy involving nearly 20 brand acquisitions was also crucial. There’s no substitute for first-hand experience of overcoming adversity as a founder and working with equity and debt investors to solve critical business issues. At Fortress Investment Group, with over $43 billion AUM and with backing of Mubadala’s announced investment in the firm, we are  perfectly positioned to lead a structured-growth investment practice. We plan to collaborate closely with VC and PE firms, offering creative solutions to unlock profitable growth in great companies. You will find us to be great partners, responsive, creative, solutions-oriented and transparent in our approach to solving the capital needs of such companies. As I embark on this journey, I invite my network to connect and discuss how we can create value together in this dynamic investment climate. I’m looking forward to partnering with you to navigate this exciting landscape and fund the next generation of growth opportunities across sectors and geographies. Feel free to reach out at: [email protected]. Michael Ronen #growthinvesting #mubadala #privateequity

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