Dave Neumann

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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Calling ALL Emerging VC Managers in my network 📢 This is worth applying for 👇 Jonathan, Gregor and their teams have put together a strong plan to help you accelerate your fund launch. If you're investing in European tech then that's good news for you. I've been speaking with both 1-2-1 and attended their latest webinar on it. I'm definitely convinced I'll throw my hat in the ring. 👊 If you're serious about building your firm to invest in European tech, you may consider doing it too. And if you think I'm silly for sharing and increasing the competition... Ok maybe don't apply. We have enough assholes in Europe thinking VC is a 0 sum game. Trust me: paying it forward and see what happens is a much better game to play. So yeah, go for it, and help us all make Europe a much better and stronger ecosystem if you think this is one for you 💪 A couple of answers I got that may be useful to you: - Do you need the fund to be domiciled in Europe or even legally launched yet? No, but you must be investing in Europe. And your goal should be to be to have the fund in object live in 2025 (even tail end) - Do you need a deck? It helps but if you are in between funds like me, you can come up with a pre-deck "something" and add to your old deck. - Is it in person? The core bits yes, but the schedule is easily manageable and will be synced with the LP/GP top events schedule next year, so you'd be silly to even want to be remote if you want to really raise a fund. More detail on the post below 👇 👇

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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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To achieve outsized returns in a maturing and increasingly crowded private markets space, investors should start leveraging all dimensions of diversification when building their portfolios! That comes with building the right teams to unlock differentiated sources of dealflow 🔔

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🕵‍♀️ We meet a lot of the founders we invest in at our events. When is the next one, you ask? 13 November, in sunny Lisbon. As someone spending a lot of time between London and Hamburg, I'd say don't go for the money and don't go for the network. Go for the weather. 😉 Jokes aside, even if you don't want to or can't travel, you should still apply, as we review every application - and who knows what will happen... 💫 #diversefounders #impactinvesting #climatetech #inclusiontech

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Great to our research featuring so prominently in the Financial Times! https://lnkd.in/eTsH6_Nu Link to the full underlying report in the comments

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🎉 Exciting time with the incredible team at Isomer Capital 🎉 Super thrilled about the news we shared with the world last week. It has us all buzzing with excitement. At Isomer, we've long been dedicated to providing liquidity in the European VC space. And now, we're taking it to the next level with the launch of our dedicated fund. What is it, you ask? A fund that will invest in secondaries at all levels within the European VC ecosystem—LPs, GPs, companies, founders, angels, and even employees. And because there is limited liquidity solutions to LPs that have invested in European VCs, around 70% of our fund will go towards LP stakes. With the support of our Cornerstone investors, we've reached this significant milestone in our journey. But the work has only just begun, which myself and my incredible team have already started smashing through ... first 2 deals closing in a matter of weeks. Watch this space! 😉 #Isomer #VentureCapital #Secondaries #EuropeanVC #Investing #Liquidity #ImpactInvesting #Teamwork #Milestone

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Incredible to see Mosaic in the Financial Times this morning in this excellent piece by Sujeet Indap on tech innovation in private equity. Sujeet's research into the historical evolution of Wall Street's analytical horsepower was particularly fascinating. Though I wasn't around for the shift from pen-and-paper to VisiCalc, I can only imagine the step-function productivity increase it unlocked. Anders' assertion that the advent of the spreadsheet in part drove the LBO boom of the late '80s is also intriguing (although I'm sure the <10% min. equity helped, too). Though the spreadsheet was a great advancement in the '80s, it always baffled me that ~30 years later (when I began my PE career) we were still underwriting billion-dollar buyouts using a generic productivity tool and not an industry-focused application. That's precisely why I started Mosaic. With dedicated platforms like Mosaic and Blackstone's Atlas now powering new deal underwriting - could the industry benefit from a similar step-function productivity increase? Also - an open question to anyone who was working as an investment professional in the 1980s/1990s: was the spreadsheet initially met with hesitation / skepticism by a subset of old-school investors who thought there was value in grinding it out until 3am with only pencil and abacus in hand? We're fortunate at Mosaic to work with some of the world's most forward-thinking investors who readily embrace change - but this sentiment does comes up once in a while. What happens to the holdouts? And curious how the innovators - whose shoulders we stand on - navigated it before us. Read the full story here: https://on.ft.com/4dXEvth

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Thought I'd share this interesting article revealing private equity firms have increased their spend on European VC-backed startups. The growth of the tech sector in Europe has coincided with desire of PE firms to diversify their portfolios, showing interest in various direct-to-consumer businesses such as travel, wellness, healthcare, video games, and AI.    Over the last few years, European startups have been prioritising profitability over growth, contributing to the acquisition of $2.3 billion worth of VC-backed European tech companies by PE firms in the second quarter of this year, the highest quarter by deal value since Q2 2022. However, the number of deals is the lowest since late 2020, suggesting that firms are spending more per deal and purchasing fewer but pricier assets. Profitability has become a key focus in the European startup landscape, generating excitement from both PE firms and VCs.   #Tech #Startups #PrivateEquity #VentureCapital https://lnkd.in/eWybS9Gm

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When I receive a pitch deck, one of the first things I evaluate is The Team. Does the team have the technical expertise to solve the problem they’re addressing? At Ingressive Capital, one of our key selection criteria is that at least one of the founders must be technical. This ensures that they not only understand the problem but also have the capability to build and scale a solution.

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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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"Europe's early-stage market continued to see growth in median valuations in the first half of the year, while recovery in price tags for more mature startups has been slower. The overall value of the region's unicorns reached an all-time high, driven in part by AI's momentum, according to our Q2 2024 European VC Valuations Report. Exit valuations have also improved—barring the median for public listings, which have included a negligible number for VC-backed companies. With further rate cuts anticipated this year, the outlook for European VC valuations is expected to continue to improve." MedTech Innovator LSI LSI Europe #LSIalumni #LSIEurope24 American Heart Association Heart Rhythm Society

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Attention all ambitious founders seeking investment opportunities! Get ready for Pitch&Drink with P2S.vc — a night in London where founders and investors meet under one roof 🚀 This event will feature a speed dating format of pitch-session. Startups will have 2–3 minutes to present their elevator pitch directly to investors, followed by a 6-7 minute Q&A session. Why You Should Join: 👉 Benefit from live pitch reviews and align your startup with investor expectations. 👉 Don't miss this opportunity to make valuable connections and explore funding possibilities! 👉 Connect with a community of like-minded individuals and VCs and gain insights into your next fundraising venture in a relaxed and fun environment. The speed dating part of Pitch&Drink with P2S.vc exclusively for investors and approved startups will start at 6:00 PM. After 8:00 PM, the event will continue with music, drinks, lots of networking, and discussions of the hottest vc news 🍸 Join us on June 3rd! Secure your spot now: https://bit.ly/4alEgpC Pre-seed to Succeed (P2S) is an investment program launched by AltaIR Capital, Yellow Rocks, Smart Partnership Capital and I2BF Global Ventures. The P2S is designed for early-stage startups with MVP and first traction and focuses on the following industries: B2B / SaaS, FinTech, AI, Future of Work, Productivity Tools, Digital Health, and HR Tech. The program offers initial funding from participating venture companies, ongoing support from seasoned experts and mentors, and 50% of the next round for proven startups.

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Summary: Bolt's CEO has threatened legal action against an investment bank involved in their recent fundraising efforts, claiming they signed a binding term sheet for $200 million but did not follow through. Key takeaways: Bolt's CEO believes there was miscommunication at Silverbear Capital, one of their lead investors, leading to confusion about the fundraising deal. A leaked term sheet showed Bolt trying to raise $200 million in equity and $250 million in marketing credits, with a unique pay-to-play structure. The involvement of Silverbear Capital and The London Fund in the deal remains unclear. Counter arguments: Silverbear Capital's partner insists there was no miscommunication and the deal was never discussed or approved. The London Fund has confirmed discussions with Bolt's management but denies any finalized transaction. #venturecapital

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Summary: The article discusses the thriving startup ecosystem in the Iberian Peninsula, with a focus on the recent launch of Faber's third fund for deep tech and AI/ML startups in Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands. Key takeaways: The value of Spanish startups has surpassed €100 billion in 2023, with significant venture investment from major players such as the European Investment Fund and NATO Innovation Fund. Faber's new fund will specifically target pre-seed and seed-stage startups in deep tech, AI, robotics, and biotech, reflecting the growing interest in these sectors in the region. The firm's previous successes and notable portfolio companies demonstrate its continued support and investment in the Southern European startup landscape. Counter arguments: Some may argue that the focus on deep tech and AI/ML may limit the fund's potential for diverse investments and innovation in other sectors. #venturecapital #vc #venture

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Thank you Marcin Lewandowski and EU-Startups for the great conversation about Seaya Andromeda and European Climate Tech! Links to the Podcast episode in the comments. #sustainability #climatechange #climatetech

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New episode drop alert 🚨👇🏻 For this week’s episode of The J Curve I sat down with Joao Barbosa, co-founder at Brazilian corporate wellness platform Gympass (now Wellhub) that has raised ~$600m from the likes of Valor Capital Group, EQT Growth and General Atlantic. We discuss 👇🏻 1️⃣ The global leap: key challenges of scaling in different markets 2️⃣ The art of the pivot: how to find a business model that fits? 3️⃣ Building a winning team: how to hire and fire at scale? 4️⃣ Pricing strategy in B2B: how to approach it? 5️⃣ Economies of scale: what are they really? Watch / listen to the episode by tuning into The J Curve podcast on 👇 Youtube 👀 ===> https://lnkd.in/eSuduE8P Spotify 🎙===> https://lnkd.in/eikKT-8p Apple Podcast 🍏 ===> https://lnkd.in/ewHaYUQm PS: Thank you to Michael Kapps for introducing me to Joao. I really appreciate that! #podcast #thejcurvepodcast #fromlatamtotheworld #entrepreneurship #founderjourney #founderstories #startupgrowth #venturecapital #startup #gympass #fromlatamtotheworld

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