Bertrand Schmitt

Insightful look into bioplatform strategy, and what it takes to raise a Series A from my partner, Omri Amirav-Drory: https://lnkd.in/dFv7GbF6

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The August release of the Jamba-1.5 models, scaled versions of the Jamba models from March 2024, went largely unnoticed. But it's important, as it is the first really large non-transformer LLM (spoiler, it's an SSM-Transformer hybrid)! I wrote a post about it: https://lnkd.in/gDjKSY5n Come to my talk about modern non-transformer architectures at DataFest Yerevan 2024 this week: https://lnkd.in/gGPX-u7F. I'll cover many interesting results from the last few years. MLP, CNN, RNN, SSM, Hybrids.

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This is quite a piece on accusations of unethical pay-to-play within the #cyber #VC ecosystem. -Guaranteed first-year sales for portfolio companies -Formal loyalty program for CISOs -Points awarded within the program for CISO commitment level to portfolio companies (meetings, PoCs, product purchases) -Share of GP fees for CISOs in the loyalty program https://lnkd.in/gDta7Gp7

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Power Grid is a board game that is a great tool for learning more about energy, the grid, and the power of renewable energy. https://lnkd.in/gHvsSPiD #energy #powergrid #gridoptimization

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I’m thrilled to be announcing that Notion Capital is leading the $15m Series A investment in Cogna today. In the industry, we like to think that software has been eating the world. But when you look at the data a better description would be more of a nibble. Depending on what source you look at the software industry represents between 5-8% of global GDP. Contrast that with the services industry that represents between 60-70% of GDP and worth around $25 trillion on a global basis. Most services have been out of reach for the software industry. They have either been too complex or too specialized for off the shelf software to access in any economically viable way. But that’s beginnning to change with GenAI leading to the emergence of ‘service as a software.’ Cogna is at the forefront of this opportunity - building precision software at scale and delivering huge productivity gains for traditional industries. We know Ben Peters & Lars Mennen well having backed their previous company Five AI that was acquired by Bosch in 2022. And we’re very excited to be backing them again together with Hoxton Ventures & Chalfen Ventures Read my full blog post on why we invested here. Radu Bozga Ben Peters Lars Mennen Bryan G. Mike Chalfen Hussein Kanji Kirsten Connell https://lnkd.in/eh8mhcJb

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Exciting news! We just sent out the inaugural newsletter for Future Frontier Capital, our pre-seed venture fund backing frontier tech startups. As I hit "send," I realized how launching FFC parallels the path of the founders we support. Starting FFC has required the same passion, perseverance, and self-belief that drive entrepreneurs. Just like a startup, getting a VC fund off the ground demands relentless hustle—building the brand, perfecting the pitch, and networking tirelessly. There are constant challenges that test your resolve and endless hours of unglamorous work behind the scenes. And perhaps most daunting - the self-doubt, wondering if you're crazy for attempting something so bold. Pushing through that negative self-talk requires unshakable faith in your mission. Raising this VC fund reminds me of starting our IP strategy and patent analytics firm two decades ago. It’s a powerful reminder of the perseverance, creativity, and resilience needed to turn an ambitious idea into reality. This experience makes us more empathetic partners, ready to support the founders we back. Our work is just beginning, and this inaugural newsletter underscores our commitment to supporting frontier tech startups every step of the way. #startups #VentureCapital #EmergingManagers #Entrepreneurship #InnovationMindSet

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I'm happy to announce our investment in OnSight Technology! OnSight’s robotics platform helps solar operators scale without additional headcount; improves operations, maintenance and safety; and stops fires before they happen! Feedback from their customers is among the best I’ve ever heard 🤖☀️ Some of the macro tailwinds that make this timely:  🔋 Utility-Scale Solar: Large-scale projects, often spanning hundreds of acres, are becoming a cornerstone of renewable energy strategies worldwide. In the US, utility-scale solar grew by over 20% in 2023, and there is a massive backlog of new projects planned or waiting for grid connection. 🏠 Commercial/Rooftop Solar: On the smaller scale, businesses are increasingly adopting solar panels. This reduces energy bills and contributes to a greener planet. The dirty secret is that many business turn off their rooftop solar because of the threat of fire and business interruption. OnSight’s OWL fixes this. ⚠️ Growth in Thermal Events: With the rapid expansion of solar farms, there has also been an uptick in "thermal events," or fires. These incidents destroy infrastructure and threaten nearby communities. 👷‍♂️ Labor Challenges: Like so many other industries, the solar industry is facing labor challenges. The availability and quality of skilled workers is crucial to maintaining and expanding solar infrastructure. Additionally, workers often have to operate in extremely hot environments, which can impact productivity and safety (hi, OSHA). Derek Chase Doug Matlack John Shepard, PhD Graham Ryland Jeff Struhm Jeff Olyniec Rick Spencer Bill Clerico Aiden Cathcart 

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In other news, foxes think the henhouse doesn't need any guarding. The author's argument basically boils down to: 1) trust us and 2) merchant transmission development usually runs over budget or gets abandoned, resulting in higher costs to the customers. The first argument is categorically weak and problematic, but the second has some validity. There are a number of solutions to the second problem beyond right-of-first refusal, however, including higher security deposits (to prevent walking away) and various provisions that disallow cost escalation after bidding (or defined indexing provisions). I don't know how anyone can plausibly argue with a straight face that preventing competition is good for customers. https://lnkd.in/dZYExb26

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Coming soon on Aug 1: "Transformation to a Fresh Tomorrow." This is theme of our 3rd Annual Web3 Investor Day, as we welcome the innovators and investors convening in Chicago for these discussions around the next generation Internet. Our theme reflects the optimism, determination and commitment investors and innovators have solidified off the depths of the bear markets to drive success in the bull markets. Broader investor optimism suggests that fresh institutional funds into Web3 across both tokens and equity may endure.  Across adoption metrics, customer interest and developer activity, Web3 seems to have normalized. It’s refreshing to see the transformation and next evolution of Web3 and it’s refreshing to meet many of you on August 1.  And yet, even with the improved optimism from last year, there still remain open questions in the development and adoption of our next generation Internet:  1. the balance of speculative versus productive investor capital in this current cycle 2. the productive role of liquid trading capital in fostering Web3 innovation 3. the attractiveness of venture investments in follow on financings 4. the role of policy and regulation that may enhance innovation 5. the continued developer activity to improve the underlying infrastructure 6. other Web3 recovery characteristics in target customer use cases. We remain committed to navigating regulatory shifts, fostering investor optimism, and building the customer use cases for Web3.  Physical spaces enhance our innovation conversations.  In person relationships foster our collaboration.  Relationships drive breakthrough innovations.  Reach out to Rizza Torres at Decasonic if you would like to join us! #web3investorday #web3 #venturecapital

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Thrilled to announce the launch of our inaugural edition of Beyond Benchmarks at Emergence Capital. This comprehensive report dives deep into the metrics and trends shaping the early-stage enterprise cloud market. A huge thank you to our VC partners and contributors for making this possible! Here's a sneak peek of our findings: --> 60% of companies have already integrated GenAI into their service offerings, with another 20% planning to do so this year. --> While most companies use OpenAI as their primary LLM, many are experimenting with multiple models. We’re seeing a trend toward intelligently routing GenAI inference requests based on cost, performance, and security. --> Companies that have implemented GenAI are showing promising results, with a 7% higher NDR compared to those that haven’t. Beyond Benchmarks goes further with more GenAI trends, insights on the current fundraising environment, and key performance metrics. Our goal is to provide founders and their teams with valuable benchmarks to help them make better-informed decisions. At Emergence Capital, we're committed to helping founders build iconic companies. Dive into the full report here: https://lnkd.in/g6bnvAZM

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Cambridge Future Tech builds DeepTech ventures and last week we hit another milestone; we're co-founding our 15th venture 🤘 It's awesome building new ventures from the ground up. It's why we started CFT in the first place. It always feels great to be at the start of the build phase, helping founders articulate a new venture’s tech and potential, building a strong narrative. We’re collaborating closely with founders to transform groundbreaking ideas into companies. 🚀🚀🚀 More to come on this. I'm hyped to share what we're building 🤘 #venturebuilder #deeptech #startups #cambridge

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Excited to join the panel discussion next week on the future of smart cities! We'll be exploring how technology, entrepreneurship, and investment are shaping the cities of tomorrow. Don't miss this opportunity to learn about the latest trends and innovations driving the smart city revolution. Sign up now to reserve your spot! #smartcities #venturecapital #Frontiertechnology #entrepreneurship #urbaninnovation

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On note: Content provenance is a potent and emerging market.

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Had a great time with Grant El-Deir on the @venturalabs podcast yesterday. We covered Bittensor, Opentensor Foundation, DCG, MicroStrategy and more. Check it out and let me know if I'm smart (comments) or dumb (DM only pls). #crypto #bittensor #bitcoin #laboreconomy #artificialintelligence #machinelearning https://lnkd.in/gu6aFziu

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Great article by Stéphane Fisch on the intersection of AI, Cloud, and strategic innovations. "The demand for AI compute is so tremendous that even electricity supply struggles to keep up with the power-hungry data centres. The financial investment in this sector is also staggering, with an estimated $1 trillion worth of installed compute requiring upgrades for AI, and likely another $1 trillion needed for new infrastructure. This unprecedented capital expenditure is fuelling a colossal market opportunity."

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We've mapped the 250 most relevant early-stage startups within the European data ecosystem! 🚀 Our coverage spans categories like Data Collection, Storage, Integration, Security & Privacy, and Platform. Discover how these startups are leveraging AI 🧠, the most active sectors 👩‍💻👨‍💻, and key funding trends 🏦. Don't miss the simple table listing all the companies! 😀 #AI #Europeanstartups #MMCresearch #vcfunding Advika Jalan

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https://lnkd.in/dn_CRSwH "Generative AI is having far reaching impacts on datacenters and new data shedding light on the nature and extent of the impacts. Analysts Melissa Incera and Dan Thompson return to the podcast to dig into the data and discuss the ramifications for enterprises, datacenter builders and operators and those putting AI to work with host Eric Hanselman. The computational requirements of generative AI are unique, taking demands similar to high performance computing or cryptomining and spreading them across a vast new community of users. The demands for GPU-based capacity are consuming more power, sometimes with order of magnitude increases. It’s also driving retrofitting of existing datacenters. The need for higher capacity and innovations like liquid cooling are causing a new surge. We’re at the beginning of the shift from a focus on model training to greater amounts of inferencing, changing where capacity is needed.  Looking at money flows in this market offers additional nuance. Investments in AI startups have been massive. Capital investments from hyperscalers in their own infrastructure is also massive, but it remains to be seen if they’ll pay off in equivalent amounts of revenue. Is all of this sustainable? It’s an complicated question in the many aspects of the word."

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