Jon Hays

https://lnkd.in/eZHyRyup Era Ventures, a NYC-based venture capital firm focused on investing in a broad range of business model innovations to catalyze positive change in the built world, launched its inaugural $88m fund. LPs include one of the country’s leading Ivy League Endowments, ICG Advisors, New York Presbyterian Hospital, The Ashforth Company, BentallGreenOak (BGO), Continental General Insurance Company (CGIC), Pelwood Holdings, First American, Bain Capital Ventures, Fenwick & West LLP, and others. Founded by industry veteran Managing Partner Clelia Warburg Peters, and also led by Partner Raja Ghawi, Era Ventures will deploy capital across multiple stages and a full spectrum of sector-focused innovations, from enablement technologies that improve existing processes to disruptive platforms that reshape the industry. The firm has identified seven core business models driving change, including but not limited to SaaS and AI, marketplaces, embedded fintech, and hardtech ventures leveraging new technologies to optimize physical assets, and will actively invest across all of these categories. Fund I has already backed founders across multiple stages: Marketplaces and tech-enabled services: Honey Homes, a digital handyman subscription service provider. Latii, a cross-border construction-materials marketplace. Welcome Homes, a platform to manage and build custom homes online. Ostrich, a next-generation real estate listing service in the UK. Fintech: Shepherd, an embedded insurance platform designed for the construction industry. Truehold, a single-family rental company that combines home sales and rental leases. Homeward, an embedded financial platform powering residential real estate transactions. Hardtech: PassiveLogic, an AI-enabled platform for autonomous buildings. ViaBot, a Robotics-as-a-Service facility management platform. Vertical AI and SaaS:  Indigo, an AI-powered platform to facilitate residential real estate transactions. Peters has been a leading investor in the PropTech space since its early days — first as a co-founder of MetaProp, one of the original, strategically backed PropTech funds, and then as a Venture Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, a generalist venture firm.

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https://lnkd.in/eW5rVi4b Scope3, a NYC-based provider of a collaborative sustainability platform decarbonizing media and advertising, raised $25M in funding. The round was led by GV with participation from existing investors Venrock, Room40 Ventures, Craft Ventures, Aperiam Ventures and Virgo Strategic Investments. The company intends to use the funds to expand its work beyond the advertising ecosystem and tackle the pressing climate impact of the AI industry. Led by CEO Brian O’Kelley, Scope3 provides a platform that allows users to visualize, measure, and reduce their carbon emissions in the advertising ecosystem. This is made possible with its emissions model developed from open-source methodology to precisely measure the complex and interconnected advertising ecosystem. It sits at the core of Scope3’s collaborative sustainability platform and every emissions reduction solution offered by the company, including Climate Shield and Green Media Products (GMPs). Now, as AI innovation hits an inflection point and the environmental impact is coming to light, Scope3 is taking its proven approach to decarbonizing the advertising and media supply chain and applying it to AI. Thousands of brands use Scope3 to measure and decarbonize their media – including Coca-Cola, General Motors, Mastercard, Sanofi, and more. Scope3 is a public benefit corporation with a global team of researchers, technologists, and digital advertising pioneers distributed across North America, Europe, and APAC, tackling the biggest challenge of our generation: the climate crisis.

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The last several years have witnessed a significant increase in the use of continuation funds as the capital markets dried up. Now, per PitchBook, there has been a meaningful uptick in exits from those funds. Per the article: "Continuation funds have roughly doubled their quarterly exit activity, enduring as a viable liquidity solution for PE firms." Any uptick in liquidity activity is a hopeful sign that a recovery is underway. While the Pitchbook article specifically addressed activity in private equity, hopefully we will begin to see signs in the Venture space as well. Endeavor Colorado #privateequity #venturecapital #innovation #investing #founders #startups #entrepreneurship https://lnkd.in/gRW6WPNm

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Thanks for inviting me TEN Capital Network and Hall T. Martin to talk about some of my favorite topics - climate tech investing and how we are building an energy transition economy in New Mexico.

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Cambridge Wilkinson Investment Bank Closes $90MM Credit Facility for Infrastructure Development Company Cambridge Wilkinson is pleased to announce the close of a $90 Million credit facility for a fast-growing North American infrastructure development company. This facility will support the company’s strategic expansion plans and will increase their capacity to acquire and develop prime assets.   “Private credit investors are actively seeking opportunities to align objectives with companies that have both the track record, the capacity to deliver, and the pipeline to address our national need for robust and ongoing community infrastructure development. Clients, such as this one, are expanding rapidly and need speed, agility, and access to the best strategic investors – this is where our network is well-positioned to help them meet those needs. We believe that the spectrum of infrastructure development and associated financing is growing, has desirable return profiles, and will continue to attract investors for some time,” said Rob Bolandian, Co-Founder and Global Head of Investment Banking at Cambridge Wilkinson. www.cambridgewilkinson.com Capitalize on Our Connections #team #capitalraise #capitalmarkets #credit #privatecredit #cre #realestate #infrastructure #privateequity #finance #dealmaking #investmentbanking #banking

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I'm excited to share my latest article published in Mergers and Acquisitions - themiddlemarket.com: “What Business Owners Should Do When They Can’t Sell” From exploring alternative deal strategies to enhancing business value, this piece offers actionable insights to navigate complex situations effectively in today’s M&A market. Additionally, I highlight how we creatively assisted a founder-owned business in achieving several key objectives earlier this year. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gUYYqb57

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VC Winter or an even longer hibernation period? The Q1 report from PitchBook reveals a significant downturn in completed financings, with a ~50% decrease 2023/2022 and a projected further decline of 50% for 2024/2023 (Q1 annualized). Exciting news for the industry as there are now 29 classes and nearly 900 Kauffman Fellows globally, highlighting a strong network. A recent research initiative by the KF network delves into fundraising, capital deployment, and macroeconomic factors, showing a positive and determined outlook for 2024. The report indicates a shift in sentiment, with 50% of managers planning to increase investments this year. The future looks bright for #entrepreneurship with a rising trend in funding opportunities. It is a privilege to fund compelling entrepreneurship. I hope more will choose to be builders and pursue paths of innovation. We need them. Thank you Katie Sarro for sharing the research. #venturecapital #entrepreneurship Access the detailed report here:

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Looking forward to Future Proof in Huntington Beach a few weeks. The worlds of alts x wealth are continuing to intersect, so I'm excited to be talking about these trends through the lens of private credit with Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.'s Danielle Poli, CAIA and Cliffwater's Phil Huber, CFA, CFP®. Future Proof (Matt Middleton, Michael Batnick, CFA, Ben Carlson, CFA, Joshua Brown, & team) have done a tremendous job of bringing the leaders of the wealth management industry to create an event at the intersection of finance x fun. At Broadhaven Ventures by Broadhaven Capital Partners, we see the worlds of wealth management and private markets converging in a number of ways as there's a technology market structure evolution in private markets similar to what equities, fixed income, and derivatives went through, and there's a business model market structure evolution in alternative asset management (multi-strategy platforms, consolidation), so we've taken a comprehensive approach to investing in and building companies and funds in private markets. 💸 Investing @ Broadhaven Ventures by Broadhaven Capital Partners: We've invested our own capital into a number of leading companies in private markets like iCapital (personal investment, early employee), Carta, Republic, 73 Strings, LemonEdge, bunch, AltExchange, Allocate, & more. 📝 & 🎙: Content & Community @ Alt Goes Mainstream: We've built the meeting place for private markets, bringing together the leading minds in private markets to educate and inform the space on the latest trends, hosting C-level execs from the likes of CalSTRS, Blackstone, Blue Owl Capital, Hamilton Lane, Franklin Templeton, Man Group, Russell Investments, Fidelity Investments, Bernstein Private Wealth Management, Manulife, iCapital, Arax Investment Partners, Partners Group, & hosting a Monthly Show, the Monthly Alts Pulse with iCapital Chairman & CEO Lawrence Calcano. ⚒ & 💸 : Building & Investing Cantilever Group: We have partnered with experienced operators, advisors, and investors in the GP stakes space in Todd Owens, David Ballard, & Ben Drylie-Perkins to invest our own capital into and help them build what will be an industry-leading GP stakes fund for middle-market alternative asset managers. Look forward to seeing industry leaders across alts and wealth at Future Proof!

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Markets talk. We listen. We've from heard from capital allocators (#VC, #PrivateEquity, #FamilyOffices....even #VentureStudios, #Incubators and #Accelerators) that due diligence is a bottleneck to deal flow. It's time-consuming, expensive and often, subjective. We've launched #VentureIQ by the 9point8 Collective to directly address this problem. VentureIQ is an AI-enabled diligence solution that provides rapid scale diligence reports with exceptional fidelity and demonstrable cost efficiency - all within a single business day. We're in our soft launch, now. So, if you want to gain back valuable time and expose the long tail of deal flow diligence, shoot me a DM or visit VentureIQ.ai.

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Can't wait to reconnect with the brilliant Amanda Herson and join the discussion with Maciek Gnutek and Iain Martin at Slush about our fund models and what they mean for Founders ❄ 🚀

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In this episode of "The Future of the Bioeconomy," AV Associate Drew Wandzilak and CEO and co-founder of Hyfe Michelle Ruiz discuss the economy's shift from traditional systems to more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. Watch now! https://buff.ly/3JZ5gQI

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It’s BOD & AGM season. After 9 BOD meetings and 7 AGMs there is a common theme. “Generally” Emerging Fund 1&2 managers w/o firm building experience; and Founders/ELTs who raised pre-seed generalist and family office party rounds at Seed or crossover/hedge fund capital at Series A. Same general dynamic… experience matters. #venturecapital #emergingmanagers #startups #familyoffices #lps

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My amazing cousin, Cleven Ticeson (https://lnkd.in/gWis4xX6) , a 14 time Emmy award winning producer for KCTS9 in Seattle, is a hero of mine. I grew up watching the educational shows like Bill Nye and the performing arts they would showcase. He was following the work I have been doing de-siloing the Black professional class working in venture scale entrepreneurship in the Pacific Northwest and composed a news reel covering Dreamward Group that moved me not only because he is my hyper-talented and dear cousin but because it voiced and gave me the perspective of the decades that what we’re building has been missing from the mass culture and my culture. Lewis Rudd once told me that the hardest target to hit is an invisible one and my dear cousin hit me right in the heart by speaking in his video about the unseen, but nonetheless felt, absence of inclusive capitalization of startups. Felt by the generation of Black people that watched the tech industry grow not only painting Black technologists and Black founders out of the heroic saga of tech, but Black funders as well. I am so glad that Dreamward Group is able to paint the target and make it visible through our work. Venture Capital, the financial backing of the tech industry, just like tech itself, had an evolution with foundational moments in the 70s on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley yet it’s mechanics, drama, and operation are largely unknown to the public that isn’t working in tech entrepreneurship. It’s trajectory and heights of accomplishment with Andreessen Horowitz and Madrona Ventures are parallel and analogous to Google and Amazon…But only the later two brands are household names to people outside of the industry. The world knows the story of Black people being excluded from Tech, It knows the story of Black people being excluded from executive leadership. It experienced the Obama administration and the depravity of the Trump backlash and had to ask itself why it had actively or passively participated in writing off Black professionals. Some of the world hears of Black founders getting less than 2% of invested capital, but even on hearing that, they don’t know the story of Black people being excluded from the role of deciding which startups get funded using a yet third party’s (often their own government’s) money…That is the story of Venture Capital today, and that’s what Dreamward is changing for the future.

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As private markets welcome more investors to the space, the how becomes as important as the why. iCapital Chairman & CEO Lawrence Calcano came on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to break down the how and the why. How can investors gain access to private markets in ways that work for them? How can alternative asset managers better serve those investors? How can this all be done in a responsible, thoughtful way that sets up both investors and private markets for success in the long-term? What is the evolution of the different service models that enable GPs to unlock access to private markets for more LPs? Lawrence Calcano and I discussed these topics and more on the show. Thanks Lawrence for coming on the show to share your thoughtful perspectives on the industry and its continued evolution. Thanks to Ultimus Fund Solutions for sponsoring this episode of the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. https://lnkd.in/eX7njq8b

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It's interesting to see how valuation trends have shifted, especially the decline in up rounds this year. This data is crucial for founders and investors to set realistic expectations in a tougher fundraising climate. Understanding these trends can really help in planning for the future! 👏

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On the latest iCapital x Alt Goes Mainstream Monthly Alts Pulse, iCapital Chairman & CEO Lawrence Calcano and I welcome a special guest - Hightower Advisors Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investments Robert Picard - to discuss the operational challenges and solutions in private markets. In this episode, Lawrence, Robert, and I discuss: * How wealth platforms like Hightower and infrastructure operating systems like iCapital are creating straight-through-processing solutions across the lifecycle of a private markets investment for the wealth channel. * The importance of bringing alts directly to the advisor’s desktop. * Why improving the experience for advisors in private markets is critical to increasing adoption. * Why it’s important to build across the continuum of needs for different types of high-net-worth investors. * The importance of customization and differentiation with private markets solutions for advisors. * What is the biggest unlock to enabling greater flows of capital into private markets? * What are the implications of opening up the alts superhighway? Thanks Robert for joining us on the show for a fantastic discussion!

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We analyzed 3,860 #munibond issuers across 3,100 US counties -- and found a near-zero (0.02%) correlation of Moody's credit ratings to HIP's climate threat resilience ratings. Which investments are overrated or underrated? Ask us, HIP has the #Data - on #climate #climateaction #creditratings #ESG #futurerisk #investing #NYCclimateweek https://lnkd.in/g_SK3Xpm

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In this episode of "The Future of the Bioeconomy," AV Associate Drew Wandzilak and CEO and co-founder of Hyfe Michelle Ruiz discuss the economy's shift from traditional systems to more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. Watch now! https://buff.ly/3JZ5gQI

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THANK YOU PALM BEACH! We had a fantastic Roundtable Forum yesterday in "pink paradise", aka The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach. All 10 presentations were well received by investors and the networking was epic! We had perfect weather for lunch in the garden and cocktails poolside. Thank you to all of our wonderful speakers and guests! Dan Gelernter, R.G. Niederhoffer Capital Management - A lively discussion on the economic and social risks of AI and ChatGPT: how they affect all aspects of our lives, including our investments Lachlan Campbell & Lachlan Beech, Duxton Asset Management - Introduction to Australian water rights markets John Hardaway, Triten Real Estate Partners - Bringing innovation to multi-class real estate development in TX Clay Dunnagan, Anchor Capital Management Company, LLC - Why opportunities are evolving in small cap US companies Lane Murphy, Mast Hill Fund - Discuss their focus on private credit: short duration (1 year), convertible notes of small and micro cap public companies. Jordan Allen, Garrington Capital - Will discuss how they deliver alternative, transitional funding to small and medium sized businesses in the US & Canada Bruce Eliot, P/E Investments - A review of the global FX markets Rick Selvala, Visdom Investment Group LLC - How does an options overlay strategy add hedged incremental yield/returns to an existing portfolio? Sean Kelly-Rand, RD Advisors - Evaluating opportunities in high-yield, short-term senior real estate debt on residential assets in Boston Jeff Hinkle, EJF Capital, LLC - Discussion concerning balance sheet solutions for financial institutions Registration: Gulfstream Gorup, Inc., Single Family Office Sagar Family Office, Single Family Office L Investments & Salsano Group, Single Family Office FFC Capital, Single Family Office Cayside Partners, RIA/Multi-Family Office Cooper Family Office, Single Family Office Meyer Companies, Single Family Office Privos Capital, Global Multi-Family Office Dominion Capital, LLC, Single Family Office Declaration Capital, Single Family Office SER 1 Capital, Consultant The 22Hundred Group, Single Family Office The Ellen and Ian Graham Foundation, Foundation/Endowment Burns Family Office, High Net Worth Individual Aceana Group, Single Family Office Aladdin Capital, Single Family Office Gesner Capital Partners, Single Family Office A Graham Advisors, Single Family Office Emerald Multi Family Office, RIA/Mutli-Family Office SFG Asset Advisors, Single Family Office Krusen Capital, RIA/Mutli-Family Office NEPC, LLC, Consultant Triaverun, Single Family Office Miles Howland & Co., Private Investor Beverly Capital, Single Family Office Stone Family Office, Single Family Office Stable Asset Management, Fund of Funds US Bank Wealth Management, Private Bank Misha Investment, Single Family Office CFL3 Family Office, Single Family Office Llama Violeta Ventures, Single Family Office Helm Family Office, Single Family Office

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