Jason Stoffer

One of my proudest moments as an investor occurred today as Alaffia Health announced its series A because it shows how the Aperture® Venture Capital vision of multi-level, multi-generational #impactinvesting is succeeding in the marketplace. Here’s the model in its most basic form : ✅As diverse fund managers with meaningful capital to allocate, we are changing the VC landscape every day just by doing our day jobs. ✅As Black/Brown investors with ~40 years experience collectively, Aperture GPs have access to talent /excellence that others do not, so our portfolio *organically* is more inclusive by race, gender and geography even while optimizing for financial outcomes (all about the alpha). ✅Our most successful portco’s are using financial #innovation to solve market problems that impact underrepresented demographics and underserved communities. Alaffia Health is a shining example of the impact portion of our overall fund thesis, and we couldn’t be prouder of TJ Ademiluyi and Adun Akanni, MPH, PMP - the dynamic brother-sister founder duo whose vision we have steadfastly supported on their journey. Congratulations to TJ and Adun from William Crowder and myself, as well as the whole Aperture team- Marjorie King Philip McKenzie Yves Louis-Jacques Tanvi Lal Michelle Dhansinghani Lisha Bell Katie Kelly Amy Chung Cindy Chong, CFA Brian Fernandes-Halloran Monroe France Jayden Pantel Darren Herman Evan Wladis Neal Triplett Thomas Scriven Peter Ammon Irina Bit-Babik Tim Milanich Rob Rahbari

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🌍 Thrilled to share that Caresyntax has taken the World Economic Forum's Global Health Equity Zero Gaps pledge, further aligning with our mission to create a world with equal access to healthcare. This pledge focuses on closing the gap in healthcare access, affordability, and quality-key pillars of the WEF’s Sustainable Development Goals. Since joining the WEF’s Unicorn and Health Platform, we've enhanced our AI-driven surgical platform and expanded our ecosystem. Collaboration truly drives innovation, and the WEF has been pivotal in exploring new perspectives to make healthcare safer, more accessible, and efficient. By committing to this pledge, we’re contributing to a future where access to healthcare is a reality for all. Let’s continue pushing forward towards a more equitable future! 🌟 #Caresyntax #HealthEquity #SustainableDevelopment #HealthcareInnovation

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This week Mikal Ventures brings you a 2-week breakdown of the US capital market with an emphasis on the Mikal verticals. Over the 2-week period ending May 13, 450 new companies were added, with just under 95,000 companies included in the US Health Tech, Med Tech, Fin Tech, AI Tech, and Ed Tech verticals. AI Tech again saw the greatest percentage of growth in new companies and transactions, weighing in at over double the vertical averages for the period. The US Med Tech vertical led the way in SEC Filings, with Fin Tech leading in news articles. Mikal Ventures publishes these stats to provide a perspective on how the verticals and new startups move through time. We hope you find them informative and thought-provoking. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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💡Benchmarks in the investment industry serve as a standard for measuring the performance of securities, mutual funds, or investment managers. They provide a reference point for analyzing allocation, risk, and return of a portfolio, enabling investors to make informed decisions. Thanks Peter Walker for keeping us all informed!! Can’t wait for this!! Follow and get on the waitlist for this one! #benchmarks #fundraising #Capitalraise #founders #womenshealth #femhealth #medtech #wellness

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This week Mikal Ventures brings you a 4-week breakdown of the US capital market with an emphasis on the Mikal verticals. Over the 4-week period ending November 11, just under 725 new companies were added, resulting in 100,716 companies included in the US Health Tech, Med Tech, Fin Tech, AI Tech, and Ed Tech verticals. Although we are seeing a slowdown in overall activity, US AI Tech again saw the greatest percentage growth in new companies at 16%, vs. the vertical average of 7% for the period. AI Tech also led the group in news articles. US Fin Tech led in transactions, while US Med Tech led in SEC Filings. Mikal Ventures publishes these stats on a rolling 4-week basis to provide a perspective on how the verticals and new startups move through time. We hope you find them informative and thought-provoking. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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In a startup's early days, founders often skip detailed compensation planning, instead choosing round numbers and moving on. This is an admirable sentiment. But over the long term, founder compensation design can matter a lot to the company, so it's worth taking some time to think this through. Here are some benchmarks and suggestions for founder compensation across: 1. Salary 2. Equity Split 3. Vesting https://lnkd.in/gcDXehXx

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A little late, even though this process started in July.... Excited to share our latest investment in Heads Together Health!! We met Steve DeVrieze in October last year, and we think they are poised for impressive growth! Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ecYcqqkn #earlystagestartup #earlystageinvesting #VCinvestment #ncstartups #nctechstartups

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VC Market Update: Riding Out the Post-Boom Bumps. 2021's high-flying valuations and growth have given way to a more complex reality. With longer private timelines, tough exit markets, and capital tightness, startups face unique challenges—but also fresh opportunities. For those navigating today’s VC landscape, strategic planning is key. Whether it's balancing growth with capital efficiency or exploring secondaries smartly, there’s a path forward. And with boosts from AI and future rate cuts, brighter days could be ahead!

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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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This week Mikal Ventures brings you a 4-week breakdown of the non-US capital market with an emphasis on the Mikal verticals. The 4-week period ending November 25 saw just over 1,300 new companies added, bringing the total to 112,141 companies included in the non-US Health Tech, Med Tech, AI Tech Fin Tech and Ed Tech verticals. Non-US AI Tech again saw the greatest percentage growth in new companies at 16%, vs. the vertical average of 12% for the period. Non-US HeathTech led the group in transactions. Non-US Med Tech led in SEC Filings and news articles.   Mikal Ventures publishes these stats on a rolling 4-week basis to provide a perspective on how the verticals and new startups move through time. We hope you find them informative and thought-provoking. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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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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HealthCap Africa: Pioneering Sector-Focused Investment At HealthCap Africa, we are committed to our strategic focus on healthcare and fintech, recognizing that specialization is key to success in Africa's vibrant startup ecosystem. The data reflects this, affirming our approach in a market ripe for innovation. We extend our gratitude to Scott Kupor Managing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the world's leading venture capital firms, for his insightful commentary on the increasing preference among founders for sector-specific investors. This validation from such esteemed industry figures underscores the importance of our mission-driven investment strategy. #HealthTech #FinTech #VentureCapital #InnovationInAfrica #SectorSpecialists

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As I wrote earlier, Venture Builder is an attractive new tool for early-stage investment in deeptech startups. Investments in the Venture Company Initiate, which specializes in healthcare, attracted $45 million, a vivid example. If you are considering investing in healthcare startups and would like to learn more about investing in Venture Builder, please email me.

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This week Mikal Ventures brings you a 4-week breakdown of the US capital market with an emphasis on the Mikal verticals. Over the 4-week period ending April 15, just over 900 new companies were added, with 94,109 companies included in the US Health Tech, Med Tech, Fin Tech, AI Tech, and Ed Tech verticals. AI Tech again saw the greatest percentage of growth in new companies and transactions, weighing in at over double the vertical averages for the period. The US Fin Tech vertical again led the way in SEC Filings and news articles. Mikal Ventures publishes these stats on a rolling 4-week basis to provide a perspective on how the verticals and new startups move through time. We hope you find them informative and thought-provoking. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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💰 Women-Led VC Funds: Navigating 2024 Fundraising Landscape 💰 According to Venture Capital Journal, despite a strong start, women-led VC funds are feeling the impact of the industry-wide fundraising slowdown. As of November 30, 2024, women-led VC funds have raised $2.54 billion, which represents a 25% decrease from 2023's total of $3.43 billion. In comparison, global venture fundraising is down 13% YoY. While the numbers reflect challenges, there's still potential for growth: • Several funds typically file updates in December • These late submissions could help narrow the gap Let's continue supporting diversity in VC and monitor these trends as we approach year-end. #VentureCapital #WomenInVC #FundingTrends2024 La Creme de la STEM ™ - female founders support system Noshin Ahmed Lori Rodriguez Emilie Vallauri Craig Zapatka

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Reminder that the Unusual Ventures Fall 2024 Academy application is OPEN! Deadline for submissions is 9/9. Are you a Founder who wants to: 1. Learn from world class leaders the best practices of building from insight to product-market fit? 2. Receive up to $2M in a SAFE to accelerate company building? 3. Join an unmatched community of founders who are eager to support and learn with you? 4. Dive deeply into the latest pricing, go to market, and infrastructure choices founders are making for their AI-native startups? Unusual Academy is for you and your team. Each cohort consists of a small group of hand-picked Founders who are in the early stages of building Enterprise Software businesses. Over eight weeks Founders will participate in a highly personalized set of workshops that drive the building of the foundation of a successful startup. Founders will work very closely with our team on how best to execute Customer Discovery and validate the insight for your startup. We then explore the nitty gritty details of doing customer outreach and working through the Design Partner phase. We take you through proven tactics on how to navigate early customer engagements through to contract conversations. Throughout Unusual Academy we work closely with each team to align product strategy with the optimal go to market approach for their market segment and product. With the advent of AI, Founders are faced with new challenges with regard to pricing, ROI, data security, and managing infrastructure costs; we share best practices and the latest adaptations from the leading startups. Unusual Academy is a program for Founders who want to learn from exceptional teachers and get hands-on with specialized examples and tools. For those who want to maximize their probability of building a successful startup, this program is for you. https://academy.unusual.vc

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I recently saw this metric from Carta’s 1Q24 VC Fund Report, which is very concerning. DPI... is nowhere to be found in earlier vintages that probably should start showing DPI. Funding early-stage projects is great, but ultimately, these venture dollars need to exit their investments and pay back their limited partners. That’s where the metric Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) comes in. While managing a fund, we get interim measures during the life of the fund (e.g. IRR, MOIC), but ultimately, “you can’t eat IRR.” If you want to build a lasting venture capital organization, you need to start showing DPI for your fund. Keep in mind that this is traditional VC data from Carta, and is not strictly crypto venture. Crypto venture tends to get liquidity earlier (tokens) and things tend to go parabolic sooner (faster, more unicorns) - but I’d wager that the data here is somewhat similar for Crypto VCs… Not as much DPI as there should be from these earlier vintages. Read the full article, as well as a recap of all the crypto fundraising rounds for August, here: https://lnkd.in/g3eVJ-iF

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Such a treat to talk to the Startup Health community about one of my favorite topics: How to talk about what you do, particularly as companies face competing priorities (raising capital, growing the team, building a sustainable business). I’ve got a book coming out on this very topic in 2025. Our conversation in full: https://lnkd.in/esSNHSMa

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VC funding in healthcare has been more resilient than in other industries. Here are some key takeaways from recent Carta data: 👉 At the priced seed, Series A, and Series B stages, dilution for health startups has noticeably decreased, while dilution for SaaS startups has stayed flat or increased slightly. 👉 In priced seed rounds, median dilution for healthcare companies dipped to 14.2%, compared to 20% for SaaS.  👉 The frequency of bridge rounds surged in the health sector in Q1, jumping to 44.3% from 36.9% in Q4 2023. This is the first significant increase in bridge rounds in healthcare over SaaS since early 2022. 👉 More founder-friendly terms for health startups may result from enduring VC interest since COVID. Healthcare has remained strong through economic turmoil, enabling higher valuations with smaller round sizes. What are the implications? The healthcare sector might see a rise in new ventures due to favorable investment conditions and lower dilution rates. The surge in bridge rounds suggests that certain sectors within healthcare face unique challenges that require interim financing solutions. Founders and investors in the healthcare space- what are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear from you. If you know a founder innovating in healthcare, tag them in the comments! The Artemis Fund is especially interested in groundbreaking care tech companies. You can check out Carta’s full blog linked in the comments. If you haven’t read our latest blog on care tech, you’ll find that there too. #healthcare #caretech #fundraising

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