Adrian Locher’s Post

We are pleased to share the successful first close of Iona Star, a venture capital fund dedicated to driving innovation through artificial intelligence and data. Backed by Castelnau Group and Frasers Group, Iona Star focuses on early-stage companies at the forefront of AI and data convergence. Castelnau and Frasers Group have each committed up to £10 million over the duration of the fund, providing a strong foundation for a global investment strategy. With strategic insights and data from both companies, Iona Star is poised to accelerate growth in this rapidly evolving sector. Through the successful deployment of their earlier fund, the Iona Star team has demonstrated their ability to identify businesses capable of high growth. We are particularly excited about the incremental benefits that Iona Star's portfolio will bring to our own portfolio companies, enabling them to leverage cutting-edge AI and data technologies to drive growth and innovation. This continues our strategy of embracing pioneering technology to enhance our wider portfolio. The final close is targeted for Q4 2024, and we look forward to what the future holds! #CastelnauGroup #IonaStar #FrasersGroup #VentureCapital #AI

🚀 ZAKA VC invests in ExoMatter during its €1.7M pre-seed round👉 https://ain.social/3YzEE10 Munich-based ExoMatter has raised €1.7M in pre-seed funding to revolutionize material development with AI and quantum chemical modeling! The funding round, led by Vanagon.vc and supported by Bayern Kapital, ZAKA VC, Bloomhaus Ventures AG, and female angels from encourageventures, will help scale ExoMatter’s platform and expand its customer base. Founded by Josua Vieten and Barbara Bachus, ExoMatter’s Materials R&D platform allows companies to reduce material development costs by 90% and CO₂ emissions by 80%. With customers like Airbus and Infineon, ExoMatter is paving the way for more sustainable, cost-effective solutions. #DeepTech #MaterialScience #Sustainability #StartupFunding #Innovation

UK venture capital investors focusing on the tech sector are sustaining the overall volume of VC deals, as interest in other industries is rapidly declining, according to Actum Group's latest report. While the rise of AI and related technologies continues to drive activity within the tech space, the total investment value has started to decline. The analysis highlights insights from Jasper Smith, Chairman at VALA; Ben Davies, Marketing Director at Praetura Ventures, and Andy Bloxam, Managing Director for Ventures Strategy at Foresight Group. For the full article, visit https://lnkd.in/d2nUsJGu #VentureCapital #TechSector #AI #ValueCreation

onechart (Prev: medX Insight), led by alumni of the Residency @ The Clinic incubator program, has secured funding from venture capital firm Ripple Ventures, its second significant investment in a year. This is an amazing milestone for Shreyas Suri and Max Chan, and their business partners Kevin Ouyang and Adil Mohammed. Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/edrVYirS . https://onechart.ai/ . #MacHealthICE #TheClinic #healthinnovation #residency #mcmaster #mcmasteru #ai #artificialintelligence #medicalchart #aiinhealthcare #healthcareai #chartscribe #medicalscribe

It was a pleasure and a privilege to moderate this panel at the NY Venture Summit. I am grateful to our esteemed panel of VCs for their deep dive into the exciting opportunities and challenges in AI investing. The future of AI looks bright.    #AIInnovation #VentureCapital #AIInvesting #NYVentureSummit #TechInvestments

Join us for SOSV's Climate Tech Summit breakout session to learn more about Syensqo Ventures: Register now! Tuesday October 15th, 10 am PT // 1pm ET With a commitment to pushing scientific boundaries, Syensqo actively engages with and invests in partners to develop sustainable solutions that address complex challenges. Our team transforms scientific research and technologies into game-changing industrial applications through open innovation, bold collaborations, and a commitment to innovative thinking. Through our venture capital fund, Syensqo Ventures, we partner with early-stage start-ups to make a positive impact on the world. The companies we invest in are pioneering new technologies that address major human challenges associated with resource scarcity, climate change and quality of life, by focusing on sustainable advanced materials. The startups we support operate in areas such as energy, cleantech, industry 5.0, mobility, healthtech, and biotech. #Syensqo #SyensqoVentures #SOSVClimateTechSummit

[The Neofin journey] During the process of taking Neofin out of the paper with Arthur Cunha and Leandro Sarmento, when we were still defining which way or at what speed to go, some people were key to us - after our angels, 1616 Ventures was the very first fund to commit and to help us out with many contacts - also followed by Norte Ventures and Lupa Capital. Since they had a guide and understood the competitive dynamics, we really appreciated their help from day 0 to make connections with national and international players at the speed of light. In the pre-seed we got to know 17Sigma, who later also became one of our major investors: unique constructive approach, while understanding very well that our TAM is almost infinite. Since then, Neofin has been evolving every day - from leveraging more and more the usage of data to establishing win-win partnerships - now we are even counting with a dedicated team focused on that, led by Ricardo Freitas. Running our operations and serving our clients and partners is our number one goal and priority, especially as we see the potential of our Intelligent Workflow. While we continue to build our ecosystem and transform the way companies get paid through the usage of Data and Machine Learning, we know the best is yet to come and there is no time to waste!

Investing in deep tech can transform industries and address global challenges—but only if it’s done with a true long-term vision. Traditional funds often miss the mark by treating deep tech like any other asset, overlooking the unique, multi-decade commitment needed to grow breakthrough IP into multi-market solutions. At Aventurine Capital Group, we focus on nurturing early-stage IP to its full potential, not just bringing one innovation to market but optimizing foundational technologies across industries. Our perpetual fund model supports deep tech investments over the long haul, ensuring that IP is actively managed and developed into revenue-generating assets. With $1 trillion lost annually in underutilized IP, we’re not just investing—we’re building a sustainable strategy to maximize IP value across markets. https://lnkd.in/gF_cw9Um #IP #VC #Patents #DeepTech #Energy #Computing #Pharma

[MEET THE JURY 3] Join us in welcoming the remarkable jury members who will be assessing who will be assessing the pitches of 9 EIC Fund companies during the EIC epiching on 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺, 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗻 25 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.   ⭐ Olivier Tonneau is a Partner at Quantonation, the first early-stage VC fund that is dedicated to deep physics and quantum technologies. Quantonation focuses on supporting and investing in disruptive technologies that are driving fields such as high-performance computation, secure communications, drug design, and ultra-precise sensing. The fund aims to facilitate the transition of these innovative technologies into commercially available products.   ⭐ SUNG SIK BYUN is the Head of the Europe Office and is responsible for overseeing and managing investment activities in Europe on behalf of Samsung Venture Investment. This includes identifying investment opportunities, conducting due diligence, and making strategic investment decisions to support the group's growth and expansion in the region.   ⭐ Socheat Chhay holds the position of Group Head of Corporate Venture at Sopra Steria Ventures (SSV), the strategic venture arm of Sopra Steria Group. SSV's core mission revolves around generating partnerships with startups for the Sopra Steria Group and making strategic investments to co-develop innovative and valuable offerings.   ⭐ Sebastian Bihari is Co-Founder and General Partner at Vektor Partners, a European deep tech venture capital firm. Vektor Partners specializes in investing in critical technologies that are driving global transformation in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and Decarbonization. The firm actively supports visionary and globally-minded founders of scalable B2B businesses that operate at the forefront of technological advancements in AI-enabled applications, computer vision, software-defined systems, dual-use technology, and next-generation processors.   Would you like to join? Investors are welcome to attend as observers! Register now.   #Quantum, #Semiconductors #Photonics #EUeic #eicAccelerator #investors

🔜 Next week, we're excited to join the Lazard T500 Venture & Growth Conference 2024 in London, UK, following our recognition in the Lazard T100 European Venture Growth Index – 2024. This prestigious gathering convenes Europe's promising private venture and growth companies (T100 companies, including Axelera AI) with global venture and growth investors (T400 universe), alongside key players in the Venture & Growth ecosystem. Join us from May 7 to 9 as we highlight how we’re overcoming the foremost challenges in AI inference with our Metis AI Processing Unit. Our technology is based on breakthrough digital in-memory compute technology and RISC-V based dataflow. More info ℹ️ https://lnkd.in/dV63WTSH CDP Venture Capital SGR Innovation Industries Verve Ventures imec.xpand imec Bitfury Charles Mander | Fabrizio Del Maffeo #AI #tech #venturecapital #TechStartups #VC #Investment #StartupWorld #Funding