Davor Hebel

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

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It was a great pleasure attending the Operating Partner Forum in London this week and engaging in thought-provoking discussions with industry peers, sharing best practises and learning how they are tackling some of the headwinds we are facing. The event covered a range of topics, but high on the agenda was the digital strategy and how to leverage AI as a driver of value creation. Here are my top three takeaways: #1 AI is coming, but getting the fundamentals right matters more: While AI has great potential and we will see significant product enhancements and productivity boosts opportunities in the near future, the real value today comes from getting the basics right. Strong processes, controls, an effective operating model, and robust data structures and systems are crucial for success. #2 Data maturity and organizational readiness: It's essential to assess and improve your organization's data maturity to ensure readiness for advanced analytics and AI implementation. This is a journey not a sprint. #3 Clear ownership of the digital agenda: Clearly distinguish between IT roles (infrastructure, architecture, cybersecurity) and data analytics roles lead by business and addressing business needs. This separation helps ensure we are addressing effectively real business needs and driving the digital strategy forward. #operatingpartnersforumeurope #operatingpartner #valuecreation #privateequity #carveout #transformation #parlementiacapital https://lnkd.in/ee_s_Gdb

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It was fantastic to have been a panellist at today’s EntreConf and EntreConf Awards, a vibrant two-day conference for entrepreneurs and advisers. I was joined on the ‘Funding Routes’ panel by Richard Spilsbury of Link Stone Advisory, David Goodall of FW Capital and Paul Duggan of Blake Morgan LLP. Key takeaways from our discussion, which was moderated by Greg Ingham, formerly of Future Publishing LLC, included: 💰 The market is much more positive than headline figures suggest. There are lots of options out there for those seeking funding. 💰From VC and CVC (Corporate Venture Capital), to off balance sheet investments by the big strategics, as well as family offices, HNWs, debt, grants and invoice discounting, there are plenty of routes depending on what stage you are at. 💰A VC will look at your business differently to a CVC. A VC will be assessing your business plan, the expertise of the team and whether they can deliver and scale the business, as well as whether the problem/solution you are addressing is big enough to lead to scalability. They will also look at your routes to market, financial performance and quality of earnings, with recurring revenue being the nirvana. 💰 A CVC wants to see all of the above - but also where your business fits within their strategic roadmap to use their investment to accelerate their innovation. 💰Although there is a cost of raising capital to a business, the benefits of having the right investors on board is vast and a driver for turbo-charging growth. 💰When you're looking to create your target list from the universe of investors, ensure you include sector focus funds who will be targeting businesses within your industry to find the best fit. #fundingroutes #entreconf #investment #capitalraise

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Survival of the Fittest in a Shifting Funding Landscape Founders are adopting a low-key approach, focusing their energy on internal growth. Armed with capital secured in 2021, many are strategically revitalising their businesses. But the big question remains: What will the dealmaking landscape look like in 2024? "Overall, capital infusion will be concentrated on a narrower spectrum of companies than in all. The private capital raising landscape is anticipated to be robust, showcasing significant improvement from 2022. However, the capital infusion will be concentrated on a narrower spectrum of companies compared to the prolific scene of 2021." Read More: https://lnkd.in/d3536qvA In the meantime, share your thoughts! Are you a founder facing a funding crunch? How are you adapting your strategy? #StartupFunding #Founders #Growth #DealMaking #SibaPanda

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What do you do when a radical new technology puts your main product right in the crosshairs of disruption? Listen to David Okuniev — co-founder of Typeform | Ask awesomely — discuss the challenges of innovation within existing structures. David shared a game-changing insight: Radical innovation is really, really difficult to do inside your own product. He emphasized the need to break free from the constraints of familiarity and embrace change from outside the box. Henrik Werdelin and I have both seen our fair share of this in our respective careers. What struck us most was how David leveraged structure to overcome the innovator’s dilemma. By creating a culture of experimentation and providing space for bold ideas, he propelled Typeform beyond incremental improvements. What other hacks have you seen or employed to help your organization overcome the innovator’s dilemma? Share your stories below! 👇 And if you want to dive deeper into our conversation, click the link in the comments to catch the full podcast episode!

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Want a deeper glimpse into how people are feeling in the run-up to the UK elections? 🇬🇧 This whitepaper reveals the real human emotions behind the numbers. 🔍 Using Prolific’s pool of 200k+ participants and Voiceform's #AI technology, this poll captures authentic responses on a range of key political issues. It’s got extensive insights into how the UK truly feels about: * The current Conservative Party leadership under Rishi Sunak. * Keir Starmer’s opposition Labour Party and its changing direction. * Which policies and themes register as most critical for voters. * What it could take to sway voting intentions at this stage. You can download the full whitepaper here: https://lnkd.in/e9qSTQQd #UKgeneralelection #PoliticalInsights #UKPolitics

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At the seed stage, the most exciting conversations occur when a founder conveys a clear and compelling vision of the opportunity they are pursuing. Although the path to get there is uncertain, they have an extraordinary clarity about the destination. Our role is to "see what they see." In 2016, Simon Phelan pitched us an "Amazon for energy," a one-stop shop for all energy needs enabled by technology. He described a future where, as the grid becomes more decentralized and closer to our homes (solar panels, heat pumps, etc), value would shift from traditional energy suppliers to those who can connect customers with multiple renewable solutions as well as finance them. He saw an opportunity to build a new type of energy company. Last week, Simon's vision came one step closer to reality with the announcement of a £250 million asset-backed facility with Barclays. It's amazing to see his original idea materialise after eight years of building the company step by step. Simon chose the unglamorous boiler as his entry point; then grew an installer network, both organically and through M&A; before expanding their product range to solar panels and heat pumps. The next stage was to bring in financing from one of the UK’s best known banks, as well as a debt facility from one of the world’s biggest asset managers, BlackRock. It's estimated that an investment of £250 billion will be needed to fully decarbonise UK homes by 2050. Who is going to finance this infrastructure upgrade? Hometree 's connection to the capital markets is a real milestone to get us there and signals the emergence of a new type of energy company that is just getting started.

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At Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference, an engaging discussion shed light on the evolving venture capital (VC) landscape. One of the key takeaways was the underscore of vibrant growth of the VC sector, with the number of firms soaring from 6,000 in 2013 to about 60,000 today. This surge in competition is driving VCs to innovate and refine their fundraising strategies, creating a dynamic environment for investment opportunities. Additionally, the session touched on how family offices provide flexible capital for smaller investments while emphasizing the thorough scrutiny required for larger funds. An emphasis on candid conversations among VCs and limited partners highlighted a commitment to fostering a more collaborative and forward-thinking investment community. Read More Here: https://lnkd.in/gHjJbtr3 Fortune Allie Garfinkle Branded Hospitality Ventures Hospitality Headline Newsletter #VentureCapital #Investment #hospitality #community Clara Shih Paulo Rosado #BrainstormTech Christine Moseley Rick Rose

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Very intriguing insights on the resurgence of startup growth following a period of caution and scaling back by VCs over the past 2+ years. Is now the opportune moment to initiate scaling, recruitment, and drive for expansion? #StartUps #BusinessGrowth What are yout thoughts? is the reawakening happening? is it too early? Do you agree?

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✨ What founders and VCs should know about term sheets in 2024 🤝 Had a great chat with Sifted about HSBC Innovation Banking new report, in collaboration with Cooley LLP, which tracked how term sheets have changed in the past year. Glen Waters, Natasha Jones (Metris Energy) and I discussed: 🌎 International investors 💰 Secondaries (Big topic at the WVC:E Summit 2024!) 💃 Focus on DEI Link in the comments!

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Very much looking forward to talking to founders that are enabling enterprises to get their data ready for AI consumption. Sign up below!

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Interesting read from Kellogg Insight from last October. We live in a time of quick and constant #paradigm shifts, and although we’ve seen a lot of (relative) progress for marginalized groups such as #POC, the #LGBT+ community, and . However, even if these groups have gained a little more social #acceptance, there is still a lot of #progress to be made. Prejudice is still a factor in our everyday lives. So, as perception of marginalized voices have changed, how have social #stereotypes? In simple terms, #language has evolved but outdated biases. For example, the perception that women are “hysterical” can often be replaced with “emotional’ —  a different word, but still perpetuating as misogynstic stereotype about women being fragile. Words can change, but deep down the social hierarchies that have existed forever are still festering and can often let these toxic beliefs continue in subtle ways, and that’s why we should try our best to recognize these biases in the workplace and call them out. If it sounds like it may be inappropriate, it most likely is. Let’s continue to hold each other accountable for our actions in the workplace. Remember that criticism isn’t always an attack, and there are so many types of life experiences outside of our own.

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The latest isssue of HPC Today is published by the great tks | publisher, event organiser, media agency. Here's the surfactants insights column. "Will LAS be Replaced?" This is a really easily readable online magazine format. Check it out. Many peer reviewed articles in here also (not my opinion pieces, I hasten to add) #surfactants #alkybenzene

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Investors often get asked what we’re currently looking for as we evaluate early stage companies - how do we build conviction that a company can succeed? This is how I think about it ⤵ There are lots of different aspects that can and should be underwritten when evaluating an early stage company. These aspects range from team > traction > TAM > product > incumbent dynamics > product > competitive landscape > cap table > valuation and the list goes on. My current framework is to spend most of my time on one of two things: > Previous experience > Current traction When I think about previous experience, I’m particularly interested in how the founder handled challenges while building a previous business. I had a conversation recently with another founder-slash-investor, and we talked a lot about how being a successful founder is all about pain tolerance. Like how many proverbial punches in the mouth are you able to take before you give up, surrender, wave the white flag and move on? This founder-investor told me he will really only work with founders who have already gotten beat up. The founders who are battle-tested. This is important for a couple of key reasons. > First, it’s easier to believe battle-tested founders have the pain and stress tolerance required to be able to build a big business and endure all of the highs and the lows and the ups and downs that come with it. > Second, I'm very interested in working with second- and third- and fourth-time founders because they know where the landmines are. The good ones have made the mistakes, and they've learned lessons from them that make them even better the next time around. Now let’s look at traction: If you’re a first-time founder, the traction bar for me is considerably higher. If I can’t check the battle-tested box, then I am looking for a lot more traction than I might from a repeat founder in the early stages of building. Unpacking this a little further, these two buckets are my answer to the “what are you looking for” question above: > Battle-tested, repeat founders who have a big disruptive vision in a market that has dynamics that allow you to build a moat. Earlier on in their journey is fine in this scenario. > Founders who have positive unit economics and meaningful traction with a product, service or good in the market, ideally growing their number one KPI by 20% MoM. If you’re a founder building in the Built World and fit one of those buckets, let’s connect. For investors, I’m interested in how you think about this framework and what you spend the most time on during your diligence process. #builtworld #venturecapital #startupfounder

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The Vanta EMEA team brought the 🔥 to QBRs this week in Dublin! We have an incredible team on the ground here in Europe. I’ve also had many insightful conversations this month with folks who have built some of the greatest SaaS businesses on the continent. A few of their bits of advice and wisdom include: - Every business, country, and segment comes with its own nuances. Don’t copy someone else’s strategy. Leverage benchmarks but know your business will be unique. - Many SaaS companies entering Europe repeat the same mistakes time and time again. Leverage your local friends, investors and contacts to see around corners. - Compliance and regulation are taken very seriously in Europe. This should mean our opportunity here is tremendous. - Don’t settle. Go big, think broad, be ambitious. If you don’t, someone else will. Thank you EMEA team for your hospitality! Can’t wait to be back soon.

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Counting down to launch :) Eva, Sam and I are hosting a webinar tomorrow at 1300 UK time on cold investor outreach. We'll cover best practice, along with investor + founder perspectives. Now at ~800 registrations - sign up link below. #capitalraising #startups #fundraising #founders

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“VC funding is now a rare and expensive commodity, and founders are being encouraged to focus again on business fundamentals and capital efficiency. As a result, Venture Debt is now a topic of discussion in most Board meetings, and almost every Startup that’s raising institutional capital (seed to Series D) is thinking about Venture Debt as a meaningful addition to their capital stack.” These are timely and important conversations to be had by founders, management teams, and early investors. And it’s encouraging to see demand for debt continue to increase. But it’s not hard to see why. What’s happening in the industry now can be attributed to a few factors: ✔ We are experiencing a recalibration from the “easy money” era of high valuations. Many venture equity providers are now essentially hoarding capital and waiting for cap tables to self-correct to reasonable levels. ✔ Equity is expensive, especially for late-stage companies. Venture debt has become a more compelling alternative to equity dilution for companies that want to avoid a down round. ✔ Founders are realizing that venture debt is not rescue financing. Rather, companies with consistent revenue and a clear path to profitability are increasingly seeing debt as a means of propelling further growth. While no one can predict the future, we’re very optimistic about the role that debt can (and will) play for late-stage startups throughout the remainder of the year and beyond.

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Scoop: Podcaster and VC Harry Stebbings is raising a major new 20VC fund to target tech startups globally. Building on 2021’s $140 million fund, 20VC is believed to be bringing in around $400 million from LPs across investment vehicles targeting the early and late stage. Stebbings is hiring in new talent to help build out the fund’s investment portfolio. Previous 20VC investments include Remote, Hopin, Sorare and BeReal. You can read more in my latest for Business Insider: https://lnkd.in/eTDufTQF #vc #ai #fund #20VC #tech #startups

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As we dive into 2024, the Series A fundraising landscape is becoming increasingly daunting. Investment standards are soaring, and fewer startups are making the cut. Series A investors are finding many seed stage companies too premature. The median valuation jump from seed to Series A skyrocketed from $19.5 million in Q1 2022 to $28.7 million in Q1 2024. Investors now demand stronger revenue performance, targeting $2 million to $3 million in ARR, up from $1 million to $2 million. Alarmingly, only 12% of Q1 2022 seed startups secured Series A funding within two years, down from 31.8% in Q1 2020. #venture #earlystage #seedtoseriesa #seed #seriesa #inspireglobalventures https://lnkd.in/gW4bkcNy

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