Project A

🚚 Yesterday Philipp Werner and Ciara Gumsheimer brought together a group of founders, investors, and experts in the global supply chains to discuss changes in the funding environment in #SupplyChainTech over the past few years. Many thanks to AlbionVC for co-hosting this breakfast with us! Some key takeaways from the discussion: From 2022 onwards, supply chain disruptions have continued, prompting ongoing tech adoption across various verticals, with applied AI emerging as a transformative force and critical answer to “why now?”. The investor landscape is witnessing accelerated adoption of supply chain tech, sparking heightened interest despite some hesitation due scar tissue from the 2020-2022 period. Many do not realise how pen and paper driven supply chains still are, which is why we are excited about the opportunity for innovation and transformation across all parts of the supply chain. Thanks to everyone who joined and contributed to the discussion! Valérie Aelbrecht, Adam Chirkowski, Cato Davies, Christy McCaig, Daniel Sharp, Dylan Maxwell, Duran Cesur, Eyal Goldberg, Gaurav Bajaj, James Coombes, James Kellett, Laure Kierszenbaum, Jonathan Jenssen, Nicole Mazza, Lorenzo Cerchi, Max Roz, Mark Batunskiy, Sarah Montgomery, Tom Hibbard. #GlobalSupplyChains #SupplyChainTech #Innovation #VentureCapital #Founders #FundingTrends

Fintech has been in the public eye as a poster child for the past years' highs and lows - yet there's no lack of enthusiasm for building and investing in the space. We brought together some of Europe's most intriguing minds across Fintech, Supply Chain, Climate and Resilience for an evening of meaningful exchange. I discussed personal learnings, insights and the fundamentals of Fintech that continue to excite founders and investors alike together with Zeynep Yavuz, Dr. Christian Nagel and my Project A partner Florian Heinemann. A few nuggets from the conversation: 1️⃣ Payments fees are going south, startups need to think of other ways of making money [still a lot to do in fx and cross border payments] - shifting towards a Fintech x Saas approach. 2️⃣ Financial Services lend themselves particularly well to AI - exciting opportunities in insurance, compliance, accounting. 3️⃣ UK and EU regulators are forward thinking... vs. regulation can be a big pain... 4️⃣ Use of AI in portfolio companies? Customer service, customer success, process automation and underwriting. Many kind thanks to our fantastic panelists and guests 🙏🏼 Anton Waitz, Mila Cramer, Uwe Horstmann, Jack Wang, Jannic Meyer, Philipp Werner, Ciara Gumsheimer, Daria Gneusheva, Marjorie Lengereau, Project A #panelrecap #fintech #insurance #innovation #venturecapital 

We've seen countless #supplychain disruptions – from the impacts of climate change to a pandemic, to wars and bottlenecked sea freight routes. These real-world disturbances pose the question: how effectively can technology actually mitigate these challenges? That was my first question to Katharina (Index), Michael (Forto), and Sebastian (Metycle) during our intimate gathering with 150 founders, investors, and industry experts in the context of PAKCon a few days ago. Admittedly, it's a bit provocative. In reality, we're in the thick of a perfect storm for companies aiming to make an impact on global supply chains: These disturbances are prompting companies to look out for solutions to make their supply chains more resilient. Meanwhile, rapid advancements in AI and sensor technology, coupled with an influx of top tech talent adopting an impact mindset, are linking up with entrepreneurial risk-takers from within the industry, armed with deep domain expertise. This combination is fuelling rapid innovation, further supported by regulatory tailwinds and a generational shift towards technology adoption. In short, that’s why we're excited to back companies aiming to redefine global supply chains! A huge thanks to everyone who joined us; we hope you had as fantastic an evening as we did.

As a VC with a business background focused on climate, I sometimes get the question "how do you evaluate deeptech climate opportunities?". And that's a very fair question, it takes work to understand the market and opportunity by talking to different market stakeholders, other investors, spending a lot of time with the founders, etc. We are used to investing in companies that either have commercial traction or validated willingness to pay with their target group. So how do we build confidence in opportunities for which commercialization is 5-10 years out such as Black Semiconductor or VÆRIDION? You could also argue that this isn't our mandate as a generalist VC. But it's not like we are taking these opportunities away from investors who understand them a lot better (who we instead partner with). There is simply not enough funding going into quantum leaps in Europe and private, public and strategic investors need to work together to change this and encourage more founders to stay in Europe. And so we believe it's important to take a leap also as an investor and consider the commercial perspective we can bring to the table. Two weeks ago at our Project A event, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jörg Goschin (Co-CEO of KfW Capital) and Daniel Schall (CEO of Black Semiconductor) on exactly that topic. KfW Capital manages different vehicles of the German Future Fund, Black Semiconductor has raised more than $200m in non-dilutive funding from the EU as an Important Project of Common European Interest for microelectronics innovation. Expect a few more posts on this, but for now I'll close with a quote from Daniel that really stuck with me "We knew it would take at least 10 years, so we considered funds earlier in their fund cycle. However, it makes sense to hurry up." Thanks again for the great chat, Jörg and Daniel! #deeptech #climate #europe #deeptechfunding #funding

Last week, we hosted an event with 150 founders, investors, industry experts, and policy makers across our four deep dives climate & energy, financial infrastructure, global supply chain & European resilience. These topics represent some of the most significant economic and political challenges of our time. We believe this is where the most ambitious and mission-driven opportunities are going to lie in the decade ahead. Our goal was to unite some of the most intriguing minds in these fields for a few hours of meaningful exchange to foster learning, inspiration, and connections. Thanks again to our amazing speakers Lieutenant General Jürgen-Joachim von Sandrart, Katharina Wilhelm, Zeynep Yavuz, Michael Wax, Dr. Christian Nagel, Jörg Goschin, Daniel Schall, and Sebastian Brenner. And special thanks also to our partner Bootstrap Europe, always a pleasure to work with you Stephanie Heller (Galantine) and Fatou Diagne. Excited for next year's edition! #venturecapital #event #resilience #climate #defense #fintech #supplychain

Join us tomorrow at the House of Music in Berlin for the nocodeklub Conference, which will focus on how organizations are scaling faster with no-code and AI! 📍 Where: House of Music, Berlin  🗓 When: 26th September  ⏰ Starts: 14:30 Don’t miss the fireside chat with our Managing Director & CCO, Thuy-Ngan Trinh. She’ll share insights on how Project A leverages AI to drive growth and efficiency across various operational functions. Highlights include: - Integrating AI for operational efficiency - Real-world tactics and strategies - Examples of successful AI initiatives Grab your ticket now – the link is in the comments! 👇 #AI #BusinessGrowth #Innovation #ProjectA #Berlin #nocodeklub

✨ 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗔𝗞𝗖𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲! ✨ We are thrilled and grateful for the incredible success of PAKCon24 - the biggest of all time! 🚀 More than 4,000 ticket applications 🎉 Over 2,000 guests 📍 6 locations all over Berlin 🏢 9 Hives 🎤 12 stages 𝘛𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦: A huge thank you to our amazing volunteers - over 60 of you made this event possible. Our heartfelt gratitude also goes out to our speakers for sharing all of that incredible knowledge and, of course, our dedicated Project A team for their hard work, support, and enthusiasm. Last, but definitely not least, we thank our amazing partners YPOG, Google, Make, Columbia Lake Partners, Onlineprinters, Mindspace, Beautiful.ai, Zebra Embassy , Startup Berlin, Salesforce, Bloomreach, Deutsche Börse, Startup Insider, FOMO Berlin, Manager Magazines, Die Deutsche Wirtschaft and Innovator des Jahres! Stay tuned - we'll share more highlights and memories in the coming days!

⏰ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗢𝗻 - 𝗣𝗔𝗞𝗖𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁!  ⏰ The day is finally here! We wish all participants the best experience at PAKCon24. Get ready for inspiring sessions, exciting networking opportunities, and deep insights across all our Hives! 📍Hive Locations: AI Hive - IHK Berlin Phoenix Hive - IHK Berlin Management Hive - IHK Berlin Defense Hive - YPOG People Hive - Merantrix Tech Hive - Google Berlin Sales Hive - Haus Ungarn Marketing Hive - Haus Ungarn Convention and After Party - Haus Ungarn Check all the details for your registered Hive by email. 🎟️ 𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗢𝗨𝗧! We can't wait to see you all and make this event unforgettable.

🚨 What Uwe Horstmann and Florian Heinemann have to say about PAKCon24 🚨 How did PAKCon start, and how has it evolved over the years? What makes PAKCon a unique conference? Our Project A Founders tell you all the tea and why you should attend this year's edition. ⏱ 𝗪𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 - 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗧𝗘

Rainer Berak Tells You Why You Should NOT Go to PAKCon2024! 😂 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘵: - No Pure Entertaining Celebrities: Sorry, Kim Kardashian won’t be talking about her dog's favorite treats. - Serious Nerd Zone: Only attend if you love deep dives into tech and innovation. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 𝗴𝗼: ⭐ Expect thrilling discussions and insights about the latest in AI, Marketing, tech trends, and business growth. ⭐ Network with over 2,000+ like-minded professionals and industry leaders all across Berlin. ⭐ Attend inspiring talks by top experts who aren’t afraid to get nerdy. 📅 Date: September 20th, 2024 📍 Location: Berlin 🔥 We hope to see you there!