Scale Capital

Europæiske og særligt danske AI-startups skal kæmpe langt hårdere for kapitalen i forhold til deres amerikanske modparter.   Sådan skriver Lars Jensen, Founding Partner, Scale Capital, efter lige at være kommet hjem fra en tur i Silicon Valley, hvor USA fyrer på alle cylindre, når det gælder udvikling og investering inden for AI.   "Det virker til, at vi i Europa mest taler om AI, og laver ny lovgivning på området. Der er en spirende underskov af europæiske startups, der anvender de seneste teknologier og udvikler nye. Men der er mangel på investering, implementering og skalering af AI i europæiske virksomheder, som ville kunne trække europæiske startups op på et nyt niveau."   Lars Jensen peger på 21 bemærkelsesværdige transaktioner i 3. kvartal, hvor 2/3 amerikanske selskaber.   Når det gælder de senere runder, og der virkelig skal bruges kapital, så halter Europa gevaldigt efter, påpeger han.   Derfor kommer Scale Capital heller ikke til at vige fra strategien om at skalere nordiske virksomheder i USA.

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐅: 𝐀𝐈 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐬  Back in Denmark after 2 weeks in the Bay Area with Lars Jensen, meeting incredible founders, funds and key stakeholders. Self-driving Waymo's are now as common as Ubers, ambitions are as high as always, but underneath the AI optimism lies another funding reality. Here are my thoughts on the state of VC and tech in the Silicon Valley: 𝙰̲𝙸̲ ̲𝚒̲𝚜̲ ̲𝚍̲𝚛̲𝚒̲𝚟̲𝚒̲𝚗̲𝚐̲ ̲𝚛̲𝚎̲𝚗̲𝚎̲𝚠̲𝚎̲𝚍̲ ̲𝚘̲𝚙̲𝚝̲𝚒̲𝚖̲𝚒̲𝚜̲𝚖̲,̲ ̲𝚋̲𝚞̲𝚝̲ ̲𝚜̲𝚝̲𝚛̲𝚞̲𝚌̲𝚝̲𝚞̲𝚛̲𝚊̲𝚕̲ ̲𝚒̲𝚜̲𝚜̲𝚞̲𝚎̲ ̲𝚙̲𝚎̲𝚛̲𝚜̲𝚒̲𝚜̲𝚝̲:̲ ̲The whole bay area is buzzing with AI-hype, and Anguilla has never made more money selling .ai domains to new startups than today. There is a strong belief in tech circles that AGI or ‘true’ AI is right around the corner, to the point that one guy told me that people have stopped doing high-risks sports because “It would be such a shame to pass away right before AI solves everything”. Fund are rebranding themselves as AI-only, and are alongside the major tech companies breaking funding records (Former Chief Scientist of OpenAI, Ilya raising a $1B pre-product round may take the cake for the craziest round) The other side of the coin is that VC in investments across all other sectors have ground to a halt. Funds are behind their deployment schedule as early stage investment prices remain high, and many funds are stuck with hugely overpriced investments made in the hay-days of 2021. Tech IPO’s are at lower point than even at the peak of the Dot-com bubble or the 2008 financial crash, and the M&A market is severely hampered by interest rates and regulatory setbacks. So it is still a difficult market out there. To sum it up, as one VC partner we met mentioned: “This is seemingly the first time in my career where it is simultaneously a bad investment market because of AI-prices and a bad exit market!” Conor Brennan-Burke, Joachim Majholm, Char Kwon, Daniel Kornum, Raghuram Madabushi, Tobias Andreasen, Niels Kvaavik, Asger Tidemand Bruhn, Shomit Ghose, Christian (Chris) Bach, Thomas Eriksson

While startup funding has been on a downward slide quarter after quarter for the past 2 years, funding in the AI sector stands out, attracting a significant portion of investment surpassing industries like healthcare and biotech, hardware, and financial services. In the Q3 edition of our “Generative AI Landscape” series, Scale’s Managing Partner, Lars Jensen,  reviews the last quarter, highlighting key trends and major investments shaping the AI space. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dHZt4Ch9 This article covers: • Venture Capital Investment Trends in AI Space • Notable AI Venture Deals across Europe and US • Generative AI Market Mapping • Overview of the LLM developer stack Dive into the read, and join the conversation–share your thoughts as we navigate the rapidly changing world of Generative AI together. #GenAI #Perspectives #TechInvestor

Are you a female founder looking to connect with investors? Join us on November 7th, for the Female Founder Office Hours led by Playfair Capital in collaboration with Carta and Microsoft for Startups, where we’ll be participating alongside 200 VCs. With Judith Schrader on board for another edition, we look forward to bringing pitching feedback and mentorship to participating female founders from an investor's lens. The initiative has already helped 2,500 founders through 10,000 one-on-one meetings with investors, and this 12th edition is set to be the biggest yet. Ready to take the next step? Register here: https://lnkd.in/e9GH5gi2 Learn more about the event: https://lnkd.in/eBCVpUFU #FemaleFounders #OfficeHours #Diversity #VentureCapital #Technology

Curious about what’s been happening at Scale Capital? In our Newsletter 008 • Summer/Autumn 2024 edition, we’re lifting the curtain on the past three months. This boiled-down overview includes our team’s latest activities, exciting investments, portfolio companies' milestones, and a glimpse into the insights driving our strategies forward. Enjoy the read! #VentureCapital #Newsletter

Congratulations to Mario Geiß and the rest of the alphin GmbH team on winning the Project A & Startup Insider Profitability Award 🥇 Over the last 18 months, alphin has made a turnaround to become a profitable company. This has succeeded, and is now a milestone to be proud of! Scale Capital invested in alphin in 2022 to help realize its mission—to build the best marketing platform for local businesses. #PortfolioCompany #StartupAward

Lars Jensen, Scale’s Partner, and Terkel Douglas, Senior Associate, will be in San Francisco 🇺🇲 next week and have a few last spots in their calendars for in-person meetings. Whether you want to explore investment opportunities, potential collaborations, or exchange ideas, this is a great chance to connect in the Bay Area . Reach out to schedule a time. #SanFrancisco #SiliconValley #VentureCapital

Heading to Bits & Pretzels 🥨 this year? From September 29th to October 1st, Judith Schrader will be in Munich, ready to connect with the brightest minds in the B2B space. Whether you’re a tech founder, investor, or part of the ecosystem, Judith would love to chat. Reach out to arrange a meeting! #VentureCapital #BitsAndPretzels

Big AI tech has lost ground since the AI euphoria reached its peak, but what is happening in the early-stage growth layer below? Listen to this Millionærklubben episode where Lars Jensen, Partner at Scale Capital and Michael Friis Head of Equities at HC Andersen Capital, join host Bodil Johanne Gantzel to discuss: 🔹 The status of the Danish venture market—How big is the market and where’s the money going? 🔹 Investments in unlisted AI companies—The enthusiasm continues, attracting 40% of all venture funding. 🔹 Congestion in the unlisted market—Slow M&A and IPO activity creating challenges for institutional investors and venture/PE funds. 🔹 Top picks for companies to watch—The potential winners that could lead the next wave of tech innovation. ↗ Listen here (in Danish): https://lnkd.in/dYhpRfMi ↗ Watch here (in Danish): https://lnkd.in/dsP4RJGi ↗ And read our latest quarterly update on AI landscape here (in English):  https://lnkd.in/dzV5SXtM Euroinvestor #AI #Tech #Investor #VentureCapital #2024

They say the best ideas often start over breakfast—and yesterday’s Investor Breakfast was no exception. On Day 0 of TechBBQ, we had the pleasure of co-hosting the event with our friends from Maki.vc joining us from Helsinki. The interest in participating in the event exceeded our expectations, and we were thrilled to welcome an incredible mix of local investors and those from across Nordics, Germany, Austria, Netherlands and the UK. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to join us, and to Soho House & Co for sharing with us their beautiful venue. As Day 1 of TechBBQ kicks off, we're excited to keep the momentum going and look forward to connecting with brilliant founders and industry movers throughout the week! Lars Jensen Pirkka Palomäki #VentureCapital #TechBBQ #InvestorEvent