VentureFriends

It was a privilege to have so many friends join us in Athens for the VF Summit this year. We had a series of enthralling panels, a rooftop dinner by the Acropolis and even a quick trip to an island with some of the international attendees 🛥️🇬🇷 We thought we would share some of the key takeaways from the discussions and we hope to see some of you join us next time! ⬇️ Panel 1: Venture Capital from Series A to Growth Raluca Ragab, Gil Canaani, Akis Bratsos, George Dimopoulos • Expectations are now higher, from Series A onwards it’s no longer enough to hit a revenue milestone. There needs to be belief that the startup can become huge and profitable, write-offs are painful. • At the growth stage, a larger importance is placed on the capability of the executive team and the processes they have put in place. Founders have to understand the key drivers for their business. • Building relationship is key, it’s rare to invest at this stage within a few months of meeting the founders. 12-24 months is typical. Panel 2: Best Practices & Learnings in Hiring, Growth & Culture Alex Chatzieleftheriou, Jad Antoun, Nikos Moraitakis, George Hadjigeorgiou, Apostolos Apostolakis • Founders should look for people who are willing to join for the mission of the company and the opportunity to grow with it, rather than just for the salary and perks. • As a company scales there is the inevitable need to delegate but that doesn’t mean letting go of the details. • Growth from market tailwinds can be misleading, need to assess performance excluding market conditions. Panel 3: Fintech & Embedded Finance Peter O'Higgins, Egor Kirin, Caetano Lacerda. Alistair Owen • Building a performance culture that has a strong grounding in risk and compliance is essential when experiencing hypergrowth. • There’s no right answer to building a finance team; hiring a strong CFO can be a real asset when scaling the business. • Raising debt is essential to scale a lending operation, but founders need to switch their thinking from pure upside to also understanding the downside risk to speak the language of debt investors. Panel 4: Lessons from Fundraising, Scaling & Exiting John Tsioris, Marios Stavropoulos, Thanos Papangelis, Apostolos Apostolakis • Exiting a business isn’t straightforward, the founding team may need to stay for a few years and lose their autonomy to the acquirer. • Efficient growth is key to success, all the panelists reached profitability/low burn after a few years which gave them power when fundraising and exiting. • Being a founder is stressful and they often doubted themselves, but this motivated them to improve themselves!

Congrats to Victor and the team Plum who have raised a £13.4M Series B to continue scaling their savings and investment offering across Europe! Plum has seen strong growth over the past year as savers become more discerning in where to invest their hard-earned savings. Plum will use this funding to reach profitability and consolidate their position as a leader in Europe. Eurobank, iGrow Venture Partners, Ventura Capital & VF participated in the funding round alongside £2.7M sourced from the crowd.

Last week, our Michal Bas had a great pleasure to participate in Plug and Play Tech Center's first EXPO event in Vilnius. He exchanged on stage ideas with fellow international investors on future of the Baltics ecosystem and the challanges the region faces today. Kudos to all startups selected in the first batch, and huge thanks to Leonardo and Raimondo for a great event and a stimulating discussion!

We’re excited to be backing Cube AI in their mission to automate supply chain ops using AI employees 🚚 Louis, Sacha & Victor are a formidable team, who have shipped a product that’s automating 70% of back office tasks in only 6 months. VF led this round alongside a strong fleet of investors & angels: K5 Global, Kima Ventures, STEM AI SAS, Entrepreneur First, Transpose Platform, Olivier Pomel, Florian Douetteau, among others. They’re hiring engineers to aid them in the early stages of Cube’s journey, link to apply in the comments ⬇️

Huspy raised a new investment round led by Balderton Capital. Congrats to this amazing team for the stellar growth! We are excited to be a part of their journey to become the leaders in the real estate industry in Europe and the Middle East! Vamos! 🚀🤘

Congratulations to Antonis and the team at Harbor Lab on their $16M Series A led by Atomico ⛴️⚓️🇬🇷 The costs associated with port calls made by commercial ships are full of complexity, often resulting in overpaying by up to 20%! Harbor Lab's software is used by major shipping companies to track and minimise these errors and overpayments, which is vital to keeping the cost of trade low. VF are happy to be supporting the team once again and to be joined by Notion Capital, Speedinvest, Endeavor Catalyst, theDOCK and TMV

Harbor Lab partners up with Oldendorff Carriers GmbH & Co. KG, one of the largest dry bulk shipping companies globally. Getting the confidence of industry leaders early on is not easy, but hard work and determination always pays off! This is only the beginning and we are privileged to continue to support Antonis and the Harbor Lab team in their journey 🔥

Blueground have raised a $45M funding round to consolidate their position as the leading platform for medium-term furnished apartment rentals 🏙️ It's been a privilege to partner with Alex & the team since 2016, as they grew their network to 15,000 apartments in 17 countries and $560M annual revenue. We're excited to see what the future holds for this amazing team!

Embat recently raised a $16M Series A round led by Creandum and joined by us, Samaipata and 4Founders Capital . In our latest post, George from our team delves deep into the reasons behind our investment in Embat. It’s been a privilege to work with Carlos, Antonio, Tomás, and the rest of the team since the beginning. We’re excited to see what the future holds! 🚀🚀🚀 🚀👇

🚀 Exciting Insights from MWC / 4YFN Panel Discussion on Rewrite Investment Strategies in the New Economy! 🌐🔍 Lily J. shared the stage with industry thought leaders at the panel discussion during Mobile World Capital Barcelona / 4YFN , engaging in a dynamic conversation about rewriting investment strategies in the new economic landscape. 🌍✨ Key takeaways from the panel discussion: 1️⃣ 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Younger VC firms are redefining the game by focusing on distinctive branding and value creation strategies, understanding the needs of new generations of founders. 2️⃣ 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀: Rapidly evolving global trends demand a broad investment thesis, emphasizing the importance of understanding diverse markets for success. 3️⃣ 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀: Investors in Southern Europe should prioritize ownership stakes and carefully consider potential exit scenarios unique to the region. 4️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀: Corporates are increasingly becoming pivotal acquisition partners, offering alternatives to IPO exits, particularly in the face of market uncertainties. 5️⃣ 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁: Investors must shift their focus from mere capital provision to actively supporting portfolio company growth, sales, hiring, and development. VentureFriends was warmly welcomed by the Iberian startup ecosystem, connecting with phenomenal founders, angels, and investors at various side events hosted by: Earlybird Venture Capital Insight Partners LANAI Partners Antai Ventures JME Ventures Inveready Norrsken Hedosophia Kibo Ventures Speedinvest Atomico Microsoft Kfund Endeavor CaixaBank DayOne Seaya Samaipata Amazon Web Services (AWS) Adara Ventures TheVentureCity European Women in VC Wayra and more! 🎉 A big congratulations to the entire MWC / 4YFN team for an outstanding event! Noaa Barak 🙌 Let's continue shaping the future of investment together! 💼🚀 #MWC #4YFN #Startups #MWC2024 #4YFN24