Ada Ventures

Each October, AdaCon, our annual global conference, is held on Ada Lovelace Day, now in its sixth year. The AdaCon conference is designed to celebrate and promote the power of an inclusive investment lens. It aims to meaningfully bring together our portfolio founders, LPs, co-investors, and broader team.

What a fantastic time at BTF® by Colorintech. The Ada team was proud to sponsor the largest and most impactful gathering of Black tech talent, founders and investors in Europe. We were especially thrilled to see the delivery of the Futures Summit and the impact when an organisation intentionally builds pathways for knowledge sharing for young people looking to enter UK tech. Kudos to Ashleigh, Seven, Fife and the rest of the CIT team for pulling off this impressive jump to the Drumsheds venue in North London.  Along with founders from the portfolio, we were thrilled to participate in the event's programming and have some of our Scouts attend to source companies. Francesca (Check) Warner, Jasmin Thomas, Jonathan Bean, Amber Michelle H., Tolani Thomas-Allinson, Dr Elizabeth Shaw, Christian Tooley, Samantha Kidjo and Olufemi Talabi

Here's an inside scoop for founders on what happens in a VC firm after a pitch. This is how investors debate and decide whether to green-light or pass on a company. Preview pod attached and full post in the link. 👇🏾 Ps. How I made the podcast? I wrote the article then got AI to generate a podcast version of it. More details in my newsletter from last week in the link below. https://lnkd.in/eWexVBcx

Just over a year ago, we became the first VC in Europe to help pay for the childcare costs of our parent founders. Childcare is often cited as one of the most significant barriers to parents’ – especially women’s – success in entrepreneurship. This initiative, in partnership with Bubble – an Ada portfolio company and the UK's leading on-demand childcare platform – was designed to alleviate this burden and demonstrate our support for the ‘whole founder’. In the spirit of open-source learning and a commitment to encourage others to adopt a new approach, we wanted to share the details of how the first year has gone. Key updates include: 👶 30% of eligible Ada Ventures founders have already used this childcare support 🤝 A further 19% plan to access this support in the near future 📈 192.25 hours of Ada-sponsored childcare have been claimed so far We’re incredibly proud of these numbers, but even more so of the valuable testimonials we've received in recent months. Diarra Smith, Head of Portfolio and Brand at Ada, has written about the impact this support has had over on Medium – here’s a glimpse of what our founders had to say: 💬 “It’s made me more resilient. I know that if I can work around childcare and still attend meetings.” – Hannah Sutcliffe, Co-Founder & COO of MOONHUB. 💬 “My wife and I both work so one of us has to take care of the kids after work and during holiday time. The [founder/investor relationship] is like a business marriage. The investor needs to show that they care about other things going on in that founder's life.” – Mark Whitcroft, Founder of PlannerPal. 💬 “It has been heartening to see other venture firms pick up this lead set by Ada by offering childcare support to their portfolios. Once again, Ada has set in motion a welcome ripple effect to build for the future we want to see.” – Dr. Julia Fan Li, Co-Founder & CEO of Micrographia Bio. To mark the anniversary of the scheme our very own Francesca (Check) Warner has also written for Forbes about why VC-backed childcare support is needed now more than ever. Today’s update also coincides with the launch of WVC:E’s report on ‘The Untold Stories of Mothers in VC.’ The report features some sobering statistics on women’s anxieties around motherhood in the venture capital industry, and serves as an important reminder that there’s still much work to be done across the board. Read Check’s article here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eqipca9d Read Diarra’s piece here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e2DqhdTB In the comments below, check out WVC:E’s new report and their exclusive with Sifted  👇

1 Day To Go! The countdown is on for BTF® 2024 by Colorintech. We're proud to be an official partner. Join Francesca (Check) Warner and Dr. Jonathan Bean, co-founder and CEO of Materials Nexus alongside Laura McGinnis from Balderton Capital as they examine the trend of AI startups and question whether every new venture should incorporate AI. 👇 Head to the comment section to read our Framework for Investing in AI-first Companies. Then join Venture Partner for Community: Jasmin Thomas as she shares lessons from our Angel programmes and insight as an angel and Ada scout in her own right alongside Andy Ayim MBE and Richard_ C.. 🎟️ VIP tickets are sold out, but you can still grab your spot at (www.joinbtf.com)

Today is the day. 💎 This afternoon, we are celebrating the sixth annual AdaCon - a conference designed to celebrate and promote the power of inclusive investment and its role in delivering winning returns. At last year’s AdaCon, we debuted a new investment philosophy: Inclusive Alpha™. Today, we’ll be showcasing the impact of that approach, one year on. I will be joined on stage by Flexa’s Molly Johnson-Jones, Camilla Easter from Oxford Medical Products, Materials Nexus’ Jonathan Bean, Julia Fan Li from Micrographia Bio, and Yanwen Chen from PHINXT Robotics. These portfolio founders encapsulate Inclusive Alpha. Fast-growth, game-changing ideas that will re-shape markets. We believe that by embedding inclusion at every stage of our investment process, we can drive investment performance alongside positive impact. These portfolio leaders are testament to this philosophy. We are also absolutely honoured to be welcoming Anne Boden to the stage today. An entrepreneur who needs no introduction, Anne has long been an unapologetic champion for high-growth businesses that foster inclusion at their heart. This event is available to everyone via a livestream - tune in from 3.15pm via the link below. It will also be available to watch back. Any questions for us, Anne, or our founders? Share via the comments ⬇️ (Picture taken on Ada Lovelace Day last year before it all kicked off)!

Matt Penneycard sat down with the Maddyness team to share how we think about backing winners and our broader mission to back game-changing startups and catalyse the VC industry to make it more inclusive. Our focus is on climate equity, healthy ageing, and economic empowerment. We're proud to support startups like Materials Nexus, Oxford Medical Products and Tract, led by passionate founders who are building impactful companies. We think the future is about meeting society's challenges head-on, and we believe that inclusive solutions are crucial. That's why our investment strategy puts inclusive investing lens at the forefront. Read the article 👉 https://lnkd.in/eT63zeQZ

Excited to share this interview with my coach Genevieve Nathwani. Gen used to lead platform at a seed stage VC and now works independently as a coach to people who lead systemic change. Her clients work in tech, mental health, climate change, human rights… and they come to coaching looking to live and work with greater impact and wellbeing. When introduced years ago we realised we were both passionate about bringing positive change to the world of VC. Gen was a pioneer in offering mental health-focused VC platform services in Europe to venture-backed founders via partners such as Sanctus Coaching, Mentoring & Listening and The School of Life. She also helped to popularise the term “founder experience”, using service design principles to create more impactful support for founders. Below we discuss my journey into VC, why I joined Ada Ventures and why I believe the concept of “impact” in VC is not fit for purpose. We also delved into what motivates me within this system. Head to the comments to read the interview! 👇

If you're an impact-driven founder looking to connect with some of Europe’s leading investors—whether you’re after advice, connections, or funding—this is definitely something you’ll want to check out! 👇🏿 I'm delighted to be taking part at Unrest's Impact<>Investor Office Hours on 30th October 2024, with the support of Google Cloud and Carta. Applications are open and the link is in the comments below. Hope to see you there! 🚀

🚀 Investment Announcement🚀 We are proud to announce our involvement in a £3m growth acceleration round for Durham based Low Carbon Materials (LCM) led by CEO, Dr. Natasha Boulding. LCM is a climate-tech company focusing on developing low-carbon, next-generation material alternatives for the construction industry. With additional participation from Green Angel Ventures, Northstar Ventures UK, grant funding from Innovate UK and sponsorship and skill-based support from Deloitte. With climate change targets becoming increasingly stringent, carbon-intensive industries, such as construction, are facing heightened scrutiny. There is a pressing need for innovative low-carbon solutions in this sector. Low Carbon Materials develop next-generation construction material alternatives for the built environment, with no compromise for our planet. The previous finalists of The Earthshot Prize, LCM are on a mission to make net zero construction a reality, and this significant investment will accelerate their progress toward this goal. Click the link in the comments section to learn more about why Ada Ventures invested.