Pascal Unger

Last month, Uncork Capital celebrated its 20th anniversary with a jubilant gathering attended by 420 guests, marking two decades of success in the venture capital realm. Over the years, the firm, alongside industry peers like First Round Capital and Felicis, has witnessed remarkable growth, now managing billions of dollars in assets. This expansion reflects the flourishing landscape of venture capital, with the industry experiencing exponential growth in investment. Moreover, positive shifts in VC norms, such as the evolving attitudes towards board seats, underscore a commitment to providing tailored support to startups, enhancing their growth prospects. Amidst discussions surrounding sectors like AI, optimism prevails, emphasizing a steadfast dedication to investing in innovative ventures with lasting impact. Read More Here: https://lnkd.in/efN6-Spd Branded Hospitality Ventures Jeff Clavier Susan Liu Ashley Cravens Tripp Jones Sarah Du Andy McLoughlin Amy Saper #innovation #technology #management #venturecapital #startup

6

It is ironic that VC funds invest in the newest technologies but do not adopt cutting edge technologies at all. Well, thanks to people like Dr. Andre Retterath and the Data-Driven VC, this is changing. We at Mindset Ventures are proud to be in such a prestige group of funds which is taking this leap forward. https://lnkd.in/eq9GvNcE #DDVC #AI #venturecapital #technology

39

1 Comment

♾️ 🔴⚫ A new firm & a new fund! Apeiron Venture Capital. For the past 15 years, we have been deeply rooted in the foundations of the 🇬🇷 startup ecosystem. We were fortunate enough to partner with remarkable people along the way and build teams, ventures, and initiatives from start to exit. Today, we are pleased to embark on a new quest for the coming years and can't wait to start working with new and aspiring founders. Excited to be joined by Nik Antoniou & Constantinos Nikolaidis in this new chapter. Deeply grateful for our (returning & new) investors' trust and support. TL;DR on Apeiron's thesis ====== Ideal entry point: ±Seed (or your first institutional round) First checks between 300k-1 million EUR Geo focus: Primarily Greece 🇬🇷+ Europe 🇪🇺 (opportunistic globally) Fund focus: GenZ Economy + B2B Enterprise Tech Things we like to see: Founder-Market-Timing Alignment (Throughline) + Product Uniqueness & Defensibility + Founder’s Character Bring it! ;)

793

116 Comments

Our view on the current venture capital markets. Curious to hear other investors' thoughts but I feel like seed stage valuation, at least in the gaming and entertainment sectors, has finally come down to the pre-covid level. Since February or March this year, we started seeing that the founders are willing to raise a $1-2m seed round at a $10m-ish valuation, not like $4-5m at $20-25m in 2022 and 2023. What are you guys seeing?

27

2 Comments

Good Morning everyone ☀️⚡️ The team and I receive lots of inquiries regarding the #3RDACT program and I am happy to share few clarifications so that promising Startups can #Apply: 1️⃣ #3RDACT is the #PreAcceleration program powered by ➡️SB3S #SeedToScaleStudio 2️⃣ It is fully supported by ➡️TAMWILCOM with the #Partnership of INSKIP Entrepreneurs 3️⃣What we #offer 🎫 ✔️Access to a #Honoloan up to #750Kmad (to be reimbursed within 1 year) ✔️Access to a Sharp #Talentpool covering all the functions (#VentureStudio) ✔️Strong push and access to #firstSeedround for up to #4MMad (Witamax #funds) 4️⃣Who can Apply? #PreAcceleration startups with: ✅Strong #MVP ✅Clear #financingPlan #debtorEquity ✅#Topnotch leadership aiming to scale (#Fast!) 5️⃣ Where to Apply and when ? 📍 https://lnkd.in/eAWcT6KA 🔚 #May23rd ! #20startups will be #preselected ⤵️ #10Startups to #embark in this #Chapter🙌

24

2 Comments

If your currently missing out on the SVRN train 🚂 then you need to get on it now! SVRN is the future of venture and these are the founders & investors who will be generating Trillions in GDP, creating millions of jobs, educating the masses, and driving innovation for business, tech, art, and culture for the economy during the next several decades. Mark my words & don’t miss out on this opportunity to build relationships with those founders & investors!

2

Welcome ecoLocked to the Climentum Capital portfolio! We are proud to have led the €4M funding round together with Matterwave Ventures, and delighted to have existing investors Counteract, Startup Family Office, Sabancı Building Solutions, and VOYAGERS.io joining the round. The investment will support ecoLocked’s mission to revolutionize the construction industry with carbon-negative building materials. Concrete production accounts for 8% of global CO2 emissions, making innovations in this field crucial for achieving net-zero goals. ecoLocked is leading the change by converting carbon captured from biomass into functional, carbon-negative building materials. This funding will accelerate ecolocked's efforts to turn buildings into carbon sinks, scaling their innovative biochar-based solutions and enabling 1Gt carbon removal by 2040. Doerte Hirschberg Morten Halborg Stefan Maard

68

6 Comments

We invite investors, family offices, institutions, and VC's from all around the world to participate in our next round of deals, opportunities and investments discussions round to find the matchups. We bring the insights, activities and availabilities of verticals to work on mutual growth Join using below link https://lnkd.in/g5dzrfwU #investor #investors #vc #vcfunding #vcs #vcfund #investing #investment #investments #investmentproperty #investmentopportunity #investmentbanking #investmentmanagement #investmentstrategy #investorlife #investorrelations #investorpitch #investorlife #investmentstrategies #forbes #forbes30under30 #forbeswomen #forbescouncil #forbesmagazine #forbesinsights #forbesbrasil #forbestravelguide #forbesglobalproperties #angelinvestors #angelinvesting #angelinvestor #angelinvestment #hedgefunds #hedgefund #hedgefundmanagers #venturecapitalists #venturecapitalist #venturecapital #fdi #foreigndirectinvestment #GlobalStartup #Innovation #GlobalEconomic #startupecosystem #enterpreneurship #venturecapital #startups #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #tech #technology #innovation #stocks #investing #investors #WealthManagement #InvestmentManagement #TaxPlanning #WealthPlanning #FamilyGovernance #SuccessionPlanning #Banking #Finance #familyoffice #TaxPlanning #WealthPlanning #FamilyGovernance #SuccessionPlanning #Banking #knowledgesharing #research #learning #cmajobs #articlewriting #linkedinconnections #linkedinforcreators #accelerateyourcareer #wealthplanning #financialplanning #debt #wealthcreation #investment #investments #newpost #riskmanagement #smartinvestment #selfinvestment #goodinvestment #PersonalFinance #MoneyTips #SavingMoney #my2cents #share #likesforlike #learninganddevelopment #privateequity #strategy #newopportunities #angelinvestors #RockstudCapital #Rockstud #AlternativeAssetManagement #InvestmentOpportunities #AngelFund #PMS #HybridFund #WealthGrowth #IndianMarket #FinTech #FinancialInclusions #womeninbusiness #femaleleadership #womeninvestors #HealthcareInvestments #Healthcare #QualityCare #healthcareinnovation #Africa #Startups #generativeAI #cars #asiapacific #digitaladvertising #TechESummit #BengalChambers #PanelDiscussion #TechTrends #CollaborativeLearning #futureofmobility #sustainability #technology #security #startupgrowth #startupecosystem #startupecosyste #Startup #Accelerator #Founders #TeamBuilding #PeoplePractices #PeopleandCulture #PeopleandCultureAccelerator #HKSTP #PropellingSuccess #HongKong #letsconnect #linkedin #linkedinlearning #linkedinfamily #hr #hrcommunity #unity #letsgrowtogether #unitydeveloper #android #androiddeveloper #ravindranathtagore #ios #whatsapp #funmeme #remote

1

We invite investors, family offices, institutions, and VC's from all around the world to participate in our next round of deals, opportunities and investments discussions round to find the matchups. We bring the insights, activities and availabilities of verticals to work on mutual growth Join using below link https://lnkd.in/g5dzrfwU #investor #investors #vc #vcfunding #vcs #vcfund #investing #investment #investments #investmentproperty #investmentopportunity #investmentbanking #investmentmanagement #investmentstrategy #investorlife #investorrelations #investorpitch #investorlife #investmentstrategies #forbes #forbes30under30 #forbeswomen #forbescouncil #forbesmagazine #forbesinsights #forbesbrasil #forbestravelguide #forbesglobalproperties #angelinvestors #angelinvesting #angelinvestor #angelinvestment #hedgefunds #hedgefund #hedgefundmanagers #venturecapitalists #venturecapitalist #venturecapital #fdi #foreigndirectinvestment #GlobalStartup #Innovation #GlobalEconomic #startupecosystem #enterpreneurship #venturecapital #startups #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #tech #technology #innovation #stocks #investing #investors #WealthManagement #InvestmentManagement #TaxPlanning #WealthPlanning #FamilyGovernance #SuccessionPlanning #Banking #Finance #familyoffice #TaxPlanning #WealthPlanning #FamilyGovernance #SuccessionPlanning #Banking #knowledgesharing #research #learning #cmajobs #articlewriting #linkedinconnections #linkedinforcreators #accelerateyourcareer #wealthplanning #financialplanning #debt #wealthcreation #investment #investments #newpost #riskmanagement #smartinvestment #selfinvestment #goodinvestment #PersonalFinance #MoneyTips #SavingMoney #my2cents #share #likesforlike #learninganddevelopment #privateequity #strategy #newopportunities #angelinvestors #RockstudCapital #Rockstud #AlternativeAssetManagement #InvestmentOpportunities #AngelFund #PMS #HybridFund #WealthGrowth #IndianMarket #FinTech #FinancialInclusions #womeninbusiness #femaleleadership #womeninvestors #HealthcareInvestments #Healthcare #QualityCare #healthcareinnovation #Africa #Startups #generativeAI #cars #asiapacific #digitaladvertising #TechESummit #BengalChambers #PanelDiscussion #TechTrends #CollaborativeLearning #futureofmobility #sustainability #technology #security #startupgrowth #startupecosystem #startupecosyste #Startup #Accelerator #Founders #TeamBuilding #PeoplePractices #PeopleandCulture #PeopleandCultureAccelerator #HKSTP #PropellingSuccess #HongKong #letsconnect #linkedin #linkedinlearning #linkedinfamily #hr #hrcommunity #unity #letsgrowtogether #unitydeveloper #android #androiddeveloper #ravindranathtagore #ios #whatsapp #funmeme #remote

1

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with and learning from several software execs from our portfolio companies and industry experts during Thoma Bravo's AI Summit in Miami. It was great to share our insights into trends and practices we see in our portfolio and how we manage opportunities and risks. At TB, we have a long history of guiding enterprise software companies through digital transformation, and we’re already navigating the transition driven by generative AI. Our focus is on managing this new innovation by absorbing the technology to bring meaningful benefits to our portfolio companies and indirectly to their customers. And it’s evolving fast! We see our portfolio companies today using gen AI in generally three ways: first, to create new products and provide customers with incremental use cases. Second, to defend against cyber attacks that have become much more sophisticated by bad actors. And third, as an enabler of talent to make business operations run more efficient and productive. In our view, AI presents a significant growth opportunity, but we also believe that to really maximize that potential, companies should carefully evaluate the risks and be thoughtful about governance, trust, security and data privacy. AI is poised to accelerate innovation and it’s hard to predict the full, transformative potential of AI, but we are confident that some of the advantages of incumbent knowledge and data will be key to unlocking it’s value.

198

2 Comments

🚀 Excited to speak today at #SuperReturn Berlin - the "State of the Union: How can PE firms find new routes to value creation to thrive in the next wave?" panel!   I joined an esteemed panel: - James Zenni – ZCG - Hazeem Ben Gasem – Invest Corp - Michael Bruun – Goldman Sachs Moderated by Rachel Barton - Accenture   We've dived deep into: 1. How PE firms are re-imagining business strategies and operating models in a more mature and competitive landscape. 2. Whether private markets are still poised to outperform other asset classes. 3. How GPs will update their investment and value-creation playbooks.   ### My Main Thesis: 🔹 **Operators for Operators**: We excel in scaling tech teams from 10 to 100 to 1000 engineers and overcoming technological and operational challenges.   🔹 **Building Regional Hubs**: In a deglobalizing world, we help companies establish regional presences. Our UAE operations are becoming a bridge between large Middle Eastern companies and innovative startups from the Valley and Israel.   🔹 **Adopting Gen AI**: Startups are now categorized as Gen AI natives or non-natives. Those not adopting Gen AI swiftly will struggle to survive. The fastest adopters of Gen AI will gain a new competitive edge akin to the early adoption of personal computers and the internet.   🔹 **Talent Transformation**: The definition of talent is evolving. Gen AI will radically alter how we work and will demand new skills. Quick learners who adapt will benefit the most from Gen AI, which will revolutionize operations, business processes, and organizational behaviors.   🔹 **Data-Driven Future**: In the Gen AI era, all companies will become data companies. Service and product personalization will reach new heights.   🔹 **Future of Companies**: Technology will drive the next wave of value creation across all business verticals. By 2050, at least 50% of the Fortune 20 list will comprise companies that don't exist today.   Looking forward to discussing further these transformative trends and sharing insights on how to leverage Gen AI and technology to drive the next wave of value creation! 🌟   #R136 Ventures #PrivateEquity #Investment #ValueCreation #GenAI #TechTransformation #FutureOfBusiness #UAE #Innovation #Leadership

55

Space tech-focused investment firm Seraphim Space Space launched its second VC fund, SSV II, to back early-stage startups in the global space tech market. The fund aims to build a portfolio of 30 startups, investing in seed and Series A stages. The latest fund's target size is larger than its predecessor's, which closed at £70M ($90M) in 2017. The fund's investment themes include AI applications for space data, in-orbit computing, space-enabled communications, and microgravity for science. Eutelsat is one of the limited partners that contributed to the latest fund. Seraphim Space aims to stand out with its track record, having returned three times the original investment from its first fund. The first fund's returns were driven by five exits, including Siemens' acquisition of UltraSOC and four IPOs of Arqit, AST SpaceMobile, Nightingale, and Spire Global. The British firm listed its growth fund Seraphim Space Investment Trust (SSIT) on the London Stock Exchange in July 2021, getting about £250M (~$300M) in gross proceeds. The fund's market cap touched an all-time low of £130M ($162M) in July 2023. The market for space tech is expected to grow significantly, with the World Economic Forum and McKinsey estimating it could be worth $1.8R by 2035.

8

1 Comment

Great insights from Adam Agius on what to consider when raising debt for a search fund buyout. Most relevant to the UK market, but a worthwhile read for all searchers. There's more debt capital keen to support search acquisitions than ever before, but approaching it naively can be very costly...

21

What makes Merak Group so different? You see, I truly believe success begins with cultural fit. And I'm not alone in this thinking, as these statistics prove 👇 ✔️One survey found that private equity firms rated human capital as the top factor in predicting the success or failure of a private equity investment. ✔️ The survey respondents, including private equity investors and operating CEOs, both chose “senior leadership team alignment” and “talent management” as leading factors in value creation. ✔️When speaking about private equity failure, 75% of private equity respondents stated that it was because of a CEO being an ineffective fit for the company culture. After all, you can’t expect to generate results if the foundation isn’t strong and stable, so that’s why I emphasize finding a good cultural fit with our portfolio companies so much. What steps does your organization take to ensure cultural alignment? I'd love to know 👇 #PrivateEquity #CulturalFit #Finance #Investment

9

3 Comments

The VC with more unicorns than Accel, Insight & Sofbank only invests in developing economies. Impressive!  Endeavor‘s rules based VC, Endeavor Catalyst, is probably the best example of how tech and VC have gone global. Vamos, vamos, vamos Allen Taylor! 

30

Deal partners, not competitors Family offices and venture capital firms are not competitors but rather ideal partners. Family offices can benefit from the expertise, network, and passion that venture capitalists bring to the table. By collaborating closely, family offices can enhance their venture investment strategies and contribute to meaningful societal advancements.  Simple Concentric Withersworldwide #familyoffice #vc #venturecapital #ecosystem #impactinvestment #patientcapital #risk #uncertainty #entrepreneurs #founders #relationships #partnerships #ventureteam #societalimpact #innovation

50

Friends and Colleagues, I am thrilled to embark on a new and exciting chapter as the Founder & Managing Partner of Greenwave Ventures, leading our efforts as a Growth Accelerator. Our primary focus is on driving global expansion and supporting disruptive and transformative startups on their path to success. You can find more details on our website: www.greenwave-ventures.net This opportunity represents the culmination of a lifelong journey in the tech industry. With 20 years of experience in sales, pre-sales, business development, and leadership roles, I have now set my sights on dedicating the remainder of my career to giving back and empowering startup businesses with young talent. My goal is to help them thrive in this hyper-competitive market and reach their full potential on a global scale. As the Managing Partner, I will prioritize strengthening our network of global connections and investors. This ensures that we can provide effective support to our portfolio companies in their fundraising endeavors. By facilitating access to capital and investment opportunities, we bridge the gap between innovative ideas and the necessary financial resources. I am particularly excited about partnering with accelerators and venture capitals across the Asia Pacific region, with a focus on the emerging startup ecosystems in Southeast Asia and Korea. If you are connected to any of them or have recommendations, please do not hesitate to reach out. Join me on this new adventure as we revolutionize the startup ecosystem, empower disruptive innovators, and create a lasting impact on the world. Stay connected and up to date with our exciting ventures at Greenwave Ventures! #startups #growth #accelerator

192

107 Comments

A terrific conversation between our own Bill Cilluffo and Alexandra Piedrahita about the venture-backed fintech ecosystem in the UK, France and Germany, trends that we're seeing in B2B business models, and how QED thinks about building relationships with founders that are built to last. Listen to it on your afternoon commute or during your next workout and let me know what you think about Europe's fintech outlook. https://lnkd.in/dqiY37KR

62

Securing venture capital funding is essential for taking your startup to the next level. As a founder, you've put your all into your vision and built a talented team. However, potential investors are interested in more than just your idea—they're looking closely at the strength of your team. Here are some tips for attracting venture capital funding: - Emphasize a strong team: Highlight your team's skills, experience, and dynamics. Investors want to see a united group capable of realizing the vision and overcoming challenges. - Show evidence of progress: Provide proof of growth, whether through revenue, customer acquisition, or user engagement. This demonstrates potential for success. - Clearly present your business model: Ensure that your business model is well-defined, scalable, and has a clear path to profitability. A robust go-to-market strategy is vital. Read the full article below: https://lnkd.in/e-8n4PRd #VentureCapital #Investment #StartUps

8