[X] Jack Pott
[X] Soft Bank
[X] Soft Bank
Greenwash, Greenlight, Greentech: a ClimateTech Venture Capital Quest
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
- Location
- ireland
[X] Jack Pott
[X] Soft Bank
[X] Soft Bank
Brown River Capital Y1 Greenlight
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
[X] Soft Bank
This one was pretty unanimous, so I won't worry about it.
[X] Jack Pott
[X] Alexa Godlewski
This one wasn't, so I had a very funny idea with what to do with that.
JACK POTT
"I was a SoftBank veteran," you say. You feel your tailored suit on your skin, the way Cynthia tilts her head, and the feel of the table.
Your senses are heightened for obvious reasons, but you gulp and continue. You're a professional, competent venture capitalist, you can at least do this much.
"I have six years of industry experience and contacts, working with SoftBank analyst divisions around the world - "
Cynthia raises a hand to stop, and your words choke themselves in your throat.
"That's enough, Jack - and I can call you Jack, right?" she says, and you have to remind yourself to gulp down your words as you nod. "I think that between the partner we've found who shares a similar interest, we have enough industry knowledge and contacts. Besides, you two came from the same company, so I'd think that you might be able to work together on this project together."
Someone else who works for the same firm - has interest in environmental and technological causes - would be a good fit as a partner - has contacts
The thoughts flash through your mind, four dots gleaming in a shape.
In a blue-haired, McKinsey alumni shape.
"You want me to work with Alexa? Alexa Godlewski?" you put together.
Cynthia gives you a small smile of approval. "Exactly, Jack."
Your smile is quite a bit more strained, but you maintain it all the same.
ALEXA GODLEWSKI
You are Alexa Godlewski, and you resist the urge to start tapping your feet or pull out your phone. You'll give Cynthia a a minute and twenty seconds, and then you'll shift attention to drafting a tumblr response to a particularly mean-spirited response to your defense of lab-grown steak. While you're passing the time, you look closely at the table to see your own reflection, amber eyes framed by blue hair, and smirk gently in apprecation. You're starting to really like this look.
One minute ten seconds are up, and there's a noise at the door.
Cynthia comes in first, and second is a boring man in a plain black suit and black tie. He's so ordinary and stock photo you're kind of shocked Jack Pott hasn't modeled for stock photography.
And then the rest of your brain catches up and asks what the hell Generic Venture Capitalist Bro is doing looking for a greentech venture capital.
You shoot Cynthia a confused look. She gives a small smirk, and then steps aside.
JACK POTT
Cynthia languidly watches your discomfort for a moment, eyes focused in on you. You feel warm, cold, shivering and sweating all at once, cringe and confusion and desire crashing into each other all at once.
She really enjoyed watching you squirm, didn't she?
"It looks like you think the partnership is a bad idea, Jack. Why do you think that I think it's a good idea?"
You can hear the edge in her voice, the hard back against the normal soft curve, and that kicks you into professionally analyzing it.
"Alexa Godlewski demonstrably has the pedigree and connections," you begin. "But that isn't enough for - wait, Cynthia, do you know what Alexa's pronouns are now?"
"They/them," Cynthia nods.
"Right," you continue, "that isn't enough for them. They're also legitimately incredibly creative and smart - its like they've got a google search for everything they've ever read or heard. Combined with their existing connections, and they're a scary venture capitalist in any field - but it makes special sense for them to be working in the greentech field because they've been interested in the subject for a long time. If you asked me to profile the perfect climate tech investor, that portfolio would look very similar to Alexa Godlewski's."
JACK POTT
"Clearwater Venture Capital."
"Yeah, well, that's a problem we can deal with when we have a proper name. Besides, if we sell it right, it's not such a big deal. Aren't you good at that, Mr. Country Boy?"
"...I'm not going to answer that. Blue Fish Capital."
"..."
"..."
Here are the startups that your team has successfully done preliminary research for in this period:
For this first round, I will simplify matters by requiring you spend it in increments of 500K.
If enough people ask, Cynthia will help you get advice and trial plans, if you buy her dinner... at least ten times...and donate to her favorite charities and companies...wow that's adding up to 500K fast, huh?
(You will get plan formats if enough people agree to spend 500k on finding plan formats)
Spend some time writing up an investment plan, and then when a consensus formsand i finish backend work I'll close the vote and begin writing preliminary results - and based on those preliminary results I will allow you to research one of the companies in your portfolio to greater depth.
Have fun investing, everyone!~
(note: this quest is not financial advice and should not be construed as providing financial advice
)
This one was pretty unanimous, so I won't worry about it.
[X] Jack Pott
[X] Alexa Godlewski
This one wasn't, so I had a very funny idea with what to do with that.
JACK POTT
"I was a SoftBank veteran," you say. You feel your tailored suit on your skin, the way Cynthia tilts her head, and the feel of the table.
Your senses are heightened for obvious reasons, but you gulp and continue. You're a professional, competent venture capitalist, you can at least do this much.
"I have six years of industry experience and contacts, working with SoftBank analyst divisions around the world - "
Cynthia raises a hand to stop, and your words choke themselves in your throat.
"That's enough, Jack - and I can call you Jack, right?" she says, and you have to remind yourself to gulp down your words as you nod. "I think that between the partner we've found who shares a similar interest, we have enough industry knowledge and contacts. Besides, you two came from the same company, so I'd think that you might be able to work together on this project together."
Someone else who works for the same firm - has interest in environmental and technological causes - would be a good fit as a partner - has contacts
The thoughts flash through your mind, four dots gleaming in a shape.
In a blue-haired, McKinsey alumni shape.
"You want me to work with Alexa? Alexa Godlewski?" you put together.
Cynthia gives you a small smile of approval. "Exactly, Jack."
Your smile is quite a bit more strained, but you maintain it all the same.
ALEXA GODLEWSKI
You are Alexa Godlewski, and you resist the urge to start tapping your feet or pull out your phone. You'll give Cynthia a a minute and twenty seconds, and then you'll shift attention to drafting a tumblr response to a particularly mean-spirited response to your defense of lab-grown steak. While you're passing the time, you look closely at the table to see your own reflection, amber eyes framed by blue hair, and smirk gently in apprecation. You're starting to really like this look.
One minute ten seconds are up, and there's a noise at the door.
Cynthia comes in first, and second is a boring man in a plain black suit and black tie. He's so ordinary and stock photo you're kind of shocked Jack Pott hasn't modeled for stock photography.
And then the rest of your brain catches up and asks what the hell Generic Venture Capitalist Bro is doing looking for a greentech venture capital.
You shoot Cynthia a confused look. She gives a small smirk, and then steps aside.
JACK POTT
Cynthia languidly watches your discomfort for a moment, eyes focused in on you. You feel warm, cold, shivering and sweating all at once, cringe and confusion and desire crashing into each other all at once.
She really enjoyed watching you squirm, didn't she?
"It looks like you think the partnership is a bad idea, Jack. Why do you think that I think it's a good idea?"
You can hear the edge in her voice, the hard back against the normal soft curve, and that kicks you into professionally analyzing it.
"Alexa Godlewski demonstrably has the pedigree and connections," you begin. "But that isn't enough for - wait, Cynthia, do you know what Alexa's pronouns are now?"
"They/them," Cynthia nods.
"Right," you continue, "that isn't enough for them. They're also legitimately incredibly creative and smart - its like they've got a google search for everything they've ever read or heard. Combined with their existing connections, and they're a scary venture capitalist in any field - but it makes special sense for them to be working in the greentech field because they've been interested in the subject for a long time. If you asked me to profile the perfect climate tech investor, that portfolio would look very similar to Alexa Godlewski's."
ALEXA GODLEWSKI
You listen to everything Jack Pott has to say to your face, wondering when he starts deviating from his script in real time, and wondering what Cynthia's play in all of this was. A classic three-body problem, but you've always hated doing three dimensional vector math.
"Well?" Cynthia asks, hand on her hip. "If he's got all these nice things to say about you, don't you think you should give him a proper answer?"
Sigh.
You stackdump the cached thoughts about lab meat and start really looking at Jack Pott.
Generic Venture Capitalist Bro was your first impression of him all the way back when you were college classmates, and that hasn't changed for the whole time - but isn't that the weirder part? Where's the dips, the dives, the curveballs? This had to be the biggest swerve of his career - otherwise, it was all smooth sailing right up to being a mediocre venture capitalist in a mid level position in Soft Bank!
"Jack Pott's career is, despite the name, surprisingly average," you say, mind whirring in thought. Cynthia's eye twitches, and Jack Pott doesn't react. Interesting. File that away and continue. "I mean, he has never dropped an assignment, never failed more than expected, never succeeded more than expected. He has consistently and always met expectations in a clear and logical way - and that's the weird part," you say. "You shouldn't see performance like that unless his fundamentals were, like, harder than diamonds or something. I mean, just a guy who always does the basics and does them right - he'd honestly be a perfect fit for a Chief Operating Officer some - "
"Oh." The two of you say at once.
The two of you stare at each other. Amber eyes staring into black eyes and black hair, black eyes into amber eyes and blue hair.
Jack Pott offers his hand.
You stand up and take it, pumping it up and down a few times enthusiastically.
"Let's save the planet or cry trying," you flippantly joke.
You listen to everything Jack Pott has to say to your face, wondering when he starts deviating from his script in real time, and wondering what Cynthia's play in all of this was. A classic three-body problem, but you've always hated doing three dimensional vector math.
"Well?" Cynthia asks, hand on her hip. "If he's got all these nice things to say about you, don't you think you should give him a proper answer?"
Sigh.
You stackdump the cached thoughts about lab meat and start really looking at Jack Pott.
Generic Venture Capitalist Bro was your first impression of him all the way back when you were college classmates, and that hasn't changed for the whole time - but isn't that the weirder part? Where's the dips, the dives, the curveballs? This had to be the biggest swerve of his career - otherwise, it was all smooth sailing right up to being a mediocre venture capitalist in a mid level position in Soft Bank!
"Jack Pott's career is, despite the name, surprisingly average," you say, mind whirring in thought. Cynthia's eye twitches, and Jack Pott doesn't react. Interesting. File that away and continue. "I mean, he has never dropped an assignment, never failed more than expected, never succeeded more than expected. He has consistently and always met expectations in a clear and logical way - and that's the weird part," you say. "You shouldn't see performance like that unless his fundamentals were, like, harder than diamonds or something. I mean, just a guy who always does the basics and does them right - he'd honestly be a perfect fit for a Chief Operating Officer some - "
"Oh." The two of you say at once.
The two of you stare at each other. Amber eyes staring into black eyes and black hair, black eyes into amber eyes and blue hair.
Jack Pott offers his hand.
You stand up and take it, pumping it up and down a few times enthusiastically.
"Let's save the planet or cry trying," you flippantly joke.
JACK POTT
ALEXA GODLEWSKI
"Clearwater Venture Capital."
"Taken. Bluewater."
"Taken. Blue River."
"Taken."
Alexa snickered.
"Brown River Capital."
"Not taken - wait, are you serious?"Alexa snickered.
"Brown River Capital."
"Look, the marketing slogan writes itself! 'Brown River Venture Capital - Making the Paddle!'"
"We're still going to be associating ourselves with 'up shit creek'.""Yeah, well, that's a problem we can deal with when we have a proper name. Besides, if we sell it right, it's not such a big deal. Aren't you good at that, Mr. Country Boy?"
"Taken."
"...Blue Horizon."
"Taken."
"Blue Cosmos?" Jack asked pleadingly.
"I'm not sounding like an anime villain when we have a perfectly good name right there. Also, taken."
"No way. I'd rather do Yellow River cap - "
"Taken. Twice over."
"Fuck it. Long March Capital."
"Taken by us capitalist pigdogs, I'm afraid."
"..."
"..."
"..."
BROWN RIVER CAPITAL Y1 INVESTMENTS
CYNTHIA: Congratulations on your new venture capital startup! As a new firm, your hard work has gathered together an initial pool of $10M dollars, to invest as you see fit. I'd recommend investing in 500K increments, at least this first year, to get the hang of how you're going to do this. Invest wisely and carefully, scaling your investment to the ask size, market size, and general hype, and you'll see that pool expand! Do your best. I'll be rooting for you.Here are the startups that your team has successfully done preliminary research for in this period:
Pitches
- Emissions Management
- Energy
- Materials
- Grid Management
For this first round, I will simplify matters by requiring you spend it in increments of 500K.
If enough people ask, Cynthia will help you get advice and trial plans, if you buy her dinner... at least ten times...and donate to her favorite charities and companies...wow that's adding up to 500K fast, huh?
(You will get plan formats if enough people agree to spend 500k on finding plan formats)
Spend some time writing up an investment plan, and then when a consensus forms
Have fun investing, everyone!~
(note: this quest is not financial advice and should not be construed as providing financial advice
)
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Venture Capital Investments and You
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Oh, whoops, I should include a quick primer on some investing terms, and the basic idea of "How to be a Venture Capitalist 001".
Okay, so the basic idea of a Venture Capitalist is that they are someone who can take Person A's money, invest them into Company B when Company B needs money in exchange for stock* in Company B, and then eventually cash out of Company B to profit both Person A and the Venture Capitalist themselves.
They earn money at two steps - 2% of the annual portfolio value per year, and 20% of the stock price when a held company is cashed out - either in a buyout or IPO.
(*actually venture capitalists invest before companies are publicly tradable as stock but it's easier to explain it this way)
Venture Capitalists will typically invest in companies well before either being bought out or going public in an IPO. Since Venture Capitalists typically invest in companies which are not publicly traded, Venture Capitalists must do the valuation of companies themselves. This can be based on eventual market, startup products, evaluation of management team, and all these other factors - but since you are the players, I do want to let you do some of the rough valuation yourselves. And I do mean rough - as it turns out, a lot of Venture Capital is wild west shooting from the hip based on vibes.
(See FTX if you need more clarification.)
In specific, however, I want to talk about a few phases you can reasonably invest into a company.
Seed Stage means that you are investing in a company very early in the lifecycle. As in, "the technology and the product and the team may not be proven yet" early. As a result, a lot of these companies should have very low valuation (high risk) and ask for very little in funding (comparatively) - you can see asks and rounds of anywhere from $10,000 to $2 million dollars in this round, and most of the companies down here are valued below $5 million dollars - you'd be buying out a pretty big chunk with relatively little money in the Seed stage, in exchange for enormously high risk.
Series A Funding is the stage after seed stage, and typically starts when the company has a solid and clear plan on how it plans on becoming very profitable. Since it represents another echelon of commercial success and seriousness, both the valuation and asks increase in Series A companies. Series A companies will typically ask for 2-15 million (some exceptions above), and are typically valued 10+ million dollars. Of course, you should only use these as rough guides, rather than direct comparisons. Since more people will be investing in Series A companies, your money in Series A companies will buy you less equity, but will be more likely to produce return.
Series B Funding is typically the breakout stage, where a startup or company looks to scale, and scale fast. Series B companies will ask for more money because of their higher valuation, and will give you less equity for it. Typical Series B asks climb upwards to around 15-20 million, for 30-60 million dollar companies.
Series C Funding companies are looking to expand into new markets, product development, or to acquire more companies. It's Series B, but super charged and with less expectations of return - and also less risk. At this point, you have large amounts of money sloshing around from hedge funds, investment banks, private equity firms, the works. It wouldn't be surprising to see a funding round in the hundred millions here, and it also wouldn't be surprising to see 100M to 1B companies hanging out around here.
...
Helion Fusion and the Series E Fundraising Round
For you guys, specifically, Helion Fusion thus represents a little bit of an...early-game opportunity.
Helion Fusion is in its Series E round. This means it went through Seed, it went through A,B,C, extended over D, and is still trying to extend over E. At this point, it's out and out valued at $1.25B by other venture capitalists - provided it can get over the primary hurdle of actually having a working product. Historically, they raised 1.75B - tied to milestones.
That's where you guys have a chance to invest in Helion. At this current moment, their historic investments to date have been something like 77M dollars for them to work with. You might be able to get disproportionate leverage from your 10M if you invest it without preconditions.
Okay, I hope that was helpful! Please, feel free to quote me or ping me if you have further questions you'd like to ask.
Okay, so the basic idea of a Venture Capitalist is that they are someone who can take Person A's money, invest them into Company B when Company B needs money in exchange for stock* in Company B, and then eventually cash out of Company B to profit both Person A and the Venture Capitalist themselves.
They earn money at two steps - 2% of the annual portfolio value per year, and 20% of the stock price when a held company is cashed out - either in a buyout or IPO.
(*actually venture capitalists invest before companies are publicly tradable as stock but it's easier to explain it this way)
Venture Capitalists will typically invest in companies well before either being bought out or going public in an IPO. Since Venture Capitalists typically invest in companies which are not publicly traded, Venture Capitalists must do the valuation of companies themselves. This can be based on eventual market, startup products, evaluation of management team, and all these other factors - but since you are the players, I do want to let you do some of the rough valuation yourselves. And I do mean rough - as it turns out, a lot of Venture Capital is wild west shooting from the hip based on vibes.
(See FTX if you need more clarification.)
In specific, however, I want to talk about a few phases you can reasonably invest into a company.
Seed Stage means that you are investing in a company very early in the lifecycle. As in, "the technology and the product and the team may not be proven yet" early. As a result, a lot of these companies should have very low valuation (high risk) and ask for very little in funding (comparatively) - you can see asks and rounds of anywhere from $10,000 to $2 million dollars in this round, and most of the companies down here are valued below $5 million dollars - you'd be buying out a pretty big chunk with relatively little money in the Seed stage, in exchange for enormously high risk.
Series A Funding is the stage after seed stage, and typically starts when the company has a solid and clear plan on how it plans on becoming very profitable. Since it represents another echelon of commercial success and seriousness, both the valuation and asks increase in Series A companies. Series A companies will typically ask for 2-15 million (some exceptions above), and are typically valued 10+ million dollars. Of course, you should only use these as rough guides, rather than direct comparisons. Since more people will be investing in Series A companies, your money in Series A companies will buy you less equity, but will be more likely to produce return.
Series B Funding is typically the breakout stage, where a startup or company looks to scale, and scale fast. Series B companies will ask for more money because of their higher valuation, and will give you less equity for it. Typical Series B asks climb upwards to around 15-20 million, for 30-60 million dollar companies.
Series C Funding companies are looking to expand into new markets, product development, or to acquire more companies. It's Series B, but super charged and with less expectations of return - and also less risk. At this point, you have large amounts of money sloshing around from hedge funds, investment banks, private equity firms, the works. It wouldn't be surprising to see a funding round in the hundred millions here, and it also wouldn't be surprising to see 100M to 1B companies hanging out around here.
...
Helion Fusion and the Series E Fundraising Round
For you guys, specifically, Helion Fusion thus represents a little bit of an...early-game opportunity.
Helion Fusion is in its Series E round. This means it went through Seed, it went through A,B,C, extended over D, and is still trying to extend over E. At this point, it's out and out valued at $1.25B by other venture capitalists - provided it can get over the primary hurdle of actually having a working product. Historically, they raised 1.75B - tied to milestones.
That's where you guys have a chance to invest in Helion. At this current moment, their historic investments to date have been something like 77M dollars for them to work with. You might be able to get disproportionate leverage from your 10M if you invest it without preconditions.
Okay, I hope that was helpful! Please, feel free to quote me or ping me if you have further questions you'd like to ask.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Two main protags - Jack Pott and Alexa Godlewski, bouncing off of each other for commentary on the quest thread. It'll be a decent change of pace, and will help make the piles of startups to read through a bit more fun for me.
Well anything for the QM to be happy.
After a decent amount of cajoling, wheeling, dealing, and what should be rudely understood as begging, your firm has 10M dollars to invest.
For this first round, I will simplify matters by requiring you spend it in increments of 500K.
If enough people ask, Cynthia will help you get advice and trial plans, if you buy her dinner... at least ten times...and donate to her favorite charities and companies...wow that's adding up to 500K fast, huh?
(You will get plan formats if enough people agree to spend 500k on finding plan formats)
Spend some time writing up an investment plan, and then when a consensus formsand i finish backend workI'll close the vote and begin writing preliminary results - and based on those preliminary results I will allow you to research one of the companies in your portfolio to greater depth.
Have fun investing, everyone!~
(note: this quest is not financial advice and should not be construed as providing financial advice
Hey, by the way how do you want people to vote? Like
[] invest plan example
-[x] company x - 5 million
-[x] company y - 2.5 million
Etc?
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- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Yeah, something like that is good.
[] Investment plan Ex
-[] Climatiq - 1M
-[] Ubiquitous Energy - 1M
-[] Helion Fusion - 7M
-[] Heliorec - 500k
-[] Sheru - 500k
Disclaimer: I have absolutely no clue what i am talking about and also that my reasonings are pretty surface level, aka they seem logical to me but I'm not an expert so there's probably something that I'm missing.
Right so my logic,
Climatiq and Sylvera seem reliable to at least get something off the ground though I've put 1 mil into climatiq over sylvera because we can probably get more bang for our buck.
Ubiquitous energy seems like it's pretty good to go, management team has concerns but it seems that the tech is a decade old so therefore won't have much problems getting a product off the ground. Basically a safe bet if everything else flops.
Helion because it's in series E aka pretty much done, so turning a profit from investing in it should be pretty easy, basically another (hopefully) safe bet while also (if I'm understanding this right) a pretty decent stake in the company judging by the amount of previous investments.
Heliorec, it's a cheap investment and the concept seems pretty decent (to me) while it seems there might be some concerns the investment is cheap enough that it isn't that much of a risk.
Sheru seems to have a good concept and from my cursory research seems that the tech actually works, also investment is really cheap and even if it's mildly successful we'll still profit quite a bit just because we got a disproportionate stake.
-[] Climatiq - 1M
-[] Ubiquitous Energy - 1M
-[] Helion Fusion - 7M
-[] Heliorec - 500k
-[] Sheru - 500k
Disclaimer: I have absolutely no clue what i am talking about and also that my reasonings are pretty surface level, aka they seem logical to me but I'm not an expert so there's probably something that I'm missing.
Right so my logic,
Climatiq and Sylvera seem reliable to at least get something off the ground though I've put 1 mil into climatiq over sylvera because we can probably get more bang for our buck.
Ubiquitous energy seems like it's pretty good to go, management team has concerns but it seems that the tech is a decade old so therefore won't have much problems getting a product off the ground. Basically a safe bet if everything else flops.
Helion because it's in series E aka pretty much done, so turning a profit from investing in it should be pretty easy, basically another (hopefully) safe bet while also (if I'm understanding this right) a pretty decent stake in the company judging by the amount of previous investments.
Heliorec, it's a cheap investment and the concept seems pretty decent (to me) while it seems there might be some concerns the investment is cheap enough that it isn't that much of a risk.
Sheru seems to have a good concept and from my cursory research seems that the tech actually works, also investment is really cheap and even if it's mildly successful we'll still profit quite a bit just because we got a disproportionate stake.
Are you sure we should be investing all of money right off the bat? Shouldn't we at least save a couple million? I think you should shave off some money off of Helion Fusion.
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
You really should invest all the money off the bat. It's not your money you're investing, it's your capital partners', and they want to see you invest in climate tech. Do well and other investors will either join up and/or existing investors will contribute more; do nothing and they won't.
Seems like I was proven wrong. Investing all our money is the only path to success!
Travisplo
The Necromonsieur
Hmmmm...
Climatiq is about the only of the Emissions Management that I'd invest in, the others aren't. Carbon NFTs are the exact opposite of energy efficient, and Carbon Offsets are kind of scammy?
I'd recommend against Helion- simply because it's very low returns, and not nearly as definite as I think would be suggested. If they're STILL having to get investments of more funding, in series E? That doesn't inspire confidence. And neither does it being Fusion- perpetually 20 years out.
I'd probably also recommend against Ubiquitous- a very, very recent head of finance hire? Who was the old head of finance hire? How likely is it that the reason they hired a new head of finance, is that the old one was skimming off the funds, and makes it more like they're still in series A?
Floating Solar is also something I'd recommend against- lack of in-house solar tech and also, possible protests on rollout against Marine Endangerment by blocking sunlight from algaes and photosynthetic plants. Not likely to be a real issue in actuality, but it's possible that it could receive a disproportionate attack.
Infinited and Framework both have a similar sort of hesitation for me- a lack of direction. Infinited for their tech lead, and Framework for marketing. They're not the worst options on the list, but they're not my first picks.
Spaceforge would be something I had no issues in investing in- if they were climate-tech. Which they're not, simply because it's uneconomic to launch materials up into space, before manufacturing them up there. On the environmental impact level, if not the actually financial.
Sheru is my MVP for this round- it's a proven concept, a good team, and a great idea. And it's a supporting technology that's important to develop, to support other industries or technologies, like an aging electrical grid. Virtual Power Plants like this are my preferred choice- and it's in the seed stage, making this an even better opportunity to invest, even with the risk. I'd honestly say investing 2m in Sheru would be a great choice, in my books. A 2m investment also helps them look more legitimate, helping draw in more investors and support.
Climatiq is about the only of the Emissions Management that I'd invest in, the others aren't. Carbon NFTs are the exact opposite of energy efficient, and Carbon Offsets are kind of scammy?
I'd recommend against Helion- simply because it's very low returns, and not nearly as definite as I think would be suggested. If they're STILL having to get investments of more funding, in series E? That doesn't inspire confidence. And neither does it being Fusion- perpetually 20 years out.
I'd probably also recommend against Ubiquitous- a very, very recent head of finance hire? Who was the old head of finance hire? How likely is it that the reason they hired a new head of finance, is that the old one was skimming off the funds, and makes it more like they're still in series A?
Floating Solar is also something I'd recommend against- lack of in-house solar tech and also, possible protests on rollout against Marine Endangerment by blocking sunlight from algaes and photosynthetic plants. Not likely to be a real issue in actuality, but it's possible that it could receive a disproportionate attack.
Infinited and Framework both have a similar sort of hesitation for me- a lack of direction. Infinited for their tech lead, and Framework for marketing. They're not the worst options on the list, but they're not my first picks.
Spaceforge would be something I had no issues in investing in- if they were climate-tech. Which they're not, simply because it's uneconomic to launch materials up into space, before manufacturing them up there. On the environmental impact level, if not the actually financial.
Sheru is my MVP for this round- it's a proven concept, a good team, and a great idea. And it's a supporting technology that's important to develop, to support other industries or technologies, like an aging electrical grid. Virtual Power Plants like this are my preferred choice- and it's in the seed stage, making this an even better opportunity to invest, even with the risk. I'd honestly say investing 2m in Sheru would be a great choice, in my books. A 2m investment also helps them look more legitimate, helping draw in more investors and support.
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We should lean into sheru, especially if they have an eye for two wheel vehicles in the global market. It's by far the biggest vehicle segment and there is demonstrated success with electrifying scooters in Taiwan. South East Asia should be an area of focus. One concern I have with the real companies is with the founders. Are these the actual founders? If so shouldn't we be using fake names for people?
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
These are real companies with real founders using public information findable with a google search or LinkedIn. Yes, I use real founders, but I don't think we need to use fake names; god knows at least half of them are exposed to far worse on Twitter daily.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Speaking of which, here's Helion Energy on Wikipedia -
It's a SoftBank bet, all right. They're on their Series E, which means legitimately good things -- and they have research that shows technical feasibility -- but it's going to be a LONG time before this bet pays off.
Article: Retired Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory researcher Daniel Jassby mentioned Helion Energy in a letter included in the American Physical Society newsletter Physics & Society (April 2019) as being among fusion start-ups allegedly practicing "voodoo fusion" rather than legitimate science. He noted that the company is one of several that has continually claimed "power in 5 to 10 years, but almost all have apparently never produced a single D-D fusion reaction".
It's a SoftBank bet, all right. They're on their Series E, which means legitimately good things -- and they have research that shows technical feasibility -- but it's going to be a LONG time before this bet pays off.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
[X] SoftBank Style
-[X] Space Forge - $4.5M, and we name a climate advisor
-[X] Sheru - $2M
-[X] Framework - $1.5M
-[X] Ubiquitous - $500K
-[X] Climatiq - $500K
-[X] Helion - $500K
-[X] Infinited - $500K
First cut at a plan. This fully funds Sheru's seed round, gives us just over half the stake of Space Forge's actual raise, and puts a few small bets on companies that might have a future.
Space Forge won a $2M ESA contract in 2021; they're legitimate enough to impress actual aerospace money, which is a good sign. I want a climate advisor onboard, and I want them to focus on battery and semiconductor applications -- we're making a big bet into batteries with Sheru. Worst case, we use their learnings on metal hydrogen batteries.
Sheru's been discussed.
Framework, we're investing in the team as much as the product, making a bet that we will want a hardware focused team in our portfolio. Everything else is us taking small bets on companies with potential.
EDIT: fixed my math.
-[X] Space Forge - $4.5M, and we name a climate advisor
-[X] Sheru - $2M
-[X] Framework - $1.5M
-[X] Ubiquitous - $500K
-[X] Climatiq - $500K
-[X] Helion - $500K
-[X] Infinited - $500K
First cut at a plan. This fully funds Sheru's seed round, gives us just over half the stake of Space Forge's actual raise, and puts a few small bets on companies that might have a future.
Space Forge won a $2M ESA contract in 2021; they're legitimate enough to impress actual aerospace money, which is a good sign. I want a climate advisor onboard, and I want them to focus on battery and semiconductor applications -- we're making a big bet into batteries with Sheru. Worst case, we use their learnings on metal hydrogen batteries.
Sheru's been discussed.
Framework, we're investing in the team as much as the product, making a bet that we will want a hardware focused team in our portfolio. Everything else is us taking small bets on companies with potential.
EDIT: fixed my math.
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[X] SoftBank Style
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- UTC+0
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They
In Portugal they are super popular too.