SOSV Climate Tech Podcast

SOSV Climate Tech Podcast

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SOSV Climate Tech Podcast episodes

  • LtM [SPECIAL] - Deep Tech Startups vs Covid-19 with Khosla Ventures, Fifty Years and SOSV

    This is a a live panel ran by SOSV to introduce and discuss solutions funded by some of the most active investors in deep tech startups fighting Covid-19.

    • Each of the three funds (Fifty Years, Khosla Ventures, SOSV) published an impressive list of their relevant portfolio startups.
    • IndieBio even made a call to fund Covid-fighting startups as part of its newly launched NYC program.
    • Here are the full video and slides.
    • If you’d like to know about future events, follow us on Twitter at @SOSV or sign up to our newsletter.
      •  

      This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech with over $700m under management. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs, including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences).


      Episode Overview

      This recording has 3 parts:

      • Part 1: Some non-biotech solutions, from 3D printing to robotics,
      • Part 2, VCs present solutions from their portfolio (mostly biotech),
      • Part 3: Q&A.
        •  

        The speakers are:

        • Seth Bannon, Founding Partner at Fifty Years,
        • Alex Morgan, MD PhD, Partner at Khosla Ventures,
        • Jun Axup, PhD, Partner at IndieBio (SOSV).
          •  

          Introduction & Moderation:

          • Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV
          • Julie Wolf, PhD, Communications Director at IndieBio NYC (SOSV)
            •  


            Thanks to our speakers for their insights and to our audience for great questions! Speakers can be contacted at Twitter: Jun Axup (@junaxup, @indbio, @SOSV), Alex Morgan (@genomicsdoc or @khoslaventures) Seth Bannon (@sethbannon or @fiftyyears). Some of the remaining questions are on Twitter for further discussion.


            Resources

            • Video and slides of the event.
            • 50Y companies tackling the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 
            • Khosla Ventures’ entrepreneurs are responding with amazing diversity to COVID-19 solutions for society’s needs
            • Top SOSV Startups Combatting COVID-19
            • IndieBio Coronavirus Initiative


              • Previous Episodes

              • Eric Rosenblum (Tsingyuan Ventures) on the Chinese Tech Diaspora Opportunity 
              • Overview of Deep Tech Investment, Based on the Report by Different
              • Sota Nagano (Abies Ventures) on Japan’s Deep Tech Scene
              • Seth Bannon (Fifty Years) on Solving Global Problems
              • Kelly Chen (DCVC) on Investing in Old School Industries
              • Manish Singhal (pi Ventures) on India’s Deep Tech Scene
              • John Ho (Anzu Partners) on Breakthrough Industrial Tech
              • Matt Clifford (EF / Entrepreneur First) on Investing in Talent and Pre-Product


                • Subscribe

                • Podcast: Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc.
                • Twitter: @LabToMarket
                  • 46 min
                • LtM ep8 - The Chinese Tech Diaspora Opportunity, with Eric Rosenblum, Managing Partner at Tsingyuan Ventures

                  Eric Rosenblum is a Managing Partner at Tsingyuan Ventures, an early stage US fund with over $100m under management. They believe in the opportunity of cross-border and cross-discipline investments and focus primarily on US-based science startups founded by the Chinese tech diaspora.

                  • Prior to co-founding Tsingyuan Ventures, Eric graduated from Harvard, worked at BCG then got an MBA at MIT and worked as a management consultant and serial entrepreneur in China for 14 years.
                • Eric was one of the rare foreign co-founders of multiple tech startups during China’s early Internet wave, and his ventures led to 2 exits (M&As for ChinaNOW and SmartPay).
                • Coming back to the states, he then worked at Google and Palantir before co-founding Tsingyuan Ventures with former members of the TEEC Angel Fund.
                • TEEC started as a network of Tsinghua University alumni (Tsinghua Entrepreneur & Executive Club  (Tsinghua is like the MIT + Harvard of China) and wrote the first checks in 5 unicorns: Ginkgo Bioworks, Carta, Quanergy, Plus.ai, Zoom, and about 160 tech startups.
                • While it is a US fund, the Tsingyuan name reflects its focus and strategy by combining part of the Tsinghua (清) name and ‘source/origin’ (源).


                  • Some context

                  This episode is particularly timely following the recent ‘Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers from the People’s Republic of China’ by the White House.

                  According to the Department of Homeland Security, in the 2018–19 academic year, there were enrolled at U.S. universities:

                  • 272,470 undergraduate and graduate students from China.
                • 84,480 were in a graduate-level STEM program.

                  • These restrictions are focused on students coming from mainland universities associated with the army, but might impact the ‘intellectual balance of trade’ that had been so favorable to the US so far.


                  Episode Overview

                  In this episode, we discuss:

                  • The early days of China’s tech scene and the waves of Chinese PhDs in the US, to highlight the upcoming surge in opportunities, particularly with the many applications of AI at scale.
                • The intellectual balance of trade, and the value of this asset for the US.
                • The role of non-state actors like Google, Baidu or Alibaba as talent factories.
                • The 10-year lag between the moment a foreign student comes for a few years and starts a company, and why he believes we’re still just seeing the upswing of the wave.
                • China’s advances with regulation, local support and public acceptance of technology for the new wave of data-driven startups.
                • Analogies with basketball and pingpong to compare the impact and legacy of drafting outstanding talent into a system, and the risks of making the talent trade balance less favorable to America.
                • How cross-border talent will be key to create more truly global champions from the US.


                  • References Mentioned

                  • Eric mentions successful companies founded by the Chinese diaspora (including Guitar Hero, Nvidia, Zoom, etc.) More here.
                • In addition to cross-border, Eric makes the case for cross-disciplinary investments here.


                  • Last, here are Eric's all-time favorites, that also happen to be very timely:

                  • Taylor Branch’s series on MLK Jr. Starting with “Parting the Waters”.
                • Robert Caro’s series on Lyndon Johnson. Starting with “The Path to Power”.
                • (his most recent read): The Fire is Upon Us (about the epic debate between William F Buckley Jr and James Baldwin). Also in video.


                  • Previous Episodes

                  • Overview of Deep Tech Investment, Based on the Report by Different
                • Sota Nagano (Abies Ventures) on Japan’s Deep Tech Scene
                • Seth Bannon (Fifty Years) on Solving Global Problems
                • Kelly Chen (DCVC) on Investing in Old School Industries
                • Manish Singhal (pi Ventures) on India’s Deep Tech Scene
                • John Ho (Anzu Partners) on Breakthrough Industrial Tech
                • Matt Clifford (EF / Entrepreneur First) on Investing in Talent and Pre-Product


                  • Subscribe

                  • Podcast: Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc.
                • Twitter: @LabToMarket
                  • 37 min
                • LtM ep7 - The State of Investment in Deep Tech with Leslie Jump and Mack Kolarich from Different

                  Leslie Jump is the CEO and Mack Kolarich the CPO of Different, an organization that helps institutions and family offices discover, analyze, diligence, and select venture capital funds.

                  • They recently completed a remarkable DeepTech Investing Report based on more than 150 interviews with VCs, LPs and other stakeholders.
                • The report was funded by Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic vehicle created by former Google & Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy to “advance society through technology, inspire breakthroughs in scientific knowledge, and promote shared prosperity”.

                  • Prior to Different, Leslie and Mack had diverse experiences including founding and investing in tech companies, and running investment workshops around the world.

                  This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences).

                  Episode Overview

                  In a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, Elon Musk said:

                  "There’s an over allocation of talent in finance and law. We should have fewer people doing law and fewer people doing finance and more people making stuff. […] If you don’t make stuff, there’s no stuff."

                  This seems especially true in deep tech.

                  In this episode, we discuss:

                  • How scientific entrepreneurs are under-capitalized relative to the market and relative to their own potential.
                • What are the causes of this capital gap.
                • How media and others have trained VCs and LPs to look for, and expect unicorns, outliers and outsized multiples.
                • The optics problem of science vs. software startups with LPs and banks.
                • How most deep tech funds partners don’t have PhDs, but rely on networks on experts.
                • How — since when asked about a startup potential, 3 PhDs will give you 3 different answers — the job of investors is to figure out which one to  believe.
                • How talent is spread out geographically more than we might expect, and how deep tech startups do not only come from universities.
                • The challenge of training or complementing scientists with business skills, particularly in ecosystems without a critical mass of business talent.
                • How LPs suffer from network bias when picking VC funds, and why only a minority is able to vest new deep tech funds, thinking ‘I don’t know how to know if they know what they’re doing’.
                • Why, within the ‘alternative assets’ class, deep tech funds combine the highest risk, highest fees, longest terms, but also how delivering superior returns require new approaches, and how Covid-19 demonstrates that we need deep tech more than ever.
                • How deep tech startups differ from FMCG or SaaS companies, and why investors might have to custom-design KPIs for each company.
                • How looking outside of tech helps think differently about tech.


                  • References Mentioned

                  • Different and their DeepTech Investing Report
                • Abstract: The Art of Design (Netflix)
                • The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes (Netflix)
                • The Colors of History: How Colors Shaped the World (book)
                • Pepper: A History of the World’s Most Influential Spice (book)
                • The Mote in God’s Eye (sci-fi book)
                • Ubongo: a leading edutainment company based in Tanzania.


                  • Subscribe

                  • Podcast: Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc.
                • Twitter: @LabToMarket
                  • 1 hr
                • LtM ep6 - Sota Nagano, Partner at Abies Ventures, on Japan's Deep Tech Scene

                  Sota Nagano is a Partner at Abies Ventures, a $40m early stage deep tech fund based in Tokyo backed by Taizo Son, a billionare active tech investor, and younger brother of Masa, creator of the famous Vision Fund.

                  • Abies Ventures invests in Japan and abroad in industrial tech,
                • But also opportunistically in multiple sectors including advanced sensors, space tech and life sciences.


                  • Prior to Abies, Sota studied in the US and Italy, worked on Wall Street. He then co-founded an automotive engineering startup named GLM, which Financial Times called Japan’s Tesla, and which he took public for $1.5B in 2017.

                  This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech with over $700m under management.

                  • SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs, including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences).
                • SOSV is also investing in Japan, via our hardware accelerator program HAX. We opened an office in Tokyo in 2019 with the support of Sumitomo, one of our key Japanese LPs.


                  • Episode Overview

                  In this episode, we discuss:

                  •  Sota’s journey to deep tech investment,
                • The competitive advantages of Abies thanks to their broad industry network.
                • The most promising deep tech sectors in Japan and the opportunities for exits, notably with fast IPOs.
                • Finally, Sota shares his thought about the cost of failure in Japan, and the parallels he sees between Japan’s tech sector and the situation described in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.


                  • References Mentioned

                  • Mistletoe: Taizo Son’s global investment vehicle for the startup ecosystem.
                • Euglena (Japan): $600m public company using ‘euglena’ (single cell flagellate eukaryotes) for food supplements, beauty care, biofuel and more. The stock peaked around $2 bln in 2013.
                • Cyberdyne (Japan): the ominous-sounding $500m public company makes futuristic exoskeletons. The stock peaked over $3 bln in 2016.
                • JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency): Japan’s NASA.
                • Ultrasense Systems (USA): small ultrasound 3D sensors for next-generation UI.
                • Algal Bio (Japan): a biotech startup that uses thousands of strains of algae to produce functional nutrients, fatty acid, and carotenoids that have applications in food products, cosmetics, medicine, and fuel.
                • Pixie Dust (Japan): ultrasound array technology for control and interfaces, founded by Dr. Yoichi Ochiai (@ochyai on Twitter, with over 400k followers, on YouTube and video program on Newspicks, in Japanese). Raised $55.1 million.
                • Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
                • Layer Cake, starring pre-007 Daniel Craig as a cool-headed drug lord.


                  • Subscribe

                  • Podcast: Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc.
                • Twitter: LabToMarket
                  • 24 min
                • LtM ep5 - Seth Bannon, Founding Partner at Fifty Years on How Science Startups Build the Future

                  Seth Bannon is the Founding Partner of Fifty Years, a $50m early stage deep tech fund.

                  • Seth is a long-time advocate and campaigner, who turned to technology and investment to solve the world’s biggest problems around sustainability, food, and the digital divide.
                • A graduate of Y Combinator, Seth was named twice to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Entrepreneurship.
                • Seth believes business will be about more than just profit (more here), and Fifty Years has supported a range of startups shaping the world for the better — from microbe engineering for sustainable chemistry, to small satellites for low-cost global internet coverage, to clean meat.


                  • This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences). SOSV and Fifty Years have co-invested in several companies mentioned in this podcast such as Memphis Meats (clean meat pioneer, raised $181m), Geltor (synthetic human collagen) and Catalog DNA.


                  Episode Overview

                  In this episode, Seth talks about:

                  • What prompted him to create a fund focused on the world’s biggest problems, and how its name relates to Winston Churchill’s prophetic 1931 essay titled Fifty Years Hence.
                • How Silicon Valley needs to go back to its roots: focusing on technology to lift all sectors — including food, industry and healthcare — to the digital age.
                • Why biology is having its ‘Internet time’.
                • The challenges PhDs face when they become founders to translate their research.
                • How magnetic, resourceful, resilient doers are founders with high potential.
                • His approach to opportunistic investments in deep tech.
                • Using publication research for initial technical due diligence in new domains.
                • The benefits of portfolio network effects.
                • Finally, we discuss the affects of the Covid-19 pandemic on venture, and the silver lining of how such an intense global events might give rise to major scientific advances in a compressed timeframe.


                  • References Mentioned

                  • Fifty Years Hence, a 1931 essay by Winston Churchill
                • The Fifty Years portfolio companies tackling Covid-19
                • Memphis Meats: clean meat pioneer, raised $181m.
                • Geltor: synthetic human collagen.
                • Catalog DNA: DNA-based data storage.
                • Astranis: smaller & low-cost satellites for global internet coverage.
                • Star Trek: The Next Generation (7 Seasons on Netflix)
                • Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter


                  • Subscribe

                  • Podcast: Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc.
                • Twitter: LabToMarket
                  • 54 min
                • LtM ep4 - Kelly Chen, Partner at DCVC on Investing in Old School Industries and Fundamental Demographic and Labor Shifts

                  Kelly Chen is a Partner at DCVC — a US-based venture fund founded in 2011 that raised $725 million in November 2019 to invest mostly in deep tech.

                  Kelly is a China-born New Yorker now based in SF, who graduated from Columbia Engineering and Wharton with a focus on finance algorithms and manufacturing operations. She worked as a fixed income trader who started angel investing actively and eventually dived into venture capital. 

                  DCVC has invested in Agtech, Advanced manufacturing, biology and even space tech. Kelly focuses on the transformation of manufacturing, logistics and apply chain with automation and AI.

                  This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences).


                  Episode Overview

                  In this episode, Kelly talks about:

                  • The opportunities offered by major demographic and labor shifts, with examples examples in the textile industry (SmarTex,  also a SOSV/HAX investment) and senior care.
                • The appeal of 'old school' industries, where opportunities abound.
                • Vertical vs Horizontal companies. In deep tech, vertical expertise is often part of the 'defensibility stack' alongside AI / deep learning algorithms and data sets.
                • DCVC's unique network of 'equity partners', who support the firm with deal flow, expertise and business networks.
                • How DCVC mixes thesis-driven and opportunistic investments.
                • DCVC's approach for the due diligence of deep tech startups on both the technology and business sides.
                • Finally, we close with some remarks on the Covid-19 situation for DCVC's portfolio and investment activity, as well as recommendations on how to deal with confinement and ramp up knowledge in deep tech.


                  • References Mentioned

                  • Blue River Technology: ‘see and spray’ agtech robotics for weeding, acquired by John Deere for $305m
                • SmarTex: AI-based computer vision to detect faults in fabric and improve yield  (note: also a SOSV / HAX portfolio company)
                • SafelyYou: AI-based video detection for falls among elderly and dementia patients.
                • Curative: an oral test for Covid-19, just received FDA’s emergency use authorization.
                • Space tech investments: Rocket Lab (launchers for small sats), Planet (daily satellite imaging & insights using cubesats), Capella Space (Earth imagery using satellites equipped with radars).
                • DCVC’s portfolio response to Covid-19
                • Night on Earth: a Netflix series filming wildlife at night (note: the eponymous movie by Jim Jarmush is also a good pick!)


                  • Subscribe

                  • Podcast: Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc.
                • Twitter: LabToMarket
                  • 36 min
                • LtM ep3 - Manish Singhal, Managing Partner of Pi Ventures on India's Deep Tech Scene

                  Manish Singhal is the founding partner of pi Ventures, a $30 million early stage deep tech fund based in Bangalore. Before founding Pi Ventures in 2016 as one of the very first AI-focused funds, he has worked for over 2 decades in R&D, product and general management roles in global companies creating video technologies and consumer electronics, including Motorola and Sling Media.

                  This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences).

                  In this episode, Manish talks about:

                  • The growing local deep tech scene
                • How pi Ventures met over 1,100 companies over 3 years to make 11 investments
                • The attractive opportunities in the market
                • His approach to deep tech investment and 'bottom-up investing'
                • The problem with asking experts who are naturally skeptical
                • Why India is a great place to build healthcare startups
                • The left shift of the flatter S-curve in deep tech
                • The cultural shift in the acceptance of startups
                • The emergence of global players Made in India.


                  • Resources & Companies Mentioned:

                  • Manish's article on the Indian Deep Tech startup ecosystem (Medium)
                • Pandorum Technologies: artificial cornea
                • Niramai: non-invasive detection of breast cancer (coverage in Entrepreneur)
                • Agnikul: low-cost space launchers (coverage in Inc42)
                • Locus: supply chain decision-making engine
                • Wysa: AI Chat for mental health that makes you feel heard
                • Raybaby: advanced non-contact baby monitor that detects breathing
                • Cradlewise: smart crib that detects wake-up and soothes the baby to sleep
                • Unbox Robotics: robots for package sorting



                  • Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

                  35 min
                • LtM ep2 - John Ho, Partner at Anzu Partners on Investing In Industrial Technologies

                  John Ho is a Partner at Anzu Partners, a US-based $190 million venture capital and private equity fund focused on breakthrough industrial technologies. John is a Computer Science and Electrical Engineering PhD from MIT, and long-time Bostonian, who worked in industry and management consulting.

                  This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences).

                  In this episode, John talks about:

                  • The reasons for their focus on industrial tech,
                • Their approach to technical due diligence and market evaluation,
                • His views on the Boston deep tech ecosystem and their belief in the value of geographic diversity.


                  • He also dives into how Anzu supports its portfolio toward value creation milestones and capital efficiency to provide both runway and optionality.

                  Finally, he shares his thoughts on how the coronavirus epidemic is affecting deep tech, with examples from their portfolio such as .

                  To know more about Anzu Partners, check out their website, twitter and the coverage of the closing of their latest fund in January 2020 (Techcrunch).


                  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

                  32 min
                • LtM ep1 - Matt Clifford, Cofounder of Entrepreneur First on Investing in Deep Tech the Lean Startup Way

                  Matt Clifford is the co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneur First. EF helps create deep tech startups by attracting exceptional talent, and having them go through a unique program to create teams, identify real problems, and fund the most promising ones. SOSV has funded several EF graduates (and likely more to come).

                  This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences).

                  In this episode, you will learn about:

                  1. The Origins of Entrepreneur First

                  • The Role of Talent Networks
                • How EF Helps Talent Create Companies
                • Deep Tech is a Competitive Advantage
                • Creating A Silicon Valley Bubble


                  • 2. Why Invest In Deep Tech

                  • Why Deep Tech Impact Today’s World
                • How Entrepreneur First Can Invest Pre-Traction
                • The Key To Building Winning Teams


                  • 3. The Lean Startup Way To Create Teams And Invest

                  • Community-Driven Due Diligence
                • Investing In Early Stage Deep Tech
                • Building New Capital Playbooks
                • Ambitious Projects Have Better Chances


                  • 4. What’s Next for EF


                  Other Resources:

                  • Matt's newsletter 'Thoughts in Between'

                  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

                  42 min

                About SOSV Climate Tech Podcast

                From the publisher's feed

                This podcast features conversations featuring world-class innovators, investors and policy experts that took place at the annual SOSV Climate Tech Summit. The event is hosted by SOSV, a deep tech VC writing its first checks via its startup programs HAX (hard tech) and IndieBio (life sciences). SOSV has over 1,000 startups in portfolio and manages over $1.5 billion.