Fund fact sheet:
Size and horizon: €60m fund / 10 year horizon
Focus: Future of health, planet and society
Geography: Europe
Maturity/stage: Seed+
Ticket size: £1.25 – £2m first tickets + follow on into Series A
Potential lead: Yes
Term Sheet: Our TS is on our website for full transparency. Building a company is hard so we make the fundraising process easy: we offer founders capital on clean and unfussy terms in a quick and transparent process. From initial meeting to closing, our process takes 4 weeks and can be condensed to as little as 48 hrs.
Previous Investments: Synthace, Hoxton Farms, Biomage, Climax Foods, Magdrive, Mahana, Ellipsis, Phenomic, Kernal Bio, CytoSeek and Living Optics
About the fund:
How would you describe your investment thesis and guiding principles?
We are a US style firm for European founders building the next generation of leading deep tech companies. We over index on the quality of the founding team – looking for founders just on the right side of crazy – doing something with massive commercial potential and impact.
We invest when founders don’t need cash: as a founder, one of the most important early decisions you will make is which investor to take on. Often there isn’t much time to decide and during a fundraise everyone is in “sales mode”.
We want to build an honest relationship over time, which means we will only invest in between rounds. Specifically, we invest at Seed+, be that a week after Seed round or a week before your Series A. We want to play long term games with long term people.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the main partners in the team?
We are three general partners, with a mix of founding and early-stage investment experience.
My background is as a founder of two tech communications agencies (both exited) and two start-ups (one exit / one failure); turned angel investor and then VC. Significant experience and network in the Valley. Member of the Innovate UK Council.
Rodrigo is a former Partner at SOSV, a $1B US Deep Tech VC, 4x founder and Angel Investor.
Lomax was previously a lawyer at Slaughter and May, former Partner at Luminous Ventures, Angel Investor and co-founder of Allocate, the leading European GP/LP network.
What is your philosophy on working with founders?
We are a team of former entrepreneurs and experienced investors, and we stand for one thing only: enabling founders to achieve their maximum potential. To us, this means 24/7 availability, sound advice (where sought), contact book, patience, protecting their time and backing them to the hilt. We don’t seek to patronise with “value add” services and we certainly do not have delusions of grandeur about the importance of a VC in the company building process.
What do you look for in entrepreneurs?
We focus on people: innovators, outliers, creators, pioneers and trailblazers, none of whom faint of heart. We prioritise people over technology, science and markets.
We look for “A” teams and founders – entrepreneurs who know what they know (and are the best in the world at it) but also know what they don’t know and are open to building strong teams to fill in those knowledge gaps. We invest more in people than in a specific plan, because plans often change.
One piece of advice you would give deep tech founders? (mistakes to avoid, mistakes to do,…)
The biggest mistake we see is founders being too in love with their ideas with a ‘Build it and they will come’ mentality. Deep tech is often born out of research that hasn’t started with an insight into a market-fit or need. But it takes early customer feedback to hone in on product market fit and commercial potential. Also speaking to investors early and understanding the inflexion points to focus on is important.
Why do you think now is the right moment to launch this fund?
It’s tough to raise a fund and the competition is fierce but there’s never been a better time to back European founders in the deep tech space. We built a community of extraordinary LPs including successful founders, European top tier super angels, US Deep Tech GPs, family offices and forward looking institutions that have identified deep-tech and Europe as the place to make great returns in the next 10+ years.
Any bet on the next big thing in deep tech?
The best founders want to radically change the world for the better. Entrepreneurs often know better than we do what might be enormously valuable in the future. We follow them.
What trends are you seeing in the deep tech investment landscape?
Winners and losers are made early in the venture game as rounds get bigger and quicker. Deep-tech companies need to focus on inflection points that will move the needle quickly and build a story that drives positive momentum to attract the best talent, customers and investors.
Head to Outsized Ventures website for more info or to get in touch with Izzy (isabel [at] outsized.vc ), Max and Rod.
