Mercuri

A new generation of women tech investors is kicking down the doors of venture capital's boys' club. In 2024, VC heavyweights such as Andreessen Horowitz, Insight Partners, and IVP, elevated women investors to partner positions. On European soil, names like Cherry Ventures, AlbionVC, and Ascension championed this transformation across the continent. Despite facing a tougher path to promotion in recent years, a number of women rose to the role of partner or general partner for the first time in 2024. According to a 2023 report by PitchBook, women made up 19% of investment partners at US funds, up from 16% in 2020. Similarly, across the Atlantic, a report by European Women in VC revealed that women held 16% of general partner roles in Europe in 2023. Business Insider is recognizing the women in VC who became partners or general partners in 2024, both in Europe and the US. While this list celebrates those within established organizations, it offers a testament to many other women forging their paths with micro funds and angel investing, setting a vibrant precedent for the future. Read about all 33 women on BI: https://lnkd.in/egrbJZDp (Credit: Initialized Capital; IVP; Andreessen Horowitz) #vcs #venturecapital #tech #techinvestors

At Baltic Ventures we are counting the days until our annual #DemoDay event in #Liverpool on Thursday 16th January, marking the end of our #Accelerator2024 program Alongside pitches from the #Accelerator2024 cohort, live music (including Sum Vivas Ltd #DJDex), street food & amazing networking opportunities there will also be a panel featuring some of the funds and angels who invested into our 2023 cohort companies (who have gone on to raise £7m+ since last year's Demo Day) My fab colleague Mo will be expertly hosting the panel where we're excited to welcome: Jean de Fougerolles, founder and managing partner of Ascension (Investor in Heatio) Lisa Barclay, Executive Director of Investments at Nesta (Investor in Gaia Learning) Ella Hughes from Mercuri (Investor in Ittybit) and Carl Wong, exited founder, angel investor and co-founder of Baltic Ventures If you are a fund or syndicate, or an angel investor, and you are looking to deploy pre-seed or seed capital into regional startups do come along! Here's the link to sign up 👉 https://lnkd.in/d9SAaqnQ

🚀 Finally had the opportunity to join one my favourite shows - The Chief AI Officer Show - hosted by the stellar Benjamin Gibert We had an amazing conversation diving deep into the intersection of AI, media, and venture capital. Some takeaways from our discussion: ✨ The transformative impact of AI on mediatech and deeptech, across the entire value chain of content creation, distribution, and monetisation 🔥 Challenges & opportunities for AI startups: From remaining defensible to fundraising hurdles, we explored how startups can stand out and thrive 💡 The future of VC in the AI economy: The evolving role of venture capital in supporting sustainable AI innovation and partnering with visionary founders 🧠 What Mercuri looks for in AI startups: Our approach to working with great teams and identifying exciting value propositions for long-term success 🛡️ Responsible product design & the role of regulation: Aligning product development with ethical considerations, privacy, and emerging regulatory frameworks You can watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/dpxpsMcm Or listen here: https://lnkd.in/dv6WSvQi It’s an exciting time for the AI economy, and these conversations are more important than ever. Big thanks to Benjamin Gibert for the engaging discussion! 💬 What’s your take on these topics? Let’s keep the conversation going! 👇

I never thought I'd be asked to speak at the UK House of Lords, especially on such an important topic as the intersection of #AI and #copyright. We've been incredibly fortunate over the last few months of our journey building Human Native AI to speak with many folks on both sides of this debate. Creative rights holders feel angry that their work is being stolen, and AI developers feel frustrated because they need high quality data at scale to build better products. The UK is at a pivotal moment. We urgently need clarity on copyright exceptions, opt-out mechanisms, and stronger support for the licensing ecosystem. If we have a message it's this: we need to get a move on. Further delay doesn't benefit anyone. At Human Native AI, our work with people across the creative and tech communities has made one thing clear: long-term success depends on collaboration and common ground. Check out the video below for a clip of my evidence. It was my first time speaking at such an event, and my first ever professional day wearing a suit, so please forgive any stumbles!👇

Last night, I won technology entrepreneur of the year (North West). 🖥️ 🎉 But because I totally didn’t expect to, I wrote this yesterday in anticipation. Just reverse the negatives and we’re fine. —- I didn’t win an award at the National Entrepreneur of the Year awards. So here are my top 4x non-entrepreneur tips on what not to do. 🌓Don’t settle. You regret the things you don’t do, not the things you do do. 🔫Don’t dilute. Focus creates impact; the more you focus, the more impact you create. 👴Don’t wait. You don’t need to know everything; sometimes, being a naive expert is better than being an expert who has planned everything. 💤Don’t take it easy. Unpopular opinion, but the 4-day work weeks, the easy road, and the long weekends are not a thing when you’re responsible for other people’s livelihoods. Work hard to create your own luck. That’s it. For the record, I don’t consider myself an entrepreneur. I just consider myself someone who solves problems in ways that others might not see - and naivety goes hand in hand with that. Be a naive expert (a Duncan Wardle phrase), not a David Mannheim.