SE Ventures

Together with our friends at SE Ventures, we recently got together with students from Stanford University Graduate School of Business x Harvard Business School for a Climate Investing Mixer. Meeting such a big group of curious, committed students was super energizing. Insightful questions were asked. New connections were made. Here are some key takeaways from the event: 🌱 You don't need to be a technical expert to join a climate company. Climate tech companies are like other companies: they need all kinds of skill sets to be successful. 🤓 Exploring different opportunities and asking insightful questions are key to finding the role that best aligns with your passions and skills. This is a space that welcomes curiosity and diverse perspectives. 🤝 Meeting others who share your drive to tackle the climate crisis can lead to unexpected opportunities. Even if we approach the crisis from different angles, we all need to work together to make an impact. Shoutouts to Gigascale team members Evaline Tsai, PhD (Partner) Kevin S. Zhang (Investor), and Merrill Feather (Head of Marketing and Community). And to The SE Ventures team: Kara Alter (Head of Marketing and Community) Arek Zarowski (Principal), Brad Jones (Principal). Special thank you to Tom Walkinshaw (Former Gigascale Fellow and HBS student), Shievani (Shiv) Upadhyay, and Yalçın Aydın from GSB for your help organizing. #climatetech #venturecapital #stanfordgsb #hbs

Last week on stage at TechCrunch #Disrupt2024, speaking to an audience of Founders & Investors about the opportunity in #ClimateTech and how to effectively cross the “Valley of Death” between Series A and Series B.   It takes founders 2.5x longer to raise Series B than it did in 2021 (source: Sightline Climate (CTVC)) – and the challenge is even tougher for climate startups facing smaller budgets, slow sales cycles, and customer culture change. Another intimidating stat: 60% of Climate Tech companies have less than 12 months of cash runway (source: SVB)   So what can founders do? I unpacked 5 critical areas that make the difference and how to approach them: * Scaling pilots to paying customers >$1M ACV faster * Getting bigger portion of customer's budgets * Attracting & training the right talent at the right time * AI as an accelerant for commercial scaleup or margin enhancement * Finding the right value-add investors (think SE Ventures!)   What do you all think? What else would you add?

Sharing more photos from our Founder & Investor breakfast last week at TechCrunch #Disrupt2024! Thank you to everyone who started their morning with us and to our founder panelists Will Greene of Banyan Infrastructure, Ivan Poupyrev, Dr. of Archetype AI, Sonia Kastner of Pano AI and Michael Bergin of Higharc. #AI #ClimateTech #BuiltEnvironment #TechCrunch #VC #venturecapital

Are you a student in the #SFBayArea interested in #venturecapital #marketing and #community? Apply now to join our team as a Marketing Intern starting in Jan 2025! #hiring #internship #marketingjobs #climatejobs https://lnkd.in/exXCmAfa  

SE Ventures is #hiring! We are looking for a full-time Analyst to join our team in Menlo Park. If this is you, apply now! https://lnkd.in/eBCBvbMh  

SE Ventures at TechCrunch Disrupt! On Wednesday, we hosted the official Founder & Investor Breakfast at #Disrupt2024. We connected with 200+ new founders & investors and heard from 4 incredible founders innovating at the intersection of #AI #Climate and the #BuiltEnvironment: Will Greene of Banyan Infrastructure, Ivan Poupyrev, Dr. of Archetype AI, Sonia Kastner of Pano AI and Michael Bergin of Higharc. Here are a few of the big questions we explored on stage: ◾ What is the real opportunity in #ClimateTech? Is funding slowing down or is now the moment to break in? ◾ The journey from Series A to Series B takes 2.5x longer in 2024 than it did in 2021- what can founders do better to successfully cross this chasm? ◾ What aha moments fundamentally changed the game for our founders? And what nuggets of fundraising & go-to-market advice do they have for all the builders in the room? Keep your eye on our LinkedIn for insights on these topics from our speakers and more photos from the event. Thank you to everyone who joined us! 

Geeks on a Bus! Partnering with E14 Fund today to take 35 #MIT Masters & PhD students on a bus from campus to NYC for the #MITAI conference this weekend. We’re talking all things #appliedAI, hearing pitches, Q&A with GPs, and making new friends on the ride to NYC. We’re also co-hosting a happy hour TONIGHT 5-7pm in NYC for anyone who wants to come through! https://lu.ma/86forju8 Varun Jain Habib Haddad Calvin Chin Andrea Porras Aleksandr Rakitin

Always a great party, Powerhouse! Meeting new friends in #climatetech and reconnecting with old. Thank you, Emily Kirsch and the Powerhouse team for continuing to play a pivotal role in uniting this growing community in the SF Bay Area. So much energy and inspiration last night at New Dawn - can't wait to do it again next year. #NewDawn24 #SFclimatetech #climatetech #climatechstartup #venturecapital Amit Chaturvedy Arek Zarowski Brad Jones Kara Alter

Who is attending TechCrunch #Disrupt next week?? SE Ventures is hosting an exclusive Founder & Investor breakfast at the conference next Wednesday morning. We’ll start our day with new connections and conversations – and then hear from inspiring Climate Tech founders on what it takes to start and scale a business in this space. We’re already at capacity with 250+ RSVPs, but we know spots will open up last minute, so you can still apply to attend here (includes comped badge to Disrupt): https://lnkd.in/e9FM_sDU #ClimateTech #TechCrunchDisrupt #TCDisrupt #TechCrunch

Another successful and exciting year at The Business Booster with EIT InnoEnergy! SE Ventures kicked off the startup conference last Tuesday as the host of the invite-only Investor Summit, bringing VCs together from across Europe for discussions on new horizons in Climate Tech. As an InnoEnergy partner, we were honored to judge the annual pitch competition and meet dozens of European founders innovating for the energy transition throughout the week: PIONIERKRAFT Qurator.com - Sustainability Tech Ecosystem BeePlanet Factory Bamboo Energy &Charge Spottitt and congratulations on the startup competition winner, Rivus Batteries!    3 full days of connections and content, 1,700 attendees, 3,500+ B2B meetings... and here are a few key take-aways:   ✔️ We must accelerate the energy transition NOW: "Without action, we will have to either compromise our welfare, our environment or our freedom." -Mario Draghi ✔️ The path to net zero is achievable through electrification and digitization, but requires more investment (at least 3% of GDP), upskilling to fill competency gaps in the workforce, and implementing AI at scale ✔️ Collaboration & ecosystem coordination are key   #TBB2024 #InnoEnergy #Startups #energytransition