Two Small Fish’s Post

What are top investors excited about in NatureTech?🌱🔍 We’ve huddled up with 9 of them to find out... They revealed the tech they think startups should be working on next And the solutions they're looking to back. We spoke about a range of topics including: 🍄 Fungi discovery 🌊 Ocean Data 📈 Measurement, Reporting and Verification Thanks to: Lena Thiede, Heidi Lindvall, Xavier Lorphelin, George Darrah, Piotr Bukanski, Edward Thorne, Antony Yousefian, Iván Markman, LAURA ORTIZ MONTEMAYOR 👇 Link in the comments Which start-up are you most excited about for 2024?

Piotr Bukanski recently led our investment in ICEBERG DATA LAB, a platform providing financial institutions and companies with vital data on biodiversity loss and climate risks. As part of this, Piotr has been exploring the broader trends in innovations protecting and enhancing the natural world. In a recent piece for The NatureTech Memos, Piotr has shared some of his insights into the trends and technologies shaping this important growth sector. Check them out! #sustainability #naturetech #growth

It's fantastic to see increased interest and investment from various VC firms in the field of NatureTech. Thanks to Ollie Potter for featuring Antony Yousefian in this deep dive edition from The NatureTech Memos #venture #vc #nature #naturetech #sustainableinvestment #impactinvestment

It's Deep Tech Investor Day at GoWest 2025 🚀 Today at Karlatornet, leading investors and innovators have come together to explore the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of venture capital and deep tech innovation. 💡 Key Takeaways from the lunch-time Sessions: Speedinvest's Rick (Jingchun) H. outlined three distinct CVC models—strategic-driven, traditional VC (GP/LP), and hybrid approaches. While emphasising the benefits of market validation and industrial expertise, the panel noted the complexities of CVC decision-making processes. Sebastian von Ribbentrop (JOIN CAPITAL) highlighted the mission-driven nature of defence tech founders, observing, “In defence, we see extremely mission-driven founders. More so than civil founders.” Significant market opportunities lie ahead, with only 4% of prime contractors’ budgets going to R&D in Europe. Andreas Fischer (First Momentum Ventures) addressed the need for better benchmarking as deep tech becomes mainstream, while Susan Schofer (SOSV) emphasised the unique advantage of PhD founders: “Deep tech relies on deep innovation. Our best founders often come from PhD programs—they have a unique head start by deeply understanding the science.” The energy continues this afternoon with key sessions like "Climate Tech in a Trump World", promising more engaging discussions on global challenges and opportunities. A huge thank you to all the speakers, panellists, and attendees making this day impactful. Let’s continue driving meaningful collaborations and transformative ideas for the future! 🌟 #GoWest2025 #DeepTech #InvestorDay #Innovation #VentureCapital #Networking

In this segment from last month's Bioprocess Online Live! Event, "Designing Transferable Analytical Methods," our panelists answer an audience question about how to navigate fast-paced development thoughtfully, which is especially critical for startups operating on a lean budget. You can watch the entire event recording, as well as other segments like this, for FREE on Bioprocess Online thanks to the event sponsor, BD (link in the comments)!

The #CultTechSummit kicks off on Tuesday 5 November in Vienna, and I am very much looking forward to contributing to two panel discussions: 💬 The first, entitled "Redefining Academia", will focus on #HigherEducation: What should change in tomorrow's higher education? What would be the role of CultTech Association? What professions will be in demand and what opportunities will there be for cross-disciplinary specialists? 💬 On the second day of the Summit, we will discuss the main question of our research for the PACESETTERS Project: How can #arts and #culture, #heritage and #creativity not only adapt and contribute to the #ClimateTransition, but also drive it? How can culture lead the way and build a bridge from today's fossil fuel disaster business to a sustainable and regenerative economy? I am in big suspense about the contributions by Jose Luis de Vicente, Tugce Akbulut and Kenan Zekić. #ArtisticResearch #Collective Intelligences #SharedCreativity #DecentralisedArchitectures https://lnkd.in/dbemFy78

Pixxel secures an additional $24M in its Series B round, taking the total raise to an impressive $60M. This brings the US-India-based hyperspectral imaging company’s total funding to $95M to date. The round saw participation from new investors, including M&G plc and Glade Brook Capital Partners LLC, joining existing backers like Google and Lightspeed. Pixxel, founded by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, is building the world's highest-resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation, unlocking transformative insights for agriculture, climate action, resource management, and beyond. Stay ahead in the startup world! 🌟 Get a weekly digest of key happenings and insights delivered to your inbox every Monday morning. Don't miss out—subscribe now: https://lnkd.in/e4233YGN 🚀 #SpaceTech #ClimateAction #Funding

Here is what I found interesting this week. Daya Ventures, a Nordics based women's health focused venture builder, has recently announced it has closed its pre-seed investment round. What I found interesting is that Daya started off as an accelerator, but found it difficult to find cohorts to support that were based on robust clinical data and evidence. This led them to starting Daya Ventures, where they work with founders who have a good idea, but not necessarily the data to support it. Their goal is to build five start-ups per year in fields such as digital health, biotech, medtech and beyond. https://www.daya.se/

#InnovativeGreeks #Interview 🎤 Dr. Vassilis Nikolopoulos is the co-founder & CTO of the deeptech technology startup avokado. In the last 25 years, Vassilis has been working in applied research, technology transfer and innovation management procedures, focusing on big data problems applied to utilities and the digitalization of the energy sector. He co-founded the Deep tech startup Intelen, one of the most successful startups in the digital energy and utility analytics markets, with some big utilities as clients in Greece, Europe, and the USA. He has also worked for years in applied energy behavioral science, data analytics, algorithms, and the application of social networks to change human behaviors towards a more sustainable way of living. 👉 We met with Vassilis and talked about his new venture. Here's what he told us: https://ow.ly/sy4f50TyxmU

Harvard Grid's Paul Hayre engaged with David Cohen-Tanugi (Venture Builder, MIT Proto Ventures and co-founder, Embr Labs) and Rob Devlin (co-founder and CEO, Metalenz) in a fascinating conversation around tough tech venturing during last week's Lab-to-Launch Lounge event... David and Rob recounted their unique experiences dealing with various investor and early adopter demands. In the case of Embr, despite fervent interest from early adopters, David's team took the time to identify the best customer segment for long-term product-market-fit committing to a product vision, a design, and a go-to-market strategy.  Similarly, with Metalenz, Rob and his team faced large appetites yet varied demands from strategics and investors, prompting them to step back to critically evaluate the best initial application for their technology. David on why he embarked on his entrepreneurship journey - "I felt stuck by the politics of climate & clean energy, but no one could stop me from inventing a technological solution with impact." Rob also reflected on his role as Co-founder and CEO - "Even as a researcher, you are always selling your research. While there is more jargon involved at conferences, ultimately you are communicating your idea to colleagues so that they realize why it's important." Thank you David and Rob for the candid discussion, insights, and walk-in-your-shoes journey into the many early and high stakes decisions you made and how you navigated each. #HarvardGrid #Venturingatharvard #ToughTech