Welcome back, and welcome to our new portfolio companies☀️

It's 'back to school' season, and we hope it's been a relaxing summer for many of you. We've been keeping busy here at Balderton, and wanted to introduce our two newest portfolio companies:

Anytype is a peer-to-peer, open source network that gives users the freedoms of the web without sacrificing their privacy. We were proud to lead a $13.4M round following the launch of the company's open beta. Read more. 

deepset helps organisations tap into the potential of today’s most advanced and promising technology, large language models (LLMs). We led the company's $30M round. Read more.

We asked our team what investment opportunities they're most excited about for the rest of the year...

"Historical analysis shows very clearly that the catalytic power of enterprise software to improve efficiency and productivity for businesses, small and large, has been a consistently important value-creation trend in the technology industry. While software has eaten plenty of the world, there's still a lot left - especially in 'harder to reach' verticals like construction and 'harder to scale' markets like SMBs. At Balderton we've backed over 65 enterprise software companies over the past 20 years and we look forward to doing more of that in the coming months." - Suranga Chandratillake

"I'm as excited as ever about opportunities for innovation in fintech. On the B2B side, I'd love to see more solutions geared at removing some of the friction from transactions and finance team operations more widely. From a broader consumer perspective, there remains an investment 'advice gap' that needs to be filled - bridging the gap between generic robo-advisors and intimidating trading apps. Maybe the solution lies in AI..." - Rob Moffat

"We believe there have been important advancements at both the foundational and application layers in AI. Despite this, it has been challenging for large enterprises to find solutions that meet their needs with respect to scalability, security, and resiliency. We are in search of AI companies that solve the business problems of the biggest companies that power each sector of our economy." - Rana Yared

"The IEA announced in May that for the first time in 2023, global investment in solar power ($382B) will exceed investment into oil ($371B). Ten years ago, global oil investment was five times that of solar. Overall this year, renewable energy investment will reach $1.7T. That upstream investment creates huge opportunities across energy storage, energy distribution, but also in creating a new market for software that allows large, medium and small power producers to manage their assets as efficiently as possible. We're excited about this much-needed transition, as we continue to seek out opportunities for technology to transform the health of both people and planet more widely." - Daniel Waterhouse

"I'm keenly exploring more decentralized alternatives to services like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The last few years have seen election interference, the consolidation of one of these services under one private individual, and a Surgeon General warning about the impact of social media on youth mental health. It's time for a different business model and tech stack to power social media and we at Balderton are excited about finding it." - colin daymond hanna

"Right now we are under prepared for how AI is being used for fraud, but as Google's announcement on AI watermarks last week shows - we are not defenceless. I'm looking forward to uncovering new opportunities at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, as wider developments in generative AI continue to impact every aspect of business and society." - James Wise

🗓️Upcoming Balderton events

📆 Achieving peak performance through executive coaching - Friday 22nd September | 1.30pm BST

Join us for an online session led by Balderton's Executive Coach, Alexandra Durnford , to discuss how to leverage executive coaching to achieve peak performance.

Register here if you'd like to attend. 📆

Beginning to solve the financial wellbeing crisis - Wednesday 27th September | 6.30pm BST

Join us at Balderton's London HQ for a discussion about how fintechs are serving the traditionally underserved and helping to improve financial wellbeing across a range of challenges. Hosted by Rob Moffat and Rana Yared in collaboration with the Milken Institute , we look forward to welcoming speakers from leading fintechs including Cleo , Wagestream and Vestwell . 

Please email events@balderton.com if you'd like to attend. 

Meet our team at these conferences 👋

CogX – 12th September 2023


Magda Lukaszewicz will be speaking on a panel on the future of food, alongside Benjamina Bollag, CEO and Founder of Uncommon. Carlotta and Margaux will also be attending.

TechBBQ – 13th September 2023

Magda Lukaszewicz will be hosting a fireside chat with Edgeir Aksnes, CEO and co-founder of Tibber, on bringing the consumer into the green energy transition.

Bits & Pretzels – 25th September 2023

colin daymond hanna will be speaking on a panel alongside Nico Jaspers, CEO and founder of Latana, discussing founder wellbeing and performance. 

Read more from Balderton.