Maria Zubeldia Diaz’s Post

🐿 back when I graduated from my MBA I was asked to help scale up Oxford Seed Fund: cut to today, I’m excited to share the first 10 investments we've made this year (w/ 10+ more on the way by July). BIG congrats to the team → Learn more about the epic founders and what they're building: 🕸️ Louisa AI / Rohan who you know + what you know 🧠 Allia / Amie Leighton - bridging the mental health data gap with Al ☁️ NodeShift / Andrey + Mihai - decentralising the cloud 👐 Compass Labs / Elisabeth - democratising access to DeFi 🔢 Bilanc (YC W24) / Samuel - mixpanel for unit economics 💤 Albus Health / Mikesh Udani - monitoring sleep to improve patient care 🛰️ Little Place Labs / Bosco + Gaurav - satellite data edge compute 🚢 Armada Technologies / Alex - reducing ship's fuel use 💸 Serene / Savannah - detecting financial vulnerability with ML ⚗️ Limula / Luc, Yann, Thomas - automating cell & gene therapy development Oxford Seed Fund is powered by Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School & backed by Oxford Science Enterprises - if you’re an Oxford founder, apply here: https://lnkd.in/e--M9net If you’re hiring, check out the stellar student team who closed the deals: Celina, Alex, Viktoriia, Julia, Isabel, Yusuf, Isobel, Raymond. Oxford Seed Fund is only 1% built - this year we invested alongside Y Combinator, Notion Capital, a16z crypto and more → if you're a VC/LP/accelerator interested in #Oxford (coinvestment + collabs), get in touch. 🐿 As for me, I’m back to exploring #whatsnext - recs & suggestions welcome = looking to join a team and be useful (roles in org change, innovation strategy, corporate development, climate tech + climate VC, coaching + catalyst).

Not all heroes wear capes, but some do offer investments. 🦸 A fantastic achievement from our Oxford Seed Fund team to close 🔟 investments so far this year, with hopefully more to follow before the end of term! Check out who's been added to their extensive investment portfolio. 👇 #investment #InvestmentPortfolio #StartUps #venture #founders

Ever wondered which investors are most eager to back startups at different stages of their journey? We have collected the data to identify the investors who are featured most often in funding #European quantum startups throughout 2022 and 2023. Do you see the pattern? 💡 According to the data, unsurprisingly, European investors are the most active in supporting startups locally. However, while they are mostly the sole investors in the startups' pre-seed and seed funding rounds, the composition changes after. Series A sees the entry of #American investors, and in series B, even #Asian ones turn up. The further the startup's development, the more support it gains from investors outside Europe 🌎 Several factors can underlie this phenomenon, including the European focus on public funding nurturing young companies, and the more mature venture capital market in the US. With more and more quantum startups developing in Europe, it is an occurrence worth observing! 🔎 Within the Qu-Test and Qu-Pilot projects, we are diligently tracking all global investments and deals in the quantum technology sector. Our goal is to regularly share updates, so stay tuned for more valuable insights to quantum founders, investors, and professionals alike. Keep an eye on further insights! #quantum #quantumtechnology #investments #startup AMIRES Institut d'Optique Graduate School Sonnenberg Harrison Partnerschaft mbB TNO VTT European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC) Rudolf Fryček Robert Harrison Audrey Durand Roman Pašek Mika Prunnila Clara I. Osorio Tamayo Gabriele Bulgarini Weronika Słomińska Quantonation QDNL Participations 2xN TRUMPF Venture PhotonDelta

Top 5 VC deals from Thursday's Espresso Memo ☀: -- Want to be across UK and European startups? Join 195+ of the UK's and Europe's top founders, investors & tech enthusiasts and get the full version of the Espresso Memo in your your inbox every morning, for free. ☀️ Link in the comments 👇 -- 1. Lindus Health, a London-based clinical trials startup, raised $18m in Series A funding. The round was led by CREANDUM, with participation from Peter Thiel and returning investors Seedcamp, Hambro Perks and Amino Collective 2. Phasecraft, a London and Bristol-based quantum algorithms company, raised £13m in Series A funding. The round was led by Playground Global with participation from AlbionVC and existing investors Episode1, Parkwalk Advisors, LCIF LTD, and UCL Technology Fund 3. Apica, a Stockholm- and California-based synthetic monitoring and observability company, raised $10m in funding. The round saw participation from Industrifonden, SEB Foundation, and Oxx 4. Communion, a UK-based new savings app targeting cash strapped millennials who are likely renting with no hope of saving for a house, raised a £2.5m pre-seed funding round led by Target Global, Max Rofagha, Greg Marsh and @Erin Lantz (SD) 5. BDD, an Edinburgh-based Integrated drug formulation and clinical trials company, raised £2m in funding. The round was led by Archangels, Scottish Enterprise, and British Business Bank (FN) #venturecapital

𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 The Netherlands has a huge potential when it comes to quantum technology. Based on an excellent knowledge base at several of our universities we see more and more startups hitting the ground running. Our country even has the 4th largest pool of quantum startups worldwide. But….despite this huge potential the investment landscape for quantum in our country is still rather underdeveloped. Earlier this week Invest-NL published a report about this topic (see comments) written by our colleague Willem Peutz. We even hit the frontpage of Het Financieele Dagblad with our call for action. And as we all know action speaks louder than words. And that is why we teamed up with Infinity QD and Quantum Delta NL to organise the “Venture into Quantum” event earlier this week. To bridge the gap between founders, investors and academia. To discuss the mutual challenges we are facing. And to inspire the vast group of investors present with the great potential of quantum ventures. As been very clearly stated by Gert-Jan Vaessen, the fund manager of our deep tech fund, in the newspaper we are more than ready to play our part as Invest-NL.

Last week, the team attended IBA’s 6th annual startup conference in London as a proud member of the hosting committee. The conference brought together lawyers from across Europe and beyond to discuss a number of topics within the deep tech space, such as AI and defence tech, considering the impact these trends are having on the VC and startup space. As part of this event, our Head of Venture Capital and Partner, David Strong chaired the roundtable discussion on deep tech and university spinouts, along with Athene Blakeman from Oxford Science Enterprises. This panel explored: - Why the UK university spinout landscape has seen greater progress and development than the rest of Europe. - How the UK has positioned itself as a leader in the harmonisation of university investment terms and overall governmental approaches.  - The areas of tech experiencing the most success in this space, such as deep tech, with European governments pushing investment more recently, along with some of the key challenges that remain. The VC and startup community has faced an interesting and turbulent year in 2023. The opportunity this event provided, for members of the ecosystem to come together and share their experiences, became all the more valuable in the current landscape.  Thank you to the International Bar Association for hosting this wonderful event, year after year.  #Spinout #Tech #investment #VC #Startups

🔓 𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 (𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆) 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻🚀 Daniel (DTU Earthbound), Matias, and Christian are three master students from DTU - Technical University of Denmark who reached out to me to get more insights into Munich's unique startup ecosystem. Happy to chat with you! Loved the spirit of learning from each other! Know someone with a VC background? Tag them or shoot me a DM. They're seeking input for their master thesis 🌟 : 🔍 The thesis explores the unique role university-affiliated venture funds can play in supporting deep-tech ventures often deemed too risky for traditional investment channels. 🧠 What are the rationales for universities to invest in (own) deep tech? 🤝 What models/initiatives bring VC closer to universities? 🛑 What are the deterrents potentially preventing VCs from investing in university-based startups? Join the conversation! 👥💬 Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Management, TUM Venture Labs, Start2 Group, UnternehmerTUM, UVC Partners, Earlybird Venture Capital, Picus Capital, HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds

Bridging the Gap: Potential for Deep Tech, VCs & Universities to Revolutionize Innovation Thrilled to welcome Daniel Hoang, Matias Burvad, and Christian Martin Surland, three master students from DTU - Technical University of Denmark to our Munich location! A big shoutout to Julian J. Martin for fostering these connections across the academic and international entrepreneurial landscape. Their visit sparked a powerful conversation about university-affiliated venture funds and how they can fuel deep tech innovation. Just like Julian J. Martin mentioned, collaboration and knowledge sharing are key to unlocking innovation's full potential. VCs are always looking for promising startups with high growth potential. University-based research programs and startups offer several advantages that make them attractive investment opportunities, such as access to early-stage innovation, cutting edge research, diversity of ideas, and highly-skilled talent. Here's to building stronger bridges between academia and the startup world! By fostering collaboration between researchers, VCs, and entrepreneurs, as an ecosystem, we can fuel the next wave of groundbreaking deep tech innovations. Got VC expertise or insights on Julian's thought-provoking questions? Join the discussion below or connect with Julian directly! ……. #DeepTech #UniversityVC #InternationalCollaboration #Entrepreneurship #MunichStartupEcosystem #startup #vc EXIST - Existenzgründungen aus der Wissenschaft #germanaccelerator DTU Earthbound

Future Planet Capital is delighted to feature in Sifted’s article on the most active early-stage investors in the UK, having completed the fifth most deals for British startups at pre-seed, seed, and Series A in the past 12 months.   Supporting the most promising high-growth firms emerging from Britain’s best-in-class research and development ecosystem is essential for not only driving growth, but also developing impactful solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.   Armada Technologies, Machine Discovery and Strolll are three exciting UK-based startups in our portfolio, and also we’re pleased to see them recognised for the innovative, breakthrough work they’re doing in the climate, deeptech, and health sectors respectively.   Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/emW3Ctnr   #venturecapital #impactinvesting #scaleups #science #technology #impact | UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund Midven

What does it take to scale a company from the university lab to IPO & beyond? Dave Grimm, Partner AlbionVC and UCL Technology Fund discusses all things university spinouts, from what it takes to work at the earlier stages of venture, to our special partnership with UCL and why now is a very exciting time for the UK #deeptech ecosystem. Having backed over 30 university spinouts (4 went on to IPO on NASDAQ and 2 exited to big tech), David shares that deeptech founders need to love the problem they are solving more than the technology. "’𝘐’𝘮 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 (𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯). 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩.." What makes UCL Technology Fund different: 🌎 3/4 companies are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals that promote a healthy planet, healthy people and healthy work 🤝 Together with UCL Business Ltd, we work at the earliest stages of ventures, supporting founders at the ideation stage 🚀 Over £2bn external funding has been raised by our companies including some in David's personal portfolio Phasecraft (Series A, working towards quantum advantage), Intrinsic ID (Series A, semiconductor memory) Bramble Energy Limited (Series B, fuel cell technology for clean transportation), Humanloop (ex YC, one of Europe’s most exciting gen AI companies), Echopoint Medical Ltd (Series A, optical sensing) and most recently Oriole Networks (photonics for data centres) and Stanhope AI (agentic AI). Full interview with David in Maddyness UK here: https://lnkd.in/evcdzfQH #deeptech #spinouts #UCL #founders #spinputs #universityspinouts