7percent Ventures

Proof that Plotbox is now a highly polished, feature complete, enterprise ready piece of software that is _the_ default solution in this space. Huge congrats to Sean McAllister, Leona McAllister, and the rest of the team!

There is huge arbitrage in backing founders from disadvantaged backgrounds. Of the UK startups that successfully raise pre-seed funding, only 25% have a founder that comes from a disadvantaged background. At Series-C, this figure rises to 50%. These founders are key for the UK to build more scaleable businesses. Without a prebuilt network, these founders have to break through huge systemic barriers. This builds an incredible resilience, which is key to boosting their odds of success. At Social Mobility Ventures, we're running our inaugural pitch event - connecting state-school or immigrant founders at Pre-seed or Seed stage, with leading investors in the UK (Lakestar, Octopus Ventures, Ananda Impact Ventures, Nauta, 7percent Ventures). 📅 When: April 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM 🌍 Where: LocalGlobe HQ, London Limited spaces available – register now to secure your spot! Please share with any state school founders in your network. Let’s break down the VC barrier together! Event link in the comments.

For too long, we’ve talked about Europe in deficit terms. Too slow. Too cautious. Not ambitious enough. But the tide is shifting: ✅ We have some of the most technically gifted founders in the world. ✅ Our capital markets are waking up to their value. ✅ Global investors are looking at Europe with fresh eyes. It’s not perfect, but let’s stop pretending Europe isn’t a contender. The pieces are in place for something big.

Aviation has a new look ✈️ Great to see the latest designs of Beyond Aero's BYA-1 hydrogen-electric business jet. Range: 1,500km Cruise speed: 573 km/h Operational flexibility: Ground roll: 620m, Approach angle: 5.5° Fuel cell: 2.4MW, powering 2x electric engines

My first call with Anmol was on my first day at 7percent Ventures in 2022. It set an exceptionally high bar for the thousands of pitches that I've seen since. From visiting their trailer in Bedford, UK, and leading their pre-seed, it's been amazing to see just how rapidly Greenjets are building to become the next great aerospace prime - with the world's best electric propulsion systems.

Evaluating Founder ambition is central to our thesis. Venture is a perverse game, requiring huge outcomes. Those that decide to raise VC funding and go on to create the outlier companies are often obsessive and laser focused. You should talk to us! Here is a reintroduction to our thesis at 7percent Ventures.

We sometimes debate vigorously about markets, but one thing we’re generally aligned on is what “great” looks like in founders. By far and away the most important driver of success. These are the stand out attributes: 1️⃣ They are special. They don’t have to be a typically alpha CEO type (and many deep tech founders are not) but they have a presence, an edge to them and a steely determination. Whether sincere passion or quiet charisma, people sit up and pay attention. 2️⃣ They have a key insight about the problem they are solving and have a playbook in mind on how to scale the solution - and their company - to deliver on a big vision which impacts the world. 3️⃣ They are obsessive but, contrary to popular culture, the best founders we see have a bit of emotional distance. They work insanely hard, but instinctively know how to look after themselves and their team, while not compromising on ambition or performance. 4️⃣ Commercially driven. Understanding sales and marketing is as important -- if not more important -- than the technology itself, and should be respected and resourced. Distribution beats product. 5️⃣ They communicate clearly, with numbers, concisely. A verbose deck betrays a lack of focus or clarity. Investor reporting is disciplined, monthly, leads with critical numbers and surfaces bad news. The language is very clear. Pages of superfluous news and vanity metrics like awards, conference speaking slots, podcasts, tend to reflect an immaturity of leadership, which lacks the discipline to focus ruthlessly on what matters: progress and growth. Founders and VC’s, what would you add to this list?

🚨 The UK government’s proposed changes to carried interest taxation and co-investment requirements will have serious consequences for startups and innovation. Managing Partner Andrew J Scott outlined how the current policy changes will: ⚠️ Treat growth stage private equity the same as early stage venture capital, despite fundamental differences. ⚠️ Widen the diversity gap in VC by making it harder for those without personal wealth to invest. ⚠️ Encourage top talent to leave the UK for better tax regimes elsewhere. ⚠️ Reduce funding for transformative deeptech startups, hurting UK innovation long-term. If the UK wants to lead in AI, quantum computing, space, and robotics, it must empower venture capital—not push it out.

Complexity is a word that is now synonymous with KYC/AML. But what if you had just one back-office dashboard that could manage all your data, methods and processes for your KYC/AML onboarding? Oh, and with some statistics and actionable insights, too? In working with multiple customers, we’ve heard these requests and so - we are excited to officially release our Authologic OmniPanel! It is the secure, single view of all providers and onboarding workflows and our vision is for it to become the leading industry tool for KYC/AML onboarding product teams! #digitalID #eudi #eidas

We’re at a critical juncture for the space economy: cost of getting assets into space is falling, a return lane from space is opening, we’re seeing a restructuring of the old space economy in communications and observation, and we’re starting to see what the future of on-orbit-manufacture (from drugs to semiconductors) could look like. The new space economy has a whole host of operational needs - all of which require robotics and autonomy. Magdrive, Lúnasa Space, Orbit Fab, and Astroscale are among those that are offering the UK a real chance to lead in this sector - and in making space a sustainable domain for business - but only if we can align the interests of government, industry, and research. It was great fun chairing this panel at SPACEtalks (hosted by Cosmonauts and European Space Agency - ESA), and to hear the insights from Amin Chabi, Dr. Adam M. Baker, Andrew Faiola, and Tejaswi Tiruvuru.