Mariano Otero (he/him)

Welcome to the Korelya Capital family Ifeel - Humanising Growth! Glad to co-lead this $20m Series B investment that will help building a category leading player in the B2B Mental Health industry. What convinced us about this opportunity: - Mental health issues are unfortunately one these massive secular trends that can be heavily supported by tech to address people in genuine need. - ifeel is actually democratising access to mental health for everyone thanks to a unique and scalable value proposition for all stakeholders: -> for patients: 100% coverage (for low-medium-high risk patients and their family) thanks to a broad suite of AI tech solutions, curated specialised therapists, leading to minutes vs weeks to be supported. -> for corporates: affordable solution (in direct or as part of you insurance health package), with a clear ROI case reducing turnover and absenteism while improving your employer brand. -> for insurers: a scalable business development offering to address new corporates needs while keeping control on their books and collecting insights for smart underwriting. - Finally, we are pleased to see the company is already present in 30+ countries including in Asia where we will do our best to support the team. Kudos Amir Kaplan, Martin Villanueva, Gabriele Murrone and the whole Ifeel - Humanising Growth team for building such an inspiring company. Looking forward to working with you! https://lnkd.in/e3mdb5b4

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While Silicon Valley and El Segundo may be the first names that come to mind when VCs think of deep tech hubs, New York is growing its footprint too. With leading deep tech startups like Hugging Face, RunwayML, Via, and Bowery Farming already based in the Big Apple, the city's deep tech ecosystem is slowly but surely headed in the right direction. In fact, New York's share of US fundraising continues to rise, surpassing 15% of total US VC deal volume for the first time in 2023. A recent New York Post article highlighted some of the exciting neighborhoods pushing deep tech innovation in the city, like the Brooklyn Navy Yard which is seeing a resurgence in hardware and manufacturing, the Brooklyn Army Terminal which is now a hub for climate-tech, and Manhattan/Brooklyn broadly which face a rapid uptick in AI/ML talent. I've only just started my journey in deep tech, but I wanted to give a special shoutout to folks like Rohan Pujara at Valhalla Ventures and Saptarsi Bandyopadhyay at NSIN who are actively fostering a more connected and inclusive deep tech community here in NYC. If you are a local founder or VC working in the space, I would love to connect and continue fueling NYC's deep tech boom.

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I recently caught up with Hugo Garduño Ortega, co-founder of Verqor. I first met him in 2018 when Verqor joined the 1st cohort of the 100+ Accelerator. The company has pivoted multiple times since then, and the founders, Hugo Garduño Ortega and Valentina Rogacheva have learned a lot. In 2018, Verqor was nothing more than a pitch deck and a dream: to help Mexican farmers get financing. The company is now scaling. Two things I want to highlight: 1. Startups can be built anywhere 2. Startup "rules" are meant to be broken Verqor is based in Mexico, which is not the biggest startup hub. But to build this company, you have to be on the ground with your customers. Is it tougher to build a startup outside of a major hub? Sure. You'll have less access to talent, capital, customers, partners, etc. But it is possible. There's no formula for success. But we wish there was! This leads to blindly following what has supposedly worked for others. Verqor forged their own path and did things differently. ➡ Rule: Don't start a company without industry expertise or past founder experience. That makes perfect sense! But if everyone followed that a lot of great startups wouldn't be created. Hugo and Valentina were not ag experts, but they had a passion for solving a huge pain point. ➡ Rule: Don't work with big companies early, they're too slow. Big companies are slow compared to startups. But the 100+ Accelerator was the perfect "vehicle" for collaboration between Verqor and AB InBev. ➡ Rule: Don't raise strategic / corporate venture capital, it's a bad signal early on. I've heard this countless times. Meanwhile Verqor raised their last financing round from Yara Growth Ventures, the CVC of Yara International ASA (a crop nutrition and ag company from Norway). ➡ Rule: Don't build a "big" MVP, it's too complicated and takes too long to develop. This is definitely scary. Founders love over-building. Verqor had to build a fairly complex MVP b/c they realized they had to integrate all stakeholders in the supply chain. They couldn't just lend money to farmers. They had to bring in input manufacturers, so farmers could buy inputs through the app. They had to bring in off-takers/crop buyers, so when they purchased the crops (through the app), Verqor could recover their loan first. It took Hugo and Valentina a lot of research, experimentation and learning to realize that their true MVP had to be complex; but it's actually beautifully simple in that complexity. ➡ Rule: Don't marry your co-founder. 🤣 OK, I don't know if this is a rule, but startups built by couples are rare. I've heard VCs say "I won't invest in a founding team that's together, it's too risky." Meanwhile Hugo and Valentina have been together and building Verqor for 6 years! I love the story of Verqor b/c it's the story of true founders, finding a problem, digging deep, stumbling, pivoting, persevering and figuring things out. Verqor is now scaling and having a real impact on farmers' lives.

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Pitching your GTM strategy to investors? Borja Santos has some tips for you: focus on market demand, show your competitive edge and be clear on use cases. Highlight acquisition costs, sales levers & team KPIs. Read the full post here: https://lnkd.in/eSTWxTE8

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𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲! 𝗜’𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝘀𝘀  • Oss helps top founders across Latin America raise Series A rounds. • Our approach is to get in the trenches with the founder. Embedding ourselves into the startup and supporting the hard work of raising a round. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹? • Imagine having a team that understands the VC game by your side from the preparation to the closing of the fundraising round. • Strategize, build materials, extract value from your existing investors, create the data room, enhance investor communications, and run the fundraising process together. • We support you unconflicted, prioritizing the founder’s best interests. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗲𝘁? (𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻 𝟵-𝟭𝟮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀) • In 2 months, Oss can drastically improve your VC game, enhancing communication, updates, and expectation management. • This will make raising your next round easier. Think of it as “growth hacking your VC game.” • Are you ready to raise money in this market environment? Let’s explore that together. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝘀𝘀? After testing Oss with a couple of startups during Q2, I’m now seeking two startups pursuing a $10M+ raise before year’s end: • Raising an ambitious Series A • Growing and profitable • Industry agnostic • Building for and from Latin America Thank you to everyone who supported me as this emerged from stealth... and primarily, thank you to my wife.

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🚀 Exploring Financial Analysis in Venture Capital 🚀 Yesterday, as part of the #supernovas program we hosted an insightful session with Daniela Raffel Torrebiarte on Financial Analysis for VC, focusing on the metrics that drive sustainable growth for Series A and B companies. Daniela sparked thought-provoking discussions with questions like, “What makes a company truly investment-worthy?” and “How do we define good growth?” => Still looking for the answer Our active participants—including Vanda Gaidamovič, Gita Kler, Barbara Cwiklinska, Anđela Martinović, Giulia Tegas, and many others—brought fantastic insights and questions, making for a highly interactive and engaging session. We dived deep into essentials like cohort analysis, revenue concentration, and the “triple-triple-double-double” growth benchmark—a performance metric many VCs strive for. Beyond growth, we examined efficiency metrics, like CAC payback and burn multiple, and explored future indicators such as pipeline health and hiring plans. Wrapping up with a discussion on valuation and exit strategies, we emphasized that true venture success is more than fast growth—it’s about building resilient, sustainable companies. A big thanks to everyone who joined and contributed! Let’s continue driving impactful conversations that fuel the next generation of successful ventures. Thanks Daniela for sharing this time with us! 🌟 #venturecapital #financialanalysis #growthmetrics #startupsuccess #VC

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Friday content alert, folks!📢📣 After breaking a hugely popular (and evolving) story of Water Direct, RollUpEurope is excited to bring a first-ever drilldown of a successful search fund exit. And not just any exit but Spain's pioneer search fund (Ariol Capital) led by Marc Bartomeus. Ariol Capital acquired Repli a packaging business and sold it to Berlin Packaging via a strategic exit. In the latest article, we cover: ➡️ What did they buy ➡️ For how much ➡️ How did the business perform ➡️ How much did everyone make on the exit, and why You know the drill: at RollUpEurope we don't cut corners 🤓 Read here: https://lnkd.in/g_5GGiJp

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Congratulations to Pedro Siciliano, Fábio Baldissera, and the entire team at Teachy for raising a $7m Series A from some of the best in the business. When we first met Pedro in early 2023, he was a first-year student at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business with a full course load and a crystal clear vision for the company he had started to build. After a few interactions, it was clear that Pedro was the epitome of a mission-driven founder. He had a strong sense of purpose, a deep commitment to the problem he wanted to solve, and extreme focus. Being authentically mission-driven gives you superpowers that are key to building a large business. Here are a few: 👉 *Authentic leadership*: Having high conviction in your mission allows you to lead from the gut with persuasion and strength. 👉 *Boundless energy & resilience*: Understanding why you are building your business gives you the energy and grit to fight through the hard times. 👉 *Culture building*: Culture flows from the top, and nothing beats caring deeply and setting high standards for the work you, your employees, and your company produce daily. 👉 *Customer centricity*: Being mission-driven, by definition, means putting your customers and users first, the key to every successful business. Pedro and Fabio have these superpowers, and I can't wait to see how they continue to put them to work on their mission to improve education around the world. 

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As in most industries, salary bands per hierarchy level in VC remain typically very obscure - so, many thanks to EUVC (Andreas Munk Holm) and Plug and Play Tech Center (Luis Llorens Gonzalez) for running another survey on compensation in VC. My key highlights ⭐️ - not surprisingly, salary, bonus, and carry incentivization is strongly growing when climbing the hierarchy levels - VC remains a very male-dominated industry, but glad to see that the gap is closing, particularly on more junior levels (or: the partners of the future) - the higher one climbs the ladder, the bigger the spread in compensation. Would have loved to see an overview per fund size and fund investment focus in terms of stage (maybe explaining large parts of the variance). Side note: Wherever the firms were that pay up to 33k for interns a year, it's very unfortunate you weren't around (or I didn't find you) when I was still at university

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The world is for those who dare. When Ander Michelena reached out to us to brainstorm and execute All Iron’s rebranding, the premise was clear: the name had to reflect Basque heritage. They say that knowing your roots makes it easier to navigate the future. With this in mind, we decided to delve into history and uncovered the story of Magellan's voyage. The second captain, Elcano, hailing from Getaria, assembled a crew of Basque sailors. Tragically, Elcano returned with only a handful of sailors alive from the hundreds who set sail, and the sole surviving Basque was Juan de Acurio. And btw, Getaria also gave us another genius: Cristóbal Balenciaga. History and creativity run deep here. Echoing what Acurio Ventures has explained since its launching, this rebranding is built on three core pillars: 1) Becoming truly international 2) Emphasizing resilience, determination, and teamwork 3)Daring to play I want to share a couple of extra details that haven’t come up before: the graphic system is all about the sea and navigation maps. So, we naturally leaned toward shades of blue, but we also played around with some complementary tones that really capture that innovative spirit of Acurio. For more context, check out this piece from Sifted https://lnkd.in/dizZbZkU

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🌟 Calling All Innovators and Visionaries! 🌟 The world is shifting rapidly, and innovation is the currency of the future. At Painite Ventures, we’re building a transformative venture capital platform that bridges the gap between disruptive startups and forward-thinking investors. 🚀 Our mission? To create a thriving ecosystem where ideas grow, businesses scale, and investments deliver unmatched returns. What We Offer ✅ For Startups: • Access to capital and mentorship to scale your business from concept to market leader. • A network of industry leaders, domain experts, and cutting-edge technology. • Strategic guidance across industries like Real Estate, Healthcare, Green Energy, Education, Agribusiness, Technology, and Hospitality. ✅ For Investors: • Opportunities to partner with high-growth ventures with proven potential and a clear path to profitability. • Insights into untapped markets and innovative business models. • A trusted partner to align your investment goals with impactful outcomes. Why Choose Us? 🌍 We focus on sectors driving global transformation, including: • Green Energy & Sustainability 🌱 • Healthcare & Innovation 🏥 • Tech-Driven Solutions 💻 • Education for the Future 🎓 • Real Estate Disruption 🏢 💡 Whether you’re a startup founder with a big vision or an investor looking for your next high-impact opportunity, Painite Ventures is your gateway to success. Let’s Collaborate! If you’re ready to transform the future—whether by funding innovation or scaling your business—let’s connect. Together, we’ll create a world where ideas thrive, and growth is limitless. Drop a comment below, send me a DM, or email me directly at [email protected]. Let’s build something extraordinary! #VentureCapital #Startups #Innovation #InvestmentOpportunities #Entrepreneurship #GreenEnergy #HealthcareInnovation #RealEstateGrowth #TechStartups #EducationRevolution #InvestInTheFuture #PainiteVentures #ImpactInvesting #Sustainability #StartupEcosystem

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VC world can be cruel and unforgiving. With LPs more and more pushing for distribution and liquidity, fund managers in the mid-tenure of their fund with zero DPI and TVPI around 1.0 would have much more difficulty to raise new fund. The ability to fundraise is one of the crucial indications and validation of the job for VCs. Key highlights from the article below: Thirteen percent of venture General Partners (GPs) no longer plan to raise another fund due to LP pullback. This rate has doubled since H1 2023 when only 6% of GPs had no plans for another fund. Nearly 44% of venture firms surveyed in mid-2023 had previously postponed their fundraising plans due to concerns about overexposure to the asset class. Many emerging managers entered venture capital in 2019 or 2020 when the LP market supported more funds. However, slow exits in the first half of 2024 have led to challenges in raising second funds without significant cash distributions to LPs. Some venture GPs are now actively participating in the secondaries market to demonstrate returns. Despite the challenges, GPs who secured fresh capital remain optimistic. They expect the 2023 and 2024 vintages to be the strongest return years since 2019. 🚀📈 #VC #VentureCapital #Fundraising #LPs #EmergingManagers #TechInvestment #MarketTrends #CountdownCapital #IndustryInsights #JetVentures #JetInvestment‍‍‍‍‍‍

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🚀 Draper Founder Spotlight on #StartupSounds! 🚀 In our latest release, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Juan José Porras Martínez, the #DraperFounder behind Coline Data! 🎙️ Check out the full conversation on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/djF5Kud4 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dWGpcTvq Connect with Juan on LinkedIn to learn more about his journey and follow the journey of Coline! FROM THE LAB TO THE MARKET 🎧 As he puts it, the idea came to life while he and his co-founders were immersed in a research center at their university, where they noticed a thriving ecosystem of startups in various fields. Inspired by peers who were launching ventures in medicine and data analysis, they realized they had the same technological knowledge and expertise in data, sensors, and AI to tackle significant problems in Chile. 🌟 THE COMPLEXITIES OF SCALING Large-scale mining companies often hesitate to adopt new technologies, despite their potential. The risks of implementing something new can be high, and even a minor failure could lead to significant losses. That's why many companies remain cautious, limiting innovation to specific assets. 📉 Juan's team developed an automated data analysis system that provides alerts and insights directly to mining companies' preferred channels—whether that's email, mobile, or dashboards. But here's the real challenge: scaling this system across thousands of assets in various work areas. 🔐 FROM ENTREPRENEURS TO TECH FOUNDERS Having grown up in a family of entrepreneurs, he witnessed firsthand the challenges and sacrifices that come with running a traditional business. Long hours, financial uncertainty.... ❌ But everything changed when Juan discovered the world of startups. 🚀 Despite the risks being even higher, he saw the potential for immense scalability and growth: with the same effort, he could build something far more impactful, he took the plunge into the startup world. His journey was further fueled by the incredible opportunities available in Chile's startup ecosystem, particularly the support from Corfo. 🇨🇱 SCALABILITY IS THE BIGGEST HURDLE OF AI Maintaining over 90% accuracy in AI systems is a non-negotiable in the industry, but achieving this level of precision on a massive scale can be computationally costly. This makes scalability one of the biggest hurdles in deploying AI solutions effectively. ⚙️ THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING UP Juan also touched on a critical yet often overlooked aspect of networking: the follow-up: it's not enough to just exchange business cards. After attending events, he dedicated time to reach out to his new contacts via email, which turned out to be incredibly effective. This simple action led to responses from everyone he reached out to! 📨 #DraperFounderSpotlight #TechInnovation #Entrepreneurship #DraperStartupHouse #StartupJourney #Innovation

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🍿 Story time. At Harvard, I coached a team launching a quantum computing startup. Impressed with the founders, I sought feedback from Defense Secretary Ash Carter. He smiled and said, "There's no doubt our government will be a purchaser of these products, but I hope they have alternate funding plans. The government buys in 10-year cycles and has zero motivation to speed up." 😳 ∞ I've spent the last year building Foundery, engaging with family offices on the crucial role they can play in the startup funding landscape— one that bridges 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 impact with 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 returns. It's less about 𝘪𝘧 they will and more about 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 they will (and how this distinction matters to early-stage founders). As Trace Cohen points out in his (excellent) newsletter, family offices are becoming a significant force in early-stage VC. Their founder-mission aligned capital and strategic partnerships can be game-changers for startups. But for me, it's not about saving emerging managers— we don't need saving despite the massive amount of LP capital flowing into large multi-stage funds. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. What we—and by we, I mean the entire startup ecosystem, if not the entire world— need is a new "game" for early-stage venture development that's not VCs' favorite game: "Unicorn or bust." 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗢𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗚𝗣𝘀. 🔥 There are challenges for founders and families. Founders need capital early to grow their ventures, but they also need support as people. They need & can handle pressure, but healthy pressure to optimize for long term value creation, not short term markups. Families want the upside that comes from investing early and are the healthy capital founders crave. But, they prefer the risk profile of more mature, de-risked ventures. Most lack the team to truly evaluate an early stage venture. They also don't appreciate paying such high fees to funds, who take the investment decision out of their hands in exchange for deal flow, and ask for more, more, more well before their 1st fund has proven it's ROI. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: FOs lack of process or workflow that fits into their timelines (families operate on their own timeline) & the inaccessibility of most FOs are real challenges. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝗢𝘀: a unique opportunity exists to live one of my favorite lines from a forward looking serial entrepreneur: "The best way to diligence a Series A investment is to invest at Seed." 👋 Focus on delivering value to founders, before they've "earned it" perhaps, and earn later stage loyalty in the process. There are ways to do this, without exposing yourself. Happy to chat about this with anyone 😇 Let's reimagine early-stage funding together, creating an environment where founders thrive and FOs achieve their investment goals without the traditional pitfalls of VC funding. 💸

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Want to move to Spain? 20 well-funded startups from December 2024: • Sateliot (IoT connectivity) raised €30M in debt. • Arbolus (insights platform) raised $20M. • Submer (liquid cooling) raised €20M in debt. • HappyRobot (AI-communication) raised $15.6M. • HEMAV (SaaS) raised €8M. • JOTELULU España (cloud services) raised €6.8M. • Corify (medical tech) raised €6M. • Dcycle (ESG) raised €6M. • BeePlanet Factory (energy storage) raised €5M. • Genomcore (genomic data) raised €5M. • Cafler (vehicle management) raised €3M in debt. • #TesaiCare (medical tech) raised €2.7M. • MOGU (travel tech) raised €2.2M. • honei (restaurant tech) raised €1.45M. • Drimer (travel Creators platform) raised €1.5M. • Cybertix (cybersecurity) raised €1M. • Ziknes (robotics) raised €1M. • Abastores (marketplace) raised €750k. • Calpech (nanotech) secured €600k. • Kloutit (monetisation platform) raised €540k. • Click and Plan (real estate) raised €200k. • naturr (marketplace) raised €162k. Get deal-flow in your inbox monthly, comment "interested" to subscribe with link below 👇 #startups #emprendimiento #spain #tech #founders 📸: original by contxto, modified on ChatGPT o4

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Insights on how to hire amazing people from Pedro Arnt, CEO of dLocal (1,000 employees) and ex-CFO of Mercado Libre (58,000 employees). Pedro has hired a lot of people over the last three decades. What has he learned? Structured Interviews Aren’t Enough. Work Samples & Reference Checks Are Key. Relying solely on structured interviews is a poor way to evaluate talent. While structured interviews are a step up from unstructured ones, they still feel like a crapshoot and leave too much uncertainty about a candidate’s potential. Pedro’s research showed that work samples are more predictive of future performance than interviews. However, the single best thing you can do before hiring someone is getting insights from people who’ve worked closely with the candidate. What colleagues and former managers say about a person over a long working relationship is the most reliable predictor of success. Redefining Reference Checks. Reference checks can often be regarded as a formality, with referees being hesitant to provide critical feedback. To change that, one has to create an environment where referees feel comfortable giving honest, candid evaluations. This involves setting the right tone early in the reference call, ensuring confidentiality, and asking structured questions about both strengths and weaknesses of the candidate. Full Fintech Leaders episode ⤵⤵⤵ Substack: https://bit.ly/3YnBopc Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Yr711r Apple: https://apple.co/4f4VoTb Youtube: https://bit.ly/3U8V8dH

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Sometimes a decrease in valuation is a good thing. When I spoke to Bloomberg’s Anna Irrera and Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro for their reporting on Klarna’s IPO, I focused on how important it is to adjust company valuations to reflect reality. In 2021, Klarna’s valuation was at $45.6 billion, but recently analysts estimate their valuation to now be around $14.6 billion. While this is a drop in previous estimates, to me it’s actually a good thing. It signals that the market is moving to value companies based off real revenue growth instead of pumping projections to reach unattainable goals. I hope that Klarna’s news will give other founders the courage to pursue an exit, even if it means doing so at a lower valuation. #fintech #valuation #ipo

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✨ Breaking: Laude Ventures Announces New Fund.- Laude Ventures Laude Ventures is a $150 million venture capital fund launched in December 2024 by one of the cofounders of Databricks. The fund is dedicated to investing in early-stage companies, with a primary focus on spinouts from the University of California, Berkeley. Laude Ventures aims to help founders turn cutting-edge research into viable businesses, emphasizing innovation and academic entrepreneurship. https://laude.vc/ Please share to let other #Founders know For the ❤️ of Startups #Fusion42 #Startups #Venturecapital

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[SOBRE A VISAO DE PERENIDADE] It doesn’t matter about the markups: IPO is actually just a milestone, not the end game. IPO is the beginning for public investors to come along for the ride. So if you think longer term, valuations going up or down temporarily doesn’t matter as much as generating a big outcome at the end. Whatever it takes to scale the business is what the company, the founders and board need to focus on doing to manage the business the best they can every step of the way. Founders don’t realize that this choice is not between shutting down and doing a down round. In that situation, you will choose a down-round every single time. The challenge is when you are faced with the prospect of holding on to a valuation, or raising a down round. If you don’t do it, you run the risk of shutting down later. But if you’re close to shutting down, no one’s gonna invest in you. https://lnkd.in/dc8iU5jA

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