Category: UNCATEGORIZED

A new startup has officially emerged for stealth with the raise of its $62 million Series A funding round. Endeavor BioMedicines is led by co-founder and CEO John Hood, who previously led Impact Biomedicines, and its new funding comes from Omega Funds and Longitude Capital, as well as the company’s own management team. Endeavor is also co-founded by Miguel de los Rios, who serves as its Chief Science Officer and who was previously CEO of Rift Biotherapeutics.

Endeavor’s goal is to develop treatments specifically to address pulmonary disease, and the startup is putting its funding towards two Phase 2 clinical trials that will seek to determine whether their therapeutic candidate can reverse or slow the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a very common type of pulmonary fibrosis that results in long tissue scarring which causes difficulty in breathing for affected patients.

IPF has a significant and worrying fatality rate – the condition comes with “an estimated mean survival of 2-5 years from time of diagnosis,” according to Hood in a press release. Endeavor’s new treatment candidate, called ‘taladegib,’ is an inhibitor that addresses what’s known as the ‘Hedgehog’ pathway for IPF. This pathway, which is primarily responsible for cell differentiation during embryonic development, can also play a role in development of harmful conditions in adults when they malfunction while regulating the regeneration of mature tissues.

Hood’s last company Impact Biomedicines exited in a sale to Celgene Corp worth put to $7 billion, depending on performance milestones set in the terms of the acquisition for passing certain regulatory and sales conditions. That company focused on treatment development specifically for myelofibrosis, a type of blood cancer, using an inhibitor for a specific type of protein kinase.

Former Disney and Discovery execs are teaming up to launch a new streaming service called Struum, arriving in the spring, that aims to take the Classpass model and apply it to the streaming landscape. That is, Struum’s plan is to aggregate content from smaller video on demand services, then provide that under its own subscription.

The idea for Struum comes from founders Lauren DeVillier, the former Head of Product for Discovery Ventures; Eugene Liew, former Vice President of Product and Technology at Disney+; Paul Pastor, former Executive Vice President of Strategy, Revenue and Operations at Discovery Networks; and Thomas Wadsworth, the former lead Advanced Product Development for Walt Disney Imagineering.

The service is backed by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner through his investment firm, Tornante Company. Firstlight Media, a company that provides technology to power video services, is also an investor and collaborator on the new effort. A third investor, Gaingels, focuses on backing LGBT+ founders and allies.

The team at Struum believes there’s potential for its service, despite the market being saturated by larger subscription players, like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, YouTube, HBO Max, and Disney+, who today have a combined 75% share of the streaming video distribution landscape, according to 2020 Nielsen data.

It argues that there is still a long tail of over 250 niche and speciality services it can work with to grow its content library, while also helping those partners connect with potential customers.

The model it’s using to go about this, however, is unique for streaming businesses — and very much inspired by the ClassPass service for sampling fitness classes from local gyms and studios.

“I was a huge user of ClassPass and I love that model,” explains DeVillier. “And we just started noodling on this idea of offering this aggregated service using that model.” The founders would talk about ways they could help address the underserved market of streamers, who were “trying to find space and voice,” she says.

Struum will work by charging customers a single monthly subscription to provide a range of services, accessed through the Struum app. However, instead of getting a full buffett of content within the app, the consumer is given a number of “credits” they can used to sample and consume content, just like ClassPass did with gym classes.

Then, if Struum sees the customer is routinely accessing content from one service, it will suggest they may be better managed by a managed service. The customer can choose to subscribe to that service from within the Struum app directly.

In other words, Strumm acts a customer acquisition engine for its partners, too, in addition to hosting their content.

For consumers, this means they don’t have to keep subscribing and unsubscribing to various services just to watch particular shows or movies. And for content providers, it allows them to find an audience without having to spin up their own standalone subscription app.

Struum generates revenue from its subscriptions, which it shares with its content partners. These may include what Pastor describes as “aspirational tier one” brands, that may be those from the traditional pay TV world that are now looking for a new, streaming audience. And they may also include vertical media brands and others who are currently operating an ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) service but want to enter the subscription video on demand market.

The company has already completed deals with nearly three dozen yet-to-be-named streaming partners, and now has over 20,000 TV series, movies, and shorts, as a result. It will serve up this content on a platform built in collaboration with Firstlight Media, which runs on Microsoft Azure architecture.

The startup’s co-founders have not been working on Struum that long, having only come together around the beginning of the year, just ahead of the pandemic’s outbreak in the U.S.

The pandemic, of course, accelerated the streaming market as consumers stuck at home tapped into video services to stay entertained.

But for Struum, it helped the startup speed its time to launch, too.

“The ability to be introduced to people — financiers and content partners and talent — within a matter of 24 to 48 hours by getting on the phone through Zoom, not having to fly across the country to do the pitches, not having to drive across town in Los Angeles to do pitches — we were able to more quickly accelerate our business from that aspect,” notes Pastor.

Struum also tapped into the ability to hire outside of its base in L.A., as remote work became more of the norm. On its team of ten, it has staff from elsewhere in the U.S. and even the U.K., and it aims to continue as a remotely distributed operation for the near future, even when the pandemic is over.

 

Struum has correctly identified a problem in the modern streaming landscape, in terms of large amount of untapped content now distributed across hundreds of smaller services, much of which lingers in obscurity. However, the approach it’s taking to address the problem — by aggregating the content under its ClassPass-like subscription/credit model — will still force the  service into competition with AVOD players, as this is where consumers turn when they can’t find anything else to watch on Netflix and elsewhere.

That means the challenge Struum faces will be convincing those consumers to essentially change their TV habits.

“Today, those habits and rituals are built around first going to a Netflix…and the next thing is to go to Amazon,” explains Pastor. Consumers might then turn to Disney+ or HBO Max as a third option, he says, depending on whether they’re looking for family fare or more adult content.

“What we’re hoping to be able to do, by aggregating these pieces together, is to say, listen: your third or fourth choice should be Struum. It’s a place where you can manage one subscription and explore all these [other} services,” Pastor adds.

After launching, Struum plans to quickly iterate on the customer data it has — another advantage of the aggregational model — to optimize its content library and help guide its future partnerships.

“We come from a very strategic background approach. And we come from a discipline of listening to consumers — that’s so much the history of the Discovery and the Disney brand. That’s very much the near-term focus,” Pastor says.

The company plans to launch in the spring with support for web, mobile and TV platforms. An international expansion is also on the roadmap further down the road.

A Twitter spokesperson has confirmed with TechCrunch this morning that Trump has deleted three tweets that led to the temporarily suspension of this account last night.

Twitter locked the account pending deletion of the offending tweets on Wednesday following the riot and siege of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., and said that the suspension would remain in place so long as the tweets were not removed, and that any further violation of its rules could result in an actual permanent account suspension for Trump.

The President’s account is to remain lock 12 hours after his deletion of the tweets (seen below). While we don’t have exact timing on when the countdown started, he has yet to tweet from the account. The account also still bears the warning that, “this Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules.”

While Trump has previously enjoyed the benefit of a rule Twitter put in place that allowed a special exemption for content that would normally violate its terms of service, but that it would allow to remain in the interest of public access in cases where it comes from accounts with a significant public interest component, like Trump’s while he’s occupying the office of U.S. President.

The three tweets that finally proved a bridge too far for Twitter included a video posted by Trump that called for an end to the violence on Capitol Hill, but that also said “We love you, you’re very special” to the terrorists taking part in the action. The other two included statements that falsely suggested the legitimate results of the most recent U.S. presidential election were somehow fraudulent, including one that suggested the terrorist actions in Washington that resulted were somehow justified.

It’s worth noting that Twitter didn’t actually deleted the offending tweets; the company generally has a policy of removing tweets that violate its terms from public view, and notifying the offending account that they must be deleted by the account holder themselves in order to re-instate the ability to actively use the account.

While Trump does not have access to his own official Twitter account, his deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino posted a statement early Thursday morning about the Electoral Certification process, which was completed in the early hours. The statement again included inciting language falsely disputing the election results, but remains available and untouched by any of Twitter’s flagging measures.

Until this week, most anticipated that Trump would continue to enjoy protections that come with his political status. Yesterday’s move marked a shift for Twitter, but there remains a major question around his status in the remaining two weeks of his Presidential term. Facebook, meanwhile, has taken the opposite action, altogether banning Trump from its platform, for “at least the next two weeks.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced via his platform that Donald Trump will be blocked from using both Facebook and Instagram “for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.” The company blocked his accounts temporarily on Wednesday following Trump’s posting on content that incited his followers to violence, but now Zuckerberg says the ban is extended “indefinitely,” extending at least until Biden takes over as President.

Both Facebook and Instagram removed Trump’s video post yesterday, in which the President called for rioters who laid siege to the Capitol building in Washington to go home – but in which he also said “we love you” to the same violent terrorists. They followed that action with a 24-hour account lock, preventing Trump from posting via his Facebook and Instagram accounts during that period.

Zuckerberg acknowledges that Trump content has in the past been labeled or removed when found to violate its policies, but that he had been allowed up until now to “use our platform consistent with our own rules.” He says that has now changed, due to “use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.” There’s a lot of careful, heavily PR’d language doing heavy lifting here – Zuck is careful to say that use until now has lined up with the platform’s rules in place, and not instead been an exception to them, and he’s also careful not to say Trump has directly incited violent insurrection in leaving an actor out of that particular sentence. Still, this is the strongest action by far from the platform to date to limit Trump’s access.

Here’s the full post from Zuckerberg:

The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.

His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence.

Following the certification of the election results by Congress, the priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.

Over the last several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies. We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.

We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.

Developing…

Elon Musk, the controversial and enigmatic entrepreneur who heads up SpaceX and Tesla, has reached a status that only three others have held in the past two decades: world’s richest person.

On his way to the top spot, Musk has surpassed a bevy of billionaires this year, including Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. He reached the pinnacle Thursday thanks to Tesla’s share price that has skyrocketed nearly 830% since March 2020 along with a substantive pay package that was triggered after achieving certain market capitalization and profitability milestones. In the process, Musk unseated rival Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon who held the world’s richest person position since 2017. 

Musk is now worth more than $188 billion, per Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. Tesla shares continued their seemingly unabated climb on Thursday, trading up more than 5% to $795.75.

In true Musk fashion, he acknowledged the milestone in a tweet, noting “how strange” and “well, now back to work.”

The world’s richest person title isn’t what makes Musk’s position so intriguing. It’s the speed at which he reached it. Just a year ago, Musk was in the dregs of the world’s wealthiest list. This year, Musk was propelled forward by some $150 billion thanks to Tesla’s popping share price. Musk holds about 20% equity in Tesla. He also has some $42 billion in vested stock options, according to SEC filings.

It’s a stock that has historically suffered from volatility, with huge swings occurring after a tweet or financial update. Take 2018, for example. Tesla’s share price ended the year with about 3.8% gain. In between the those two bookends of the stock market calendar — January 2 and December 31 — and the 3.8 percent gain they produced obfuscated a year of tumult and whipsaw-like swings in the stock price.

While Tesla shares have been on an upwards trend in 2020. This year, and after only one decade as a publicly traded company, Tesla became the most valuable automaker in the world by market value, passing the valuations of Ford, GM, VW Group and Toyota. Tesla’s market cap is now $757 billion.

Roblox is now one of the world’s most valuable private companies in the world after a monster Series H raise brings the social gaming platform a stratospheric $29.5 billion valuation. The company won’t be private for long, though.

The $520 million raise led by Altimeter Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group is a significant cash influx for Roblox, which had previously raised just over $335 million from investors according to Crunchbase. The Investment Group of Santa Barbara, Warner Music Group, and a number of current investors, also participated in this round.

In February of 2020, the company closed a $150 million Series G led by Andreessen Horowitz which valued the company at $4 billion.

The gaming startup has initially planned an IPO in 2020, but after the major first day pops of DoorDash and Airbnb, the company leadership reconsidered their timeline, according to a report in Axios. Those major say-one share price pops left significant money on the table for the companies selling those shares, an outcome Roblox is likely looking to avoid. Today, the company also announced that it plans to enter the public markets via a direct listing.

Roblox’s 7x valuation multiple signals just how feverish public and private markets are for tech stocks. The valuation also highlights how investors foresee the company benefiting from pandemic trends which pushed more users online and towards social gaming platforms. In a 2019 prospectus, the company shared that it had 17.6 million users, now Roblox claims to have 31 million daily active users on its platform.

Almost four years ago I wrote a long deep dive into Lisbon’s tech scene. So it’s great to check back in with both Lisbon and Portugal for a slightly briefer update on where it’s at.

As well-outlined by Stephan Morais, founder and managing general partner at Indico Capital Partners, Portugal has a very high quality of engineering talent at a competitive cost; an extremely high level of English language proficiency (compared to Spain, France, Italy); and a preference for launching product globally from day one. Portuguese founders are highly qualified, with the majority of them holding at least a master’s degree.

However, the ecosystem is still in an “early phase” and there are few founders turned angel investors; there have been limited exits until recently; and there is limited available talent in sales and marketing fields. That said, there is still plenty of growth to come, as you will see below, and in the COVID-19 era, Lisbon — and Portugal generally — is becoming a magnet for digital nomads with talent.

Given the lack of a large home consumer market, startups in Portugal tend to err toward enterprise and SaaS over consumer applications, according to the Startup Portugal Ecosystem report. While the gap between domestic and foreign sources of funding is closing, there is still a gap in early-stage financing. According to government figures, in 2019 there was €285 million available for investment, and the top 25 later-stage companies raised a total of €117.8 million.

VCs in the country include Portugal Ventures, Indico Capital, Faber Ventures, Armilar Venture Partners, Bynd Capital, Semapa Next, Bright Pixel, EDP Ventures and Shilling Capital Partners. While Mustard Seed is a VC, it’s fashioned as an impact fund, only investing in startups that use technology to address social and environmental challenges inside the country.

Portugal is undergoing some changes. In particular, many British refugees from Brexit are relocating there (and everywhere else in Europe, but Lisbon has beaches and startup-friendly taxes). Non-EU residents are able to get a golden visa and tech entrepreneurs can get a startup visa. Meanwhile, Portuguese startups are starting to raise money internationally, so, therefore, punching out of their Portugal-shaped box.

Domestic VC capacity went through a period of great scarcity 2016-18, but this has greatly improved in the 2019-20 period. And international VCs, including nearby Spanish ones (K Fund, Kibo, Conexo Ventures, etc.), are taking an interest in the ecosystem, as explained by one here.

Due to the recent successes of Farfetch, Talkdesk, Outsystems, Feedzai and DefinedCrowd, among others, international investors are becoming interested in Portugal. According to investor Pedro Almeida in 2020, less than 40% of overall venture rounds had the participation of an international investor, but international investors account for over 30% of seed and pre-seed rounds.

This indicates that international investors will increasingly participate higher up the funding stack as the startups grow. Corporate VC has also become more active and professional during the period.

Key Government initiatives to stimulate the ecosystem include Startup Portugal and 200M, a 50:50 matched-funding initiative with a call option within 3-4 years at a low price point (3%-4% IRR); and the FIS social innovation fund with a 70:30 match funding initiative and a call option within 3-4 years also at a low price point.

Plus, “Portugal Tech” is the first-ever proper fund-of-funds initiative, market rules, owned by IFD (the development bank) but professionally managed by the European Investment Fund.

Unicorns emerging from the Portugal ecosystem include OutSystems; Talkdesk (which relocated its HQ to SF); and while Farfetch can claim Portuguese heritage via its founders, it’s better known as a London startup. On their way to bigger things are startups to watch like Feedzai, Codacy, BIZAY, Aptoide, Unbabel and Uniplaces.

Among the up-and-coming “new kids on the block” there are Rows, Didimo, Tonic App, SWORD Health, Barkyn, Utrust, Sensei, Vawlt, Lovys, StudentFinance, Nutrium, Reatia, LegalVision, Kitch, Rnters, kencko and YData.

Key accelerators/incubators include Beta-i, Bright Pixel, BGI (Building Global Innovators), Tec Labs, Startup Lisboa, Fábrica de Startups, Techstars Lisbon (run for two years, but now on a pause), Demium, EDP Starter, Maze X, Blue Bio Value and the Indico Pre-Seed Program.

Co-working spaces (Lisbon only) include LACS, Fintech House, Cowork Central, Second Home, Startup Lisboa, SITIO, Impact Hub and NOW_Beato. Then there is the giant “campus” style Factor Lisbon, which has happily rejiggered its plans ahead of launch to make the spaces COVID-safe.

Lisbon — and Portugal more generally — is emerging on the European and global stage as an increasingly fast-moving ecosystem that will benefit from its continued EU membership, international outlook, welcoming culture and can-do work ethic.

We talked with the following Portugal-based VCs:

• Cristina Fonseca, partner, Indico Capital Partners
• Pedro Ribeiro Santos, partner,  Armilar Venture Partners
• Tocha, partner, Olisipo Way
• Adão Oliveira, investment manager, Portugal Ventures
• Alexandre Barbosa, partner, Faber
• António Miguel, partner, Mustard Seed MAZE
• Jaime Parodi Bardón, partner, impACT NOW Capital
• Stephan Morais, partner, Indico Capital Partners
• Gavin Goldblatt, managing partner, Portugal Gateway

Cristina Fonseca, partner, Indico Capital Partners

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
Digitalization of supply chains and AI-powered decision-making processes.

What’s your latest, most exciting investment?
Digitizing beehives — honey production and pollination industry.

Are there startups that you wish you would see in the industry but don’t? What are some overlooked opportunities right now?
IoT and AI will finally come to be with 5G; time to invest is now.

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
We are going deeper in founder personality analysis pre-investment.

Which areas are either oversaturated or would be too hard to compete in at this point for a new startup? What other types of products/services are you wary or concerned about?
Digital health, fintech in general, e-commerce.

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?
Portugal mostly, Spain a bit.

Which industries in your city and region seem well-positioned to thrive, or not, long term? What are companies you are excited about (your portfolio or not), which founders?
B2B SaaS and marketplaces (sometimes a combination that creates the moat). Watch out for Barkyn, Nutrium, Unbabel, Zenklub, kencko, Consentio.

How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
Business as usual, great engineering, global ambition.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
For sure, already a reality in Portugal and Spain for some years and more to come.

Which industry segments that you invest in look weaker or more exposed to potential shifts in consumer and business behavior because of COVID-19? What are the opportunities startups may be able to tap into during these unprecedented times?
On the plus side more consumers moving to online for all needs. On the negative side startups that have SMEs as customers will continue to be impacted as will travel, proptech and fintech (because of bank reactions).

How has COVID-19 impacted your investment strategy? What are the biggest worries of the founders in your portfolio? What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now?
Cash is king, make sure you don´t run out of money and prioritize that — cost reduction, fundraising and focus on positive margins, road to zero burn.

Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
Absolutely — consumer move to online shopping and interactions has benefited almost half of our portfolio directly.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
The end of home schooling.

Any other thoughts you want to share with TechCrunch readers?
We might be back to a 2008 situation or worse, but we are better prepared this time.

 

Pedro Ribeiro Santos, partner,  Armilar Venture Partners

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
Having always invested in deep tech, we’ve been advocates of the low-code/no-code movement for more than a decade (e.g., through our early investment in OutSystems), and it’s really exciting to see all that not just becoming a reality but also expanding even further toward the “citizen developer,” with products such as dashdash, Airtable, etc.

What’s your latest, most exciting investment?
Our latest investment was in Didimo, a young company with very exciting tech to automate the creation of high-fidelity and fully animatable human avatars in just seconds and from just a photo taken with any handheld device. Traditional processes use a sequence of piecemeal technology, several hours of computer graphics artists and computational processing. Enormous range of applications, the most immediate in gaming/entertainment and retail.

Are there startups that you wish you would see in the industry but don’t? What are some overlooked opportunities right now?
Teleportation :)
More seriously, while many T&H startups are enduring the impacts of COVID, the dramatic and long-enduring effect that it will have in change of habits (e.g., in business traveling) will likely open a world of new opportunities.

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
I’ll go with the general: Tech with strong defensibility (IP) with wide market applicability.

Which areas are either oversaturated or would be too hard to compete in at this point for a new startup? What other types of products/services are you wary or concerned about?

While there are obviously several marketplaces that I wish we had invested in, I’m generally wary of that type of investment at the early stage, due to the low barriers to entry/no tech defensibility. (Of course, at the later stage, scale itself and the network effects become evident and extraordinary barriers to entry.)

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?

While we’ve been investing globally since the beginning (20 years ago), we’ve been investing closer to home as the regional-to-local (European, Southern European, Portuguese) ecosystems really started to develop. Our current flagship fund V has a defined allocation to Portugal (not just Lisbon) of more than 50%, and we currently have a smaller fund 100% dedicated to Portugal.

Which industries in your city and region seem well-positioned to thrive, or not, long term? What are companies you are excited about (your portfolio or not), which founders?
I’m biased, but I am a strong believer that Portugal is particularly well-poised to thrive in companies that are capital-light and engineering-heavy, that rely more on their proprietary tech (rather than deep pockets) to scale fast: deep tech B2B software companies. Software engineering/developer tools/DevOps/low-code tools/SW-based infrastructure spring to mind, as well as strongly grounded AI products. As Portugal still needs to fully close the loop of startup -> success -> exit -> liquidity -> reinvestment, I’m most excited about the companies that appear to be closer to that feat: OutSystems (our portfolio), Feedzai (our portfolio), Talkdesk (not our portfolio). I’m also really excited about companies less mature than those but with a very high potential, such as DefinedCrowd (not our portfolio), SWORD Health (not our portfolio), Codacy (our portfolio), dashdash (our portfolio), Didimo (our portfolio), among others that I’m surely and unfairly leaving out.
How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
Portugal is characterized by:
• Enormous talent (particularly technical) at a relatively low cost (versus most of Europe).
• A place where people want to live (security, climate, friendliness, infrastructure, languages … the list could go on).
• Where capital has historically been scarce (it has recently developed significantly, but it remains relatively scarce by any European measure), but with very meaningful local experience.
• Companies born with a global mindset (Portugal is, at best, a good pilot market) and a capital efficiency mindset (do a lot with a little).
• Resulting in a ratio of good companies (measured, e.g., in the number or value of unicorns, or any other measure) per (capita, GDP, local capital or other metric of choice) far above most European countries (OK, maybe not Romania).
The scarcity of capital has been opening up a lot of opportunities for international investors, attracted by all of the above.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
Not necessarily. Many founders come from outside Lisbon or Porto already, with the cities serving as a central focus point.
How has COVID-19 impacted your investment strategy? What are the biggest worries of the founders in your portfolio? What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now?

After the first 4-6 weeks of uncertainty, no change in the investment strategy. Biggest concerns of founders revolve around delays in buying decisions from their customers/frozen budgets. Hang tight!

Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
Yes. In many cases (except for the most critically hit arenas such as travel and hospitality), there are signs of business going back to normal.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
Many businesses that had dramatically cut their plans for 2020 are now realizing that it won’t be as bad as they had initially thought.

Tocha, partner, Olisipo Way

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
Looking for companies aiming at profitability that can become startups or businesses.

What’s your latest, most exciting investment?
Reatia.com and HunterBoards.com.

Are there startups that you wish you would see in the industry but don’t? What are some overlooked opportunities right now?
Small niches that traditionally are not big enough markets for VCs.

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
Passionate founders that want to create businesses where they want to work for the rest of their life.

Which areas are either oversaturated or would be too hard to compete in at this point for a new startup? What other types of products/services are you wary or concerned about?
Marketplaces, crypto.

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?
100% local Portuguese only.

Which industries in your city and region seem well-positioned to thrive, or not, long term? What are companies you are excited about (your portfolio or not), which founders?
Tourism, relocation.

How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
Great founders, great and affordable teams. Companies focused since day one in international markets.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
Yes.

Which industry segments that you invest in look weaker or more exposed to potential shifts in consumer and business behavior because of COVID-19? What are the opportunities startups may be able to tap into during these unprecedented times?
Tourism, restaurants and retail.

Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
Yes. All related to home delivery or remote work.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
General understanding that the pandemic is here to stay for the next 2-5 years. And it’s not a short-term issue.

Any other thoughts you want to share with TechCrunch readers?
Come to Portugal, create and invest in companies.

Adão Oliveira, investment manager, Portugal Ventures

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
At this point in time, looking forward to e-commerce, cloud and remote work solutions.

What’s your latest, most exciting investment?
Barkyn, which delivers all products and services a pet needs, online and offline, with a subscription plan. Barkyn delivers a package with personalized food (Barkyn’s private label) among other articles and access to a dedicated vet, solving two regular needs of dog owners in one single service.

Are there startups that you wish you would see in the industry but don’t? What are some overlooked opportunities right now?
It would be great to have a startup that would allow us all to keep eye contact during a video call by using software, but perhaps that’s more like a DIY project :)

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
In general? A good return on investment :) Just being funny, but serious though. As a seed/early-stage investor we naturally thrive for having a successful exit, but we do have a big focus on assisting the startups in all their initial challenges and also in securing new rounds of funding for further growing and expansion.

Which areas are either oversaturated or would be too hard to compete in at this point for a new startup? What other types of products/services are you wary or concerned about?
At this point all areas that have a tiny and small opportunity window — even if the market is big — will be having difficulties in getting funding, more than in the past. Startups that are only “marginally” improving current processes, meaning that if they are not brand new nor bringing breakthrough disruptive innovation their probability of succeeding will be too small.

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?
Portugal Ventures is focused on Portugal only.

Which industries in your city and region seem well-positioned to thrive, or not, long term? What are companies you are excited about (your portfolio or not), which founders?
Companies excited about in the portfolio:
Barkyn (founder: André Jordão), which closed a €5 million round during the pandemic and that is already present in two international markets (Italy and Spain) besides Portugal.
DefinedCrowd (founder: Daniela Braga), another company that has secured a round of fundraising in the amount of $50,5M during the pandemic.
Curiously, both founders have won the first two editions João Vasconcelos’ award for entrepreneur of the year, Daniela in 2019 and André in 2020. That’s two in a row for Portugal Ventures :)

How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
IMO, and on general terms, the main drivers for other investors to look into Lisbon but also to Portugal are the following ones:

DEVELOPED LOCAL MARKET

• Allows for business model validation at a reduced cost.
• Important entrepreneurial hubs (Lisbon, Porto, Braga and Coimbra).

AVAILABILITY OF LOW-COST TALENT AND ALSO CHEAP LIVING COSTS

• High-capital efficiency but with needs of international talent, for instance in the sales and marketing fields.

RELATIVELY LOW VALUATIONS

• Maturing ecosystem.
• Buyers’ market, meaning supply exceeds demand, giving purchasers an advantage over sellers in negotiation.

PUBLIC INCENTIVES ON INNOVATION

• Leverage the equity investment with long-term nondilutive state and regional grants, R&D tax breaks or even a matching fund like 200M.

MORE STARTUPS GROWING FASTER AND ACHIEVING HIGHER MULTIPLES

• It contributes to the creation of a real ecosystem, where network effects start to be more tangible.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
In the case of Portugal and the Lisbon hub I think it works quite on reverse. What I mean is that I envision Lisbon (and Portugal) receiving digital nomads essentially for some of the reasons I mentioned above, and the weather, never forget the weather :) Besides the quality life the country has to offer, other things will be contributing, IMO, for this inflow.

Which industry segments that you invest in look weaker or more exposed to potential shifts in consumer and business behavior because of COVID-19? What are the opportunities startups may be able to tap into during these unprecedented times?
On the downside, tourism-related ventures look definitely weaker under the current pandemic situation, which is easily understandable considering all the current restrictions. On the upper side, e-commerce as well as on-demand services have been experiencing a particularly good moment. In short, all businesses that can ride the trend of allowing a transition from the offline to the online world, preferably in untapped markets can benefit from a big window of opportunity.

How has COVID-19 impacted your investment strategy? What are the biggest worries of the founders in your portfolio? What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now?
The investment strategy hasn’t changed as we are still looking for the best opportunities and the most promising ventures. What indeed happened during Q1 and Q2 2020 was that we needed to go through all our portfolio companies and assess their exposure to the pandemic situation — it’s like protecting the family first — then make decisions on further financing to sustain operations under the uncertain times of the pandemic. This put on hold the new opportunities we were looking into. But from Q3 2020 onward we got back on track with our deal sourcing as well as investing in new startups. The biggest worries of the founders of the portfolio was the impact of COVID on business activities in general and also to try to guarantee the biggest runway possible considering the uncertainty of the times ahead.
Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
As mentioned some of them take benefit from the pandemic situation, others don’t.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
During the pandemic I closed my first fully remote deal (Barkyn) — I still haven’t met the CEO (André Jordão) in person nor even anyone from the team actually (looking forward to that!). Also participated in the TNW 2020 Conference (fully remote) as a speaker on the topic of scaling up and expanding in the Iberian Peninsula. Both “moments” made me think how the things are indeed transforming and perhaps how this way of living, making business and sharing knowledge can speed up things rather than slowing them down and also how efficient they can be, at least IMO.

Any other thoughts you want to share with TechCrunch readers?

Portugal, the next 10 years, a VC perspective: I saw the evolution from the last 10 years, and I do think that if we are able to keep the current trajectory in Portugal we will continue to stand out and impress. I think it is a mix of being ambitious but also credible and the most recent wave of entrepreneurs and founders I have been talking with seem to be better prepared than their predecessors. The other thing I do expect is that we are able to create a real ecosystem in Portugal, true ecosystems are good if network effects could be activated and also deliver positive outcomes for everyone involved, and I think we have a journey ahead of us. Last but not least, I hope that successful entrepreneurs in 5-10 years time can be able to give back to the community and share their knowledge with new startups in that time. They can do this through becoming investors themselves, that is something we see in other more mature countries happening, or simply by acting as facilitators in any type of challenges that startups will face.

Alexandre Barbosa, partner, Faber

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
Faber invests in teams transforming the world with emerging technologies and we believe data-centric startups are accelerating digital transformation and driving innovation in several industries.

We are excited about the technologies enabling resilience, intelligence, agility or automation in the enterprise world, including next-gen solutions around AI Engineering (e.g., DataOps, MLOps), NLP, explainable AI, data management, data privacy and cybersecurity. Additionally, we also see value in using proprietary data and innovative human-machine interfaces (e.g., neurotechnologies) to enable precision and/or personalization in several industries (e.g., digital health).

What’s your latest, most exciting investment?
Over the last few months we have completed four new investments out of our new AI/data-focused fund: SWORD Health, who are building the future of digital physical therapy, and three other investments (to be announced soon) around DataOps/synthetic data, neurotechnologies and explainable AI.

Are there startups that you wish you would see in the industry but don’t? What are some overlooked opportunities right now?
A growing percentage of enterprise IT budgets is being allocated to accelerating digital transition by working with data-centric startups, so there’s still significant opportunity for next-generation startups to challenge and transform the tech stack in multiple industries. Our belief is that entrepreneurship is also a core engine for a sustainable future through a combination of new business models, technology innovation and positive impact. As we are seeing in digital health, we expect to see a growing number of startups on a mission to tackle pressing societal challenges, such as climate change, through innovative applications of AI/ML/robotics to Earth science or natural resource management.

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
We are typically the first local investor in early-stage (pre-seed/seed) B2B data-driven startups primarily starting from Southern Europe to scale globally.
We look for highly specialized tech teams on a mission to transform an industry, who aim to build a diverse, balanced and inclusive culture with an open mindset, endless curiosity and relentless ambition to capture a large opportunity and conquer the world.

Which areas are either oversaturated or would be too hard to compete in at this point for a new startup? What other types of products/services are you wary or concerned about?
Within our B2B focus, startups launching undifferentiated SaaS products or with too much exposure to stressed industries should rethink their priorities.

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?
Our stage/tech specialty focus and value-add approach fill a gap in Iberia and we believe that we are now well-positioned to be investors in the next vintage of data-driven successes from Southern Europe (that typically scale up to the U.S.). In this context, we are planning to invest most of our capital in companies starting from Iberia to become a world-class benchmark, and selectively co-invest in promising teams across Europe.

Which industries in your city and region seem well-positioned to thrive, or not, long term? What are companies you are excited about (your portfolio or not), which founders?
We believe that some of the most valuable and innovative startups emerging from Southern Europe are working in the “intelligent enterprise” space and/or driving digital innovation in financial services, cybersecurity, healthcare, manufacturing, agro-food and retail industries.
We have been first local investors in companies like Unbabel, Codacy, Seedrs and EnjoyHQ, who have started their companies from Portugal and rapidly scaled up to become distributed and acknowledged innovators in their industries/market spaces (just like Feedzai, who started before Faber existed). We are obviously excited about their success and how strongly they reflect our thesis.

How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
Iberia has a solid track record of being a launch pad for a significant number of successful startups over the last 10 years. The region continues to be a magnet for talent from across Europe to blend with local talent and start a new venture, leveraging the growing maturity and specialization of the local ecosystem and its resources with a clear mindset from founders to start locally and scale up to the U.S.
Both Portugal and Spain have experienced pre-Series A investors who have historically co-invested with international VCs, a growing layer of later stage/growth capital (both local and international) and now more institutional LPs are following to get exposure to the asset class.
We strongly believe that Southern Europe will continue to produce a substantial number of innovative companies that will challenge and lead their industries at global scale, proving that the region is becoming the next emerging opportunity for venture in Europe.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
The ecosystem has been rapidly adapting and we expect to see a growing number of new companies starting with distributed teams, ready to work around market restrictions and more resilient in general.
This will hopefully lower the barriers for founders from outside major cities, but we also believe that the major hubs in the region will continue to offer a powerful combination of resources to power new companies. So we don’t see remote work and new work dynamics as detrimental to major cities, but as a facilitation of access to capital or talent and an amplification of the deal flow in the region.

Which industry segments that you invest in look weaker or more exposed to potential shifts in consumer and business behavior because of COVID-19? What are the opportunities startups may be able to tap into during these unprecedented times?
Although some industries are more exposed to the consequences of this pandemic (e.g., travel and hospitality), our investment strategy focuses on data-centric startups applying AI/ML/data science to enterprise digital transformation.
The immediate implications of C19 for business continuity, agility and performance open a realm of enterprise-grade opportunities for B2B data-driven startups that can help corporations adapt or drive innovation in their industries by leading “the new normal.”

How has COVID-19 impacted your investment strategy? What are the biggest worries of the founders in your portfolio? What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now?
Our investment strategy hasn’t changed, if anything these times have validated our thesis and our focus on teams and companies challenging their industries with innovative solutions across the data stack that can help accelerate enterprise digital transformation.
The immediate priority of our portfolio was to work with us and our co-investors in ensuring solid runways, quickly adjusting go-to-market strategies to focus on less-exposed industries or longer sales cycles and, in general, review priorities and plan/prepare for uncertain times ahead. Fortunately the overall balance is currently positive, with the vast majority of our portfolio growing this year.

Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
Yes, so far the overall portfolio has been adapting and overcoming this challenge with a better performance than initially expected (in several cases with significant YoY growth), demonstrating that B2B/cloud/data-centric startups are more resilient and necessary.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
As in previous downturns, it is always invigorating and encouraging to see the audacity and the resolve of a new generation of entrepreneurs turning difficulty into opportunity and launching their ventures to challenge the status quo and build a better future.
Over the last months and despite these current times, we have been fortunate to witness this kind of long-term sight across a growing number of mission-driven founders and investors, alongside a vibrant momentum at technical universities and research institutions.
Together with the collective behavior and determination to adapt to and overcome this pandemic, we believe the entrepreneurial signs are strong enough to offer hope for the future.

Any other thoughts you want to share with TechCrunch readers?
Stay tuned for the next generation of startups arising from Southern Europe, the ecosystem is maturing fast and there’s a large number of new teams working around innovative applications of AI/engineering/deep tech in the region.

António Miguel, partner, Mustard Seed MAZE

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
Sharing economy (more linked to circularity, like rental solutions); elderly care; skills development (requalification at scale post-COVID); female tech.

What’s your latest, most exciting investment?
Investment in a femtech business that is offering people who bleed with superior menstruation products and using a tech-enabled platform to be a full-spectrum companion across all period cycles.

Are there startups that you wish you would see in the industry but don’t? What are some overlooked opportunities right now?
Elderly care is ripe for disruption despite being talked about for some years; I wish I would see more on specific female health topics (e.g., menopause); overlooked opportunities include areas like environmental footprint of e-commerce and online to offline solutions given that people are now craving more than ever for meaningful connections.

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
A strong impact thesis through a lockstep model where the creation of social/environmental impact is the driver of top line.

Which areas are either oversaturated or would be too hard to compete in at this point for a new startup? What other types of products/services are you wary or concerned about?
Sustainable consumption apps and carbon footprint personal tracking; urban mobility.

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?
50% in local ecosystem; 50% all Europe (EU and non-EU).

Which industries in your city and region seem well-positioned to thrive, or not, long term? What are companies you are excited about (your portfolio or not), which founders?
Well-positioned to thrive: Blue economy ventures; elderly care ventures; food tech.
Not well-positioned to thrive: Consumer businesses.
Companies I’m excited about: Hopin; StudentFinance.

How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
Portugal is a great place to find price-competitive talent and an excellent location to be a first second-market for European businesses given its size, small distance between product and market (and therefore faster feedback loops) and sophistication of users.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
Definitely. Take Lisbon as an example: Every week I learn about a founder or investor moving to Lisbon as a way to move out of U.K./Germany/France/U.S. as a result of the pandemic. The local ecosystem has never been so cosmopolitan and diverse.

How has COVID-19 impacted your investment strategy? What are the biggest worries of the founders in your portfolio? What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now?
Impact in our strategy: de minimis. Our strategy is focused on the belief that the most successful businesses are those that profit whilst solving social and environmental issues. COVID has only corroborated the need for such businesses. If anything, we have just invested more earlier tickets given the nature of fundraising in Q2 and Q3 of 2020.
Worries of founders: fundraising amidst uncertain times; how much of current traction is an indication of future traction versus a time-constrained trend (e.g., D2C revival as a distribution channel).
Advice: execution first and foremost; double down on stakeholder management, especially with super clients, partners and investors.

Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
Yes, especially because our portfolio is exclusively based on companies that generate revenues by solving social and/or environmental challenges. As a result, during and post-pandemic, demand for their solutions has increased.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
Hearing Michael Seibel saying that social impact is the biggest trend he has seen in the last YC batch.

Any other thoughts you want to share with TechCrunch readers?
Thanks for what you do for the venture ecosystem in general!

Jaime Parodi Bardón, partner, impACT NOW Capital

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
Our focus is impact investing and social innovation. Startups tackling the challenges that are at the heart of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

What’s your latest, most exciting investment?
We are currently structuring our first VC fund, which hopefully will be up and running in the beginning of 2021.

Are there startups that you wish you would see in the industry but don’t? What are some overlooked opportunities right now?
We expect to see an imminent development at the intersection between business, impact and technology … potentially through an emerging vertical: impact tech. It is still an immature field but it is rapidly gaining awareness and traction from entrepreneurs and investors.

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
We are looking for startups developing technology as a way to solve problems at the core of the UN SDGs agenda and/or using it as a channel to scale their solutions faster. These startups must create societal or environmental impact while producing financial performance. Personally, I want to see AI and blockchain as a force for good.

Which areas are either oversaturated or would be too hard to compete in at this point for a new startup? What other types of products/services are you wary or concerned about?
In the impact landscape there is still plenty of room to grow. There are many local initiatives that are not sustainable nor scalable. It is needed to professionalize the commercialization of these initiatives (through products and services) to make them sustainable (and profitable), and incorporate technology in order to make them scalable.

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?
Our plan is to invest 50% in Iberia (it includes Portugal, our local ecosystem, and Spain) and 50% between Europe and CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries).

Which industries in your city and region seem well-positioned to thrive, or not, long term? What are companies you are excited about (your portfolio or not), which founders?
The Portuguese government, through the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), is supporting social innovation and stimulating the impact economy. We are observing a significant development in areas such as healthcare and well-being (SDG #3), education (SDG #4), clean energy (SDG #7), and sustainable cities and communities (SDG #11). We have also seen great initiatives working in other fields such as responsible consumption and production, climate action and inequalities reduction. However, it is still not enough to meet the societal and environmental demands. We need to feel the sense of urgency and understand the dramatic consequences of not tackling these challenges on time.

How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
Lisbon is a vibrating startup ecosystem. Investors from other countries are conscious of that and keep a good relation with the city and its ecosystem. Lisbon holds relevant entrepreneurial and investment events with Web Summit at the forefront. In addition, the Social Innovation Fund is creating opportunities for foreign investors to invest in Portuguese impact startups.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
The increasing adoption of remote work tools during the pandemic has only accelerated the trend that was already in place. Lisbon was already a hub for entrepreneurs and digital nomads (not only working for Portuguese startups but global ones). It is possible that current big cities as startup hubs are losing people now while virtual communities are gaining ground. That would contribute to a more delocalized VC industry. However, in my opinion, the human touch is very important and physical events are a big part of building a community, so as soon as they are back, people will be attracted to them.

Which industry segments that you invest in look weaker or more exposed to potential shifts in consumer and business behavior because of COVID-19? What are the opportunities startups may be able to tap into during these unprecedented times?
The pandemic has aggravated some of the challenges already present in the UN SDGs agenda. Apart from the obvious devastating health outcomes, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the surface the weaknesses of the, until now, reducing inequalities efforts. On the other side, it is offering a great momentum and opportunity to review the concept of humanity through core values, population solidarity or global collaboration … all of them empowered by the digital transformation and adoption. The UN SDG agenda is not a choice but a must. Any startup that is able to implement a profitable and scalable business model addressing one of the challenges at the core of any of the SDGs will have a great opportunity to thrive in the medium and long term. In the short term, we can see a faster lane for these startups that keep a broader vision for the future while executing a narrower mission focused on solving problems related to COVID-19 itself.

How has COVID-19 impacted your investment strategy? What are the biggest worries of the founders in your portfolio? What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now?
COVID-19 has brought even more sense of urgency in solving the problems already identified by the UN. Our investment strategy has not changed but has been reinforced by the current situation.

Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
Since we don’t have an official portfolio yet we can not answer completely this question. What we have seen so far, in our prospects, is the creation of new markets and extension of the existing ones thanks to the aforementioned digital transformation/adoption. In addition, the increasing awareness of the consumer about the societal and environmental challenges together with the sense of responsibility in its purchasing behavior has lead to new and revolutionary revenue streams.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
It might sound cliché but the recent birth of my baby girl gives me even more energy to help build a better future.

Any other thoughts you want to share with TechCrunch readers?
We would like to keep on encouraging entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, governments and the rest of the ecosystem stakeholders to work together in finding formulas that create significant impact and financial benefits.

Stephan Morais, partner, Indico Capital Partners

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
SaaS solutions, AI applications, digital health, data monetization, IoT SaaS platforms, engineered biology, marketplaces.

What’s your latest, most exciting investment?
Nutrium, a digital health platform that serves 800,000 nutrition patients and aims to put together dietitians, patients and their appointments, including wellness data and products and supplements.

Are there startups that you wish you would see in the industry but don’t? What are some overlooked opportunities right now?
Still many traditional areas and industries to digitize. AI is in its first stages in most industries so we need to address these traditional large opportunities.

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
We look for great founders that can actually be good leaders and CEOs. That’s a combination of vision, being able to take advantage of the market opportunity and having the necessary resilience to break the necessary barriers to create a success case. Additionally, teams need to be very good technically.

Which areas are either oversaturated or would be too hard to compete in at this point for a new startup? What other types of products/services are you wary or concerned about?
Food delivery, most e-commerce and SaaS for SMEs and startups. Given the saturation and competition in the advertising space, everything that depends on that to get off the ground is challenging.

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?
We are 100% focused on Portugal and Spain.

Which industries in your city and region seem well-positioned to thrive, or not, long term? What are companies you are excited about (your portfolio or not), which founders?
B2B SaaS companies: Unbabel, InnovationCast, Infraspeak, Onalytics.
AI and deep tech: Feedzai, Smartex, Cleverly.ai, Sound Particles.
Digital health: Nutrium, Zenklub, SWORD Health, Tonic App.
Fintech: StudentFinance, Switch Payments.
Consumer: Barkyn, EatTasty, Pleasy Play.
Digitalization of traditional industries: BitCliq, Apis Tech.

How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
In regards to Portugal, the ecosystem still has room to evolve. Most of the opportunities are in the early stage and the majority of the rounds are below €1 million. International investors should partner with local players in the early stages.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
Portugal has been very attractive to international companies that have setup local offices in the past years to take advantage of the great technical talent available. The safety and lifestyle also makes the country attractive for nomads and remote workers, as well as senior executives that are willing to relocate here with their families. As more people work remotely, Portugal is expected to become even more of a destination for tech workers and startups.

Which industry segments that you invest in look weaker or more exposed to potential shifts in consumer and business behavior because of COVID-19? What are the opportunities startups may be able to tap into during these unprecedented times?
Some industries like travel, hospitality and aviation are clearly suffering and some of our companies addressing these sectors have been impacted. We expect that to persist for the next couple of months.
Other sectors are booming like online deliveries, automation of processes and team sync and communication.

How has COVID-19 impacted your investment strategy? What are the biggest worries of the founders in your portfolio? What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now?
We focused the last months in making sure our portfolio had enough runway for the next year. We know cash is king, companies need to balance that with executing on their vision, taking advantage of the current opportunities.

Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
Definitely. In some sectors, tech has been fundamental in keeping the society working and companies productive.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
Lots of successful companies in the U.S. were created by European founders, and some of them are returning to their home countries, which will generate a very positive impact! There will be a lot of interesting companies coming out of Europe in the coming years.

Any other thoughts you want to share with TechCrunch readers?
Europe has so much to do to catch up — severe lack of depth in the availability of capital still makes companies move to the U.S. after Series B.

Gavin Goldblatt, managing partner, Portugal Gateway

What trends are you most excited about investing in, generally?
Energy and fintech, particularly around mobile money.

What are you looking for in your next investment, in general?
A proven management team and proven product with international expansion potential.

How much are you focused on investing in your local ecosystem versus other startup hubs (or everywhere) in general? More than 50%? Less?
Less.

How should investors in other cities think about the overall investment climate and opportunities in your city?
Lisbon provides fantastic work-life balance and low startup and living costs as well as a good supply of skills. As a result it is likely to benefit from the recent COVID-inspired move away from more established startup hubs in less desirable locations.

Do you expect to see a surge in more founders coming from geographies outside major cities in the years to come, with startup hubs losing people due to the pandemic and lingering concerns, plus the attraction of remote work?
Yes.

Which industry segments that you invest in look weaker or more exposed to potential shifts in consumer and business behavior because of COVID-19? What are the opportunities startups may be able to tap into during these unprecedented times?
Too early to tell. Obviously tourism and many services have been negatively impacted, but even in these areas innovators are taking advantage of the disruption to position themselves well if there is a recovery (and a release of pent-up demand) post-vaccine.

How has COVID-19 impacted your investment strategy? What are the biggest worries of the founders in your portfolio? What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now?
Surprisingly, the net result has been positive across our portfolio with significant opportunities arising. Turmoil and change bring opportunity,
Are you seeing “green shoots” regarding revenue growth, retention or other momentum in your portfolio as they adapt to the pandemic?
Yes.

What is a moment that has given you hope in the last month or so? This can be professional, personal or a mix of the two.
All of our investments are outperforming budget and expectations this year.

Cable or fiber. For the vast majority of American homes, there’s no choice of how customers get their internet access. If you’re lucky to live in some dense urban areas with amenable landlords, that ‘or’ might become an ‘and.’ Yet, as more and more people rely on the internet for more than just cat photos (and after recent events, maybe rely on cat photos as well for sustenance), it seems obvious the market needs more choice and competition.

Utah-based WeLink wants to be that alternative. Taking advantage of advances in 5G in the millimeter spectrum as well as rapidly declining hardware costs, the startup is pioneering a mesh network of wireless base stations that can transmit high-bandwidth signals across entire neighborhoods at relatively cheap infrastructure installation costs.

It’s a paradigm that caught the eye of investors, with Digital Alpha Advisors, a long-time telecom VC with close ties to Cisco, investing $185 million into the company in equity as well as a debt facility in exchange for revenue share (sort of the hardware version of SaaS securitization). It dubbed the latter an “outcome-based financial structure.” Rick Shrotri and Neil Sheridan from Digital Alpha will join WeLink’s board.

The startup was founded by CEO Kevin Ross and CTO Ahsan Naim in 2018. Ross had been interested in wireless internet since 2005, but the technology was early — and very expensive. “I was twenty years ahead of my time or [maybe] fifteen years, and so it was an exercise in frustration waiting for the technology to actually commercialize,” Ross said. He built one company in the space, eventually selling it to Vivint, a smart home company that was owned by Blackstone and which went through a reverse merger with a SoftBank unit last year for $6.5 billion. The buyer at Vivint was Luke Langford, who left to work on another startup called Lucid Software before joining WeLink more recently as president and COO.

Now, wireless internet has been a story many of us have followed for more than a decade, with few notable success stories. Ross is convinced though that the combination of reliable millimeter-wave 5G (at around 60-70 Ghz) plus dramatically cheaper hardware costs has finally opened the door to high-quality wireless internet for the first time. (It’s probably good to note that TechCrunch is editorially independent from our ultimate parent company Verizon, which obviously has a fiber customer or two).

WeLink’s technology uses a mesh architecture, which means that signals can be bounced between different base stations as necessary throughout a neighborhood in order to reach a “point of presence” station with a fiber connection. For the typical single-family home installation, a small base station (Ross says about four inches by four inches) is installed on the roof “similar to a satellite dish” and a single cable is run down to connect to the home’s router or Wi-Fi station.

Ross says that WeLink doesn’t need a lot of density to reach ubiquity. “We don’t need much — a couple of percentage points in a neighborhood of take rate … and that actually ends up giving us blanket coverage. What happens is we will typically get north of 5% very quickly.” Once a neighborhood has an ever higher rate of, say, 10%, “ There’s so much redundancy there,” Ross said. The company says it offers “Up to 940 Mbps Download/Upload,” although of course, your mileage will vary in reality. That bandwidth is symmetrical unlike cable internet, which should be good for video broadcasting and large file uploads in this remote-work world.

He also noted that the company doesn’t need a lot of approvals from cities in order to launch, which has historically been a large barrier to new internet connectivity startups. “There’s no permitting required other than at our fiber points of presence where we’re broadcasting from, but those are minimal.”

WeLink’s first launch neighborhoods are in Henderson, Nevada outside Las Vegas, and the company is expanding into Arizona with installations in Tucson and Phoenix. The company intends to expand to ten markets in the coming years. Ideal markets tend to be suburban neighborhoods and subdivisions where there is enough density to make the mesh network work but with a built environment that doesn’t prevent line-of-sight between antennas. “We’re kind of primarily focused on bedroom communities, the doughnut around the urban core in big cities,” Ross said.

Pricing is $80 per month on a month-to-month plan, and $70 per month with a two-year contract. After two years, the price drops $10 per month in what Ross described as a “loyalty discount.”

On the investment side, Langford the COO noted Digital Alpha Advisors’ Cisco connections as a key consideration for the company. “There is an affiliation with Cisco, and being an internet service provider, it’s nice to be able to punch above our own weight as a startup and still have dialogue with the leaders in networking technology so certainly that was something that was attractive to us,” he said. “They were comfortable with a business that has atoms, not just bits.” As for the debt model, Langford said that “There’s some advantages to not having as much dilution … but also have capital to make sure that we can go add customers.“

Obviously there are other internet wireless startups out there, the most prominent these days given its backer being satellite-based ISP Starlink. Ross noted that he doesn’t really see the company as a competitor, since WeLink’s bandwidth is significantly higher and more reliable given its 5G mesh architecture. He sees Starlink competing much more heavily for the rural market, where many other internet connectivity technologies like cable and fiber are less viable.

It’s a lot of venture money, a serious bet in the 5G space, and hopefully for families fighting on Zoom for pixels, an opportunity to get more competition for high-bandwidth internet.

Mandy Price was already a highly successful lawyer in private practice before she took the jump into entrepreneurship alongside two co-founders to launch Kanarys a little over one year ago.

The Harvard Law School graduated didn’t have to start her company, which helps businesses measure the efficacy of their diversity and inclusion efforts using hard data, but she needed to start the company.

Now, a year after its launch, the company counts companies like Yum Brands, the Dallas Mavericks, and Neiman Marcus among the dozen or so companies using its service and has $3 million in seed funding to help it expand.

For Price, the drive to launch Kanarys came from her own experiences working in law. It wasn’t the microagressions, or the lower pay, or casually dismissive attitude of colleagues toward her well-earned success that led Price to start Kanarys, but the knowledge that her experience wasn’t unique and that thousands of other women and minorities faced the same experiences daily.

“I have had many things happen to me in the workplace that is similar to what many other women and women of color have dealt with and didn’t want to have my children have to go through similar issues,” Price said. 

So alongside her husband, Bennie King (himself a serial entrepreneur in the Dallas area), and her University of Texas at Austin and Harvard classmate, Star Carter, Price launched Kanarys in late 2019.

The company uses Equal Employment Opportunity reports and assessments of various policies involving promotion, recruitment, and benefits to track how a company is performing in relation to its industry peers.

“A lot of the inequities we see are from a structural and systemic standpoint. That is where Kanarys can see how they’re perpetuating inequity,” Price said. 

Kanarys starts with an independent assessment of a company’s policies and practices and then conducts quarterly surveys with employees of its customers to see how well they are meeting their stated goals and objectives. They also integrate with existing human resources systems to track things like pay equity and promotions.

The service has attracted the attention of the Rise of the Rest fund, Morgan Stanley, Jigsaw Ventures, Segal Ventures and Zeal Capital Partners, which led the company’s $3 million seed round.

“Organizations have typically tried to address this with individual interventions,” said Price. “What we’re saying is we have to address it on both fronts. So much of the inequities that we see are based off of institutional and systemic policies and practices.”

Not only does Kanarys track information on diversity and inclusion efforts for customers, but for job seekers there’s a database of about 1,000 companies which operates like Glassdoor . The focus is not just on worker satisfaction, but on how employees view the diversity efforts their employers are undertaking.

Notably, Kanarys founders join the (far-too-few) ranks of Black entrepreneurs launching businesses and raising venture capital. In 2017, studies showed that 98 percent of venture capital raised in the U.S. went to men, according to data provided by the company. Black entrepreneurs in general receive less than one percent of venture capital, and Black women founders make up only 0.6 percent of venture capital funding raised. 

“We know that a focus on DEI in business is not just the right thing to do for employees, it also makes good business sense,” said Price, CEO and co-founder of Kanarys, in a statement. “Kanarys’ DEI data arms companies, for the first time, to make precise, immediate, and informed decisions using real, intersectional metrics around their diversity goals and inclusion programs that ultimately drive bottom-line business objectives.”

 

Leave it to Lenovo to give the world a swiveling all-in-one. It’s kind of the company’s M.O. – not always the most necessary or practical, but never not interesting. When it comes to fairly staid product categories like this, I’m all for trying something a little weird. And hey, in a world of convertible and two-in-one the devices, the big, heavy AIO has always been a hold out.

Let’s start with the why here.

I suppose there at least a handful of reason you would want a vertical screen. If, say, you’re a journalist who endless scrolls through news feeds. Though, honestly, the idea of looking at Twitter on a vertical 27-inch 4K display makes me break out into a cold sweat these days. Like the swiveling Samsung TV before it, the form factor allows you view content in portrait mode a la your handset.

And like the Sero, it’s hard to imagine too many users deeming such a feature necessary. I could probably see myself using it one or twice a year. It might also be a bonus while doing spring cleaning. Of course, there’s always the possibility that opening a new screen orientation option could go a ways toward adapting your workflow.

Maybe.

All in all it’s not a bad looking all-in-one. The 4K screen includes some solid color features, per Lenovo,

Yoga AIO 7 affords peerless 4K visuals and more authentic colors than you’ve ever seen before on screen through the 99% Adobe RGB color gamut and a hyperrealistic DCI-P3 99% color space. It’s also designed in accordance with professional-grade display requirements, adopting DC dimming, carrying Flicker-Free and Low Blue Light dual certifications from TUV Rheinland and OSD functionality to facilitate display settings.

You can cast your mobile device directly to the desktop, which is mostly where the rotating screen comes in. It ships with 16 or 32GB of RAM, and between 256GB-1TB of solid state storage. There’s also a standard hard drive option that comes in either 1 or 2TB.

It’s available now in China and will hit additional markets next month, priced at $1,599. North America may or may not ultimately be one of those markets.