SOSV Climate Tech Podcast

This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences).

In this episode, Manish talks about:

• The growing local deep tech scene
• How pi Ventures met over 1,100 companies over 3 years to make 11 investments
• The attractive opportunities in the market
• His approach to deep tech investment and 'bottom-up investing'
• The problem with asking experts who are naturally skeptical
• Why India is a great place to build healthcare startups
• The left shift of the flatter S-curve in deep tech
• The cultural shift in the acceptance of startups
• The emergence of global players Made in India.

Resources & Companies Mentioned:

• Manish's article on the Indian Deep Tech startup ecosystem (Medium)
• Pandorum Technologies: artificial cornea
• Niramai: non-invasive detection of breast cancer (coverage in Entrepreneur)
• Agnikul: low-cost space launchers (coverage in Inc42)
• Locus: supply chain decision-making engine
• Wysa: AI Chat for mental health that makes you feel heard
• Raybaby: advanced non-contact baby monitor that detects breathing
• Cradlewise: smart crib that detects wake-up and soothes the baby to sleep
• Unbox Robotics: robots for package sorting

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In this episode, Daniel Månsson, a clinical psychologist and CEO of Flow Neuroscience (a SOSV portfolio company), explains how they are bringing the first medication-free depression treatment to the home of patients.

This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe (@benjaminjoffe), Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (hard tech) and IndieBio (new biotech).To hear about new episodes, sign up to the newsletter or follow us on twitter at @LabToMarket or @SOSV.

For other resources covering digital health, check out SOSV’s videos on our YouTube channel.

OVERVIEW

Our conversation covers:

• The origins of Flow Neuroscience.
• How they created the first certified at-home device to treat depression using tDCS.
• The impact of Covid-19 on mental health.
• The technology spectrum of mental health, from wellness apps to invasive brain stimulation.
• The brain stimulation alphabet soup: ECS, TMS, tDCS and DBS.
• What Apple, Google, but also Amazon and Elon Musk’s Neuralink are doing.
• Other startups in mental health diagnostics or treatment for anxiety, stress, depression and more.
• The current push for remote patient monitoring and treatment.
• The role of regulators to ensure both a positive effect of treatment and the safety of patients.
• What’s ahead for Flow and their current expansion plans.

Other References

• ECT: electroconvulsive therapy ('shock therapy'). ECT was invented in Italy in the late 1930s. Psychiatrists had already discovered that inducing seizures could relieve symptoms of mental illness (Source: Psychology Today). ECT remains the single most effective therapy for treatment-resistant cases of depression and some cases of bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia. Today, it is a widely accepted treatment for serious mental disorders and is taught and practiced at hospitals throughout the world. It is estimated that one million people receive ECT annually (Leiknes, Schweder, & Høie, 2012). (Source: Psychology Today).
• TMS: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. TMS is typically used when other depression treatments haven't been effective. Source: Mayo Clinic.
• tDCS: transCranial Direct Current Stimulation. tDCS is currently the only brain stimulation technique that doesn’t require a physician prescription, and can be used in the privacy of one’s own home. Due to the simplicity of the technology, tDCS can be incredibly affordable. While the FDA has not yet approved tDCS for medical use, tDCS devices have been publicly available as experimental kits for nearly a decade.
• DBS: — Deep Brain Stimulation. Deep brain stimulation involves implanting electrodes within certain areas of your brain. These electrodes produce electrical impulses that regulate abnormal impulses. Source: Mayo Clinic.
• DSM-5: Fifth update of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). ...

• Seth is a long-time advocate and campaigner, who turned to technology and investment to solve the world’s biggest problems around sustainability, food, and the digital divide.
• A graduate of Y Combinator, Seth was named twice to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Entrepreneurship.
• Seth believes business will be about more than just profit (more here), and Fifty Years has supported a range of startups shaping the world for the better — from microbe engineering for sustainable chemistry, to small satellites for low-cost global internet coverage, to clean meat.

This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences). SOSV and Fifty Years have co-invested in several companies mentioned in this podcast such as Memphis Meats (clean meat pioneer, raised $181m), Geltor (synthetic human collagen) and Catalog DNA.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Seth talks about:

• What prompted him to create a fund focused on the world’s biggest problems, and how its name relates to Winston Churchill’s prophetic 1931 essay titled Fifty Years Hence.
• How Silicon Valley needs to go back to its roots: focusing on technology to lift all sectors — including food, industry and healthcare — to the digital age.
• Why biology is having its ‘Internet time’.
• The challenges PhDs face when they become founders to translate their research.
• How magnetic, resourceful, resilient doers are founders with high potential.
• His approach to opportunistic investments in deep tech.
• Using publication research for initial technical due diligence in new domains.
• The benefits of portfolio network effects.
• Finally, we discuss the affects of the Covid-19 pandemic on venture, and the silver lining of how such an intense global events might give rise to major scientific advances in a compressed timeframe .

References Mentioned

• Fifty Years Hence, a 1931 essay by Winston Churchill
• The Fifty Years portfolio companies tackling Covid-19
• Memphis Meats: clean meat pioneer, raised $181m.
• Geltor: synthetic human collagen.
• Catalog DNA: DNA-based data storage.
• Astranis: smaller & low-cost satellites for global internet coverage.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (7 Seasons on Netflix)
• Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter

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Are there ways to accelerate that transformation? Australia set up Main Sequence Ventures (@mseqvc) as a AU$240M (about US$170M) deep tech fund backed by the CSIRO and private investors, to target that opportunity notably in domains such as ag-tech, synthetic biology, quantum and space (the CSIRO is the Australia’s federal government agency responsible for scientific research).

This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences). To hear about new episodes, sign up to the newsletter or follow us on twitter at @LabToMarket.

For other episodes on foreign deep tech ecosystems, check out India and Japan.

OVERVIEW

In this episode, Phil Morle (@philmorle), partner and long-time pioneer of the country’s startup scene (wikipedia), explains the commonalities he found between entrepreneurs and scientists, how the fund extended its investment domains and helps compress development timelines.

He closes with thoughts on the tough year it has been with fires, drought and Covid, and how returns and impact now go hand in hand, from responding to new threats, feeding the planet, to delivering healthcare at scale.

Before Main Sequence Ventures, Phil had three lives:

• He spent a decade as a theatre director, learning how to create things from scratch.
• Another decade with startups including as CTO of Kazaa — the then-dominant P2P file-sharing service,
• And another as the founder of Australia’s first Silicon Valley-style startup incubator, called Pollenizer, where he also advised numerous organizations including the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) on setting up their own incubators.
• He was then tapped by the CSIRO to set up a fund to support the translation of Australian research into commercial applications, including the output of CSIRO’s 3,500 scientists.

Among the lessons learned:

• How he got scientists to grow an entrepreneurial mindset.
• How to look for early proof points for the whole company.
• How spending too long in the science exclusively sends weak signals into the market.
• How deal creation is more valuable than mere deal assessment and de-risking.
• How they designed a plant-based meat company, assembled a team, and got a product to market in 9 months only.
• How bridge-building between scientific domains, business expertise and geographies is crucial to startup success.
• How Covid-19 has lit a fire in the innovation ecosystem.

PREVIOUS EPISODES

• Habib Haddad and Calvin Chin (E14 Fund of MIT Media Lab) on Funding Science Fiction That Works
• Robert Gallenberger (btov Partners) on How to Select Industrial Partners
• Xavier Duportet (Eligo Bioscience & Hello Tomorrow) on Science Entrepreneurship