S6: E7. Advice from a Deep Tech Super Angel ft. Francesco Perticarari (Silicon Roundabout Ventures)

09/05/24 • 57 min

Francesco Perticarari is a deep tech super angel, community leader and founder of Silicon Roundabout Ventures. SRV's mission is to back entrepreneurs who are to shape the next-generation of technology and to provide superior returns to investors through venture capital funds. They do this by capturing the explosive growth of early-stage deep tech startups in the UK.

Across this series we will be discussing the challenges around scaling deep tech solutions within climate. I’ll be speaking to Investors, Founders, Venture Builders and other key ecosystem players all focused on scaling and commercialising groundbreaking, deep tech innovations.

We will explore how to prepare for the challenges that deep tech companies often face around fundraising, scaling, team building and commercialisation; and we’ll hear from stories of those who have successfully scaled to Series A and beyond.

Video versions of this and previous episodes are available here.

1:46 - Francesco’s journey from computer science to investment

4:02 - Francesco’s work establishing a 15k-strong deep tech community across Europe before setting up the fund

6:05 - Why is deep tech a good investment?

10:29 - What was it like raising your first solo VC fund?

15:07 - What are you looking for in a good investment prospect?

18:04 - What is your due diligence process like?

22:31 - Why do you think Europe has such good potential for deep tech and do you think Europe is well-positioned to support from a wider ecosystem perspective?

28:12 - How Israel has supported tech founders and what we can learn from them.

30:57 - What would you like people to understand about the risk level within deep tech, and how to mitigate it?

35:08 - What do your portfolio companies have in common, whether that’s themes, founding teams, the problems they’re solving etc.?

41:15 - What support does Silicon roundabout offer to founders and why are you a good person to have on the cap table?

45:33 - Why have you decided to build your fund in public?

49:07 - How have you found 2024 for deep tech investment and how do you see the market developing in 2025 and beyond?

53:40 - What are you excited about for the rest of the year and how can people get in touch with you?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Video versions of this and previous episodes are available here.

1:46 - Francesco’s journey from computer science to investment

4:02 - Francesco’s work establishing a 15k-strong deep tech community across Europe before setting up the fund

6:05 - Why is deep tech a good investment?

10:29 - What was it like raising your first solo VC fund?

15:07 - What are you looking for in a good investment prospect?

18:04 - What is your due diligence process like?

22:31 - Why do you think Europe has such good potential for deep tech and do you think Europe is well-positioned to support from a wider ecosystem perspective?

28:12 - How Israel has supported tech founders and what we can learn from them.

30:57 - What would you like people to understand about the risk level within deep tech, and how to mitigate it?

35:08 - What do your portfolio companies have in common, whether that’s themes, founding teams, the problems they’re solving etc.?

41:15 - What support does Silicon roundabout offer to founders and why are you a good person to have on the cap table?

45:33 - Why have you decided to build your fund in public?

49:07 - How have you found 2024 for deep tech investment and how do you see the market developing in 2025 and beyond?

53:40 - What are you excited about for the rest of the year and how can people get in touch with you?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

S6: E6. Commercialisation Advice from a CCO for Deep Tech in Climate ft. Dave Wardell (measurable.energy)

I’m joined by Dave Wardell, Chief Commercial Officer at measurable.energy, a company working to eliminate wasted energy in buildings via their combination of hardware and software. Dave is responsible for commercial operations, from marketing awareness, lead generation and business development to onboarding and customer satisfaction.

Video versions of this and previous episodes are available here.

https://measurable.energy/

1:51 - About measurable.energy, who is the solution for and what problem is it solving?

3:55 - Dave’s career journey to where he is today

4:59 - Where measurable.energy was with product market fit at the point Dave joined, just post-Series A

6:48 - How things at ME have evolved commercially over the year since Dave joined

10:50 - What is the software element that combines with the hardware of ME?

12:55 - What have the difference been over your career as you’ve moved from pure software and SaaS into a hardware-software blend?

15:23 - Do customers have a view of the ME software platform and data?

18:10 - What is the focus at ME post-Series A?

20:40 - What should pre-Series A businesses be thinking about from a commercial perspective?

23:31 - At what point should a commercial leader be brought in if there isn’t one within the founding team? And at what point does a sales function need to be established?

26:13 - Where are you currently at ME and what are the future plans?

29:22 - What changes could there be from a wider economic or regulation landscape perspective that could remove blockers for companies trying to scale?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

S6: E8. Advice from an Early-stage VC in Climate ft. Dr. Luke Charbonnier-Bevan (Zinc VC)

I’m joined by Dr. Luke Charbonnier-Bevan from Zinc, an inception stage, impact-led investor. They invest at the start of new ventures that are tackling some of the most pressing and complex problems facing the health of people and the planet.

Video versions of this and previous episodes are available here.

1:49 - What is Zinc and what are the different arms of it?

3:30 - How is Zinc different to other VCs?

6:07 - If you come across founders with a good idea but it needs a bit of work before you write that first cheque, do you put them through the venture builder first?

9:08 - How does Zinc support with helping deep tech companies to access lab space to develop their products?

11:32 - What are Zinc looking for in investments?

14:07 - What support do you offer companies when the founding team perhaps aren’t working so well together?

16:59 - Do you think it’s better to invest in an A team with a B idea, than a B team with an A idea?

20:02 - How much deep tech are you starting to see come through the venture builder?

22:44 - How does the mix of stages of companies affect the community of the venture builder, because everyone is at different points in their journey?

25:58 - What are the most common risk factors you see when assessing deep tech propositions, and how could founders start to counter those risks?

28:58 - How good do you think the UK is at supporting commercialisation of spin outs?

34:03 - Technical risk in deep tech across the technical readiness scale

35:25 - What investors want to see for deep tech

37:08 - How do you show that a deep tech company is scalable?

40:07 - At pre-seed stage, what minimum level of commercial traction would you expect a company to be able to demonstrate?

44:42 - What locations does Zinc invest in, UK-only or European too?

45:50 - What are you excited about for the rest of the year and 2025?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.