Female Foundry Week 128: Just a mirage. On acquisition loops. The Future of Venture is Here. Going evergreen. Community Fundraising Roundup.
Welcome to The Week 128, 2024 Edition of the Female Foundry newsletter!
Female Foundry - the future of venture is here.
In the news
Another fantastic fundraising week for European female entrepreneurs!
UK-based Runware, co-founded by Ioana Hreninciuc, picks up a $3m Pre-seed round from several investors including from A16Z’s, to scale its AI-driven media generation platform; London-based Dexory, co-founded by Oana Andreea Jinga, secures an $80m Series B round led by DTCP to develop AI-powered warehouse automation; UK-based Fido, co-founded by Victoria Edwards, bags a Series B round led by CRH Ventures to scale its water technology; Ukraine-based S.Labs, co-founded by Julia Bialetska, lands $100k in equity-free funding from Google as part of the Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund to provide green packaging solutions; German Sirius, co-founded by Charlotte Dryander, lands a €4m round led by Market One Capital for its online music school; UK-based fintech Carmoola, co-founded by Amy Rushby, fetches a £100m debt deal with NatWest to lower second-hand car rates; Scotish Resolution Therapeutics, co-founded by Lara Campana, bags a £63.5m Series B round led by Syncona for its macrophage cell therapy to treat inflammatory organ disease; Cambridge-based LoQus23 Therapeutics, co-founded by Caroline L. Benn and Ruth McKernan, land a £35m Series A led by Forbion for its small molecule somatic expansion inhibition therapy for Huntington’s disease; Dutch startup Everday, co-founded by Estefania Hernandez, picks up a €300k Pre-Seed round led by Builders Studio to tackle the growing skills shortage; Vilnus-based AMLYZE, co-founded by Jekaterina Govina, picks up a €2.35m Seed round led by Practica Capital for its regtech SaaS solution; UK-based Datamaran, co-founded by Marjella Lecourt-Alma, raises a €30m Series C round by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital to further advance initiatives in generative AI; UK-based Twin Science & Robotics, co-founded by Asude Altintas Guray, secures a £1.25m Seed round led by Soulmates Ventures to advance tech-driven STEM education solutions; Tallinn-based Certific, co-founded by Liis Narusk, picks up a €700k Pre-Seed round led by Change Ventures, Heartfelt Capital and FIRSTPICK to transform patient-doctor communication; Berlin-based Senvo, co-founded by Marie Kober, secures a €2.5m Seed round co-led by defy.vc and Two Ravens VC to optimise logistics operations.
Spotlight
Just a mirage.
Since its inception in 2015, across all its comms and via its unique corporate structure, OpenAI's leadership has firmly emphasised its commitment to see the safe development of artificial intelligence as its top priority. Unlike typical organisations, OpenAI has been operating as a nonprofit governed not by its CEO or shareholders but by a board dedicated solely to one purpose: ensuring the safety and well-being of humanity. This mission has now ended.
Last week, OpenAI announced it would no longer be controlled by the nonprofit board, effectively putting its mission to rest and transforming into a full-fledged for-profit corporation. Its CEO, Sam Altman, is now set to receive equity worth billions, along with gaining ultimate control over the company. The news was followed by the abrupt departure of OpenAI’s celebrated CTO, Mira Murati this week.
The OpanAI saga raises important questions about the role of nontraditional governance models in the context of AI.
It’s easy to see how a traditional company limited by shares can be vulnerable to bias: when one entity holds a significant portion of a company’s shares, its focus on maximising shareholder returns can lead to biased decision-making. In contrast, OpenAI (and Anthropic for that matter) have adopted an alternative corporate structures. But last week’s events starkly highlighted the weaknesses in this model.
OpenAI's monthly revenue skyrocketed to $300m in August, marking a staggering 1700% increase since the beginning of 2023. The company is also on track to generate over $3.5bn in sales this year. Its latest $6.6bn round raised this week catapulted it to a $157bn valuation. - OpenAI has now two years to transition into a for-profit entity, or its funding will convert to debt (!).
Was OpenAI’s mission of prioritising AI safety over profit just a mirage?
Visionaries
The Future of Venture is Here.
As we are in the process of speaking with companies to join Cohort II of the Visionaries AI Incubator, in partnership with Google Cloud this winter, I want to take a moment to once again celebrate the seven companies from our inaugural summer cohort. Every one of these companies is pushing the boundaries of innovation in their respective fields.
Keep an eye on these visionary founders. While they may not be seeking funding at the moment, connect with them, follow their journeys, and look to fund them in the near future!
Future of Health ➯ Samphire Neuroscience, connect with Emilė Radytė and Alex Cook.
Future of Software ➯ Menza, connect with Mariam Ahmed and Qasim Munye.
Future of Earth ➯ Automated Architecture, connect with Mollie Claypool and Gilles Retsin.
Future of Work ➯ PHINXT Robotics, connect with Yanwen Chen and Quirino Zagarese.
Future of Health ➯ GlycanAge, connect with Nikolina Lauc and Marko Tarnaj.
Future of Finance ➯ Avenir, connect with Andrea MacDonald, Jeremy Bensoussan and Stefan Rotarus.
Future of Software ➯ Renude, connect with Pippa Harman and Catherine Nisson.
Would you like to join Visionaries Cohort II?
This is the last week we are evaluating startups for the remaining spots available in Cohort II.
Also, in case you have missed it, some of the Cohort I companies will be joining me in London next Thursday, October 10th, for Startup Connect, a major Google Cloud event dedicated exclusively to startup founders, accelerators, and VCs in the UK and Ireland.
To learn more about Visionaries, don’t miss my panel discussion at 11:30-11:55pm BST on the main stage - Startup Landscape: Decoding the Opportunities, Navigating the Challenges.
If you haven’t already, grab your FREE ticket ➯ HERE. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Fundraising
On acquisition loops.
I spoke with a founder this week who’s seen interest in her product visibly stall. One of the most effective approaches you can adopt to achieve sustained and accelerated growth is through creating acquisition loops—a series of cyclical processes in which each new group of users/customers contributes to the growth of the next cohort, creating a compounding growth effect over time.
Unlike the traditional acquisition funnel model, acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, and referral, which often results in a linear customer acquisition profile, creating sophisticated acquisition loops has the potential to create exponential growth. Some of the most well-known examples of companies that have adopted acquisition loops are: Dropbox: When new users sign up, they create and share documents via email with non-users. Those who receive the invites may click through, leading them to sign up for Dropbox themselves. Headspace: The meditation app encourages new users to sign up for free trials through ads. A percentage of these users eventually convert to paid accounts, providing Headspace with revenue that can be reinvested into additional advertising. This cycle fuels ongoing growth and user acquisition.
There are four categories of acquisition loops:
Viral Loops: These depend on users sharing the product or service with others, creating organic growth through word-of-mouth and social sharing. (Think: ProductHunt)
Content Loops: In this loop, users generate content that attracts more users (Think: LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube).
Paid Loops: These involve using revenue from user conversions to fund further marketing efforts (Think: Headspace).
Sales Loops: This type relies on converting leads into paying customers, who can then refer others (Think: Loom).
Now, how can you identify an opportunity to create an acquisition loop? This is the best article that I have found ➯ Check it here. How should you measure your loops? ➯ Check it here.
Analysis
Going evergreen.
It looks like the traditional 10-year, closed-end fund model that once ruled the venture industry is losing its grip, as many funds now extend beyond their original terms, due to fundraising struggles. With institutional investors like pensions and endowments hitting their exposure limits, fund managers are now turning to a massive, untapped source of capital: the private wealth market, rolling out evergreen and semi-liquid products, which offer continuous investment opportunities, greater liquidity, and compounding returns. With new product launches using modern fund structures—like BDCs, REITs, and interval funds—and nearly $400bn already under management, there is also growing excitement about the private wealth market's potential to unlock trillions of dollars in the coming years.
Community
Community Fundraising Roundup: September
Female founders from the Female Foundry community in Europe, raised a whooping €201m in September. Health, AI and Sustainability-focused companies attracted the most capital. Congratulations to all founders!
Hiring
This week hiring:
Findable ➯ Customer Success Manager | Trinny London ➯ Junior Planner | CardiaTech Biosciences ➯ Chief of Staff | Clearly ➯ Head of Sales.
Founder & Investor Meetups
Wednesday, October 09, London ➯ Startup Networking & Demo Night | Thursday, October 10, Barcelona ➯ Barcelona Reinvents | Thursday, October 10, London ➯ Pitch and Run London, Berlin ➯ Æthos Berlin Launch Party: The Center of Gravity for AI Innovators, Founder's Coffee.
That’s all for this week. See you next Sunday!
Agata
Written by Agata Leliwa Nowicka, an investor, a startup adviser, a two-time entrepreneur, and a founder of Female Foundry based in London.
Suggestions? Drop me an email.
♡
Thank you Alice and Anj for the research.
Check femalefoundry.co for more fundraising tools and investor content. View other Female Foundry articles.