Female Foundry Week 71: On the sunny side of the tech valley. How to get followed. Do you want to grow? Think in cohorts. Once upon a time, there was a SPAC. Community Roundup.
Welcome to The Week 71, 2023 Edition of the Female Foundry newsletter!
Female Foundry - where investors and female founders meet.
In the news
Berlin-based zero44, co-founded by Friederike Hesse fetches a €2.5m Seed round led by Atlantic Labs to help the maritime industry reduce CO2 emissions; Stockholm-based Twirl, co-founded by Rebecka Jacobsson Storm raises a €2.3m Seed round led by Creandum and Cocoa Ventures to build data products faster; Paris-based TISSIUM, co-founded by Maria Pereira picks up a €50m Series D round led by Fonds Stratégique des Transitions to launch its first tissue reconstruction products; Berlin-based COCOLI, founded by Gemma Comabella and Greta Schindler raises a €3m Seed round led by Ship2B Ventures, Adevinta Ventures and IBB Ventures Invest to further revamp its vintage designer furniture line.
Spotlight
On the sunny side of the tech valley.
$400bn was wiped out from the value of Europe's tech industry last year as a consequence of the economic slowdown. This year so far, it is estimated that over 170,000 people have already lost their jobs in the tech industry, and the situation doesn’t seem to be getting any better. However, there might be a sunny side to what sounds like a grim reality. The report released this week hints that we might soon see the positive impact of tech layoffs on the creation of new startups across Europe, with more startups than ever being created by ex-employees from top European tech firms.
Out of European and Israeli 353 venture-backed unicorns, so far, 221 have spun out into 1,171 new tech-enabled startups. Fintech has been leading the pack, with almost 20% of European startups originating from unicorn spin-offs in this category. Interestingly, startup employees in Europe often choose to establish their new businesses in the same city as the unicorn they left. Additionally, what is interesting is that more than 59% of the spun-off startups have already managed to raise VC funding, with 45% pulling in around $1m to $10m, and 30% receiving more than $10m funding. I can imagine lots of great innovation coming out of this trend, but will it be enough for the wheel of venture capital to be spinning again? Read full story ➯
Fundraising
How to get followed.
This week, I spoke with a founder who has been struggling to convince her existing investors to put more cash into her Pre-Seed extension round. Her metrics were okay, and her valuation reasonable. She has been struggling so far to gain fundraising momentum, but who doesn't these days? So, what was missing? It wasn't clear until I asked her who in the investment team she had the strongest relationship with. She could not identify anybody! Bingo.
In today's changing economic landscape, building strong relationships with your existing investors should be one of your top priorities, regardless of whether you are currently fundraising or not. Remember, investors back people before they back businesses. Here is what I can tell you - and I know how busy you are juggling your product build, client meetings, managing the team, and shaping your vision - if there is one investment you should make every week, it is to keep your investors in the loop. This includes sharing any hurdles you may be facing - investors like to feel useful, as well as proactively exploring new avenues of nurturing your relationships. If you do it well, at the very least, your investors will like you. And if they like you AND you are performing well, they may as well back you again. ..Or do whatever they can to help you get backed by someone else.
Do you want to grow? Think in cohorts.
Tracking your customer engagement, preferences and behavioural patterns is fundamental to identifying opportunities for your product improvement. Have you been struggling to understand the recent drop off in your product demo requests? How can you know what’s happening?
Instead of tracking your users as a whole, start seeing them as cohorts. People in cohorts usually share common characteristics or experiences within a defined time-span. They could be users who signed up for your product in January, or who added their profile picture in the first week of signing-up. Selecting the right cohort type, the right metric for your goal, and a consistent, relevant time frame is the key to get the right insights. Here is a good article that can help you with that. What cohort analysis can be used for? Check this. To get the most out of your data, try to use a large and representative sample size What is large? Look here. And lastly, when defining your cohorts don’t be afraid to be creative: experimenting and iterating with different combinations and variations will help you discover new insights!
Analysis
Once upon a time, there was a SPAC.
Hambro Perks Acquisition Company, London’s first SPAC, announced this week that it was cancelling its official listing with the Financial Conduct Authority and on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange. The move follows a number of other SPAC listings that have been struggling to attract investors. Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs, which offer an alternative to traditional IPOs, have been around in various forms for decades, but they gained a real momentum in the past four years. In 2019, there were 59 SPACs created, with $13bn of capital; in 2020, that number quadrupled to reach 247 SPACs created, with $80bn invested, accounting for more than 50% of new publicly listed U.S. companies. This has now changed. Only 10 SPAC IPOs on US exchanges progressed in Q1 2023, down from the 54 listings in Q1 2022. Year-on-year proceeds have also dropped, sliding from $10bn to a mere $737m. Is it the end of the SPAC story? Read full story ➯
From the Community
Community fundraising roundup: May.
In spite of not easy fundraising climate, female founders from the Female Foundry community in Europe raised €130.8m in May!
Hiring
This week hiring:
SACLÀB ➯ CRM Specialist | Doctorly ➯ Customer Service Manager | Secfix ➯ Customer Success.
See more jobs on the Female Foundry Job Board.
Founder & Investor Meetups
Tuesday, May 30 Amsterdam ➯ How to close a deal? | Wednesday, May 31, London ➯ Founders Live Berlin ➯ Women and Climate Networking | Friday, June 2, Amsterdam ➯ Funding Friday, Online ➯ StartupBrite Pitch To Angel Investors.
Enjoy your Sunday! See you next weekend.
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.
Check femalefoundry.co for more fundraising tools and investor content. View other Female Foundry articles.
♡
Thank you Mariangela Cordella from Nauta Capital for sourcing our weekly meetups.