1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Frank Malek of Impacteo (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s say we send you a company. You will figure out from your network who is the likely investor that you want to do the deal with and have them price the deal and lead the deal. Is that what you’re saying?

Frank Malek: Yes, we prefer that. That’s right.

Sramana Mitra: You said you invest all over Europe and North America. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Daniel Keiper-Knorr of Speedinvest (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Daniel Keiper-Knorr was recorded in January 2019.

Daniel Keiper-Knorr is Founder and General Partner at Speedinvest, a venture firm based in Vienna. It’s great to see exciting energy and activity in Vienna, one of my favorite cities.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by getting you acquainted with our community. Tell us about you. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Frank Malek of Impacteo (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Frank Malek was recorded in January 2019.

Frank Malek is General Partner at Impacteo, an impact investment fund that invests in companies in the US and in Europe. This includes companies in digital health, climate change, FinTech, etc.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to you and to Impacteo. Tell us about your background. What is the investment thesis of Impacteo? >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Navid Alipour of Analytics Ventures (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What do you want to convey to the audience as your parting thoughts?

Navid Alipour: We’re getting the word out about what Analytics Ventures is doing. Geographically, all our current companies happen to be in San Diego but our hands aren’t tied. We could launch a company in Berlin, London, or in Des Moines, Iowa.

Sramana Mitra: You’re worried about geography given your high touch venture studio model? >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Navid Alipour of Analytics Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Are you shooting for unicorns?

Navid Alipour: While we certainly wouldn’t shy away from getting home runs with unicorns, our business model is to stay with that baseball analogy. We want to be able to make money for ourselves and other co-founders by hitting singles and doubles. Your traditional venture fund invests in 20 deals knowing that 10 of them will likely fail and they’ll have a couple of 1x, 2x, or maybe 3x return. They’re betting on one or two home runs to make the fund. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Navid Alipour of Analytics Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What constitutes the profile of a founder that you would want to found a company with?

Navid Alipour: If it’s not a corporate founder, whether it’s a very large public insurance company or a private advertising company, it’s usually going to be a scientist, academician, or entrepreneur. They have a certain domain of expertise but they can’t take the risk of quitting their job. They have a husband or wife, a mortgage, two kids, or they’re an entrepreneur busy doing something, and they say, “When I’m done with this, I’m going to do this other idea.” >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Navid Alipour of Analytics Ventures (Part 2)

Navid Alipour: Our LP’s said “We want you to start other companies that are applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning to clean structure data.” By applying this AI, you can make a prediction or you can detect something that doesn’t belong.

By doing one of those things, you’re going to increase revenues, decrease costs by bringing operational efficiencies. Or in the healthcare sense, you are not just saving money in bringing efficiencies, but you’re also prolonging life and saving lives as well. In breast cancer example, if detected earlier, the odds of survival are significantly higher. That’s where we’re proud. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Navid Alipour of Analytics Ventures (Part 1)

Responding to popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Navid Alipour was recorded in January 2019.

Navid Alipour, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Analytics Ventures, talks about their AI-focused venture studio in San Diego.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about Analytics Ventures and yourself. What are you looking at?  What is your investment thesis? Let’s get acquainted.

Navid Alipour: We are based here in San Diego, California. I like to describe Analytics Ventures as a three-legged platform. One leg is our fund, which is a dedicated fund. The mandate from our investors is to invest in companies that we co-found with other scientists for academic entrepreneurs or other public or private corporations under the venture studio model. >>>