Founders Factory

🌏 Across the globe, industry has a profound impact on nature. We urgently need new solutions that can allow nature and biodiversity to thrive alongside our most crucial industries, without diminishing the existence of either one. Technology holds the key to this, allowing us to explore new methods for agriculture, biodiversity restoration, and nature based solutions previously unthought of. We’re delighted to announce our second Nature Tech cohort in partnership with the Government of Western Australia, a world leader in protecting and enhancing nature. Find more information about our investments in the carousel below 👇 The six startups are: ⭐️ Eden Towers—sustainable vertical farms producing high-yield horticultural and specialty crops with zero-waste processes  ⭐️ Ecogas—produces biofuels from anaerobic digestion as an affordable and scalable alternative to natural gas and green hydrogen ⭐️ Raaise—fundraising platform that streamlines capital raising for pro-planet startups ⭐️ Tidal Moon—Indigenous-owned startup harvesting sea cucumbers and driving marine biodiversity restoration ⭐️ Earthly—enabling businesses to invest in high-integrity, nature-based projects  ⭐️ TreeTrack—AI-driven aerial seeding solutions using patented seedpods and drones to reforest cost-effectively and at scale Read more about our latest cohort in today's The West Australian: https://lnkd.in/ebatT9by George Northcott | henry lane fox | David Hickson | Damian Routley | Olivia Brooks | Lee Bernasconi | Claire Mongeau | Simon Lovick | Laura Moross | Tamryn Barker I Charlotta Kemp | Roger Cook | Stephen Dawson | Sandra Draper | James Yuen | Simon Tarmo | Joan Lim | Linda Dawson | Ivana Deng #naturetech #climatetech #deeptech #decarbonisation #startups #investment

🚀 Great to see Lucy Adams featured in the latest #Forbes30Under30 Lucy, alongside co-founder Harry Slagel, built martee ai in our Venture Studio. Their proprietary AI forecasting tool helps food-on-the-go businesses forecast demand to increase access to healthy food and reduce waste. Check out the full list here: https://lnkd.in/e2vMYsfv

🔎 Think you can pick out the next category defining founders? We're hiring for a new Investor to join our London team. As part of this role, you will: ⭐️ Invest in 8 to 12 businesses per year - primarily across fintech & B2B SaaS ⭐️ Develop ecosystem relationships with investors, founders, universities and corporates  ⭐️ Support our portfolio with their fundraising needs We're looking for candidates who know what to look for in an early stage investment, and can show relentless energy in pursuing that. VC experience is a plus, not a necessity. Find out more & apply here: https://lnkd.in/eQjS5efe Olivia Brooks | David Hickson | Damian Routley | Edoardo Gentili | Jack Kennedy | Elena Vittone | Claire Mongeau | Raluca Ciobancan | Farah Kanji | Sara Foster #investor #vc #startups #hiring #startupjobs

🚨 Big News! 🚨 Alex Edquist, our CEO & Co-Founder, took home the Innovation Showcase win at the Regenerative Agriculture Summit North America in Chicago! 🎉 We’re helping farmers tackle one of their biggest challenges—managing finances—through tech-enabled tools for bookkeeping, tax prep, cash flow modeling, and more. Farmers are loving features like profitability by enterprise, cash flow modeling, and pre-filled tax forms that save time and reduce stress. With 100+ farmers already using our services and delivering 15x ROI, we're proud to give farmers the financial clarity they need to grow their businesses. “We built Good Agriculture to take the financial burden off farmers’ plates, so they can focus on what they do best—farming!” Alex Edquist Let’s keep growing, together! 🌾 #GoodAgriculture #FarmersFirst #AgTech #RegenerativeAgriculture #FarmTech #FinancialClarity #Farm #Farming

Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, new drugs for cancer and heart disease, making industry greener and the workplace safer – but what do these things have in common? They are all being driven by AI and based on cutting-edge Cambridge research. Here are just 10 of our AI spinouts – companies that "spun out" of the labs in Cambridge with the help of Cambridge Enterprise – all hoping to harness the potential of AI for the good of the planet and its people. Tap the links to find out more about each one 👇 👁️ Cambridge Vision Technology: https://bit.ly/44gb43L ♻️ Carbon Re: https://bit.ly/3RFfn0Z 🫀 CardiaTec Bio: https://bit.ly/3G2naUk 📊 Concr: https://bit.ly/44fO0lB ℹ️ Intellegens: https://bit.ly/424Zh6Y 🧰 Matnex: https://bit.ly/3EefjlM 💊 PharmEnable Therapeutics: https://bit.ly/4i3PPpa 📷 Prospectral: https://bit.ly/3FZVCPn 🏭 RoboK: https://bit.ly/43GjW2x ⚡ xWatts: https://bit.ly/4ln4NcA #ShapingAIForEveryone #Entrepreneurship #CambridgeUniversity

🚀 "Nowhere else can founders engage with this range of global players, from Aviva and Rio Tinto, to governments in Australia, Singapore, and beyond. To the ordinary founder, these organisations are not only hard to access, they're hard to know how to approach, and I believe one of the best things we do is offer access to these organisations that might take years to procure." Damian Routley, Founders Factory COO, features in this month’s Entrepreneur UK (interviewed by Patricia Cullen), speaking about why he believes the UK is still one of the best places in the world to start a business, and the role Founders Factory has played in getting it there. Read the full profile here, for Damian’s insights on: https://lnkd.in/d_iYw5Bc  ⭐️ Why criticisms of the UK often overlook the facts—that the UK accounts for 25% of all new ventures & 40% of VC raised in Europe ⭐️ Why international talent still flocks to the UK ⭐️ What the UK government needs to implement and double down on to cement the UK’s leading startup ecosystem status Brent Hoberman | henry lane fox | George Northcott | David Hickson | Farah Kanji | Claire Morris | Emma-Jane Willan | Lee Bernasconi | Simon Lovick | Laura Moross #venturecapital #investment #startups #founders

💡 “Fintech is really an enabling technology—for education, health, prosperity, independence, and general social mobility.” Claire Mongeau, who leads fintech investments with our partner Aviva, is featured on FinTech Profile. She shares her thoughts on… ⭐️ Her background as an edtech entrepreneur in Africa (with M-Shule)—and how it helped form the link between finance and social prosperity ⭐️ The advantage of investing alongside Aviva, and the insights it gives her into opportunities 3 to 5 years down the road ⭐️ Why her entrepreneurial background gives her an unfair advantage for working with founders ⭐️ The power of data in unlocking the next wave of AI-powered financial products Read the full profile here: https://lnkd.in/eqmbFZs4 Olly Betts | Olivia Brooks | Elena Vittone | Edoardo Gentili | Jack Kennedy | Suzanne Lawson | Arslan Hannani | Paul Welsh | Simon Lovick | Laura Moross #fintech #investor #venturecapital #founders

Thrilled to see us recognised in Sifted's Top Performing Investors in the UK & Ireland. The list ranks investors who have backed the most of the UK's fastest growing companies, recognised in the Sifted 100 List published last week. We're the proud backers of four startups (Scan.com, Xapien, Tembo, and Byway), the latter two of which were built from scratch in our Venture Studio. See the full list of investors here: https://lnkd.in/eaeYdmYG David Hickson | Olivia Brooks | Damian Routley | Jack Kennedy | Edoardo Gentili | Claire Mongeau | Elena Vittone

📩 Have you missed our last 49 Startup Bulletins? Well, the good news is today's newsletter (Edition #50) rounds up everything you might have missed. Learn more as we try to track the common threads, themes, and trends over the last four years of publishing the Startup Bulletin - and what this might indicate for those intending on reading the next 50. Read our latest Startup Bulletin here: https://lnkd.in/ePgnXJFx ➡️ Highlights from our global portfolio (inc. Shop Circle, AtmoCooling, Brineworks, and more) ➡️ This month's reading list (feat. WIRED, Stratechery, Not Boring, and more) ➡️ Opportunities, events, hiring, and more Simon Lovick | Laura Moross | Lee Bernasconi | Liam Nolan | Ellie Slaght | Aleezay Malik | George Northcott #newsletter #startups #founders #insights

Rankings success, fundraising fanfare, and one new country on the map 🇨🇦📍 As Q2 comes around, we look back on our biggest highlights from Q1... Updates from FFHQ 🏆 Founders Factory was named the UK’s top ranked startup hub, according to the Financial Times European Startup Hubs ranking 🇦🇺 We kicked off our second cohorts for our Rio Tinto Mining Tech and Government of Western Australia Nature Tech Accelerators, with 12 new startups (cohort announcements coming soon…) 🇨🇦 We announced the launch of Blue Action Canada, partnering with British Columbia-based COAST (Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies) to back 8 blue economy startups 🇸🇦 We hosted our first CODE Accelerator, a six-week intensive support program operated jointly with Imperial College London for twenty entrepreneurs from Saudi Arabia Highlights from our Global Portfolio 🛍️ Shop Circle announced their latest $60M Series B funding round, as they grow their suite of e-commerce tools. This brings their total funding to $245M  🏅 We saw four companies featured in the Sifted 100, ranking the UK & Ireland’s fastest growing companies—Scan.com (#13), Xapien (#38), Tembo (#48), and Byway (#61) 💦 AtmoCooling announced $2.6M in pre-seed funding, aiming to transform deserts into agricultural & climate resilience hubs 🌊 Brineworks received a $1.8M EIC - European Innovation Council grant, to help supercharge their direct ocean capture technology that turns seawater into a scalable feedstock for e-fuels 🪸 Ocean Ledger closed $975K in pre-seed funding. They’re providing high-resolution geospatial analytics for coastal risk assessment and environmental impact analysis 📊 Claro AI closed $650K in pre-seed funding, as they deploy AI to help businesses clean up “messy, unstructured data” to better inform decision making 🧬 Matnex announced their partnership with Viridien, the prominent digital and Earth data company, to build the most powerful supercomputer for material discovery 📢 Fantix, the enterprise AI startup, sold their adtech business to smart technology company Life360 to power targeted ad solutions 🚤 ACUA Ocean launched their first unmanned surface vehicle, the USV Pioneer, in Plymouth as the ocean data collection company continues to undergo sea trials  🍎 Nanotech startup Metalchemy won the Web Summit Qatar Pitch Competition, beating 1500 applicants across several rounds. They’re using nanotechnology to extend shelf life of perishable food A snapshot of our investments ➡️ 33 investments made in Q1—18 in North America, 9 in Europe, 6 in Asia-Pacific ➡️ 6 concepts in build in our Venture Studio All eyes on Q2 👀 Stay tuned for further updates & insights from our founders and team: https://lnkd.in/dw8yYA9B henry lane fox | George Northcott | Brent Hoberman | Damian Routley | David Hickson | Lee Bernasconi | Farah Kanji | Claire Morris | Emma-Jane Willan | Frank Webster | Simon Lovick | Laura Moross #accelerator #venturestudio #Q1update #startups