Learn

“Spero” is Latin for hope. We help founders build a hopeful future. We’re a team of former startup founders, operators, and investors from landmark companies including eBay and Tesla. We invest in determined founders building mission-driven technology companies in three focus areas: wellbeing; sustainability; learning, work, and play. We prefer to lead or co-lead a $3-$10M round (late seed or Series A). Our typical check is $2-$4M, and we reserve capital for follow-on. We are conviction-based investors who play the long game. How We Work With YouWe have the conviction to lead and price your round. We participate in follow-on funding and help with subsequent fundraising. Our concentrated portfolio approach allows us to engage deeply with our founders. We’re supportive throughout the life of a company. Every one of our founders has full access to the entire Spero Ventures team. We know some ideas take time to catch on, so we offer patient capital. We are calm and steady partners in uncertain times. We help companies scale to serve billions of customers. We’ve done this as operators and founders, and as advisors and board members. We connect our companies to a network of founders, advisors, coaches, domain experts, and executive talent. We build community by bringing founders and leaders together through our CEO Summits, Product Leader Summits, founder breakfasts, workshops and thought-provoking events. We offer expert-led workshops that help founders with brand/storytelling, sales/go-to-market, consumer growth, and fundraising. Our focus Wellbeing Agency over physical and mental health People deserve to be in control of their own physical and mental health. For that, they need new kinds of information and access to care. What devices, apps, tools and services will help people live longer, healthier, more vibrant lives? How can genomics help us better understand our world and ourselves, and contribute to new solutions? Companies that answer these questions will make life worth living. Sustainability Protecting and preserving our planet Life is worth living on a healthy planet. But many of the largest systems we rely on - water, food, energy, transportation, product production and waste - were designed in a way that’s unsustainable and detrimental to our personal and planetary health. The economic, social, and health impacts of climate change and industrial pollution are growing too large to ignore: unprecedented droughts, fires and floods have disrupted millions of lives and result in billions of dollars of loss each year. How can we develop safer, more efficient systems? What can we do to improve power grids, recycling, environmental monitoring and disaster analytics? We invest in sustainability with conviction. Learning, Work, and Play Freedom in work and life Savoring relationships, art, joy, and laughter makes life worth living. Today, the way we do these things is changing. We can now learn, work, and play in hybrid ways that suit individual needs. This means self-directed learners need access to education and job preparation. Likewise, self-directed workforces need freedom, flexibility, and the ability to manage their goals. How can we provide better access to rewarding, satisfying work? What tools and support systems do people need to thrive? We invest in powerful visions for the future of learning, work, and play.

We build companies that harvest the power of technology and AI, evidence-based methods, and our deep understanding of consumers’ psyche to deliver ground-breaking solutions to neurodiverse young humans across a variety of life-dimensions, including cognitive, behavioral and emotional health, social wellness, learning and employment. Our differentiated strategy and unique approach are fueling the creation of innovative solutions at an order-of-magnitude larger scale than anything seen before, delivering a life-changing impact for neurodiverse young-humans, their families and their entire ecosystem. Who we are We are a nimble team of experienced investors, entrepreneurs and doers who believe that the world was not built with neurodiverse humans in mind and we feel a sense of urgency to change that. We are quirky and neurodiverse ourselves, and we don't hide it. We practice what we preach. Our Vision We created Planet 9 Studio to reimagine the path for neurodiverse children, teens & young adults (“young humans”) to unleash their potential, achieve their goals and enjoy thriving and fulfilling life journeys that they deserve across a variety of life-dimensions, including cognitive, behavioral & emotional health, social wellness, learning and employment. Our Mission Leveraging our deep understanding of consumers’ psyche and our extensive experience in this category, we build companies that harvest the power of technology, Artificial Intelligence, and evidence-based methods to deliver wide range of high-impact solutions to neurodiverse young humans, their families, and other key stakeholders in their lives Our unique and “untethered” approach is driving the creation of solutions at an orders-of-magnitude larger scale than anything seen before and that are set to deliver an industry and life-changing impact on the lives of neurodiverse young-humans and the entire ecosystem surrounding them. Our Studio Model The reason we chose to build a startup-studio to bring our vision to life is twofold. The first is simple: the very broad range of consumers we’re serving and the intricate and acute pain points they are facing daily are quite unfathomable, yet the solutions available are few and far between. For over a decade, through our experience and expertise and deep understanding of consumers and market dynamics, we’ve amassed a treasure trove of strategies and ideas to solve these vast industry gaps that will most effectively come to life by building multiple companies, not just one. The second reason we chose to build a startup-studio is to avoid the very high failure rate (+90%) of young startups. As a startup-studio, we can reduce these high failure rates as we act in essence like a womb by providing for all the essential needs of the “unborn” seed-ideas from day one to a successful launch and post launch growth support. We are able to master the startup-creation process and scale it via a strong bench of in-house experienced entrepreneurs, our deep category expertise, and frictionless access to funding via investors who are also our co-founders. Why “Planet 9”? Two Caltech astronomers, Konstantin Batygin & Mike Brown, found the existence of a potential new planet named “Planet 9” (or “Planet X”) that is 10X bigger than earth. Planet 9 gravitationally dominates its neighborhood of the solar system - a region of domination larger than any of the other known planets - a fact that Brown says makes it "the most planet-y of the planets in the whole solar system." Since only two planets have been discovered since ancient times, the discovery of Planet 9 means that “a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system is still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting." Our vision is to build the “Planet-9” solution for neurodiverse humans: a solution that is massively bigger in scale and impact than anything built before, it’s closer and easier to build than what key industry stakeholders may think, and we can use the power of technology to get there.

Introducing the first-of-its kind impact investment and innovative finance platform focused on achieving transformational change for children. Save the Children Global Ventures offers a unique combination of investment expertise and deep understanding of what it takes to achieve impact for children in the world's most challenging places. Our work is backed by the unparalleled global reach and capabilities of Save the Children, which generates global pipeline opportunities and scaling support for portfolio companies. We are the world’s leading expert on childhood For over a century, Save the Children has been working to improve children's lives by advocating for their rights, creating systems to help them during disasters, protecting them from danger, supporting their health and education and assisting with migration. We're driven by the belief that every child deserves to have a healthy, happy and fulfilling life, no matter who they are or where they come from.

LUMO Labs is an impact-driven multi-stage (pre-seed through series A) capital fund with a two-year venture builder program for founding teams of ventures focused on AI/Data, Blockchain, Robotics/Drones, IoT, and/or VR/AR. We believe these emerging technologies hold the key to solving the social challenges people face today. At LUMO Labs, we focus on sustainable cities and communities, health and wellbeing and quality education. We create opportunities for people and emerging technologies by connecting impact-driven groundbreaking start-ups to our funds, our expertise, our network and each other.

Como inversores de impacto buscamos generar una triple rentabilidad: económica, social y medioambiental. Combinamos lo mejor del mundo del venture capital con el mundo del impacto, maximizando la rentabilidad financiera de nuestras inversiones con una intencionalidad clara de generar, gestionar y medir su impacto. Invertimos en tres retosCalidad de Vida: Mejorar la salud y calidad de vida de las personas vulnerables Cambio Climático: Contribuir a la sostenibilidad y la conservación del medio ambiente Fracaso Escolar y Desempleo: Desarrollar las competencias educativas de las personas Nuestros criterios de inversión sonStartups Early Stage Equipos implicados y con experiencia Modelos de negocio basados en el impacto Innovaciones y tecnologías disruptivas Escalabilidad y visión global Aportamos mucho más que financiaciónInversión en capital: Invertimos entre 200.000 y 2 millones de euros. Acompañamiento estratégico: Apoyamos el desarrollo y crecimiento de las startups y sus equipos. Conexiones con ecosistema: Facilitamos acceso a expertos de primer nivel y alianzas con grandes organizaciones. Metodología de Impacto: Maximizamos el impacto a través de nuestra metodología de gestión y medición.

Profit and purpose can be a virtuous cycle. Solving humanity's biggest problems can provide superior financial returns. Tech-enabled companies can have significant impact at scale BUT Tech companies and impact investors largely live in different worlds. Avesta can bridge these worlds to harness the tech world toward positive impact. Areas of Focus We invest in tech-enabled companies whose positive impact is aligned with their business. We prioritize (but are not limited to) diverse entrepreneurs. Stage: pre-seed or seed; Typically raising $750K to $4M in the round. ClimateSustainable Agriculture Energy Efficiency Clean Energy Carbon Sinks Clean Manufacturing Circular Economy Green Buildings OpportunityEducation Financial Inclusion Future of Work Health Access & Affordability Housing Entrepreneurship Development What we offerTypical investments of $150K to $500K per company Best-practice based coaching to help founding teams optimize their impact, and align it with their business Unique mix of experiences that help companies bridge both the VC and impact worlds Connections to our broad network of investors and partners interested in impact-oriented tech startups