Undercurrent Capital

Since its founding in 2009, H/L Ventures has forged a new way to build companies. H/L Ventures’ unique approach combines Daily Active Engagement with every portfolio company and a focus on investing in growth, impact, and diversity. Today, H/L Ventures manages a family of companies and funds that together comprise a holistic company-building ecosystem. At the heart of this system is H/L Studio, which was among the first venture studios to include social impact in its investment thesis. That venture studio is now supported by our opportunity fund, CityRock Ventures, and our managed services group, H/L Strategies, among other entities. Our team has pioneered an innovative, effective model that aligns the interests of entrepreneurs, investors, other stakeholders, and society to succeed together. At H/L Ventures, we apply these three key elements across our studios and funds: DAILY ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH FOUNDERS H/L Ventures’ involvement with our portfolio companies is as hands-on and supportive as possible throughout the entrepreneurship journey. This is the hallmark of H/L’s approach: we hold ourselves to a standard of virtually daily contact with every company in our portfolio, on an open-ended basis. This is not the empty promise of a website value-added page, but the core of our investment thesis. We host weekly calls with our senior portfolio team and each team of founders, which leads to daily activities involving our staff, Venture Partners, EPIRs, advisors, and network of service providers. All of this is in a supportive mode, meant to ensure that whatever needs our portfolio companies have, we remain actively relevant and helpful, every day. This care is given to all portfolio companies, regardless of which H/L Ventures vehicle is engaged. A POWERFUL ECOSYSTEM We respond effectively and proactively to our portfolio companies via a powerful team and community. Organized in a hub-and-spoke model around our core portfolio staff, four key communities help us co-build companies: Venture Partners & EPIRs, Advisors, Member Partners, and our affiliated Trusted Partner Network. Our team is shared across all our family of studios and funds. ACCESS TO CAPITAL From inception to exit, we provide many different forms of capital. Pre-Series A start-ups benefit from the H/L Studio model, where they enjoy access to virtually every form of capital, including human capital, social capital, networks, experience, and time. H/L does not normally invest in Pre-Seed rounds, focusing on our broad range of value-add services as we build a deeper relationship together via our Studio. We do however offer $100,000 in funding at the formal Seed round stage for our Studio companies [1, see Footnote], as well as an opportunity to leverage our extensive networks of co-investors to benefit the team’s fundraising efforts. Our opportunity fund, CityRock Venture Partners, invests at Series A and Series B. CityRock funds both qualifying studio portfolio startups and companies that come to us from outside of the studio pipeline, provided they fit our thesis and pass our standard due diligence process. Regardless of placement in the H/L Ventures ecosystem, all of our portfolio companies enjoy full access to our venture studio resources.

Launched in 2018, the Conduit Connect exists to scale innovative impact technologies and businesses that are solving some of the most challenging and critical issues of our time. We do this by connecting world class entrepreneurs and fund managers to values aligned impact investors and experts. We review hundreds of impact deals per year to select the most sustainable and investable opportunities with environmental and social impact at their core. Eligible companies and funds are offered a dedicated team that introduces them to values-aligned impact investors and mentors. Our private digital platform publishes these investment opportunities to professional investors and we host monthly showcase events that are aimed to raise the profile and visibility of these businesses.

Accompagner les champions de l’impact qui changent la donne. Comment ? Long Terme: Grâce à notre structure evergreen, nous accompagnons nos entrepreneurs humainement et financièrement aussi longtemps que nécessaire et utile. Proximité: Forts de nos racines entrepreneuriales, nous agissons au plus près des entrepreneurs pour créer des synergies positives. Expertises: Nous levons des fonds uniquement auprès d’entrepreneurs, aujourd’hui près de 80 actionnaires, prêts à partager leurs expériences entrepreneuriales, sectorielles et métiers. Impact: Fidèles à notre ADN impact first depuis plus de 20 ans, nous sommes les partenaires de modèles pionniers, innovants et engagés. Thèse d’investissement Nous investissons en equity ou quasi equity de 250k€ à 2,5M€ en lead ou co-lead de tours de financement de Seed et Série A : Impact: Dans les champions de l’impact, menés par des entrepreneurs inspirés et inspirants, portant des solutions accessibles au plus grand nombre Ambition: Ayant un potentiel de croissance de l’impact et du business important et la volonté d’apporter des changements systémiques à leur secteur Go-To-Market: Dans des entreprises en phase d’accélération commerciale, avec des premiers retours d’usage et des métriques impact Collectif: Avec des entrepreneurs souhaitant s’entourer et valorisant notre accompagnement de long-terme

We want to build together an innovative, sustainable and inclusive economy through the leverage of private investment conveyed with medium to long term payback prospects. What we believe inWealth can generate more wealth, if invested in responsible entrepreneurs: The accountability of the business that acts in the best interests of all the stakeholders who are drawn to it, develops value over the medium and long terms, and turns out to be a superior investment. Sustainable innovation: We give access to innovative investments that will shape our future economy: we give priority to those who have already embarked on a path of medium-long term economic, social and environmental sustainability, also to reduce risk and acquire greater prospective value Simplicity, Clarity and Transparency: We utilize technology to streamline procedures and provide a seamless, delightful user experience. Even the most complicated documents are made simple to read and comprehend in order to promote wise and informed investment. Through the online platform and special meetings set up by our Investment Managers, all the pertinent information concerning the potential investment is made available. Empowerment and Training: Offering everyone the resources they need to learn about the industry and its quirks will make venture capital investments more accessible. As a result, education is a key pillar for fostering growth in people as well as the ecosystem as a whole. We are a Benefit Company Since its inception, Doorway has decided to be a Benefit Company, that is, a company that places the goals of profit alongside those of value creation and common benefit. How? By conveying venture capital in the service of the birth and development of innovative and sustainable enterprises that can bring positive effects to society. Every day Doorway strives to create real impact by contributing to some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals through its business activities. SDG 4: Quality education - Through the financial education activities carried out during the year and the training initiatives for investors and founders. SDG 5: Gender equality - Doorway promotes the culture of innovation and wants to support successful founders, especially of the female gender, who usually find it more difficult to raise capital. SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth - Through fundraising, Doorway supports those companies that want to grow and expand in Italy and abroad, creating wealth and jobs, especially for young people. Often the investment rounds are used precisely to structure teams and hire new resources. SDG 9: Innovation - Doorway sees the innovation ecosystem as a key driver of economic growth and wants to help it develop in Italy and Europe. We are signatories of the PRI By subscribing to the PRI, the Principles of Responsible Investment, Doorway confirms its ongoing focus on sustainability issues, being part of the international network of more than 4,000 signatory management companies and investors, managing more than $121 trillion in AUM. The initiative, launched in 2006 in New York by the United Nations, aims to establish links between investment and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and help signatories include these issues in their investment and shareholding decisions.

Axion Ventures is launching a new venture capital fund aimed at strategically investing in a very selective portfolio of high-growth, early-stage companies. Where We Come From Rooted in Babson College’s renowned entrepreneurial principles, our investment approach focuses on identifying, building, and scaling high-potential platforms through strategic acquisitions and operational excellence. We conduct rigorous market analysis to identify scalable platform opportunities with untapped potential, guided by the entrepreneurial mindset cultivated at Babson College. By deploying strategic capital into complementary startups and providing incubation support, we foster innovation and drive value creation. Through integration and Babson College-inspired growth strategies, we build cohesive platform ecosystems, optimizing operational synergies and scalability. Additional acquisitions enable vertical integration, strengthening competitive advantages and ensuring sustainable growth. Our structured exit strategies deliver superior returns, embodying Babson’s principles of innovation, leadership, and strategic foresight.

We're not just investors - we're operators, co-founders, and long-term partners to the companies we help create. Our Philosophy We build and invest only in ventures that address real, urgent problems through futuristic, original ideas. Every solution must be measurable, scalable, replicable, and ideally serve underserved communities with lasting, positive impact. Our ValuesOriginality: We don’t copy - we invent. Every venture starts from first principles and our commitment to solving real problems in bold, new ways. Founder Mentality: Whether on the studio team or joining a venture, we take ownership like founders. No spectators, no handoffs - just shared ambition and accountability.Purpose-Driven Impact isn’t an afterthought - it’s embedded in every decision we make. We build for underserved markets and design for systemic change. Execution Excellence: We value speed, but never at the cost of quality. We build lean, validate early, and move with clarity and intent. Integrity Over Optics: We do the right thing, especially when no one is watching. Transparency, honesty, and trust define how we work and who we work with.