Citrino Ventures

Francophone Africa offers many economic opportunities with great potential. However, the lack of access to capital and strategic support fosters an ecosystem where it is difficult to thrive. Haskè Ventures' goal is to create scalable, sustainable and profitable businesses in Francophone West Africa. Our vision is to revolutionize the universe of start-ups in the region, by reducing the risk of failure in the early stages of the creation of start-ups. Our goal is to fund and support entrepreneurs, bridging the gap between the idea stage and the growth stage. With decades of experience in entrepreneurship and the private sector, in addition to a solid understanding of the economic growth needs of our region, we identify and develop start-ups based in French-speaking Africa, providing them with all the ingredients for success. PrinciplesBusinesses, like entrepreneurs, are unique: Businesses, like entrepreneurs, are unique. We take a personalized approach to business creation. It takes more than capital to build a successful business. From strategy to execution, including seed capital, our innovative business model allows us to support entrepreneurs throughout their journey. We have the regional expertise: With our knowledge of French-speaking Africa, its immense opportunities and particularities, we build flourishing businesses in this region with great potential. Our goal is to guarantee our investors a return on investment. Immense untapped potential: To create an ecosystem where entrepreneurs can thrive, everyone must contribute. Francophone Africa has immense potential for creating successful businesses, but it remains untapped. The companies in which we invest generate tangible dividends, thanks to the capital, and to the accompaniment that we provide to them. Nimble and ready: The global landscape is changing at very high speed, so entrepreneurship is a relevant option for professional development and personal success. Through a very judicious selection and analysis process, we work with the most talented entrepreneurs to contribute to the success of their business. Our approach Haskè Ventures supports start-ups with seed capital and concrete and sustained support, in the development of strategy, the search for talent and operational support. Our pipeline is generated via an innovation axis and a co-creation axis.

Pinecone is a "venture studio" – a company dedicated to building impactful businesses by collaborating with driven founders. We focus on turning ambitious ideas into successful and meaningful ventures. STUDIO VS. INCUBATOR/ACCELERATOR – WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? Unlike incubators and accelerators, venture studios generate their own ideas, create startups from scratch, provide funding, recruit founders, and actively participate in operations without a fixed timeline. Studios also assume a significant portion of the responsibilities and risks associated with ideation, validation, and launch, making them more deeply involved in the long-term success of their startups compared to other startup support models. WHY CO-FOUND WITH PINECONE? Co-founding with Pinecone is akin to getting 10+ co-founders on your team, for the "price" of one. Through mentorship, network and access to capital, we greatly increase your chances – and speed – of success. WHO CAN CO-FOUND WITH PINECONE? We partner with people who are determined to create something big, something meaningful. You should possess an unfair advantage, whether industry insights, skills or network/distribution. We mainly base our decision on trust, a shared vision and ambition are must-haves. We also look for traits like: resilience, adaptability, resourcefulness, curiosity, humility, passion, and drive. Last, but not least, we consider the ability to rally people behind a vision, a rare, yet decisive, skill. CAN PINECONE INVEST IN MY STARTUP? While our main focus is to build companies from scratch, with or without a co-founder from the start, we occasionally will look at investment opportunities that align with our portfolio. Such strategic investments should bring value to our existing portfolio companies or vice versa. WHERE IS PINECONE LOCATED? Pinecone is based in Oslo, Norway. However, we operate globally with partners of several nationalities and locations, and we invest and build companies globally, too.

Born out of a love for building startups and a passion for backing entrepreneurs with heart, Corazon Capital (spanish for “heart”), a leading Chicago-based venture fund, brings a coastal approach to Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A investing. There’s no such thing as “too early.” With a rare blend of investing experience and operating expertise, Corazon Capital provides unusually pragmatic, actionable counsel to the entrepreneurs it supports. Corazon Capital believes that the best entrepreneurs and the smartest VCs will intentionally solicit both financial and operating investors in their syndicates, with Corazon Capital recognized across geographies for its deep operating knowledge and reach inside and outside of Chicago. Authenticity We communicate with candor, operate with integrity, and demonstrate pragmatism Courage We think independently, act boldly, and look for non-obvious opportunity Human We show empathy for others, cultivate equanimity, and balance our whole selves across work and play Curiosity We seek growth, learn from our failure, and welcome the future Humility We invite diverse perspectives, strive for equity, and embrace inclusivity

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.

At CapFort, we believe that the most exciting and impactful ideas often come from passionate, driven entrepreneurs with a bold vision for the future. We partner with these visionaries to help build successful businesses, providing not just funding, but also expertise and support to help them grow and succeed. We are proud to be a part of India's vibrant startup ecosystem, and we are committed to contributing to its continued growth and success. We are inspired by the entrepreneurs we work with, who are constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible and striving to make the world a better place. We are committed to supporting them every step of the way, helping them achieve their goals and realize their full potential.

In 2007, I was working as a junior trader at Lehman Brothers. I hated it - the dehumanizing culture, lack of creativity, and singular focus on transactions and money left me feeling uninspired and lost. I didn’t know it then, but Lehman’s bankruptcy in ‘08 was a gift, and I left in search of a calling. I spent a few years meandering - writing, working odd jobs, grad school in Hong Kong - ultimately ending up back in NYC in 2009, having stumbled upon a young, passionate group of misfits that folks were calling “founders.” These founders felt more like artists than assets, more obsessives than executives. They were avant garde, they were building the things they wanted to see in the world, and to my surprise, people called venture capitalists gave them money to pursue their dreams. I was in love with their fringe eccentricity, extraordinary craftsmanship, and wild ambition. I was in love with the beautiful new works of art they called startups. For the next 15 years, I dedicated my life to working with founders – first at betaworks, and then over three funds at Notation with my partner Alex Lines. A lot has changed. The venture ecosystem went from cottage industry outsider to institutional insider – from a nascent practice to a consensus component of institutional portfolios. The result has been the industrialization–and bankerization–of venture. Firms that make dozens or even hundreds of investments per year, relentlessly focused on assets under management, using the same copy-paste transactional language, all drowning in a sea of sameness. Similarly, what was once a risky leap of faith has become a credentialing factory: accelerators churn out 1,000s of startups per year and fundraising rounds are the new requisite bullets in Linkedin resumes. The environment today feels eerily similar to the one I left on Wall Street so many years ago. Into the Asylum I’ve always believed the best early-stage founders are artists – they're obsessive about new and unusual things, they feel compelled to bring creation into the world, and they are often misunderstood for long periods of time–even lifetimes. Building businesses is their art. The good news is that as the new “banks” in venture continue to expand their tentacles, they also enable new alternatives. What if we treated founders like artists, instead of like assets? We plan to spend the next decade trying to answer this question. We think it means: A firm that’s small by design, that makes a handful of investments per year, and that eschews board seats and administrative control. A small team of partners moving mountains to help when asked and otherwise getting out of the way. A place for founders to tune out the noise and focus on making something truly great. A source of calm, trust, and support for founders who are manifesting beauty through one of the hardest things you can do: starting a company. The path forward We believe there are exceptional founders who, like us, want to win their own way, who want to work with VCs who care more about them and their companies than assets under management. If this sounds appealing to you, please get in touch. Whether you're a founder or in between things, we’d love for you to come visit us at our studio in Brooklyn. And if you would like to join a small team dedicated to the art of venture rather than the business of banking, contact us at hiring@asylum.vc.