Slow Ventures

At Menlo Ventures, we go ALL IN. This isn’t just a motto, but how we show up everyday for the companies we back, the investors who back us, and each other. When we win, we win as a team. 47 Years 80+ Public Companies 165 + Mergers + Aquisitions $5B+ Under Management We focus on the "three stages of early" We are investors and company builders - we know what it takes to turn a budding idea into a scalable business. We work with early-stage founders to find product-market fit, develop go-to-market strategies, scale their organizations, and support them as they grow. Inception: Our Menlo Labs team helps founders validate early-stage ideas, de-risk opportunities, and build successful foundations. Venture: Our venture team provides series A and B startups with guidance and hands-on help as they build their teams and products. Inflection: Our inflection team supports early growth-stage startups during critical points as they prepare to scale. Our focus areas At every stage from inception through IPO, we invest in game-changing ideas that reinvent life and work. Although we remain open to new ventures within consumer, enterprise, and healthcare, we go deep in the following seven focus areas: AI: Generative AI is breaking into every software vertical, and winners in these markets will create massive economic and societal value. Menlo Ventures is placing bets on the most promising GenAI companies at the infrastructure and application layers, where we see immense potential for groundbreaking businesses that will reshape industries and push the boundaries of what we can achieve. Bio + Healthcare: Innovations at the intersection of advancements in technology and biology will drive major improvements in the quality of our health and the cost of healthcare. At Menlo, we invest at that intersection - backing breakthrough digital health companies (vertical SaaS and digital care) and novel life sciences companies (therapeutic platforms and transformative technologies). Consumer: The world we live in today is enhanced by technologies we might not have thought possible even 10 years ago. There is so much still to come. At Menlo, we invest in the game-changing companies of the future, those that will help us do things better, faster, or cheaper than we can today. Cloud Infrastructure: As enterprises continue migrating to the public cloud, a new generation of companies will write the playbook for the underlying infrastructure that powers their applications. These tools and platforms are built for and cater to the developer, optimized for time-to-integration with beautiful, easy-to-use UIs and APIs. Cybersecurity: In a complex, post-pandemic world, rapid cloud adoption and the proliferation of open-source software have dramatically expanded the attack surface for bad actors against enterprises, governments, and their applications. Additionally, the shift-left approach to software development requires developers to embrace a security-first mindset. As the cyber war continues, Menlo will back the best teams fighting on the frontlines. Fintech: Financial transactions and services power the global economy. Menlo invests in four fintech categories: dev-focused infrastructure and embedded finance (API layers), vertical banking, end-to-end financial services for consumers and SMBs, and tools that serve finance teams and the office of the CFO. SaaS: The shift to the cloud introduced an entirely new business model–Software-as-a-Service–and created unprecedented opportunities for enterprise software companies. Menlo divides the SaaS landscape into three categories, each with a distinct point of view that guides our investment, research, and resources: Departmental SaaS, Vertical SaaS, and Horizontal SaaS. Supply Chain + Automation: This once-in-a-generation reinvention/reinvigoration of the supply chain will create a world that is more efficient, resilient, and sustainable because of the operational efficiencies we gain. With an eye on a more functional future, Menlo invests in a broad range of technologies–robotics and industrial automation among them.

Antai Ventures is a Barcelona-based venture studio with presence across Southern Europe and Latam. Since 2012 we have co-founded +25 companies including Glovo, Wallapop, Nemuru, PlatanoMelon and Vitaance. Our ventures have raised more than $1.5B in funding, have generated more than $3B in shareholders value and currently employ more than 3.000 people. At Antai, we partner-up and invest in the best co-founders to build global companies willing to disrupt multi-billion dollar industries. In the last 10 years, we have gained experience in a variety of business models (E-Commerces/DNVBs, B2B SaaS, Marketplaces) operating in a wide range of industries including Edtech, Grocery, Healthtech, Fintech, Insurtech, Proptech, Autotech among others.

Bold. Brave. Brilliant. Brazen. The founders we back are all this, and more. They are unreasonable, they are crazy ambitious, obsessed with solving hard, gnarly problems. Problems whose solutions transform lives and impact society. And, it takes a revolutionary founder, and a transformational company to solve these problems, and effect change. We back these transformational companies, and their revolutionary founders early, and remain lifelong partners. How does Blume evaluate early stage startups? In our framework, we look at three criteria to evaluate startups – size of market or opportunity, team quality and finally, investability or probability of the next round of capital. Our approximate weightage for Opportunity : Team : Investability is 40 : 40 : 20. Let us double click on these three criteria. Market size or opportunity: Pick too small a market and even the best team can’t build a large scalable business. The best founders know how to reshape a market opportunity and build solutions to fit the largest of the market opportunities. That said, one has to begin with the aggregate opportunity being very large. For example, are Ola and Uber a ride hailing app or a large scale urban transportation business? The market size expands 5-10x when the latter is applied. At Blume, we try to find a portfolio balance between founders who can chase a large market opportunity domestically or build a tech-led differentiated product for global markets (which increase Founding teams: These are the most important variables for us or even most VCs at our stage. In every decision, once the other two factors are seen as a go, the clincher element in a yes/no decision boils down to the founding team – their expertise in solving for this space, as well as the integrity, mission, passion and persistence that one can gauge at this early stage of business. Investability or probability of next rounds of capital: The reality of how the later stage funding market is shaped to take risky bets in the ecosystem is important to consider while funding, especially in young and concentrated ecosystems like India, and that’s why we attribute 20% weightage to this element in India. We force ourselves to evaluate how much capital may be required to build to exitable scale and how challenging it is to raise that capital. As the funding ecosystem matures, we may shrink weightage of this in the future. Great founders overcome all of this but if we can select such that we have better odds at the starting point, why not? The above framework helps us shortlist but finally, it is a (increasingly improving) trained gut call that ends up building out the portfolio. What is Blume's investment criteria? Blume prefers ventures that have achieved some degree of customer validation, where the product is already launched in market and we are getting customer signups and feedback. We do make exceptions on the above for seasoned operators and second-time founders, but typically with first-time founders, we do not do idea stage or pre-MVP investments. If you are a B2B startup or an ecommerce / consumer transaction play, an annualised revenue rate (or revenues) of $375k (₹3cr) and above is a good milestone to reach out to us. If you are a marketplace startup, then reach out to us when you are nearing or have crossed a monthly GMV of ₹50 lacs a month. If you are a consumer app that isn't monetising yet, then ping us when you near or cross MAUs of 25k / DAUs of 5k. The above are broad guidelines, and not hard rules. We do make exceptions. If in doubt, reach out! How much does Blume invest? We are a seed / pre-Series A fund. While we are fairly flexible on the investment quantum, typically we have seen our investments range across from $1.5 to $3m (₹12 to 24 crs). We do optimise however for a stake of anywhere from 12 to 20%. These stake requirements reflect the depth and extent of support we provide to the startup – from fundraising and hiring to business development etc. We also anticipate the rounds of dilution that every successful startup will undergo, and the desired holding that we need to hold at the point of exit. Does Blume invest in international startups? We invest in startups that are Indian at heart or origin, but are willing to conquer the world market if needed to build scale. About a third of our portfolio is of this nature – taking Indian engineering skills to build products for global markets. Unfortunately, We DO NOT invest in startups that are international and have NO strong Indian connection / founders. We are also strong believers that to invest as a ‘generalist tech VC’ as we are, we need to be more and more focussed on a particular geography. We need to see as much of the available annual pipeline to know that we’ve truly picked 10 great founders / startups to invest in. We have no such advantage when we are looking outside the country; which is why we stay away from the temptation of looking at pipeline from international markets. What kind of sectors does Blume invest in? With our new Fund, our fourth since inception, we are looking to invest about 60-65% of the new fund in domestic-heavy sectors such as healthcare, financial services, commerce and brands, jobs and education, and digital media and gaming. The other 35-40% of the fund will focus on SaaS, and DeepTech (including CleanTech, manufacturing, blockchain) companies, typically in B2B, that can innovate and engineer with local talent pools, and yet scale globally. Does Blume have a preference between B2B and B2C? We like both. India is a consumer market that is poised to explode, as people move to the digital economy to spend an increasingly larger share of their wallet’s purchasing power. That makes it attractive to build a strong consumer proposition in India. And thus our B2C portfolio. We are also now very good at taking our science and engineering skills in software and other areas, and building commercial applications at scale, often for the global market. These constitute the majority of B2B ideas in our portfolio and we like this space a lot. Where do I send my pitch? How do I reach out to Blume? We get anywhere between 4,000 to 5,000 ideas pitched to us annually, across the team, across all formats. This includes referrals, cold mails, DMs on social channels etc. We have given up counting :) We invest in about 10-12 of these per year. As Blume has grown, we've looked at the empirical data and discovered that the vast majority of our investments were referrals from our contacts in the ecosystem. You can count the exceptions to this rule with one hand in every cycle, and still have a few fingers to spare! These referrals come from our own founders we have backed, other founders who know that we will do right by their angel investments and our extensive set of friends, investors and well wishers in the ecosystem. The exceptions, while not impossible, are indeed rare. Ceteris paribus (all things considered), you are better off reaching us through a trusted common friend. In a highly networked startup ecosystem, it is not that hard to reach us through the strongest possible mutual connection. But if that is not possible, do reach out to us cold. Your email will certainly be read, even if it is not always responded to. We have ensured that our internal systems catch every pitch - cold or warm or hot. When writing in cold, a considered and researched mail (much like a quality college application) is the only way to attempt such a reach out. Please check out the team page, find the best person in the Investment team who has invested in and / or covers the sector you're building in. Do check out their social profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter) to access their contact info. Our email ids are not hard to guess as well! Preferably write to one person at a time, in the firm. The above are good principles for you irrespective of which firm you approach / pitch to. Nothing works better than a warm, referred introduction - it always gets the rightful attention. Please note that we have done away with a pitch form, or a common email id. From our experience, we found that the volume of inbound traffic was indeed high, but not always relevant, and thus almost impossible to assign a resource to just monitor these inbound gates.

EMVC is innovating the “strategic seed” category. We invest in early-stage companies that are driving accelerated innovation and local growth in India and that have relevance globally. Our cross-border fund is led by a team of passionate investors and industry leaders with a track record success and a deep understanding of the trends and technologies that are disrupting the status quo in India and the world. Our Unique Approach EMVC is focused on financial services and adjacent technologies in India that are “leapfogging” developed markets and driving the massive transformation that’s underway in the world’s fastest-growing consumer economy. Our approach is simple: We get hands-on to support the very best entrepreneurs who are dedicated to building the new economy for the next billion digitally-empowered users, helping founders connect and grow with the most relevant international leaders and corporations in the world. We are a mix between startup lab, corporate VC, and strategy shop. We believe in results over hype and empowering brilliant minds with capital and connectivity. We help scale hyper-local context and global collaboration in sectors on the cusp of change.NEXT GENERATION PAYMENTS FINTECH & DATA INFRASTRUCTURE SAVINGS, INVESTMENTS, & PERSONAL FINANCE INSURTECH SMALL BUSINESS 2.0 DECENTRALIZED ECONOMY DIGITAL TOOLS FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS NEXT-WAVE FINANCIAL INCLUSION

500 Global is a venture capital firm with more than $2.7 billion in assets under management that invests early in founders building fast-growing technology companies. We focus on markets where technology, innovation, and capital can unlock long-term value and drive economic growth. We invest far and wide, across sectors and geographies. 500 Global’s Southeast Asia family of funds have backed over 270+ companies, including $1B+ companies Grab, Bukalapak, Carousell, Carsome, and FinAccel. This is just the beginning – we are actively growing to serve more founders, as well as connect startups with capital, expertise, and global networks to help them succeed. To uplift people and economies through entrepreneurship We believe these will be the growth areas in Southeast Asia, and actively invest in the region’s most talented entrepreneurs shaping the future. Sustainable Cities Cities are the lifeblood of Southeast Asia which we believe will be home to almost 400 million people by 2030. Can technology transform our cities into environmentally sustainable havens through innovations in energy, transport, waste management, food and agriculture? Can these cities bring us closer in a safe and empathetic way? Rural Digitization The story of cities is only part of the story. Can we include and uplift the rest of our region and seize the rural technology opportunity? Can we build solutions that help leapfrog rural development and provide people with the same access and conveniences as cities? Fintech for All The digital economy depends heavily on financial infrastructure to connect us together. We believe financial technology and embedded finance can usher in a new era of financial inclusion and returns, from smoothing income volatility, access to credit, to insurance that matters. Can we architect a financial-savvy world where no one is left behind? All-Commerce Ecosystem e-Commerce of the past decade seems to have expanded into “all-commerce” where consumers demand to buy anything, anywhere (whether online or offline), and have delivered to their doorstep anytime they choose. What innovations in global trade, logistics, supply chains and trust are needed to make this a reality? Human & Machine Productivity Technology can profoundly impact a nation’s future through increases in productivity and GDP. Likewise, we believe competition is also making technology adoption among MSMEs and large enterprises a necessity. Can ed-tech, machine middleware, low and no-code software solutions, SaaS platforms, and other innovations build more resilient economies? Healthcare & Self-care We believe healthcare is often overlooked and underinvested, until it is too late. The recent pandemic has underscored the importance of taking care of ourselves. To us, this “self-care” extends beyond just the body and also into the mind and spirit. How will technology help us take care of ourselves and each other holistically? Web 3.0 The internet is ripe for evolution, and users are discovering unprecendented ways to own, sell and trade digital assets. What do we need to create a new and completely decentralized ecosystem that’s safe and inclusive The Creator Economy Independent creators are building successful businesses through sharing their knowledge, skills and creativity. We believe this will be the main way we teach, learn, and entertain each other, and more importantly, grow together. How can technology help creators foster more authentic connections with people? Our expertise is local We have team members across Southeast Asia who bring experience as entrepreneurs, investors, and operators from leading technology companies. A regional investment strategy based on diversification and scale Across 500 Global’s Southeast Asia family of funds, we invest in founders building technology companies that drive economic growth in fast-growing markets in the region. In doing so, we provide investors with both diversification, scale and returns. Our goal is to back the best wherever they’re based. Our early stage funds typically invest US$250,000 to US$500,000 in founders based primarily in or serving Southeast Asia. After our wire reaches you, our team becomes your first call for strategy, capital growth, marketing, and all-things company building.

NAB Ventures is a global initiative supporting entrepreneurs in Australia and offshore in their quest to build leading technology companies. Our partners have founded, led, and invested in technology companies for two decades in both Australia and the US. Investment themes NAB Ventures invest in innovative technologies and business models that address themes core to NAB’s strategic priorities outlined below. NAB Ventures will leverage NAB’s core capabilities, driving customer insights and solutions via its deep understanding of customer data along with the inherent bank capabilities of trust, security and identity management. Connected business Provide a 'connected' experience for small and medium businesses. Technologies that help small and medium business customers manage all of their financial needs (including banking, tax, invoicing, and payroll) at every stage of their journey. Specialist offerings in health and agribusiness are of particular interest. Home ownership Support retail customers through the full home ownership journey Leap – help customers find and secure a property Land – make it easy for customers to reach settlement Live – provide insights and tools to manage all aspects of home ownership Cashless world Build easier, faster, richer payments for customers. Technologies to enhance credit and debit card offerings and support our customers in fully embracing and benefiting from new innovations such as digital wallets, real time payments, and blockchain-enabled solutions. Empowered investment Help customers build, monitor and manage wealth. Disruptive solutions for wealth management (including deposits, property, equities, funds and super), to help customers achieve better investment outcomes. Industry focus areas (vertical) AgTech Asset and wealth management FinTech InsurTech Payments and commerce PropTech RegTech Industry focus areas (horizontal) Alternative lending/credit Blockchain technology Core banking technology Cybersecurity Data and AI/ML Digital Enterprise SaaS Investment process NAB Ventures understands that leading technologies are funded quickly. We have developed streamlined internal investment processes to match the speed of high-growth ventures. Investee companies can go from a signed term sheet to investment close in as little as four weeks.