Announcing Innovent Fund
As we close the book on first month of the year, I can’t help but feel hopeful that, despite turmoil and uncertainty, 2023 will be a watershed year in the world’s economies. Like many investors, I see the massive adoption of new technologies in climate, healthcare, financial services, and machine learning will generate tailwinds which drive the break-out businesses of the coming cycle. As an entrepreneur, I have spent the past three decades building businesses that capitalize on such market realignments, usually caused by disruptive technology and the new tools and business ecosystems they unlock. I have been fortunate a couple of times to have been in the right place with the right business, investors, team and game plan when these realignments have occurred.
Beyond my own companies, I have been investing and incubating at the seed and angel level for the better part of 30 years, in nearly 50 individual companies. I’ve taken the same approach to investing as I have in building businesses myself, namely to crawl-walk-run and bet on big macro shifts led by great teams and emerging tech. As the wider venture world backed off in 2022, with rising interest rates and consolidation in most tech companies, I decided to lean in. I expanded our team at Innovent to more aggressively and systematically leverage my capital in this changing environment. A decade ago, entrepreneurs didn’t have the tools available to them to get as far as they can now — it took a few million dollars, an office, a server rack, a lawyer, and more just to test a thesis and find product-market fit. Now, the tools exist for a smart entrepreneur at any stage in their personal career to bring their idea from concept to MVP, and then seek investors who can help them bring it to market and grow to scale.
Seeing these changes in the volume and competition in the space, my team and I have operationalized our approach to investing in seed-stage startups that leverage disruptive technology to innovate old ways of doing business, particularly in finance, real estate, software, medtech, and decarbonization. Last year we opened Innovent Fund to target opportunities backed by stellar founders in these industries. Our formula is simple: leverage technology and vision to unlock value in concert with highly focused execution. Our first two investments reflect this strategy and I’m beyond excited to shout them out.
One market that we are particularly excited about is the electrification of the economy, especially electric vehicles and the role they will play in the future of urban transportation. The demand for electric cars is growing at a rapid pace, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which provides significant federal spending towards electrification, has made it an ideal time to invest in this industry. Not only are electric vehicles better for the environment and public health, they also offer significant cost savings in the long run for their owners and the cities they live in. Anyone who owns and drives an electric vehicle understands there are few downsides to making the switch except for one — where will you charge it when you’re away from home? And what if your home is an apartment in a major city, and isn’t compatible with normal driveway charging?
Our first investment, ItsElectric, produces curbside electric vehicle charging stations for use in cities like New York, Washington, and Detroit, where street parking is the norm for residents and options for vehicle charging are scarce. Their approach is laser focused and sensitive to real neighborhood impacts, and their planning and deployment matches what cities will need to make electrification possible with limited on street parking and sky-high development cost for new energy infrastructure. Their modular and sleek design and commercial model makes it possible for communities to bring Type-2 vehicle charging right to the street where people actually park, making electric vehicle ownership a practical option for millions of people.
We spent great time with ItsElectric co-founders Tiya Gordon and Nathan King, who showed us what a dynamic and visionary approach they bring to solving this problem, and we believe their solution will win. Their experience in public design gives the edge to beat out competitors. They’re backed by a who’s-who of electric vehicle and urban transportation innovators and advisors, and we’re very proud to join those ranks as a seed investor.
Anyone who has spent significant time in hospitals or under medical care knows that even with recent investments in technology by providers and public agencies, the healthcare industry is ripe for disruption by software solutions that put patients at the center. No one sees this gap more vividly than the parents of a young child who is facing intensive care. Doctors and nurses work harder than anyone, but their time is limited, and much of the medical information they must communicate to parents is complex and changing moment to moment. Explaining details about a patient’s condition and progress can absorb precious time and can still leave parents confused and disconnected. But parents armed with up-to-date data and medical information on their child’s condition can make them a valuable part of their care team and be the difference in their child’s recovery.
Our second investment, Nicolette, is a patient-facing information and learning dashboard for parents of children in neonatal intensive care units at children’s hospitals in the US. Their one-of-a-kind application provides real time health data to parents, showing a patient’s vitals, treatment, and rich details on the prognosis and treatment plan. The COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the need for better communication and access to information in hospitals, and I believe that Nicolette is well-positioned to meet this need. Nicolette’s founder Phil Martie is the biggest reason I’m confident of this. Phil has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by parents in this difficult situation. The product he and his team have built solves this problem, making interactions between parents and healthcare providers more efficient and action oriented, giving parents tangible ways to contribute to a positive outcome for their kids. Nicolette’s strategy and partnerships with health systems will bring this product to NICUs around the country and set a new standard for software of its kind.
I am incredibly impressed by the founders of these companies, and they were the ultimate factor in our decision to invest. I am addicted to the process of developing these businesses and seeing them grow and succeed, and I see the same drive and capability in these teams and their chances to win. Nothing about building businesses is easy or straight-forward, no investment thesis or business plan is bullet-proof, and the only thing you can count on is constant change, frequent roadblocks, and sleepless nights. These founders are fit for that challenge, and I’m proud that Innovent Fund will be on that journey with these and every company we invest in going forward. This is my life’s work, my team and I are leaning in, and we are just getting started.
