Michael Jackson

"ETH takes an equity stake in spin-offs, usually two percent." 👍 ETH Zürich now offers some of the best terms for spinoffs in Europe thanks to their new Equity and Licensing Policy. Very happy to have played a small part in this thanks to Vanessa Wood and Frank Floessel. 🇨🇭 Other European universities should take note. European deeptech would be much better off with universities creating less friction for spinoff founders, and a big way for them to create less friction is via offering healthier terms. https://lnkd.in/emdx87jp

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Why I Don't Sign NDAs for Early-Stage Founders — And Why Founders Shouldn't Ask Your idea is your baby. I get it. But for VC, asking for an NDA before sharing that idea isn't protecting your future - it's limiting it. In my latest article, I break down why NDAs create more problems than they solve for founders seeking early-stage funding. I explain why VCs structurally cannot sign them (reviewing 1,500+ decks annually makes this impossible), why they signal inexperience rather than caution, and most importantly - why your execution matters infinitely more than your idea. If you're a founder worried about idea theft, this perspective might change how you approach investor conversations forever. I explain why trust is the real compounding currency in venture capital - not legal protection.

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BREAKING: Serena launches €200M fund (Serena IV) to back Europe’s next leaders in AI & Energy Transition! ⚡️ Paris-based Serena Capital just closed its fourth-generation fund, Serena IV, to invest from the very first steps of founders tackling the world’s biggest challenges. Here are the details: 🔥 Fund size: €200M | Final target: €250M 🔥 AI and Energy Transition, solving real problems at scale 🔥 Track record: Backed 100+ startups, including Electra, Underdog, Lifen, Dataiku, Accenta.ai, and others! Congrats Paul, Sébastien, Olivier, and Constance👏 Let’s go 🇪🇺 --- 📍 For more climate-tech insights, follow me @Hugo

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The VC secondary market is on fire. But many LPs are rushing in without fully appreciating the risks. VenCap International plc has been active in VC secondaries (LP positions only) since 1987 — and this is one of the hottest markets we’ve seen. In the first half of 2025 we reviewed $6.5bn of secondary VC deals — a 41% jump from the $4.6bn we saw in the same period last year. This includes both GP-led and LP-led deals. Here are 4 lessons we've learned from nearly 40 years of buying secondaries: 1️⃣ Power law still rules – a few companies will drive most returns. 2️⃣ Quality over discount – our best deal was bought at a premium to NAV. 3️⃣ Know the valuation policy – different VCs can value the same company very differently. 4️⃣ Factor in manager behavior – holding winners vs. selling early can make or break returns. VC secondaries ≠ PE secondaries. The risks are different — but for LPs who can access the right deal, at the right price, the rewards can be exceptional.

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For all fresh European tech/AI/infra investors – a friendly (/mandatory) reading list Getting started in VC can really be overwhelming, especially when you now have to understand (and be able to explain to your colleagues) AI, coding, back-end infrastructure, and all things tech. Over the years, I’ve curated a set of newsletters/podcasts I turn to regularly and would blindly recommend, or even mandate, to every new investor who is keen to get how software development works, or just wants to sound smart (no shade). We can all copy what the large funds say, but do you even know what you are really talking about when dealing with a technical founder? Follow these newsletters and writers to save yourself (and the VC ecosystem) the potential embarrassment (or don’t! I applaud you for the hubris) :)  Must-read newsletters for investors in tech: Want to know how the best SW engineers work and solve problems? The Pragmatic Engineer. Gergely Orosz writes one of the best weekly newsletters for those who actually bother to get the nuts and bolts of it all – reports on engineering culture, best practices for SDLC, hiring, and how the greatest SW teams ship software. Prepare to learn. A lot! Like practical advice and hands-on examples on shipping product and AI? Every Inc., a great publication authored by a collective of writers ft. voices like Dan Shipper gives you just that – and also releases their own AI tools worth the price of admittance. If you really want to learn how people are building, using, and experimenting with AI, this one's for you. Can’t read, need pictures and numbers? Clouded Judgement. If a SaaS/Cloud investor tells me a deal is cheap/expensive, but isn’t aware of public market comps for listed tech companies, I wonder if they even know how to do their job. Jamin Ball makes it easy by serving up all key SaaS metrics weekly. If you need to know what great, good, and mediocre at scale look like, and how much your startup could exit for, go here. Ever wonder what keeps your tech teams up at night? Software Lead Weekly. Curated by Oren Ellenbogen from Forter, this newsletter provides a roundup of the best engineering and leadership reads of the week. Learn the best practices of scaling engineering orgs, how to ship code, how your SW eng thinks, with a dose of wry SW humor thrown in every time. Always has a few gems! Too much tech talk, need to see things through the lens of finance? The Diff. This daily (paid) newsletter by Byrne Hobart, CFA explores where technology, finance, and economics collide, and why it matters. Understand tech and businesses from a financial perspective, a lesson that most early-stage VCs think they understand, but really never learnt! Get gud, subscribe to The Diff. Am I missing anyone? Drop your favourites in the comments! PS: tl;dr not a fan of reading? I’ve got you covered, check the comments for two of the very best podcasts on companies there are.

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Excited to announce Antares Ventures' investment in enaDyne’s €7 million seed round, co-led by Amadeus APEX Technology Fund (APEX Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners) and my friends Victor Pascucci III and Stefano Galiasso of Energy Capital Ventures®️, alongside Possible Ventures and returning angels Germany-based enaDyne, led by Philipp Hahn and Christian Koch, has developed modular non-thermal plasma reactors that cut industrial emissions like CF₄, PFAS, NOX, and VOCs while turning them into basic chemicals such as ethylene and methanol, essential feedstocks for industries like packaging, textiles, and electronics. For Asia, with fast-growing manufacturing, large semiconductor footprints, and a heavy reliance on imported petrochemicals, the impact is clear: cleaner air and more local production. At Antares, we see industrial decarbonisation not only as an environmental imperative but also as a defining opportunity for Asia’s next growth chapter. enaDyne’s technology can scale into semiconductor fabs, petrochemical plants, and renewable energy facilities, creating cleaner air and greater resource independence for the region. Full announcement here: https://lnkd.in/gXNNTNpf #AntaresVentures #AsiaGrowthMarkets #ScalingInnovation #VentureCapital #Investment #AntaresPortfolio #IndustrialDecarbonisation Michael Gryseels Louis Christian Volk Murayama Milena Nikolova

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