Ada Ventures

We believe VC should be open source. That's why we're releasing the first ever 💥Ada Ventures Impact Report today 💥 To read the report: https://lnkd.in/erFbK5M7 Since we launched, we've tried to be as transparent as possible about how we're building Ada Ventures and how we make our investment decisions. We do this because: 1️⃣ We believe being open helps VCs do better by removing places to hide 2️⃣ We want other people to see, adopt and evolve our ideas 3️⃣ We want to be held to account and know where we could do better Today we're taking that one step further. This report dives into our thesis, our impact, and the current portfolio in a ton of detail. We're laying it all out on the table. Insights include: 1️⃣Progress against our Inclusive Alpha® goals 2️⃣How our Ada Scout and Angel programmes are developing, inc.: 👉 In Ada Fund II, 6/19 (32%) investments so far have been sourced by Ada Scouts  👉The Ada Scouts have helped us reach 6x more all-Black teams and 10x more all-female teams than the UK benchmarks 3️⃣Diversity stats for our portfolio, inc.: 👉78% of Fund I and II companies have an underrepresented founder 👉56% have a woman founder (vs 28% of wider market – IWC 2024) 👉76% have a founder from an ethnic minority 4️⃣Growth stats from a selection of our portfolio companies - showing that inclusion and outsized returns go hand-in-hand.  Thank you to everyone who helped bring this report to life including: Francesca (Check) Warner (Founding Partner), Shanika Amarasekara MBE (Venture Partner: Impact) Xun Ning Choong, (Head of Operations and Impact Lead) and Carla Adol Designs. We are also grateful for the support we’ve had from the Limited Partner community. Thanks to their belief and backing, we now have £120m of assets under management. We’d like to highlight and thank the LPs who contributed to this report including: Joe Shamash, Investment Director, Better Society Capital Ken Cooper, Managing Director, Venture Solutions, British Business Bank Tamara Savic, Senior Investment Manager, Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO)  Dr Catherine Martin, Vice-Principal, Corporate Services, The University of Edinburgh Betsy Zimmerman, Co-Founding GP, First Close Partners The report highlights case studies of the high impact companies and founders we’ve backed including: The ESTHER team led by Carol Rossborough The Flexa team led by Molly Johnson-Jones The Organise team led by Nat Whalley The Greenworkx team led by Mat Ilic  The BlakBear team led by Dr. Max Grell PhD The Oxford Medical Products team led by Dr. Camilla Easter  The Toothfairy ™ team led by Dr. Deepak Singh Aulak The R.grid team led by Dr. Amber Michelle H. We would love to hear your feedback on these metrics and insights. 👇

2024 was a complex year for the European tech scene. The market picked up pace, new governments arrived, and AI remained a dominant force across all sectors. As we all try to catch our breath – scrambling to dot Is and cross Ts before winding down for Christmas – thoughts turn to what 2025 will bring. I’ve reflected on some of the key trends of the past year in a new Medium piece, taking a look at how the venture capital landscape is evolving. From the rise of the productisation of VC to the divisive "content creator" model and the changing role of public money – these shifts are set to bring in a period of refinement in venture capital. And because fortune telling ought to be a team sport, I’ve asked the Ada Ventures team and our esteemed network of venture partners to tap into their crystal balls and share their insights on the tech sector’s investment trends to watch in 2025. Here’s what they’re forecasting: 🔍 Dorothy Chou, Director of Policy & Public Engagement at @ Google DeepMind, believes we’ll see the end of “spray and pray” AI investments 🔬 Alasdair Thong, Founding Partner at Selvedge Venture and Ada Venture Partner predicts life sciences will continue to be a focus, driven by proven potential 💡 Michael Tefula, Ada’s own Head of Product, expects the rise of AI “coaches” – transforming how we eat, exercise, and even upskill 🏛️ Shanika Amarasekara MBE sees pension funds stepping up as key players in illiquid asset investments For their full predictions, check out my article over on Medium here in the link in the comments below.. 👉 All that’s left is to say a huge thank you to the incredible team at Ada, our brilliant venture partners, and our inspiring portfolio founders for another remarkable year. The Ada team will be taking a well-earned break over the holidays & New Years. I encourage others to do the same - particularly founders.. In the meantime, however you celebrate, wishing everyone a wonderful and restful festive season! 

In recent months, there's been a lot of discussion about the future of UK venture. How we strengthen the sector, unearth world-leading talent and, crucially, hold on to it. An emerging theme in these conversations is the role of public money in VC. And it’s something I’ve been ruminating on since attending an investor breakfast co-hosted by Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK, ImpactVC VC and UpLink last month. The room echoed with calls for the Government to be bolder and enable more institutional funds (like pensions) to flow into investments such as venture. But, at the same time, I've also seen high-profile figures calling for a reduction of public money in VC, particularly for early-stage investments. So what's the right path forward? I don't believe we can unlock the true power of 'scale-up' Britain without a bolder approach to public money and institutional investment. As Ian Hogarth points out, UK venture is suffering from a lack of 'audacious capital'. At the same time, UK plc. is suffering from undue constraints on its ability to invest and diversify. We can't thrive unless we unlock the potential of both. And enabling public money to play a bolder role in venture capital could be part of the solution.  We already have a strong example of this working in practice. 36% of the UK’s current unicorns received investment from British Business Bank supported funds. The US has also shown us what can be achieved when we allow public funds to take on a larger role in private investment - retirement savings make up 72% of America’s powerful venture capital pool, compared to just 10% in the UK. If we want to compete on the global stage, we need regulation fit for bigger ambitions. And we need this bolder approach to be felt by the whole VC lifecycle; from pre-seed, all the way through to IPOs. Boosting the presence of institutional investment across both early-stage and growth will give the Demis Hassabis' of tomorrow their first break, lay the ground for companies to scale-up without going to the US, help get funding to a more diverse pool of emerging talent, and create a valuable pipeline of exits, serial entrepreneurs and operator investors that will underpin the market for the next generation and create the virtuous cycle we need to keep building. Every element of VC relies directly on the chapter which directly precedes and follows it. We can't become a growth market without strong early-stage foundations. And we can't offer the best to next-gen entrepreneurs if they can't see a future here. A bolder, more ambitious and pan-sector approach is the way we'll unlock true, lasting impact. And for that to happen, we need the state to play a role. 

🌟Ada Ventures — 5 Years in 🌟 2024 has been a transformative year at Ada Ventures! We reported on our Inclusive Alpha® commitments. Inclusive Alpha® is an investment approach where an inclusive lens is prioritised in every part of the investment process. We’ve welcomed amazing new team members, reported on our innovative initiatives like free childcare for founders and launched AdaGPT. This year, we closed our oversubscribed Fund II at £63m, backed by amazing LPs, and deployed £8 million across 13 new investments in groundbreaking companies like Radiant Matter, PHINXT Robotics and Low Carbon Materials (LCM) to name a few 🚀 We’ve also expanded our team and network, welcoming incredible talent including Michael Tefula, Jasmin Thomas, Dorothy Chou, Benjamin Norton and Shanika Amarasekara MBE who are driving impactful change. We’re incredibly proud of our portfolio companies, like Matnex, which is revolutionising clean energy technology, Multiomic Health, whose innovations in diabetic care are truly paving the way for proactive health solutions and R.grid announced in November that they raised $6.5 million to make clinical trials admin-free. To read our annual year in review head to the comments section below 👇

🎉 Our founding partner, Matt Penneycard, recently hosted our end-of-year celebration with the incredible Danish Ada Angels and Scouts. It was a chance to embrace the cozy spirit of Denmark while reflecting on their collective wins and learnings from the year. As they look ahead to 2025, the community are gearing up for an exciting start, ready to scout for new companies aligned with our investment themes and to make direct investments through the Ada Angel programme. Curious about our latest Angel programme? Check out the comments below to learn more! 🌟 #AdaAngels #EndOfYearCelebration #InnovateInvestInspire

Market maps don't have to be static. That's so 2020. Today it's better to build these in public as your thinking evolves about a space. See the latest link of my market map on AI agents in the comments. 👇🏾 🔔 I've added 7 more agentic startups from the latest YC batch. A few quick examples: 🔧 Praxis AI: AI agents that predict & help prevent industrial machine failures by processing data from factories the same way a human engineer would. 💼 Revi: Automated M&A deal sourcing and origination for investment banks, PE firms, and corp dev teams. 🚨 Vespper: A 24/7 AI on-call engineer that automatically troubleshoots production alerts to help resolve issues before they impact your business.

I reviewed 100+ AI Agent Startups in Y Combinator and here's where my thoughts are on the topic. 👇🏾 Link in the comments section plus an interactive market map. Let me know who I've missed!

Looking forward to speaking at The Women’s Venture Capital Summit this morning at The Grove in Hertfordshire. I will be talking with a great group of panellists about AI predictions for the next 5 years.. 🔮 Moderation by Jo Joyce Of Counsel (Head of Technology, IP and Information), Taylor Wessing Speakers: Ekaterina Almasque, General Partner, OpenOcean Marianna Bonechi Co-Founder &Managing Partner, Slava Ventures Sofia Santos Partner, Faber With Intelligence Ada Ventures

Ten ways we can use technology to reduce health inequity Enabling everyone to live healthy lives for longer is core to our mission. At the first Ada Ventures Health Equity dinner, we challenged portfolio founders, investors, and LPs to envisage a future for healthcare that works for everyone. The dinner featured a fireside chat with Tamsin Berry OBE on the eve of the Jefferies London Healthcare Conference, the largest healthcare-dedicated conference in Europe and a hub for innovation and investment. Tamsin is a partner at Population Health Partners, an investment company focused on transforming health outcomes for populations using innovative therapeutics. Our discussions revolved around gender and racial disparities in access to care; mental health and young people; better access to health data for individual patients; and the next generation of diagnostic tools. As usual, our dinners are under Chatham House Rule to allow participants to speak openly and honestly about what they want to see changed in health equity. Head to the comments to read our full recommendations and we have shared the ten ways technology can be used to reduce health inequity below 👇 1. Intervene earlier 2. Fund diagnostics, not just drugs 3. Look holistically 4. Release the data 5. Use AI, but use it properly 6. Make patients active in their own healthcare 7. Consider the care giver 8. Think outside the box 9. Adopt a longer-term approach for investment 10. View the NHS as a catalyst for global change

A short note on key learnings I took from Slush's Investor Day panels. Read on for insights from seasoned seed stage investors and the LPs that back them 👇🏿 https://lnkd.in/e72ZeUD5