The Unicorns Podcast

In this episode, Cassandra Harris sits down with J. Skyler Fernandes, a Powerlist 100 VC and the founder and general partner of VU Venture Partners, a global venture capital fund focused on consumer, enterprise, fintech, frontier, healthcare and proptech. The teams investment partners have invested over $1.8B+ to date in over 250 companies — and they have been some of the earliest and largest investors in 20+ unicorns, such as Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Venmo, FabFitFun, Beyond Meat, Oculus, Wish, etc.  After explaining what prompted him to abandon his dreams of being a quantum physicist in favour of the world of startups and venture capital, Sky shares some insight as to why VU Venture Partners is the most scalable venture fund in the world. Combined with their ‘sniper-like’ approach, VU sees over 10x more deal flow than a traditional venture fund, but are far more selective, picking just 20 investments per year across the globe and going after the biggest possible market opportunities in existence, resulting in both short-term plays like their investment in agrotech company Bear Flag Robotics (sold to John Deere for a 9x return within 14 months) and long-term plays, such as healthtech companies like 3D-printed organ pioneers 3D Biocorp and men’s reproductive health startup Contraline, where the opportunities are 10x-100x+  Sky ends with a brief overview of the concept behind Venture University, the world’s leading investor accelerator for individuals breaking into the VC/PE industry, as well as some advice geared towards potential founders looking to catch his eye. Through his approach, Sky’s confident that he and his team will find not only more unicorns (companies who grow to valuations of $1B+), but also possible ‘chimera's’ — a term they’ve dubbed to refer to companies with the potential to grow to being valued at $1+ Trillion dollars. A number of companies have now crossed the $1 Trillion valuation and were VC backed (Amazon, Tesla, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google).

Water is a fundamental molecule that enables society to exist, and few people understand the potential of the water investment space as well as this episode’s guest, Tom Ferguson, Managing Partner at Burnt Island Ventures, a new $30 million fund dedicated to supporting startups focusing on water.  In this episode, Tom discusses how we are at a turning point. From the wildfires of the Western US to flooding in Niger, climate change is here, with rising temperatures straining the world's water resources more than ever before. Products and services that allow individuals, governments and companies to navigate this change are in increasing demand, and entrepreneurs are rising to the challenge, emerging with the skill and insight to meet that demand and develop solutions to water problems at scale. In a nutshell, Tom explains that climate change is water change. It is the medium through which we will feel the effects of a warming earth. It is our responsibility to manage Earth’s most precious resource, now more than ever. Burnt Island Ventures therefore exists to find, fund and support the best of these founders.  Diving straight in, the two discuss what founders in the lucrative water tech space should expect when looking for investment. Tom goes on to give some examples of the incredible investment opportunities he’s backed to date, including water recycling and filtration innovators ZwitterCo, and Spout, the company behind the worlds smallest atmospheric water generator.

Visiting the site of the Chernobyl disaster left a major impact on Cassandra Harris. Originally a trip planned to learn what happened, speak to people on the ground, and improve her general knowledge of alternative energy sources, Cassandra’s trip also opened her mind to a more specific question: whether or not a safer, even more efficient alternative to fission reactors could be found and used to improve humanity. It’s an even more relevant topic these days as fuel prices shoot through the roof, the effects of which will be experienced by billions of people around the world as the winter begins to set in — and far beyond.  The answer, she would discover, is fusion, a concept which few can explain as well as Richard Dinan, a fuel and energy scientist and the founder of Pulsar Fusion, a fusion energy venture aiming to be the European leader in commercial nuclear fusion technology, through leveraging R&D advances into industrial products across the aerospace and energy sectors.  After running Cassandra through Pulsar Fusions mission to harness the power of R&D developments in the nuclear sector and use them for propulsion well before fusion-based energy is a common occurrence, Richard talks a bit about the science behind it — with the main point that the universe has chosen fusion to power itself, and humanity should strive to emulate nature. Richard then discusses some of their achievements to date, including testing engines with the support of the UK government and the RAF, as well as their fundraising goals and eventual plans for commercialisation, before ending with some advice for potential entrepreneurs looking to enter the space.

In this episode, Cassandra Harris sits down with Luca Zerbini, Partner of Una Terra Ventures, a new €300m venture capital fund focused on early growth sustainable startups.  Luca provides some context on the origins of Una Terra Ventures, highlighting its mission to eliminate 2GT of CO2 emissions and 1m tons of plastic waste per year before 2030, approximately 5% of the total required to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The two then move on to discuss the fund’s current state — Luca providing some insight into their funding targets and their belief that sustainability is the biggest economic opportunity of our time. He then provides an example of how one of his current portfolio companies,  Pulpex - is pioneering the sustainable packaging industry.  Cassandra and Luca move on to discuss his startup scouting philosophy, the unique challenges posed by the fund’s primarily European focus, and what investors are thinking about when it comes to deploying capital in this current economic climate. The podcast ends with some useful advice for founders in the sustainability space.

How should founders approach their fundraising during this turbulent time? The prevailing economic downturn of the last couple years has indicated that in many cases, founders can no longer rely on business as usual. Money is tighter, and investors are going to be more selective.  To discuss this in more detail, in this podcast, Cassandra Harris talks to Mark Cupta, Managing Director at Prelude Ventures, a venture capital fund with $1.6bn under management, partnering with entrepreneurs to address climate change. The two discuss Mark's perspective on the state of the market and what it means for valuations, resource allocation, and fundraising during a precarious time. Mark also explains why in the current economic context, striking a balance between standing out from the crowd and conserving capital and runway is crucial. Impact is one thing, he notes, but being able to convey where a startup is, how it’s going to scale to be a multi-billion dollar company, and what it’ll look like 1, maybe even 2 funding rounds in the future, is infinitely more powerful. Potential founders take note! Listen to the full podcast for more advice from Mark.  Outside of providing some timely advice for entrepreneurs looking to enter the clean tech/climate tech space, which Prelude specialises in, Mark also tells us a bit about Prelude’s philosophy, which is centred around investing in early stage companies that are able to have both a positive impact on the world itself as well as prove themselves capable of scaling and becoming profitable. Adding some additional context, Mark discusses a couple of the startups they’re involved with, including Pivot Bio, a biological fertiliser company whose technology enables plants to create their own fertiliser using nitrogen in the air, and Boston Metal, whose method of steel production is cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and suitable for small-scale local steel production.

A mentality shift across the world of startups and innovation has led to the monumental growth in popularity of environmentally-conscious business models over the last two decades, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down. To discuss the implications of this shift and more, in this episode, Cassandra Harris talks to a long-standing member of the scene, Sasha Brown, a Partner at Ecosystem Integrity Fund (E Motor Works, Ambient Photonics), a $250m fund geared at early-stage companies focused on improving environmental sustainability. After briefly introducing herself, Sasha goes on to explain EIF’s model, which goes all the way from the research stage to providing post-investment operational support, as well as tell the story of how they broke the mold for environmental investing. As Sasha describes it, they take an industry-agnostic approach, investing and leading funding rounds for companies from transportation infrastructure startups to renewable energy revolutionaries. From a scouting perspective, Sasha talks about looking for niches within larger systems, which is where the biggest opportunities lie. She brings up another recent investment in a closed loop fashion company, For Days, which creates clothing guaranteed not to end up in a landfill, a stark contrast from fast fashion companies like H&M, which has incinerated nearly 100 tons of inventory in the last decade alone. Ending with some advice for startups seeking investment, Sasha implores founders to ask themselves whether or not they’re solving a real problem, as well as whether or not they have the combination of passion and knowledge to navigate the long and winding road of being a founder in a turbulent space.

Cassandra talks to Alexandra Clark, an advisor at Veg Capital and Principal at Sentient Ventures. Alexandra begins by discussing her involvement at Veg Capital, known most recently for backing VFC (Vegan Fried Chicken), a plant-based alternative to fried chicken who recently exposed and condemned fast food giant KFC's approach to chicken farming. She then talks about her role at Sentient Ventures, a £30 million tax-transparent fund which she launched with Matthew Glover (Veg Capital, Veganuary, and Million Dollar Vegan) and Manish Karani (Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Suisse). Evidence from multiple scientific studies has helped us to understand that a wide range of animals are sentient beings. This means they have the capacity to experience positive and negative feelings such as pleasure, joy, pain and distress. Alexandra goes on to explain their mission is to invest in early growth-stage companies around the world that are developing superior successors to animal products and accelerate the removal of farmed animals from global food production systems, and gives tips to startups looking to secure investment from her fund.

In this episode Cassandra chats to Wesley Cooper and Winslow Marshall, the co-founders of pet nutrition startup Neo Bites. Neo Bites is a new startup accelerating the shift toward sustainable animal nutrition. They have created the first line of functional dog food toppers that harness the unique nutritional benefits of insect protein. Not only is insect protein healthier for the planet — using fewer resources and producing less greenhouse gases than traditional proteins — but it is healthier for the pups as well. Pound for pound, insects are one of the most nutritious sources of animal protein on the planet, a particularly prescient point given that if America’s dogs and cats had their own country, their animal protein consumption would rank fifth in the world (just above the human population of China). Full of highly processed, low-quality, questionable ingredients, the pet food industry — already worth tens of billions of dollars — is destroying the health of our pups and of our planet, while meat production generates ¼ of global greenhouse gas emissions. Together, Wesley and Winslow are on a mission to put a stop to this trend, and make a long-term impact both for pets and the food chains that support them.

In this episode, Cassandra talks to Jaeson Ma, a media executive, artist, investor, and serial entrepreneur whose journey has seen him go from playing a pioneering role in the Asian-American hip-hop community to working with — and investing in — some of the hottest names in the media world, including MC Hammer and Bruno Mars. Jaeson is a venture partner at Goodwater Capital, through which his goal is to help entrepreneurs build companies that transform lives on a global scale. Jaeson also discusses his role as the founder of East West Ventures, a brand strategy and investment company that aims to bridge the East and West through music, entertainment, and innovation. In this podcast, Cassandra quizzes Jaeson about his philosophy throughout every project he’s been involved in and how is is working to help humanity, increase happiness and bridge the East and West through stories and talent.

In this next episode Cassandra talks to Manuel Gonzalez, Partner at AgFunder, a Silicon Valley-based firm that invests in companies from pre-seed to Series A in the FoodTech and AgTech sectors. While AgFunder initially started as a media and education platform looking to democratize Food & Ag financing, it’s since launched 4 funds, with a 5th fund ($100 million) — on the way. Originally from Mexico, Manuel started his career as an entrepreneur before joining the world of banking and then VC. AgFunder’s current portfolio includes IGS, Atomo Coffee, Faeth, Brightseed and many more. This podcast dives into AgFunder’s investment thesis and points out how listeners can gain access to such investments as well as how they can learn more about similar companies by following AgFunder’s media arm, AFN.