Project A

?????????????? ?? ?? ?????? - ?????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ?????????????? Last night, we cohosted an evening dedicated to Resilience and DeepTech with our friends at IQT (In-Q-Tel), bringing together over 150 founders, investors and LPs during Slush in Helsinki. With Trump's victory in the US and Ursula von der Leyen public proposal of the 28th regime, enabling a single rulebook for the whole of the EU, there was optimism in the room for the future home-grown of DefenseTech in Europe. Thank you to everyone that came over to contribute to the conversation! We are looking forward to seeing you in the next one ?? . ???????? ???? ???????? ?????????????? ???????? ?????? ???????????? ?????????????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ??????????????Sign up to our Resilience Newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/eCJzzTCS cc Jack Wang, NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Top Tier Capital Partners, Vsquared Ventures, General Catalyst, Lakestar, OTB Ventures, Nordic Defence Innovation Foundry

The US electorate has spoken and Germany is heading to the polls –? are we ready for the post-Zeitenwende era? ? We’re thrilled to share the latest edition of our newsletter written by our Head of Platform and ESG Paola Compés Tatay, featuring key takeaways from the recent American Academy open session titled "Getting the Zeitenwende Right: Military and Society in Modern Germany" led by Academy president Daniel Benjamin, Wolfgang Ischinger, Amb. (rtd), President of the Munich Security Conference Foundation and Distinguished Visitor Dr. Mara Karlin, former United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities. This important discussion, co-sponsored by Project A and Sequoia Capital, offered a summary of a day-long workshop that brought together 27 distinguished defense experts to analyze Germany's evolving military role amid increasing international pressures. In this edition, we explore: ?? Germany's Pivotal Defense Investment: How Olaf Scholz's bold? €100 billion commitment is reshaping military strategy and public perception. ?? From Pacifism to Pragmatism: The significant shift in public support for the Bundeswehr and the ongoing challenges of bridging gaps in military preparedness. ?? Sustaining Support for Ukraine: Insights on the evolving narrative of Ukraine's resilience and the importance of continuous support amidst rising "compassion fatigue." ?? Overhauling Defense Procurement: The urgent need to adapt European defense systems to meet modern warfare demands. Join us in understanding the complexities of Germany’s defense strategy and the broader implications for NATO and European security. ?? Annette Hornischer ?? Read the full newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/ecZWHZhW

Today, our portfolio company 11x is announcing a $50 million Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The round comes exactly two years after Project A led their pre-seed as part of our Studio, and just two months after Benchmark led their Series A. 11x is redefining the workforce by developing AI-powered digital workers that autonomously execute workflows in revenue teams. By unbundling roles traditionally performed by employees, these digital workers can be “hired” to handle tasks efficiently and at scale. Their first two workers, Alice and Jordan, an AI sales development rep and an AI phone rep, are already supporting global companies in streamlining their processes and building more productive sales teams, by having their teams focus on important matters. Our Principal?Mila Cramer has written down some thoughts on investing in 11x for the series A, link in the comments. Congratulations, Hasan, Prabhav and team 11x! PS: They are hiring across their offices in SF & London, link in comments.

Hei Helsinki! ?? The Project A team is heading to Slush! Catch Malin, Jack, Mila, Daria, Aggy, and Andrea as we pack our winter boots to join founders and fellow investors. Have an idea or just want to chat? Drop us a message! ?? P.S. Daria is on a mission to try Karjalanpiirakka. Any tips on where to find the best? ?? Looking forward to some great conversations! #slush2024 #founders #helsinki #venturecapital

Hosting Early Builders at Project A for their first event outside Paris was truly enjoyable, especially for me as someone who's transitioned from operator to investor. Their initiative to create a community for the early employees, the pivotal yet often overlooked operators who take almost as big a risk as entrepreneurs and join a company as employee #1, deeply resonates with me. Having worked hands-on with many startups from the get-go, I can recall countless times when a 'support group' of like-minded operators would have been immensely beneficial. The team around Victoria, Baptiste and Hamza is building this community and put together a fantastic panel of three first employees from German startups that reached unicorn status:?Sara Fee Kirschhausen (Trade Republic), Nina G?ntgen-Voss (Forto)?and Robert Friedemann (Gorillas), who engaged with an audience of 40 operators from early-stage startups and scale-ups, making for a memorable event. If you're thinking of joining a rocket ship early on, I can point you towards some companies that we've collaborated with at our Project A #Studio like: 11x, ARX Robotics, Root Global, ENAPI, Copay, montamo, Tabular – and some still in stealth where you'd truly be employee #1. Get in touch if you're interested! -- Video credits: Diego Jordi Perret & Jose Sanchez Galindo And follow Early Builders?on LinkedIn to not miss their next events!

?? ???????? ???????? ?????? ???????????? ???????? ??????????! ?? From prepping in our 12 different stages over 9 buzzing Hives to the epic afterparty with over 2,000 amazing guests, PAKCon 2024 was unforgettable! A massive shoutout to everyone who came and to our fantastic speakers for sharing such wisdom. We’re already excited for PAKCon 2025 and have some thrilling new surprises in store! ?? ?????????? ?????? ???????? ????????????????????: https://lnkd.in/exAuQCWx! More awesome moments coming soon.

?? Yesterday Philipp Werner and Ciara Gumsheimer brought together a group of founders, investors, and experts in the global supply chains to discuss changes in the funding environment in #SupplyChainTech over the past few years. Many thanks to AlbionVC for co-hosting this breakfast with us! Some key takeaways from the discussion: From 2022 onwards, supply chain disruptions have continued, prompting ongoing tech adoption across various verticals, with applied AI emerging as a transformative force and critical answer to “why now?”. The investor landscape is witnessing accelerated adoption of supply chain tech, sparking heightened interest despite some hesitation due scar tissue from the 2020-2022 period. Many do not realise how pen and paper driven supply chains still are, which is why we are excited about the opportunity for innovation and transformation across all parts of the supply chain. Thanks to everyone who joined and contributed to the discussion! Valérie Aelbrecht, Adam Chirkowski, Cato Davies, Christy McCaig, Daniel Sharp, Dylan Maxwell, Duran Cesur, Eyal Goldberg, Gaurav Bajaj, James Coombes, James Kellett, Laure Kierszenbaum, Jonathan Jenssen, Nicole Mazza, Lorenzo Cerchi, Max Roz, Mark Batunskiy, Sarah Montgomery, Tom Hibbard. #GlobalSupplyChains #SupplyChainTech #Innovation #VentureCapital #Founders #FundingTrends

Fintech has been in the public eye as a poster child for the past years' highs and lows - yet there's no lack of enthusiasm for building and investing in the space. We brought together some of Europe's most intriguing minds across Fintech, Supply Chain, Climate and Resilience for an evening of meaningful exchange. I discussed personal learnings, insights and the fundamentals of Fintech that continue to excite founders and investors alike together with Zeynep Yavuz, Dr. Christian Nagel and my Project A partner Florian Heinemann. A few nuggets from the conversation: 1?? Payments fees are going south, startups need to think of other ways of making money [still a lot to do in fx and cross border payments] - shifting towards a Fintech x Saas approach. 2?? Financial Services lend themselves particularly well to AI - exciting opportunities in insurance, compliance, accounting. 3?? UK and EU regulators are forward thinking... vs. regulation can be a big pain... 4?? Use of AI in portfolio companies? Customer service, customer success, process automation and underwriting. Many kind thanks to our fantastic panelists and guests ???? Anton Waitz, Mila Cramer, Uwe Horstmann, Jack Wang, Jannic Meyer, Philipp Werner, Ciara Gumsheimer, Daria Gneusheva, Marjorie Lengereau, Project A #panelrecap #fintech #insurance #innovation #venturecapital?

We've seen countless #supplychain disruptions –?from the impacts of climate change to a pandemic, to wars and bottlenecked sea freight routes. These real-world disturbances pose the question: how effectively can technology actually mitigate these challenges? That was my first question to Katharina (Index), Michael (Forto), and Sebastian (Metycle) during our intimate gathering with 150 founders, investors, and industry experts in the context of PAKCon a few days ago. Admittedly, it's a bit provocative. In reality, we're in the thick of a perfect storm for companies aiming to make an impact on global supply chains: These disturbances are prompting companies to look out for solutions to make their supply chains more resilient. Meanwhile, rapid advancements in AI and sensor technology, coupled with an influx of top tech talent adopting an impact mindset, are linking up with entrepreneurial risk-takers from within the industry, armed with deep domain expertise. This combination is fuelling rapid innovation, further supported by regulatory tailwinds and a generational shift towards technology adoption. In short, that’s why we're excited to back companies aiming to redefine global supply chains! A huge thanks to everyone who joined us; we hope you had as fantastic an evening as we did.

As a VC with a business background focused on climate, I sometimes get the question "how do you evaluate deeptech climate opportunities?". And that's a very fair question, it takes work to understand the market and opportunity by talking to different market stakeholders, other investors, spending a lot of time with the founders, etc. We are used to investing in companies that either have commercial traction or validated willingness to pay with their target group. So how do we build confidence in opportunities for which commercialization is 5-10 years out such as Black Semiconductor or V?RIDION? You could also argue that this isn't our mandate as a generalist VC. But it's not like we are taking these opportunities away from investors who understand them a lot better (who we instead partner with). There is simply not enough funding going into quantum leaps in Europe and private, public and strategic investors need to work together to change this and encourage more founders to stay in Europe. And so we believe it's important to take a leap also as an investor and consider the commercial perspective we can bring to the table. Two weeks ago at our Project A event, I had the pleasure of interviewing J?rg Goschin (Co-CEO of KfW Capital) and Daniel Schall (CEO of Black Semiconductor) on exactly that topic. KfW Capital manages different vehicles of the German Future Fund, Black Semiconductor has raised more than $200m in non-dilutive funding from the EU as an Important Project of Common European Interest for microelectronics innovation. Expect a few more posts on this, but for now I'll close with a quote from Daniel that really stuck with me "We knew it would take at least 10 years, so we considered funds earlier in their fund cycle. However, it makes sense to hurry up." Thanks again for the great chat, J?rg and Daniel! #deeptech #climate #europe #deeptechfunding #funding