The Vento Post | August 24
Our monthly pills for founders, wannabe founders and Vento’s friends.
September is the new January.
So they say and we like it a lot. Mostly, because it feels like “the 30s are the new 20s” and the Vento team is aging.
So August is the perfect month to take stock of what has happened and reveal what's cooking. Let's start with the recap of the previous episodes. If you follow this newsletter you may already know a few things, but let us share some highlights:
In this season of Investments: we backed 20 new companies, reaching 74 companies in the portfolio.
In this season of Venture Building: we ran our 3°cohort, selected 40 people, and created and backed 6 new ventures. SPOILER ALERT: one is already raising a pre-seed round led by a foreign investor.
In this season of ITW: it is all yet to be written, but at the moment we have an incredible lineup of speakers and 10k+ people already registered to attend (if you are not one of them, get your ticket here).
How do we feel about it? If you ignore white hair, new tics, and sleep deprivation, mostly happy (mostly joking).
In the coming season, in no particular order: we will be releasing our first podcast, in which we have followed the journey of some of our founders from start to Investor Day, we will begin selections for the next batch of Venture Building, we will run that wonderful madness called ITW, we will make countless new investments, and the first baby of the Vento team will arrive (we are so excited!!!).
So of course stay tuned.
🌎 News from Vento
Our portfolio keeps growing. Here’s a sneak peek on one of our latest deals:
Wolsal
What does Wolsal do? B2B wholesale transaction processes are still offline with multiple contact points. Wolsal is developing a digital catalog and order management tool for B2B businesses.
Who? There is a French and an Italian. It is not the beginning of a joke but the composition of this team, made up of two extraordinary second-time founders who have previously raised more than €100M.
🔮Wisdom Pills from our Founders
Everyone looks forward to a Happy Hour. And if it’s also a chance to learn something from fellow founders, well that’s a huge plus. That’s why every two weeks we organize the Beer Tuesday, a chance for our Venture Building founders to gain insights from a special guest and discuss ideas.
This is a throwback from one of the Beer Tuesdays of this season, the guest was Matilde Giglio, founder of Even, India’s leading healthcare provider. Started in 2021, the company has raised over $25 million to date and is backed by some of the world's leading investors including Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, and DST Global.
Here’s what we learned:
Start from the right starting point. Focus on a market that is growing and not shrinking, even though you like that market. It might seem trivial but this is a very common mistake and build around a team that is particularly suited to solve that specific problem that you are trying to solve.
Fail Fast. In some cases, failing is the best thing that can happen to you. You shouldn’t be scared of failure, you will be much braver and much more knowledgeable after.
People are key. The founding team has to be brave and generous. Having a significant ESOP pool is the best way to hire the best people you can get and show your generosity to investors.
🫵 We want you! (Openings)
Looking for growth opportunities? Our companies are looking for bright individuals.
Give it a shot!
Desia is looking for an ML Engineer.
Saeki is looking for a Founder Associate Intern.
Nebuly is looking for a UX-UI Designer.
🤝 The Network Effect (only for our Portfolio Companies)
We are not just a fund: we are a partner. And we support our founders to the best of our abilities. How do we do it? Well, among other things we create synergies with companies to offer dedicated perks and help our founders work better, spending less!
🗂️ Optimize customer management with Brevo. With Vento, you can have 75% off your annual marketing plan.
🚨 Protect your company from cyber threats with Visibily. Benefit from a plug and play solution to detect and respond to attacks.
📊 Get access to a $21k in free credits on Databricks, the cloud-based and AI platform for large-scale data processing and analytics.
To get to these perks and 40+ other partnerships we have in place:
✨ The 3 Ls: Learned, Loved, Laughed
🤓 Learned
The gap between Capex spending in Gen. AI and current benefits from Gen. AI applications - Goldman Sachs;
GPT, Claude, Llama? How to tell which AI model is the best - The Economist.
😍 Loved (Special Summer Edition: Books)
Open by Andre Agassi - offers powerful insights into resilience, personal growth, and authenticity in the face of immense pressure and public scrutiny - all experiences that closely parallel the entrepreneurial journey;
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight - the inspiring story behind the creation of Nike from the ground up, showcasing the grit, innovation, and perseverance required to turn a startup into a global brand;
The Art of Start by Guy Kawasaki - a practical, no-nonsense guide to launching a business, covering everything from pitching to team-building with actionable advice.
😂 Laughed
Over the past few weeks the ITW team has been interviewing many candidates to choose volunteers for this edition. At one point Camilla writes in chat "Guys I think I know this guy”. A few minutes after: “Oh my God! I do know this guy- last year during my honeymoon we did a 4-day jungle tour in Colombia togheter”.
🦄 If you
If you work in VC and want to receive updates about our Portfolio Companies, get in touch with us here.
If you are a founder and you are fundraising, apply here.
If you want to be a founder but don’t know where to start, click here.