UAA it’s November (Marco's words),
November's been all about globe-trotting for Team Vento. In just the last 10 days, we've been bouncing around from Toronto to Rome to San Francisco, swinging by Melbourne and Nairobi, and even making a quick pit stop in Buenos Aires. Did we hit the jackpot and grab ourselves a private jet? Nah! November's actually our bootcamp season. We got 100 aspiring entrepreneurs together at OGR, went full Professor from La Casa de Papel mode, split them into teams, named each team after a city, and threw them a challenge (and no, we're not planning a heist).
Like any good trip around the world, we ran into lots of familiar faces from our journey so far. These past few days, many alumni have been our partners in crime, helping us figure out who's the best fit for the next batch of our Venture Building program kicking off in January. But hey, that's a whole other story - if you wanna know more, you'll have to catch our December newsletter (who knows what Neapolitan expression Marco's gonna throw our way for the last month of this crazy busy year).
🌎 News from Vento
Our portfolio keeps growing. Here’s a sneak peek on one of our latest deals:
Streckenheld
What does Streckenheld do? In Europe's fragmented €100+ billion building products market, manual ordering, and opaque pricing impede efficiency. Streckenheld introduces a B2B marketplace that transforms dropshipping, which constitutes 50% of retailer revenues, and automates procurement processes.
Who? The founders from Italy and Germany combine their strengths. Tito Costa brings extensive VC and startup experience from his roles at Global Founders Capital and Rocket Internet. Benedict Zillinger offers deep industry insights thanks to his family's construction materials distribution company.
🔮Wisdom Pills from our Network
Everyone loves a good speech, especially when it’s packed with inspiration. That’s why Italian Tech Week is always a highlight. This year, Mike Volpi, Partner at Index Ventures, shared his insights on what is the fundamental quality that all great entrepreneurs share, leaving us all motivated to embrace entrepreneurship and start transforming ideas into reality.
During this year’s Italian Tech Week, we had the privilege of hearing from Mike Volpi, Partner at Index Ventures. He shared his insights on what makes a great entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of being highly commercial. He also inspired the audience by explaining how founders can make a significant impact by focusing on big opportunities.
Here’s what we learned:
Be highly commercial. Volpi emphasized that a key characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is their strong commercial sense and ability to seek out large markets with significant potential: "One of the key characteristics of good entrepreneurs is that they are highly commercial. Highly commercial people find good and big markets…" he explained. By targeting big markets, founders position themselves to make substantial impacts, highlighting the importance of the size and scope of the market.
Leverage technology to transform industries. Volpi stressed the role of technology as a catalyst for change. Successful founders don't just participate in existing markets, they use technology to transform them. "…They are able to use technology to transform or affect those large markets," he said, highlighting how innovation drives industry evolution.
The insights from Volpi's talk left a lasting impression on the founder's audience, reminding us all that successful entrepreneurship is about combining commercial acumen with a vision to transform big markets through technology.
🫵 We want you! (Openings)
Looking for growth opportunities? Our companies are looking for bright individuals.
Give it a shot!
Arca Dynamics is looking for an Account Executive.
Cassandra is looking for a Full-Stack Django Developer.
Salupay is looking for a Junior Operations & Customer Care Assistant.
🤝 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!
🔎 Build a complete picture of your customer with Segment. Bring together clean, consented customer data for real-time insights. Startups in the Vento network can enjoy $50,000 in Segment credits that last for one year, with an additional year of credits available if you still qualify.
🖥️ Empower your whole team to get answers from your database with Trever.io. Query data in just a few clicks, share the results, or stream them to Google Sheets to create dashboards. Startups in the Vento network can use a code for 33% off Trevor for your first paid 3 months. Click here to access the offer.
💼 Billing and treasury as a unified solution with Sibill, an all-in-one tool for e-invoicing, cash flow management, and end-of-month reconciliation Vento network startups get 30% off the annual subscription.
To get to these perks and 50+ other partnerships we have in place:
✨ The 3 Ls: Learned, Loved, Laughed
🤓 Learned
Voice AI isn’t just an upgrade to software’s UI; it’s transforming how businesses and customers connect - Bessemer Venture Partners;
In search of a co-founder? Here’s an interesting guide.
😍 Loved
The State of European Tech 2024 - Atomico;
Y Combinator’s new list of requests for startups to build;
The Zefi team launched Zefi 1.0 on Product Hunt, achieving the top spot as the #1 product of the day.
😂 Laughed
We’re happy to announce a special new addition to the team. As winter approaches, we identified a key role to fill: the Hand Warmer Extraordinaire. And who better for the job than Didi’s favorite pup? That’s why we’ve officially welcomed Reginaldo, a very big and very warm plushie shaped like a Corgi, into the Vento family.
Reginaldo is already making his presence felt, even joining a few important calls in a minor but memorable role. From now on, please refer to him by name, he’s part of the team now! We’re sure this won’t be the last you hear about Reginaldo. Stay tuned for more updates on his adventures!
🦄 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.