Vision, mission, strategy & long-term dream
While setting up Positron Ventures we have produced a number of internal documents to clarify our thinking. We now plan to make many of these documents public. We do this to spark a dialogue; where you think we are on the wrong track we hope to get feedback and guidance, where you think we are on the right track we hope this provides a tiny bit of inspiration. Today we are starting with our vision, mission, strategy and long term dream.
Since the first industrial revolution, five waves of technological innovation have brought unprecedented prosperity. However, today's convenience, health and wealth came at the expense of our planet. We believe a sixth innovation wave is currently emerging, which will again fuel a period of productivity growth but will offer technological solutions to global issues at the same time.
At Positron Ventures, we are techno-optimists and believe that this next wave of innovation is essential in addressing environmental and health issues. We think this wave will be driven by scientist-entrepreneurs.
However, bringing such breakthrough innovations to market can be a daunting task, especially for first-time founders. Also, many mainstream VCs are reluctant to invest in early-stage ventures due to the difficulty of assessing risks, incomplete founding teams, and a long wait for revenue. The mission of Positron Ventures is to help scientist-entrepreneurs bring breakthrough innovations to market with capital and the operational involvement of our team of experienced entrepreneurs, dealmakers and teambuilders. By doing so we aim to contribute to speeding up the next wave of innovation while generating a superior return for our investors at the same time.
Our vision: The next wave of innovation will be driven by scientist-entrepreneurs who require support from specialised early-stage investors.
We believe we just entered a next wave of accelerated innovation, fueled by breakthroughs at the frontiers of science.
The proceeds from this innovation wave are mostly physical and often find their way from academia and semi-public R&D centres to market via start-ups founded by scientist-entrepreneurs.
Step-change progress in fields such as energy generation and -storage, production of essential goods, recycling and healthcare is largely dependent on such frontrunners.
However, attracting capital for science start-ups working on physical breakthrough products can be a challenge: the (technology) risks are hard to assess, they are often led by inexperienced and/or incomplete teams and first revenue is often far out into the future.
A different type of VC is therefore needed to support scientist- entrepreneurs in their effort to bring their innovations to market.
The limited number of VCs operating in this space combined with the often enormous size of the addressable market if a breakthrough innovation works, make superior returns on capital at risk a realistic prospect.
Our mission: Help scientist-entrepreneurs bring breakthrough innovations to market.
We support scientist-entrepreneurs who bring breakthrough innovations to market. This requires capital and patience, but even more so attention and guidance. By doing this, we aim to contribute to speeding up the next wave of innovation and deliver a superior return to our investors at the same time.
Our strategy: We specialise in finding, assessing and supporting impactful science start-ups at a very early stage.
We engage pre-seed and become experts along these three axes:
Dealflow generation: Positron Ventures has an in-depth view on which scientific areas are likely to produce breakthrough technologies and which start-ups are emerging as a result.
Deal assessment: Positron Ventures has its own evaluation framework and an excellent network of external scientific & technical experts to rely on for deal assessment.
Guidance: Positron Ventures builds expertise in guiding scientist-entrepreneurs through the various phases of development. This ‘Positron Ventures Methodology’ will become (loosely) codified.
Long-term dream: In 2035, Positron Ventures is the leading European pre-seed VC for science start-ups.
This is exemplified by:
An excellent return (>30% IRR) on fund I and good prospects for funds II & III.
In the process of raising fund IV passively, see below ;-). By the way, subsequent funds are not necessarily going to be larger than fund I. Positron Ventures remains focused on the pre-seed phase, which requires a small fund.
Two portfolio companies from fund I and one from fund II have become household names and contribute to solving environmental or health problems on a global scale.
Multiple portfolio companies from fund I or fund II have a nobel prize winner as one of their (co-)founders. (note: originally this was ‘one nobel prize winner’.)
Positron Ventures employs a staff of 25 and has offices in three European cities.
One Positron partner teaches the ‘Positron Ventures Methodology’ at a renowned institution.
Working for Positron Ventures is considered a ‘top-job’, resulting in hundreds of inbound applications per year.
Positron Ventures has a well-known fellowship programme for (wannabe) scientist-entrepreneurs.
Being funded by PV is considered a road to success by scientist- entrepreneurs and positively recognised by TTOs/universities/professors. We are the partner of choice when it comes to commercialising scientific breakthroughs.
Active fundraising for fund IV is not necessary.
