The Exchanges

Q So can you give us a little snapshot then on, on Felix, what sectors you invest in, what stage you perform Maybe the geographies that you like to go into. What's, what's the snapshot?

A The snapshot is that we are a venture firm investing in digital lifestyle. So the way we define it is we tend to invest at the intersection of creativity and technology. Um, we, we basically have a passion for, for brands, uh, typically in the e-commerce side, the media side of a connected life. And we buy these brands on one end. And the enabling technologies for these brands. So typically e-commerce solutions or tools for the CMO, engagement tools, conversion tools. So there's really a B to C and a B to B element to it. Regarding stages, uh, again, we, we tend to say that we have flexible capital. So if you look at what we've done so far, we've been investing, uh, from 200,000 dollars to six million dollars. Um, having said that, Typically our sweet spot will be around series A and series B, uh, for our proprietary type of deals. But the most important thing for us is not really the stage, it's really backing the right person. Um, and same goes for the geographic aspects. We really want our entrepreneurs to not to see us as a geographic focus, uh, form, but much more thematic one. Uh, and we, we really believe that actually talents can be found anywhere and not on the specific hubs that are very well known in the map. Uh, if you look at the, uh, For extract record, uh, Farfetch, Jose Neves, uh, the founder of Farfetch was found 50 kilometers from Porto in Guimaraes, and David…

AI assessment note: “we are a venture firm investing in digital lifestyle”

Q And you say inspiration from the US, but there's also a lot of excitement now around the Europe and the European tech community. So why do you think Europe has the edge in this true tech DNA, and what's caused this rise suddenly?

A Uh, there's different element to this. Uh, I don't know if it's properly an edge, uh, but definitely Europe has a very strong heritage, uh, in specific sectors that are a big focus for us, and specifically around fashion and luxury, retail and consumer, or even on the media side. Um, on these specific spaces, specific sector, there are some big Flagship companies that have been there worldwide reputation and have been there for a very long time, like, I don't know, LVMH or Axel Springer or L'Oreal, but you can see in the last 10 years a lot of new businesses in this specific space that have emerged on the digital side and that are now as global as the previous company and for and Obviously, have in mind the lack of Farfetch or Net-A-Porter, um, but also, I don't know, Spotify or Supercell, uh, or Just Eat, for example.

AI assessment note: “definitely Europe has a very strong heritage, uh, in specific sectors”

Q And as the new kids on the block then for Europe's funding environment, how do you position yourselves in the VC space? I mean, how do you plan to differentiate between Felix and the other funds that are already existing in this sector and space?

A One of our big differentiator might stand on the fact that we have a, again, a real focus on the creative side of what people, uh, entrepreneurs build. So we, we really believe in the power of brands and the power of design and beauty and And we see the technology side was an enabler. So, but we are extremely passionate when it comes to, uh, entrepreneurs trying to build an environment around a brand. They have to be definitely tech savvy and use the technology very wisely because we are backing only digital brands. But the brand environment that is being built is something very central to what we do. Um, I think we also try to be very In our style, we tend to be perceived as very entrepreneur friendly, and we hoping to be perceived as great partners. All this is actually well summarized in, uh, in our manifesto on our website, and we put quite some, uh, thinking around that.

AI assessment note: “One of our big differentiator might stand on the fact that we have a, again, a real focus on the creative side”

Q So can you give us a little snapshot then on, on Felix, what sectors you invest in, what stage you perform Maybe the geographies that you like to go into. What's, what's the snapshot?

A The snapshot is that we are a venture firm investing in digital lifestyle. So the way we define it is we tend to invest at the intersection of creativity and technology. Um, we, we basically have a passion for, for brands, uh, typically in the e-commerce side, the media side of a connected life. And we buy these brands on one end. And the enabling technologies for these brands. So typically e-commerce solutions or tools for the CMO, engagement tools, conversion tools. So there's really a B to C and a B to B element to it. Regarding stages, uh, again, we, we tend to say that we have flexible capital. So if you look at what we've done so far, we've been investing, uh, from 200,000 dollars to six million dollars. Um, having said that, Typically our sweet spot will be around series A and series B, uh, for our proprietary type of deals. But the most important thing for us is not really the stage, it's really backing the right person. Um, and same goes for the geographic aspects. We really want our entrepreneurs to not to see us as a geographic focus, uh, form, but much more thematic one. Uh, and we, we really believe that actually talents can be found anywhere and not on the specific hubs that are very well known in the map. Uh, if you look at the, uh, For extract record, uh, Farfetch, Jose Neves, uh, the founder of Farfetch was found 50 kilometers from Porto in Guimaraes, and David…

AI assessment note: “Typically our sweet spot will be around series A and series B”

Q other than investing in the entrepreneur was investing in the kind of creative digital space. Uh, and you said about brand building, uh, I mean, what are your thoughts on brand building in terms of the millennials, uh, with reducing brand loyalty? Does that concern you, and do you think it'll be a problem for the consumer startups you invest in, that the millennials are much less brand loyal nowadays?

A I'm not sure that the millennial is per se less loyal. I think the, the, the, the focus has shifted from, uh, traditional brands to, uh, digital brands, and typically, uh, digital brands that end up being much more agile, much more tech savvy, uh, that knows how to, to use the new channel, uh, available, uh, being obviously Facebook, but now Instagram, Snapchat, and so on. Um, these brands typically are, uh, Whatever happened, yes, they will be more tech savvy, but they still have to recreate this environment, this universe that, uh, that, that, that consumers will, will understand and get sticky to. Um, I just have in mind a brand that I've been, uh, found very fascinating, uh, in this space is, uh, for example, the baby suit brand called Triangle, uh, that has been doing most of his growth for Instagram and now been, uh, Selling millions and millions of dollars of bathing suit, uh, just, uh, by, uh, a clear, uh, Instagram strategy.

AI assessment note: “I'm not sure that the millennial is per se less loyal.”

Q other than investing in the entrepreneur was investing in the kind of creative digital space. Uh, and you said about brand building, uh, I mean, what are your thoughts on brand building in terms of the millennials, uh, with reducing brand loyalty? Does that concern you, and do you think it'll be a problem for the consumer startups you invest in, that the millennials are much less brand loyal nowadays?

A I'm not sure that the millennial is per se less loyal. I think the, the, the, the focus has shifted from, uh, traditional brands to, uh, digital brands, and typically, uh, digital brands that end up being much more agile, much more tech savvy, uh, that knows how to, to use the new channel, uh, available, uh, being obviously Facebook, but now Instagram, Snapchat, and so on. Um, these brands typically are, uh, Whatever happened, yes, they will be more tech savvy, but they still have to recreate this environment, this universe that, uh, that, that, that consumers will, will understand and get sticky to. Um, I just have in mind a brand that I've been, uh, found very fascinating, uh, in this space is, uh, for example, the baby suit brand called Triangle, uh, that has been doing most of his growth for Instagram and now been, uh, Selling millions and millions of dollars of bathing suit, uh, just, uh, by, uh, a clear, uh, Instagram strategy.

AI assessment note: “I'm not sure that the millennial is per se less loyal.”

Q And you say inspiration from the US, but there's also a lot of excitement now around the Europe and the European tech community. So why do you think Europe has the edge in this true tech DNA, and what's caused this rise suddenly?

A Uh, there's different element to this. Uh, I don't know if it's properly an edge, uh, but definitely Europe has a very strong heritage, uh, in specific sectors that are a big focus for us, and specifically around fashion and luxury, retail and consumer, or even on the media side. Um, on these specific spaces, specific sector, there are some big Flagship companies that have been there worldwide reputation and have been there for a very long time, like, I don't know, LVMH or Axel Springer or L'Oreal, but you can see in the last 10 years a lot of new businesses in this specific space that have emerged on the digital side and that are now as global as the previous company and for and Obviously, have in mind the lack of Farfetch or Net-A-Porter, um, but also, I don't know, Spotify or Supercell, uh, or Just Eat, for example.

AI assessment note: “Europe has a very strong heritage, uh, in specific sectors that are a big focus”

Q And we mentioned there that your preferred stage then was Series A. What do you make of the, kind of, largeening of the Series A round? I mean, it used to be a three to five million type bracket, and now we've seen it go from a three to five to more like an eight to 15. Have you seen that, and does that kind of concern you?

A The good thing is, on our side, we have, um, the right size, and the right, the right size, both, both in terms of, uh, monetary To deploy and size of a team to be very disciplined in what we do. Um, there's an element of what you say that, uh, we've seen, and I think one of the big reason for this is that, uh, a lot of segments are becoming more and more competitive with a lot of, uh, great guys, great entrepreneurs and great startup, uh, competing against each other. And there's a big temptation to create defendability by, uh, injecting more money to scale faster. And this obviously have been driving the valuation quite high, uh, for some of these segments.

AI assessment note: “there's an element of what you say that, uh, we've seen”

Q And how do you find your investing strategy kind of changes from when you're making angel investments to when you're acting as a VC for Felix Capital? Is there a difference?

A It's a very good question. One of the big differences, uh, with Felix, there's much more money to deploy, and ourselves, like, uh, entrepreneurs with us have to report to someone, so we have, uh, investors that trusted us, so we need to be very, uh, uh, well-rounded when assessing an opportunity, um, and assess, uh, so the risk part of it, and, uh, is much more, the risk assessment is much more Critical and the level of due diligence that we do is actually much more intense when we do an angel investment. Simply also that when you have, when you do an angel investment, by definition, it's usually much more earlier stage. And there's much less data to refer to, so you're more backing someone that you believe has a capacity to go all the way through rather than a specific metrics.

AI assessment note: “One of the big differences, uh, with Felix, there's much more money to deploy”

Q And as the new kids on the block then for Europe's funding environment, how do you position yourselves in the VC space? I mean, how do you plan to differentiate between Felix and the other funds that are already existing in this sector and space?

A One of our big differentiator might stand on the fact that we have a, again, a real focus on the creative side of what people, uh, entrepreneurs build. So we, we really believe in the power of brands and the power of design and beauty and And we see the technology side was an enabler. So, but we are extremely passionate when it comes to, uh, entrepreneurs trying to build an environment around a brand. They have to be definitely tech savvy and use the technology very wisely because we are backing only digital brands. But the brand environment that is being built is something very central to what we do. Um, I think we also try to be very In our style, we tend to be perceived as very entrepreneur friendly, and we hoping to be perceived as great partners. All this is actually well summarized in, uh, in our manifesto on our website, and we put quite some, uh, thinking around that.

AI assessment note: “One of our big differentiator might stand on the fact that we have a”

Q And we mentioned there that your preferred stage then was Series A. What do you make of the, kind of, largeening of the Series A round? I mean, it used to be a three to five million type bracket, and now we've seen it go from a three to five to more like an eight to 15. Have you seen that, and does that kind of concern you?

A The good thing is, on our side, we have, um, the right size, and the right, the right size, both, both in terms of, uh, monetary To deploy and size of a team to be very disciplined in what we do. Um, there's an element of what you say that, uh, we've seen, and I think one of the big reason for this is that, uh, a lot of segments are becoming more and more competitive with a lot of, uh, great guys, great entrepreneurs and great startup, uh, competing against each other. And there's a big temptation to create defendability by, uh, injecting more money to scale faster. And this obviously have been driving the valuation quite high, uh, for some of these segments.

AI assessment note: “there's an element of what you say that, uh, we've seen”

Q And how do you find your investing strategy kind of changes from when you're making angel investments to when you're acting as a VC for Felix Capital? Is there a difference?

A It's a very good question. One of the big differences, uh, with Felix, there's much more money to deploy, and ourselves, like, uh, entrepreneurs with us have to report to someone, so we have, uh, investors that trusted us, so we need to be very, uh, uh, well-rounded when assessing an opportunity, um, and assess, uh, so the risk part of it, and, uh, is much more, the risk assessment is much more Critical and the level of due diligence that we do is actually much more intense when we do an angel investment. Simply also that when you have, when you do an angel investment, by definition, it's usually much more earlier stage. And there's much less data to refer to, so you're more backing someone that you believe has a capacity to go all the way through rather than a specific metrics.

AI assessment note: “One of the big differences, uh, with Felix, there's much more money to deploy”