Scaling Europe
00:01:52 · Raffi Kamber
[00:01:52] S1: It's it's it's a very interesting company actually, because I think everybody agrees on the direction the market is going. And anyone from the pharma companies to the labs understands that there's a need for digitizing the process for finding medicine. But there's a variety of ways that are being attempted in the market. And the guys at Basecamp have quite a unique view on that. Their thesis is that you need to have, to understand the language, which is the data coming from genomics, for being able to build the best models possible. And the more data you absorb, the more language you understand, the better medicine you can get as an output. That's that's the fundamental thesis. So once you understand the way they are approaching this market, there's a few challenges behind it. One is being able to find the data, which is what they've done in 30 plus countries by now, building the the knowledge graph of life, basically. Then it's about building the models, and then it's about being able to deliver the first medicines. And what we've observed in the last two years we've been working together is that data is cracked, models are getting to maturity. In in the next two, three, four years, we'll see how fast they can get there. We're gonna have the first indications that you can generate valuable stuff. And that's what's exciting to observe in such a company because it's it's really game changing for the industry.
00:03:17 · Sebastian Johnson, Raffi Kamber
[00:03:17] S0: And there's been a few investments from Singular in this sort of science AI space. And that... So you got a few more in that portfolio. The one thing that I thought was quite interesting is that none of them are about using LLMs within science. The point that you make around, like, almost a proprietary data, it feels like that's true, I think, of all of those sort of scientific companies that you've invested in. Is that part of a broader thesis? [00:03:42] S1: I think the broader thesis first is that Europe has something unique when it comes to building companies at the intersection of AI and science. That's the core thesis. And then within the core thesis, there's also a few options we've taken. But let's take a step back. If you look at the talent density when it comes to scientific backgrounds in Europe, it's extremely distributed across Europe as well. You have amazing talent that are working on quite fundamental topics. What was lacking until five, ten years ago maybe was the transition from research to making them companies. But the new generation of researchers also are... Have this like entrepreneurial DNA. So you see a wave of companies coming out of Europe that are both relatively unique and very exciting, and that have the founders that are able to make them companies. So we are very excited about this opportunity. And to come back to your question, there's, especially in biology, the need for having fundamental data because it's not available. It's one of the foundations for being able to nurture the LLMs and make them, deliver.
00:03:42 · Raffi Kamber, Sebastian Johnson
[00:03:42] S1: I think the broader thesis first is that Europe has something unique when it comes to building companies at the intersection of AI and science. That's the core thesis. And then within the core thesis, there's also a few options we've taken. But let's take a step back. If you look at the talent density when it comes to scientific backgrounds in Europe, it's extremely distributed across Europe as well. You have amazing talent that are working on quite fundamental topics. What was lacking until five, ten years ago maybe was the transition from research to making them companies. But the new generation of researchers also are... Have this like entrepreneurial DNA. So you see a wave of companies coming out of Europe that are both relatively unique and very exciting, and that have the founders that are able to make them companies. So we are very excited about this opportunity. And to come back to your question, there's, especially in biology, the need for having fundamental data because it's not available. It's one of the foundations for being able to nurture the LLMs and make them, deliver. [00:04:57] S0: On your point around this opportunity that Europe has, you've been investing for a long time before this wave of sort of academic or research founders has kind of cropped up in the last five or ten years. How has your role changed as an investor to sort of accommodate this new generation of founders who are academic? Does it change the way that you are assessing founders, sourcing founders, supporting them?
00:04:57 · Sebastian Johnson, Raffi Kamber
[00:04:57] S0: On your point around this opportunity that Europe has, you've been investing for a long time before this wave of sort of academic or research founders has kind of cropped up in the last five or ten years. How has your role changed as an investor to sort of accommodate this new generation of founders who are academic? Does it change the way that you are assessing founders, sourcing founders, supporting them? [00:05:21] S1: Yeah. That's a great question. I think there's a slight difference of DNA between people coming from research, and and others. I think that their their role has slightly evolved because especially when you come from tech investments, you wanna help them understand how their scientific research can can evolve into becoming a company within the tech industry. And they have a pretty great understanding on what the science is about. They know the limitations of it. They know the iterations of it. But I think that the the partnership we built is to help them understand what's happening in the in the broader industry. Who are their allies for continuing to build this? Who are the long term partners for this, what are the steps for building an asset that's gonna be valuable. And I think that's there. There's a slight difference, from before. Obviously, these guys are are some of the smartest people we've ever met because they're working on extremely advanced tech and science. They don't need us to help them think about what they already know, but we can help them understand the foundations of building a company.
00:06:30 · Sebastian Johnson, Raffi Kamber
[00:06:30] S0: Interesting. Okay. Did you think... You know, I've I've heard other people talk about the ecosystem that we have here in Europe. It's in some ways not being quite good enough at taking our incredible academic talent, you know, the universities that we have, and then helping them become companies. Do you think we still do you think there's an opportunity or a problem there? Or do you think we are we are doing a good job, creating that pathway from academia and research into entrepreneurialism? [00:06:58] S1: I think we're doing a great job right now. Maybe five, ten years ago, it was not exactly the same. Right now, think the investments industry or the broader ecosystem has learned how to work, with people that have quite a unique IP or know how. I help them think about how to transform it, how to make it evolve into becoming a company quite well from incubators, accelerators to early stage investors. I think Europe has has made phenomenal progress on that. And and on our end, we're... We've been doing this for a few years now, And I say that with with as much humility as possible. I think we've been doing a good job with the few founders with... That have picked us as partners to to help them basically design their companies. Again, we can't help them reinvent the science. They're too strong on that for us. We try to understand, first of all, which is a pretty good step. But we try to help them make this a company. [00:08:03] S0: And does that mean that you've become more hands on, do you think, with company building?
00:08:03 · Sebastian Johnson, Raffi Kamber
[00:08:03] S0: And does that mean that you've become more hands on, do you think, with company building? [00:08:08] S1: I wouldn't say hands on, but, I think we have, deeper conversations, as to their roles as CEOs and leaders, because it's not the the culture they have in academia. You know, they kind of understand scientific leadership, the way they can build on science, the the way they can prove their science to the rest of the world. And and they're very intrigued and interested in how to become leaders of a company. And many of the founders we work with need their... Need some help or some echo chamber at least to find the right narrative for for for broader audience, find the right sequence of execution, for making it make sense at the scale of a company, in the timeline of a company. So that's where we can be helpful. Obviously, not not putting the answers in front of them, but helping them think about this is is probably somewhere we can help. [00:09:11] S0: And how... Has this changed about, you know, the sort of way that you're sourcing and looking for start ups? So, you know, recently you announced, Laura, a new partner joining in London. It seems like the the firm's sort of betting big on London as a firm. Is that linked, you know, to maybe, like, the great academic institutions, the fact that there's a lot of great researchers here in London? Are those two things linked?