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?
00:09:11 · Sebastian Johnson, Raffi Kamber
[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? [00:09:33] S1: Yes. Obviously, so first of all, I think you you can see that there's academic centers across Europe. It's true that Paris and London have been slightly, ahead of the curve when it came to, spinning off, science from academia. But it... It's happening all over Europe. So Europe as a whole is very exciting for this. Laura joined us because she she she she fits completely in the picture of how we work. I don't think there's a top down approach, to filtering all the research in academia just to find the right thing to do. We have a very organic way of doing. We explore our networks, we understand who who's working on something interesting, who who people think highly of, but science makes sense, and so on and so on. And and Laura is is a is a great addition to the team because she has a perfect understanding of of this way of working and investing.
00:09:33 · Raffi Kamber, Sebastian Johnson
[00:09:33] S1: Yes. Obviously, so first of all, I think you you can see that there's academic centers across Europe. It's true that Paris and London have been slightly, ahead of the curve when it came to, spinning off, science from academia. But it... It's happening all over Europe. So Europe as a whole is very exciting for this. Laura joined us because she she she she fits completely in the picture of how we work. I don't think there's a top down approach, to filtering all the research in academia just to find the right thing to do. We have a very organic way of doing. We explore our networks, we understand who who's working on something interesting, who who people think highly of, but science makes sense, and so on and so on. And and Laura is is a is a great addition to the team because she has a perfect understanding of of this way of working and investing. [00:10:29] S0: And what what does it say about, you know, having presence in London? Is that just... You know, it doesn't matter too much. You could have been in Stockholm. You could have been in Milan. You could have been in Munich. It wouldn't have mattered so much. Or are you making a strategic bet on The UK as an important market for Singular?
00:10:29 · Sebastian Johnson, Raffi Kamber
[00:10:29] S0: And what what does it say about, you know, having presence in London? Is that just... You know, it doesn't matter too much. You could have been in Stockholm. You could have been in Milan. You could have been in Munich. It wouldn't have mattered so much. Or are you making a strategic bet on The UK as an important market for Singular? [00:10:44] S1: UK The UK is definitely the important market. It's the largest market for venture, first of all. The talent density is is amazing. And it's also a natural bridge to The US because, of the cultural proximity. Right? Yeah. So between Paris and London, think you would find a pretty large chunk of the networks we want to explore, of the the science we want to explore. But it's it's also Basecamp for being able to explore the rest of Europe. It's a it's a natural connection to the rest of the ecosystem. So we are going big on London for sure, but I wouldn't see see this as exclusive as an approach. It's it's a great base camp with no working, to be able to explore the rest of Europe very naturally. [00:11:31] S0: Yeah. Okay. That that makes sense. And I guess, like, the other big bit of music that's coming to Singular this year, it was a Vibe. Right? An amazing exit. It seemed like an an incredibly low capitalized or like very capital efficient company. They ended up having like a really big exit like rumored or reported like a billion, billion and 0.5, something like that. A great result, great return for the firm. Can you tell me a bit of that story?