Dear friends of Lightrock,
While in some regions of the world, we have enjoyed a well-deserved summer break, all of us also recognise that this year so far has proved challenging for much of the tech sector, which has been operating against a backdrop of continued geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic instability.
For us at Lightrock, enduring tough times and taking on global challenges means investing more than just our capital. Our Investment and Impact Teams commit a tremendous amount of time to each of our portfolio company founders, and endeavour to support them on every step of their entrepreneurial journeys.
In this context, we are even more excited to share some recent successes of the Lightrock portfolio with you in this newsletter. Some weeks back, Lightrock also announced a strategic expansion and a new strategy – further details below in case you missed it. Lastly, we cover a few of our contributions to our ecosystem and we share some of our learnings, which we hope you will find inspiring.
With our best wishes,
The Global Lightrock Team
Portfolio Progress
Our portfolio companies were founded to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. Check out some examples of their recent progress below:
Africa
M-KOPA, a fintech platform that provides digital financial services to underbanked consumers, has been recognised by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Companies in the world. So far, M-KOPA has provided its customers with over $1 billion in credit and enabled over 3 million customers to access smartphones, solar power systems, digital loans, and health insurance.
4G Capital, a neobank powering micro and small business growth, has reached a milestone, having distributed 1 million loans worth $130 million to date. Kenyan Wallstreet interviewed the co-founder Genevieve Hennessy-Barrett about 4G Capital’s ESG-aligned lending practices and why their business model has proved so successful to date.
Europe/North America
Group14 Technologies, one of the leading global manufacturers and suppliers of advanced silicon battery technology, is expanding into Europe. The company has acquired Schmid Silicon Group, one of Europe’s most advanced silane manufacturers. According to the Financial Times, this development is critical to building a more resilient global battery supply chain.
Lilium, the developer of the first all-electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL”) jet, has received the certification basis for its aircraft with the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). According to FlightGlobal, this brings the company much closer to attaining approval for the all-electric Lilium jet and makes Lilium currently the only company that holds both an EU Aviation Safety Agency and FAA certification basis for powered-lift eVOTL aircraft.
India
Porter, India’s tech-based logistics company, announced its expansion into the United Arab Emirates, marking its first overseas venture. Arabian Business reports that the company aims to provide intra-city logistics services in Dubai as part of its strategy to expand across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
Even, a full-stack healthcare provider with an emphasis on preventive and individualised care, has partnered with the UK healthcare platform Healthily. Together, these companies plan to deliver AI-driven preventative healthcare services to their customers. According to Hospital Management, this includes an intelligent online symptom-checking tool, personalised health assessments, self-care tips, and verified medical content written by top professionals.
LatAm
Dock, a leading provider of modern financial technology infrastructure, has launched a new credit tool. Bloomberg interviewed CEO Antonio Soares about how their solution is geared towards driving financial inclusion and how it promotes sensible financial practises.
Dr.consulta, a healthcare provider, has been recognised as one of the top 10 most disruptive startups in São Paulo by Tecnoveste. Leveraging data and technology, dr.consulta aims to efficiently manage doctor and clinical staff schedules to unlock significant operational efficiencies. With a patient base of more than 2 million per year, dr.consulta is making healthcare more accessible and streamlined.
Lightrock Expands
Since 2021, Lightrock has raised more than $2 billion, launched three impact strategies, and attracted 60 new professionals to its team. Building on its encouraging progress and with the trust and support of investors, Lightrock is broadening its global investment and impact expertise to public equity.
As part of our public equity launch, five new colleagues in Utrecht (Netherlands) have joined Lightrock. This marks a significant milestone as our first office within the EU. We are committed to integrating the expertise of our new team in public equity with our established leadership in impact and ESG practices. Our collective efforts are dedicated to creating a positive and sustainable impact.
Citywire Selector’s Chris Sloely covered Lightrock’s expansion into the complementary asset class of global small-cap equities, the opening of the new Lightrock office, and the arrival of talented new colleagues to deliver on this strategy. You can read Citywire’s story here and read our announcement here.
Lightrock In The News
PitchBookData’s David Stevenson sat down with our Managing Partner & CEO Pal Erik Sjatil to discuss the momentum behind impact investing, balancing profit and purpose, investing in renewables, and where Lightrock expects to see growth in the future. The Q&A also mentions the Lightrock Climate Impact Fund (LCIF) portfolio companies Group14 Technologies, Mainspring Energy, Sunfire, Antec, and Liqid.
Infrastructure Investor’s Ben Payton spoke to Nigel McCleave about the opportunities and risks in the wind farm maintenance and operations sector. Nigel led our investment in Latvia-based Aerones, the leader in robot-enabled wind turbine maintenance and inspection.
The Drawdown’s Matthias Plötz interviewed our Chief Compliance Officer Mark Pleaner on how the compliance function, which supports offices across four continents and many jurisdictions, can be a catalyst for operations, dealmaking, and culture.
PitchBook Data heard from Lightrock Partner Ash Puri on how private equity growth investors are responding to harsh economic conditions and rising rates. The article notes Lightrock’s selectivity in the companies it backs and how we aim to identify solutions to real problems, not solutions looking for problems.
Lightrock Live
Managing Partner & CEO Pal Erik Sjatil spoke at GenZero’s Climate Summit 2023
Pal Erik Sjatil joined colleagues and friends in Singapore for the GenZero Climate Summit 2023. Featured alongside other leading climate investors, Pal Erik joined a fascinating panel discussion on ‘Investing in our Net Zero Future’.
Head of LatAm Marcos Wilson spoke at the 5th Private Tech Trailblazers Summit
Head of LatAm, Marcos Wilson, spoke on ‘Implementing Tech for Good’ at Bank of America’s 5th Annual Latin America Private Tech Trailblazers Summit 2023 in New York City. Marcos was joined by Davia Arana, founder and CEO of portfolio company Konfio, as well as representatives from Valor Capital and Tembici.
Viva Tech Networking Dinner with Elaia
In anticipation of the Viva Technology Conference, Lightrock and Elaia co-hosted a networking dinner in Paris for friends and partners in our ecosystem. The Lightrock team had a great time connecting with other purpose-driven investors.
Swiss Climate Founders Dinner
Lightrock co-hosted its first Swiss Climate Founders Dinner alongside Swisscom Ventures and Redalpine! Impact-focused founders from across the Swiss ecosystem gathered with us in Zurich to enjoy the culinary expertise of Planted, a Swiss plant-based meat producer.
Super Climate
Lightrock was proud to co-host SuperClimate, a side event at SuperReturn International in Berlin, with brilliant partners from across the climate-tech ecosystem. A highlight of the event was the compelling speech delivered by Nate Hagens, Director of the Institute for the Study of Energy of Our Future, that left the audience truly inspired.
Dr. Marc Moser and Kevin Bone spoke at two British Venture Capital Association conferences
Partner Kevin Bone and Head of Impact Dr. Marc Moser had the honour of participating in two BVCA conferences as speakers. At the High Growth Conference 2023 on July 27 in London, Kevin Bone spoke about 'Transformative Tech' as a panellist. Earlier, on 23 May, Dr. Marc Moser contributed to the panel 'What do LPs want from impact investing?' at the BVCA’s inaugural ESG conference in London.
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Disclaimer:
This newsletter contains selected information about Lightrock LLP and its affiliates (“Lightrock”) and about the assets that Lightrock advises on, and has been prepared and furnished to you solely for informational purposes and reference only. It does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities and may not be used or relied upon in evaluating the merits of any investment.
The contents hereof should not be construed as investment, legal, tax or other advice and you should consult your own advisers as to legal, business, tax and other related matters. No representation or warranty, expressor implied, is made as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this newsletter. The information contained herein is confidential and may not be used, reproduced or distributed to others, in whole or in part, for any other purpose without the prior written consent of Lightrock. Information provided is current as of the date of this newsletter (or as otherwise specified). Please note that throughout this document we provide various examples or subsets of existing and past investments advised on by Lightrock and in an aggregate may represent only a small percentage of the investments advised on by Lightrock. It should not be assumed that any other investments not shown would perform similarly to those shown. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Differences between past performance and actual results may be material and adverse.
Future investments may be made under materially different economic conditions, including interest rates, market trends and general business conditions, in different portfolio companies and using different investment strategies and these and these differences may have a significant effect on the results portrayed, portfolio companies held or decisions made. Each of these material market or economic conditions may or may not be repeated. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The value of investments may fall as well as rise and an investor may not receive all they have invested.