In the past year, I have met scores of new people and have shared my vision for Breakthrough Labs. Many of you may be familiar with this already. The vision always included three parts, as depicted in the nifty graphic below.
You know about the accelerator already, as it's basically all we talked about in 2023. (If you haven't read about it yet, check out our evaluation here, or any of our other blog posts from 2023.)
We have just started talking about our plans for an online community to support female founders. This is under construction, but we will tell you more about it in the buildup to launch. You can also join our waitlist for membership here or follow us on LinkedIn to hear regular updates.
Connecting female founders with investment
And now it's the third pillar, something I always knew needed to happen, but the biggest question mark for me. So many people have told me that what female founders need more than anything is money, but without a background and in finance or independent wealth, I wasn't sure how I was going to provide it.
Until now. As an Ada Ventures Scout!
I've been keeping my eye on Ada Ventures since before I launched Breakthrough Labs, and they share many of the same values that we do. They are inclusive. They are all about teaching and learning. They want more -- and more diverse -- people to be investors and to get investment. In their words:
Ada Ventures is the inclusive venture firm. Ada Ventures finds and funds extraordinary talent building breakthrough ideas for the hardest problems we face. We are investing out of our second fund, and we invest £250,000 - £1m in UK technology companies across climate, economic empowerment, and healthcare & ageing.
So what does this all mean?
I couldn't be more excited to have been accepted as an Ada Ventures Scout. For me, this means professional development around investing in tech as well as insight as to how a venture capital firm works. I am loving it already.
For the female founders supported by Breakthrough Labs, being an Ada Ventures Scout means that I'm your quick route to getting your pitch deck reviewed by the team at Ada Ventures. I know what they're looking for, and if you and I submit your pitch for investment, you'll get feedback from the team quickly (in two weeks!). No ghosting, no reaching out blindly with no hope of reply, no "you're too early for us" with no other feedback.
Interesting...what do I do next?
Reach out to me on LinkedIn if:
You believe that you have a breakthrough idea that will address the hardest problems the world faces: the climate crisis, ageing society & ill health, and economic empowerment and inclusion
Your idea aligns with Ada Ventures' investment thesis, which you can read all about in a post from co-founder Check Warner here;
You have an MVP, at the least;
Your business is registered in the UK, and
You believe you can scale.
I would love to speak with you about your idea.**
What if I don't fit these criteria?
If you're not ready for venture investment, don't worry. Breakthrough Labs works with a lot of investors, including angel syndicates and other funding organisations. Our online community will have many opporunities for you to meet and hear from investors. Join the waitlist now as we have great plans for the investment pillar of Breakthrough Labs in the future, and you don't want to miss out!
** To be clear: I am not an investment decision-maker for Ada Ventures. While having my name on your submission guarantees that the team will review it, it does not guarantee an investment by Ada Ventures.
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