And I think the reason those myths are out there is people invested in things like Theranos, and the clean tech bubble. “That it takes longer, that it’s more capital intensive, and that it’s higher risk. “I think there are three big myths about breakthrough science or hard tech or deep tech,” he said.
Sloss says he believes that’s a misperception based on unfortunate past experience. There’s a perception that companies pursuing these kinds of hard tech problems aren’t necessarily as viable as a target for traditional venture funding, specifically because of the timelines for returns. Having individuals with deep field expertise on the core team, in addition to supplementing that with top-notch advisors, is definitely a competitive advantage, particularly when investing in the kinds of companies that Prime Movers Lab does early on in their development. In addition to core partners with that kind of expertise, Prime Movers Lab enlists the help of venture partners and specialist advisors like former astronaut Chris Hadfield. Other Partners on the team include systems engineer Dan Slomski, who previously worked on machine vision, electro-mechanical systems and developing a new multi-phase flow fluid analyzer Amy Kruse, who holds a PhD in neuroscience and has served as an executive in defence technology and applied neuroscience companies and Carly Anderson, a chemical engineer who has worked in biomedicine and oil & gas, and who has a PhD in chemical and biomolecular engineering.
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He was a serial entrepreneur before starting the fund, having founded Tachyus, OpenGov and nonprofit California Common Sense. I have a physics background, and I was able to bring together a team of partners that have really deeply technical backgrounds.”Īs referenced, Sloss himself has a degree from Stanford in Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy. “So that’s the first thing I wanted to solve. “There’s not enough technical expertise in VC firms to choose winners intelligently, rather than ending up with the next Theranos or clean tech bubble,” he said. Sloss told me that he sees part of the issue around why the proportion of capital dedicated to solving these significant problems is that it requires a lot of deep category knowledge to invest in correctly. These are the things that are really meaningful to to making a better quality of life for most people.” But if you look at what’s meaningful to the life of the average person over the next 30 years, these are all the companies that are important, whether it’s coronavirus vaccines or solar energy production, or feeding the planet through aquaponics. Even though there are a couple, when you look at the proportion of capital, I think it’s something like less than 10% of capital is going to these types of companies. “But there aren’t many VCs that are focused exclusively on breakthrough science, or deep tech. “There are a lot of VCs out there,” explained founder and general partner Dakin Sloss about the concept behind the fund. Prime Movers Lab Fund II is larger, with $245 million committed, but it will pursue the same investment strategy, albeit with a plan to place more bets on more companies, with an expanded investment team to help manage the funds and portfolio. After revealing its first fund just last year, a $100 million pool of investment capital dedicated to early stage startups focusing on sustainable food development, clean energy, health innovation and new space technologies, Prime Movers Lab is back with a second fund.