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Europe/Israel Enterprise/Tech Weekly

Issue #73: For the two weeks ended March 24, 2020

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Angular Ventures
March 23, 2020

Europe/Israel Enterprise/Tech Weekly

Issue #73: For the two weeks ended March 24, 2020

I'm drafting this on a dark Monday night in London just a few hours after the UK has officially been locked down. NY & NJ, where our colleague Anne is based, are already in lockdown. Boston, where my parents and siblings live, was locked down today as well. Tel Aviv, Rome, Madrid, Paris, and Berlin are all in lockdown. While we've never been as cut off from each other as we are now, we've never been as much in the same boat regardless of geography. We are all in this together. The uncertainty is crushing - but the knowledge that we are all feeling our way through this together in the dark may offer some comfort as well.

I'm going to highlight one link this week: this podcast interview between Professor Scott Galloway and Professor Aswath Damodaran, both of NYU. While it starts with an interesting discussion of how and when to think about buying stocks, that's not why I'm recommending it. Towards the end, Galloway asks Damodaran for words of wisdom. "I'm going to go biblical on you," Damodaran says. "This too shall pass." I listened to the full discussion - and Damodaran's full response - on a peaceful walk through Regents Park on Saturday. As I walked on the grass to avoid people and under the bright blue sky of early spring, as I heard these wise and empathic voices thinking clearly about where we are and where we are going, some optimism for the future started to sprout in my soul. 

If you are building an enterprise or deep tech startup in Europe or Israel,
please let me know...  Now let's get to the news.

From the blog

Surviving Coronavirus. A guide for founders and some resources on remote work.
Defining Enterprise/Deep Tech. What do we actually mean by the phrase "enterprise or deep tech?"
Introducing the Angular Ventures Team. Getting to know Anne and Andrew.
Launching Angular Ventures I. What we do, why we exist, and how we got here.
US incorporation? Just do it. Why nearly all enterprise tech companies should incorporate in Delaware.
Technology for Trust. Why we invested in Vault Platform
A Security Layer for the Physical World: Why we invested in DUST Identity
A System of Intelligence for Field Service: Why we invested in Aquant.io

Europe/Israel Enterprise/Tech

  • Norway/Customer Feedback. UserTesting raised $100 million for its platform that lets companies get feedback from customers on-demand so they can learn more about how to improve customer experiences.

  • Israel/Quantum. Quantum Machines raised $17.5M for its orchestration platform that uses both hardware and software to operate quantum computers.

  • UK/Kick Addiction. Quit Genius raised $11M for its all-in-one programme that combines digital therapy, nicotine replacement therapy and wearable technology to deliver holistic support to smokers looking to quit. They offer an enterprise product to businesses that are looking to foster a healthy workforce and also save money on healthcare for employees.

  • Israel/AI Product Data. Convizit raised $5M for its AI software that gives visibility into user journey patterns, enabling companies to unlock the goldmine hiding in user behaviour data.

  • Bulgaria/Corporate Spending. Payhawk combines corporate credit cards and expense management into one service, reducing the hassles and delays that come with employees spending personal money and requesting reimbursements has raised $3.2M.

Worth reading

Enterprise/Tech News

  • Big tech's virus dividend. The NYT argues that "when the economy does eventually improve, Big Tech could benefit from changes in consumer habits. And despite more than 18 months of criticism from lawmakers, regulators and competitors before the pandemic hit the United States, the biggest companies are likely to finish the year stronger than ever."

  • A run on laptops. WFH has led to a near-panic buying of laptops, an effect that is almost certain to be temporary.

  • Boom times for Zoom and Slack. Slack, the enterprise messaging platform, adds 7k customers in 7 weeks. Zoom is also doing great. 

  • Earning warnings. In a sign of things to come, MongoDB stock fell after the company warned of impact from Coronavirus on its earnings.

  • Amazon gears up. Bezos' memo on how Amazon is tooling up to handle Coronavirus. As Amazon goes, so goes the world. Some employees, however, are concerned.

How to Startup

  • Leadership in a time of crisis. The Economist explores how business leaders should act in times like these. "In a crisis, [former US Army Ranger] Mr. Engbrecht advocates “embracing the suck”. This means accepting where you are at a given moment: “Wishing, hoping and praying the problem away does not work so don’t waste your time with coulda, shoulda or woulda.” In short, no sugarcoating. If everyone on staff realizes there is a problem, they will not be reassured by an executive blithely promising that it may go away."

  • Pulled term sheets. My former colleague Brian Caulfield sheds light on why many VCs are pulling term sheets these days. "For existing VC funds, this (together with the system slow down described above) probably means that it is probably going to be much harder to raise additional capital for existing portfolio companies. So, they start to reassess their own allocations for follow-on in their existing portfolio. That might also mean fewer new investments in the fund."

  • Pricing under uncertainty. How do you set prices with the market is collapsing? Openview has some useful thoughts: "Experience in previous downturns suggests that cost-side value drivers are more compelling than revenue growth value drivers. When the economy is contracting, buyers are looking for ways to cut costs and are skeptical about claims that a product or service will help to grow revenues. Look through your list of value drivers and sharpen those that impact your customers’ costs."

  • Aligning while remote. Openview also published a super useful piece on how to maintain team alignment during remote work. Ritual and consistency is key: "Your goal is to keep everyone feeling connected and up to speed. You can do this by having a daily check in. Ask everyone to prioritize this time and work other things around it. Having it at the same time and daily keeps it simple and makes it a ritual. During times of stress and anxiety, rituals serve a touchstone to calm anxiety and create community—both are sorely needed right now."

  • The Covid matrix. Sequoia follows up on its black swan post with a simple framework for thinking about the impact of the Coronavirus slowdown on your startup.

  • What is Force Majeure? Gunderson Dettmer, the storied SF law firm, addresses whether or not Coronavirus can be used to inviolate a contract.

How to Venture

Portfolio News

Datos Health launched a field-proven COVID-19 telemedicine solution for hospitals which is being piloted by the Israeli Ministry of Health for the remote management of coronavirus patients.
 
Vault Platform is helping employers protect their staff from racial discrimination stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Planable launched their latest People of Marketing episode, featuring Jennifer Cacace, who led social media and digital content for the Radio City Rockettes, America’s Got Talent and the Toni awards.

Portfolio Jobs

Apply to all Angular Ventures portfolio companies with one short application.
 
Aquant.io

 Datos Health

 DUST Identity

 Valohai

 Vault Platform

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