Houghton Street Ventures | May 2022 Newsletter
Hello,
We’re back again with the latest edition of the Houghton Street Ventures newsletter. There has been lots going on and we have some exciting updates about the launch of our fund and the LSE entrepreneurship ecosystem.
What's happening at Houghton Street Ventures:
We’ve officially launched Fund 1
The fund is live! You can see all the fund materials here on Vauban. Vauban is a fund administration platform that we are using in the UK that is very similar to Carta and Allocations in the US.
Over the next few weeks we are onboarding investors into the fund, targetting a first close at the end of the month. We have built relationships with lots of amazing founders over the past 12 months and are excited to start deploying capital into LSE’s most promising early-stage companies, officially joining them on their journeys.
We’ve always wanted to make Houghton Street Ventures accessible and inclusive. By working with Vauban to administer the fund we were able to introduce a new minimum commitment of £25k and streamline the investor onboarding process. Investors can now invest in Houghton Street Ventures in minutes rather than weeks through our online platform here.
We are really excited about building an entrepreneurial ecosystem that LSE founders deserve, and want as many people on the journey with us as possible who share our vision.
If you’d like to speak with us further about the fund, please respond to this email or send a message to info@houghtonstreet.com.
What's happening within LSE alumni-founded companies?
Exciting fundraises
Motive - founded by Shoaib Makani - $150m Series F from Kleiner Perkins & Insight Partners - increasing Motive’s unicorn valuation from $2bn to $2.85bn
Legl - founded by Julia Salasky - $18m Series B from Octopus Ventures & Samaipata
BluSmart Mobility - founded by Punit Goyal - $15m Series A from BP Ventures
Mozart Data - founded by Peter Fishman - $15m Series A from Craft Ventures
Rensair - founded by Christian Hendriksen - $7m Seed from Hoxton Ventures
Acquisitions
Made.com has acquired Trouva in a deal to expand its reach across their network of independent brands and boutiques
In the News
Maven Clinic featured on CNBC as one of their ‘Disruptor 50’ companies. Maven is the largest virtual clinic for women’s health and the first female-focused healthtech valued at over $1 billion
Entrepreneur magazine highlighted Abwaab, the Jordan-based edtech platform. Abwaab are transforming the way MENA students learn outside the traditional classroom
Companies we’re excited about
We continue to support the LSE entrepreneur community with much vigour. A few recent companies to highlight are Sprinque, the all-in-one platform enabling online B2B payments; Bageera, institutional investor platform for natural capital; LuckyTruck, insurtech for trucking and logistics companies; Stears, the Bloomberg for Africa; and The Renatural, which is redefining the wigs industry with world-class products and artificial intelligence.
What's happening at LSE?
Forbes 30 under 30
The annual Forbes list of the top innovators under the age of 30 was released a couple of weeks ago. A whopping 9 LSE alumni were named in this year's European categories. Across entrepreneurship, arts, culture and sports, LSE is continuing to produce incredible talent.
LSE Generate
The LSE Generate ‘Mentorpreneurship’ Programme in collaboration with OakNorth is reaching its one-year anniversary this month. Following the successful launch of the programme in 2021 across 17 secondary schools, this anniversary will see the launch of a dedicated mentor training programme to further enable the next generation of entrepreneurs at LSE.
To conclude, the team will be travelling a fair bit over the next couple of months, we'd love to catch-up if our paths cross:
Berlin - 13 - 16th June for SuperVenture
Toronto - 23 - 26th June for Collision
New York - 1 - 6th July
Best,
Adam, Veronika, Hannah & David
The Houghton Street Ventures Team