Greg Shove

Trying something new this week - a studio industry roundup with my take on what matters. The studio model is no longer an experiment being run in a handful of places. It is infrastructure being built across geographies, sectors, and institutional types. 5️⃣ stories from the past seven days:  1️⃣ OSS Ventures hit a EUR 40M first close on a EUR 75M follow-on fund -- capital raised specifically to back the 30 companies their studio created since 2019. The "build then fund" lifecycle is maturing. B'More Venture Studio with a similar thesis: studio operations first, then dedicated capital to scale what's working.  2️⃣ Delta40 raised $20M from 54 investors across 13 countries to launch Africa's first integrated venture studio and fund. The LP base is almost entirely DFIs and foundations. Impact capital is discovering the studio model as a deployment vehicle, something I seeing across geographies (conversations with Michael Bob Starr and Damias McDonald this week alone) 3️⃣ Start Holdings launched Start.vc out of NYC and Barcelona after a $200M EV infrastructure exit. Another operator-turned-studio-founder. This is the pattern we see quite often in our work at 9point8 -- experienced operators like Jason Goldsmith who've built and exited deciding the studio model is how they want to build next.  4️⃣ UBC HATCH admitted 10 new deep-tech spinouts for Winter 2026 -- mostly climate tech. University venture builders are quietly becoming one of the fastest-growing segments. Follow Evan Allen and Jaimie Testai to keep track of its rapid evolution.  5️⃣ The INVEST Act is advancing through the Senate. If passed, it expands qualifying VC fund size from $10M to $50M and loosens general solicitation rules for accelerator and university events. For studio-funds -- and for folks in the The Venture Studio Forum community tracking policy -- this could be the most significant capital formation legislation since the JOBS Act. If this roundup format is useful, I'll keep it going. What other noteworthy news hit your desk this week, and what stood out to you?

13

1 Comment

Boards are supposed to help founders. Over the past 19 years, I've watched many trap them instead. As companies scale, many boards turn from insight to oversight and stop doing what founders actually need: Help making big, hard decisions. Early boards tend to be small, the board members are close to the business and highly invested in it. They argue from first principles. They help founders think. Later-stage boards often look more impressive on paper - they have more independent directors, committees and process. Somewhere along the way, collective problem solving gets replaced with oversight. The board shifts from helping the CEO make better decisions to monitoring decisions that have already been made. Strategy discussions get safer, real debate gets rarer and meetings become more about risk management than judgment. This usually coincides with the introduction of more professional board members. For better or worse, they often optimize for governance, optics, and liability management. That’s their job. But it’s not always what the company needs in moments of real uncertainty. Then, CEOs stop using them as thought partners. That’s a problem. So what should founders do? A few principles that help: • Keep the board as small as you can for as long as you can • Add directors for new insight they bring, not what boxes they check • Treat board seats like senior hires, not trophies • Design meetings for debate rather than reporting • Be explicit about when you want input vs approval Good boards should improve decision-making. If your board isn’t making you think harder, it’s probably not doing its job.

79

12 Comments

Big milestone for Firmable. We’ve raised $14m Series A led by Airtree. Sales has moved through a few big waves: intuition-led, CRM-led, data-led. We’re now entering the next one – intelligence-led sales. The opportunity isn’t just better data. It’s turning that data into clear direction and action, without adding more work for sales teams. That’s what we’re building at Firmable: a foundation of trusted external data, layered with intelligence that helps sellers know who to focus on and when. Led by Airtree, this round supports our expansion across Asia and into the US – and accelerates the build-out of AI agents that take the admin work off sales teams so they can focus on what they do best. Proud of the team, grateful to our customers and investors. We’re just getting started. Read the exclusive in the AFR. https://lnkd.in/gr66uknb Leigh Jasper | Tara Salmon | Karthik Venkatasubramanian| Chester Thompson| Chath Widanapathirana

147

20 Comments

🥾 #bootstrapping as a mindset should be ephemeral, one that requires a deliberate transition away from as a business enters sustained growth Appointing an established auditor is often regarded as a luxury and not part of bootstrapping Audits discipline a business - to be methodical, thorough and deliberate - traits that acquirers often seek in due diligence After all, "What gets inspected, gets respected," Anon We will share the traits of venture businesses sought and respected by MNC acquirers, join us if your business is out of the #bootstrapping mindset #fulfillingpotential #hepmil #oobmil

24

1 Comment

There’s a lot of conversation about how AI is concentrating capital. That’s real. But I’m also seeing how it’s expanding what small teams can build. At ThriveLink, AI has allowed us to move faster, reach more patients, and build technology that helps families navigate systems that were never designed to be easy. We’ve been able to do with a small amount of capital what used to require entire teams and millions in funding. The tools are changing. The mission isn’t. Thankful to the Los Angeles Business Journal and Plug In Ventures for highlighting the changing venture landscape and what founders like myself are navigating right now.

80

Just read a piece from the team at Camber Creek portfolio company Proof on the evolving state of authentication…and it hit home. For years I’ve been thinking “passwords are dead,” but also lamenting the difficulty navigating the labyrinthine world of advanced security. This blog lays out exactly what’s replacing passwords in a way that’s practical, not just theoretical. Five methods stood out: - App-based authenticators finally killing SMS (good riddance, SIM-swap nightmares) - Continuous authentication that watches behavior during the session (the “someone stole the cookie but can’t act like you” protection we’ve all been missing) - Adaptive authentication that doesn’t treat grandma on her usual iPad the same as a login from a Tor exit node in a new country - MFA done right (and then taken further with verified digital certificates) - Biometrics with actual liveness + document tying, so it’s not just “a face” but your verified face What really resonated was the reminder that the strongest systems aren’t about piling on more factors; they’re about using the right factor at the right moment. Risk-based, context-aware, and (crucially) user-respecting. I’m biased but Proof’s angle of anchoring everything to high-assurance digital certificates feels like the missing glue. It’s one thing to authenticate someone at login; it’s another to carry that verified identity forward through the entire session, signature, or transaction. This one is worth the read. Link in comments. #venturecapital #cybersecurity #fraud

23

6 Comments

I’ve spoken to over 2 dozen MDs at PE firms I can confidently say that the arb of figuring out how to implement Vertical AI at portfolio companies is very real right now It will fundamentally change underwriting for those who can do it predictably and unlock generational returns. Most are aware they need to act. Very few have.

454

64 Comments

great to be back on CNBC Squawk Box, this time with Stephen Sedgwick and Ben Boulos diving in to AI(!) and early stage investments – takeaways: < teams can be smaller than ever before and achieve way more < if you start building today – you are already too late for the obvious AI applications (AI for generating code, AI for a full profession like lawyers, etc) – you have to start in a harder/deeper problem < however – AI adoption for said ‘obvious’ tools is still low versus where they will be, they will continue growing like crazily in the coming 12 months < it has never been easier to build – so competition has never been more fierce < the 996 trend is here to stay in the western world for those who want to get ahead < my last name is really hard to pronounce back to building 🌋

166

17 Comments

Thrilled for OVNI Capital to be backing RIFT in a pre-seed round led by AlleyCorp (Luc Ryan-Schreiber). Rift is building the first real-time aerial intelligence network, a new layer of infrastructure for persistent, on-demand visibility where it matters most. This funding will scale production of their autonomous stations, accelerate deployment in high-stakes environments, and expand the team leading the next phase. 🗞️ Explore the full story: - StartupMafia: https://lnkd.in/dARrg25N - BFM Business (FR): https://lnkd.in/eADSUsn7 - Les Échos (FR): https://lnkd.in/eFG3zAy5 👨‍🚀 Join the mission → https://lnkd.in/erm_SrTG

95

2 Comments

Today, founders can build with WAY smaller teams and scale WAY faster. Also in this backdrop, the $2 trillion professional services industry has relied on the same business model for 100+ years: renting out consultants time to perform repetitive work. Infinity Constellation capitalizes on both of these things in a future proofed manner. By pairing seasoned founders with the world's most powerful AI models, Infinity builds revenue-first service businesses that can scale without bloated teams or overhead. Founded within Invisible Technologies, it is now spinning out as the first AI-native holdco with 8 AI service companies generating 7M+ ARR.  There is no better team to accomplish this than Francis Pedraza, Brennan Pothetes, Charlie Songhurst, Scott Downes, Jenn Sammarco Shar Broumand Stuart Lacey William Littlefield Jacqueline Schmidt Zohar Atkins Bobby George Kamron Palizban Adam Haney Nik Hurley and the entire team at Infinity. Freestyle Capital led their $12M seed round, bringing total funding to $17M, alongside with BACKED VC, Jess Mah Deepwater Asset Management, and BY Venture Partners. Alex Brunicki Eduardo Tamraz Doug Clinton Namek T. Zu'bi Read more about the news by the incredible Alex Konrad of Upstarts Media:

79

14 Comments