As soon as I started investing in late 2014, I realized I was only attracted to bold deals in new, large markets.
That's what got us to invest as the earliest investors in companies like Eaze and Clara Foods, and what made us invest in sectors such as VR, cybersecurity, synthetic biology and deep learning when they were still nascent.
Fortunately, we got to co-invest with (or see follow-on funding from) General Catalyst, First Round Capital, Google Ventures, Data Collective, Founders Fund, Khosla, Felicis, and all of the other top-tier venture funds in the valley.
During the past 5 years investing in startups, I've realized that the companies I deeply care about, and that I think will be the largest outcomes, are the ones that have as their core mission the desire to save the planet.
Examples of those include Clara Foods, VitroLabs, Aspiration.com.
My thesis is simple: destroying the planet won't be profitable anymore. Not doing anything about it will not be interesting. Saving the planet will be both interesting and massively profitable.
That's why I'm doubling down on this thesis and committing 100% of my future deals to Planet+ companies.
Sectors I anticipate investing in are: alternative proteins and anything that can end factory farming, regenerative agriculture, synthetic biology and new materials, energy, impact finance.
I've been very vocal about my new current thesis and I'm starting to see very specific deaflow related to it. Additionally, I'm currently a scout for Atomico's angel programme, which affords me a good visibility into European early stage dealflow.
I will syndicate all deals where I decide to personally invest and where I have a large enough allocation.