OUR STORIES
Recent talks, blog posts, media, and links from the Future Ventures team and our Portfolio Companies
future ventures closes its second fund
Future Ventures 2 is our second $200 million fund, closed almost two years after launching our flagship fund. For the past two years, we sourced and invested in companies whose mission is to change the world for the better. We have no intention to veer from that course, and are humbled by the support from our limited partners.
Read more in the link below.
Future Ventures Partner Maryanna Saenko featured at TransTech conference
Ahead of the TransTech Conference, Future Ventures Partner Maryanna Saenko gave her thoughts on what all our investments have in common: they’re all companies that focus on doing good in the world. In this exclusive interview, she adds, “We want to use technology as a force that allows people to enter an abundance mindset and not think, ‘How can I get my piece at the cost of someone else’s?’”
Read more at the link below.
Sensei biotherapeutics announces appointment of anu hoey as new chief business officer
Future Ventures portfolio company Sensei Biotherapeutics has announced the appointment of Anu Hoey as their new Chief Business Officer. Bringing over 18 years of transactional and corporate expertise, CEO John Celebi says Anu will be instrumental as the company executes on their vision of establishing a new and disruptive class of immunotherapies.
latent ai named 2020 startup of the year at internet of things world conference
Future Ventures portfolio company Latent AI was named Startup of the Year at the IoT World Awards on Wednesday, August 12, 2020. This year, more than 600 nominations were submitted for the awards with entrants spanning the Internet of Things ecosystem: from industrial IoT technology to edge computing and consumer offerings, and deployments in several industry sectors. Congratulations to Latent AI on this achievement!
The Tim Ferriss Show
Tim Ferriss commands 90% of my podcast attention. Unlike the arbitrage media du jour, he aims for timeless nuggets of wisdom from a panoply of top performers. So, it is a great honor to have our almost 3-hour (!) long-form interview go live today, with a wide range of fun topics. Enjoy: Our Episode (we start at minute 6:19 with a deep dive on quantum computing. A wider range of fun topics starts at minute 27).
Let’s not Call them Flying Cars, Maryanna Shares Perspective at the Uber Elevate Conference
As a moto-head I cringe at the prospect of taking a car and trying to make it fly - it’s inefficient, it’s heavy, it’s a waste. Cars are amazing but nothing about the word ‘car’ evokes flight-worthiness. Soon Tesla and other companies pioneering electric vehicles will change our perspective on the word car, it will become seamless with powerful, clean, accessible transport; until then let’s keep the cars to the ground and stop trying to strap wings to internal combustion engines. Here’s a link to a fun discussion we had at the Uber Elevate Summit around funding e-VTOL’s, and how that future may evolve.
Steve Interviews Elon Musk At Stanford for FutureFest
My favorite questions came from the students, as I had never heard them asked before. They covered Elon's thoughts on governance on Mars and his views on art and design (which reminded me so much of Steve Jobs).
1. Nick Xu, Architectural Design, Co-Term: What do you look for in design? What do you look for in art?
2. Stanford Space Initiative students: How do you envision humans governing a separate planet?
NPR Interview on VC and Cognitive Diversity
I don't usually like to talk about VC topics, but NPR Marketplace posted an interview by Molly Wood.
Minute 11 — team size and scaling limits
Minute 15 — seven year cycles from feedback lag
Minute 18 — the cognitive diversity bonus
I recently learned that I am quoted in Scott Page's book on Diversity pp.124-5. At a philanthropy gathering, he reminded me that when I first met him at a conference lunch, I got all excited about the SFI research showing diversity being more important than ability in certain contexts, and I quoted him before I knew he was him. I'm glad I got the attribution right there!
Future Ventures Officially Launches
Hello Future. Future Ventures Fund 1 is our flagship $200 million venture fund focused on seed and early-stage investments in trailblazing, purpose-driven entrepreneurs with ideas that have the potential to reinvent entire industries.
We were thrilled to have the support of a dream team of limited partners that share our passion for backing extraordinary entrepreneurs who are changing the world. We were oversubscribed with interest, allowing us to get to a single close in record time. Thank you for your support and belief in us.