“I’m excited” is an understatement for 2022.
Already, 2021 was a year of high velocity for Conscience.
The kicking off and establishment of our 1st fund was only one high point out of many for us. 🎉
In 2021, we:
1. Pioneered the intersection of consumer and science in venture. We invested in 11 stellar, early-stage companies, alongside several notable investors.
To name a few of the consumer x science verticals we invested in: micromobility, microbiome health, baby tech, and science-led beauty.
2. Prioritized value add for our founders. How? We:
a. Leveraged our strengths as hyper-connectors. We provided strategic introductions to other investors, advisors, talent, suppliers, and even banks to accelerate product build and validation, and access to capital.
b. Built in-house platforms to support founders, beyond our investment. Alongside these platforms, we got hands-on and offered support for product positioning and public-facing messaging so that our founders could continue enticing consumers and investors.
c. Honored promises, but also over delivered. Just one example: we walked our founders through how to leverage non-dilutive sources of capital, an important catalyst during the R&D stage for emerging new tech where funds are critical early on.
d. Hustled in order to understand what startups need to know in order to grow and thrive. We value quick, but *thorough* due diligence and asking thoughtful questions that challenge assumptions and drive growth for product, business model, team, and serviceable market.
3. Expanded further diversity into the VC ecosystem, with underrepresented founders now making up over 70% of our portfolio.
We invest in underrepresented founders not because they are diverse, but because their innate talent and creativity truly make them a massive arbitrage opportunity.
Our founders see the world through a new lens, so they naturally make big, early, and contrarian bets to solve our world’s toughest problems.
4. Grew our Club Conscience community to over 400 friends of the firm, including several other firms and our many, talented scouts.
Through panels and in-person events, we talked nerdy with some of the smartest and coolest people on the planet on topics not readily found on the Internet.
5. Showcased our brand’s values of empathy over ego, aggressive curiosity, and radical open mindedness through features in Business Insider, Carta, TechCrunch and more notable publications.
Oh, we also cleverly growth hacked our way to #1 (now, #2) most followed VC firm on LinkedIn. 😉
A massive shout-out to our incredible, hard-working portfolio founders (in no order): Shail Mehta Lihang Nong Alice Albrecht Cheryl Sew Hoy Evan Zhao Anne Palermo Brittany Chibe Chad Massura Wendel Afonso Shana Kelley Peter Weijmarshausen Sarah Adler
And of course, a big thank you to all of the LPs, co-investors, community members, and teammates who made our 1st year in business a success!
Cheers to a wonderful 2022! 🥂🎊
