Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week with Carol Masser and tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Want to bring in jewel Burg Solomon, co founder and
Speaker 1: managing partner of Collab Capital. It's a venture capital firm that,
Speaker 1: in its own words, invested the intersection of innovation and inclusion.
Speaker 1: Well to background on jewel She sold her first company
Speaker 1: to Amazon and then was also the inaugural head of
Speaker 1: Google Startups US that was from twenty nineteen to twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three. Juel joins us once again, this time though
Speaker 1: from Martha's vineyard, Jewel How are you.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great? How are you?
Speaker 1: We're doing well. Earlier in our program, we spoke to
Speaker 1: the partner at in Recent Horowitz, who focused on fintech.
Speaker 1: So his his purview is very focused on just one
Speaker 1: part of what he sees as a promising tech ecosystem
Speaker 1: and a promising future. Where would you say, in terms
Speaker 1: of types of technologies, Cloud Capital focuses on.
Speaker 2: So we really focus on what we call the building
Speaker 2: blocks of shared prosperity, and that looks across financial technology.
Speaker 2: So we think about economic mobility from a standpoint of
Speaker 2: how can we get more people into high paying jobs
Speaker 2: using technology, how can we provide the right access to
Speaker 2: capital using technology. We look at the healthcare industry and
Speaker 2: where there have historically been gaps and access to care
Speaker 2: and how technology can close those gaps. And lastly, we
Speaker 2: look at community infrastructure and we think about all the
Speaker 2: things that people need to thrive in communities, things like
Speaker 2: access to transportation, climate related technologies, energy related technologies, all
Speaker 2: those things that in this AI world that we're living
Speaker 2: in right now are increasingly important. Those are the places
Speaker 2: where we really look to invest.
Speaker 3: How is the investing landscape right now in the context
Speaker 3: of the fact that I mean you mentioned AI. It
Speaker 3: seems like there's so many startups out there that are
Speaker 3: claiming to have some innovation in artificial intelligence. Are you
Speaker 3: finding that like you're in an environment right now where
Speaker 3: you have to sift through a lot of noise to
Speaker 3: find a good investment or are you finding that you know,
Speaker 3: there's too many companies that are promising to you.
Speaker 2: Well, there are a ton of promising companies. We definitely
Speaker 2: don't have any problems when it comes to pipeline of
Speaker 2: companies that we could potentially invest in. But you're right,
Speaker 2: there are a ton of companies that are just slapping
Speaker 2: dot ai on technology that maybe isn't truly deep ai,
Speaker 2: and maybe they don't necessarily have a data mode or
Speaker 2: something that makes them special. So that's our work as
Speaker 2: investors to really make sure that the companies do have
Speaker 2: some type of technology lead or mote that can be defensible,
Speaker 2: that they are approaching a problem in a really unique way,
Speaker 2: that they're actually solving a problem that at some point
Speaker 2: down the line from our investment will become profitable. Those
Speaker 2: are all things that we're considering as we make investments.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about the environment of raising money from
Speaker 1: LPs right now, going out and raising the money to
Speaker 1: invest in these startups that you find.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a tough time for managing partners of
Speaker 2: particularly new funds to raise capital. I think the stat
Speaker 2: is something like eighty percent of capital that was deployed
Speaker 2: over the last year went into nine funds. So those
Speaker 2: large funds like the A six m Z that you
Speaker 2: spoke with earlier today, they're kind of consolidating a lot
Speaker 2: of the LP capital and so it's increasingly challenging for
Speaker 2: emerging managers like myself to raise capital from LPs. But
Speaker 2: the good news is we were successful in closing our
Speaker 2: second fund a few months ago. I know I'll have
Speaker 2: a lot of friends who are also out in market
Speaker 2: right now and finding success from LPs who really are
Speaker 2: still looking for these unique strategies and managers that are
Speaker 2: in places maybe outside of your typical silicon valley in
Speaker 2: Boston and New York hubs.
Speaker 3: Collob Capital is a venture firm investing at the intersection
Speaker 3: of innovation and inclusion.
Speaker 2: Do you get? Do you think?
Speaker 3: Just talk to us about like how that pitch works,
Speaker 3: the inclusion pitch. I guess how is inclusion related to
Speaker 3: investment returns?
Speaker 2: Yeah, inclusion still matters. We know. The pitch that we
Speaker 2: make to our LPs is that we believe we can
Speaker 2: find alpha in places where other people aren't looking. And
Speaker 2: most importantly, we believe that folks who are in the margins,
Speaker 2: if you will, they oftentimes have the best solutions to
Speaker 2: our most entrenched problems. So the founders that we're finding
Speaker 2: they oftentimes have the live experience that leads them to
Speaker 2: the right solution, and they really just need the resources,
Speaker 2: backing and support to be able to build really scalable
Speaker 2: and successful companies, and that's what we're all about, is
Speaker 2: not just the capital that we're providing, but also the
Speaker 2: wrap around services, the fact that we've been entrepreneurs before,
Speaker 2: we've done it, so we can really offer them our
Speaker 2: first hand experience and also connections to the right people
Speaker 2: that they need to really scale their businesses as well.
Speaker 3: I know there's probably way too many to pick just one,
Speaker 3: but tell us about one interesting company that you guys
Speaker 3: are investing in right now that our readers would want
Speaker 3: to know about. Our listeners.
Speaker 1: You're in a different media today, It's okay, we'll send
Speaker 1: you back there tomorrow. Sadly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, I'll tell you about an investment we're super
Speaker 2: excited about. We're just closing a company called May, which
Speaker 2: is in the maternal health space. They've built a network
Speaker 2: of doulas around the country and are providing really important
Speaker 2: critical care to mothers who need that extra support as
Speaker 2: they're they're going into thus the pre natal and post
Speaker 2: natal care. So that's one that we're really excited about
Speaker 2: because unfortunately in this country, the health outcomes for mothers
Speaker 2: are really not as good as we would hope for
Speaker 2: them to be, and so May has really built this
Speaker 2: support network of do list to address that problem.
Speaker 1: Just in our last minute, can you tell us about
Speaker 1: the seaweed company for building materials Source that you recently
Speaker 1: invested in.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's a really exciting one as well. So they
Speaker 2: have done some incredible work as using seaweed to create
Speaker 2: this nantio cellules material to ensure that all of the
Speaker 2: great things that we're building, all of these new and
Speaker 2: innovative products that are coming out to market, have the
Speaker 2: right materials that are cheaper, more efficient, and safer for
Speaker 2: the environment. And so this is our kind of first
Speaker 2: foray the material science world. But we're really excited to
Speaker 2: support Source, which is a company based in Florida.
Speaker 1: Jewel always good to check in with you. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us. Jewel Burg Solomon, co founder
Speaker 1: and a managing partner at Collab Capital, joining us this
Speaker 1: afternoon from Martha's vineyard. Seaweed as he building material. This
Speaker 1: is cool.
Speaker 3: I know, I think about seaweed as something that it's
Speaker 3: like an emerging health snack.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it as like, yeah, I like
Speaker 1: it when they have them here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the sweed, the seaweed snacks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just a little inside baseball. I think that's a
Speaker 1: permanent part of the permanent snack collection in the San
Speaker 1: Francisco Bureau.
Speaker 2: Really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, when I go to different bureaus around
Speaker 1: the country, around the world, I just go to write
Speaker 1: to the snacks. Got to get a good idea of
Speaker 1: the you know, regional varieties.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I'm trying to remember the SF Bureau. Yeah,
Speaker 3: they had a lot of like sweet sweet treats.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the sweet A great view from that bureau as well.