This month at January Ventures: Guidewheel meets with Bill Gates and Prince William, Treefera named startup to watch, our new website launch, and more!
January Ventures has a new look!
You might have noticed a few changes to our website and social channels: We’ve got a new look! We’ve refreshed our brand and website to reflect the energy behind our mission and values.
We invest in the outliers, underdogs and disruptors from day one: backing moonshot founders who are transforming traditional industries and processes. Today’s biggest opportunities aren’t for the faint of heart: they require incredible determination and unique perspectives. We believe investing in founders based on their ambition, talent, and grit, not their pedigrees and networks, can drive outsized returns.
We’ve invested in 60 portfolio companies to date and 95% of our portfolio companies have a founder who identifies as diverse based on gender, racial or ethnic identity, or immigrant status. Here are a few other stats we’re proud of:
4 total exits
70% graduation rate
80% of our portfolio companies have a female founder
31% have a Back or Latino/a founder
38% have an immigrant founder
Thank you for following January Ventures. Check out our new website here - we’re excited for what is to come!
Highlights:
Guidewheel, a plug-and-play FactoryOps platform that empowers factories to reach sustainable peak performance, has announced the launch of their Predictive Maintenance Solution: Scout. Using advanced AI to detect early warning signals of a potential issue, Guidewheel’s Scout alerts teams so that they can take early action before failure or downtime arises.
The Guidewheel team recently shared their vision for the world’s factories with Bill Gates and Prince Williams during the Breakthrough Energy #BESummit.
Sifted has recognized Treefera as one of 12 London-based startups to watch according to VCs. Treefera is an AI-powered data platform to help organizations analyze, evaluate and report on the impact they are having on the planet. Treefera also celebrated nominations at the UK Business Angels Association Angel Investment Awards for co-founder Caroline Grey being “an exceptional leader of a female-founded high growth business” and Treefera being on the shortlist of the “best investments in sustainable technology.”
Quarter20, a platform that reimagines documentation for hardware teams, was included in The 2024 Vertical SaaS 50 list by Bain Capital Ventures and Headline. The list recognizes 50 new early-stage startups building industry-specific software across a variety of verticals. Congratulations to Addy First, Mai Bui and the Quarter20 team!
January Ventures Annual Company-Building Survey:
Founders: have you taken our 6th annual company building survey? We’re building off prior research to deepen our understanding of the current startup landscape.
We want to hear from you on what founders are experiencing in today’s market. Your voice will help us to better understand how company building is changing at the early stage, capture a fuller picture of experiences and perspectives, and determine what the venture community can do to best support founders.
Our survey takes just 10 mins to fill out. Founders, thank you for joining in this important conversation and sharing your thoughts!
Where we were:
Maren Bannon was on stage at Tech.eu, speaking with Jason Ball of Ball Ventures, Raph Crouan of Orrick and Tom Wilson of Seedcamp about what VCs are looking for in 2024 and investment areas they are excited about.
Jennifer Neundorfer attended the Citizens Private Bank’s inaugural Women in Venture Retreat. The Citizens team is committed to increasing female presence in VC and PE as both investors and allocators.
Jen also attended the Vision Capital Summer Social in New York and caught up with a group of GPs, LPs and strategic partners. Vision Capital is Insight Partners’ fund of funds vehicle investing in early-stage venture funds, and January is honored to have them as an LP.