Led · Equity · Dec 2023

Spotta develops proprietary artificial intelligence combined with ultra-low-power Internet of Things monitoring devices to provide real-time pest detection and actionable insights. The company holds patented technology and has received multiple awards for its work. Spotta’s platform is already deployed commercially across more than 20 countries. Leadership positions the business as an early leader in pest-management technology, supported by an experienced management team. The recent £3.4 million funding round will fund continued product development and commercial expansion. The company is based in Cambridge.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2021

Fairown is a cloud-native fintech platform that enables brands, retailers and banks to offer products as monthly subscriptions and to manage smooth product renewal cycles by collecting and reusing old products. The company provides subscription financing (distinct from buy-now-pay-later) and works with clients including Apple, Komplett and STIHL to launch product-as-a-service offerings. Founded in 2018, Fairown bootstrapped to €1.2M in revenue, became profitable, and expanded independently across eight markets in the Nordics and Baltics with a team of 15. In the past eight months the business volume grew 3000%, and the platform served transactions of €5M in October up from €151K in January; the company projects 500% growth in 2022. With the new funding Fairown plans to establish itself in Germany and Poland, improve its product offering, and launch new partnerships with international brands to accelerate time-to-market for subscription offerings.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2020

Dryad Networks builds Silvanet, a solar-powered, AI-driven IoT sensor network for ultra-early wildfire detection and forest health monitoring. Silvanet is deployed in over twenty countries and the company has shipped 20,000 sensors to date. Dryad is developing Florian, an autonomous drone-based wildfire suppression system that would use technologies such as acoustic waves and a permanently stationed drone fleet for rapid response. Florian is a finalist in the XPRIZE Wildfire Competition. The company says new funding will allow it to scale Silvanet deployments and accelerate Florian’s development. Recent capital injections include grant and convertible financing proceeds to support product development and strategic partnerships. Dryad Networks builds a proprietary wildfire detection solution that combines solar-powered infrastructure with AI-enabled gas sensors placed across forested areas. Its core product, Silvanet, is deployed in more than twenty countries across North America, Europe and Asia. The company has shipped 30,000 sensors to date. Dryad intends to use newly raised capital to accelerate development and wider deployment of its detection technology. The company is led by CEO Carsten Brinkschulte and is based in Berlin, Germany. The announcement cites an initial closing of convertible financing as a validation of the company’s market position and potential. Dryad Networks builds Silvanet, a large-scale environmental IoT network that uses gas sensors trained to detect smoke and alert during the smoldering phase of fires. Its wireless sensor solution can operate in remote regions and uses IoT technology to extend mobile coverage, enabling alerts within minutes to give first responders critical time. The system is already deployed with public and private clients in Europe, South America and the US. Dryad aims to deploy 120 million sensors by 2030 and to prevent roughly 3.9–4.0 million hectares of forest from burning, avoiding an estimated 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions. TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good has made an equity investment into Dryad as part of its Series A, and the funding will support scaling deployments into the US and Canada. By improving reaction times and ultra-early detection, Dryad positions itself to reduce wildfire-related economic losses, biodiversity impacts and emissions. Dryad is a Berlin-based environmental IoT startup led by CEO Carsten Brinkschulte. It provides solar-powered environmental sensor networks and an end-to-end Silvanet® system for ultra-early wildfire detection and forest monitoring. Silvanet combines low-cost sensors, solar-powered LoRa-based mesh networking infrastructure and a cloud analytics platform to monitor, analyse and protect large, remote forests for public and private forest owners. The company spent more than two years developing the system. Dryad raised €10.5M in a Series A round led by eCAPITAL with participation from Toba Capital, Semtech and TIME Ventures. It intends to use the funds to scale its team and accelerate its go-to-market strategy around the world. Dryad Networks develops Silvanet, a large-scale IoT network that uses a mesh of gas sensors for ultra-early detection of wildfires (detection in under 60 minutes). The company is focused on enabling public and private forest owners to monitor, analyze and protect remote forests. It tested a minimum viable product in a German forest and has secured ten letters of intent from forest owners in Germany and Africa. Dryad will use the new funding to accelerate product development across R&D, testing and market introduction. The firm expects to begin two proof-of-concept deployments in Germany and Africa by summer 2021. The team is led by CEO and co-founder Carsten Brinkschulte.