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Get the most recent info and news about PARTNERS GROUP HOLDING AG on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Partners Group Holding AG is a private equity firm specializing in direct, secondary, and primary investments across private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure, and private debt. The firm also makes fund of funds investments. It seeks to invest in distressed, special situations, later stage, mature, early venture, mid venture, late venture, industry consolidation,  buyouts, recapitalizations, emerging growth, and seed capital. For direct private equity investments, the firm invests directly into healthcare, consumer, media & telecommunications, education, information technology, industrials, infrastructure/energy & utilities, financial and business services and real estate operating companies. For its private real estate direct investment practice, it focuses on seeking out properties globally. It also makes investments in private real estate secondaries and primaries and focuses on distressed assets in United States, Europe, and Japan. Under private debt, the firm provides senior debt financing, mezzanine financing, alongside secondaries and primaries, and also participates in add on acquisitions. It seeks to invest in middle market in Americas, Europe, and Asia. In energy infrastructure, the firm seeks to invest in the areas of midstream, power generation, gas transportation, gas export infrastructure, renewable energy including wind and solar energy. The firm seeks to invest globally with a focus on South Africa, China, India, Philippines, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, and Chile. It seems to invest between Â500,000 ($685,010) and Â100 million ($137 million) in equity investment in companies with enterprise value between Â100 million ($137 million) to Â2 billion ($2740 million). The firm is a value-add investor targeting majority and minority stake in its investee companies. While investing in funds, it invests in venture capital, mezzanine, private equity, real estate, distressed, turnaround, and secondary funds. Partners Group Holding AG was founded in 1996 and is based in Baar, Switzerland with additional offices across North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

PARTNERS GROUP HOLDING AG

In 1943, the American aircraft engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson received a call from the Pentagon: the US Air Force needed a fighter jet. Johnson ran Advanced Development Projects (ADP), a closed division of the Lockheed Corporation aircraft manufacturing company. It was located in a separate room, and only employees directly involved in the development of ADP could go in there. The task was extremely complicated: the military gave only 150 days to create a fighter. The was to be designed according to the drawings of the British Halford H-1, and the engineers did not have access to them. Of 130 people, only five knew exactly what they were working on. Employees worked in a specially rented circus tent near a plastic factory, where, according to the idea, a terrible smell would scare away onlookers. The team finished the work over 143 days. On November 16, 1943, the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star was delivered to the Muroc airbase. The aircraft became the first American serial jet fighter and was used not only in World War II but also in air battles over Korea in the 1950s. Later on, the corporation continued collaboration with the Pentagon. Lockheed ADP is also famous for Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft, Nighthawk stealth, Starfighter (the first aircraft to set altitude and speed records at the same time), Sea Shadow, an invisible vessel, and other projects, including secret ones. In the 1960s, Lockheed ADP received an official alias — The Skunk Works. It is a reference to the tent story in Li'l Abner comic book. Today the term ‘skunkworks’ refers to an approach in business, engineering, and technology where an autonomous, bureaucracy-free group works on a complex or secret project. Skunkworks phenomenon has become so popular that it earned in the Silicon Valley series. a mention Deep tech or not: startup checklist The deep tech (Deep technology) industry is about playing sides. On the one hand, there are scientific developments, and on the other — competition according to the business laws. You need to create a popular science-based product and sell it, outperforming all competitors. Ideally, this is a small mobile group that effectively collaborates and quickly solves scientific and engineering problems. The distinguishing features of a deep tech startup are unique technology, the scientific novelty and the ability to commercialize the technology. These products address the challenges that were previously deemed impossible to tackle technologically or a faster, more convenient and cheaper solution did not exist. Deep tech projects must build upon unique technology. Uber or Airbnb are not deep tech startups. They did not create revolutionary tech but did found a profitable business model. The deep tech startup monetization model can be unpredictable at the idea stage. Therefore, team flexibility here matters a lot. Not every scientific discovery lead to the creation of a product. Some of them will never be applied. Others will give a new development round to the technological process in general and deep tech startups in particular. The deep tech industry is interested in the achievements of applied science, which can be sold in the foreseeable future. There are plenty of them. The overall level of technology, labor, and material efficiency is growing very rapidly, so much so that private companies can already launch rockets and satellites into space. An office of such a company exists in Ukraine. American Firefly Aerospace, owned by Maxim Polyakov, has R&D in Dnipro. Business born at universities Now is the right time to do high-tech and scientific projects in Ukraine. The country is a goldmine of gifted scientists, and the development process is cheaper as compared with the United States or Western Europe. The academics must be surrounded by robust business teams, engaged in the construction and validation of hypotheses, communication with potential buyers. This task can be performed by energetic, talented students with good English. In Ukrainian deep tech projects, adult scientists whose careers date back to the Soviet era are often responsible for R&D, while their students are responsible for marketing. The creation of deep tech projects in the academic community is a global practice. Mark Rybert, Technology Professor at Massachusetts University who devoted a lot of time to developing robotic limbs, assembled a group of researchers in 1992 and founded the Leg Lab. In 2005, a company commissioned by the US Army and participated in the development of the BigDog robot, and now its name became almost a synonym for robotics. Since 2013, Boston Dynamics was owned by Google, and in 2017 they were bought by the SoftBank Group holding. DARPA Industry pitfalls When an inventor first presents the idea of ​​a deep tech project, it is difficult to understand who he is: a genius, a deceiver or a naive dreamer. Perhaps he uses the “fake it 'til you make it” approach. In the Western startup community, this principle is rather common, which encourages the classical model of venture financing. Ukrainian companies adopt this tradition without adjusting for local realities. When an AI startup is being created, a beautiful branding hides 20 low-paid coders from India or another country who imitate the operation of a neural network. Programmers and architects can develop a real neural network, but while they are doing this, marketers and sales are already bringing a product to market and are testing business hypotheses. This scheme is dangerous. By pretending that a solution already exists, the startup runs the risk of becoming the second - killer of its own reputation and the idea that underpinned the project. Theranos A deep tech startup team should do two things. First, create a proof of technology — tangible evidence that the model is correct and the technology will work. Second, validate the idea by talking to a potential stakeholder, for example, the corporation that will implement the tech. To do this, you need to provide proof of technology and a presentation about the business perspective: how much you can earn or save. Investors’ responsibility deserves particular attention. They are not always able to assess the project’s perspective from the first pitch, but they can develop the network to consult with experts when evaluating a startup. Fantastic technologies: the most promising ideas Deep tech is ahead of time. Those are solutions to problems related to healthcare and life quality, sustainable development of cities and the community, infrastructures, responsible consumption and production, the fight against climate change, renewable energy, decent working conditions, and economic growth. Areas of application for deep tech are advanced materials, AI, photonics and electronics, robotics and drones. Y Combinator partner Jared Friedman that attracting investment in a biotech or life science project is like attracting money to a technology project ten years ago: investors are enthusiastic. wrote Deep tech innovation is often created at the junction of several industries and knowledge areas. An ideal product is the one that provides longevity, transfers one’s consciousness into the cloud and increases the level of happiness. Those ideas might sound surreal. Many technologies existing today once sounded surreal as well. Such dreams are the foothold for those who want to change the world. We are looking forward to collaborating with corporate partners and follow-on funds to unleash the huge deep tech industry potential and make a difference starting today. Yuri Filipchuk, partner at CYFRD investment company, sheds light on the deep tech industry, its origin and mechanics as well as great potential.

A Genius, a Deceiver, or a Naive Dreamer? Deep Tech Explained 

Trends to watch out for, the next big year! or its portmanteau ‘ is no longer confined to the dark and dingy corners of back-offices, in fact, it has taken centre stage by making itself indispensable to almost all of the customer-driven processes. Any digital transaction, be it, , is possible at our fingertips thanks to ‘FinTech.’ So, how did FinTech come to play such an essential role in the lives of us consumers? Financial Technology FinTech’ online shopping, foreign currency exchange, stock investments or money transfers As it was rightly said by Mr. White — “ ”. This new explosion in IT is definitely the one that is knocking on every VCs and investors doorstep. This could be precisely said because the overall investment in Financial Technology has . I am the one who knocks already surpassed the 2017 results in mid-year itself Let’s take a look at some of the major breakthroughs that occurred in FinTech this year, WorldPay (now ) was publicly listed which provided online services for accepting electronic transactions by a variety of methods such as credit card, bank based or direct transfer. It also offered a range of merchant services and operated in an extensive demographic (400,000 merchants in 146 countries) across the globe. It was acquired by , a leading provider of payment processing services and related technology solutions for financial institutions. The acquisition came as a significant step forward for the two giants. WorldPay which competes with the likes of and several others gained significant momentum after the acquisition. • The acquisition of WorldPay WorldPay, Inc payment processing platform Vantiv $12.9 billion VeriFone, PayPal, Stripe It didn’t come as a surprise to many when China’s raised about $14 billion in its last seed round. After all, it is backed by one of the biggest names in the industry ( .). • The Funding of Ant Financial Ant Financial Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Image Source: www.ft.com The funding made Ant the world’s leading FinTech firm. The funding undeniably equipped them with enormous resources for expansion. The affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is alreadyChina’s biggest online payments service and even controls the world’s largest money market fund. “ ,” Ant’s CEO Eric Jing said in a statement to Bloomberg. Now, with the help of our partners, we are going to accelerate our strategy Analyzing the above developments we could accurately predict where FinTech is headed in 2019. Let’s take a sneak peek, 1. RegTech is here to stay Compliance, Complexity, Cost and Bureaucratic processes have always stifled the development of the finance industry. The long and tedious processes have proven to be a bane for the industry. This led to the reincarnation of a morbid industry that never saw a significant thrust since the spurt of the . Consequently, we are seeing a lot of financial firms shifting to to bridge those gaps. One must wonder- dot-com bubble Regulatory Technology (RegTech) What exactly is RegTech?? It is essentially such as regulatory compliance. It has a significant impact on financial services. In simpler words, it is a technology that helps financial service firms get better at dealing with regulation. For instance, . But the benefits of RegTech far exceeds than just KYC. As the , technologies such as are enabling companies to gain insights into regulatory practices, automate reporting, carry out a meaningful inspection of critical compliance risk areas and even potentially create an end-to-end view of compliance. Companies are using RegTech to deal with the vast amount of data they are generating. More data handled the right way also means better information.Many VCs and investors have already started riding on the RegTech bandwagon, due to which there has been a significant increase in the investment across this lucrative sector. RegTech has a promising future ahead, and these new-age startups will be the ones to watch out for in the upcoming calendar. Based out of Luxembourg, and founded by brothers Bert and Rob Boerman, this RegTech startup provides smart technology and support services to facilitate the control of regulated companies. They raised their Series A round this year. Governance.io has established itself as a platform for good governance through the use of technology and support. Deployed , the solution allows all stakeholders to collaborate on data, documentation, and workflows. It also provides a white-labelled client portal to exchange data and collaborate on meetings and due diligence questionnaires. . This UK based startup was founded in 2015. Riding on new age technologies, ALA has established a stronghold in the Compliance sector. It offers enterprise-wide for buy and sell-side institutions and other financial firms. Their bring alternative data insights for financial institutions. By using , ALA develops and apply risk calculations. Communications and other source data are scored against a series of to quickly pick up on any issues that could cause problems. the use of technology across financial services functions to ease financial tasks Know Your Customer (KYC) world is moving from big data to ‘smart data’ artificial intelligence and machine learning . There has been an investment of $1.37 billion in the first half of 2018 — more than for all of 2017 1. Governance.io / governance.com: at-premise or in the cloud A network of governance supports clients that can provide hosting, operational support, regulatory advisory, and other support services 2. Advanced logic analytics: big data and financial analytics solutions data science-led business offering and AI driven algorithms machine learning-based analytic techniques Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) RegTech startups that are creating a difference in the Compliance Sector Agreement Express provides for financial services. Their platform allows wealth management and payments companies to deliver customer application, approval, and onboarding services across their offerings. They provide seamless integration to the back-office for compliance and risk workflows which is one of their most sought-after features. 3. Agreement express: onboarding automation software The differentiating factor for this Munich based startup has been the market it caters**.** Alyne offerings include across all industries of all magnitudes. They call themselves “Business focused Software as a Service”. 4. Alyne: cybersecurity, risk management and compliance capabilities Surety caters to a niche segment of Regulatory Technology. They provide technology to protect the integrity of digital information using They are also one of the prominent providers of regulatory services such as . Surety sanctions users to apply to almost any form of electronic information. They are , providing long-term and independent proof with the guarantee that the information hasn’t been tampered since. 5. Surety: cryptographic time-stamping service. IP protection and digital footprint preservation tamper-proof digital “Seals” easily deployable across enterprise or cloud Appzen is an extremely impressive AI platform that utilizes , It integrates with all major ERPs, invoicing software, and expense automation products. This six-year-old startup is and has recently . Appzen enjoys clientele such as , and 650 major organizations. “ ,” AppZen’s Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement. 6. AppZen: machine learning to audit contracts expense reports and invoices. valued at $175 million raised $35 million in its Series B round Airbnb, Amazon, Citi Bank, Salesforce, Intuit The goal is to address all the domains in the CFO organization Anant Kale AQMETRICS provides software for financial services firms trading on the global financial markets. Headquartered in Kildare, Ireland (EU), AQMETRICS has raised almost in investment so far. They specialize in providing and to investment management companies. AQMETRICS serves a suite of cloud-based solutions and supports a full range of global regulatory reporting. Arachnys’ vision is focused on exploiting the evolving markets rather than already lucrative ones because they believe emerging markets, which are often fragmented and poorly organized will see an explosion of business information. Unlike their RegTech counterparts, Arachnys, therefore, targets the Eurasian market more extensively. Their primary emphasis remains attractive markets like . Arachnys domain expertise caters to by using cutting-edge technologies such as . Their products are specifically tailored to serve diverse customer base and are extensively customizable. 7. AQMETRICS: GRC (Governance, Risk & Compliance) $3.3 Million unified market surveillance compliance solutions 8. Arachnys: China, India, Russia, and the Middle East Customer Risk Evaluation lifecycle Robotic Process Automation, Machine Learning, Intelligence, and Natural Language Processing 2. Artificial Intelligence: In the early days of banking, bankers used to have personal connections with their customers. Each step of the banking process involved customer-client interaction. But due to the digitization of the banking process, this personal connection has been lost. So, is it possible to leverage the same technology to get that human interaction back? Image Source: geniusmonkey.com Many believe, . Artificial intelligence (A.I.) will continue to govern FinTech in new ways. . A.I can be leveraged to bring back that connection In 2019, we could see companies use A.I. to develop new commerce interfaces, with the number of companies looking into voice set to increase Let’s delve into the potential use-cases of A.I: : In traditional banking infrastructure, there were a lot of customers who were underserved and ignored. They couldn’t apply for a loan because they didn’t have a credit score. Many startups have stepped up to bridge that crevice. . Many tools and technologies such as are being deployed to ensure a detailed evaluation of the potential borrower. These technologies let banks build a vivid picture that allows them to evaluate whether a candidate is creditworthy. • Credit Scores Various applications are coming up to assist customers who want to apply for a loan but have no credit history for the bank to review Psychometric Analysis, Behavioral Detection, Predictive Analysis, and mining of the borrower’s data through the web, social media, geo-location and even browser history : The banking sector is the single most targeted area by hackers and fraudsters for obvious reasons. This anomaly allows for the development of some of the most innovative and hi-tech solutions in this realm. , and numerous other tools and technologies are being deployed by financial firms and new-age startups to address this issue. Many and issue warnings in case of possible security infringement. Due to these developments, and digital payment gateways to carry out their financial transactions. • Security and Fraud Control Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Optimized Algorithms A.I tools have also come into use to analyze and observe user’s critical behavioral patterns it was observed in the Q3 that consumers are increasingly becoming more at ease at using A.I-driven applications : Time and again it has been witnessed that most of the customer-facing processes are becoming obsolete by every passing day. They are being revolutionized by the advent . It could be easily figured out as to what exactly is driving that trend. Automation of customer-facing services address one problem that has always costed companies in billions of dollar — . • Customer Support Automation of Chabots and Virtual Assistants Human Error Image Source: medium.com/techsee A.I driven platforms with use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) are turning more human than ever. This combined with no possible error in delivery makes it an ideal fit. Chatbots can not only answer customer queries intelligently, but they can also be integrated with social networking sites, and accept requests for applications and orders directly from social media channels. The outcomes clearly surpassed the forecasts. Gartner prediction for 2018, projected more than 2 billion people would be diligently using conversational A.I to interact with virtual assistants on different platforms. 3. Blockchain will venture beyond Bitcoin: The much-hyped technology upon which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are based — , is all set out to venture beyond Bitcoin and will serve various other markets and domains. Keeping in mind the potential of , several banks and financial firms have planned for considerable investments in the domain. Many companies have rolled out pilot programs across a range of industries, including — . Earlier in 2018, several banks in Asia conducted a pilot in which Blockchain was used to transfer funds across continents in a matter of few seconds. The Blockchain Blockchain financial services, healthcare and even global logistics Image Source: twitter.com/chboursin The following could be the potential use cases that can come into light in 2019, : Blockchain could help tremendously in gun control and weapon accountability. This could easily be one of the single most significant reform that could change the entire state of firearm distribution. And gun control being such a trending topic on almost every new network. Blockchain could create a completely transparent and never-changing registry ledger that allows law enforcement to track down weapons and guns ownership. It could also be utilized to keep a record of weapons sold privately. If you are worried about booth capturing or voter fraud. Then Blockchain will offer you a sigh of relief. Blockchain would offer the ability to vote digitally and at the same time be transparent enough that any regulator could see if any irregularity or fraud transpires. The decentralized nature and its immutability would ensure your vote truly counts. Digital IDs with the help of Blockchain would be a boon for the impoverished and developing nations by giving them access to financial services. Tech giant Microsoft is already planning to venture into the domain by creating digital IDs within its Authenticator app. 1. Weapons Tracking 2. Digital Voting: 3. Digital IDs: Since paper trails are frequently a source of confusion, it is entirely possible that Blockchain will take paper out of the equation. So, if one plans to buy or sell land, a house, or even a car you’ll just require to transfer the title. Thanks to Blockchain these titles will get stored on the network allowing for a crystal clear picture of the legal ownership. 4. Real Estate: Patient privacy would be utterly discreet by the introduction of Blockchain in the pharmaceutical sector. The patients who possess the key to access these records will be in complete ownership of their data and will control who can access or view that data. Thus strengthening the that are designed to protect their privacy. 5. Record keeping of medical records: HIPAA laws Many networking corporations have announced that they are working on a Blockchain based application that will monitor the Internet of Things network. Such an application would help determine the authenticity of the devices on the network and would continuously do so for devices entering and leaving the network. This could drive a significant shift in device-to-device integration. 6. Managing IoT (Internet of Things) networks: 4. Financial Inclusion: In the largest ever gathering of FinTech firms in Singapore, Indian Prime Minister, introduced attractive policies and plans to invite investors to the Indian landscape. “ ,” said Modi, the keynote speaker at the Singapore FinTech Festival. In Nigeria, FinTech startup has come with a solution that provides simple and reliant digital payment system to the consumers. So, consumers of Nigeria who were generally skeptical when it comes to e-commerce, have embraced the platform. Narendra Modi I say this to all the FinTech companies and startups: India is your best destination NetPlus Developments such as these are proving to be an excellent boost for evolving markets such as India, Brazil, Nigeria, Indonesia, and several others. Earlier when the FinTech hubs used to be just San Francisco, Singapore, and London, such developments are driving investors to these huge rewarding markets. This shift in the market will gain significant traction next year and developing nations would possible see tremendous growth in investments across FinTech and RegTech. Also, several financial establishments are planning to open up new premises in these countries which definitely suggests what is expected to come our way in 2019. Wrapping up: My prediction for 2019: It is big, It is growing, and It is disruptive. FinTech would be the second-most significant transformation in Finance, since the first permanent banknotes** **. . I believe, Financial Technology would not only disrupt the way we purchase and invest, but it would also alter the very definition of money itself is upon us and banks, and financial firms will enjoy a roller-coaster ride riding on the FinTech wagon. 2019 will be the year of banks acquiring FinTech firms, or waiting for their slow demise. Those who catch the FinTech train would bolster, and the rest would be gasping for air. FinTech 3.0 After all, it is true what they say — . You snooze, You lose If you have any queries at all, please feel free to drop your comments. Originally Published on by EngineerBabu Blog Saransh Sethi — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Read My Other Related Articles 1. How to Start a FinTech Company , Also on Hackernoon 2. Top 10 Fintech Companies Transforming Finance in USA 3. Digital Transformation in Finance , Also on Hackernoon 4. How is Blockchain Revolutionizing Banking and Financial Markets , Also on Hackernoon 5. Asking for Blockchain to your Daily Banking Solutions , Also on Hackernoon I am Mayank, Cofounder of EngineerBabu . Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn | mayank@engineerbabu.com (About EngineerBabu — Medium ). In addition Help startups, enterprises, and owners to grow their business by building high class IT solutions. 95% of projects developed by them were completed on-time. , Win most innovative Premier Design Award, selected in Y-Combinator 2016 & 2017. EngineerBabu 30+ funded by VCs

FinTech in 2019

The automotive industry has experienced remarkable changes in the past decade. Autonomous driving technology, car connectivity, and ride sharing are major trends shaping the industry’s future. Today, the car itself is becoming a commodity while software sets vehicles apart. IoT and embedded solutions have become a natural part of car connectivity and the automotive industry. Cooperation between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Tier 1 vendors, and top embedded software outsourcing companies in the automotive industry is key to unlocking the market’s future potential. Big companies and OEMs are constantly looking for outsourcing partners that can meet their needs with embedded programming solutions in the best way possible. Here’s a list of the top IT outsourcing companies in 2018. 1. Intellias https://www.intellias.com/ Berlin (Germany); Lviv, Kyiv, and Odessa (Ukraine) Locations: 2002 Founded: 1300 Company size: Intellias, with clients from Europe and North America, has won wide recognition among Ukrainian outsourcing companies for their automotive IoT and embedded systems expertise and for their ability to build and manage world-class engineering teams capable of solving the most complex technological challenges. Quick ramp-up, a perfect culture match, high productivity, and great quality characterize the Intellias approach to business. In 2017, Intellias was recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in Europe. Intellias has also been featured on the Global Outsourcing 100 list. Intellias has deep expertise in developing data-driven IoT software solutions that reinforce full automation technology and car connectivity. They offer complex services that enable businesses in the automotive and related industries to receive benefits from collecting real-time data on the environment while keeping firmware constantly updated over-the-air. Services: In addition, Intellias provides energy consumption control solutions and vehicle-to-everything communication services using V2V, V2I, and V2C software. Siemens, Microsoft, Nokia, Roche, RTL Group, Playbuzz, EveryMatrix, BrainStorm, Alphary, AdsWizz Key clients: 2. Elektrobit https://www.elektrobit.com/ Erlangen (Germany) Location: 1985 Founded: Elektrobit specializes in complex automotive software development services and hardware solutions and also develops wireless technologies. The core competencies of the firm include automotive-grade software, wireless technologies, and software architecture. The Elektrobit automotive business segment offers an extensive range of standard software products as well as professional tools supporting the entire life cycle of in-car software development. : Elektrobit offers complex functional safety consulting, including gap analysis based on IEC 61508, ISO 26262, and SPICE; software consulting on strategies that enable hardware/software separation; and lean software development, including solutions based on Agile cooperation models. Services Ford, Volkswagen, Audi, Daimler, Continental, Delphi Key clients: 3. Ignite https://igniteoutsourcing.com/ Netanya (Israel) Location: 2006 Founded: 301–500 Company size: Israeli-Ukrainian company Ignite provides custom software development solutions for the automotive, FinTech, media, and entertainment industries. The firm brings to life complex projects using Agile methodologies and relying on a pool of developers located in Eastern Europe. Ignite has a wide portfolio of products that include big data, IoT, and cloud platforms. Services: Ignite builds products ranging from infotainment applications to complete AI-driven fleet solutions. An Agile methodology, transparency, and flexibility are at the core of the company’s business model. Waze, GreenRoad, eDrive Technology Key clients: 4. Infopulse https://www.infopulse.com/ Kyiv (Ukraine) Location: 1991 Founded: 1001–5000 Company size: With more than 26 years of IT experience, Infopulse has built a reputation as one of the leading software developers in Eastern Europe. Today, the company operates globally and works on a wide range of projects in the automotive, FinTech, consumer goods, telecommunications, and mobile network sectors. Infopulse has eight international offices and works with clients from more than 20 countries. Infopulse handles software R&D, application management, IT operations, and information security. The company is known primarily for its infotainment, telematics, cloud, NFC, security, and blockchain solutions. Services: Atoll Holding, Microsoft Ukraine, Audials AG Key clients: 5. GlobalLogic https://www.globallogic.com/ San Jose (California); Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv (Ukraine) Locations: 1991 Founded: 10,001+ Company size: GlobalLogic provides full lifecycle product development services with chip-to-cloud software engineering expertise and vertical industry experience. By integrating design, complex engineering, and Agile delivery capabilities, GlobalLogic develops superior business solutions for customers in the telecommunications, automotive, healthcare, technology, media and entertainment, manufacturing, and semiconductor industries. GlobalLogic has substantial experience providing virtualization and connectivity services, asset management, remote operations, telematic data services, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems, and automotive and driver assistance systems. Services: Oracle, Sprint, Cisco Key clients: 6. Gionix https://www.gionix.com/ Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine) Location: 2006 Founded: 10–50 Company size: With more than 10 years of experience developing embedded electronics for the automotive industry, Gionix has reinforced its reputation as a company capable of resolving the most sophisticated tasks. The Gionix business model is based on offering affordable solutions that offer excellent engine performance, drivability, reliability, and quality. Gionix provides complete turnkey solutions for automotive manufacturers, including engine control units, calibration systems, in-vehicle calibration services, and advanced diagnostic software. This Ukraine-based company also offers a wide range of consulting services to both large players and small startups on the design, development, and manufacture of electronic devices for the consumer, industrial, and automotive markets. Services: ZAZ, Bogdan, UkrAvto, Ivchenko Progress Key clients: 7. Sigma Software https://sigma.software/ Kharkiv (Ukraine), Stockholm (Sweden), New York City (USA) Location: 2002 Founded: 501–1000 Company size: Sigma Software provides top-notch software development services to many sectors including government, telecommunications, media, advertising, aerospace, automotive, gaming, banking and financial services, real estate, tourism, and entertainment. The company is recognized primarily for its expertise in embedded software development services for technology startups led by serial entrepreneurs and original equipment manufacturers. Sigma Software offers complex augmented and virtual reality solutions for repair and maintenance, field services, emergency guidance, and visual navigation. In addition, the company provides in-vehicle infotainment services using the OpenCar, Android Auto, OpenXC, and QNX platforms. Services: Volvo, SAS, Scania, Knorr-Bremse Key clients: 8. Intrinsyc https://www.intrinsyc.com/ Vancouver (Canada) Location: 1992 Founded: 51–200 Company size: Intrinsyc is a publicly traded product development company that specializes in top-quality embedded systems programming and IoT solutions. They combine production-ready computing engines with unmatched product development expertise to ensure rapid commercialization of embedded and IoT products. The Intrinsyc Open-Q™ System on Modules (SOM) and Single Board Computers (SBC) incorporate the industry’s most advanced processor technology, bringing to life some of the boldest concepts developed together with the world’s leading OEMs. Intrinsyc offers a range of embedded products including single-board computers, development kits, system on modules, and vertical development platforms. In addition to product development services, the company offers complex software, hardware, and mechanical engineering services. Services: Boeing, Ford, Sierra Wireless, John Deere Key clients: 9. Cogniance https://cogniance.com/ Sunnyvale (California) Location: 2008 Founded: 251–500 Company size: Since its establishment in 2008, Cogniance has quickly become an internationally recognized developer of sophisticated software solutions for business domains including data science, automotive, consumer electronics, and the Internet of Things. Cogniance focuses on IoT and embedded programming solutions. Over the next five years, they plan to spend $6 billion developing IoT solutions. Cogniance software designers provide both large equipment manufacturers and small startups with expertise and IT outsourcing services in M2M and M2C connectivity; cloud, mobile, and embedded systems; and machine learning and AI-based technologies. Services: Magellan, Velux, Xtime, CloudMade, Fetch Robotics Key clients: 10. Cloud9 Solutions https://www.cloud9-solutions.com/ Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) Location: 2015 Founded: 51–150 Company size: Cloud9 Solutions is one of the most rapidly developing embedded software outsourcing providers for automotive companies in Asia. They specialize in providing optimal, cost wise, and robust solutions. Cloud9 Solutions focuses on maps and navigation, embedded systems, and mobile application development. Cloud9 Solutions provides custom software development solutions, primarily relying on C programming, RTOS, event-driven systems, MISRA-C rules, and AUTOSAR specifications and modeling (UML). Services: M&C Holdings, MBase, Arksquare Key clients: The Internet of Things is already an essential part of the automotive industry. Embedded software and IoT solutions bring to life smart path planning, advanced fleet management projects, and unprecedented on-road security initiatives. Partnering with a nearshore or offshore outsourcing company with a great embedded system software development portfolio is the first step to make your business a game changer in one of the most rapidly developing markets.

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A seven step playbook to maximize your chance at fundraising success. Fundraising is hard. Any founder who’s been through it before understands this inherently. And it’s probably a good thing that it’s so hard. Fundraising serves to toughen up entrepreneurs and subject them to the cold hard realities of the ‘market’, and at the same time, if done properly, fundraising can also be an incredible learning experience that helps founders and their companies focus on the most important things - by simply going through the process, and also by anticipating the process in advance and reverse-engineering what the company needs to achieve to be successful with an upcoming raise. Ultimately, fundraising success requires: fundraising execution + a compelling story/vision + evidence of traction + sheer determination + good fortune (luck) This article focuses on the first of these five variables: fundraising execution. Below I lay out a 7 step framework to guide you through your fundraising process, and share some lessons learned having now successfully raised money for three separate ventures (and made plenty of mistakes along the way). If you’re looking for help crafting a compelling story, generating business traction, mustering up sheer determination, or being plain ol’ lucky, you’ll need to look elsewhere for advice (perhaps in a future Medium post). My current venture, , is solving the pain of wedding planning by building the first transactional marketplace for the $53 billion wedding industry; we help engaged couples discover and book wedding vendors for their big day. In October 2016, we closed on a $7 million Series A Round led by , and Jason Mendelson joined our board. Of my ranked list of 86 target VCs, Jason and Foundry Group were #1, due to their founder-friendly, emotionally mature bearing, their track record and strong reputation in the industry, and their expertise with growing successful marketplaces. I had also read several of their books, the main one being , co-written by Jason and Brad Feld (if you haven’t read it already, go out and buy it right now) — their honest, transparent approach to investing really spoke to me. We’re beyond thrilled to be working with Jason and the Foundry crew. They are simply awesome. Here’s the complete playbook we used to make it happen. Borrowed & Blue Foundry Group Venture Deals — Be Smarter than your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist Step 1 — Create Your Target Investor List I started our Series A fundraising process by sequestering myself for two weeks in Boulder so I could focus exclusively on the task at hand. This proved to be incredibly valuable, and I would encourage everyone to do it. This follows an important tenet of fundraising — either be fundraising or don’t be fundraising. It’s pretty much an all or nothing proposition. The first thing I did was to think about and then spell out what we were looking for in an investor. Then I compiled a ranked list of VCs that met those criteria. Being the Type A person that I am, I decided to create a Keynote deck to document the entire process. I believe there’s a direct correlation between an investor’s ability to add value to your business, and their likelihood of investing. So as the entrepreneur, all you need to do is figure out who can be most helpful to your venture. First step: clarify your requirements. In this first step, I defined the consideration set of potential investors based on their typical investment stage, domain expertise, relevant portfolio, physical location, and amount of dry powder (how many uninvested dollars they still have in their most recent fund). Then I ran a search on Pitchbook based on my criteria and ended up with 83 potential investors. If you don’t have a subscription to Pitchbook, ask your law firm if they can run a report for you — they can usually do one-offs. Seed investors are not going to invest in your Series A rounds. Similarly, it will be an uphill battle getting a Silicon Valley investor to pull the trigger on your Miami-based startup. Why? From a practical perspective, your VC is going to take at least one board seat, so they will need to travel to you four times a year. Most investors prefer to invest closer to home so they don’t have to travel as much (although this is changing somewhat and investors are showing themselves increasingly willing to travel). Also, a healthcare VC is not going to invest in your B2B SaaS startup. So basically, do your homework. Fundraising is hard enough without wasting your time on folks that have 0% probability of taking your meeting. The geography of your target investor list will drive your future travel schedule. Once you’ve identified the list of firms that fit into your required parameters, it’s time to go a level deeper, and really understand which partners at each firm focus on your area. Ultimately, you’re not looking for a firm, you’re looking for a partner — the specific person within the firm that is going to be your evangelist, your board member, and offer you the best guidance on your journey. This is a step inexperienced entrepreneurs often skip, and it can kill their fundraising process. Most of this information is all right there on the VC’s web site — which partners focus on which specialties, and which portfolio investments they are responsible for within the firm. What you’re looking for at this stage is the partner at each firm — that is the individual you want to reach. most relevant Create a slide for each firm, focusing on the most relevant partner for your business. Believe it or not, I filled out a slide like the one above for all 83 investors on our target list. Yes, it took a lot of work; but that work provided me with a strong understanding of the investor landscape, and the confidence to tackle the mission at hand. Investors generally have all the power in the fundraising process - “he who has the gold makes the rules.” The only way to upend this lopsided dynamic is to create a competitive process, and the only way to do that is by doing your homework. Plus, it’s fun to rank VCs based on how excited you would be to work with them. Step 2 — Hone Your Pitch Putting together a great pitch deck and knowing how to deliver it is critical to getting the most out of your investor meetings. This is something every entrepreneur struggles with — how do you tell your entire story in ten slides? What happens when you’re pitching and the VC starts asking you questions 30 seconds in…and you have answers to those questions later on in your deck? What’s the most important thing to convey in your limited time with a potential investor? Are there any ‘tells’ that let you know what a VC is thinking about your deal? How hard should you work the close? I don’t think there are any right answers to the above questions. You need to be true to yourself, and be authentic with your pitch. The best advice I’ve heard on pitching is this — the greatest predictor of pitching success is to believe in your product and your business. Yup. Actually believe that you’re going to put a dent in the universe — I know I do. Everything else is just details. Well, mostly. There are a few more points worth discussing regarding your pitch: genuinely — To get a VC to invest in your business, you need to demonstrate the potential of creating a billion dollar business. That’s just the way the economics of VC investing work. So be sure to tell that growth story. Market — Unless you’re Elon Musk, you generally need to have a story around the traction you’re generating, or at a minimum, the significant derisking you’ve already done on your business. Traction — Investors want to know you have a plan for what to do once you close the round, and that you’re focused on the most important things. A great way to kill a deal is not knowing what those things are. Focus What’s your traction story? What’s the most compelling way to tell your traction story? That’s it. We could talk about Product/Market Fit, we could talk about Team, we could talk about your Unfair Competitive Advantage, etc. But if you don’t have a business with a ton of upside, you don’t have a traction story, and you’re not focused, it’s going to be a seriously uphill grind no matter what. There are lots of opinions on what a great pitch deck looks like. Here is one of my favorite decks for example: the . But I think the best way to get to a great fundraising deck is to seek out those people that you trust, get their feedback, and iterate on your slides. At the end of the day, it has to feel authentic to you. One of the people that gave me feedback on our deck was Jason himself in our first meeting. So you can bet I took that feedback to heart and improved upon it for our second meeting. He told me later that my ability to receive and process that feedback was a big reason he decided to take the plunge with us, and I’m so grateful he did. eShares Series A deck Step 3— Get Warm Introductions OK, so now you have a list of all your investor targets ranked based on how excited you would be to work with them (and thus how well you think they can help your business), and you have a killer deck that tells your story in a concise, compelling manner. Next it’s time to get connected to the right partners at each firm. A few points worth making on the strategy of introductions: —While every VC firm is different, generally partners make all the investment decisions. So if you’re meeting with an associate or even a principle at most firms, it’s going to be a lot harder to advance to the next stage directly. If at all possible, I try to get meetings with partners. I’m simply trying to go straight to the decision-maker. Sometimes that’s not possible, so certainly take the principle/associate meeting if that is the only thing on offer. And there is a caveat here — some firms have amazing associates or principles that garner a ton of respect within the firm, but it’s really hard to know who these folks might be in advance. Bottom line: I would think twice before flying across the country for a meeting with an associate. Make it a phone call instead. Partner meetings are the goal — Generally speaking, you’re going to get better at pitching the more you do it. So one of the benefits of ranking your VC target list is to know which folks are on the bottom half of the list. Start with them. Get some warmup pitches in, and pay close attention to body language and their questions. Bake answers to the most common questions into the next iteration of your pitch (yes, you’re still going to be honing your deck as you start having meetings). Don’t go after your top targets first — Every single VC I reached out to was through a warm introduction from a mutual connection. I didn’t send a single cold email. Don’t waste your time — it’s not going to get you in the door. VCs get copious amounts of email. They simply trash ‘spam’ emails from folks they don’t know. Never cold email a VC, it simply doesn’t work — Once you’ve been introduced by someone, follow up with a great intro email. Short and sweet. Explain why you’re reaching out that investor. Reference the work you did in Step 1 — list why you think they are a great fit. Provide a highly condensed pitch in the body of the email. Bullet points are good. Potentially provide a Dropbox link to your deck (not an attachment). Potentially don’t do this too (I generally like holding off on sharing a deck until the VC expresses interest or asks for it. If I get a meeting, I’ll send the deck 24 hours in advance to the VC and their EA). Craft a great intro email specific — The jackpot intro is a sucessful entrepreneur that the VC has already invested in (and ideally made a bunch of money with). But good intros can also come from other investors, respected academics, business executives, trusted friends, etc. You really need to get strategic and understand that we’re playing chess here, not checkers. Dig in. Linkedin is your best friend at this stage of the process. The best intros are from fellow successful entrepreneurs Another somewhat obvious win here is that as you’re going through the fundraising process, actively use LinkedIn to build your network — connect with everyone you speak with, as you may want to circle back with them later and/or leverage their network (for the next round or otherwise). Build relationships — you’re an entrepreneur; these are your people. Step 4— Have (Great) Meetings Once you’re in the room, have a great meeting! Here are some tips regarding the meetings themselves: — Get to each meeting 10 minutes early so you can wrestle with the various audio/video setup in the conference room. Sometimes it works perfectly, and sometimes it don’t! Make sure you travel with whatever special dongles you need for your sweet MacBook’s USB-C port. Be respectful of the VC’s time; keep small talk to 1–2 minutes, and then dive right in. Know how much time you have in advance. Typically, you’re allotted 25 minutes. If the meeting goes longer, you’re probably doing well. If you’re above 90 minutes, you’re doing well. For your most important meetings with high value investors, make sure you leave yourself plenty of time for the meeting to go long. The last thing you want to do is have to sprint out the door to your next meeting when you’re having a great meeting with a high value investor. Meeting Management really — It can be difficult managing your travel schedule and trying to line up meetings in different cities efficiently. What I did was block off my schedule a few weeks in advance, planning on being in SF for these three days, and in Boston on this day, and NY on this day, etc. Once I had blocked my time, it was easier to say, “I’m going to be in SF next Thursday and would really like to meet with you.” I also did some great work on airplanes — get the wifi and zone in on your fundraising process. Get a decent seat so you can get shit done. Time Blocking — I leveraged virtual assistant service during my fundraising process to help me book all my travel, and it was a godsend. Assuming you don’t already have an EA, there are other good services out there as well; the bottom line is, take the load off of yourself regarding travel booking — your time is much better spent being laser-focused on pitching, emailing, etc. Get a Virtual Assistant Magic’s Step 5— Keep Stakeholders Informed During my fundraising process, I sent out an email each week to our key stakeholders, which included both my existing investors, and the folks that were instrumental in helping me through the process because of their experience, their networks, and their emotional support (BTW thank you Nick, Tobias, Keith, John, Diane, Noah, Brendan, Sam, Mark, Joel, Trip, Josh, Andrew, Stew, Matthew, and Christin). These weekly email updates kept me focused, and enabled me to communicate exactly where we were in the process so that these stakeholders could help. I sent out an email each Friday that included: Highlights from the week Meetings held that week Meetings scheduled for the following week Pending meetings (VC has agreed to meet, but not locked in yet) Firms we’re moving forward with (due diligence, etc.) Firms we’re waiting on for next steps or a pass Total stats to date (total meetings held, total firms met, firms having two or more meetings) Link to my spreadsheet detailing all meeting notes I am so happy I did this — because first of all, I have a written record of the entire process start to finish, and secondly, fundraising can be one of the loneliest journeys an entrepreneur can take — so it’s nice to be able to share the ups and downs of the process and stay connected to your team of supporters — for me, they were people I cared deeply about. Oh, and if you’re curious: 42 Meetings, 25 Firms, 10 Weeks from start to term sheet. Step 6— Manage The Process So, a word about process management. I designed a Google Spreadsheet to manage the process, but you can use whatever works for you — a CRM, a Word doc, whatever. The bottom line is that you need to stay incredibly organized throughout this process — you’re going to need to be staying on top of a ton of relationships and you don’t want anything to slip through the cracks. Being proactive here is key. I created a Google Spreadsheet but use whatever works best for you to stay organized. I personally created a flow that I felt encapsulated a successful process with one firm from start to finish, and tracked where I was in that process with each firm. Keep track of each relationship once you volley over your introductory email after your ‘connector’ has introduced you — and take copious notes throughout. It can be challenging managing all these various flows simultaneously, so another strategy that I employed was only initiating 5 introductions per week — that enabled me to have a managable number of touch points each week. Remember — fundraising is ALL you’re going to be doing while you’re doing it — don’t try to juggle operational responsibilities simultaneously if at all possible. Step 7— Close the Deal Ultimately, the goal of this entire process is to get to a term sheet with the best possible investor (and then close on that term sheet, but generally speaking, if you get a term sheet, you’re going to close). I learned going through this process that you can generally tell right after the first meeting if you’re moving forward or if you’re not. Simply say at the end of the meeting, “So, what do you think?” and pay very close attention to the VC’s reaction. If they are planning on passing, the first thing that comes out of their mouth, after, “It’s interesting…” will be some sort of objection. For example, “It’s interesting… but I wonder if it may be too early / too late for us,” or “It’s interesting…but I’m wondering if this might be competitive with bla bla bla,” or whatever. If the investor is interested, then they’ll answer that question with something positive, generally not caveated at all, about moving forward or next steps or who you need to meet with next. I found over time that I could predict with almost 100% accuracy where that investor really stood by asking that simple question at the end of our meeting. The reason this is particularly important to suss out is that a lot of VCs have in their minds that it’s better to simply go radio silent than give you a ‘no’ — and you want to be spending your time with folks that could ultimately say yes. I disagree with this practice — I always prefer a thoughtful no than radio silence. I guess sometimes entrepreneurs get all uppity when they hear a no, so some VCs have decided silence is best. Personally, I wish more VCs would simply be straight up and take 5 minutes to write an email as to where they stand, and provide any constructive feedback they have. I remember which VCs did that for me, and I appreciate them for doing it. Ultimately, if you do your homework, create a compelling pitch, and run the process as I’ve mentioned above, you’ll put yourself in the best possible position to succeed. Then, it’s really up to the market to tell you what it thinks of the potential of your venture — at least you’ll have done everything possible to get the answer you’re seeking. I sincerely hope you found this post helpful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments — now go out there and make it happen, and good luck!

PARTNERS GROUP HOLDING AG

partnersgroup.com

1K-5K employees

Since 1996

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PARTNERS GROUP HOLDING AG

partnersgroup.com

1K-5K employees

Since 1996

COMPANY RANKING

PARTNERS GROUP HOLDING AG

EVERGREEN INDEX #7857

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