Podcast

For every dollar that is invested in semiconductors, around $3 of economic activity is thought to be generated downstream – and in this case, downstream means absolutely anything technology-related. Just about piece of tech equipment you can buy today will rely in some way on a semi-conductor.

Latin America has always been fertile ground for fintech innovation and growth. Combining a young, tech-savvy population and a relative under-penetration of financial services you may see in other developed markets, there is plenty of opportunity for startups to feast on.

Nightlife has changed in recent years. It’s not just the macro-effects of the pandemic – with higher costs of living and young people having less disposable income – but their preferences are also evolving.

We’ve got a bit of a different episode again this week – Fernando sits down with GCV’s editor-in-chief Maija Palmer, who asks him some questions about a recent report he wrote for GCV’s Global Energy Council on the topic of getting first-of-a-kind cleantech technologies and projects of the ground.

At the beginning of the year, I spoke to Bill Taranto, president of the MSD Global Health Innovation Fund about what he expected over the course of the year in the healthcare space. He had predicted that M&As would make a moderate comeback and more liquidity would be coming into the market from private equity firms, and that we would see a wave of consolidations taking shape as smaller “point solutions” get integrated into larger platforms.

The past year has not been the most active for the Brazilian CVC market. High interest rates, lack of sufficient liquidity, and decreased dealflow, among other things, have all slowed it down relative to past years. But that is not true across the board. Some funds, like, L4 Venture Builder – the single-LP fund backed by Brazil’s main stock exchange, B3 – have been investing a lot since it officially launched early in 2023.

To fix things in the human body, you have to see them. This is what Olympus does. The legendary Japanese camera-maker, which in recent years divested its camera business and went full-tilt into medical devices, retains its core strength of optics and doubling down in its application to medicine.

With Lotte Group’s expansion into biotech, it wanted its CVC, Lotte Ventures, to set up a new office in the world’s largest biotech innovation ecosystem, the US, with a new – 3-person team in the Bay Area. But going into a new market is never a walk in the park.

The group of smaller and medium-sized investors has been growing, and their value has never been clearer to founders and co-investors. They tend not to seek M&As, neutralising a concern that some startups have about having corporates on their cap table, while still bringing the advantage of corporate connections. They often place an even heavier emphasis on the health of the investment syndicate, as they may be in a worse position than larger funds if things fall through, and they often opt, for example, for observer seats over board seats. All in all, they are team players who can still open very important doors.

If you have a pet, you will no doubt have come across one of Mars Petcare’s brands – Pedigree, Whiskas, Iams, Royal Canin, and many others – it is the biggest company in a global petcare market which, depending on what figures you look at, stood at around $250bn last year and is en-route to nearly half a trillion over the next decade.