ICYMI: Collab Capital's Latest Investments

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0:30Jewel Burks Solomon:When you're running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, risk can affect multiple parts of the organization at once, from property and liability to cyber and regulatory challenges. At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. And when losses do happen, that work is paired with insurance coverage shaped by years of underwriting, risk engineering, and claims experience. Learn more at thehartford.com slash risk mitigation.

1:05Jewel Burks Solomon:Policies provided by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates, Hartford, Connecticut. Wise is the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the globe. When you send money abroad using your bank, you could get hit with hidden fees and exchange rate markups. There's a better way. Try Wise. Wise uses the exchange rate you'd usually find on Google with no unwelcome surprises. Plus, most transfers happen in under 20 seconds, which means your money arrives in less time than you've been listening to me. It's simple and free to sign up when you download the WISE app.

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2:18You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio.

2:48I'm doing great. How are you? We're doing well. Earlier in our program, we spoke to a partner at Andreessen Horowitz who focused on fintech. So his purview is very focused on just one part of what he sees as a promising tech ecosystem and a promising future. Where would you say, in terms of types of technologies, Collab Capital focuses on? So we really focus on what we call the building blocks of shared prosperity. And that looks across financial technology. So we think about economic mobility from the standpoint of how can we get more people into high paying jobs using technology? How can we provide the right access to capital using technology?

3:34We look at the health care industry and where there have historically been gaps in access to care and how technology can close those gaps. infrastructure. And we think about all the things that people need to thrive in communities, things like access to transportation, climate-related technologies, energy-related technologies, all those things that in this AI world that we're living in right now are increasingly important. Those are the places where we really look to invest. How is the investing landscape right now in the context of the fact that, I mean, you mentioned AI. It seems like there's so many startups out there that are claiming to have some innovation in artificial intelligence.

4:19Are you finding that like you're in an environment right now where you have to sift through a lot of noise to find a good investment? Or are you finding that, you know, there's there's too many companies that are promising to you? Well, there are a ton of promising companies. We definitely don't have any problems when it comes to pipeline of companies that we could potentially invest in. But you're right. There are a ton of companies that are just slapping.ai on technology that maybe isn't truly deep AI, and maybe they don't necessarily have a data moat or something that makes them special. So that's our work as investors to really make sure that the companies do have some type of technology lead or moat that can be defensible, that they are approaching a problem in a really unique way, that they're actually solving a problem that at some point down the line from our investment will become profitable.

5:13Those are all things that we're considering as we make investments. Talk to us about the environment of raising money from LPs right now, going out and raising the money to invest in these startups that you find. Yeah, this is a tough time for managing partners of particularly new funds to raise capital. I think the stat is something like, you know, 80 percent of capital that was deployed over the last year went into nine funds. So those large funds like the A16Z that you spoke with earlier today, they're kind of consolidating a lot of the LP capital. And so it's increasingly challenging for emerging managers like myself to raise capital from LPs.

5:57But the good news is we were successful in closing our second fund a few months ago. I know I have a lot of friends who are also out in market right now and finding success from LPs who really are still looking for these unique strategies and managers that are in places maybe outside of your typical Silicon Valley and Boston and New York hubs. Collab Capital is a venture firm investing at the intersection of innovation and inclusion. Do you get do you think just talk to us about like how that pitch works, the inclusion pitch? I guess how is inclusion related to investment returns? Yeah, inclusion still matters.

6:44We, you know, pitch that we make to our LPs is that we believe we can find alpha in places where other people aren't looking. And most importantly, we believe that folks who are in the margins, if you will, they oftentimes have the best solutions to our most entrenched problems. So the founders that we're finding, they oftentimes have the lived experience that leads them to the right solution. And they really just need the resources and backing and support to be able to build really scalable and successful companies. And that's what we're all about is not just the capital that we're providing, but also the wraparound services, the fact that we've been entrepreneurs before.

7:23We've done it so we can really offer them our firsthand experience and also connections to the right people that they need to really scale their businesses as well. I know there's probably way too many to pick just one, but tell us about one interesting company that you guys are investing in right now that our readers would want to know about or our listeners. You're in a different medium today, Emily. I'm a print reporter. It's okay. We'll send you back there tomorrow, sadly. Yeah, sure. I'll tell you about an investment we're super excited about. We were just closing a company called May, which is in the maternal health space.

8:04They built a network of doulas around the country and are providing really important, critical care to mothers who need that extra support as they're going into the prenatal and postnatal care. So that's one that we're really excited about because, unfortunately, in this country, the health outcomes for mothers are really not as good as we would hope for them to be. And so May has really built this support network of doulas to address that problem. Just in our last minute, can you tell us about the seaweed company for building materials source that you recently invested in? Yes, that's a really exciting one as well.

8:45So they have done some incredible work using seaweed to create this nanocellulose material to ensure that All of the great things that we're building, all of these new and innovative products that are coming out to market have the right materials that are cheaper, more efficient and safer for the environment. And so this is our kind of first foray into the material science world. But we're really excited to support Source, which is a company based in Florida. Jewel, always good to check in with you. Thank you so much for joining us. Jewel Burke Solomon, co-founder and managing partner at Collab Capital, joining us this afternoon from Martha's Vineyard.

9:29Seaweed as a building material. This is cool. I know. I think about seaweed as something that it's like an emerging health snack. I was thinking about it as like, yeah, it's a delicious. I like it when they have them here. Yeah, yeah. The seaweed crisps. The seaweed snacks. Yeah. Just a little inside baseball. I think that's a permanent part of the permanent snack collection in the San Francisco Bureau. Oh. Yeah. Really? Yeah, you know, when I go to different bureaus around the country, around the world, I just go to write to the snacks. Got to get a good idea of the regional varieties. Yes, yes.

10:00I'm trying to remember the SF Bureau. Yeah, they had a lot of like sweet, sweet treats. Yeah, they did. Packaged sweet treats. A great view from that bureau as well.

10:14Jewel Burks Solomon:When you're running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, risk can affect multiple parts of the organization at once, from property and liability to cyber and regulatory challenges. At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. And when losses do happen, that work is paired with insurance coverage shaped by years of underwriting, risk engineering, and claims experience. Learn more at thehartford.com slash risk mitigation.

10:49Jewel Burks Solomon:Policies provided by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates, Hartford, Connecticut. Wise is the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the globe. When you send money abroad using your bank, you could get hit with hidden fees and exchange rate markups. There's a better way. Try Wise. Wise uses the exchange rate you'd usually find on Google with no unwelcome surprises. Plus, most transfers happen in under 20 seconds, which means your money arrives in less time than you've been listening to me. It's simple and free to sign up when you download the WISE app.

11:20Be smart. Get wise. T's and C's apply. As industries evolve faster than ever, companies need an environment that accelerates strategic growth. And Michigan delivers on that promise. From emerging startups to global enterprises, Michigan offers what executives value most, a resilient, innovative ecosystem. Diverse communities that attract top talent and a quality of life that supports work-life balance. With our unified Team Michigan approach, businesses scale faster and compete at the highest level. Michigan, pure opportunity. Seize your opportunity at michiganbusiness.org. Healthcare doesn't always work great.

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