E612 | EUVC Live Powered by Woven Capital at The Drop: Nicole LeBlanc, Woven Capital: Why Europe is Toyota’s Testbed for Climate and Deep Tech

0:00When we got acquired by BlackBerry, all the software they've ever bought from us, all the services they've ever done was free. You know, Hampus mentioned BlackBerry. You know, Canada's really good at building things, not necessarily the best at selling things. So there's this really great talent pool. And I really see a lot of similarities to Europe, where there's pockets of these really great engineers and really great talent that can help develop these really great technologies.

0:25Mic check. Oh, welcome to EUVC Live at the Drop. Powered by Woven Capital.

0:41So just want to kind of give a little bit of an outline about Wilbur Capital and why we're very excited about Europe. So these are some of like the core stats that all of you know. I don't need to spend too much time on this. You know, obviously the U.S. market is where the bulk of, you know, a lot of global funds where our deal flow is. But we're really excited about Europe because of the momentum and the focus that European startups have in certain sectors. and we're really starting to see a lot of these deals. I'm sure all of you are seeing it in your portfolios or if you're founders, as you think about fundraising, the deals are getting bigger and bigger.

1:13And so it's really starting to change the dynamics of VC and of startups and really how we're thinking about our fund deployments or how companies are thinking about raising money. And why we're excited about Europe, we see four key areas that are really essential as we think about a global strategy for a global fund. So 15 % of global VC investment is here. That's not immaterial, and it's really something that we think is an important part of the overall mix. The second one is really helping funds diversify outside of just one market, especially with certain geopolitical things that would be happening right now, the ups and downs of being just in one market.

1:54It's really helpful to have that global strategy, and that's one of the reasons that Toyota's thinking about this from a global perspective. The other one is talent. There's a lot of, you know, I really compare the Canadian market. My career started, I was an accountant at a chocolate factory on the east coast of Canada for the first part of my career, and then I've been in VC mainly in the Canadian market. And it's very, very similar. Lots of, like Hampus mentioned, BlackBerry. Canada's really good at building things, not necessarily the best at selling things. So there's this really great talent pool, and I really see a lot of similarity.

2:26to Europe where there's pockets of these really great engineers and really great talent that can help develop these really great technologies. And lastly, global mindset. So if you're a European startup, we have three investments in Europe so far. Every single one of them from day one have been thinking about how do I build this globally because the markets that they're in locally just aren't big enough to really build that scale. So it's really an interesting approach when you're thinking global from the very, very beginning. And from a woven perspective, we're an$800 million fund. You know, as Hampus was talking about, there's all kinds of colors and flavors of CVCs.

3:04So we are an LPGP structure. We only have one LP, which is Toyota. And we really think about how do we leverage, you know, the Toyota machine, but also really, you know, think about it from a financial mindset. You know, if you look at our team, you know, go to the website and see that, None of us come from Toyota. All of us come from finance or engineering backgrounds. And we really bring that approach to how we're investing. And so the first one that we're really excited about Europe, obviously climate is very different here than in some other jurisdictions. It's really part of the DNA. And the regulatory environment gives Toyota a motivation to be able to accelerate some of that.

3:41So when we work with our Toyota business units, the group in Europe is 10 years ahead of everything that we're doing globally. And so we're really seeing Europe as the test bed for these climate solutions where we can use as a jumping off point to really then help our portfolio scale into other geographies. The next one is like these emission standards. So future proofing the business. So it's not only just about hitting our 2030, 40 and 50 goals. It's truly about building these solutions for our portfolio to collaborate with Toyota in the long run as to what is going to really be what's needed to truly future-proof Toyota's business globally.

4:20Research and the tie to a lot of educational institutions. So a lot of you in your portfolio is very likely you spend time at different universities regardless of what country you're in. You're seeing a lot of these opportunities come out of some of these universities or you're seeing your companies collaborate with researchers. and so that's a really embedded element that I feel, you know, it's not necessarily unique to Europe, but I feel it's very strong and we're really starting to see a lot of that in our deal flow and the ties that some of those companies have to the educational institutions.

4:50You know, the net zero goals by 2050, it's really something that is part of the DNA of a lot of the climate tech companies here in Europe and it's something that everybody is really working towards and because of the accelerated timeline, it's something that's become much more tangible and as we're talking to our Toyota colleagues, it's something that has real implications from a profit perspective. So it's something that's really, you know, being part of the DNA of Toyota and how they're thinking about being able to address these and they're really open to us bringing these startups to really help them achieve that.

5:21And lastly, just the partnerships, not just the regulation, but the partnerships that we're able to have between our portfolio companies and Toyota and sometimes competitors. So all of the OEMs coming together to really address a solution that might be related to something that's part of the ecosystem or the infrastructure that if all of us collaborate together, you know, we're able to, you know, achieve our own individual corporate goals. And so all of these things really make Europe exciting for us at Wilbur Capital. Some examples, if you're not very familiar with us, of things we do on the ground.

5:54So Toyota Open Labs is a really interesting project or kind of structure that we have. And it's only in Europe. So it's a very structured way for startups and for Toyota to interact. So if you go to the website, there's six key areas that Toyota is interested in learning from. We feed as many startups into that process as possible. And there's a budget, there's a deal lead, there's a timeline, and everything's very structured. So the startup knows immediately if that's not something that's a fit. And then we have three portfolio companies. I'm actually heading to Bergen, Norway tomorrow to spend some time with Corvus.

6:29But we have three companies and a couple more in the pipeline. And lastly, this is what we're looking for. So automation, mobility, and climate. And Ayano and I will be more than happy to chat to be able to share more information about some of the practical applications that we're thinking about in these spaces. So for us, we're really excited for Europe as a standalone opportunity because we really think in climate tech and deep tech specifically, there's really a great opportunity for Toyota to be able to make investments that we can then scale globally. We've made 19 investments so far. Most of them are in the U.S.

7:06We have three in Asia and three in Europe. Three of mine have been here in Europe or Israel and one in the U.S. I'm actually quite excited about Corvus, which is a zero emission shipping company. So hydrogen is something I really like, but I think we all know it's a challenging environment. So they actually do zero emission shipping and it uses batteries and hydrogen. So they're using our fuel cell as well. So that's a really interesting way to kind of be able to participate in the hydrogen economy because it's part of a bigger company that also has kind of some areas where batteries is the core area of revenue, but hydrogen is emerging.

7:48And so it kind of mitigates it from an investment perspective of thinking about that thesis to be able to not necessarily be exposed purely to just hydrogen. So that one's interesting. We're actually looking at kind of some sprints in a couple of different areas. Circularity and advanced materials are one. And then, you know, kind of to Hampitz's, you know, statements earlier, we're really trying to figure out AI. So one of the interesting things about CBC is we have kind of the core and steady, you know, kind of like ability to leverage Toyota. But then we also have the ability to go after some of these interesting trends in aerospace or AI and things like that so we can really have a nice balanced approach.

8:27Conclude that Hempis is not the only speed talker that we only have to ask one question. Exactly. Nicole, thank you so much. Thank you very much.