Insights
Venture Capital
From the real-world impact of AI and the rise of operator-investors, to the growing influence of women and underestimated founders in the funding landscape. Sarah breaks down what’s happening beyond Silicon Valley, explore how capital and media now move together, and spotlight the billion-dollar ideas driving the next wave of innovation.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Startups, Venture Capital
Leveraging Community to Invest in the Future with Jenny Fielding, Everywhere Ventures
Founder turned Funder, from Head of Digital Ventures of the BBC to Managing Director of Techstars, to now Managing Partner of Everywhere Ventures with 250 portfolio companies and counting, Jenny Fielding is the ultimate community builder and investor. Together with Scott Hartley, Jenny is today pursuing a global strategy, as U.S. venture capitalists have taken a step back from deals abroad; launching a new $25M fund, to be the first-check in for startups building in the future of money, health and work.
What does investing as a community mean, what do we think about the upset we’re hearing about Y Combinator’s new terms, how do you manage 500 Limited Partner investors in your fund and what is Jenny’s deepest insecurity? We cover it all and more.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Venture Capital
Are You a Business Leader in Denial? Gray Rhino with Michele Wucker
Silicon Valley Bank; what was said to be the epicenter of Silicon Valley tech and small businesses collapsed on March 10th after a run on the deposits doomed the banks plans to raise fresh capital.
At first, there was major concern that this crash will take the VC and startup ecosystem with it, but the gov swooped in and provided a backstop, and scraps of SVB was purchased by First Citizens Bank.
Catastrophe averted? Not quite.
Today’s episode is by no means a full breakdown of what happened, but answers this one question:
“Was this truly a Black Swan event as Nassim Taleb explains it or really, a Gray Rhino, as Best-Selling Author, my friend Michele Wucker writes?
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Venture Capital
Inside a Billionaire’s Mind: Nirvana Chaudhary
The eldest Asian son in a family empire, Nirvana was early to make his mark, founding his first independent company at the age of 19; and has continued to grow the businesses from strength to strength; being featured on Forbes to Tatler’s most influential.
But what does it really mean to lead as the face of the next generation? How messy does family business get? And with friends like Bill Gates to Ariana Huffington, how has that informed what next for him? We cover it all in this episode.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Startups, Venture Capital
From Lab to Table: The Startup Founder Revolutionizing the Seafood Industry | Sandhya Sriram, Shiok Meats
What does it take to sell and execute on what feels like an impossible vision?
This, is the task of a stem-cell scientist turned founder who is tapping into the multi-billion opportunity to create lab-grown crustacean meat.
Under Dr. Sandhya Sriram's leadership, Shiok Meats today is the world’s first cultivated shellfish meat company, and Southeast Asia’s first cultivated seafood and meat company. The startup’s mission is to bring delicious, sustainable, and healthy seafood to your table, using the cellular agriculture technology to grow meat from stem cells instead of slaughtering animals.Since its inception in 2018, they have grown from 2 to over 50 employees today, made a strategic acquisition themselves, raised over USD 30 Million dollars from big names from Y Combinator to Korean Conglomerate CJ’s Food Arm.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Startups, Venture Capital
Riding the Venture Downcycle: Investing in Southeast Asia with Dmitry Levit, Cento Ventures
This week we are up for a treat as we take a turn to Southeast Asia—we bust some myths about Southeast Asia's VC activity and the narratives driving the expansion seen in the region. The key question: will the momentum survive this downcycle?
You’re tuning into a two-part episode with venture capitalist Dmitry Levit, Russian-born Israeli citizen who is now deemed an expert of investing in SEA having spent more than a decade building his firm Cento Ventures. They typically invest in Series A and lead the round. Notable investments include 2C2P, Pomelo, iPrice and Kaidee, formerly led by Tiwa York who we also had on the show.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Startups, Venture Capital
The Cost of Influence & Billion Dollar Ambitions with Vivy Yusof, Fashion Valet Group
FashionValet.com, an online marketplace that once stocked over 400 brands across Southeast Asia, became a major regional player in the fashion industry but, by 2022, she had wound the venture down, shifting her focus to her own in-house modest fashion brands, dUCK and Lilit. The silver lining? By 2022, Yusof had built a network of 14 physical stores across Malaysia and Singapore and sold more than 3 million scarves from just one of her brands. Today, we unpack Vivy’s journey, the cost of building a brand around herself, her regret on not acting on her gut and her BILLION DOLLAR AMBITIONS for her next decade in the modest fashion industry.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Startups, Venture Capital
Building World-Class Brands & Rising with Authenticity with Eric Toda
Exiled from the only place she knew to be home, Iranian singer, Gola (Golazin) shares her story on how her first hand experiences of life under the oppressive Iranian Regime shaped her as a fearless, international women’s rights advocate. Fighting everyday to have her voice heard since female solo singers are not allowed to release songs or perform publicly in Iran, Gola shows us what pushing boundaries and true bravery means; and how at the edge of your deepest fear could lay your greatest potential.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Startups, Venture Capital
Scaling Yourself As CEO with Kim Yao
Exiled from the only place she knew to be home, Iranian singer, Gola (Golazin) shares her story on how her first hand experiences of life under the oppressive Iranian Regime shaped her as a fearless, international women’s rights advocate. Fighting everyday to have her voice heard since female solo singers are not allowed to release songs or perform publicly in Iran, Gola shows us what pushing boundaries and true bravery means; and how at the edge of your deepest fear could lay your greatest potential.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Startups, Venture Capital
Reinventing Your Career At Every Age, Leveraging Diversity
Exiled from the only place she knew to be home, Iranian singer, Gola (Golazin) shares her story on how her first hand experiences of life under the oppressive Iranian Regime shaped her as a fearless, international women’s rights advocate. Fighting everyday to have her voice heard since female solo singers are not allowed to release songs or perform publicly in Iran, Gola shows us what pushing boundaries and true bravery means; and how at the edge of your deepest fear could lay your greatest potential.
- Billion Dollar Moves Episodes, Personal Growth, Startups, Venture Capital
Rising Through Insecurity: Material Scientist turned Unicorn Backer, Lu Zhang
From reluctant CEO, to seeding and scaling the original generation of venture capital funds in Malaysia as a limited partner investor as MAVCAP’s 4th CEO, to Managing Director of $1.2 Billion Pan-Asian VC fund, Jamal Bujang covers it all from how he took different leaps in his career, to how new venture capital funds can actually succeed with trust at the center of partnership, to the potential of Malaysia as the country heads into elections.