Dawn Capital’s Post

Thank you Matterwave Ventures and Senovo - delighted to share Founders Night with you and such a great crowd in Munich!

"Although most had never heard of it before last week, it’s now obvious to everyone that CrowdStrike’s software is deeply woven into the fabric of our society. One botched update disrupted healthcare, grounded flights, and stalled businesses worldwide — despite affecting less than 1% of all Windows devices. But in these so-called ‘unprecedented’ times, it’s comforting to know that when it comes to security and safety — cyber or otherwise — most challenges are, in fact, precedented. In fact, throughout history, safety mechanisms have always revealed a fundamental flaw, which is then remedied with the right technology and philosophical approach." Take a trip with Henry Mason as he looks at preparing for 'unprecedented' events.

“...The CEO logs in as usual, and gathers daily updates from the team. The Chief Technology Officer is suggesting a new feature to ship. The Chief Product Officer wants to redesign the ERP integration. The Chief Revenue Officer is showing off the new pipeline. The CCO is discussing the latest customer health and product feedback. The CISO has found a new privacy conflict, which they are addressing with a newly-revised infrastructure set-up. This sounds like every software business you’ve ever heard of. But the difference is that the CEO’s teammates are entirely AI, not human.” 💡 Our latest deep dive looks at the potential of AI agents and its impact on software development and beyond. Our investors Shamillah, Nils and Zoe interviewed leaders at five of the most exciting companies in the space: Ben Peters at Cogna, Anton Osika at Lovable, Dimitri Masin at Gradient Labs, Hasan Sukkar from 11x.ai, and Iván Martínez Toro at Zylon by PrivateGPT. Thanks also to Owen, our former colleague and Meryem Arik CEO of TitanML for their input to the article. 🔗 Read it here: https://lnkd.in/ey3AfG5E

🎧 Part 2 of IMD’s podcast series, Capital Conversations is now live: Specialisation in Action: Inside a Specialist VC's Playbook for Success. 💡 In this episode, Evgenia shares Dawn’s strategy for becoming Europe's leading specialist B2B software investor. She discusses the role of diversity in building a strong team, the advantages of a specialised investment approach, insights into our investments in companies like Dataiku and FLOWX.AI - and much more!  🔗 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/eDChbxjK

🎙️ Yesterday, we hosted Boardwave and its community of female founders and investors at the Dawn office for a breakfast discussion on investment journeys. A huge thank you to our panellists: our very own, Shamillah Bankiya; Andrea McKinnon of Crowdcube, Ayesha Ofori of Propelle, Saasha Celestial-One of Olio • Share More, Waste Less, Sarah McVittie of Dressipi, Victoria Peppiatt of Savi, and Yee Mun T. of Angel Academe - increasing female investment, for sharing tips on funding, pitch decks, angel investing and attracting VC attention. Special thanks to Dawn Marriott of Hg and Hephzi Pemberton of Honordex for moderating the panels. The event ended with a matchmaking service to connect members with those who can provide help with their current business challenges. Stay tuned for the next event at Dawn! 👀👋

If successful, the Federal Trade Commission's action to ban non-compete agreements across the US means teams will have to work out new, tailored approaches. That’s why Chloe, our Portfolio & Talent Associate, hosted a DawnTalks session alongside Ann Bevitt and Ryan Vann, Partners at global law firm Cooley LLP, to share their insights on the future of non-competes with our portfolio companies. Key tips from the session included: 💡 Founders and legal teams should stay informed and prepare for potential restrictions or bans on non-compete agreements by implementing positive, incentivising approaches 💡 To retain talent in the absence of non-competes, companies could consider implementing different incentives, such as equity stakes, or restrictions like garden leave 💡 Look to add robust confidentiality clauses into offer letters 💡 For now, in the UK and the EU, it can work well to implement shorter non-competes and longer restrictions preventing dealmaking and poaching Stay tuned for the next DawnTalks session. 🎤