LtM ep13 - How Khosla Ventures Invests In Deep Tech, with Kanu Gulati and Rajesh Swaminathan
SOSV Climate Tech PodcastShow Notes
Khosla Ventures (KV) has been an active investor in deep tech for 15 years. In this episode they share ideas on how they select sectors to invest in and prioritize and retire risk, how to best support startups, and what investors need to enter the deep tech field (hint: it's not a PhD).
This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences). To hear about new episodes, sign up to the newsletter or follow us on twitter at @LabToMarket.
OVERVIEW
Kanu Gulati and Rajesh Swaminathan are Investment Partners focused on deep tech at Khosla Ventures. The firm was founded by Vinod Khosla -- co-founder of Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle for US$7.4 billion in 2009) and former General Partner at Kleiner Perkins -- with the goal of ‘Reinventing Social Infrastructure with Technology’, to elevate the entire planet’s quality of life without destroying it.
Over the past 15 years, KV has raised over $5B across 6 funds and invested in about 400 startups including Impossible Foods, Rocket Lab, DoorDash, OpenAI and many more.
They invest mostly at early stage — signing checks ranging from a few hundred $k, up to $50 million — and without shying away from the high technical risk of deep tech.
After an introduction and examples from KV’s portfolio, the conversation goes into:
Why it is crucial to prioritize risks and retire them in the right order.
The 12 different technologies that can move the needle for the climate crisis.
Their approach to detecting startups from centers of excellence.
What sectors KV focuses on, including climate tech, hyperlocal and bio-manufacturing, hardware acceleration for AI, and more.
What investment and operating partners do.
How they support their portfolio in particular with recruiting (white paper). Vinod Khosla even calls himself a ‘glorified recruiter’!
How conviction, immersion, patience and staying power matter more than a PhD to start investing in deep tech.
How more engagement between financial and corporate VCs, building more forums and reducing inefficiencies in the deep tech ecosystem could help.
PREVIOUS EPISODES
Phil Morle (Main Sequence Ventures) on Australia's Deep Tech Ambitions
Habib Haddad and Calvin Chin (E14 Fund of MIT Media Lab) on Funding Science Fiction That Works
Robert Gallenberger (btov Partners) on How to Select Industrial Partners
Xavier Duportet (Eligo Bioscience & Hello Tomorrow) on Science Entrepreneurship
Deep Tech Startups vs. Covid-19, with IndieBio, Khosla Ventures and 50 Years
Eric Rosenblum (Tsingyuan Ventures) on Chinese Founders in the US
Overview of Deep Tech Investment, Based on the Report by Different
Sota Nagano (Abies Ventures) on Japan’s Deep Tech Scene
Seth Bannon (Fifty Years) on Solving Global Problems
Kelly Chen (DCVC) on Investing in Old School Industries
Manish Singhal (pi Ventures) on India’s Deep Tech Scene
John Ho (Anzu Partners) on Breakthrough Industrial Tech
Matt Clifford (EF / Entrepreneur First) on Investing in Talent and Pre-Product
RESOURCES ON DEEP TECH
DeepTech Investing Report by Different
The Dawn of the Deep Tech Ecosystem by Hello Tomorrow and BCG
Deep Tech Investors Mapping by Hello Tomorrow
Deep Tech Trends Report, Hardware Trends Reports and Hardware Investment Outlook by SOSV
SUBSCRIBE
Podcast: Apple Podcast, Spotify, other platforms
Twitter: @LabToMarket
Lab to Market Newsletter
More from SOSV Climate Tech Podcast
In this discussion from SOSV's 2024 EarthDay+ sessions (Apr 22-26, 2024), Bret Kugelmass, the CEO and co-founder of the nuclear fission startup Last Energy, which focuses on developing small nuclear reactors, talks about: The potential of nuclear power to provide abundant, inexpensive energy with minimal environmental impact.
In this panel discussion from SOSV's 2024 EarthDay+ sessions (Apr 22-26, 2024) moderated by Dr. Pae Wu of IndieBio and SOSV, corporate venture capitalists Brandon Middaugh from Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, Taehong Huh from GS Futures, and Aditya Sharma from Honda Innovations discussed their strategies for investing in climate tech startups. They emphasize the importance of early engagement with startups, strategic alignment with corporate goals, and the necessity for startups to understand their market and competition.
In this panel discussion from SOSV's 2024 EarthDay+ sessions (Apr 22-26, 2024) focused on measuring and attributing climate impact and moderated by Hampus Jakobsson of Pale Blue Dot, investors from various climate tech-focused funds discussed the importance of impact measurement in startups and investment decisions. The challenges and methodologies of impact assessment.
In this panel discussion from SOSV's 2024 EarthDay+ sessions (Apr 22-26, 2024) moderated by Tim De Chant, Senior Climate Reporter at TechCrunch, panelists Christina Karapataki from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Shuo Yang from Lowercarbon Capital, and Duncan Turner from HAX and SOSV discussed the current state and future of climate tech venture capital. The challenges and opportunities in the sector, noting a decrease in deal counts but robust fundraising, with venture capital and private equity firms holding significant "dry powder."
In this discussion from SOSV's 2024 EarthDay+ sessions (Apr 22-26, 2024), Andrew Ponec, Co-founder and CEO of Antora Energy, discusses with Casey Crownhart, Climate Reporter at MIT Technology Review, the challenges and innovations in industrial heating. Antora Energy is electrifying heavy industry with thermal energy storage and raised over 200 million dollars in funding.