🗳️ Monday Poll Results

Every Monday, we gather insights from our community through a LinkedIn poll. Sometimes the poll decides which company to feature in our upcoming Tear-up series, and other times, it's all about market trends and company-related topics.

This week’s Poll: "Emerging from the Downturn: Signs of Resurgence?"

Do you know how I can tell when there's been an economic downturn?

When Google HQ stocks up on that infamous public toilet paper. You know the one where you need to layer 20 times.

Jokes aside, it feels like the Web3 and Startup landscape is making a comeback. There's a surge in deals, seed investments, and a buzz (that’s not just fueled by SXSW hype).

Here’s what the community thought:

🚀Job Opportunities

Ready to dive into the fast-paced world of start-ups?

Join Xailient's mission to contribute to the transformation of computer vision AI for Edge devices:

• 🤝 BD, Lead VP / Location: Global

• 🤝 BD / Location: Taiwan

• 🤝 Marketing / Location: Taiwan

• 🤝 Customer Success / Location: US

 😍 Tear-up series

This week, we're diving deeper into Xailient, our featured company for the tear-up series this month. It’s also the first time we're kicking off our Community DD process, where our members actively participate in unpacking this investment, providing their insights and perspectives. 🚀

We're still looking for two additional contributors to join our community DD process for this tear-up! Find out below what’s involved and express your interest by registering here.

TL;DR

🎯 Type: Edge computing

🎯 Model: PaaS/B2B2C

🎯 The Bet: Anticipating a future where cameras and facial recognition will be incorporated into all hardware devices.

🎯 The Wow: Anchored by an exceptional founder, Xailient boasts one of the most intriguing business models in the field.

Xailient Tear-up Part 2/4 🚀

We're excited to offer our Beehiive subscribers exclusive access to the Hype Reel we've filmed on Xailient. It offers a short overview of the company along with our insights.

Next week, we will be releasing:

• A summary of expert insights, combined with some insights from our Community DD process involving our contributors.

In the meantime, here are some snippets of amazing insights already flowing in from our experts:

“Xailient is carving out its niche in the security camera industry while also addressing various market and regulatory needs. However, it's essential to note that its proprietary computer vision and edge computing technology has applications beyond security, extending into defence, space, and identity management”

“Imagine what happens when you sell 60 million hardware units with a recurring revenue of $1 per unit? You lay the foundation for a robust ARR SaaS business. When you factor in a market forecasted to have a compound annual growth rate of 12%, you get an absolute 🚀”

😍 Acknowledging Our Tear-up Team:

Expert DD

This involves consulting industry experts or investment professionals to gain their valuable insights and opinions on specific investment opportunities. These experts provide a deep and specialised perspective, drawing from their extensive experience and knowledge in the field.

As you know, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed…..and that's why I've built a career creating opportunities for some of the brightest minds to put up with me😉

A massive thank you to our Xailient Tear-up experts:

• Robert Nicholls - Early angel investor in Xailient, renowned for his active participation across diverse industries.

• Claude Michel - Expert in computer science and AI, equipped with extensive product experience and an active angel investor.

• Andrew Birt - Founder, Hardware/PaaS experience

• Kylie Fraser - Cofounder & Partner at Flying Fox Ventures, as an early investor.

Community DD

When we say Community DD, we mean Community DD!

To make our Community-DD even more community-driven, we've invited a wide range of contributors to gather their perspectives on Xailient.

❓ How does it work? ❓

We provide everyone with access to the Stackrank, where they submit their own assessments. We then aggregate all the stackrank assessments and allow each person to highlight 1-2 key items they'd like to discuss. We wrap it up with a comprehensive Q&A session.

❓What do the Community-DD Crew get? ❓

For their participation, they receive priority access to contribute or invest in any deal we discover, along with credits and an invitation to join our contributor WhatsApp group for venture deal insights and Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions.

🔥 Presenting the Xailient CVC Community-DD-Team 🔥

👉 Jess Pattison

👉 Christian Thaler-Wolski

👉  Alycia Purcell 

👉 Isabella Jolly 

👉 Carl "CC" Bischoff 

👉 Manushree Bahukhandi 

👉 Gavin Preston 

👉 Yash Varma 

👉 Alessio Puricelli 

👉 Lauren Jarrett 

👉 Jordan Duffy 

👉 Simon Scarf 

👉 Vicki Stirling

👉 Haris Qureshi 

Want to be a part of this Tear-up series? Reach out to [email protected].

Interested in participating in future Tear-ups? Sign up here to become a contributor.

🎯 What we're looking for:

• Individuals with experience in hardware/PaaS businesses

• Those well-versed in Edge/AI/Quant Computing

• Seasoned Series A investors

• Anyone else with relevant experience willing to contribute.

🦄 STACKRANK ADDITIONS

This week, we're diving deeper into one of our recent additions from last week's stackrank updates: A Glass Of: Boutique Wines, Elevated 🍷.

TL;DR

Experience a curated selection of premium wines, each offering a unique flavor profile.

🌍 Country: Aus

🎲 The Bet: They can reach scale and maintain brand presence

🌟 The Wow: Great products and traction

Due Diligence Notes - Paul Taylor (Creative Director)

• Skillset revolves around understanding consumer preferences. It took five years for the single-serve concept to flourish. While the best winemakers are excellent at wine crafting, they often fall short in marketing.

• 80% female market.

• Lifestyle wine category business. Lululemon early female.

• Operating through D2C, B2B & export channels.

• Collaborations with establishments like Ace Hotel, Canva, and Unyolked.

• Successfully brought the wine industry along with us, which independent winemakers typically wouldn't do.

• Current investment stands at $500-750K, open to raising another $300-400K. Some key investors include Gabriel Webster, Head Sommelier at Bondi Icebergs, and Nick Wickcom, Diageo & the CEO of TikTok Australia and New Zealand.

• The current raise aims to hire a COO and meet wine demand (costs are front-ended). With margins ranging from 50% to 65%, there is room for improvement.

• If we raise $1 million, we plan to do another round in the near future, possibly around May or June.

• Key decisions revolve around establishing a wine club and aiming for break-even (forecasts suggest that working capital can be self-sustained at that point).

• David Wakely, formerly with Virgin Money, provides expertise in cap table management.

• Considering expanding to retail channel like Birchal in the coming year - have meetings scheduled with Endeavour Group (Woolworths, etc.).

• Exploring the potential for larger format options under a different brand later on. The biggest opportunity for disruption lies in the premium single-serve sector.

• Adrian Bunter, an investor, is assisting with management.

Questions from the CVC Community

“An interesting aspect, but my main concern is the lack of a significant barrier to entry. A company like Treasury Wine Estates could quickly replicate it and potentially outcompete them. Perhaps I'm missing something regarding their competitive advantage; it seems they lack complete supply chain control and act as middlemen.”

Paul: I understand this concern. It's more likely that TWE would buy rather than replicate. Giants like them usually prefer to acquire and scale. Nevertheless, some investors are hopeful that TWE might replicate it, which would help legitimise pouches quicker, allowing A Glass Of to dominate the premium independent end of the market.

“A Glass Of is fascinating. One of the wine industry's major challenges in the shift towards a net-zero carbon footprint is the high energy consumption in glass bottle production. Surprisingly, wine served in pouches (like goon bags) has a lower environmental footprint. Is their packaging patent-protected? Do they have any defensible intellectual property, and would they consider selling packaging through white label deals?”

Paul: Our packaging isn't patentable, so we had to engage in our own R&D and develop it to our specifications. We have been approached for contract packaging, but currently, there are no plans as it's much more profitable, with margins above 60%, to handle it in-house.

Access all this information below & more in the CVC Stackrank:

Next week, we'll explore Nebulae further.

We're launching a Monday pipeline/stackrank update email as part of the Beehiive subscription, which offers over 75% overseas deal flow with additional industry specialisations in Sextech, Sportstech, Media, Web3, and ESG.

Our goal is to add 2-4 deals to the stackrank every week that are worth diving into!

📖 Weekly learning

Even the best of us need a little grounding or a pump-up sometimes.

I do mine in a notepad because my phone is constantly blowing up.

Hopefully, you can read some of my scribble.

If you can't - even better.

Spend half a day thinking about why you should be positive about your situation and what you can do to improve it.

📣 GET IN TOUCH 

🎖Calling all current and future angels

Access global, pre-vetted, VC-quality deal flow and supercharged Due Diligence: pop your name down here.

🎯Calling all pre-seed/seed Ventures

Submit your decks for a free public or private review to support your capital-raising or improvement efforts: pop your name down here.

✨ VALUE ADDS 

🗝 Experienced Investor Certificate (EIC)

Not all of us can invest in every deal type globally and that's because we don't all have $2.5m in net assets or have earned $250k/pa for the last 3 years.

Some of us however love venture and know lots about it. If that sounds like you, let me know and I can hook you up with an (EIC) form that allows you (if you pass the test) to invest in all kinds of deals (including through syndicates).

Choose the EIC link here.

Since posting opportunities for accessing some of the investment community roles through Carry, I've had a number of questions come through about how to calculate it.

Please find an example calculator here.

Often people think Venture is uber-risky or out of their depth. It's not true, anyone can do it - you just need a model to get you going. Check out the Venture portfolio model attached - and reach out if you need more context!

Grab your model here.

At the Community VC, we believe investing should be accessible to everyone, not just those in the know. We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to invest and contribute to vetted ventures that move the world forward.

Jock 

Please do not take this as Financial advice or a guide of what any outcome will be. This isn't financial advice, nothing in this email is, I am not guaranteeing or recommending an investment or outcome in anything. I am simply just listing opportunities I believe should be accessible to everyone.