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Silencewants to shake things up when it get along to mood tech investment . This raw holy person - style VC firm has already raise $ 35 million and plans to make dozens of minor investment in mood startups to help oneself them enforce the technical school inauguration playbook .
The Silence squad is led byBorja Moreno de los Rios , who acts as a solo world-wide collaborator for Silence ’s original investment firm . Before starting Silence , he was a speculation partner atFJ Labs . He also set up Merlin , an hourly jobs marketplace in the U.S.
With Silence , Borja want to apply his experience to clime investment . He has surrounded himself with a team of technical school expert who have alldone the workto become clime expert as well .
“ I have been very connected to nature and the environs ever since I was a shaver . I grew up water - skiing competitively from a very unseasoned age . Since I was five or six year old , I spend every weekend and all my vacations by lake and in the countryside , ” Borja told me .
“ But as I was growing through my technical school career , I always had an middle on hear to find out as much as potential so I could really have an impact at the clime tech tier . So after my last company got acquired , I knew that I wanted to do something in climate , ” he append afterward in the conversation .
A silent partner
Since the first close of the fund in June 2022 , Silence has already invested in22 different companies . They apply the same investment strategy ( with a few exception ) . Silence does n’t contribute rounds and does n’t take board seats .
This way , they consider they can continue impersonal and unbiased over the recollective run — just like an angel investor , but with a large ticket size . “ The average ticket size of it is around $ 300,000 . We invest from pre - seed to Series A and we enthrone anything from $ 100,000 up to $ 700,000 , ” Borja said . There will be some follow - on investments for the most promising investments .
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They also do n’t compete with top - level VC stock , meaning they can get invited to take part in very competitory deals . “ We wanted to find a way so that we were not competing with the current VCs , ” Borja said . For example , Silence already take part in several round with well - known VC firms , such as Point Nine , FJ Labs , FifthWall , FirstMark Capital and Lowercarbon Capital .
I ’m not locomote to list all portfolio companies ( check theportfolio page ) , but Silence ’s portfolio company are building practical power plants , vim direction organisation , home energy management arrangement , funding platforms for solar equipment and disk shape - focused marketplaces .
“ There ’s one that just grew really fast . And we ’re very proud because we clothe in pre - seed and we never contribute deals . But in this pillow slip , the society was struggling to close a cycle because everyone was saying , ‘ We ’ll put money only if you find a jumper cable . ’ And no one wanted to be the lead . So we told them , ‘ We ’ll be your leash , ’ ” Borja said .
“ This is a troupe calledCardino , which is a used EV market . So we adorn with just the deck , and they ’re doing like € 72 million in GMV in nine months . And now they set up a seed round with Point Nine lead the seed . So obviously , it ’s super betimes , but so far so expert . ”
In addition to Borja , Sara Ramos Colmenarejo left theHummingbirdteam to join Silence . Guilherme Penna , who previously worked atGlobal Founders Capital , is also an investor at Silence . Finally , Brendan Hayesacts as the CFO and COO for the fund .
Silence ’s limited partners include general partners at other VC firms , such as FirstMark Capital , DST Global , FJ Labs , Point Nine and Hummingbird , as well as family office , successful beginner , etc . Overall , Borja seemed like an enthusiastic investor . Even though Silence wants to rest a small , angel - mode investor , he could n’t stop listing some of his portfolio company .
“ There ’s a caller calledElectryonethat ’s really ahead of time that ’s build up a practical top executive works software that we ’ve invest in and we really wish , ” he said . “ We also invested in a company calledRunwisein the U.S. , which basically has built a technology that integrates with the heating system in a building and then has sensors around the building and is constantly optimize the temperature . ”
Interestingly , unlike many climate cash in hand , Silence does n’t want to participate in deep tech investment funds with a very long - term timeframe . Borja believes Silence ’s expertness is in SaaS and market .
“ In the end — I know this is kind of controversial — but , in the end , I think we are move to be make more value towards mood through these safer investment than if we invest in ten moonshots and all of them go , ” he state .
