We build custom products for awesome companies

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We build custom products for awesome companies

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros.

We build custom products for awesome companies

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros.

We build custom products for awesome companies

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros.

We build custom products for awesome companies

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros.

We build custom products for awesome companies

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros.

When we started our journey at GRIDX at the end of 2013, we were looking for a way to connect science with business through the Venture Capital industry. We started researching the scientific system looking for startups in which to invest. 

The first conclusions after a year of work were that there was great talent in enthusiastic scientists who wanted to create impact with their knowledge, and that there were no well-formulated startups to embark in a venture Capital path. 

Faced with this scenario, we had to decide what to do. Change the industry where you could land with a venture capital model or face the challenge of developing a new model that solves this constraint.

At the time, the number of company builder initiatives (also called venture studios, startup studios or venture builders) had been growing steadily. A study by the Global Startup Studio Network has identified about 560 company builders around the world. According to this report, the performance of startups coming from these initiatives is outstanding compared to startups with traditional paths: 85% of startups from company builders manage to raise a Seed round and 60% reach a Series A. The same report identifies outstanding returns compared to traditional initiatives. 

Supported by these experiences, we began to develop our own company builder model that required adaptations to enhance scientific talent. 

We identified that the work to be carried out was mainly focused on two aspects: the assembly of the team and a first formulation of the business model, which required understanding the potential of the proposed science and its ability to solve a great problem.

Regarding team building, we face two challenges. First of all, we have to organize the scientific team. Generally they come to the first interviews without much clarity regarding what it means to create a science-based company. Science is carried out in academia and in companies, but the dynamics are very different. Hence, in a first instance we must work with the scientific team to understand who really wants to think about their career in relation to creating a company and who does not.

On the other hand, we understand that the chances of a scientific company being successful increase drastically when the team is balanced between scientific founders and business founders. So we work in a way to balance founding teams, offering scientific teams the possibility of meeting a diversity of business entrepreneurs and offering business entrepreneurs to discover wonderful scientific projects that can change the world. This interaction is extremely complex. They come from very dissimilar cultures and languages, with expectations regarding timing, aesthetics and narratives that are generally very far apart. Fortunately, there is a common element that ultimately allows interests and motivations to align: impact.
Many scientists are highly motivated about creating a positive impact in society with their research. And the new generations of entrepreneurs have the vision of impact highly incorporated in their intention to undertake. This allows impact to really align interests. Differences, which are substantial, fall behind when seeking a common goal.

At GRIDX we develop a three-stage company building model in which we experience the metamorphosis of a scientific research into a science-based startup with global impact. 

1 - Explore

Since it is difficult for scientific projects to formulate themselves as startups, we cannot wait for this to happen. We have to look for those scientific talents who want to make an impact though they generally don’t know how their projects can benefit from venture capital, being formulated as companies.

To achieve this, we set up a permanent exploration process of the Latin American scientific system. We look for research and curious researchers who have a relevant development that solves an existing problem, or which has great potential. We visit research institutes, laboratories and universities, and we also participate in scientific project contests and networking activities.

Not all scientists have projects that can undergo this metamorphosis that we seek, but we estimate that if there are approximately 200,000 researchers related to life sciences in the region, there may be about 20,000 projects that could follow this path. We estimate this relationship from the experience of recent years, when we have mapped more than 1700 projects. This number of projects are generally maintained from year to year.

In parallel, we carry out an exploration of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in search of entrepreneurs who want to make a positive impact through science-based ventures. We are looking for entrepreneurs with great ambition for impact, who know the Venture Capital industry and who are curious about scientific topics.

2 - Ignite
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From our project base, which is constantly growing, we select projects so that they can participate in our IGNITE program. During IGNITE we aim for the scientific project to metamorphose into a startup with global impact.

This program consists of two stages.The first one is three months long, and all the participants work together. During this time we work to better understand each of the scientific projects. We bring business concepts closer to scientists, and scientific concepts closer to entrepreneurs, while they get to know each other in order to form the founding teams. In different workshops and activities, we evaluate technical questions related to the potential business models, the science and technology of each project and the market opportunities. We also consider softer issues, as we explore the abilities of all entrepreneurs (scientific and business) regarding complexity, their possibilities to face it with a compassionate approach, and their abilities to imagine and crystallize futures. 

We need to design teams that can build companies in a complex, gentle and pragmatic way.
After 3 months, we select a subset of the projects. They must have made the scientific - business entrepreneur match. We then work on the next stage with each project in particular, to adjust an investment proposal that will be presented to our investment committee. This stage can last between 2 and 6 months depending on the stage and needs of each startup. 

Most of the projects have not been incorporated before being presented to the committee, so if the proposal is approved, the company and investment are formalized.


3 - Grow
Once we have invested, we work together with the startups to accompany their growth process. This support can be a follow-on investment when they close Seed or Series A investment rounds. Likewise, we facilitate our network of accelerators or venture capital investors, which we constantly develop around the world, and we support the founders in their capital raising process.

On the other hand, we are constantly developing commercial relationships with companies in the region and the world, who would be interested in the technologies of the companies in our portfolio. The formalization process of technology transfer between startups and scientific institutions requires advice and assistance, and at this stage we also collaborate with the teams.

Finally, we are growing a community that is very enriching for all the startups in the portfolio. We facilitate activities for all companies where we try to promote collaboration between them, mutual knowledge and the construction of trust networks so that they can mutually favor the exchange of experiences.