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INVESTOR OUTLOOK 5: Other tech interests
Our panel of investors from East Tennessee offer their insights.
Today’s Question: What other technologies beyond artificial intelligence are of interest to you?
- Grady Vanderhoofven, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Three Roots Capital: Quantum computing, virtual and augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things (IoT), advanced manufacturing and robotics, and machine-human interfacing are all interesting. The list of interesting technologies is long.
- Ken Woody, President, Innova Memphis: We are focused solely on AgTech with our current Fund. There is a lot of great technology being applied in farming and ranching right now. We’re seeing incredible boosts in productivity and yields, plus some great applications in regenerative farming. It’s an exciting time.
- Brandon Bruce, Managing Partner, Market Square Ventures: We’re interested in almost any technologies in the hands of the right founders.
- Eric Dobson, Managing Partner at Community Equity Partners and Sheltowee Venture Fund II: We still favor strongly Intellectual Property-backed companies. That means we are still searching for the DeepTech, HardTech, CleanTech, MedTech, advanced materials, and advanced manufacturing companies that comprise 80 percent of our portfolio. These are the areas where we can have the greatest impact. We work with technical founders to understand the role they must execute as the executive and how to launch technical sales. We then pull them through our angel group process where we validate their ability to grow and create a lot of value for our angel investors. Then, we pull these derisked companies into our venture fund. The mode is scaling nicely, and we can continue to exert influence on these companies as they grow. The other 20 percent of our portfolio remains Software-as-a-Service, FinTech, etc., which generally boils down to marketing (brand building) companies. We can help, but this is not our greatest strength. We are now beginning to pay more attention to AgTech. We believe AgTech will be a key focus over the next decade and fits our model well.
- Tony Lettich, Managing Director of The Angel Roundtable: Beyond artificial intelligence (AI), the Angel Roundtable currently has strong interests in DeepTech, medical technologies and devices, big data, clean tech / clean energy, and specialty chemicals. We are currently focusing on these areas to help diversify our portfolio.
- Travis Manasco, MD, Principal, Solas BioVentures: The AI of the biotech world right now is obesity. Obesity-focused companies seem to be everywhere, with new ones going public almost weekly. As a physician, I’ve witnessed the transformative impact of drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro, but I’m curious to see how the market evolves as more competitors emerge. Could these therapies become commoditized? Time will tell. Meanwhile, cell and gene therapies, which were the darlings of biotech in 2021-22, have lost some of their shine. Challenges with manufacturing, pricing, and patient logistics have become increasingly evident. I believe the real winners will be technologies that can mimic the curative potential of cell and gene therapies—offering similar outcomes without the staggering costs. As payers and patients push back against the high prices and logistical hurdles, these next-generation approaches will likely lead the charge.
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