iSelect Monthly Portfolio Update: March 2018

Peter Thiel Is Bullish on the Midwest. So Are We

Peter Thiel is one of the savviest investors of our time. His $2.5 billion net worth is proof of that. So when Thiel says the next big innovations will be born in the American Midwest, it’s probably a safe bet that he’s onto something — especially since he is planning to put his money where his mouth is.

So why exactly is Thiel homing in on the Midwest as the new epicenter for his VC funding? It’s simple: Because costs are low and innovation is high.

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Are Retiring Boomers to Blame for Slow Economic Growth?

The U.S. economy grew at roughly 2.5% last year, below the 3% benchmark that policymakers have targeted going forward, indicating a general economic slowdown that might be difficult to reverse. Are retiring Baby Boomers to blame?

That’s the premise of a recent article in The Wall Street Journal titled, “As Boomers Go Gray, Even 2% Growth Will Be Hard to Sustain.” The premise of the article is that the economy is reverting to the “new normal” of slower growth, and the millions of Baby Boomer who are leaving the workforce for retirement are partly to blame.

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Company Webinars

Agribody: Expanding Global Food Supply by Significantly Increasing Crop Yields, Stress Tolerance and Shelf Life Using Patented Gene Technology. Watch Replay

Agrifood Conversations Live Panel: Future of Genetics & Agriculture. Watch Replay

Benson Hill: Bringing the Power of CRISPR and Advanced Gene Editing to Mainstream Agriculture. Watch Replay

Nix Biosensors: Preventing Dehydration With Real-Time Monitoring. Watch Replay

Plastomics: Using Chloroplast Genetic Engineering to Develop the Next Generation of High Performing Crops. Watch Replay

Rebound: Transforming Modern Refrigeration With Control, Efficiency and Cost Savings. Watch Replay

Portfolio Company News

Agrible: Agrible Joins Cool Farm Alliance to Bring Agricultural Sustainability Worldwide. Read More

Benson Hill: Major Trends in AgTech 2018. Read More

Benson Hill: Brazilian Research Leader Embrapa Taps Benson Hill Biosystems Genome Editing Capabilities to Modernize Crop Improvement. Read More

Benson Hill: Benson Hill Biosystems granted patent for novel genome editing system. Read More

Cofactor Genomics: The Importance of Immuno-Oncology. Read More

Cofactor Genomics: Cofactor Genomics, NCI Partner to Validate RNA-Based Immune Profiling Assay. Read More

Cofactor Genomics: Gene Expression in Immune-Oncology. Read More

Flywheel: Stanford CNI and VISTA Lab are revolutionizing scientific data management using Flywheel on Google Cloud Platform to accelerate new discoveries and address the world’s critical healthcare challenges. Read More

HerdDogg: World Agri-Tech Pitch Day & The Radicle Challenge: The Finalists. Read More

Holganix: Selling to the Whole Foods Customer. Read More

Holganix: Why Soil Matters to Farmers. Read More

Nix: Tech to Watch from SXSW. Read More

Nix: SXSW Announces 2018 Winners for 10th Annual Accelerator Pitch Event. Read More

Rebound Technologies: National Science Foundation Continues Rebound Technologies Support Via Phase IIB SBIR Grant. Read More

Upcoming Events

Agrifood Conversations: April 2018 Theme: Vertical Farming.
Webinar Series • Weekly starting April 5 • 3pm CT
Register for the Series

AeroFarms: Scaling Indoor Farming With New Smart Technologies. Register
Webinar • April 12 • 3pm CT

Sollum: Artificial Light for Agriculture Applications That Outperforms the Sun. Register
Webinar • April 19 • 3pm CT

Motorleaf: Full Automation From Planning To Control For Indoor Farms Is Here. Register
Webinar • April 26 • 3pm CT

Consideration

With 2021 well underway and with public markets still strong, we think it is an important time to highlight some of the key private market, venture investment themes that iSelect fund has identified for the year. We believe technologies transforming the Agriculture, Food and Wellness markets will flourish, with a focus on four areas: technologies that enable better food choices to drive better health outcomes, technologies that drive better, more profitable farm operations, technologies that drive the Consumerization of Healthcare, and biome-based treatment technologies. At iSelect, we invest for impact AND performance. We offer qualified investors access to emerging growth companies through our national venture capital strategy. Our unique structure allows our investors to continue to invest in these companies as they develop.

Timing

Why is now the right time for venture? The answer is that now is not explicitly the right time. Venture is something we need in our economy at all times. Now is not better than any other particular time. The question is, why ever stop? When we look at the challenges we’re facing in food and healthcare the reality is there is someone, somewhere who has an insight about how to build a product that will solve those problems. And if they put the right resources to it, they will succeed. As long as we need new technology to make life better or make our lives more enjoyable, we need venture capital to help fuel those entrepreneurs.

What is iSelect as a product?

iSelect is a very unique product, but when you break it into its parts it’s fairly easy to understand. On the front end we’re a traditional venture capital fund. We have a diligence process. We have an investment process. We have categories of industries where we have focus and real expertise, and we invest in companies in those areas that meet requirements for the fund. On the back end we’re unique in that we don’t raise a large amount of capital at one time and deploy it over the life of our fund. Each deal that we bring onto the fund, our investors have to prove and determine to invest in that deal. We have to constantly prove our diligence standards. It’s accessible, transparent and easy for investors to come in and see our comprehensive process.

What is the ideal iSelect company?

We are looking for founders that are passionate and we want the problem they’re trying to solve to be big, real, and painful. We want the solution to be revolutionary and we want our capital to be able to help them solve that problem. We want to know that they have customers involved and that the solution they’ve come up with actually meets those customers’ and market needs. And we want the team to be capital efficient with the money they’re spending.

What does the ideal iSelect company look like?

We’re looking for a company that has an opportunity to have a 10x return to our investment or greater in a period of three to seven years. What excites us at iSelect are companies that are solving big problems. We want companies that are going to be the Monsantos of the future. Not just in the size and the scope, but the impact they have on people’s lives. We want to create positive impacts on people’s lives, so we invest in areas like agricultural production and areas like producing healthy foods for our kids. They are problems that impact real people’s lives on a daily basis. That’s what we’re trying to do at iSelect. We’re trying to solve the big problems out there. Find ways to bring capital to the entrepreneurs who are the real heroes out there getting up every morning, beating away at these things that are problems that you and me and everyone else faces in their everyday lives.

What is iSelect?

iSelect is a venture capital firm. What that means is we look at hundreds and hundreds of different companies and we apply tough diligence standards to each of them, looking at whether the team has a good plan for growing the business, whether the team is qualified and credible, and more. We do that to resolve the few who provide the best opportunities for investors. And then iSelect takes that smaller set of investments and goes to investors who are interested in venture capital and provides a way for them to invest in these companies, either individually or all at once. We co-invest alongside other venture capitalists. We source transactions through to an exit where the company would become public or get bought. And we manage that whole investment process on behalf of our investors.

iSelect Monthly Update: March 2018