Through the successful high-margin business that I undertake – Crisp – a continuous flow of money is available to myself for direct investment (proof). This is my pledge to invest this capital in projects that are important for the future of humanity. This pledge adds up to my Master Plan announcement back in 2019.
Areas of interest
The areas that I consider important for the future, and therefore that I pledge to invest in, are the following:
- Energy: direct venture investment, research grants or debt securities in carbon neutral and carbon negative energy technologies and services, in sectors where the impact on global carbon emissions is greater (think avoiding the 5°C+ climate change scenario for 2100). I am looking for talented young entrepreneurs seeking funding for their business or grants for their research (read more below);
- Communication: decentralized & secure person-to-person communication, with the Prose project (built on the XMPP protocol), in a world where the most powerful tech companies centralize almost all of person-to-person interactions (from Slack to Facebook). I will start tackling collaboration within the workspace, and end up covering personal messaging as well;
- Robotics: automation of repetitive or unsafe human tasks via a programmable robot, with human-level dexterity. Think of it as the microprocessor of the physical world, that would make any repetitive or unsafe physical task programmable, from industry to military, and ultimately the space sector;
I am dedicated to grow Crisp revenues over the coming years, in order to funnel even more proceeds to the aforementioned areas via my fund management company: VSA Ventures.
I am a firm believer that technology can solve most of the world's problems. We just need to build them, and accompany technological progress with new regulatory frameworks, eg. the carbon tax. I am not a proponent of degrowth theories when it comes to tackling climate change, which I think are extremely dangerous and may lead humanity forever back into dark ages. I believe that market forces can drive us to the next age in History.
Investments
I am keeping a public record of all companies I have invested money in, either because their mission is compatible with this pledge, or because they are building something that I would have seen myself building in another life.
This public record is available at my investment fund website, vsa.ventures.
Looking for funding?
I fund young, smart entrepreneurs & researchers, right out of school. I want to avoid them getting hired at established companies that pay hefty salaries, as it is traditionally the most rational economic decision. I want to offer a convenient way to get paid to work on what matters for humanity. I don't regret a thing starting a company myself while I was still at school, therefore I want the same to happen to you. Build your thing, I fund you.
I invest against equity in your business, or royalties on future patents if research, or else my investment can also be considered free money in some cases (ie. donations).
If your field of interest fits any of those below, please contact me, wherever you are on the planet:
- Energy at home (efficient thermal insulation, electric vehicle chargers, solar PVs for electricity, solar thermal for hot water and heating, energy storage, service and financial layer to eg. help offer upgrades to older houses & apartments to be low-carbon)
- Power grid production & storage (exotic nuclear research, new battery technologies and ultracapacitors)
- Hydrogen fuel production, storage and consumption (especially for planes)
- Carbon capture (production of fuel from atmospheric CO2 for existing ICE vehicles, or carbon emissions avoidance straight out of the exhaust)
- Research on biological carbon sequestration to landmass (eg. algaes, trees, etc.)
If you have any other unlisted project that aims at building a more sustainable future, please also contact me. I can expand the scope of what I invest in, on a per-project basis.
Also, note that this is not a VC fund. My money comes from my business net profit margin. Therefore, I do not behave like traditional VCs who need to recoup their investments short-term. Quite on the contrary, I want to create long-term compounding value, which means that I will not seek selling shares after a few years. New investment money will come from my business profit, not from exits on previous investments.
I am a big fan of extreme costs reduction in the manufacturing process of existing clean technologies (eg. solar PVs), so that emerging countries who are currently building their energy infrastructure can get equiped ASAP. If the cost of solar PVs and energy storage gets down by a certain factor, emerging countries will not undertake the environmentally-costly choice of building fossil fuel-powered power plants. This is where we can have a real impact.
Asset allocation
Capital extracted from my businesses are distributed in a way such that they maximize their utility towards this pledge:
- Prose: as much as necessary, lowering over time as Prose sells subscription services and manages to self-finance itself;
- Investments: the rest is available for direct investment in clean energy projects. I will compound profits derived from my investments into further investments in the clean energy sector (think of it as a virtuous feedback loop);