We are a venture capital firm focused on science-based solutions that positively impact life. We invest in early stage businesses with proven technology in North America and Europe.

Focus

We live in an age of accelerating advances in life sciences, synthetic chemistry, materials science, robotics and AI. These technologies are being combined in novel ways to create more effective and sustainable solutions. Level Eight invests time and capital in outstanding teams commercializing these advances. We seek out companies that:

Physical

Positively impact the physical world rather than being purely virtual

Proven

Have demonstrated efficacy – even if it is only at prototype scale

Market

Address substantial market needs – we are not fans of market building

Compelling

Possess sufficiently compelling advantages to drive rapid adoption

IP

Own or license defensible intellectual property integral to their solution

Viable

Are economically viable without government subsidies or leaps of technology

Approach

Technically curious
At our core we are technologists and business builders. What excites us most is seeing promising new technology positively impact millions of lives. Every company in our portfolio shares this potential. We tend to dig much deeper into the science and technology than other firms. To us, understanding your technology, and the many hurdles to commercial scale, is essential to us becoming long-term partners in building your business.
Sleeves rolled
We are not passive investors, typically joining the board and rolling our sleeves up to help when you need us. In the past year we have worked with management teams to develop go to market strategies, negotiate key IP licensing agreements, define an MVP, thoroughly evaluate a potential merger, make difficult product development decisions, and respond to the unique challenges presented by the novel coronavirus. That said, we focus on the big picture: we will not ask you about rounding errors on five-year forecasts.
How much and when
Our sweet spot is leading seed and series A rounds, and participating in or co-leading Series B rounds. We also invest with convertible notes when otherwise attractive businesses are not quite ready for a priced institutional round. Our check sizes range from $250k to $5 million, and we reserve capital to follow our initial investment in future rounds. We rarely provide more than half the capital for a round. More capital-intensive businesses with sound unit economics and market traction do not scare us: we have decades of experience putting sophisticated tax-efficient capital structures in place.
Clear and direct
We will let you know quickly if we are not the right investor, and we will clearly explain why. We will not tell you to “call us back when you have a lead investor”, or that some Goldilocks attribute of the business is too big or too small for our current appetite. If you have invested time to answer our questions we owe it to you to be transparent, and you can expect the same clear and direct interaction post investment.
The inevitable bumps
Scaling a startup is not easy: 90% of them fail in the first few years. The chances that your initial business plan survives contact with the market is low. Overcoming technical and commercial hurdles requires brutal honestly, an openness to share bad news without spin, and the ability to abandon the comfort of closely held strategic and tactical beliefs when the data proves them wrong. It also requires an honest assessment of founder skill sets in relation to the company’s evolving needs. The goal is to build a successful business, not to be proven right or to cling to power at all costs.
First twenty customers
It is easy to aim at a huge market and make the “conservative” assumption that your superior product will conquer a 10% share in 5 years, and generate huge amounts of cash. While we would be delighted for that to come true, we pay much more attention to your first twenty customers. Who will they be? Who are you in discussion with now? Why will they buy? Who are you displacing? Who are the decision makers? How did you find them, and how will you find the next hundred? How long was the sales cycle? What are the unit economics? In our experience it is almost never too early to start a dialog with prospective customers. We look closely at this in diligence.
Confidentiality
When sending us your pitch deck please make sure that it is non-confidential, and especially that it does not mention unprotected IP. If we proceed to deeper diligence, we will execute an NDA if we really need to know your secrets. Unlike many VCs, we do not hide behind the “never sign an NDA because of potential conflict” umbrella. We respect your information and trust is bidirectional and earned. We have a pragmatic and easily understood NDA that protects what is important while not tying each party in knots.
Covid-19 impact
We continue to make new investments in high quality startups while supporting our existing portfolio. We have seen minimal slippage in technology development, with teams adjusting to working remotely for the foreseeable future. Clinical trials and other testing have seen more significant delays, and unsurprisingly sales cycles have lengthened. At a macro level, we are seeing the acceleration of many established trends: as in previous recessions many organizations have a financial imperative that is overriding their inertia to adopting more efficient and sustainable approaches. The rapid, near universal adoption of video conferencing is the most obvious change, but telemedicine, mobility, clean energy and many other innovative approaches are not far behind.

Sectors

Many exciting opportunities exist at the intersection of disciplines and across sectors. The combination of big data and machine learning is unlocking hidden patterns and providing fresh insight across almost every sector. Advances in synthetic chemistry, novel materials, additive manufacturing, robotics and many other areas are enabling greener more efficient products. We see high potential in the following areas:

Clean Energy

Advances in the clean generation, storage, and transmission of energy are reducing the need for subsidies and legal imperatives. Small incremental advances are often stackable, tipping the balance in favor of the green option. For example, efficiently converting organic waste to power would eliminate over 100 million tonnes of carbon equivalent annually in the US alone.

Mobility

More than a century of conventional wisdom is being turned on its head by electrification, autonomy, and compelling mass mobility solutions. While fully autonomous vehicles grab headlines, there are nearer term opportunities in battery technology, smart components, intelligent infrastructure, novel construction techniques and lightweighting.

Healthcare

We do not invest in pharmaceuticals, but we are interested in diagnostic, treatment, and supporting technologies such as sampling, filtration, purification, and sterilization. We see the combination of big data and AI fueling jump improvements in diagnosis and treatment, while helping to deliver quality healthcare to underserved populations globally.

Materials and Chemicals

Markets are demanding new materials with advanced properties and efficient recycling. Green chemistry is central to improving resource re-use and sustainability, while newer areas such as synthetic biology are helping to engineer next generation products. The capture and productive use of by-products, such as carbon dioxide and methane, is becoming good business.

Sensors and Inspection

Sensing is essential to many areas from robotics and manufacturing to environmental monitoring and healthcare. Miniaturization and IoT capabilities are enabling active functions such as drug delivery and the autonomous control of complex processes. Image analysis technologies are providing in-situ real time assessment of vital parts and structures with accurate failure prediction.

Resources and the Environment

Almost every country is facing clean water supply and waste remediation challenges. Water is playing an increasingly important role, fueled by better clean-up and separations technologies, less toxic industrial water processing and biocides, re-purposing of waste streams, and smarter monitoring and modelling.

Location

We know that the coasts have no monopoly on great business ideas or world class talent. We search widely and invest in businesses across Western Europe, the United States and Canada from offices in Ann Arbor, Cambridge, and Philadelphia. A key strength is helping portfolio companies expand operations across the Atlantic and to Asia.