Westerly Winds

Westerly Winds is a venture investment firm, founded by Karim Abdel-Ghaffar Plaza and Edward van Cutsem, that's taking a unique approach to multi-stage VC by supporting later-stage companies beyond "just capital." And in a recent post, we dug into just what exactly that means. BuiltWorlds Research Analyst Cameron Mabley, who focuses on the venture side of the global AEC industry, writes, "The fund invests at the intersection of VC and growth equity, typically looking to participate at the Series A and B stages, hold board seats and equip founders with the tools to prepare for a meaningful exit." Mabley walks readers through the intricacies of Westerly Winds' multi-stage VC strategy, including how it diverges from typical strategies and where the value is in committing to such a novel approach, providing additional insights directly from the founders themselves. “There’s no substitute for committing time to a business. Sitting on 20 or 30 boards is different than sitting on three or four boards,” says Plaza. “The amount of time you can dedicate to each company really conditions how knowledgeable you become in the inner workings of a business and therefore how helpful you might be as a company evolves.” Check out the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gnCuNSqY

Karim Abdel-Ghaffar Plaza recently spoke at the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA)'s Accelerate Conference discussing the future challenges and opportunities for growth stage capital, moderated by Malcolm MacDougall with Chris Kay and Tiffany Young. 🚀 Thank you to the BVCA for the opportunity to speak! The rest of the day was also very insightful, listening to the other fantastic speakers and their diverse perspectives.

Born in a bathtub and now operating a global footprint, we are proud of what is being achieved by portfolio company Aquabyte. Find out more here as reported by abcnews: https://lnkd.in/gQUSMPNr. Cited by Werner Vogels CTO of Amazon as an "AI for Good" company we look forward to all that is to come in Aquabyte's journey to optimise and make fish farming more sustainable. #aiforgood #sustainable #fishfarming #aquacultureinnovation

A huge congratulations to our portfolio company LeaseLock for hitting another massive milestone – $9 billion in leases insured! This remarkable achievement not only highlights their rapid growth but also underscores their unwavering commitment to innovation in the lease insurance market. #leaseinsurance #insurtech #insurance #multifamily #AI

Another huge milestone achieved by portfolio company Carbon Clean. Today the world's first industrial CycloneCC carbon capture unit is on its way to deployment. The next step to revolutionising industrial #decarbonisation is here. Congratulations Aniruddha Sharma and to all involved. #netzero #cleantech #CCUS

Excited to watch our portfolio company HealthTap's partnership with Ubie unfold. HealthTap is a leading virtual healthcare practice delivering quality, affordable primary and urgent care. Its collaboration with Ubie, an online symptom checker that uses advanced artificial intelligence to give people accurate and personalized healthcare guidance, represents the future of more accessible and streamlined healthcare for everyone. #healthcare #healthtech #artificialintelligence #aihealthcare #futureofhealthcare

Proud of our portfolio company, Aquabyte, for being referenced by Werner Vogels, Chief Technology Officer at Amazon on CNN as an 'AI for Good' company while at the UN AI for Good Summit. See the full interview from CNN here: https://lnkd.in/enJtihhc

We are pleased to announce that we are now a signatory to the Investing in Women Code to progress diversity across the investment eco-system. Backed by the UK Government to support the advancement of women entrepreneurs we will be an active member of this community and strive to uphold the best standards in VC as it relates to improving access to tools, resources, and finance needed by female founders. 💡 It is estimated that in the UK alone, £250 billion could be added to the UK economy if women matched men in starting and scaling business 💡 We are excited to unlock this opportunity and ask female founders to get in touch. Our criteria for investment can be found here: https://t.ly/lcia4 #IiWC #RoseReview #InvestinginWomenCode #femalefounders #investinginwomen #femaleentrepreneurship

Gaming as a media channel represents the next frontier in brand advertising. According to GumGum, there are over 3 billion gamers globally, spending upwards of 8 hours gaming weekly. In-game environments are fast becoming one of the most sought after channels for advertisers to connect with engaged, attentive, and diverse audiences, representing a cross-section of society. Our portfolio company Frameplay has developed the leading technology facilitating access to this exciting new market through intrinsic in-game adverts. #gaming #advertising #ingameadvertising #adtech #videogames

About 70% of the world is covered by the ocean. The ocean currently produces ~5% of the world’s protein. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be a 50% protein gap worldwide. Meeting the world’s growing demand for protein requires smarter data-driven farming and decision making. Our portfolio company Aquabyte is on a mission to revolutionise the sustainability and efficiency of aquaculture. Aquabyte facilitates the use of data and AI to provide fish farmers with unprecedented insight into the health, growth, and sustainability of their fish farms resulting in 6x ROI per pen installed. #agtech #aquaculture #climatetransition #sustainablefoodsystems #AI #sustainableaquaculture