The Founders Q&A

We wanted to shed some light on our investment thesis and on some of the key questions entrepreneurs often ask us. If the answers laid out below fit with what you are looking for from a potential VC investor, do not hesitate to get in touch! We review all opportunities sent to us.

Disclaimer: This set of answers are relevant for our second Fund. We try to improve as investors on a continuous basis, hence our investment thesis might evolve for subsequent funds in the future.

On Samaipata

What is Samaipata in a few sentences? Time to reverse the dreaded elevator pitch.

Samaipata is an early stage founders' fund investing in digital businesses with network effects across Europe.

With over $150 million under management, we back ambitious founders who dare to better the world, from our offices in Madrid, London and Paris.

The fund was founded in 2016 by two entrepreneurs, José del Barrio and Eduardo Díez-Hochleitner. José was the co-founder and CEO of La Nevera Roja, the leading food-delivery platform in Spain, which was sold for $100 million. Eduardo founded IMM Sound, a 3D sound system sold to Dolby. He was also a Partner at Apax Partners. and former Chairman at MásMóvil, recently merged with Orange (MasOrange) and previously valued at €20 billion, becoming the first Southern European Decacorn. Moreover, Eduardo is a prolific business angel and was an early investor at La Nevera Roja.

From which fund are you investing from?

In 2020 we started deploying our second fund (€110M): the fund has a 10-to-12 year expected lifetime. We closed the “portfolio building” period of our first fund (€30M) in 2019, which we raised back in 2016. We have thus approx. €150M of assets under management (including some smaller SPVs).

How is the team structured?

On the investment side, we have our two co-Founders & General Partners, Eduardo and José, our Partner Luis, our Principals, Stephanie, Iñigo, our Investment Manager Irene and our Investment Associate, Carmen.

On the financial and operations side, we have our Partner, Pablo, our Head of Finance Irene, and our Head of Legal, Ramiro, who all do a million things but one important task: they oversee the investment process post term sheet until money-in-the-bank.

You might also meet Alberto, our Partner leading Founder Success or Ernesto, helping out with Founder Success Operations,  who looks after our portfolio and is dedicated to our very own platform “The Hive”, and Lucia, our Head of Brand Marketing and Comms, who spearheads our branding efforts. And last but not least, Judit, our legendary Office Manager.

We also work closely with a network of Operating Partners who support the portfolio. More on this below.

Which companies have you invested in?

We have invested in 40 great companies over Fund I and II, across Spain, France, the UK, Germany and Italy, and spanning across many different industries in B2B and B2C. We have c.70% graduation from Seed to Series A. As a reference point, the industry average sits at c. 20% (DealRoom)

Our portfolio has raised over €600m post our entry. Tier 1 later stage VCs from the US and Europe such as Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico, KPCG, Index Ventures, Atomico, and Creandum have invested in our portfolio companies after us. 

We have also had 2 successful exits already — Deporvillage & FoodChéri.

Wha is your mission?

We are an early stage investor. Our mission is to empower Founders who date to better the world. One of our key goals is to help our startups reach the Series A milestone: our involvement is strongest in the first 18 months and usually goes down gradually afterwards if the right follow-on partner has been onboarded. Above all, we want to be a travel companion who provides inputs and frameworks, but who never takes the wheel at the place of the founders.

By the way, where does the name Samaipata come from? 

Samaipata is a word in Quechua. It is a valley in the middle of the Bolivian jungle. It’s known for being a micro world, home to more than 25 nationalities that lived in peace and harmony for centuries. For us, it is the ultimate example of diversity and team work, two values that are at the core of what we stand for. It is also a nice analogy of the way we perceive Europe as a Tech hub.

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On your investment thesis

You say you only invest in “early stage platforms with network effects”. But what does “early stage” really mean?

For us, “early stage” mainly refers to pre-Series A rounds. Such a round would be:

• A round typically between €2m-€6m.
• In a company with at least a live Minimal Viable Product (MVP), typically post commercial launch, with early signs of product-market fit
• In terms of metrics, our sweetspot ranges from €200K to €1M in Annual Recurring Revenue in the case of SaaS, with a higher bar for transactional or lower margin businesses.

We generally do not invest at the pre-Seed stage (pre-product & commercial launch) — although we make some exceptions.

What do you mean by “network effects” or “nfx”?

It all goes back to the idea of “increasing returns to scale”. Digital businesses typically have low traditional barriers to entry and hence unlocking increasing returns is paramount to build lasting value and defensibility. In such businesses,  output increases proportionally more than changes in input levels. The player that is ahead gets further ahead, and conversely the player that is behind is further disadvantaged. It thus becomes possible to build defensibility in a sustainable fashion, and businesses can protect long term profits in a competitive environment, with those increasing returns powering winner-takes-all markets.

There are different ways to generate these increasing returns but we believe network effects to be one of the most powerful drivers of defensibility and long term value creation. They are typically enabled by “many-to-many” connections built into a network and they materialise when a company’s product or service becomes more valuable as i) more users join the network or ii) when usage/engagement between users in the network increases.

When we invest, we thus strive to understand the types of network effects and the “platform play” of a specific business.

More on this here.

Any “no-gos” in terms of business models?

We only invest in tech-based, asset-light type of models, so typically no pure Hardware  & iOT models, pure Deeptech, Biotech, vertical ecom etc.

Said differently, we invest in software businesses with a strong tech component.

What industries & verticals do you cover?

We are sector agnostic, and we invest across all industries in B2B and B2C. As with most VCs, the only companies in which we cannot invest in are “unethical” and/or non-ESG compliant businesses.

What is more important to us is to understand the size of the long term market opportunity (i.e. should be multi-$bn upside) and the “Why Now” or current market momentum (i.e. market pull) for a specific model or technology. 

Why are you specialised? And why on the early stage & nfx specifically?

We truly believe that being specialised as a VC helps you become a better investor. First, it allows you to be a better “picker” as you have access to more qualified dealflow and can become more efficient at analysing the same type of models; then it allows you to be a better “deal maker” as you are building credibility and expertise in the industry, and hopefully a better board member as most platforms often face similar operational and strategic challenges. Finally, we believe that a portfolio made of companies similar in nature can generate powerful network effects, i.e synergies related to knowledge.

And why nfx? Within the team, we are all convinced by the “Power of Platforms” as we see them as highly scalable and defensible business models that typically have strong network effects. We have been lucky to experience this first hand as entrepreneurs and investors: José’s initial company, la Nevera Roja, was a platform in the Food delivery space and Eduardo IPO’ed a wedding platform as well.

Which countries are you investing in? 

We only invest in Europe. Ideally the founding team, the main customer markets and areas of operations need to be located there for us to be able to add value. That being said, in a world becoming more remote, we are increasingly flexible with team location.

More precisely, for now, we are focusing on Southern Europe (Spain, Italy and Portugal), France and Benelux, the DACH region and the UK & Ireland.

Ok! Any other stuff you look at?

Once we validate that you fit our “strict” investment criteria, we then strive to understand (amongst other things):

• Can you really build a €100M+ in annual gross profit or net revenues business in the market you are targeting? At the point of investment, we need to believe that businesses we invest in can potentially become a “fund returner” (i.e. generates >€1bn in Enterprise Value at exit given our typical stake exposition). Taking into account typical multiples, this usually translates to a minimum of €100M in yearly gross margin or net revenues. That is why it is key for us to understand your real Total Addressable Market (TAM), as well as your ability to scale rapidly in this TAM.
• Can you achieve sound unit economics (Life Time Value / Customer Acquisition Costs) on your value proposition at scale?
• How does your cap table look? At our stage of investment and given subsequent round dilution, it is important for us to have operational founders properly incentivised, typically in control of  70-80% of the equity at Seed.

On the type of deals you focus on

What is your average ticket size?

We typically invest tickets ranging from €1m to €3m, with an average sitting at €2m. At the end of the day, it really depends on the stage of development of the business.

Do you lead deals? How open are you to co-investment? Do you have a minimum ownership stake?

We typically lead deals but we can be flexible. We strive to be fairly hands-on and when we invest in a company, we are fully in. The “Spray and Pray” mentality can prove successful but it is definitely not in our DNA. For Fund II, we are planning to invest in around 30 companies, which is a fairly concentrated portfolio.

We are very collaborative in our approach and we often co-invest with Business Angels and/or VCs who can provide an alternative expertise to what we bring to the table. We strive to reach double digit ownership. 

Do you follow-on?

Once again, we’re an early investor, typically investing at Seed. We do not “lead” any subsequent rounds beyond the one we enter. However, we can invest up to €10M per company and we typically do follow-on provided our Investment Committee approves the deal and a new investor decides to lead the next round, validating the company’s new valuation. 

How many companies do you invest per year?

We are planning to invest in a total of c. 30 companies over our fund lifetime, hence we will do 6–8 deals a year across our key geographies.

Do you do a Due Diligence (DD) for all the companies you invest in?

Yes, we do — a financial one and a legal one. First, we have a fiduciary duty to our Limited Partners to do so (after all itis not our own money that we are investing!). But, more importantly, we believe a well-executed DD can actually be very valuable to the business itself as it can shed light on key improvement areas when it comes to internal processes and reporting. And we only work with highly pragmatic DD providers across our geographies, who focus only on the most important items and very much respect the time of founders.

On your investment process

What does your typical investment process look like?

We are fairly quick in our decision making process. When the timing is right, from 1st interaction to term sheet it takes approximately 2 weeks — yet we could move faster if required.

There are 2 touch points with our investment team (i.e. fairly informal Q&A sessions held on Zoom), corresponding to two distinct “Investment Committees”. Additionally, if you’re based in one of our key hubs, we like to meet Founders face to face. It is key for us to understand whether there is a high fit (on both sides of the fence!).

What type of KPIs do you look at during the analysis process?

We are data driven investors, hence even if we invest early, we spend quite a bit of time looking at your data (if available) analysing historical traction, cohorts, demand and supply concentration etc. 

That being said, what is most important for us is not necessarily your top line, but the retention and the engagement of your user base, and any indications of strong “customer love”. We prefer a business with fewer, but passionate users, that consistently come back to the product, than a wider user base less engaged. “Liquidity quality” is key for us.

Finally, we are also obsessed with Unit Economics as a function of Cost of Acquiring Customers (CAC) and LifeTime Value (LTV). It is obviously not a prerequisite for you to have sound unit economics when we invest; yet it is key to show us that you think of your business in those terms and that you have a plan to make those unit economics work in the medium to long term.

How does your Term Sheet look?

Our term sheet holds no surprises and our terms are 100% plain vanilla: standard information rights & governance, Founders’ vesting, drag along & tag along clauses, 1x non-participating liquidation preference (with a carve-out), etc.

On the way you actually work post-investment

How do you differentiate yourself from other VCs in what you bring to the table?

In a world where competition is increasing between VCs, we like to think that we are different on 3 different points:

• We are a Founders fund: as a result, we are deeply operational, with boots on the ground in our local hubs. Our goal is to help our portfolio companies on the path to Series A. And we have built a Founder Success platform that is genuinely optimised for early stage founders, called the Hive, instrumental on company building and growth, recruiting and sales.
• We believe in specialisation and focus: we only invest in early stage digital businesses with network effects. We have extensive knowledge in these defensible models, which enables us to better understand key success factors of long-term value creation. And we master the Seed to Series A journey, with an operational support framework dedicated to this stage and strong synergies within our portfolio of companies.
• We have a unique pan-European footprint, allowing our portfolio companies to tap into a Europe-wide network when it comes to talent, fundraising, or sales. We can truly be instrumental when it comes to international expansion.

What is “the Hive”?

The Hive is a platform built by founders, for founders, and brings together a community of top new and seasoned entrepreneurs to harness the power of network effects. The Hive is the perfect place to find support on fundraising, recruiting, accelerating growth, and self-development

Our Operating Partners network currently comprises 13 great advisors spamming all key pillars of early-stage companies (e.g. B2B sales, Talent Acquisition, GTM definition etc.). We keep building our team.

What are your requirements when it comes to reporting?

Our job is to help our businesses grow. In order to achieve this, on top of capital, we strive to add value as much as we can. Without information, it is hard for us to do so, as otherwise it is hard for us to truly understand the business and to have actual insights.

As such, we see boards, monthly calls and reporting documents not as a way to ensure “legal compliance” but as a way to ensure information alignment between you and us: they are basically communication channels.

What you send us each month should be a subset of your internal reporting tool that we can help you build and that should be a lever to pilot your business on a daily basis. Our view is that if you are not close to the data of the business, you are almost blind.

More pragmatically, we are fairly flexible with format & length of reporting (we have banned ppt slides internally!), as long as we have enough info to be able to help you.

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Do you always take a board seat?

We usually take a board seat, yet we could be flexible when we invest a smaller ticket as a follower for instance.

Disclaimer: we are on call 24/7 but we don’t get into the day-to-day operations of the business — that is founder territory. 

More on this here.

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At Samaipata, we are always looking for ways to improve. Do not hesitate to send us your thoughts. We strive to partner with early-stage founders and to support them in taking their business to the next level. Check out more ways in which we can help here or for all our other content here.

And as always, if you are a European digital business founder looking for funding, get in touch here or subscribe to our Quarterly updates here.

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