We are thrilled to have Celine Pattyranie join our team as an Associate and with that, officially open our offices in Stockholm! đžđȘ
Celine joins our investment team to help us expand Superangel’s footprint in the Nordics. The Nordics are a known hotbed for impactful startups and with our focus being on early-stage founders building impactful technology, doubling down on the region is really a no-brainer.
Celine brings a wealth of operational experience with her, latest one being at Lassie, making her a great fit to Superangel’s entrepreneurial mindset and a fantastic person to establish relationships with early-stage founders.
Iâm born and raised in Sweden, currently living in Stockholm. Besides Sweden, Iâve also been living in Spain and the UK. My interest in the startup ecosystem sparked while working in the UK supporting Swedish startups interested in expanding to the UK as part of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK.
My most recent experience is from a Swedish InsurTech startup Lassie, where I was part of their journey from pre-seed to raising a series A. I got to experience everything from launching and getting the first customers, getting even more customers and growing in the home market, to just recently launching in a second market. As you can imagine, it was a fantastic experience and a steep learning curve!
I enjoy being part of the start of a company and joining an early-stage VC gives me the opportunity to support different startups on their growth journeys. Additionally, the team at Superangel have extensive operational experience and there is so much to learn from everyone in the team â learnings I hope to spread to my network in return!
In springtime, youâll most likely find me outside, probably running or walking in the park. On the same theme, I love trying out different types of exercises, preferably with a group of people.
I am a big fan of podcasts (hint; I need something to listen to while running/walking). I mostly listen to Swedish podcasts and have an interest in lifestyle/health topics. However, itâs not too much fun for all non-Swedes to hear me list a bunch of podcasts in Swedish, so here are a few tips for anyone interested in the startup/VC ecosystem â âThe Twenty Minute VCâ, âAssociated Podcastâ and âUnder 15â (one for my fellow Swedes).
Welcome to the team, Celine! Excited to have you!
We are thrilled to have Jaan Kokk join our team as an Analyst! He’s a much awaited addition to the team, helping us scale our portfolio management and investment processes – much needed after 44 investments and a new fund!
Jaan has previously worked in finance for companies like Swedbank, Certific, kood/jĂ”hvi, and many others. Although he’s very much a numbers person, he’d like his superpower to be “spaghetti coming out of his finger tips”. Oh well… But then again, who wouldn’t love pasta?!
I am a financial advisor with a knack for turning numbers into magic. With a background in both tech start-ups and traditional finance, I have a unique ability to understand the financial implications of even the most futuristic decisions. I have built entire financial reporting systems from scratch, helped secure bank financing, raise rounds, sell enterprises, and sort out a bunch of other financial challenges. But donât let my financial prowess fool you, I have a sense of humour and great experience in product development and digital sales funnels.
I wanted to be part of a team with a great attitude who could turn numbers into actual gold. And Superangel fit the bill perfectly!
Theyâve built a super-network of connections that would make even Tony Stark jealous. With that they donât just help start-ups, they also help founders and the team grow as well, bringing in personal leadership and business coaches. Itâs like having your own personal superhero squad ready to come to the rescue when needed. And the best part, they have skin in the game, so when the start-ups succeed, we all win! Sign me up!
If I am not behind a laptop, you will most likely find me on a skateboard roaming about somewhere on the streets of Tallinn.
As of late that would be âSwitch â How to change things when change is hardâ. It provides practical strategies for overcoming resistance and successfully implementing change in both personal and organizational contexts. If you are operating in an environment of constant change and a lot of uncertainty then the book is definitely a good read â hint-hint founders.
Onwards, Jaan!
We are glad to welcome Vivian to Superangel team for the next 8 weeks. Vivian joined us through 101 Fellowship â a practical program designed for young people who are interested in venture capital. This is the second time Superangel participates in the initiative.
Iâm a Master of Finance candidate at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. My background is in finance and accounting. I previously worked in financial services assurance at EY, where I specialized in banking and capital markets, serving clients from banking, securities brokerage and asset management industries. I then made a transition after completing my CPA qualification program and joined Credit Suisse working in compliance and due diligence. Besides, I recently worked with an impact investment VC to identify market trends and investment opportunities in the APAC EdTech industry.
I was drawn towards the world of VC mainly because of the fun part â talking to the founders! I enjoy interacting with many highly motivated people and learning about different innovative ideas and disruptive startups that are trying to make real impact, which are truly inspiring. Nevertheless, having just a great idea is not enough. My finance and accounting background could bring added value by putting great ideas to work with effective business planning and help startups pave their paths to success.
Uniswap. (Not only on the strength of its pink unicorn logo) Uniswapâs innovative crypto exchange protocol is stepping up the game by going full DeFi as a first mover. The application of blockchain in the fintech space has certainly proved a success, considering the emergence of crypto unicorns in recent years, such as Binance and Coinbase. A vast majority of these crypto platforms however operate as centralized exchanges. Whatâs revolutionary about Uniswap is a fully decentralized exchange built on Ethereum, which enables automated market making by allowing users to provide liquidity and make instant swaps at any time based on smart contracts.
The exponential growth of DeFi has propelled Uniswap into a sprawling trading platform, which has over $5 billion worth of liquidity committed in the exchangeâs pools (peaked at around $8 billion in May 2021). Its own UNI governance token has also emerged quickly and can be found on all major exchanges, both centralized and decentralized. I believe the future of Uniswap is promising as it develops further and attracts even more liquidity by leveraging the DeFi boom.
Podcasts I always recommend to my friends: Blockcrunch, How I Built This, Stuff You Should Know. Blockcrunch is not to be missed for anyone who would like to understand more about the crypto world. It highlights all updated information and hot topics in crypto and features knowledgeable guests from across the industry to give insights on all aspects of the crypto space. How I Built This with Guy Raz interviews founders of many successful businesses and shares inspiring stories about their entrepreneurial journeys. This is an insightful podcast for those excited about entrepreneurship or building ventures. Lastly, Stuff You Should Know is an interesting one to learn a bit about a wide variety of different stuff (go-to podcast to keep myself entertained at the gym).
We are glad to welcome Nandin to Superangel team for the next 8 weeks. Nandin joined us through 101 Fellowship â a practical program designed for young people who are interested in venture capital. This is the second time Superangel participates in the initiative.
I am a final year BSc Economics student at University College London (UCL). I am also serving as a President at UCL Entrepreneurs Society (2021-2022), where I closely oversee the VC Fund (investing equity-free in student run enterprises), Bloomsbury Startup Academy (accelerator programme for student enterprises), and Bloomsbury Ventures (training programme for Venture Analysts). Additionally, I have also founded an enterprise – MiLIDS, where we aim to reduce 3.3 grams of plastic per takeaway cup by replacing plastic lids with our biodegradable and edible MiLIDS. Moreover, as a Millennium Fellow, I promote UN SDGs 12 and 13 on-campus by assisting students in implementing their own ESG focussed projects. I was born in India and brought up in Singapore.
During my time at UCL, I have been actively involved in the UK startup ecosystem. By interacting with multiple founders and investors, I developed an entrepreneurial itch to problem solving. The opportunity to fuel and be a part of multiple enterprises that aim to achieve sustainable impact and focus on long-term integrated value creation got me particularly interested in Venture Capital.
If given the opportunity, I would love to invest my tuition fee in an early-stage startup. I came across NayaMylk, which is a pre-seed food-tech startup that has developed a plant-based alternative to cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is one of the most prominently consumed foods in the Indian cuisine, globally. However, the negative externalities of the dairy industry lead to environmental challenges. Additionally, the dairy industry in India and abroad with significant lactose intolerant and vegan consumers has immense potential for disruption. Since beginning their journey in 2020, NayaMylk has obtained Letter of Intents from various grocery chains and premier restaurants. Along with cottage cheese, they are also developing plant-based alternatives for other food products. With NayaMylk, I hope to disrupt the environmentally degrading value chain and be a part of a growing market with global supply chains.
The podcast that I highly recommend to my peers interested in entrepreneurship and Venture Capital is ‘20 Minute VC‘ by Harry Stebbings. In this podcast, Stebbings invites world renowned entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, and other investors to share their experiences and career path. His questions range from identifying the âAha momentâ for investments and ideas to âtips for students interested in Venture Capitalâ, which provides a comprehensive overview to the listeners. Additionally, a book that I recommend to my peers is âJugaad – Innovationâ. This book discusses the bottom-up approach to innovation in developing nations as opposed to top-down R&D strategies in developed nations. Both the book and the podcast (explicitly and implicitly) focus on identifying problems in your communities and pursuing innovations to solve them. I believe this is particularly important to build sustainable communities and drive our focus towards the concepts of Doughnut Economics.
We are glad to welcome Christine to Superangel team for the next 8 weeks. Christine joined us through the 101 Fellowship â a practical program designed for young people who are interested in venture capital. This is the second time Superangel participates in the initiative.
I started my career working for a subsidiary of Amazon a decade ago after studying for my BBA. Since then I have worked for a handful of companies spanning many industries, private, public, non-profit, and startups in a number of business roles. I am a self proclaimed business nerd and fell in love with Venture when raising funds for a biotech startup VoxCell in my current role as COO.
Being on the startup side of the table has been fascinating and I found myself wanting to get into the mind of VC’s and understand how Venture Capital works so that we could have more meaningful conversations – and the world of VC hooked me in. I started reading books on Venture, watching panels and podcasts, reading blogs, and dipping my toes into the VC Twitter-sphere and the rest is history. VC calls to me because it combines ideas/products, and people/teams, but is so primarily focused on the business – will this be successful (money/impact).
Depends on the terms! The emerging eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) industry blows me away (pun intended) and I would take the bet that Volocopter is poised to become a leader in the space. They have been working hard in Singapore and are committing to have electric air taxis operational within the next three years. The future is here and now seems to be the time to invest in future-focused mobility startups.
My copy of the Tao te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation) has been lent out and dutifully collected a number of times, it was first introduced to me by my Professor in a Leadership 200 level course and has been an amazing resource throughout my career and life. I tend to only read non-fiction and some highly recommended reads for everyone are A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle), Blink (Malcom Gladwell), and Getting to Yes (Fisher, Ury, Patton). I recently started reading Secrets of Sand Hill Road (Scott Kupor) and am enjoying it so far.
We at Superangel are glad to welcome Harshita to Superangel team for the next 8 weeks. Harshita joined us through 101 Fellowship â a practical program designed for young people who are interested in venture capital.
I am a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying Computer Science, Economics, and Mathematics. My work experience has been quite diverse for the past four years. I have interned as a data scientist at Discover Financial, a software developer at Liberty Mutual, and a business consultant for my university. I have found all of my work experiences to be incredibly fulfilling, but what I am most proud of, is my time as a business consultant. In this role, I was able to help 20 startups get their bearings and put them on the path to success.Â
I chose to enter the world of venture capital for two reasons. First, I want to be a part of a field where my experience in technology and business would make me a valuable asset. Second, and most importantly, I want to be a part of a culture that is constantly innovating and making the world a better place. Startup culture is frequently disrupting markets and changing lives. I believe being a part of startup culture through venture capital allows me to be an integral part of this phenomenon through supporting innovators with great ideas and guiding startups towards creating a new and better reality.Â
Airbnb. I would invest in Airbnb because of its product management processes and focus on customer experiences. Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, is unmatched when it comes to finding what consumers not only want but desperately need. The companyâs ability to innovate and overcome new hurdles shows that the company can be successful and resilient in the long run. Additionally, I find Airbnbâs journey from a place where people could rent out their apartments or mattresses to strangers to now creating an entire personalized vacation experience to be quite innovative and inspiring.Â
Books I often recommend to people are: Outliers, the Field to Human-Centered Design Thinking, and the Harry Potter series. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a great book that examines success and failure and what factors help create the former. I found the anecdotal snippets of the book to help put my life in perspective and help me question my internal dialogue of what the meaning of success and failure is in my own life. I found the Field to Human-Centered Design Thinking to be an unconventional book to recommend to people. However, I found the book beneficial to those wanting to become an entrepreneur. It discusses how to create products best for the user but also provides examples of where human-centered design has benefited companies and consumers. Lastly, I will always recommend the Harry Potter series, because, in a year like 2020, everyone could use a small escape to a world full of wonder and magic.
We at Superangel are glad to welcome Rahul to Superangel team for the next 8 weeks. Rahul joined us through 101 Fellowship â a practical program designed for young people who are interested in venture capital.
I have a complicated international background, being half Indian and half Belgian, living in London, and growing up in Singapore, the Netherlands, and Wales. I’m currently a student at Middlebury College in Vermont, where I study Economics and Philosophy. I’ve had previous internships at two London-based startups, CognitionX and Fractal Labs, where I did all kinds of jobs and learnt a great deal about the startup world, building a company, and cutting-edge technology.Â
I’ve always been fascinated by startup culture and technology because of the potential they have for radical change on a massive scale. I consider myself to be an open-minded, out of the box thinker, which I feel lends itself well to the startup and VC environment where a mindset like that is necessary to succeed. To me, VC is an incredible space to be involved in because it gives you the opportunity to work with lots of great people and ideas, and help the best come out of them.
Tesla. I think Elon Musk is a true genius who is doing an incredible amount of good for the world in areas where no one has taken the risks nor been as successful as he has. It’s overwhelmingly clear that electric cars are the future, and Tesla is leading the way and setting the standard for the rest of the industry. Their new Gigafactories in China, Germany, and the US, combined with their recent record production numbers and profits are all signs that the hardships the company faced from 2017-2019 are long gone and the potential for future growth is enormous.Â
I’m a big fan of the Joe Rogan Experience because it involves a wide range of guests with all kinds of different expertise and talents, making each podcast a real learning experience. My top non-fiction books include AI Superpowers by Kai-fu Lee and the Elon Musk biography by Ashlee Vance, which I both cannot recommend enough. I don’t read a lot of fiction, but when I do I like something a bit philosophical. My favourites include 1984 by George Orwell and Siddartha by Herman Hesse, and I also recently enjoyed Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut.Â
Welcome Rahul and onwards!
We at Superangel are super excited to have Kaari Kink joining the team. She joined Superangelâs Venture Development team and is helping support the growth of our portfolio companies. We asked Kaari about her previous experience and why is she fond of early-stage technology companies.
I studied and worked in the UK for 4 years, and only recently moved back to Estonia. My most recent experience was working at a health technology startup Triumf Health, where I was involved with everything related to scaling the solution, including marketing and communication, the customer as well as market validation, and raising capital. This was an amazing opportunity to get the first-hand experience in helping early-stage startups grow. As a side-project, Iâm running an organisation that supports women and girls in their professional and personal life, and help out in initiatives that bring entrepreneurship opportunities closer to young girls.
Early-stage startups are like the beginnings of great stories – you keep reading because youâre excited to know what happens next, and hold your breath for plot twists. I also see early-stage startups as a place where quality, personalised support can make the biggest difference whether the startup is going to take off or not.
Superangel reputation precedes itself. Even before applying I had heard about the great people and success behind the company. Working in Superangel takes me out of my comfort zone in a positive way, and Iâm really motivated to grow and contribute to Superangelâs mission.
Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed, Factfulness by Hans Rosling, Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss & Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. Currently in my list to read thereâs also Why We Sleep and Who Can You Trust by Rachel Botsman – canât recommend them just yet but ask me again in a couple of months!
Welcome Kaari and onwards!