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R3i Capital set to improve urban quality of life through its smart city deep tech accelerator fund

Leesa Soulodre, General Partner R3i Ventures and Chief EIR at the House of MedTech

Leesa Soulodre, General Partner R3i Ventures and Chief EIR at the House of MedTech

R3i Capital LP will provide seed-stage funding to 60 startups worldwide in the smart cities sector through its new gender smart, ESG fund.

R3i's 20M deeptech Accelerator Fund aims to transform the livability of our cities while providing returns through the arbitrage of geography, gender and ESG.”
— General Partner, Leesa Soulodre.
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, June 6, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- R3i Capital LP today announced the launch of its Accelerator Future Fund, a US$20 million seed-stage venture capital fund. Using a gender lens, the 506(c) Delaware-based fund will provide financing to 60 startups worldwide whose deep technology innovations improve the resilience and effectiveness of smart cities’ interconnected systems: energy, water, transportation, the built environment, health, food and agriculture, and safety and security.

“We see immense opportunities for cities to become more resilient by taking advantage of digitalization and new technology, while at the same time contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” says R3i Capital’s General Partner and cofounder Leesa Soulodre. “Market researchers agree with us, predicting a 14-29% CAGR for smart city technology through 2030. And our focus is global because disruptive innovations from outside the US are so often overlooked and underfunded, as are female founders.”

The first of R3i’s five planned funds, the Accelerator Future Fund’s allocation across its 60 seed rounds will be 70% deeptech and 30% MedTech. Instead of holding reserves for follow-on funding, the fund will make those pro-rata rights available to its LPs via R3i’s Special Purpose Vehicle Deal Desks in London with Vauban and via the US with Allocations. Founders supported by the fund can expand into new geographic markets through the team’s existing accelerator landing pads in Singapore and Luxembourg, and from next year in Texas as well. The team’s broader vision is to mobilize US$1B for climate finance by 2032.

R3i offers three unique features: an empirically validated data-driven selection process for key startup hires that helps identify and build teams capable of building and exiting a company valued from $6M-1.2B; exclusive access to gender lens deal flow through a 20-nation partnership with She Loves Tech, a platform committed to closing the funding gap for women entrepreneurs; and a proprietary due diligence process that considers ESG product impact for responsible investment.

The R3i team is a signatory to Beyond the Billion and a graduate of the elite Coolwater Capital VC Accelerator. In the past 18 months, the team’s programs helped 222 startups expand into new geographic markets and win more than US$55M in non-dilutive capital, while also providing hands-on commercialization, capitalization and R&D grant application support to founders to influence returns and reduce risk.

Prior to launching the fund, Soulodre built a 20-year track record as a serial deeptech entrepreneur in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas. In founder and CxO leadership roles, Soulodre led companies ranging from seed-stage to US$14B valuations into new markets and products, had one IPO and supported two exits. Soulodre has contributed to the development and market adoption of half a dozen new reputation risk and ESG risk tools since 2009.

Soulodre has helped companies raise over US$200M in seed to series C investments, and her R3i angel portfolio is currently benchmarked in the 99th percentile, according to AngelList Ventures’ VC Fund Performance Calculator. But her company’s societal impact will go far beyond shareholder returns. For example, Australian startup MGA Thermal is printing 2Mw of clean solar thermal storage each day. New York-based startup ViewMind received accolades from Frost & Sullivan for its non-invasive, affordable and highly accurate technology for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders. Diagnostics from Singapore startup Stratificare accurately predict the severity of new dengue cases, eliminating unnecessary hospitalization. Australian quantum computer startup Quantum Brilliance is designing 50-qubit GPU-style accelerator boards that can be plugged into any computer, with no need for energy-hungry cryogenics. All four companies are showing strong returns.

The R3i Capital team is advised by Henry Wong, a veteran of five IPOs and three VC funds, including Diamond Tech Ventures, the Taiwanese President Fund and funds for Guy Kawasaki at Garage Tech Ventures. The team is also advised by longtime UIUC computer science professor Marianne Winslett, the former director of the Advanced Digital Sciences Center in the smart city of Singapore. A global team of community and venture partners provides the firm with prowess in IP, brand protection and anti-counterfeit, deep industry domain expertise, market intelligence and deal sourcing.

About R3i Capital
R3i Capital is raising US$20M to provide inclusive seed-stage funding to 60 companies worldwide in the smart-city sector for those technologies that can deliver both returns and ESG impact.

Leesa Soulodre
R3i Capital LP
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