Good evening everyone. I think I might be standing between you and dessert or at least between you and Robbie. So, I’ll be as quick as I can. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Peter Thomson. I’m the Chief Technology Officer of Icehouse Ventures.
Last year, we put an entire startup portfolio in your pocket. 300 companies and a billion dollars in assets under management live on your phone. But a lot’s changed in a year. Technology has advanced, funds have grown, and we’re investing in Kiwi startups around the world. But what hasn’t changed is that we want you to be deeply connected and supporting these companies all year round.
And to do that, you need to be informed. But we also know that you don’t do this for a living. You have a day job and a family and you shouldn’t need to spend your Sunday afternoons doing homework just to answer a simple question about your portfolio. We took a massive data set and we put it at your fingertips. But it’s not quite enough. This year, we want to give you access to the same advanced analytics and data and insights that we use every day as venture capital investors.
So tonight, I’m proud to introduce the Icehouse Ventures investor agent. So it’s not just another chatbot. This is a new way to ask the numbers what they mean. Your agent can draw from the entire body of data across the portal. That’s 15 years of Jack’s fund reports, Matt’s investment statements, Coco’s capital calls, and Robbie’s favourite benchmarks. Your agent has read them all. Built by Ian, designed by Logan, and data wrangled by Hayden into a single seamless experience. We’re giving you the same tools and data that we use to analyze companies and funds.
My daughter Isabelle was recently diagnosed with dyslexia. She hates reading big walls of text. And we’re finding as a family that some of these new AI tools can make things more visual and more engaging and help her. And I think the AI could do the same to help demystify startup investing. To handle all this information, the agent now runs on a database provider called Supabase, which is a new Growth Fund 3 portfolio company. So if the agent does well, then you can thank Mason who put that deal together. And if the agent crashes, well, then you can blame me.
So let’s talk about three questions that you can ask your agent tonight.
One, how’s Sharesies doing? You’ll get the answer in plain English across fund reports, shareholder updates, company updates, performance metrics, all in one place without scanning through old emails.
Two, where’s my money? Funding rounds and capital calls can move pretty quickly. And this year, we even generated some returns so your agent can now keep an eye on money coming in and out of your portfolio.
Three, who’s who in the zoo? The venture investors that I meet seem to have two traits. A hunger to learn and a bit of a competitive streak if I’m honest. But the industry is traditionally very opaque which slows things down and slows down feedback cycles because it’s hard to figure out how am I doing? Well, now you can compare yourself to every investor that has ever invested through Icehouse Ventures. Or, if you want to all of the people that came along tonight in the Showcase attendees. Or if you really want to, you can ask your agent to compare your investments to the Icehouse Ventures team’s personal portfolios.
Well, ultimately, no crystal ball can tell you what startups will be successful. Your agent can at least give you the data to make informed choices. So last year, we put a startup portfolio in your pocket. This year, it can now talk back. Tonight’s founders are out there using AI and advanced technology to take on the world.
And now you and your agent can be right there with them. Thank you. Over to you, Robbie.