Seth Bannon is the Founding Partner of Fifty Years, a $50m early stage deep tech fund.

• Seth is a long-time advocate and campaigner, who turned to technology and investment to solve the world’s biggest problems around sustainability, food, and the digital divide.
• A graduate of Y Combinator, Seth was named twice to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Entrepreneurship.
• Seth believes business will be about more than just profit (more here), and Fifty Years has supported a range of startups shaping the world for the better — from microbe engineering for sustainable chemistry, to small satellites for low-cost global internet coverage, to clean meat.

This podcast is hosted by Benjamin Joffe, Partner at SOSV, a global early stage fund focused on deep tech. SOSV runs multiple accelerator programs including HAX (intelligent hardware) and IndieBio (life sciences). SOSV and Fifty Years have co-invested in several companies mentioned in this podcast such as Memphis Meats (clean meat pioneer, raised $181m), Geltor (synthetic human collagen) and Catalog DNA.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Seth talks about:

• What prompted him to create a fund focused on the world’s biggest problems, and how its name relates to Winston Churchill’s prophetic 1931 essay titled Fifty Years Hence.
• How Silicon Valley needs to go back to its roots: focusing on technology to lift all sectors — including food, industry and healthcare — to the digital age.
• Why biology is having its ‘Internet time’.
• The challenges PhDs face when they become founders to translate their research.
• How magnetic, resourceful, resilient doers are founders with high potential.
• His approach to opportunistic investments in deep tech.
• Using publication research for initial technical due diligence in new domains.
• The benefits of portfolio network effects.
• Finally, we discuss the affects of the Covid-19 pandemic on venture, and the silver lining of how such an intense global events might give rise to major scientific advances in a compressed timeframe.

References Mentioned

• Fifty Years Hence, a 1931 essay by Winston Churchill
• The Fifty Years portfolio companies tackling Covid-19
• Memphis Meats: clean meat pioneer, raised $181m.
• Geltor: synthetic human collagen.
• Catalog DNA: DNA-based data storage.
• Astranis: smaller & low-cost satellites for global internet coverage.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (7 Seasons on Netflix)
• Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter

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