Announces First Four Investments
Summary
We see Fillip capitalizing on several market shifts, including vertical-specific payment solutions, automation and optimization of back-office functionality, and is positioned to be part of the energy transition. From our first meeting, we were impressed by the clarity of the teams focus on the problem they were solving, their deep understanding of the industry and their customers, and the strong unit economics and growth they were achieving. The Sibli platform processes vast amounts of structured and unstructured data, finds relevant insights, and delivers actionable research to fundamental and quantitative asset managers.We met a founder of Sibli at an event in Toronto, and after spending time with the team, we were attracted by the vision, the depth of AI talent, and their initial traction, which led Staircase Ventures to lead their seed round. Therefore, we look for several characteristics before making an AI-first company investment, all which Sibli have: i) product in-market with paying customers and early product-market fit; ii) unique approach to solving the problem; iii) targeting a specific vertical or use case where the incumbents cannot effectively innovate; iv) a sustainable competitive moat. Finally, the Sibli teams story of grit, determination, and tenacity, combined with their growth mindset, and ability to attract and retain top talent, gave us the confidence that they will build a massive company.