Southern Equity is a global investment firm focused on theme driven alternative and direct investments.
Joined March 2012
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7 Feb 2025
We’re entering a new chapter at Southern Equity. 🌍
As we continue to evolve, we invite investors, founders, and innovators to follow along as we share industry insights, portfolio updates, and perspectives on the trends shaping the future.
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According to a recent report, early-stage fundraising in 2026 is showing potential signs of bifurcation—what some are calling a "tale of two venture markets.” More than $300 billion was deployed in Q1 2026, yet deal volume fell below 4,000, down from over 5,000 a year earlier, as capital seemingly concentrated around a small group of mega AI companies. ⚙︎
The data could point to a clear AI premium: seed rounds for AI-native companies are commanding roughly a 42% premium, with revenue multiples of 20x to 30x compared to the ~10x once typical for SaaS. At the same time, bridge rounds have apparently become a new norm, making up about 29% of seed and Series A deals in 2025, as founders take on some dilution to reach their next milestone.
▶︎ Read the full breakdown: reachcapital.com/resources/t…
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Jun 12
Investors appear increasingly focused on a growing tension in the AI race: the four largest hyperscalers are projected to spend close to $700B on AI build-outs this year, even as that investment is expected to sharply reduce free cash flow. ↩︎
Some see a generational opportunity worth the upfront cost. Others are starting to question how quickly those returns will materialize.
Do you think the AI spending boom is sustainable?
► Read the full article from @CNBC here: cnbc.com/2026/02/06/google-m…
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Southern Equity retweeted
Jun 12
More than a demo, this was a real build
Mikhail Avady built an app live, showing how real-time image generation, Prodia's API, Lovable, and Magnific can come together in a practical creative workflow
Catch the full session on our YouTube channel
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Southern Equity retweeted
Jun 12
Celebrating a new era of Click.
CEO Andrew Jones shared at Constellation’s AGM: AI agents as part of the team—solving problems, guided by human managers, and freeing people for uniquely human work.
okt.to/uXVHFq
#AgenticAI #HumanCentricAI #AITransformation
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Jun 11
The IPO window may be opening—but that doesn't mean it's open for everyone.
With @SpaceX, @Anthropic, and @OpenAI potentially heading toward public markets, the attention is understandable. But as MGV's Marc Schröder points out, a handful of mega-listings doesn't signal a broad reopening.
For most startups, the more relevant opportunity could be on the M&A side—newly public AI giants with liquid stock and growing appetite to acquire.
Worth reading for founders thinking about exit strategy in the current environment.
Jun 11
The IPOs of @SpaceX, @AnthropicAI and @OpenAI this year may signal renewed activity in the public markets, but MGV co-founder Marc Schröder argues that founders should be careful not to mistake a handful of mega-listings for a broad reopening. Instead, he contends, startups should focus on positioning themselves for acquisition opportunities as newly public AI giants gain liquid stock and greater buying power.
news.crunchbase.com/public/i…
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Jun 10
Private market secondaries are seeing record activity with global secondaries transaction volume reaching $226 billion in 2025, up 41% from the prior year. ⚙︎ (@PitchBook)
A prolonged IPO slowdown appears to be a key driver, creating an exit bottleneck that has pushed investors and fund managers toward the secondaries market to unlock liquidity. An estimated 30,000 portfolio companies worldwide are awaiting exit, representing roughly $3.7 trillion in unrealized value.
▶︎ Read the full article: jpmorgan.com/insights/market…
▶︎ Stat source: pitchbook.com/news/articles/…
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Jun 10
Exciting milestone for @donmuir_ and the @F2aiHQ team! The momentum here has been impressive to watch—$24M in under 10 months says a lot about where the market is heading with AI-native infrastructure in private markets.
10 months ago we spun F2 out of Arc with a $10M pre-seed. Nascent tech, no traction. Today: live across 100 credit funds and banks (Bain Capital, Live Oak). MAUs up 650%. Deals up 10x YTD. We just raised $14M to double down.
Come Build with us.
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Otto Aerospace has completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for its Phantom 3500, a milestone that advances the business jet program from conceptual design into detailed design and production planning. ⌲
The review allowed Otto to move toward Critical Design Review and aircraft build, with first flight of Flight Test Vehicle 1 targeted for 2027.
The Phantom 3500 is built around Otto's applied laminar-flow technology, which is designed with the aim of significantly reducing the energy required for flight—an approach that could help define a new category of more efficient, sustainable aviation.
► Read more about the announcement: southernequity.com/news_insi…
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Internal Rate of Return (IRR) estimates the annualized return an investment is expected to generate by factoring in the timing and value of its cash flows. ↗︎
By comparing IRR to a company’s cost of capital, investors can assess whether an investment is likely to create value and how it stacks up against alternative opportunities.
It is often used alongside metrics like NPV to evaluate profitability, risk, and the overall attractiveness of long-term investments.
► Learn more about IRR: investopedia.com/terms/i/irr…
#Finance #Investing #PrivateEquity #Valuation #BusinessMetrics #IRR
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AI competition is increasingly shifting from compute to talent, as leading labs seem to prioritize hiring and retaining top researchers in a more mature infrastructure environment. ⚙︎
With major players already operating at scale, differentiation is beginning to hinge less on access to compute and more on the ability to drive breakthroughs, pushing compensation for elite talent into the tens or even hundreds of millions.
This dynamic could signal a new phase in the AI landscape, where human capital becomes the primary constraint, shaping both innovation cycles and competitive positioning across the ecosystem.
▶︎ Read more: sequoiacap.com/article/why-a…
#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Talent #Innovation #PrivateMarkets
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According to recent data, startups raised nearly $120 billion in 2025, up about 17% year over year, marking a continued recovery in venture funding. ⚙︎ (@cartainc)
At the same time, total deal count fell to a six-year low, potentially reflecting a growing concentration of capital into fewer, larger rounds — many of which seem to be driven by AI-focused companies.
This dynamic could point to a more selective funding environment, where scale, traction, and exposure to AI are increasingly influencing where capital flows across private markets.
▶︎ Read the full report: carta.com/data/state-of-priv…
#VentureCapital #PrivateMarkets #AI #Startups #Fundraising
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Southern Equity retweeted
Understanding AI Cost Ownership for Cannabis Operators in 2026
hubs.li/Q04jpZCt0
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Southern Equity retweeted
While many investors worry AI will commoditize software and erode pricing power, @strattamcapital co-founder and Crunchbase News columnist Bob Morse argues the opposite. Drawing on examples ranging from coal engines to data centers, Morse contends that AI-driven efficiency will unlock vast new demand for knowledge work, expanding the software market rather than shrinking it.
Read more here: news.crunchbase.com/saas/kno…
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You can work 5 days a week and succeed as a startup.
Mercury has done that from day 0 and we are valued @ $5.2bn 7 years after launch.
I have been an entrepreneur for 20 years and raised 3 kids while doing it.
The point of success is to have a great life not just a startup 😊
May 30
"If you are not working 7 days per week, you are going to lose".
Corgi Insurance is the most intense workplace culture in startups.
- The company works 7 days per week.
- Founder (@nico_laqua) lives and sleeps in the office.
- He built a cafe in the office because there was no local cafe that was open 24/7.
- 2/3 of the first 30 team members have the Corgi logo as a tattoo.
Today I went behind the scenes with Nico, who has used this culture to scale the company to a $2.6BN valuation in just two years.
My condensed notes below:
1. If You Are Not Working 7 Days Per Week, You Are Going to Lose:
Whatever you can get done in 5 days, you'll get more done in 6 and 7. If you are trying to solve the world’s hardest problems, a standard 5-day workweek will not cut it.
2. Work Trials Repel the Mediocre:
Corgi forces candidates into mock work trials over the weekend. If seeing a full office on a Saturday scares them, they don't belong. True intensity acts as a natural filter to attract killers and repel clock-watchers.
3. Lead from the Front Lines
You can’t demand 7-day weeks while sitting on a yacht. Nico sleeps 3–4 hours a night on a mattress inside the office. If you want your troops to bleed, you have to be in the trenches with them.
4. Culture Only Means One Thing: Winning
Forget superficial jargon like "hackers" or "ex-founders." Strip away the corporate fluff. A great startup culture is aggressively optimized around one single word: Winning.
5. Lifespan vs. Victories
Building something world-historic requires radical sacrifice. When asked if he'd rather build a trillion-dollar company and die at 50, or fail and live to 80, the answer was easy. "I would rather measure my lifespan in victories."
6. Reject the Comfort of "Quiet Quitting."
If you are operating in a hyper-growth environment and your days off happen to be Saturday and Sunday every single week, you are quiet quitting. To win, you must deliberately bypass the off-ramps of personal comfort and low volatility.
Corgi isn't for everyone—and that’s exactly the point.
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PlayVS (@playvs) has acquired @LeagueSpotGG, a global league and tournament management platform, with the aim of strengthening its technology and expanding its international competitive gaming network. ⌲
LeagueSpot brings robust league operations and multi-region competition infrastructure, while PlayVS continues to scale its platform across scholastic and collegiate esports ecosystems.
This acquisition could signal continued growth in structured, large-scale esports, as platforms invest in infrastructure to support global competition, partnerships, and more flexible league models.
► Read more about the announcement: playvs.com/news/playvs-acqui…
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Demand for agentic AI skills (AI systems that can autonomously plan, make decisions, and execute tasks across workflows) has increased by up to 60x year over year, as companies accelerate adoption of AI-driven systems and processes. ⚙︎ (@TheStartupsMag)
The shift is seemingly moving value away from execution-based roles toward those who can design, orchestrate, and manage interconnected AI systems, with demand for low-code tools rising more than 14x and AI expertise expanding beyond technical teams.
This trend could signal a broader transformation in the workforce, where technical skills are increasingly paired with system-level thinking, and AI fluency becomes essential across both technical and non-technical roles.
▶︎ Read the full article: startupsmagazine.co.uk/deman…
#ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork #Automation #TechTrends #Startups
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May 29
Agentic AI refers to systems that can take action autonomously on behalf of users. ⇥
Unlike traditional models that respond to prompts, agentic systems can plan, execute, and adapt across multi-step workflows.
The category appears to be gaining traction across industries where workflow automation can drive meaningful efficiency gains.
► Learn more: ibm.com/think/topics/agentic…
#ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #VentureCapital #PrivateMarkets #AIInvesting
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May 29
According to @PitchBook, agriculture tech, or agtech, deal value reached $1.5 billion in Q1 2026, marking a 25% increase quarter over quarter and possibly signaling a continued rebound in investment activity. ⚙︎
The uptick is apparently being driven by growing interest in dual-use technologies and robotics, as investors back solutions that can serve both agricultural and broader commercial or defense applications.
As global food demand rises and labor shortages persist, investment in automation and AI-driven agriculture could continue gaining momentum, positioning agtech as an area of renewed focus in venture markets.
▶︎ Read the full article: pitchbook.com/news/articles/…
#VentureCapital #Agtech #AI #Robotics #PrivateMarkets
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