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BADideas.fund's Bold Bet on Value.Space

Author
Raimonds Kulbergs
Date published
May 19, 2023

Recently we made our biggest ticket to date when we decided to back Value.Space with a €220K check in their oversubscribed second close, a part of their €2.1M seed round. It’s a big milestone for our investor community, so in this piece we’re diving in the ins and outs of this deal and what’s next for Value.Space.

Why and how did Value.Space end up being the next investment of BADideas.fund helpful founders and operators community? Let’s dive in.

Why Value.Space? Unpacking the Unique Solution and Market Potential

Value.Space leverages satellite technology to detect anomalies in critical assets like dams, bridges, and mining plants in order to give insurance, finance industry and governments an unprecedented upper hand in risk prevention. This isn't just about putting some satellite maps together, but rather complex data computations that involve data rendering from different maps with the ability to both look years back and have it real time. The implications of this approach are huge. Aging and deteriorating infrastructure is a global problem, and climate change is only accelerating the risks associated with these structures. Right now Value.Space's technology helps insurers assess risks more accurately and effectively, providing them an edge over competitors.

Needless to say that their market potential is vast. Just one use-case could lead to 410,000,000 one-time assessments, generating up to €340B in revenue, and that’s without considering the potential of other sectors - governments, international organizations, large scale infrastructure owners, and more.

Delving into BADideas.fund's Investment Strategy

BADideas.fund evaluated Value.Space's potential based on four critical aspects: team, market, product/traction, and distribution. With a total weighed score of 3.52 out of 4, Value.Space ticked all the right boxes, and our investors highlight a number of reasons why they believe in Value.Space:

✅ Team - A big part of Value.Space's appeal is its strong founding team, which boasts deep technical and domain (insurance) expertise. They've demonstrated the ability to engage policy makers, which is key in educating the market about their novel solution.

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Team is always hands down the most important aspect we look for so it was important that all investors were equally excited.

✅ Market potential - with a huge opportunity in the insurance sector alone, it was clear that the team operates in the right segment. This, alongside the experienced team and Value.Space's proprietary product, was the key consideration for Janis Krums.

✅ Product traction - their paradigm-shifting technology and the potential future use-cases it could unlock were a huge draw to us, and the key reason why Lauris Lietavietis was excited to back them

✅ Distribution strategy - Ben Leblois highlighted the team’s first-hand experience within target customer base as a key success factor that the team is leveraging with a compelling roadmap to product-market fit.

The Future Outlook: Value.Space's Growth and Risks

Value.Space has already achieved considerable traction, generating revenue and working with Tier-1 insurance companies.

However, as with any investment, there are risks. To name a few, sales cycles in insurance are long, and the market is highly concentrated. There's also the challenge of educating the market about this new approach. However, Value.Space is well-positioned to overcome these hurdles, given that the team has demonstrated the ability to engage policy makers and and use funding to keep building the product in order to increase the number of assessments per month.

The recent €2.1 million funding round is a significant boost for Value.Space's growth plans. Not only will this allow them to capture a bigger market share in the insurance industry, but will also open doors for them to expand their product offer to other segments in the finance industry.

The Broader Impact: Value.Space in the Context of Climate Change

For us, backing Value.Space goes beyond having a solid investment opportunity - it's a solution to a critical global issue. The increasingly alarming impact of climate change on aging infrastructure poses immense risks to economies worldwide. By uncovering these risks, Value.Space leverages risk prevention on a new level to mitigate the impact of climate change and make our future more secure, literally.

As Reijo Pold, founder of Value.Space, puts it:

"The facts speak for themselves: Swiss Re estimates that in 2021, the economic loss from natural catastrophes amounted to $270 billion, $111 billion of which were insured losses. That is a huge protection gap. We are now able to provide a new and scalable way to make risks and opportunities quantifiable, which the insurance market desperately needs in order to manage and absorb future risks."

To sum up

BADideas.fund's investment in Value.Space is more than just another venture capital deal. It's us taking a bold stance to back innovative technology that solves global problems, and the willingness of daring investors to back truly impactful solutions. The sky’s space’s the limit for Value.Space, and we can't wait to see how this investment propels their growth and impact.