Sep 5, 2022

Last Updated: September 5, 2022 While developing “hard” technologies might be challenging, great advances often bring large financial rewards and new possibilities. To “benefit billions of lives and save the planet,” Cantos has now completed its third fund, which will invest in science-forward enterprises at the pre-seed and seed phases. My undergraduate degree is in the field of international relations. Having zero technical knowledge, I can’t help you. Ian Rountree, GP and founder of Cantos Ventures, freely confesses, “I’ve always been somewhat of a reader and observer of science fiction.” You often hear clichés about current venture capital that, in my opinion, are untrue. Among these misconceptions are the ideas that “hardware is hard and sluggish” and that “hard tech” requires more money to implement. The common perception is that it is not as beneficial as investing. If you consider the world’s most pressing issues, though, you have to question. Building actual things in the real world is certainly more influential than software in many circumstances, but venture money was basically scared away from it, making it harder to combat climate change, illness, armed conflict, existential danger, and poverty. I found that really unsettling. When Rountree looked more closely at the industry, he found potential where others saw danger. If everyone on Sandhill Road is unequivocally stating, “I’m not investing in hardware and bio,” then perhaps this is an attractive space to enter, as Rountree suggests. Cantos 3 is investing mostly in highly technical climate, TechBio, aerospace, and next-gen computer firms at the pre-seed and seed stages. It boasts that it is more tolerant of technological risk taken by entrepreneurs than is typical at other VC companies. “We seek to minimize market risk, and we look for companies making commodities cheaper and with a lower carbon footprint, raising the standard of care, or improving the defense capabilities of democratic nations. We believe the largest companies can also have the biggest positive impact on people and our shared planet when stewarded well, so we aim to back entrepreneurs with the ambition to build $10 billion to $100 billion companies and beyond,” Rountree says. “Our thesis is that such companies will either offer platform potential or be full-stack. We view our founder partners as the new industrialists.”