Frederic Court

Good to see my colleague at AniVC , Vlad Cernouţan, featured in The Woof newsletter 🐾, sharing some sharp insights on what’s shaping investor decisions in the pet space 🔥. 😎 ☕ 🐾 💡 Vlad makes a strong case for what continues to matter: real defensibility — whether through IP, data, or brand equity, and the importance of teams that can go beyond just building products, but also being able to execute and scale business models. He also emphasizes that customer acquisition means little without long-term retention and trust, especially in regulated or care-driven parts of the market. He also highlights a few areas with strong return potential: 👉 Longevity and preventive health are moving from human to pet care, driven by tech and streamlined regulation. 👉 Functional nutrition (“Nutrition 2.0”) is evolving — no longer just about affordability, but about proven, evidence-backed benefits. 👉 AI-powered infrastructure is finally solving some of the stubborn problems in vet ops, insurance, and other fragmented parts of the ecosystem. 👉 Human biotech crossovers and integrated health platforms could reshape the next wave of innovation. 🐾 I am inspired about being able to move a needle in the pet industry, via our work at AniVC and for those who don’t know, our cofounder and partner Anna Skaya is a stellar founder herself—she built Basepaws, one of the first at-home DNA testing startups for pets, and led it all the way to acquisition 😎. Now she’s channeling that same passion into AniVC, helping back the next wave of innovators in the animal space 🚀. So, if you’re building something exciting in pet tech or animal health 🔬, or investing in it 💰, reach out. We’d love to connect! ☕ Last but not least, kudos to the Roy Ben-Tzvi from The Woof Newsletter for the article, link in the comments 👇 Image credit: The Woof.

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Purpose has always been really deeply imbedded in the work I do. It’s driven me to cross oceans, change careers … and now even start a company. It’s something that was central for Andrew Anderson, myself and the Deep Science Ventures team when we founded HotGreen in 2024. We spun out of DSV’s climate vertical, which is focused on optimising degrees of global heating averted. DSV identified the opportunity area of industrial heat as an area with a significant climate potential (~19% global emissions) that had been chronically underserved by innovation -  the ‘elephant in the room’ I knew all too well from my own experience in the space. But, after collectively having over 100 conversations with industry leaders, we heard two key factors that together would support adoption. The technology needed to be: ✅ *Commercially viable* – it had to save money while cutting emissions ✅ *A direct steam boiler replacement*– it needed to realise the same temperatures, have similar flexibility, and broadly fit into their existing plant setup in the same way as their current boiler systems Our core belief as a business is that industrial heat decarbonization will only accelerate when it's profitable AND easy for plants to do so. We needed a solution that could compete head-to-head with incumbent systems, rather than just appealing to those willing to pay green premiums. After studying the current incumbents and innovation space, we found that no solution existed yet that hit both of the points above, and so we embarked on our own R&D journey to develop a new class of heat pumps that could. Please do follow our journey at HotGreen Solutions! #CleanTech #IndustrialDecarbonization #HeatPumps #ClimateInnovation #NetZero

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