04/08/2022
As our portfolio ventures evolve, so do their needs, challenging us to keep pace with them to help support them in the best ways possible. As such, earlier this year we opened a new Katalysen hub in the U.S. Based in San Francisco, the “tech hub of the world”, this presence allows us to help our client and portfolio ventures discover new exciting opportunities in the U.S. market, and it enables Katalysen to grow its global reach and unique network of partners.
Real actions create real results
Having a hub sounds wonderful but what does it mean in practice? A couple of examples, of real support that we are bringing to our portfolio ventures in the U.S. market. These range from supporting early market testing to establishing offices, assisting sales, and eventually introducing relevant U.S.-market investors.
Presence on the ground opens high-impact doors and allows low-cost market testing
In November we are for example attending the San Francisco Nordic Food Summit together with our client venture Meal Makers. As a venture developer it is easy for Katalysen to act as a physical extension of a venture’s team. This in turn allows us to engage with valuable networks on behalf of our venture clients, and to prepare and support their teams for maximum impact when teams do make it over to explore the U.S market.
Introducing the right local partners to ensure the best possible start
One of the most vital parts of getting off to the best possible start when entering a new market is having the right support structure in place. Oftentimes there is no need to “reinvent the wheel”, and if a venture has a need for local resellers, legal counsel, headhunters, or other service providers, then Katalysen can support companies in finding the right partners throughout the U.S.
Expertise within U.S. incorporation and office setup ensures the softest possible landing
Once a venture is ready to set up its own U.S. operations, we can help with corporate setup and office location. Since the U.S. is such a fractured landscape of startup incentives, tax legislation, and go-to-market opportunities, it might feel daunting to find the perfect location and setup that fits the business.
In tandem with our advisors, we can support ventures in this process, and together ensure that they receive all the right ingredients for long-term success. We for example recently attended Select USA and forged relationships with 24 different state governments to help with access to resources across states.
Hands-on customer acquisition and management support to accelerate U.S. market entry
We can support almost all steps of a venture’s client acquisition and management process in the U.S. market. At one extreme, we function as an extension of the venture in the U.S., managing customer acquisition, support, and retention.
In contrast, the engagement can be scaled down to fit individual needs where we only facilitate introductions, manage support during U.S. hours, or any combination of services. As an example, we are engaged as a U.S. “sales agent” to one of our client ventures, actively helping with finding leads, securing agreements, and upselling to existing clients.
Once the timing is right, we can offer shortcuts to U.S. investors
With Katalysen’s unique business model that helps reduce risk to investors, we have found a strong interest from U.S. co-investors. We are already in early talks with several strategic VCs and co-investors, keeping an eye open to providing our portfolio ventures with improved access to growth capital.
In summary…
We have a lot going on with all these exciting ongoing activities and with the work of embedding ourselves in the VC landscape and early-stage ecosystem. Consequently, we are currently primarily focused on the needs of our existing portfolio ventures.
Once we are properly settled in, we will widen our scope and begin scouting for innovative early-stage US companies that we can support in their ambitions of expanding their businesses across the pond in Europe, similar to our offer for Indian SaaS companies.
We are very excited about the future of our engagements in the U.S., and the whole team is highly motivated by the great response from both ventures, investors, and authorities here in the states!
Contact our U.S.-based partner Marcus Wikars at mw@katalysen.com for more information.