Cedric Duvinage
19.6.2020
3 min read
Early-stage founders are you ready to change the world for the better? As an entrepreneur, you are strong in developing problem-solving businesses. It's a good thing as you have the capabilities and drive to make an impact by solving some of the most critical problems that are still out there.
At better ventures, we invest money, time, and our brains in early-stage founders who aim to change our world for the better. If you are based in Europe and have a business idea or a newly started business that tackles one of the issues below, we should definitely talk! We are looking forward to getting to know you and perhaps fund and support you in building a successful company.
Here is a list of problems that we want to solve with you (the list does not represent a ranking or prioritization and will be updated):
1. Children's health, education, and parenting issues: Children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Solutions that promote children's health, physical, mental, and intellectual development and/ or help parents to develop healthy parenting habits are close to our hearts.
2. Reduction and recycling of plastic: Humans have produced more than 8 billion tons of plastic until today, less than 10 percent of it has been recycled. Over time, much of it has broken into tiny particles that make their way into lakes, rivers, and oceans, eventually contaminating our food and water. Eco-friendly alternatives to plastic and solutions that reduce and/or recycle plastic will help to save our seas and protect our food and health.
3. Preventive health and improvement of human abilities: Each year millions of people die of preventable deaths. Solutions that promote an active, healthy, and mindful lifestyle or enhance human abilities can provide better patient outcomes whilst saving societies and patients from expensive healthcare costs.
4. Access to affordable healthy food: Obesity is rising among both children and adults worldwide. Obesity is not necessarily a form of “overnutrition” but another kind of malnutrition. People consume pre-packed food that is low in nutrients, and high in preservatives and carbs. We are looking for solutions to provide healthy, nutritious food for everyone.
5. Reskilling, personal development, and learning: The way we work is changing rapidly. Skills we have acquired today might not be needed in the years to come. Many people fear a lack of economic opportunities and unemployment. Solutions that enable reskilling, personal development, and lifelong learning will be key for employment and economic wealth for individuals as well as for societies.
6. CO2 emissions and CO2 storage: CO2 emissions caused by people, products, events, and businesses excessively increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing global warming and climate change. We will need solutions that reduce CO2 emissions, recycle CO2 into products, and/or permanently restore CO2 that we might have to pull out of the atmosphere.
7. Gender inequality: Women are often at a disadvantage compared to men when it comes to well-being, job market, income, access to leadership positions, start-up funding, and more. Solutions that help to assure a diverse and skilled workforce pool, family tasks fairly shared, the same chances, and the same resources to men and women will lead to prospering economies.
8. Sustainable food systems and less food waste: By 2050 the food system will have to feed 3 billion more people worldwide, whilst agriculture is a major source of gas emissions. With 30% of food lost or wasted, a third of the food system’s environmental impact happens without feeding anyone. Solutions to how we can produce low-carbon and nutritious food and/or reduce food waste are urgently needed.
9. Aging populations: In developed industrial economies, the population will age in the following decades. As a result, the working population is shrinking and aging, healthcare, and pension costs are rising. Thus, technological progress can be more limiting for some older people. Solutions that include the elderly population into the job market and technological revolution or prepare for this demographic shift will contribute to the economic advancement of countries, and allow populations - both young and old - to live long and prosper.
10. Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity is one of the biggest threats to the world economy over the next 5 to 10 years. Cyberattacks are getting more and more sophisticated involving malware, phishing, cryptocurrency jacking, IoT attacks, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, placing data and assets of corporations, governments, and individuals at risk. Solutions that prevent those attacks will ensure that the promise of next-generation technology is not derailed, but rather the beginning of a transformative decade to come.