The coronavirus crisis is turning stock markets around the world upside down and making investors much more cautious about where to deposit their money.
In the case of startups or emerging companies, many financing operations are being suspended or paralyzed, which is a big problem for many entrepreneurs. When it comes to these types of companies, the delay of a few weeks in obtaining a capital injection or the cancellation of a round can lead to running out of liquidity and being forced to close.
However, in the new international scenario that is being created due to the spread of the virus and quarantines, some sectors or businesses are becoming fundamental and that is where business angels and venture capital firms are depositing their money.
Startups that, in one way or another, have ideas or tools to deal with the pandemic, could be strengthened. Some initiatives have already emerged to finance this type of project.
The most notorious is the one promoted by Sam Altman , CEO of the artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI, former president of the Y Combinator incubator and one of the best-known investors in the US . Altman has invested in many technology companies during his career, including Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, Pinterest, or Change.org.
These are the startups that interest you
The well-known investor has proposed to financially support all those companies that have products or services of this type :
- Those who are capable of producing a large number of respirators, masks, or gowns quickly.
- Those who achieve effective medicines or prove the effectiveness of existing medicines against the virus.
- Those that have new approaches to vaccines.
- New techniques or therapies that the big pharmaceutical companies are not working on.
“I’m trying to fund startups or projects that help with COVID-19, because it’s basically the only thing I know how to do to help. I believe that soon we will have sufficient testing capacity, so I would like to financially support startups that work in these areas, “says Altman through a post on his blog.
The investor’s appeal prompted half a thousand projects to sign up just one day after the announcement . Altman has not initially promised to provide all funds from his pocket, but has asked entrepreneurs to complete a public spreadsheet that can be viewed by any interested investor.
Efforts in this regard are also being carried out from the public sphere. In the Old Continent, the European Commission has been more specific and has launched a fund of 164 million dollars for all those startups and small businesses with technologies and innovations that help the treatment, testing, monitoring and other aspects of COVID- 19. The fund does not focus on specific topics or businesses, but its purpose is exclusively to find solutions to deal with the coronavirus.
The application period, however, has only been open for a few days and would have ended today.
