Thijs Reiling, Jeroen Ekkel and Jelle Drijver discuss the Rabobank Startup/Scale-up team's role in providing loans, knowledge sharing, and networking support to startups and scale-ups. Special guest at the table is Nicolo Comparini, co-founder of Syntric AI. He applied for the Rabobank Innovation Loan. Nicolo praises the efficient process and highlights the benefits of reporting to investors as it helps entrepreneurs gain a broader perspective on their business. He also discusses his company's funding situation before applying for the Rabo Innovation Loan.

Nicolo discusses the challenges of valuing a company in its early stages and explains why traditional valuation methods don't work. He mentions that the Rabo Innovation Loan is a non-dilutable way of financing the company, providing time to generate cashflow before repayment begins. The loan has allowed Centric AI to hire necessary team members, increase revenues, and reach almost break-even status. 

Nicolo also highlights how having support from an established organization like Rabobank helps with validation for investors and clients. The loan has enabled growth for Syntric AI by unlocking hiring and infrastructure costs. 

In addition to financial support, Nicolo appreciates the bank's guidance and commercial validation. For the future, he aims to close deals with target companies in their solid pipeline while considering additional investment for developing new product lines focused on generating synthetic artificial faces.

The speaker discusses the need to generate artificial people for various AI applications, such as weapon detection and fall detection for the elderly. The ownership of the generated faces is attributed to Syntric AI, and they offer two business models - a permanent license or a subscription model. The length of contracts can vary depending on regulatory constraints, with potential extensions for certain industries like automotive. The speaker notes that companies often start with the pay-as-you-go option before moving to a recurring partnership once convinced of its effectiveness. Lastly, they advise startup entrepreneurs to start early due to challenges in attracting investment at an early stage.

TAKEAWAYS

• Main guest: Nicolo Comparini, from Syntric AI.
• Company focuses on building AI models using millions of examples..
• Rabobank Startup Scale Up team provides loans, knowledge, and network.
• Rabobank's innovation loan.
• Nicolo discusses the importance of reporting to investors and how this forces you to zoom out.
• Nicolo explains several startup and scale-up terms.
• Importance of finding clients and go-to-market channels.
• Application process for the Rabo Innovation loan.
• Financial projections and pitch deck are required for the application.
• Bank looks at documentation, proof points, and the proposition.
• Nicolo's objectives for the next year include generating artificial people and working on algorithms.
• Nicolo's advice to startup entrepreneurs regarding the Rabo Innovation Loan is to start early.

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In Dotslash On-Air hoor je gesprekken en verhalen van startup & scale-up founders, corporate partners en investeerders uit het netwerk van Dotslash Utrecht. 

Hoorde je iemand met wie je graag in contact wil komen? Presentator en communitymanager Jelle Drijver verbindt jullie graag aan elkaar.

Jouw verhaal ook een keer in deze podcast? Stuur een e-mail naar info@dotslash.nl.

Deze podcast wordt mede mogelijk gemaakt door: (in willekeurige volgorde) Deloitte, Capgemini, Rabobank, Peper in je Pand, Gemeente Utrecht, StartUp Utrecht, SHV, Philadelphia Zorg, BORON Management, GREEN real-estate en Peper in je Pand. Stuk voor stuk partners van Dotslash, dé Startup locatie van Nederland.

Dotslash Utrecht:
Website: http://dotslash.nl
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dotslashutrecht

Presentator: Jelle Drijver
Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/jelledrijver

Muziek: Kitchen Collective

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1cfOvYx0AeuFv3iLyaqEPE?si=S3gYuGC6SPC9NEVXdde8QA