EVCA Newsletter | August Edition - The Latest VC Jobs, Events, and Content
Despite the general slowdown in VC activity in recent months, AI investments seemed to have bucked the general macro trend, with AI companies continuing to raise mega rounds at frothy valuations. Meanwhile, investor interest in other hyped markets like the metaverse, Web3, and cryptocurrency have swiftly fallen, a dramatic reversal from their market peak in the days of the pandemic. This all begs to question whether AI is just an example of another overly hyped space waiting for an eventual comedown or something more enduring. There are certain aspects to this upsurge in AI that are undeniably compelling. It is hard to deny, for example, the 15-20% in gains in developer productivity enabled by Generative AI, according to one Goldman Sachs analyst, or the real-world adoption and deployment of AI products across the big tech companies. Of course, the reality is that we can never know we’re in a bubble until it pops…
And with that bit of introductory fanfare, welcome back to the August edition of the EVCA newsletter!
Spotlight Feature: Meet Keith Bender, Partner at Pear VC
We had the chance to interview Keith Bender, who is a Partner at Pear VC. Keith shares his origins story—from starting his career as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group to investing in early-stage startups at Pear VC. Keith also shares his lessons and thoughts from his career.
Featured Investors
This month we highlight David Bloom of Kyber Knight Capital and Hailey Hu of AiiM Partners as our featured investors of the EVCA community.
David Bloom is Senior Associate at Kyber Knight Capital, a newly launched $120m preseed and seed fund based in San Francisco. KKC invests in founders building across AI, labor, commerce, and the built environment. Prior to launching Kyber Knight Capital he spent his early venture career at Signia Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital, and The House Fund. David focuses on companies building solutions at the intersection of industrials, labor, and AI.
Hailey Hu is an Investment Director at AiiM Partners, an early growth fund investing in differentiated climate technology solutions across a $17 trillion market opportunity in four key sectors-- data & digitization, energy transition, alternative materials and agriculture & food systems. Previously Hailey was an investor at B Capital Group, a global growth fund backed by BCG, and a strategy consultant in Accenture's healthcare practice. Hailey has an MBA from INSEAD and a degree in finance and economics from UPenn/Wharton.
EVCA Leadership Spotlight: Impact Program Co-Lead, Carl Choi of Alumni Ventures
This EVCA Leadership Spotlight Series is intended to help the broader community get to know what's going on behind the scenes at the EVCA, as well as highlight the valuable contributions of the roughly 50 individuals across the venture capital industry who make the EVCA possible.
Carl Choi is a senior principal at Alumni Ventures, where he focuses on various sectors including climate, AI, digital health, B2B software and Future of Work across all stages. Previously, Carl led strategic initiatives as a director of corporate strategy at Upwork, drove inorganic growth through M&As at Riverbed Technology, and spent time at J.P. Morgan in San Francisco. Hailing from Canada, Carl holds a double degree in Math and Business from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, respectively, and an MBA from UC Berkeley. Outside of work, Carl is an avid soccer player and a strategic board game geek.
What We’re Reading
Here we share our favorite content produced from EVCA members across the world:
You Should Be Building in the Hidden Layers - Nir Zicherman of Spotify and Anchor, shares three reasons he sees why hidden layer strategies are naturally advantaged when an industry first emerges
Venture Capital Is Not Made For Trillion-Dollar Businesses - David Zhou of Cup of Zhou, tackles the question of how much capital is needed to get these companies to billion-dollar outcomes
AI & The Era of Ever-Evolving Employment - Meera Clark of Redpoint Ventures, explore how AI advances will truly impact our corporate constructs and the communities of workers who comprise them
The RTP Gold Rush: 10 FedNow Predictions - Rocio Wu of F-Prime Capital, predicts how the FedNow launch will affect US payments, which use cases will gain the most traction, and where the economic opportunities lie
Events
Fundraising from MENA LPs | Early August | Hosted by EVCA | RSVP in the #events channel on the EVCA Slack page
Networking & AMA w/ Ankur Nagpal | August 8 | Hosted by Zehra and Ocho
Unpacking Carry | Late August | Hosted by EVCA | RSVP in the #events channel on the EVCA Slack page
Atlanta Chapter Dinner | Late August | Hosted by EVCA | RSVP in the #events channel on the EVCA Slack page
Discussion of "Who Owns the Future?" | August 23 | Hosted by Austin Forum
Scale School: Scaling in the Age of AI | August 30 | Hosted by Scale School and Wharton San Francisco
Global Energy Trends and Transitions | August 31 | Hosted by Austin Forum
Jobs
Associate Role in Austin, TX at Capstar Ventures. If interested, send your resume and cover letter addressing the questions listed in the EVCA slack channel to venture@capstarventures.com
Associate Role in San Francisco, CA at Telstra Ventures. If interested, reach out to Yash Patel yash@telstraventures.com, Saad Siddiqui saad@telstraventures.com or Eugin Lee eugin@telstraventures.com
Healthcare IT and Services (HITS) Associate Role in Boston, MA at F-Prime Capital. If interested, send an email to recruiting@fprimecapital.com
Biotechnology Principal in Waltham, MA / Menlo Park, CA / McLean, VA at In-Q-Tel
Biotechnology Partner in Waltham, MA / Menlo Park, CA / McLean, VA at In-Q-Tel
Healthcare Analyst Role in Philadelphia, PA at Touchdown Ventures
Senior Associate Role in Philadelphia, PA at Touchdown Ventures
Investment Associate Role in San Francisco, CA at GSV Ventures
Connect with us: EVCA, Sam, Adam, and Isaac
Do you have something to share with the EVCA community? Submit your writings, announcements, events, and asks for future newsletter publications by clicking on the button below!