EVCA Newsletter | August Edition - the latest VC news, jobs, and events
With less than one hundred days until the presidential election, Silicon Valley has been thrust onto the national stage. The stakes are high, and the tech world seems to have ruptured across two ideological camps. The technocrats, tasting the opportunity for political power, are throwing their weight behind Trump. The other camp is coalescing around the current VP Kamala Harris, viewing themselves as the moralists in the fight to not “go back again.” For the emerging generation of venture capitalists, these dynamics present both challenges and opportunities. How will the election influence investment strategies? How will it affect the regulatory landscape on big tech? How will the broader economy shape up? While these questions loom large, one thing’s for sure: we’re in for some turbulent but historic times ahead.
And with that bit of introductory fanfare, welcome back to this month’s EVCA newsletter!
Meet Yash Patel, GP at Titanium Ventures
We had the chance to interview Yash Patel, who is a GP at Titanium Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies. Yash shares his story—from working in investment banking, leading corporate development and strategy at Adknowledge, and investing in early-stage consumer and enterprise software companies. Yash also shares his views on the VC industry and thoughts on life.
Featured Investor
This month we highlight Elisa La Cava of Trilogy Ventures as our featured investor of the EVCA community
Elisa La Cava is a Principal at Trilogy Equity Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in Pacific Northwest startups focused on cloud infrastructure, AI-powered B2B software, and consumer applications. With prior experience at Madrona Venture Group, Deloitte Consulting, and early-stage startups, Elisa brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her investments. She holds a BA from Claremont McKenna College where she majored in Environment-Economics-Politics and Spanish and an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.
EVCA Leaders: Pacific Northwest Chapter Co-lead, Colin Tobias of SemperVirens
This EVCA Leadership Series is intended to help the broader community get to know what's going on behind the scenes at the EVCA and highlight the contributions of the over 50 leads across the venture capital industry who make the EVCA possible.
Colin Tobias is a partner at SemperVirens, an early stage fund investing in healthcare tech, fintech, and workforce technology. Colin looks to invest in companies that are transforming the future of work as employers look to help their employees work, live, and earn better. Prior to SemperVirens, Colin was an investor at Tenaya Capital, an early-growth stage fund with $2 billion under management. At Tenaya, Colin worked directly with Tenaya's managing partners to evaluate early-growth investments in consumer and enterprise sectors. Colin graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of San Diego with degrees in finance and accounting.
EVC List Thesis Briefs
The EVC List recognizes the top emerging VCs across the industry. In partnership with Terra Nova, the EVCA publishes research insights from our EVC List winners. Below are this month’s Thesis Briefs from our 2023 EVC List Honorees.
Transforming Healthcare Innovation Through Automation and Structural Change - Vig Chandramouli, Partner at Oak HC/FT, examines opportunities for solutions that enhance productivity, improve patient outcomes, and reduce unnecessary costs across many facets of the healthcare industry.
‘Built Data’ Will Enable the Next Era of AI Adoption - Dave Mullen, Partner at SVB Capital, details why ‘Built Data’ – Big Data in its next generation form – will be the critical mechanism that unlocks the power of AI for global enterprises.
Navigating Disruption In Vertical AI SaaS - Karthik Ramakrishnan, Partner at IVP, explores how these new solutions are disrupting the status quo, spanning from IP management in retail to field sales in offline industries.
Opportunities for AgeTech Innovation - Emily Zhen, Principal at Zeal Capital Partners, explores opportunities for technology and business innovation in AgeTech that span from healthcare to fintech.
What We’re Reading
Here we share our favorite content produced from EVCA members across the world:
A Deep Dive on AI Inference Startups - Kevin Zhang of Stealth, deep dives into AaaS (AI-as-a-Service) startups, specifically focusing on AI inference startups
Beyond the pitch: from building to funding companies - Lauren Shufran of Harmonic.ai, interviews EVCA board member and SF chapter lead, Riley Rodgers of Valia Ventures, through an investor case study
AI Agents and the Future of National Security - Maggie Gray of Shield Capital, delves into what AI Agents actually are and how they might affect national security
Examining SEC v. Consensys - Daniel Barabander of Variant, compares the wallet/swaps allegations in Coinbase and Consensys and drill down on some of the specific claims the SEC is making
Venture Capital's Nuclear Error? - Julien Lepleux of Bleu Capital and Carl Perez of Exodys, try to correct the investor’s blind spot to build a true atomic age
Events
Founders & Funders Pickleball Picnic | August 1 | San Francisco, California
NewBuild VC + MUFG Host Supply Chain Summer Event | August 13 | Menlo Park, California
Silicon Valley AI and Tech Investing Summit | August 14 | Palo Alto, California
SHACK15 Angels Meetup | August 15 | San Francisco, California
➡️ For all EVCA events, which are private to EVCA members, please check the Slack community or your inbox for our monthly Member’s Digest.
Jobs
Associate / Senior Associate at PruVen Capital in San Francisco
Senior Portfolio Manager at Parallel18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Associate at Bond Capital. If interested, email katie@bondcap.com for more details
Connect with us: EVCA, Sam, Adam, Isaac, and Beatris
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