EVCA Newsletter | February Edition - The Latest VC Jobs, News, and Events
With the meteoric rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the AI tool that distills the knowledge of the internet into a conversational interface, Generative AI fever has sprung across venture capital land. One one side of the debate, the tech futurists laud the technology for bringing humanity one step closer to generalized intelligence. On the other side, the detractors like to call the text output of ChatGPT things like “fluent B.S.” and decry the potentially damaging effects of the technology on human society.
The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle. In comparison with past iterations, the current state of technology is charmingly addictive and awe-inspiring, recently attracting a $10B investment into OpenAI by Microsoft. Some VC investors (including yours truly) have already begun implementing ChatGPT into their workflows, albeit for relatively simple tasks like email automation and market research. Yet, as I attempted to utilize ChatGPT to write this very newsletter intro here, I was relieved to find that ChatGPT could not replicate that particular writing style of mine, even as it had some decent suggestions for content. At least for now, we can rest assured that ChatGPT will not replace our jobs as investors any time soon. For some reason, however, I still can’t shake that feeling that perhaps it’s only a matter of time that one of us ends up investing in that one AI company that makes all of our roles obsolete…
And with that bit of introductory fanfare, welcome back to this edition of the EVCA newsletter!
Spotlight Feature: Meet Colin Tobias, Partner at SemperVirens
We had the chance to interview Colin Tobias, who is a Partner at SemperVirens Venture Capital. Colin shares his origins story—from staring his career in finance and accounting, working in growth equity at Tenaya Capital, and, most recently, investing in early-stage startups at SemperVirens. In this interview, Colin also shares his thoughts about life and career.
Featured Investors
This month we highlight Ronnie Martinez of CEAS Investors and Brent Murri of M13 as our featured investors of the EVCA community.
Ronnie Martinez is an associate at CEAS Investments where she invests in early stage technology companies with a focus on B2B software. She has been on the CEAS team for 4.5 years, has invested in 16 companies and is a board observer for Marqii, Shabodi and Live Furnish. Prior to joining CEAS, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami (International Finance & Marketing and Entrepreneurship) where she captained the women’s soccer team her senior year and was named to the All-ACC Academic team twice. She was also previously a semi-pro player for the Toronto Lynx soccer team in the former USL W-league. Ronnie is a proud Canadian who was raised in Ottawa and Toronto.
Brent Murri is a Principal at M13 where he leads early-stage investments in consumer technology companies. He focuses on the firm’s commerce thesis area. Brent joined M13 from Battery Ventures, where he evaluated early and late stage software investments and executed growth strategies for Battery’s portfolio companies. Before Battery, Brent worked in strategy & business development for Samsung NEXT, where he worked with the mobile business unit on Samsung’s consumer software and services initiatives. Brent began his career as an investment-banking analyst with Lazard Freres & Co., working on M&A transactions in the firm’s Technology group. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in Business Strategy. Brent’s M13 investments include: Passport, Doorvest, Interviewing.io, Umamicart, Bounty, Capsule, Podz, Anycart, and Clash.
What We’re Reading
Here we share our favorite content produced from EVCA members across the world:
Back in Stock! Emerging Supply Chain & Logistics Trends and Technology Landscape - Demi Obayomi and Andrew Vogeley of Sapphire Ventures share the trends and technologies that they believe will be important drivers of the supply chain & logistics industry in the coming years
Dude, Where’s My Charge? - Emily Fritze and Nick Albanese of The Westly Group, explore what is next in electric vehicle charging
The Age of A.I., Longevity and Biotech - Michael Spencer of AI Supremacy, delves into the intersection of A.I. and biotechnology and how the 2020s just might be the nascent era of Drug discovery
The battery industry, paving the way for a sustainable revolution - Benjamin Cuningham and Diane Roujou de Boubée of Citizen Capital, set out to understand the sustainable battery industry and find the companies leading the way
Contrarian Beliefs in Venture Capital (Part 2) - Daryl Lim of GoAhead Ventures, speaks to different VC investors/start-up founders across the globe about their unpopular opinions in VC
Events
Military Veteran Startup Conference 2023 | February 2-3 | Hosted by Context Ventures
Simulation, Visualization, Digital Twins, and the (Useful) Metaverse | February 7 | Hosted by Austin Forum
3 Rivers Venture Fair (3RVF) | February 7-8 | Hosted by 3 Rivers
Q4 2022 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor webinar | February 9 | Hosted by Pitchbook and NVCA
Digital Identify, Privacy, and Trust Meetup | February 15 | Hosted by Austin Forum
HITLAB February 2023 Symposium: The Next Phase of Digital Health: AI, ML, Metaverse & Beyond | February 27 | Hosted by HITLAB
Tech for Good Talks: Women in Tech | February 28 | Hosted by 3 Sided Cube
Global Flagship Accelerator Demo Day | March 23 | Hosted by 500 Global
Jobs
Investment Associate Role in San Francisco, CA at Ribbit Capital
Technical Chief of Staff, Investor - Infrastructure Role in Santa Monica, CA at Upfront Ventures
Global Investment Fellow Role in Bangalore Or Jakarta at Capria Ventures
Investment Analyst Role in Palo Alto, California at Prosperity7 Ventures. If interested, email your resume to Daisy at daisy.garcia@p7vc.com
Investment Associate Role in New York, NY or San Francisco, CA at Manhattan Venture Partners. If interested, send a resume and a one-page cover letter about why you wish to work as an associate at Manhattan Venture Partners to recruiting@manhattanventurepartners.com
Associate Role in San Francisco, CA at Telescope Partners. If interested, email Amit at amit@telescopepartners.com
Analyst and Associate Role in San Francisco, CA or New York, NY at Fin Capital
Associate Role in Chicago, IL at Sandbox Industries. If interested, email hctrecruiting@sandboxindustries.com
Climate Venture Capital Fellow Role (Remote) at At One Ventures
Associate Role in San Francisco, CA at Infinity Ventures. If interested, email your resume and a short paragraph explaining your interest to recruiting@infinityvc.capital
Full-Time Investor and Summer Intern Role in Portola Valley, CA at G2 Venture Partners
Vice President Investment & Research Role in New York, NY at 645 Ventures
Crypto/Web3 Vice President Investment & Research Role in New York, NY at 645 Ventures
Associate Investment & Research Role in New York, NY at 645 Ventures
Ask
Join the 500 Global Investor Directory: The startup accelerator, 500 Global, has launched its online portal called FounderHub that connects its portfolio companies with valuable resources and support. Part of this platform includes a dedicated Investor Directory for 500 Global’s portfolio companies that are currently fundraising. If you would like to be added to 500 Global’s Investor Directory, please feel free to sign up via this form here.
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