EVCA Newsletter | July Edition - The Latest VC Jobs, Events, and Content
At the peak of market exuberance only a year ago, most venture capitalists would have dismissed the idea of purchasing secondary shares in startup companies. Nowadays, with market anxiety brewing and shares of startups trading at a median discount of 61% from their last financing rounds, the top VC firms have thrown out the purist approach of “primary-equity-or-nothing” out the window. Some firms like Bessemer Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins are taking advantage of market conditions to boost their ownership stakes in existing portfolio companies, while other firms like Andreesen Horowitz and Tiger Global are more broadly exploring the market for bargain deals. Even private equity players like Thoma Bravo and KKR, smelling the blood in the water, have begun dabbling in the secondaries market. Some market analysts have begun calling the current investing climate the hottest opportunity for secondaries since the 2008 financial crisis. Perhaps we should take it as our rallying cry—let the bargain-hunting begin!
And with that bit of introductory fanfare, welcome back to the July edition of the EVCA newsletter!
Spotlight Feature: SVB Stays Focused on the Long Term. Meet Charlie Walker, Managing Director of VC Coverage and Business Development at SVB
We had the chance to interview Charlie Walker, who is Managing Director of VC Coverage and Business Development at SVB. Charlie shares his origins story—from growing up in the English countryside and building his first website at age 16 to rising the ranks at SVB over the last decade. Charlie also shares what’s new at SVB following its acquisition by First Citizens Bank, as well as his lessons and thoughts from his career.
Featured Investors
This month we highlight Alexis Alston of Lightship Capital and Ryan Lee of Comcast Ventures as our featured investors of the EVCA community.
Alexis Alston is the first hire and now Principal at Lightship Capital, a fund dedicated to investing in remarkable founders in overlooked places across the US. There she leads the investment team and focuses on AI, Health, and E-commerce investing at the seed stage. In addition, she supports founders through educational programs at Lightship Foundation, and in her free time produces noteworthy conferences including Black Tech Week, What's Next Con, and others. Most recently, she was named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital by Forbes Magazine.
Ryan Lee is a Principal on the investment team at Comcast Ventures, helping the firm identify, invest in, and support early stage companies across various industries including digital health, AI/data, gaming, proptech, climate, fintech, and the future of work. Ryan serves as board observer for Curbio, Architect.io, and Evabot and has worked or sourced the firm’s investments in Resemble AI, Hume AI, Juno, Walrus, Player’s Lounge, and Evabot. Before joining Comcast Ventures, Ryan was an investor at Advantage Capital, a multi-strategy impact investment firm focused on economic development in underserved communities. At Advantage Capital, Ryan helped co-found the sourcing team and sourced or worked on the firm’s investments in Hudl, MedRhythms, Opendorse, mTrade, and Pacha Soap amongst others. He also co-led the firm’s thesis development, structure, and fundraise of, Empower the Change, a $200 million investment fund supporting underrepresented founders. Ryan received a M.S. in International Management and B.S. in International Business in East Asian Studies from Northeastern University.
EVCA Leadership Spotlight: Mobility Vertical Co-Lead, Brian Wei of BMW i 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.
Brian Wei is an Associate at BMW i Ventures, where he focuses on early- to growth-stage investments in B2B application and infrastructure software, industrial automation, mobility, and sustainability. Prior to BMW i Ventures, Brian was a strategy consultant at KPMG Strategy, where he provided growth strategy and M&A due diligence for clients across cloud computing, fintech, and telecommunications. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Harvard with a concentration in statistics. Originally from Brooklyn, he enjoys playing basketball, tennis, and video games.
What We’re Reading
Here we share our favorite content produced from EVCA members across the world:
The European Expansion Report 2023 Edition - Ruth Sheridan of Frontline Ventures, looks at the most important trends in European expansion, based on an analysis of 200+ startups across the last decade
The Liquidation Survival Guide and Model: Vol 2 - Noah Gross of Scale Venture Partners, created a guide to help entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and any others who are entangled in the nitty gritty details of modeling complex situations. This edition explores how things change when you add seniority to a cap table
Portfolio Construction VC x FoF - Marc Penkala of āltitude and Jeroen van Doornik of Pacenotes, outline the key factors that set venture capital funds and funds of funds apart in terms of differences and portfolio construction
The recession that never came - James Gettinger of Gutter Capital, shares how the popular VC opinion that a recession is coming has yet to come
SaaS 4.0: Say Hello to The Era of Cognition - Alex Kayyal of Lightspeed Venture Partners, explains how generative AI will eventually be a native part of every enterprise software company and how winners will emerge
Events
Startup Social: Drinks with Friends! | July 12 | Hosted by Startup Social
Tau Ventures Annual Day 2023 | July 20 | Hosted by Tau Ventures
Early Stage Startup Community Happy Hour | July 25 | Hosted by Valia Ventures, One Way Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, and Underscore VC
Global Energy Trends and Transitions | August 1 | Hosted by Austin Forum
Jobs
Climate Tech Investment Associate Role in Boston, MA at MassMutual Ventures
Associate Role in Chicago, IL at Lightbank. If interested, reach out to Jyothi at jyothi@lightbank.com
Principal Role in San Francisco Bay Area, CA at NextEquity Partners. If interested, send an email to recruiting@nextequity.com with a copy of your resume and a link to your LinkedIn page
Senior Associate Biotechnology Role in Waltham, MA at In-Q-Tel
Post-MBA Investor Fellowship Role in New York, NY at AXA Venture Partners (AVP). If interested, email eric.li@axavp.com with your resume and a brief statement of interest
Connect with us: EVCA, Sam, Adam, and Isaac
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