EVCA Newsletter | June Edition - Tons of Jobs, Events, and More
Of all the noteworthy events that have occurred in the last month, there are two tragic ones in the VC world that come to mind. The first is the bust of cryptocurrencies, which are finally coming back to earth after defying gravity the last few months. The second is the well-publicized tragedy of Elon Musk’s attempt to break into show biz in his cringeworthy stint as host on SNL. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly urge you to drop everything and give it a go. While I hope you excuse my facetious whimsy in this edition of the newsletter, there’s a broader lesson we can take away from these events: irrational exuberance—whether in cryptocurrency or in overestimating one’s abilities—is something that should always be cause for alarm.
In recent months, VC funds have driven up startup valuations to unprecedented levels. Startups are raising new financing rounds fresh off the back of fundraising only months earlier. VC’s are putting out term sheets within days of meeting a startup, often without doing much diligence. It’s certainly a crazy time to be in VC. Whether this flurry of activity will come crashing in a moment of human hubris is too early to tell. Until then, I say, let’s enjoy the party while it’s still jumping. And with that bit of introductory fanfare, welcome back to the June edition of the EVCA newsletter!
EVCA Spotlight: Growing Up on the “Wrong Side of the Tracks," He Defied the Odds to Become a Hedge Fund Manager at the Most Successful Hedge Fund in the World. Meet David Magerman, Managing Partner at Differential Ventures.
We had the chance to interview David Magerman, who is Managing Partner at Differential Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on investing in the next generation of AI and data-science startups. David shares with us his origins story—from growing up “on the wrong side of the tracks”, working as a hedge fund manager at Renaissance Technologies, and starting his own venture capital fund. Through his story, David shares his lessons on life and career.
Featured Investors
This month we highlight Shaun Lee of Mubadala Capital - Ventures and Emily Man of Redpoint Ventures as our featured investors of the EVCA community.
Shaun Lee is a Principal on the investment team of Mubadala Capital – Ventures, the venture capital arm of Mubadala Investment Company, a ~$230bn sovereign wealth fund. Based out of San Francisco, Shaun primarily focuses on early-stage / growth FinTech and software opportunities in North America. Prior to joining Mubadala, Shaun worked in venture capital at Rogers Venture Partners and in investment banking at UBS. He holds a degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Emily Man is an investor on Redpoint Ventures' growth team where she has invested in companies such as Ramp and Orca Security. Prior to Redpoint, Emily was at Point72 Ventures focused on early-stage fintech where she invested in companies including Mantl, MX, Brace, and Skipify. Emily earned her BA from Columbia University.
EVCA Leadership Spotlight: Mobility Vertical Leads, Chris Abshire of Toyota AI Ventures and Puneeth Meruva of Trucks Venture Capital
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.
Chris Abshire is a senior associate at Toyota AI Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on frontier technologies and mobility companies. Chris is responsible for sourcing startups, evaluating opportunities, negotiating, and closing investments. Prior to joining Toyota Ventures, Chris worked at Pegasus Tech Ventures investing in frontier technologies both in the US and across SEA. He holds a degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Kansas. Outside of work, Chris loves to play basketball, compete in poker tournaments, produce music, and runs a large crypto Discord group through a pseudonym where he actively angel invests in emerging protocols.
Puneeth Meruva is a Senior Associate at Trucks Venture Capital, an early stage venture firm investing in start-ups making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more accessible. Prior to Trucks, Puneeth developed safety and telematics related software at BMW and Uber. He also researched perception algorithms and motion planning at MIT CSAIL's Distributed Robotics Group and CMU RI's Biorobotics Laboratory. He received a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Outside of work, Puneeth is passionate about Formula 1 racing, electronic dance music, soccer.
What We’re Reading
How to win deals as an emerging VC - Diego De Colombres of B37 Ventures, describes the criteria and methods B37 Ventures used to raise their second fund
The Evolution of DeFi Across Four Financial Primitives - Justine Humenansky of Playground Global, explains the four financial primitives that move the markets
Forget MVPs, create Minimum Lovable Products - Pascal Unger of Darling Ventures, challenges the VC industry’s ideology on developing MVPs and provides a solution of MLPs
Mapping Out 110+ Mental Health Tech Startups - Maria Gilfoyle of Armory Square Ventures, examines the mental health tech space and identifies investable areas and trends within the industry
The Best Books I Read During Quarantine: From the Wandering Mind of a Woman in Venture Capital - where I, Sam Huang of BMW i Ventures, break down my favorite books I read during the quarantine
Events
EVCA Mobility Vertical: Electric Vehicle Infrastructure | June 9 | RSVP on Slack
MeetFounders North America Venture Capital Conference | June 30 | Hosted by MeetFounders
NFTs – Explosive Growth and Where the Technology is Headed | June 17 | Hosted by NVCA
FESPA Innovations & Trends June 2021: Printed Clothing | June 9 | Hosted by FESPA
Israeli EnergyTech All-Stars 2021 | June 29 | Hosted by Ignite the Spark
Virgin StartUp MeetUp : In Conversation with Susie Ma | June 23 | Hosted by Virgin StartUp
Jobs
Associate Role in Washington, DC at Canapi Ventures. If interested, send your resume and a few sentences about yourself to careers@canapi.com
Head of Community Role in San Francisco, CA at Unshackled Ventures
Senior Associate Role in Redwood City, CA at Sozo Ventures. If interested, email Spencer Foust at sfoust@sozo.ventures
Summer 2021 MBA Associate Intern in at Thomvest Ventures. If interested, send your resume and a brief introduction to Lauren Weston at lauren@thomvest.com
Summer 2021 MBA Intern at Fifth Wall Ventures. If interested, send your resume and a 2-3 sentence summary to Jas at jasleenkaur@creditease.hk
Fintech Senior Associate Role in New York, NY at Oak HC/FT. If interested, send your resume to OakTalent_Group@oakhcft.com
Associate/Senior Associate Role in San Francisco, CA at BMW i Ventures. If interested, send your resume and a cover letter to recruiting@bmwiventures.com
Associate Role in Palo Alto, CA at Eclipse Ventures. If interested, please reach out to Jannelle Matlock (Jannelle@eclipse.vc) with 1) a quick personal intro in the email; 2) a couple sentences about an “old-line” industry that fascinates you; and 3) your resume or LinkedIn profile
Senior Associate/Principal Role in San Francisco, CA at DivcoWest’s venture capital group. If interested, send resume to careers2@divcowest.com
Senior Associate/Principal Role in San Francisco, CA, Los Angles, CA, and New York, NY at B Capital’s Ascent Fund. If interested, email Morgan Polotan at mpolotan@bcapgroup.com
Asks
EVCA Return to Office Survey: We at EVCA are conducting a return to office / resuming external meetings survey. It takes 2 minutes - please fill it out if you'd like to get the results when we close the survey in a week. We don't ask for your name or firm, but will need an email to send the aggregated report to.
2021 Global CVC Benchmarking Survey: Silicon Valley Bank and Counterpart Ventures are conducting a comprehensive survey of CVC as we approach the halfway point of 2021. We’re asking all CVCs to take part in the survey where you’ll receive a complimentary bottle of wine upon completion! It should take about 20 mins to complete. Anonymized and aggregated results will be shared with all.
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