EVCA Newsletter | March Edition - Tons of VC Jobs, Events, and Features
There was only one topic that my mind kept turning to in my attempts to write this most recent edition of the EVCA newsletter— Ukraine. My compulsion to write on this topic, as opposed to my typical commentaries on the state of venture capital, reflects the historical gravity of the ongoing ordeal: Russia’s invasion into Ukraine constitutes the greatest attack by one state to another in Europe since WWII. The crisis not only has implications for the roughly forty-four-million Ukrainians in terms of both cost of life and disintegration of their political order, but, in this globalized economy, all of us. Yes, even us here in the world of venture capital.
In an era of globalization, the consequences of the Ukraine crisis extend far beyond the borders of the conflict itself. With Russia as one of the world’s largest gas and oil producers, global inflation and commodity prices for oil and gas stand to increase even higher. As Russia and Ukraine together produce a quarter of the world’s wheat, stoppages in their international wheat shipments threaten a surge in wheat prices, hurting global food markets and spelling potential social instability. As history shows, the state of the venture capital industry ebbs and flows with the tides of the broader global economy. The profound interconnectedness of the world system means that Russia’s invasion into Ukraine is not only about Ukrainians; it’s about all of us.
As we bring you this edition of the EVCA newsletter, our thoughts and prayers remain with the people of Ukraine whose struggles implicate the world’s future.
EVCA Spotlight: He Was a Former Irish Diplomat Who Crossed the Chasm into the Banking World. Meet Barry O’Brien, Head of Strategic Investments and SVB LIFT at SVB Capital Group
We had the chance to interview Barry O’Brien, who is Head of Strategic Investments and SVB Lift at SVB Capital. Barry shares with us his origins story—from his early days as an Irish diplomat to leading different organizations within SVB over the last decade. Through his story, Barry his origins story and thoughts about life and career.
Featured Investors
This month we highlight Abdul Abdirahman of F-Prime Capital and Gwen Umbach of Altimeter Capital as our featured investors of the EVCA community.
Abdul Abdirahman is a Senior Associate at F-Prime Capital, where he invests in early-stage fintech, proptech and enterprise SaaS startups (primarily in the Americas and opportunistically in Africa). Prior to joining F-Prime Capital in 2020, Abdul was a partner at P1 Ventures where he invested in emerging markets-based technology startups and worked at a venture-backed digital banking/payments startup. As a fintech enthusiast, one of the highlights of 2022 so far has been launching the F-Prime Fintech Index with his colleagues. Outside of work, Abdul enjoys trying new cuisines, reading about economic development, and playing basketball.
Gwen Umbach is an investor at Altimeter Capital, a technology-focused crossover investment firm that invests in visionary entrepreneurs and iconic companies through all stages of growth. Gwen recently joined Altimeter to focus on early-growth stage software investing, specializing in data infrastructure and healthcare IT. Prior to Altimeter, Gwen was an investor at Salesforce Ventures where she invested across infrastructure and application software. Gwen started her career in the investment banking division at Goldman Sachs in NYC.
EVCA Leadership Spotlight: Insurtech Vertical Leads, Ben Bergsma of Munich Re Ventures and Patrick Klas of Maschmeyer Group Ventures (MGV)
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.
Ben Bergsma is a Principal at Munich Re Ventures and currently resides in LA. He focuses on Series Seed to Series B investments in InsurTech, FinTech, and AI/ML with check sizes ranging from $1M-$20M. His current portfolio companies include Spruce, At-Bay, Forge Global, HDVI, FloodFlash, and Spectrum Labs, among others. Prior to MRV, Ben spent time as an investor at Samsung NEXT Ventures, Alpha Venture Partners, and JetBlue Ventures, as well as a founder of a mobile software startup. Ben holds degrees from Columbia Business School and Claremont McKenna College.
Patrick Klas is a Principal investor at Maschmeyer Group Ventures (MGV). At MGV, Patrick typically writes $250k checks into pre-seed and seed startups. Patrick has spent much of his career both investing and operating within the Insurtech landscape. Before MGV, Patrick was an investor with American Family Ventures. Prior to American Family Ventures, Patrick was the Director of Business Operations for Bunker and helped them grow from 7 employees to 30+ and was instrumental in efforts to raise USD $3 million. Additionally, Patrick ran and operated the Connected Home Accelerator with Microsoft Ventures. Patrick graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in Applied Economics. Patrick is blessed to live in Oakland, CA, with his wife Caroline. Patrick enjoys flyfishing, surfing, hiking, and card games.
What We’re Reading
Here we share our favorite content produced from EVCA members across the world:
2022, I created and sold NFTs - Kenn So of Shasta Ventures, shares his journey to NFTs
Has science and innovation stagnated? - Razi Syed of On Deck, tackles the question of what can we do to increase the speeds of growth?
A Deeper Dive into Near-Term Quantum & Applications in Drug Discovery - Nicole Ruiz of Compound, breaks down near-term quantum approaches, applications in drug discovery, and market predictions & opportunities
Startups are evolving to manage growth alongside profitability - Amit Anand of Jungle Ventures, explores some of the observable key trends in how the startup ecosystem is evolving
2022 Trend Predictions - Jennifer Fleiss of Volition Capital, shares a few trends that she is interested in for 2022 as well as some companies to look out for
When I think about education - Alberto Pascual of Plug and Play Ventures, reflects on the future of work and higher education with a focus on traditional systems and wonder how we got there
Walking the Decarbonization Walk - Julia Brady of Valo Ventures, shares eight learnings Valo had in their journey to adopting the net zero pledge in a context appropriate to the size of their portfolio companies
Events
Mobility Disruption Conference | March 2-4 | Hosted by Cowen
Beyond batteries and pumped hydro for large-scale energy storage | March 8 | Hosted by Energy Futures Lab
Happy Hour Mobility Community | March 9 | Hosted by EVCA Mobility Vertical | Check EVCA Slack Channel if you would like to attend
HPE (Healthcare Private Equity) Miami | March 9-10 | Hosted by McDermott Will & Emery and HCPEA
Re-imagining Early Childhood Education in a Post-COVID World | March 23 | Hosted by Fairfax Futures and the NOVA Business Alliance for Early Childhood Education
Sports Biometrics Conference 2022 | March 23-24 | Hosted by Sports Biometrics Conference
Digital Commerce Today: Ecommerce Marketing in 2022 | March 24 | Hosted by Trellis
Left Lane Fast Growth Summit | March 30 | Hosted by Left Lane Capital
How to Build Fund Forecasts & Communicate to LPs | March 30 | Hosted by NVCA
DeFi & The Future of Programmable Money | March 30 | Hosted by TechCrunch
Workplace Trends Research Summit 2022 | March 31 | Hosted by Workplace Trends
Jobs
Associate Role in New York, NY or San Francisco, CA at Portage Ventures
Associate or General Counsel Role in New York, NY at Story Ventures. If interested send your resume to carlie@storyventures.vc with the subject line “Your Name.’ Investment Associate. (General Counsel.)” and a response to one of the following (500 words or fewer): What is an unpopular opinion you hold? What are two favorite publicly traded tech companies and why? What would you title this chapter of your autobiography?
Analyst/Associate Role in New York, NY at Red Sea Ventures. If interested, contact Ken Lau at ken@redseaventures.com
Senior Associate Role in Menlo Park, CA; Boston, MA; or Washington DC at In-Q-Tel. If interested, email Chenny at czhang@iqt.org
Senior Associate Role in Menlo Park, CA at Silicon Valley Bank Capital Direct Fund
Associate Role in New York, NY at Town Hall Ventures. If interested, email your resume to Christian Palmer at cpalmer@ratioadvisors
Associate Role in Palo Alto, CA at DCVC. If interested, email Christian at christian.thatcher@dcvc.com
Saas and Consumer Chief of Staff Role in Santa Monica, CA at Upfront Ventures
Associate Role in Boston, MA or Detroit, MI at Fontinalis Partners
Analyst/Associate Role in Grand Rapids, MI at Grand Ventures
Analyst and Associate Roles in New York, NY at American Family Ventures (AFV)
Analyst Role in San Francisco, CA at Toyota Ventures Frontier Fund
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