EVCA Newsletter | September Edition - The Latest VC Jobs, Events, and Features
Despite the general market slump over the last few months, venture fundraising in 2022 has soared to historic levels. As of July this year, VC funds in the U.S. have raised an epic $137.5B in new capital, nearly eclipsing last year’s total of $142B, according to Pitchbook. While VC capital fundraising is unlikely to continue at its current levels, this new data suggests that the initial fears of an impending implosion of the fundraising environment have been unfounded so far. Of course, we’re not out of the clear yet. A number of economic indicators—from the dramatic slowdown in VC deal pace, massive layoffs across the tech sector, and general market sluggishness—all point to turbulent times ahead. On a positive note, however, with all this fresh capital raised, VCs have amassed a sizable war chest to weather potential downturns in the economy. While the future remains uncertain, we’re at the very least prepared.
And with that bit of introductory fanfare, welcome back to this edition of the EVCA newsletter!
Meet Shaun Lee, Partner at Mubadala Capital - Ventures
We had the chance to interview Shaun Lee, who is a Partner at Mubadala Capital - Ventures. At only 29 years old, Shaun is one of the youngest partners working today in the venture capital industry. In this interview, he shares his origin story--from moving to the U.S. from Korea at the age of seven, starting his career in investment banking, and conquering the world of venture capital.
Featured Investors
This month we highlight Gabriella Garcia of Two Sigma Ventures and Paul Jordan of Activate Capital as our featured investors of the EVCA community.
Gabriella Garcia is an Associate at Two Sigma Ventures, an early-stage fund investing in companies using data science and advanced engineering to transform the future. At TSV, Gabriella focuses on investments in FinTech, Crypto & Web3, DeepTech and emerging markets (specifically LatAm). Prior to joining Two Sigma Ventures, Gabriella worked as a software engineer at Facebook, a mechanical engineer at Apple, and a product manager at Google. Most recently, Gabriella worked as the PM Lead for Banking on Google’s Payments Platform, which powers payments across Google products including Ads, YouTube, and Google Cloud. Gabriella holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Paul Jordan is a Principal at Activate Capital, a mid-stage venture and growth equity firm focused on climate through the sustainable, intelligent transition of our energy, mobility and industrial systems. Paul is particularly interested in the intersection of logistics and climate efficiency and focuses his time on trends in global trade and eCommerce, fulfillment and delivery networks, fleet electrification and applications for big data to drive automation. Prior to Activate, Paul was an investor at Element Partners, a private equity firm focused on renewable energy, transportation and circularity – and prior to that worked advising companies on M&A and capital formation at Piper Jaffray & Co. (now Piper Sandler, NYSE: PIPR). Paul is based in San Francisco.
EVCA Leadership Spotlight: EdTech Vertical Leads, Gloria Samen and John Azubuike of Owl 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.
Gloria Samen is an Associate at Owl Ventures, the largest venture fund investing in edtech and workforce development with over $2B in AUM. Before joining Owl, Gloria worked as a consultant at Education Resource Strategies, where she partnered with multiple large urban school district leaders in strategizing around equitable resource allocation, strategic planning and school design, and leadership capacity building. Prior to ERS, Gloria was an investor on JP Morgan’s Global Investment Opportunities team working to source, evaluate, and execute tactical and event-driven investment ideas across asset classes for institutional clients. Gloria graduated from Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Africana Studies. In her free time, Gloria enjoys reading novels with her book club and volunteering with youth development organizations such as Lower East Side Girls Club, Girl Up, and the local YMCA.
John Azubuike served as one of the EdTech leads for the EVCA while he was a Vice President at Owl Ventures. At Owl Ventures, he focused on venture and growth stage investments in education and the future of work. Prior to Owl, he was an investor at Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), where he focused on control transactions, an investor at KEC Ventures, where he focused on seed-stage investments in the NYC area and fund-of-funds alternative investments, and began his career at the New York Stem Cell Foundation, where he worked as a software engineer. In addition to his professional commitments, John serves on the board of A Method Public Schools, a network of 6 charter schools serving 2,000 students in the Bay Area. John is currently pursuing his MBA at the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania and received a B.Sc in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University.
What We’re Reading
Here we share our favorite content produced from EVCA members across the world:
Why is HardTech so Effing Hard? - DC Palter of Tech Coast Angels, delves into why of the many hardtech startups out there, none have become unicorns, why they’re not valued highly, and why very few survive
2022 Best of the Midwest: Startup Cities Rankings - Victor Gutwein of M25 VC, analyzes the Midwest Cities Rankings report to understand how micro-environments in the Midwest are performing relative to one another in terms of startup activity, access to resources, and business climate.
Entrepreneurship in Web3 : Opportunities and Challenges - Otto plus-one discusses the challenges and opportunities in times of crisis for Web3 entrepreneurs
Space to Watch: Construction Tech - Bogdan Cristei of Union Labs Ventures and Tim Yang of Tyche Partners provide an overview of the construction tech market.
Events
Sustainable Places 2022 | September 6-7 | Hosted by R2M Solution
Space: How Rockets, Satellites, and Telescopes Are Enhancing Our World and Helping to Understand the Universe | September 13 | Hosted by Austin Forum
DeveloperWeek Cloud 2022 | September 13-14 | Hosted by DevNetwork
2022 Board Service Excellence Forum | September 15 | Hosted by Capital Factory and NVCA
National Security Investment Restrictions Go Global: CFIUS Updates for VCs | September 28 | Hosted by Wilson Sonsini NVCA
AI & Whiskey Chat | September 28 | Hosted by Austin Forum
Jobs
Analyst/Associate Role in New York, NY at Kli Capital. If interested, email Elias Davis at elias@klicapital.vc
Senior Accountant Role in New York, NY or Palo Alto, CA at Section Partners
Investment Associate Role in Washington D.C. / Baltimore Area at Point Field Partners. If interested, message Deepak Mishra
Associate Role in San Francisco, CA or Boston, MA at Battery Ventures. If interested, email Dallin Bills, Vice President, at dallin@battery.com with a PDF of their resume, their LinkedIn URL and days/times they are free to connect. Please include why you are interested in venture/growth investing and why Battery, in particular.
Senior Associate Role in Oakland, CA at Kaiser Permanente Ventures
Principal/Director Role in Oakland, CA at Kaiser Permanente Ventures
Investment Professional Role in Menlo Park, CA at Eastlink Capital. If interested, please send resumes to steven@eastlinkcap.com or Siyu@eastlinkcap.com
Connect with us: EVCA, Sam, Adam, and Isaac
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