Counterpart Ventures

Last week, established CVC leaders shared their tips on how to build an enduring CVC fund that outlasts economic cycles and C-Suite changes. With over 20 years as a Managing Director at Sony, Austin Noronha talked through the impetus of the Sony Innovation Fund, focusing on an independent structure with a fast decision-making process. Tarik Galijasevic of Allstate Strategic Ventures shared his approach to corporate education and amplification. He recommends picking the most receptive parts of the organization and then bringing everyone else aboard. That can turn into an effective and positive partnership that echoes through an organization. Counter Club members, head to the event page on counterclub.vc to rewatch the full session. Stay tuned for our full 2025 programming! #CounterClub #CVC #CorporateVenture Patrick Eggen, Joe Saijo, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, Nandini Agarwal, Abbie Wolf

In our next online event on November 5th, we will unpack how to create an enduring CVC fund with two veteran CVC leaders. Successful startups can take 7-10 years to exit, far beyond the short-term corporate performance timelines. Executive support and understanding of the asset class is crucial for fund survival, from capital commitments to internal advocacy for the fund. As our 2024 State of CVC report with SVB found, 82% of mature CVCs think their executive sponsor understands the asset class compared to just 57% of new CVC funds.? ? We'll dig into how Tarik Galijasevic at Allstate Strategic Ventures and Austin Noronha of Sony Innovation Fund created alignment and value that lasted beyond economic cycles and C-Suite changes. In Tarik's 11-year tenure with AllState, he recently?oversaw the launch of two distinct funds. Austin has been with Sony for over 22 years and pioneered the Sony Innovation Fund (SIF), now in its third fund?with over $500M under management.? ? You must be a Counter Club member (counterclub.vc) or an active corporate investor to join this event. Registration is subject to approval:?https://lnkd.in/gPmCyDw2 ? #CounterClub #CorporateVenture #CVC Patrick Eggen, Joe Saijo, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, Nandini Agarwal, Abbie Wolf

Tune in for the next online Counter Club event with Tarik Galijasevic and Austin Noronha about creating long-term alignment with corporate partners. They will dig into ensuring the CVC function outlasts economic cycles, C-suite changes and much more. Our speakers have true lived experience building CVC funds that last: Tarik has over 11 years as Managing Director at Allstate Strategic Ventures and Austin has led the Sony Innovation Group for over 22 years, including the creation of the Sony Innovation Fund. Please note: You must be a Counter Club member (counterclub.vc) or an active corporate investor to join this event. Registration is subject to approval. Patrick Eggen, Joe Saijo, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, Nandini Agarwal, Abbie Wolf #CounterClub #CorporateVenture #CVC

Overheard at Counter V ?? If you are a Counter Club member, go to counterclub.vc for the full notes packet! - “For many companies, there is a hesitation to enter the public market because investors have a really high bar right now: it’s a little bit of the ability to show a durable growth profile coupled with increasing efficiency and amazing competitive moats.” - Current Equity Capital Markets Outlook with Becky Steinthal of Jefferies - “If you don't do small things of symbolic value to build trust early in your tenure as a new leader, it's going to be hard to get through adversity.?" - WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert fireside with Pau Gasol -"Start earlier than you think you need to as it always takes longer (to raise external capital)... expect and prepare for mostly nos before you start to hear any yeses” - Ramneek Gupta, Pruven Capital Also featured in this packet: Promod Haque, Sagi Paz, Rashmi Gopinath, Trae Stephens, Lydia Jett, Chris Douvos, Matthew Blum, Michelle Snyder Patrick Eggen, Joe Saijo, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, Nandini Agarwal, Tanvi Narain

A couple of weeks ago at Counter V, Trae Stephens of Founders Fund took the stage with Travis B. of Booz Allen Ventures to decrypt the motives of CVCs. Trae articulated that CVC funds have an unfair advantage as they have the ability to strike a commercial relationship with the companies, they look to invest in. He questioned why CVCs invest in companies that their corporate parent does not have a commercial relationship with. "You know what your organization is going to do at the point that you make the investment," said Trae on CVCs putting their exclusive knowledge to work.? ? We pulled the data from the 257 funds that participated in our 2024 State of CVC report with SVB. Overall, 38% of portfolio companies have a commercial contract with the parent company—you can see a clear trend that the newer and more strategically focused funds have more portcos with contracts. Furthermore, 40% of new funds need commercial agreements before investing, contrasted with just 9% of mature funds. While commercial contracts may boost the financial profile of a start-up and could lead to acquisitions by a parent, organizational structures increase dependency risk as a fund becomes reliant on business units for success.? ? Counter Club members can download the full Counter V Summary notes on the notes section of?counterclub.vc?and the full State of CVC report here:?https://lnkd.in/gM_gF-Gm ? #CounterClub #CounterV #CorporateVenture Patrick Eggen, Joe Saijo, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, Nandini Agarwal, Abbie Wolf

Great turnout and energy earlier this week at our B2B SaaS Founders & Funders Breakfast with Forum Ventures during #SFTechWeek ? Caught in action, Tanvi Narain shares more about Counterpart Ventures with the early-stage builders in attendance. We help build companies by providing meaningful access to real customers and strategic partnerships via our corporate venture capital community called Counter Club. Thank you to the Forum Ventures team for making this happen during the busy TECH WEEK by a16z ? Patrick Eggen, Joe Saijo, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, Nandini Agarwal, Abbie Wolf

CVCs are obsessed with AI. Of the 257 unique CVCs surveyed in our 2024 State of CVC survey with @SVB, over half of CVCs call out AI as among the most exciting tech trends. Furthermore, global corporate investment in AI was $176B in 2023 with Big Tech covering 60% of the share.?(Per Pitchbook) At Counter V,?we spoke about investing in AI for the Enterprise?application with Andrew Ferguson of Databricks Ventures, Sagi Paz of AMD Ventures and Rashmi Gopinath. Our very own Tanvi Narain narrated this session. Through the conversation, it became clear that investment focus for Databricks and AMD is about building their ecosystems and?expanding their own platforms. ??AMD bifurcates investments into "ecosystem" and "partnership-driven" types, where smaller checks focus on alignment and larger ones on clearer collaborations on how a company can work with AMD. ?? Distribution requires technical expertise and is not as simple as traditional SaaS companies' go-to-market approaches—?this?is where AMD benefits as a compute platform partner.? ?? Databricks is focused on the application of their investments within the broader organization or with their customers. Corporate VCs, the full Counter V summary notes will be released on counterclub.vc?later today and you can download the full State of CVC report here:?https://lnkd.in/gM_gF-Gm #CounterClub #CounterV #CorporateVenture Patrick Eggen, Joe Saijo, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, Nandini Agarwal, Mikey Kailis

Thanks again to the wonderful team at Counterpart Ventures for putting on the biggest and coolest #CVC conference in the world. ?? I had a fun time leading a breakout session on how to stand out as an emerging CVC investor. The secret is simple: networking through a philosophy of helping others (but you'll have to see the full presentation for all the tips and tricks). ?? ?? Special shout-outs to dear friends Mikey Kailis, Patrick Eggen, Abbie Wolf, Tanvi Narain. You guys have built an amazing community, and I'm excited to continue seeing it grow. Til the next one. ??

Last week Counterpart Ventures hosted 500 attendees for our AGM. #CounterV has morphed into the premier #CVC gathering in the world. Thank you to all LPs, portfolio companies, CVCs, founders and friends who made this event a reality. Six years ago, Counterpart Ventures made a bet on community and we believe we are just getting started. We also made a bet on San Francisco. We are proud to host every #Counter event in San Francisco. Community goes beyond investor + founder networks. We hosted several local SomaWest small business owners + middle school students throughout the day. The day's highlight was WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert's fireside chat with NBA Hall of Famer Pau Gasol. They discussed the WNBA's transformation, future of women's sports and Kobe Bryant's legacy. We were also humbled by the quality of #CounterV speakers including Promod Haque, Trae Stephens, Lydia Jett, Nagraj Kashyap Andrew Ferguson, Sagi Paz, Rashmi Gopinath, Travis Bales, Minnie Ingersoll, Ramneek Gupta, Chris Douvos, Amy Belt Raimundo, Michelle Snyder, Matthew Blum, Holly Maloney, Becky Steinthal, Ilya Strebulaev, Alex Dang #CounterV would not have been possible without the support of our platinum partners: Aduro Advisors. DLA Piper, PitchBook and SVB. Sincere thank you to our loyal partners Forward Search, HUB International and PepsiCo Counterpart team: Joe Saijo, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, Abbie Wolf, Nandini Agarwal CounterVI will be bigger and better - coming Fall 2025, stay tuned :)