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Image credits: Maven Ventures / Maven Ventures Partners, from left, Jim Scheinman, Sara Deshpande, and Robert Ravanshenas.
In the wake of prolific venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Lerer Hippo announcing a pivot away from consumer technology in early 2024. social media discussion As to whether there is still a chance.
Jim Scheinman and Sara Deshpande of Maven Ventures say yes. And to prove it, they raised $60 million in his fourth fund to support “massive consumer technology trends.”
They say “massive” because this is the company that created companies like video conferencing giant Zoom and self-driving car maker Cruise. Scheinman, a founding managing partner, is also credited with coming up with the name Zoom.
As for the idea that no one wants to invest in consumer technology anymore, Scheinman told TechCrunch, “That's not true.” Like any other field, there are cycles in this field where consumers consider something to be either the “coolest thing ever” or the “worst thing ever.”
Scheinman said consumer technology is in the trough of its cycle. That's why he believes now is the best time to become an investor. “There's less noise and there's a lot less competition because there are fewer people looking to invest,” he says.
When he started investing, his first major platform was the internet. Then came mobile, cloud, and his AWS. Mr. Scheinman thought that next he would be web3, but that was overshadowed by artificial intelligence. Maven will be the next innovative health AI company and robotics AI consumer to help him build his business, he said.
“We're definitely going to see the creation of multibillion-dollar companies over the next three to four years,” Scheinman said. “There are dozens of companies like Zoom, Cruise, and Facebook that no one has ever heard of. Now is the time to invest in them.”
The new portfolio business will be in good company. Overall, Scheinman and general partner Deshpande said his 16% of Maven's portfolio companies have reached exits or valuations of at least $500 million, which is 10 times the industry average. told TechCrunch.
Scheinman founded the company in 2013 and brought on Deshpande soon after to focus on consumer AI and personalized medicine. They brought on investment partner Robert Labanchenas in 2015, and after a stint in startup operations, they continued to focus on fintech, longevity, and consumer AI in 2020.
Together, the three continue to seed similar consumer technology trends, including the application of AI, personalized healthcare, climate and sustainability, family technology, and fintech.
Fund IV has total assets under management of $200 million and more than 50 investments. The firm makes six to eight investments each year, with average check sizes between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Maven has invested in seven new companies so far from the new fund. This includes Medeloop, a platform that helps improve clinical research. Lutra AI, a startup that creates AI workflows from natural language. and AI agent company Multion.
The overarching theme of this new fund is to invest in founders with unique insight into how this technology can improve the lives of consumers. Additionally, “we are thinking about how new and improved AI technologies can actually improve lives all the way down to the consumer,” Deshpande said.
“Consumer trends never go away,” Deshpande says. “Consumers are the driving force behind spending in a healthy economy. We are all consumers. This is really the trick to identifying technology. Founders come to us with great visions that are worth fighting for, and we spend a lot of time on that right now. ”
