Tracy Isacke, the incoming leader of US-based bank Silicon Valley Bank’s corporate venturing relationship group, spoke with Global Corporate Venturing about her plans in the role.
Isacke is taking on her role from Claire Lee, who is taking on leadership of Silicon Valley Bank’s early stage banking business. Isacke joined from her role as head of Telefonica Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the Spain-based telecoms group.
The group has a carefully honed offering for corporate venturing units. Isacke said: “There are three things we will do with corporates. We will help them in their deals sourcing and investments, engage with them in events and try to find ways to help them with portfolio companies.”
Silicon Valley Bank is confident it can provide relevant information for groups dealing with start-ups. Isacke said: “Our analytics are able to do deep dives into organisations and we may be able to hunt for specific things. Let us say a top corporate VC is looking for someone at this stage, with this kind of growth trajectory, we have a good lens, a deeper lens, than some other potential groups they could reach out to due to our banking relationships.”
The group is also looking to provide help for corporates looking to network in the industry. Isacke said: “We will do thematic events around subjects like artificial intelligence, cloud and big data, bringing together communities around a common theme.”
The group sees a big opportunity from the more than 1100 corporate venturing groups, which we have tracked globally. Isacke said: “Since I have been here in Silicon Valley, the number of foreign corporates setting up at least some presence here has been amazing. Most corporates now have some flavor of corporate VC and innovation.
Isacke will be writing a monthly column for Global Corporate Venturing, with her first article, “Tech needs more women leaders”, published in our September magazine last week.