Christopher Bartlett joined US-based telecoms firm Verizon’s corporate venturing arm, Verizon Ventures, as senior vice-president for corporate development and head of ventures in October last year.
Bartlett took over responsibilities for John Doherty, former senior vice-president of corporate development at Verizon and former president and chief investment officer at Verizon Ventures featured on Global Corporate Venturing’s Powerlist from 2016 to 2018, who left Verizon at the end of June last year and joined Netherlands-based data centre company Interxion as chief financial officer in November.
Verizon, which generated $126bn in 2017 revenues, hired Bartlett from investment banking firm Morgan Stanley, where he had been a managing director leading North American media and communications mergers and acquisitions for the firm since 2004. Bartlett had been based in New York but relocated to Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
Matt Ellis, chief financial officer of Verizon, said at the time: “Chris brings a wealth of experience to Verizon. We are pleased to have him join our team as we position the business for future growth.”
At Verizon Ventures, Bartlett oversees joint ventures, strategic investment activity, acquisitions and divestitures with his colleague Michelle McCarthy, GCV’s Rising Star in 2016 and a 20-year veteran and director at Verizon Ventures who invests in startups focusing on advertising technology, internet of things and telematics technologies.
McCarthy is currently on the boards of Verizon portfolio companies digital advertising data provider AdTheorent, digital devices-focused hardware platform operator Bug Labs, emerging market-focused internet service provider Jana and machine learning-empowered mobile safety technology developer Sfara.
Another team member is Jeffrey Black, GCV’s Rising Star this year and a director of corporate development, who joined Verizon in 2009 as a member of the M&A group, where he oversaw numerous transactions and strategic investments before being appointed to his current role in 2012. He is responsible for handling 12 portfolio companies with a valuation in excess of $100m.
To date, Verizon Ventures has invested in more than 50 companies across industries and technologies since its launch in 2000.
After Bartlett came on board, the unit participated in follow-on investments – a $40m series B round for Israel-based public transport optimiser Optibus in December, a $10m series D round for US-based, Latino-focused digital media platform Mitú in November, a $10.2m series B round for US-based on-demand car maintenance platform YourMechanic and a $55m series C round for US-based data analytics software producer OmniSci, formerly known as MapD, both in October.
Before his 14-year stint at Morgan Stanley, Bartlett was an associate at Bear Stearns, an investment banking firm which was acquired by its peer JPMorgan Chase in 2008, in media and communications M&A for two years. He started his career in 1996 as an analyst at Arthur Andersen.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
