Shankar Chandran, senior vice-president, managing director and head of Samsung Catalyst Fund (SCF), an evergreen corporate venture capital vehicle for consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung, had a discussion with Arvind Purushotham, managing director and global head of venture investing at financial services firm Citi who oversees its corporate venturing arm, Citi Ventures.
Moderator Greg Heibel, a partner at law firm Orrick, a platinum sponsor for this year’s GCVI Summit, asked Chandran and Purushotham to share how their respective CVC units identified innovative technologies.
Chandran reports to Samsung chief strategy officer Young Sohn, who has this year taken over as chairman of GCV Leadership Society’s advisory board.
Samsung sought to invest in innovative developers of healthcare, insurance, financial, mobility and quantum technologies that leverage artificial intelligence, according to Chandran.
Purushotham said Citi Ventures targeted the intersection of financial services and technology. The unit had a broad mandate on how to define the strategic rationale and incorporated domains such as payments and work management that were directly relevant to Citi’s main businesses, as well as security to help keep the bank and customers’ data safe.
The panellists agreed that CVC initiatives took time to build credibility and move into a new industry. Purushotham mentioned that Citi Ventures had backed online payment technology provider Square to gain traction in the space.
Chandran added that portfolio companies provided access to new data insights and helped the CVC unit understand new market segments such as automotive and mobility.
Samsung had three main businesses – smartphones, consumer electronics and semiconductor – and in order to cover these areas, it had three venture funds – Chandran’s SCF, focused on new sectors; Samsung Venture Investments, which helped business units explore mid and later-staged companies; and software, services and ecosystem-focused Samsung Next that facilitated hardware-minded Samsung to learn more about this realm.
Citi also launched the $150m Citi Impact Fund earlier this month. It focused on diversity and inclusion, especially on women and minority-founded startups that created a positive impact on society. Purushotham said: “We support entrepreneurs who are trying to bring tech to sustainability, workforce being replaced by AI, smart cities and financial inclusion.”
Both Purushotham and Chandran said their teams aimed to foster United Nations’ sustainability development goals, promoting diversity, financial inclusions and healthcare.
