US-headquartered mass media group Comcast is bringing corporate venturing unit Comcast Ventures into its business development division and readjusting its focus to strategic investments, CNBC reported on Friday.
The unit will be overseen by Sam Schwartz, Comcast’s chief business development officer, according to people familiar with the matter.
Comcast Ventures was launched in 1999 as Comcast Interactive Capital and has had a relatively diverse focus, investing across the consumer, enterprise and frontier technology sectors.
The unit’s current iteration came through its 2011 merger with media company NBCUniversal’s Peacock Equity Fund, a move tied in with the increased union between their parent companies.
Comcast Ventures currently has 120 active portfolio companies, 10 of which have been funded by its diversity-focused Catalyst Fund. Its more highly valued portfolio companies include social network NextDoor, autonomous driving technology producer Pony.ai, scooter rental service Bird, online home insurer Hippo and luggage brand Away.
Amy Banse, managing director and head of funds for Comcast Ventures, announced in September this year she would be retiring, while managing director David Zilberman has left to join venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners.
Comcast’s chief financial officer, Michael Cavanagh, took the reins from Banse and, having analysed its activities with Michael Angelakis, a former Comcast CFO who now heads Comcast-backed investment firm Atairos, decided the unit would fit better in the company’s business development division.
A Comcast spokesperson told CNBC: “Comcast Ventures has been a valuable innovation pipeline, providing insight into adjacent industries and investment opportunities.
“We are aligning our approach to venture investing more closely with our business units and repositioning Comcast Ventures and its fund under the strategic business development team at Comcast Cable.
“Our business development teams across the company continue to invest in new technology and businesses, which we believe will yield more strategic opportunities and benefits for Comcast and the companies in which we invest. We will continue to support our existing portfolio companies through investment and strategic partnership.”
Strategic areas of focus would include video streaming and broadband internet technologies, though the tightening of Comcast Ventures’ focus will likely lead to more departures, the sources told CNBC.
Some of the unit’s largest exits in recent years have included digital signature technology provider DocuSign, which has a $38bn market cap; enterprise communication platform Slack, with a $14.7bn market cap; and ride hailing service Lyft, currently valued at $12.6bn.
