Brandon Yahn is a principal at Convivialité Ventures, France-headquartered liqueur group Pernod Ricard’s US-based venture capital arm. The unit’s focus is to invest in technology companies that are changing the way people socialise, entertain and share experiences together.
Yahn is part of the founding team and head of US investments for Convivialité Ventures, having been an investor, entrepreneur, startup operator and management consultant prior to this role. He has been concentrating on building and scaling new businesses and has driven early initiatives at three $1bn-plus startups – credit management service provider Credit Karma, consumer data tracking service provider Datalogix and collaborative workspace provider Evernote.
Between 2014 and 2015, Yahn was also vice-president of business development at digital grocery shopping service SavingStar, where he led US west coast and strategic partnerships. The company was acquired by Quotient Technology, the retail marketing technology developer formerly known as Coupons.com, in 2018.
At Convivialité Ventures, Yahn has led or been directly involved in all 10 investments that the unit has made to date across the US and Europe, including on-demand delivery service Glovo, wedding registry platform Zola, lifestyle sharing app operator Common, event venue provider Peerspace, leisure activity discovery platform provider Fever and short-term rental service provider AvantStay.
Leveraging his background in growing consumer technology businesses, as well as the global brand expertise of Pernod Ricard, Yahn will identify and help grow future Convivialité Ventures portfolio companies.
Yahn was also the founder and chief executive of customised tuition loan repayment plan provider Student Loans Guy, a venture fellow at VC firm Foundation Capital, and started his career as a management consultant at professional services firm Accenture and management consulting firm Mars & Company.
Yahn holds an MBA in entrepreneurship, management of technology from the University of California, Berkeley’s Walter A Haas School of Business and a bachelor of science in industrial engineering with summa cum laude from West Virginia University.
