A relative newcomer to corporate venturing (CVC), Hanns Anders made the jump from venture firm Claremont Creek Ventures to become investment manager at iRobot Ventures early in 2015, shortly after the corporate venturing unit was established.
Anders said he was attracted to corporate venturing after seeing it in action: “Every syndicate I was a part of in my previous role included at least one corporate investor. I learned a lot about CVC’s best − and worst − practices and came away from the experience with a respect for the value that corporate investors can provide.
“At their best, CVCs offer more than capital to early-stage companies. By bringing deep technical and market insights and networks, CVCs often complement traditional investors and play a vital role in the growth of the startups they support. I felt I could play this role well.
“I was also attracted by the opportunity to spend my time meeting smart people working on meaningful things. Similar to traditional venture capital, every day in CVC is different. The variety of technologies, problems, and people is exciting. However, CVCs are also privy to what is going on behind the scenes at the highest levels of their own company. CVC provides tremendous access to executive management, strategy and emerging technologies. It is a fun and rewarding experience. I consider myself to be extremely lucky to do what I do for a company I believe in.”
Launched at the start of 2015, iRobot Ventures is the corporate venturing arm of iRobot, a robotics firm known for its home robot vacuum cleaner Roomba. With a fund of around $25m, according to news provider TechCrunch, the unit is making early-stage and series A investments ranging from $100,000 to $2m.
“The objective of iRobot Ventures is to support disruptive technologies and business models in robotics and related fields, while highlighting emerging markets and trends,” said Anders. “We seek to earn a meaningful return on our investment by partnering with the strongest entrepreneurs and investor syndicates. We invest in companies that are passionate about solving problems using connected hardware, software and cloud-based applications. We are interested in pioneering new business models.”
As a new unit, Anders said iRobot’s biggest challenge so far had been education: “Since we are not a lead investor, we are often reliant on others to catalyse a syndicate. As a result, it is imperative that potential co-investors and entrepreneurs understand the types of technologies, products and investments iRobot is pursuing, as well as the value we bring as an investor. For example, it is easy for stakeholders to pigeonhole us as being solely interested in traditional robotics. In reality, we are considering investments in a variety of connected hardware and software companies from sectors as diverse as the consumer internet of things and industrial automation. Similarly, partners and entrepreneurs often overlook our experience in expanding manufacturing and distribution – two of the biggest challenges facing the startups we support. This education demands constant attention. It is critical to our success.”
While studying his MBA at Michigan University, Anders was an analyst at Waste Management and an associate at Huron River Ventures. Following his graduation in 2011, Anders joined Pacific Gas and Electric Company as a project manager working on battery energy storage systems for a year before making the jump to Claremont.
At Claremont, Anders worked on a number of deals, including energy management firm Blue Pillar, software startup Building Robotics, solar power-focused financial firm Clean Power Finance, home energy management startup EcoFactor and corporate shuttle bus service RidePal.
Anders said his main ambition for the future was to grow iRobot into a successful corporate venturing unit with a reputation for supporting entrepreneurs in pursuing their goals. He wants it to become renowned for delivering market intelligence, technology development and outsized returns back to iRobot.
He said corporate venturing as a whole could do much more to make itself a stronger industry: “We must continue to put our entrepreneurs first by finding ways to provide value without being a burden. We must not saddle our portfolio companies with unnecessary terms or restrictions, nor waste time and resources by pushing empty partnerships. We must act in good faith, plan for the long term and avoid conflicts of interest and unnecessary meddling. In doing so, we will build trust among other investors and entrepreneurs. We will also ensure we get the most out of each investment.
“At the same time, we must set expectations internally. Corporations and startups operate under different rules, strategies and tactics,” he added. “The sooner that CVCs realise how to identify and communicate these differences, as well as use them to their advantage, the sooner we will gain the trust of internal stakeholders and begin to strengthen the industry from within.”
Karime Hajar Alves, mergers and acquisitions manager, TOTVS Ventures
Karime Hajar Alves, mergers and acquisitions and new business development manager at Brazil-based software company TOTVS, understands ecosystems.
Having studied marine engineering at Sao Paulo’s university in Brazil, she completed a master’s degree in sustainable development at ParisTech in France. After this, she studied innovation, entrepreneurship and venture capital in an academic partnership with US-based Berkeley that finished in 2010.
Her first role was analysing venture-backed agribusinesses in the state of Sao Paulo for early-stage investment firm Criatec. After a year, she moved to boutique holding firm and strategic consultancy Trigger Participações to pinpoint healthcare dealflow. In her own words, Alves joined TOTVS in 2012: “In order to develop and run TOTVS Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm from TOTVS.”
Since then, she has − to use her words − “invested and disinvested” in a few, undisclosed startups and led an international startup contest. From the beginning of 2014, she also took on the role of mergers and acquisitions manager.
In a LinkedIn testimonial, Bruno Ghizoni, a partner at Brazilian lender PortBank, described her as having: “A global vision of business − always dedicated to helping entrepreneurs.”