Kévin Monserrat joined the corporate venturing subsidiary of software producer Microsoft at its most critical time, when it was still known as Microsoft Ventures, he told Global Corporate Venturing.
“I completely rebranded the program of Microsoft Accelerator and later went on to do the same for Microsoft ScaleUp,” he said. The Microsoft ScaleUp accelerator program is part of Microsoft for Startups, an initiative launched in February 2018.
As UK-based venture capital relations and dealflow manager at Microsoft for Startups Europe for three years since late 2015, Monserrat reviewed 500 companies per year, building and growing the venture capital network to 150 VCs, and organised more than 50 thought-leadership events.
He facilitated more than £100m ($125m) of startup financing from VCs and corporate venturers, the latest being Switzerland-based genomics technology provider Sophia Genetics, which completed $77m of funding in January this year.
Monserrat also worked on a whitepaper with London School of Economics assistant professor of finance, Juanita Gonzalez-Uribe, comparing the growth of Microsoft UK’s startup portfolio with the top quarter that almost secured their position in Microsoft for Startups.
Monserrat said: “This paper has strongly helped to define the Microsoft for Startups London ScaleUp strategy which became the reference for the global program.”
Because VC is a relatively small financial institution, his experience at Microsoft for Startups showed the need to add value to startups, offering bespoke support, capital, market and access to the right talent.
Monserrat said: “Venture capitalists have an incredible difficulty to scale and use technology to drive efficiencies and portfolio cross-fertilisation, [although] VC is an increasingly important intermediary to achieve economic growth.
“While there is plenty of information about what makes a ‘good’ startup ecosystem, there is nothing about what makes an ‘efficient’ startup ecosystem.” That is where his new enterprise, Consilience Ventures (CV), comes into play.
CV is a data-centred venture capital platform aiming to bridge the gap between early-stage startups and venture investors. “Consilience Ventures founders define an efficient startup ecosystem as being more transparent and collaborative, driving greater returns and enabling the next generations of entrepreneurs. This level of efficiency can only be achieved with the use of data and cutting-edge technology.”
Explaining the difference between CV and the Microsoft ScaleUp program, Monserrat said: “The Microsoft ScaleUp program, previously known as Microsoft Accelerator and Ventures, is designed for series A startups and offers access to sales and technical support.”
Eligible startups take part in the immersive scheme at one of Microsoft ScaleUp’s eight global locations followed by continuous support and mentoring from a dedicated team of managers.
“Consilience Ventures, on the other hand, is a venture capital platform using its own digital currency – not a cryptocurrency – to invest in business-to-business startups from pre-seed to series A while removing critical pain points such as raising capital, customer access, and service providers alignment to more.
“It uses a combination of data and human-driven decision to raise the probability of selecting the best startups to which CV offers unparalleled support to achieve massive growth.
“We believe that investors can invest in startups and scale-ups without risking their capital and should be able to liquidate their investment at any time. We do this by redefining startup financing and enable startups to launch twice as fast through our Sprint Financing model.
“We engage the best ecosystem players as part of their startup team at the heart of a vibrant marketplace. CV aims to give investors more flexibility and higher returns by making their investment more liquid.
“Investors in CV neither pay any management fees, nor carry financial transaction costs and benefit from the IP (intellectual property) value developed over time.
“CV acts as an ecosystem enabler thus feeding all later stage investors with top quality information which facilitate the decision making, due diligence and reporting.”
Monserrat believes that there is a window of opportunity to provide venture-capital-as-a-service and innovation-as-a-service to tier-two corporates that have a limited understanding of the startup world and slow adaption capability to digital transformation.
– Photo courtesy of Kévin Monserrat
