Global Corporate Venturing reported 338 rounds involving corporate investors from the media sector for the period August 2016 to July 2017. Slightly more than half (186) were raised by businesses based in the US, while 33 rounds took place in China, 25 in the UK and 15 in India.
A significant number of total commitments went to emerging enterprises in the media sector (136), with the remainder funding companies in IT (52), consumer (44), services (39) and financial services (27), among other sectors.
GCV tracked 183 rounds involving investors from the telecoms sector over the same period. Slightly fewer than half those rounds (77) were raised by US-based companies, while 13 rounds took place in the UK. A third went to emerging enterprises in the IT sector (65), with the remainder going to companies in media (23), financial (21), services (20) and transport (15), among other sectors.
In the whole of 2016, total capital raised in investment rounds backed by media corporates remained stable at $11.46bn, slightly higher than the $11.21bn allocated in 2015, a 2% increase. The deal count was at a level similar to the previous year – 350 in 2016 and 346 in 2015.
However, telecoms corporate venturers have by one measure reduced their activity over the past two years. While the estimated total capital raised in investment rounds rose to $13.27bn last year, up from $7.54bn in 2015, a 76% increase, the deal count dropped from 205 rounds to 168 in 2015. Activity is likely to rise this year due to an influx of new funds, as discussed later in this article.
Media investment professionals told GCV that the rise of original online media content and the advance of online marketing and branding logically converged, as branding and customer loyalty became key differentiating factor in the sector.
Sam Landman, a managing directors at Comcast Ventures, venturing subsidiary of cable operator Comcast, said: “There are a lot of exciting things happening in the media space. It has never been cheaper or easier to create high-quality content and distribute it at global scale. There is no scarcity of storytelling talent in the world as there are no restrictions on distribution. So, now we see media entrepreneurs building brands and fandom and their content getting better and better with a lower cost basis, at a much greater scale.”
Richard Osborn, managing partner at Telus Ventures, corporate venturing unit of the Canada-based telecoms provider, said of the major challenges for incumbents in telecoms: “The macro trend carriers face is that competition and customer expectations are both increasing rapidly. The differentiation needs to come from smart capital deployment, incredible customer service and anticipating technology development trends that will matter most to customers.”
The major opportunities Osborn identified for telecoms investors lay in emerging technologies that would require more connectivity. He said: “From our perspective the key trends obviously include bandwidth increases as we transition over next few years to 5G, but also cyber-security, IoT [the internet of things], particularly in areas such as healthy homes and smart cities, and more slowly, the increase in data consumption in verticals such as transportation, ag-tech and autonomous vehicles.”
The leading corporate investors from the media sector were Comcast, media group Bloomberg and publisher Bertelsmann. They accounted for the highest number of deals between over the past year. China-based internet group Baidu, entertainment and media group Walt Disney and media company Time Warner deployed most capital.
The top investors from the telecoms sector, based on the number of deals over the past 12 months, included Japan-based telecoms firm SoftBank and telecoms service providers Swisscom and Verizon. SoftBank also committed the highest level of funding by a margin. Other big investors included Bharti Airtel, Nokia and Saudi Telecom.
The top investors in emerging media enterprises were diversified conglomerate Alphabet and largely other companies from the media sector, such as Comcast and UK-based cable operator Sky.
Total corporate investment in media-focused emerging enterprises rose from 2015 to 2016 in total capital deployed, while the deal count dropped slightly. According to GCV Analytics, $8.02bn was invested over 216 rounds in 2016, a 12% increase from the $7.17bn invested over 220 deals in 2015.
The number of investments in telecoms-focused enterprises more than halved from 2015 to 2016 but increased significantly in value. According to GCV Analytics data, $1.51bn was invested over 15 rounds in 2016, compared with $1.08bn invested over 34 deals in 2015.
Media deals
Media corporate investors committed capital to a number of which stood even above $1bn. These top rounds were raised primarily by emerging media businesses.
China-based video streaming platform iQiyi raised $1.53bn from investors including Baidu and IDG Capital, the Chinese venture capital affiliate of media company International Data Group. Baidu contributed $300m. The round also featured venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and hedge fund manager Hillhouse Capital, among others. Launched in 2010, iQiyi operates an online video platform that offers both a free and a premium subscription-based streaming service. It claimed around 480 million users at the end of last year.
Walt Disney agreed to pay $1bn for a 33% stake in BamTech, an online video spinout of sporting organisation Major League Baseball (MLB). BamTech’s technology powers online video streaming platforms and also provides features such as data analytics and commerce management. It was spun out of MLB Advanced Media, Major League Baseball’s interactive media subsidiary. The company’s clients – including HBO Now, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, PGA Tour and WWE Network – collectively attract almost 7.5 million paying subscribers.
Time Warner acquired a 10% stake in US-based television streaming platform Hulu for $583m, according to the Wall Street Journal. Founded in 2006 by media group News Corp and entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal, Hulu offers on-demand streaming of TV and film.
Yixin Capital, a China-based online automotive financing subsidiary of automotive retail services provider Bitauto, first raised $550m from a consortium including its parent company and China-based internet businesses Tencent, Baidu and JD.com. Later, the same group of corporate backers agreed to provide an additional $580m. The corporates were joined by state-owned asset management firm China Orient AMC International and Wei Wang, founder and chairman of package delivery service SF Express. Yixin has created an online marketplace for new and used vehicles that is used by car makers, vehicle dealers and automotive service providers as well as financing and insurance partners.
Uxin, a China-based used vehicle marketplace backed by Baidu, raised $500m. The round featured outdoor advertising specialist Focus Media, alongside a host of institutional and traditional venture capital investors. Uxin operates online platform Youxinpai, on which people buy and sell used vehicles, as well as business-to-business vehicle marketplace Uxin Pai and a financing service for automotive purchases.
Telecoms deals
Telecoms corporate venturers took part in many large deals, four of them above $1bn. SoftBank participated in nine of the top 10 rounds involving commitments mainly to transport and services companies.
SoftBank provided $5bn of a $5.5bn round raised by China-based ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing, which runs the largest on-demand ride platform in China by market share. SoftBank had led the round which reportedly valued the company at more than $50bn. Investors included Silver Lake Kraftwerk, China Merchants Bank and Bank of Communications.
Singapore-based on-demand ride service Grab confirmed it had secured $2bn from SoftBank and its China-based counterpart, Didi Chuxing, as the two investors continued to expand their influence in the world’s ride-hailing sector. The funding was raised at a post-money valuation of $6bn. Grab runs an app-based service spanning 65 cities in seven Southeast Asian countries that enables users to order lifts through private cars, motorcycles, taxis or carpooling, equating to an average of almost 3 million rides a day.
SoftBank invested $1.4bn in One97 Communications, the India-based e-commerce company that owns mobile payment platform Paytm. The round reportedly valued One97 at $7bn post-money. One97 operates a diversified e-commerce and online services business but it is now best known for Paytm, which it launched in 2010 and which enables users to buy phone credit, pay bills, buy insurance and book travel tickets.
SoftBank invested $1bn in US-based satellite operator OneWeb as part of a $1.2bn round that included several other corporates, all existing investors in the company – mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, aerospace group Airbus, beverage producer Coca-Cola, conglomerates Virgin Group and Bharti Enterprises, cable and internet service provider Totalplay, and satellite services companies Hughes Network Systems and Intelsat. Founded in 2012, OneWeb is building a network of 720 low-earth-orbit satellites to provide worldwide internet coverage.
Emerging media and telecoms enterprises
Enterprise communication platform Slack raised $250m in a funding round, co-led by SoftBank and venture capital firm Accel. The round valued Slack at more than $5bn, according to sources. Earlier reports had suggested the size of the round could reach $500m. Slack has built a workplace communication app with more than 5 million daily users, including 1.5 million using the paid version.
Tencent and asset manager Phoenix Capital co-led a RMB1.5bn ($227m) series C round for China-based online game streaming platform Douyu TV. The round included private equity firm Shenzhen Capital Group and the Chinese state-backed National SME Development Fund. Founded in 2013, Douyu runs an online platform for livestreaming gaming exploits, operating similarly to US-based Twitch.
Media company NBCUniversal invested a further $200m in US-based online media platform and portfolio company Buzzfeed. The transaction reportedly valued Buzzfeed at $1.7bn post-money. NBCUniversal had provided $200m of funding for Buzzfeed in August 2015. Buzzfeed is a millennial-focused media network, best known for its listicles and bite-sized, often branded, content, which has also been moving heavily into video.
Pinterest, the US-based social media platform backed by e-commerce firm Rakuten, raised $150m from existing investors at a $12.3bn valuation. The investment syndicate included financial services provider Goldman Sachs. Pinterest operates a visual-based social network that acts as an online scrapbook for 175 million monthly users. It has recently focused on increasing monetisation of its platform through links to e-commerce and through promoted “pins” that connect users to specific products.
France-based internet-of-things (IoT) technology provider Sigfox closed a €150m ($160m) series E round which featured a host of corporate venturers – Aliad and Intel Capital, the venture capital arms of industrial gases provider Air Liquide and semiconductor producer Intel, oil and gas company Total, conglomerate Tamer and Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of the cloud computing company. Founded in 2011, Sigfox has developed an international network that allows IoT devices to connect to the cloud in an affordable and energy-efficient manner.
Italy-based wireless broadband service provider Linkem secured €100m ($106m) in a round that included diversified holding group and existing investor Leucadia National Corporation. Founded in 2001, Linkem provides an ultrabroadband fixed wireless network service to more than 400,000 subscribers in Italy, with coverage spanning roughly 60% of the country’s population.
UK-based optic-fibre infrastructure provider TrueSpeed Communications received £75m ($96m) in funding from Aviva Investors, the asset management arm of insurance firm Aviva. TrueSpeed is building an ultrafast broadband network that it expects will eventually cover rural areas across southwest England, serving both residential and commercial clients. The company’s offering is currently available to towns in the Chew Valley in Somerset, and it is targeting a user base of more than 75,000.
Media exits
Media-focused corporate venturers completed 36 exits between August 2016 and July 2017, including 27 acquisitions, five initial public offerings (IPOs) and one merger.
One a calendar year-to-year basis, GCV Analytics tracked 34 exits in 2016, which represented a sizeable drop from the 43 transactions in the year prior. The exited capital, however, decreased only slightly – $4.17bn, down from $4.85bn in 2015.
US-based visual media platform Snap closed an IPO at $3.91bn, after its underwriters took up the option to buy an extra 30 million shares. Snap issued 145 million shares priced at $17 each, which were joined by 55 million shares divested by existing backers to raise an initial $3.4bn, giving exits to investors including e-commerce firm Alibaba and internet companies Tencent and Yahoo. NBCUniversal subsequently revealed that it invested $500m in Snap through the offering, giving it a stake sized at approximately 2.1%. Snap is best known for the Snapchat platform but its IPO filing indicated its long-term plans involve expanding into an all-purpose visual media company that will also delve into hardware.
MakeMyTrip agreed to buy fellow India-based online travel services platform Ibibo Group in an all-share deal, making Ibibo’s backers e-commerce firm Naspers and Tencent shareholders. The combined company is worth $1.8bn. Naspers owns 91% of Ibibo, and Tencent 9%, through a holding company called MIH Group. They will receive a 40% stake in MakeMyTrip through the deal. Online travel platform Ctrip, which had issued $180m in convertible notes to MakeMyTrip in January, will receive a 10% stake in the combined company.
Germany-based online food ordering platform Delivery Hero went public in a €996m ($1.13bn) IPO that gave a partial exit to e-commerce holding company Rocket Internet. The IPO consisted of 18.95 million newly issued shares, 15 million shares held by existing investors and 5.09 million shares held by the Rocket Internet-founded Global Online Takeaway Group (GOTG), all priced at €25.50 each, at the top of the €22.00 to €25.50 range. Delivery Hero has built an online food ordering and delivery platform that serves customers in more than 40 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions.
Enterprise software provider Salesforce.com agreed to acquire Krux, a US-based data management developer backed by investors including media group Time Warner, for “about $700m”, as the Wall Street Journal reported, divided equally between cash and stock. This gave exit to Time Warner Investments and IDG Ventures, venturing units of Time Warner and IDG, respectively. Krux produces cloud-based data management software for marketing and media companies. Post-acquisition, it will help Salesforce Marketing Cloud build its audience segmentation and targeting ability.
E-commerce and cloud computing group Amazon agreed to acquire United Arab Emirates-based online marketplace Souq.com for $650m, giving media and e-commerce firm Naspers an exit. Founded in 2005, Souq operates the largest online marketplace in the Middle East by customer size, linking to about 75,000 businesses and offering some 2 million consumer items for sale. Amazon will get a foothold in the region through the purchase, giving it an ideal base in a part of the world in which it has never operated.
Telecoms exits
Telecoms-focused corporate investors took part in 30 exits as either exiting or acquiring entities between August 2016 and July 2017, including 22 acquisitions and four IPOs.
GCV reported 27 exits for calendar year 2016, a significant increase from the 18 in 2015. The estimated exited capital also increased to $6.43bn, up from $4.19bn in 2015.
Enterprise software provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) agreed to acquire US-based data management software producer Simplivity in a $650m cash deal, giving an exit to Swisscom. Simplivity has built a data virtualisation platform that uses hyperconvergence – infrastructure system integrating computing, storage, networking, virtualisation resources and other technologies – to help businesses expand and simplify their data centre infrastructure while making it more secure. HPE intends to combine Simplivity’s software with its own technology in order to supply what it described as the industry’s only “built-for-enterprise” hyperconverged offering.
Medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific agreed to acquire Switzerland-based heart valve replacement technology provider Symetis in a $435m cash deal, providing an exit to pharmaceutical firm Novartis. Swisscom also technically exited Symetis through the deal, as the Swiss SME Fund operated by its Swisscom Ventures unit is managed by Vinci Capital, one of its past backers. Founded in 2001, Symetis develops and manufactures percutaneous heart valve replacement.
Telecoms company Telstra exited US-based cloud communications platform developer TeleSign after mobile data services provider Bics agreed to acquire it for $230m cash. Founded in 2005, TeleSign supplies secure authentication and mobile identity services to digital and internet service providers, enabling them to add real-time communications to existing applications or services without building out backend infrastructure. Bics claimed in a statement that the acquisition would create the world’s first end-to-end communications-platform-as-a-service company by linking TeleSign’s technology with a global voice-carrier service.
Networking equipment maker Cisco agreed to acquire US-based artificial intelligence (AI) technology developer MindMeld in a $125m deal, giving exits to corporates Spain-based telecoms provider Telefónica, and a host of other corporate investors, among which were Intel, electronics producer Samsung, internet conglomerate Alphabet and cable company Liberty Global. MindMeld has built a machine-learning-infused AI platform that allows users to create intelligent conversational interfaces for applications or devices.
US-based wifi technology producer Quantenna Communications floated on Nasdaq in a $107m IPO that provided exits to investors including corporates telecoms companies Telefónica, Swisscom, Vivint and NTT. Quantenna priced 6.7 million shares at $16 each, the top of the $14 to $16 range it had set earlier. Founded in 2005 as MySource Communications, Quantenna produces high-speed wifi equipment that makes use of semiconductor architecture, system-level software and cloud analytics.
Exits from emerging enterprises
In addition to Snapchat’s much publicised IPO, there were other notable exits from emerging media enterprises. There were only a couple of exits from emerging telecoms enterprises in addition to Quantenna’s $107m flotation.
Amobee, a mobile advertising company owned by Singapore-based Singtel, agreed to acquire adtech company Turn for $310m. Turn runs a data management platform and a demand-side platform for ad buyers. Its previous corporate backers include Fidelity Investments, a subsidiary of financial services firm Fidelity as well as Norwest Venture Partners, a venture capital firm spun out of US-based bank Wells Fargo.
China-based online gaming company G-bits Network Technology completed an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, securing RMB961m. The flotation, which valued the company at $791m, provided an exit to IDG Capital and Ping An Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of insurance company Ping An Insurance. Established in 2004, G-bits has created a range of virtual reality and massively multiplayer online games.
France-based news app provider News Republic was acquired by internet company Cheetah Mobile for $57m, providing an exit to shareholders including Intel. The deal also offered an exit to Xange Private Equity, which is backed by French postal service La Poste, and to venture capital firm Creathor Venture. Founded in 2008 as Mobiles Republic, News Republic operates a mobile app that aggregates articles from more than 1,650 sources. Users can select topics in which they are interested to create a personalised newsfeed.
Crisp Media, a US-based advertising technology developer backed by semiconductor manufacturer Intel, was reportedly set to get acquired by media and analytics company Quotient for an initial $33m. Quotient will pay $20m in cash, with the remainder of the price provided in stock. Founded in 2003, Crisp Media operates under the brand name Crisp Mobile, offering mobile marketing and advertising services. The technology enables retailers to drive in-store sales by sending personalised messages to shoppers at optimal times.
Navigation product maker Beijing BDStar Navigation agreed to acquire Canada-based mobile positioning technology developer Rx Networks in a C$31m ($23m) cash deal giving an exit to Telus. Rx Networks provides mobile positioning technology to mobile operators and equipment manufacturers through its Location.io division, and indoor positioning systems through its Fathom Systems subsidiaries.
Funds
Funding initiatives in the telecoms space registered a slight increase in count during calendar year 2016 alongside a sharp uptick of total capital raised – largely due to the unusually large record $93bn SoftBank Vision Fund – $96.33bn from 23 initiatives, up from $1.31bn from 20 initiatives in 2015.
Funding initiatives relevant to the media space registered a significant increase in number through 2016 alongside a sharp uptick of total capital raised, also due to the $93bn SoftBank Vision Fund. A total of $101.18bn was raised from 44 initiatives, up from $2.94bn from 33 initiatives in 2015. Even if we were to exclude the SoftBank Vision Fund, the remaining funds raised ($8.1bn) suggests a 178% increase, while the number of initiatives had risen by a third. This trend and interest in the media sector may be sustained, given the $6.41bn raised from 26 initiatives by the end of July 2017.
In the first half of 2017, the largest corporate venturing fund yet was raised by SoftBank, which first announced its intention to raise the $100bn SoftBank Vision Fund in October last year, committing $25bn of its own money, with up to $45bn from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund. Subsequently, consumer electronics provider Apple committed $1bn, as did electronics manufacturer Sharp. Semiconductor maker Qualcomm and contract manufacturer Foxconn also backed the initiative. The first close of the fund stood at $93bn by May this year. The areas of focus for this record-breaking fund include telecoms, internet-of-things, AI, robotics, infrastructure, biotech, fintech and mobile apps among other things.
The Chinese government set up a RMB100bn ($14.5bn) fund backed by several state-owned firms to invest in the country’s internet sector. The scheme was part of the government’s Internet Plus initiative, aiming to strengthen traditional industries through the introduction of internet technology. Financial services firm Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is its largest limited partner, supplying $1.45bn. Other investors include telecoms companies China Mobile and China Unicom, insurance provider China Post Insurance and Citic Guoan Group, part of investment firm Citic Group Corporation.
Baidu established $3bn investment vehicle Baidu Capital, which will focus on mid to late-stage startups in the internet sector, making individual commitments of between $50m and $100m. The unit will provide money in dollars, Chinese yuan and other currencies. Baidu Capital is also expected to attract cash from other entities, including insurance funds, securities companies and government-backed institutions.
US-based smartphone and virtual reality technology provider HTC Corporation agreed to establish a RMB10bn virtual reality (VR) investment fund in partnership with China’s Shenzhen Municipal Government. HTC had originally concentrated on smartphone manufacturing but has latterly invested heavily on building a business around its Vive VR headset. Shenzhen VR Investment Fund will look to secure financial support from Chinese and international partners, and to attract companies participating in the industry. It will be the world’s largest dedicated VR-focused VC fund.
Saudi Telecom formed $500m corporate venturing fund STV which is expected to begin investing by the fourth quarter of this year. Since late 2011, the Saudi Arabia-based company has invested in IT, telecoms, media and entertainment companies through independently managed venture capital fund STC Ventures. The new investment vehicle will also be managed independently and will target companies developing AI, virtual reality, banking, logistics and digital health technology and services. It aims to invest roughly $100m a year over the next four to five years.
Legend Capital, the venture capital firm sponsored by China-based conglomerate Legend Holdings, raised $243m for its latest fund. LC Fund VII raised the capital from a total of 23 limited partners and is targeting a final close of $375m. The fund will seek to back China-based technology, media, telecoms and consumer goods companies.
US-based internet company Facebook announced that a group of investors may invest up to $170m as part of its Telecoms Infrastructure Project (Tip). The initiative does not constitute a new fund but is rather Facebook obtaining non-binding and in principle commitments from partners to back telecoms infrastructure startups over the next three to five years. The partners include Oxford Sciences Innovation, the university venturing fund of Oxford University, Touchstone Innovations, the commercialisation firm spun out of Imperial College London, and IP Group, a commercialisation firm supported by several universities, among others. Tip is an initiative meant to increase internet coverage in third world and developing countries, such as Uganda, where Facebook is constructing a fibre backhaul network with telecoms firm Airtel and wholesale provider BCS.
Canada-based venture capital firm Relay Ventures closed its third fund with a total of C$200m ($150m) in commitments from limited partners including mobile network operator US Cellular. Northleaf Capital Partners acted as the lead investor, while Royal Bank of Canada and host of other traditional venture capital investors also supplied cash. Relay Ventures III has already invested in 10 companies, eight of which are based in Canada. It focuses on early-stage deals in the mobile software, services and content sectors.
MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia, plans to invest $100m in the next four years. MDI ( Metra Digital Innovation) is based in Jakarta, with additional offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. The unit will invest about $25m a year in both Indonesian and international startups, and is particularly targeting companies with products that can be integrated with Telkom’s offering.
People
Over the past year, the telecoms and media sectors registered a considerable number of changes of roles and people moves. SoftBank was the most active in hiring and seeking talent for its Vision Fund.
Joe Chang left SoftBank China Venture Capital (SCVC), a subsidiary of SoftBank, to join Eight Roads Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of financial services group Fidelity International. Chang became a partner at SCVC, Japan-based SoftBank’s local corporate venturing unit, in September 2014, after four years as managing director of networking equipment producer Cisco’s corporate development team.
The SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank hired many executives who previously worked closely with Deutsche Bank. Colin Fan was hired by the fund’s CEO Rajeev Misra, who was previously responsible for global credit and commodities at Deutsche Bank until 2008. Fan will work at SoftBank’s office in San Carlos. He joined Deutsche Bank in 1998 and climbed the corporate ladder under Anshu Jain, who was chief executive until 2015.
Jeffrey Housenbold joined as a senior investing member. Housenbold had been president and CEO of Nasdaq-listed image publishing platform Shutterfly for 11 years until early 2016 when, among a portfolio of roles, he became an entrepreneur-in-residence at venture capital firm Sutter Hill Ventures.
Akshay Naheta, chief investment officer of investment firm Knight Assets & Co, joined the management team of the fund. Naheta will be responsible for public equity investments and potential acquisitions. Knight Assets, which had been raising a $500m vehicle, will be shut down. Naheta was formerly a trader at Deutsche Bank.
Michael Ronen left investment banking firm Goldman Sachs to take a partner position at the fund. Ronen was co-chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs’s technology since 2014, and oversees media and telecoms mergers and acquisitions for the firm in the Americas.
Comcast Ventures appointed Dinesh Moorjani as managing director based in Santa Monica. Moorjani joined the unit from private equity firm Warburg Pincus, where he was an executive-in-residence, and where he will continue to be an adviser. He was also founder and CEO of Hatch Labs, an incubator set up by internet and media company IAC that gave birth to dating app Tinder.
Jack Leeney, US head of investing for Telefónica Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the Spain-based phone operator, left after nearly five years at the firm to become a partner at SP Global Capital. SP is an independent growth technology fund backed by ProSiebenSat.1, a Germany-based media group. ProSiebenSat.1 has been making corporate venturing deals through its SevenVentures unit, led by Sascha van Holt in Munich. Leeney, a former investment banker at Morgan Stanley, had worked on a number of deals for Telefónica.
George Kliavkoff left media group Hearst, where he was president of its corporate venturing fund Hearst Ventures, to become CEO at US-based VR content producer Jaunt. Kliavkoff joined Hearst in 2009 as president of Hearst Ventures and deputy group head of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication. He was previously chief digital officer at media conglomerate NBCUniversal. Hearst Ventures restructured after his departure, putting Kenneth Bronfin and Scott English in charge and building its international network. The group also hired Gil Canaani to run its Israeli investment team.
Baochi Nguyen joined IDG Ventures as vice-president of marketing. Nguyen moved from recruitment platform Simply Hired, where she held the same position in an interim capacity. Prior to Simply Hired, Nguyen was interim vice-president of marketing for Krux Digital, an adtech developer acquired by enterprise software provider Salesforce.
Allison Goldberg was appointed senior vice-president of Time Warner Investments, succeeding Rachel Lam, who left after 14 years leading the group. Goldberg had been managing director and vice-president at Time Warner Investments, the corporate venturing unit of the US-listed media group, since 2001 and has done more than many to support New York’s burgeoning venture ecosystem. Prior to joining Time Warner, Goldberg was a venture capital associate at Groupe Arnault and in Morgan Stanley’s Global Media Group.
Burda Principal Investments, the corporate venturing arm of Germany-based media group Hubert Burda, opened an office in Singapore, whose three-person team will be led by Albert Shyy, formerly a principal for Gree Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle of mobile gaming company Gree. Burda Principal Investments is already a limited partner in funds raised by local firms Golden Gate Ventures, Jungle Ventures and Kejora Venture.
Hearst Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of the US-based media company, hired David Famolari as managing director. Famolari joined Hearst from Verizon where he has been a director at Verizon Ventures since 2013. He will report to Scott English, senior managing director and head of US investments at Hearst Ventures. Famolari will be based in New York, working alongside Hearst Ventures’ managing director Darcy Frisch, focusing on US-based investments.
Brad McManus was promoted to head of Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, the corporate venturing unit of the US-based communications technology producer, following the departure of Reese Schroeder. Schroeder became managing director at Tyson Foods’s new corporate venturing unit, Tyson New Ventures, and is currently reporting to its head, Mary Kay James. McManus has a long history of combining financial and strategic goals. McManus was part of the Panasonic Ventures team from 2002 to 2013, where he invested in electric vehicle maker Tesla. Prior to joining Panasonic Ventures, McManus was an institutional public equity investor for a large trust company, and then at an investment firm which he co-owned in California.
Nobuyuki Akimoto, formerly the head of NTT Docomo Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Japan-based telecoms company NTT, joined US and Asia-focused venture capital firm TransLink Capital as a managing partner. Akimoto had moved from NTT Docomo Ventures to NTT subsidiary NTT Docomo’s global service planning office, in its smart-life business division in July last year.
Kai Bond joined Comcast Ventures as a principal to lead its Catalyst Fund. Bond comes to the firm from electronics producer Samsung. He was general manager of the New York-based Samsung Accelerator initiative for about a year, after spending roughly a year as a director in its Samsung Extra division. Comcast launched the Catalyst Fund in 2011 with $20m to invest in early-stage companies headed by members of underrepresented minority groups.
Christian Ebersol joined venture capital-backed healthcare analytics firm Health IQ after leaving Comcast Ventures. Ebersol worked at Comcast Ventures for three years, during which time he concentrated on early-stage investments, leading seed-stage investments focused on accelerator Y Combinator for Comcast’s Catalyst Fund.
Wale Ayeni left France-based telecoms company Orange, where he led its North American startup investments as principal, to join the International Finance Corporation, the investment arm of the World Bank. Ayeni joined Orange in 2013 from financial services firm JPMorgan’s investment banking team, where he handled investments in the technology, media and telecoms sector. During his time at Orange Digital Ventures, the firm’s US investment subsidiary, Ayeni’s target areas included fintech, enterprise cloud software, big data, AI and machine learning, connectivity and the internet of things.
Pascale Diaine left Orange, where she was lead manager of its Orange Fab accelerator, to join venture capital firm Storm Ventures. Orange originally hired Diaine in 2002 as an analyst and she rose through the ranks to become an evangelist for its Silicon Valley-based research and development division, Orange Labs, in 2005. She played a vital role in the formation of Orange Fab in 2012. The accelerator provides $20,000-plus of funding over the three-month program as well as access to corporate partners including Total, LG, Visa and Moët Hennessy.
