C2V NEWS

Happy Holidays, and bring on 2024! Now, for the 6th consecutive year (check out last year’s predictions), I’m pleased and excited to share our predictions for the tech industry in the coming year. Without further adieu, here we go…

Chris Cunningham of C2 Ventures offers some predictions for what 2024 will bring to tech, covering generative AI, legal tech, and more.

As far as well-established and massive yet shockingly disjointed and inefficient industries go, the secondhand electronics market is one of the most broken we’ve seen. Despite being an $80 billion business that is 5x the size of the primary electronics market (by volume), the secondhand electronics market is rife with problems,” said Chris Cunningham, partner at C2 Ventures. “Eze solves these problems via a global marketplace that allows sellers and end buyers to connect directly while providing price transparency (via centralized bidding), quality control, through a proprietary QA process, and fraud prevention, via a centralized payment process. Josh and David are the perfect duo to solve this problem and we are incredibly excited and grateful to support them on this journey and being a part of the C2 Ventures portfolio.

Driver Technologies – an AI-based mobility tech company that delivers a safer and smarter driving experience – announced recently the closing of a $6 million strategic funding round led by IA Capital and CT Innovations (the venture capital arm of the State of Connecticut). And major insurers also participated in the round including, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, State Auto Labs/Rev 1, and investors from The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund, ID8 Investments, C2 Ventures, and Kapor Capital. Through the closing of this round, Driver Technologies has now raised more than $16 million.

Before our predictions for the New Year, something I’ve done, for now, the 5th consecutive year – see past predictions here – of course, have to look back at this year. Forgive the immodesty, but we crushed it. We made some pretty bold predictions and took some flak for leaning cynical with our views on trends that, at the time, seemed unstoppable (notably SPACs, NFTs/Web3/Metaverse, and late-stage tech). So, what lies ahead for 2023?

Tech-startup investors expect a big 'reset' that creates 'a two-year period of both pain and opportunity,' with money still flowing to early-stage startups while older ventures face an uneasy road.

C2 Ventures announced today it has closed its second early-stage fund totaling $20 million, and a separate $2.5 million Tributary Fund that will make investments in earlier, pre-seed stage old-economy SaaS and robotics productivity tools. Fund 2’s LPs include more than 125 investors, including the State of Connecticut through Connecticut Ventures.

The fund has more than 100 investors including quarterback Baker Mayfield and his brother Matt, and NFL Network reporter, Ian Rappaport, as well as some of the industry’s most successful founders and tech executives, including Brian Adams, Jennifer Prince, Shiven Ramji, Sean Cohen, David Kidder, Ari Paparo, Haroon Mokhtarzada, and Mike Murphy, who also act as the firm’s Operator Bench, providing extensive post-investment support to C2V’s portfolio companies.

C2 Ventures is launching two new funds: a second seed fund worth just north of $20 million and $2.55 million for pre-seed investments through its Tributary Fund. C2 plans to make 20 investments from the $20 million fund – roughly seven a year – at around half a million a pop, with the rest reserved for when those companies hit their Series A.

Edward Marshall, Global Head of Dentons’ Family Office and High Net Worth sector, is joined by Chris Cunningham and Sam Frankfort. Chris is a media and tech veteran, entrepreneur and early-stage venture capital investor. Sam is the founding partner of Benvolio Group, which focuses on direct investing in early stage disruptive consumer facing concepts. Sam now sits on several boards of early stage companies and is actively involved in a number of early stage venture companies.

Chris Cunningham, founder of C2 Ventures, reflected on his experience as a founder of multiple companies. He shared his vision for C2 Ventures and his perception on where the venture / business world is heading. He also clarified the common misconceptions on VCs, discussed on the types of mentoring, and dished out practical advices for startups. Chris also shared his investment process and how he likes to build a strong rapport with his founders.

Jeffery Potvin sits down for a conversation with Top Investors to discuss what makes a great Angel investor and strategies on picking winners!

Horasis, in ancient Greek, means ‘to gaze at, as in a vision.’

It’s the name that Frank-Jürgen Richter, former director of the World Economic Forum, gave to the international think tank he founded in 2005, and it seems particularly a propos in the wake of 2020 — a year that very definitively gave us clearer vision.

Chris Cunningham, a Managing Partner at C2 Ventures, an early-stage venture fund out of New York, joined me on the podcast to talk about the nature of investing in the podcast industry. He shares some great insights into what investors look for when...

As the 2020 numbers start to roll in, I thought I’d add my two (somewhat curmudgeonly) cents to the various “State of Venture” commentaries out there.

It’s that time of year again! Annual tech startup and funding predictions for the coming year.

However, before we look ahead, let’s first take a look back at the 2020 predictions. Despite 2020 being, well, different to say the least, most held up. The highlight – correctly predicting that Apple would reduce their 30 percent app commissions, but have a look and let me know if you agree!

Now the reason why you are here — what lies ahead in 2021? Without further ado here are some shots in the dark that needed to be etched in digital stone – on the internet – forever.

We find ourselves infuriated and profoundly saddened as yet another inexplicable and inexcusable act of violence was perpetrated against a black citizen by those who are entrusted to protect the safety and welfare of that citizen. Our hearts go out to the families of George Floyd and all our other fellow citizens who have been victimized by the very system that is supposed to protect them. This is not the America we want to live in. These are not the American values to which we aspire and to which we want our children to aspire, and it needs to stop.

In the spirit of never letting a crisis go to waste, I thought I would share some of the broad lessons I hope we take away from our first direct experience with a full-scale pandemic in more than a century.

As we watch the world fall apart, I wanted to comment on why times like the present have historically been the moments not to follow the herd and sell everything, nor to take a “wait until everything is back to normal” approach, but to buck the trends, headlines and apocalyptic predictions, and buy while everything is on sale.

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Business Insider asked five industry insiders including investors, consultants, bankers and analysts which companies are hot acquisition targets.

Factual

Total funding to date: $104 million

Why it's an acquisition target: The firm has regulation-compliant location data.

Location-based  marketing has taken a hit under data-privacy laws like California's  Consumer Privacy Act and Europe's General Data Protection Regulation that limit how advertisers collect location data that pings people's smartphones with targeted ads.

As a result, firms like PlaceIQ and  Verve have been sold off in pieces. Chris Cunningham, an investor and  founder of C2 Ventures, said Factual is another acquisition target with a  potentially bigger exit because it works directly with brands and  agencies to create audiences for ad targeting.

"The location space  is tricky and continues to get trickier," he said. "Factual is the one  that owns the relationships with brands and agencies and has dominant  scale."