Greetings!
We hope that 2023 is a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year for our community, even as the venture capital and entrepreneurship ecosystem enters a period of expected turbulence. Like many of our colleagues, we have been monitoring the increasing cost of capital, the prospects of recession, and the tightening market for venture capital funding. We've been attempting to take a rational view of this uncertainty, helping each of our corporate partners prepare for multiple economic scenarios.
While venture capital deal values, deal count, and exits are down, in historical context the numbers are still robust, with plenty of capital available for quality startups. Touchdown's corporate partners continue to invest across all stages in startups relevant to their respective businesses.
Touchdown works with more than 20 corporations today and our partners remained active throughout 2022: closing more than 30 new startup investments, with more than 25 of our existing portfolio companies raising follow on capital, building an aggregate active portfolio of nearly 100 investments. While we are cautious about the economy, we expect to remain active in 2023, based on our philosophy that corporations need to innovate in good times and bad times to remain relevant.
Please contact us with any opportunities you think would make sense, especially recruiting referrals for our growing team!
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Touchdown Ventures College |
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In the fall of 2022 we announced Touchdown Ventures College, a part-time internship program for undergraduate students exploring careers in venture capital.
The program began in January with classes on the fundamentals and best practices of venture capital, led by Touchdown investment professionals. Our goal is for the interns to gain practical experience assisting our CVC fund teams with industry research, sourcing, and supporting due diligence efforts.
Our inaugural cohort includes 15 talented students from 12 universities, based on over 200 applications. We are excited about this year's class and look forward to welcoming more students in the future.
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Prior to joining Touchdown, Marissa Baker worked at IBM Consulting as a full-stack engineer and advisor to financial institutions on tech strategy. At IBM, she focused on AI, machine learning, and data privacy. Marissa discovered her interest in venture capital at Middlebury College's MiddCORE, an intensive leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship program. She is an outdoor enthusiast and loves to spend her time surfing, skiing, and hiking.
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Chris O'Dore focuses on investments in the technology and financial services sectors. Before Touchdown, Chris was an Associate at Lateral Investment Management. He started his career as an investment banking Analyst at Barclays. He holds a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. Prior to moving to the greater Seattle area for high school, Chris lived in Asia for 12 years, primarily in Hong Kong. He speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin.
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Aneri Patel's passion for startups began during her first job in high school where she interned for software company Farmlogix. Prior to Touchdown, Aneri worked as a public equities research analyst at Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. and as an analyst for Robert Bosch Venture Capital. She received her B.S. in Management Science and Engineering with a minor in Digital Humanities from Stanford University. Aneri enjoys painting, skiing, hiking, global cinema, and is a diehard chocolate lover.
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We continue to expand in our core markets of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, with our current job opportunities listed here. You can also check out the job listings of our corporate partner portfolio companies here.
Please forward our newsletter or career page to anyone you think would be a good fit.
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Corporate Partner Spotlight |
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Colorcon is a world leader in the development and supply of specialty ingredients, film coatings, and modified release technologies for the pharmaceutical, animal health, and nutritional industries. Colorcon's products are complemented by specialized services to support formulation development and speed time to market. Colorcon's global operations include 11 manufacturing facilities, 25 technical service laboratories, and more than 1,400 employees dedicated to its 4,500+ customers around the world.
Colorcon Ventures partnered with Touchdown to establish a $50 million corporate venture capital fund in 2019, investing in technologies to disrupt conventional dosage delivery pathways and to improve R&D, manufacturing, and supply chains for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. The fund initially invests up to $3 million in early and growth stage companies, reserving capital for future financing rounds. Colorcon Ventures also attempts to help its portfolio companies grow through scientific development, sales consultation, and other forms of commercial assistance.
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Our blog on best practices for corporate innovation, venture capital, and entrepreneurship lives on Medium, and some of our team members also contribute to Forbes, TechCrunch, NACD, and the VC Journal.
Here are a few of our recent articles:
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Our head of operations, Jane Simons, sat down with Rahul Daryanani to discuss what it takes to succeed as an associate at Touchdown Ventures |
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Rather than “balance” financial returns from startup investments against strategic returns, the best CVC programs seek to maximize both |
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Touchdown previously crowd-sourced 75+ cultural values from our team; here's why we rationalized these into six core values during the pandemic |
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Touchdown's President Scott Lenet collaborated with EY to explain how CVC investing can deliver access to innovation, by understanding corporate venture best practices and how they differ from institutional venture capital
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Managing Director Rich Grant spoke with Global Corporate Venturing about the growth of "CVC-as-a-service" and how Touchdown works with corporations to launch and manage custom venture capital funds
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Paul Martino and Randy Komisar from the Lunchpail VC podcast chatted with Touchdown's CEO David Horowitz about the unique aspects of corporate venture capital investing and the "double job" that corporate VCs have
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What are the best ways for startups to partner with a big corporation? Touchdown's Beth Kearns chats with Minnie Ingersoll of LA Venture about partnership models, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid
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Unless otherwise indicated, commentary herein reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints and analyses of the authors and should not be regarded as a description of services provided by Touchdown or its affiliates. The opinions expressed here are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual on any security or advisory service. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. The views reflected in the commentary are subject to change at any time without notice. While all information presented, including from independent sources, is believed to be accurate, we make no representation or warranty as to accuracy or completeness. We reserve the right to change any part of these materials without notice and assume no obligation to provide updates. Nothing herein constitutes investment advice, performance data or a recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Investing involves the risk of loss of some or all of an investment. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. |
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