Differential Ventures

We’re looking for companies focused on: Data Science: Data science covers the platforms, sensors, devices and analytics that create and extract valuable data. These technologies are becoming as important to business as the internet. They rely on all the other pillars to exist but could radically alter them all once fully harnessed. Cloud: The Cloud’s computing power, lower implementation risks and attractive storage costs are enabling innovative startups to be disruptive and bring new, lower cost ways of doing things to market, faster than ever before. Startups in this space have an incredibly large opportunity in front of them and those that succeed become very valuable. Connectivity: Addressing the more-for-less paradigm of next generation communications. Network infrastructure and device technology which can reduce ownership cost for the operator and at the same time meet the customer demand for ever increasing mobility and ubiquity. With our team’s background at Vodafone, we pride ourselves on providing invaluable support to entrepreneurs. Security: Cybercrime is growing. Tougher firewalls, rigorous policing and strict policy enforcement are insufficient and increasingly unaffordable. Enterprise security breaches are on the increase, from inside and outside, aggravated by the trend of bring your own devices. Companies which can build security systems that are equipped to protect us are pivotal to the future. Where we invest Anywhere in Europe and Israel. Our team is spread throughout the UK, but we’ve got portfolio companies in Belgium and Israel, and we love to travel! When we invest Typically between £1-5m (or between Seed and Growth stage). In simple terms, we look for companies that have gained some validation of technology and/or product fit from potential long-term customers. We want to see that you’re poised to enter a large and growing market. How we invest We do our own due diligence on the companies we invest in. Depending on the complexity of your technology, we take around three months to make a decision and build conviction around the investment. Given we’re investing for the long-term (10+ years) we want to be comfortable that we’re the right partner for you. We provide feedback to every company that gets in touch. What are we looking for?Technology: Characterised by defensible IP, science-based innovation, lowering costs and increasing performance Team: Technically gifted and entrepreneurial teams with the potential to build a company of global scale Market: Detailed insight leading to a go-to-market plan for a highly attractive and fast-growing global market Customers: Clear validation or route to validation of the technology’s USPs from long-term potential customers Productisation: Can deliver a replicable product or service in a scalable way, starting with PoC validation Ambition: Focused on winning a significant share of the identified market on the road to building a £500m+ valued company

Vertex Ventures is a venture capital firm who makes high-conviction Seed/Series A investments in SaaS and infrastructure software startups. We invest in only a few new companies each year, allowing us to concentrate our time and capital on a small portfolio. Our initial check sizes range from $500K to $10M, and we continue to support companies as they scale. Who we back: Having been founders and operators ourselves, we are inspired by practitioners - entrepreneurs with deep technical or market experience across software infrastructure, SaaS, data, developer tools, security, and fintech. How we help: We have the experience, resources, focus, and network for the early-stage journey. Even though one or two of us might be your closest confidantes, the benefit of our partnership is that we help you build your company and improve your odds of success -- be it in the form of potential hires, customers, or business partners. Why Vertex Ventures? Personalized Talent Programs The success of any company depends exclusively on having the right people. We help bring in great talent - from your first Account Executive to a Chief Revenue Officer - and we help implement strategies to retain great talent by building a healthy and inclusive culture. Our industry-wide best practices are tailored based on a founder's individual needs and a company's ethos, thus establishing a strong foundation as you grow. Support beyond capital through our platform Vertex Ventures is an upstart venture capital team in a world filled with staid, stalwart funds. Phone calls, dinners, webinars, you name it. We give you the support, network, and resources so you can focus on building your company, your idea, and your team. From hiring your first account executive to helping win customers, we’re partners along your entire journey. No BS transparency Our founders appreciate our no BS approach to coaching and counseling. Whether we’re two days into our partnership or two years, we’ll tell you what we think. We tell you why we’re excited, where there’s risk, where there’s potential, and where we need to pivot. Ultimately, we’re not telling you what to do. It’s up to you to take the driver's seat, make those decisions, and grow from a technologist to a visionary leader.

Citi Ventures (CV) is Citi’s corporate innovation arm. Citi is a global financial institution with over $70B in Revenue, $8B+ in technology spend, presence in 98 countries and daily processing flow of ~$4T. Citi Ventures has invested in over 100 companies in the last decade, has top quartile returns and the current portfolio includes a 25+ companies valued at > $1B including high growth companies such as Datarobot, Docker, Plaid, Grab, Snyk, Cribl, Tanium, Eightfold.ai, Harness and Trulioo. Portfolio exits include Braze, Grab, Square, Docusign, Jet.com, Honey, Cylance. The Venture Investing team focuses on identifying and investing in entrepreneurs whose unique approach to core challenges will help define the future of financial services. The team brings together Citi’s business needs with portfolio companies’ technologies, services and business models to accelerate Citi’s ability to evolve in a dynamic marketplace and help portfolio companies scale.

The worldwide data management software market is massive (IDC forecasts it to be $138 billion by 2026!). At MongoDB we are transforming industries and empowering developers to build amazing apps that people use every day. We are the leading modern data platform and the first database provider to IPO in over 20 years. Join our team and be at the forefront of innovation and creativity. Ventures is a new practice at MongoDB created to invest in the most exciting companies solving problems for developers and data practitioners. These range from next-generation Platform-as-a-Service businesses to companies creating foundational infrastructure to enable advanced uses of Generative AI.

Our investments commonly range from $1M to $20M, with our ownership percentages usually below 20%. Why USAASTRATEGIC VALUE: We partner with companies that offer strategic value, driving benefit to our members and mission. FUND COMMITMENT: Our focus is on making members' lives easier rather than investment horizons and exit timelines. ACTIVE INVESTORS: Introductions are made to USAA lines of business that are often active in the growth of your portfolio. USAA strategically invests in four key focus areas:FinTech: Technologies relating to payments, lending, investing, etc. that enable USAA to provide simpler, more effective financial solutions for its members. Security, Data, and AI: Systems enabling secure authentication and identity management systems plus fraud prevention, personalization, underwriting and risk detection and avoidance. InsurTech: Technologies enabling connected cars, homes and wearables that are transforming the future of our insurance products: auto, property, life and health. Enterprise Infrastructure: Solutions enabling member and employees including communication technologies, operational capabilities (Cloud, Containerization, DevOps, etc.) and distribution/mobility platforms.

Our global sphere of knowledge drives our investment thesis across all industries. We serve on the boards on some of the most innovative technology companies in the world. We see global trends as they are emerging. We combine this knowledge with data, lots of data, to know where the world is heading during the next seven-to-ten-years. We partner with the extraordinary We’ve developed a world class reputation for identifying, investing, and serving extraordinary entrepreneurs. We don’t meddle in their business. When asked, we deliver critical thinking that leads to scale and hypergrowth. We go beyond the investment We drive strategic growth, shorten the time to reach global scale, facilitate introductions, but we don’t stop there. We stick with it until the ink is dried. We drive revenue, recruit, and introduce future investors. As we look out at the next 10 years, we couldn't be more excited as the global world becomes smaller and more tightly connected. Read more to see where we think the industry is heading! We drive real value to our portfolio Through our Revenue Bearing Relationships, we have driven $400M in revenue to more than 40% of our portfolio companies. Technology buyers around the world trust our cohesive vision of the future. They come to us to identify emerging solutions that can give their businesses a competitive advantage.