INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
To learn more about the next wave of consumer startup investment outside Silicon Valley, I&m speaking to leading B2C-focused investors in
various hubs about the trends they&re excited about right now.
Recently, I shared the responses from several London-based investors; today,
we spoke to eight of New York top consumer VCs:
Rebecca Kaden, Partner at Union Square Ventures
David Tisch, Founding Partner at
BoxGroup
Anu Duggal, Founding Partner at Female Founders Fund
Craig Shapiro, Partner at Collaborative Fund
Jeremy Levine, Partner at
Bessemer
Beth Ferreira, Partner at Firstmark Capital
Graham Brown, Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures
Eric Reiner, Partner at Sinai
Ventures
Chris Paik, Partner at Pace Capital
Consumer health and banking startups were recurring areas of interest, and there a sense that
apps and product brands which provide a deeper sense of community are an untapped opportunity.
Rebecca Kaden, Partner at Union Square
Ventures
At USV, we are focused on opportunities that broaden access by leveraging technology to increase value and decrease cost in big
buckets of consumer spend
In doing so, we are looking for ways to make products and services previously available to a select segment available to many more
In particular, we have been investing in areas of consumer health where the delivery mechanism not only makes the care more convenient but
also more affordable and higher quality; products and platforms in financial services that change the traditional underlying model to drive
financial health for a mass customer; and opportunities that create new access to education both for kids and lifelong learners.
Within each
of these segments, I&ve been very interested in how new communities are forming inside products&users that come for a specific offering are
forming allegiance and increasing engagement by interacting with other users
I think that is a trend we will only see accelerate.
David Tisch, Founding Partner at BoxGroup
People are bored on their phones, not of
I am most excited to meet founders working on consumer apps that bring happiness and fun to a mass consumer audience, as I continue to
believe we are in the early days of mobile and the app store is not dead.
These apps may look like a game, they may be a game, or they may
be a new feed, but TikTok, Twitch, HQ, Yolo and other Snap app kit apps, Tinder and others have shown consumers want new apps, the barrier
for adoption and retention is just very high
All apps and games have a half-life, creating something with a very long one is really hard, but the demand is sitting on the phone
scrolling thorough feeds, waiting for some new fun
We are excited about apps that allow people to interact with others in different ways, in new worlds, using new hardware, or new
interfaces.
London top consumer VCs share which trends they&re tracking
Anu Duggal, Founding Partner at Female Founders Fund
With the rise
of the sober curious movement, we invested in Kin Euphorics, offering consumers a sexy option to an alcoholic drink, creating a social
experience around a non-alcoholic beverage that doesn&t exist in the market today
With beer sales decreasing five years in a row, brands like Heineken are offering alcohol-free alternatives catering to this growing
audience.
With the decline of religion, we have seen the rise of what we call the &rise of the alternate community.& Consumers are looking
for ways to connect online and offline based on specific interests
Examples of this in our portfolio include The Wonder, a membership model for familyhood, Peanut, a social network for modern motherhood, and
Co-Star, an astrology app.
