TechNexus is a Venture Collaborative: a unique combination of businesses, corporate joint-ventures, private equity funds under management, and a fast-growing startup investment portfolio.
Please enjoy TechNexus's monthly newsletter curated by our team of venture analysts and designed to keep you engaged with new perspectives from our growing ecosystem. We’ve incubated hundreds of ventures, spent years fostering collaborations between them and relevant corporations, and we’re now one of the most active venture investors in the country. We’ll share some of the things we’re learning with you each month in this newsletter.
If you’ve got feedback, we’d love to hear it. Please email Madelyn Rutter at madelyn@technexus.com.
TechNexus CEO Terry Howerton has a message that every BigCo leader needs to hear—if you stop growing, you start dying.
Effectively navigating the new frontiers of innovation is crucial for any corporate leader. It's predicted that half of the Fortune 500 companies will have fallen off the list by 2030 — even without the pandemic's accelerating influence. The disruptive innovations that shake up entire industries are now right outside every company's front door, and adapting to the chaotic, ever-changing market is an essential survival skill. It's not that large corporate CEOs are blind to the risk, but to survive it (and then thrive), they need entrepreneurial pathfinders and collaborators with aligned interests.
Since the turn of the century, improvements in internet speed coupled with the understanding of data utilization have transformed much of our daily lives. But, it's not just consumer routines that become more convenient and expansive due to the development of new connected or "smart" technologies; the public safety and first response industry is a significant beneficiary of these advancements.
Senior Analyst Eugene Bock studies and researches the latest innovations in the first response startup ecosystem, finding a myriad of ventures solving for inefficiencies in the varied aspects of current responder workflows.
(Note: TechNexus has long been immersed and investing within the public safety sector. Some mentions in Eugene's piece are active portfolio companies: 3AM Innovation, FirstDue, Pi Variables)
The pressures of being a startup founder arrive from all directions—raising capital, attracting customers, recruiting employees, nurturing company culture, and more. An especially unwelcome pressure comes in the form of the evolving challenge of achieving strong cybersecurity Unfortunately, it’s an area where very few founders happen to have prior experience, and also an area where virtually no startups choose to make a dedicated hire.
In this post, guest contributor Phil Leslie (co-founder, Havoc Shield), describes how to navigate cybersecurity challenges like a pro, even without the experience or staff.
We've made more than 130 investments in great ventures. Here’s what a few have been up to.
WELCOME! Giide joins the TechNexus portfolio.
Giide turns note-worthy knowledge into the most engaging, consumable audio ever created. At TechNexus we believe that the next major inflection point for digital publishing will occur when a product decreases the cost and complexity of authoring interactive, multimedia articles by an order of magnitude — and we believe Giide has an opportunity to be that catalyst company by empowering everyone in an organization with the ability to create, publish, and share interactive audio. Learn more about Giide.
At only 11-months old, Clubhouse explodes in popularity. "There's this feeling of access that's really hard to replicate," says TechNexus Managing Director, Andy Annacone, when interviewed for this recent New York Times piece. (NYT)
Locked On Podcast Network, the emerging media venture focused on pro and college sports acquired by TV Station Group, Tegna. (Variety)
Ocient, the company which makes software to handle and analyze massive amounts of data, raises another $40 million. (Crain's Chicago)
The Verge reports that 3D audio could be the next big podcast trend. QCODE pioneered the next step in podcast audio and created surround-sound experiences by mixing its shows in Dolby Atmos. (The Verge)
3AM Innovation named to GovTech Top 100, an annual list compiled of companies focused on making a difference in and selling to state and local government agencies across the United States. (GovTech)
Pittsburgh-based, Anglr, the social app, and connected hardware company focused on the sportfishing industry, names new CEO. Welcome to the team Henry Clement! (BizJournal)
#goodreads
Links we'd send you if you were in our team's Slack.
Funding Sources for Black, Latinx & Womxn Founders (TechNexus)
Takes from the Twittersphere...
We couldn't agree more. And the sentiment here aligns with our perspective in the "Open Letter to BigCo Leaders." You must be inspired to proactively evolve, even amidst success, versus reactively playing catch up to stay alive. How to start? Entrepreneurial ecosystems.
TechNexus is a Venture Collaborative: a unique combination of businesses, corporate joint-ventures, private equity funds under management, and a fast-growing startup investment portfolio.
This Newsletter is for informational purposes only. This is not intended to be specific investment advice. All statements made regarding companies, securities or other financial information contained in the newsletter are not endorsements of any company or security or recommendations to buy or sell any security. Investors should determine for themselves whether a particular service or product is suitable for their investment needs or should seek such professional advice for their particular situation. No part of the content may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without the express written permission of TechNexus.
TechNexus Venture Collaborative, 20 North Upper Wacker Drive, 12th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60606, USA, +1.312.435.1000
