When productive venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Lerer Hippeau announced in early 2024 that they were moving away from consumer technology, sparked a discussion on social media about whether there are still opportunities.
Maven VenturesJim Scheinman and Sara Deshpande say yes. And to prove it, they’ve raised $60 million in capital commitments for a fourth fund to support “huge trends in consumer technology.”
They say “massive” because this is the company that spawned companies like video conferencing giant Zoom and self-driving car maker Cruise. Scheinman, a founding managing partner, is even credited with the name Zoom.
As for the idea that no one wants to invest in consumer tech anymore, Scheinman told TechCrunch it’s “not true.” Like other sectors, it has cycles where consumers either think something is “the coolest thing ever” or “the worst.”
Consumer tech is at the cusp of the cycle, Scheinman said. Therefore, he believes that this is the best time to be an investor. “It’s less noisy and there’s a lot less competition as fewer people are trying to invest,” he said.
When he started investing, the internet was the first big platform. Then came mobile, then cloud and AWS. Scheinman thought web3 would be the next thing, but that was overshadowed by artificial intelligence. Moving in, Maven will be there to help build the next game-changing AI health company or consumer AI robotics business, he said.
“This is absolutely the time when multi-billion dollar companies are born, between now and the next three to four years,” Scheinman said. “There are dozens of companies you’ve never heard of that will be household names like Zoom, Cruise and Facebook. This is the time to invest in it.”
Any new portfolio company will be in good company. Overall, 16% of Maven’s portfolio companies have reached an exit or valuation of at least $500 million, which is 10 times the industry average, Scheinman and Deshpande, general partner, told TechCrunch.
Scheinman started the company in 2013 and brought Deshpande on board soon after to focus on consumer AI and personalized medicine. They brought on investment partner Robert Ravanshenas in 2015 and again in 2020 after a stint in an operational startup role, to focus on fintech, longevity and consumer AI.
Together, the trio remains committed to the development of similar consumer technology trends, including AI applications, personalized healthcare, climate and sustainability, family technology and fintech.
Fund IV brings total assets under management to $200 million and more than 50 total investments. The firm makes six to eight investments each year, writing average check sizes between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Maven has invested in seven new companies so far from the new fund, including Medeloop, a platform that helps improve clinical research. Lutra AI, a startup building AI workflows from natural language. and AI dealer company MultiOn.
A big theme for this new fund is investing in founders who have unique insight into how this technology can improve consumers’ lives. Additionally, “by figuring out how, with this new look and improvement in AI technology, we envision that we can really improve the lives of consumers down to the consumer,” Deshpande said.
“Consumer trends will never go away,” Deshpande said. “Consumers are the spending engine of a healthy economy. We are all consumers. For us, it’s really that ability to be able to see what’s changing consumer behavior or a new technology that can massively impact people’s lives. Founders come to us with an amazing vision that’s worth fighting for, and that’s the kind of thing we’re spending a lot of time on right now.”
