Global Corporate Venturing Rising Stars Awards 2018: #18 Varun Jain

Varun Jain, a senior investment manager at Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the chipmaker, knows how to cook up more than just a good deal.

Jain said he likes to cook in his spare time – “I think I can give most Indian restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area a run for their money” – but is perhaps best known for having driven into perhaps the fastest startup to reach a $1bn exit.

He said: “I led an opportunistic series A-1 round in November 2015 and we were the third-largest investor in Cruise Automation, a self-driving taxi service. Cruise was acquired by General Motors for $1bn in March 2016 and we received an outstanding financial return on our investment.”

Jain laid out how he approached Cruise in a guest comment for Global Corporate Venturing in April’s issue ahead of it winning the GCV Award for Sub-$50m Investment of the Year in May. He said: “This was a case wherein the company never came to us for funding and I sourced the investment through direct outreach via a cold e-mail and established a relationship with the CEO over months.”

Perhaps no surprise, therefore that in summer of 2017 Jain was appointed as the global lead for Qualcomm’s early-stage fund, which is focused on seed and series A opportunities across the world in emerging areas such as internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). This fund has scaled to $100m in assets under management in more than 70 global investments, which includes online video service Zoom.

Having started working for Qualcomm Ventures in 2013, other deals he has “independently sourced and led” include:

Clearmotion, a digital suspension system for cars and trucks in which Jain participated in the $100m-plus series C round in February last year alongside JPMorgan and NEA and joined the board as an observer.

Flirtey, an on-demand drone delivery service, which Jain co-led the $16m A round at the beginning of last year having invested in its seed round in October 2015. The company has since completed US Federal Aviation Administration-approved drone delivery and signed commercial contracts with food retailers Dominos and 7-Eleven.

Navdy, an aftermarket head-up display device for cars that allows drivers to use their smartphones without taking their eyes off the road or hands off the wheel, in which Jain invested in its series A round in March 2015 but was preparing for liquidation just before Christmas.

And Even Responsible Finance, an automated cash-flow management service for hourly workers in the US that leverages machine learning to guarantee a steady income and helps employers in reducing churn. Jain said he led an opportunistic seed-II round in June 2015 and venture capitalist Peter Thiel led its oversubscribed series A round in April last year. Wal-Mart recently rolled out Even to its over 1.6 million employees as a standard benefit.

Jain added: “As far as the impact on the corporate side is concerned, I am the global automotive sector lead for Qualcomm Ventures and in this role I serve as an internal domain expert and intermediary between the company’s auto division and the most disruptive auto startups in the valley.

“Automotive is a key area of interest for Qualcomm and our intent to become a major player in this market reflects in our recent $47bn acquisition of [Netherlands-based chipmaker] NXP.”

Jain said what attracted him to corporate venture capital had been that “Qualcomm Ventures offered a unique platform where I could make financially astute early-stage investments in highly disruptive technologies and applications in areas such as IoT, AI, robotics and AR/VR that could completely change our everyday lives. Very few traditional venture funds have the appetite for such type of investments and even fewer give new members in the team the opportunity to drive the fund’s thesis and investing efforts in such new areas.

“In my role as the global lead for our early-stage fund, I help define the fund’s investing strategy in the seed and series A rounds and help investment professionals across seven regions in evaluating and making such investments.

“Despite having a very strong track record of successfully balancing the portfolio company’s interests and motherships strategic goals, it is sometimes challenging to overcome the negative stigma associated to corporate funds, particularly in the initial rounds. In such situations, I have always found that deep domain knowledge, quick decision-making, thoughtful feedback and some hustle go a long way in convincing founders

And, more generally, he said: “I think all CVCs can do a better job at being transparent with founders and co-investors from the very beginning about what they are hoping to get from a strategic standpoint, what value can they realistically add and what are the potential areas of conflict. This will help tremendously in negating some of the stigma associated with our community and lead to greater value creation on both sides.”

Given such deals, Jain was already planning a fund. He said: “I want to keep building my track record in CVC and eventually get to a point where I can raise capital from large corporations, and other LPs, for a new kind of venture fund that I have been planning for some time. It is too early to talk about it but I believe it is a unique idea that will be very attractive to both LPs and founders.”

Such a fund will certainly create more headlines for Jain, which, given his previous product and sales roles at Asia-focused news provider Mint, is something he has been well used to seeing.