Sustaining the ecosystem

Some 300 attendees made their way to London for the fourth annual GCV Symposium, this time held at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair on May 20 and 21. The event included keynotes, interviews, panels, masterclasses and “unpanels” by both high-profile industry experts and dignitaries. On Tuesday night, the annual gala dinner and awards ceremony were also held.

The symposium revolved around several core themes. The first was sustainability, with many of the panels on day two focussing on this topic. Dealing with Other Stakeholders, a panel moderated by Claire Lee from Silicon Valley Bank, noted for example that there is currently a huge funding opportunity in university spin-outs, a market much overlooked by corporate venture capitalists.

Amanda Feldman from consultancy Volans noted the importance of social investing in her panel. Elsewhere, Dermot Hill from executive recruitment firm Intramezzo remarked in his panel that, in order to guarantee a s sustainable business, all participants in a deal need to be rewarded, and money must not be pocketed by management alone.

The second topic was disruption. Gareth Capon and Ben Moore, of video services Grabyo and Positive Image respectively, offered their view on how mobile is causing a paradigm shift for the TV industry, with powerful new players such as Netflix and Amazon making their mark.

In his keynote, Greg Becker, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, confirmed this sentiment by noting that big financial players such as Wells Fargo are terrified of new players such as Lending Club. The view was echoed in a panel on fintech, which discussed this disintermediation in detail.

The third core theme was the rise of Africa, with Marcin Hejka of Intel Capital discussing “the return of the African Lion”. A panel, moderated by Allen Taylor of Endeavor, focussed on markets to watch in sub-Saharan Africa and the role of corporate venture capitalists in these markets.

The Rwandan High Commissioner, His Excellency Williams Nkurunziza, talked at length about the role of government in attracting foreign investors, and noted that Rwanda’s economy has grown 600% since the genocide, seeing its future in establishing the country as a logistics hub for Eastern Africa.

On Tuesday night, the awards ceremony honoured several high-profile individuals and companies of the past year. Bob Ackerman received a Lifetime Achievement Award, while the night’s biggest winner was Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital. He was called to the stage several times to collect awards for Powerbroker of the Year, Unit of the Year and Large Investment of the Year, for Cloudera, which was backed by Intel Capital.