Crestlight Ventures announces the launch of The Connected Industry Fund™, the first Industrial Internet of Things pure-play with a focus on seed-stage Connected Industry verticals such as retail trade and manufacturing.
Launched by a team of Connected Retail veterans, Crestlight Ventures has already invested in innovative Connected Retail companies such as Content Saavy, which was recently acquired by SmartFocus, Buddy and others through its Crestlight Fund I. The Connected Industry Fund™ will continue this success and seek startups providing business solutions in areas such as supply chain management, inventory replenishment, transportation, security, big-data, advanced analytics, machine learning and other critical areas that drive measurable value in retail and manufacturing .
The Connected Industry Fund™ portfolio will benefit from a deep operational venture model called Lean Equity for Startups™. Crestlight will seek stand out investment opportunities in those startups driving the estimated $19 trillion in value creation through the Internet of Things. Crestlight will lead in the seed-stage and bridge the gap to Series-A.
“The Crestlight team has a proven track record in finding market-disruptive companies,” said Jens Horstmann, a Managing Partner of Crestlight and the founding CEO of DVDPlay, the original technology behind the Redboxtm automated retail machine. “Our deep domain expertise and broad network with key industry leaders give as a very big advantage when investing in early stage disruptive startups.”
“The decision to launch The Connected Industry Fund™ was driven by our investors, technology partners and our long standing team of industry leaders.” said David Borlo, a Managing Partner of Crestlight and founding CEO of Allure Fusion Media, a market pioneer in digital signage systems for retail and restaurants. “One industry estimate is that nearly 50% of the enterprise IoT value will be addressed by startups that don’t even exit yet. This Connected Industry Fund™, Crestlight’s proven methodology to help startups and our industry alliances put us at the forefront to find and grow those startups.”
“While leading the Coca-Cola Company into many connected retail and connected manufacturing initiatives over my 25+ career, I was fortunate to help guide and accelerate many emerging technologies which forged entirely new businesses and business models,” said Eric McCarthey, a Limited Partner of Crestlight Fund I, and Connected Industry Fund Partner. “The Connected Industry Fund™ is the perfect vehicle at the right time to capture this next wave of innovation.”
The Connected Industry Fund™ has begun to evaluate startup opportunities.
About Crestlight Ventures
Crestlight Ventures was founded by industry veterans with deep experience developing connected companies, products and teams across retail and manufacturing in Fortune 100 and startup companies. Powered by our proprietary Lean Equity for Startups™ model, Crestlight fills the critical void between seed-stage and Series-A investments. Our investment team has collectively built a global startup and innovation lab ecosystem for the world’s largest enterprise software company, been founding members of leading connected companies, and made dozens of seed-stage investments in Internet of Things startups. For more information: http://www.crestlight.com.
