Maven Ventures: A Vision Worth Fighting For
When building a values-driven, culture-first venture capital firm like Maven Ventures, success lies in finding the right partners. Jim Scheinman, Founding Managing Partner, and Sara Deshpande, General Partner, recounted to All Raise how the two of them met and went on to build Maven Ventures, a seed stage venture firm investing in tech companies addressing emerging consumer behavior and trends. Their journey started in 2014 when an intern who worked for Sara at the Idea Village, a startup incubator in New Orleans, made a connection, kicking off a series of three introductions that culminated in Sara and Jim meeting for lunch in Palo Alto.
“Could We Work Together?”
At the time, Sara had just moved back to the Bay Area and was running a lucrative consulting practice. While not looking for a new role, she took the meeting with Jim thinking he might be a fit as a client. Simultaneously, Jim was looking for his first investing hire for Maven, and invited her to join “on the job” for a day, including a founder pitching over lunch. Maven ended up investing in the company. “To be able to see her [evaluate a prospect] without any formal training was really powerful,” Jim explained. Their alignment through this experience helped them recognize the beginning of a special partnership. Sara then changed course, stopped taking on new consulting clients, and stepped into her role as the first employee to build Maven Ventures with Jim.
“It was great to see Sara playing the role of VC before she was fully on board. To see her do that without any formal training was really powerful.” ~Jim
While it may have seemed like a quick pivot for Sara, the partnership was anything but impulsive. After meeting with many qualified individuals, Jim saw that she had just what he was looking for. In Sara he found the ideal blend of skills, entrepreneurial insight, and instinct for great investments. And Sara immediately recognized that working with Jim would be a special opportunity she couldn’t pass up.
A Proven Track Record
Sara has been passionate about the founder journey since her time as a student at Stanford GSB. She expressed her enthusiasm for “being in the boat from day one” collaborating with entrepreneurs to build something from scratch, create a positive impact, and [now] as an investor, achieve successful financial returns.
Sara noted, “when we met, [Jim] had already invested in Zoom, and is credited for naming the company. At that time, few people were familiar with Zoom.” In the last 10 years they have continued to sow those early seeds — investing in early ideas and seeing their investments grow and come to fruition.
Over the last decade, Maven’s investments have demonstrated their passion for consumer trends and collaboration with founders tackling big challenges that can positively impact billions of lives. Their sector focus areas include: Consumer AI, Healthcare AI, Personalized Medicine, Future of Families, and Climate and Sustainability. Maven’s portfolio companies include Cruise ($1B+ exit), Epic! ($500M exit), Hello Heart, Wildtype, and Carrot Fertility. More recent investments center on Consumer AI, like Perplexity, MultiOn, and Medeloop. Sara shared, “We find amazing founders who have a vision worth fighting for, and we help them unlock their potential to build iconic companies.”
“We find amazing founders who have a vision worth fighting for, and we help them unlock their potential to build iconic companies.” ~Sara
Maven defines its work in the consumer sector broadly. “In 2013 and 2014, it was mobile and video. In 2014 through 2016, it was autonomous vehicles — companies like Cruise and May Mobility and Embark. And 2015 through 2016, we started investing in digital health,” Sara explained. Throughout the last decade, Maven has achieved 3 IPOs, 10 acquisitions, and 7 unicorns across roughly 60 investments.
The umbrella over many of these investments is AI, something Maven was investing in well before ChatGPT became a household name. And while some investors are leaving the consumer space entirely, Maven is doubling down. Jim and Sara recently raised Maven’s Fund IV, $60 million dollars to put into massive consumer tech trends.
“For us,” Sara said, “it’s identifying that next emerging trend. Can we find something that’s on the brink of hyper growth?”
And while the team has to see hypergrowth potential for an investment, that alone is not enough. As evidenced by their investments in companies from communication to healthcare, Sara shared, “it’s not a trade-off between: ‘Is this going to have a positive impact?’ or: ‘Is it big business?’ We’re looking for something that can be both.”
“It’s not a trade-off between: ‘Is this going to have a positive impact?’ or: ‘Is it big business?’ We’re looking for something that can be both.” ~ Sara
Shared Values for Continued Success
Like any investment firm, Maven aims for a 3x and above return — which they have a strong track record of hitting — but they prioritize investments that can also positively impact society. This unique combination of financial goals and impact is their north star and what ultimately drives alignment between the Maven team and the founders they invest in.
The importance of building culture and knowing one’s values is fundamental to how Maven operates its funds. They established a process for startups to articulate and document their culture and values that every portfolio company engages in following their initial investment. “Every one of our startups goes through this culture process and understands what their values are. Many of the companies that have gone on to do great things still have those values,” said Jim.
“Every one of our startups goes through [our] culture process and understands what their values are. Many of the companies that have gone on to do great things still have those values.” ~Jim
As Sara and Jim reflect on a decade of achievements and anticipate their future work, they take pride in what they have built and look forward to continuing to co-create exceptional companies that embody a vision worth fighting for.
