A truly eclectic bunch.
Goooooooood morning! We have very exciting things going on over here at Crescent. We’ve welcomed new Partners from UCSB, USC, and Claremont McKenna into our wonderful team! More on their way very soon.
Commemorations aside, this week, we’ve got a monster thread of content for ya—student-led VC, crazy moves within the EV sector, and VR Therapy, to give you a snippet. Happy end of the week, folks, and we hope you enjoy the read!
As always, if you have any ideas about how we could improve this newsletter, please email us at ops@crescentfund.vc – and if you like what you see, we’d love it if you could share this with others.
Sincerely,
The Crescent Team
*If you’re a student building something cool, want to join Crescent, or just want to chat, reach out to us at ops@crescentfund.vc.
- Partner Spotlight #1: Keyan Kazemian -
We’re giving our Partners their long-overdue spotlights starting this week! Meet Keyan Kazemian, Crescent’s OG Founding Partner.
“An automated working class & a nauseating focus on the metaverse will likely lead to a Wall-E + ready player one outcome. Why are we excited about a future where the digital world is more valued than the real one? Seems like a recipe for mass escapism.” — Keyan Kazemian
Pictured: Keyan Kazemian
Time Spent at Crescent Fund: 2020–2021
Former Crescent Role: Founding Partner
Current Role: CEO & Co-Founder of 222
—
From Keyan:
Hello!
I studied computer science & engineering at UC Irvine. Quickly realized that most of my fellow engineering peers had the ultimate goal of landing a FT role at Google, Facebook or Amazon. Became pretty disillusioned with both my campus’ culture around building product and their supposed resources for student founders. Everyone who was giving us advice at UC Irvine had never worked at or founded a startup.
So along with a few other SoCal students, I launched Crescent with the aim of accelerating the access to capital among student founders in the region. Also launched Product UCI (www.productuci.com) to incubate products and students interested in product management locally. Later spent time building product at Match.com as well as Airtime through the KP Product Fellowship.
Now working on building 222, an IRL marketplace curating intimate and casual social experiences for consumers while driving revenue to hyperlocal brick & mortar venues.
Crescent Partner Highlights.
*ICYMI, here's what we talked about last week.
On Student-Led VC.
Breaking into Venture Capital is an extremely ambitious task. Before the advent of student-run venture funds like Crescent, VC seemed a mythical aspiration for college students, an opaque profession reserved only for the experienced. Unless you were from schools like Harvard or Stanford, or some big-name VC happened to find you (and you had the smarts to thoroughly impress them), you, as a college student, had little chance to get your hands dirty.
Now, with funds like Crescent, the landscape has changed. We’re a fund that welcomes scrappy, self-starting students regardless of where they’re from. The new Partners we’ve admitted into Crescent this week is a testament to that. We operate on the belief that pedigree should be discarded from the discussion of one’s start and future in Venture—that every student out there with the passion and the grit should be given the chance to pursue VC.
This week, Crescent Partner Aung Si reflects on his first year as an entrant in the world of Venture. He speaks on his introversion and how, despite that, he was welcomed into Crescent with open arms. This is the first installment of his VC as a Student series, a series he created to serve as guidance and reassurance for the budding student VC. In his words: “The point is to know that, if you’re someone fortunate enough to be pursuing higher education in the U.S.—immigrant or citizen—you can absolutely make your own luck.”
Career Opportunities.
*If you want a job or listing featured in this newsletter, please reach out to us at ops@crescentfund.vc.
- Featured This Week: 222 -
222 is hiring! 222 was founded with the goal of fostering genuine human connections. In a world where the zeitgeist hurries towards the possibility of virtual worlds and metaverses, 222 is building a product that “swings the pendulum in the other direction” by facilitating serendipitous, IRL human interactions. Crazy thing is, you can create your own role in building the future of social if you tell the team what exactly you’d be interested in working on!
More Opportunities.
Check out the other opportunities we've found over this week.
Content Marketing (Internship) - Lemonlight
Data Analyst (Internship) - FLYR Labs
Systems Software Engineer (Internship) - Anduril
DevOps Engineering (Internship) - Golden Hippo
Game Design (Internship) - MobilityWare
Content/Editorial (Internship) - Tinder
Venture Growth Analyst (Full-Time) - SeedInvest
Product Design Manager (Full-Time) - Drizly
Product Support Engineer (Full-Time) - Recharge Payments
*See last week’s shortlist.
The Southern Californian Tech Landscape.
Here’s some stories on SoCal Tech we’ve been closely following.
*ICYMI, here's what happened last week.
As it navigates Apple's privacy push, Snap’s shares skyrocket. Where Meta talks of a much gloomier outlook under Apple's new privacy policies, which allows users to opt out of being tracked by apps, Snap execs say they have found a way to adjust. Meta has since lost $200B in market cap, while Snap remains resilient and continues to find 'new ad measurement tools that preserve privacy'.
Seven months after its $11M funding round, VR Therapy App Tripp acquires Meditation Startup EvolVR. Tripp simulates psychedelic experiences in order to combat anxiety and depression, and this acquisition will allow the VR company to tap into EvolVR’s large community of meditators. Tripp previously acquired PsyAssist, a psychedelic therapy app, and recently announced an AR partnership with Pokémon Go developer Niantic.
Electreon, a company specializing in wireless induction charging—think charging your phone on a wireless mat—wants to bring wireless, in-road electric charging to American roads. Instead of the traditional charging stations, Electreon “plans to turn the road itself into a charging station". It has partnered with Michigan authorities to install a one-mile-long stretch of electrified road in Detroit.
The Broader Tech Landscape.
Here's what's happening in the broader tech landscape.
*ICYMI, here's what happened last week.
HR tech saw an influx of capital in 2021, and it’s no different in 2022. With a stronger-than-ever focus on diversity and remote work, venture investors funneled more than $12.3 billion into global HR tech startups. Four deals have contributed to more than $1.4 billion just this year.
Against market headwinds, venture activity, at least in the month of January, remained very strong. 45 new unicorns were minted in January 2022, up 2 from January 2021 and matching the unicorn count for December 2021.
Last month, a group that researchers in Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 organization call “Gameredon”, attempted a cyberattack in Ukraine. In a blog post yesterday, the researchers said Gamaeredon has primarily focused its attacks against Ukrainian government officials.
*If you’re interested in helping out Southern California student founders through advising or becoming an LP feel free to reach out to ops@crescentfund.vc.
And that closes off another week. Thank you for reading - see you next time!
Signing off,
Crescent Fund