COMPANY NAME
This is the headline of the feature DIGITAL REPORT 2021
Structurally Advantaged Venture Capital IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
DIGITAL REPORT 2022
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
STRUCTURALLY ADVANTAGED VENTURE CAPITAL
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distributedvc.com
DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
distributedvc.com
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DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
Structurally Advantaged Venture Capital Delivering Acceleration and Realisation
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istributed Ventures is on a mission: to find, fund, and collaborate with visionary entrepreneurs, while combining the powerful vantage point of its strategic LPs, e.g., diversified insurance broker NFP. Shawn Ellis, Managing Partner of Distributed Ventures and operator of its venture investing team, says: "Across our Partner group, we've all operated in various capacities ourselves. We've been in companies from a very early stage to very mature, and we've seen a variety of relevant fact patterns as a result." In addition to its human capital, Distributed Ventures' strategy of targeting very early-stage companies is another one of its differentiators. "We like to work with companies in the early innings of their journey. We'll target late seed and Series A investments and, in collaboration with our strategic LPs, help to materially accelerate our portfolio companies’ momentum. It’s highly unusual to collaborate as closely as we do with our strategic LPs in support of our portfolio companies. This DNA is embedded in our fund, given that the investment team at Distributed Ventures spun from NFP Ventures, our prior fund, with the full support of NFP. This early partnership with NFP has been a key source of differentiation and advantage, and NFP has been a terrific partner to position Distributed Ventures for success for years to come."
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DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
Structurally Advantaged Venture Capital
"Because of our strong Harnessing The Power “WE'RE NOW AT AN perspective and subject of Strategic LPs EXCITING POINT matter expertise rooted Distributed Ventures’ WHERE WE'RE RAISING in distribution, we help true differentiation OUR SECOND FUND, companies with their comes from the subject DISTRIBUTED VENTURES, go-to-market strategies, matter expertise it taps value propositions, from its LPs, who are AND WE'RE WELCOMING bundling and pricing there from the beginning, CAPITAL FROM models. We also offering expertise to help INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS help accelerate their optimise potential. BEYOND NFP” businesses quicker and "We engage our LP become more successful. network throughout SHAWN ELLIS The breadth of agility that the lifespan of a deal. MANAGING PARTNER, we apply in support of Starting with identifying DISTRIBUTED VENTURES our portfolio companies attractive opportunities is really unique. We built the blueprint – with as we're going through due diligence. We how we tap into strategic support from our very quickly tap into the subject matter LPs – in our prior fund, NFP Ventures." expertise we have within our ranks. Tthen, After spinning out, Distributed after we make an investment, we sit down Ventures’ anchor LP remains NFP, a large, with the company and establish a natural diversified and successful insurance distribution strategy. What are their goals? broker with a large employer benefits How can we help them achieve then exceed consulting business. them? We help them think even bigger by 8
distributedvc.com
DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
SHAWN ELLIS TITLE: MANAGING PARTNER INDUSTRY: VENTURE CAPITAL LOCATION: GREATER CHICAGO AREA
EXECUTIVE BIO
integrating them with functional leaders and teams that are forward-leaning across their organisations in various disciplines. "Our LPs are often aware of these companies and technologies because they've already been part of the evaluation process and have spoken with them. We also have the good fortune to have colleagues who are happy to lean in and really shape the future of this industry, working closely with these organisations. "We're now raising our second fund, and welcoming capital from institutional partners beyond NFP. It’s exciting to build on the strategic muscle NFP has brought in a distribution context and layer in diverse, complementary contacts from insurance carrier partners, from other brokerage players in the industry and traditional institutional investors. We're really excited about our fund two and growing the innovation that we can accelerate in the market. "We're growing our team as we raise our next fund, and excited about the next stable of portfolio companies we'll be working with and are already having conversations with a number of companies so we'll have exciting news to share in the early days."
Shawn Ellis is the Managing Partner of Distributed Ventures. He co-founded and manages the fund. Prior to Distributed Ventures, Shawn built and lead NFP Ventures, a captive early-stage venture fund sponsored by NFP Corp, the diversified insurance brokerage. He currently serves as director on the boards of Axio, Vivante Health, Relay, and Wingspan. Shawn’s investment approach leverages diverse operational, strategic and investment experience. Previously, as President and founding team member of Zest Health, he led the company’s growth from concept to over half a million paid subscribers and partnerships with several health plans less than three years. Zest was eventually rebranded as Yaro and acquired by Virgin Pulse. Prior to Zest, Shawn focused on healthcare technology investments at 7wire Ventures. He was a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and began his career at Lazard Middle Market’s M&A practice. Shawn holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the The Economic Club of Chicago and a board member of the Linden Foundation.
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The Future Calls
Over 7.5 million Americans | Over 100,000 5-star reviews* * iOS + Google App stores as of 7/15/21.
DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
“ EXHILARATING TO WORK IN COLLABORATION WITH STRATEGIC, SOPHISTICATED CORPORATE ENTITY LPS, THAT ARE OPERATING AT SCALE YET HUNGRY AND RECEPTIVE TO INNOVATION AND FORWARD-LOOKING BEST PRACTICES” SHAWN ELLIS
MANAGING PARTNER, DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
Partnerships Built for the Long Haul Empowered by subject matter expertise, internally and through partnerships, gives Distributed Ventures an edge, allowing them to better see where the industry is going and to hear the customer and market’s voice.
“We're living in a high-velocity venture market. It's easy to err toward a transactional approach as people tend to work on autopilot. We really like to know our partners. We work closely with them and are supportive. In terms of economics, even speaking to the way we structure our investments, often there's a component where we're helping companies while earning the right to invest more in them by accelerating their businesses, which really matter to founding teams and their other investors. “It's this notion of finding a balance, understanding value creation and having a long-term view in terms of the partnership. We build partnerships that are durable and hope to work with founders across multiple businesses and ventures.” distributedvc.com
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DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
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DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
“WE'RE HAPPY TO WORK WITH COMPANIES IN THE VERY EARLY INNINGS OF THEIR JOURNEY. WE'LL TARGET LATE SEED AND SERIES A INVESTMENTS” SHAWN ELLIS
MANAGING PARTNER, DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
distributedvc.com
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Competitive Differentiation Table™
DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
to the back-end reconciliation process amongst brokers and carriers. Equipped with a dynamic founding team and strong set of investors, we look forward to continuing to support Ascend as they transform the industry."
Ascend Ascend is the first end-to-end platform within the insurance industry that provides automated all-in-one payments, premium financing, collections, and payables. Selling to brokers, carriers, MGAs, and digital native insurtech companies, Ascend condenses the flow of funds timeline improving policy retention, increasing revenue, and moving money (ie commission/premium) more quickly. “Ascend is rebuilding critical payment infrastructure that has largely remained untouched for the last several decades. As they look to accelerate progress well beyond incremental improvements, Distributed Ventures is helping Ascend enhance the payment experience while bringing efficiency
TrustLayer TrustLayer’s insurance management platform allows companies to automate the verification of insurance, licences, and compliance documents. The company has developed technology to streamline the collection, management and review process through one integrated offering, enabling companies to reduce error-prone manual compliance tasks and quickly identify issues related to noncompliance. TrustLayer’s multi-channel approach to distribution includes selling directly to enterprises (B2B) and leveraging channel partnerships (B2B2B), including brokerages and associations. Trustlayer leverages powerful network effects to grow distribution organically, i.e., vendors and their brokers validating insurance through the platform become top of the funnel leads for TrustLayer to pursue. distributedvc.com
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DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
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DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
“ONE EXCITING VALUE-ADD WE BRING IS HELPING THESE ORGANISATIONS FIND THE BEST TALENT AND CONTINUE TO FEED IT - AHEAD OF THEIR HUMAN CAPITAL NEEDS” SHAWN ELLIS
MANAGING PARTNER, DISTRIBUTED VENTURES
”TrustLayer is a great example of Distributed Ventures’ ability to invest in very attractive companies that also bear significant strategic relevance to our limited partners. With TrustLayer, connectivity to our investor base has not only helped galvanise conviction for investment but also help us secure a significant allocation in a competitive fundraising process," says Ellis.
Relay Platform Relay is a SaaS platform equipping brokers, wholesalers, and their capacity providers with the leading white-labelled electronic placement solution in both P&C insurance and facultative reinsurance. With exceptional support for mid-market and large commercial lines of business, Relay delivers client-winning proposals supported by best-in-class instant API-based and email quoting capabilities. Distributed Ventures invested in Relay Platform about two years ago, after getting to know Greg Boutin, the founder, and has since developed a strong relationship. "We really liked Greg’s approach to the market and how he was thinking about bringing efficiency to risk placements in a way we hadn't seen. I've been a director for the company over the course of this time, working very closely with Greg as he's finding product-market fit for various offerings of Relay, accelerating the business and growing his team. One exciting value-add we bring is helping these organisations find the best talent and continue to feed it - ahead of their human capital needs so it's not just financing helping them grow, but also the right perspectives and cultural alignments,” says Ellis.
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500 W Madison St Suite 3200 Chicago IL 60661 T +507 269 0194 www.distributedvc.com
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