Why We’ve Doubled Down on our Mission
Fresco’s Evolution: A New Look, The Same Mission
When Fresco Capital first started investing in early 2012, one of the least impressive things about us was our website. To be blunt, it sucked. We know, because Tytus hand coded it himself in HTML. We also know because people told us.
However, as our entrepreneurial roots suggest, Fresco is not just a VC fund. We are a startup, too. And just like the companies we invest in, we are constantly evolving.
In 2017, we launched our third fund, we welcomed our 50th founder team to our portfolio, and we added our fifth Venture Partner to our growing network of local teams. We soon realized we had outgrown previous skin and it was time to embrace our own evolution; a time to refresh our brand, our website, and our messaging. So, we worked with one of our close partners, Rival Schools, to do just that. Given the team has world class expertise on localizing user experience, branding, and messaging to suit a global audience, we knew we were in safe hands.
We wanted a design that reflected our global team, our partnership based approach, as well as our belief that our team is greater as a whole than as a sum of its parts. We were aiming to visually represent the simplicity of our mission, but the complexity of our approach. Here is how we look now:
Our mission: Building global ecosystems
Although our shape may have a changed a little on the outside, Fresco remains the same on the inside. In fact, our growth has only strengthened our commitment and our excitement about our core mission:
You’ll notice our mission isn’t just about being the best at investing in technology companies. Just like our logo, the idea of “building global ecosystems” may seem simple, but it is an approach that embraces the complex.
An ecosystem can be defined as a complex network or interconnected system. Whether we’re working with founders, our LPs, or our partners, we believe the most effective investment strategy is to look beyond just us, and instead focus on empowering others. That is the only way to truly enable exponential change. One person, one product, one platform, one investor, one country, can only do so much. If we are able to build ecosystems filled with individuals, startups, and investors that are passionate about solving big problems, then the impact will be unimaginable in scale. And, if that’s not what we’re striving for, then why even be here?
Our approach: Thinking global, acting local
Our portfolio companies are leveraging technology to solve the world’s biggest problems in the future of work, education, and healthcare. These problems are global in scale, but implementing any solution requires a deep understanding and appreciation for local challenges.
It would be impossible for any one person to understand or appreciate the nuances of doing business in every local market, so we have focused on building a diverse team of specialists. Each with their own unique network, set of experiences, point of view, and passion. In our new website, we put a bigger spotlight on some of our favourite local partners, with whom we have worked with closely over the years and trust to be the absolute best at what they do.
Our motivation: Why we’re global
Though we are strongly motivated by our mission, we must also admit we’re not simply building global ecosystems out of the goodness of our hearts. There is a clear and direct connection between helping our portfolio companies scale globally and higher returns for our fund investors.
Global companies are worth more money — they have more revenue, less concentrated risk, and higher valuations. They can extend runway by optimizing their operations, increasing access to later stage capital, and diversifying their relationships with potential acquirers. We’ve seen this play out across our existing portfolio, which now spans 54 companies, 12 countries, 7 exits, and a total market value of US$1.6 billion.
We talk to and work with founders all day, every day, about how to build a company that scales and endures over time. Indeed, successful business models have mission, values, and financial incentives aligned by design. So it’s natural for us to apply the same approach in building our own business.
Our bottom line: We can’t do it alone
Given all of the chaos endured in the past year, we believe that now is the time to double down our mission. The world is faced with an unprecedented level of uncertainty, inequality, and risk, and it is our responsibility to work together globally to source, build, and scale the world’s most promising technology solutions to our most critical challenges in the future of work, education, and healthcare.
We look forward to hearing from you and working together toward as we grow and evolve as a firm, and as an ecosystem in and of ourselves.
Why We’ve Doubled Down on our Mission was originally published in Fusion by Fresco Capital on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.