Amex Ventures

How do you pitch a corporate venture capital firm like Amex Ventures? Kevin Weber, Managing Director of Amex Ventures, explains what he looks for in founders, how he evaluates risk, and how he aligns his investments with the goals of American Express. Listen to his conversation on Fund/Build/Scale below:

Earlier this week, Amex Ventures hosted our Women in Enterprise Happy Hour in partnership with Sapphire Ventures. We were thrilled to bring together female founders and operators building across enterprise technology, generative AI, and B2B SaaS for an evening of meaningful conversations and new connections. Special thanks to Hilary Packer (CTO) and Lisa Marchese (Head of Corporate Development) for attending and sharing their perspectives as enterprise leaders. We’re excited to continue building our community of women entrepreneurs and innovators in San Francisco and beyond. Please reach out if you’d like to connect! 

A recent article from The Financial Brand highlights how American Express successfully wins over Millennial and Gen Z customers by focusing on personalization, digital innovation and lifestyle experiences. One example highlighted is Amex's relationship with Pinwheel, an Amex Ventures portfolio company, that streamlines the process of direct deposit switching for a better digital banking experience. Read more below:

We’re excited to share our investment in HQ, an Amex Ventures portfolio company that provides an end-to-end platform for corporate ground transportation booking & expense management. HQ will use the funding to help accelerate the rollout of enhancements to its mobility platform, targeting both large enterprises and small to medium-sized businesses. See below for more details:

This month, we held our first international Amex Ventures event for senior investors, platform leaders and operators in central London in partnership with London Tech Drinks.     Nearly 100 guests from the UK VC and startup ecosystem joined us for drinks and remarks on how Amex Ventures can operate globally, delivered by Global Head of Amex Ventures Matt Sueoka and each of our Managing Directors, Margaret Lim, Kevin Weber, Kevin Tsang, and Ope Runsewe.    We’re excited to continue to connect with the VC and startup ecosystem in the UK and collaborate with funds to support founders and future initiatives in the market! If we didn’t get the chance to see you while there, please reach out to a member of our team.  

Last week, Amex Ventures hosted the second installation of our dinner series – an intimate and curated founder dinner about “Powering the Next Gen Consumer,” in partnership with NYC entrepreneur and community builder, Andrew Yeung. We brought together innovative early-stage founders building across dining, travel, entertainment, and emerging lifestyle categories with executives from American Express’ Consumer card, travel, dining, and innovation teams. Thank you to Amex Ventures Managing Director Kevin Tsang and Director of Business Development and Strategy Jennifer Cozen who shed light on our Consumer focus: 1) Amex Ventures’ focus within Consumer differs from the traditional VC definition, as ours is based on Amex's membership services model – e.g. travel, dining, entertainment, Amex Offers – with the potential to evolve into other emerging lifestyle categories 2) At its core, we’re seeking ways to enrich the lives of our customers, which includes our Consumer Card Members, and also the restaurants in our dining network 3) Amex Ventures operates at a unique intersection between American Express and the founder community: we are champions of start-ups, for both investment and partnership opportunities Big thanks to Andrew for co-hosting, and all the founders and Amex colleagues who joined for an amazing evening of cocktails, conversation, and Italian cuisine. Comment below if you are building in Consumer and want to get in touch, or if you’d like to be involved in future Amex Ventures dinners and events!

This month, we held our first international Amex Ventures event for senior investors, platform leaders and operators in central London in partnership with London Tech Drinks.     Nearly 100 guests from the UK VC and startup ecosystem joined us for drinks and remarks on how Amex Ventures can operate globally, delivered by Global Head of Amex Ventures Matt Sueoka and each of our Managing Directors, Margaret Lim, Kevin Weber, Kevin Tsang, and Ope Runsewe.    We’re excited to continue to connect with the VC and startup ecosystem in the UK and collaborate with funds to support founders and future initiatives in the market! If we didn’t get the chance to see you while there, please reach out to a member of our team.  

Last week, Amex Ventures hosted the second installation of our dinner series – an intimate and curated founder dinner about “Powering the Next Gen Consumer,” in partnership with NYC entrepreneur and community builder, Andrew Yeung. We brought together innovative early-stage founders building across dining, travel, entertainment, and emerging lifestyle categories with executives from American Express’ Consumer card, travel, dining, and innovation teams. Thank you to Amex Ventures Managing Director Kevin Tsang and Director of Business Development and Strategy Jennifer Cozen who shed light on our Consumer focus: 1) Amex Ventures’ focus within Consumer differs from the traditional VC definition, as ours is based on Amex's membership services model – e.g. travel, dining, entertainment, Amex Offers – with the potential to evolve into other emerging lifestyle categories 2) At its core, we’re seeking ways to enrich the lives of our customers, which includes our Consumer Card Members, and also the restaurants in our dining network 3) Amex Ventures operates at a unique intersection between American Express and the founder community: we are champions of start-ups, for both investment and partnership opportunities Big thanks to Andrew for co-hosting, and all the founders and Amex colleagues who joined for an amazing evening of cocktails, conversation, and Italian cuisine. Comment below if you are building in Consumer and want to get in touch, or if you’d like to be involved in future Amex Ventures dinners and events!

If you are curious about how Amex Ventures supports innovation at American Express, check out this article by Ope Runsewe, Managing Director and Head of Business Development at Amex Ventures. He shares some insights from a recent event in San Francisco, where Amex executives and founders discussed how Amex is innovating and how startups can join us in this journey.

Last week, we were thrilled to bring together leaders in the fintech community at our TECH WEEK by a16z breakfast event in partnership with This Week in Fintech. We held an insightful panel and conversation with Amex Global Network Services leaders William Stredwick and Scott Liftman, featuring CEO & Co-Founder at Hypercard Marc Baghadjian, and moderated by our very own Head of Business Development, Ope Runsewe. Key takeaways: 1) Amex is strengthening partnerships with fintechs via the Agile Partnership Platform, which enables partners to integrate and launch co-branded card products within a matter of months.   2) These relationships are like the dynamics of dating: trust forms the bedrock, compatibility is paramount, and strong partnerships last when there’s alignment in chemistry and values.   3) Partnerships with Amex Ventures portfolio company Cardless and innovative fintechs like Hypercard and neon money club are delivering tangible value to customers.    Thanks to our organizers Maddy Gaiman, Kate Burke, and Cristina Ciaravalli and to everyone who came out. If you want to learn more about launching a card on the Amex network, get in touch with the Amex Ventures team, or attend our future events, reach out or comment below!