Cervin Ventures Q3 2020 Newsletter

5G just got real

At the latest Apple product release event, the CEO of Verizon made this pronouncement — “5G just got real”. Apple’s new line of phones has incorporated 5G and this will begin the process of unleashing a myriad of applications. At Cervin, we’ve been actively exploring enterprise use cases for 5G and have written both about The Coming Tsunami of 5G Networks and Enterprise 5G in the age of WiFi.

Cervin GP, Shirish Sathaye says, “The designers of 3G never imagined applications like Google Maps, the architects of 4G never imagined the on-demand economy. Who knows what applications will be powered by 5G?”. 5G’s impressive speed and latency will revolutionize both consumer and enterprise markets. We are big believers in this technology and would love to back entrepreneurs who are working to revolutionize the world with 5G.

Portfolio Spotlight

Coincidentally, our enterprise 5G portfolio company, Celona, just announced their new capital raise. We would like to congratulate the Celona team on their recent Series B round led by NTTVC and Qualcomm Ventures, with participation from all existing investors — Cervin Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners. The funds will be used to fuel Celona’s strategic growth. The company plans to capitalize on the fundamental changes within the enterprise networking market created by the availability of localized and shared spectrum around the world.

Celona is at the forefront of Enterprise 5G innovation. Taking advantage of the Citizens Broadband Radio Systems (CBRS) spectrum, the solution is designed to simplify and automate cellular wireless technology deployment by IT organizations and managed service providers. Celona was born with the idea that a combination of 5G radio technology, edge computing, and machine learning software will change how organizations work and do business.

To learn more about the company, the capabilities of CBRS and its place in the market, check out Enterprise 5G in the age of WiFi.

Portfolio News

In the Future of Work category, Slapdash stands out with its ability to allow users to browse and organize their data across apps. With a uniform, low-latency data browser, as well as a unified command line-like interface, Slapdash takes searching, organizing and automating tasks to new levels of productivity. With a rockstar team and backing from Y Combinator, we are very excited to welcome them into our investment portfolio.

• Punchh continued to attract top talent with the appointment of industry veteran Raju Malhotra as Chief Product and Technology Officer.
• StackShare CEO Yonas Beshawred was featured in a CNBC article about his experience as a black founder in Silicon Valley and was named a 2020 Forbes Cloud 100 Rising Star.
• LaunchDarkly was named to the 2020 Forbes Cloud 100 list.
• Bungee joined the Nielsen Connect Partner Network. This strategic alliance will provide their clients with powerful new insights to develop competitive strategies.
• Bid Ops won the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) “Best Startup” award.
• Paystand was ranked at #9 on the Inc. 5000 list of the “Fastest Growing Companies in Silicon Valley.

Perspectives

In Q3, we showcased a few of our portfolio companies (Catch&Release, Airgap, and Bedrock Analytics), as well as highlighted our take on autonomous grocery stores, the expansion of enterprise 5G, and the responsibilities of running a startup.

• Catch&Release: The company changing advertising in the COVID-19 era
• Tackling ransomware: A conversation with the CEO of Airgap
• The grocery and convenience stores of the future
• Enterprise 5G in the age of WiFi
• Are you ready for this much responsibility?
• Data storytelling for CPG Brands

As always, we thank you for being part of Cervin’s community and welcome your recommendation to enterprise seed-stage founders that need engaged capital partners.

The Cervin Team