Firms & Funds

PODCAST: How VCs connect with co-workers and portfolio companies during the pandemic

Sandeep Bhadra of Vertex Ventures US discusses how the firm has used White Claw drinks and cookies to maintain communications. He also says initial Zoom meetings will remain in a post-pandemic world.

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In March, early-stage investor Vertex Ventures US raised $150 million for its second fund to make seed and Series A investments in B2B software and services. The new fund announcement came right before the covid-19 crisis escalated and the ensuing social distancing measures were enacted, which closed offices, reduced air travel and moved most everyone in the tech and investment world to work from home.

For Vertex, which maintains offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, the shelter-in-place orders were addressed in much the same way that other firms handled the new situation. That means using Zoom to meet with its portfolio companies and LPs and use the teleconferencing software to conduct due diligence on prospective start-ups.

VC Sandeep Bhadra
Sandeep Bhadra, Vertex Ventures US

In this installment of Spotlight, we talk to Sandeep Bhadra, a partner with Vertex Ventures US. Bhadra was an engineer by training and worked for two years in corporate development at Cisco Systems before joining Menlo Ventures as a principal in early 2015. He joined Vertex in 2017 when the firm was about halfway through deploying Fund I.

Bhadra chatted with Venture Capital Journal this summer about how the firm was managing its operations and what his outlook is in a post-pandemic scenario.

For more insight on the topic, read: Virtual due diligence: How to secure a deal when you’ve never met.