Amex Ventures

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!  

Have you heard? We're hiring!

Building tech-enabled offerings that can enrich the lives of Amex’s consumer Card Members?     On June 18th, Amex Ventures and Andrew Yeung are selecting 20 innovative founders to join senior leaders across American Express’s Consumer Card, Travel, Dining, and Innovation teams for a private, curated dinner in NYC to discuss technology powering the next gen consumer.     🍽️ We're looking for Seed through Series B founders innovating across Dining, Travel, Offers, Entertainment, Lounges, and/or emerging lifestyle categories such as virtual assistants, consumer privacy and consumer personalization.      If this is you, a friend, or a portco, please request to join us for an evening in the West Village full of Italian cuisine, cocktails, and conversation. Spaces are extremely limited, so apply below or comment if there are founders in your network who should be considered to attend 👇

NYC continues to be a great home after 5+ years but London will always be my hometown 😊 I’ll be back in London with the Amex Ventures Team (Matt, Margaret, Kevin & Kevin) as part of London Tech Week (June 10th – 14th) as we look to build new ecosystem relationships, uncover start ups across our areas of focus and of course, catch up with old friends A couple of things to put on your radar 🏦 Investors (principals, directors, partners) – in partnership with London Tech Drinks, we would love to host you for an evening event on Thursday June 13th where you can meet our team, learn how Amex Ventures operates globally and discuss ways we can collaborate in future with your funds.... Sign up link is in the comments 👍 Founders – if you are a founder or you know founders across Seed to Series B building across Fintech, Consumer enabled tech and Enterprise Software get in touch – we will have a number of Amex investors in town who can connect IRL during Tech Week. 🎉 Operators & Ecosystem partners – we’re interested in attending events and building partnerships to support our efforts in the UK post Tech Week - leave suggestions in the comments See you in June! 

We are excited to invite you to join us for a chat in NYC with Margaret Lim, Managing Director at Amex Ventures, and Caroline Hyde from Bloomberg. They will discuss how Amex Ventures invests in early-stage startups that are strategically relevant to American Express, how we support our portfolio companies with partnerships and resources, and what trends we are watching in the fintech, commerce, and frontier tech spaces. If you're interested in learning more about corporate venture capital and trends in the startup space, please join us at Bloomberg’s HQ for this conversation. You can RSVP below.    Space is limited, so please register soon if you'd like to attend. We hope to see you there! 

Fintech startups, operators, and investors in NYC during #TechWeek... Start your day with Amex and This Week in Fintech on Wednesday, June 5th! Join investors from Amex Ventures, leaders from American Express’s Network Partnerships team, and the team at This Week in Fintech, for an exclusive breakfast and panel discussion. You will get insight on Amex’s fintech partnership program, while connecting with the fintech ecosystem over great food and drink at a private location. 📆 Wednesday, June 5th 9:30 – 11:30am EST 📍 Tribeca, NYC This event is for innovative fintechs and brands interested in launching co-branded cards on the Amex network, operators across sponsor banks, issuer-processors, and program managers, and fintech investors looking to make new connections. Apply at the link or comment below to tag founders & investors in your network who should attend! https://lu.ma/ny65