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Blumberg Capital Connects CIOs and Startups – in the Metaverse 

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CIO Council members share diverse industry experiences across sectors and companies such as Albertsons, Nutanix, Okta, P&G

In this economic environment, startups must show customers and investors that they have a “need to have” vs. “nice to have” solution. Blumberg Capital’s CIO Council helps our team identify the “need to haves” and then helps these companies grow, as an extension of our team and sometimes as company advisors or customers. Through the Council, IT leaders connect with peers and get an inside look at new technologies that could impact their businesses and industries. 

This week, Council members from around the world connected for our quarterly meeting.

Location: in the metaverse.

Instead of New York or San Francisco, we met in Mytaverse, a business metaverse platform used by companies like Pepsi and Dassault Aviation. Blumberg Capital led Mytaverse’s $7.6M Seed round in April to support the company’s expansion into the enterprise market. 

No Travel or VR Goggles Required

CIO Council members met with two of our newest portfolio companies – one in Tel Aviv and the other in Berlin – for a deep dive into their technologies. Instead of sitting through a traditional PPT presentation, startups and CIOs joined each other in a virtual auditorium, toured showrooms used by Fortune 500 brands, and then entered breakout rooms. We asked questions, waved hello “face to face,” walked alongside each other and stopped by to chat with the founders after the main event. No travel or VR goggles required.

Connecting CIOs and Startups 

Our first CIO Council meeting in Mytaverse left us inspired about the possibilities of the business metaverse and will hopefully arm the Mytaverse team with meaningful feedback from dozens of IT leaders. For over a decade, the CIO Council has played an active role in our investment decisions and portfolio companies’ growth. One example is Nutanix. 

Nutanix (Nasdaq: NTNX) and the CIO Council:

  • In 2009, Blumberg Capital led Nutanix’s Seed round, following input from CIO Council members.
  • The CIO of one of the largest global law firms was Nutanix’s first pilot customer, after meeting the company through the CIO Council. An initial PoC under $100K evolved into a multi-million deal replacing legacy software.
  • CIO Council member Alan Boehme, CTO at H&M (and former CIO at P&G and Coca Cola) was one of the first advisors to Nutanix and is still on the company’s advisory board.
  • Current Nutanix CIO Wendy Pfieffer is a CIO Council member.

The CIO Council is chaired by Patrick Steele, advisor at Blumberg Capital and former CIO at companies such as Albertsons and Delta Dental.

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Learn more about Mytaverse at mytaverse.com.

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