NEW YORK — Informa PLC, the exhibitions, events, information services and scholarly research company that is listed on the London Stock Exchange, launched Informa Ventures (http://ventures.informa.com), a corporate venture capital fund that will make early-stage investments in knowledge and information start-ups. Informa Ventures offers capital, access to markets, mentorship and expertise to entrepreneurs and founding teams.
Led by Managing Partner Richard Stanton, Informa Ventures focuses on start-ups whose products and services are based on content, intelligence and connections, and where founders have a clear vision of how disruption and innovation will challenge and shape these markets. For example, areas of interest include artificial intelligence and machine learning, semantics and data visualization, marketing and ad technology, and augmented reality and virtual realiity.
“We love it when a founding team is passionate about what they do, has ambitious goals and makes us think differently about our businesses,” said Stanton, who served as Informa’s Chief Digital & Innovation Officer for three years from November 2016 to January 2019. “Our investment focus is on start-ups that operate in the global market for information services, and who foresee and can seize on commercial opportunities that arise from the adoption of new technologies and changes in human behavior and business practices.”
Based in New York and London, Informa Ventures makes Seed and Series A investments based on the potential of the product or service, the strength of the team and a clearly articulated vision of what success looks like to the founding team. Founders are expected to have exemplary knowledge of their customers and markets, a defined use for the capital and clear, measurable KPIs.
“The ever-smarter use of data and technology is changing information services products, the way they are delivered, and customer behavior and expectations. We’re pleased to be able to support start-ups operating in our markets and to help accelerate their work, while participating in what’s just around the corner for the industry,” said Alex Roth, Director of Strategy and Business Planning, Informa.
Operating in more than 30 countries, Informa produces 500 event brands globally. In 2018, Informa Exhibitions was awarded the Trade Show Executive Grand Award for the Organizer with the Highest Number of Shows. Informa produced 11 Gold 100 trade shows, including Natural Products Expo East/Biofach America, Natural Products Expo West/Engredea, SupplySide West, The International Surface Event: SURFACES | StonExpo/Marmomac| TileExpo, WasteExpo, World of Concrete, WWETT– Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport Show, Licensing Expo, MAGIC – August, MAGIC – February, and Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West.
Related: Find out more about Informa’s growth strategies for 2019 in Independent Outlook at http://tinyurl.com/IndiOutlook-2019.
Reach Richard Stanton at (212) 520-2700 or Richard.Stanton@informa.com
