This week, Oliver interviews Kevin Talbot (@Talbot), a General Partner at Relay Ventures, a VC firm based between the Bay Area and Toronto, who are investors in Bird, Populus and Bird Canada, among others. It is a great interview with Kevin about how they’re thinking about micromobility investments and the wider context of venture capital in this Softbank dominated world.
Specifically, we dig into:
- how you got into VC/joined Relay Ventures
- His thesis at the firm and why they're interested in micromobility.
- How they work with their portfolio companies, including former podcast guests Regina Clewlow from Populus.
- How the landscape for micromobility has changed from the early days of their investment in Bird
- including business models, regulatory landscapes and supply chains.
- We talk about the Bird Canada venture - what it is, why it was formed, the market for micromobility in Canada and where they're seeing early traction.
- How capital formation in the micromobility sector is interacting with cities, and whether he think this will ever be anything other than messy.
- How their firm is thinking through owned vs. shared, and hardware vs. software investments.
- What you'd recommend to entrepreneurs getting into the micromobility space
- Bonus: his take on micromobility autonomy, and the promise and challenges in this space.
It's a great interview!
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