SA国际传媒

Early-stage venture firm announced this morning it has launched a new investment vehicle called Conversion Labs.

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Conversion Labs will focus on helping fund and support startups that are 鈥渢ackling some of the biggest issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic.鈥�

New York-based Conversion said it is in the process of raising $50 million to go toward those investments.

, co-founder of Conversion portfolio company (and fintech unicorn) , will spearhead COVID-19 Labs鈥� efforts.

A new economy

Conversion Labs seeks to back 鈥渢he next generation鈥� of software, cloud and data startups addressing challenges in the post-COVID-19 era. It will focus on building software infrastructure for highly regulated industries such as government, health care and financial services.

The effort will aim to bring together entrepreneurs and engineers 鈥渢o develop and scale software solutions for the most pressing challenges reshaping society during and after the pandemic.鈥�

Sun Microsystems co-founder will serve as 鈥渁 key advisor鈥� on the initiative. The firm emphasizes that Conversion Labs is not an incubator, rather an effort to 鈥渂ring together a team of engineers, designers, and growth experts who will partner with public and private counterparts and a network of industry advisors to build solutions that have long-term positive impacts.鈥�

Marinelli and McNealy will co-lead Conversion Labs in its efforts.

鈥淐OVID-19 has accelerated technology adoption by a decade in the past two months, catalyzing a transition to a new economy,鈥� Marinelli said in a statement.

Conversion Capital Managing Partner 聽said the new fund aims to invest in more than 10 companies a year.聽Most of the initial checks will be between $500,000 and $2.5 million, he said.

“We expect most of them to be about the same amount for this fund and grow over the lifecycle of a company,” he added.

Conversion Labs’ investment thesis is heavily focused on software, data, cloud and security.

“We鈥檙e not closing the door on other opportunities, but software is our overwhelming priority,” Lawless said.

Reinventing legacy industries

Marinelli鈥檚 experience at Palantir and Blend made him 鈥渦niquely positioned鈥� to help find and support other early-stage software startups that are working to reinvent legacy industries, according to Lawless.

鈥淓ugene is incredible at scaling engineering teams and will be a vital force multiplier for our new initiative to tackle some of society鈥檚 biggest challenges,鈥� he said.

Conversion has made dozens of early-stage since its 2012 inception, according to SA国际传媒 data (and funded five unicorns). Portfolio companies include Improbable, , Dataminr, , Qualia and Blend. It has raised two early-stage funds, and is in the process of raising a third. It favors companies that focus on AI/data, enterprise (SaaS), cloud and security.

Many of the best innovations were created during a paradigm shift in behavior and/or technology, Lawless noted.

“Our investments will focus on companies advancing that change today, especially those working in highly regulated industries like fintech, govtech and healthcare,” he told SA国际传媒 News, speaking of Conversion Capital. “While we will focus on companies seizing opportunities in the wake of COVID-19, our investments will not be exclusive to those areas. We鈥檙e open to investing in companies that have evolved their approach or are brand new.聽Conversion Labs, on the other hand, is designed to specifically support new solutions tackling the biggest issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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