Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry [REPLAY] Ali Hamed – Novel Venture Investing at CoVenture, Venture is Eating the Investment World 5 (Capital Allocators, EP.233)
Why CoVenture's Novel Approach to Venture and Credit Is Winning Big
Ali Hamed shares how CoVenture evolved from a modest $100 million AUM to a $2 billion investor by blending tech-enabled asset-backed credit with early-stage venture capital through their Crossbeam fund.
They focus on novel asset classes overlooked by traditional investors, especially financing tech-driven businesses in new ecosystems like Amazon sellers and international fintech, emphasizing humility in structuring deals where data is scarce.
Ali explains their unique investment philosophy of "winning" rather than "winning beautifully," concentrating on fintech, lending, reemerging middle-class platforms, and the decay of traditional network effects to spot enduring opportunities.
Their hands-on due diligence and founder support approach, coupled with educating the market about these novel asset classes, positions CoVenture as a differentiated and adaptive firm in today's rapidly changing venture landscape.
Founding CoVenture Through Credit
- Ali Hamed recounts starting CoVenture from college with a software product for equity and non-technical founders.
- They quickly learned credit investing through financing novel asset-backed lending businesses like Produce Pay.
Winning VC Without Mimicking Others
- CoVenture avoids mimicking traditional VC models and focuses on winning, not style.
- They specialize in fintech, lending, platform economies, and network effect decay as unique investment theses.