Last week, Amex Ventures hosted the second installation of our dinner series – an intimate and curated founder dinner about “Powering the Next Gen Consumer,” in partnership with NYC entrepreneur and community builder, Andrew Yeung.
We brought together innovative early-stage founders building across dining, travel, entertainment, and emerging lifestyle categories with executives from American Express’ Consumer card, travel, dining, and innovation teams.
Thank you to Amex Ventures Managing Director Kevin Tsang and Director of Business Development and Strategy Jennifer Cozen who shed light on our Consumer focus:
1) Amex Ventures’ focus within Consumer differs from the traditional VC definition, as ours is based on Amex's membership services model – e.g. travel, dining, entertainment, Amex Offers – with the potential to evolve into other emerging lifestyle categories
2) At its core, we’re seeking ways to enrich the lives of our customers, which includes our Consumer Card Members, and also the restaurants in our dining network
3) Amex Ventures operates at a unique intersection between American Express and the founder community: we are champions of start-ups, for both investment and partnership opportunities
Big thanks to Andrew for co-hosting, and all the founders and Amex colleagues who joined for an amazing evening of cocktails, conversation, and Italian cuisine.
Comment below if you are building in Consumer and want to get in touch, or if you’d like to be involved in future Amex Ventures dinners and events!