XRC Ventures

Companies are encouraging employees to use AI, but do their boards know where company data is going? Even AI built into approved enterprise software can send sensitive information beyond its intended scope. Autonomous agents add another question: what can they access, share or do on the company’s behalf? In our recent webinar with UBS, our Founder & Managing Partner Pano Anthos joined Alan Boehme, former CTO at Coca-Cola, P&G and H&M, and UBS Senior Equity Research Analyst Michael Lasser to discuss what this means for corporate governance. The conversation covered data security, unpredictable AI costs, insurance gaps and the controls companies need to adopt AI responsibly. The goal is to enable useful AI adoption while keeping oversight current as tools and workflows change. Watch the full discussion: https://lnkd.in/gxxnTYWD

If you’re growing a consumer brand, how do you know that growth is actually profitable? Our General Partner Diana Melencio tackles that question in the final installment of her series, “The Five Questions Your Metrics Should Actually Answer.” One takeaway: measure customer value using contribution profit, not revenue, and include the customers who bought once and never came back. Looking only at repeat buyers can paint a very different picture of the business. Diana also shares a practical weekly dashboard and a downloadable workbook to apply the framework to your own numbers. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/e87zPdJb Download the workbook here: https://lnkd.in/ejFd3FXq.

50%+ YoY Sales Growth. Product Margins of 70%+. Repurchase rate of 30-40%+. Your numbers may get an investor’s attention…but what makes them lean in or walk away? 📊 Join us next at 4:30PM next Monday, September 28, at the Santa Monica Proper for our panel: Beyond the Benchmarks: What Makes VCs Lean In - or Pass We’ll go behind the numbers to explore what investors are really looking for: • What earns a founder the first meeting • What builds conviction—or raises red flags—on the first call • How investors evaluate repurchase, growth and channel strategy • What needs to be proven at different investment stages Kelly Chen (XRC Ventures) will moderate the conversation with top consumer VCs including: - Amanda Schutzbank, Co-Founder & GP at Willow Growth Partners - Nina Faulhaber, Founding Partner at Palette - Shawnt Karakozian, Vice President at Provenance If you’re raising capital now or in the near future, please join us for a candid look at how consumer investors make decisions. 👇 Link to the event in the comments below, along with our benchmark report in case anyone wants a refresher on the KPIs VCs want to see. #fundraising #consumerVCs #consumerfounders #venturecapital #seedtoseriesA #CPGfounders #xrcventures #brandcapitalfund

Customers are buying again. But are they the people who discovered your brand last month, or the same loyal shoppers who’ve been with you for years? That distinction matters. Strong sales from longtime customers can hide the fact that newer shoppers buy once and don’t return. In our latest Substack post, General Partner Diana Melencio explains how to use your order history to see whether new customers make a second purchase, and which products bring in shoppers who come back. She also shares prompts you can use to run the analysis for your own brand. The Five Questions Your Metrics Should Actually Answer - Part 2: Whether They Come Back: https://lnkd.in/gArUXaQp

Students are back to school—and founders are back to fundraising! Join XRC Ventures Brand Fund and SHOPLINE for a happy hour on September 28 at 4:30 p.m. at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel. LA has one of the strongest CPG communities in the country, and we’re bringing together its founders, VCs, operators, and buyers across beauty, personal care, wellness, apparel and footwear, and food and beverage. You’ll also have the opportunity to meet the founders in the second cohort of the Brand Builder Program and join a candid panel conversation with top VCs about fundraising: • How do investors interpret a brand’s numbers? • What gives them conviction? • What makes them lean in—or walk away? Whether you’re actively raising, preparing for your next round, or simply looking to connect with LA’s consumer community, we’d love to see you there. 🔗 RSVP today—link in the comments below! #fundraising #cpgfounders #cpginvestors #venturecapital #cpgstartups #seedtoseriesa #foundersandfunders #lacommunity #lastartups

The Five Questions Your Metrics Should Actually Answer Growing sales don’t tell the whole story. In a new three-part Substack series, XRC Ventures General Partner Diana Melencio breaks down the numbers that help consumer brands understand whether their growth is sustainable. Part 1, “What You Pay at the Door,” tackles the first two questions: - Are we acquiring customers efficiently? - Are visitors converting? Diana explains why average acquisition costs can hide increasingly expensive new customers, how to measure when you earn back what you spent, and why a higher conversion rate doesn’t always mean better economics. Read Part 1: https://lnkd.in/e63BvXpE

Why are price-conscious shoppers willing to pay more for fragrance? XRC’s Diana Melencio joined Melissa Daniels on the Modern Retail Podcast to discuss what’s driving that demand, with examples from DedCool and Touchland, and why we’re seeing more premium scents in everyday household products. Listen to their conversation: https://lnkd.in/eaXhQnHB Diana’s latest benchmark report has more on the fragrance market and what investors are looking for in early-stage brands. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eygqjnXg

AI adoption is moving quickly inside companies, often faster than security and finance teams can track it. Employees are using new tools, AI is being added to existing software and agents are beginning to act across company systems. That creates a basic problem: How do companies use AI without losing control of sensitive data, agent activity or spending? That’s the problem VizCo is solving, and why we invested. VizCo sits between a company’s systems and external AI frontier models. It can block or redact sensitive data, limit what agents are allowed to do, log activity and set budgets by team or project before a request leaves the company’s environment. We believe this type of control will become increasingly important as companies move from testing AI to using it in daily operations. We are glad to back co-founders Christopher Kelly, PhD and Daniel Kharitonov as they build VizCo. Learn more: vizco.co #PortfolioCompany #EnterpriseAI #AIGovernance

Congratulations to Madison Maxey and the LOOMIA team on announcing their next chapter with Unichem. We’re excited to see Loomia’s flexible-electronics platform scale across robotics, mobility and other smart-material applications.