Thayer Ventures and Derive Ventures Form New Travel Tech Investment Platform

Skift Take

Thayer, the best-known VC firm that invests in travel startups, is essentially merging with a newer fund called Derive. The deal is being pitched as a way to “drive innovation in travel tech,” which is VC-speak for “we want to make money off the next big thing in travel apps.”

Sean O’Neill

Thayer Ventures and Derive Ventures have tied up to create Thayer Investment Partners, an investment platform aimed at driving innovation in travel technology, Skift learned on Monday.

Why it matters: No other traditional U.S.-based venture capital firm has invested more capital in travel startups over the past decade than Thayer Ventures. The quasi-merger comes as the travel industry grapples with emerging opportunities in AI and the adoption of cloud-native technologies.

Key Details

• Chris Hemmeter from Thayer Ventures, along with Tyler Carrico and Mike Scott from Derive, will serve as managing partners.

• The merger aims to offer a full-service venture capital approach, covering both vertical and horizontal investments, business-to-business and consumer, and early to late-stage funding. The fund will consider startups nearly anywhere except in China, where it lacks expertise.

Between the lines: The effective merger with Derive will help sustain Thayer’s momentum for another generation.

“Tyler and Mike are young guys,” said Hemmeter, co-founder and managing partner at Thayer Ventures. “So there’s an element of building legacy into this business and clearly signaling to the marketplace in no uncertain terms that this is not an enterprise based on a personality, but is something that will endure.”

What to watch: The San Francisco-based platform is expected to launch a fresh investment fund in the coming weeks.

By the Numbers

• Thayer Ventures has deployed more than $300 million in capital across four active investment vehicles.

• Derive Ventures, founded in 2022, manages over $45 million in assets.

• The formation of TIP doesn’t affect the management of previous funds launched by Thayer Ventures and Derive Ventures separately. These funds have together invested in over 45 startups.

What They’re Saying

• “We offer more than just a venture fund and have the flexibility to support entrepreneuers across their journey,” Hemmeter said. “We do our work between the boarding meetings, not at the board meetings. An element of our alpha comes from the connections we can make, opening doors to help startups with business development, sales, and strategy.”

• “Access is just a huge part of the venture capital game, such as for sourcing deals and having the ability to invest in deals that you want,” Scott said. “By being a consolidated, larger platform, that just inherently benefits everyone and investment benefits our financial investors, our strategic partners looking for insights, and our entreprenuers looking for investors that are complementary.”

• “Across all deals we look for three things,” Carrico said. “First and foremost is the management team. Second is what is the TAM [total addressable market]? And third will the company have enough firepower and runway to hit its next milestone and next funding?”