The Financial Times Group says FT Ventures seeks to back ambitious founders who want to shape the future of the world’s information industry, and aims to do so by investing in businesses operating in the areas of media, data, intelligence or their underlying technologies.
“The FT has invested in strategically relevant start-ups for several years, and we are thrilled to formalise our investing activities with the launch of FT Ventures,” said Alexandra Calinikos, FT corporate development and strategy director. “We want to champion founders with a bold vision who also share our core values, global mindset and ambition.”
She added: “Success for us isn’t just about financial return. We aim to foster mutually beneficial relationships, particularly where we can offer strategic partnerships alongside our investments that enable founders to benefit from our expertise.”
FT Ventures has also announced a new investment in Charter, a future-of-work media and research company co-founded by industry veterans Kevin Delaney, Erin Grau, and Jay Lauf. Charter offers in-depth coverage of the modern workplace, along with research and journalism on best practices for leaders, a premium membership for owners of the talent agenda, and hands-on advisory services.
“We’re thrilled that FT Ventures is accelerating our urgent mission to help leaders navigate one of the most complex, uncharted, and consequential challenges they face: winning the future of work,” said Kevin Delaney, CEO and editor in chief of Charter. “Successful deployment of artificial intelligence, flexible work, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have moved to the top of the corporate agenda. We’re looking forward to strategic partnerships across the FT Group to better equip leaders and drive business performance.”
FT Ventures is part of a corporate development strategy that has seen the FT Group diversify its business into new sectors and bolster growth through M&A, strategic investments and partnerships. Recent examples include the majority stake acquisitions of Endpoints News, a leading source of news and analysis for the biopharmaceutical industry; and the product and consulting divisions of Wavteq, an economic development consulting firm.
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