People Behind the Product: Reece Chowdhry, RLC Ventures

Written by CoInvestor | 5 February, 2020

Reece Chowdhry - Founder and CEO, RLC Ventures

Reece is the Founder and CEO of RLC Ventures and is an award-winning venture capitalist. Having previously been an EY Management Consultant, he launched RLC Ventures back in 2016 and has continued to grow the fund substantially. In 2019 Reece was named in the top '100 Bame leaders influencing the tech sector' by The Financial Times, recognising his impact on the UK technology ecosystem.

What is the most challenging aspect of your role?

For me it is probably time management. There is always something to do or a company to meet, and ultimately there aren’t enough hours in the day. Luckily, I have a great team around me.

What is keeping you up at night?

It is usually our founders, and sometimes literally! We have a very open and approachable relationship whereby they can WhatsApp or contact me any time, day or night. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can better support our founders, and also how their businesses challenges will evolve as they grow.

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“I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can better support our founders, and also how their businesses challenges will evolve as they grow.”

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What makes your firm stand out?

Aside from our strong historical returns, we have a unique thesis in backing companies with emerging‐market footprints, which leads to greater capital efficiency, access to larger markets and less competition for top talent.

What is the one thing you want advisers/investors to know about your firm?

We commit a portion of the profits that we make from successful investments to charities of our portfolio founders choosing. We call the initiative the Venture Pledge.

What recent investment opportunity has caught your eye and why?

Labworks – 5 million people have played the game, and voice devices such as Amazon’s Alexa have incredibly strong market penetration, with over 41% of US Consumers reportedly owning one in 2018.

What are the three things you look for when investing in a business?

Aside from being UK based with an Emerging Market footprint, we really focus on finding scalable business models, strong founding teams with domain expertise and capital efficient approaches. Many startups in the last few years have been burning cash very early on, and whilst we know you can manufacture growth, you can’t manufacture profitability.

What is the best piece of advice you've taken?

Work with great people. It’s something that I have really taken onboard, and have really seen it make an impact beyond anything else.

What non-fiction book would you recommend?

‘What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit in Excellence’ by Stephen Schwarzman. It’s the story of how Blackstone was founded and it has really inspired me on my own journey.

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People Behind the Product is an interview series produced by CoInvestor highlighting the key people behind the wide range of tax-efficient investment funds you can find on our platform. By showcasing the fund managers behind the product, we aim to provide greater insight to the expertise in the market and in doing so, help advisers and investors learn more about the tax-efficient sector.

If you are interested in participating in the series, or would like to find out more, get in touch with Jessica at jessica.baker@coinvestor.co.uk.

About RLC Ventures

RLC Ventures is an award-winning VC which continues to back founders building global-tech companies, from idea to exit.

RLC are the only venture capital firm that pledges to commit a portion of exit profits to important social causes of the founder’s choice. This aligns their investment with the socially responsible values held by their young founders to make a positive impact on society.

To view more about this manager and their opportunities available,

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