Spotlight: BMWiVentures featured team member Allen Chen

Tell us about yourself.

I was born in southern China in a city called Wenzhou, which is famous for its seafood and successful small-scale enterprises. I came to the U.S. with my family when I was six and spent most of my teenage years in North Carolina’s suburbia. After graduating from Emory University’s undergraduate business program, I spent five years working in strategy consulting and tech before making the move to BMW i Ventures. Ironically, my first gig in college was an internship at a local Audi dealer, where I helped with test drives and moved expensive vehicles around compact lots. Eight years later, it is great to return to the German automotive industry and contribute in a new way.

What do you focus on at BMW i Ventures?

My focus at BMW i Ventures is twofold. First, it is to identify and evaluate startups that have the best teams and solutions in addressing meaningful problems within BMW’s ecosystem. This also includes proactively researching different market trends to understand the problem space and what to look out for. If the team and I are convinced the startup is building a compelling solution, my focus transitions to deal execution and undergoing the investment process to help fund the startup’s growth.

What was your pathway into venture capital?

Back in consulting, I spent a lot of time supporting private equity shops in company and industry due-diligence so that they could make informed investment decisions. From this experience, I wanted to learn how to become a great investor myself while applying those skills into more emerging fields. Instead of diving straight into VC, I took a more circuitous path by working at a couple of late stage tech companies (Uber + Lilium) to learn how to be an operator. I wanted to understand how successful tech companies were run from the inside and how lean teams made use of limited resources. I spent the next 2.5 years working on exciting challenges, such as streamlining courier drop-offs, scaling product launches, and convincing national governments electric air mobility was an effective alternative to traditional infrastructure projects. It was also during this time that I became more interested in the field of new mobility, especially as it relates to expanding connectivity, decreasing emissions, and reducing congestion. Therefore, when it came time to make the move into VC, I narrowed my focus towards funds that placed a focus on mobility. Through that process, BMW i Ventures clearly stood out to me for its mobility expertise, investment portfolio, and team culture.

What do you like most about your job?

What I am grateful for in this job is that you get a front row seat to some of the most exciting industry developments happening today while also playing a role in shaping that future. Day-to-day, you are afforded the opportunity to speak with and learn from some incredible founders. In parallel, you then can piece those conversations together into rounded insights that can inform better investment decisions. I think it is rare to find an opportunity that delivers this level of both breadth and depth into such exciting and important technologies.

What do you look for in a potential investment?

Before making an investment, I look at three criteria. First, I want to have conviction that the product being built is solving an important pain point while also being differentiated from other solutions already in the market. This could be a patented technology breakthrough, a scalable manufacturing process, or even a seamless UI. Next, I look at the team to evaluate their abilities to both develop the solution and bring it to market. This would include reviewing the backgrounds of the founders, the management team, as well as the board advisory members supporting them. Lastly, I look at the market dynamics to gauge the total revenue opportunity this startup faces. Here I would look to understand the total size of the market (TAM), the near-term opportunity (SAM), and market growth drivers.

What is your most contrarian view on an existing or emerging technology trend?

Although micromobility started out with a lot of hype and interest, it has taken its fair share of negative press from policy officials and the public over recent years. Having personally conducted a round of scooter maintenance pickups during my time at Uber, I can resonate with some of the pain points we hear today such as scooters being scattered across streets or being too often vandalized.

However, I do believe micromobility is on a redemption tour and is now starting to reemerge as a viable form of transport that can be effectively embedded into city transport ecosystems. Micromobility still offers unique last-mile benefits that can be integrated with emerging mobility solutions (e.g., autonomous shuttles, air taxis) and complements city government’s push towards reducing emissions and relieving congestion. Dense cities, especially in Europe, are also finding success rolling out managed micromobility programs, and docks are now being effectively implemented to reduce littering and theft. As a result, several operators, such as Voi and Veo, have recently reached profitable operations, helping them to fund future expansion plans.  

What advice would you impart to entrepreneurs?

As a former Uber operator, a trait I like to see in entrepreneurs is grit. This can take shape in many different forms such as employing different creative growth hacks or designing a barebones MVP product to collect customer feedback. Startups will face different challenges through their journey but seeing this type of grit or resourcefulness signals to me that the founder is willing to roll up his or her sleeves and do what it takes to overcome that challenge. One exemplary entrepreneur is Kağan Sümer, the founder of the 15-minute grocery delivery startup called Gorillas. Before he had investor capital, he took it up to himself to kick start operations by repurposing his own Berlin apartment into a mini warehouse, where he stocked bookshelves with groceries and delivered the orders to customers himself.

What’s something interesting about yourself that most people may not know?

Candidly, my interest in European football began when I first received a bunch of free merchandise from my close cousin at Nike. I could not distinguish football teams then less know what an offside was, so I decided to root for the club that I had a jersey for - which was Chelsea FC. Three years later, I am an avid Chelsea fan and love watching football, especially now that we are Champions League winners. I have to admit that football has already surpassed my two favorite sports since childhood (basketball and tennis). However, you might regret putting me on the football pitch.