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Duran Cesur

Venture Capital Investor specializing in Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, and Deep-Tech

Duran Cesur is a venture capital investor specializing in industrial technology, climate tech, and deep tech. He is currently associated with Atlas Ventures, where he plays a significant role in early-stage investments. His professional background includes various positions in investment and consulting, showcasing a strong focus on technology and finance.

Professional Experience

  • Atlas Ventures: Currently serves as a venture capital investor, focusing on industrial tech and climate tech.

  • Non-Executive Board Member: Previously held positions at Mobilus Labs and Octovan, where he led seed and pre-seed funding rounds, respectively.

  • Investment Director: Worked at Vinci Venture Capital, investing in early-stage European tech companies across various sectors.

  • Consulting and Analysis Roles: Duran has also worked as a senior consultant at FactSet Research Systems and as a remote analyst for Exclusive Analysis, where he provided insights on political and violent risks globally.

Education

Duran holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Swarthmore College. He also participated in a general course at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

His extensive experience and educational background position him as a knowledgeable figure in the venture capital landscape, particularly in sectors related to technology and innovation.1

Highlights

Aug 29 · linkedin

My partner Onur Canlitepe at Atlas Ventures will be live on AWS podcast today with George Hancock and Ivan Scattergood, the founders of OctaiPipe.

They will be discussing the impact of AI on Industy 4.0

For those interested, it starts at 3pm (BST). Here is the link to the Twitch channel: https://lnkd.in/d6exFbYq

Thank you for making it happen Natalia R. and Giuseppe Battista!

Aug 21 · linkedin

I saw two sets of data about VC this week that seemed to generate quite a bit of discussion online (and some rage-bait!). One was JPMorgan's alternative asset class performance data and the other one is IRR data for different VC vintages by Carta. Interestingly, for me, both of them really emphasised taking the long view and giving time to a portfolio to develop and generate strong returns.

In JPM's performance table, it can be seen that 2022-2023 were terrible years for Venture Capital as an asset class (I think most of my connections would agree with that) but we often talk about how VC takes the long-term perspective and the fluctuations along the way balance out over time. And indeed, over the past decade VC has been the best performing alternative asset class despite the road bump years of 2022-2023.

What we see at the macro level for VC can also be relevant at the micro (portfolio) level. Many funds experience a J-curve in their returns profile (IRR or TVPI); typically the weakest companies in a portfolio fail early on, while stronger companies continue progressing well and generating exponential returns. This is why, everything else being equal, older vintages tend to have higher IRR levels.

Worth keeping in mind when reading rage-bait posts :)

Related Questions

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Duran Cesur
Duran Cesur, photo 1
Duran Cesur, photo 2
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Experience

Founding Partner at Atlas Ventures since January 2023
Non Executive Board Member at HEROTECH8, Board Observer at PHINXT Robotics, Investment Mentor at Advanced Propulsion Centre UK, Angel Investor in Various Startups

Education

MBA from INSEAD (2011), BA in Economics and Mathematics from Swarthmore College (2003 - 2007), General Course in Mathematics at LSE (2005 - 2006)

Location

Greater London, England, United Kingdom