Storm Ventures Promotes Pascale Diaine and Frederik Groce to Partners

Storm Ventures Elevates Diaine and Groce to Partner Roles

Storm Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage B2B enterprise startups, recently announced the promotions of Pascale Diaine and Frederik Groce to the position of partner within the firm.

Career Progression at Storm Ventures

Both newly appointed partners have demonstrated significant growth within the company over the past several years. Groce initially joined Storm in 2016, focusing his investments on enterprise SaaS companies such as Workato, Splashtop, NextRequest, and Camino.

Diaine came aboard a year later, in 2017, and has since invested in firms including Sendoso, German Bionic, InEvent, and Talkdesk.

Promotions Reflect a Need for Diversity in Venture Capital

Groce, also a founder of BLCK VC and instrumental in establishing the Black Venture Institute to foster a network of Black investors, emphasized that these promotions underscore the critical need for increased diversity within the venture capital landscape, a recognition embraced by Storm Ventures.

“The collaborative approach our team embodies represents, in my view, how venture teams will need to operate to achieve success in the coming decades,” Groce stated. “Our aspiration is that this becomes a widespread practice, and we are simply at the forefront of this shift.”

Current State of Diversity in Venture Capital

However, the current reality falls considerably short of this ideal. Research conducted by Crunchbase reveals that only 12% of venture capitalists are women, and a substantial two-thirds of firms lack any female investors.

Furthermore, Black investors constitute a mere 4% of the venture capital workforce.

Impact on Founder Diversity

These statistics directly influence the representation of Black and female founders, as Groce highlighted. The underrepresentation stems, in part, from networking limitations.

“Given that this industry relies heavily on networks, a lack of diversity within those networks and the teams managing them inevitably restricts exposure to exceptional talent across all ecosystems,” he explained.

Diaine's Unique Background and Contribution

Diaine, originally from France, began her career by establishing Orange Fab, the corporate accelerator for the European telecommunications company Orange. She brings a wealth of international business experience to Storm Ventures.

The firm actively supported her transition to an investor role, refining her expertise and providing guidance on the intricacies of the investment process.

“My background isn’t in venture capital; it’s in corporate innovation. Therefore, they invested time in training me and ensuring I was fully prepared for this level of responsibility,” she noted.

Expanding Investment Horizons

Both partners are committed to identifying investment opportunities beyond the traditional confines of Silicon Valley. Diaine’s portfolio includes companies based in Germany, Brazil, and Portugal, while Groce has invested in firms located in Chicago, Atlanta, and Seattle.

Leveraging Data for Investment Discovery

The partners have also collaboratively developed an algorithm designed to identify promising investments based on a range of online indicators. This tool has become particularly valuable during periods when in-person networking is limited, such as during the pandemic.

“Frederik and I have been working on an algorithm to determine which online signals indicate a company’s success and growth,” Diaine explained. “It’s essential to track key startup metrics, but how do you do that when real-time revenue data is unavailable? Our algorithm helps us identify these signals and generate alerts for startups that warrant our attention.”

Enhancing Efficiency and Portfolio Tracking

Diaine believes this data-driven approach will complement their in-person efforts, even after the pandemic subsides, and enhance their overall efficiency in identifying and monitoring companies within their portfolios.