Chris has spent his entire professional life in and around startups and high-growth businesses in travel, hospitality and technology having founded sevencompanies during his 37 years in business. Today he is a co-founder and Managing Director of Thayer Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in technology companies in the travel and mobility space. Immediately Prior to Thayer Ventures, Chris was founder and President of iCare Marketing (sold to Sysco Foodservice Corporation in 2012) and founder and CEO of Dynamic Payment Ventures (sold to Elavon, a subsidiary of US Bank in 2007).
Prior to that, Chris was founder and CEO of CriticalArc Technologies, a supply-chain software provider to the foodservice industry, founder of E&O Kitchen and Bar, a casual dining restaurant group based in San Francisco, founder of The Hemmeter Collection, a direct response retailer and founder of Hemmeter Publishing, a publisher and distributor of travel books and content.
Upon graduating from Cornell University in 1986, Chris joined Hemmeter Investment Company, a real estate developer of destination-resort properties. Founded by his father in 1962, the Hemmeter organization developed major destination resort hotels in Hawaii and operated several related hospitality and travel businesses in the foodservice, gaming, retailand aviation sectors.
Chris received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Cornell University and his graduate degree from Harvard Business School in 1995, where he was recognized as a Baker Scholar for his academic achievement.
Sessions
March 13, Thursday
Venue: Innovation City Cape Town
Investing In The Next Generation of Startups
How are investors thinking about the travel startup space? What calculated bets are they taking? And where are the opportunities they see that ought to be grabbed by the new wave of startups?
Speakers:
Zachariah George, Managing Partner, Launch Africa Ventures
Ben Peterson, CEO, Purple Elephant Ventures
Moderator:
The New Age of Hospitality, Travel & Tech
No one has a better overview of the hospitality and tech landscape than this investor behind the leading venture capital firm focused on technology innovation in travel and hospitality. Recently, Thayer Ventures, which he founded, teamed up with Derive Ventures, the most active early-stage investment firm dedicated to travel and hospitality, to form Thayer Investment Partners (TIP), to go all in on the sector. In this session, he gives a 10-minute bird’s eye view of the changing landscape, accelerated by AI, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Speakers:
Chris Hemmeter, Managing Director, Thayer Ventures
Interviewer: