At Cisco Investments, we aim to give our portfolio companies exposure to our vast customer base. One of the ways we do this is by giving them opportunities to present in our Customer Experience Center (CXC) briefings. Cisco regularly hosts customers of all sizes at our offices, who travel from around the world to learn more about how Cisco’s technology can transform their business through in-depth presentations and demos.
A few weeks ago, we hosted the Confederation of Danish Industry, a Danish trade organization and an employers' association, with 10,000 members, in our headquarters in San Jose. The Confederation’s aim is to ensure that the Danish business community has the optimum basis for competing, developing and manufacturing in Denmark and internationally. The purpose of their visit to Cisco was to get exposure to Cisco’s innovation strategy and a view of companies Cisco has invested in.
The Cisco Investments team presented to 19 Danish customers, across various vertical industries. Our lead for security mergers & acquisitions and investments, Karthik Subramanian, discussed Cisco’s innovation strategy. He introduced one of our key investments, Flashpoint, a cybersecurity company that works in the Deep and Dark Web, to help customers understand and prevent attacks. Dom Perri, VP of Business Development at Flashpoint, led a lively, hour-long discussion on their offer. He shared his unique knowledge of the deep and dark web, how they collect their data and present it to their customers, and how his customers use that data to protect themselves. One of the attendees commented that it was a subject that they could spend multiple hours on…we agree!
My goal is to host many more customer-facing events in the coming weeks. My team will continue to innovate through our investment portfolio and drive value between our startups and Cisco’s customers. Watch this space for more news on our events and initiatives to drive success for our portfolio companies.