UPDATED 21:53 EDT / JANUARY 18 2018

EMERGING TECH

John Chambers’ new venture firm bets on insects as ‘the lobsters of the future’

John Chambers, the former chief executive officer of Cisco Systems Inc., plans to spend his golden years scouting out promising startups after creating a new venture capital firm.

The new firm, JC2 Ventures, has been formed with Chambers’ son John J. Chambers and former Cisco executive communications manager Shannon Pina.

JC2 Ventures, like many similar outfits, has outlined its bold plans to “change the world” and “address global inequality.” It intends to do so “solving major issues using digital technologies,” according to its pitch. Chambers said Wednesday that his self-funded venture firm will target a variety of technologies in pursuit of these goals, including drones, the “internet of things” and open government.

Another area of interest is “agtech,” or agricultural technology, but Chambers isn’t interested in tractors and corn fields. Rather, he seems more curious about the potential of insects as a food source, saying that “crickets and insects will be the next form of protein, on a large basis. The lobsters of the future, if you will, in many ways.”

To that end, one of the first startups JC2 Ventures is backing is an outfit called Aspire Food Group, which breeds insects such as palm weevil larvae in Ghana and “food-grade crickets” in the U.S. as part of its bid to bring bug munching to the western world.

Chambers, who famously dragged his former employer from relative obscurity to become the world’s most valuable company in 2001, said he’ll also focus on security startups. He voiced concern about the security of modern smartphones, saying that voice biometrics seems like the most promising solution to the problem. He also listed social media, customer experiences and “companies with digital implications” as areas of interest.

The VC firm won’t just be backing startups based on their technology, however. Chambers said he intends to find companies with CEOs that want “a role model and mentor to learn from.”

JC2 Ventures has wasted little time in setting about its mission. It announced eight companies in its portfolio at launch, including Aspire and also Airware, Dedrone Inc., OpenGov, Pindrop Security Inc., Privoro LLC, Sprinklr Inc. and Uniphore Software Systems Plc.

Image: McKay Savage/Flickr

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