Cross Culture Venture Capital

Cross Culture Ventures (CCV) was a Culver City, California-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Marlon C. Nichols, Troy Carter — the music manager known for guiding Lady Gaga's career and an early Spotify investor — and Suzy Ryoo. The firm pioneered the concept of cultural investing: identifying seismic shifts in cultural trends and behaviors, then backing early-stage startups positioned to capitalize on those shifts in an increasingly diverse global marketplace. Through its strategic partnership with Atom Factory, Troy Carter's entertainment company, CCV brought unique access to cultural tastemakers and media networks that traditional venture firms lacked. With AUM under $150 million, CCV deployed $500,000 to $5 million checks at pre-seed through Series A stages, building a portfolio of 65 investments across software, media and entertainment, consumer goods, Web3, cleantech, fintech, and gaming. Notable portfolio companies include BlocPower, focused on building decarbonization; KnownOrigin, an NFT marketplace; and Artie, a mobile gaming platform. In May 2019, Cross Culture Ventures merged with M Ventures to form MaC Venture Capital, combining forces to continue the cultural investing thesis at greater scale. CCV's legacy is a defining one: the firm was among the first to make diversity and cultural relevance explicit investment criteria, demonstrating that backing underrepresented founders and culture-driven companies could produce strong financial returns alongside measurable social impact.