US-listed software provider Microsoft’s corporate venturing unit has hired more people alongside a surge in deals since its head, Nagraj Kashyap (pictured), joined at the start of the year.
Microsoft Ventures has hired Leo de Luna, previously a principal at venture capital firm Split Rock Partners, as managing director to cover California’s Bay area and New York; Rashmi Gopinath, previously an investment director at Intel Capital, as an investing partner covering enterprise software investments in the Bay area; Lisa Nelson, previously chief of staff to the head of business development and the chief financial officer at Microsoft, as a partner; and Priya Saiprasad, previously part of financial services startup Square’s corporate development team, as a principal.
Global Corporate Venturing had previously reported, as part of its profile in July, Microsoft Ventures’ hires of Matthew Goldstein from Trinity Ventures and Kashyap’s former colleague from Qualcomm Ventures, Mony Hassid, to lead its Israel deals.
Kashyap in a blog posted on 4 OCtober said: “We’ve established a strong team with experience in traditional VCs, corporate funds and startups, all with impeccable track records of working with founders to grow startups into large companies. In building this team, we’ve done the challenging work of clarifying our mission – to be the most sought-after financial partner for startups driving digital transformation.
“We’ve seen great deal flow and have already completed 13 investments from series A to series C, across several B2B [business-to-business] categories.
“Our new website highlights our portfolio, where you can learn more about the promising technologies we’re betting on to disrupt how business is done today. In the world of business SaaS, we’ve invested in Helpshift and Outreach. In cloud infrastructure, we’ve invested in Rescale. In productivity and communications, we’ve invested in three companies – Comfy, Layer and Kahoot in the world of education. In machine learning, we’ve invested in CrowdFlower and more recently, CognitiveScale. And in security, we’ve invested in Aqua Security and Team8.”
Microsoft deals last month include Sacros Robotics and Kahoot and it partnered Brazil-based investment firm Mindset Ventures to back 10 international startups on top of five agreed in June.
Its pace of investing has caught peers’ attention. Jack Young, US head of Deutsche Telekom’s coporate venturing unit, which invested in NS1 last month, said: “We are not moving as fast as msft [Microsoft], but steady.”
Editori note: updated on 4th with Kashyap’s comment.