Cisco Investments, the corporate development team at computer network equipment supplier Cisco Systems, reportedly has more than $2bn of investments in 100 companies and 40 venture funds.
Rob Salvagno, head of corporate development and investments at Cisco, leads its 40-strong investment team deploying a committed $300m over the next two to three years. The company in October 2015 promoted him after Hilton Romanski, its senior vice-president of corporate development, became chief strategy officer.
Together, corporate development and Cisco Investments have a worldwide presence with teams covering the US, Israel, China, Asia-Pacific, Japan and Europe.
Founded in 1993, Cisco has committed to multiple VC funds, notably SoftBank’s China fund, which invested in online retailer Alibaba. Cisco’s strategic priorities are in the areas of data centres, cloud, security, big data, internet of things and core network equipment.
In February, Cisco Investments and venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners co-led a $30m series C round for US-based cybersecurity technology producer Exabeam. At the time, Salvagno said: “Exabeam’s behavioural analytics is a powerful tool that helps companies prioritise and focus on the most damaging threats they face.”
In November, Cisco invested $2m in US-based customer support platform developer Helpshift to boost its series C round to $25m. Salvagno said: “We look forward to supporting Helpshift to enable companies to provide best-in-class mobile customer care through their data-centric messaging platform.”
In June, US-based IT operations analytics software producer Moogsoft raised $30m in a series C round over two tranches. Salvagno said: “Moogsoft’s differentiated machine-learning approach to automate and simplify IT operations is a unique solution for increasingly complex incident management processes.
“We are excited to back a team with such a strong track record, and through our continued investment in Moogsoft, we are able to foster a close business relationship, internally pilot their solutions, and encourage technical collaboration opportunities between our engineering teams.”